Babies- in the womb photos.

Top 10 images in the womb

This is pretty cool. Growing a baby is pretty amazing. :)

Saturday happenings.

We did a lot today! Our good friends, Lauren and Stephen, were in town this week, so we met up with them this morning at the Farmer's Market. It was our first time this year, and even though it was raining, we had a good time!

Lauren and I.

After that, we had plans with our friends from church, David and Lindsay. I was super excited because we were doing two things that none of us had ever done before.- we had lunch at La Mie Bakery and went on a tour of the Salisbury House.

Here are some pictures of the bakery. It did not disappoint- it was so cute/modern and the food was good!

Kley and Dave, showcasing the bread. 

My fruit tart- I had to get it. I love fruit, and it was so colorful. It was delicious.

Lindsay's creme brulee.

Then we headed to the Salisbury House. Unfortunately, our tour guide was not the best. He was older, very awkward, had lots of pauses, gave very random details, and just said some really strange things. All in all, I am glad we went, but don't really want to go again! I'm glad we all went together- we had a good laugh in the car afterwards about the whole thing.

Here is what the Salisbury house is, in a nutshell: It was built/owned by Carl and Edith Weeks, and they lived there with their four sons- Charles, Willliam, Evert (Hud), and Lafayette (Lafe). They were inspired to build it when they visited Salisbury, England, and decided to build their own manor house back home in Iowa. They lived there from 1926-1954. They started building in 1923. The original budget for the house was $150,000, but they ended up spending $3 million, which would be $40 million today. It has 28,000 square feet and 42 rooms, with tons of imported artifacts and artwork from all around the world. It had the best of the best for the 1920's. While most people still had outhouses, their upstairs had 7 ornate bathrooms. 

Unfortunately, with the Great Depression and a few other issues, they couldn't afford the upkeep. In 1934, they donated the house to Drake University, while they still lived there as tenants until their youngest son graduated. With WWII happening, Drake couldn't afford to maintain it either, so Drake and the Weeks family jointly sold it to Iowa State Education Association in 1954. The Salisbury House Foundation was formed in 1993, and purchased the grounds/house from the ISEA in 1998 for $4 million. They spent $10 million restoring it, and made it what it is today!

Quite the story, right here in our own Des Moines.

Great Room.

Common Room.

Library.

Dining Room.

Breakfast Room.

Some of the bedrooms upstairs.

Guest Room.

Edith's dressing room.

Edith's Bedroom.

Carl's Bedroom.

Outdoor Gardens.

From the outside.

Teaching children to want to obey.

So, I discovered this Bible study today, and I am in love. A good friend recommended it, and while I haven't actually seen the study, I absolutely love the article about teaching children to want to obey. I have been contemplating this concept for a long time, especially with my teaching. I want to teach my kids to WANT to obey so that they can bring praise and honor to Jesus, not because it's socially acceptable to follow the rules or because they think that I'm telling them they HAVE to obey.

She (Kim Sorgius) wrote a Bible study called Because I Said So...A Biblical Study on Obedience that is designed for children ages 6-14. This is older than the kids I'm surrounded by, but I am still very interested. You can find information about the study in the link above.

If nothing else, I encourage you to read the article. I love it and it touched my teacher/mom heart.

Life is fleeting.

Today one of my favorite teachers passed away, suddenly and unexpectedly. Lori Steinbach was one of the best. She was my high school English teacher. She made literature come alive in a way no one else did/could. She was invested in our lives and available. She came to every sporting event and directed all the school plays. She made me want to be a teacher, so I could touch others like she touched me. I could write about her for a long time, but she deeply impacted me and she will be greatly missed by many. I am sad to lose her, but so happy that she is with Jesus right now. Heaven gained a great addition today. This was the devotion sent out by our church tonight, which I thought was very applicable. The troubles along the journey are so worth it, when we know our end prize is Heaven. Life is fleeting. Live it up. Lori Steinbach did, and I would like to be like her. SCRIPTURE 2 Cor. 4:16-18 16Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal

Every Day

LIFE IS HARD, BUT THE FUTURE IS BRIGHT It's the end of the journey, the destination itself, that makes the wearying travel worth it all.  I recall a long, steep climb up a mountain trail in North Carolina.  My wife and I were heading toward a scenic overlook.  Several times I thought, "It's not worth it.  Let's just turn around and forget it." But I kept going, especially since my wife kept encouraging me to keep climbing! Finally we arrived at the overlook.  What a spectacular sight!  What an incredible experience.  It was worth it all!  Would I do it again?  Yes.  The end of the journey was worth the trouble of the journey. God's Word encourages us in the same way.  There's an incredible glory to experience at the end of the journey.  And our "light and momentary troubles" can't even begin to compare with the glory that will be ours! Yes, even though our bodies are slowly wearing out, God is renewing us inwardly every single day.  Today, focus your eyes not on the troubles you can see.  Those are temporary.  Focus your eyes on the glorious destination you're headed toward.  That's what will last forever. It will be worth it.

20 week ultrasound.

 Today was our 20 week ultrasound! It was so amazing. It looked so different than the 8 week ultrasound. We are so thankful that everything is normal and healthy. It was so exciting to be able to see the baby move and to see all the body parts! (We are waiting until birth to find out the gender!)

Here is the spine.

Face- this one looks the most creepy, yet it's still cute because it's my baby. :)

This is really close up- an arm is draped over the face, but you can see the nostrils, open mouth, and chin.

Arms.

 Hands.

Left hand.

Right hand.

Feet.

Legs.

Profiles.

This one is my favorite. :)

Yay! It was really neat to see Kley's face light up when he watched as well. :)

Second Trimester weeks 17-19.

I can't believe we are already half way through the second trimester! Wow. It's been a good few weeks. We registered, we had our 20 week ultrasound, and we have some showers coming up!

I am so so thankful to be feeling well and to have a pretty easy pregnancy. I have honestly been feeling really good for the most part. My hunger level has gone back to a normal level (I was so hungry the first trimester), and I don't feel as tired as I did before either. I have had a few headaches and backaches recently, but it hasn't been too bad.

We are so excited! The past few weeks Kley has been super excited, which is so fun to watch. He will be such a good dad, and I'm so thankful to be on this journey with him!

Week 17- This week I started wearing maternity clothes mostly. I can still fit into a few stretchy skirts, flowy shirts, or pants with drawstrings, but for the most part wore all maternity.

Week 18

Week 19

Children's Progression of Drawing.

In reference to my last post about children's writing, this is an interesting article about children's progression of drawing.

I am super excited for the day my child draws our first family picture. I will totally frame it. :)