"However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace." Acts 20:24
I just wanted to celebrate being 14 weeks pregnant with our 2nd baby this week. Today I read that our baby is about the size of a lemon and is just learning how to suck his/her thumb and make facial expressions. How sweet is that!?!?
And of course, here are some photos of my quickly-expanding pregnant tummy... which I feel like is expanding MUCH more rapidly this time than last!!
This year for Thanksgiving we were able to host our 3rd Annual Thanksgiving Meal! This is one of our longest standing traditions as a family, and it was also one of Enoch's first annual "events" to do twice {besides his birthday, of course}. Hugh and I absolutely love this event, and we both get excited every year when it rolls around. Here are a few of our traditions for this meal:
eat a few traditional Thanksgiving dishes like turkey, dressing, and mashed potatoes with gravy
read a psalm
share 1-2 things we are thankful for at the dinner table (everyone does this altogether)
write thankful cards (we let each guest write as many cards as they want & then we provide the postage to mail them to whomever they are thankful for... wherever that may be. This year we mailed cards to Mississippi, Tennessee, California, Ghana, Iran, and China.)
play games afterward (games range from football to cards and puzzles)
international students from our FCN group
We began this tradition three years ago with our dear friends, the Skinners. When the idea was first conceived, we were hosting a weekly event called "Friday Culture Night" in which we had snacks, tea/coffee and a few hours of conversation with international students about cultural topics. So when Thanksgiving rolled around, it was only natural for us to introduce our international friends to a traditional Thanksgiving meal, as it is a big part of American culture. We knew that most of them otherwise wouldn't have had a Thanksgiving meal. {In fact, because Thanksgiving is ONLY celebrated in the US, this is sometimes an exciting "first" for international students.} At the time, we had no babies {the Skinners now have a little girl around Enoch's age} and the Skinners lived in a spacious ministry house, just perfect for hosting a large Thanksgiving meal like this. I recall splitting the cooking with Ashley and hosting around 15-20 international students plus a few American friends as well. It was such a fun Thanksgiving party!!
Enoch's first Thanksgiving meal
Then, by the time the next Thanksgiving rolled around, both us and the Skinners had a baby! I believe they had to travel that year, so we hosted the 2nd Annual Thanksgiving Meal at our tiny apartment. We scaled it down a bit and had around 8 international friends join us that year, and even though it was slightly cramped, it was such fun anyway. One of our friends was able to bring her mother {from China}, and she was so sweet to baby Enoch!
This year, for the Third Annual Thanksgiving Meal, we decided to plan our gathering on the Saturday before Thanksgiving in the mid-afternoon. As always, we invited a few of our international friends (a few students and one new faculty member from Hugh's department with his wife). We also invited quite a few American friends as well (mainly new friends from church), and they each chipped in by bringing a dish. We had lots of good conversation, some tasty international dishes, and some delicious desserts!
This was our exceptionally long dinner table, seating around 16 people:
And here were all of our guests.. we had people from India, Iran, China, Mississippi, and of course Arkansas & N Dakota!
Yesterday, for Thanksgiving, we had a small picnic at Eckie's Pond to enjoy some family time {We celebrated Thanksgiving last weekend with some friends, and we weren't able to make it up to visit my family like we usually do - although they were all very much missed!!}. Anyway, we had heard that this pond had big koi fish that were fun for kids to feed, but since it's on campus, I've been hesitant to try and find parking during the week to visit it. However, campus was e-m-p-t-y this week due to the holiday, and thus, parking was a breeze... So we thought it'd make for a fun, relaxing lunch spot.
The pond was much bigger than I expected it to be {it's more than double what you can see below}, and there was a gentle, grassy slope to spread out on and eat. The weather was perfect (upper 60's... thank you South Land!), and we had so much fun!!
After eating, Enoch enjoyed playing with Hugh on the quilt before we went to see the fish.
sniffing faces
blowing kisses
Then Hugh put Little Man on his shoulders and carried him up there the whole time we fed the fish so that Enoch could have a good view. We saw a few white and orange koi, all of which were 12"-15" long and eager to gobble up the crackers I threw. Even though the water was a bit cloudy, they were still easy to for Enoch's eyes to follow due to their vibrant colors. Enoch absolutely loved the combination of sitting up high + outside + family time + big fish. :)
And did I mention that Enoch loved riding on Hugh's shoulders?
We have some real exciting news that we've been patiently waiting to tell for weeks now.. And I thought it would only be appropriate to let Enoch spill the beans, so without further ado...
Little Man is going to be a big brother!!!
And he's real excited...
...As are we!! We are SO thankful that the Lord has blessed us with this new little life growing inside of me!
To answer some typical pregnancy questions, we are due near the end of May; I am currently 14 weeks pregnant. I have been more nauseous with this pregnancy than I was with Enoch, but not to the point of vomiting, thankfully. We DO plan to find out the gender of this baby (unlike our plans with Enoch); until then we are affectionately calling him/her our "littlest", hence the name of this post. And although we haven't fully decided where to give birth, right now we are planning to use a midwife who works at a clinic with other midwives and doctors in a (somewhat) nearby town because there is a shortage of well-trained home birth midwives in our immediate area.
For any proud, excited grandparents who care to listen, this is a recording of the lovely little heartbeat we heard this Tuesday. {If you've never heard one of these on the doppler, try listening for the "whoosh, whoosh, whoosh" sound that's going real fast.}
And lastly, here are a few more of my favorite pictures from our time on MSU's campus taking pics this week.
Enoch wanted to blow some sweet kisses to all of his lovely grandmas out there... although I guess that if any of his grandpas happened to catch a kiss or two, that'd be alright too. ;) {Sorry that I just used every version of "to, two, too" in one sentence!! oops!}
This soup is DELICIOUS!!! I especially love it in the fall because it is so hearty and has such deep flavors. And, it's what I would consider a "one-pot wonder" because all you need is a soup pot! {Which of course, means less dishes to clean up after cooking!!}
warm, deliciousness in a bowl
Ingredients:
1 onion chopped finely
1-2 cloves garlic, minced (I just use a few tablespoons from a jar of minced garlic that I have from the grocery store)
1 pound spicy pork (or turkey) sausage (like the raw kind you can make into patties for breakfast)
4-5 cups chicken broth
3-4 lg red potatoes, chopped
1/2 pound carrots, chopped
2 cans stewed ITALIAN tomatoes, UNdrained (cut tomatoes up a little more, if desired)
2 cans white beans, rinsed & drained
1 Tbsp oregano
1 Tbsp thyme
Directions:
In your medium soup pot saute sausage, onion, & garlic over medium heat until meat is done & onion is clear.
While that is cooking, chop potatoes and carrots, and rinse/drain beans
Drain fat from meat.
Add chicken broth, chopped potatoes & carrots, stewed tomatoes, white beans, & spices. (Add in a little water if needed to cover veggies.)
Cook on medium-high until it starts boiling & the potatoes & carrots become tender (maybe 10 minutes of boiling).
Turn the heat down & let it simmer 10 minutes, or until you're ready to eat it.
Serve & enjoy!
chopped veggies (onion was already chopped & cooking at this point)
sausage, onion, & garlic ready to be drained after sauteing
I used frozen chicken broth here, so I let it thaw in the pot for a few minutes before adding the veggies
finished product (note that it fills my medium soup pot almost to the brim!! If you like to add "extras" to soups, you might want to use your large pot.)
"Enoch Live" is a new type of shorter post that I'm trying out for 2 reasons:
Shorter posts are easier to write, so I can post more of them more often
More posts means that our family {and friends} can keep up with Enoch's newest happenings... as they happen, not 3 weeks later because I was slow to get the photos off of my camera {not that I'm ever guilty of that or anything...} ;)
So, as you may have already guessed, "enoch live" is basically intended to capture what's going down in Enoch's world live, as it happens. It is my hope that these posts will be short, fun, and easy to read. I'd appreciate any feedback from you guys as I go so that I can tailor each post to be relevant and hopefully even something you look forward to. :)
So, what do you think? Excited? Any specific requests for certain types of "live" footage?
