Moving...

We have some good news! We finally got the call that we got an apartment over at Franson-Risberg! It is available December 1st. This means that we will be packing up before Thanksgiving and moving on the 1st. We are excited to move somewhere where we can save some money on rent and have laundry in the building, but of course, moving does bring stress with it! Please keep us in your prayers these next few weeks as we try to get our stuff organized and packed! My boss has said that I can most likely have that Monday off work, and Jesse will have class in the morning, but he should be able to get that evening off work. My mom and sister have graciously volunteered to come home with us after Thanksgiving and help, and some friends of ours have also volunteered to help, so hopefully, things will go smoothly and we'll be able to get everything moved that day!

A couple of weeks ago when we thought we might get into a different apartment over there right away, one of our biggest concerns was finding someone to take over our lease, as our current lease doesn't expire until mid-February. However, we now someone lined up to move into our apartment; our friends Ronel and Kim (Jesse works with Kim at Help Desk, and Ronel used to work there) are getting married January 10th and were looking for an apartment, so Ronel will be moving in around the 15th, and then Kim will move in after the wedding! They were over and signed the lease yesterday. I've said this before, but I'll just keep saying it...as nice and easy as it would be to move home, especially with a baby on the way, I can't doubt for a second that this is where God wants us! He just keeps blessing us and blessing us and blessing us...in every way!

The pregnancy is still going extremely well; only good reports at every doctor's visit! My next visit is December 3rd, and after that, I have to start going every two weeks instead of every four, so that kinda puts into perspective how fast this baby is coming! Sometimes, it seems like time is going by really fast, but most of the time, I feel like February is still so far away! I think it will help to have a new niece or nephew next month :) I'll post some pictures after I take some with Krista at Thanksgiving :)

I think that's all for now...please just keep us in your prayers these next few weeks! Pray that we'll be able to get things organized and packed quickly and efficiently, that Jesse will be able to keep caught up with his homework, and that both of us will still get our sleep and keep our sanity! Thank you all for your continued prayers, and for reading our blog :)

Here's me at 20 weeks and two days, Krista at 29 weeks! Oh, and tonight, Jesse FINALLY felt the baby kick! I've been trying for a while to time it right, but it seems like every time I feel a good, strong kick, I'll be like "Jesse, come here!" and then...nothing! But finally he was able to feel it tonight, and I of course got tears in my eyes! :)

We enjoyed a weekend at home this past weekend, it was nice to see family and some friends! We don't know for sure the next time we will be home, as we will probably be having my family in town in November, but if not before, definitely for Thanksgiving!

Link to Ultrasound Pics!!!

So I was having trouble posting our ultrasound pictures on here last night, so in the meantime, here is a link to my facebook album! I will get them up here on our blog as soon as possible!!!

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=136945&l=57d3d&id=758115416

The ultrasound tech said that everything looked great! According to her, our child is "an active little one" and "a wiggle worm"! He or she was moving all around and it took her about 20 minutes to get all of the pictures that she needed! She even had to let me get up and go to the bathroom, thinking that my being up and moving around a little might make the baby get into a better position so that she could get the pictures she needed! It was the coolest thing EVER to see the little heart beating (we could actually see all four chambers of the heart!), the little hands moving around, and that precious little profile!!! We will continue to keep you all posted, and I promise to post pictures as soon as possible!!!

Moving???

I don't know if any of you remember, but when we were originally moving to Chicago, we applied for housing at an apartment building called the Franson Risberg Memorial Mission Home (FRMMH). It is a building specifically for people involved with ministry. They weren't going to have an apartment available at the time we moved, so they referred us to our current landlord. Well, we've still always wanted to get in over there, as the apartments are ridiculously cheap! However, you can't get anything besides a studio (TINY), unless you are pregnant or have children...and now, we fit that requirement! Right after we found out about the baby, Jesse ran into the landlord from the building and she said that if we got our application in, we'd definitely get into a 1-bedroom...IF being the key word. At first, our printer was out of toner, then we just kept putting it off and putting it off...and in this case, procrastination kinda paid off!!! Just today, I was on the blog for Student Wives, and one of my friends had posted that she and her husband had just moved out of their apartment at that building, and the apartment was AVAILABLE ASAP!!! I called her and left a voicemail right away, letting her know (before I even got a hold of Jesse) that we were interested and to please call me back with specifics. That left us with one problem...we JUST signed a 6-month lease last month! Our landlords have known ever since we moved in that we wanted to get in over at the other building, and they are fine with it, knowing that it will save us money, but that doesn't mean that we can just leave whenever! So I finally got a hold of Jesse, and it "just so happened" that one of his co-workers just got engaged about a month ago, and they are looking for an apartment!!! She was there at the time, and her fiance was already going to stop in later that day, so when he did, they talked to him about it and they are totally interested in our apartment! So...we are going over to FRMMH tonight and taking a rental application to the building managers there for approval! This would be a HUGE blessing and opportunity if it worked out! PLEASE keep us in your prayers these next few days as hopefully everything will be finalized and we'll be able to move within the next few weeks! The timing couldn't be more perfect...I'm not HUGE and pregnant yet, the weather will be nice still...GOD IS SO AMAZING!!! Also, for those of you who haven't done so yet, please check out our other update that I just posted on Sunday...

Update and some pictures...

Here's two new pictures of me at 18 weeks and two days! It won't be long until I'm in maternity pants...I can still button most of my pants, but when I sit down...not comfortable at all! Also, I started to feel the baby move last week...it feels so weird and so awesome! I mainly feel it in the evening when I am relaxing on the couch. I go in on the 8th for my next prenatal checkup, and then on the 9th for my ultrasound! I am SO excited!!! Jesse will get to be there, too, I made sure to make the appointment for a time that he'd be able to go with me! I will definitely make sure to post some pictures after our visit.

Also, here is a picture of one of the curtains for the baby's room! We aren't going to find out if it's a boy or a girl, so we wanted to do something neutral, and had been thinking of doing some kind of animal theme. My sister and mom were at a garage sale and found this awesome set from Pottery Barn! I can't wait to register for stuff to match...

In other news, our church moved locations and today was the first Sunday in our new location. They had been meeting in the Chicago Center for the Performing Arts, but were informed about 8 weeks ago that they would need to find a new location, as there was going to be a new, larger tenant who was going to pay more rent. Of course, that is not a lot of time to find a new, affordable location, but our search team pulled it off! At least for the winter and spring, we are meeting at Holy Trinity High School, in their auditorium. It is a pretty old building, and the auditorium is a LOT bigger than the theater at the CCPA! One thing I have always appreciated about our church is how you can hear everyone singing, and it is even better with the acoustics in the auditorium! The instruments and vocalist sound awesome, too! I sometimes just want to close my eyes and just listen to the voices and instruments. It was weird meeting there today, and will take some getting used to, but it worked out just fine!

Jesse is enjoying his PCM at Pui Tak, he gets to work with elementary school kids and will start teaching guitar lessons sometime in October. As far as classes, he's currently taking Greek, Systematic Theology, Music Literature, Hermaneutics, and then taking his guitar lessons and doing his PCM. Just tonight, I was helping him study for his Greek mid-terms; it is so hard to believe he is 1/4 of the way through the school year already!!! I've just been working and enjoying a normal job with a normal schedule and a normal boss!!! As of November 1st, they are transferring most of our customer service at work to our warehouse. Basically, that means that instead of me receiving phone calls, most of the calls will go to the staff at our warehouse. They can answer most of the questions as well as or sometimes better than me, as I sometimes have to get in touch with the warehouse to be able to answer the customer in the first place. I will still receive phone calls, but this will drastically reduce the number of calls I get, which will be really nice! My boss (Greyling) is giving me more and more responsibilities, and it will be nice to be able to focus on that stuff and not get interrupted by phone calls all the time!

I think that's all for now...I will post again after our ultrasound! Have a great week!