Get pregnant and start a blog!

I've been wanting to start a blog since we were married last May, but as most of you know we have been running at 90 miles an hour since the day we got back from the honeymoon. After we found out we were expecting and the aunts and grandmas started calling in for updates we knew we needed an easier way to keep everyone in the loop! Hence the blog! I'm not really what you would call a " blogger", wondering what people want to read vs me just blabbing on and on. That is all to say, please be patient with me as I learn the world of blogging.

Here is a quick overall update of the past year to get everyone up to speed.

All because two people fell in love:

We were married May 31, 2008 in Memphis. We then had a WONDERFUL honeymoon in the Mayan Riveria in Mexico. Here are a few picts:

School Days
The day after we got home I started my residency for Nurse Practitioner school and graduated in August 2008. I started a job in Holly Springs, MS which turned out to be a nightmare but great learning experience. Thankfully God knew that wasn't the job for me and he kept a job I interviewed for in October at St. Jude open all that time. I HAPPILY accepted the job at St Jude in the ICU as the nurse practitioner. IT IS WONDERFUL!!!! I have the most wonderful staff to work with. God was definitely looking out for Brandon and I.

Brandon started back to school after the wedding. He is finishing seminary at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. When he graduates he will have his Masters of Divinity. He loves the professors there and we are both learning about God in ways we never thought we could. If you have free time you should check out Dr Albert Mohler's blog at http://www.albertmohler.com/blog.php. He is the president of their seminary and is seriously SOOOO smart!

Extreme Home Makeover

We started to "fix-up" our house starting way back before we were married. We are still working! I do have to give credit to my husband and father in law. They have literally re-built our house on the inside. They have done electrical, plumbing, & construction all themselves. This will probably be something we blog about a lot since it is getting close to being over (PRAISE THE LORD). Poor Brandon has been working his tail off with a bruised rib trying to finish the house so we can get ready for baby Noah.

Here are picts of the house! There used to be a wall there! We tore down the wall to make a dining room & to open up the den. As you can see, while the kitchen got new sub-flooring & tile we had to move all the appliances to the dining room. PS: that ugly oven is gone. We have a nice, new white one in its place.

Working Man:

Brandon has been looking for a job in ministry for a while. One that he could still do school as well as work. It can be very difficult to keep reminding yourself why you went into seminary when all you are doing is spending hours in the library writing theology papers. This is why most seminaries really encourage their students to continue ministry work outside of school, this is also why most seminary students aren't in and out of school in 3 or 4 years.

Brandon was called to a job not too long ago here in Memphis. One neither of us saw coming. The ministry is called Multi National Ministries. Multi-National Ministries is a non-denominational organization that serves the culturally diverse population of Memphis, Tennessee through educational, recreational, social, and support services. Brandon's job will be as the youth leader to the middle & high school boys. He will teach ESL(English as a 2nd language) at some schools while also being in charge of the after school ministry at Multi-National. Each day after school the kids come to the Memphis Leadership Foundation building where Brandon plays with the kids for like an hour then hosts a bible study.

As he calls it, "I'm a youth minister without the restrictions of a church and its rules". HAHA! Gotta love my man and his rule breaking self.

Here is the website of where he works. http://www.multinationalministries.org/

BABY NOAH! THE REASON FOR THE BLOG!

For about a month I had been praying about what God wanted for us in terms of expanding our family. I had the overwhelming desire to talk to Brandon about stopping our birth control and letting God decide when we would have kids. I was SO nervous about asking him, but being the great husband he is he had been praying about it too & wanted the same thing! We decided in January to not try nor prevent us from conceiving a little one. Well, 2 weeks later we got a positive test! Guess God was trying to tell us it was time! We were so excited!!!

I took the test by myself that morning and ran in to tell Brandon who was half-asleep. He sat straight up and said, "IVE GOTTA GET A JOB!". haha!! The next few months were slow going & full of anxiety for me. My history in nursing is LeBonheur ICU and St Jude ICU so you have to understand my view of the pediatric population is skewed. Thankfully I have a husband who is clam and logically and knows exactly how to bring me back to earth.

We are currently in the 2nd Trimester, at 24 weeks. You can keep up with it on the time tracker on the blog. I can't believe its been 6 months already! My friend Jessica said after the ultrasound time would fly, and it has!!!

I will post more about our little man in my next post since he is reason most of you are reading this.

Well that's our life over the past year summed up in one note. My first successful blog! Wohoo!

~Amanda~