I’ve written and re-written this post what seems like a hundred times in my head. It’s been a hard one to write.

The short story is that I’m pregnant. We are thrilled. I am seven weeks along, and due at the end of September.

There is a much longer story though too. I’ll try to shorten it some. After years of infertility, there is still a part of me that feels almost like I have to justify the fact that I now have (again) what so many women still long for.

On the other hand, I want to shout from the rooftops “Look what God did!” It wasn’t supposed to be easy for us to have children.

This pregnancy has not been without its surprises and fears though. After my miscarriage, I quit charting my cycles. I was tired of the emotions and was just ready for my cycle to return. So I put the BBT thermometer away and just quit. One day, I noticed possible ovulation symptoms, so I marked the date just in case. I caved a couple days early and tested on Stephen’s 30th birthday. To my surprise, there was a VERY faint second line. Ironically, Stephen wasn’t surprised at all.

Because my last cycle was my miscarriage, and was back in November, my OB worked me in almost immediately. That’s when the worry started. They did an ultrasound to date the pregnancy, and didn’t see a heartbeat. They scheduled another ultrasound for me two weeks later.

I called my mom on the way home from that appointment and told her the news, doing my best to keep from crying. I was terrified. I’d known that it was possible it was just too early, but it was SO hard not to worry.

The other ultrasound was this morning. We saw one healthy baby with one tiny little beating heart. That was the one thing I wanted to see today, and God was gracious enough to allow us to see that.

In retrospect, everything makes sense. We found out about this pregnancy at 3 weeks and 4 days. That is insanely early, but explains the VERY light tests and not seeing the heartbeat. Another thing is I’m pretty much exactly as far along as I suspected. That was pretty neat to discover (and was also thanks to everything I learned through all those years of infertility).

It is very strange to be typing this after all our years of infertility. We tried to conceive for almost six years. Now, here I am, pregnant again, for the third time in a year (we found out about the pregnancy before Caleb’s first birthday). That blows my mind. It also really blows my mind that we will now have two children under the age of two. It is something that I NEVER expected.

So. That’s my big announcement. Isn’t God GOOD? I am humbled and amazed to see how He chooses to work.

Look at this – I’m posting my menu plan on Monday! *giggle* It helps that I planned it last week.

Monday – chicken pot pie (we’ve been making it without the crust lately)
Tuesday – sliced ham
Wednesday – turkey burgers
Thursday – chicken alfredo and brown rice
Friday – pizza meatball bake (new recipe I found on PAI)
Saturday – Valentine’s Day – nice dinner at home. I’m not entirely sure yet. We actually talked about ordering pizza that day, just for fun.

This week is actually a bit different than I’d originally planned. We were going to go to the Jubilee at Bro. Dwight Banks’ church in the NC Mountains, but because of issues with both our vehicles, we ended up staying home. That was a meal I hadn’t planned because we weren’t going to be home. We have plenty of food in the house though so it’s not a big deal.

Lunches this week will be sandwiches – cold cuts, pb&j, and chicken salad left from the wedding (THANK YOU, Charlotte!!!). Breakfasts are the usual – eggs, oatmeal, baked oatmeal, and maybe some sausage or bacon.

You can read more menu plans over at I’m an Organizing Junkie.

Today a friend of mine got married. She was a beautiful bride. I had the honor of playing for the wedding. I’ve played for many weddings through the years, and it’s always fun to see how each wedding is so different. This wedding had a bit of a first for me – it was the first time I’d ever been asked to sing a solo during a wedding. That was scary! It went well, but I was a bit nervous about it.

It’s funny – after so many weddings, you’d think that I wouldn’t still get nervous, but I do. I imagine things like forgetting a part during the Wedding March or something. It always goes well though, thankfully!

The bride’s mother asked me to make some cream cheese mints for the reception. They turned out really cute. Once the pictures are on the computer, I’ll post them.

It was also interesting today because both boys came with me, and Stephen wasn’t there to watch them. Samuel was so funny during the reception. He noticed that there were TWO cakes and he certainly wanted some. The groom’s cake had little toy construction equipment on it (which they actually gave Sam when they cut the cake), and he’s been asking me ever since if I’ll make him a cake just like that for his next birthday. It was cute.

It’s just barely past 9 p.m. yet somehow it feels so much later. This has been one long week. Our car is at the mechanic’s house right now, so we can’t go anywhere tomorrow. After being so busy, I can’t say that I mind too much. A whole day of going nowhere sounds absolutely lovely.

Ok, so I haven’t been that great at menu planning lately. We’ve paid for it too by spending a lot more time at 5pm wondering what supper is supposed to be that night. This week I actually sat down and worked on a menu plan again. I didn’t get it posted on Monday, but that’s ok. The menu plan is actually done through the end of next week so I’m happy.

Sunday – leftovers
Monday – sweet and sour chicken and fried rice (leftovers from the school)
Tuesday – cream cheese ranch chicken
Wednesday – hamburgers with homemade buns
Thursday – rehearsal dinner for me, not sure for Stephen and the boys
Friday – homemade pizza (this will be a nice relaxing evening after the wedding that afternoon)
Saturday – chili cheese fries

Breakfasts will be eggs, oatmeal, baked oatmeal, sausage, bacon, granola, or biscuits and gravy. Lunches will be sandwiches, soup, tortilla wraps or quesadillas, or leftovers.

You can view more menu plans here at Organizing Junkie.

We had a youth meeting yesterday at our church. There were quite a few area churches that were invited. It was incredible. Three preachers were called from the floor to preach, as well as the scheduled preacher. The meeting went for about 4 1/2 hours, and then we ate.

It was so refreshing. There was a lot that I needed to hear from each of the messages. Then in between preaching, different groups of teens sang and played their instruments. In a day where so few teens seem to have a desire to serve God, it blessed me immensely to see teens up front, singing, and showing that what they were doing was REAL to them.

But then today in church – it was still good. Not that it’s not good at our church – it always is – it’s just that God gave our preacher messages today that I badly needed to hear.

I just love it when you go to church and the message touches you – like getting a long drink of water on a hot day.

I can’t wait until Wednesday! Hopefully our pastor’s wife has recordings of the messages on Saturday. I don’t know if they were recorded or not, but I sure hope so!