Faith's day and Baby update #3

Thank you all for the prayers and thoughts on Tuesday! Bryce and I got to spend the day together and we baked Faith a cake and took flowers to her grave. I attempted to make her a heart shaped cake with this bundt pan that I have and it was a disaster. Emily, if you are reading this, I STILL can't seem to get that pan to work! It made me laugh thinking of how many cakes I will probably ruin over the years being a mom. I look forward to that! The rest of day was hard but good at the same time. We felt peace in remembering her and that day last year that changed our lives forever.

Now for another Baby update:

I am now 24 weeks and 4 days! I wasn't feeling very good this week and started cramping really bad the last couple days but it was nothing to worry about, apparently it's just gas or something. The joys of pregnancy:) But I had an appt. yesterday and it went really well. I passed my glucose test with flying colors!! I was a little worried becasue of all the cake I had consumed the day before:). Got to hear the heartbeat and had my uterus measured and all is going well! Baby is on the move throughout the whole day and I love every minute of it! It is so entertaining for Bryce and I, we are glued to my belly constantly, waiting for the next move. 

Sorry no picture of the belly, I will take some this weekend and get them posted.

I am now going to finish up my coffee and enjoy starring at all the snow we received last night! Finally winter has made it's appearance in Montana! I love it!

Remembering Faith

As the days get closer to Faith's one year birthday I can't help but relive all those moments last year. Over the last few weeks I have spent sleepless nights remembering all the pain I felt at this time last year. I have been up for a few hours now just laying in bed thinking, wondering, and remembering my daughter. Memories I wouldn't give up for anything. It is all the time I had with her, it wasn't nearly enough, but I am thankful for that time. This has been one of the hardest years of my life but it has also been one of the most growing time of my life too. I was reading in Hebrews yesterday and I read a verse about how Jesus learned obedience through suffering, of course He was perfect at it, but I am learning that too through this suffering.  I have spent most of this year grieving, we grieved the lose of our first baby, we grieved my health, and also not conceiving when we wanted to. I look back and reflect on this last year and I do see a lot of pain but if it wasn't for all that pain and sadness I wouldn't have experienced the growth through it all that I did. I still suffer and still have pain but I handle it so differently now.

For those of you who read this and pray, could you please say some prayers for Bryce and I over the next couple days. Pray that Tuesday would bring healing for our hearts. I know it will be a hard day. We could not have gotten through this year without all of your support and those prayers that lifted us up so high through all of this.  Thank you! Love to you all!

Baby update #2

Our special Christmas gift

I had my 20 week ultrasound last week and got to see our baby again on the big screen:) It is amazing how much it has grown since our last ultrasound which was only three and half weeks ago. Everything is looking good and baby is measuring normal from what they can see. The baby is also measuring a week ahead so my due date was showing up as April 29th, so not sure if this is going to be a May baby or an April baby. I am now officially past the 21st week mark of when we lost Faith. It is a little bittersweet. I am thankful to be where I am at in this pregnancy but I do wish Faith was still here too. From now on this pregnancy will be new things for me, I haven't been 21 weeks and two days before so I am excited to keep getting to experience this amazing miracle of carrying a baby. I can feel the baby move all day long and makes me smile each time, I don't think this could ever get old. Bryce got to feel it kick for the first time last night and he got so excited, it was cute! God has really humbled me through this. Not a minute goes by that I am not thankful for this baby and don't want to take any of it for granted. My belly maybe growing faster than I want it to, I may not be able to sleep through the night anymore, and my legs may be starting to bother me but all of this is so small compared to the blessings that He has given us.

Baby Update

I had an ultrasound today and just wanted to share with you all that everything is looking great so far! I am 16 weeks and 2 days. The placenta is right where it should be and baby was moving all over the place! I would share a picture but we couldn't get any that weren't blurry:) Just another reason to be oh so thankful!!

Forever Grateful

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite days throughout the year! This year I have so many things to be so grateful for. Bryce and I have started a list and I will share a few with you:

• Jesus Christ's sacrifice for our sins and the eternal life we have and the country we live in that allows us to openly praise Him.
• Our marriage and the bond that we have
• Our daughter Faith and what she has taught us this year
• My pregnancy 
• Our house that has heat and food.
• Amazing family and friends
• Brown Water Coffee
• And lastly but very important-Our men and women serving our country 

I hope you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving and won't be distracted by all the Christmas shopping craziness that is already going on and enjoy the day with your family and friends. 

A Brother or Sister for Faith

I have been so horrible at updating my blog but I just had to wait because I just couldn't keep this news in, so I avoided blogging.Yes, I am pregnant again!! It is really no secret but most that read this live away from us and may not know yet. I just started my 2nd trimester and I am really starting to feel good. I made it past the week that I started having complications with Faith, so that feels good too. We feel so blessed to be able to try again and pray everyday for this baby and my pregnancy to go well. God has taught Bryce and I so much this year about His will, timing, and love for us. We will never understand the "why's" in life but we know that God is good and that He loves us so much. We trust Him with this pregnancy and know that this is His child.  So that is what is new in our lives. This summer was also the launch of Brown Water Coffee! Our best friends Tana and Ricky have had a vision for this business for over a year now and they launched the business in August and it has been amazing! Ricky came to Bryce in February asking if he wanted to be apart of it to do the financial side of it. Bryce had been praying about it since we first heard their vision in December of last year and felt God was calling him to be involved so when Ricky came to him, Bryce knew he needed to do this. It has been a lot of work for them, especially Ricky but we are confident in God's will for this business. The website is www.brownwatercoffee.com For every bag sold Brown Water will give some of the profit to clean water projects. Most people ask where the name came from and it is drinking brown water(coffee) so others don't have to. It's brilliant!!

First Belly pic of our little pumpkin

Italia

I am finally posting about Italy! Not much I can say but AMAZING! If you have not been there, GO, you must!! After 24 hours, four plane changes and one train ride we made it to the most beautiful place in the world, the Cinque Terre. The next six days were spent eating, site seeing, laying in the sun, browsing the little shops and more eating. We spent a few days in Florence, but not much to report there. It was great and a place you should go if you are in Italy but I recommend finding a more remote place to spend most of your time (unless you are wanting to spend all your money, the shopping is incredible). The trip was too short, I admit I cried when we boarded the plane back to the states. Bryce and I are so grateful we were able to get away and focus on ourselves and each other for a week. Our favorite part of our trip was our room in Vernazza, one of five villages in the Cinque Terre. It was right above the Mediterranean Sea, our balcony over looked the sea and we woke up and went to sleep listening to the waves crash against the rocks. We are convinced it is the best room in the whole Cinque Terre.  That pretty much sums it up.