Baby Shower

Last weekend I had the most AMAZING baby shower. Now, people had told me that opening presents for a little girl would be way better than for a little boy and I just didnt believe them! But oh were they right!!! All the pink was amazing. I had so many friends stop by and my close friends and family that threw it...they did such an amazing job! I felt very special that day. And it was nice to do it "the right way" this time...baby shower and then deliver the baby :-)

The Belly bump at 30 weeks


Opening presents


The best part of the shower...my mom gave me a box of baby clothes that she had saved that were mine when i was oh so little...my face does not do the picture justice, I LOVE THE CLOTHES and cannot wait for my little girl to wear them :-)

Pregnancy Again

The following is a post that I had on my original blog. It was posted Thursday, August 16, 2007 and Ryland was born August 21st.....only five days later, hard to believe.
This pregnancy has been so different from the get-go. Morning sickness, smaller weight gain, less headaches, no swelling at this point. I am 29 weeks and really trying to not get nervous. I pray about this everyday and it continues to be so hard to let go. I am excited for what the next few weeks bring and hopefully see what going 40 weeks is like :-)



(POST FROM AUGUST 16, 2007 - ENJOY!)

Being pregnant is scary. It's funny that you never think about that when you are trying to get pregnant. I have been to the hospital twice this week. I went in Tuesday at 1am because of a horrible headache. They tell you that if anything is above and beyond normal, call the doctor. So while I was there, the headache was no big deal but the contractions I was having were. Unfortunately, I could not feel the contractions. Tuesday, I decided to go to work and got a call from my doctor and was told to go back to the hospital so they could monitor the contractions that I was not feeling. Things seem ok and they are a little worried about my blood pressure and hypertension problems. Its just scary that this was all happening and I didnt even know it and would not have known it had it not been for the very unimportant headache I was having.
Ultimately, the hard part is not being in control. I have very little control on what is happening inside me. I can control what I eat, working out, taking it easy, taking vitamins and that's about it! Everything else, God is doing inside of me. There is nothing I can do beyond that. I am seeing the doctor again today and I am a little worried about bed rest. It is hard to not stress when all I do is listen to people's stressors. So we'll see :-)

Current Inspiration On My Ipod

Kings of Leon  Only By The Night

The Fray  The Fray (Sophomore release)

Jon Foreman  Spring and Summer EP

Elida Young  2009 demos

Across The Universe  Soundtrack  (Beatles Tribute Movie)

Sufjan Stevens  Illinoise

Thom Yorke  The Eraser

Glen and Marketa  Once Soundtrack

Anneliese  Untitled EP

Radiohead  In Rainbows

Jaime Mulhern

I have a friend and her name is Jaime. She drives a vespa and is married to a great guy named David. Jaime loves people. She's an artist and I like that. She strives to be a person who cares and honors ALL people in every walk of life. She's an inspiring person. Ok, that's it. Just wanted people in my life who don't know Jaime to get to know her a little. 

You can go here for her site.

grace and peace,

Matt

Perspective

I have been following globalrichlist.com going on 6 years now. It always reminds me how blessed Adrienne and I really are. The perspective I've gained over the years from this site and others like it, has changed the way we live, spend, and talk about wealth. We (americans) have a very distorted view of wealth. For some reason we think we need more. 

For example, let me show you how rich I am ;). I am a music and arts pastor at a church and a part-time recording engineer/producer. Not really careers that are typically associated with being wealthy, but I think you would be surprised to learn that my wife and I are well into the top 1% money makers in the ENTIRE world. There are roughly 6 billion people less fortunate than my family when it comes to income.

My purpose in this post is to share some perspective. Please hear my heart. I'm not saying don't buy a nice house or a nice car. All I am encouraging you to do is think, "do i need this much?" or "can I do with less?" when considering where you spend your money. The beauty is we can do with less and with what is left over you can give to those less fortunate than you. Be reminded, those who are reading this post, yes, even you college student, are rich beyond most peoples wildest dreams. Let us pray that God would bring us perspective in this time in our history.

grace and peace,

Matt

Breathe Deeply

Below is a Thomas Merton prayer a friend sent me while I was going through an interesting time in my life. I encourage you to try it. It has ministered to me many times and I trust it has blessed my Father's heart. Be blessed! Grace and peace to you.

My Lord God,

I have no idea where I am going
I do not see the road ahead of me.
I cannot know for certain where it will end.

Nor do I really know myself,
And the fact that I think I am following
your will does not mean that I am
actually doing so.

But I believe that the desire to please
you does in fact please you.
And I hope that I have that desire in all
that I am doing.
And I know that if I do this, you
will lead me by the right road
though I may know nothing about it.

Therefore I will trust you always
though I may seem to be lost
and in the shadow of death, I will
not fear, for you are ever with me
and you will never leave me
to face my perils alone.

Close Proximity

Living in Condo's definately has it's ups, like not having to take care of a yard...not being responsible if the roof leaks...not paying a water bill...things like that. Right now I am stuck focusing on all the negatives. Matt and I have been having some issues with some renters that live right across the sidewalk from us. They happen to be related to another family that lives two doors down from us so these two families pretty much live life outside between the two units. They yell at each other, not mad yelling but more like, hey!!!! Is Jake over there? No??? Have you seen him? What do you mean I left the TV on? Ge the idea? We get to listen to their lives. And the most noise tends to happen with them between 5pm and midnight. In the last month we have called the police twice on them, yes I have turned into that person. At 2am I would really rather be asleep than listening to them yell at each other. What gets me the most is that I wonder about these people and how they can live in such a way as to not take into consideration any of the people living around them. Do they think we cannot hear them? Do they think it doesn't bother us? It is a cultural thing? Unfortunately no one else around makes this much noise so they dont have anyone around that they have to listen to. I am just at a loss!