conference life

it's the first day at the conference, and i've been reminded of some interesting aspects of "conference" life.

• at any given time, there are a good number of people 1) socializing 2) using their laptops (we have free wireless) or 3) on their cellphones not attending the talks.
• in almost every presentation i've sat and watched i've found people 1) socializing 2) using their laptops and 3) sleeping.

all this leads me to wonder how much people are getting out of the conference and the presentations?

i did really like one thing that they've done at the conference. in the morning, there is an hour in which every presenter can give a 30 plug for their talk. it was from these "advertisements" that i picked which tracks i was going to.

letting go and letting God

i hate not being in control of things mostly because i'm a worrywart by nature. i can get myself very anxious and worked up about the worst possible scenarios. God is definitely refining me throughout this whole pregnancy process. never have i felt so out of control in my life, and it has caused me to worry a lot. i've worried mostly about miscarrying at various stages of my pregnancy b/c other women i known have miscarried in all trimesters.

this week has been especially hard for me b/c my friend's niece didn't feel the baby moving and eventually had to give birth to a stillborn child. :( i've been very anxious to feel our baby's movement this week and feel especially nervous when i don't feel it moving (which usually isn't a terribly long time period, but it feels like forever!). i'm also more nervous now about going to san jose for my conference b/c i'm afraid that something will happen while i'm gone. i know, i'm crazy!

the Lord has been kind and gracious with me, reminding me of His promises and comforting me throughout this time. the verse that He reminds me most of is psalm 139:16: "your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be." it's comforting to know that God has seen baby's unformed body and ordained ALL the days (however many) for it. and today, God gently reminded me of matthew 6:27, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?" i'm still working on completely letting go of my self-controling desire and anxiety, but i'm glad to see how God is working in me through this time.

surprise surprise

apparently i ran into lots of my friends that didn't know i was pregnant yesterday after lunch. it was kinda funny to hear and see the reactions.

angie: what?!?!?!

molly: oh my goodness! when did this happen!*
* i'm glad that she didn't ask how did it happen. :)

mary beth: i heard you might be pregnant. but i didn't want to assume until i saw you.*
* i think mary beth wanted to make sure i wasn't just getting fat and gaining weight. ;)

joshua: oh my goodness! what are you, 3 months pregnant?*
* i was very flattered to have him think that i was "tiny". ;)

and my favorite from gio.
gio: (mouth gaping open when he first saw me).
gio: oh my god! (said about 5-6 times in a row).
gio: so, how's it going?

birthday

this year, my birthday seemed to creep up on me -- yesterday i turned 28 (and for some of my friends it was a surprise to find out how old i was). :) i think it's been the traveling to california (twice in 4 weeks) that made the weeks seem to fly by.

my darling husband woke me up in the morning with tons of kisses, we went to church, had lunch, i took a nap, went to dinner, and had some friends over. it was a nice relaxing day with lots of sunshine. :)

i think at times it's hard for me to celebrate my birthday in recent years b/c there's this expectation to have this spectacular day. i get caught up in this hype and it can lead to disappointment i think. this year, i was determined just to enjoy the day and not have any expectations, and i think it helped me enjoy the day much better. :)

ugh....

today is a when-the-alarm-goes-off-roll-over-ask-nat-to-add-15-minutes-to-the-alarm-and-then-
wake-up-take-no-shower-and-go-to-work day. thank goodness it's friday!

california girl

in the past month, i've been to california two times. both times have been for a wedding but in different locations (LA and the bay area). next week i'll be back in the bay area again for a conference. this time it will be for a week. i'm not looking forward to this trip as much because nat won't be there, but i am looking forward to seeing my friends again. i'm also really not looking forward to traveling. the 4+ hours of air travel is a lot harder on my body these days. thankfully, this will be my last trip until thanksgiving (i think!). also, i'm thankful that i can rack up my frequent flyer miles too!

kids say the darndest things

we got to visit nat's best friend, joe, and family this past weekend. they put us up for a couple of days, and we had a great time with his wife, cindy, and two boys, ethan (5 yrs old) and lucas (2 yrs old). cindy asked us to put on lucas' shoes on sunday morning while she got ready. here is what took place:

me: lucas, come put on your shoes for church.
lucas: no! (runs away from me).
ethan: lucas! OBEY ramona!
me: (laughing) thanks ethan. i think i can handle this.

so just a couple of notes. (1) lucas is very sweet, and i think he was just very shy and anxious interacting with nat and i. so i don't think he was trying to defy me. (2) ethan is also very sweet. cindy told us that ethan loves to be in the authoritative role, so it tickled me silly to hear him say "OBEY ramona!". :)

oowie

this is my oowie that i got a few days ago. i used to be able to tip-toe, turn on the stove vent, and successfully clear a hot pan from my stomach. apparently, my new "girth" does not seem to let me have the same success as before. :)

back to work

today was my first day at work. i'm working as the food prep person in a local coffee shop, which means i make fruit cups, fruit parfaits, and sandwiches. :) (thank you, mullyboy's wife, for the job!)

i was really nervous about the job and had dreams the past couple of days where i was working and not doing anything right! fortunately, everything went well this morning except i couldn't make the sandwiches b/c the delivery guy didn't deliver everything we needed. i'm not exactly a sugar mama now, but i'm glad that i'll be contributing to our income a little bit! :)