Too excited...

 So, for the few people who we haven't already blabbed the news to: We're FINALLY pregnant. Only four and half years in the making! Needless to say Jason and I are stoked. We're ten weeks now and so far so good. The morning sickness is NOTHING compared to what I had with Alisabeth, so we're thinking boy.

Our second new addition is Kidona. She's a 2011 Kia Sedona. We were going to wait another year to purchase (like when we had the baby and right before our trip down to Disneyland) but Jason's vehicle died and he starts school in a month so after searching Craigslist and other want ads for a beater car we could use for a year we decided to just suck it up and get the new car now so that we have reliability. Alisabeth loves her. In fact we had to scold her while we were test driving it because every other word out of her mouth was "Are we going to buy this one? We're going to buy this one right?" She even offered to pay for it with her allowance.
So all in all this has been a busy month! I turned 30, found out I was pregnant, got shingles, got better. Jason broke a car, fixed our house, put in the new garage door opener with our tax refund and then we bought a new car to put in it.
Alisabeth learned math and reading. Yes that's right. My four year old can do math 1+1-9 and 9+9 with everything in between. She's not 100% yet, but she's amazing. Her reading (when she tries) is also incredibly impressive. She got flashcards from Nana and has been flying through them with ease. She does them while she's eating lunch or breakfast. She's amazing to watch.

Also this week we were asked to speak in church. So I kindly gave Jason the option of going first or last and he chose first, no big deal. Well after ten minutes he sits back down. 10 minutes. In total we had 50 to speak. We were each supposed to use about 20-25 minutes. I cursed him solidly; luckily I was using a really really cool talk on the power of prayer as the basis for what I was speaking on. The speaker broke down the Lord's prayer in the New Testament and talked about each portion of it and how we can apply it to our own prayers and I easily filled the remaining time with his and my own experiences of when I have felt the hand of God in my life as a response to prayers. The coolest part was near the end. I shared two experiences where in the moment my prayers and the results felt like "failures" especially on my mission when I felt like we should go to a particular place and we were rejected more brutally than at any other time. Yet as my companion and I walked down the road and prepared to knock on yet another potentially hate-filled door I felt a strong and undeniable impression to leave immediately, that we were in danger. So we did. And as we sat shaking and fearful in our vehicle I couldn't help but wonder at the time what I had done wrong. As I spoke and shared this experience the Lord opened my mind and I realized that in that moment I learned two things: When it really mattered I could hear the Lord's 'voice' in my mind, and two he was there guiding us because he knew I needed to understand what his warnings felt like. What felt like a failure in the moment was actually the first step in an amazing journey as I have come to understand the spirit's whispers in my mind and heart.
Another cool note: there was a woman who came to visit our congregation. She doesn't believe like we do, but she thanked me profoundly for my words and said that they really touched her. My message that God wants us to communicate directly with Him, that He hears, and answers EVERY prayer, though maybe not the way we expect Him to really hit her.  . . and that's why I love to speak in church. :) Watching him work through me and get His message to His children is AWESOME!

Well, this was intended to be a quick note, now back to work! Thanks for reading!