Where in the World I've Been!

It's crazy how time flies when you are so busy. I can't believe my last post was almost a month ago.

After camp we had about a week to recover before we flew out with 35 students to Ecuador for our first international mission trip with the youth group. It was a really great trip for our students! We worked with an orphanage called the Happiness Foundation and led a soccer camp and two Vacation Bible Schools at some nearby church plants. Everything went very smoothly, and the Lord blessed us with health and safety the entire week.

However, it was a really hard week for me physically. I was 13 weeks pregnant while we were there, and my body was exhausted. The week started with being awake at 3:00am to make it to the airport, waiting in the Atlanta airport for hours and hours, sitting on 2 planes for about 7 hours total, and finally getting to bed at about 2:00am. Almost a 24-hour day, and I had a nasty sinus infection brewing. By the end of day 1 (which was just getting to Ecuador), my body was totally zapped, and then it was near impossible to fully recover at an altitude of 14,000 feet. Despite all of that, it really was a great week, but I was very happy to finally be back home 8 days later.

Here are a few pictures from the trip:

So happy to be off airplanes and out of the airport!
Finally in Ecuador!

The kids at the orphanage really LOVED David!
A couple little girls painted his face. I love this
husband of mine.

Our VBS team and our translators with a few of the kiddos.

Some of our students hard at work on one of the houses
at the orphanage.

Stephanie, me, Hutch, Dawn and Chelsea at the top
of a really really tall mountain overlooking Quito.

The Basilica and my husband's goofy arm :)

Zip lining with this fun group!

I was 1 out of 4 in our group to balance an egg on the
equator. I was pretty pumped!

Two days after we got back from Ecuador, I celebrated my 26th birthday! It was a very relaxed day, and it started with a doctor's appointment where we got to hear our sweet baby's heartbeat for the second time! The heartbeat was at 160, which is on the high end. Some think this is a sign that Baby Street is going to be a girl! We'll see!

Waiting for the doctor to come in!

After our appointment we went downtown to a really yummy crepe stand, hit a couple flea markets, and headed home for a much-needed nap. Then we met up with my family for dinner at Olive Garden and headed to Bryan and Jenna's house for cake and presents.

Jenna bought Baby Street her/his first clothes, and I
was so so excited about it!

Can't wait to put our little one in these cute outfits!
Thanks Aunt Jenna and Uncle Bryan!

Hudson helping me blow out the candles

This past Sunday night we had an event with our 9th-12th grade called Senior High YOUNITE. We all went to the youth pastor's house for a good 'ole country evening. The girls brought picnic dinners that the guys bid on, and they ate dinner with the girl who brought that basket. We had a sno cone truck, line dancing, all sorts of games and competitions and finished off by watching a movie on the lawn.

Line dancing, bobbing for apples, egg toss, and
pie eating contest. Such a fun night!

My sister-in-law has been telling me about a "cabbage test" you can do to try and figure out the gender of your baby. Her mom knows 5 people who have done it, and it has been accurate for all 5 of them. So David and I decided to give it go. The test I looked up online said that you boil cabbage for 10 minutes, and then mix one part cabbage water to one part urine. If the water turns red or pink, that means it is a boy. If it turns purple, it's a girl...

Well, David and I thought the water looked purple. I sent this picture to Bryan and Jenna, and they said it looks pink. Which the picture does look different than it looked in real life. But honestly, it's just really hard to tell what color translucent water is, especially when pink and purple are pretty darn close. So after the test, we were just as in the dark as before we took it. So I guess we will wait and find out when we have our next ultrasound on August 28th! Just 4 weeks away!

I'll end with a picture I took last week to show my little baby bump that is finally growing!

It's little, but it's there!

I'm 16 weeks today, but David isn't here to take a picture of me, so I'll post that one later.

So THAT is what I've been up to this past month! Hopefully now that our summer schedule is over I can have some more time to sit down and blog. I've missed it!

"This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it."