Memorial Day Weekend

Hi all-

Giving you an update on baby's "first memorial day weekend." We've had a really busy last few weeks and a super busy weekend but we're finally getting around to posting!

We are slowly starting to accumulate stuff for baby. Last week I received an AMAZING present from one of my best friends, Kim. She got me into long distance running and has always been a great source of encouragement. This is the BOB Ironman jogger she got me!! The picture doesn't do this thing justice....it is amazing. I am so tempted to put a 15 pound weight in it, or put Brina in it and go for a run because I want to try it out!

Brian's parents were in town over Memorial Day weekend. I feel guilty because their "vacation" turned into a weekend of working around the clock doing home improvements in our house. They arrived on Saturday afternoon while I was at work and by the time I got home they were already busy working in the garden and painting our guest room and nursery! Here are some "before" and "after" pictures of the new nursery! The "before" shot is the room with primer and tape. And the "after" shot is the final product! Baby has a room! By the way....the room was not painted blue because we know baby is a boy....we chose a very light blue thinking it would work well for a boy or girl depending on how we decorate!

We also got lots of other work done around the house, like fixing an outlet, fixing our awful squeaky door, yard work, etc. Thanks to Mom and Dad Roelofs for all their help!

Baby kind of ran his/her first race this weekend as well! 2 years ago, Lyle, Brian and I ran a Memorial Day 5k and Lyle and I decided to do it again this year. 2 years I ago I won my age group in this race.....definitely did not happen this year being 4 months pregnant!! But it was still fun to run in a race again. Being pregnant is lots of fun...but I'm looking forward to running like a real person again.

That's about all from us for now. We're back into a busy work week and looking forward to the Ritsema parents coming next week! We also find out if baby is a boy or girl on Monday so we'll be sure to post then! Thanks for reading!

Zoom Zoom Zoom

Hi everyone!

We figured we owe you all some pictures since we haven't posted any for a while. We just don't have that much to photograph right now....that will change soon.

A brief update. We had yet another battle; us vs. house. This time we came out on top....slightly exhausted and worse for the wear but on top nonetheless. I started a load of laundry (1st of 5....don't know how we'll survive when we're washing things for a baby too), and went downstairs to change out my first load and stepped into the huge puddle that was our laundry room floor. Our theory is that when the sump pump stopped working and the basement flooded a few weeks back, it clogged the pipe leading out of the washing machine. So...all the water that went into the machine had nowhere to go and ended up pouring out on to the floor and all the loads of laundry waiting to be done. Brian got home later and we tried using the drain snake. We were snaking the drain, and Brian was laying on the wet floor with his head next to the pipe when all of a sudden a huge nasty clump of something fell out of the pipe. Then dirty water came flowing out on to the floor centimeters from Brian's face. Needless to say, the drain and pipe were clear- YAY- but the clean up of the laundry room wasn't quite as fun. But everything is in working order now and all my laundry got done.

We got a new car! Brian's Jetta kind of works....but won't start if it's raining, can't accelerate fast enough to get on the highway and has 2 windows that won't roll up. So we figured...time for a new car. We brought home the newest addition to our family on Tuesday morning. We're quite proud.

No pregnancy news. We'll find out June 1st if baby is a boy or a girl. Sometimes I think I feel him/her moving around, but it might just be my imagination. The doctors said women normally feel the baby between 16-20 weeks and I'm officially 17 weeks tomorrow so we'll see! Here is my 17 week pregnant shots!

Kind of showing.....not really...but kind of!

I'm definitely starting to need maternity clothes!

More Ramblings

Hi again everyone
Every night I get home and consider posting about my day but really nothing seems that thrilling when I actually sit down to write. But I'll give in tonight and give you an update on the last few days in the Roelofs house.

First of all- sorry for such a downer of a post last week. We did have a rough few weeks but I realize my post was somewhat depressing. I went to a homeless shelter and served breakfast the next morning with some people from church and instantly felt guilty about complaining about my life. I complained about my leaking roof....but I have a roof over my head. I complained about our car....but we have the resources to actually go get another. Really....I have nothing to complain about at all. Stepping outside the comfort of my wonderful life into the reality of the world around me really gave me some perspective. My goal for the next few weeks comes from Philippians 4....to be content in all circumstances.

It's been a busy week thus far. Brian is out of town in West Virginia on a retreat with his department at Hopkins. He had to present a poster and said it went really well. So Brin Dog and I are holding down the fort here in Maryland until he returns tomorrow. I spent the whole weekend and early this week getting ready for a huge presentation in my Greek exegesis class. This is my final capstone project for my year of Greek class and I chose to wrestle with the extremely difficult passage 1 Timothy 2:11-15 which deals extensively with women in church office. This is probably the one passage that directly speaks against women in office and even after extensive research, I'm not sure I can disagree with it. Granted it doesn't take into context the rest of the Biblical story, but this passage is pretty direct and it's been really eye opening to see that. So it will be interesting to continue my research.

No new news on Baby R. Still in there....still baking. I'm almost to week 16 and according to the pregnancy books, I should start feeling baby move soon. Sometimes I think I can feel him/her moving around, but it might just be me really wanting to feel it and imagining it. We'll go in for another ultrasound in 4 weeks and we'll be able to tell you all if it's a boy or girl. About 70% of the pants in my closet no longer fit....and I'll give in to maternity clothes sooner or later.

Well that's about it for now. Time for bed! We'll post more when interesting stuff happens! Hope you are all having a great week so far!