20 weeks = 5 months

Hello friends. All I have to say is.........

Whoa! We're halfway there! Whooooooa, livin on a prayer!
- the poet, Jovi

Today is the halfway mark in my pregnancy. I am thrilled to be here but the thought of waiting 20 more weeks to hold Isaac stinks. I know he's not done cooking yet, but I'd love to snuggle him for just 10 minutes.

Needless to say, I haven't yet come down from the high of the ultrasound. There were so many answered prayers and "God" promises that came true last Saturday.

I am ashamed to put this into words, but God gave me a promise last year on December 16. I was in the throes of fertility drugs and frankly, depression. We had, at that point been trying since April to get pregnant and no matter how many times I charted, took my temperature, or took drugs, we could not conceive. I went to the bible needing a pick me up. I had every intention to find something comforting to read. By God's design, I ended up in 2 Kings,
chapter 4. This is the passage God gave me that night:

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One day Elisha came to Shunem, where there was a woman of influence, who urged him to dine with her. Afterward, whenever he passed by, he used to stop there to dine.
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So she said to her husband, "I know that he is a holy man of God. Since he visits us often,
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let us arrange a little room on the roof and furnish it for him with a bed, table, chair, and lamp, so that when he comes to us he can stay there."
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Sometime later Elisha arrived and stayed in the room overnight.
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Then he said to his servant Gehazi, "Call this Shunammite woman." He did so, and when she stood before Elisha,
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he told Gehazi, "Say to her, 'You have lavished all this care on us; what can we do for you? Can we say a good word for you to the king or to the commander of the army?'" She replied, "I am living among my own people."
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Later Elisha asked, "Can something be done for her?" "Yes!" Gehazi answered. "She has no son, and her husband is getting on in years."
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"Call her," said Elisha. When she had been called, and stood at the door,
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Elisha promised, "This time next year you will be holding a son in your arms." "Please, my lord," she protested, "you are a man of God; do not deceive your servant."
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Yet the woman conceived, and by the same time the following year, in the same season she had given birth to a son, as Elisha had promised.

This is one of those rare and special times that God spoke a promise to me through his word. I can relate to parts of this woman. It was very stirring that the woman reacted by asking Elisha not to deceive her. At that point I felt very deceived; by doctors, by my hopes, by my emotions and even by my own body. All my heart wanted was to conceive and bear a child and no matter how hard I tried I couldn't make it happen. Not that I have ever entertained any holy prophets in my home, but I felt that at that time, God was telling me to hold on and to know that my son was coming. I also felt that God was asking me how big my faith was. Ashamedly, it wasn't very big.

As you know we lost a baby in February of this year. It seems like a lifetime ago. I thought that pregnancy was the answer to my prayer. When it turned out to be another baby in glory, I was crushed. The scripture haunted me. I thought that maybe I had misunderstood, or just let emotion cause me to see what I wanted in those verses. My faith ran low. I was an Israelite. God put his promise in black and white and yet I doubted. Even when I found out that I was pregnant with Isaac, I cried and feared, even though God brought those verses to my mind time after time.

When I say that I always thought that this baby was a boy, this is why. God promised me a son and when I saw him on the ultrasound, I saw God's promise in the flesh. My Isaac, the boy whose name is laughter. And as my friend pointed out, even the title of my blog refers to laughter. And I believe that as we see God's promise fulfilled in 20 weeks time, that there will be much laughter and glory to God for giving me the desires of my heart through my son.

The control freak side of me is hoping that Isaac won't be here on or before December 16. That is too early. I am just hoping that God is using that as a symbol and not a concrete thing. But I know that God is going to take care of Isaac no matter when he decides to come out and greet us all. But God gave me a promise, and I am done with doubt.

Prayer Focus:

1) My angels - Isaac and Gurt, that God would continue to grow them and keep them healthy.

2) My great uncle, Kenneth Reed passed away last weekend. Pray for my great Aunt Leora as well as their children and grandchildren as they deal with his loss. Pray for comfort and strength in the days ahead.

3) My friend Miriam. She and her hubby and daughter are stationed in Guam. She is expecting a son a few weeks before Isaac. Her son may have hemophilia so she is VERY high risk and she has to come back to the states until she gives birth next January. I am thrilled that she is coming but this means that she and her daughter and soon-to-be son will be away from her husband for all but 2 weeks out of possibly the next year. Pray that her son will NOT have hemophilia and that God will comfort and protect them as they are making plans.

4) My cousin Danna- she ties the knot Saturday! Pray that God will bless her marriage and maybe even bless her with an Isaac of her own someday.

5) Ryland- he just locked the keys in our new Chrysler Pacifica. He is stressed. Pray that he gets someone to drive out here to the boon docks to let him in his new car or else I am going to make him ride a bike tomorrow. Okay- just kidding.

Love you all,
Mindy

Ultrasound Video

Turn off the music player and watch our ultrasound video. It is lengthy, but very fun! This is our boy in action. Enjoy!



Isaac Wade Russell from ryland russell on Vimeo.

Isaac's Pictures

My baby boy!

Here are some pictures of our beautiful boy. Our blog is now blue in honor of our coming son, Isaac Wade Russell. We will be adding video or at least a link as soon as we figure out how. We love you all, this has been one of the happiest days of our lives. Pray that as we are finding out Isaac's identity that God would keep bringing us closer to finding Gurt. We truly serve a great God who has blessed me beyond all I could ask for or imagine.

Love to you all,

Mindy

Drumroll Please!!!!

IT'S A BOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Look for pictures and video to come soon!

Quickie Update

The doctor's appointment today went great. My blood pressure was a perfect 120 over 80. Urine sample was perfect. This was my first appointment to gain weight, I am up 2 pounds in my pregnancy so far. Not bad for being nearly 5 months. My uterus is growing and we heard Tad's heartbeat loud and clear. Praise the Lord. I am thankful for a good report.

This weekend instead of doing productive things like cleaning my house or grading papers, I chose the bedding for Tad and Gurt's room and I started my baby registries at Target.com and Walmart.com. I am so excited to start putting together the nursery. I attached a picture so you can see my inspiration picture.

I love it! It is neutral, but totally cute. I think Tad and Gurt will look great in it.

I am also excited because my wonderful sis-in-law went to a baby consignment sale and bought a car seat & base, gliding rocker & ottoman, and several baby exercisers for us for dirt cheap. It is all really nice stuff that is going to be fun for our sweet kiddos to use. I love buying stuff for these two! I can't wait until we have faces and names to go with them!

Keep me and my two angels in your prayers.

Check in on Saturday - we'll find out Tad's sex!

Mindy

18 weeks and counting, thats 4 1/2 months for the non-pregnant readers

Hello all. Life is back in full swing again. New class. New year. New strains of the stomach flu. That's right. The good ole stomach flu. And if it isn't bad enough just to have it, I have had it twice, yes, two times in the last week. I called Dr. K's office because it makes me worry about little Tad. Dr. K's nurse told me that the baby is fine, your body builds up fat stores for times like that. But even at 4 and 1/2 months, it still scares me. I still have minutes where I am so scared to lose this baby. But again, the voice of fear is not of God and not what I will listen to.

Tad has started to occasionally kick me. Especially around meal time, which I am loving. It isn't all the time yet, but I am enjoying feeling those sweet little jerks in my belly.

I have an awesome class this year. They are such sweet kids. A little boy in my class told me today that he had noticed my belly but "you aren't supposed to ask girls if they are pregnant in case they are just chubby." It was cute. And I am chubby, just not usually this chubby.

We should be getting a new "Gurt" list next week. I have been really Gurt-sick lately. I have been thinking about Gurt so much. I am ready for that sweet kid to be here. We have so many fun days to look forward to.

I need to brag on my hubs. Ryland just booked Texas Super Summer for June of next year. This is his biggest gig to date and I am so incredibly proud. Tad and I will be going as "roadies" or baggage, whatever. We will just be glad to support Ry. I have a feeling that Ryland will have to make a lot more trips to Texas after they see how wonderful he is, which is fine by me.

We go back to see Dr. K next Monday (9/8), and we have our 3D ultrasound on Saturday (9/13). We finally get to give Tad a real name when we see his/her real face. I am so excited and I will post all of that fun information as soon as we know something. I can't wait to share it with you all.

Prayer Focus:
1) Pray that all of my sickness hasn't affected Tad. Pray that Tad continues to grow big and strong.
2) Pray for protection safety and good health for Gurt and that God will bring him to us when it is time.
3) Pray that my immune system is strong and that I don't burn up anymore of my sick leave.
4) Praise- for my wonderful new class.
5) Dr. K - a good report on Monday
6) 3D Ultrasound - that Tad shows his/her goodies to the camera. We need to know whether to buy baby dolls or footballs!
7) Ry- that God continues to prepare him for all the big things ahead.

I love you all- thanks for remembering us.

Mindy