It's A......

BOY!!!

It feels like we are on cloud nine right now, and we’re loving the fact that we can now refer to our baby as a “him” and “our son.” This is all so exciting!!!!! It’s also fun because we’ve been starting to buy some baby clothes and get the nursery prepared. Lots and lots of fun things happening around our house lately!

Now for names….. we already knew the name if it was a girl. It was a done deal. We had pretty much NO boy names that we liked. So for days now, we’ve been reading baby name books, writing down names, saying them out loud, and going over all the ways that he could possibly be made fun of by other kids his own age because of what he was named. We’ve come up with about 3 different names and we hope to have it narrowed down soon. It would be nice to start calling our sweet baby boy by his name. =)

Here’s some recent ultrasound pics… isn’t he SO CUTE??? =)



Here’s how we made the announcement of the sex:

CFA Level 2 Results

(By Greg)

Well, August 18th has come and gone, D-Day for the CFA Level 2 test results!

I was very anxious to open up my envelope last night to reveal my results; however, it wasn't what I was hoping for and my heart sank--I did not pass!

I am pretty bummed about the results, but I am trusting in God's plan and knowing that this is what He has planned for me. Hindsight is 20/20, but looking back someday, we'll see the reason why it wasn't in His plans for me to pass Level 2 this year… It's just frustrating knowing how much time/effort was dedicated in the 5+ months leading up to the exam and 300+ hours of study time.

Unless God changes my course, I will sit again for Level 2 next June! I am having some doubts about continuing, but just because I didn't pass Level 2 of the most difficult exams in the world, God doesn't expect me to just give up and quit because of that--so I must press on!

MY PLAN was to get a pass on Level 2 yesterday, study the 6 months for Level 3 starting in January (due date January 1st) and be done with the CFA by June, when the baby is 6 months old. But, maybe a "review" of Level 2 and retaking it would be easier than starting fresh on Level 3 and I can spend more time with the baby! Only God knows the reasoning right now...

Even though I did not pass, thank you to everyone for your support and prayers these last 8+ months as I was preparing, taking the test, and awaiting the results.

"But these things I plan won't happen right away. Slowly, steadily, surely, the time approaches when the vision will be fulfilled. If it seems slow, do not despair, for these things will surely come to pass. Just be patient! They will not be overdue a single day!" (Habakkuk 2:3)

5 Years Ago Today……

...... we were married! And it has been 5 years of wedded bliss ever since – loving each other more and more than the day before. =)

“When as a child, I had daydreamed of a lifelong mate, my young heart was filled with love – toward whom? When I read love stories and imagined myself married, who was the object of my budding adoration? When I dated and learned to interact with the opposite sex and thought about a future with someone to love, about whom was I thinking? It was you. I didn’t even know you, but it had been you all along.”

Most of you already know “our story” – how we met, fell in love, got engaged, got married, and have now begun to start our family. For those of you who don’t, you can get a small glimpse of it from one of our older blog posts, here. But way back when, never in a million years, did we ever think that our lives would merge in such a way that we’d forever be together. In our almost 7-year relationship, 5 of those being married, we have been so overwhelmingly blessed. We consider ourselves so lucky and thank God every day for those blessings - especially since we can look around at many other couples our age and see how things COULD be for us. The Lord’s provision over our marriage and over our individual lives has been amazing – and what a gift for us to be having a baby soon! =)

So everyone keeps asking, “what kind of fun plans do you have for your 5th?” Well...... we originally hadn’t planned on doing anything on the actual day itself - we HAD planned on celebrating a couple of months late. We WERE supposed to be sailing on a cruise trip to Tahiti in October with Mom and Dad Kelly. But, since we got ourselves pregnant, the cruise lines don’t let women on that are more than 5 months pregnant, so Mom and Dad decided to just go without us! (no fair!) So plan B. Since we have to keep things a little more low-key and more hospital accessible because of the pregnancy, we’ll be going to California for a few days at the end of August. We plan on going to Disneyland, renting a convertible to head up the PCH to Malibu, head back down the PCH the other way to visit San Diego, do some fun sightseeing in the Los Angeles area, and definitely spend some much needed time on the beach.

Now, you are also probably wondering what gifts we got each other for this big milestone. Well...... we have some friends that get all caught up in the craziness of getting each other the “traditional” gift each year that coincides with the year they’ve been married, or even a gift in general. Basically, we don’t do gifts. Our “gift” to each other is to go somewhere nice on vacation. That’s a pretty nice gift, right? We like the memories, not the “stuff.” And besides, who wants wood on their 5-year anniversary? ;)

“With this ring, I thee wed, and I will keep you only unto me for as long as we both shall live.”

........ I have found the one whom my heart loves....... Song of Solomon 3:4

Greg’s 30th Birthday!

Friday, Greg turned the big 3-0!

The day started off just like any other day – or so Greg had originally thought. But little did he know that Jen had arranged other plans for his day (with his boss’ approval of course!) to swoop in, surprise him at his desk (boy was he sure surprised to look up and see Jen standing there!), kidnap him from work at lunchtime and take him away for the rest of the afternoon! We picnicked out at Garden of the Gods, took a leisurely drive around the park, and then headed home for a little nap before dinner. We went out for a fairly late dinner, and then came home to finish celebrating with dessert, presents, and a movie. His actual birthday was more private – it was just the two of us......

...... but last night, we celebrated with about 30 of our friends and family. Jen threw him a party that was a huge success - music, appetizers, cake, and a lot of fun to go with it! He made out with quite the loot, too! We partied fairly late into the evening and then went out for our “after party” to go do some midnight bowling with some friends and family. We had never done that before and it seemed like the perfect ending to the most perfect evening!

Check out the slideshow below for a few of the photos from Greg’s birthday weekend:

Cars, Weddings, Festivals, and Baby Updates

The days have been flying by lately, and sometimes we wish that time would just stand still for awhile. So much has been going on at once that we decided to cram it all into one blog post. This could take awhile, so grab a cup of coffee...... =)

Cars:
The time has come friends...... we have decided to put our vehicle up for sale. It’s something Jen has been contemplating doing since last summer, but finally got the initiative to do THIS summer. We’ve been a 3-car family for as long as we can remember, so being without that extra car for awhile will be a bit of a change for us - IF we can get it sold. (Jen is also going to miss that XM radio!) Our other cars are a bit older than this car, but as well as we’ve maintained them, they should be good to go for another 10 years or so! Anyways, we digress...... Why are we selling a perfectly good car, you ask? The reason is simple. Jen just gets the urge to get a new car every 3 years or so - she gets bored and wants something new. It’s a great car in excellent condition, and anyone would be lucky to own it. We’re praying it sells quickly so we can save up and put a nice sized down-payment on our next car! We have a few vehicles in mind, one that stands out more above the others, but we’ll let you know what we end up with. ;) We have it listed on Auto Trader. If you are interested in the information for yourself or for a friend, click here for the website.

Weddings:
As most of you know, Brian got married on July 26th. It was a beautiful day and a gorgeous wedding. We’ve never been to a more perfect/elegant wedding in all of our lives. It was so exquisite! Brian looked just as handsome as ever, and Becca looked absolutely stunning. The whole morning we spent choking back tears, and when we all saw Brian lose it when Becca walked down the aisle, none of us could hold them back any longer. (Yes, even the groomsmen all had tears in their eyes.) Becca did great though, she held it together the whole day! All of the pictures will eventually be ready and we hope to get a copy of them on a CD so we can post some of them later. For now, we’ll leave you in suspense. =)

Festivals:
This past Sunday, we went to the Renaissance Festival! We had a great time milling around, visiting the various booths and eating our much anticipated turkey legs for lunch. It was a fun experience that Jen and her family had never done before. Greg had been in the past, but he had more fun experiencing it with Jen. ;)

Baby Updates:
The monthly checkup went great today. Baby and Jen got a clean bill of health. (Jen is now almost 19 weeks along!) The heartbeat is still going strong too! At Jen’s doctor’s appointment today, her doctor said it was 150 beats per min. Wow! Go baby go! =) We get to find out the baby’s sex in a couple of weeks too. Exciting, huh? It will be nice to start calling the baby a “he” or a “she.” It will also be nice to settle a bet that’s been going on between Mom Kelly and Greg. ;)

Jen’s cravings thus far: Fruit (lots of it!), Bean Burrito’s from Taco Bell, and Starbucks Mocha’s on the rocks.

Jen’s aversions thus far: Homemade green salads (homemade being the key here)

Jen’s physical condition: Tired? Yes. Exhausted actually. Mostly in the early to late evenings. She also still isn’t very big and people ask her all the time if she’s sure she’s pregnant