Upcoming Events...and a baby milestone

We have some trips coming up soon! I am leaving this week for a few days in San Diego. My mom and I are taking a well-deserved break to indulge in some girl time. Spa day, the beach, fresh seafood...aaah! I can hardly wait! :-)

My trip is no biggie. I'll be gone for just 4 days. Nick is going on a much longer and more involved trip. He'll be traveling to Central America with his department at work! In a nutshell, they're going to help with computer issues both in our field offices and in at least one community. They'll be gone about 10 days. Nick leaves August 16th and comes home August 27th.



Nick's first stop is Guatemala and then they'll go to Nicaragua. As you can see from the map, they'll have to cross Honduras. If it's safe enough, they'll go through Honduras by bus, a 10 hour trip. If there is any unrest or anything that seems unsafe, they'll just fly to Nicaragua.

All three countries aren't especially dangerous, but there's certainly more danger there than most of the places we have traveled. However, after being in Iraq and in a warzone for an entire year, Nick isn't too worried. :-)

Still, I would ask for your prayers that Nick and his team have a safe trip. He'll be with a group of men, most of whom do a great deal of traveling and have a ton of experience in third world countries and rough areas.

Another item of prayer is that the team will accomplish a lot on this trip and that Nick's new boss will get to observe his skills in such a way that will benefit Nick moving forward. If the boss sees that Nick has much to offer our field offices, this will mean Nick gets to do a lot more traveling. This is a prospect that is really exciting for Nick and a big step forward in his career. So I'm really hoping and praying that Nick's boss will see how great Nick is and how much he can be a blessing in more of our fields. :-)

Thanks for praying!! I'll keep you updated on Nick's trip...

In other news, we've had a baby milestone (at least I think so!). :-) I can feel the baby move now! At first I wasn't sure that the funny flutters I was feeling was definitely the baby. But after about a week of movements, and much discussion from other mommies, this is definitely baby flutters! :-)

This is really exciting for me. The very first movements I felt was in the movie theater in the middle of watching Harry Potter: the Half-Blood Prince. So that's pretty funny. Maybe we have another little Harry Potter fan on our hands already. ;-) haha

I'm looking forward to the real kicks and punches that Nick will be able to feel too! I know he's excited for that time, but for now he seems to like rubbing my tummy which definitely seems more like a baby bump than just fat. :-)

People are starting to rub my belly, and notice that I really am pregnant. I was getting my eyebrows done at the salon and the technician commented to me that my belly was still sticking up while I was laying down, so she knew for sure I must be pregnant. :-)

So, all of these little things have been fun and definitely make the pregnancy seem much more real!! In just a few days I will be in my 5th month. I can hardly believe it.