28 weeks - Home Stretch

I haven't given an update on being pregnant in a LONG time. I'm currently 28 weeks and one day and feeling pretty awesome. Other than some minor aches and pains, I really can't complain about how I've been feeling. This little guy moves sooo much and is extra active whenever we're in the House of Prayer. I think he likes the music. We're hoping he grows up to be a lovesick worshipper of Jesus since he is spending so much womb time immersed in worship, and will get plenty of exposure to it once he's born as well.

This guy right here has seriously amazed me during this season. He is such a good husband, partner, friend, and coach! We're taking the Bradley Method for our birthing classes, which focuses a lot on the husband playing a major role in the pregnancy and birth, and he's taken it so seriously. He's been such an encouragement as I try to eat right, stay active, and get enough rest. He's always watching out for me and serving me. I really am amazed at the humility and Jesus-like characteristics I see coming out of my husband daily. Wow, I can't brag on him enough.

We've really enjoyed our Bradly Method classes. It's a pretty intense class, with 12 weeks of 2 hour sessions, weekly homework, and a protein rich diet to follow. Our instructor is the sister of a friend of ours and she's amazing. She has 3 kids and gave birth to 2 of them at the same birth center that I'm going to, she runs marathons in between each kid (yep, that's 26 miles folks) and she's a pilot by profession. How cool?! Jake and I are really excited about the teamwork and unity that come from giving birth using this method.

Some friends of mine also threw me a pretty amazing baby shower recently.

 Some of the tastiest food!! Seriously, if you haven't experimented with pumpkin hummus, you should definitely try it out. It was amazing!

 The mastermind :)

 "New Mum's Chair" So cute!

 Jake came to help open presents. After that we did a craft time where everyone designed some cute onesies for our little guy. I had to capture a picture of Jake sewing with the ladies.

 Nothing more inspiring than a craft table :)

 All the unique onesies.

 One of our favorites made by our neighbor who is also from Minnesota!

The party planning team. These ladies blessed me sooo much! They decorated with gourds and bow ties, embroidery hoops and mums, billy balls (my favorite flower) and bittersweet berries. It was an October-lover's dream party. They had a prayer time for me, wrote encouraging words in a book, and overall just blessed my socks off. I am in awe of how God has provided such an amazing group of friends for Jake and I.

Standing in the Night

We're coming to the end of our fourth week on staff here at Gateway, and our third week of being on the night schedule. Jake had a heart for the night watch after having some really powerful times with God in the wee hours of the night in a small house of prayer in Vienna, Austria. But it wasn't just because of a passion for the night that we decided to totally revamp our lifestyle and schedule. For Gateway to continue to be open 24-7, there obviously needs to be someone there at night. Most of the night watches are hard to keep staffed and usually it's only by one volunteer who is completely alone the entire time. Basically, we saw that these sleepy hours were where the greatest need was and felt ready, able and willing to fill it. So, what does that look like? We typically show up to the h.o.p. around 11 p.m. and have an hour "briefing" time with our team (aka, Jake, me and our friend Brittany and maybe one or two other zealous volunteers) which usually includes talking about the prayer topics for the evening and having a short devotional time. Then at midnight we head upstairs to the prayer room and get started. We break up the night into hour long intervals, 12-1 being a devo time, 1-2 intercession, 2-3 another devo time, and 3-4 another intercession set. We've been trying to hit the same topics every week, including sex trafficking, the persecuted church, college campuses, government, Israel, youth, and regional transformation etc. Sometimes we have live music, like in the above picture, but most of the time it looks like this:

 Mostly empty room with plenty of yawns :) It's been tough, but so good. My body has had a harder time transitioning and most nights I feel like the majority of my energy and focus is put toward staying awake and very little is left over to really press in to God. I know that in my weakness the Lord is still pleased with my feeble attempts, and my semi-coherent prayers are still heard by Him, but I am looking forward to a breakthrough in my energy level. I get excited thinking about what we're doing. We're getting to stand in the gap, and partner with God in prayer during the darkest hours of the night. It's a privilege to be able to join the prayer movement worldwide as our full-time job for this season. Before we started on staff, my heart would come alive when I heard a song written by Elizabeth Bedford who does the night watch down at the International House of Prayer in Kansas City.

Please don't ask me to stay as you draw away to pray

Count me worthy to see what you see

Why is your heart heavy and why do you tarry?

Acquaint me with what's going on on the inside

The lyrics are in reference to Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane in the middle of His darkest night as He stood alone. The thought of being able to stand with Him now, watching and praying and staying alert, is so exciting to me. I don't want to miss out on it!

Psalm 134

Behold, bless the Lord,

All you servants of the Lord,

Who by night stand in the house of the Lord!

Lift up your hands in the sanctuary,

and bless the Lord.

The Lord who made heaven and earth 

Bless you from Zion!

((If you want to listen to the night watch CD released by IHOP Kansas City, you can check it out here: http://ihopkcmusic.bandcamp.com/album/simple-devotion-worship-from-the-ihopkc-nightwatch))

It's time to Celebrate!

October celebration is in full swing ladies and gents. I never get to put as much time, effort, and energy into it as I'd like, but it's still fun to do those extra things that make this month memorable. We've had plenty of apple cider, did some fall decorating, and even went on a drive on some back roads for the sole purpose of gazing at wonderfully colored leaves. We're lovin' this time of year.

I spruced up the apartment with this white pumpkin, some mums, some cute gourds and corn, and even some burlap on our end table.

 We went on a hike with this sweet little one and had a drum jam at the look out point.

 Our hike ended at a fun petting zoo and "pretzel hut" where we ate pumpkin pie flavored ice cream!

Some friends of ours hosted a "pumpkin party" where everyone brought a food that had pumpkin in it. My personal fav was Jadah's savory dish of pumpkin stuffed shells! Yum!

And just the other day we spent the evening carving pumpkins with my nephews. Jake's had so much character.

The fun doesn't stop there either! Tomorrow Jake and I plan on having a picnic and then going on a hike to enjoy all the marvelous leaves. Sunday some friends of mine are throwing a baby shower for me and I happen to know that there will be some tasty fall treats. And, next weekend, we'll head on up to my family's cabin for the weekend. How lovely! This is shaping up to be a pretty good October indeed!

One Year

 First things first, has anyone noticed my cool new header!?! That, my friends, was made by the very talented Emily Stephenson. She is so creative, has an incredible eye, and her art really moves me. She was our photographer for our wedding, our teammate in Austria, and now the one who gave my blog a much needed face-lift. A big thank you goes to her, and a shout out that you all should check out her photography here at her blog.

Ok, now on to my update :) Back in the beginning of October, Jake and I celebrated our one year anniversary. Can you believe it?! We've been married a whole year. We did an overnight trip to Baltimore and had so much fun reminiscing about that beautiful day a year ago. We read through our guest books, looked at all our wedding pictures, and fondly remembered what a blast we had on our honeymoon. Baltimore was an ideal trip location, far enough that it seems special, but close enough that the drive was short and cheap. We went to a sweet museum, ate a fancy meal, meandered around the inner harbor and relaxed. It was lovely.

 Our cozy bed and breakfast room

 Jake eating some delicious mussels

 The harbor

 Quaint cobblestone streets

I think I'm 24 weeks in this bump picture. My belly has really grown over the last two weeks so it looks much different now.

I have all sorts of blog posts in my mind and things I need to update on, but I just don't seem to make enough time for it. Hopefully soon I can update on how life on the night watch is going, my attempts to celebrate October, and maybe more baby bump pictures.