big changes

In the last three months since I claimed I was going to try to post a lot more and didn't (oops!), there certainly have been a lot of new big things happening. One is actually a little thing (at the moment)....a happy little feminine thing....

Two little somebodies like to pretend that they have babies in their tummies, and all because I actually do. Though we'd been hoping and praying for another baby for a number of months, the exact timing of this little one was a bit of a surprise, after experiencing a second miscarriage in November. The Lord has been so good to us. 

Somehow, we're 19 weeks along already. Last week was the big anatomy ultrasound when we all got to see her sweet profile and face for the first time.

We officially agreed on Gemma Grace's name about a month before she was born, and although we came up with Ruthie's first name fairly quickly, she didn't have a middle name until the hours after she made her debut. So, true to pattern, we're still taking our time coming up with a name we both love for daughter number 3, and once we do, we'll mostly likely keep it a surprise until she's born.

Where she will be born may well be a surprise even to us. Back in April John got the unexpected news from his superiors at work: you can't work from home anymore. What that means practically is that we are moving to the San Francisco Bay Area in a few short weeks. We're excited about this new adventure! We have several friends in the area we're looking forward to reconnecting with and I have to admit that I'm looking forward to California weather!! 

We love the East Coast, though, the freedom we've had to visit our families, and the simplicity of being only an overnight's drive away from the majority of the folks we love. Plus we have strong church ties here and honestly love our home and community on Cottage Lane. So, we're doing what we can not to sever those ties; plans are in place to rent our home out to a friend while we get the newlywed experience of renting an apartment which we never quite had! Hopefully it won't be terribly long before we're back here again, but in the meantime we have a cross-country road trip with two girlies and a bunny to get excited about. 

A new apartment, a new maternity practice and a new-to-us minivan are all in the works as of this week! We've already felt the help of the prayers of our friends and family in coming to decisions about these puzzle-pieces, and we appreciate further prayers for wisdom and patience with each other as we actually dive in to this journey.