What's your vote?

Do you think we are having a boy or a girl? I just added a poll on our blog (top right) where you can vote on whether you think we are having a boy or girl. We should find out sometime in April so place your vote before then. What do you think it is?

Giving

Many nights at the dinner table we will ask each other, "What was your highlight today?" This has been a fun thing to do as a family and it can be pretty amusing to hear what the kids say. This morning was my highlight for today! We were getting ready to head to the grocery store and Carson asked if we could go to Walmart to buy a toy with his money from his wallet (somehow he had saved $32 in his wallet from past holidays). He also said he wanted to spend some of his money on his sisters. How could I turn this down!? I love seeing him enjoy giving, without having to be prompted or encouraged to do so. It was a beautiful site. So, Bryn quickly asked for accessories for her gift (such a girl!). So the girls got hats and a necklace and bracelet. Carson got himself a big truck that holds matchbox cars. I'm learning to really savor these sweet moments in the day!

12 weeks...and 28 to go!

I saw this on another blog and thought it would be fun to give monthly updates on my pregnancy with baby #4. I also think it will be fun for me to look back on this to remember different things about this pregnancy. I'm ready to move into the second trimester in hopes that my nausea will subside and I'll have a little more energy back! Here goes:

How far along: 12 weeks

Total weight gain/loss: gained a couple pounds (don't expect exact poundage, not sharing!)

Maternity clothes? not yet, but my smaller pants are folded and put up high in my closet...definitely getting into the bigger pants and stretchy waists

Stretch marks? no

Sleep: good aside from the bathroom breaks and I've had occasional headaches during the night

Best moment this week: Carson saying his "brother's birthday" is September 6th....oh, and getting about 4 to 5 inches of hair cut off!

Movement: no

Food Cravings: pickles...and I finally remembered to get some at the store...I think I need to go get one now...

Gender: not sure, the outnumbered men in the house are hoping for a boy but I gotta say, the pregnancy is more similar to my girl pregnancies so far...don't feel strongly though...

Name: we have a couple for each gender we are discussing, no decisions yet

Labor signs: no

Belly button in or out? in...not for long I have a feeling

What I miss: energy and mornings without nausea

Weekly wisdom: remember that all the discomfort of pregnancy is for a great reason...and it won't last forever!

Milestones: Hello second trimester!!!!

Snow Day

Myrtle Beach Trip

This week Jeremy, Carson and I headed to Myrtle Beach for 2 nights with Matt and Tara. The purpose of the trip was to look for housing for our Summer LINK group that will be in Myrtle Beach this summer. After much looking and meetings we believe we found housing that will work well for our group at Sea Mist in Central Myrtle Beach. They can house our students and our staff and our family. They also have a nice conference building for our meetings and many other amenities that will serve our purposes well. One of the highlights for our family is that they have a children's activity pool! I think we'll be spending a lot of time there this summer! We also got to spend some time with the church planting team in Carolina Forest. They are the reason we are headed to Myrtle Beach. We will be serving this new church to assist them in whatever they need to reach their community. They are a great group and we look forward to serving alongside them this summer.

Carson was a trooper so after a long first day we treated him to the Aquarium and he loved it!

Watching the stingrays

This was fascinating, seeing the saw fish right above our heads in the tunnel area. This was Carson's highlight!

This is the children's activity pool at Sea Mist (closed down for the winter but looks like so much fun!)

This is the conference center where we'll have our meetings

We are so thankful to the Finleys for watching Bryn and Lydia for 2 nights so we could go on this trip. What a blessing it is to have good friends to take care of our kids and love them like their own!

Welcome to the Chasteen House

Our kids were so wound up last night...oh these cold winter days make it hard to get all the energy out by bed time! Good thing they have a fun Daddy!

Durham visit

During our time in Durham Nana took us to a fun living museum for the morning and then to Chick-fil-A for lunch. We had a great morning and Leigh, Ava & Emet joined us too. We enjoyed getting time with them.

Lydia playing in the children's play area

Carson & Ava


Nana handing out some snacks

Ava, Carson & Bryn on the dinosaur

A little scandalous I know...we didn't pack bathing suits and it's a "must" to get in the whirlpool at Papa & Nana's house for the kids....so they just went in their skivvies:)

20/20 Collegiate Conference

This weekend was the annual 20/20 Collegiate Conference at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Jeremy had the honor of speaking at one of the break out seminars and I was glad I could be there with him and attend his seminar. We are thankful for Papa & Nana and their willingness to watch our kids so that we could be together for this conference. We were deeply encouraged and challenged by the speakers to love the gospel of Jesus Christ and to live in radical abandonment to it! Here are a few of the "take-aways" for me from the conference:

Matt Chandler spoke the first night and it was very powerful. He basically "explicitly" explained the gospel and did a phenomenal job! He said that many churches "assume that people know the gospel and don't ever make it explicit." He also said that many churches "teach sanctification as if it were justification and this creates a big problem." He explained the gospel in 2 ways:

1. The Gospel on the Ground - God, Man, Christ, Response (our individual invitation and response to the gospel)

2. The Gospel in the Air - Creation, Fall, Reconciliation, Redemption (God's redemptive plan of salvation from creation to the end)

He shared how vital it is that we understand the gospel from both vantage points.

I also really loved hearing briefly from Dr. David Nelson (one of my absolute favorite professors from our time at Southeastern). He read about the gospel from Ephesians chapter 1 and then closed by saying "do some forgetting about yourself and remember God." This may well become my daily message to myself!

Worth the read...

http//www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/01/AR2010020102067.html

I just read this article from the Washington Post written by a "pro-choice" woman regarding the Tim Tebow Ad to be played during the Superbowl tonight. I thought it was very interesting and worth the read.

Surprise!

Looks like we brought home a lifelong souvenir from our 10 year anniversary trip to the Dominican Republic! Baby #4 is on the way! We are excited and overwhelmed and thankful that the Lord would bless us with another precious life! I'm due September 6th.