Oh my prec!

Preciousness.  I wish I had my camera with me all the time when I was up north.  I met 5 brand new babies and several of my friends' older kids for the first time.  Silly me to not get any of them on camera!  Some of them did, so I'm hoping that slowly but surely I'll get some pictures.

I did, however, get pictures of my nieces and nephews.

surprised by lilies

gathering for Grandma's table

learning from Uncle Craig

getting the hang of it

sweet sassy molassy

bubblegum, bubblegum, in a dish

sweet cousins, matching bangs

intent on his next move

blessed to be family

Fine Lines and Acne

There is something I've noticed in the mirror lately.

Little tiny lines around my eyes.  No, not the ones when you smile - the ones that stay after you smile.  Also, huge honking zits, that keep showing up in the oddest places.  Teenage zits are respectable, they come in normal places, like your forehead and nose.  Late 20's zits? Totally unpredictable.  Farthest corner of my jaw?  Check.  Near my ear?  Check.  Inside my nose?  Really?  And yes, Check.

I've decided that if there is ever a book to be written about this stage of my life it has to be called "Fine Lines and Acne - Negotiating Your Late 20's/Early 30's."  Did anyone ever warn me about this?  I clearly wasn't listening.

There are many quirky things about this era.  I always thought that erm...shape shifting...would occur after I had babies.  I am now convinced that this happens regardless of babies.   Gray hair, curves, and fine lines all seem to be taking their rightful place on me.  I "can't eat what I used to."  Of course, I still do - but I am sure that somewhere 16 year old Abby is in shock at the hips on 28 year old Abigail.

Yet, I have a face that still fools people into believing I am in high school.  Ticket takers are rarely close enough to see these little lines creeping in on my face and those few stray gray hairs.  And today, when trying to wrangle my pre-haircut hair into something manageable, I came up with braids.  Two of them.  Surely there is a hairstyle out there that would make me look older than 14?  But do I want it?

You see I can't decide if I want to look older or younger.  I'm not wishing my youth away.  I still hope to be a blushing bride someday.  But I have no desire to be a teenager again.  Those days are gone.  (I wish the acne was too!)   My body clearly can't decide either.  Hence the fine lines.  And the acne.

Summer Stats

Well, since May, I have:

- Eaten about a million of the mangos mentioned in my last post.

- Added another year to my life.  28!?  Really?

- Decided to try to use proper capitalization again in my blog.  Stylistically, I liked all lowercase.  But, it might be time?

- Went through Partnership Development training (yes, 5 years into living as support based missionary - maybe a tad bit overdue?).

- Visited 5 billion potential rental houses, found one, and moved in - with my roommate Tara.

- Had the first moving day in 5 years where I didn't break down and cry!  Not once!  Praise God and the amazing team of people who helped us.  By NOON on moving day everything was out of our old house, kitchen was almost completely unpacked, beds were set up and made, living room finished and everyone was eating lunch.  I took a nap on moving day!  How awesome is that?

- Took a day away with God to focus my 28th year - He gave me a verse on His mercy - "He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." My prayer for this year is that I would understand God's mercy and be generous with it myself.  And that I would stop focusing all my efforts on the "righteous" things I think I'm doing!

- Spent a last hurrah day at Busch Gardens with my roommates as we went from a trio to a duo.

- Made cute baby things.

- Started really enjoying the new house.

- Started really disliking both of my neighbors dogs' barking.

- Given the communion/offering message twice - stood in amazement in how God provides the words I need, when I need them and somehow uses bumbly me to speak to other's hearts.

- Worked.  A lot.  Hard.  Cried with people.  Celebrated with them.  Crossed another name off my board as they went to the mission field.  Stood in anticipation of reports of the gospel being shared globally.

- Did a mini photo shoot to get a new picture for my prayer card.

- May have figured out what to do about all my little short hairs (re-growth from the hair that fell out last year due to stress, I kid you not)!

- Dressed like a cow to get free chicken.

(how cute is my preggo cow friend, Helen?)

- Discovered how deeply I love Mason jars.

- Became addicted to Pintrest. It's so helpful and fun!

- And most recently, decided to totally nerd-out and watch all the Harry Potter movies for the first time.  (I was never opposed to them and realized that someday if I read/watched and enjoyed them, I would kick myself for never seeing any of the movies on the big screen.  I would prefer to read first, but this time I'm going to have to do it the other way around.  I'm sure I'll still read them someday, probably when my kids read them.)

it's May...

and it is hot, hot, hot!   We've been rockin' 90+ degree temperatures daily for a while now and my struggling deodorant is proof.  I just spent a few minutes outside chatting with one of the ladies here at the mission and I am steamy mess right now.

What can I say though?  I love the sunshine.  It's a beautiful thing that I enjoy greatly (ahem...from indoors).

We chatted about house rentals (so hard to find the right one!) and the guilt we feel during our many moves (I've averaged at least 3 a year for the past 10 years) because we feel we shouldn't have so much stuff.  All the while I was blowing kisses with this pretty little pixie -

She was just a baby last year when she came through Orientation at the mission with her two big brothers.  It's a ball watching her bubbly personality shine through.  She's all bubbly, dainty, giggly, chatty, and a total ham.  

Something good is coming from all this hot, hot, hot too.  Can you spot them?

I'll give you a closer look - 

Mmmmm...it won't be too long now until they are ripe!  Do you know what they are?

it's a...

saturday i made almost 80 cake pops to help my friends Shane & Helen announce their baby's gender.  for two weeks i've carried the secret around, no one, including mom and dad-to-be knew.

so what would it be?  blue or purple?

BLUE!!

almost everyone, including Shane & Helen thought that the baby was going to be a little girl - so watching the shock on everyone's faces as they bit into the cake pops was so much fun.  it was so exciting to see everyone, from little kids to grandparents, get in on the excitement.

can't wait to meet you baby boy Kingery.  your aunt Kylee would have been so excited to meet you.  i hope you have a whole lot of her love and spunk.  (Shane is Kylee's brother).  

swamp boat

mom and dad were in town a few weeks ago.  during that time we decided to do a "swamp boat" tour on the everglades.  it was exciting for all of us, including me, since i don't often do the "touristy" things around here.

just on the boat - momma & her sister, my aunt marilyn

daddy & i after we took off.  the boats were loud - requiring our awesome headgear!

another boat with an unexpected ride-along!

(a funny bird is a pelican...his mouth can hold more than his belly-can!)

beautiful waterways we zoomed through!

our whole group - my parents, aunt, me, and two strangers!

and at the end of the trip we got our own visitor on our boat.  his feet were literally about 2 feet from mine - if that!

he made me a wee-bit nervous.

another part of me just wanted to pull on his stretchy neck - but i didn't think that would end so well!

baby shower

i threw a baby shower for my co-worker brittney a few weeks ago.  we had it just in time, their little girl, Ezra, was born 4 days later!

it was so much fun to host at my new place, crowded, but fun.  we had 15 people RSVP and almost 30 came!   good thing i tend to over prepare!

mommy-to-be getting food

 paper heart garlands!

 we painted onsies for baby lohman - who NMSI folks nicknamed "Bohman" because we didn't know the baby's name or gender!

"TWEE"  how cute is that?!  and yours truly made the blocks onsie. 

helen drew a treasure chest on the bottom of hers and labeled it, "precious booty inside!" and wrote "Treasured" on the front side.  

even the mommy made one!  (while looking amazing at 9 months pregnant!)

and finally, sweet Ezra Nichole after she made her appearance - in her "Love" onsie made by Beth!