Here we are already in the second week of February! Sometimes it seems like time is flying by...but most of the time it's slowly creeping as we count down the last weeks until we meet Baby Kaye. I'm officially in Week 32, getting bigger, slower, and achier as the days go by. I had my 31 Week appointment on Thursday, and the doctor said I'm "just like the textbook" in terms of my growth and progress. Just what we like to hear! I measure right on 31, show the right amount of weight gain, have good blood pressure and excellent baby movement, and baby's heart rate is 139. Thank You, Lord! We are also more and more glad that we don't know the gender and are SO excited for our little surprise bundle to arrive in several weeks!
Last Tuesday Kory and I made a whirlwind overnight trip to western PA, as Kory was speaking on campus for a Chick-fil-A recruiting event. We rode out with Kory's boss for the evening, and we then got to spend the night with my parents before leaving to come back to Reading in the morning. What a blessing! The info session had an awesome turnout, and Kory did a dynamite job representing the company (as well as his operator and an HR rep from corporate). It also allowed us to have a brief visit with some folks on campus, both administration and students, which was so refreshing and encouraging. It was fun getting to show off my huge baby belly, but I think I was also quite a spectacle--I'm not sure GCC students are used to seeing a pregnant lady on campus! We wish we could have visited longer (there are several people we didn't get to see in that short time), but we were thankful even for this brief opportunity to visit with so many dear people in our lives. It's hard to believe that the next time we visit the Grove (Lord-willing, for graduation) we will have a little one for everyone to meet!
This weekend we of course got hit by the crazy snow storm that swept across our region. We woke up to quite a winter wonderland Saturday morning, and Kory's boss called to let him know they wouldn't be opening Chick-fil-A at all that day--which gave Kory the day off!! What a huge blessing to have a snow day together right before he was to leave the next morning for a week in Atlanta. We cherished the day together...spending the first little bit watching some Chick-fil-A training DVD's (fun, fun!), and then playing games for the rest of the afternoon. Kory ventured out once the snow let up to borrow a shovel from the neighbors and to shovel our car (and theirs) out of the mountain of snow. After about 2 hours he came back rosy-cheeked and weary, but victorious in conquering the snow.
He found out in the midst of things that his Sunday morning flight to Atlanta was cancelled, so he got one re-scheduled for Monday morning--another huge blessing, getting one more day together before our week apart! We had such a great day, too, starting with a wonderful morning at church of fellowship, worship, and learning/being convicted from the Word. Then we were invited to a couple's house that evening to watch the Superbowl with a few other families, including our pastor and his family. What a blessed time! It was an exciting game (with less than mediocre commercials, sadly), and we were all glad to see the Saints get their first Superbowl win. Although I did feel bad for Peyton towards the end when he threw that interception...poor guy! We were also rather disappointed by the anticlimactic Tim Tebow commercial, which I thought could have been so much more powerful.
So this morning Kory left at 4:00am for the airport, and he'll be gone through Friday for training at corporate in Atlanta. It's a wonderful opportunity for him, as he'll be officially certified to do Grand Openings anywhere in the country after the week is over. He has also arranged to meet up with some people at corporate during his lunch breaks throughout the week, which will be a great time for them to get to know him better and for him perhaps to get a better idea of some realistic expectations concerning the next few years. It's going to be a difficult time apart for us, especially for me with all of my current heightened emotions, but we're praying the Lord will use it to grow us and strengthen our marriage. We're going to read and meditate on Ephesians 5 each night this week and hope to grow individually (and together) in our understanding of our roles as husband and wife.
I found out last week that I officially just have 2 more weeks of watching the kids. I definitely feel a mix of things, since it's a little earlier than we were originally planning on my finishing work before the baby comes. However, it's also quite a relief as it's been getting more challenging to meet their needs with my growing belly and exhaustion. I have also heard from other mothers that having a little bit of time off before the baby comes is really valuable, and I look forward to having several weeks to rest and to be able to really prepare for our coming little one. We trust the Lord to provide (as He has amazingly done since day 1 of our marriage!), and He's already shown us some huge ways He's going to provide for us in the next few months. He is so kind!
I'll definitely miss having the kids, and it's really neat to reflect on their growth since they've been here. They've grown in participating in our prayer time before each meal. Now instead of just repeating after me, a lot of times Jackson will add in his own prayers for Mommy and Daddy. Also, their mom recently told me that Jackson said at home "That's sinning!" Apparently she and the kids' dad just laughed and said "Oh, that's a Brittany thing." But it shows me that he is grasping truth and recognizing what sin is in everyday life!
Kory had a great teachable moment with Jackson on Friday, as well, when he (Jackson) was having a rather selfish moment insisting that his froggy was "MINE!" and refusing to share. Kory was able to share with him how everything we have belongs to God, and that frees us to loosen our grip on our possessions and share joyfully with others (he said all of this in 3-year-old terms, of course). It was then humorous as Kory explained to Jackson that if we're going to be selfish, technically the couch is ours, the table is ours, etc., and he told Jackson that he couldn't sit on KORY'S couch. I think it started to sink in a little bit as we watched the wheels turn in his little brain. Sydney of course picked right up on the lesson and ran over to me with a stuffed animal, big grin on her face, and said "Here, Bit-ny, me sharing!" We were just talking about this in our parenting Sunday School class on Sunday, too, about how important it is to teach things like this at a very early age--formative discipline, teaching our kids to think based on Biblical principles. Otherwise the world and our culture will gladly teach our kids to think for us!
Well, it's time to end this super-long post. Love from the Kayes!
BK
