Kicks!

We have a kicker!!!  I found out at week 19 that I have something called "anterior placenta", which I was told will make it harder to feel baby movement. It is like a pillow between baby's feet and my belly. So, 4 weeks later, I am so, so excited to be feeling baby move- finally!!! :-)
We also have big news- that we have decided on a name!! Our sweet boy is Beau Baxter Davidson. We have been calling him Beau for a few weeks now to test it out, and it stuck! It was between Beau, Judah and Micah, and while we still love those other names, they just didn't feel right. Every time we said Beau, it just felt natural!!! So we are thankful to have a name picked! We shared it with family first, and everyone was very positive!! The feedback we received was that it sounds strong. I like that!!
So, this lazy Sunday, I have spent a little time looking for a verse that I can pray specifically for Beau, and then maybe hang in his room as a reminder to continue to pray it for him. I am still looking, but here are some that I like:

Luke 2:40
And the Child grew and became strong in spirit, filled with wisdom; and the grace of God was upon Him.

Micah 6:8 “He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” 

1 Corinthians 16:13-14

Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.  Do everything in love.

Only 16 more weeks to go!!

Up and running!!

Not me, of course, but rather the blog!! Happy to be back!!

Being halfway through my first pregnancy, I thought it would be a great time to start blogging again. I will need a place to post pictures and stories of our little guy!

Be back soon!

CHRISTMAS CARD AMAZINGNESS

I wasn't going to send Christmas cards this year. Especially not the photo card kind. Way too expensive. Until, that is, sweet Laurin Boeving told me about this awesome deal from Shutterfly. If you have a blog, you get 50 free photo Christmas cards! And she said it actually worked and they came out great!
I was so excited about it, when I went on shutterfly to make our card, I started thinking about other possibilities for Christmas presents as well. They had these beautiful canvas wall art options, cute calendars, and then there's always the cheesy but fun mug you could make for the person who wants to see your face first thing in the morning with their cup of coffee. 
So, back to the Christmas card. Since Brian and I thought we weren't going to send a photo card, we had absolutely NO good pictures of us together- at all. The only pictures we had of us from the entire year were from one of 2 events- 1. the beach vacation. no make-up is never a good look for me, I promise., or 2. the day trip we took to Versailles, KY in the fall. yes, it was a beautiful fall day and we had cozy fall clothes on and gorgeous leaves all around. the only problem with pictures from that day is that I had a gimp eye for the weekend. seriously swollen. gross.
SOOO,,,, Brian and I decided to have a photo shoot this past Saturday. And, lucky for us, it was snowing. Perfect! So, what do you do for a photo shoot when you have no photographer and no tripod? You go out on your balcony, use your huge box that the Christmas tree came in, set up about 10 books on top, and set up the timer on your kodak easy share camera, of course. Oh, and you also move all of your patio furniture to one side and pile it up on top of each other. Then you use the other side of the balcony as your background, and you have to be sure to stand in front of the ugly garages so that all you see in the picture is beautiful, sparkly trees with snow on them :-). Unfortunately, you can't really see the snow in our pictures, but we tried. In fact, it was about 19 degrees outside that day. My sweater was actually short-sleeved, so at one point, I went in to get my leather jacket. When I came back to our studio outside, Brian said, "What? But we had the colors all perfect!" He was joking, but I knew he was hinting at what he really thought, so I oh so submissively said, "okayyyyy" and took off my jacket to stand in the 19 degree weather in short sleeves for another 40 shots or so. (Lesson learned for next time I am picking out a portrait outfit!)
So, when you see our beautiful (FREE) Christmas card from us this year, know that I was freezing, and the mailman who looked up at us in the middle of this process started snickering, but at least we were having fun! :-) Thanks. And Merry Christmas!  :-)

"Directing a Musical"

So... this past weekend, I went to a workshop which was called, "Directing a Musical." I was really excited to get some good practical info that will help me as I plan for this Spring's musical at school.  And I did get some good practical info from the morning part of the session- we learned things like how to hold effective auditions, how to pick a good musical, etc...
Before I tell you about the afternoon part of the session, let me tell you about the people putting on this workshop. The leader was a British lady who is a professional director. Then there were 2 professional actors. All of these people had done the whole NY thing, and then traveled around the country doing shows, etc.
And then there were 4 of us teachers attending.
Anyway, when Brian texted me at lunch to ask how it was going, I responded that it was going great! I was really enjoying it. Little did I know what the next activity was going to be.
Acting.
I can't do it. I don't know how. I don't even understand the mental capacity to be someone else outside of yourself.  It is so weird- like I have this huge block in my brain that won't let me pretend to be someone else.
So, the first acting exercise we have to do is a combat scene. Whatt??? So, the guy gets me to come up and I am supposed to lay on the ground and react as he pretends to kick me 4 times.  Then, he tells us to all act like we are getting shot. Then like someone is yanking our hair. Then like someone is banging our head against a wall. This was all sooooo much fun. And by that I mean it was stupid.
THEN we had to get in pairs and WRITE a scene (in 5 minutes) using ALL of these moves we had just done. Whattt? With dialogue and everything, you ask? Yes! And the woman I was with decided she wanted to do a scene where I had stole her man, so she is cussing me out and grabbing my hair. Yay.  I try to go along with it ( I CERTAINLY had NO ideas of how to write a combat scene) and act dramatic but ohhh... it was bad. Of course we had to come back in and perform it in front of the professionals. Fun.
THEN, the professional actor lady gets up to try something new with us. She wants to use the story of Robinhood as our basis, and each of us will be a character. I chose Friar Tuck, so I wouldn't have to cuss or be cussed out (hopefully). She wants us to stand up and start walking around the room- go to a corner and then back to the middle, to a different area of the room and back to the middle.  So, she starts telling us to breathe deeply as we walk and smell what we can. Then notice all the colors. Then think about how those colors make us feel. Then show on our body how the colors make us feel (Whaattt?) Then, as you walk, let one part of your body start leading you as you walk around. (The funniest ones in that activity were the people who let their heads lead them around- they looked like they were gonna plow into something :-) ) And then, she wanted us to let that walk become part of our character so we could really start to "feel" the character. And lastly, we were told to start talking as our character. So, 4 people were walking around the room with various body parts leading, talking to ourselves.
To my dramatic friends, this probably sounds fun. To someone who can't act and has to do this in front of professionals, or in front of anyone that is older than the age of 10, this is ummmmm... not fun. The feeling of embarrassment stayed with me all weekend. seriously.
So, I was thinking about it and wondering why the heck I couldn't just let it all go realize I will never see these people again.. I was wondering if insecurity is still as alive in me as it was in 7th grade?

What I have decided is that in certain facets of life, I have, by God's grace, overcome insecurities. For instance, singing in public. (Although not making the Sojourn band kkkinda hurt) But, I sing all day almost every day at school. It is my job- I love it - and I don't think what people say could really ever stop me singing.  Another insecurity that is gone- talking to strangers, meeting new people. This is something I feel pretty happy about doing these days. There is a certain point of "awkward..i don't want to do this.." that you just push through and it is so great a feeling to not listen to the fear.
But... apparently ( "well, obviously" as antoine would say) there is some insecurity that remains. I pray that the Lord makes this verse below more real to my heart everyday until I fear no man, but trust in Him in EVERYTHING- even looking stupid in front of people. :-)

"Fearing people is a dangerous trap, but trusting the Lord means safety." Proverbs 29:25


------------------------------>
I thought this post needed a picture, so this is a picture of me sitting on my couch, telling you this story. Thanks for listening :-)

Makes me smile... everytime

Sweet friends.

And more good porch times...

And then some Gatlinburg laughs...

Thank You Father. :-) 

Boredom= not that bad of a problem.... but still.....

Sooo, the past year here in Louisville has been super busy. I was working 3 part-time jobs to try to equal one full-time job, and it was crazy hours. I would get home in the evenings at 9:30pm after working all day.
And now, PRAISE the LORD, I have one job! Just one! And it is hard work, but it is a great fit for me. I have a lot that goes on after school, too- student choir, and 3 guitar glasses that I have just begun teaching. So, I am trying to get on this schedule (so far, so good...) of exercising right when I get home from school around 5pm.  So, I do that for 30-45 minutes, then make some dinner. But then....ummmm...nothing.
So here's a question. ... Since Brian is gone 4 evenings/nights a week, what should I do? I am trying to break the bad habit of just vegging on the couch, eating, and watching HGTV. As much as I love resting in that way, I don't want to spend 5 hours a night doing that.  I want to do something productive. Of course, some nights, there is cleaning/laundry to be done, but still, it doesn't take the whole evening.
I know once we have kids, this will not be an issue. But for now, any good ideas of how I can spend my evenings alone productively?

Time to remember

The last blog I posted was the day before my birthday in 2008. Now, we are approaching my birthday in 2010. A few minor life changes.

That weekend, on the front porch of the cabin in Blowing Rock, NC, Brian asked my dad if he could marry me. :-) My dad said yes, with his blessing!

So, here we are, married!! Praise the Lord! We are living in Louisville, Ky. I am once again a music teacher.  And happy about that for sure.

So, the brightest part of our lives in Louisville is getting to be part of Sojourn Community Church . What a blessing. Here is what it is to me- a church that I am so proud to be a part of, that I can't wait to go to each week, and that I am sad if I miss a service. I think the reasons behind that are:

1. The pastor's vulnerability.  He does not have everything figured out, and he knows it, and we know it. Beautifully, his humility and weakness exalts the strength of our Savior who empowers him (Daniel) to bring truth to us BOLDY, in wisdom and in power. It is fun to watch. And hear.
2. Musicians that are tearing it up for His Name's sake. It is fun, it is pointed towards, about Him, and it is a gift from Him. Here's one of my favorite musicians from the church, Brooks Ritter .
3. Gracious friends. Community that prays and cares.

So, all that to say we are thankful for this church. :-)

Louisville has been surprisingly charming. I really wasn't expecting it. But the cottage-like houses, the fall colors, the lush summers, the good coffee shops (Quills, Java, and of course, Brian's 2nd home, Sbux).... And I think since it is seminary culture, it is somewhat reminiscent of college days. Maybe not for me, but for Brian. So I get a little of it. One thing I nerdily love to do is meet him at the seminary cafeteria! haha.. Even though I usually don't know anyone in the room except him, it brings back memories of what a time of COMMUNITY that was in college. You go eat, and you always sat among friends. You always laughed together. Sometimes Erica would start food fights. One time Leah got a date to a function while she was sitting beside me. Larry Bounds might say something hilarious about whales and evolution and the emancipation proclamation.  Anyway... I am digressing. I like the feel of college and college things. So seminary is sentimental for me.

Ok, that is enough for my first post back! Let me know if you are out there reading this, cause I would love to start keeping up with it again.
Grace and peace to you tonight.