Knit Together

"For you formed my inward parts;

you knitted me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.

Wonderful are your works;

my soul knows it very well.

My frame was not hidden from you,

when I was being made in secret,

intricately woven in the depths of the earth.

Your eyes saw my unformed substance;

in your book were written, every one of them,

the days that were formed for me,

when as yet there were none of them."

Psalm 139: 13-16

This verse resonated so powerfully with me today as we had our first glimpses of Baby B in our ultrasound. Thankfully everything looks great -- the baby is healthy and growing. We got to see him/her moving all around, hear the heartbeat and see the spine, brain, fingers, toes and just the whole sweet little baby.

I am so thankful to the Lord for the miracle that is life. It astounds me how at four or so inches the Lord has given our baby a heart that beats, a spine, kidneys, a functioning bladder and individual fingerprints. Can you just imagine God figuring out all the intricacies of putting together the first baby? It is the most unique process that no human could ever recreate in a lab with such perfection. Looking at our baby kicking around on the screen I was so full of awe at God for how he makes life. And in awe of the responsibility that he has given Rob and I to care for this precious life.

These pictures are a little small -- they looked bigger on our computer! But you get the idea. :)

Hello sweet baby b!

Healthcare + Indiana

Having spent two years in economic development I know more about the health of this state economically than I probably want to, but I can honestly say Indiana is a lot better off than our surrounding states as far as employment, foreign investment and economic growth. Most of that is due to the hard work of people like my former boss, local mayors and of course our governor, Mitch Daniels. I see him to be a fisically responsible and aware governor, making decisions that are best for the state and keeping the budget as balanced as possible.

Living in Bloomington has really opened my eyes to how much people hate him and why such a conservative state could go for Obama in the 2008 election. It saddens me frankly.

Anyways, all that to say I wanted to post Gov. Daniels' response to the recent health care law (this statement was written when it was still a bill) to show the incredibly negative impact this law will have on the great state of Indiana.

http://www.in.gov/portal/news_events/52671.htm

And to all my friends out there who are supportive of the health care law and the direction President Obama is taking this country feel free to post your comments and response to this. I would be happy to hear your thoughts and be happy to agree to disagree if it need be.

Orlando

I've been trying all week to get this post up, but when you only have one computer and your husband is using it for school work all the time, well, it's tough. But I'm so excited to have it now and to share with you about our spring break trip to Orlando last week.

We planned this trip around Christmas knowing that we wanted to get down to visit my cousins Kendall and Heather and their three boys, Rio, Mattias and Marco, who live in Orlando before we had a baby and also to take advantage of the program Disney has going on right now, Give A Day, Get A Day. Basically that program is you volunteer in your community for one day (or in our case only 4 hours) and you get a free one-day ticket to any Disney park. All we did was usher at an IU play one evening and we saved about $160 on the park admission ticket. Sweet! So it all worked out for us to go down there for five days and stay with my cousins.

Our trip was a wonderful mix of family time and resting time for us. Kendall and Heather were so hospitable to us and we felt like we just folded right into their family. The beginning of the week started out with some complications with Heather and two boys getting stuck in Boston on their way back from a ski trip (Kendall and Rio made it home) because they all fly standby on Jet Blue, the airline Kendall is a pilot for. So that was a big bummer, but thankfully they made it home safely on Tuesday night. For Rob and I Tuesday was kinda like playing house. We took Rio to school, picked up around the house, got Rio from school, took him to piano lessons, made dinner, helped with homework, etc. A normal day for them, a taste of what our life could be like someday for us.

Rob and Rio playing Stratego

Marco got this dinosaur book for his birthday complete with "life-sized" drawing of this lovely dinosaur jaw. (If you look closely you'll see the last snack this dinosaur had stuck in his teeth) Here Marco is pretending to be a dinosaur snack. Eaten in one bite!

The family celebrating Kendall's birthday on Wednesday night. The big 42!

Wednesday was our day at Disney and we chose to go to the Hollywood Studios park. The weather was not very nice (ironically it was warmer in Bloomington that day than in Orlando!) but we made the best of it. Also unfortunately there are rides pregnant women cannot go on (i.e. the best rides) so that was a bit of a bummer too. But we still had fun and did the Muppet 3D show, an American Idol show where real people actually sing and you vote for the best, The Great Movie Ride, a car stunt show and an Indiana Jones stunt show. It was a great day for us to hang out and just be together.

Starting off our day at Disney

3-D glasses anyone?

Waiting for the car stunt show to start.

The red car only went backwards because the driver was actually sitting in the trunk. Pretty cool how they did that.

First he hangs from the bag...

Then he rides away on his jet ski...what fun!

Next we went into Indiana Jones' world

Indiana Jones saves the day and the girl

Tower of Terror. Unfortunately I was not terrified...because I couldn't go on it... :(

This photo was after we ate a huge soft pretzel with lots of salt and mustard and an iced lemonade. I love Rob more than all that, but wow, that was good.

Friday it finally warmed up enough for us to go to the beach before we flew home Friday evening. I kept my sweatshirt on the whole time, but later I took my shorts off and had short tan lines (yuck!) so that proved that the sun was warm enough to tan. It was lovely though to be at the beach in March.

Ahh..a sweatshirt on the beach...

Overall we had a great week. We were so glad to connect with Kendall and Heather and get to know them better as well as watch them be parents. Now that we're going to be parents we're much more aware of how other people parent. It was great being in their home and truly seeing what great parents they are and what sweet little boys they have. We are so blessed to have such great family.

Love these little ones

Flying home...

On Saturday I traveled with my dear friend Jessie up to Grand Rapids for a bridal shower for our Taylor friend Amy Reid. She is getting married in May, and even though it was a lot of traveling for me, it was absolutely so worth it to spend time with her celebrating her upcoming marriage. Unfortunately I didn't take one picture of that whole weekend which is such a bummer! But we did have a great time, even if I don't have pictures to prove it. :)

Then on Monday it was back to work and real life, but we have pictures and memories and that is good. This week has been hard for both of us getting back into the swing of things and schoolwork piling up for Rob. I keep saying we only need to make it a few more weeks until he is done with his semester and I'm quitting my job and we're hanging out all summer long. Whew! Can't wait for those days. I'm grateful that the Lord is teaching me about contentment in this season, particularly in my job and I had a much better day today.

Well I'm off to hang out with Rob -- Thursday nights are kinda like our Friday nights since he is off on Fridays.

Spring

Spring is slowly coming to Indiana. On my walk earlier this week I spotted this friend...

Then, the past two days at work there's been a robin who comes to sit in the pine tree outside my window. I was so excited to see him the first time because you know when you see your first robin that spring has definitely come. He's such a cheerful fellow.

I'm so glad it is spring! There is always that feeling of triumph of making it through another winter and coming into the new warmth of spring. There's something even more special about this spring because I'm carrying new life and spring always means new life, things growing and unfurling.

Happy spring!

Announcing Baby B!

In case you've just tuned in, Baby B is short for Baby Bedinghaus. As in the tiny raspberry sized baby growing inside of me. Yup, we're having a baby! Our baby -- the Lord's precious gift to us that we are only beginning to comprehend and love.

Basically it started with some good soul searching and determining that we are never going to be in the place we think we should be to have a baby. Rob will be in school for what seems like forever, our debt is still there, we don't know when we'll own a house, etc., etc. Considering the biblical mandate God gives us to be fruitful and multiply we thought, well, lets go on an adventure and submit this to God and see what happens. That was around the end of December. I'm nine weeks along. You do the math. Obviously God decided it was our time!

Then we had some special mommy and daddy time and then there was this:

We had to get the one with words, just to make sure

Then there was a lot of jumping around and freaking out by us. And then we got to plan how to tell our families which was just the best because we knew this was going to be a huge surprise to them. In case you don't know, this baby will be the first grandchild on both sides so yea, you can imagine the reaction.

We were so thankful that the Yoder family ski trip got pushed back from January to mid-February (see previous post -- and about that, I actually didn't ski that weekend. Most of the photos are from my cousin Kristal. I had to make it seem like I did ski so no one would be suspicious! I apologize for any deception this may have caused) so we could tell everyone in person. We celebrated my mom's birthday that weekend so decided to wrap up this for her:

I wish we had that moment on camera when she figured it out. Priceless. More freaking out and crying ensued. Such a special moment though with my family being there.

She's going to be such a great grandma!

More freaking out came later on Sunday of that weekend when we stopped by Rob's family to tell them. Since Kayla (Rob's youngest sister) has a birthday right around when I'm due we thought we'd do the same doll idea and give it to her as an early, random birthday gift. Kayla loves random things so it was an easy sell.

When she finally figured out she was going to be an aunt there was more joyous celebration.

I went to the doctor today and everything looks good. He actually tried to find the heartbeat (apparently it's easy on skinny girls -- point for being skinny!) but no luck. That is not a cause for concern though because it is so early and he didn't expect to find it. I will have a real ultrasound on March 31st. I'm due the first week of October, we are not finding out what we're having and no, we're not sharing any names. :) You'll just have to wait to meet him or her!

Ahhh. It's almost uncomprehendable to me that this is my life now. That I am so deeply responsible for another life and one that is so tiny and fragile. It has been an amazing journey so far as I've walked through a miscarriage of a dear friend recently and now our own blessing. Bittersweet in some ways, but so rich too because I'm already starting to grasp how as a mother I am only going to be a steward of something that truly belongs to the Lord from before time began. My friend has helped me realize this and I feel her spirit and the connection we have helping me understand the frailty and preciousness of human life. There is no guarantee I will carry this baby to full-term, but oh I hope so. The hope and promise this child gives me is unbelievable and I desperately want to be it's mother for a very long time.

Thank you for sharing in our lives and our joy! Please pray for us as we continue to grasp what it means to be parents (do you ever really figure that out?!) and what it means to bring life into this world. We are thrilled at this adventure.