Our family has been quite busy and I'm so excited to share some of the amazing things God has been doing for us lately!! We had a wonderful Spring Break last month. Our apartment was in need of some attention as well as some family time of togetherness. We got to do them both! Jonathan spent several days hanging pictures and curtains for me since NOTHING had been done other than unpacking back in January. My oh My how seminary and pregnancy can put a halt to interior decorating :). Each morning Jackson wakes up and plays in his bed for about 30 minutes...it's a great snooze for me. Each day when I go in his room to get him out of bed, he smiles and promptly says "Daddy"? Each morning I have to say, no, baby, he's at work, school, studying, etc. To his delightful surprise each morning of spring break he was answered with a big hug from Daddy. I think he was pretty thrilled to have us both home together for a little while. Later that week, Jonathan and I got to enjoy some major one on one time due to a sweet gift from our friends from church. Our friends Alondra and Gerald volunteered to watch Jackson overnight while we enjoyed a night out at the Hilton (dinner included) compliments of another friend, Bob. What a blessing for our friends to recognize our need to spend some time together. We have true family and community here in Dallas. God never fails to provide even when we do not ask!!
As the weeks continued Jackson got a pretty bad case of Croup. We called the doctor's office pretty early on and they were sure there was nothing we could do but let it run it's course. That's what we did for several days until some of his symptoms became worse. We took him to see the pediatrician not really expecting much except maybe some steroids to ease his struggle breathing and found out he had a double ear infection :(. We finally got some sleep a few nights later....all of us once the antibiotics set in. That was really the worse I've ever seen him feel and it was heartbreaking! Only several days later Jonathan came down with the full blown flu. It lasted over 2 weeks. I've never seen him feel that bad...well maybe except for the last time he caught the flu! It hit him over a weekend and our sweet friends Benji, Rebekah, and Caroline volunteered to take Jackson to a fun Easter Egg hunt to give Jonathan a break. Just another example of how God is taking great care of us here in Texas. Alondra was sweet to take Jackson the following day as well since Jonathan was barely making it out of bed. We kept expecting him to feel better the "next day" and it didn't seem to happen for yet another week. He missed lots of school and work but seems to have caught up pretty well so far.
This leads me to the next wonderful provision of the Lord's to share. Jonathan and I both felt several months ago that we wanted to attend a marriage conference called "Weekend to Remember" put on by Family Life (a division of Campus Crusades). Jonathan is extremely interested in pursuing a ministry in family and marriage and we felt like after 7 years it might be a good time to evaluate and enrich our own. We recognized, however, that the funds really weren't available...so we started praying. This is a huge area of lack of trust in my department. I'm very independent and like to think I can make thing happen on my own. Seeking out support isn't something I'm very comfortable with, however, I knew we both needed to pray about that option. Only a few days later, after Jonathan made a request during opening prayer in one of his classes, our trip was covered by 2 generous classmates. Both Jonathan and I were both a bit stunned. We shouldn't have been, but we were. Never should we be surprised that God hears us and meets our needs, even beyond our expectations.
Our parents paid a visit over Easter weekend and took Jackson home for a week so Jonathan and I could work a bit extra and attend the conference this past weekend. It was a wonderful experience that truly did enrich our relationship. We had a really nice time in Little Rock and were eager to get Jackson back on Monday. I think I missed him even more than usual since he had a relapse of his double ear infection while in TN :(. We are so blessed to have great family (Jackson's Momma Z, Pappa Z, Gran Pat, PopPaw, and Nana and Granddaddy all got turns hanging out with the little socialite.)
Hope this catches you up on most our news, except for one exciting part. I saved the best for last. We are looking forward to having a LITTLE GIRL!! I feel a little more validated knowing this VERY different pregnancy has had it's struggles thanks to some extra female hormones floating around!!! She is already doing flips and misshaping my tummy when she wants more space :). I don't remember feeling Jackson that much this early. Guess my muscles don't care as much this time about keeping a 6 pack. Ha Ha, I've NEVER had a six pack! The weird picture below is really a sweet one of Jackson "kissing the baby." I'm not sure how much of it he really understands, but he caught on pretty quickly that my growing abdomen was called baby. He kisses it every night before bed, before he kisses me!
Enjoy the pictures below. We enjoyed all the memories that made them!
Jackson and Cara with their Daddy's on Easter
Jackson dressed himself this day.
Sitting pretty in the Hilton Suite we had for the night.
Jackson wanted to help Daddy hang curtains.
