2008 Wrap-up

It's hard to believe that 2008 has already come and gone. It's been a busy but great year for Lynda and I. One word that comes to mind to describe the year is "change." No I'm not referring to Obama and the campaign, but rather the changes we've been through this year on personal, professional, spiritual, and relational levels.

In 2008 we both went through job changes...I left my job as the only I.T. guy at a small company, which was starting to see major decline in business due to the economy, to join a larger company, with an I.T. dept. of a little over a dozen people. From the only guy on the team, to being a part of a team. Looking back at it now, I know the Lord had planned this not only for me, but for us, and for our well-being in the future.

In January '08 Lynda left the school she was teaching at due to some complications with her heart condition. In the summer, Lynda was offered a job with SCVCS, South Carolina Virtual Charter School. On a personal level, I feel that I've matured, and gained wisdom from the past year, from a variety of experiences, at work, at home, and even out on the golf course. "Never stop learning", is an expression I've always heard, and tried to adhere to, and this year was no different. Some of the old clichés hold a lot of truth and wisdom as I tried to apply a couple of them. The one that comes to mind right now is, "Stop and smell the roses." When on vacation, leave work where it should be, and enjoy the time with family and friends. We went to Virginia for Thanksgiving with Lynda's side of the family. It was a great weekend, and we both really enjoyed just being able to spend that time with the family. That trip also taught me a lesson on the golf course. Even if the weather is warmer than normal, the wind may make the difference, so a long-sleeve shirt goes best with a jacket. Christmas was a little different though. We have an on-call rotation schedule and I was, and still am, the lucky one for the week of Christmas until January 5th. It doesn't bother me though, because it was a week where I was able to work on projects, mostly, without interruption. I was off the 24th-27th for a nice 4 day weekend. We went to my parent's house to visit my side of the family for the 24th, and 25th. On the 26th we went to the Fort Mill area, where Lynda's parents have a retirement home, to visit them. They came down from PA, mostly due to the bad weather up North. While we were visiting with them on the 26th, I received a couple of e-mails, and messages about users who were trying to work from home. The day after Christmas, a company holiday, and people were working....they weren't stopping to smell those roses, and weren't taking a break... Throughout 2008, the Lord has shown, and taught both of us that faith requires action, and blessings come in all shapes, sizes, and forms. As I said earlier, in January '08 Lynda left the school she was teaching at due to some complications with her heart condition. We studied and prayed over a budget and with my salary we knew we'd be able to get by. There were times that were tighter than others, but through it all we never missed a payment, nor were we late on any of them. Our plan was simple, tithe first, save second,pay bills and buy food with the remainder. May sound crazy to some, but we did it until Lynda was offered a job with SCVCS, South Carolina Virtual Charter School. Faith, and blessing are what describe the first week of July. July 2nd, Lynda was offered a job, July 3rd - 8 months after we were married - we find out we are expecting a baby, and then of course July 4th. What a week it was! We weren't quite sure what to think, but we know that He is in control and will take care of us no matter what, and that we were being given something incredible, and totally unexpected.

We are reminded of how thankful we are for our friends and family when we go to Spartanburg, or wherever they may be and get to spend time with them. We are also thankful for a church that we've been going to, and becoming more involved with.

I've always heard the first year of marriage is the hardest. Maybe for some people it is...ours was great, but went by quickly though. Adjusting to living with someone isn't always easy, but it's definitely a great adventure, and something that I wouldn't trade for anything else in the world. Marriage is a great institution, and knowing our son is on the way makes it even better.

An update...sort of

As a follow up to last week...well almost 2 weeks now...it's been busy around our house to say the least. We've been getting ready for Christmas, with decorating, some shopping, etc. The upgrade went well that Saturday, but took longer than expected...normal in the I.T. world it seems. Also an update on the 28 week visit for Lynda. It went well and everything looks good. I must say though that Nathaniel has been quite active lately, kicking, stretching, and working out inside Lynda....there are days I can tell she's exhausted because of him, but we both know it's a great thing that he is so active. Well with Christmas around the corner I know it won't be long now until February comes, and then he'll be here...but I'm getting ahead of myself...well I'm off to take a random drug test here at work...fun stuff...

Crazy Week...

Lynda here writing today... It has been a crazy week. It started off rather normal with work and a church handbell Christmas party. However, things began to change on Tuesday night. During the middle of the night, while sound asleep (which is a rarity while pregnant) I was suddenly awoken my a 13 pound cat landing on my stomach! Ouch! At first I really didn't think anything about it (since I was still partially asleep) and I just went back to bed. When I woke up a few hours later, I was still in a lot of pain and began to worry. Once I told Jonathan what happened...he wasn't to happy with Bowman (our orange cat) and was concerned about me being in so much pain. We ended up calling the doctor's office and talking to the answering service, who then called my doctor (who was in a delivery) and we were instructed to head to the doctor's office immediately. After an exam, bloodwork, an ultrasound, and about 5 hours...everything looked ok, but I was taken out of work for the rest of the week and put on "bed rest". The pain has still been rough, but Nathaniel has been really active...which helps to put me at ease. The rest of the work week wasn't as restful as I had hoped...I can't wait to go part-time in January...or maybe I'll be at a new job! :) \ Today has been interesting as well. Jonathan had to go into work this morning at 7:30am to do an upgrade in the server room. Well, let's just say that things didn't go as they planned and now at 9:50pm he is just on his way home. Most women probably wouldn't mind a day alone to get things done...but it has just been so hard for me today. I love and cherish our Saturdays together and really struggled with him being gone all day. Part of it is probably just pregnancy hormones, but days like today really remind me how much I love him! Well, that's enough for today. Hopefully things will go better this next week. I go to the doctor for my 28 week check up on Wednesday...3rd trimester here I come!! I hope you all have a great week! :)

Welcome!!

Hello and Welcome to our first blog! Several people have asked us to create a blog to keep everyone up to date on our family, so here it is. We are excited to share with you all of our exciting adventures. Just a little bit about where we are at this time. We got married in November 2007 and currently live in Elgin, SC (just outside of Columbia). Lynda is currently teaching from home with the South Carolina Virtual Charter School and Jonathan just started a new position as a Network/Systems Admin with CSI in Columbia, SC. Now for the exciting stuff: for those of you who do not know already, we are expecting our first baby in February! This was a HUGE surprise to us as we found out that we were pregnant on our 8 month anniversary, but we are extremely excited! Our actual due date is March 2nd, but due to my heart condition we will be having a planned c-section sometime towards the end of February. We found out several weeks ago that we are having a little boy, Nathaniel Earl! Take a look at some of his first pictures:

These pictures are from our ultrasound at 12 weeks.

(Side View)

(Front View)

We hope you enjoyed our first post and hope that you will continue to follow us on our adventures in Elgin! We will post more pictures from Nathaniel's second ultrasound soon.