Preparing

Summer has officially hit. We hit the upper 90's now and so travelling from A/C to hot car from store to store leaves me a sweating puddle. Nedda bulungi. Daniel and I decided to stay where we are right now on a month to month lease since we love the location, how low rent is which allows us to save, and to give it a shot. It's about 800 sq. feet, one bedroom, one bath etc. Space is kinda tight for us so Daniel and I have been super busy going through boxes and moving things into storage that we don't use right now in order to make more room for Baby Brantley. =) That has allowed me to unbox several things like the children's books I've collected over time from babysitting and such. The few items of clothes that we have are hanging up in the closet or put in the dresser. The nesting phase has seriously begun and I've been working hard to start and complete some projects to get them up and put away! It's been really fun to do projects again. I'll post pictures soon! 

Baby is at 31 weeks and as time draws nearer everything seems to become more and more real. We're going to have a baby. Real soon. Daniel and I continue to discuss baby names and meanings. I think we've somewhat have that narrowed down. But, I don't have my heart set on it yet because I know one of us just might change our minds again. Choosing your baby's names are completely different than naming your dog or bird. It's intimidating at times. We have like two months left and even if we pick names out for both sexes, well at the birth we might change our mind again. Who knows??! Baby is moving a lot these days. Less kicking and more moving-I suspect space is getting somewhat tight and limited in there. =)

Shopping trip!

As busy as we are lately (and that will continue for the next several weeks with family coming in town, baby shower, more rearranging and organizing, and shopping and, and, and...) Daniel has treated his wife out on a shopping trip to get a few more clothing items (amazing how quickly you outgrow things!) two weeks ago, bought me cheery flowers and this past Friday we went to the movie theater (we like "never" go to the movie theater, this is a big deal! =) and watched "Man of Steel", grabbed supper out at Don Pablo's, and shopped around and got the baby some sleepers and Daniel a pair of cool running shoes. He graciously helps out doing laundry, washing dirty dishes, cooking meals, and whatever else. He takes such great care and interest in providing for me and meeting my needs. So grateful to have Daniel as my number one supporter through this journey! Couldn't do this without his sweet love, encouragement, and listening ear. 

Joyful flowers!

Happy grins!

Pecan tree we HAD growing til Hammy came back!

We hit the ground running yesterday at the start of the week going to church, eating at Pei Wei with family (Caleb, Hope, and Winston!), crash at home for 40 minutes, off again to our birthing class in Hurst, and then to our Flock group. Daniel is out hauling hay today. Meanwhile I'm doing laundry, made ham quiche for breakfast, and will be taking off for the chiropractor, library, grocery shopping, and midwife appointment soon. I'll be dwelling on this encouraging verse today as I run around: My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. -Psalm 73:26. Happy Monday!

The Triples

This is coming in a bit late, but a week ago Saturday Jon and Emily Manning invited Kathryn and Layton, and Daniel to go rock climbing with them in Grapevine at Summit. They had a Groupon that needed to be used up-so why not? 

The Hinkle couple tackling the course

Sorry for the spots. Blah.

Emily trying her hand at rock climbin

The Hinkle couple again... =)

 Well, I receive a text from my mama (who was in NC at the time) asking what our Saturday afternoon agenda was and I told her we were out rock climbing. Her response? "You aren't right??!" Mine: "Yes. In a skirt." =) No rock climbing at 29 weeks. So I took pictures instead. I forgot to take a group picture. Dang it. So these will have to do. =( 

This was a hard one, but he made it to the top! Go Daniel!!! 

Daniel did great! 

It was fun. Thank you Jr. Mannings! Afterwards we all ate out together at Cheddar's. Yum. We definitely agreed to do it again sometime soon. We enjoyed the friendship, fellowship, and working out. 

Hope y'all have a great week. Daniel and I had a crazy, crazy weekend. It's going to last for about 8 more weeks. With our birthing class in Hurst for 12ish weeks on Sunday afternoon, it really makes our Sunday short. Or rather long depending on how you look at it. Too many hours of sitting in one day. Baby Brantley or mama don't like that too much. But that just means visiting Rachel (a great chiropractor!) on Mondays to get adjusted after I go swimming. =) Happy Monday!

Lists

 /lɪst/

Noun: Desire; inclination: "I have little list to write".

* wash dishes in kitchen * pack up one box * check e-mail * laundry * walk * 

update blog * finish Shutterfly project * trim nails * finish painting toes  

* organize fridge * write a letter * cut flowers * read Jeremiah three * drink 

three liters of water * cut and freeze mangoes/strawberries * 

One of my favorite flowers!*

I often attempt writing down lists for several reasons.

1.) Being pregnant seems to leave me on a blank slate lately and I forget what all I want to accomplish that day.

2.) I need little goals that keep me going.

3.) To cross off each thing on the list.

4.) To see what areas I need to put more effort in.

5.) And also, to get stuff done.

Does this always work? Unfortunately, the honest answer to that question is: No.

I'm sure by now, my sweet hubby is tired of seeing my random lists laying around the apartment [unfinished]. I know I am. Some days I only get two things marked off. Other days I get the whole list done. How come? 

Inconsistent

/ˌinkənˈsistənt/

Adjective: Not staying the same throughout.

Lately, it seems that God is gently reminding me through my pregnant, human self that I am [inconsistent].  Hm. That would also seem to imply that I am incompatible, conflicting, and contradictory at times too. See God is [none] of those things. 

Lamentations 3:22 & 23

The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

See? What a nugget of truth that is? This promise has led me to praise and worship God for who He is and for what He isn't. Unlike everything, everyone, or every place God is [unchanging]. God will not disappoint me in my time of need. There have been times when I have placed my hope in a person or place or thing only to end up being disappointed. Sometimes hurt. Praise God that He isn't like that. Rejoice in the small blessings and the big ones. 

My season is changing. I'm currently 27.5 weeks along with Baby Brantley. Daniel and I are researching places to move, I am off for the next few months from serving in the nursery room at church, I've already been married for eight months, growing what seems like everyday, and on and on it could go. There's a lot of unknowns. I try not to be daunted by facing the unknowns because I know in a short while, when the time comes I'll know exactly how everything played out and then, it will only be history from then on. 

Count your blessings. Enjoy today's moments. Cherish those around you. The seasons change too swiftly to try holding on too tightly. Make the most with what you have. Don't get caught up in the "must get done" list that you end up missing what's around you. Remember the story of Martha and Mary? Soak up the time you have. 

Mweraba

The pictures really don't do them justice!

*Sorry for the random flowers, but wanted to share a little bit of summer with y'all. =)

thoughts on now

Where do I begin? I haven't done anything to keep the blog going because I simply worked and coached when I returned back to the States from village life and didn't feel the need, the importance to post about such things. In short, I needed time to readjust living back home again. I loved my village life there. I loved the people and the ministry opportunities I was given. I was given the village name Nazziwa (it has no meaning, but I chose that for me to become the meaning). I wept a lot before I left Kubamitwe. I could not imagine what leaving it behind would look like. I cried a ton more when I got to Fort Worth. It was hard. I hurt. A lot of healing God had to do. I started the blogging world when I was preparing to leave for Uganda in 2010. Sad to say as I begun updating the blog again last week, I lost all my previous posts. All of them. I bawled. I managed to copy about 7 of the posts and perhaps I'll re-post them someday, but not now. Bittersweet. I changed my current location on here from Luweero to Fort Worth. It's little things like that that bring a flood of tears and waves of emotions. "To Africa and Beyond" will stay. I couldn't start all over with a new blog. That's where this has all started and now it will continue on with the life after village living. 

A lot has changed since my last entry. I have traveled approximately 70,272 miles since 2009 - the girl who use to content herself with the idea of staying in Texas. Bogus. After 6 months of being away from home and my boyfriend, I came back, started working, coaching Jr. Varsity volleyball (with my sister) for a home school program PT Warriors. What a very exciting year learning things together as a team. We traveled to Springfield, MO to play in a National tournament (the girls first tournament ever!!!) and got 2nd place! Least to say Kathryn and I were thrilled/proud of these girls and the opportunity we had to coach them. 

Daniel and I's relationship continued to grow. Someday, I'll have to go into detail about how we knew each other from childhood, but no way on earth would we ever end up... Well, married like we are now. =) On April 16th, of 2012 my sweet boyfriend sat me on a tree, told me (for the first time - even though I knew this way before with the twinkle in his eyes) that he loved me and also asked me to marry him! I said yes! Which was followed with a lot of "wows" as well. We had a ball being engaged together and walking through new things hand in hand. Our engagement was 5 months long and [I] was the one who ended up being impatient at waiting and always asking, "Tomorrow? Let's just do it tomorrow." On September 23rd, (yah, that hot 90 degree day) we joined together as husband and wife. Three weddings in my family in less than 2 years. Crazy good. Seven months of married life has been wonderful. I love having Daniel around and doing things together with my bestest friend and most of all being his lady. I love being a Brantley!

Since then Daniel and I have been quite the travelers. Now that Little B is coming it has helped us slow down and soak our time up. We are preparing for a family of 3. I can hardly believe we're nearly there. August 25th (although only 5% of babies actually arrive on their due date). I love seeing Daniel's sweet smile whenever he talks about Little B. The birthing classes begun last night (for 10 weeks!) and it was a blast! We laughed and learned together with 5 other couples which was fun. More on that later.

Sorry for the long post, but thanks for bearing with me. I knew this would be the hard one to write. Try to recap over the previous couple of years - too much. Til next time,  Mweraba