In His Grip

20 Weeks

2008-10-29T07:22:00.000-07:00

Here's our final ultrasounds! How do you like the peace sign that Baby Aiken is giving us! And the 3D is amazing...

I am having more good days than bad now so that is a huge improvement on the previous months. Now if it will just continue to be better days!

First pic of the belly

2008-10-06T14:15:00.000-07:00

Well, lots of you have been asking for a picture of the belly. It is really not that big yet, but here it is...we went apple picking on Sunday with some friends and then stopped at the pumpkin patch to see all the fun that was going on there.

16 Weeks

2008-09-25T06:54:00.000-07:00

Here is Baby Aiken at 16 weeks, the head is of course the huge thing that is quite apparent, then the knees are bent on the far right side, kind of under what looks like it's fingers. We do have one more ultrasound coming up at 20 weeks at which we could figure out what it is, but have decided to wait until the baby is born to find out if it is a boy or girl.

That's about it for now, I am feeling a bit better these last few days so maybe I am finally coming out of the nausea! I am definitely getting bigger, so we will try to post some pics of the growing belly sometime soon...

Baby Aiken is on it's way!

2008-09-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

We are very excited to announce that our family will be growing as Baby Aiken is due to arrive 15th of March! This has been the reason behind us having no posts on our blog because I have been really, really sick since the 5th week into the pregnancy. We are now at the 14th week and I still have the nausea and extreme tiredness. I had a 4 day time period last week where the nausea went away, but it came back yesterday. Yuck!

So here is the first ultrasound we had at week 9. We have one coming up at week 16 so the baby will be more formed and we will be able to see the arms and legs...it is so amazing to see the progression of how a baby grows from the moment of conception. God has truly been blowing us away with this process of growing our family!

My mom came out for 9 days, left this morning actually. It was wonderful to have her here to see our day to day lives and was a tremendous help being my chauffeur and cooking meals for us. What a blessing to have the best mom in the world!

We will keep you posted as the days pass, might not be too regular at adding things to the blog but know that we do continue to think of you all and would love to hear from you!

Been a while...

2008-07-22T09:52:00.001-07:00

Sorry it's been so long since posting...kinda a crazy summer around here. I did a quick trip to Kansas a couple weeks ago to spend some time with my friend Sara's family, they lost their father to cancer. It was so good to be able to be there for that time even though I had the worst airplane travel experiences of my life. I basically was delayed/cancelled and did not get there in time for the funeral but did get to spend time with them afterwards which was a blessing. Then on the way home from it my flight was delayed which then made me miss my connecting flight in Chicago, was put on another flight, that was cancelled, then on another flight that was cancelled until I finally made it to Hartford CT at 3 am in the morning! I was supposed to arrive at White Plains NY at 9 pm...what a headache but so worth it to see this family that we have known for most of my life and to see my parents who just happened to be there. They were doing a Kansas trip and had taken 3 weeks to drive out to Kansas and see their friends along the way. And the date of the funeral was the date that they were in our hometown. So it was wonderful to see them!

The rest of our weeks have been busy getting ready for camps coming up and normal everyday life. We are headed to Wyld Life camp, which is for middle schoolers, July 26-30. It will be crazy and fun...I'll try to post after we get back with some fun pictures and probably funnier quotes!

Hamptons Weekend

2008-06-26T18:55:00.000-07:00

We went out to the Hamptons this last weekend and stayed at my employers house with our Young Life committee. Our committee is three families that support and encourage us with the ministry in Norwalk, they share the vision to reach every kid, every where and are amazing people in our lives. We were able to be out there from Thursday night through Monday morning, with everyone else arriving Friday and most were gone by Sunday at noon. We had a great time enjoying the house and going to the beach as you can see below in the pictures.

Here's the strategy meeting in the works on Saturday morning...

The kids on the beach enjoying every second!

And me with Hester, their Cavalier King Charles Spaniel that is absolutely adorable and cuddly. We were dog sitting for them which was a lot of fun! The kids kept him busy running him all over the property, he slept for two days straight after they left.

New Roof

2008-06-18T19:43:00.000-07:00

We had a missions team come to our house today and put on a new roof! It was such an amazing humbling thing to happen to us. I have been on missions trips before and done stuff exactly like this (actually in South Dakota my sophmore year of high school) and had such a great time serving others. It is so different being on the receiving end of it. It was a group of high school and college guys from North Carolina. I was able to stop by and meet them during the day...they were so incredible. What a blessing!

Update pictures

2008-06-15T18:43:00.000-07:00

Whew, it has been a while since I've got anything on here, sorry for the long lapse! Here are some updated pics of what has been going on for us in the last few weeks.

We picked up Victor to take him to meet up with his friends for his senior prom. It was so exciting to see this guy we have been friends with for three years go to his senior prom. And on Tuesday he will be graduating!

On Memorial Day we got together at our friends' house, Justin and Nancy's to have some good food! Here's a shot of us girls after eating way to much...

Then about a week ago we were given a great armoir to put our tv and media equipement in. I told Brian that I feel all grown up with a real place to put our tv, rather than the table that I picked up off the street in New Jersey when I lived there!

Just last Thursday we went to do miniature golf with the our high school young life kids...quite the group to be with, always having a good time!

The girls were great, two had never played miniature golf, so it was an adverous night for them!

Pappa Aiken

2008-05-22T18:55:00.000-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since I last posted...Brian's dad went in for open heart surgery last week and that has taken a bit of our time! He came through it wonderfully. We all were there for the day of the surgery, Brian's mom, brother, sister-in-law and his dad's sister. A nurse that was in the operating room gave us a call every two hours to let us know what stage of the surgery he was at. It took a total of 10 hours. He was in the hospital until yesterday, he celebrated his birthday on Monday. Happy Birthday Pop! Below is a picture of us at a family camp for Young Life last fall, just so you all can get a picture of Kevin and Celine. We will get to visit him tonight at home. It is amazing how quickly the body recovers, we are definitely fearfully and wonderfully made! Each day we went in there was noticeable good changes in his recovery. And it will only get better. Thank you for all your prayers and please continue to pray for a speedy recovery.

California!

2008-05-15T19:11:00.000-07:00

We went to California this last week to celebrate quite a few things. My mom and sister graduated with their Masters Degrees in Biblical Counseling...congrats to both of you, what an accomplishment! And it was also Mother's Day, and my dad's 60th birthday coming up soon...actually today...so Happy Birthday Dad! And also my cousin got married in LA, so we were there for that and the little family reunion. Goodness, it was a busy weekend, but well worth the trip. We have been blessed to be able to go out to California 3 times in the last four months. So good to be able to spend time with the family and get to know my new brother-in-law Matt! So here are some pictures from the weekend...

Leadership last night

2008-04-27T14:34:00.000-07:00

Here's some pics from our Leadership group that meets a couple Saturdays a month. It is just a bunch of young people that get together for fellowship and learning more about our walk with God through life. Oh, and Mike Basile is the one in the picture at the top, Young Life has some hilarious skits and this was one. He ran a lyrics game show and had the whole room laughing.

Spring Break Campaigners

2008-04-18T18:21:00.001-07:00

The kids have the week off of school here so we took them to the Lacrosse game at one of the high schools then out to bowling. The guys started a contest that if you didn't get a strike you had to do 10 push ups. Bubba was saying at the end of the night that his arms were killing him because he had done more than 150!

It was a great group and we had some new kids join in...God is working here in Norwalk. We just have to pray for more girls in the group, only 4 were there tonight compared to 16 guys.

New York City

2008-04-14T16:15:00.000-07:00

We went into NYC this weekend to celebrate our 2nd anniversary.

Here's a shot of the Brooklyn Bridge behind us, we went to the South

Street Seaport and had some lunch before heading to the Body Exhibit.

That place was amazing, they have preserved bodies so that you can see

and learn about how everything works.

Below is a shot of the shopping area at the South Street Seaport.

Saturday evening we went to see In the Heights, a new

Broadway show about a Latino neighborhood in New York

City. It was excellent and fun to see a show together which we

hadn't done yet!

Of course we had to get a pint at the oldest pub in NYC,

McSorley's. They have two types, light or dark, and they come

in sets of two mugs. Quite the place, good for a guys night out...

On Sunday we just ran around the city, looking at shops

and enjoying the time. Here's us at Rockefeller Plaza,

we watched a couple get engaged on the ice! It was a

wonderful weekend away to spend time together.

Quilting like mad...

2008-04-10T16:06:00.001-07:00

Here's some pics of what has been taking up all of my extra time lately. I have some baby showers coming up and since I can make quilts and I love doing it (and love my friends!) I decided to learn some new tricks. I've never made a butterfly quilt before, but I think it turned out pretty good! I have to quilt it still but at least it is put together. The orange one I have to have done by the 18th of April so I have to be speedy with that one. It is fun because there are different types of materials, so the baby can have feel the difference...lots of fun!

Erin's 28th!

2008-04-08T06:25:00.001-07:00

Yikes, can't believe I am in my "late twenties". My birthday was yesterday and it was one of the best yet. I got an email from my employer late Sunday night and she said I got to sleep in super late...so I didn't call in to work until noon! So nice and my wonderful husband brought me breakfast in bed before he headed off to work. I got to go on a long walk and work on a baby quilt that I am making for a friend. It was like having an extra Saturday morning. God knew that little extra bit of time was exactly what I needed. Then I didn't even get to work until 2:30 so I only worked about 4 hours!

And I have to tell you all that the family I work for is the best...it was about 6 pm and Brian was on his way to pick me up and Sharon (the mom) and Jackson (12 yrs. old), come marching in the house like they were their own musical band. Now you kinda have to know Sharon to understand this, she has this character that makes everyone smile. She is always laughing and has passed that on to her kids. I guess Sharon and Jackson concocted this marching/birthday song on the way home from Jackson's physical. So in they come with Jackson carrying a yummy Baskin Robbins cake. So we had to wait for Brian to arrive to light candles and have some cake before dinner...the boys loved that!

Oh, if you don't know what I do for a job, I am a personal assistant to a family in the next town over from where we live. I have been with them for four years and almost feel like part of the family. They have three kids, Billy who is 16, Jackson who is 12 and Chelsea who is 19 and in college. I do all the things to keep the house, cars, travel arrangements, doctor visits, etc. running smoothly. I absolutely love it. I never have the same day and get to shop all the time!

Anyway, back to the birthday day. Brian took me out to my favorite restaurant, Barcelona. It is a tapas (Spanish for appetizers) place that is a bit expensive but we save it for the special days! You can basically order 5 or 6 different little dishes and it will feed two of you. It was yummy and fun to go out.

So that is it for my 28th birthday, it was a wonderful day spending time with people I love and being able to talk to my family as well!

Ministry Weekend

2008-04-02T13:33:00.000-07:00

Whew, it is Thursday already and I don't know where this week has gone! This last weekend we decided to call it a ministry weekend because we ran from one thing to the next, all the while making great contacts in the Norwalk area.

Friday night Brian spoke at a Teen night at a local church and we took our campaigner kids (small group/Bible study for high schoolers). It was a good night and we got to meet some Norwalk Community College students that ended up coming to our Leadership on Saturday night.

But before Saturday night we had a kid's community meeting at our pastor's house to talk over the kid's program at our church, which we are a part of in teaching the 1-5th graders once a month. It was a great time to catch up with all the people who work so hard at giving kids a look at who God is. Then we had a bit of time to clean the house before meeting up with the Chapman's who we haven't been able to spend time with for a while because Will is in police academy now and only home on the weekends. We had an early dinner with them and then went to Leadership, which is a twice a month thing that Young Life in our area has set up for young adults to have a place to worship, fellowship and learn how to be more effective in showing Christ to youth. We ended up having 5 new people from Norwalk, which is a record so far!

Then Sunday morning we went to the Nazarene church to meet the pastor there and get to know some more "Norwalkers". One of the things about being on YL staff is that you reach out to the area churches to get to know them and to also know where we can get kids involved if they feel more comfortable at a certain church.

So then after church we got ready to have our pastor and his family over for dinner. We went to a church baptism and then had a roast and potatoes...good old home cookin'! Always reminds me of Sunday lunch growing up because that is what we had and almost every weekend we had people over for lunch. So we got to enjoy some time with Thomas and Roxanne and their two adorable little girls.

All in all it was a wonderful weekend of building relationships in our town. Now we are back in the work week and getting ready for the next busy weekend!

All County Club

2008-03-25T17:36:00.000-07:00

A couple times a year we have an all county club. This last Thursday we had one and there was a record number of kids, 180! So we brought our kids from Norwalk, about 15. They had a blast dancing to the music and listening to Tim Vickers (metro-director of Ridgefield CT) talk about God and life.

Rachel's Wedding

2008-03-25T17:08:00.000-07:00

We went out to LA for Rachel and Matt's wedding a couple weeks ago. It was such a wonderful time being able to witness their union and see how they continually portray Christ in all of their actions. We are so blessed to have Matt in the family!

California was absolutely beautiful, we were able to wear flip flops for the first time in months! Connecticut has the perfect set of all four seasons, but toward the end of winter it is so nice to get away to some warmth. Brian and I took a drive out to Ventura beach and were literally blown away. There were 40-50 mile an hour winds, we couldn't take the camera outside the car because it would have been destroyed. We did get to see a kite boarder use some extreme skill out on the waves though, awesome to see!

Well, we are finally here!

2008-03-24T13:38:00.000-07:00

After much thought and a lot of time going by, we decided to start a blog for our family and friends to hear how our lives are running. We want this to be a page where we can catch everyone up on our lives and Young Life stuff that is going on because that is the majority of our time! Hope you enjoy and can keep in contact with us as we start this writing adventure!