Baby J Baby J!

It occurred to me that I have referred to Baby Williams as Baby J in previous blog posts and never explained myself. No "J" is not the name of Baby Williams, but it is his nickname for now. Adam and I finally decided on a name. Picking out a boy's name was much harder than I imagined. I guess growing up with girls something happened to where I only like girl names. It took us quite a bit to come up with a selection of boy names I liked for us to pick from.

That said, it has been picked and is at the tip of my tongue! I want to scream it as loud as i can. Oh wait, maybe I will being that none of you can hear me:). Adam and I have decided to keep Baby J's name under wraps until he is born. Then we will present to you Baby Williams with his name! I am horrible at keeping anything under wraps. I am way too open and loud to keep things to myself so this is difficult for me.

We are revealing that his name starts with a J and ends with an H and is from the Bible. Feel free to make your guesses! We will neither be able to confirm nor deny any of the names, but when Baby J is born and his name revealed, the winner will win the satisfaction of knowing they guessed the right name!

I am getting quite attached to calling this sweet baby "Baby J". I think I'm going to have a problem calling him his real name when he is born. I'm going to have to get over that as we can't someday have an eighteen year old son being called "Baby J" by his momma!

Happy Guessing!

D-Now Weekend!

This last weekend I left Adam instead of the other way around. Fret not dear friends! There was no fight! Our marriage is doing just fine:). I was a leader for the 10th grade girls at Disciple Now Weekend at our church. I have been a student at this numerous times in high school and have such great memories of it, but this was my first time to do anything with the youth here in ABQ.

I would like to make a SHOUT OUT to all my cypress girls because doing D- Now made me think of ya'll!!! I love Jenn, Claire, Sally, Lindsee, and the plethora of you other sweet girls! It would be fun to be a sophomore girl again JUST for a day so we could all hang out again. On another note, I am just fine being passed the confusing age of fifteen and dealing with high school boys and taking chemistry.

I was a little nervous about the weekend because I didn't know any of my girls. God blessed me so much because I got the absolute sweetest group of girls possible. I thought our group sessions would be like pulling teeth to get them to open up to me and to each other. Man, was I wrong. We had the opposite problem of not having time to get through all the questions because everyone had something to share. I love the vulnerability of these girls. My heart went out to them as they shared about real problems such as being made fun of at school for being virgins, liking school, or being nice to people. Everyone has to face this to a certain extent in public school, but I can honestly say I never faced the type of persecution these girls faced. I wanted to lay my hands on them and zap them with all the wisdom I have learned since high school. I wanted them desperately to not make as many stupid decisions as I did. I was only with them a weekend and I don't know if I had time to impart much to them besides my goofiness, but God worked in them. They all were drawn closer to him after the weekend, and it was such a blessing to watch!

After the weekend, I was TIRED. I wish there was another word to adequately describe how tired I was. D-Weekend reminded me that I'm not in high school anymore. I need sleep!! Baby J needs sleep! My husband needs me to sleep!

One of the games we played was a couch scavenger hunt where we transported a random couch all around ABQ and took photos with it at different locations. Well, I was wearing jeans, a t-shirt, and had my hair in a ponytail just like I always did in high school. Being around all the youngness, I was feeling pretty young. Later that night a slide show was made of all our photos. At first I couldn't find myself in any of the photos. Then I realized....I am the goofy looking pregnant lady! I so don't look like I'm in high school! It was a humbling experience:)

On another note, each and everyone can be praying that Adam and I would know if we are called to youth ministry. They need more leaders and both of us were told that we are needed. Please pray for our guidance and wisdom!

Hot Cocoa Anyone?

Today it's cold! I mean COLD! The type of cold where in the morning peeling back the sheet and the heavenly warm, down comforter is like throwing ice water on my face. I ask Adam every morning if he can please just stay in bed with me, and we could keep each other warm all day. Everyday he says he has to go to work. He gets up around six and then around 6:45 when I have finally just recovered the warmth lost from Adam getting out of bed, it is time to get ready for school. This morning after creeping out of bed. I do creep. Adam says I look like ET...you know, the alien. I was so ready to go to work. I was awake, my hair was fixed, and the bed had already grown cold so work better call!! Well, they didn't. That is why I'm sitting here curled up in a blanket reporting about the cold weather:).

As much as getting out of bed is truly a traumatic experience for me, I LOVE the cold! I am about to put chili in the crockpot for dinner, I plan on having at least one cup of hot cocoa today, and Adam looks so handsome in sweaters:). Now that it is cold there is a whole new bunch of cold weather recipes I need to try. I feel like cold weather makes me a better wife. When it is so hott, I struggle still making yummy meals or doing anything in the kitchen for too long.

I apologize to those in Texas who are not experiencing cold weather and quite frankly won't for a long time. We have a guest bedroom/Baby Williams' room. Come visit and we can make warm soup together!!

Belly Shots!

I don't know why it is so hard to get a photo of my tummy! I thought about it all the time but it was always when Adam was at work. Whenever he was home, neither one of us would remember to photo my belly! So I hope ya'll enjoy! I feel like the photo doesn't show how big I am! I feel huge! We have glass mirrors in our dining area, and I'll be walking around the house and turn and see the mirror and jump with a gasp in shock at my protruding belly! Adam always says "Em, your pregnant. Calm down". We will keep you updated with photos as I grow daily...it is crazy!

On another note, I have finally started substitute teaching!!! I was so tired of always getting up and ready in the AM and then not getting called. I was ready for the change!

I have worked so far with 8th and 2nd graders. I wasn't sure about middle school as I have never worked with middle schoolers. They weren't as awkward as I imagined. I actually really enjoyed them! I had to definitely be strict Mrs. Williams as they were ready to get out of doing their work as soon as possible. My favorite question was "are you you married?" When I responded indeed I was I heard them whispering "She is old enough to get married?" I thought can't they tell I'm old enough to be married and pregnant!?

Second grade so far is my favorite! They just want to please! Although as far as substitute teaching, 2nd grade is much more work, I just loved them. My favorite comment from them was "Mrs. Williams you smell like bubble gum". I guess it is a good smell because I had about three children trying to get unusually close to me to smell me all day!

Enjoy the belly shots sweet friends!

ERW