Here are some pictures of our latest Memorial Day camping trip with Dad & Krista’s bible fellowship class. Yes, those are real monkeys in the Florida wild. They live next to Silver Springs.
As always, it is George’s tradition to get pulled over by law enforcement as some time during the weekend. We violated 4 different laws when we went boating the first day. Fortunately, they were nice enough to left us off with a warning. We had fun though!
We had our last checkup on Thursday. No, there are no ultrasound pictures to share. I was kinda hoping for an ultrasound because I was thinking we might be able to find out if they were boys or girls. I think I have become really spoiled by having had so many ultrasounds already. Our next ultrasound is on June 12th so I have nothing to complain about. In less than two weeks, I’ll know if I have little boys or little girls growing inside of my stomach. We did get to hear their heartbeats separately. The doctor was able to find both of them. Pretty cool!
Last week I was feeling great, but this week my indigestion has kicked back in full swing. Nothing seems to help so I will just have to depend on the Lord’s grace for the next five months! I am getting to that point where I’ve started wearing maternity pants. I’m not big enough to fit into the shirts yet, but I have been wearing the pants. I’ve posted some pictures that we’ve taken of my growing belly. My goal was to take a picture every week, but life has gotten busy and that hasn’t happened. The first picture is of my at around 8 weeks, then probably 12 weeks, and the last one was taken just a couple of days ago (15 weeks). My sister is enjoying the fact that my belly is growing big, while her belly is slimming down.
This past Tuesday we learned that our pastor, Forrest Pollock, and his 13 year old son, Preston, were killed in a plane crash in North Carolina. Needless to say, this news has devestated George and me, along with our entire Bell Shoals family and the surrounding community. You never even think about losing your pastor, but I also never thought it would have hit us so hard. Maybe if he wasn’t such a godly man, a loving husband and father, and so truly caring, then maybe it wouldn’t be so hard. Pastor leaves behind his wife, Dawn, and their five remaining children, Courtney, Brooke, Hope, Blake, and Kirk. The reason I give you their names is so you might lift them up in your prayers. I cannot even begin to imagine how their hearts are broken and how their lives have changed so quickly.
I honestly have to admit that beyond the passing of my two childhood dogs, I have been so very blessed to have not had any close relatives die. I have had a great grandmother and a great great uncle pass away, but I did not know them well. So this is the first death that I have really mourned over. George and I did not personally know Pastor Forrest, but we have spoken with him on occassion. The most recent that comes to mind is the camping trip that we were all on about a year ago with church. We got the chance to spend the day with his entire family. I have also been Courtney’s (their eldest daughter) Straight Up Weekend small group leader on two occassions. They are a precious family.
The most precious memory that I can share with you about our Pastor is when George and I shared a prayer request with the church about our miscarriage last November. About a week later, we received a copy of a book titled, “Safe in the Arms of God” by John MacArthur. Pastor Forrest took the time to write in the book on the first page: “To George and Lauren-I am praying for you during this time of grief. Please know you are loved.” It touched our hearts that a man who is in charge of a church of thousands would take the time to minister to us. He didn’t ask one of his church volunteers or pastors. While it may have only taken him less than a minute to write that note, we surely know that he spent time in prayer for our family. He cared because God cares. That’s the legacy that he leaves behind.
Many of you have visited the church and probably heard Pastor Forrest preach and you were blessed by it. Please keep his family and our church in your prayers. This was an extremely tragic and sudden event and our leaders definitely need the Lord’s wisdom. We have hope though because we know that our Pastor and his son are in heaven with the Lord.
Well, I have to say that yesterday was truly a humbling experience. George gave me a rose bush and a huge card that played Rascal Flatts (my favortie country artist) when it opens. He’s so funny because he gave it to me on Saturday evening. When he buys me stuff he gets so excited and ends up giving it to me a day early. I love him! That wasn’t the best part though.
The best part was finally being a mom on Mother’s Day. Last year’s Mother’s Day came and went and there was no baby. As we were singing about the Lord being the Beautiful One in church yesterday, I came to realize how blessed we are with our babies. The Lord’s beauty was still there throughout our trial of trying to have children and losing our first one. I can simply see it more clearly from this end of the valley. I shed some tears yesterday, but not because I was mourning for what we went without for so long. My heart broke for those Christian women who went to church yesterday with unfulfilled desires of children. I can’t explain the relief there is in being on the opposite side of that trial, but if anyone out there reading this is one of those women, please know that I prayed for you with such a sincere heart yesterday. I do not envy those women, but I certainly do have a lot of admiration for them. I can’t promise them a miracle, but I still wake up in awe everyday of the Lord’s blessing and goodness to us. No, this pregnancy has not been an easy one, but I am so grateful that through every trial, God has protected our babies.
If you know any women struggling with infertility, PRAY for them. They need your prayers more than you know. When you tell them you are praying for them, it is an even bigger encouragement. Your prayers have produced blessings in our lives and we are so appreciative.
The Lord has entrusted me with two little lives…what a blessing! Thank you, Lord.
I just want to say thank you to everyone who has been praying for us over the last couple of days. Yes, we did have a huge scare on Saturday night. We ended up in the emergency room because I had some bleeding. However, after an ultrasound the doctor concluded that everything was okay. I followed up with my OB this morning and we had another ultrasound. Overall everything is okay. The babies had strong heartbeats and appear very healthy. My placenta just happens to be covering my cervix, which in medical terms is known as previa. It’s not a huge deal at this point because I still have about five months for it to move itself. I’m heading back to work tomorrow (a tad disappointing). We really really do appreciate all of you who have been lifting up our babies. Keep praying, please! We love you guys.
We went in for our first official OB appointment yesterday. I have to admit that I have been very nervous because of prior circumstances. It’s still hard to believe sometimes that I am pregnant, especially with twins. Wow… So everything went great! The doctor said that since he probably wouldn’t be able to hear separate heartbeats we should go ahead and get an ultrasound. I guess there are some benefits of having a higher risk pregnancy. We got to see the babies and, my, they have grown. I think one of the things that blows me away about God, as our Creator, is that by looking at me you can’t tell I’m pregnant, yet, our babies already have all of their organs and they look like tiny little humans.
Baby A (I can’t wait to finally give them names other than a letter) is about 4.7 centimeters long and Baby B is 5.4 centimeters long. They are lying head to butt. (You can see all of this in the pictures)! We also found out that they are sharing the same placenta, but are separated by a membrane. Because they are sharing the same placenta, it puts them at a higher risk, but not at the highest risk. The membrane separating them is going to at least prevent them from getting wrapped around each other’s cords. The doctor is pretty positive they are identical twins. We also got to hear their heartbeats. They were both at about 160 beats per minute, which is good and normal.
As far as my health, I am feeling fairly well. I’ve had my bouts with nausea and the toilet (only once). The most pressing health issue has been my indigestion, which I had pretty bad before I got pregnant so I expected it to get worse. No, I am not huge, yet. I did feel some pulling at my sides this morning though, which means that the babies are growing and so I soon will no longer be able to fit into my clothes. Mom and I already went shopping for some maternity clothes, so I’m ready for when my tummy pops.
So I am 11 weeks pregnant and the due date is November 20th (George’s birthday). I think that is about all of the news we have to share right now. We’ll keep you updated as we find out more! Enjoy the pictures!
As I finishing up this post, I’m listening to the Christian music TV station and the song playing is called, “Thank You.” What an appropriate song to end so much waiting and praying! Thank you, Lord!
