Baby Cox

This has been an incredible day! Ryan and I went in for our ultrasound and are thrilled to announce that we are going to have a healthy baby! Praise the LORD!! Here are a few fun shots for you to enjoy/decipher.
To be completely honest, lots of times the ultrasound technician would say things like, "oh, there's an arm" and I would cock my head to the right and really try to see that arm...but I had no idea what I was looking at. Check out the little praying arms in this pic! Ryan is such a professional. He was asking questions like "How do the kidney's look?" "Is that the left ventricle?" and "How's the level of amniotic fluid?" I, on the other hand, was asking questions like "Ooh, ooh, can we see the foot?" After the ultrasound I met with my doctor to hear her input on how the baby is doing. She said, "The baby is already 1 pound 2 ounces...which is the 90th percentile!" I said, "Is that good?" and she said "Yes, just big and we might consider moving your due date up a week!"
So there you go! Talk about healthy! Whew! Ryan and I are both pretty gigantic basketball playing-type people, so I'm not surprised that our baby is growing like a weed already!

on volume...

Those of you who know me probably know that my hair is not lacking in volume. It is, as one of my college roommates once noted, "far away from my head"

Ryan enjoys the crazy lion hair that I spend time taming each morning. Some days he just looks at it and smiles. Some mornings he reaches toward it and pats it nicely...as if it actually IS a lion.

Either way, its big...so when I saw this commercial it made me laugh a lot!

Enjoy!

Leadership isn't easy

The last few days have been difficult for a number of my friends at GCC. The last few months have been difficult for my dad and the leadership of Granger Community Church. I've watched my dad navigate a growing GCC through difficult waters throughout the last 23 years of my life, but the latest financial crisis and the process of 8 full time staff losing their jobs and another 15 people's hours being cut has taken a toll.
Dad worded it better than I ever could have, so I encourage you to take a look at this post from his blog to get some insight on the process from his perspective. www.markbeeson.com

"There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot...
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain...
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
I have seen the burden God has laid on men. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him. "
Ecclesiastes 3: 1-2, 5, 7, 10-14

our little cantaloupe

Week 21

Baby's Length: 6.5-7.0 in.

Baby's Weight: 10-13 oz.

Baby's Size: Cantaloupe

It is highly likely that 132 days from today Ryan and I will be welcoming our precious little cantaloupe into this crazy world. I can hardly believe it!

Less Clutter, Less Noise

My friend Kem wrote a book! I was one of the lucky few who got a first look at the chapters as she was writing them.

One of the things I love about Kem is her ability to maintain an outsider's perspective even though she is full time on staff at Granger Community Church. Kem is an inspiration to me. This book will be an inspiration to you. I highly recommend it!
You can pre-order your copy, and copies for 9 or 10 of your friends HERE.

Simply Sheila

I'm so proud of my mom! This video was made for the "Help Wanted, Surviving Tough Times" series at Granger. To watch it in context, check out last weekend's services HERE.

Advice

I thought this was a really nice letter from the Bush Girls to the Obama Girls:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Half-Way There!

I'm 20 weeks along and finally feeling really great again! Hooray!! It took about 17 weeks for me to get over the nauseousness...and I slept through most of Christmas Vacation...but other than that I've been feeling awesome!

Here I am...looking more preggo than ever.
The point...(thank you Angela)We have our ultrasound next Friday and we are not going to find out the sex of the baby...because we'll probably have a boy or a girl and we have the rest of our lives to know the sex. right? Who's with me?

On another note, onions and garlic are not my friend these days. I can smell them from 6 miles away...and if you've eaten either lately, I can smell your breath from here! Ahhhh!

My Dad the Blogger

This is a very proud moment in my life...because according to this study from Church Relevance my very own dad is officially one of the Top 60 most read Church Blogs in the world!

check out #52! MARK BEESON!!

The best thing about it is the fact that he was under the impression that no one but me ever read his blog! Haha!

Nice work dad! I'm really proud of you and your blogging!

Mom replies to teacher about homework

Dear Mrs. Jones,

I wish to clarify that I am not now, nor have I ever been, an exotic dancer. I work at Home Depot and I told Sarah how hectic it was last week before the blizzard hit. I told her we sold out every single shovel we had. Then I found one more in the back room, and several people were fighting over who would get it. Sarah's picture does NOT show me dancing around a pole. It's supposed to depict me selling the last snow shovel we had at Home Depot. From now on I will remember to check her homework more thoroughly before she turns it in.

Sincerely, Mrs. Smith