28 weeks

We had an interesting day yesterday. The day started well, with all the normal activities. I dropped Ryan off to play at my aunt's house, and my mom, Brandon and I got on the road to Abilene(about an hour drive away.) We were about five miles out when the van started feeling really funny to me. I was able to get the cruise turned off and start slowing down to pull over before sure enough, I heard a loud POP as I came to a stop. The front right tire was FLAT. Not good...
I had my first appointment within 30 minutes, my husband was an hour and a half away, my uncle, the only other person I could call, was at least that far away as well!! I wasn't about to attempt to change it on my own, even if I had a clue where/how to start!!! In the middle of trying to figure out what in the world we were going to do, a truck pulled up behind us. A man whose name I don't even know, stopped and changed it for us!!! It was so sweet! He said that he just hoped that someone would stop if his wife needed help. The Lord was so good to us, in protecting us and provided for us what we needed as soon as we needed it. I ended up making it my appointment only a couple minutes late. Steven took off work, drove that hour and a half to meet me to be there to get the tire fixed. I have an awesome husband!! It turned out that we didn't even have to get a new tire, just repair the two puncture holes in the old one. Yay!! Less money out of pocket and out of our emergency fund.

So, with that eventful start, I was able to go to my 28 week checkups and see how our baby is growing and developing!

Our littlest guy is weighing 2 lbs, 9 oz now! He's definitely getting stronger because he's kicking a LOT harder now! The neonatologist looked at his heart yesterday and said that there are no problems with his heart valves--they are both wide open and functioning properly!! We're so thankful for that news after all the Brandon had to go through with his heart procedure.

It was so sweet to see the baby on the sono. There was an awesome shot of his face. We could see him moving his mouth and making faces! Loved it!!!

I'm feeling pretty good considering it's the third trimester, and I'm getting bigger by the minute! :) Ryan and Brandon are keeping me much more active with this pregnancy which is probably helping me to have that little bit of extra energy that I usually don't have with my pregnancies.

We only have 10 weeks to go!!! My doctor said that we can schedule the delivery for as soon as July 21st. I can't believe it's that close already! I don't have a thing ready for him, except a closet full of diapers and nursing pads that I've been stashing away over the last few months. I have dressers to clean out and a garage sale to plan before I can start organizing baby clothes and blankets, etc. If I can get over this cold I have right now, I'm hoping to tackle a lot of the clearing out this week. We'll see!!!

I switch to having checkups every two weeks now, so I'll try to post after each one if I can. Maybe even more often than that if I'm not crazy busy!! :)

For David

The Sniper

The sun beat like a hammer, not a cloud was in the sky.

The mid-day air ran thick with dust; my throat was parched and dry.

With microphone clutched tight in hand and cameraman in tow,

I ducked beneath a fallen roof, surprised to hear "Stay low."

My eyes blinked several times before in shadow I could see,

The figure stretched across the rubble, several steps away from me.

He wore a cloak of burlap strips, all shades of gray and brown,

That hung in tatters till he seemed to melt into the ground.

He never turned his head or took his eye from off the scope,

But pointed through the broken wall and down the rocky slope.

"About eight hundred yards," he said, his whispered words concise,

Beneath the baggy jacket he is wearing a device.

A chill ran up my spine despite the swelter of the heat,

"You think he's going to set it off along the crowded street?

The sniper gave a weary sigh and said "I wouldn't doubt it,

Unless there's something this old gun and I can do about it."

A thunder clap, a tongue of flame, the still abruptly shattered:

While citizens that walked the street were just as quickly scattered.

Till only one remained, a body crumpled on the ground,

The threat to oh so many ended by a single round.

And yet the sniper had no cheer, no hint of any gloat,

Instead he took a logbook out and quietly he wrote.

"Hey I could put you on TV, that shot was quite a story!"

But he surprised me once again- "I got no wish for glory."

"Are you for real?" I asked in awe, "You don't want fame or credit?"

He looked at me with saddened eyes and said "You just don't get it.

"You see that shot-up length of wall, the one without a door?

Before a mortar hit it, it was a grocery store."

"But don't go thinking that to Bomb a store is all that cruel,

The rubble just across the street -it used to be a school.

The little kids played soccer in the field out by the road,"

His head hung low, they never ever thought a car would just explode.

"As bad as all this is though, it could be a whole lot worse,"

He swallowed hard; the words came from his mouth just like a curse.

"Today the fights on foreign land, on streets that aren't my own,"

"I'm here today 'cause if I fail, the next fights back at home."

"And I won't let my Safeway burn, my neighbors dead inside,

Don't want to get a call from school that says my daughter died;

I pray that not a one of them will know the things I see,

Nor have the work of terrorists etched in their memory."

"So you can keep your trophies and your fleeting bit of fame,

I don't care if I make the news, or if they speak my name."

He glanced toward the camera and his brow began to knot,

"If you're looking for a story, why not give this one a shot."

"Just tell the truth of what you see, without the slant or spin:

That most of us are OK and we're coming home again.

And why not tell our folks back home about the good we've done,

How when they see Americans, the kids come at a run."

You tell 'em what it means to folks here just to speak their mind,

Without the fear that that tyranny is just a step behind:

Describe the desert miles they walk in their first chance to vote,

Or ask a soldier if he's proud, I'm sure you'll get a quote."

He turned and slid the rifle in a drag bag thickly padded,

Then looked again with eyes of steel as quietly he added:

"And maybe just remind the few, if ill of us they speak,

That we are all that stands between the monsters and the weak.

- By Michael Marks