I Am Alive, I Am In Awe!

Each year on Oct. 20th, I set aside time to remember what Father has done for me and praise Him for his healing and faithfulness in my life. Five years ago, I was diagnosed with a brain tumor and on Oct. 20th 2003 I was admitted into the hospital to have the tumor removed. There are a lot of things I remember about that day… the drive to the hospital with my family, friends and family coming to the hospital to see me while the nurses were preparing me for surgery, the doctor shaving the side of my head, and going to the bathroom just to be alone to try to gain control of my emotions so that I did not lose it and make all those around me cry and worry as well. I remember being so scared but at the same time sensing Father’s grace and peace that morning. I felt His presence so near as they wheeled me away from my family and into the operating room.

Surgery went well and three days later, I was released from the hospital. What a miracle. When I think of all Father’s allowed me to do in the last five years I stand in awe of him. Before I had surgery, I journaled a lot and told Father that I wanted to live… I wanted to graduate from college, get married, live overseas, have a family someday, travel, etc. Father has given the desires of my heart and I praise Him for that.

Yesterday, we had our seven month doctor appointment. While laying on the examining table listening to my baby’s heart beat I got a little tearing eyed as I remembered laying on the operating table about to have surgery five years ago. It was a precious time of praising God for my own life and also for the life that is growing inside me.

We got to see our baby’s face at our appointment. How awesome is technology! What a great anniversary gift. They say his femur bone in pretty long and that we might be expecting a big boy. No wonder I’ve been feeling him move a lot. Marcus and I can’t wait to welcome Carson Alcadio Pedroza to the world in just a few short months and thank Father for another one of His miracles.

Being Creative and Saving Money

We found this cute wall decoration online that we really liked for our little boy's room. The only thing is the painting in $100, not including shipping. Yikes! Well, we decided that it looked easy enough to try to paint it on our own... so tonight we began our project. Here is us working on the decoration for our boy. I'll post pictures of the final project when it's done. By the way, we were able to by three canves, paint, brushes, etc. for $30. We are exited about saving money, just hope the final project is as cute as the orginial.

Sleep, TV, and Pizza- What a Great Holiday!

This week is our host country’s National Holiday which means for us a week and a half off from language school. We have really enjoyed this break. We’ve slept in, caught up on a few projects around the house, enjoyed afternoon naps, decorated for Fall, and had the chance to enjoy our favorite tv shows… We started the 4th season of The Office, finished the last season of Lost, and managed to through in a few episodes of Boston Legal into the mix. Even though we are out of school for the week, Marcus has stayed busy with his online Seminary class. He has 40 verses to memorize before his midterm next week. Yikes! We’ve needed this week to rest and recover. I told myself that after this holiday is over I would hit the books hard and really put in the effort to studying the language until we leave for Thailand in three months.

We’ve lived here for a year and a half and we were finally able to our first pizza delivered to our house (Note- when I say pizza I am not talking about Papa John or even Pizza Hut pizza. The pizza here isn’t bad just not American style pizza. Most of the time it’s lacking on the sauce or has no sauce.) We ordered a pepperoni pizza, but they were temporally out of pepperoni and being a little scared of the other meat selections we stuck with cheese, which was extra. When our door bell rang 30 minutes later we were excited, only to find to our amusement the pizza delivery is also somewhat lacking.

Oh Well, it made it to our house, I made some pizza dipping sauce, and we ate it and were content.