Growing by the minute!!

Today you can FOR SURE tell that I have a baby bump!! People are really starting to notice. They are starting to put their hand on my belly and say, "Awwww...you have a little baby bump!" I think it's awesome! There is a miracle growing inside of me!!

I felt the baby move for the first time on Tuesday night (Feb. 3rd). It was the coolest thing I have ever felt! It was around 3:00 a.m. I had to go to the bathroom (which is very common these days) and when I got back in bed and got settled I felt a little flutter on the left side of my stomach. At first, I thought it was just gas or something....but it did it a few more times. It finally dawned on me that it was the BABY!! It lasted just for a minute...but I layed there and ate up every second.

Tonight I am going to a Premier Jewelry party at Stephanie Ingram's house. I am pumped!! I love jewely! AND it will be fun to have a girl's night. F.Y.I - Stephanie Ingram is officially our baby's nanny!! She is going to keep our baby Tuesday - Thursday. She is soooo perfect for us! She lives only about 3 minutes away from us and we love her. Her and her husband, Seth, are in our Sunday School class. They have the cutest little boy named Ryan. We are soooo blessed to have them in our lives!

This weekend Luke and I will be in Conway. My home church (2nd Baptist) is having their annual Beast Feast. Luke and my dad go together every year. They LOVE it. They always have a special guest speaker and lots of prizes to give away. This year the grand prize is an RV!! I hope Luke wins it!! :-) I love camping!! They also have guns, bows, duck calls, 4-wheelers, etc for door prizes. We are going to stay until Sunday and just spend some quality time with my parents. We haven't really hung out with them since Christmas. :-(

"The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

T.G.I.F

This is me today! I love that I'm starting to show!! It still doesn't seem real that I have a baby inside me. I am so blessed! God has already given me the ability to love this baby so much. I never thought I could love another person this much...and I haven't even met them yet!


I am getting my hair cut tomorrow! I can't wait. I've needed one for about a month now (as Jessica H. tells me). I am going for the Victoria Beckham look (without the tatto on the neck). Here is an example.

We'll see how it goes! Well....I guess I better get some work done.


"In you, O Lord, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; deliver me in your righteousness." Psalm 30:1

Normal Thursday

Today has been pretty good. I went walking this morning in 26 degree weather. It was COOOOLD! I've been at work all day mainly working on Father Daughter Banquet stuff. This year's theme is going to be "Forever Daddy's Princess." It's going to be real cute. We are going to decorate in tiaras and real girly things.

I think I am going to go get some China on the Go after work today. I am CRAVING Chinese food right now. That place is soooo good. It's in Bryant...you should go try it.

Well...once again I really don't have anything spectacular to update. My life is pretty routine. Most days Luke and I go to work, come home, eat dinner, watch TV or read until bedtime. Haha! We sound soooooo boring! We really do have fun though. Like this weekend we are going to a Sunday School Super Bowl Party at Party Central! I'm so excited! AND...Saturday I am getting my hair cut! That'll be fun! *sarcasm*

I will end this post with an update on my pregnancy. I have been feeling kinda sick today. Just normal pregnant stuff. I am wearing a Bella Band for the first time today. I LOVE IT!! It's so comfortable! I'm at a frusterating point right now...my waist is getting too big to comfortably button my pants...but I'm a while away from maternity clothes. So...the Bella Band is a perfect solution at this point in pregnancy. It neatly hides your open fly and holds your pants up at the same time! AND, it just looks like you have a undershirt on under your clothes. Here is a picture of them!!

Here is just a cute picture of Luke and I lately. It was taken at a family reunion a few weeks ago.

Today has been so cold and wet! I was hoping to turn on the news this morning and Tom Brannon would say, "DON'T GET OUT ON THE ROADS TODAY!!!" Then I would be at home right now enjoying a restful day. Oh well...I'll get over it! I did have a fun lunch today with some friends. As some of you may know...Frances' birthday is tomorrow!! Me, Ashley, and Laurie took her to lunch at Colton's. Here is a picture of our cute little group.

In order (in the picture) it's Laurie, me, Frances, and Ashley. I work with these wonderful ladies' everyday!! I am so blessed!!

I feel so boring on here. I never have anything fun to update!! Just wait until I have a baby. I'm sure there will be a lot more updating coming from lukeandlaurawoodard.blogspot.com! I guess I could talk a little bit about how my pregnancy is going. Well....I am 13 weeks and 3 days along today. I have been feeling great! I get tired a lot though. I fall asleep on the couch about 7:30 everynight. Luke has to wake me up and tell me it's time to get into bed. I kinda feel bad b/c I feel like I'm always sleeping when he's home. :-( Oh well, I need all the sleep I can get before the baby gets here. My next dr's appointment is Feb. 9. We will probably find out what the gender is at the next appointment around March 8. We CANNOT WAIT to find out the gender! I am so ready to start preparing the little nursery and buying things for the baby. Luke and I went to Babies' R Us Saturday. I had to buy a gift for a friend, however, while we were there we looked at everything! It was so overwhelming!!! There is like a whole wall of pacifiers!! It's crazy! Luke especially liked the 2 & 3-in-one baby gear. Like the bassinet that can be a changing table and a pack-n-play. He thought that was really cool. LOL!

I am starting to show just a little bit. It's amazing how one day you look normal and then you wake up the next day and you have a littel bump. Here is a picture of me today.

See that bump!!! It's crazy! I feel like my belly is growing daily (including other things as well...haha). I'm just so darn hungry ALL THE TIME! I have hardly been sick at all. I am just the opposite...I want to eat all the time. Urrrr! Oh well...it's for the baby. However, I have been walking every morning for about 45 min. I'm proud of myself for that.

I think that's about all I have to say for now. Have a wonderful WARM week!

I cannot wait until Christmas this year! Me, Luke, my mom and dad are loading up the car and going to Memphis on Christmas Eve to see my brother and his family! I am so excited! Here are some pictures of my family at Thanksgiving.

My mom's side of the family at Thanksgiving.

That's Papa John and Caleb on the 4-wheeler. Caleb LOVED the 4-wheeler. He cried everytime they would pull him off of it. He is growing up so fast. He can say so many words now...and he is walking all over the place! Here is another picture of Caleb playing on the playground.

Here is another one of him....It's my FAVORITE!! He is at the apple orchard picking apples.

As some of you may have already heard....Luke and I are EXPECTING!! We are due August 3, 2009!! It still doesn't seem real to me yet. We go to the doctor tomorrow at 1:30. I think once I see the ultrasound and hear the heartbeat...it will feel real. I am only about 7 weeks and 4 days along. So, I've got a long road ahead of me. We are soooo excited though. We can't wait to see our new baby! Please pray for a healthy and safe pregnancy.

We found out that we were pregnant on December 2. I knew that something wasn't right. I was SOOOO tired during the Thanksgiving holiday, and there was no good reason to be. I went back to work that next week (Dec. 2) and could hardly function. I was dragging the whole day. So, Laurie Cox (the Preschool/Children's minister & my friend) said that we needed to go get a pregnancy test. So we went and got the test and went over to her house for me to take it. Sure enough, it was positive! I couldn't believe it. After freaking out for a little bit I went home to tell Luke. When I got home I wrote really big with chalk on the garage floor "HI DADDY!" Here is the picture I took.

I opened the door and asked him to come out and help me carry in some stuff from my car. He came out and just stared down at the floor for a minute. I was praying that he wouldn't freak out! He looked up at me with a HUGE smile and we hugged and jumped up and down. It was awesome! We are blessed and thankful! Praise the Lord!

FRESH START

As many of you know...I have a new job. I started working for First Baptist, Benton on Tuesday. I am the Preschool/Children's Ministry Assistant. I am sooooo excited about this new opportunity in my life. I really feel like the Lord has prepared and molded me for this for many years. I have been praying that God would give me a place to serve him in ministry. I have been doing things around the church that I feel God has gifted me in: children's choir, adult choir, and young adult ministry. But, I still felt like there was something else (something bigger) God had for me.

When I was in 11th grade, I surrendered to the ministry (at Super Summer). I had NO idea what or where God wanted me, but I knew that He had a plan for me....if I was obedient to His plan. Well....I went off to college (Ouachita) and got completly caught up in myself and serving ME. I lost focus. I took a detour. I never took God off my priority list completly...I just put him very low on that list. I have since then had a change. My heart has been broken. I have a new understanding of who God is in MY life.

A little over 2 years ago Luke and I got married and one of the first things we wanted to do was find a church home. It was very imporant to us that we find a place where we can fellowship with other believers our age. When we moved to Benton we visited First Baptist...and fell in love. First Baptist has provided both of us a place to worship, serve, be fed, and meet some incredible people. We joined last fall. While at FBC I have met some truly amazing people who have mentored me and helped me grow in my walk with God. I am so thankful for those people...God used them to help me remember what it's like to truly seek God in ALL things. I want that! I want to please God in ALL that I do everyday. I want to love and serve others. I have found that I have pure joy in serving others.

With all that said....
I had a job here in Benton that just wasn't where I needed to be. I tried to make it work, but it was just not going to get better. I prayed and talked to friends about what I should do. One of those friends was Frances R. She is sooooooo amazing. She mentored me through that job until the day I resigned. While all of this was going on (not to my knowledge)...Laurie (the preschool/children's minister) was in dire need of an assistant. God works in AMAZING ways! I was told that there might be something I would be interested in at the church....but I was given hardly any information and I couldn't talk to anyone about it. That was reeeally hard for me b/c I tend to be very social! :-) Finally, Laurie, Ashley and I had a visit and we discussed what the "job" was. When I heard what the job actually was...I was soooooo excited. They asked me to pray and talk to Luke about it. Of course, I was interested. It took about 2 weeks after that to work out all the details....but GOD IS GOOD....and I now am on staff at the church!!! I am the preschool/children's ministry assistant. I help Laurie with anything she needs and I will also do some graphic design jobs here and there for the church. YAY! God has answered so many of my prayers. I feel so blessed and unworthy. This is a VERY condensed version of the story. I hope it makes sense. :-)

I pray that God will give me the desire and strength to serve Him with all my heart everyday. I pray that He will guide me as I take on this new responsibility. I pray that I will never again forget God's desire for my life and the gifts that he has given me.

Labor Day!

Luke and I got a lot done this weekend around our house. "We" (luke) built shelves in our garage, we sanded and painted chairs, and Luke mowed about 6 yards. It was a productive weekend!

Luke working on the shelves in the garage.

The chairs we sanded and painted.

On Monday my parents, brother, sister-in-law, and nephew (Caleb) came to visit us! We went and ate at Applebee's and then came back to our house and hung out. We had so much fun! I don't get to see my brother and sister-in-law very often....so it was a treat to have them here. They live in Memphis. My nephew Caleb just turned 1 on August 17th. He is the cutest thing in the world and I miss him SO MUCH!!! I wish I could see him everyday.

This is Caleb eating at Applebee's. He is such a good baby!

My mom, Rebekkah (sister-in-law), and my dad at Applebee's.

John Paul (my brother), Luke, and me.

We were also celebrating my dad's birthday....so the waiters at Applebee's came and sang to him. Caleb got very upset! It was so sad...but kinda cute too. I couldn't get my camera out quick enough to get him while he was really crying. This is the best I could do.

Well....nevermind! My computer won't let me download the videos right now. I will put them up later!!!