My Attempt at a Cliff Hanger

This evening Jake is working at Target, and the house was depressingly lonely without him there. For some reason I can handle the afternoons fine on my own, but the evenings are a little worse. So I decided to head over to Panera and use the internet here. I bought a couple of the shortbread cookies, which are great by the way. And they also taste like Christmas... maybe that's why I like them so much. There were no open tables by an outlet, which is essential since my poor, old computer has a battery life of about ten minutes these days. (Yes Jake, I did say my computer. I just let you use it :)

It has been an eventful week. I had three interviews this week, only one and a half of which were actually promising. The first is Bethesda Lutheran Services, they called me back for a second interview and, from what the lady said, it seems almost garaunteed that they will hire me. Praise the Lord! There are some upsides and downsides to the job though.

First of all, I will be working evenings, which is simply hard when Jake is at school all day and we won't see each other until bedtime. Upside, I might be able to transfer later to a dayshift. Downside, there is a lot of strenuous work involved with this sort of position and I'm a little worried if I'll be up to it during pregnancy. Upside, I've known personally, two women who worked the exact same sort of job throughout their pregnancies and had no complications, so I'll stop worrying. Downside, I can't start training until the 6th. Upside, it's almost September!

So I suppose it will work itself out. Also, I had both my arms drilled for blood on two seperate occasions this week. I had been having a bit of bleeding and some strange cramping and pains, so my midwife wanted me to get labs done just in case. Everything is normal, so the baby should be doing just fine. And it's looking more like a human every day! Part of the pain, though, I think is due to the fact that I'm practically showing already. Well, sort of... no one else can tell, but I definitely can not stick my tummy in as far as it used to go. And when I try to it feels like there's something in the way. My oversized uterus perhaps? Anywho, it's a really weird feeling.

I'll be taking a picture of my belly next week and I'll post it, along with a surprise picture of an unknown object. If the suspense is killing you, like I know it is, come back next week to see!

Prayers and Pregnancy

Morning sickness... ugh... not fun. I have quite mild morning sickness most of the time so, I am grateful for that. However, it lasts all day long. Whoever you are that erroneously named this particular ailment of pregnancy... well just so you know you ERRONEOUSLY named this particular ailment of pregnancy. Eating, which used to be a wonderfully joyous activity for me, is now a chore, a rather annoying one at that. I'm usually not hungry, and when I am hungry I'm also nauseaus at the same time.

Poor Jake is having to fend for himself in the kitchen mostly... I feel bad but he either eats chicken or tuna. Tuna has always been icky and chicken is a new aversion that I can hardly be in the same room with. Sigh... but I did make banana bread yesterday using my mom's recipe. See I got some bananas, because they're healthy fruit... but I can't eat them so they went overripe. So I made banana bread! I can eat that :) mmmmmmmmm......

Secondly, prayer requests. Yes I know the post has prayer requests first and pregnancy stuff second, but this is just how it's going to go. I had a nannying job working for a wonderful family with adorable twin boys. However, I told them on Monday about the pregnancy and they felt (understandably so) that it was going to complicate things a little too much come April. So now I don't have a job, but I did get a phone call from Bethesda, where I applied a MONTH ago (they said they would get back to me in two weeks....) asking if I would come in for an interview today. They called me at 10pm nonetheless, but who am I to complain, it's a job opportunity right? So please pray that I find a job soon. Jake already has a job at Target, praise the Lord!

Lastly, Jake and I met a wonderfully pleasant homeless man named Hal last night. Please pray that he would be able to find work as well. It's pretty tough in this town. And also for his friend who has schizophrenia; her name escapes me at the moment. As do most things these days... hmm... anywho I'm beginning to feel too ill to stay in the library much longer. Miss you all and I hope to hear from you soon!

Blessings,
Dalas

Details

Ok I promised details so, here goes...

Last Monday I was feeling very very sick. I was in bed all evening with nausea. Now, I haven't had nausea since I can remember. But ever since we got married I've been having bouts of it (weird huh?) so I didn't think too much of it; I just figured it was stress again or something of the sort. But to make myself feel better I told Jake to go buy a pregnancy test, just for fun. So he did... now by this point I had also been having cramps (TMI yet?) for a couple of days, so when he got back we decided to wait till Wednesday to take the test. Because if I was going to start, it would be soon and then we'd know anyway.

And two days go by, still nothing. Jake leaves to go do something; I'm bored, so I take the test. I was too nervous to look at it so I left it in the bathroom and went downstairs. When Jake came home I marched him up there and told him to look at it. He looked at it, had a little smirk on his face and I was dying of anticipation "What does it say???"

"Uh... I don't know, it's kinda confusing." What on earth is confusing!?!? One line means no, two lines mean yes. How many lines does it have!?!? Well it had two... but one was not exactly the same as the other one, so Jake was in denial. Silly goose. In any case he made me take another one. Five glasses of water later... still two lines. I showed it to Jake and he didn't say anything he just kissed me :)

*****

I am currently about seven weeks along, and I'm due on April 1st. Haha! So funny, I know! Not really... but honestly, that's when I'm due. I haven't been sick like I was last week since, well... last week. However, I have had a little nausea and just about no food is appealing to me at all. Which is annoying because I rather like food. Remember that fatigue? Well, at least we know what's causing it, but it hasn't gotten any better. I'm not hungry at all until about 3pm in the afternoon and then I am starving until I go to sleep that night. Or at least that's how my confused appetite is normally acting...

I personally don't want to find out if it's a boy or a girl until the baby is born. However, we will see how patient Dalas can actually be. We are currently looking at birth options. We really like the idea of having a home birth with a midwife, but we are also going to go to the hospitals around town to see what they offer. There is a nice Lutheran hospital here, so we'll see. And there aren't any birth centers close enough for me to really be interested, but oh well. Other than that, blessings everyone and hopefully I'll be able to get back on here soon! We still don't have internet at the house :( And as for a routine? Yeah... not really happening, yet. But don't give up on me!

Drum Roll Please :)

So I was going to wait a little while to post this... but everyone else knows so why not?

Drum roll please....


No really... it would be really really cool if you did a drum roll. Ok, let's try this again....
Drum roll please....



Ok well that was a little better, but you're not quite there yet... drum roll please...............................................................





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That was much better! Keep going... (I know it's like an annoying spam email huh?)





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It's worth it I promise!!




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....................................... (I've always wanted to do this. Thanks for humoring me :)








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WE ARE EXPECTING!!! :)

Details to follow!

Almost Done...

Hi everyone!

Jake and I are almost done with unpacking. We're kinda doing the office and the living room and dining room all at once, so be prepared for plenty of pictures this upcoming week! Hopefully... ahem. In other news... I've been wanting to start my routines since we got here. But for some reason I'm having an awful time getting up in the morning. Not really sure what's going on with me, but for some reason I have been struggling a lot with fatigue. Even the days I have actually gotten out of bed at 7am after eight hours of sleep, I can't keep my eyes open after breakfast and end up sleeping again. So I am sort of just sleeping until i wake up now, which is anywhere from 8 to 9. Sigh... it's frustrating. And no it is not because I am pregnant, in case you were wondering. (At least I don't think it is...) Anyways, let's hope that clears up soon before I get a job and have to be awake and productive!

Speaking of jobs, neither Jake nor I have found one yet. I am expecting to get some responses back this week, though. So be praying for that front! I feel like I've applied for just about every position in this little city, and I can't find much else to apply for. Although I've heard Starbucks is hiring, so I might check there too if I get bored. Tomorrow we are going to start having to pay our bills... we have enough for rent, which is always a good thing. But not much left over for our others. Pray that I get a job this week so we can pay bills this month! Actually, I think we're still awaiting one last paycheck from Concordia where we worked over the summer so... that should help.

Other than that it is a beautiful day here in Indiana. We are so thankful that the summer is mild, since we don't have air conditioning. And we are very blessed in that we know we won't starve for lack of money, our cupboards have plenty of food thanks to the food coop. We really are truly blessed with what we have been given! With a fully-furnished apartment, food, reliable transportation, a way to communicate with our families from such long distances, friends to be with us in this season of change, and above all a Savior who has won the final battle for us... our cup is overflowing. We really could not ask for more as we are starting out our new life together. Thank you Lord! God bless you all.

- Dalas

Last Post for Today

Hokay... my last posting will be our upstairs bathroom and the bedroom. BUT!! Before you go any further... I believe some thanks are in order. Let me explain, while we were on our roadtrip over here, I was wondering... what on earth will we sleep on when we get in at two in the morning? Nor was I particularly looking forward to the mess we were to clean up the next day. (After all I did send my little brother and my husband to unload a van and truck into the apartment, what was I to expect?) But when we got there, I found something else entirely.

There was no mess! The furniture was arranged neatly and, though I tried, I really couldn't find a better place for most things. The boxes were all nicely stored in closets (ALL of them to be exact). There were even wall hangings put up already! Lastly, we got to the bedroom and had a beautiful spread already set up, with sheets, a comforter, pillows, the works! All we had to do at two am after our ten hour drive was fall into bed. THANK YOU SO MUCH DAD!!!

You see... Dad (Mueller) had rented and driven up a truck of furniture for our new apartment. (All of the furniture you see was given to us by Jake's gracious parents and the remodeling of the nursing home where Jake's dad is a chaplain.) He helped the guys move in and then stayed the night at our apartment before going home the next day. Before he left, however, he did all that work at the house for us! And then he drove all the way back to Missouri to preach the following morning. Jake's father is such a wonderful man, I am so blessed to have him as my father-in-law. We love you dad!!

Also, thank you to Mom Miller and my wonderful brother, for driving up all of our wedding presents to Saint Paul! We could not have moved without you :) And Brandon, you were such a sport... driving fifty hours by car in three days so my poor hubby wouldn't have to go alone. Our family is extraordinary! We sure love them :)

Ok so now here goes! We will do the bathroom first...

Here is our sink (obviously). The flowers are thanks to Mrs. Thormodson. And yes... it is always going to look this clean... of course... stop laughing at me!

And here is my overly indulgent shower curtain. But isn't it gorgeous?? Oh yes, and the rug. We like the rug too :) Or at least I like the rug and the fact that Jake is no longer using my beautiful, soft, NEW towels on the floor for his showers!! Ahem... yes, we like rugs.

And now for the bedroom. Here are the before... BEFORE... just in case you didn't hear me the first time... pictures. And I think it suffices to say these are actually AFTER Jake's dad put everything away neatly and we took it out again and BEFORE we cleaned it up. Thanks again dad :)

And AFTER!!!

This is my favorite part of the bedroom. This is the "wedding corner" of my dresser. We are kind of obsessed with corners aren't we? Here we have our champagne glasses from the wedding night, a card Jake got me, a frame that we will get a picture in eventually, a crystal bride and groom statue, and two beautiful, painted, heart boxes with wedding memorabilia inside. (Thanks Grandma for the boxes!)

Here is the top of Jake's dresser. I got all those from the clothing coop at the seminary for... free :) We are so blessed! And no just because it's his dresser does not mean he gets to decorate it. In case you were wondering...

At this angle you can see the bed and dressers...

Here is the bedstand on my side of the bed. A painted gourd from Grandma Mueller, thanks again Grandma! Isn't she talented? And a couple of candles. We are trying to cut down on our bills, and since electricity is the only utility we pay, Jake and I have been lighting candles in the evening for light. It was his idea, and actually kind of romantic... Wait, does that mean Jake was romantic? We'll give it to him :)



Here is our bed, the white oval pillow is also from the coop. Jake likes to use it for his neck while he's reading. And you can see the view from outside our window, hey! More apartments! Woohoo! Also, not pictured is a rather elegant full-length mirror with a gold frame, over by our closets on the other side of the bed.

Thank you so much everyone who has blessed us in our new marriage! I know there were so many gifts pictured (and not) that we have recieved. We are so grateful to all of you. I know I am not able to mention everyone here, just know that we are thinking of you and love you all! And for our families far away, just know we miss you and love you lots. We can't wait to see you again!

Love,

Jake and Dalas

P.S. - You know that blue circle thing in the middle of our dresser if you scroll up? Yeah... no idea what that is... it's some sort of light trick our camera played. Weird huh? Kinda spooky... good thing I have a strong hubby to take care of me at night!!

Finally My Own Kitchen!!!

Woohoo!! So second in my apartment-series posts is the kitchen. This was the first space that I unpacked and cleared out. I thought it might save us some money from buying fast food all the time :) By far this was the most fun I have had moving in. Unfortunately I did not get before pictures. But I hope you enjoy my completely organized kitchen!

Here is the view from the dining room...

In this picture (starting on the left) you can see my special guacamole grinder. I love you Christinie! My spinny cutlery block; free bread from Panera, curtousy of the food co-op and our toaster... from whoever left it at the dorm at CSP that I inherited it from :)

And this is my "cute" corner. Jake jokes that the office upstairs is his corner of manliness so if he gets that I get my cute corner. Here I just set all the cute and wonderful things in my kitchen that I want to show off. And I have the counter space to do it! Well... right now I think I do anyway.