Announcing...

Baby Girl Brown!

Jim and I had our 19-week ultrasound yesterday and are happy to report that a) our baby is developing perfectly and b) our baby is a girl!

Here's a sampling of the nine fabulous ultrasound pictures Dr. H was able to capture for us. I have chosen to *not* post the picture verifying she is a girl (for the sake of her modesty), but we can assure you she is most definitely a girl.

What have we learned about our daughter from these pictures? 1) she is very flexible, 2) she is perfect from her head down to her toes, and 3) she did not particularly enjoy having her picture taken (as evidenced by the fourth picture down where she hides her face in protest). Enjoy!

18 weeks... blah.

Here's a summary of the last four weeks:

Week 15 - I get the flu and vomit.
Week 16 - I get over the flu, start working nights, and vomit.
Week 17 - I vomit, start cramping, start medication, and vomit some more.
Week 18 - The baby kicks me in the gut and I vomit even more.

I've been getting a lot of questions about how second trimester has been going, and so far, it's not been super. I no longer have the overwhelming feeling of impending doom that I felt the entire first trimester, and I've had a lot more energy, but every time something changes in my life (i.e. going from working days to nights and back, getting the flu, getting a bladder infection, starting antibiotics, etc.) I'm thrown back into a few days of first-trimester-like activity. Which means being confined to the bed and the toilet. Yuck.

I'm now feeling the baby move all the time. It has also developed a very strong kick, which it likes to do at the worst possible times, like kicking me in the stomach when I'm queasy or in the bladder when I need to pee. And yes, I am certain it is a kick because you can watch my stomach move when it happens! Jim can put his hand on my stomach and feel the baby move when it really gets going, but he has yet to feel it kicking.

Speaking of my husband, he has been the one continual blessing through this whole experience. For the past four months I have given up on cleaning, cooking, buying groceries, and doing laundry, and he never complains about not having any food to eat or clean clothes to wear. He is always looking for ways to make my life a little easier, like holding my hair and rubbing my back while I vomit or dropping his very busy schedule to bring me food when I need it. I am very thankful for God's provision to me through Jim.

The next time I post will be to update everyone on the results of our ultrasound next week. I'm very anxious to find out if this baby is developing appropriately or not. The past two weeks I've taken care of patients with serious complications who are roughly as pregnant as I am. That, the cramping I experienced last week, and the two nightmares I've had about this pregnancy (both in which I died and the only dreams about this baby I've had to date) have reminded me how very fragile my condition is.

News from Haiti

News from Haiti:

I'm posting news from an American family in Haiti close to my heart. Shelley and Byron Tlucek are missionaries to Haiti with their seven children. Shelley and Byron were in the US during the earthquake, but their five youngest children were in Haiti. Praise God their family, the other missionary families they work with, and the Haitian women and orphans they care for have survived. God continues to provide for their needs with food and shelter (Shelley reports their pantry and freezer were full before the earthquake hit, and 40+ people have been able to be sustained the past few days from those provisions).

Four of their five children in Haiti are currently at the US embassy awaiting evacuation, if possible. Their youngest daughter, Isabelle, age 3, is staying with close friend in Haiti. They do not yet have a passport for her to be able to leave Haiti. Shelley and Byron are in Florida trying to get a flight back to Haiti.

http://www.heartlineministires.org/

UPDATE FROM SHELLEY:

Byron believes that our children need to be evacuated, if at all possible. I confess to being resistant to this. Bodies are literally lining the streets, covered in sheets, many of them identified - but not all of them. As you know it is very warm in Haiti. This is a very bad combination, which will be made much worse if it begins to rain. The potential for spreading disease increases exponentially at this point. So, against my strongest desire, I am asking that you pray the embassy permits my children to be evacuated with Kelly Tobin.

FURTHER......please pray they issue an emergency visa so that Belle can fly with them. We do not have her passport as it was just turned into the Ministry of Immigration for the receipt of her new passport with our name. We have nothing. We are trying to work with the embassy - and have not been able to speak with a "real person" as of this moment.

JUST LEARNED that our tickets have been cancelled again. We do not know what to do.Isabelle is the biggest, BIGGEST piece of this very difficult puzzle. We cannot leave her. Oh, dear God, please do not make us leave her by herself.

At present we have run out of options - ONLY GOD CAN PROVIDE ANSWERS, DIRECTION, A CLEAR PATH.

We really need a clear path.

News on the home front:

While there was great seismic activity in Haiti, there was some smaller activity going on in my body.

I spent Monday horribly sick and returned to work my first night of three in a row cramping, of all things. I assumed it was dehydration, but after the cramping continued and worsened over three nights, I had some tests ran. It's looking like I have a small bladder infection causing all these problems, and a good course of antibiotics should return everything to normal.

The peanut is angry about all the seismic activity going on at home, but fine. In fact, when I tried to monitor the heartbeat for a minute at work, the peanut kicked the monitor violently. Twice. This child is going to give us a run for our money.

And yes, we have still not closed on our house. The underwriters are responsible for the continued hold-ups. We have no idea when we'll be able to get into our new home, but the good news is our loan officer is so frustrated by the underwriters that she lowered our interest rate again. We've decided that maybe all this waiting isn't such a bad thing.

In all these things, I continue to be grateful that God is in perfect control.

My, how we've grown!

Halloween 2009:

7 weeks
The baby is the size of: a blueberry
I can: still lift my shirt without feeling self-conscious
Heartrate: 170 bpm by ultrasound



Christmas 2009:



15 weeks
The baby is the size of: a large naval orange
I am the size of: a small house
Heartrate: 140 bpm by doppler

Come celebrate a rockin' Christmas with us TONIGHT!

Three years ago today...

... I was here:
Today I find myself celebrating three years of marriage to an unselfish, Godly, loving, devoted man. He has stuck with me for better and for worse, in sickness and in health. He exemplifies what Paul meant when he called husbands to love their wives as Christ loves the church.

Jim, the way you love me causes me to understand and value my Savior's love for me more and more each day. You seek to glorify God in our marriage by faithfully leading me and sacrificially giving. I do not understand how I am worthy of the privilege of being your wife (especially because I am not nearly as good at being a wife as you are at being a husband!)

Thank you for being such a fabulous example to me, to the people we have been called to serve, and to our child. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with you!

Christmas Letter 2009

2009 – What a year! As we wrap up the third year of our life together, we are looking forward to the exciting new changes right around the corner in 2010.

2009 was the year of travel. We feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to minister in East Asia, Haiti and Salt Lake City to the unreached, the orphans, and the less fortunate. We also feel very blessed to have afforded the time (and money, thanks to Dave Ramsey!) to take two amazing vacations to Hawaii and Whistler as well! Needless to say, traveling and experiencing new places, people, and cultures is something Jim and I enjoy very much and hope to continue in the future.

2009 was also the year for health issues. We started out the year with Jim’s digestive problems of the past three years culminating in needing his gallbladder removed, which he had done in March. We also managed to acquire two different parasites during our trip to Haiti that wreaked havoc on our bodies for awhile. I am happy to say we’ve taken care of our respective parasites successfully! And finally, shortly after getting rid of one parasite, I learned I had unexpectedly acquired another – but this one I wouldn’t be able to get rid of for nine months. We are thrilled to share that we are pregnant with our first child, due June 19, 2010. Pregnancy has not been kind to my body, and due to hyperemesis graviderum (or severe all-day sickness), I’m juggling three different medications to keep myself healthy enough to stay out of the hospital and continue working. I am almost through my first trimester and hoping better days are in sight!

Jim is also wrapping up his second year at Quinault Baptist Church as the Minister of Youth and Worship, and continues to love what he is doing. He is excited to see the youth and worship departments’ spiritual development, and is looking forward to taking youth on his third World Changers trip to repair homes for the less fortunate in northern Washington state this summer. I am still working as a Registered Nurse in Labor and Delivery at Kadlec Regional Medical Center and hoping to go part-time when I take on the full-time job of “Mommy” this June. I feel very grateful to work in the department I do with a wonderful group of nurses and doctors who have taken such good care of me already this pregnancy!

We have also been very fortunate (and thankful) to live with Jim’s parents this past year to finish paying off debt and save up for our own home. Thanks to the knowledge we’ve gained from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University, we’ve paid off an embarrassing amount of debt and have our finances in order, which we feel very blessed to have done prior to the birth of our first child. We have also been searching for our next home over the past few months and are currently in negotiations over one right now. Jim and I hope be able to be in settled in our new home just after the 1st of the year!

Of all the seasons of the year, Jim and I love this one the best. Every year during the Christmas season we are reminded of the great love God has for us in that He sent His Son to pay the payment for our sins so we might have relationship with that very loving Creator God. Our prayer is that you would be reminded of His great love for you this season as well.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Jim and Daja Brown