Shauna, your prayers have been answered.

I should have figured something big was going to happen. Life had become too smooth, routine.

I should have guessed when certain doors closed rather sharply that God was up to something BIG.

And, if that wasn't enough, there were certainly physical and emotional cues. I won't go into details, but it was enough to make my husband wonder what was wrong with me.

Jim and I like to say that the moral of our story is when life become predictable, God turns it upside down... and He certainly did!

We are thrilled/terrified to announce we are pregnant with our first child.

Actually, those are two of the 47 different emotions currently circulating through our minds. We had not planned on being pregnant at this point in our marriage. In fact, we had a few things left on our "Before Kids" checklist to accomplish.

Yet, despite our selfish natures and our meticulous planning, God saw fit to have the last laugh and bless us with a child. Like everything else so far in our marriage, we aren't quite sure what He is thinking and why He has chosen this timing, but we are (slowly learning to be) content to roll with His plans. After all, He's proven over and over that His ways are best!

This does put a few things on hold for us. First and foremost, I had previously been contemplating going back to school for my Master's degree. This door was firmly shut prior to learning about the pregnancy. I didn't not qualify for any of the programs I wanted to apply for due to lack of experience, training, or certifications. Go figure.

Secondly, vacation plans are changing. While in Hawaii this past June, we bought another week to be used this coming summer. Obviously that won't be a viable option with a newborn, so we are tweaking those plans to utilize that trip prior to the point where I will be too pregnant to go.

Our current plan at this point is to continue living in the basement, finish paying off the last bit of debt we owe on our cars, reconfigure our budget to include diapers and figure out how to fit a crib into our bedroom. I will most likely cut back on my hours at work after the baby is born, so it will take us a little longer than expected to get into a house of our own. Not to mention the many (gulp) medical bills heading our way.

This is absolutely surreal for us. Jim took the news and immediately started working on our budget. I, on the other hand, have been too shocked to do anything except be clumsy. Which in turn made Jim research the safety ratings on my car.

My estimated due date (by my own estimations, mind you) is June 7, 2010. Other than the overwhelming clumsiness, general soreness, inability to sleep, mood swings and the incessant nausea and vomiting, I have yet to experience the majority of the symptoms of pregnancy, including weight gain. This makes me very happy, as I just bought three new pairs of smaller-sized jeans since I haven't been able to gain the weight back that I lost in Haiti and I was hoping to get some use out of them. Go figure!

I plan on using this blog to chronicle my pregnancy (since I've been assured soon enough I will no longer have the brain cells left to remember all these details) so stay tuned for periodic updates and the occasional "baby bump" picture!