Football in February

My baby books and favorite pregnancy websites inform me that at 25 weeks our baby is roughly the size of a rutabaga and that my uterus is currently the size of a football. I have a hard time believing it can be so large when I look at my barely there baby bump, but I guess the docs know what they're talking about. Besides, I guess it's pretty appropriate considering that it's Super Bowl Sunday this weekend and the little guy can kick and cheer on his favorite team from the comfort of his football-sized home.


This weekend we indulged in our second annual trip to the quaint, Bavarian village of Leavenworth, WA in celebration of an early Valentine's Day as well as in honor of the day that we met just 2 years ago in Steamboat Springs, CO. We booked 2 nights at our favorite Washington bed & breakfast, the Abendblume, and were again impressed with the grand luxury of our accommodations and the kind care of our hosts, Randy and Rene.

Another purpose for this weekend getaway is to celebrate one of our last weekends alone as a couple before our baby boy makes his debut this Spring. My belly is finally starting to protrude, only I didn't realize just how much of a baby bump I had acquired until I tried to paint my toenails while sitting on the floor of our cozy room at the Abendblume and discovered how challenging it has now become to comfortably reach the toes that have always been so easily accessible these 28 years.

The winter has been extremely mild in our corner of Washington so we enjoyed a weekend away at a destination where there was actually a covering of snow on the ground. We brought our new his & hers snowshoes (a Christmas gift from Mom & Dad Blankenship) and christened them with a hike in the nearby state park. There we finally took advantage of the opportunity to build our first snowman of the winter and what an incredible snowman he was! He towered over my head and looked especially dapper with his top hat, carefully and artfully crafted out of snow by none other than my creative husband.


Besides our snow hike, we hunted for an abandoned mine that we never did find and spent the rest of our time either relaxing around the bed & breakfast or eating ridiculously good food (most of which was German). I was a little jealous that Dan got to go in the hot tub while I had to sit out this time around but I guess it's worth it to not risk going into early labor, huh? It was an incredible romantic and refreshing mountain get-away and we won't soon forget it!

two years time

Two years. 24 months. 730 days. It sounds like a long time if you're waiting for something like a paycheck to arrive in the mail or standing on a corner waiting for a bus to catch, but in the grand scheme of things it's a period of time that passes by so quickly that it can feel like just the blink of an eye. I imagine that when our son is born we'll feel the gravity of this truth even more. One day he'll be nestled helplessly in our arms and in what will seem like the next moment he'll be running around on his own in search of furniture to climb over and toys to hide in strange places.

Today I'm struck with the stark contrast of the life I was living two years ago in comparison to my life today.

On this very date two years ago, I wrote a blog and my life looked quite different than it does today. Click here to read my thoughts from 2008: http://crosseyedcontemplations.blogspot.com/2008/02/leavin-on-jet-plane.html

Within just a few short months of writing that blog, I would write another much different from the first: http://danandjillblankenship.blogspot.com/2008/07/once-upon-time.html

Now in 2010, here I am two years older, hopefully wiser, and definitely more blessed. I am in awe of the beautiful chapter that God wrote into my story, a chapter whose opening lines began with that very plane ride to Colorado. I'm so grateful that it is God writing my story because He is an infinitely better Author than I could ever hope to be.

My hope is that I am today just as eager for God to unveil this next chapter in my life. As Dan and I await the birth of our son and continue to pray for a new job for Dan, I want to anticipate the next sentence that God is writing into my story as much as I, as a single woman, anticipated meeting my future husband.

Two years from now, what will my story look like? I'm sure I don't have a clue. What I do know, however, is that the Author who pens this story is constant and loving and knows how to expertly redeem a horrific tragedy into a beautiful love story. I know that I will one day have that happily ever after that I have always dreamed of - a happily ever after that lasts throughout all of eternity...in heaven with Jesus.

I praise God for this story that He writes. It's not really mine after all; rather it is fully His.