A Bad Case of the Mondays

Well, I'm back! We got back home around midnight last night after leaving Albuquerque at 6:30 am. I do plan on writing about the entire trip, just not right now. I'm going to start off with the "big day" as I'll call it, so check back if you want to read about the relatively uneventful aspects of the trip. I want to keep everything in order, so they'll be below this one.

Alrighty, here goes. This past Monday, Clara, Grandma, Grandpa and I had big plans to go to the Children's Museum. It was a great museum with lots of things to do. Clara loved it. We went during toddler time, so there weren't a bunch of big kids in the way.

Here, Clara is "flying" a model airplane. Notice the wind in her hair?

And here are lots and lots of Clara's.

I had to include this next picture because I never realized I was this weird. I mean, look at me. This was a heat sensing camera and look at my extremities. That's just wrong. I had flip flops on and lifted my foot up and lo and behold, it was black too. I wasn't feeling particularly cold, either. Clara's got some piercing hot eyes doesn't she?

This was the coolest elevator ever. It was huge and was decorated like a living room so you could sit on the couches. I just stood there dumbfounded for a second because I didn't realize it was an elevator until the doors started to close.


As we stepped off the elevator, I got a call from Chris. He wanted to speak to his mom. It sounded like something was up, but she walked away and I commented to Dan that they must be telling secrets about us. She came back over a minute or two later and hands the phone back to me. I get back on and ask Chris if he was telling secrets about me. Turns out he actually was telling her a secret. He wanted to tell her first so I didn't have to recount the following conversation.

Chris: "I'm flying in to Albuquerque to spend a couple of days with you and help you drive back."

Me: "Why? I'm leaving tomorrow anyway. I'm fine to make the drive myself."

Chris: "No I really want to come."

Me: "Why? That's a lot of money."

Chris: "Well, I lost my job this morning."

Me: ???????????????????????????????????????????

(At this point I shed a few tears, ask what happened, yada, yada, yada. You get the picture.)

Chris: "You don't need to worry. God will take care of us; I'm not worried a bit. We'll be fine." (All the standard things you say to a wife in this situation.)

Me: "It's just that this is the worst possible timing."

Chris: "No it's not. We don't need to worry."

Me: "No, Im serious. Couldn't be timed any worse."

Chris: "Why's that?"

Me: "I was going to wait to tell you when I got home, but I guess now's as good a time as any. I found out Friday that I'm pregnant."

(I'll wait for everyone to pick their jaws up off the floor. You back with me?)

Soooooo, we're fine. I'm serious. We both have such a peace about this whole situation and both of us are certain that that peace is from God. At first there was shock, feelings of betrayal and a lot of confusion. Still a little confused, actually, but we really just feel content. We thank God for this new life inside of me and are so excited about the idea of a new baby to love. We're actually a little excited to see where God is taking us. He's taken care of us through other obstacles and we know that he has a plan for us. We don't believe it was a mere coincidence that I got pregnant right before this happened since we've been trying to conceive since last summer. We just can't see the whole picture yet.

So, please pray for us and don't be worried about us (at least not yet.)

There's more I wanted to write about Monday's happenings since at this point in the story it's only about 11:00 am, but I'll add to the post later. Let the commenting begin! You think I can get 20?

I'm back with the rest of the day's events. We weren't up for much of anything at this point. Getting a call like that kinda puts a damper on your fun, ya know? So we headed home for some lunch. Clara was fussy on the drive home and when we got home. I'm sure she could sense my unrest. When we got home, Linda was kind enough to feed Clara for me and entertain her for a little while while I got on the computer to get a flight for Chris.

All of the flights for that day and the next two cost the same amount, so we went ahead and got him on a flight that night. After using the credit we had from Clara and my flights, we had to pay $2.00 for Chris to come. He had lots to get done before getting down to Hobby to fly out at 6:45.

Glenn and Becky were yet again waiting in the wings to do everything they could to help us out. They were there to talk with Chris when he left the office that morning. They kept all three dogs for us and Becky drove Chris all the way to Hobby. They're saints. Not sure how we got so lucky. So Chris ends up sitting next to two elderly hispanic women who were scared to death on the airplane. They chanted the rosary in spanish for an entire hour! Poor guy, but he didn't want to be rude and get up and move. What a nice guy.

Back in Albuquerque, I began making phone calls. We probably would've waited to tell people about the baby, but circumstances what they were, we didn't want to keep it a secret. I called my mom, Linsey and Becky. I also had to call Aunt Jacki to let her know Clara and I wouldn't be spending the night on our trip home after all. I didn't tell her about baby, though because I hadn't told my mom yet. It was such a huge load lifted off my shoulders to just get it out. I felt much better.

I tried to nap, but there was no way I could sleep. My mind was going 100 mph. Clara woke up early from her nap very distraught. She had her last dose of eardrops the night before, so I think she may have still been in some pain. She wouldn't go to Grandma or sit and watch a movie, nothing. I gave her some Motrin and she felt better soon afterwards. Thank goodness, because that was one day I could NOT deal with a whiney, inconsolable 2 year old.

Tim came by after he got off work to say goodbye since he thought Clara and I were leaving the next day. We told him the news, so he stuck around to go to the airport with us. Chris' flight was getting in at 7:45, so we got to the airport about 7:35. Of course his plane is delayed until 8:20. We still hadn't had dinner at this point and it's Clara's bedtime. She actually did really well the entire time. When Chris landed, we went to a little diner for dinner and Clara was still on her best behavior. We didn't get home until around 10:30, so we all went straight to bed.

It felt really good to have Chris there. Really good. I know I would've been ok by myself, but it was just such a relief to have him there. I'm glad he came after all.

We decided to go to the zoo the next day to get our minds off of stuff and had a great time. Clara enjoyed herself. She especially liked the chimpanzees, seals and sea lions and the zebras. She gets really excited about zebras even though they don't do much of anything. We watched the seals swim and then watched them playing and sunning on the surface for a long time.




We got the car packed up and took it easy the rest of the day, ready to leave Wednesday morning. That night was the first time Chris and I talked a lot about everything. We laid in bed whispering so as not to wake Clara. We both felt really excited about this next phase and what God was planning for us.