Seventh Annual Girls "Beach" Weekend

I have the most wonderful group of girlfriends from growing up. Two I've known since preschool, one since elementary school, and two I met in college. All of them stood up with me as bridesmaids at my wedding, and they really are the kindest, most loyal friends you could ever ask for. I look up to each one of these ladies, and learn so much from each of them. Plus, we just have a lot of fun together!

Ever since my bachelorette party weekend away, we've committed to getting away together as just girls each year. This year one friend was just weeks from her due date, one was just weeks postpartum, and I wasn't feeling up to a long car trip with whole nausea bit, so we compromised and brought the beach weekend a little closer to home - to Elisabeth's lakehouse!

We had the most wonderful weekend relaxing, catching up, taking walks, cooking, laying out, swimming, watching movies, and celebrating babies and birthdays.

I only have a quick picture from when we were leaving to remember the trip by. And, sweet Becca had to leave early, so she missed this picture. (Did any of you girls take other pictures from the weekend?)

I am so thankful that in the midst of jobs, babies, and busy schedules, we all come from our five different cities to meet up each year and spend time together. Here's to many more beach trips!

Small Group

When Luke and I moved to Birmingham six years ago, we didn't know a soul here. When picking a church, Briarwood stood out not only because of is reputation for strong, Biblical teaching, but also because of their big class of young newlywed couples. Within weeks we joined a small group, and instantly had several couples we enjoyed spending time with. Over the past six years, we have met together every week for dinner in each others homes. We have walked through births, deaths, weddings, funerals, lost jobs, and found jobs. A few weeks ago, our first "small group baby" was baptized. It was such a special day, and makes me look forward to all we have to celebrate together in the future.

Spreading the News to the West Coast

As many of you know, Luke was born in Sacramento, and though his mom and brother live in Tennessee, the rest of his (quite large) family is still on the West Coast. So, every year, as a present from his parents, we head out to visit the crew and get as much visiting in as we can in a week. This year was as much fun as always, with the added fun of getting to spread our baby news to the whole family, and was excellent for taking my mind off morning sickness.

First, we went with Luke's mom, Kathy, and brother, Robbie to visit her mom, Nana in Redding, CA.

Nana took us to the awesome Turtle Bay Nature Preserve to see their famous SunDial bridge, butterfly house, botanical gardens, and nature center. We had such a fun day!

Next, we headed to Lincoln to visit Grandma and Grandpa Leonard, and see their beautiful new home. We had a big dinner with Luke's aunts and uncles, and had so much fun telling everyone our news, and celebrating Grandma Norma's 80th birthday!

Then, Luke and I headed to Patterson to see Luke's dad, stepmom, and sisters! Luke loves his sisters - and so do I - so it's always a special treat to get to spend time with them! (below: Elizabeth, John, Luke, Susan, Laura)

Our cousin Michelle (below left) graduated from high school while we were there and we were so happy to get to celebrate with her -- and we were so proud of her for her fantastic grades and speech!

Luke was very happy to tell his grandparents that they have another great-grandchild on the way.

They were so excited, and Grandpa said "Now you will carry on the family name!" I look very forward to taking a picture of four generations of Paivas next year!

Visiting Luke's family out West is always bittersweet - we love our visits, but leave knowing it will a whole year before we see everyone again rather than the weekly visits we'd prefer. With a baby on the way, this awareness is more acute. We have such a desire for our children to know his family, and it makes us sad knowing they won't see them as much as we like. We will just have to redouble our efforts to make the most our annual visits, and keep our guest room ready for any West-coast visitors this little baby can entice!

First Celebrations

We are so excited about this little baby that will be coming into our lives! We are also so thankful for friends and family that are excited with us! I have been so blessed by the phone calls, emails, cards, and gifts of celebration and support. Here are few of baby's first gifts, including an antique bassinet from Ed and Melda, a duckie lovie from Ann and Brent, a bunny from Kathleen, transition/maternity clothes from Mom and Kathy (not pictured), a police car from soon-to-be Uncle Robbie, and some books from his daddy!

Trusting in the Midst of Change

Luke and I have talked for years about having a family. And, it's always been along the lines of wanting, by today's standards, a big one. In fact, the first conversation I ever had with Luke was because he heard I was from a big family, and wanted to know, as one who grew up effectively as an only child, exactly how that all worked. Luke wished he'd grown up in a big family, and I love my outrageously large group of rowdy siblings.

So, when we got engaged, and then married, we always talked about one day wanting just that. Then we blinked and it was five-and-a-half years later. During that time we went through a major career change for Luke, graduate school for me, and shoveling our way out from under the tremendous mountain of debt we accumulated in college. Left with a much stronger relationship, some experience under our belt, manageable debt of just a reasonable mortgage and student loans, and some wonderful time with just the two of us, we got to talking about if maybe it was time to add kids to the mix. Kids are such a big commitment, though. What if we couldn't be the parents our parents were? What if we were too much like our parents? Could we afford it? Maybe we should pay down the rest of our student loans first. Plus, everything in our lives was so very wonderful, maybe we should just leave things as they were for a bit.

Then, one week not too long after that conversation, I firmly believe God intervened. Luke had a fantastic position on a task force that all of a sudden had to be disbanded due to lack of city funding. Then, in the sixth round of cutbacks at my company, I was finally hit. We both lost our positions in a matter of days, and Luke lost his take-home car along with his. Driving home from small group in our truck, wondering what we were going to do, I hit a deer and totalled the only car we had left. So, we lost both of our positions and cars in the same week. That's about the time we started reevaluating where we were in life.

Luke, always the practical one, pointed out that he still had a job at the department, so we were O.K., and I suggested I take a few weeks and think about what I wanted in this next phase of my career and in life. He also mentioned that maybe this would be a good time to talk again about having a family. And then off he went to work, leaving me at home with no job and no car to just sit and stew about how upside-down my life had suddenly become. For a few weeks I just wrestled with how caught up my identity had been in my career, and how stubborn I had been about making my own plans and resisting things I was scared of rather than just moving forward with them. I finally got to where I could give up my fears about where we were going and pray for God to just show me where to go from here. When Luke got home that day, I told him I was finally over my funk and ready for a new start, for phase two, of my career, of our marriage, and if, it happened, for kids too. Luke prayed that night that God would give me great job opportunities, peace, direction, and that He would bless us with a baby. Finally, after years of wondering when the perfect time was for kids, and how to balance that with my job, it felt wonderful to give up trying to figure that out, and see what God had for us.

Over the next few weeks, I got several great job leads that I pursued, and started to look forward to new possibilities in our lives. Then, one Sunday, I woke up not feeling well at all. The same thing happened the next day, and the next. And by 8pm each night I was asleep on the couch. To top it all off, I cried so hysterically when watching The Blindside on DVD, Luke had to pause it until I calmed down enough to continue.

A few days later, in the quiet morning, the word "PREGNANT" stared me straight in the face. I just laughed, smiled, then prayed "Alright, God. Here we go. I'm trusting you on this one." And, for the first time in weeks, I felt the most amazing peace sweep over me as I walked in the bedroom to wake Luke up and tell him the news: phase two of our life had already begun.

(That day, Luke brought home pink and blue flowers and treats after a TAC exercise and before work!)

Welcome to Our Blog!

One of my very favorite ways to stay in touch with friends who live out of town is by keeping up with their creative, photo-filled, funny, beautiful, honest blogs.

With friends and family scattered all across the South and the country, we are starting a blog so that those of you who want to keep up with our growing family can come and check in on us any time you like.

And, we will use the blog as a way to document memorable moments -- good and bad, big and small -- that we don't want to forget during this very wonderful and transitional time.

Thank you for caring about our little family. Y'all come back now! :)