the dog days are over?

the weather forecast said "mostly sunny" which appears to mean partly sunny... that's okay, i'll take it!!!
the days are longer now and we are getting more sun, even if it's just for a few hours.  it seems like the sun and i are linked entirely.  if it comes out, so do i =)

i think the first trimester tiredness and sickness is gone? i hope i hope.  i was so thankful for it... it let me know i was indeed pregnant and with a healthy pregnancy (so far.  thank you god!).  now, at 14 weeks, my energy is starting to return and i can be on my feet without getting dizzy most of the time.  i've gained 2lbs back of the 8 i lost while being sick the first trimester.  apart from my lower abdomen feeling "full" (there is definitely something growing in there), i don't really feel pregnant... so i want to enjoy this time.
       i spent a good deal of yesterday morning reading a blog i stumbled upon about a young family.  they had one daughter and the woman was pregnant again, but lost the baby at 12 weeks.  it took a while for them to get pregnant again.  she shared openly about the struggles and fears of being pregnant again after their loss... all the way up until she gave birth... it was really encouraging and helped me get out of another little funk i got into in the last couple days (my mom had lost a baby at 7 months... her water had broken early.  she was given a cerclage for her pregnancy with my younger brother and me.  it's not hereditary, but it's made me think i still can't let my heart soak this baby up... i can't even think about what i would do if we lost this baby.  so i'm not...)

 i have a lot of catching up to do with cleaning this place.  a little at a time.  it took me forever to sweep the whole house yesterday.  the broom is half the size of a normal broom and this house is SO long and there is so much dust... like someone keeps emptying the dryer lint all over the floor.  i've never experienced that before living here.  i did it though.  next i'd like to vaccuum... with our shop vac... also a back breaking activity, but well worth it!

we're working on tying up all we need to here in scotland before flying to MI.  less than 60 day!  we sorely underestimated how expensive life here would be.  god is getting us through, but we will be looking for work this summer to pay off some of the ridiculous amount of debt we've managed to accrue.  having some income to start fighting it off will be a huge relief.

we've had some really hard stuff to deal with and figure out in the last year.  we've both had really hard seasons, struggling with different things, but i'm so thankful that we have each other.  steve is a godsend.  i love having really hard talks or really deep talks, and still being able to laugh in the midst of it too... i love our sense of humor and just in general how we "get" each other.

naomi is coming in a few weeks, for two weeks.  i think we'll mostly be sticking around our house for the first week while we fine tune our plans and gather some food.  then we're off to london and then paris for the second week!  i've never been to paris and am really looking forward to going with her.  i think i'd like to do more girl get aways in the future.  we'll be laughing a lot!  i'm looking forward to that too=)

so now that i'm feeling better, the sun is making more appearances and staying out later, naomi is coming to go exploring with me, we're going to be with friends and family in MI soon, and we'll be in denver this fall... i feel like maybe possibly the dog days are over=)