37 Weeks

I can't believe how fast time can go sometimes. Three weeks left till a new journey. Somewhat scary, very exciting. I don't always look at my past blog entries, so please forgive me if I repeat myself. We can just blame it on being pregnant. Last Thursday Rustin and I went to St. Cloud and purchased a computer. Neither of us know a whole lot about computers so we talked to our dads and got some good advice. When we got it home and tried booting it up, we had all sorts of problems with it not starting, starting and then freezing up, and numerous pop-ups of how some stuff was installed wrong. Thankfully the Geek Squad had installed everything so we knew it wasn't our fault. We took some pictures of some of the pop-ups and headed back to St. Cloud on Saturday. (There is some benefit to a week of rain in the fall.) The hour and a half trip there was a little tense, not knowing what type of service we would encounter. The Geek looked at our computer and said it didn't look like anything was wrong at the moment, but since we had pictures of proof of nasty pop-ups and since we had just purchased it a few days ago, we could swap computers. Without any hesitation I said "YES." I didn't think we needed a 'lemon' sitting around the house, and Rustin hated calling the HP hotline and talking with hard-to-understand help, so we waited while they installed the new computer with anti-virus/spyware software and we headed home. Thankfully when we arrived home and hooked everything up, it worked. This brightened our weekend. I know computers tend to have minds of their own so I'm sure things won't always be peachy, but I am going to enjoy it until that point. Everyone has their opinion of Best Buy and the Geek Squad, but Rustin and I decided that they were very helpful to us, and we were glad to talk to actual humans face-to-face.

This week, thus far, has been sunny, so today marks the beginning of my temporary widowhood. Rustin is now applying anhydrous to area fields, so I will see little of him for a couple of months. Hopefully when I go into labor, I'll be able to reach him. At this time last year, we were engaged and I spent many nights up till 11 or 12 talking to him while he was finishing up a field. I think it will be different this year with me actually living up here. Ask me in a few weeks if I'm cut out to be an Ag wife.

One of my dear cousins reqested a picture of how I look pregnant. So after reading this section, you might want to exit out before you are forever scarred. Rustin delighted in taking many pictures, much to my dismay, so most of them have been deleted. Here are a couple.

It's still raining

Sometimes we just have to face the fact that we don't always get our way with the weather. It is still rainy and gloomy. This makes it difficult for Rustin to get into the fields and apply anhydrous. Last Saturday was a nice day though, so we finally finished the rock part of our landscape. We needed about half a bucket full, so thankfully some of our friends had an over-abundance left from their project so we could use that. We don't have the mulch down on the one side of the house yet, but we are going to wait for spring to do this. Last week I went in for my 36 week check-up. Everything looks okay, so now we just wait for the baby to come. I'm ready for it sooner rather than later, but I guess I'll just have to be patient. I have weekly appointments now so the arrival seems more real. At this point I would say that I would take the first 7 months over the last 2. I think this is because I felt better then, and didn't feel so clumsy and nauseous and big. I'll stop complaining though, because a lady at church told me that she vomited every night from month 3 till the end. I just don't know how she did it. Last Friday we helped at the first annual Fireman's chili/hamburger fundraiser. (It replaced the Fireman's Auction, which I thought would've been neat to go to.) People kept showing up, so I think they did pretty well for the first year. I am finally beginning to recognize people from Hancock besides church people which is exciting to me. Rustin was giving fire truck rides around town to whoever wanted one. There were four of us in his truck at one point and his pager went off signifying a fire call. Luckily we were only a block away from the fire hall, so he whipped the truck around and dropped us off. One anxious fireman was in such a hurry that he practically drug me out of the truck. Obviously he has never been pregnant. Since all of the firemen except one were gone, some of us wives stepped up and helped a little more. It ended up that the fire was in a different county, so they all came back in about 10 minutes. I'm always comforted when I hear of these dispatch mishaps. If my house was burning I don't think I'd be impressed if it took two or three tries to get the right people there. I guess so far nothing drastic has happened so that lives were lost, but if you get a chance ask Rustin to tell you some of the rather humorous Hancock Fire Dept. mishaps. It will make you glad you live elsewhere! Because it was raining yesterday, Rustin was able to take off a little early and we went to Alex shopping. We purchased a curtain rod and a toilet for our bathroom project. Thankfully we cleaned out the office so there is room for all this stuff. We also did a little Christmas and baby shopping. It's good to get out and enjoy different scenery!

The Philistine Army

Last week was kind of a slow one. It rained most of the week, so this was a good chance for me to do some house cleaning and rearranging. We bought a computer desk that has two wings for storage underneath. The armoire and one of our desks left the office and are now on the front porch. The office is less messy and things are more accessible. The store-all table is now used as my drafting table. This fall I have a couple of drawings and proposals to do. One of them I need to get done this week because they will be done with harvest by next weekend and the men can start on the landscaping. I enjoy the design aspect of landscaping and am hoping to acquire more business in this department. I am looking to invest in a computer program for design which will make my job much more efficient.
The title of my entry is what stuck out in the sermon yesterday. I don't remember where we were reading, but the theme of the morning was - allowing God to remove the Philistine Army(s) from our lives. It is easy to get bogged down with weights or fears or whatever else Satan can bog us down with. But, if we put our trust in God and give Him our whole heart, He will help us to destroy "the Philistines."
Other Sunday highlights were that my old roomate, Mindy Wulf, was engaged to Jonathan Joos. He was an usher at our wedding. We feel they will be good for each other and are excited to have another young couple in Morris. In the evening we went to Rustin's parents with some other families for a fish fry. It was some good fish! Hopefully this week will be a little sunnier so the fall weather can be better enjoyed.