Week 27

Sweet baby-

I want to write down so we always remember...you are a mover BIG time now! Its so cute, you even wake me up at night...your little body twirls and whirls all around inside my tummy! And sometimes you kick or move so hard to one side of my womb that I loose balance! You are so sweet...I love to feel you tapping me under my hand...and so does daddy...trust me he is your number one fan...well he and I are both your number one fans!

Shower, Europe-Baby Moon, and reality hits! ;)

So I have a ton of pics from my super special and fabulous baby shower in California, where my sister, mom and best friend Barbie, blessed me with a day filled with friends and food and love love love!!!!

People came from all over Southern and Northern Cal and Bakersfield to share in the joy of this time in my life...to love on me and my baby BOY!!!

But those will have to come later....as they are just barely being downloaded now!!!!

So here is a pic from our time in Germany. One of the days, while Mike was at a conference, I went to Heidelberg- a small, beautiful historic University town along the Neckar river- and walked the cobble stone streets and went to a cafe where I ate and read and just relaxed! So here I am trying to get a pic of the baby and me together! And for some reason I love that the guy in the background is smiling on us! :)

There's so much more to share, of being pampered by friends, not one dish did I have to do in one week...to seeing Mike's cousins who also spoiled us-and who are super fun-(also now that I have my little baby boy I feel soo much more connected to Mike's family bc not only are they Mike's family and my in laws but my sweet son, who I am carrying in my womb, they are his family!) to meeting up with a friend, Ruth,  who I had met while working in Africa-she drove 2 hours just to see me!

Then there's Paris...lets just say I LOVE being with just my husband...and I love Paris...it's like New York, the fact that its urban and diverse, but its way more charming, and old...and there are so many West African's there and you know how I love Africa....and all the pastries-my poor baby was on a sugar high I am sure! Mike and I rented a little apartment in a cute neighborhood and throughly enjoyed our time just us...two wait three! :) It was an amazing baby moon...more pics to come!

Now reality is just kicking in...pregnancy was a dream until...my back started aching, my legs too, then my breathing started becoming awkward, and my gums so swollen it hurts to eat, and now I have canker sores covering the inside of my mouth, and its seems more come every few hours! And that has caused my lymph nodes to inflame which in turn has caused pain to run all along my jaw! Ahhh so if you read this pray that I can have a good attitude, it is really hard! But I want to have a good attitude especially for my husband and my baby-who by now can hear everything I say..ahh! :)

Week 21 (just about a month ago)

Week 21-

Thursday morning while daddy was praying over you with his hand on my belly you kicked him...your first "thump!"

Until then it was just little movements that felt like tiny bubbles popping in my belly but lately your are thumping me!

Then while we were at a Rosh Shashana service you thumped us-you enjoyed learning about your Jewish heritage! :)

And always when I am at the computer-and when you are moving I stop what I am doing and sometimes lay down and try and watch you-but sometimes you stop-its prob the laying down maybe that position is comfy for you and you just settle in and relax! :)

But I did see you thumping around a bit yesterday my skin moving up and down just a hair!

And today you kicked really high up in my torso-could you be way up there? ;)

Babies first concert!

We went to support our friend and my coworker Luke at his show in the village-Luke Folger look out for him very talented!

Well the baby really enjoyed it he was flipping and flipping - he loved the intense beats and rhythms of the music! Go baby Go!

Beach Baby!!

20 weeks!!!


They say he is the size of a banana-but the doctor told us this week he is actually two weeks advanced in size!! So he is way beyond banana now! ;)



Papa and Mama


Love...my two boys!


I like to hold my baby and move him around in there! :)




All belly! ;)

So we had an adventure at the beach last weekend...and adventure it was. We were excited to have one last beach day before fall comes-although it still feels like summer here-and were on the train headed to the sand and the waves when...the conductor kicked Mike and I off the train in the middle of NO WHERE, "Hey you and your girlfriend have to get off the train!"he growled. Why? Well I didn't know that they only accepted cash on the train unlike other railroad lines in NYC so I was 4 dollars short so instead of letting us pay when we got to our destination-which was the last stop, we were sent off in what felt like the middle of nowhere and no one was there, with the next train maybe coming in an hour.

What do you do when your pregnant and all you want to do is rest in the sun and tan your belly and swim and relax with your husband....you cry that's what you do.

We were told there were no more trains coming and some random bus could take us back into the city and we'd have to wait for an uncertain amount of time on a random sidewalk for it to come.

I cried and cried. Really.

Finally Mike-thank God-decided we should pray that God could redeem our day. May I add that we were already going on a late beach trip hoping to arrive by 2:45 so it was now the mid afternoon. So he prayed over us, I said I couldn't bc I was too worked up. And then woosh I train was on its way...and it passed us. "Dont give up hope," Mike said.
And then low and behold the next train to the beach arrived!!

And really God did redeem the day, yea we didnt make it to the beach till four but lets just say we didnt get home till ten-we swam and read and laughed and played and napped and ate! Fun Fun Fun.

So here is the evidence of our fun day!

Im having a BABY!!!!!

*note these photos where from August 8th at 17 1/2 weeks or 4 months! People see me now and I think they are surprised when they hear my January due date, expecting me to say November-my baby is making an early debut is what I say! Oh sweet boy! Also note how cute my boy is with his little hand resting on his knee, as if he was tapping to the beat of music!

So as most of you know I am pregnant!

With a sweet baby boy, that's soo handsome, infact who looks like Mike-I promise!

There is so much that has been going on, but I will back track a bit and then start here at 19 1/2 weeks along!

*I started showing since I was 11 weeks-when I was offered my first subway seat-thanks lady on the cross town bus! And was congratulated by the pizza guy in the neighborhood-just by the size of my belly! Soon after people - total strangers- would start pointing to me and say "so boy" "your straight out" "you look boy", thanks Jamaican nurse, Chinese woman, and Mike's coworker...then my cravings followed suit, not sweet for this sugar obsessed woman, no no this baby like SOUR SPICY and HOT-lets just say that I stopped for fast food Chinese, which I haven't done in years, for Kung Pou Chicken and to top it off when asked do I want sauteed or fried...Uhhemmmmm FRIED, of course! ;)

And Mike spoils me and I am no longer Misha, I am Misha and baby (whose name you will all have to wait till the birth for). Mike seriously anxiously awaits to hold my belly and talk to our boy through the megaphone-aka my belly button-yes that can be awkward! I remind Mike that babies hear low deep sounds best-thanks National Geographic In The Womb-but that can turn out funny, the baby might be surprised when he realizes his father isn't Darth Vader! ;) Oh and even on my days off he cooks and cleans for me in fact he gets irritated if I do the dishes on my days off! Crazy man! And when we walk down the street he sticks out his hand, "Why" I say "I want to carry your purse," he says, not that I don't run the streets of New York with multiple bags in tow when I am alone but I love how he loves me so well. Hey with this kind of treatment I told him I am going on 10 kids! Really I love being a princess, Thank you lord for giving me a real solid glimpse into how you love me so sweetly.

Also our little sweet love is a mover and a shaker! From week 8 at like an inch big he was jamming side to side doing a jig-the doctor was like "Wow, look at your baby go!" Our babe was like "I have arm buds and I am going to move 'em!" (like his mother everyone said, and with pride I beamed!) And to be honest I thought I could easily become one of the moms with the bumper sticker that screams "My kids on honor roll...." bc hey I wanted a sticker that said "My baby moved at 8 weeks in the womb!" And then at the next ultrasound at 12 weeks we could hardly get the proper angles bc of his action, which started in a headstand and then multiple flips side to side and waves and clapping and non stop motion! The technician switched to check out my ovaries to which I said, "Oh, what are you looking for," and she replied "We are just waiting for your babies cooperation." To which I started laughing - ohhh to think my sweet baby could have a cooperation! ;) Then when we heard the heart beat at the 13 week appointment the rhythm was off, I wasn't concerned but I noticed it, then my doctor-who I love and is so fun and outgoing and maternal and who often high fiving me exclaiming, "You're having a baby!"- said "Do you hear those sounds that's the baby moving around!" Even the heart beat was muffled he was soo active! But at this time we didn't know if he was our little boy just yet, but we prayed for God to open our hearts to receive the perfect human he was and is creating in there!

So just 2 1/2 weeks ago at 17 weeks my doctor gave us another ultrasound where we saw our sweet baby boy..with a little carrot! "Its obvious" she said! Of course we cried. When I see this little person growing inside of me I always cry (and laugh too). The first time I thought "Wow, Lord you love me this much" and the second time I was just filled with joy and laughter and this last time I thought "Wow Lord really me a son, what a grace gift." My little grace gift so undeserved a reminder of Gods rich and deep love, I mean who deserves to have a human that God designs grow in their womb and then to raise it and be filled with life long unconditional love...wow Thanks God for giving us humans this treasure.

So Motherhood has begun, and one thing I have realized, I am not in control. Of course I can make wise choices and pray and love and nurture my son, of course-but everything is in God's hands he is in control-Thank God!

**Funny updates:

You know you're pregnant when your wearing compression socks-wait you didn't have to wear those, oh that's right cramps are supposed to go away after a stretch or two...opps...well after two doc appts and a $15 pair of socks which ripped after the first wear! I still have a leg cramp-going on the sixth day! Electrolytes it is for me.

You know you are pregnant when one morning you wake up and think or exclaim, "My back, my back!" Yes then I remember just like in Pilate's turn to the side and gently lift up!


You know your pregnant when you want to turn in your breasts for the night, yes take them off and lay them on the night stand please...and to think the milk hasn't even come in yet! Hey at least they look great! Well according to friends and of course my husband!

Don't Fade

Africa Mercy-

My heart aches for you...its turned into a dull almost distant pain...

I hate that what absorbed my life only a few weeks ago now feels a world away...the sights, sounds, and smells, the work, the people, and friends- that filled my soul, that fed my soul- feels at times like a dream...I want to grasp that time again but it is past....ahh and I am left with a dull pain and a lifetime full of memories and experiences - my special gift from God just for me...that even now I have not been able to process...I don't know how to process...while I share with others I find it hard to express all you were to me Togo, all that you gave me lord and what I saw- the significance of it all that now in New York with life moving so fast seems surreal...but I don't want to forget...forget the need, forget the hope, forget the people, forget the gift...Oh lord help me hold this in my heart....and now here at home with no one who has shared that experience with me I feel at times alone...And now as I organize video footage for a short documentary I am scared...I want to honor my friend Kossi, his story, I want to give viewers a glimpse into his life, into a world unknown by many in the United States, I want to educate people and inspire people, motivate people through the story of one boy...but I am scared...Oh Lord my desire is for my video work to have purpose also to communicate to people with visuals and audio...this is your story...oh lord help me to tell it. So if you read this pray that by His grace and mercy I will be able to give others a glimpse into the life of one boy-Kossi DeLou. (pictured with me at the top)

You know many thought this longing I have had for Africa was a fantasy or unrealistic but a passion this strong is never random it is always a gift from God, and I am thankful he taught me to trust him and not the world, because I was MADE for Africa ;)

Oh Lord will you send me again to those living in hiding in shame those rejected or in fear to be your hands and feet and serve alongside others from around the world who also love you?