SNOW!

our first fam pix as wisconsin residents!

wisconsin

hello all.
i decided to not use "ya'll" in my opening greeting as we are now in the North!

that's right folks- we have landed in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin!

a recap on the weekend's events...

Saturday- we were HUGELY supported by our Community Group (small group from church) who came from about 2-4:30 to carry all of our earthly belongings down a flight of stairs and out to the truck. there were moments of worry as our truck looked teeny and our belongings began piling up outside the truck- but thanks to all the hard working men, masterminding TETRIS kings and some determination... it all fit in.
THANK YOU soo much ya'll for coming and hauling it all for us- and caring so much about us!

then Lori,one of our friends from Comm. Group, brought us a YUM dinner which we ate in our empty apartment. it was strange to eat indian style on the floor of our BARE home. Jess and Cali shared one final meal with us. and then a funky rain storm with tornados in the surrounding area hit. it blew over and mom, dad, gow, sally and I all completely WORN out- headed to the Eddy's to crash.

it was GREAT to have a clean, comfy and HOME-y place to sleep that night as we were all zonked and gow and i were grieving our home, friends and Nashy-fam. THANK YOU Eddy's for loving us and taking us all in!

after a LONG nights sleep and a big ol breakfast, we pulled out around 10AM.
dad in his car, gow in the 17 foot uhaul- towing the Accord and mom, sj and I in the CRV-- all vehicles packed to the brim.
we drove that day until about 5pm... gow and dad stopping to help an older fella out with a broken belt and mom going LOOPY in the backseat while entertaining SJ. (she ended up sounding an whole lot like Ms. Doubtfire!)
thanks to mom's creativeness- sj did fantastically.

we did dinner, took a quick dip in the pool and then all went to bed early.
breakfast on Monday morning and we were on the road by 9:30AM, hit about 20 min. of Chicago traffic over the lunch hour and crossed the WI border by 1am.

i was telling SJ "welcome to CANADA" when we crossed the border cuz there was SNOW! everywhere! it was beautiful in the sun- but felt like another world as the white snow covered the ground and the HUGE sky was baby blue. if you haven't been to a place that is open and flat-- you really need to experience it! it is phenominal- beautiful- and soo different from the green rolling hills of Franklin/Nashy.

k- then we rolled into Lake Geneva about 2, Neal and Cyndie came at 3:30 to help unload the truck into my folks' garage.. and by about 5pm the truck was empty.
Cyndie brought over some great dinner, Emma and Timmy (Sj's cousins) entertained sally and we began the process of settling in.

my folks are so amazingly generous.
they drove down, packed us up, helped clean and cook, massively loved on and took care of SJ and now have given us their master bedroom and are sharing their condo with us.
it is humbling and hard to see them "making do" in their guest bedroom with limited closet space while we are taking over THEIR space.
thank you mom and dad- and the words hardly seem sufficient.

they are waiting to hear from the place in OR that they are planning to go and volunteer at this spring. pray with us as it is really what my folks want to do to share in the ministry there and to get my mom and her allergies to the coast as everything blooms this spring.

today was grocery shopping, trying to set up the comp and gow's work station and trying to unpack and get settled.... then emma and timmy came over for dinner, some stories and card games.

ok- this is a massive book. but some of you were praying with us- and wanted to hear how it went.
THANK YOU for the prayers and support.
we are thankful for such smooth "sailing" and praise God for such incredible friends and family.
bless you all that have made Nashville/Franklin our home.
miss you- and praise God for you.
also, thank you to Neal, Cyndie, mom and dad for the HOURS of man labor you have done to help us get here.

alrighty- will post some fun pix of this crazy weekend soon.
i am zonked and heading to bed.

night night

the kitchen today and the truck tomorrow

well it is all coming together quite smoothly.
today we pack the kitchen and do some cleaning and then tomorrow we will load the truck and our cars.

thanks to my folks AMAZING work- we are not stressed nor tired... but feeling on top of things and able to hang out and watch American Idol in the evenings. =)

My siso Jane sent us a care package to get us thru the week of GIRL SCOUT thin mints and sumoas! woot woot! you know- it is definately the lil things in life that are worth celebrating! =)

Last night was fun to as Gow pulled out his guitar and played/sang for us a bit.

i am thinking that having my folks here is also going to majorly help sj in the transition as she is already 100% confident/comfortable/trusting of them. that will be great as we transition to a new home and they will be there in the midst.
praise God for that.

well that's it on the news front..
i guess i am up early cuz of anticipation...
and am looking forward to the big breakfast we are gonna have today of eggs, taters, toast and the fixings. =)

here are some fun pix that donnie emailed me a few weeks ago of their time here in Nashy..






i LOVE LOVE LOVE this one! we are at the Grand Ol Opry Hotel gardens here...

and on a funny note, sj wore this headband for about 2 hours and then i left it on her for another hour of nap or so and when we took it off... she had the indent for about 3 more hours.. seriously!
adorable and a little bit sad.


ha. not sure what i was thinking with leaving SJ's jammies like this.. she looks like a body builder. =)

we all loved having David and Donnie here- and David was a great influence on Sally as far as walking! she is now walking down our hallway by herself with her little walker toy (thanks casparis!).

love to ya'll!

thanks for the prayers and support

coming along quite nicely

well- the packing is coming along quite nicely.

we are boxing things, numbering the boxes and making a list as we going so that we can access certain boxes when we need to.

at this point, we are planning to be at my folks' condo for 2 months while they are out of town... and we are hoping that God will open a door for employment for Gow by the end of those two months and we will be able to move into our own place.

however, if that doesn't happen, we will need to know which boxes have our brand new baby stuff for the gowa #2 and which has our summer clothes etc...

it has been quite a process... but we have our room and the kitchen left to do!

praise the Lord for mom and dad.

today, dad took sj out for a walk in the rain- bless his heart, washed our cars and has lifted a zillion heavy things for me.
mom has been cooking and walking around the house with SJ on her lil walker thingy and helping me pack.

gow and dad are currently packing up the fish tank to be snug and secure in the back seat of mom and dad's car.

wow- yes, that may have been more info than you wanted... but it's a peek into our day!

here are the last of our fun times in the 'Saw....

Gow took SJ for 48 hours (and even Kotter's kiddos for a day!) so I could have a get away with Mulks and Kotter! it was WONDERFUL!

we grilled HUGE steaks on a sunny, perfect day! and had buttery warm rolls, a gallon of homemade salsa and PINEAPPLE! yum!


ha- i LOVE this pix... and I love these girls!

i am laughing cuz it looks like all we did was eat while we were together! but i promise that's not true- it just happened to be when i had my camera out. =)
we headed out to catch a chick flick at the theater!
we were pumped to be responsibility free! and together!
ahh... it was a blessed time!

k- catch ya soon!

oh - and if you live in Nashy/Franklin and wanna help us load the truck on Saturday... we will be loading at 2pm and my sweet momma made homemade carmel rolls for anyone that helps! =)

it's all good

it has been GREAT having mom and dad here this week.
they have helped beyond words with packing, cleaning, cooking, playing with SJ, loving on SJ, walking with SJ, making SJ JOYFUL, and just overall being wonderful.
=)

i just got out of my dr apt. and she said that it is more than likely that my placenta will behave itself and clear the exit. =) so it was a great apt. as she was not worried and told us not to either.
Praise the Lord.
i am being careful not to lift lots- but with SJ weighing 20+ pounds, it is inevitable that i will be lifting her.

k- here are some more fun pix of our time in the 'Saw...

Mulks aka Aunt Beck having a good time with SJ.

Melody (Kotter's 4 year old) giving SJ kisses.
Abe (Piper's 18 month old) hanging out with SJ.
Mulks making SJ laugh hysterically.
Mulks tickle attacking Melody
Kotter tickle attacking Leah (Kotter's 2 year old)


Mulks and Leah

Cutie Leah.

Melody giving Gow a "back rub" (actually trying to kick him off the couch) =)

the girls in the play room... Sally LOVES LOVES LOVES being with other kids and was enamored by these two.
and the three of them hanging out with Bob. =)

love to ya'll from the Gowanito home with a big praise the Gowa #2 is healthy and hoping/trusting that the placenta will straighten out.

and now... for the announcement.....

that's right folks! we are having another sweet baby girl!

we are stoked to see our girls grow together, play together, share clothes, maybe date the same boys and just grow up sharing life together!

August 15th is the due date and we found out at the ultra sound that I have Placenta Previa which means that the placenta is blocking our baby's exit. We will do another ultra sound in 10 weeks and if the placenta has not moved to open the exit, then we will schedule an ultra sound.
As far as we know the baby is healthy and I am healthy and we will just keep trusting God each step of this journey we are on.

thanks for celebrating our sweet second baby girl with us!

so much love-
gow and the "gow girls"

(we are thinking of starting a band... teehee)

crazy nutso

well- it is crazy and nutso here in the home of the gowanitos.
i (will speak for myself) am feeling squeezed on all sides.

we are busy

1)packing- not knowing how to pack cuz we don't know how long we will be where... will we need summer clothes? will we need stuff for our newborn?

2)saying goodbyes - we have been SOOOO blessed by friends and family here in Nashy... it is heavy on my heart to say goodbye and thank yous for soo much love, support and good times

3)trying to keep some stability for lil SJ in the midst of roadtrips and so much change

4) dr visits... tomorrow we find out GENDER! WOOT WOOT!

5) being prego. =) ha. funny but sometimes we all (myself included) forget that i am prego and need more rest than normal

6) trying to live and love the adventure of the unknowns!

7) keep job searching and resume/reel sending

and there you have it. =)

now some more pix from last week in AR...


Kim and Terri... our small group leaders, my former boss and co-worker at JBU and dear friends!
Shep and Bry-- we say briefly at Cafe on Broadway....

Bry and Bran loving on SJ!
ahhh.. too cute.
and yes, if you don't know brandon... he is dating Natalie Payne! =)

k- off to the post office and then having a friend from Big Idea over for dinner.
love to ya'll!

fun times with the Kehili's

we are home!
we had a fantastic time with our buds in AR.
First, thanks to all ya'll that made it such a super fun and relaxing time.
I think Siloam and being with ya'll will always feel a little bit like home.

okay, before any of you see the pix below... don't freak out.
the gun is NOT loaded, has a safety on it and James (being the responsible and loving uncle james that he is...) never took his hands off of the gun.
Gow and I were also both about 2 feet away the whole time.....

James was introducing Sally to the "huntin' side of Arkansas".

not sure what SJ was thinking... but you can tell by her facial expression that she certainly has some thoughts...
this pix is for Mark T and Todd- i was impressed with all of James dish washing skills! and knew that you two would be entertained by them as well. =) James actually cooked some meals and did the clean up! and James, the meals were YUM! Thanks mucho.
i love this one- James and Silvy are playing with SJ.
Silvy is now about 9 days away from her due date! so it is fun to think that next time we are all together, they will be loving on their own lil bundle.


looks like SJ is having a pretty serious talk with them about life as a wee one.

we did some relaxing and lounging and just being together... and had one pretty wild night of games. ashamedly, james clean house on almost all of them... he and gow even did some victory dancing in the midst of it all. maybe it's cuz Silvy and I are both prego... may have affected our gamage.

Sally is patting Silvy's cute belly. As you can see, Silvy is all belly and is still looking GREAT!

ha- this one cracks me up cuz SJ looks TICKED!
but after Sally Jane adjusted a bit- we all had a super great time with the Kehrli clan.
Thanks you three!

Gow is currently on the phone with a uhaul place... we are planning to do some saying goodbyes this week (and some next), have a few more dr appointments and roll on up to Wisconsin by March 31st.

Looks like my folks are planning to come this Sunday to help for a week of packing and cleaning.
Then next Sunday, we plan to load the truck (yes, anyone who lives near...we'd LOVE to have any help possible- and shouldn't take long with many hands) and then drive North on Monday morning......

very bittersweet.

k. need to get a move on the day!
love to ya'll!

amazing husband and dad

today i woke up at 8:30AM, had a chocolate chip cookie and now am meandering on the internet as kotter and mulks catch a few z's down the hall from me.
my beloved husband has sent me away for 2 days and a night with my 2 bff's from JBU for a blissful girls getaway!

so he is at Kotter's house with Sally Jane - and today while Chad is at work, Gow even has their 2 and 4 year old girls too!
WHAT A GUY!

seriously, I am blessed beyond words.

you see, for the first 9 months of Sally's life I was nursing her (choosing to pump very little cuz i HATED it) and therefor was never away from Sally for longer than about 6 hours. so gow- being the incredibly WONDERFUL husband/partner/man that he is... promised me a weekend get away before our gowanito #2 comes along!

so if you think about it- pray for gow today as he has 3 little girls on his own. and then pray blessings on his amazingly selfless, strong, wonderful self.

on July 23, 2005 i knew i was signing up for life with my bestfriend and the greatest man in the world. but i had no clue all that was entailed in the greatest man..... i am continually amazed, humbled and so blessed!

this is just cuz

i don't think i ever posted these...
my plan was to post pix from yearbook yourself of my siblings and folks.
however, i didn't get around to doing it for all of them, so you get to see my folks "as they would be" back in the day.

first my momma...


2000
1998
1994

then my dad!
2000
1982
1958


just for fun!
=)

k- we are still on our road trip, but will post more when we get home.

love to ya'll!

enjoying the SWEET spring weather and SJ the "worker"

ahh yes- the spring weather was here last week and do we ever SOAK it up!
SJ got to go nudey toodey in the warmth and we spent as much time out as possible.
we have a sweet park nearby that SJ and I can get in a 3 mile walk and take in the sunshine, happy people, doggies and kiddos.





lately SJ has become very busy "working"
she will find a new cupboard or toy stash or something and spend 1/2 hr to an hour inspecting it all, flipping them upside down etc.
this particular "project" she spent about 40 minutes picking up the letters, then standing up and putting them on the foot of our table, knocking them off and doing it all over again.
she was very seriously working until i pulled out the camera and the grins came out. =)


we have quite a few meals on the back deck over looking our pond and fountain and duckies

another work "project"
and she is pulling herself up on everything and everyone possible.