blog troubles

so i keep changing the layout of our blog, because problems keep coming up. i had a supercute layout from another site, but it wouldn't let me post pictures. now it won't let people post comments, and this layout is from the blogger website! if you have any tips, let me know (although you can't leave a comment, email me or something).

i am 11 weeks starting this past monday (it's wednesday). and thanks to psychotic wind and freaky texas allergies, i have gotten ANOTHER cold. thankfully, though, this time i know i can take medicine so it shouldn't be as bad as last time. and really should i even be complaining when i've made it through this whole first trimester almost without any morning sickness? and even then, should i complain? because after all, we are having a baby! thank you, God!!

He is so gracious to us when we are so undeserving and sinful. He sent his only son to die on the cross just for our sins! and all we have to do is have faith in that and then we are saved and shown His love and mercy. that's why instead of going with ella mae for a girl's name, we are going to use ella grace. God's grace is the whole reason we live and experience joy through Him. He is so wonderful; even when bad stuff happens (and there is some bad stuff happening right now all over the world and in our lives and i'm sure in your lives, too). i started reading ecclesiastes, and chapter 3 is called "a time for everything". first it lists that there's a time for all this good stuff and then the opposite of the good stuff, like love and hate, weeping and laughing, mourning and dancing, being born and dying, killing and healing. all that bad stuff is sooo bad to us on earth, but then in verse 11a it says, "He has made everything beautiful in its time." all that bad stuff happening is just a small part of a much larger picture that we can't even see, only God can see. it happens all the time in our lives and sometimes we do get to see the bigger picture! after reading that, i am so encouraged with all the bad stuff happening around us and in our world (sorry i'm not getting specific, but you never really know who will read this, and really it applies to anything and anyone). God isn't confined to working through only good stuff like having a baby. He can work through crappy world leaders, divorce, death, disease, loneliness, you name it. we just have to have faith in Him, which only He can give us. ok i'm done off my tangent now; i was just super excited about reading that this morning. oh, and feel free to sweetly remind me of this particular post in case anything bad happens in our pregnancy or to our child.

since i started this blog, i had forgotten to share the first gift our baby got! it is from my best friend deanna and it is a HANSON onesie!!!! i am having a hard time saving a picture from their website, and i don't really feel like messing with our own camera, so click here:

hanson onesie

and that's it! it's their newest CD that's about to come out. the sweet girls i had been teaching with for the past three months also gave us a little package of body suits and a gift card to babies r us. i think that getting baby-related presents makes it a little more real.