Just a waitin'

I am sitting here...literally waiting on our sweet baby to get here. Why literally? Because I can't do much else. Sleeping is a thing of the past, eating usually leads to a stomach ache, and walking just increases the size of my elephant feet! Still, it is so worth it. Aaron and I are so excited to meet our baby we could just scream. Thinking back to just a few weeks ago, I wondered if and how everything would come together. There were so many things that needed to fall together. But God is so good and now I have the privilege to simply relax (kinda) and wait for our baby instead of running around like a chicken with my head cut off. Having our baby in Saipan has probably saved us thousands for the pure fact that we are doing with only the necessities. There is no elaborate nursery, gadgets, or gizmos...just me, Aaron, and our soon to be munkin. And it couldn't be any better.

Here are a few pics from our maternity shoot last Tuesday.

Life As We Know It

In just a few short weeks, our baby boy will be in our arms. This is such an exciting time in our lives...I don't think I can fully grasp it. In recent weeks, Aaron has taken on a new level of excitement. It is such a blessing to watch him get excited as new baby items arrive in the mail and he imagines our little one taking advantage of the items. It is fun to day dream with him. I am grateful to have him by my side during this process. This pregnancy, much less labor/delivery, and then caring for our son would have been insane without him. We are feeling really blessed. And though these last few weeks have been filled with physical discomfort and all sorts of craziness that comes with being pregnant on an island in the middle of nowhere, these are the days I think we will look back on as old people and smile.

Life on Saipan is like nothing else. It has definitely had it's ups and downs as we adjusted but it has become one of the(if not the) sweetest times in our marriage. We are privileged to spend most of our days together. We have learned to rejoice in the little things. We have grown spiritually in ways I didn't know were possible considering our briefness here thus far. We have a better grip of where our marriage and soon to be little family is headed and our purpose. And we even love our teeny tiny room that we live in. It's all very surreal. I look back on when I first heard about this opportunity in Saipan and this is indeed not what I expected it to be but it is exactly as God wants it...and it is beautiful. We have been humbled and changed in the most beautiful of ways.

Saipan is in need of a church...a fresh church that offers something...different. This island is in need of a revival. The island, to be frank, seems to be dying spiritually and the youth particularly are in desperate need of a message that they can understand. We feel like we have a role in making a difference in God's Kingdom here on Saipan and are really trying to understand what that role means. Be praying for us on that.

Something random and funny...some of you may know that I braid hair. I've been doing it for ages now and even went ahead and got my license a few years back to make it official. Well, the women on the island are intrigued to say that least. The are awestruck at the fact that I braid my own hair and the small population of African American women here are basically forming a line for my services. It is hilarious! Before my arrival to Saipan, women have literally been paying airfare to travel and get their hair braided with extensions. That is insane to me. And the local women in the island are amazed. To them it is this kind of old world luxurious beauty; something elaborate....and expensive. So to them all (American and native women)...me being here is miraculous. It's amazing how little gifts can be such a huge deal to someone else.