Lately...

Praying for:

+ I'm doing a prayer challenge, which I discussed here. Basically, I have planned out a person, issue, or situation that I want to extensively pray over each day. Some days I'm better about it than others, but overall it has been a good experience and I've enjoyed setting aside more time to talk to God each day.

+ Healthy pregnancies for a few more friends I found out about recently! :) Hooray for more babies!

Working on:

+ Christmas shopping. We are doing things differently this year and are not buying as many presents. It's a great feeling! Not because we're being stingy. I love giving gifts, but I think scaling back to just a few meaningful gifts for those closest to us is the best way to steward the money we've been blessed with. Scott & I have also decided to go on a trip instead of buying presents for each other.  And we made sure to spend as much money on those in need as we did on Grayson by participating in the holiday helper program at our church. We were able to bless a mom with a gas card and a 1 year old with some toys. :) 

+ Preparing for our trip to Gatlinburg later this week! Yes, traveling two weeks in a row. Eek!

+ Posting things on my new FB page: Bellies, Boobies, and Babies! "Like" the page to follow along with articles, videos, and encouragement that I post for families!

Hoping for:

+ A smooth ride to and from Gatlinburg. I'm nervous about the 6-hour car ride with Grayson during waking hours! We'll be as prepared as we can be with toys, books, snacks, and the DVD player. Any other pro tips are welcomed! 

+ A fun time in Gatlinburg! :)

+ Miraculous healing for a sweet baby who is still in the womb and will likely need extensive heart surgeries after he is born. 

Recently:

+ visited family for Thanksgiving. We drove up to Scott's parents' on Tuesday night, helped his sister move on Wednesday, had an awesome date on Wednesday night (more on that later!), stuffed our faces on Thanksgiving, visited my great-grandmother on Friday, went to my dad's house that night and stayed through Sunday, and had a big lunch with family at my grandpa's house on Sunday before heading home. Whew!

Unfortunately these crappy iPhone pics are the only ones we took on Thanksgiving! For shame!!

Reading (not many updates here!):

+ A Passage to India - yes, still! But I'm more than halfway through it now. I really enjoy the writing style but it's just not a page turner, which means it takes me an eternity to read it since life tends to get crazy! 

+ The Power of Habit - yes, still! But our office book club only meets twice a month now instead of every week, and we had a few off-weeks due to other events, so it's taking us a while to get through this one. 

+ The Bible - currently alternating between 1 Kings and Mark

Watching:

+ Divergent - I wish I had read the books first, but I never got around to it so I went ahead and watched the movie! I loved it! Definitely want to get caught up on the books before seeing the next one!

+ 22 Jump Street - eh, it's about as good as you would expect

+ LOTS of Sesame Street and Elmo's World!

+ Season 2 of Nashville -- obsessed!!!

 + I can't even follow current shows right now b/c I'm too involved with Nashville! haha!

Listening to:

+ Christmas music...just a little!

+ Pandora...mainly 90's Alternative, Taylor Swift, and Maroon 5 stations

+ Grayson talking my ear off! :)

Laughing about:

+ everything! Scott and Grayson keep me laughing all the time! :)