EXCITING NEWS!!

We are PREGNANT! Yep, we are having a BABY!

The news came just as shockingly to us one early November morning..

I journaled that week just so I could savor the moment and remember it forever, ever since then I have periodically been journaling to keep track of this FIRST TIME EVER PREGNANCY (for us)! Heres what I jotted down:

When I first found out I was pregnant I was in complete SHOCK. I don’t think I’ve really ever been in shock in that way. I was shocked when I got into Pepperdine, shocked when i got into grad school. Shocked when Taylor proposed, but nothing NOTHING compares to this. In that very moment, I couldn't even understand what THIS MEANT?

I was terrified. I thought, “my husband is going to hate me”. "Im ruining OUR plans",  "we haven't prepared". I don’t know how I blamed myself, when it definitely takes two to make a baby.  I guess I let the enemy take over... fear filled my thoughts instantly. I leaned my head against the bathroom wall and prayed. I prayed for protection, I didn’t really have words but I knew the Holy Spirit knew what I needed, and I remember praying for my husbands reaction for when I walked out the bathroom door to go break the exciting/terrifying news. 

I came out and starting BALLING.  I was overwhelmed with all sorts of emotions, as well hormonal i'm sure. I called for him in a quivering voice.."baaabe". He came rushing toward me and held me in his arms the moment he saw I was crying. “Whats wrong, whats wrong. Babe talk to me,” he said frantically.  I couldn’t say anything. I was in shock.  The words eventually came out after what seemed like forever, “I think im pregnant”.  "What do you mean? How? How do you know?" He didn’t understand, so I led him to look at the two tests, clear as day, on the counter. I burst into even more tears, anticipating his reaction.  He remained completely calm. He took me by my hands and sat me on the floor. As I cried tears of fear and worry, he held my hands in his, looked me in the eyes, and said ever so calmly, ”when I married you, I had every intention of being the father of your children.. yes, we didn’t plan for this right at this moment but God did and we need to accept that and be grateful for this blessing. I want you to be excited. Im going to do everything I can to protect you and take care of you”.  Talk about PERFECT.  Husband, yes, you are perfection. I am such a blessed lady.

      "You’re just saying this cuz im crying and emotional?” 

       "No Tess, I mean it. I feel completely at peace. This is Gods plan.  Lets go to the store and get another test, a digital one, so we know for sure and we can take it from there". 

 We ate breakfast, I calmed down and then we got into the car to go to the store.  After we picked up the digital test he pulled up to our house and told me ”when you go inside I want you to take the test, and whatever the results are I want you to be happy, don’t look back, just look forward knowing God has  plan and we can be excited, He's got us hunny.”  

"PREGNANT". No doubt about it. It showed up within seconds on the digital test.  At this point I was so thrilled to see that I was.  We smiled, hugged, kissed, were tearful (this time, happy excited tears of joy).  We went back to the store, got prenatal vitamins, iron, and body butter..  We walked over to barnes & noble and picked up “what to expect when you’re expecting”.  We wanted to look forward and be excited! No more tears, no more not trusting the Lord.  My husband was my rock that day. He always is. He keeps me grounded, he reminds me to believe in God and believe His plans are far greater than ours.  Together we threw our plans to the wind and gave them to Him.   Together we realized kids have always been what we want, it just wasn't the timing we thought our first baby would come by.  But its also not the timing of two parents who have been trying for a baby for 5 years and have yet to conceive.  So let me just say how grateful we are. We know this is by far the biggest blessing God has ever given us in our marriage and we couldn't be more thrilled.  We haven't looked back since that split second that I allowed the enemy to flood my mind with fear. 

We spent the rest of the afternoon thinking of fun things like baby names, and talked about what our future would be like from now on.  We knew everything was going to change.  I started to get more and more excited as the day went on.  The days following were surreal..is this really happening.. all the pregnancy symptoms came on FULL FORCE.  Waking up 3-4 times a night to pee.  Exhausted and could barely walk, let alone work out.  HUNGRY all the time, even right after i had eaten. I researched every vitamin and had to stop taking most things.  Morning sickness came at around 5 1/2 weeks. I was and am in complete protective mommy mode. 

I was not ready for this. Nor did I think I could be a mom any time soon, but the moment you find out you are pregnant you truly do become a mom. I think its different for men, I think they need to feel the baby move or see it before they understand how real this is.  We started reading all about the changes our baby goes through weekly as it grows, as well as what mommy goes through each week.  We pray morning and night with our hands on our new famiy member. Its nuts, and happened so quickly but we both feel at peace now and feel so so so very thankful for this precious gift of life.

Ive been reading baby blogs... I have become a mommy-blog-aholic! I read so many blogs now all about pregnancy, what they went through, and find it soothing to be amongst women who have experienced exactly what I am experiencing. I find it so facinating! So I have decided to blog, as often as I can. This way other pregnant women can relate and read my story, just as I read other's and feel more sane along this crazy journey. AND, I will have a neat diary of my entire pregnancy to look back on one day. 

So here it goes..

<3



I hope our story of fear, excitement, love, laughter, and hope can be inspiring to someone else.

HONEYMOONING IN ST. LUCIA

                    HONEYMOONING IN ST. LUCIA

 The night after out wedding we set out to St. Lucia for our honeymoon.  We stayed for 6 nights, 7 days and had the best time together. It was so nice to be alone with each other as husband and wife. We had the nicest time relaxing in the ocean, lying on the beach talking about our future, hiking, going on walks along the shore, watching the sunset with our feet in the water, eating an incredible amount of food, going on once in a life time excursions, and just enjoying being newlyweds. We were able to soak it all in and start our journey together on the most beautiful, fun, stress free note a couple could dream of.  We didn't want to leave and talked about staying on the island forever.  I know if we didn't have two incredible families we would be leaving behind, and wonderful friendships, we would easily move away just the two of us to a remote island where we could just enjoy one another and slower paced, more relaxed life.  We talk about going back to St. Lucia all of the time and hopefully will plan a trip back soon.

The most fun of the trip: going zip lining
The most romantic: having a suite to share with my new hubby
The most beautiful thing I experienced: The breath taking sunsets along side of my husband
The best food: Dinner-Gordon's on the Pier (had to have butler service to eat here... we got on the list by a dear friend)  Lunch-Barefoot by the Sea
The best company: OF COURSE MY HUBS
The best entertainment:" The Queen" our tour guide for one of our excursions.
The most memerable moment: The entire trip! I will never forget anything about this trip. I would say a very sweet moment that sticks out in my mind is when the two of us were lying by the pool and Taylor pulled up the song (on his phone) he surprised me with and wrote me for our wedding. I had only heard it at our wedding in front of 230 guests so I wasnt able to fully take in the lyrics at the time. Now by ourselves, married, at the most beautiful place in the world, I was in tears on a lounge chair listening to the most incredible thing i'd ever heard.
The worst part: Leaving. Although, we were so excited to live together, begin our lives, move into our new place, etc,it was still really hard to leave.
The most intersting: we went on an excursion to see the drive in volcano (SOOO FUN, and the mud bath is the best part of it all), afterwards you get to go eat lunch at a tiny little restaurant in the jungle and have some home cooked carribean st. lucian food. SO SO YUMMY & SPICY!

 There you have it! We can't wait to go back!

We're Married!

Officially Mr. & Mrs. Armstrong!! 9/22/12 marks the best day of our lives.  That day could not have been more of a perfect dream.  I will never forget waking up so excited and nervous to meet Taylor at the end of the aisle.  I couldn't sleep that night and remember waking up several times looking a the clock to see if it was time to get ready yet.  Around 8am I finally popped out of bed and went out onto the balcony of our suite at the St. Regist Resort to look at the weather.  Instantly I saw them setting up on the grand lawn below us and my excitement jumped from a 10 to off the charts. I was so eager to put on the dress, say I do, and run away with the man I'd dreamed of all of my life. This day meant so much to me, but spending forever with him is what I feel like I was created for.  

Getting ready was so much fun! I always worried something would go wrong on the one day every girl dreams will be perfect. NOTHING did. Everything went absolutely seemless and smooth.   

I spent time alone drinking coffee that morning and prayed. I opened my devotional and tried to listen to what God had to say about this huge step we were taking.  For 3o days I had been praying over different vereses for my husband.  Our mentor couple had given me a neat packet of scripture to pray for your husband and I had decided to read one verese each day for the 30 days leading up to our wedding day. It was such a neat experience that kept me focused on what really mattered, becoming One with this man, making this covenant committment between him, myself and God.  And then looking at what that means, what that really means.  It was not about the flowers, the dress, the food..it was all about how to prepare myself for making this committment for the rest of our lives.  I couldn't wait for that!  Since the moment we met I knew he was it. I had no doubts, no fears, I just wanted to make sure I fully understood what Gods view of marriage is and how to live that out obediently and fulfill my duties as a wife to my husband.

I will always remember the look on his face when he first saw me and hold it in my memory, his smile and eyes made every nerve flee my body. I felt nothing but warmth and peace right when I turned that corner and we locked eyes. Thats what he does to me, he makes me feel at home. He will never take the place in my heart that my Lord fills up, but I see him as an angel that God gave a special ownership over my heart that only he could fill.  I couldn't picture my life without him, and I beleive God gave me this way of seeing things, because he is my forever, and we are now one.  

His vows to me are eternally engraved into my heart, the way we kissed that first moment as husband and wife will be something I will forever try to live up to, I will do my best to live out each vow and pledge that I made to him that day, and remember every moment that passes that he is a gift, a true blessing, and he saved me. I am thankful to the Lord for giving me such a generous man with the most loving heart, and I will make sure to do my best to treat him as the special child of God that he is.

I love thee, and "not even death shall part me from you".

My next post will be memories from our honeymoon.