Countdown...

I added a ticker at the bottom of the page, so everyone can keep tabs on Baby Moseley. I'm 32 weeks today (8 months already...yikes!).

Birmingham Perks

There a few perks to living in this city that I have really enjoyed thus far.

Perk #1: Our mail is delivered to our door (see the black box in the picture). Not our mailbox, not community group of boxes, but our door. It's ridiculously convenient. The other day I went to mail our Father's Day cards. I signed and addressed them at around 10 p.m. and stepped outside my door in my pajamas to mail them. I now have no excuse for not getting birthday cards in the mail on time.


Perk #2: The public library system is really awesome. Kristen gave me the run down on it, and I got my card the other week and checked out a few books. It's entirely possible that I've lived in cities with other great public libraries and never really employed them. This library system has tons of branches and a great online search. You can also find a book online at any of the branches and have it sent to a branch closer to you.

So far I've checked out:
-What to Expect the First Year
-Bringing Up Boys (by James Dobson)
-The Way of the Wild Heart (by John Eldredge)
-The New Mom's Manual (filled with little tidbits of advice from new moms)

You can tell what I'm preparing for...I'm attempting to remedy my cluelessness on infant care. For all you parents out there, are there any other parenting books you'd recommend? I'm planning on checking out Baby Wise. I've heard mixed reviews, but definitely think it would be worth perusing. Any other recommendations?

Updates

Just thought I'd send a few updates about what's going on with us.

• We were originally under the impression that Jonathan would start work July 1, but found out last week that he would actually start a week earlier than that. So that pushed some plans we had, but most stuff got done. So he started on Sunday. His first day was 7 a.m.-10:30 p.m., but yesterday was much easier. He was home by 1:30 (in the afternoon).
  
  
• We visited Jonathan's grandparents in Montgomery. It's nice to be so close to them! We came back laden with peaches from the curbside market and tomatoes from Granddaddy Moseley's garden (soooo good...). I'll be having tomato sandwiches and BLTs for lunch all week. Jonathan's granddad eats them for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks. When we were picking them together, he kept commenting "All this needs is a little salt..."
  
  
• I went to my first doctor's appointment with my new OB here in Birmingham. He was very nice and spent a lot of time chatting with me. It's a small practice, so he should be the one to actually deliver our baby. We had our FIFTH ultrasound - how blessed are we? He has the cutest little cheeks and nose. And he's on track to be big. They said he is over 4 lbs. already. Both Jonathan and I were bigger babies, so I wasn't anticipating small.
  
  
• This was a fun little first. Jonathan mowed his own lawn (not his parents', his own lawn) for the first time on Saturday. We had some stubborn and unyielding vines in one part, but Jonathan showed them who was boss. There is still a lot of work to do, but we're under water restrictions here, so we probably won't do any planting this year.
  

Happy Birthday, Jonathan!

It's Jonathan's birthday today. I'm so blessed that God brought you into this world 26 years ago today. I chose this picture because it shows his sense of wonder and curiosity (this was taken at the Atlanta aquarium) - one of the many things that I love about him. Happy Birthday, sweetie!

Handyman

Jonathan has accomplished lots of odd jobs around our house. Here are a few pictures of my handyman's work over the past week or so (besides small task of moving everything into the house).
Here he is hanging a picture in our kitchen. Isn't he cute?

He mounted this cabinet in our bathroom because there was basically no place to put all of his wife's bathroom necessities (girls, you know how it is, a measly shelf is not going to cut it).

I barely cleared the height our showerhead was previously at, so you know Jonathan was having problems. He searched all around town for this extension thing. It was harder to find than you would think, but it fit the bill perfectly.

He assembled this wonderful TV stand. I think it works perfectly in the room - thank you Wal-Mart!

Here is another picture he hung. He's much better at hanging pictures than me because he's better with numbers in general. I'm glad I have him around!

Occupation?

Well Jonathan and I had lots of government "adventures" (i.e. frustrations) over the last two days, but we finally got our driver's licenses and tags; we're officially Alabamians. We had to re-read Romans 14 to remind ourselves to be grateful for the governing authorities.

The poignant part for both of us, after we finally made it to the front of the driver's license line, came when they asked us our occupation. I was a little stunned when I had to answer "homemaker." Jonathan sympathized: "I had to answer physician." It's a strange identity change for both of us...

We're at the beach for a few days with the Pages. I forgot the camera at home, unfortunately, so probably no pictures. Sad.

Sweet Home Alabama

Now is the appropriate time for this Skynrd song. We have arrived and are getting settled here in Birmingham. Most of the boxes (that we have with us) have been unpacked, and Jonathan has been very busy with a few Mr. Fix-it jobs. We're still figuring out decor though and haven't even started on Baby Moseley's room. I'll send pictures when it's more set-up.

We have accomplished the most important thing in moving to a new area: finding really good barbecue. I haven't found a regular place to grocery shop, but we did discover some very fine barbecue at the Golden Rule. My parents came down to see the house on the way to the beach and took us out there. Although Kristen took me to Jim and Nick's back in January, which did have some delicious cheese biscuits and tasty Q, I'm going to have to say that Golden Rule beats it out in the overall barbecue deliciousness. It also had some other indicators that it would be a good Q place: the waitress addressed Jonathan as sweetie, paper towels instead of napkins on the table, and you could smell the smoke from outside the modest exterior. I think we'll be visiting it frequently with out-of-town guests. Another bonus: they have a branch right across the street from the hospital I'll be delivering at.

Freebird

OK, so I just wanted to save the headline "Sweet Home Alabama" for another entry, so I decided to go for an alternative Skynrd song. Jonathan successfully closed on our house in Birmingham and started moving things in today. I go down to Atlanta tomorrow after work and then on to B-ham on Saturday. We probably won't be posting for a few days as we move in and get Internet set up.

The goodbyes have been as sweet as goodbyes can be. God was more than gracious with all the incredible friendships He's blessed us with over the past few years. It's because of that faithfulness that we are confident He'll do the same down in Alabama. Now we're ready to start this new adventure that God has given us.

It's a little cheesy, but I wanted to post a song that my camp counselors used to sing to us at Camp Glisson before we left. I've been singing it to myself as we say these farewells.

My friend, I think of you daily
Because I care and it's true.
And even though we're hardly ever near,
I'm talking to Him about you.

And I'll be praying for you every morning,
As I start off the day with the Lord,
And I'll be praying that you're walking with Jesus,
And abiding in His Word. In His Word.

Now you see this Jesus of Nazareth,
He means everything to me.
For He has taken my life, and He's come in to my heart,
And He calmed a raging sea.

And I want you to know that God loves you.
And that I love you too.
And even though we're hardly ever near,
I'm talking to Him about you...

Providence Baby Shower

My communications gals threw a shower for me and Baby Boy Moseley with all the Providence ladies. It was a sweet time as this group of women has become so dear to me over the past four years. I've admired each one's faith and service to the Lord. They've encouraged me, and I know being around them has helped prepare me for motherhood.

Part of the spread included nuggets from Chick-fil-A. These girls know me well!

Laura made this awesome baby carriage cake. She's a perfectionist and said there were flaws, but it looked pretty perfect to me. Laura and I have seen each other almost every weekday for the past four years, so it will be strange adjusting to life without her!

We played fun games. Lindsey (in the front) rocked both the baby animals game and the word scramble game (making new names out of the letters in Jonathan's and my names). After the latter, we're seriously considering Raul.

Hannah came to my party! She really was happier than this most of the time. During the baby animals game, she entertained us by telling us what sounds each of the animals made.

Here's Kristie writing down the gifts. She's my boss and helped throw the shower. Thanks Kristie! Behind her is a poster collage that the sweet people at Graphics Ink made me. I work with them on the magazine and the bulletin, and they all came to my shower. They presented me with this framed poster of the magazine covers I had worked on with them - it was so touching.

I feel like there is something UNC in each blog entry. Lian and her daughter Marissa made this fun blanket for our little boy.

Kristie found these Peep puzzles for me! I mean, for the baby.

It's not a party till you wear something on your head.


Natalie made this awesome card - Prayers for Baby Moseley. She made it previously for Janie. It has a Bible verse for each body part. For example, the one pointing to the heart is "Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me" (Psalm 51:10).

Russia Reunion

Last night, we made a special road trip with Dave and Elizabeth Efird. Dave and Jonathan went on a STIM mission trip to Russia together for a summer during college. The only other guy on the team was a fellow named De Beer. Life and ministry just happened to bring De Beer all the way from South Africa to Kernersville, North Carolina. What are the odds? So the Russia guys were reunited. When they were in Russia, they were all young bachelors, and now they are all married and have/are expecting babies. De Beer has an awesome testimony and is going into full-time ministry in apologetics. You can see his website here.

Pregnant Buddies - The Elizabeth Edition

Here are two more of our pregnant friends. Both of the mommies-to-be happened to be named Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Efird is due almost exactly a month before me. (More on the Dave and Jonathan above.) It's been so awesome to get to know Elizabeth. She also graduated before me, but we got to know her through Dave. Everytime we see them, I am inspired by she and Dave's heart for serving the Lord and sharing Christ's love. I'm glad Dave married such an awesome gal!

And Elizabeth Horner is due at the end of December. We're really sad because they're moving to San Diego in July, so we won't get to meet Baby Horner for a while. Jeff and Elizabeth both went to Carolina (but we didn't know Jeff then; he graduated before we got there). I knew Elizabeth through InterVarsity and recognized her when we started going to Providence. We got to know Jeff because they were dating (and subsequently got married). His dad is also our senior pastor. They also introduced us to our friends Jamie and Caron (see the graduation entry).