3-Month Check-Up

I had my three month appointment on Tuesday and Dr. Williams said everything is going great.  Somehow, I have managed to lose 11 pounds in the last month, but he didn't say anything about it.  Justin and I have joked about what organ on mine is going to go bad with this pregnancy since it was my gall bladder that caused my extreme weight loss with Makenna.  We heard the heartbeat with the Doppler and based on the speed Justin and I both think it is a boy because it seemed a lot slower than Makenna's.  I guess we will find out if we are correct the first week of June.  Makenna now says if she has a brother she wants to name him "Water" and if she has a sister she will be named "Dora."  She is so stinkin' funny.   Dr. Williams also discussed with us his policy and feelings about being induced early, etc.  He said he would induce at 39 weeks and he won't let anyone go past 41 weeks.  So, that means that they baby will be here on October 27th at the latest.  Justin and I have discussed it and we neither one are too crazy about the fact of me being induced so the baby will get to decide when he/she makes his/her appearance up until 41 weeks.  My prediction is for October 25th, but Justin refuses to make a prediction yet.  I will be sure to post it if and when he does.

God's Unexpected Answers to Prayer

Not much has been going on around here so that is the reason for the lack of posting.  This week is the most stressful week of my entire school year--MAP testing--so I will definitely be glad to see this week come to a close.  Then only 4 more weeks until summer.  However, I am hoping that my summer break won't begin until the end of June because I am still holding out hope that I will get to teach summer school.  But with the current status of state funding that is completely up in the air at this point.  The good news is that if anyone in my building teaches summer school my name is in the top two due to the fact that I teach credit recovery instead of enrichment classes.  But I am not holding my breath.  Justin and I will just view it as another huge blessing if I get to do summer school.  I have been VERY fortunate to have the opportunity to do an after school program with two other co-workers this semester to help prepare kids for the above mentioned MAP test and the extra money I have made from that has allowed us to establish a nice financial cushion.  Last week I also was asked to do some work writing some assessments for our math department and that will just add to the cushion.   Justin and I had had a plan of when to have baby #2 and I would just pray for the Lord to provide and ease my financial worries and boy, has He provided.  These have been two very unexpected sources of extra income and fortunately, I will get to continue my afterschool program next year.  When we first found out about the afterschool program, Justin and I decided immediately to put every penny into savings.  Due to our diligence about saving, we will have enough money saved to cover the daycare expenses for both children next school year.  I don't want to sound like I am bragging, I just view this as an example of how God truly blesses His children.

I have my monthly check-up with Dr. Williams tomorrow.  We will once again get to hear the heartbeat.  Next month we will get to find out the gender.  We think we also have finally agreed on names, but we have decided to not share them just yet.  We probably won't share until we know the gender.  Makenna has finally stopped saying she wants Baby Jesus.  She now wants a baby "sisher."  She is so funny.  I will be sure to post how the appointment goes tomorrow.

First Haircut and Pre-Easter Festivities

Today, we had a great day as a family.  We started the day by going to get Makenna's first haircut.  We took her to Cookie Cutters here in Springfield and we would highly recommend going there.  It is a VERY kid friendly environment and as soon as we walked in Makenna loved the place.  She got to sit in a pink car and watch an Elmo movie while the lady cut her hair.  It isn't anything drastic, but she now has a few layers which make her cute curls more defined.

After Makenna's haircut we did some shopping and then we came home to dye some Easter eggs.  Makenna had a great time.

   

                                       

                                      

                                      

                                      

                                      

                                      

                                      

                                      

                                      

And finally, here are a few pictures from our recent vacation.  Justin wanted me to make sure to include the last one.  It is his car after is snowed 1 foot in a short period of time.

                                         

                                        

                                                    

                                         

                                          

One Proud Mama

I just have to share what happened in the car this morning on my way to drop Makenna off at the babysitter and then head to work.

One of my favorite songs Mighty to Save came on the radio so Makenna and I listened to it.  After the song was over I thought I would share with her what the song meant.  Since she is only two I figured she wouldn't care what I was about to tell her let alone understand it, but I believe one is never to young to hear about Jesus.  Justin and I have already had several conversations with her about spiritual things, but her interest and excitement about our conversation this morning just made my day--so much so that I had to call Justin immediately and tell him about it.  Our converstaion went like this.

Me:  Makenna do you know what Sunday is?

Makenna:  No.

Me:  It's Easter.

Mak:  Yeah, Easter.

Me:  Do you know why we celebrate Easter?

Mak:  No.

Me:  It is because Jesus died for us on a cross and then rose again.  We celebrate all He has done for us.  Do you remember who Jesus is?

Mak:  Yes, Mama

Me:  All you have to do it ask Jesus to come into your heart and you will be saved and spend eternity with Him in heaven.  Daddy and I pray that you will ask Jesus into your heart one day when you get older.

Mak:  Oh, yes!  Cool!

Her last reponse is something I will always treasure.  She seemed so focused on what I was telling her and really seemed to comprehend it.  I honestly believe it was on of my proudest moments as a parent thus far. 
With all the craziness I and we as a family have been going through this week, Makenna's conversation reminded me that there is nothing more important in this life than family and making sure they will be with us in heaven someday.  Oh, to have faith like a child!

The Latest Happenings

Well, we havr e made it back from our vacation to Colorado, but I haven't had time to upload any pics.  I promise those will be coming shortly.  Not a lot has happened since we returned other than me being a bit under the weather with a cold, so there isn't much to report.  I will post again when I have the pictures ready.

Introducing....

Coffer Baby #2

That's right--Makenna will be a big sister in October.  If you ask her she doesn't want a baby brother or baby sister, she wants Jesus.  It is so funny to hear her say that, but I hope that over the next 7 months she realizes that her wish just isn't going to come true.  I had my first visit with the doctor yesterday and he said everything looked good and gave me a due date of October 20th.  You can keep up-to-date on all the latest baby news right here on the blog.  But don't worry--there will still be plenty of Makenna stories shared as well.

Right now, I am taking a break from packing for our trip to visit my sister in Colorado.  I have a 1/2 day of school tomorrow and then we are going to Bolivar tomorrow night.  We are leaving for Colorado sometime late Saturday afternoon or early evening and plan on driving through the night so Makenna will sleep for the majority of the trip, or shall I say hopefully sleep.  We don't have a detailed itinerary for our trip, but we are going to be spending a few days in Wyoming.  We are looking forward to Makenna's first big vacation and we will post pics.   

Rabbit Pictures--Finally

So, it turns out that I have A LOT of learning to do with Adobe Photoshop so I decided to go ahead and post Makenna's pictures with the rabbits without editing them first. 

Makenna's Day with the Rabbits

Today Makenna had her second annual photo shoot with live bunnies for a promotional flyer for my Mom's 4-H club.  They will be taking pictures a few weeks before Easter and Makenna was asked again this year to be a "model" for the promotion of the event.  I am going to try to edit the photos with my new Adobe Photoshop software before I post them, but there are some cute pictures of her and the rabbits.

Not much of anything else has been going on here in the Coffer household.  We all have spring fever and cannot wait to travel to Colorado for spring break in just three weeks.  It can't get her fast enough.  Have a good week.

Happy Valentine's Day

It is so hard to believe that Valentine's Day is already here.  The year is flying by.  Justin and I celebrated the holiday one day early and all I can say is that we had a fabulous day.  We had already exchanged gifts.  Or maybe I should say that Justin purchased him something he wanted really bad and told me it was his Valentine's gift so he told me to do the same.  He got a pedal tuner for his guitar that also does all these other special effects and I got Adobe Photoshop so I edit all the photos I take with my SLR camera.  YIPPEE. 

Anyways, the morning began with us taking Makenna to Bolivar.  My mom had volunteered to watch her, but unexpectedly she had a meeting in Jeff City that was cancelled last weekend due to snow.  So, Uncle Trent got his first experience of watching the Little Miss for and extended amount of time and surprisingly both he and Makenna did very well--except for the fact he left her totally trash my parent's house with toys.  After dropping Makenna off, Justin and I headed to brunch.  There is a cute little place here is Springfield called Aunt Martha's Pancake House that neither one of us have ever been to and let me say we will definitely be going back.  After brunch we went shopping and then we headed downtown to Springfield Little Theater to see The King and I.  It was FANTASTI C.  I absolutely love all the productions done at SLT and I was so proud of Justin for getting us tickets--and yes he enjoys them, too.  We capped our day off with dinner at Millie's and then came home just to relax.  It was a great day.

Today we are headed to small group and church and then we are going to pick-up Makenna in Bolivar.  Hope everyone has a great Valentine's Day.

Perspectives

I must admit that I have the tendency to let small things bother me a whole lot more than they should.  This is something I have been trying to work on and it takes events like the one I experienced tonight to remind me that I should sweat the small stuff in life.

For some reason, I volunteered to decorate two sheet cakes for our annual Valentine's dance at school.  I have been dreading doing this because I have a lot on my plate right now.  I was in the middle of making the icing for them about 5 o'clock this evening when my cell phone rang.  I immediately washed my hands, and seeing that it was a co-worker and friend of mine, John, I answered it.  I figured it was something about the after school program that we do together, but when I answered the phone I knew something was wrong.  He told me that his best friend, Josh, who is also a co-worker had been in a terrible accident where he was ejected from his vehicle and was airlifted to the hospital.  He told me to start praying and I told him to keep me posted.  After hanging up, I immediately lifted Josh up in prayer and with knots in my stomach waited for John to call me back when he had any further information.  Thirty minutes later John texted me to let me know Josh was talking and all vitals were good.  He then called me and told me that Josh has a broken hip, was very sore, and has a long recovery ahead of him.  We talked about how God was watching over Josh and we praised the Lord His protection.

The events of tonight have really made me realize that I let small, trivial things in life bother me and thus, I lose focus on the important things in my life.  Life is so precious and no one is guaranteed tomorrow.  While I am still hurting for Josh and the recovery he has ahead of him, I thank God that He was there in this situation.  I also praise God that he used Josh's wreak the remind me that I need to let the small things go and be thankful for what He has given me.   I even praise him for the ability to decorate cakes for a middle school dance. ;)