the craziness of life

Yesterday I had one of those days where the world seemed completely overwhelming. So today I slowed down and spent some time with the Lord which is what I needed for the world to seem more manageable. So you may wonder what seems so overwhelming in my life right now? Let's see where do I begin?

Kyle's business is going very well, in fact we just hired our first employee. We are very excited about the growth, but with growth comes growing pains. We are in the process of figuring out all the details.

Our house is coming along-they finished putting up the brick yesterday and will put the insulation in this week. We are still on target for it to be done by August-just in time for baby's arrival. It's fun to build a custom home, but there are a lot of decisions to be made every step of the way.

I am loving being pregnant-baby is growing, and is reminding me that she is there quite often. It is the most amazing feeling inside-one that I have longed for a very long time. It is a true joy! So her name is (drumroll please.....) Savannah Grace! God's grace has been an open plain for us and continues to be-which is what her name means. We've come up with several other names that we like, but we feel like this is her name.

I've been working on the registry stuff, and I'm close to being done. I've decided to register at Babies R'Us and Amazon.com I figure between the two I can find just about anything. I finally picked out the crib-which was harder for me than I thought, but I'm excited about the choice. Whenever I get it and get the room ready (which won't be until the house is done) I will post some pics of the nursery.

We are living in a house that is on the market. We hope that it sells quickly (for my dad's sake). It's always fun trying to keep a house in a constant state of "ready to be shown in a moments notice". The house itself is a true blessing though. It's more house than I think I ever want, but for the 3-4 rooms that we use, it is nice to stretch out and I get to sleep in my bed!

The most exciting thing going in our life is this in a nutshell--Britt'knee and Elizabeth.

So if you haven't heard about Britt'knee and Elizabeth I will try to give you a quick run down. Last November we started looking into the adoption process, which included a home study and looking into adoption agencies. Then a girl in our church contacted us about Britt'knee. She is an 18 year old girl that has a 3 year old girl named Elizabeth. Britt'knee was looking for someone to take care of her daughter, because she (Britt'knee) has leukemia and was given a very poor prognosis. When we heard the story, we immediately responded with a "yes" we will take her. Then for weeks we heard nothing. In the meantime, we got pregnant and made plans to move to Nashville. On the day our house sold, we received a call that Britt'knee was ready to talk again. We called her and then followed several e-mail conversations with no concrete time frame as to when we would meet. Then in the middle of March, Kyle and I drove down and spent the day with Britt'knee. Since then we talk to her almost everyday, and she has agreed to move in with us with her daughter as soon as school is over (which is May 22). So what does that mean? Our life is about to turn upside down! Taking in a 3 year old and her mother sounds crazy, but for some reason (it must be God) I am excited and peaceful about it. There are so many questions and uncertainties about what this is going to look like-when I think about them or when people bring them up, the only answer I have is "I don't know" but I am learning to trust. God reminded me today that His grace is sufficient, and it will be for us too. God has brought us to this place, and He is not going to leave me hanging. Will it be hard? Absolutely, probably the hardest thing I've ever done, but will it be worth it? Absolutely. We are looking forward to welcoming Britt'knee and Elizabeth into our family.

Itsa

Our 'itsa' party was a success! The weather was a bit cold, but we braved the snow flurries and still had our egg hunt. Friends and family came and were given instructions to find all the eggs, and then come in to open them together. It didn't take long to find the 9 dozen plastic eggs hidden in my parent's backyard. I think the cold was great incentive! We came back in, and everyone started opening up their eggs to see if they had the prize. Immediately, our friend Jim opened the pearly pink egg and found the message. He graciously handed it to my mom saying "I think you may want this." My mom read it and then shouted it to the crowd "It's a girl!" The whole room erupted in excitement. I hugged my mom as she cried with joy. Unfortunately, in the midst of excitement I accidentally turned the video off on my camera. But the moment will forever be etched in my memory. We then enjoyed a great brunch that included ham rolls, potato salad, fruit salad, and yum-yum cake (a Kitchell family favorite)! Thanks to all for making this moment memorable and exciting!

Attention all moms!

Ok, so I started just LOOKING at all the baby stuff, and WOW, it's really overwhelming. I can read reviews and look at must-have lists, but I would really like to solicit the opinions of my friends. I know many of you have done the research and have the experience to say--you have to have..... or this stroller is the best because....

So please friends, take a few minutes and really think about what things you just loved and wouldn't want to be without, and then what things that you bought and never needed. I would greatly appreciate all your input!

Thanks