my growing belly: 22 weeks

I’m over half-way there!  18 more weeks to go!  Part of me feels as though my pregnancy has just begun and the other part of me (the very anxious, impatient, and excited part of me) feels as though I have been pregnant for three years!

The goal was for Joe to snap some pictures before we went out the other night, but that didn’t happen.  So, here are the most recent belly pictures taken around midnight!

A few baby updates:

• Joe and I have another ultrasound on March 5th to take a few more measurements, so please pray that the doctor gives us a good report.  We will be sure to post the most recent ultrasound pictures after the appointment!

• Our son is moving more and more everyday and kicking harder than I thought possible.  I heard it only gets stronger!

• We chose a name for our son that we love!  We are adapting to the tradition of the North and not sharing his name until he is born!

joe + jen + little man rig

a letter from Joe after the news of our son

In the past four years, Joe has written me many letters-it’s just what he does and I love him for it.  I have never shared one of his letters with anyone -let alone the world- but this letter is different and I pray it encourages you the way it did me.

*********************

My love,

This is the first letter that I have written to you as the mother of our child. It’s remarkable to me that we find ourselves in this position. We’re going to be parents. In a very real sense, we already are.

A little boy, with little eyes and ears, and a sweet little nose and mouth, and hands and fingers and feet and toes, is growing by leaps and bounds in your womb at this very moment. A glorious combination of you and me. Did you ever think that we would actually be here?

How kind and compassionate our God is to us! We, who deserve nothing beautiful and wonderful from his hand. We, who routinely neglect our chief duty to trust, love, and thank our Father. We who erect vain idols and exchange incorruptible glory for created things. To us, a son has been given. Amazing.

Jonathan Edwards once preached a sermon from Psalm 65 entitled “The Most High a Prayer-Hearing God.” “Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed. O you who hears prayer, to you shall all flesh come.” The God and Father of Jesus Christ is supremely a prayer-hearing God. We have tested this verse and found it true.

I love that God answered our prayer. I love that he answers them still. I love that he does so, despite our sin. The psalm continues: “When iniquities prevail against me, you atone for our transgressions.” Not even our sin prevents God from doing good to us. When sin overtakes us, he has provided atonement, bought with the blood of his Beloved Son. In a very real sense, we have received a son because God gave his. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights. And every good and perfect gift was bought for us by Jesus on the cross.

So when we rejoice and delight and glory and boast in our son, we must never forget to trace back the blessing so that we ultimately boast only in the cross.

“Blessed is the one you choose and bring near, to dwell in your courts! We shall be satisfied with the goodness of your house, the holiness of your temple!” I feel such a great burden that we rest in this kind of promise. God’s gifts are streams that we must paddle back until we reach the Fountain.

The greatest blessing that we have is not in the little boy squirming in your womb. Our greatest blessing is nearness to God. Our satisfaction is in his goodness and holiness, which he has given us in the Spirit. We have no earthly claim on the life of our son, no promise from God that we will keep him even for another day.

But we do have claim upon Christ. More importantly, he has laid claim upon us. We are his and He is ours. Faith settles there. Faith makes its home in the temple of God, built on the foundation of his very great and precious promises.

And from there, faith stretches out and apprehends all of God’s goodness to us, from two years of painful barrenness to the last three and a half months of stunned joy. Our Father has never ceased being kind to us. May we never cease giving thanks to him.

I love you with all of my heart. I love sharing this joy with you: the joy of our common salvation, the joy of our deepening friendship, the joy of your faithful companionship, the joy of our secure intimacy, the joy of our uncommon union, and now the joy of our blessed responsibility. There is no other on earth that I would rather pass through this vaporous life with than you. You have my heart.

Growing in godliness and affection with you,

Your Joe

*********************

And to think, this man is going to be the father of my son!  Our little boy hasn’t a clue the blessing that is in store for him!

it’s a hard knock life!

For our third year anniversary (four months ago), Joe bought me a series of theatre tickets to the Orpheum in Downtown Minneapolis.  We were able to select three shows and we chose: Annie, Fiddler on the Roof, and Phantom of the Opera!

Last night was our first show and we saw “Annie”- it was really, really cute and the best part about it was hearing all of the little orphan girls sing at the top of their lungs.  They had more musical talent in their little pinkies than I do in my entire body!

You’ll notice that the sign says: “Kid’s Night Tonight”- that’s right- it was me and Joe all dressed up… and about 300 children with their parents.  We laughed the entire way into the theatre!

We weren’t aware of this little tidbit of information beforehand and were a little curious as to how this experience would actually pan out.  It was amazing- the kids (all 300 of them) made this show even more enjoyable!

Joe was just glad that our kid got in for FREE!

The play was pretty different from the movie.  They kept all the original songs, but added 4-5 new ones.  My favorite part of the movie, and our favorite part of the show, was the “It’s a Hard-Knock Life” number.

So, for all you “Annie” fans….

Enjoy!

i fell in love with Joe today…

No. Not my husband.  Falling in love with him happened years ago!

I fell in love with another Joe…

I’m sure that I am like some of you out there with this ongoing struggle of choosing a grocery store that works for your family and your monthly budget.  My struggle has been that no matter what I value, it always seems as though something has to suffer.  Money, health, convenience, etc.

Here’s a glimpse of the debate that has been bouncing around in my head for the past three years…

• I want to serve good and healthy food to my family = Organic food can be extremely expensive.
• I don’t want to fill our bodies with a ton of processed junk food = A ton of processed junk food agrees with my budget.
• What I eat, the baby eats = My mom didn’t eat organic with me, I survived.
• We feel so much better when I cook healthy & organic meals = We lose this feeling when I have to sell an organ to pay for that healthy meal.
• Maybe I can get by with buying a few organic food items= The random lady at the local co-op pops into my head saying, “You either pay now…or you pay later!!” Hmm…I wonder what she meant by that, she was so vague.

Then walks in my good friend, Liz Holst (Liz is on the right).

Liz has been mentioning TRADER JOE’s on and off for as long as I have known her.  She doesn’t buy all of her groceries here, but everyone in her family seems to love what she buys!  I have heard nothing but wonderful things said about this store.

Joe and I were having lunch at the Holst’s house this past weekend and Liz made some of the best homemade pizza I have ever had!  When I asked her how much the TRADER JOE’s ingredients were, I was amazed!  I have known about TRADER JOE’s for about 5-6 years now, but never lived close to one until I moved to Minneapolis.

I decided to take my friend’s enthusiasm for this grocery store and try it out for myself today!  Friends, I was extremely pleased!  Here are the top 5 things I loved about it:

• PRICES: so reasonable and comparable to Super Target, Rainbow Foods, etc.  Many of the items I bought were even cheaper!  I am still in shock at how low my bill was…
• HEALTHY OPTIONS: they offer a ton of all-natural, organic food products that were significantly cheaper than Whole Foods, etc…
• SELECTION: they had everything that I needed and a wide variety of specialty items that you can’t find in a regular grocery store…
• SIZE: I love that I could get around the entire store in a matter of minutes- if I forgot something, it was right around the corner!
• ATMOSPHERE: one of the cutest little grocery stores I have ever been in…I even bought a few of their canvas grocery bags so that I don’t have to deal with the dozens of plastic bags collecting in our pantry!

I was really thankful to finally find a grocery store that is close in location, not a burden on my checkbook, and has a great selection of affordable, fresh, and healthy foods.

So, if you have struggled with the same dilemma as I have, I would highly recommend that you try out TRADER JOE’s today if you have one in your area!

oh BOY!

We are so happy to announce that we are going to be parents of a little BOY!  Our appointment went really well this morning and the doctor said that everything looked great!  So, praise the Lord that the baby seems to be doing very well and looks really healthy!

Because our son was playing hide and seek…we have another ultrasound appointment scheduled on March 5th to measure just a few more things!  So, it is an added bonus for us to get another ultrasound- which we didn’t think we were going to be able to have!

At first, we were both shocked to hear that we were having a boy, because honestly- we are still shocked that we are having a baby!  But after a good close up- there isn’t a doubt in our minds!

We have plenty of funny stories to share about our appointment this morning, stories that are pretty typical of the Rigneys- but they will have to wait.  We are headed to Babies-R-Us!

Love,

Joe, Jen, and little boy Rig