ORAMM pics

Here are some pictures from our weekend in the mountains:

The RV we stayed in, and Jeremy resting up for the Big Day:












A sing-along with LouAnn's family at the campground, and more RV hang-out time:












Early morning pre-race preparations:












At the race site:












... And they're off!












Here's Jeremy at one of the sag stops. This is about 31 miles into the race. You'll notice he changed jerseys:












THEY DID IT (at the finish line):












Post-race celebration by cooling off in the creek:












CONGRATS to Jeremy, LouAnn, and John!

Jeremy is already talking about doing it again next year...... start praying NOW!!!

He rocked the ORAMM!

Just a quick post to say that Jeremy did fantastic in his mountain bike race! He completed the 63 miles in 8 hours and 53 minutes. He felt pretty good the entire day, and he was so happy at the end! He finished right in the middle of the pack of 450 riders. I was so proud of him, and so relieved to see him cross that finish line!

I will post pictures later, but just wanted to say thanks for your prayers! We had a great weekend of camping with our friends and we attended a huge street festival in Asheville that was really fun.

We are headed to Oregon for two weeks beginning tomorrow, so my posts may be a bit thin for a while. I'll try to get some pictures up as soon as I can.

ORAMM

Jeremy has a big weekend ahead. For several years, he's wanted to do this particular mountain bike race called the ORAMM - Off Road Assault on Mount Mitchell. It's in western North Carolina, in the mountains near Asheville. It's a 60-something mile mountain bike race that has over 11,000 feet of climbing. Since he's had the summer off, it has been perfect time for him to train for this race. Here is a picture showing the elevation changes of the ride:

This next statement is from the race website. I'm not sure if this should make me laugh or cry:

"Do not underestimate the extreme difficulty and danger of this event. The course is extremely demanding and travels over rugged terrain with extreme elevation changes. The forest remains in its natural habitat. It is not uncommon to see wildlife such as a wild cat or a black bear. Be ready to cope with any circumstances!! Please note that firearms are not permitted in certain areas. Aid stations will help with safety matters, but it is the competitor’s ultimate responsibility to insure his or her own safety. A few course-related facts are the 60 miles have been won in just over 5 hours!! This was done by a pro M.T.B. rider, while some have completed the course with only one month of riding under their belt. This rider quit riding altogether after the race. Others too have retired their biking efforts after competing in this race. This is not your typical race. Regardless of how you finish, this is the most exciting M.T.B. adventure race in the entire Southeast!!!"

So, um... please pray for my husband on Sunday!

We're going camping (in an RV... this pregnant lady is sleeping in a real bed!) so it should be fun. Our friends Stephanie and Lou are going too, and Lou is riding in the race along with Jeremy.

I'll publish some post-race pictures next week.

For my out-of-town friends and family....

Here's a picture Jeremy took of my baby bump just this morning.

(Thanks again for the shirt, Fen!)

$$

Well, it's official. We need a new transmission.

- Rebuilt transmission: $2500
- New paint job for my car's cancer - $750
- New front brakes with rotors turned - $200

Total cost to fix up my 7-year old, 123,000 mile car: $3450 plus tax.

Ouch.

But hey, it's better than having a car payment.

A boy and a car

So - most people know by now we're having a boy. We are SO thrilled, and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I can't wait to have a son, and I can't wait to see my husband as a dad. When I was younger, I watched all these couples where the wife did ALL the parenting work and the husband basically swooped in and out whenever he felt like it, helping out maybe here and there, but never really fully engaged, and it made me MAD. It just didn't seem fair how hard the wife worked and how little credit and help she got. It truly shaped what I thought about parenting in general, and turned me off to wanting to have kids. If I was destined to carry the bulk of the load, then I just wasn't interested. But meeting Jeremy and getting to know his heart has truly changed all of that. We are true partners in life. There really is nothing in our relationship that either of us would label as "woman's work" or "man's work". Now, naturally, he's better at changing the oil in our cars, and I'm better at cooking, but we CHOOSE to do these things - it's not an expectation. He does MORE housework than I do right now, because he's home a lot more than I am, and to him it just seems obvious that if there are things to do and he's capable, then why not do it? I LOVE that about him, and I know it is going to carry over into being a father. He just gets it that we are totally in this together. I honestly could not imagine another human being on the planet that I'd rather do life with. I look forward to watching Westin with his Daddy.

Changing topics here..... I think my transmission is going out. I was driving in North Raleigh the other day, and suddenly I just couldn't accelerate. No matter what gear I put the car in, it would rev up but not go. So Jeremy came and rescued me (and after sitting for 20 minutes the car worked just fine - maddening!!), and we took it to an auto shop this morning. If it does need a new transmission, that is obviously going to be pricey. We had only planned on keeping this car for another year, until Jeremy is done with school and we'd saved up a bigger down payment on our next car. It's a 7 year old car with 123,000 miles on it. But now... if we have to put a bunch of money into it, we might just keep it for a few more years. It's a hard decision. But if we do keep it, I think we're gonna go ahead and throw some more money at it and fix the paint cancer that is spreading all over the car (it's a black car and is losing its color all over the front, back, and roof - not pretty). So this could end up being a $2,000 -$3,000 investment. But if we do that, we don't have to worry about a car for a good while (unless the engine suddenly fell out - Lord help us!). And really, with only one kid, do we REALLY need to buy an SUV? Absolutely not. I WANT one, don't get me wrong, but it is most certainly not a need. Sometimes fighting off materialism and keeping it simple is challenging............ fortunately this is an area where my husband is a very good voice of reason. So, I have a feeling Mitzi will be around for a good while longer.

Common questions

It's interesting how you get asked so many questions when you're pregnant. I love it, actually, and I don't get tired of answering the same questions over and over. I just feel honored that people are actually interested enough to ask.

Here are some of the common questions I've been asked, along with my answers.

1. How do you feel? I feel great, believe it or not. I've been way more tired than I thought I'd be, but that truly has been my worst symptom. I feel VERY fortunate to not have gotten sick at all. I never even got close to getting sick. As long as I eat at regular intervals, I feel good.

2. Do you want a boy or a girl? I mean this 100% when I say it..... I do not care. I will be perfectly happy with either. I think my husband would prefer a boy, but of course will be thrilled with a girl too. My 2 sisters have all boys, so the joke around my family is that I "need" to have the first girl, but again... I can totally go either way.

3. Are you going to find out the sex of the baby? YES - in 2 days!!! We are super excited.

4. Wouldn't you like to be surprised about the gender? Jeremy and I figure being surprised is just a matter of "when": we can be surprised in 2 days, or we can be surprised in 5 months. We choose 2 days.

5. Do you have a theme for your nursery? Umm..... no. If you really knew me, you probably wouldn't ask that question. Let's just say that kind of stuff is not my forte. I welcome suggestions and help, however!

6. Are you going to breastfeed? Yes. That is the plan. But I am SO not one of those hard-and-fast type people that think there is one way and ONLY one way to do it. I reserve the right to change my mind about the issue at any time.

7. Do you have names picked out? Yes.

8. Are you revealing what the names are? Yes. If it's a girl, she'll be Daly (my maiden name), and if it's a boy, he'll be Westin (family name on Jeremy's side). We haven't settled on middle names yet. The funny thing is, we've had these names picked out since we got married, and back then we didn't even know if we wanted kids. But in 7 years we've never wavered on these names, and now we actually get to use one of them!

9. When the baby is born, can I please bring you dinner? Okay, no one has actually asked that, but the answer would certainly be YES! :-)

10. Did you get pregnant on purpose? Yes. We decided about a year ago to go off of birth control and leave the whole kid issue up to the Lord. We were both really on the fence about whether or not we wanted kids, but I felt a pretty strong prompting from the Lord that I needed to give this issue over to Him. So... we did, without knowing whether or not we'd ever get pregnant, and either way it was going to be perfectly fine. And now here we are, and I am so happy that we're going to be parents.

11. Are you going to keep working? That's the plan. Jeremy will still be in school for 6 more months after we have the baby, so hopefully I can take about a month off and then slowly get back into it. I am so fortunate to have an extremely flexible career, and I can adjust my schedule however I need to. I don't necessarily think it will be a super easy transition, nor do I think it will be easy juggling being a brand new mom and having a full-time career where we are solely dependent on my income, but I have a very helpful and supportive husband, along with a God who has promised to provide for our every need, so I figure it will all work out.

12. Are you going to go "natural" or use drugs at delivery? I don't know. I need to wrestle with that one a little more. I love the thought of being drug-free, but I love the comfort of being drug-filled. :-)

13. Have you felt him or her move yet? Nope, not yet. I look forward to that!

14. Can I touch your belly? Yes! I have no problem with that.

If you have burning questions that I haven't answered, feel free to ask!

Brennan Manning is one of Jeremy's Heroes of the Faith. He spoke at Jeremy's university when he was in school, and said Brennan impacted him in ways that no other speaker/pastor had before.

This video is short (3:43) but totally captures the essence of Brennan's heart and the theme of his life and his message. It brought tears to our eyes when we watched it. Maybe it will for you too.