Finding out about our little bean!

Back in September, I was so so sick. I went to the doctor the first time and came home with them telling me I had "the funk" that's going around and they said there was nothing I can do about it...sleep it off. The next day, I woke up with SERIOUS ear pain...I felt like I was 6 years old again with my chronic ear infections, so back to the doctor I went. I tried to explain to a fill in provider that I did not think I just had "the funk". She told me that I had an upper respiratory infection that is unfortunately viral, so no antibiotics, just a ton of Mucinex, ibuprofen, etc. At this point, before taking all these meds, I just had this feeling I should ask this question. I looked at the lady and said "Hey, in the small chance that I could be pregnant this month, would these medications hurt the baby?" And she said "yes possibly, let's do a pregnancy test to rule it out." Okay... I had told Trevor that they were doing the test just to "rule it out" before they gave me meds. As you can imagine, when the nurse called me back and said it's POSITIVE, I about fell out of my chair...actually I think I about hit the car in front of me because I was driving (oops!). 

Should I tell Trevor right away or wait until he gets home? Hrmmm... I decided to wait! When he got home from work that afternoon I was laying in bed, where I had been laying the last two days so nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I was taking my temperature and I asked him to read the temperature as I switched the thermometer with a home pregnancy test. He was so surprised and excited! He said he had a feeling I was pregnant when I kept telling him "that nurse won't call me back with my results" LOL :) So this is the day we found out our world was changing in a very exciting way, it was September 20th, a very special boy's 1st birthday...Hudson Ray Timmons, we love you! 

So now what?? I'm as sick as a dog and we just found out the most exciting news of our lives. Help!!!! It was so hard because I wanted so badly to jump up in down and scream but instead all I could do was lay there lol. So we celebrated when I felt better :) So that's our story of how we found out...def not the story I expected to have, that's for sure! So next time you go to the doctor, ask the question because you never know ;) 

The next several weeks were a whirlwind for sure! I left for Biloxi 3 days later for a girls "house hunting" trip with Jill, Britt, and Em and not only was I still quite SICK with an upper respiratory infection, but I was also preggo and trying to keep it a secret! I had told Jill before we left but Britt and Em had no idea, or so I thought. Two days into the trip, I couldn't keep it in anymore and I knew they (or at least Em lol) was getting suspicious. Jill would say things like "Hey, I'm gonna go grab Al some crackers" or "No, you shouldn't jump in that picture with Em"... Em, being as observant as she is, had already texted her husband and told him she thought I was preggo ;) So it was time to reveal our secret on the BEACH! I gave Jill the camera and told Em and Britt I wanted to play a game where you yell something crazy out and make a face based on what she says. No one could think of anything, so Jill blurts out "Al is pregnant!!!" Their faces were priceless. Britt didn't even believe me, she thought we were joking :) Here's the pics from it:

The next month we spent preparing to PCS to Keesler AFB in Mississippi and I think I survived solely by the grace of God. Thank you to everyone who was praying for us, maybe not even knowing why. I'll be honest, this first trimester has been really tough. I have had morning sickness and puked DAILYfrom 5 1/2 weeks and I am still puking at 12. I know this is very common in your first trimester and I am thankful for this sickness because it has meant a healthy blessing so far :) Moving was def a challenge but Trevor and I had a lot of support and we knew that the Lord would provide a way since this little bean was His idea and perfect plan <3 

Here's a pic of Chels too! She was kissing little bean on her last trip to Fort Hood before we left <3

Next blog post...An update and pics of our new home! Thanks for rejoicing with us <3

"Children are a heritage from the Lord,
    offspring a reward from him." -Psalm 127:3 

Keesler update -- Could this really be our new home?

I'm sitting in a Starbucks on base at Keesler to get out of TLF (temporary lodging facility) for a bit enjoying a yummy holiday drink. Only fail... they don't offer free wifi, say what?!? I walked up to the barista and asked what their wifi name was and she told me they didn't offer it, that's interesting in 2012 in a coffee shop. Oh well. It's probably because this Starbucks is in the middle of the BX (base exchange). 

So back to my title of this blog... As Trevor and I keep driving around Biloxi and the surrounding towns, I keep asking myself "Is this really real? Could this really be home?" I'm not totally convinced yet for those of you who are wondering! This place just feels like a vacation destination, especially since Trevor and I have visited here 3 times over the last two years, the difference is we always end up driving back to Texas after a few days and instead, we are getting the keys to our HOME here tomorrow!

We have been in TLF for almost a week now and I will be honest, I'm going a bit stir crazy (anyone surprised?!) TLF is super nice here and has a living room, full kitchen, bedroom, and bathroom so it is def a blessing and nothing to complain about... I'm just ready to get settled :) Tomorrow we will be getting the keys to our house so we can start painting before our household goods get dropped off on Tuesday! We went to Lowe's today and picked out paint colors for our living room and I absolutely can't wait! Since we are living in base housing, the homes are very track home-ish and the walls are VERY white. White is everywhere! For those of you who have been in our home in Texas, you know, we hardly had any white walls in our entire home...and we loved it! So the painting is beginning tomorrow and then all of our belongings will arrive on Tuesday and we will get to sleep in our own BED, Trevor is beyond thrilled! He's not so much thrilled about not having TV or internet for 3 extra days, but I think he'll live...he just doesn't know how much is going to be on his honey-do list yet ;) jk!

One of the things that feels so unreal about being here is that we live RIGHT next to the beach. I have never in my life lived even within 4 hours of the ocean and it is GORGEOUS! When you drive up and down the highway here, you stare at the ocean (talk about distractions when you're driving!) The other big change is that we are on an Air Force base and not an Army post. Everything is different. We're on a base instead of a post. We shop in the BX instead of the PX. There is SF driving around instead of MP's. People are walking around in Air Force uniforms and Air Force t-shirts. I see blue and white instead of green. It is all just so bizarre! 

Everything here also seems so calming and safe and has this sense of a community. I was trying to explain it to Trevor last night and the best way I could describe it is that it feels like a college campus. It reminds me of those cool mornings at Baylor when I would get up super early for class, go grab my coffee, and go sit on a bench in the middle of campus and read. It probably also has to do with the fact that this is a training base so there are "students" everywhere. All the newbie Airmen are walking around (a lot of them in their uniform 24/7 because they are straight out of basic training) and it feels as if you are living on a college campus, I love it! 

Would you believe you lived here if this is what you saw? 

Biloxi lighthouse (not my photo!)

All I can do is thank the Lord for this incredible gift. It has been so hard to leave our "family" at Fort Hood, but we could not have asked for a nicer place to be sent and for that we are thankful. We do have a couple friends here that we are hoping to spend more time with and even went out with some friends last night and had a great time! We went to Mosaic Church again this morning and loved it just as much as last time, I think that will be home for us in Biloxi! Next blog should be about painting and going from an empty WHITE walled home to a painted, decorated, and full home :) Stay tuned... we are excited <3

14 days and counting!

Just a quick moving update...

We are officially leaving Texas in 14 days, I cannot believe it. We decided to do what's called a partial DITY/PPM move where the military will hire a moving company to move our heavy stuff and we will get paid to fill our cars with stuff basically...pretty good deal if you ask me! I have been done working for over a month now and it's been so helpful to have this time off to schedule move out inspections, cleaning companies, pack, etc. I wouldn't have done it any other way. The movers will be here on the 18th & 19th to pack up our house and we will be hitting the road on the 23rd...two cars, Trevor and I, and of course little Soph <3 This is going to be a BIG transition for our family and we would love your prayers, as always! 

Oh yeah, we got to choose our ACTUAL house a few weeks ago! We have our address and our new home! We will be moving in on the 26th! Please pray that all goes as planned :) 

Next blog post from Sippi (as Chels likes to call it!) 

Chicken Cacciatore

What you need

• 2-3 chicken breasts (depending on how big your family is!)
• 1 box whole wheat linguine pasta
• 1 (28 ounce) jar healthy spaghetti sauce (we like Newman's Own sauce)
• 8 ounces sliced mushrooms
• 1 diced onion
• 2 tablespoons minced garlic

What to do

• Put the chicken in the crockpot and add your spaghetti sauce, mushrooms, onion, and garlic.
• Cover your crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours (for most...may be 7-9 depending on your crockpot)
• You can either shred the chicken by pulling it apart with a fork or serve it as the whole chicken breast. Serve whichever you'd prefer over whole wheat linguine for a healthy pasta dish!

**I modified this recipe and added our own flare! Original recipe came from www.allrecipes.com**

Healthy chicken salad!

I decided to try this recipe when our marriage class at church had a "picnic" theme for our potluck dinner and I was determined to find a HEALTHY chicken salad. When I think picnic, I think chicken salad for whatever reason. I found a Weight Watchers recipe and modified it by adding extra things that sounded yummy to us and changing some of the measurements! It came out delicious! I also took the leftovers to work in a whole wheat tortilla for lunch today <3 

What you need

• 1lb chicken breast
• 1/2 cup diced dill pickles
• 1/2 cup celery
• 1/2 cup reduced fat mayo
• 2 tablespoons reduced fat sour cream
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 handful of walnuts
• 1/2 cup chopped red grapes
• Salt & pepper to taste

How to make it

1) Boil chicken until there's no pink inside. Drain water and set chicken aside to cool. Cut into small cubes. 
2) Pour chicken into a bowl and add pickles, celery, mayo, sour cream, mustard, lemon juice, walnuts, grapes, and salt & pepper to taste. Mix well and store in refrigerator until just before serving. This is delicious with crackers or a whole wheat tortilla! 

Whole Wheat Andes Mint Cookies!

It's been a while since I've posted new recipes and I've recently been trying a couple new ones per week, so I figured it was time to post again! My sweet friend Dayna, introduced me to the idea of whole wheat cookies since we've been trying to eat healthier in our home. I've been experimenting with diff cookies for the hubby this week & I ended up creating these one day! I had Trevor and several coworkers try them and the consensus was that they were good, however, if you're not a mint lover, you may want to try 1/2 Andes Mint baking chips and 1/2 regular chocolate chips! 

{These cookies are the REGULAR whole wheat choc chip cookies I made & sent to
Afghanistan but you get the idea! I had to at least post a pic of cookies on here....yummm}

What you need

• 2 eggs
• 3 cups sifted whole wheat flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups Andes Mint baking chips
• 3/4 cup margarine
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 

How to make 'em

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease your cookie sheets
• In a bowl, mix together the margarine, white sugar and brown sugar until fully mixed and smooth. Stir in vanilla and eggs. Add the whole wheat flour, baking soda & salt. Mix well! Fold in the Andes Mint baking chips. Use a small spoon to drop spoonfuls onto your cookie sheet.
• Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for at least 5 minutes. Enjoy :) 

We're moving to MISS-ISS-IPPI

Trevor and I recently found out that we will be moving to Keelser AFB in Biloxi, MS! Yup, that's the good ole' south! Trevor will be teaching as a weather instructor at the Air Force weather tech school that he attended when he first enlisted in the USAF. We have been considering applying for this position for over a year and decided it was either between there and Hawaii during his deployment. Our best friends are moving to Hawaii in November and we thought "Why not?! It's Hawaii AND they will be there"...but the Lord obviously had a different plan ;) When the overseas list came out in May and Hawaii was not anywhere on it, it was pretty clear that we were being called there. But we will DEF be visiting the Walker's there...hopefully in 2013! So we decided to have Trevor move forward with our first choice of him being a weather instructor and it was a lengthy process. He definitely got the run around with being currently at any Army post and wanting to apply for an Air Force assignment and it took him over a month to apply for the position. We kept hearing that there was a huge need for instructors at Keesler, but we didn't realize just how big that need was! Trevor submitted his application and within 24 hours he had an official assignment sent to him with a report no later than date of October 31, 2012. We were thrilled!! It was such a relief to know where and when we'd be moving and we love the idea of Biloxi! :) Trevor will get to teach what he loves and we will be in one place with a very LOW chance of deployment for the next 4-5 years! 


We were already planning a road trip to Florida to attend our good friends Ben and Britt's wedding and it was PERFECT timing to stop in Biloxi for 2 days to check out the area and look at housing! Trevor immediately felt like he was at home again :) As much as I know I will LOVE it there, it was def a bit of culture shock for me... the best way I can describe it is that it's like Port Aransas (a Texas beach town) with Las Vegas type casinos and a southern flare (fried food and alligator!). It's going to be so much fun living so close to the beach, here is a pic of a birds eye view of the base next to the gulf! The green part of the base and one of the base gates is on the bottom of this pic by the beach and the other is back by the bay! Sandwiched by water :) 

Keesler AFB

The beach! 

Base housing where we will live :) 

We are REALLY going to miss our friends/family here at Fort Hood but we are also excited to see what God has for us in Mississippi! I surely never thought I would ever live in MISS-ISS-IPPI :) We are not sure when we will be leaving Texas quite yet, but we are thinking sometime around October 20th! <3

Our Sweet Baby

Yes, I said it. Our baby. 

For 5 ½ weeks, the Lord allowed me to carry our first child. On May 1st, Trevor and I found out that we were expecting our first child. We were more full of joy than I can explain. He had just gotten home from Afghanistan in April and we were excited to say that this would be our little deployment blessing! We decided to name the baby “Tadpole” that week based on how big he/she should be in my tummy. So to us, our baby’s name is Tadpole. I will never forget walking into Dale and Quinn’s house to take Quinn and her girls to Red Lobster for dinner and giving her a hug and saying “By the way, I probably shouldn’t eat the shellfish tonight” and watching as tears of JOY streamed down her face as she figured out that I was in fact PREGNANT! On May 4th, we already had an appointment with The Vitae Clinic in Austin, my doctor we see for Natural Family Planning (NFP) and it was perfect timing. This was our third pregnancy test confirming the good news! My doctor also gave me a progesterone shot (ouch!!) because I’ve always had low progesterone and sent us on our way until a 2 week follow up.  Before we went in to see Dr. K at the Vitae Clinic, I was hesitant to allow myself to get too excited because my blood test had shown that my HCG levels were pretty low still but I continued to tell myself “Hello, you’re only a few weeks along, they will go up!”. Dr. K felt confident as well that the Lord had in fact blessed us with our first child and agreed that I was definitely carrying our baby. If I hadn’t taken a test by now, I would have probably gone to my doctor anyways because I was exhausted and showing every sign of pregnancy other than nausea. I could literally barely walk from my office at the hospital to my car outside without getting extremely winded and despite that exhaustion, I was thrilled to be feeling so bad because it meant our family was about to grow! 

We began thinking of creative ways we could tell our families when we spent a week in Colorado with them the next month and had no idea how we would keep the news to ourselves for the next 4 weeks. On Sunday, May 6th, we had dinner with the Timmons and Church’s and knew we couldn’t keep it from them any longer and decided how we would tell them. It was the perfect evening. I told Chels and Audrey that I wanted to take a picture with them and Trevor went to take the photo and yelled “Allison’s pregnant!!!!” As you can see, everyone was completely shocked, but ecstatic about the news of our growing family <3

                                       


If only that moment in the photo, we would have known the news we would hear the following day. My provider at Fort Hood had been having me get blood draws every other day on post to watch my HCG levels rise and on Monday we were told that they were not only not rising anymore, but it was my worst fear…they were dropping. When she called to tell me about my blood work, I remember standing outside of the break room on our floor in the hospital, speechless as she said “This will not be a completed pregnancy and you are miscarrying.” I didn’t believe it at first. The next few days were awful. I was in the worst emotional and physical pain I’ve felt in a long time. I ended up staying home from work ½ of the week and barely left my bed for several days, but was thankful to have a wonderful husband right next to me the entire time. It just seemed so unnatural and I was honestly horrified.

Just a few days later was Mother’s Day and while Mother’s Day has been a very emotional day for several years, this one was the worst. A good friend of mine and I were shopping that morning at Old Navy when a man approached us and asked “Are you Mothers?” wanting to hand us a rose for Mother’s Day. I immediately out of habit said no and continued walking. My friend who has also had 2 miscarriages looked at the man and said “Yes, WE are mother’s to 3 babies who are with Jesus.” Yup, that moment the tears started to flow. I don’t feel like I deserve to be called a mother because I have not "mothered" a child on this earth, but I know deep down that it was the Lord who called me to motherhood when he planted that baby in my tummy.

Trevor and I don’t know if I was carrying a baby boy or a baby girl but we do know that we will get to see our baby Tadpole in eternity and will be able to call that baby our son or daughter one day soon. I struggled with whether to share such an intimate part of our lives on my blog but I decided to for two reasons… First because our baby has weight and significance in this world and I want everyone to know about his/her little life. The second reason is because when we struggle, our weakness show’s God’s greatness and I can say that I would be a mess right now if it weren’t for His promises of goodness and faithfulness to us. We are thankful that the Lord allowed us to conceive this child and grateful for the 5 1/2 weeks He allowed me to carry this sweet life. His plans are always to prosper and never to harm us. 

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”– Jeremiah 29:11

Together at last!

Sigh of relief... 

199 nights of sleeping alone, 4 holidays, and 3 months of not seeing my handsome husband's face (even on Skype!). Yes, I am happy to say that we are officially DONE with this deployment! I'm sure most of you have figured this out by now but my husband is home!!!! It has been a whirlwind of a month, but I wanted to make sure I documented the glorious day that he returned home! We both were able to let out a HUGE sigh of relief that day and we are so thankful to be reunited :) Here are a few pics! 

Is that a plane?? :)

Come on honey!! Walk through the gate :)

FINALLY!

The kiss I've been waiting for!

Pure JOY!

Trevor has been home for 44 days today and it feels like just yesterday he was still in Afghanistan. I think one of the hardest things about him coming home was that I really felt "exempt" from difficulty reuniting. In my ignorance, I felt that because I feel like we have a strong marriage, we wouldn't have any trouble with him adjusting back to life here, together. Unfortunately, I was wrong...we are not exempt from any adjustment issues. Trevor was exposed to things in Afghanistan that I never thought he'd have to see or go through as a weather man with a desk job...but he did. Obviously I won't be sharing any specifics of his deployment on my blog, but we just want to thank everyone who prayed for us throughout this deployment as well as when he returned home and we learned how to do life together again. You will never know how much we appreciate your prayers! God has been so faithful to us as Trevor adjusted back to our home, Fort Hood, and being out of a war zone. We know that God brings us through trials and difficulties in order to show our weakness and His strength. 


"But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.- 2 Corinthians 12:9

Southwestern Turkey Tacos

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced
• 3 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon ground cumin
• 3 pounds lean ground beef or turkey
• 1 (14.5 ounce) can petite diced tomatoes
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/4 cup cornmeal

Directions

1. Heat oil in a 12-inch skillet until shimmering. Add onion; saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, chili powder, oregano and cumin; saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add beef or turkey and cook, stirring often, until it loses its raw color. Stir in tomatoes; simmer to blend flavors, about 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Stir in cornmeal; cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens, almost instantly. Cool and refrigerate (or serve warm for dinner as tacos or taco salad).

**I got this recipe from www.allrecipes.com and it's been a hit at our small group!**

Finishing Strong…

As we get closer to the end of our first deployment (married), I had a hard time trying to remember what all of our goals were…that’s probably not a good sign if I can’t remember my goals ;)

So here they are:

     Reading as MUCH as possible

     Learn to sew—FAIL!

     Simplify our home

     Good quality girl time!

     Craft room 

Lifelong friendships…

I have to say the thing I loved the most about deployment (yes, I said it…love and deployment in the same sentence!), is the time I have been able to spend with the girls. It has been such a blessing to have so much quality time with my girlfriends here… and we have all gotten so very close through this, especially going through deployments TOGETHER! Our deployment started off with a good friend, Emily, living with me and that was a sweet 2 months that we were able to share living together and growing deeper in our friendship until her husband came home! We have done so many fun things throughout deployment! Each week most of us girls have a women’s bible study on Monday evenings, small group on Thursdays, and on Fridays we have dinner swap! At dinner swap we all bring a main dish and Tupperware to take leftovers home…genius right? I didn’t think of it ;) Friday nights are known be our crazy fun night! We have 5-7 girls, kiddos, and any of our 5 dogs that want to join! Here are a few pics!

We have also gone on multiple road trips to Austin, visited different churches on Sundays, went to a Women of Faith conference in San Antonio AND one in Dallas, and spent days playing in Salado together! It has been a blast and I am so very thankful for these ladies and the lifelong friendships we have been given.

Women of Faith in San Antonio! 

Thanksgiving 2011

Making our first turkey!  

St. Patrick's Day 2012! 

Women of Faith in Dallas-- February 2012! 

Learning to sew…

There’s not much to say about this…I had ONE sewing lesson with my friend Tori and that was the end of that :/ Epic fail on the sewing goal… Here’s a pic from my first and only sewing experience!

My Love for Reading

This one is sort of entertaining because my hubby has wanted an iPad pretty much since the day they came out…so 2 weeks before he left, he bought one and left it at home. Little did I know, this was just a trick to get my addicted to the thing so he could buy his own when he got home…sneaky hubby of mine ;) And smart…because it worked! I have fallen in love with my Kindle on the iPad and I have read more during the last 6 months than I have my entire life combined! I have even thought about writing a book because I’ve been doing so much reading…no worries though, I think I’ll stick to blogging for now!

Here are some of my favorite books I read:

What Women Fear- Angie Smith

I will carry you- Angie Smith

Holding onto Hope- Nancy Guthrie

Calm my Anxious Heart- Linda Dillow

What’s it like to be married to me? - Linda Dillow

Intimacy Issues- Linda Dillow (Are you noticing a pattern yet? ;))

Kisses from Katie- Katie Davis

Seven- Jen Hatmaker

The Meaning of Marriage-Tim Keller

Life in Spite of Me- Kristen Jane Anderson

Simplifying Our Home

This was a slow process over several months! I slowly went through each room, closet, under each bed, and box in our house and garage! Going through our garage was one of the most physically and emotionally draining project I worked on because it meant continuing to sift through all of my childhood memories with my mama. Over several weeks I went through each box from my childhood (almost!) and consolidated and as hard as it is to even type, threw things away. After it was all over, I had a garage sale and with the money raised, we took all the wives with deployed husbands to dinner at The Melting Pot, which was a blast!

This was a sweet picture I found in the garage of my mama and I...This made my day! :) 

Ladies night at The Melting Pot! 

Clothing Swap to benefit Amazima! 

In the Spring, once I had recovered from the garage sale (lol!) I had a clothing swap at our house where all of the ladies brought their clothes that they no longer needed and everyone “shopped” for new clothes at the swap! Each item bought was $2 and the money was donated to Amazima Ministries in Africa and we were able to raise $150 for their daily feeding program! Check them out: www.amazima.org

Storage Room into Craft Room

This has been a goal since we moved into our house in September 2010… and I am happy to finally say that it has been accomplished! Our master bedroom connects to another small room with another entrance from the hallway and unfortunately when we moved in, it quickly became a storage room because did I mention there is a curtain we can pull closed from our bedroom? Out of sight, out of mind…well, sort of. It still drove me absolutely crazy each time I would walk through the room from our bedroom into our hallway.

Phase 1—Storage Room (specifically ARMY gear storage room)

Phase 2—“Organized” Storage Room (Ha!)

Phase 3- CRAFT ROOM (Entire room not shown b/c I don’t want hubby to see the whole room until he’s home!)

And this is what I've been doing since Trevor left and I cannot wait to welcome my man HOME soon!