Thought I would post this on here so that everyone is clear on what is happening in our lives...especially for those of you who had heard that I was pregnant. On Monday evening, June 29th, we went to our midwife in hopes of hearing our baby’s heartbeat for the first time, etc. However, the midwife was unable to pick up at heartbeat and requested that I get an ultrasound. I was 16 weeks along then…and for those of you that don’t know…a baby heartbeat can generally be picked up at 12 weeks or earlier. As you can imagine…it was hard to not be worried. I was able to go to the hospital on Tuesday afternoon to get an ultrasound. The results were that I had a molar pregnancy. To explain…a molar pregnancy happens when….well, there are several explanations (see links below) but basically a tumor (molar) grows instead of a baby. It acts exactly like a normal pregnancy…shows up on pregnancy tests, causes morning sickness, and anything else you can think of that a pregnant woman goes through! It also grows a lot faster than a baby. At 16 weeks, a baby is about 4 ½ inches long…so imagine a tumor bigger than that. That explains why I was popping out so quickly. Anyways…we spent Tuesday evening at a gynecologist’s office going over everything. I had surgery (a D&C) on Wednesday afternoon to remove the molar. The surgery went well and I didn’t have any of the normal pain/cramping afterwards. I’ve been feeling great ever since. I have to go to the hospital every week for awhile to get blood tests done to make sure that my hCG (pregnancy hormone) levels are going down. If they stay the same or continue to rise…it could mean that it’s growing again and I’d have to have chemo to get rid of it. Please pray that this doesn’t happen! It’s very rare…but still a possibility. If you’d like to know more about molar pregnancy…here’s some links that found helpful: http://www.americanpregnancy.org/pregnancycomplications/molarpregnancy.html http://www.webmd.com/baby/tc/molar-pregnancy-topic-overview So how are we doing with it emotionally? Surprisingly well. Yes, it’s very disappointing that we won’t be having a baby in December…but we are comforted by the fact that there was no life lost! That would be much harder! Sometimes it hits me harder than others. For the past several months we’ve been planning, dreaming for our baby and now that’s not happening…so it’s definitely a mindset change to get used to. Some thoughts that I was having this morning….God obviously has something else for us/me right now and I’m excited to see what that is! It’s amazingly reassuring to know that God is in control, knows what my future is, and has my best in mind! And now on to the rest of our lives! We're keeping busy...loving the summer! We have a lovely little garden that gets overtaken by weeds between my attacks or Joe or his dad's rototilling. I learned my lesson about lettuce. Two people don't need a whole row of it! So much of it went to waste! We took a little trip to Southern Ontario in June for my friend/twin Rachel's wedding to Mark Erb. We had lots of fun! Can't wait to go visit them now in their little house! Here's an answer to prayer! All my life I've sorta felt like a lazy person...didn't enjoy work, etc. I'd prayed about it several times...you know..."God, please help me to enjoy work!" Well...I figure the doctor must have bumped something while he was in there doing surgery cuz ever since then I've had so much energy and motivation! I'm actually enjoying working around my house...washing dishes, working in the garden, etc, etc.! My only hope is that I can keep it up!  Anyways...since I'm done posting pictures from our wedding...I thought I'd put a few pictures from our honeymoon in Gatlinburg, Tennessee. It's hard to believe that 10 months ago we were still on our honeymoon! Before we know it, it'll be a year! We're looking forward to doing something fun for our anniversary! 
Riding a ski lift over Gatlinburg! 
WonderWorks...a cool discovery place! 
Joe petting a shark at the Ripley's Aquarium....not! 
Cades Cove 
Us again...in Cades Cove | 
