It's A...

Our beautiful Baby's face! Eye sockets, nose, and the shaping of the jaw :)

Last night I woke up in the middle of the night (having to pee.. of course!) And started thinking of our little nugget. We've gotten a lot of assumptions since nugget started growing, that the sex would most likely be a boy, because "Its just the Smith way" "Smith's cant have girls" etc. etc. etc. It had gotten somewhat exhausting with the repeated remarks and almost gave me a sour taste in my mouth at the thought of having a boy. But last night, when I was thinking of nugget, and all of those remarks, God spoke to me. He made me realize that it doesn't matter what the "Family genes" are. Our God is an all powerful God; if he can heal the sick, blind, etc. I'm pretty sure he could bless a family with a girl that has had mostly all men. He made me realize, that its not the genes that decide, but its He who decides.  It made me start to think how the credit of every child really should be to God, and not to the parents or the families. He was gracious enough to bless every Mother and Father with a perfectly picked out son or daughter, choosing as he saw fit for their specific circumstances. All that said, it leads me to our appointment today.

I have noticed that every appointment we have now, MAJOR changes have occurred since the previous. This time, as we sat down on the table, and our doctor started the ultrasound I was truly blown away. Our baby's head had nearly tripled in size since the last time we saw it! Nugget decided to be a little more active this time around, so we were able to see little feet moving, arms, hands, and even the definition of the face. That is when the emotions kicked in. Seeing your baby's face on that screen is the most surreal thing I think you could ever see. Talk about making it more real! And on top of that to see their little toes on tiny little feet moving all around, it makes me emotional just thinking about it. Then our Dr continued on in the pursuit of finding the sex. Nugget decided to be difficult once again, clamping its legs together so that every angle was difficult to see anything. Luckily our doctor knew how much we were dying to find out, so he persisted until finally it was as clear as day. A baby BOY! Not exactly what I had hoped for, but none the less I was very excited. Remembering what God had told me the night before, I realized that I was SO blessed and SO lucky to have God choose THIS baby boy to be ours. To be our first child! So as many of you (I'm sure), I was not really surprised, but was definitely excited. Another Smith boy to add to the list; but our very first child to start our lives as Parents. 

Thank you our Beautiful baby Boy, for letting us know who you are today. It will make talking to you and planning for you so much easier :) Your Mommy and Daddy couldn't be more excited for you to come home in just a few short months! Stay strong, comfortable and healthy, and we'll see you soon!

Love, Mommy

Prayer Requests:

-That our baby boy continues to grow strong and healthy 

-That Duke starts to calm down out of his puppy stage

-That Jake is able to put forth as much time and energy as possible toward his packet now that the phase is essentially over

-That I keep a handle on my emotions, and start finding great deals for baby goods :)

Praises:

-That God provided us with a healthy baby BOY

-That Duke is finally starting to get in a certain routine that is easy to manage

-That Jake is essentially done with his phase

-That I have been in such great health in this second trimester

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Bethany

Down and Dirty

Ok. So Bethany normally runs this blog, but this time, it's my turn. 

Recently things out here have gotten crazy, crazy, crazy. While our things have arrived, we still feel that we haven't fully moved in. Things we need purchasing and work that needs to be done have piled up. Our little one is brewing and causing all kinds of fun and interesting things to be brought up and thought about. Work has taken over my soul, it feels like. And Duke has been one wild puppy lately. Life has turned up to full power and we have really been trying to keep our focus on God for guidance and comfort. With that said, we HAVE been able to get some play time squeezed in amongst all the business.

We had our latest baby appointment October 25th, as you already heard, we got to see our little 'nugget' and hear the heart beating. Standing watching that was such a blessing and such an eye opener. As nasty as birth is, it's amazing watching God's work happen in front of you. I don't feel like a dad yet, but I'm sure I will real soon. 

The last few weekends have been busy also, but with more of a home style twist. Every Saturday morning, we wake up, feed Duke, eat, have a cup of coffee and load up the bike and the dog and head out to the track. The first trip out was AWESOME! Sadly, Gray didn't go so there is no proof of that trip. Believe me though, it was amazing. The second trip was a bit less successful. We had been rained on a few days straight that week and it really made for some slick conditions. A friend of mine, Buck and Shepard, arrived at the track Sunday morning and the place was empty. To say the least, we were excited. Later on, we found out that Germans don't ride on Sundays. I haven't been able to figure out why yet, but most tracks are closed on Sundays and it is rare to find a dirt rider riding on Sundays out here in Germany. Weird. So, while we unloaded the bikes, got our gear on, warmed up the bikes and started talking smack, we realized how muddy the ground really had gotten from the rain from the days prior. Duke had jumped on everybody there with us, leaving massive paw streaks on everything. It was a dirty day. The first lap slowly turned into the last lap. Check it out.

Just trying to get off the track was a challenge.

Duke didn't like the bikes at first.

Meet Buck.

It was a pretty muddy day. Most of it came off while we rode off the the track so that the wash wouldn't be so bad. It still ended up being pretty bad. The next week was beautiful. Still a little muddy, but the weather had been nice all week. Most of the rain water had dried up and it made for some interesting times on the track. We were able to do a few more than one lap this time. 

This is where I fell and sprained my ankle. This is my worried look as I thought I would be run over by another rider.

Duke warmed up to the bikes and actually tries to climb up sometimes.

So that is all the latest happenings. We are on a three day weekend this weekend. I would like to get one more ride in before putting the bike away for the winter, but I'm pretty sure everything is closed. My riding partner, Buck, leaves in the next few weeks for the states. Now it looks like I'll be riding solo. 

Work has had me working hard for 8 straight hours a day recently. I am working on a 500 hour phase which calls the whole aircraft to be disassembled and inspected. We were given 20 working days to do it. Lots of things gone wrong later and we are behind. It hasn't been too fun. Riding my bike and working out a lot has been a mental must have in order to stay sane. The only down side is it keeps me away from home, where I need to be spending the time with the wife and dog. Living the Army life is hard to juggle sometimes.

Prayer requests:

- Baby continues to grow healthy.

- Bethany finds a job that will help take the stress off of bills and such.

- Duke grows into a dog rather than a puppy sooner than later so he quits terrorizing us.

- I find the time to spend with Bethany and Duke more frequently.

- We find the peace in God to keep our heads up during time away from family.

- Work lets me continue to build my Warrant Officer packet so I can fly sooner rather than later.

Praises:

- Baby IS healthy.

- We found a new church that we love.

- I didn't die during the few weeks of riding I was given.

- Bethany hasn't gone off the hormonal cliff (yet. HA!)

- We finally feel at peace about our financial issues and have finally overcome most of them.

We have a new baby appointment coming in the next couple of weeks! Keep your eyes open for that one! We might find out the sex! WOO!

Jake

A Little More Real Now

Today was our second appointment with Dr. Reu (Roy) to see how the baby was doing. The first appointment was somewhat short and basic, so I didn't really expect this appointment to run any differently. I had heard that we would be able to hear the heartbeat today, so I was excited about that, but thats all I was expecting (Little did I know that Baby Smith wanted to show off for us). So we went into the examination room and I undressed bottom half down (thats another thing, they dont really care about covering up over here). I got semi comfortable on the table and Dr. Reu proceeded to show us how the baby was doing. 

His/Her head and Heart beat

He decided to show us the heartbeat first, and I think thats all he would have done had I not asked to hear it. Man, was that beat racing! We didn't get to hear it for long, but just enough to make an impact. He told us that it was beating at 147 beats per minute, and Jake went on to say that that was about 3 times as fast as his normal heart rate. It was definitely the first thing to kick in. To realize that there really is something in my belly, that has its own heart beat. I started to get a little emotional but was mostly able to keep it under control. Then he started showing us the arms, the leg, the head, and the whole body. Thats when baby Smith decided to show off. Our little lime sized baby decided it would be a great time to start moving all around for us! I couldn't believe it. I'm getting a little choked up just thinking about it. It was truly amazing to me. The first time we had met our nugget it was tiny and motionless, while this time it was 3 times the size and moving around like crazy. It really made me start to appreciate even more, this beautiful experience that has only just begun.

     Dear Baby Smith,

Thank you so much for coming into our lives. I am so excited to feel you continue growing, moving,  kick and hiccup in my belly which is your current home. I am even more excited for you to come out and meet your real home. There are so many people that are ready and willing to share their overflowing love for you. You are such a blessing and am so thankful for you every single day. I love you.

                                       Love, Mommy

Baby Watch:

-Our next appointment is in 3 weeks from now. November 15th. We are hoping to find out the sex at that appointment!

12/13 week baby bump

Prayer Requests:

-The Dr. said that the baby is doing just fine when it comes to health, so keep praying it stays that way

-That Duke's leg is fully healed so that we can start taking him out for regular exercise

-That Jake continues to move forward with his Warrent Officer Packet, and that he increases his physical condition

-That I am motivated to tackle our extra room and get things more squared away and livable

Praises:

-That our nugget is healthy and active! 

-That Duke is very responsive to training and is turning into a very good dog

-That Jake's ankle has mostly healed and that he passed his most recent PT test

-That "morning sickess" is 90% gone, and I am finally starting to have some more energy

Jake is still going to write a post about his two dirt bike experiences within the past couple weeks so stay tuned!

Love, Bethany

WURZBURG

Jake and I had the opportunity to go and visit the town Wurzburg a few weekends ago. We went specifically to see the Wurzburg Residenz. This elaborate building was originally for Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp Franz von Schonborn. It was a collaboration of distinguished designers from Austria, France, and Germany itself that built it from 1720-1780. When it was finally finished it had 300 rooms in total! Now Jake and I didn't get to tour all 300 rooms, but we did get to see our fine share.

The reason we weren't able to see all 300 rooms wasn't because we didn't want to but because they only had certain parts of the building open to walk around in. "On 16 March 1945, only a few weeks before the end of the Second World War, a devastating air raid destroyed 90 percent of the Würzburg old town. The Residenz was almost completely burnt out. From the attic the fire ate down through wooden ceilings and floors, and all the furnishings and wall panelling it had not been possible to store elsewhere were devoured by the flames." They decided to rebuild the majority of the building to show the beauty of the building to the public. With many of the original furnishings (saved from the fire because of where they were stored) they finally reopened the Residenz in 1987. It was amazing how accurately the were able to reconstruct the rooms that were open to see. In the main traveling hallways they also had small bio's and photos of some of the before and after. We weren't able to take pictures of that, but we did get some of the beautiful details. 

We had to be very sneaky and selective with what we took pictures of and where, because technically we weren't supposed to be taking pictures. (Hence Jakes head in one of the shots haha) After we toured the inside of the Residenz we continued our tour outside to the massive courtyard that accompanied the building.

It is truely amazing how well they were able to keep up the gardens to look like how they were originally designed. They sometimes change the types of flowers that are planted depending on the season, but overall, the shape and designs of the overall gardens stayed pretty much the same since 1774.

Jake and I really enjoyed our trip to the Wurzburg Residenz. The entire town of Wurzburg seems to have a lot of history behind it, and soon we'd like to go back and just explore the town itself. We'll probably wait until Duke can come with us though :)


Baby Watch:
-We have our next doctors appointment on Monday, October 25th. We are supposed to be able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time!
-This Sunday will end my first Trimester, because I will be 12 weeks.
-We will hopefully find out the sex of the baby at week 16, so just a little over a month more :)


Prayer Requests:
-For our nugget to continue to grow healthily
-For Dukes leg to continue healing strong, so that we don't have to get surgery to heal it
-For Jake to train hard this week, his body to absorb it, and for him to do well on his PT test on Friday, the 22nd.
-For my headaches to become a little less frequent so that I am more capable of doing stuff around the house and such.


Praises:
-That we haven't had any complications with the baby this far
-That Duke seems to be healing well, and is picking up new training tricks such as down (lay down) and stay
-That Jake has been busy working on the aircraft itself rather than doing petty other small jobs
-That my "morning sickness" has 95% gone away, and I am able to do more than I was while I was feeling sick


Jake is going to be posting a blog soon about our experience at the dirt bike track this past weekend, so watch for it!

Love,
Bethany

There is Something Growing in my Belly!

That is right everyone, meet the newest addition to our little family, Baby Smith! 

Jake and I found out we were pregnant just a little over a month ago, and you can better believe we were  beyond excited! We had decided even before we got married, that after we tied the knot, we were going to leave it in God's hands for when He wanted to provide us with the AMAZING gift of a baby. (A.k.a. no birth control) And let me tell you, this was OBVIOUSLY His plan. Since I've been in Germany, as most of you know, Jake as been in the field for 90% of the time. (Which leaves little possibility for this to even occur) He left for the his first field training exercise on August 2nd, and not to get into too much detail, but there was no possibility of us being pregnant at that point. But while he was away (for almost a month) he was able to come back for one night to deal with some paperwork that I couldn't do without him. ONE night! And thats all it took :) Shortly after he came back from the field we found out we were expecting!

As I mentioned before, this was definitely left  to God's planning, not our own. I'm sure a lot of you might be thinking "Wow they were only married for a few months when they got pregnant" "What about spending some one on one time before starting a family?" "What about traveling Europe?" etc. etc. etc. Well we've definitely thought about those things as well, but I look at it this way. We decided we were going to leave it up to Him, He decided we were ready for this gift, so we have one of two ways to respond: Graciously accept it, be more than thrilled and start planning for our little bundle, or worry and complain about the would've, could've, should've. I'm sure you can tell which one we chose ;)

Jake and I had our first doctors appointment today with the gyno I think we are going to use, Dr. Roy. He is based out of a hospital in Rothenburg which is roughly 45 minutes from here. When I first met him, I noticed that he was very nice, spoke relatively good English, and overall seemed to have his head on straight. So I think we have a keeper. Today was the first day that we got to actually see our little nugget! Dr. Roy was able to show us where our baby's head was, how long the body was, and their heartbeat! It was such a neat feeling to actually be seeing the tiny thing inside of me that has been making its presence known SO apparently to me in these past weeks. Unfortunately I haven't gotten out of the morning sickness curse that pregnant woman get, but with me it seems to be even worse. So I have renamed this aweful thing to "All day pregnancy sickness that doesn't even let me throw up but just makes me feel like I really want to ALL day long" I feel like that is more appropriate haha. The sickness mixed with the mood swings, constant feeling of needing to pee, wanting to nap 24/7, and random food cravings every now and I again, our nugget has made it clear that I am in the full swing of this whole pregnancy thing :) 

I know that there are going to be many positives and negatives along this 40 week road, but I also know that the positives WAY out weigh the negatives. Besides, I'm already 1/4 of the way there! All I can ask from you is your constant prayers for our little Baby Smith, that he or she will grow healthy and strong so they can come out and meet all of you!

Things to watch for:

-I will be having another doctors appointment in 3 weeks, where we will hopefully be able to hear the baby's heartbeat for the first time! Then 2-3 weeks after that we will be able to find out if they are going to be a girl or a boy! 

-I will start posting belly pictures every so often so that its like you are here with Jake and I seeing our little bundle grow!

Prayer Requests:
-That little Smith continues to be healthy and strong
-That Duke continues to be well behaved but learns to walk on his leash more easily
-That Jake is able to get everything that he needs for his WOFT packet so that he can move forward to what he really wants to do
-That I start feeling better and less tired, to be able to finish up the last touches of putting our house together


Praises:
-That God has blessed us with a precious little baby on the way
-That Duke has more or less become potty trained, and that his leg that was hurting him is healed
-That Jake was put on a task for the next few weeks that will have him working on the helicopters again rather than doing other random things like he had been doing this past week
-That I get to learn to be a Mommy and carry our baby for the next 7 months

Jake and I couldn't be more excited to tell the world about the start of this next adventure in our life, we hope you're excited too!

Love,
Bethany

The Events In Germany Thus Far

In the last post, I alluded to the fact that I was going to be posting about our times here so far.. Well that time is finally here! I was somewhat putting it off, because there is quite a few things to cover, so lets just get started!

The first place we decided to explore in Germany was the downtown of the town we live in, Bad Windsheim. 

The architecture is absolutely gorgeous! I think the first thing I fell in love with was the use of color all around the town, and the overall historic feel. It is very obvious that some of these building date back centuries upon centuries, possibly even a millennium. That thought was so mind boggling to me at first, considering anything in the States is lucky to be a century or two old. But once you get passed the ancient buildings, the stores themselves are pretty basic. Clothing stores, shoe stores, restaurants, furniture stores, and even tanning salons! But the thing that stood out the most to me was how many cafe's they have here! And their cafe's are essentially a place where you can get any kind of dessert or pastry under the sun! They have them almost as much as the States has Starbucks. 

Meet my favorite spot downtown! Its this little ice cream shop, Sola Luna. It sells the best Eis (which is actually more like gelato) in town, and for the cheapest price! You could get one scoop in a cup (which is plenty) for 0.60. Needless to say Jake and I visit there quite frequently :) 

Shortly after our trip of exploring Bad Windsheim, we heard about a legitimate Renaissance Fair going on in a town about 45 minutes away from us. So we thought we'd check it out! It was definitely a site to see! (Sadly I didn't really take pictures of the fair itself, because we were getting stared at enough as it was) It was on the grounds of this extremely old building that we got to walk through. The stairs never seemed like they were going to stop!

The people there were so into it! Almost EVERYONE was dressed up, and they even had a little show. The food was great too! We didn't really know what to order, because everything was in German, and my 2 years of classes weren't really coming back to me, so we actually ended up ordering their version of a kids meal haha. We got a nice size sausage that was coiled into a spiraled circle, two big rolls, and a little shield! We couldn't help but just laugh it off, because the only other people with those shields were like 12 years or younger. 

The next town we got to explore was a town called Rotenberg, the walled city. It's called the walled city because the city itself is actually completely surrounded by this huge wall! It even had a moat. We actually went there twice within a week. Once with Duke (who was still pretty brand new to us at the time) just to play with him outside the wall, and then another time with a group of soldiers going through this class that you have to do as a soldier when you get to a new duty station. 

So in these series of pictures, we were trying to get a picture of Duke running, because his face flops SO much when he runs, but Jake would get him going, and then Duke would just face plant! hahaha It was extremely hilarious (at this time we called him our Duke of Hazard.. because he was so clumsy!) Luckily, we finally got a pretty good shot of him running so all of you can see what we see. 

Here is a little better idea of the wall that I'm talking about. There were stairways all around the wall to be able to get on top of it. We were able to walk on the wall for quite a way, and see the town from a very different angle. 

I've started to get a little obsession for the doors here! There are so many different styles, shapes, sizes, etc. And it just makes you wonder.. Where do they all go?!

Rotenberg is actually a beautiful city to walk through, except for when it starts to rain cats and dogs! The day we were site seeing there it was extremely overcast with light showers.. But those showers turned into buckets. We had gotten separated from most of the group, with a few people falling back to find us, only to find out we had to find our own way back to the train station by a certain time. Once we found out, we had not time to lose. We ran across what seemed like the entire town, in the pouring rain! Well with duke still being a puppy, we decided to just throw him in the backpack to get him out of the rain and so that we could move quickly. We made it to the train station with only a few minutes to spare. It was definitely and adventure!

Finally, the last noteworthy place that we have visited thus far is the Hohenzollernburg Castle! One of the main things I wanted to do once I got to Germany was visit Castle's. And although we haven't been able to visit too many, this one was still a great experience. 

The cool thing about this Castle is that they have actually made it into a hotel. What a fun thing to be able to say! "Oh yeah, I stayed in a Castle this weekend" We haven't yet, but I'm sure we will sometime while we're here. They had a restaurant that we had lunch at. The food was absolutely amazing! I can't wait to visit more castles!

And there you have it! All the notable things we've done so far :) I will definitely be keeping up on the blog way more now! We will be getting our stuff finally in about a week, and then I'll have a desk to type at :) 

Prayer Requests:

-Duke is still having problems potty training, especially within the past couple of days, because he is having some kind of stomach problems - please pray for his health and his obedience.

-Jake just left for the field this morning for another 2 1/2 weeks. - please pray for his time out there, and that it be successful in learning new things.

-All of our personal goods are going to arrive while Jake is away, so he wont be around to help - Please pray that I don't feel overwhelmed, and that I don't overexert my body to try and get everything done before he gets home.

Praises:

-Duke is starting to listen to commands a lot more. He knows sit, stay, get in your bed, and lay down.

-Jake has overcome the problem he was dealing with, and our communication is better than ever.

- I was having problems with depression, but I now feel like I have overcome and conquered most of those feelings. 

Thanks for hanging in there. I will post again soon!

Love, 

Bethany