Getting ready for Christmas and Abigail's arrival...

Hello everyone! I know, I know. I haven't posted for over a month. I apologize! We've had a great time since then, much has happened! I'll try to sum it up quickly and catch y'all up:

Nov. 12th: My cousin Holly flew down from the great state of North Dakota to run the "Rock 'n' Roll" FULL marathon that Sunday here in San Antonio. The weather was in the '80's with about 80% humidity. She is an incredible athlete to begin with, and the fact that she finished in less than 4.5 hours in that kind of weather amazes me!

Nov. 20-22: Brian and I were blessed to attend Family Life's "Weekend to Remember" marriage conference here in San Antonio at a beautiful resort near Sea World. It was such an amazing conference and really informative. I would HIGHLY recommend this conference to anyone who wishes to further fortify an already awesome marriage, to re-connect, and just enjoy one another!

Nov. 22: Brian flew out to Pennsylvania to go bear hunting in the mountains with his dad and brother-in-law. I guess his brother-in-law actually got a shot at a bear, but Brian didn't see any bear during the hunt. I flew out and joined him back at his childhood home in Butler, PA, on Thanksgiving Day. We celebrated Thanksgiving with his family on Saturday Nov. 28th, and his parents hosted a wonderful open house afterward. We were able to visit with many of his relatives, family friends, etc., and it was fantastic! The rest of the week was consumed by Brian's deer hunting and my sitting around and reading since I couldn't hunt this year (it's hard to be left behind!).

Dec. 5: We returned home to Cibolo. It was so nice to get home and set up Christmas decor! Brian's squadron Christmas party was this past Saturday at a hotel on the Riverwalk in San Antonio. I'll post pictures once I upload them from our camera.

That brings us pretty much up to date. Right now Brian is busy with work, training to take on an additional duty as a tax consultant for people in his squadron. I'm busy "nesting" and making last-minute preparations before Abigail's birth. Soren was born a week from this Thursday, gestation-speaking. Yes, I know every child is different, every pregnancy is different, but I can hope, can't I?? I'm sooo ready to have her here with us and to not be pregnant for a while! The grief process has made the last 8 months seem like 3-4 years for me, and since I've been pregnant for all but 2.5 weeks of that, I really feel like I've been pregnant forever. I'm excited that we found a nice rocker-glider and ottoman online (thank goodness for Craigslist!), and are headed up to Austin to pick it up this weekend.

We are excited about Christmas; we'll be spending it here alone, just the two of us (our first and last Christmas with just the two of us!). I hope that you all are enjoying the true meaning for the season - God bless!

This past weekend was so great! Jennie Pinkerton, one of my good friends from Minot, was up in Austin for the weekend to compete in a half Ironman race on Sunday. We got together on Friday afternoon and enjoyed catching up while visiting the outlet stores in San Marcos, then had a fantastic time browsing around Greene. We ate dinner at the Gristmill (SOOO good!!) and thoroughly enjoyed our day outside. The weather was absolutely perfect - a little breeze, 70-something degrees, and get this - no humidity!! It was wonderful.

Jennie completed her half Ironman in 6 hours and 4 minutes (I think?) - what an amazing athlete! We were blessed to have Brian join us and spend Saturday evening on the Riverwalk in downtown San Antonio, showing her around the city and enjoying local cuisine, including Casa del Rio for dinner, followed by peacan pie with bluebell ice cream - yum!!!

Monday morning I had an OB appointment; my weight was up (go figure, after a weekend of pigging out on delicious food with company!!) - I won't say to what - but Abby's heartbeat was 154 & 156. I'm measuring good, so everything seems to be progressing beautifully. My due date is quickly approaching; yesterday my doctor said the due date is reading Jan. 17th. My guess is that she'll come around New Year's. Perhaps she'll share a birthday with her uncle Dave! :-)

Progress in the nursery!

What a wonderful weekend! I really don't know if it could have been any better. Brian and I had a fantastic evening on Friday. We went out for dinner after taking the dogs to McAllister Park, then decided to check out the cribs on clearance at Babies-R-Us. We found a fabulous crib, which matches Abby's room perfectly! We spent most of Saturday going to pick it up, setting it up at home, running around finding the right hardware to replace one missing barrel nut, and finally finished late that afternoon. I'll post a picture of Abby's crib in her room below; we don't have any bedding or any other frills yet, so excuse the bare-bones look. :-)

Sunday was great too. I play violin on our church's worship team and yesterday I had a little solo part to play in "It is well with my Soul." I kept thinking about Soren and actually started crying during my solo in the first service; I hope no one noticed in the audience, especially since my wonderful husband had a close-up of me on the big screen...but by God's grace I held it together and finished the song, and then proceeded to play well in the second service. If anyone reading this blog hasn't heard the background story of the man who wrote "It is Well" you should definitely look it up. He lost his entire family - wife and four children - over a very short period of time, and then proceeded to write that song. How inspiring - what courage, what faith!

Anyway, the rest of Sunday was great too; we watched the Steelers gain another win this week over the Browns. Then last night we were blessed to watch the last two videos in the John Adams documentary series with the Gaineses. Thanks Matt and Jana! It makes us want to go back and re-read/listen to the book!

Enjoying Autumn (and more summer?)!

Fall has arrived in TX (or so they tell me). This means that it's usually still in the high 80's to low '90's with much humidity most days, and then once a week for the past two weeks we've had a "cold front" come through, which means the temps get down into the 70's for a day or two. For me (Kristin) that means pull out the pants and long-sleeve tees - horray! :-) I definitely miss wearing my "cold weather" clothes; there won't be much opportunity for that as long as we live in this state! At least we have some relief from the scorching heat. I'll take it!

Yesterday my MOPS small group met at one of the local pumpkin patches in the area. This is as festive as fall gets! The temperature during this pumpkin patch visit was about 85 degrees with about 90 percent humidity. It was great fun to watch the mothers with their children. I think I enjoyed watching as much as the kids enjoyed running around picking out pumpkins and doing all of the activities. I can't wait to take Abby there and have many photo opportunities next year. I know our little pumpkin in Heaven was smiling down on us; I am sure God has pumpkin patches in Heaven and look forward to enjoying them someday with Soren!

(26.5 weeks pregnant)

(One of several activities for kids at the pumpkin patch)

Enjoying fall in south TX

Well it's been about a month since my last post - and what a slow month is has seemed to be! But praise God, we have made it through six months without Soren now, and by God's grace and blessings we are getting through every day.

I don't have much for exciting news, but we are happily enjoying cooler temperatures here in south Texas! Last weekend a "cold front" came through and produced high temperatures in the '70's - it was glorious. Being a North Dakota native, I'm used to "cold fronts" producing temperatures such as fifty degrees BELOW zero (w/ windchill), so it was amusing to hear about a cold front lowering temps into the '70's. We've also been blessed with much rain, so that is very good for the area and the local farmers! Apparently this year has been the worst year in the history of TX for drought and heat.

Last weekend Brian and I went to SeaWorld in San Antonio and enjoyed the day, walking around and looking at exhibits. After dinner we returned to the park for the haunted house trail through the woods as well as the Shamu Show. We were sitting close enough to the front that we got a little wet when Shamu splashed the audience, but we didn't get soaked! It was amazing to watch the people who perform with the whales - we were in complete awe. They are so graceful and incredibly brave! I can't imagine being thrust 50 feet into the air with nothing but a single foot on a whale's nose holding me up...yikes!

On the baby front, Abigail's room was painted last week! Gretchen Thacker, a wonderful friend of ours, blessed me by helping paint the nursery (with low VOC paint, of course!). It's a light aqua-blue and looks great! Now we just need to get the nursery furniture and set it up and her room will be ready and waiting! I am very excited about Abby and can't wait to hold her in my arms. It will be so wonderful to have another blessing to physically hold again. I believe that in my experience there is nothing in life more fulfilling than being a mother and wife. God has blessed us so abundantly.

Good morning everyone! This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it. Today, September 16, 2009, would have been Soren's 1st birthday. It has been an emotional week with Soren's birthday today, and the let-down of returning home to TX after a two-week vacation in Montana with our families. We thank everyone for their prayers, support, and encouragement during this challenging time - you all mean so much to us, please know that we treasure you and your friendships.

Just a quick thought for everyone: Heaven is the ultimate destination for Christians. It is the place of perfection, and one day you will be standing in front of Our Lord, the great and only Judge. I do hope that if you have not made the choice to accept Christ Jesus as your Savior, that you will do so immediately. Eternity is too long of a time to not spend it with you in Heaven! I have been doing much reading on Heaven and can tell you, I cannot wait to get there, to see Soren again, and my savior Christ Jesus, and all of our other family and friends who received their crowns before we will. Please gravely consider your decision, the direction your life is headed, and where you ultimately want to end up. If you are interested in learning more about Heaven, I highly recommend Randy Alcorn's book, Heaven. After all, why wouldn't one want to learn everything he/she can about his/her future home?

Thank you for allowing me to exercise my freedom of speech on that one. It is serious business! So is the business of choosing a child's name. We took some time to choose a name for our baby girl while on vacation: Abigail Grace McGinnis. She is definitely getting bigger and her movements stronger. It's amazing to feel how different this little baby is from Soren -she is definitely stronger and moves more often.

Well, that's about all for now. It's good to be home and I pray that each of you reading this will treasure and enjoy your family as much as we do today!

Introducing Miss McGinnis

Slightly frontal view of her face/body; she was busy today!

Profile; for everyone curious about her heart, it looks great! We saw all four chambers and two complete septal walls, so her heart appears to be "normal" and healthy, praise God!


Here her hands are up by her face, below her chin.