Baby boy McGinnis - 35 weeks and counting...

Abs "helping" mommy in the kitchen.

Daddy's little girl!

A very happy Abigail after playing with Daddy.

Brian and I celebrated our 5th (!!) anniversary a month early in Savannah, GA.

Baby boy at 34.5 weeks

Baby boy at 34.5 weeks

Yesterday I had my last fetal echocardiogram for baby boy #2. The great news is that everything else seems to look good and aside from his unilateral cleft lip and palate, we are hoping that he's perfectly "normal" otherwise after delivery. But that's actually a misnomer, as we've known for years now that "normal" is relative! Above are two 4-D pictures; he definitely has the broad, round "Dannewitz" head shape and cheekbones, and appears to have the "Dunn" nose. It was amazing to watch him moving around in real-time 4-D video; I think he looks a lot like Soren and Abigail! He "dropped" last Sunday, so I've been busy preparing everything (frozen meals, finishing house projects, etc.) so that I can rest these last few weeks before his arrival.

Brian has been keeping very busy with work; he spent a week in Tulsa for some additional training on another product his company sells. We're excited about our plans for the future and are enjoying the focus and lessons we're learning in this current season of life.

Abigail is doing quite well! At 16.5 months, she is soooo busy getting into everything within reach, and figuring out ways to get into things out of her reach. ;-) Although she has much to talk about, she lacks the vocabulary to do so but babbles on anyway. She has a few words that she uses regularly, like "Doggie, Daddy, Ju (juice), Mama, Ball, Tree, Du (for pacificer??!), and Sat (for "what's that?"). She's quite a climber and loves paperback books (chewing on them especially); I recently found a book soaking wet after she threw it in the bathtub when I wasn't looking (our tub needs a little work on the drain, which doesn't work properly!)...it's always an exciting adventure for us. How refreshing it is to imagine life from her perspective, being filled with wonder and awe, excitement and no fear for anything. It's inspiring just to watch her play! She is down to a single, short half-hour-to-hour nap during the day (much to this very pregnant mama's dismay) and is always awake before 7 a.m. It makes for long, tiring days for me right now, but hopefully that will improve within four or five months, after baby boy is hopefully sleeping through the night!

Leaning into His arms

As we announced in our last blog post we are expecting our third child at the end of July - in just nine short weeks. Since that last post, we learned that this baby has a cleft lip and cleft palate, and will require extra care and several surgeries throughout his early childhood. This news has been challenging for us, especially considering that our firstborn son also had genetic anomolies (Trisomy 21 and a complex congenital heart defect). It's been interesting to observe my (Kristin) initial response to this difficult news; I was initially extremely frustrated, trying to reason with myself that I think I learned so much from our firstborn's life and death, why should I have to deal with another challenging genetic anomoly in my child. I initially thought, "Haven't we dealt with enough yet? Why, God, do we have to do this all over again? Why does another one of our children have to endure being 'different'?" Honestly, the questions haven't stopped, but have rather been transformed; my questions and God's answers have morphed into me asking myself why I think my reasoning is one of justice, when His ways are higher than my ways...

Last night at Rich Erdman's church, we watched an excellent, insightful video of Pastor Francis Chan talking about how we are the clay, and cannot even concieve of God's reasoning for the things that happen in our lives. I cannot give proper credit without posting the direct link, and hope you have time to watch it (about 10 minutes). Here's the link; just go to the link and click on the line that says "Watch Video": http://www.franchischan.org/#/erasing-hell

Anyway, that video, and Rich's following sermon, both completely confirmed for me the fact that I have been quite arrogant and shallow in thinking that because I "paid my dues" in the illness and death of our firstborn son, that if I did a good enough job as a Christian, I wouldn't have to deal with anymore pain in this life. This was a great reality check for me! It helped me also realize how our American culture breeds the twisted mentality and false reasoning that good works deserve God's "blessing" - assuming that God's blessings are always for peace, health, prosperity, etc. But that is not the case! Lately I've also been thinking much about God's blessings and how they are not always what they seem. Laura Story, a successful and talented young musician, recently put out an excellent song regarding this issue, entitled "Blessings." You can learn more about her story behind the music on her website: http://laurastorymusic.com . Ms. Story's point is simply that the blessings God gives us may be contradictory to what the worldly view of blesings are.

My point in bringing all of this up is simply that I am again learning anew what a blessing it is to have a special needs child, a child that the rest of the world sees as "deformed," but one which God new before he even formed this baby in my womb -- as an incredible, undeserved blessing. There are days when I need to be reminded of this, no doubt! But no longer can I hear about birth defects and think, "Wow, that stinks - but at least it's not me." Two of our three children have, or have had, birth defects, and I am that person that most people are glad they are not! It's different, when the tables are turned, and I have to humble myself to accept the circumstances God has given us at present.

At this point I laugh and think about how my motor mouth (or fingers, in this case!) are running away...this isn't intended to be a sermon, but rather, me sharing my thoughts and revelations (for what they are worth), with you. I hope it will be a blessing to you all!

Now appearing in Altanta, GA...

Ha ha! I knew it. I am just so not good at blogging on a regular basis! So sorry.

So here's the past few months in a flash:

Abigail had her 1st birthday on the 18th of January! She's getting so big; not walking yet, but very close. Just babbling, no discernable words yet, but she uses the same babble for a few words such as "dada," "bobble" or dobble" (bottle), "ma", and"da" for dog. It's amazing to watch her learn things like how to turn the light switch on and off when I'm trying to change her diaper (which is a challenge at all anymore!), and how to push things as she walks along with them (like chairs, toys, boxes, etc.). Her head is full of 1/2" dirty-blonde peach fuzz, and we'll get some pictures posted as soon as we can.

Which brings me to the update on our living status. We are now living in Dallas, GA, staying with some dear friends until we can find and close on a house (God bless them!). Abby's birthday also happened to be the same day Brian flew from Altanta to Chicago to start his new job. He had meetings there for a couple days, and is now home (in suburb of Altanta), getting into the swing of a corporate job. He is enjoying it so far; it's definitely a different work environment than he experienced in the military, but he's excited about the changes and the future.

I (Kristin) am 14 weeks pregnant with our third child, due at the very end of July (July 27th). In Hotlanta. Oh well! At least we'll get to enjoy four seasons here, and we'll be able to take the whole family out hunting this fall. (Hopefully!!!) I was hoping that this pregnancy would be perfectly fine without any sickness, nausea, vomiting, etc. etc., but unfortuantely this one has been just as sensitive as my first and more volatile than my second which makes me think it's a boy....? We'll find out soon enough, but at least in this pregnancy I can take medication to help take a little bit of the edge off.

Again, it's taken me so long to get the blog updated. Thanks Kelly, for your encouragement to update the blog (I obviously needed it!)! If anyone needs an updated (albeit temporary) address, please email me or send a message on facebook and I'll be happy to pass it along to you. God bless!