Countdown...

There are lots of things to be thankful for 2008! Each day is a wonderful day…Each day is a blessing… and soon, any day will be baby Elijah’s birthday!!! I’m on my 39th week of pregnancy and so far everything is okay --- I am still getting a good night sleep and can still put in a full day of work.
Though, this morning I learned from my mother that she was denied from getting a tourist visa (for her to be able to visit us when baby Elijah comes). I know God has the best plan for my mother's visit here in the future...

at 39 weeks…
Early Christmas celebration with Grandma and Pop (Dec. 21)

Dinner with our missionary friends and church mates (Dec. 20)

at 38 weeks…
Weekend with my schoolmate in high school and neighbor in the Philippines (with her husband) (Dec. 13-14)


Baby Shower from my Officemates (Dec. 8)




at 37 weeks…Photo session with Tyler at home (Dec. 7)



at 36 weeks…Thanksgiving Day celebration with Tyler’s side of the family (Nov. 27)

"Baby Shower"
On Saturday (October 18) our Filipino friends in Manhattan, KS gave us a baby shower. It was a fun night of eating, playing games, and gift opening. In the Philippines, we use the word "Fil-Am" for a person who has mixed Filipino and American descent. We want our child to learn both American and Filipino cultures, but most importantly, we want him to learn that his citizenship is not here on earth but in heaven --- "Philippians 3:20... For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ..."

For more photos, double-click the link below: http://susanasphotojournal.shutterfly.com/

"New place, new job"

I had the 7th check-up with my OB-GYN today --- I had the normal routine tests and also a glucose screening test. This will be my last check-up here in Wichita because we will move to Topeka on Saturday (Oct. 25). We need to look for a new health care provider for our baby.

Everything seems to work out according to God's plan for us --- I accepted a state job and will start working on Oct. 27; Tyler will transfer to his job's branch office. With my new job, I have mixed feelings of excitement and sadness. I am excited to start a new stage in my career, but at the same time, I feel sad whenever I think about the less time I will have for our baby...

Not my will, but Yours be done

Last weekend we had a short vacation in Oklahoma (Wichita Mountain Wildlife Refuge). We decided to get away for a short time to celebrate our upcoming 2nd year anniversary and to enjoy camping once again before our baby boy arrives.

It was such an enjoyable drive with Tyler; as always we talked about lots of stuff while he was driving --- I read bible verses to him, we discussed about our Christian faith and talked about our baby boy. We’re always calling our baby by the name we’ve chosen for him --- but we’ll keep that name a secret for now.

We enjoyed the wildlife at the refuge, such as the bison, Texas longhorns and prairie dogs that just roam around. In the evening, I individually wrapped sweet corn in aluminum foil and cooked it on the fire. We already started eating the steaming hot sweet corn when rain started to pour. We immediately placed most of our food inside our car and left our wrapped, steaming hot sweet corn outside and went inside our tent and waited for the rain to subside. While inside our tent, I enjoyed the sound of the forest --- the sound of the pouring rain, the lighting and thunder, the sound of the gushing wind. Tyler lied down and fell asleep though it was warm and humid. I began to think of our lives as husband and wife for two years now --- I am truly blessed to have Tyler in my life, I said to myself --- we shared the same faith and love for the Lord Jesus Christ, he is a very loving husband and I am always humbled by his humility…I also thought about the rain, it reminds me of the reality of life that is ahead of us --- I know, there would always be rough times (rainy days) in our lives, but the most important thing is that we have our Lord Jesus as the foundation of our relationship.

My lingering thought was suddenly cut by my cravings to have another bite of delicious sweet corn. And since the rain almost stopped, I peeped out our tent window, but saw a small creature with two dark circles on his eyes --- oh no, a raccoon was eating our sweet corn!!! I woke up Tyler and he ran to out to scare the raccoon, but it was too late…the raccoon had already bitten some of our sweet corns. Lesson learned --- never leave any food in the wilderness even for a short time :-)

I am happy to have a short hiking exercise on that trip again --- I know it’s good for me and my baby. Do check more of our photos at http://susanasphotojournal.site.shutterfly.com/.

We had another check-up with my OB-GYN on Aug. 28 and thankfully, our baby’s heartbeat and my belly size for 22 weeks were all fine. In the last two weeks, we have been busy looking around at different stores to see what is available … we’ve thought about the important baby stuff that we will be needing. We bought few baby clothes that were on sale. We also spent some time attending several short seminars (e.g. breast feeding, soothing your baby, childbirth) and got some free stuff, too! I truly appreciate Tyler’s support every way during my pregnancy --- he is always with me, eager to learn new things about having a baby --- I am eager to tell our child how blessed he is to have a very good father like Tyler.

I also want to remember the verse we’ve chosen for our marriage on September 9, 2006. During our marriage seminar, our pastor asked us to choose a verse and get five themes out of the verse that we will hold throughout our marriage life. We’ve came out with the following themes from our chosen verse: (1) God’s sovereignty, (2) God’s trustworthiness, (3) giving-up everything to God, (4) brokenness before God and (5) fulfillment of God’s plan in our lives…

Our wedding verse is

Luke 22:42 “…Not my will, but Yours be done”.

Happy 2nd Year Anniversary, Honey! I love you…

Happy 50th Wedding Anniversary!

We love you Grandpa & Grandma!

Donald Lee & Mary Ellen Patrick

August 2, 1958

"little Tyler"

Today we had a very exciting 4th check-up with our OB-GYN. We had an 18-week sonogram of our baby (the first one was on May 19, 2008 when our baby was 8 weeks old).

For the sonogram, I had to take in plenty of fluids (32 oz.) 1 ½ hours before to aid in seeing if my placenta was on top of my bladder. I had a hard time with this because I thought I would not be able to hold my pee before reaching the nurse’s room. I told the nurse that I could not hold my pee anymore so she immediately led me to lie down and take the sonogram. Then she told me that I could now pee! And at first, I really couldn’t move up from the bed because any slight movement was very painful to my bladder (Whew…what a relief after I went to the bathroom.)

Then the most exciting part --- I came back and continued the sonogram and we learned that we have a baby boy! Our baby moves a lot; we saw him moving his arms and feet like he was stretching and looking for a comfortable position. That explains why I feel a lot of slight movements inside my belly this week.

In the monitor, we saw our baby’s body, face, male organ, pumping heart (with four chambers), bile, brain, hand bones, leg bones, spine, and his foot :-)

Now, we are more excited to see our son soon. We are so thankful to the Lord for giving us our first baby --- our “little Tyler”!

"little baby (18 weeks, 9 oz.) "

"tiny face"

"tiny foot"

"it's a boy"

Be quick to listen...

Hello everyone! I'm now starting the second trimester of pregnancy (17 weeks as of today)! I am so happy to tell you that my taste buds are normal again. I'm now enjoying the food I eat! However, I'm starting to experience a sensation called "heartburn" especially after I eat and when I lie down to sleep --- yes, it's all part of pregnancy :-I

On 4th of July, I felt a quick movement inside my womb while lying down alone and I know it's our baby. It is such a wonderful feeling to realize that I'm not really alone in that room :-) We had our third visit to OB-GYN on July 11 --- and I heard our baby's heartbeat again! It's now louder and counts 157 beats per minute. Tyler missed it because I forgot my urine sample and he needed to go back home to get it :-(

Our baby can now listen to my heartbeat and the sound of the outside world. That's why whenever we go to church every Sunday, I really enjoy listening to praise and worship songs, because I know my baby enjoys the music, too!

Tyler and I recently joined a group of friends in a challenge of reading through the bible in a year. We are in the 4th week now. I encourage you to take this challenge, too. This is really worth doing! :-)

I attached the bible reading plan from week 1 to 13 (just double-click the image on the right). It's actually a 52-week plan. If in case you need a copy of the whole plan just let me know and I'll send you the whole text file in MS Word format (I just don't know how to attached ".doc" format in this blog).

Here is one way we do our bible reading. We go to http://www.biblegateway.com/ and search for the particular chapter we need to read that day. Then we click on the audio symbol to listen to the bible chapter in that website. While listening, we are also reading our bibles (you can also read on the computer screen, if you like). It also helpful to have a bible with lots of maps on it (since it will be easier to understand the places being describe). By listening to the Word of God everyday, I know that our baby is benefiting from it, too! Also, don't forget to always ask God to help you understand His Words :-)

I want to share the following verses about listening from James 1:19-20:

"19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry,20 for man's anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires."

With All My Heart

Up to this day, I still have the first trimester sickness --- oftentimes, I feel nauseous and most of the food I eat taste bitter. I also crave for native Filipino delicacies like bibingka, suman, champorado, banana-que etc. (I'm planning to make bibingka, puto and camote-que one of these days.). I found sweet potatoes and avocados appealing to my picky tastebuds.

Anyway, Tyler and I went to see my OB-GYN on June 16 for my second check-up. I am in my 12 weeks at that time. My doctor asked me if I’ve observed my belly starting to grow. I told him --- “yes, but I am not sure if it’s the baby or just the food that I’m eating”…I saw my doctor’s wide smile and he said ---“no, it’s the baby!”. He then gave me instructions up to what point to pull my pants down, so that he could use his instrument to find our baby’s heartbeat. After several attempts, he finally found the heartbeat --- Tyler and I both heard it --- it beats so fast!

It is wonderful to know that the heart shows the “first sign of life” inside my womb. I remember, on my first check-up we saw the baby’s functioning heart through the flickering light in the sonogram.

I can’t help but think about the passages in the bible that talks about the heart. I’ve read that the word heart/hearts was mentioned about 930 times in the bible. Below are some of those verses:

Jeremiah 17:9 - “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?

Proverbs 4:23 – “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”

Psalm 19:8 – “The precepts of the LORD are right, giving joy to the heart…”

Ecclesiastes 3:11- “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men...”

Luke 10:27 – “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind… ”

Dream vacations 2008

Hello, just want to share the videos of my dream vacations for 2008. You might be interested to join these tours:

http://www.intouch.org/site/c.dhKHIXPKIuE/b.4130799/k.ABC6/Alaska_Cruise_2008.htm

http://www.walkintheword.com/IsraelTrip/default.aspx

Mission trip

Tyler is in the Philippines since May 27. He joined a short mission trip in the southern part of Mindanao (Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato provinces), with our other nine church mates. This is his second time to join the mission trip in Mindanao; the first one was in May of 2006. Below is the link to the blog of Luke Schooler about their trip.

http://philippinetrip2.blogspot.com/

Hungry all the time

Looking inside the fridge...thinking...what should I eat this time? It's hard to decide what to eat, especially that I'm so picky these days. Just few minutes after I ate, I feel hungry again. Hmmm --- it's amazing how my body is working hard to supply the needed nutrients of my growing baby :-)

While experiencing this "hungry-all-the-time" condition, I thought about my prayer life. I am "hungry" to pray, too, though not all the time --- maybe, most of the time. I started to have this strongest desire to pray when I became a believer of Jesus Christ. But oftentimes, due to lots of distractions, I wasn't able to feed this hunger. In Thessalonians 5:17-18, we are commanded to "PRAY WITHOUT CEASING".

I'm reading/studying a book on "Six Secrets to a Powerful Quiet Time" by Catherine Martin. I have this goal to be faithful in prayer. Tyler and I wanted to become good examples to our child/children. I don't remember where I heard this phase --- "teach your child how to pray as soon as she/he learned to speak".

Recently, I've read this article about practical tips to unceasing prayer from "Focus on the Family" magazine (May 2008 issue). I wanted to share 4 out of the 10 practical tips given:

# 1. "Post-it prayers". Write prayer requests on post-it and stick it to different areas in your house like on your mirror, fridge, computer etc.

# 2. "Get it on file". Purchase an accordion-style cardholder. Write the prayer request and appropriate Scripture on a blank card and insert it into your holder. If you are in a waiting room or airport, open your file and talk to God.

# 3. "Sort laundry". As you fold clothes, thank God for each family member, sharing what you appreciate about each one.

# 4. "Wait three rings". Let the ringing phone be your prayer signal. Before answering ask God to guide your thoughts and glorify His name through you. You can do the same when opening your e-mails.

He Knows...

On May 16, 2008 I officially got my Ph.D. in Biological and Agricultural Engineering at Kansas State University. I just wonder --- what would be the career path of our child like? Would he/she be interested in taking Ph.D.? Or maybe in a different path...

Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
11 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".

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

Hello! We want to share the first sonogram of our baby that was taken on May 19, 2008 (8 weeks and 1 day old). We saw the baby's heart flickering!

Psalm 139:13-17 (NIV)
13 For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. 14 I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. 15 My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, 16 Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be. 17 How precious to me are Your thoughts, O God! How vast is the sum of them!