Newsworthy

I'm not sure anyone actually reads this blog anymore since it's been so woefully neglected over the past months due to a number of factors, one big one being that I can't find the battery charger for my camera and it's dead with no hope of revival. Nevertheless, even without photo documentation, life chugs on. We have a few things happening that some would consider newsworthy, so I thought we'd share.

1. We were lucky to have three weeks worth of visitors in March/April and got to see a grandma, aunties, uncles, and cousins. Busy, but fun. More on that later.

2. I was asked to be the president of our church congregation's women's organization. I'm sad to no longer get to teach Sunday School, which I loved, but am excited for the new challenge. Thank goodness for capable people to assist and help compensate for my shortfalls.

3. Right before the visitors and new responsibilities, I found out that I am pregnant. A big surprise, since I had been to a fertility specialist just the week before to set up a plan for fertility treatments. The doctor ordered me to get an MRI of my thyroid as standard procedure, and since we have a high deductible health plan and would have had to pay $900 out of pocket, I took a pregnancy test just to reassure myself that the price would be worth it. Imagine my utter shock at seeing the little "+" sign staring back at me.  So now we just get to pay the $900+ to our OB. :) Thanks to our visitors for putting up with me while I was terribly sick and unable to do anything besides sit on the couch and try not to puke. "Try" being the operative word. I'm now 13.5 weeks along and it's impossible to hide the fact that there's a baby on board. As any of you who've witnessed me pregnant know, I have a torpedo belly. You can see the tiny baby bump in the picture below when we took cupcakes into Ben's class last Friday for his birthday.

4. Knowing that we'll have another little Hawsling this November, we swallowed our egos and are surrendering to the inevitability of becoming the ultimate suburbanites. We are selling one black Honda and and recently bought another.

5. Behold, the newest addition to our family: a Honda Odyssey.  Ben has been DYING to have a van for ages, so he finally gets his wish. Just in time for his 7th birthday. While Ben wasn't picky, I had very specific criteria for becoming a van mom. Although technically we don't need the extra room for another six months, after exhaustive research, we found a deal that was too good to pass up with everything we were looking for, and a bit more. The van is still at the dealership getting some last-minute detailing and we'll get it later this week. If you know anyone in OH who's in the market for a 2005 Honda Accord, point them our way.

So that's what's happening in our neck of the woods. For some reason even though this is also a public forum, I wanted to publish the news here first rather than on Facebook, which still somehow feels less intimate to me. But enough about us. What's happening with you? Drop a comment and say hello. :)