A New Chapter

The day has finally arrived.  I have a blog.

I have been talking about starting a blog for quite a while now....since David went on deployment, 2 years ago.  I think it's time.  An engagement, deployment, wedding, beginning of marriage, and a pregnancy later, I have a blog.

I won't attempt to cover the last two years of our lives in one blog post, but I will give a brief update on our lives right now.  We are still living here in Norfolk, VA and loving it.  We just moved to a new apartment due to a lack of storage at our last place and the upcoming arrival of our baby.  It feels much more like a house than an apartment which is a fun change.  It's a duplex right in the heart of Ghent, a precious little area that we have called home for about a year and a half now.  We can walk to our choice of two Starbucks (much to my Dad's excitement when he visits), a plethora of restaurants, our church, the post office, and really any other store you might be desiring to visit.  We think often about what a blessing it was that God, through a series of crazy events, led us to this wonderful area.

David's job has continued to be pretty crazy.  His submarine is still in the shipyard and things will probably get more intense as their end date approaches.  They still have lots to get done on the boat before it can go back in the water.  It still blows my mind that they can rip that thing all apart and then put it back together so that it can go back under the water.  I guess that's why they have "sea trials" after they put it all back together and before they deploy again.  Although, I am pretty positive I wouldn't like to be "trying out" a submarine to make sure everything is working correctly!

I am working as a nanny this year for a little 2 year old girl, Addie.  Through a crazy string of events, I ended up not getting a teaching job this year, and couldn't be more convinced of God's provision in that situation.  This job has been absolutely perfect for us during this chapter in our lives.  The family I nanny for is wonderful, the little girl is precious, and my schedule is very flexible.  They are a military family as well.  We have been able to relate to each other so well based on our many similarities.  It has been a huge blessing to have a job that allows me the flexibility to work with David's schedule as well as to be able to keep things running smoothly in our lives by having more time than teaching would have allowed.  I really don't know how we would have balanced his schedule with me bringing home work every night, working long days, being at school events, and investing everything in my kids at school.  Thank goodness that God has a plan that is always good and always better than ours!

David and I have discussed so many times how throughout our dating and marriage, we have seen God reveal time and time again His goodness and His provision for our future. Jeremiah 29:11 has become a verse that can sum up so much of our relationship and how we have seen God work and provide in our lives.  It's a verse that when we first revisited it right before David's deployment back in 2011, I nearly skimmed over it because I had heard it so many times growing up and felt as though it almost became a cliche verse during my high school years.  However, we have clung to this verse over and over again as we have been through long separations, many nights apart, stressful job situations, financial decisions, moves to new places, worry over making new friendships and much more.  Each time God has proven faithful.  This verse has been a cornerstone in our marriage.

Jeremiah 29:11 "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 a hope, and a future.  

We will be living here in Norfolk until sometime early to mid 2014 at which time we will start a much anticipated shore duty (i.e. more time with David and a more flexible schedule!!).  We won't know yet where will will move, but we expect to get our options in October, right about the time that we have our baby!  Talk about a crazy time to be making our next big life decision!  David and I are both eagerly anticipating what the Lord has in store for us after Norfolk.

In keeping with talk of the future...our latest and craziest chapter is the anticipated arrival of Baby Guthmann on October 5.  We couldn't be more excited about this new phase of life.  I think for both of us, it almost hasn't sunk in yet.  However, the tiny little flutters of the baby moving, and my stomach starting to show more, has helped this to start feeling more real!  Marriage has been the most unbelievably awesome thing and David surpasses everything I could have ever imagined in a man, husband, and best friend. I can't wait to incorporate another dimension into our marriage through having a child and becoming parents.  I know David is going to be an amazing dad and I am so excited to become a mom!  Stay tuned for our gender reveal coming up soon...we have our appointment next week!  David is convinced it is a boy so we shall see!  We decided we just couldn't wait to know the gender, but we will plan to keep the name a secret.  Our boy name is picked out, but since David is convinced there is no need to pick a girl's name, we have tabled that discussion until post-ultrasound if need be!

Many of you have asked for the "bump" pictures.  I have been a little behind so the running joke in our house is that sometimes we have to do the previous week's picture or the "suck it in a little, Babe" picture and then the current one but I am now officially caught up!

Here are a few pictures from the day I found out!

And then here is the picture from our first ultrasound at 8 weeks!  Baby Guthmann's first picture:

And here are the belly shots! We decided not to bother for the first 11 weeks. Let's be honest, they would have all looked exactly the same!

Stay tuned next week for our gender reveal!!!