Thanksgiving #1

This weekend we went out of town to visit some friends and celebrate Thanksgiving early with them. We had a great time being out of the city and eating wonderful food! We were able to go on a little hike to see some Nabatean ruins and enjoy the beautiful views.

Allen exploring

Unbelievable!

I am amazed at the great medical care I have recieved here for little Benjamin. We had our 20 week indepth ultrasound two weeks ago. A friend of ours came with us. She was an ultrasound tech in the states, it was great to get to share the experience with her. Thanks Tracy! We have almost 30 minutes on DVD of our little guy. He is moving a lot and looks very tall! I wonder where he gets that from? Not the Ostendorff side of the family!

Friday Market and Saturday Hunting...

Y'all, I just have to share my great news! I found three pairs of maternity pants yesterday and some great shirts the day before! Friday we have market in our city. Basically table after table of second hand clothes from Europe and the states. We see lots of goodwill tags on clothes and other second hand stores. Anyways, I went there on friday and found two great shirts to fit over my ever expanding belly and a red sweatshirt to wear around the house as it gets cold.

Then yesterday, Allen and I went down to Italian street where there is shop after shop of second hand clothes. Same thing as the friday market but here they are hanging up and a little easier to find. I was on the hunt for maternity pants. I had tried all the maternity stores and they were either ridiculously expensive or I would never go out in public wearing what they had! We thought we would give Italian street a shot. The second shop we went in had only one pair of maternity pants! They were khaki cordoroy. The cool things is that I had told the Father a couple of weeks ago how fun it would be to have a pair of cordoroy's during the winter to keep Ben and I warm. I tried them on and they fit perfectly!!!! YEAH! We went in a bunch more stores, one little store was like a dungeon with this little old man. I asked him if he had any pregnancy pants and he pulled out a pair of LizLange pants from Target. They are brand new! I also got another pair of jeans. So, with the pair of jeans Ashleigh sent and these, little Ben will be comfie and covered for a long while!!! Thank you, Father!

Allen has been wanting a hoodie sweatshirt. It gets REALLY cold here! Eventually we will be able to see our breath in our house 24 hours a day! Did I say it gets REALLY cold! So, Allen had decided that the best way to stay warm would be to have a hoodie. We have a friend in Cola that loves to wear hoodie sweatshirts at night. We thought there might be something to it. He found a big brown hoodie yesterday. We also found a Texas A&M sweatshirt but it was too small and had a whole in it. So Sad! But if we EVER find something from Clemson, we will definately buy it. I washed it yesterday and he was so excited to put it on last night!

Need Some Mommy Advice!

Do any of you mommy's out there recommend a certain brand of bottles or pacifiers? Or do you have any other "must have" baby items that I should know about.

Allen and I are coming home in December (just for Christmas, not for good!) and so I am trying to register for some basics for my family and friends. I talked to my sister about a lot of things but could use any advice you all might have. Everything here is pretty expensive so we are trying to get some good basics while we are in the states. A friend here gave me a bunch of clothes from 0-18 months which is GREAT!

So, if you have any thoughts I would love to hear them. I am registering at Target and Babies R Us, so if something isn't available at those stores let me know.

Thank you!!!

So Thankful!!

We are so excited to be over here doing what we do and yet being pregnant has definately made me miss home. I miss my mommy and my sister and all my friends. I know that most of it is hormones but I had to share with you all how great our Father is and how He cares for us. When you get married, you want people there to share in the joy and excitement and the same is true of being pregnant. You want people around you that are excited for you and celebrate with you. I have been so blessed to share the joy and excitement of this celebration with my new family here and my family/friends back in the states.

In the picture, you will see a white maternity shirt. When my mom was here back in the spring she left the shirt with Allen. After we took the third pregnancy test and Allen was convinvced that I was pregnant, he gave it to me. So, even though we are far away my mom gave me my first maternity clothes. She also left me with a blue kikoy, which is a piece of material from Kenya!

Then, my sweet friend here bought a crystal rattle for her and myself for us to remember to pray for this little one everyday. It will be his first ornament! And her daughter gave me a book for the baby's first year. She did not know it was going to be a boy but it just "happened" to be blue!

My other sweet friend here gave me my first diapers and then this week when we found out it was a little boy she gave me my his first blue onsies.

Trudy, my mother-in-law, has sent several fun bibs (because we did not know if this was a boy or girl), a little onsie, and a baby story book.

Ashleigh was sweet and sent me maternity jeans from Target! I am so thankful for them. Right now I can still wear my regular jeans with a Belly Band that she sent. However, I know the day is coming when I will live in those jeans. Maternity clothes here are not the greatest.

My sister, Jenny, was able to go to a fall rumage sale and get me some baby things and maternity things for great deals.

Anyways, thought I should share how I am so thankful for how our Father has blessed and encouraged me. Thank you all for your generousity and being a part of this very special time.

Hungry for Candy Corn?

I had some extra time last week and was walking around one of our grocery stores here that has American products. This is a dangerous thing for a pregnant lady to do! I got so excited when I saw Candy Corn. I love Candy Corn!!! I think I could eat a whole bag by myself. Anyways, when I saw the price my heart sank. They wanted $10 for ONE bag of Candy Corn!! Can you believe that?! TEN DOLLARS!! The 6.99 is our currency here.