Pulled Muscle

I ended up pulling a muscle around my rib cage last week and it has gotten worse. I guess when you combine a pulled rib muscle with a baby who is now 2 lbs and your stomach is growing up under your ribs, it is a wonderful feeling! LOL! So, I am laying in bed while Rich is at Sunday School. I am proud of him because he usually doesn't go if I can't go. When I told him I had to stay in bed he looked at me in shock and said, "What? You never miss because it is so important to you." Things usually work out this way...I have subbed for many classes this month(including doing my own classes) and have started showing a lot more property as I am trying to make as much money as I can before I have this baby...well, now I am out for at least a week, so with the money I will be losing, I am back to where I began! I was doing wayyy too much and never had time for anything else...even this blog...so here I sit with a heating pad and faithful Ellie by my side (she hasn't left my side in 2 days). I just want to be sure the baby is taken care of first and I know I can't be in this much pain while going through labor...so, rest is all I can do for now. It's humbling.

I told Rich to take his Bible to Sunday School and to start writing little notes and scripture that mean a lot to him. Down the road we can give these Bibles to our children (or they can have them once we are gone) and it is the best gift for them to be able to read our thoughts and some of our favorite scriptures. I started doing this over a year ago in one of my Bible Studies...I should find it to see what I wrote!

Okay, I hobbled out to my car got the Bible and it is a gift from my grandmother...
I wrote: My Grandmother, Betty Unckrich, gave me this Bible. She is an incredible Christian woman that has mastered GRACE in all sense of the word. She has followed the word of God throughout her life and at the age of 91, she has affected many people in a positive "light". She has instilled in us: to spread "light" to the world- not darkness. And to always be a BLESSING...not a burden. That was definitely my Paw Paw's motto as well.

This is very interesting because I wrote this when I wasn't even MARRIED yet:
I am writing in this Bible with love for the Lord. Every word is for my child that I do not even know yet. But the love I already have for my future child is the love the Lord has for me. Read this Bible and all of my notes I've written,...I have been through many life experiences...but nothing takes the place of following the Lord and being FAITHFUL!!! It is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life - but the most rewarding. When you follow the Lord - you do not have to worry about anything else! God will take care of you. I love you.

Awwe, that's sweet if I do say so myself! HA HA!!!!! :) I know I talk about the Lord a lot in this Blog, but I feel this is my Christian journal as well and this is my time to reflect. :)

Finally a birthday celebration...

The first pic is of my belly (JR) and Rich's hand celebrating his dad's first birthday!

I think it is so important to have get-togethers and a Bday party for Rich because he doesn't really care if he has them or not. He is an introvert and could go months without seeing anyone...me on the other hand...I LIKE TO BE WITH PEOPLE ALL THE TIME!!!! So, every time I get him to be a part of a party or celebration he loves it and always comments on how much fun he had. :) That's why I always say it should be interesting to see what type of personality this baby boy will have! :)

For Rich's bday we went back to the same restaurant (notice the same sombrero). Herman's got him a shirt that says, "Proud to be AWESOME" That is hilarious because that is so not his personality!! He loved it and actually wore it last night as we had a Euchre tournament at our house. I wanted to start this little club with some of our Midwestern friends because it makes me feel like a piece of the 'home' is with me. We had a blast!!! Rich was in rare form and it is great to see him laugh and let loose every once in awhile (rare form just mean really talking up a storm and laughing his butt off).

Elliotts got him a gift certificate to Best Buy...he LOVES technology...but I want him to buy a good camera for the upcoming baby moments! :) We'll see!

Back to his birthday, I had planned with some of the city workers of Gtown for weeks to get signs and stadium benches from the football stadium that Rich played on while attending school. They are tearing down this stadium and building an ampitheater. I ending up getting every sign on this stadium as well as 4 big benches from the home side for Rich and his 3 best friends, Mike, Wess, and Chris. He LOVED them and it meant a lot to have a piece of these awesome memories. When the ampitheater is built I will always remember being pregnant trying to get these signs off the building with the help of Bonnie Elliott and her dad...it was hilarious!!! Trying to get these old signs off the building using manual tools in 100 degree heat. I finally used Jr. to my advantage to help get those signs off - some workers came with their power tools, finally. :)

Granddad - Norwin Lee Elsasser

We were lucky to have made it to Michigan to visit Rich's Grandfather (he calls him Granddad) when we were in Ohio for my family reunion last month. He was such a laid-back, jolly little fellow (sounds funny to describe someone like that, but that is exactly what he was). He was pretty short (about 5'4") which is amazing because Rich's whole family is very tall. They lived outside of Ann Arbor, Michigan (where Michigan University is located!!! BOO!) in a small town called Dexter. It's beautiful there, so many HUGE pine trees and everything is so green and colorful. That is why I like going home to Ohio, too. My mom and my sister have the most incredible landscaping with flowers and trees. Their lawn is bright green and it is just amazing to look at (funny how you don't notice this stuff until you move to the desert). :)

While in Michigan we always go downtown where Rich's dad grew up...we drove past his house they grew up in (very nice) and go downtown to eat. Last time we ate at a really cool restaurant and ironically it used to be the gas station that Norwin owned. We also went to the Dairy Queen (I love me some ice cream lately) and of course Rich's dad had lots of stories of going to that DQ growing up. Rich's dad could tell stories forever!!!! It should be very interesting to see if he tells stories to his grandchildren, too. LOL!

While in Dexter we played Euchre, it was pretty amazing that his granddad was still extremely sharp while playing. He is one of those guys that can count the cards while playing...I was his partner and he could tell me exactly what I was about to lay down, it was unbelievable. I think I would make him laugh because I am very animated and I was floored everytime he told me what my card was. He would smile and he never wore his dentures so he had no front teeth. Everyone would laugh, but he didn't care. His house was still very 1970's with orange carpet everywhere and his furniture was even wrapped in this matching shag carpet. His towels in the bathroom were very retro as well as his artwork. He just never changed the place since he lived there...sometimes I think there is something so cool about that...being so content in not always trying to "update" and keep up with the times. The reason I say that is because my family is VERY into this and I can personally obsess about it with my own house. I could actually have a full time job just playing around in my house trying to make it perfect. Sometimes it's insane. But I do love to decorate!

Okay, DING! (My friends always say "DING" because I go off on tangents about other topics and can't stay on track). My point of describing Norwin and where he lived is for my little guy so he can read this someday and know about his great grandfather that passed away 3 months before he was born. I think it is so important to know your roots.

Norwin LOVED the Detroit Tigers...he could watch them all day long, they also used to attend many games. Funny thing that happened on Rich's birthday is that he turned on the television when he got home from work and the Tigers were playing Texas!!! How crazy. It was kind of a little sign from his granddad.

Well, one thing we know for sure is that we can keep his name going (Rich is the last Elsasser)...and we will make his middle name Lee.

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"You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you."
I'm blessed because God is embracing me every step of the way (Matthew 5:4).