I finally get it...

Hey you guys! So this weekend I went to the Beth Moore simulcast called So Long, Insecurities. Let me tell you...this was the best conference I have ever been to. I think my heart was just so ready to let God speak to me and work in me. I have struggled with feeling free my whole Christian life. I was saved when I was 8, so I was pretty young. I have had times when I felt close to God, but I don't think I truly got it until this weekend!

I have always had the problem of feeling guilty for who I am and the things I have done or do on a daily basis. I have always felt like I just needed to work harder to be close to God. I have always felt like I haven't done my part to be in the Word as much as I should or praise God for everything. But this weekend, Beth said that being a secure woman means to BELIEVE that God LOVES us and FORGIVES us. That's it! He FORGIVES us! He died on the cross for MY sins...ALL of them! I don't have to feel guilty. I just need to BELIEVE that He has already paid the price for everything I have or will do in my life! The most significant part of the conference for me was when we were singing the last worship songs, and I just bowed my head and said "God, I BELIEVE that you love me, and I BELIEVE that you have forgiven me!" I can't tell you how free I felt for the first time in my life! The emotion I felt just swept over me, and I could barely contain the tears! I AM FREE!! And I can be SECURE in the fact that even if no one else loves me or accepts me, GOD DOES!!! And isn't that what truly matters?

There was so much that I learned, which I will share throughout the rest of this week, but I just wanted to share with you all the FREEDOM that I feel now! I am so thankful to the Lord for working it out that I would hear this message at this exact time in my life! :) It's like it was meant just for me! (And I'm sure a lot of other women felt that way, too!) Enjoy your weeks, and I hope you all realize that God loves YOU...FULLY and UNCONDITIONALLY!!!!!!! And not only that, but if you are a believer or want to be...HE FORGIVES YOU COMPLETELY!!!!

These are our names...final answer...

So AJ and I have been feeling the pressure to come up with good names for our little one since we find out what he/she is in a couple weeks! We had already picked out a great boy's name that we both liked so much, but I just wasn't that happy with the girl name. (FYI, I still think it's a boy, but I need a girl's name just in case!) Anyway...yesterday I was thinking about what color I would paint a girl's room and I had originally thought pink/brown, but then I just didn't feel like that was what I wanted. My favorite color has always been yellow, so I decided if we have a girl, we will paint the room yellow with white! Then I got to thinking that our name for a girl just didn't go with a yellow room. I wanted a happy name for our girl. So...I started thinking and came up with one that I absolutely LOVE. So.....here is our pick for names....

BOY: Lincoln Harrison Maldonado
GIRL: Aliyah Grace Maldonado (and we would call her Ali)

I love them and I can't wait to see the ultrasound and to be able to call him or her Lincoln or Aliyah! :) Alright...that's all for now! :)

Oh Springtime, How I Love You!!

Last week was probably the busiest week I've had with homework so far since I've been back in school! I was so looking forward to Thursday after school because that would mean I was done with my last hard week before summer! It felt so good to come home on Thursday night and relax and know that I had nothing major to do that night! I'm so excited that school will be over in about 3 weeks!! YES! :)

I had another doctor's appointment on Thursday morning before school. It went really well and I got to hear the heartbeat again. I was crazy excited to know that nothing is wrong and the baby is still growing in there! We also made an appointment for an ultrasound on May 10! I can't wait to find out if this is a boy or a girl. It will be so nice to call him/her by name! I still think it's a boy, but my husband is convinced it's a girl. We shall see! We actually decided that we are both going to plan something super fun to do with Elijah after our ultrasound and we will do whoever's plans that was right about the gender! So I'm excited!

I made this amazing peach/strawberry crunch on Wednesday! I also made taco salad and we had BLT's this week, too. All of those things made me truly feel like it was finally Spring! I love this feeling! And people have been mowing and we have been opening our windows and getting that fresh cut grass smell in our house...my FAVORITE smell EVER! I love this time of year!

Well, that's about it except that AJ and I had a date night last night! Ross and Emily watched Lij and we went shopping and out to eat. It was so nice. We got a Blueray DVD player because our DVD player was skipping all the time. I love it! AND AJ got me a computer for my birthday! (which is in like 2 weeks) I was so excited! It's an HP and it's white. It's small and wasn't very expensive, but perfect for me! My other computer hasn't worked for about 6 months. I think AJ got tired of always having to share his computer with me!

A last thing I want to leave you with...if you like BBC movies or movies like Pride and Prejudice, then you should watch the show Lark Rise to Candleford on youtube! It's soooooooooo good! Emily got me started on it and I can't stop watching! It's probably one of my favorite shows ever!

Well, enjoy your weekends! We are watching Hunter and Sophie overnight tonight, so we will be having so much fun! :)

Children's Resale #2!

Today I went to the Children's Resale at Wakarusa Missionary Church for the second time! I went with my two sister-in-laws Christi and Emily! We actually got there at 4 in the morning! It was so cold, but I had fun and got some good deals! :) I have to say there wasn't that much for Elijah, but when I got home I realized I had found more than I thought. I got a few maternity things, too! I didn't even know they had maternity things, but I was happy. I was pregnant in the winter last time, so I didn't have many summer things. It was nice to find a few things I liked for really cheap!

Now I'm sitting at home enjoying some alone time while AJ and Elijah are gone. AJ wanted to take Elijah to the movie "How to Train Your Dragon." Elijah was really excited about his night out with his daddy. And Mommy was really excited for a little bit of complete alone time! You need that from time to time! :) I'm happy that AJ and Elijah will come home at the end of the night, though!

I'm in my last week of my 1st trimester this week! I can hardly believe I'm so far along! I forgot I was pregnant yesterday morning! Elijah had his cousin (and best friend) Hunter spend the night on Thursday night, and we took them to McDonald's for breakfast Friday morning and they were playing in the play area and I went up to play with them and pulled myself up on my tummy and later I was like oh yeah! I'm pregnant, probably shouldn't be crawling around on my tummy! haha...it happens. When I was pregnant with Elijah, I was 3 days overdue and playing dodgeball at my brother Rick's house with his kids and AJ and Rick. I was so into the game that I dove on my stomach for the ball. Everyone looked at me like "what are you doing?!" and then I realized that was probably not a good idea. I was nervous right after that until I felt Elijah moving around like crazy. I need to be more careful!

We went to Emily's parents church on Friday night and had an easter egg hunt and Mexican dinner! It was a lot of fun, and Elijah was really excited to find the eggs and get a cool Easter basket! We had a great weekend. I hope you all did, too! :) Looks like we're going to be getting nicer weather again this week!!! I CAN'T WAIT!!!! :)

blood...gross

I was reminded today when my doctor's office called to tell me that my blood results came back normal that I had to give 6 things of blood at my first doctor's appointment for this pregnancy! I HATE needles so much, and I always sing to myself and look the other way whenever I get shots or have blood drawn. Well, this time Elijah was in the room with me, and he was very interested in the whole thing. I was trying to not pay attention to it, but Elijah felt the need to let me know exactly what was going on the entire time. I have never felt so sick in my life! I guess he's not afraid of needles! :) When AJ got home later that day, the first thing Elijah did was tell him that Mommy had a boo-boo on her arm (where they drew blood) reminding me ONCE AGAIN of the horrible trauma I went through. I don't think I'm taking him to another doctor's appointment! :)

summer plans

Okay...so I was reminded today by Jessica Davis that one month of school left is not that long compared to two months of school left, but it truly feels like school will never end! I thought the nicer weather would give me a boost to help me finish the semester, but it has had the opposite effect on me! I see the sunshine and I just want to spend all my time outside or at my house with the windows open, the sunshine pouring in the windows, and a cool breeze throughout the house! Is there anything better than that?

So...in order to motivate me to get through the rest of the school year, I am going to make a list of things I'm excited to do this summer!

~walk all over Nappanee
~go to the park with AJ and Elijah
~take Elijah to swim lessons
~go to the beach!!!
~take a trip to Indianapolis to go to the zoo, the children's museum, and walk around the city
~ride our bikes
~go to Minnesota
~go camping
~cookout

Hmm...that's all I can think of right now, but it's enough to make me happy. I am just going to push through these next 5 weeks of school and be happy that I have my husband home this year and that I have a 3 day weekend every weekend. I guess my life is pretty good, huh? :) I've got NOTHING to complain about!

I hope you're all enjoying the weather! And if you haven't seen my poll at the top right of my page, vote on what you think our baby is going to be! It's just fun to see what people think we're going to have! So far I'm the only one who thinks it's a boy! :)

Mommyhood...the second time around...

Well, I'm sure most of you know by now that we are pregnant with our second baby! It hadn't really hit me yet that we were really having another baby, but I had my first doctor's appointment yesterday and heard the heartbeat of this new little one! It was the best feeling because I knew that the baby is okay and it's really in there! Now I really feel like this is happening and we are having another baby!!! YES!!

I'm so excited for Elijah to be a big brother! He always will say hi to the baby and kiss my tummy, which I think is so adorable. He also always tells us it's going to be a baby girl! I don't know what he'll think if it's a boy, but I'm sure he'll love the new baby just the same! It is going to be so different having two kids! I'm a little nervous, but mostly excited! It's really fun having a family and expanding that family!

Anyway, I want to start blogging again, so I thought this would be a good time since I have a new baby on the way. I can keep you up to date on the latest pregnancy things and the way Elijah reacts to things. Maybe no one cares, but it should be fun for me to look back on later at least! So...here's to a fresh start on blogging! Let's make it last this time! :)