New Job Title..."Mommy"

Well...the last day of school was Friday. I can no longer carry the job title of "teacher" but from now on...or for the next few years, I'll be known as "mommy." The end of school was bitter-sweet. I was very happy to not have to wake up at 5:00 anymore or to rally 145 students' attention all the time, but I will miss the interaction with most of the students. I really enjoyed chatting and getting to know the students. Most of them are really, really sweet. I thought I was going to cry at graduation, but I didn't. I cried when two of my junior girls came to say good-bye to me the last day of school.



The last day of my senior marine biology class

Only 4 more weeks left...the slow countdown has begun. I'm sure I'll be quite busy in the nesting mode. I have my maternity bag all packed, and I'll be ready to go whenever Ava is ready to come. Shawn and I both are super excited, but almost in disbelief. We were both thinking this week..."We are going to have a baby in our house within 4 weeks! Crazy!"


Top: The cute cake Bethany made for me and Julie's surprise baby shower.
Bottom: Me and Ellen at Fairhope fountain (36 weeks)

6 Weeks Left!!

6 Weeks Left!!! (Me at 34 weeks)

It's hard to believe that we will get to meet our baby girl in only 6 weeks or less! This pregnancy has gone by really, really fast. It has been pretty easy, so far. We are getting the nursery all fixed up and ready for Ava's homecoming. Shawn and I both have definitely been nesting this last trimester. Every spare moment at home is spent working on some type of project.

We took our natural childbirth class in April to get better informed about the whole labor and delivery thing. I am still determined to do it all naturally...not because I'm tough, but because I know that I'll pass out if I have to get an IV or a big shot. Yucky!

Only 2 more weeks left of school, then I can get off my swollen feet and prop them up while reading baby care books. It's going to be a great time before, as one of my friends called it, "hell week." Surely it can't be that crazy bringing home a baby...=)

Here are some pics of the last 6 weeks or so. I have really "blossomed" as the ladies at work keep telling me. =) Is that what they call it?

Me at 28 weeks

Ava Joy!

To all the many folks who check my blog regularly for updates, I apologize for the my blogging slouthfulness. Life is crazy busy, you know! Well...we are proud to announce that we are having a baby girl...Ava Joy. We have had 2 sonograms, one at 19 weeks and the other at 24 weeks. The first sonagram showed a baby girl weighing in at 11 oz. Because she was laying on her tummy, we were unable to see all the heart valves, so they scheduled us for another sonogram. The second one five weeks later revealed that Ava is healthy and growing quickly. She weighed in at 1 pound, 10 oz! Almost a full pound of weight gain in 5 weeks! She is in the 47th percentile for weight and the doctor said she will most-likely be about 7 pounds at birth...just right.

We did have a scare this weekend. We were in a pretty bad car accident driving to Fairhope in the Wallace Tunnel. We hit a truck who had hit another car in front of him. The air bags didn't go off and nobody was hurt. However, I didn't feel Ava moving much after that. We called our mid-wife and she said to make sure she moves within the next hour. Ava decided to take a long nap during that hour, but finally I felt her move after about 45 minutes. It was pretty scary there for a while. We had our first parent stress. I went to the doctor and they monitored Ava's heartrate for about 20 minutes, and all was healthy and clear. Her heartrate was normal and she was moving all about. We are very thankful to the Lord that He protected us during the accident.

I'm entering my last trimester of pregnancy...so far so good. I'm definitely getting bigger and I can't imagine how Ava is going to gain 5 more pounds and still have room! I'm only 5 feet, you know! I'm hoping the last 3 months of school will go by smoothly and quickly with no complications. We are just getting busy getting this nursery ready for our little baby girl, Ava Joy.

The first picture is me at 22 weeks. The second is me at 25 weeks. The last is of the proud, hansome daddy at our favorite place, Fairhope.

The Amazing World Wide Web!

Well...We are now officially almost up-to-date technologically...we now have a digital camera...and we have...finally...the World Wide Web (aka the Internet) in our home now! I know we are a bit behind the times. I can see Shawn and I being one of those older couples that is totally illiterate to the new technology of the day...we will say, "Oh, those...we never use those, we just like the old way of doing it." Oh well.

Well...now that we have the Internet at home, I can more often update this beautiful new blog. We will have some important updates to make since we are now expecting a baby in our family around June 21. We found out we were expecting in September and told everyone immediatly. We are super excited and we find out the gender of the baby at the end of January. I can't wait to start decorating the nursery and buying cute clothes and such.

Even cooler news is that Julie, my college roommate just told us that she is expecting also. She is only 6 weeks behind me and is due at the end of July. We are going to be the "pioneers of parenting" among our college friends...braving the uncharted lands of having and raising babies...woe!

CHCA Europe Trip

This April, I was given the most wonderful opportunity to chaperone Cottage Hill's senior class trip to Europe at an incredible price. I had never been across the ocean; the farthest I had traveled was to Mexico my senior year in high school. Although Shawn could not go with me, I felt like this was a wonderful opportunity to get to know some of the students better and to see other parts of the world. It was AMAZING!

We started our 11 day journey flying out of Mobile to Atlanta, then from Atlanta to Paris. In Paris, we stayed 4 days exploring Norte Dame, and all the other famous sites in Paris. We stayed in a hotel that had a motor home bathroom (tiny!) and bunk beds. We had a total of 17 people on the trip: 5 adults and 12 students. They were the most wonderful group of students to have on a trip like that...totally trustworthy, fun, and most of all, not complainers. We packed lightly in packs and carried only the necessities (4 pairs of clothes). We explored as much as we could of Paris in 4 days, eating as many pastries and french bread sandwiches as possible. My favorite eatery was actually a Greek restaurant in the Latin quarter near Norte Dam. We all danced with the Greek band "0pa!" and got to break plates for good luck. The artist's district was wonderful with people from all over the globe. All the students got their portrait done by charcole and pencil artists. We also took a day trip to the coast of Normandy and got to see and learn about the Allied invasion on Omaha and Utah beaches. It definitely made me appreciate the courage and sacrifice of our soldiers. Overall, Paris was old, beautiful (in its own way), crowded, and spectacular. Besides the shortage of cold water, ice, and deodorant-wearing citizens, it was lovely. I was particularly sad that I didn't get to smooch my honey in front of the Eifel Tower...=(

We took an overnight train from Paris to Berlin, Germany. This was a fun experience, but I suggest to any to take a sleeping pill before if you expect to sleep. The 'bump, bump' of old train tracks didn't allow for peaceful sleeping. Me and 2 other chaperones stayed up late chatting in the dining cart...I felt like I was in an old 1940s movie. Berlin was FREEZING. One night it got down to 35 and we only had long-sleeve t-shirts and a light jacket! Berlin was very clean and the people were nice and smelled alot better than Parisians...they even line up on escalators! There were very few old buildings in Berlin. We stayed in a wonderful hotel that had much appreciated down comforters and pillows, a game room, free full breakfast, and an incredible tanning bed! We visited the Berlin wall, the delicious German chocolate store, and Checkpoint Charlie museum, and the Sony Center. We also visited Schauchsenhausen Concentration Camp, the first Nazi camp constructed before the war. Good thing we didn't visit Berlin in June...that is when Berlin hosts the Love Parade...the biggest homosexual festival in Europe!

After a 2 day visit in Berlin, we were off to Amsterdam. This was my very favorite city in Europe. Although you walk out of the train station and smell weed coming from the "coffee shops," the charm of the old dutch houses and canals was lovely! We stayed 3 nights in a Christian youth hostel called "The Shelter." It was very refreshing to be around other Christian young people who worked at the hostel. We really did feel at home there. Amerstadam had the best shopping of any of the cities! I came to the realization that if I lived in Europe, I would live in Germany, shop in Amsterdam, and vacation in Paris. We shopped and browsed the city trying to stay out of the bicycle lane (if you get in the lane and cause a crash, it's the walker's fault!) and avoid the infamous "Red light district". We toured Anne Frank's house, ate at Hard Rock, and best of all, visited Kukenhof (a famous tulip festival in Harlem). As a biology person, I have to say that I had never even imagined that there could be flowers this beautiful! It really was a touch of heaven! We did have a little excitement the last night in our hostel...we had some unexpected visitors: several mice had made their home in the walls and decided to join us in our bunks! We sure didn't get much sleep that night!

I'm so glad the Lord blessed me with the opportunity to go to Europe. It is amazing to me that God knows and sees all the people on this earth and knows even the number of hairs on their head. God created so many different kinds of people, and the big realization for me is that so many of them do not know Him. Europe is a lost continent and needs a Savior. I was glad to meet the youth hostel workers and see their ministry and also the ministry of young lady in Berlin to turkish immigrants. They definitely need our prayers.

I'm having trouble getting pics up, but hopefully I'll be able to show you some of my favorite pics from the trip soon.

My sweet 8 month old nephew Will

We're Blogging Too!

Hello all you bloggers out there! Let me introduce myself to all of you who don't know...I'm Elizabeth (Liz) Kennedy and my husband is Shawn Kennedy. We are new to the blogging relm, but I'm excited about keeping in touch with all our friends and family who are scattered about all over the country and maybe meeting some new fellow bloggers.

I will tell you a little about Shawn and me. We both were raised in LA aka Lower Alabama and have lived here in Mobile our entire lives. By the Lord's providence, we met at Grace Bible Church in 1995 and started dating in 1999. We were MFEO, as they say, and we married in June 2004. We have one cat named "Ethel" and one dog named "Lucy." Shawn works at a computer software company called CPSI and I am a biology teacher at Cottage Hill Christian Academy. I love to run and completed my first marathon last year. Shawn is a muscician...he leads worship at our church and plays several types of guitar.

The Lord has blessed us with the purchase of a new home in Chickasaw, Alabama. It is a historic home built in 1919. We are in the process of fixing it up and making it our home.

The Lord saved us both at a young age and He has been graciously leading us as we follow and abide in Him. We are excited about whatever He may have planned for us in the future as we surrender to Him.