Thy Way Not Mine My God

Well, I wanted to post an Christmas blog first showing all of the fun we had in Los Angeles with the Abellada family, but I'm having trouble uploading my photos.  So until my husband comes home to show me what I'm doing wrong, that will have to wait. :-)  However, there is another more important update with some prayer requests that I need to write, so this seems like the perfect time.

For the past year or so God has continually brought 2 verses to my life to help me fix my eyes on Him and trust in His plans, not my own...

Proverbs 16:9
"The heart of man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps."

Psalm 25:10
"All the paths of the LORD are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep His covenant and His testimonies."


Time and again God has been using these verses to remind me that although we make our plans, God's will is ultimately the one that will come to pass, and I can rejoice in this because all of the paths He takes us down will be marked by steadfast love and faithfulness.

We are about to go down another path...

On December 15th we found out that Alain will not be continuing on in the Surgical Residency program here at William Beaumont Hospital in El Paso.  This decision was actually the answer to a lot of prayers that Alain and I have been lifting up for direction. So even though Alain is disappointed He can't continue in the program, and  we are sad to be leaving El Paso, the place where we had hoped to build over the next 6 years, we already see signs of God's grace in redirecting our path, and that is building our faith for the future.

Some prayer requests as we venture down this new path:

1. In January, the Army will release a list of available residency slots. Please pray that God would give Alain wisdom on which ones to pursue.

2. Our biggest prayer is that, wherever we go, that God would provide a strong local church that loves the Gospel.  We have seen God's faithfulness in that area here in El Paso, and we are trusting Him to provide again for the next location!

Thank you all for your care and prayers on our behalf!  I'll close with the lyrics of a worship song that has become our theme these past few weeks.  I'll often hear Alain singing it at different random times, and it is a good reminder to me to put all of my plans in the Lord's hands!

Thy way, not mine, O Lord,
however dark it be;
lead me by thine own hand,
choose out the path for me.

Smooth let it be or rough,
it will be still the best;
winding or straight, it leads
right onward to thy rest.

I dare not choose my lot;
I would not, if I might;
choose thou for me, my God,
so I shall walk aright.

Not mine, not mine the choice
in things or great or small;
be thou my Guide, my Strength
my wisdom and my all.

(23 week baby bump pic.  Alain jokingly said to me the other day, "Maybe we should try in vitro next time and get some triplets!" My response, "Look at me, where do you think they would go?")

My counter after the Cookie Swap and other happenings

The Wives of the WBAMC Surgery Department had a cookie swap today....think we have enough cookies for the 3 of us (Benjamin counts) now? :-)

My 22 week baby Benjamin Bump!  He's getting a little big...He is also quite the acrobat...kicking and rolling all over the place.  The other day he was jumping on mommy's bladder, which was not mommy's preference. However, we had our most recent appointment yesterday and everything looks good so far, so we are so grateful for a healthy baby!  Next up...glucose test!









What else have we been up to?

My dad was able to come an visit us the week before Thanksgiving, and we loved taking him to our favorite restaurants and showing him around Ft. Bliss!

We put up our Christmas Tree...

 And I made curtains for the living room...

Other than that, lots of busyness!  Alain has had his hardest rotation thus far these last two months, and he is finally on the homestretch, with just a week and a half until Christmas vacation.  He was also in San Antonio for 4 days, taking an Advanced Trauma Life Support class.  He did so well that they asked him to come back and train as an instructor!  I was very proud of him (and I was very glad when he came home!)  Work hasn't left him with a lot of time for any extra activities, so we are looking forward to the week long break.  We will be traveling to L.A. for Christmas, to be with the Abellada family. Next up for him are several important exams in January, so please be praying for him!

As for me, I've had 3 Christmas parties this week!  Tonight will be my favorite with our care group :-)  Next week I will be traveling to Ohio for the wedding of Jonathan Blair and my old roomie Laura Schmucker...can't wait!  My parents will be meeting me there to spend the weekend, so I'm so excited to get some Christmas time with them! 

Leave some comments! :-)

Much Thanks...

Thanksgiving was so much fun and relaxing this year.  Because Alain didn't have any days off, we stayed in El Paso this year, and got to spend the day with our friends Joel & Jill Radunzel!  It was such a blessing to have them open their home to us (and their TV for the football games!) and to share this holiday...

Joel carving the turkey, while Jill & I finish up the dinner preparations...

Jill made the turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, spinach dip, cranberry bread and a strawberry-rhubarb pie.  I made cranberry relish, garlic mashed potatoes, and apple pie.  I don't think we had quite enough food for the 4 of us :-)

Well, really there were 6 of us, as Joel & Jill are expecting little Sarah JoAnn in January and Alain & I brought little Benjamin Stephen along.    One of the biggest blessings we had to thank God for this Thanksgiving is the gift of our precious children!

Jill & I are constantly thanking God for our husbands.  Jill & Joel have been apart most of the 2nd half of this year as Jill is stationed here at Ft. Bliss, and Joel is attending Ranger school in GA.  So we were not only rejoicing that he could be in El Paso for Thanksgiving, but that Ranger school is almost done and he will soon be stationed here!  And I'm just so grateful to be Alain's wife.  There are no better moments in my day than when he is here, or when I receive a text or phone call from him while he's at work, or when I get to eat dinner with him at the hospital.  His daily leadership and love is such a blessing to me.  I wish I was a better writer so I could fully express how grateful I am for my love!

After dinner, the boys chilled on the couch and the girls put their feet up to talk & watch the Cowboys loose.  Perfect way to end Thanksgiving. :-)

Thank you Lord, for saving me from my rebellion against you, for opening my eyes daily to how amazing and glorious you are, and for continually sanctifying me.  Thank you for your many blessings...My parents, siblings, my husband and son, my friends, the fellowship we receive from our  church and the Navigators.  Thank you for our home, for Alain's job, and the weather.  Thank you for airplanes & cars to travel to visit people in, and for visits from friends from far away.  Thank you for Skype.  So grateful for so many of your undeserved mercies!

20 weeks!

As of today Baby Abellada is 20 weeks old!  Can't believe we are halfway there to having little baby be born.  These past 2 weeks I have been feeling baby move a lot more, and I love it! :-)  At my last appointment, when the nurse was trying to find baby's heartbeat, she had a hard time getting it because baby kept moving out of the way, which I thought was hilarious.  Looks like we have a wild child on our hands! :-)  On Tuesday we have our next sonogram and we are hoping to find out the sex, so we can't wait!  Stay tuned for the announcement!

                        Me at week 12                                              Me at week 20

 

Oh dear.  But I love my baby!  So does his daddy.  He prays every morning and night for baby, and loves to pat my tummy and talk to baby.  I love baby's daddy a lot. :-)

Overwhelmed by God's great mercy

"But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ..." Eph 2:4-5

Today I had the privilege of attending the groundbreaking ceremony for the new Pregnancy Help Center of El Paso.

What a joy to hear testimonies of men & woman & children whose lives have been changed through the gospel!  I love the heart of the men & women who run and serve at the center.  Their goal is to see the lives of all those who come through their doors be changed through the knowledge of what Christ has done for them.  I am so blessed to learn from their example, and to get the opportunity to serve along side them.

I am so humbled each time I am there.  I always leave more aware of the power of the gospel.  I'm so grateful to PHC or and all those who donate in order to meet the practical needs of all our clients, and to the Lord for opening so many opportunities to share to gospel.  God is so good!

For our after-groundbreaking lunch, we were treated, to chili-cheese dogs, soda & brownies from Wienerschitzel.  I took one hot dog, and wished later that I had two :0)

At the PHC, they have models of what unborn babies look like at each week of their development. I love going in and finding my "baby" for the week.  It is so cool to see how fast they grow!

Week 16 baby bump!  One thing that has definitely changed recently, besides my growing tummy, is my appetite!  It feels like my hunger level has tripled over the past two weeks!!  I'm having trouble being careful to only take in "needed" calories for my growing baby.  Cookies should be banned from my home, but I love them so :-P  Another change though has been my energy level, which has gone back to normal, praise the Lord, which makes keeping my work-out schedule easier.  So I can eat whatever I want now, right? ;-)

Please pray for Alain!  Work has been very demanding lately (14 hour, very busy days).  He hasn't had a day off in a week an a half, and it is definitely showing.  Praise the Lord, he has this weekend off, and we plan on getting him as caught up on sleep & relaxation as possible.  Please pray that he would be aware of God's grace & strength sustaining him, and that his body would have all the time it needs to recharge.  Thanks!

New favorite restaurant and baby bump pic

The Garden

If you live in El Paso, you need to go eat here.  And you need to sit outside. In the garden.

 It is beautiful out there.  It was covered with canopies with a light mist to keep you from getting too hot.  And the music is perfect.  It made me wish there was dancing.  And the food was delicious...

Alain had Coca Cola braised baby back ribs...so tender they fell off the bone and very flavorful!

I had the beef tenderloin sandwich with red onion & avocado.  It was cooked perfectly and was very tasty.  I had the mac & cheese as my side, which after having Geske's mac & cheese, was a big disappointment.  

And this guy was there...and I love him!

Here is my 15 week baby bump pic...it is my favorite so far, because we learned that the baby is as big as an apple now, so Alain had me hold an apple in the pic :-)

Baby is definitely starting to make his or her presence known--my pants aren't quite fitting the way they used to.  But I love it :-)

Maryland Trip!

Finally, after weeks of missing out, I got to fly back to MD to meet my new nephew, Walker Isaac

He was worth the wait.  Pretty much the cutest baby that ever was...




And his parents are pretty amazing...I think they like him a lot! :-)

We also got to celebrate 10-10-10, aka Justin's 28th birthday, with cake and a family Fusion Frenzy Tournament

And the Redskins had another close-call win in honor of my being in MD...

Other fun events that unfortunately did not end up getting caught on camera were going to Chipotle twice, chocolate chip pancake palooza with the boys, and manicures, pedicures, and maternity clothes shopping with mom.  It was so great being with the family again!

Our Favorite Date Spot so far...

Since we moved here we have been searching high and low for a restaurant that we loved.  It has proved more difficult than we thought it would be. 

We have several we have "Liked":

 Rudy's BBQ has Alain's favorite BBQ sauce and some pretty delicious breakfast burritos for a low cost.  Plus, they have 20% military discounts on Mondays.  We like breakfast dates there.

Los Bandidos De Carlos & Mickey's has some pretty delicious Mexican food.  We like to take friends there :-)

But so far, our only love has been Geske's... Everything we've had there has been so good...Fish tacos, sweet potato fries, mac & cheese, seafood enchiladas.  I "discovered" it when I was invited to a birthday party there, and took Alain there for our next date night.  We liked it so much we went back the following week for more. 

Mmmm Geske's!

I'm off to MD for a week to visit my favorite nephew!  So looking forward to being with my family!  But I will miss my hubby a lot :-(  Hope to see all of my CLC friends at church on Sunday!

12 Week Baby Bump

Happy 12 weeks baby...

Ruidoso

Ruidoso, New Mexico, is where we go to get green.

El Paso has beautiful mountains that I love to see, but sadly it is lacking in all things green.  As my pastor said last week, anything green you see in El Paso was imported.  Honestly, I don't think I appreciated green  until I moved away from it.  It is good to know it is not far away...

A couple of weeks ago Alain had 2 days off in a row, which is such a rarity, it probably won't happen again until Christmas.  Alain came up with the brilliant plan "escape" to the Escape Resort in Ruidoso.

It was 60 degrees there.  I got to wear a long-sleeved hoodie again.  We walked in the woods.  It was so wonderful.

We started our time by eating a delicious lunch of sandwiches and soup at The Village Buttery.  We ate outside on the cool of the patio, which is surrounded by all sorts of colorful flowers, and watched the people around us.

Then we went window shopping down Ruidoso's main street.  We had seen it all before, but loved taking the time to just walk together, without anywhere to go, or deadlines to meet.

Then we went back to the Escape, which was our own private home resort for the night.  We put on our comfy clothes and ate sausages and ice cream and cinnabon, watched football, and just relaxed together. It was just what the doctor ordered :-)

Trips!

I've been going through some old photos on Alain's camera, and I realized how many great memories we have already made in the short 3 months that we have lived here!  It is hard to know where to start.  Alain doesn't get much time off work, so we always try to maximize the time when he does.  Early on after we first moved here we too a trip to New Mexico to see Heart of the Desert Pistachio farm and Carlsbad Caverns.

At Heart of the Desert, we took a tour of the whole Pistachio plantation, from the trees to the packing factory.

The highlight of the tour was the pistachio ice cream at the end :-)

Then on to Carlsbad Caverns...

Alain & I love National Parks, but I think that we both decided that we love outdoor parks better than caves :-)  It was very pretty, but it was also very cold!

Fun day trips here in El Paso!

Blog Introduction...

Hi all,

Alain & I have decided to start a blog, primarily to keep our family & friends who are far from us updated on all that is going on in our lives down here in El Paso.  I'm not an eloquent writer by any means, so probably a lot of this blog will compose of photos, which will tell our story better than anything I could write :-)

The title of the blog was Alain's idea, originated by a photo book that he gave me for our first Christmas together in 2008.  In May of 2008, we had our first "date" (although at the time, neither of us would have called it that :-).  Alain's intentions at the time were to get to know me better as a friend, since he was about to take his board exams, and then leave for 4 months for various hospital rotations, so he didn't think it would be a good time to start a relationship.  But as we spent more time together over that first month, God began to draw us closer together, and fast-forwarded Alain's plan, so that at the end we began our long-distance courtship.  By that Christmas, God had confirmed to both of us that we wanted to be married, which is something neither of us could have imagined in May 2008.  We were married in May 2010, and Lord willing our first baby will be 1 month old in May 2011.  It amazes us how kind God has been, and how far he has brought us.

I definitely never imagined that I would ever live in El Paso, TX, but now that we are here, I love so many things about it.  The first thing I fell in love with here was our little apartment

These pics show the dining room & the kitchen of our little apartment, my 2 favorite rooms :-)  The dining room options up to our back patio, and has large windows that let in a lot of light.  We have been able to entertain a lot of people in there, which is something we absolutely love.  For the kitchen, Alain set up the shelves on the left soon after we moved in, which definitely helped me with storage space!  I love cooking & baking in there for my hubby!

Our back patio features my flowers, and Alain's grill, which we use often!

The best part about our home is our proximity to Alain's workplace, William Beaumont Army Medical Center.  WBAMC is the tall grey building, and our home is in one of the small, uniform  brown buildings at the bottom of this photo.  Alain is able to walk 5 minutes to work, which is a huge blessing to us both since he works such long hours.  Another great thing about our home is that we have mountains right across the street.  When my good friend Sarah Simmons was visiting for Labor day weekend, we took a tram up to the top of the mountains, where I was able to take this photo.  

In futures posts, I'll show you pictures of Fort Bliss, and our friends at Cross of Grace Church, our other blessings that give us much joy here in El Paso!