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!