Whirlwind, 26 Weeks + 6 Days (27 Weeks)

There is a reason this blog is called Seven Tornadoes, it's because life for me is often swirling around and I'm just grasping to hold on to the baseboards of the home I've made for myself and my little family. To say things have not slowed down would be an understatement.

The first tornado is my life right now is our backyard. When we moved into our house in Sept. 2008 we knew that eventually we would do some work in our backyard, but didn't know what we wanted to happen. We couldn't decide if we wanted a backporch and leave the swampy, woodsy divide between our house and the land behind us or to clear our entire backyard of said swamp, sod the area, put up a privacy fence and have a large backyard. We decided on making a backyard for the house because we really wanted a large fenced in backyard for Sawyer (the pup) and Jude (the babe) to play in while Jude is growing up. Also, there was no place for a swing-set or anything like that back there, and though there is a park about 2 miles down the road, it'll be nice to have play area in the back too. But, of course, as soon as we started the project it started raining in Florida. Been cold and dry for weeks ... now rain. We wanted to get it done before late spring because we want the grass to not die when we plant it, so we started early, but now my backyard is a HUGE mudpit. We have a large dirt pile sitting in our front yard, which the neighborhood kids have taken to sliding down and trying to ramp with their bicycles, and construction equipment littered around the lawn. It's a huge mess! A nice mess, mind you, but not pretty at all.

Second and third tornadoes? Family stuff and work stuff. Both, who I don't like to talk too much about in my blog, have been stressful and full of uncertainty in the last few weeks, and it has taken a lot of prayers and support from my amazing husband to get through everything. It looks like the family stuff is going to calm down a bit, but as for work ... we'll have to wait it out a little while longer to see if that fixes itself.

Fourth tornado? School ... this is my last semester and I've got lots of books to read and papers to write and I know that I'll get through it, but when I look at the mountain of work ahead of me I want to scream. Not to mention that I have until April 1 to finish ALL my paperwork for my upcoming meeting for ordination ... let's hope I can get things done today and get caught up so I can spend some time writing in the upcoming weeks and get things taken care of!

In the whirlwind those are the things that are spinning around me. Pregnancy wise everything is going fine. Last doctor's appointment went very well with just a quick visit and I have my glucose test Friday after next. Jude kicks a lot now, early morning, lunch-time, snack-time, dinner, my kid likes meal time, and doesn't appreciate waiting! I'm feeling pretty good and actually getting sleep, which I'm so thankful for! Tomorrow starts the beginning of my "28th" week according to one calculation which means I'm starting the third trimester. Martin and I have several baby classes coming up and I look forward to all the fun stuff we are going to learn together. We already went to "Fido meets the New Baby," and learned a lot of tools that we are using on Sawyer to get him ready. We were planning to start Childbirth 101 tonight but I had to reschedule to a one-day intensive class so that will be later on in April. We also have a baby shower happening in Arkansas next weekend which I'm going to get to go home for but Martin is going to have to stay behind and work. :( We also need to work on planning the Florida showers, which I need to get moving on!

So, overall, even though the room is still spinning, I know we are going to make it through. I'm looking forward to the next few months spending time with my husband before our world gets turned upside down from not only a tornado, but I'm predicting Jude is going to be a little hurricane! :)

Seven Tornadoes

So, the blog has gotten a little makeover, and it's going in a new direction. Martin has officially given me permission to use this blog as my own personal creative outlet. I'm sure there will still be plenty of family updates, but that will not be the sole purpose of the blog. I've also registered the domain for this blog, so soon you can visit www.seventornadoes.com, and will get right to my blog (and for you Google Readers out there, take a moment and stop by and see how pretty the page looks!)

But, why the name Seven Tornadoes? It goes back to my high school senior newspaper, and class predictions. I wish I had the actual copy (Whitney, you have it somewhere I'm sure) but the gist of it was that I wasn't going to amount to much of anything ... I think it was probably a joke, and I took it lightly, but as a good friend says, there is truth in every joke. However, I knew myself better than anyone else, and I feel like I have been successful, but life is crazy and there are times when I feel like tornadoes are ripping through! That's what this blog is for, to give you the blow-by-blow!

Seven Tornadoes:
Seven Tornadoes, the amount that my high school classmates predicted to sweep through the trailer park where I was supposedly going to end up with my seven children. What happened instead was I became a major overachiever, live in an actual house, and don't even have kids at the ripe old age of 26. It was all in fun and games, but there was always this underlying idea that I would just get married and settle down in Arkansas. However, I instead am a career woman, happily married to my soulmate and living in Florida. This blog is a collection of my journalist work, my personal musings, religious ramblings, and a little fun and games of my own in-between! My life is a whirlwind, I guess I couldn't keep all the tornadoes away!