Hospital Days

Just a few from the hospital :)

Welcome to the World, Elise!

She's here!  Well, four days ago she arrived.  September 24, 2011 at 4:39 pm (Central European time).  At a whopping 8 pounds, 8 ounces and with quite a large head she made her way into the world :)  We're super thankful to the Lord and we feel blessed to be her parents.

More pictures forthcoming, of course!

My Beloved Fall...

Do you know how much I love the season of fall?  Apparently as much as the rest of blogworld (and pinterest for that matter...it's exploding with wonderful fall ideas).

And while I have yet to experience fall in Slovakia, I'm just as excited about it!  While summer comes in a close second (what's not to love about warm weather and sunshine?), winter doesn't do it for me it being cold all the time and such.  And spring, well, it would be great...minus allergies.  So fall takes the cake with all it's wonderful smells, colors, and just-right weather.  Ah, love.

In an attempt to "fall-ify" our flat the other day, I picked up these 1 euro glitter leaves at Kaufland's.  They make a nice backdrop for the mango salsa candles I love (thanks MIL!).

And there were so many in the pack, I decided to make a garland to hang at the entrance of our flat.

Super simple.  Leaves, glue, and string.

Then today, my thoughtful hubs brought home a bouquet of fall-inspired flowers from the store as a surprise (he's fully aware that I'm 40+ weeks pregnant and ready for our daughter to be here, too ;) ha.

Love the color.  Love it.
And in some not-so-fall news, we finally have a RED tomato! It may have taken about four months, but our tomato plant did yield a red mater. yum!

Obviously we Palmers take awhile to grow things around here (babies and tomatoes :P)

Happy Fall!

40 weeks!

Here it is, 40 weeks (technically a day over now)...and no baby yet!

So we're still here waiting on our little girl.  Hopefully, this will be the last belly shot before she's here.  Which we hope means the next baby post we do will be one of her arrival into this great big world!

It's been an experience we're grateful for, but it's been a learning one, for sure.  Now we're ready to welcome her into the world :)  Continue to pray with us for a safe and healthy delivery as we await her arrival any day now!  Thanks, friends.

Day of Mary and Around Town

A couple days ago Slovaks celebrated "Day of Blessed Virgin Mary," or "Day of our Lady of Sorrows." It's a holiday here where everyone has the day off and many Catholics pray, feast, and give thanks to Mother Mary.

Jas and I wanted to check it out and see how they were celebrating the day, so we decided to head downtown and get a glimpse at some of the churches.  We observed that many were in attendance at mass.

A poor quality camera phone pic-but this was taken from the window inside one of the churches.

A common scene often observed outside of the churches here.  People exiting and the homeless are there waiting.

If only Jesus were celebrated as much as Mary is...

In other news, I also decided it was high time (well, rather past time) to get some shots of the city we live in.  So here are some random shots of Bratislava!

He Knows Her

I've been pondering this passage in Psalms, and particularly this verse, for some time now.  To be honest, the Lord has taught me a lot (and still is...that's lifelong, right?) about trusting Him throughout this entire process of pregnancy/impending birth...

I've struggled with fears and worries.  It's true.  I hate to admit it, pridefully, but I've wanted to try and control as much as I can with this little baby in my belly.  And He has shown me, and continues to do so, that I am certainly NOT in control.  Anything can happen, but HE already knows what is happening and what will happen.  I'm reminded of that by the above verse.

He knows everything about the precious child He's formed/is forming in my belly.  He knows what she will look like, what strengths and weaknesses she'll have, how many hairs she'll have, how many days on this earth she'll have.  Bottom line: He KNOWS her and He loves her.  Way more than Jas or I ever can or will.

I know we will only learn more from here as we become her parents, but I am thankful to be reminded of this daily as I read this passage and verse.  We have a BIG God and I am thankful daily at His grace for forgiving me when I worry and don't trust.  In the end, no matter what I try to do (and/or don't do), He's got it covered, thankfully.

Split Family Faces

You very well may have already heard of or seen these images, but I find them fascinating, so of course, here they are on the blog :)

Though I'm far from truly understanding it and/or being good at it, I just love photography, so when I saw this article on photography called "Split Family Faces," I was greatly intrigued.

This photographer has taken photos of family members and merged them together to form one image which compares and contrasts the genetics of these relatives.  It may have been done before (?), but irregardless, it's so interesting (and some even a little creepy...)

Click on the link above and check it out!

JAS, it's your BIRTHDAY!

Today is a special day in the life of my man...that's right, today he turns 30!!!

So, babe, HAPPY BIRTHDAY to you!  I love you, I'm thankful for you, and I think you're going to make a wonderful 30 year old.

P.S.- you're hot.
P.P.S.- for your birthday, I'm giving you a baby, but she may not be here on your exact birthday ;)

The Unexpected...

This week we went to the hospital for a baby check up.  Things looked good with baby girl's heart and we had a good appointment, but we found out that we have a WHOLE lot of paperwork to get translated and in order before she gets here!  That is, they finally let us know this, after having been there three times now...

Cue unexpected trip to Vienna.  Thankfully, we were able to get all paperwork translated and fairly quickly (we arrived at 8:30 and had all papers by 2:30).  Definitely a blessing.

And while we were waiting on Emmerich (such a great Austrian name) to work his magic on our docs, we enjoyed some Starbucks (I'm admittedly a sucker for their chai tea latte), studied Slovak for a while, and walked around some.

Want a camera phone's view of Vienna?  Here ya go!

Starbucks, studying, paperwork, walking, and waiting...waiting on this baby to come!

38 weeks!

Whoooaaa nelly! 38 weeks!  That's wildness.  It means that likely within the next 2-3 weeks (hopefully not longer than that!) we should be having a baby girl...crazy.

Nothing major to report here, other than the occasional hip/back pain, tiredness, and sleeplessness...but I think that's all to be expected at this point in the game.  In the meantime we're just waiting and waiting.  And praying and praying.  Anytime now would be fine, little one, anytime :)