We're moving! And life at 26 weeks

The last few weeks have felt like a flurry of activity, in actuality with my calendar, but also mentally and emotionally. I think it's normal to feel that way in the midst of big life changes, right? As of today, it's 93 days until my due date, which makes this all seem more and more real.

Here are some little tidbits of life lately:

• Tuesday trips to Houndstooth Coffee while he has his work meeting
• sewing baby blankets in two sweet prints
• walks with friends, even when all of us are sick apart from me! Fresh air and sunshine and conversation is excellent (free) medicine
• dropping Nicholas off at the airport and FaceTiming him. It brought me back to those years of long-distance dating that were so fun/hard and feel like a lifetime ago
• smoothie shop bathrooms with sweet reminders and bright yellow walls
• sorting and washing baby clothes that we've received as generous gifts
• baby knitting on a sweater and a pair of socks, here and there
• planning for baby showers and finalizing baby registry items
• vacuuming and cleaning out both our cars
• buying nightstands that are the proper height for our bed
• texting back and forth with my parents as they get snowfall upon snowfall
• trying to remember what it's like being outside in 85 degrees (that's what it was in Austin last weekend)
• visits to Picnik for lunch and breakfast (separate days ;) for butter coffee and conversation
• more walks outside in 60-something temperatures, waiting with my friend Jessica for her baby #2!

For those interested, here are the latest Baby DeVries news:

On Wednesday, I'll be 27 weeks! We had an OB appointment last week and baby boy is growing well and he has a healthy heartbeat.

I'm feeling much bigger in the last week or so. There was a period of time where my belly seemed to place hide-and-seek at times, but no more. I'm becoming more firmly tied to maternity-only clothes, with the exception of a few pieces. A friend gave me some of her maternity clothes, including a pair of shortalls that I just love. I've managed to reintroduce chicken, bit by bit, which feels like a huge win! And my appetite is pretty good.

Baby boy had hiccups in church a couple days ago, and sometimes it feels like he's doing somersaults in my belly. He moves a lot, which I absolutely love. As he gets bigger, some of his moments take my breath away mid-sentence, not because I'm uncomfortable, but because it's impossible to ignore my little wiggle worm. My bellybutton popped out, which I thought I would mind more than I do, but really, it's just part of my body making room for this little boy. I feel more general aches, and sleeping is getting a bit more interesting, but I've been feeling good overall. And strangers (and patients) are noticing my belly and commenting more! Nothing that hasn't been nice or well-intentioned, though. I'm learning more and more that people are just generally excited for you when you're having a baby, whether they know you or not. :) I bought a promptly journal to record some bits and pieces and to have as a baby book.

And some other (big) news...

We're moving back to the Midwest! I can't believe I'm typing that out. This is yet another thing we have wished for, prayed for, and hoped for such a long time. Nicholas accepted an offer for a job in Chicago. We are still very much in planning mode and trying to figure out details (oh my goodness, so, so many details).

We are moving back to the area Nicholas grew up in, with him planning to commute into the city for work.  Moving as I enter my third trimester may sound a little crazy, but we're opting for this crazy as opposed to moving with a newborn or infant. As my OBGYN put it, "Baby is highly portable at this time, now is the time to move."

We spent last weekend making lists of things to do before, during, and after we move. And we made two trips to both IKEA and Home Depot.

We've wanted this for so long, and now that it's actually happening, the cascade of emotions is very real. As much as I've struggled with being far from our families, we've made so many friends here who have been family for us. I'm anticipating that this will be a season of joy and excitement and transition, but also one of grieving. Moving across the country, looking for a new home, Nicholas beginning a new job, and me having a baby are certainly a lot of life changes happening simultaneously. But in this, as in many things, the Lord has shown me that good things are often hard and hard things are often good.

Again and again, the theme of my bible reading and devotionals seems to be God's mighty hand. He is good, but He is powerful. We could not have orchestrated the timing of me getting pregnant and Nicholas getting a new job any better if we tried. A baby we prayed for for more than a year and job we prayed for for more than two years, all in a six month span of time.

And yet, I can see just what tremendous things God did in the waiting. My heart wasn't in the place to move a few years ago; there was still work to be done. There's always work to be done, but there was a lot that had to happen while we lived here in Austin.

I think back to these posts, all written about waiting and heartbreak and how much deep digging the Lord was doing in my heart at those times:

• In a season of repeated prayers, we cannot make Him weary.
• "Whatever your prayers look like right now—prayers of thanks or prayers for dreams not yet imagined, He meets us with fresh grace, He gets the glory, we get the help. Whether far away from family, or in a waiting season, or with literally anything that weighs on our minds, we can trust Him. He knows my heart, what fills it with joy and what hopes are hidden within. He made raspberries and 3-month old sleepy babies with long lashes, soft green grass, those wispy clouds in twilight skies, and Minnesota summers, after all. He is a good God."
• "The longer this waiting season stretches on, the more I'm engraining this truth into the depths of my heart. He's weaving my hope in Him into more of my waking moments, more of my days. My current life circumstances are not merely a placeholder for my real life. This is is my real life. And my heart knows more of His goodness in the waiting than it did in a season of blessing."
• "What is the manna in my life? The daily provision that I can go out and gather? In a season of waiting, in a season of sameness, God provides the new, every day. And all I have to do is gather it. If I claim to trust Him with my eternity, certainly I can trust Him with my week, my month, and my year."
• "The antidote for earthly fear is to go to the Word, ask for wisdom, and He'll replace the earthly fear with knowledge and wisdom and a holy braveness like we've never known before. Fear in waiting or difficult life seasons is the opposite of fearing the Lord, actually. When I fear (revere) the Lord, there's no need to fear anything else."
• "If you're in a heavy season, shake off some of the heaviness with a friend, a spouse, a knitting date, a cup of coffee, a neighborhood walk. Leave what’s heavy behind. Hope in the present doesn't diminish hope for the future."
• "Only a good Father would know exactly how to love His child in all the ways I needed to be loved that week [in Maine], all the tangible and intangible ways. His good is different than my version of good. And that is the best. [His is a better good]."

All this life change is the root cause of it being a little quieter over here. However, I'll be writing off and on about the moving process as we pack boxes, reserve U-hauls, squeeze in last-minute appointments, I work my last weekend shifts, and we plan out each day prior to us leaving Austin.

We spent so long waiting and hoping and choosing joy that this will be an entirely different season. Whatever season you're in, especially if you're still waiting on something (or many things), know that He is good. He is mighty. And these are not wasted days, these are the days He's given us.