36 weeks

what's cooking? [new baby things]: babe weighs about 6 pounds and is about 18.5 inches long.  she is likely head-down by the end of this week & will also be full-term after these 7 days.  ow ow!

gender: teeny tiny little girl! our mini, emmie collins.

movement: still moving as much as ever but now that she is big[ger] she is really making some waves.  my belly shakes all over the place and she is so strong.  she definitely likes to say hi to her friends, especially her dad.

momma developments: this week we went to young life summer camp [i'll write more about that in a bit]. it was an awesome & hard experience.  due to the 100 degree temperatures and walking all over mountains i was pretty much spent.  my feet and ankles were boycotting by tripling in size.  just when i would think my little tootsies couldn't get any bigger they'd just get larger still.

total weight gain: 34 pounds

maternity clothes: yes ma'am!  bump-tastic.  there is no way you could squeeze me into normal clothes now!

cravings: nothing really.

anything hard? 
basically everything under 'momma developments.'  it's strange to have your body feel so different and be so much more limited in what you're able to do.  i'm not in great shape in normal life, i really never exercise [ever] but i definitely take just walking around and breathing easy for granted.  it's been hard to have an aching back and creaky hips.  when i wake up in the mornings i almost have to hunch over like a little old woman.

never forget:
emmie, this past week we took you to young life camp for the first time with a bunch of our friends from lafayette.  you were such a blessing while we were there.  the little girls love you so much.  they sang you show tunes and poked you.  they helped me get all over camp & let us sleep in a bunk instead of on the floor [that's love].  you got to be there while hundreds of kids heard the gospel and experienced Jesus.  that was really special.  spending a week learning about these girls' lives got me so excited for you to be here.  it helped me get a really clear picture of what i do and don't want our family to be about - hearing about a bunch of broken people and families will do that to you.  it reminded me of what a privilege and responsibility we have as your parents to love you well & teach you true things.  i want us to give you such a clear picture of who Jesus really is.  i know that we'll screw up sometimes but i pray that God will cover us in grace and that you'd experience the Lord yourself - that we wouldn't distort that for you.  i want you know that following Christ is your own decision, not something that we can give you.  and we just pray and pray that someday you'd run into the arms of the Father.

in addition to all that the little girls showed me, i'll never forget the way our sweet team took such good care of me.  they helped me get all over camp, lead kids so well [i never had to worry one ounce about how well kids were being loved - our team is so faithful] and they encouraged me often with the way they served.

seeing your dad lead guys is one of the most awesome things i've ever witnessed.  he loves them so much and with purpose.  and to see how they respond to him - pure joy.  i hope he leads you like that someday.  that he'd teach you about real things and talk to you about life.

one awesome camp story is that one of ben's guys hurt his hip and needed some tylenol.  i had plenty so i tried to walk it down to their cabin.  the bell had already rang so everyone was inside their cabins for the night.  with it being a ton of high school guys i was kind of uncomfortable just wandering around open windows and knocking on doors so i wasn't sure just want to do.  right on cue a guy leader walks up and i ask him nicely to go get my husband, that i just need to give him something.  he goes to ben's room and asks for him.  when he answers the guy says "you're wife needs you, it's time." - completely serious, well joking because he obviously knew i was real prego but completely straight faced to benny.  ben runs outside thinking that it's baby time and is followed by two of his guys.  i have no idea what two high school boys thought they would do in that situation but i do know that ben only grabbed his hat - so this should be interesting when the day does come!

the week that we were out of town we had a man putting in hardwood floors in the main part of our house.  i could not be more excited with how they turned out.  little babe is about to crawl over these new clean floors.  such an upgrade from the nasty, stained carpet.  i was only slightly concerned about how we were going to get all our furniture back in its place and clean everything that had a thick layer of sawdust on it - i should have been more concerned - i can't do anything nine months pregnant - i'm useless.

to our complete surprise, our unbelievable friends, gave us such a gift.  the postons along with holly & matt brought in all of our furniture, cleaned like crazy and even put little felt pads on our furniture all before we returned from our trip.  i could have cried walking into our home.  who has sweet friends like this?  that is laying down your life for your friends.  we are so blessed.  i was speechless and humbled beyond measure to have friends like that.  you're coming into a really amazing family little one.