A heart of thankfulness

Early in our marriage we really felt like the Lord was guiding us in a way where we could not allow all of the circumstances in life to define or drive us. This hasn't and isn't always easy to live out, but we experience frequent reminders of this. The past 8 months have been a gift in that respect. Ever since the moment we found out we were going to have a little baby angel, we felt the urgency to be thankful for our every day, for every moment, and for every gift that the Lord has for us. What I mean by gifts is not necessarily material gifts, or the good or the right things happening daily. I believe that the Lord has given us all the gift of life, of love, and of being able to experience the beauty in the world and the people around us. In many ways I have experienced being convicted for not cherishing and appreciating my every day and the little beauties that are a part of each day. 

The last 8 months have really been such a blessing, in that I have had a constant reminder (physically, emotionally and spiritually) of how precious life is. No matter what has been going on with my work, Keith's school, family, friends, etc. we have been able to cherish our days with each other and appreciate the small things in life. 

Some of my favorite things that we have been doing:

1) Going for long walks

2) Appreciating all the beauty that is in the nature around us

3) Being restful (this is something that I have not been so good at and have now experienced a new found appreciation for rest and reflection)

4) Quality time with friends and family
5) SWIMMING IN THE FJORD... I have to say that swimming in the refreshingly cold fjord water has really been amazing this summer. I don't know if it is because I am pregnant, but I crave the swims

Some other things I am extremely thankful for:

1) A wonderful place to live, and so close to my grandparents

2) A job. That I enjoy (most of the time;)

3) My health and energy

4) I can't describe how thankful I am for a smooth pregnancy

5) All the little baby kicks and nudges

6) Living in the same country as my family

7) The ability to travel to see dear family and friends

8) The love that I experience from the Lord
9) Have I mentioned that I have an amazing husband?!

We are now only around 5 weeks away from meeting our precious little angel. I feel her movement and presence all of the time and I am so excited about meeting her.Even though we have all of September left, we are going to feel a sense of relief when August is officially over. August has been both wonderful and a little hectic. We have had some amazing summer days in August, and we have had some fun celebrations. My 28th birthday was August 5th and Keith was so wonderful and made me a sweet Mediterranean style tapas picnic, which we took to the beach. The next weekend was our annual weekend with my great aunt and uncle from England. They come to Norway for a few weeks every year in the summer and they stay at their coastal cabin on an island called Hvasser that is just absolutely idyllic. We always try to visit them for a weekend, and are always so refreshed when we come home. My great aunt Inger loves to cook good food with fresh herbs from her garden, and her and Richard (my great uncle) both love to go swimming no matter the water temperature. Richard, a self-proclaimed intellectual, loves to have quite interesting conversations ranging from art to history, education to religion, architecture to politics. But no matter what we do, they are both just such kind, sweet and welcoming people that you just can't help but enjoy being with them.

Now to the hectic part of August... Keith has been working his tail off on his master thesis. So back to the story above, Keith couldn't come to the coast with us because he was working on his thesis. This was very sad since it turned out to be an amazing summer weekend, but it was also sad since that Sunday was our 6th year wedding anniversary. So I decided that I would head home earlier in the afternoon on Sunday, after swimming of course, so that Keith and I could have a romantic dinner in Oslo. But the weather was too amazing!!! So we changed our minds when I got home, and we threw our backpacks on instead, walked down to our little island to enjoy the sun and to go swimming. After our little swim, we headed to dinner at a restaurant on the water. It turned out to be such a romantic and lovely night:)

I have to be honest though. Although I love celebrating birthdays and anniversaries and births and just all the wonderful moments in life, the way you celebrate on that one day isn't the most important thing to me. When Keith proposed to me 7 and 1/2 years ago, he changed my perspective on how to celebrate. He had a great little speech, but unfortunately I don't remember everything he said. What I do remember is that he said that he didn't want that one proposal and the wedding ceremony to be the only moments where we promised to love each other fully, and where we actually lived that out. He said he wanted to propose to me every day of our lives and for us to celebrate our love and our relationship every day. He has upheld his promise! So every day we celebrate our love and our relationship and try not to take it for granted for one moment. By the way, I am well aware of how mushy I am;)

Back to the hectic part of August.... So Keith is finally done with his master thesis!!!!!!!! It isn't actually due until the 1st of September, but he has finished it and sent it to the printer today. They will turn it in Friday and be done with that sucker completely!!! I am so thankful and relieved for him. We knew of course that he would finish and I was 100% sure that it would turn out amazing. But the process is long and hard, and the last month you are definitely ready to just turn it in no matter if it is done or not. He hasn't had a single break or vacation, so now it is definitely his turn to relax.

I have also been trying to tie up any and all loose ends before I start my maternity leave the 10th of September. I only have a few more weeks of work and I am definitely starting to look forward to the break. I feel great for the most part, but I am so terribly sleepy, and sitting in an office chair all day does not feel good on my legs, back or belly. In addition, I feel really bad for being so tired because I am definitely not as sharp as I normally would be. Quite slow at times to tell you the truth.

So September is going to be a great month:) September will start with Keith's birthday. Well, his birthday is the 31st of August but will mark the start of a great pre-baby month. Keith will be rested, I will be home resting, and we can both spend time together and prepare for the baby.

SEND US AN UPDATE ON YOUR LIFE!! WE WOULD LOVE TO HEAR FROM YOU!

8 months pregnant this weekend!!

It has been way too long since I have posted an update! I am now 8 months pregnant:) I have noticed that I seem to count the weeks as complete before I am actually through them. I get more and more excited by the day. We both just cannot wait to hold her! I look funny walking around the house because I pretty much have my belly out all the time. It probably looks totally trashy and quite funny, but I love looking at it, touching it, and making sure Keith is just as focused on it as I am, which he is. I feel like my belly is pretty big that this point and cannot imagine that I will grow for two more months! Wow! It is still such a thrill to feel her moving around. She is pretty much moving around all the time, or so it seems, and I love feeling it and seeing it.

We got to see our little girl again on a 3D ultrasound in July. It was so amazing and just fascinating to see the development.We could really see her facial features and got some great pictures of her. We think she is absolutely beautiful, but are well aware that the pictures are kind of crazy looking, even scary! I think we will have a hard time being objective about our little angel. She seems to be doing great and growing right along/above the curve. Maybe she is blessed with more length than I have ever had! I have pretty much been a munchkin all of my life, and never above average. Tall or short, she will be the most precious thing to me:-)

Although this pregnancy has been amazing, fun, wonderful, humbling, exciting, and really smooth.... I have to say that I am starting to feel a little uncomfortable. I am already having a harder time breathing, and I have a weird pain in my ribs on the right side. I am pretty sure she is perched with her booty right up in my ribs. I have also had heartburn a lot throughout this pregnancy. It has been bearable, but recently I have been waking up in the middle of the night with a lot of pain from it.  So I started researching a bit and tried a new strategy last night, and it actually worked! I read that it was a good idea to go to bed with as empty of a stomach as possible. So I ate an early and light dinner at 5pm, then took a 2 hour walk with Keith, had only 1 glass of water when I came home and went to bed at around 10pm. Thankfully I didn't wake up in pain last night!! I thought I might wake up hungry and thirsty but I really felt great.

So, a few weeks ago I got a sweet email from my mother-in-law and it just placed on my heart the importance of understanding what a blessing children are, and understanding that they are gifts to us from the Lord. They do not belong to us, but are merely placed in our care (Psalms 127:3-5). I pray that we will provide such a home of love, acceptance, joy, and peace, and that Keith and I will be able to show our children the magic and beauty in the world. I also pray that I will do as my mother-in-law has done, give her children to the Lord and support them in whatever their path may be, no matter how difficult.

Some other fun updates...

My dearest friend Hannah Alexander came for a visit in July and we had the most amazing week ever. Just fun, relaxing, active, sweet, and wonderful. We went for some amazing walks/hikes, swam in the fjord (even though it was only 60 degrees), enjoyed laying in the sun on a little coastal island called Hvasser, hung out with some of my Norwegian friends, and made some sweet artwork for our little girl's room. The last day before she left we were just hanging out in our apartment, Keith had some great music on, he was whittling a wooden knife, Hannah was making a sweet piece for the wall in our baby room, and I seriously just wanted to cry. I am sure I am just a little more mushy than normal, but Hannah really is family and we love her so much.

Picture from one of our wonderful walks...

Picture of the artwork she made for our little sweetie's room:)

Keith is in the last month of writing his master thesis and he is doing great. He is calm and positive every day, he has made a lot of progress, and the work he has done so far is really good! Since his due date is September 1st, the day after his birthday, I am determined to celebrate him a little extra this year. I am so proud of him, the sweet man that he is, how hard he works, how he has remembered to put it in perspective, and how he has been the greatest encouragement and support for me the last 8 months despite everything that he has had going on.

My sister is pregnant too! She is now around 18 weeeks pregnant and went to her ultrasound today. Unfortunatley the baby was laying cross-legged the whole time so they will have to do another ultrasound to confirm the gender, but they think it is a girl and that is also what Naomi is hoping for:) We will see!! Her due date is January 1st so we might just have a little New Year's baby:)

My 28th birthday is this coming Sunday! I am so not good at birthdays, so I don't even know what I want to do yet. All suggestions are welcome!!! I can't believe I am 28! On Saturday, my girlfriends and I will have a birthday party for all of us girls who had summer birthdays. Considering Norway shuts down in July and everyone heads on vacation, we were not able to celebrate each other. So, Saturday we will have a celebration for 4 of us!

On top of our birthday's being this month, Keith and I have been married 6 years on the 12th of August! I can't believe it has been six years, but it truly has been the best years of my life. We have gone through so much together over the last years and I am so thankful for every bit of it. The Lord really has used our relationship to bring us closer to Him.

That is all I got for now:) Send us an update! We would love to hear from you!

Recent adventures with little baby Peavy...

It has been several weeks since I have posted and there is a good reason for that. Baby Peavy and I have been travelling with work, which I truly enjoy. But I have to say that I am very thankful that I finished my last trip this week and will be home from now on. My little angel has already been in 4 different countries since she has been in utero. In February this year I travelled with work to Dubai, UAE and to Munich, Germany. Last week I returned from a business trip to Budapest, Hungary and yesterday I finished up a trip to London, England. I have to admit that I truly love travelling, even though I don't get to explore as much when I am travelling for business as I would if I were travelling for fun. I don't know what it is. I am mesmerized by seeing new places and architecture, experiencing new cultures, hearing new languages, and eating new food. 

Budapest was a beautiful city. We were in meetings all day each day, but we were able to see a bit of the city before dinner each night. On the first night, we took a nice walk from the hotel to the restaurant Nobu, which by the way was absolutely fantastic. There was so much life in the city, restaurants without outside seating everywhere, and people sitting in the parks watching the Euro 2012. The architecture was beautiful... 

On the second night we took a bus with a tour guide from the Telenor offices to a restaurant boat on the Danube river. We were able to see some amazing views on the way to dinner, and from the dinner we watched the sun go down over the river and the old palace. Breathtaking... 

After Budapest I was home for two nights, which is also how long it took to get my energy back fully. I was exhausted when I got home late on Wednesday night, but had to go right into the office bright and early Thursday morning. I can definitely tell a huge difference in the time it takes for me to recuperate these days. Although I am now over 6 months pregnant, I feel really great. The main difference I feel since being pregnant is my energy level. I have a lot of energy, as usual, but I need more rest than normal. When I first get tired, then I am REALLY in need of rest. Exercising is still great, but I can't workout with such high intensity and I cannot skimp on meals at all after exercising. 


Even though I love travelling, I miss my sweet Keith soooo much when I am gone. I wish that I were able to take him with me everywhere I go..... I mean how can you not love this cute hunk of a man??? Here is a pic of my sweet man before he went to play soccer! Such a stud! 

Anyways, then I headed to London for meetings on Saturday the 16th. I got there in the early afternoon so had a while before our team was going to meet for dinner at Jamie Oliver's Fifteen. Although I was tired from the early flight, I get too excited to take naps during the day. I went right out and walked around for a few hours. Since Keith had been there before he helped me find my way around. The hotel was a short walk from a major shopping street, Hyde Park, and Buckingham Palace. It was a beautiful day and I ran into a parade celebrating the Queen's official birthday celebration. But let me tell you, there are a lot, and I mean a lot, of people in London. Of course I knew this before I got there, but it is really a different experience considering I live in Oslo which has a total population of around 600,000 people, while London has around 8 million people. Yeah, huge difference. I tried to browse in the shops, but failed due to my nervous nature. I stuck to just walking around outside mesmerized by the buildings, the people, and all of the land marks I had heard about so many times but never seen. 

That night the project team went to such an amazing restaurant, Jamie Oliver's Fifteen. The food was amazing and the atmosphere was laid back and truly fun. Here is a picture of the ladies on the team:)

My last night in London I met up with my mom's cousin Karen who grew up in London. She had the great suggestion of going first to Chinatown for dinner, then to the theater! What a great night:) Karen is such a sweet and energetic person and the food and theater were wonderful. There are not words to describe Les Miserables... I was so engrossed in the performance that I dreamt about it all night. Beautiful story, beautiful music, and amazing performance. We thought we had terrible seats because our tickets said restricted view, but we ended up being on the first row right in the middle. The only restriction in our view was that we couldn't see the glossy stage floor (I didn't miss a single facial expression). 

But the best part of this week was coming home to my Keith and the life we have together. I am so thankful for the life that the Lord has given us, for the Love that he has blessed us with, for the growing angel in my tummy, and for the blessing of seeing, experiencing and acknowledging the beauty in His world. Here is a picture of the growing belly, in my 26th week of pregnancy:-) Loving every moment of carrying our little angel everywhere I go!!  

PS. Send us a little update on your life!! We would love to hear from you!

A little taste of the unbelievable Norwegian summer...

During the last two weeks, we had our first real taste of summer. It has been really nice weather in April and the beginning of May, but by nice I don't mean that we have been able to walk around in sandals and shorts, and able to swim in the fjord (not until lately at least). The Norwegian spring is amazing in other ways. All of a sudden in April and May all of the flowers bloom, the trees get a burst of neon green leaves, and there are wild flowers all over the place, especially in the woods. All Norwegians come out of their shells during this time of year. People bike everywhere, there are always people out on walks everywhere you go, and if the sun is shining the Norwegians will find any way to face the sun so that they can feel the warmth on their faces. You will often catch others, and yourself, just standing in the sun with your eyes closed soaking in the warmth. This is a typical Norskie Spring Stance. Another fun aspect of the Norwegian spring is change in the length of the day. Slowly but surely, as we move towards June, the days get longer and longer. Now the sun comes up around 4am, and goes down around 10:30pm.

So back to the taste of summer we had during the last two weeks. The weather was between 68 degrees and 86 degrees. Although you might not be so impressed, in Norway that is what we call HOT! Every day after work Keith and I went for a long walk, and we grilled and ate dinner outside. If we didn't eat outside, we at least had our back door open to the yard so that we could feel the wonderful fresh air. We don't need air conditioner over here, there is no humidity, and the bugs are not like they are in Georgia to put it mildly. Life during this time of the year just feels idyllic. We went out on the boat with some friends one night and parked next to a little island where we grilled out and just enjoyed the sun. Then this past weekend, we were just in heaven. It was so warm that I was just craving a swim in the refreshing fjord water. The water was in the 60s and just amazing. I think I swam around 5-6 times in 2 days.

On Saturday, I had my girls from school over for supper club, and instead of staying at our place we walked down to the island and had a picnic and went swimming. Then on Sunday, Keith and I went for a long walk on a trail we had never been. It was such a beautiful place, and the trail led us to the water side where we just soaked in the sun, watched all of the sail boats in the fjord, and of course went swimming. We went home in the afternoon and ate a late lunch, and then decided it was just too beautiful to stay inside. We went back out to another beautiful area where we read in the sun and swam again. Mind you, that this last little escapade was at 7pm. Oh, I love the long summer days! I wish I could clearly describe the joy that I feel from those types of days here in Norway. There are really no words that can express how beautiful it is. You just have to experience it for yourself... So come on over;-)

So now, it is already June! I just can't believe how the time is flying. My baby is growing and I feel like I can see changes almost daily. Considering I am a only one week away from 6 months pregnant, I am not too uncomfortable yet. I have lots of energy, get to feel lots of little baby taps, get to see my sweet husband's loving anticipation, am able to exercise, and am just extrememly happy. Work has been really exciting lately, and June will be a really busy month. A lot of important decisions will be made in June, and a lot of milestones need to be reached. I am headed to Budapest for some meetings on the 10th of June, and then on the 15th of June I will head to London for meetings. Although I am really looking forward to being home with our sweet angel for almost 10 months, I am also going to miss working on this project and I am going to be excited to hear all of the details of what they manage to accomplish. Although this project will last until mid-2014, there is a small chance that I will end up on the same project after I return to work. Most likely I will be placed on a new project which will be exciting.

To end this little life update, I just want to share some thoughts. A good family friend passed away this week in a sudden and brutal way. We received an email giving us the whole story from his partner and I couldn't finish the email without bursting into tears. It was heartbreaking, brutal, yet unbelievably beautiful. The love that we are blessed to experience is the most precious, beautiful, yet dangerous thing in life (in my humble opinion). We experience the most completing, peaceful, challenging and joyful love from Jesus. We are created to Love and worship God, and to Love eachother. I believe that this blessing of being loved, and being able to Love is the greatest blessing in life. At the same time, one of the greatest risks is to love and to experience the pain of losing that love. I am not at all implying that this risk is not worth it. It is the most worthy risk in life. I pray that I can risk it all, all of my life. That I can love and worship Jesus to the fullest, that I can allow Jesus to love me fully, and that I can open my heart without worry or doubt to my family, my friends, my precious husband, and my precious children. I pray that I am reminded every day of the ultimate blessing of Love. My sweet Keith is the most precious person in my life and I am so thankful for every moment I am able to have with him. I cannot imagine the heartbreak, emptiness and loniness that our friend Bryan is feeling right now. I pray that Jesus places his arms around him and shows him the love and the peace that can only come from him.

Half way there... 21 weeks!

Pregnancy just keeps getting better and better! I truly wish everyone could experience the pure joy of pregnancy, all women and men ;-) I keep asking Keith if he kind of wishes he could be pregnant, and he answers No everytime. But I think he and every other man must secretly wonder what it feels like. I feel so unbelievably unworthy and blessed to be able to carry and aid in the growth and development of our little angel. She gets to come to work with me everyday, I get to feed her by chosing my food wisely (most of the time), I get to take her for long walks, I get to introduce her to languages and music, and I get to feel her love taps as she moves around (which she does quite frequently).

I am pretty sure the mother's instinct in me started its development at around age 6, when my mom was pregnant with my little sister. I have always been that girl who just had to hold the baby, any baby. I am not sure if this is annoying or helpful. Whenever we are over at our friends' house Egil and Veronica, who have 2 children aged 3 and 5 months, I am pretty much always looking for opportunities to hold the baby, or play with the 3 year old. I never thought that the mother's instinct in me could get stronger, but it definitely has, and most likely will even more. I have taken some pictures of my growing tummy lately, and just looking at the pictures makes me teary eyed because the bigger the belly gets, the closer we are to holding our angel.

And Keith, oh sweet Keith. He is so excited and just glows when he gets to feel the love taps and especially when he gets to hear the heart beat at the doctor's office. Yes, we are that couple who go together to my check ups every time. I don't think Keith would miss them for the world because he gets to hear the heart beat. Being a student during this time has been a blessing in that respect.

So, some updates on some fun things we have done lately:

- On May 2nd we had our first ultrasound and we got to see our baby and the mid-wives told us they think that it is a girl (I already said that in the last post). We were so excited about sharing the fun news with my family, so we invited them over for cake and coffee that night. I had made chocolate cupcakes the day before, and when I got home I just added a little filling with pink frosting. I topped them with white cream cheese frosting and drew little question marks on each of them with these little silver edible balls. I made my sisters, my mom, and my grandparents guess before they ate their cupcakes, and it was a tie; 3 girls and 3 boys. Then they all cut into their cupcakes at the same time. I loved seeing their faces and getting to share it with them. We, of course, cannot be 100% sure that it is a girl, but for now we say "she" instead of "it".

- Keith and I have been going on amazing long walks together. I love to exercise, and before the second trimester I would jog and do high intensity interval strength training. Since I am trying to be a bit more careful  (and frankly it isn't as easy to jump around), Keith takes me on long and wonderful walks and hikes. Why didn't we do this all the time before. We have always done walks together, but since this is our new form of exercise, we go for longer walks and experiment with different trails. We have been exploring majorly and will be gone between 1 and 3 1/2 hours. We can walk out our door and choose between 5 awesome walks/hikes. Some are up and down hill, some are pretty much straight up, some are mostly trails through the woods, others are through neighborhoods, and we even have some trails by the ocean and around an island. I already loved where we live, but am appreciating and loving it that much more. I am so thankful to have access to such amazing walks, especially since I will be home for 10 months with our baby. I can' wait to show her where we live:-)

- This isn't exactly a fun thing I have done lately, but Keith has. Keith is done with all of his courses in his master's program as of today!! Now, all he has left is his master thesis which is due on the 1st of September. I shouldn't say that the thesis is ALL he has left, considering the thesis is the equivalent of 5 master level courses. I am so proud of him and am extremely thankful that this is almost over. It has been both amazing and challenging. Keith and I have both really been so grateful for the experience of getting our masters. We have been inspired and engaged on a different level and we have learned so much more about ourselves. On the other hand, this experience has revealed aspects of ourselves such as our insecurities and has instigated extreme anxiety at times. Although this has been painful, it has been extremely important for us to be made aware that these things exist in us. We are really praying about these areas and making a conscious effort to dig deep enough so that we don't allow the vicious cycle to return, and so that we don't pass this on to our children.

Now for some picture updates... Enjoy!!!

The first picture is at 12 weeks pregnant and the second picture is at 21 weeks pregnant.

Here is a picture of the set-up for the family gender reveal. The cupcakes, the ultrasound pictures, and some pics of Keith and I as kids.

Sunset from one of our walks

I am experiencing the most pure love for, hope in, and inspiration from someone I have never met. This new relationship is causing such a vulnerability in me, challenging me to grow, learn, love and live in the way that Jesus truly desires for me.

We found out 4 and half months ago that we were going to have a precious angel baby. Although we were thrilled and thankful from the beginning, we are learning each and every day the extent of this blessing and miracle. This week, our angel is 20 weeks (or 5 months) old, and we are halfway to meeting this new little person.

Although I knew our lives would change, the experience is more amazing than I could have ever have imagined. When Keith and I got married, we experienced such a growth. We were, and are, challenged by each other and our relationship to grow and to always allow Jesus to mold us into the people he wants us to be and truly are. Becoming parents is challenging and inspiring us on a totally different level. It is inspiring an even greater vulnerability to give ourselves to Jesus, so that our angel will see and experience Jesus' love within us. I have such a hope that I won't have to TRY to be a good parent, and that I won't have to TRY to be the person that I want to be. But that by giving all of myself to the Lord, His love, kindness, hope, joy, and truth will be reflected.

Ever since I became a Christian I have known that this was the only way to live fully. To be completely surrendered to Jesus who is my inspiration, my hope, and my love. Although I have known this, and have surrendered aspects of myself to the Lord, I know that there are many areas of myself and my life I have held onto. So why not be honest for a moment about the things I have not given fully:

• My body image
• My cynicism 
• My sense of entitlement to offense when I see hypocrisy or contradictions
• My struggle with being truly vulnerable before I feel like I can trust people fully
• My struggle with being open and vulnerable after I have been offended (even if not personally)
• My struggle with being open and vulnerable in general... sometimes I feel like it is only Keith who sees all of me
• My stubbornness to not blindly allow my surroundings to mold me, sometimes causing me to go against something just because I don't want to just be like everyone else (Am I 13 yrs old still??)
• My shame from my insecurities leading me to seek approval in the wrong places
• My people pleasing nature

There are, I am sure, so many other areas I have not given fully to Jesus, but these are the things I have been reminded of lately. 

The reason I am going through these aspects of myself and surrendering them to Jesus for the first time, or again, is so that my little angel will not be influenced by these things in such a way that they will manifest themselves in her. She will enter our lives as such a pure and innocent child. My hope and desire is to learn from the innocence and purity that God has placed in her, and to teach her Jesus' love for her and the world. 

I am almost moved to tears every time I feel her kick. I know that sounds so silly, but each little love tap reminds me of her beauty and of the joy that she is creating, and will create by just being. I love her with all of my heart. 

The thankfulness I feel for who her Daddy is, is overwhelming. Keith Peavy swept me off of my feet 7 years ago with a love that I could have never imagined. He has been the most influential person in my life, and I love and adore him more and more every day. He is so genuine and sincere that people are actually skeptical of him in the beginning. He looks at the world and at life and always see the magic. He has such an interest and a curiosity in the world, which inspires me to always look outside of myself and my surroundings. I couldn't imagine a more amazing father for our little girl. She will grow up seeing the magic in the world around her. Keith is also the more vulnerable of the two of us. I am so thankful for this quality in him, and there is no way I will ever get away with closing myself off. Thank God for bringing us together in all of our imperfections to inspire some sort of balance in each other. 

When we moved to Norway, we knew that the repercussions would be that we would miss out on the lives of dear friends and family back home. This breaks our heart daily, and especially in times when there are new babies entering the world, wedding vows being given, and illnesses being overcome. We wish with all of our hearts we could be a part of our loved ones daily lives. This is unfortunately not the case, but there are ways we can better share what is going on in our lives. I have loved reading the blogs of friends. You get to experience their lives with them through their thoughts, pictures, stories, etc. We hope to use this blog to be able to share more of our lives, especially as this little angle grows, and as we develop into parents. Keith and I will both update with our thoughts and pictures:)