The Silver Lining

God has an amazing way of reminding you of the important things in life. Inevitably, when we’re struggling through difficult times, we can always find the Lord in the silver lining.

We were looking forward to Tuesday because we were scheduled to have our 13 week checkup and ultrasound. However, on Monday night we were warned about the potential for bad weather with thunder storms and heavy winds due to strike High Point in the middle of the night.

Tuesday morning at 3 am, our NOAA weather radio went off announcing that we were under a tornado warning. As a little bit of historical reference, our area is prone to tornadoes and other weather related issues this time of year (three tornadoes and a weather-caused plane crash in High Point in the last two years). That’s why Courtney was sure to purchase a weather radio last spring. Needless to say, it’s come in handy thus far.

So, Tuesday we jumped out of bed, ran downstairs and piled the two dogs and cat into our downstairs bathroom. As you can imagine, two hyper dogs, a fussy cat and a pregnant and nauseous woman at 3 am created a fun little potty party. Thankfully, other than some high winds and a few downed trees in our area, everybody escaped relatively unscathed.

Unfortunately, the wind damage in Greensboro caused the City to implement its emergency action plan. That meant Donnie had to burn up the iPhone and e-mail most of the morning to coordinate the City’s media response – which got his day off to a stressful start, put him in a bit of a bad mood, and caused him to nearly miss the doctor’s appointment.

Once we finally made it to the doctor, we began the ultrasound and midway through, the power went out! The OB/GYN office is in High Point’s hospital, and evidently the whole hospital lost power. Scary stuff, hope nobody was in the middle of surgery when that happened!

The good part was that we got to do the ultrasound twice, which gave us more time to spend watching in amazement the little baby on the flat screen moving, hiccupping, yawning and covering up its little eyes with its hands (a little shy!).

Here we were, struggling through a hectic morning with crummy weather, stressful work and tired from an early morning wake-up call, and all of those issues just seemed to drift away watching that ultrasound. We were once-again reminded of the miracle of children, the sanctity of life and the joy that we will experience on that glorious day in October.

According to the doctors, the baby is perfect. Courtney is perfect (so says Donnie). Everybody is healthy. We go back in a few more weeks to find out if it’s a boy or a girl, but the ultrasound tech offered her professional opinion before we left. While it’s still very early, she said that her wager was that it was a _____. She claims she’s only been wrong once in 15 years when making the guess during the “early” ultrasound.

So, we think we know, and we saw a picture that leads us to believe that the ultrasound tech is correct. But, we’ll wait until our next ultrasound to make it official. Either way, we don’t care, we’re just looking forward to being parents.

But, it’s not too late to jump in with your guess. The baby pool starts at $20. So far, we have six girl guesses and three boy guesses. Winner gets to donate the funds to the baby’s college fund!

Exciting News To Share

Well, it’s been a while since we’ve posted to Turlington Times, but we have exciting news to share – we’re having a baby!

Man, that feels good to write and it’s been even more fun telling our family and friends. It’s been a long time coming, and we’re extremely thankful for the gift of life that has been bestowed upon us. God is great!

Because we have so many family and friends who live out of state, we thought the best way to share the news and subsequent updates would be through our blog. Sorry it’s impersonal, but in the 21^st Century it’s not a bad way to mass communicate.

Obviously, we’re extremely excited and can’t wait for the big day - October 16 is the due date. We’re trying not to be overwhelmed by the abundance of changes that will be taking place personally, physically and professionally. Courtney, as you can imagine, already has nursery themes picked out and a list of summer projects for Donnie – which he can’t wait to start (insert sarcasm here).

First and foremost, Courtney is doing great. She is starting her 11th week this week. We’re praying for a perfect pregnancy, delivery and a healthy and strong baby – and momma (please join us in this prayer). Thus far, things are going according to plan, with the usual onslaught of morning sickness and odd food cravings.

The morning sickness has not been fun, but folks tell us that it’s completely normal and, in fact, is a very good thing. Not that he expects anybody to feel sorry for him, but for those of you who know Donnie well, you understand that Courtney is not the only one affected by the queasiness. Nobody takes pleasure from the sights/sounds/motions of someone getting sick, but Donnie has a real problem being around it when it happens. So far, so good, for both of us – but please do keep Donnie in your prayers as well!

Where do things go from here? Well, we have our next ultrasound the week of April 4 and we’ll have a third ultrasound some time the end of May. We plan on finding out what the baby is going to be, so start placing your bets now. To help you figure the odds, Donnie has four nephews on his side of the family. Courtney has one niece and one nephew on her side of the family. And, in case it makes a difference in your figuring – and Donnie’s the only one who thinks it does – our two dogs and cat are all female.

We’ll give you one guess which one Donnie thinks it’s going to be!

Stay tuned!

Military Aviation Museum

Two weekends ago we went to visit Donnie's family in Virginia. Before we headed back home we decided to go check out the Military Aviation Museum in Virginia Beach. It was really impressive. One man owns this huge collection of old war planes. When we walked in the door I heard 1940's big band swing music playing in the background...I knew I was in my element! This museum hosts different events throughout the year including airshows and drive-in movies. It's so cool to see someone trying to preserve such an important part of our history. We really enjoyed it and we're looking forward to going back soon...

Donnie's grandfather worked on planes during WWII, so he signed a special WWII Veteran's wall they had displayed inside the museum.

In Memory

Last week was a rough week around here. Sadly, my grandmother (Courtney's mom's mom) passed away unexpectedly on Palm Sunday. My "Grandma Margurite" ,as we called her, was a wonderful woman who we we all miss dearly. She was a strong Christian lady who loved to share Jesus with family and friends every chance she got. She was a crocheting queen and always took the time to make something special for everyone. I have many items made by her hands that I will always cherish. I had the opportunity to put together a photo slideshow for her funeral last week. Looking through old scrapbooks was sad, but comforting at the same time. I've always enjoyed peering into the past of my grandparent's and other family members. I've posted a few of my favorite pictures of my Grandma Margurite...in her memory..

I'm not sure of the exact year...but it's a very young picture of my grandmother that I've always loved.

My Papaw & Grandma dancing at their surprise 50th Anniversary party 2 years ago.

My Papaw & Grandma in 1958.

Three generations...My Grandma, Mom, Sister & Me.

Spring and other random things...

Spring is almost here! We've been having beautiful weather here and are starting to see the first signs of springtime life emerge. I love spring. It represents new life, fresh perspectives and new hope. Donnie and I have already been busy working in our yard cleaning out the old and making room for the new. We've got several yard projects up our sleeves that we hope to get started on as soon as the last of the freezing passes. (We'll keep everyone updated on before and after pics!) Our little animals are enjoying being outside more as well. (When you don't have kids you take lots of pictures of your animals.) I took some time last weekend to stop and capture the beauty of spring emerging as well as a few other random things. :).....

March Snow

This is really crazy...we had snow on March 2, 2009 and we just had snow again on March 2, 2010! It didn't stick around long, but it was beautiful to watch. Here are a few pictures I snapped while at work Tuesday and then later when I got home...

Trees in our backyard just barely covered by snow on the tops. The wind was blowing so bad that a lot of the snow wasn't sticking to much.

Outside the studio window. You can barely see the tiny snowflakes being backlit by the spotlight.

My car getting covered up pretty good.

This one is random, but as I was outside my studio door I was looking up at the archway over the door, trying to catch some snowflakes falling, but dusk was already settling in so there wasn't enough light to catch the tiny flakes. But, I saw this cool modern art shot opportunity instead!

A dried hydrangea bloom from last year, covered in snow.

Snowy stones & leaves outside our front door.

Heidi wanting to go play in the snow. She loves to watch it from the windows. She has had a lot of opportunities this year!

Fall in Carolina

I love this time of year!  I was admiring what a beautiful Fall season it has been in North Carolina this year...and of course I had to pull out my camera.  As Donnie settled in for his Sunday nap, I packed my gear and headed out for a fall photo shoot.  I'm still filtering through the dozens of images I shot, but I've posted a few of my favorites so far.  I love it when I get a few hours to go and do nothing but shoot what I want and admire the beauty of nature that the Lord has blessed us with.....