beyond a reasonable doubt...

Today we went to the doctor and we've got some baby news to share. First... check out this cutie. I'm loving that nose!
And here's the news... any guesses on if it is a boy or girl?

If you were able to figure out what you were looking at, I'm sure you know it is a BOY! I don't think there is a doubt on this one. We've had friends get a 60%, 75%, 80% chance that it is a ______ (fill in the blank), but not us!
Anyway, more importantly, the sonagrapher and doctor said that everything looks good. We were able to see his stomach, all four chambers of the heart beating, feet kicking, and him sucking on a hand. It was awesome. We feel extremely excited and blessed!

Some news!

Are you ready for this?!? Meet the newest member of our family...
Blake and I are really excited to be welcoming this baby into our family. The big day is April 25 (or sometime around there). This picture was from our first sonagram which was a month ago, so, I'm sure our baby has changed a lot since then. I think he/she looks a lot like Blake though, don't you?
I'm starting to feel better and have a bit more energy these days, but I definitely still enjoy a nap. Our new couch is great for naps.
Anyway, check back for updates. I'm sure there will be a lot in the next few months!

A bit of a different direction...

As some of you know, and many of you don't, we are currently in California so I can work for Apple for the summer. It is a program that is set up so that retail employees who are good at what they do have the opportunity to advance in the company into the corporate environment. Things have been going really well here, and we have loved the experience. The weather is great, there are so many things we haven't seen, there is so much more space than New York, there are less homeless people chasing you on the street for money. Overall, we like it a lot here, and couldn't picture ourselves going back to New York after this.

This is probably why we are not going back to New York at the end of this month. (That isn't entirely true, I will be going back for a few days to get all of our stuff together and coordinate movers in getting our stuff out of storage, out of our apartment, and selling the rest online.) The funny thing is, we won't be staying in California either. About the same time I applied for the position here with Apple, maybe the month before, I had spoken with a guy at a pretty cool church in Dallas about working there to help on their technical team. I have been practicing my sound skills, technical skills and nun-chuck skills at the church we went to in New York, and felt like it was something I wanted to pursue as a career. A couple of weeks ago they offered me a position to work there full time, helping with sound, lights, technical aspects of the church, and training others in "the way of the tech".

Whitney and I prayed a lot about it, because we did not want to rush into anything just because there was something we wanted to do. We did not want to stay in California just because it was the financially smart thing to do. (I don't know if you know this, but Apple makes some pretty awesome stuff, and is a really good company to work for.) We also did not want to run into something where it wouldn't be a good fit, where we didn't believe that we were doing the right thing, and where we didn't feel like we were doing something that would help us grow in Christ. We like the church, we like the people, we feel that the church and my role there will meet us where we are, so we have decided to take things in a different direction than we had originally planned at the start of the summer.

We are super excited to be moving to Dallas. There is so much that needs to be done, but we are confident that everything will go as smoothly as it normally does. Thank you all for any prayers and support you can give us. We definitely appreciate them.

new stuff is happening... and it's crazy

So, here's the word... Blake and I are moving! Where, you ask? California! We have committed for the summer, but we don't know what is happening after that. I won't speak too much for Blake, but I'm feeling a huge range of emotions. I'm excited for the new experience, excited for Blake's new job (which I'm sure he will do a great job!), excited to meet new people, excited about the possibility of a guest bedroom where I can't wait to host our friends and family from all over the country, and I'm excited about the comforts of life that we will never again take for granted (dishwasher, laundry that is closer than 4 blocks and 3 flights of stairs away, space... space... and a little more space). I'm SO SAD to leave our friends here in NYC who have become more like family (but thankful that we live in a time of planes so that they can come see us... and we can come back and see them). I'm sad to leave this BEAUTIFUL city. I don't think there is another city like it in the world.
I never thought I would be this excited about getting a car! Especially since we are just getting an inexpensive one (read... cheap and reliable... and if I have anything to say about it... super cute). I've got to get used to driving again. I haven't done much of that in the last 3 years. We'll be getting a car in the next few weeks, so I'll be sure to keep you updated with what we end up with.
I'm feeling pretty stressed as well... I'll be leaving next wednesday (1 week away!) and won't be coming back (at least for a while). We're going for Amanda's graduation (Blake's sister), and then I'm just going to stay to get a car and hang out with my family for a couple of weeks. My mom and I will then drive... yes drive... to California. To tell the truth... I'm actually looking forward a good cross country road trip. I'm sure there will be some blogs along the way. Right now, I'm trying to get everything packed so that Blake doesn't have to do it all while he is working and I'm gone. He'll just have a few necessities to get through the next few weeks. Since everything is staying here in storage, I'm also trying to figure out everything we will need for the next 3 months. We can only take as much as we can carry on the plane though.
So, all that said, life around here is kind of upside down and a bit crazy right now. There you go... a nice long update with what's happening with the sawyers! Stay tuned to see how things end up going.