Change is a commin

Noah and I have officially hit the busy season. I seriously don't think I have a free weekend between now and September (when Allie is coming). As crazy as life seems I don't think I would have it any other way. I am over half way done with the pregnancy and it really seems like yesterday when we found out. This weekend Nate, Betsy, HK and Nolan are coming to visit and we are going to the zoo. I am probably more excited about the zoo than HK is... we shall see. It has been forever since I have been and I am just excited to get some good quality time with Nate and Betsy. With everything going on Noah and I are in desperate need of some quality couple time. So weekend hurry up and get here!

This weekend is also our first preview service. WHAT? I can't believe it is already time. We will be meeting at the Jesus Church in Soulard at 11am on Sunday the 31st. I am a little nervous about what to expect or what it will be like. Our launch team meetings have been amazing but this will be a totally different dynamic. I am excited and expectant to see what God has in store. It seems like there are new developments everyday with August Gate. God has been so faithful and is already doing things we could have never imagined.

Monday we can move to Lafayette Square. We are SO excited to be able to be in our NEW condo. The space will be tight but I am so looking forward to this next season. To preaparing a place to bring my daughter home to. To makeing a beautiful nursery for her (Thanks Mom). To being able to live alone with my husband for the first time in 2 years! We will be commuting back and forth and still staying in St Charles during the week while we both will be working up here or until the end of July.

Ahh... deep breath... September will be here before I know it and then life will truly NEVER be the same... I can't wait.

Here are a few of my favorite things from this week:
~in no particular order~

1. Noah got to feel Allie move for the first time (this was more exciting for me than when I felt her the first time)
2. This weeks launch team meeting was by far the most intimate to date and I am excited to see God continue to build the relationships there.
3. I made $321 in my yard sale...well on my way to getting nursery furniture.
4. Memorial Day cookout at the Konieczkas = Great Food and Great Fellowhip
5. Hanging out with Kimmel for the first time in FOREVER...even if it is while cleaning
6. Looking at my husband and realizing I love him more today than the day we were married.

My favorite things from this week

In no real particular order...

1. Feeling Allie move inside me more and more
2. Hearing my husband preach (one of my favorite things in the world)
3. Talking to my mom after she had been out of the country for a week. I didn't realize how much I enjoy talking to her everyday.
4. Hearing Noah pray for our family and over our baby girl before we go to bed
5. Dreaming about what Allie's nursery will look like
6. Starting to pack up for the big move
7. Sitting outside on the beautiful days we have had this week and taking in Gods creation.
8. Looking through the baby section in every store I go in
9. Hearing the miracle that God did for our friends
10. Drinking strawberry limeades from Sonic

21 week update

So it has been a little while since I have given you an update on Allie Grace or Allie-belle as she is commonly reffered to by Noah and me. First of all I am 21 weeks! CRAZY! I am over half way there and it has flown by. We had our latest doc appointment on Friday and Dr. Pignotti was again very positive. Her heartbeat was very strong and he said she was sitting high and tight exactly where she needed to be. Allie is starting to move a lot more, I can feel her on a more regular basis and truly love feeling those little movements.

However, for any of you who have ever been pregnant you know that this does a toll on your body and I am having a minor issue that the doc wants me to see a specialist for to get checked out. Pray that it is nothing, Pignotti said he debated in his head to even have me see a specialist but would rather be safe than sorry and I would as well. So I will be seeing the specialist this Wednesday. I would appreciate all of your prayer.

Last week Noah and decided it would be fun to go check out Babies R Us and register. So after 2.5 hours in the store I think we made a good start. Noah was starting to get a little bored so he started adding random things to the registry (no worries, I have already gone through and taken off some of those random adds, but some I kept because I kinda liked them). We are now registered mostly at Babies R Us but do have a few things at Target and I am working on the best place to register for my cloth diapers. I am thinking about BabyMoon in St. Charles, because people who are local can go to the store but you can also order online from there. If anyone else has any other ideas as to where I can register for Bum Genius 3.0 One Size Cloth Diaper. They look like this......

I am also still in the process of looking for a crib/ changing table set. I feel like I have looked everywhere. I have found a couple possible options but nothing I am in love with. Plus I don't want to spend a ton of money on a crib...so I would gladly take any suggestions here as well. Have a Happy Monday and great rest of the week.

Being Content

Last night as we were laying in bed Noah asked me what my biggest struggle of the day was. I didn't really even have to think about it I just said contentment. When I came home from work yesterday I was so exhausted that I had to take a nap, however, I couldn't fall asleep because: there are other people in the house, the neighbors are loud, Cubbie whines to be up on the bed and then down off the bed...yatta yatta yatta. I finally got up still tired but ready to make my Amish Friendship Bread, its day 10 and it was ready to be made. To my wonderful surprise we had ants ALL OVER MY KITCHEN! I hate ants. Inside I got so frustrated and just thought I am done here I am ready to move. It has been building for a while now, being pregnant, mixed with all of those emotions and challanges on top of sharing your home and every possesion you have with 2 other guys (besides my husband) that live in your house, coupled with the fact that we have no closet space in our room so it is inevitably a mess has begun to wear on me in every way. So when Noah asked me what my biggest struggle was it was like the Lord didn't even let me think, he screamed in my head it is finding contentment where I am at. We aren't planning to move to the new condo until July 11th, though we can move as early as June 1, but even still I have 2+ weeks to be where I am at. How do I become content? Is it a choice or does something need to change? So Lord I pray that you would teach me contentment in the next few weeks as you have been over this past year. I pray that I find my peace, restoration, comfort and identity in you. Thank you for continuing to challange me.

Beautiful Coronado Island and our Trip to San Diego

Well as most of you know Noah and I just got back from California. We had a blast. I truly had no idea how much I needed that time of fun, rest, and relaxation. A time to truly reconnect with my husband before our world as we know it gets turned upside down by, moving, planting a church, raising support, planning a 5K fundraiser, and having a baby. My theme remains...life is never boring in the Oldham houshold. I took so many pictures on vacation I couldn't begin to post them all on here but I felt the ones I chose gave you a good idea of what the week was like.

These are our towels that we always take to the beach. I figured it was a good intro picture to our vacation story :)

Here noah is sitting in the Kayak before we take it around inlets and near the bay. While we were kayaking we found a spot where there was numerous jellyfish. Neither of us had ever seen jellyfish swimming in the water before... WOW. They were captivating.
This is the dingy. Taking the dingy out was also a lot of fun. We drove all over the Cays.

Ok for all of you who have been asking here I am in all my glory at 19 weeks. Crystal Wright... this is especially for you :)

Here I am with the love of my life on the beach on Corondado Island. The beach was by far one of our favorite hang out spots. We could jump on our bikes and be there in less than 2 minutes from the house!
Here our our sweet rides! Oh yeah! Mine was called the Kosmo Kruiser. Its name was on the back.
Here is Noah on his beach cruiser. I don't think his had a name. His wasn't as cool as mine :) We had a blast riding back and forth to the beach.

My birthday was May 3rd and the only thing I wanted to do was find the cliffs that over looked the water I had seen when I came on a business trip last year. It was a little bit of an adventure to try to find them but we finally did right at sunset. Let me tell you no picture will do this place justice. It is truly breath taking. Might be one of my favorite places on earth.
Noah and I at Sea Port Village in San Diego for my birthday.
Here I am at Buster's Beach House where we ate on the water :) (my only other request was to eat on the water)
Noah at Busters...annoyed that I am taking pictures while he is trying to figure out what he wants to eat.
we decided to go with their famous homemade pizzas. This one is call hawaiian something. It was very yummy.
We also got some jerk chicken kabobs.
After we ate we headed up to La Jolla to find the cliffs I wanted to see.
Another view from the cliffs.
Noah and I have not had the pleasure of owning a grill this past year so we seized every opportunity to grill out. We bought all kinds of meat: steak, salmon, chicken etc. and grilled up some awesome meals each night. Here are our new favorite chicken and steak kabobs. We had these twice because we loved them so much!!
Noah was the master grill chef. He did an amazing job and I think he liked it.
Here is the sunset off the beach on Coronado Island.
me taking lots of pictures

one of the several pictures I took of Noah :)


Noah wrote our baby girls name in the sand so she would know that we thought a lot about her on this trip.

Like I said all in all we had an amazing time and want to thank Linda and JC for letting us use their place it was truly a place of total relaxation and I now know why they call it their little paradise. I can't wait to go back!