Pregnancy update

I am now 15 weeks pregnant, which means that my first trimester nausea is over, I'm not AS tired as I used to be (though I am a little tired still), and I'm starting to show a wee bit. Other people don't notice yet, but I certainly do. Especially when Friday I stopped being able to button my pants! I've started doing the rubber band trick on my jeans and have bought a bella band or tummy sleeve for my dress pants. I am currently wearing the one pair of slacks that still button - because they were big on me to begin with!

One of the weirdest thing about pregnancy for me so far has been the food aversions. I haven't had major cravings (except for wanting mac 'n' cheese for lunch today...weird) but I have had a few aversions. For one, salad. Why salad? I love salad and before being pregnant was eating salads everyday. Now, making one at home makes me sick. I have been able to eat a few in a restaurant, though. Another weird aversion has been humus. Before pregnancy I would make big bowls of humus and eat it all the time. Now the thought of it makes me nauseous. Veggies are not high on the list of foods I enjoy right now, though I am able to eat stir-fry veggies. I dunno, it's weird.

As for the baby, supposedly he or she is about 4 inches, or about the size of an apple. And you can now tell if baby is a he or she. But we won't get to find out for probably another 4-5 weeks. They say that baby can also sense light now. It's amazing! To think of this little baby inside of me who can move, sense light, and is starting to move amniotic fluid through the respiratory tract. And I can't feel anything and many people can't even see the baby bump yet! It's all such a miracle!
There it is! That's my bump! Baby Seefeldt is growing!

Thoughts and Reflections

I've shared what we did. I've shared pictures to illustrate our adventures.

The thoughts and reflections about our trip are more complicated, though. As you can imagine, with everything that went on, there were a ton of thoughts, emotions, and dreams that went with it.

The Arab culture is a welcoming, hospitable culture. The people we met wanted to give us things or offer us something to show that they valued and welcomed us. I went over to a woman's apartment just to pick something up and she wanted to make me fresh mango juice just because I was there. Many times when we met people they would say "You are welcome here." The people long for relationship.

As a woman, there was not a time when I felt afraid. There were times I felt a bit uncomfortable and was glad my clothing was conservative. I know that it would be an adjustment for me and I would have to learn when to behave how.

We enjoyed our time and want to know more about Arab culture.

Fun in Egypt

Being in Egypt for 2 weeks means that we have lots of stories and did lots of things! There is no way I could put up everything! So here are some other fun, random (or just not otherwise categorized) things that happened...

On Sunday we went to a church service. Right before leaving for the service our trip leader told us that the pastor asked if someone from our team would sing a song for the service. Randy, our trip leader, thought of me and asked me to do so. One of the engineers agreed to accompany me on piano, so we hurriedly practiced Amazing Grace and went for it. It went well and I really enjoyed doing it. The pastor asked for us to sing again that night. I had even more fun at the night service, singing Here I am to Worship and really getting to worship.We had been dying to get in the water there in Alexandria. So here we are on our last night there finally putting our feet in the Mediterranean!After shopping and playing on the beach, we passed a barber shop that was still open at 12:15 am. So we decided to get Josh's hair cut. The guy did a great job and while we waited on Josh they served us hibiscus juice. How lovely! And the haircut and tip was a grand total of about $3.50.
Kelly and I really wanted to learn how to cook something Egyptian. So our new friend Nabila, the wife of one of that pastors, agreed to teach us how to make koshery, a very typical Egyptian dish. She loved getting to teach us and we loved learning!We fed the team one night and it was a big hit! Yay!

We met a woman who runs a beauty salon. She came over one day to hang out with the ladies and she did henna for us! She is such an artist! It was so fun!Here I am getting my pedicure . She really went after my feet! And it tickled!Definitely one of the best parts of the trip was building relationships with the team. We had a team of incredible people. We enjoyed spending time with everyone. I miss them and find myself wanting to call people up just to say "Hey, so what have you been up to today?"

Here are some memories we made with our teammates:

The Project

During our second week in Egypt the team worked on designing a conference center and school for handicapped children. This was a complicated project and the team worked very hard (and long hours). They did a great job! The teachers and leaders of the existing school were happy with the concept and everyone seemed satisfied with how things worked out.

While the architects and engineers were busy at work, I got to play with kids at the preschool! They were so great! This is one little friend that I made there. He didn't want to eat his lunch even when his teacher fed him. So I took the fork and attempted...and he ate his lunch from me! Such a sweet little boy!

I also got to go briefly to a girl's orphanage one afternoon for one hour. It was not nearly long enough to really play with the girls, but I was having a hard time talking with them with my lack of Arabic. But they understood my smiles and we could say "I love you" to each other in English.

Glimpses

As you can imagine, we have tons and tons of pictures of Egypt. Many are images of the cities, the views of the streets, the coast, or the market places. Below is a slideshow of several such images. These are to give you a glimpse of what we saw in Egypt.

As Tourists in Egypt

Here are some of the slightly more touristy things we did:



This is a picture in the new library in Alexandria. This facility is a major wow! It houses countless documents and has a computer system in which older books have been scanned in so that you can access them from anywhere in the world. And on some of their computers you can access any website that was ever created in the history of the Web. I would love to spend a day there.
In Cairo we went to the Bible Society. Such a cool place! In their book shop we bought an English-Arabic bible and a children's story of the parable of the prodigal son in English and Arabic.
The Bible Society has created a tour for children to teach the validity of the Bible. It will be opening to the public next month. This picture is of the Lord's Prayer in Greek, Arabic, and English, to demonstrate that God speaks all languages, not just Arabic.

In Cairo we also visited the Cave Churches, churches that are created in the rocks . There is a huge rock face with detailed carvings of scenes from Jesus' ministry. (Most of our pictures turned out blurry)
This is inside the biggest Cave Church. Really, it's a cave.



One evening, we got to all go out to this cove to see the sun set over the water. It was beautiful. There was a lighthouse, walkway over the water, and beautiful lighting as the sun set.

And of course, the pyramids!

Some of the team ventured inside one of the smaller pyramids. It was hot and stuffy inside, but it was fun to see what it's like inside a pyramid. This one was a tomb for one of the Pharaoh's wives.

In other news...

We are 13 weeks pregnant! Yay! We are so excited about this and are looking forward to our little one around March 20th. We have had our first sonogram, seen the heartbeat, and then heard it again at the doctor's office yesterday. Everything is going well. We ask for your prayers for health for the baby, wisdom for us as parents, and for this baby to be one who makes God famous with his or her life.
Here's our little one at 9 weeks. Baby is bigger now- almost 3 inches - and has fingerprints.

We'll find out sometime in November whether we are having a boy or girl. Right now we are just happy to have a baby.

We'll keep you updated!

Home Sweet Home

(At a market in Egypt during Ramadan)

We are back from our trip to Egypt, where we have been for the past 2 weeks. We had an amazing time, took hundreds of pictures, made bunches of memories, and now have even more to consider for the future. We got to meet with local people, experience life in Egypt, and of course hit some tourist sites along the way.

We got to work with a great team of people. We had many great discussions about life, challenges, and how God works in each person's life.

I'll take some time to write a better summary with pictures (hopefully tomorrow).

Birthday pictures

Here are some pictures from Aunt Jerry's birthday celebration:The three sisters and their mom

Josh and Jordan, our 2nd cousin? (Daughter of Josh's cousin)

The sun was really bright...can you tell?
Josh was very popular with the kids. They wrestled him until all three were two worn out to carry on. It was pretty entertaining to watch.

Whew!

I realize it has been a while since I've updated. Well, things have been busy. Here's a little run-down:

I've still been counseling at a church and at the women's shelter. That keeps me busy enough. I've learned a lot and I'm really enjoying it. I'm also still working at the church and just trying to keep up.

We are going on another trip! We are preparing to head to North Africa and it's a whirlwind of stuff to get ready. Fortunately we already had all of our immunizations. However, I'm having to make a few wardrobe modifications and since we are going to be there for 2 weeks, I need to find more things to wear! We have great shoes, though!

Josh's family came in town this past weekend. We were celebrating Josh's aunt's 60th birthday! The party was supposed to be a 60's theme - but Josh, his brother Michael, and I were the only ones who dressed up! Haha! We had fun with our outfits, though.
Here's a picture taken with my phone. Pretty good looking group, huh?

And, I got an iPhone! Yay! It's pretty fun to play with. It is my early graduation present from Josh's parents. Thanks Jack and Jo Ann! =)

That's the quick run-down. I'm sure there will be more to come!

Baking

I am friends with a Chinese student at UTA named Song. She and I get together periodically and hang out and talk. I help her understand American phrases and customs and she tells me about things in China. I have really enjoyed getting to know her.

She told me early on when I met her that she wants to learn how to bake a cake. She said she had tried but it didn't turn out. Well, I usually just use a boxed cake mix. So I had a decision to make: teach her the easy American way (and probably disappoint her) or look up how to make a cake from scratch and give it a try. I wouldn't want to disappoint my friend. I found a recipe online for a basic yellow cake and for chocolate butter frosting. Song came over and we got baking.

Song took pictures of every step so that she would know how to do it again. I won't put all of those pictures up. Here are a few:
mixing...
Pouring...
Looking good...
Song with her piece!
The result? Success! A delicious cake and two satisfied girls!

then end of an era

Last weekend was Josh's and my last Sunday to teach in kid's church. We have been teaching there for 2 years now. While we love the kids and love the other volunteers, we decided that it was time to move on and make room for others, especially since we would not be able to finish the school year with the kids.
Here I am with my girls. I taught 5th and 6th grade girls. I gave them all paper fans on the last day with a note "I'm one of your biggest fans."
Most of them are at least as tall as me and several are taller. Crazy! They are a lot of fun. And I will miss them.

Book Corner

This is a long time over due. I just keep forgetting to write about the book.

This summer I finally read Through Gates of Splendor by Elizabeth Elliot. I have wanted to read it for a while and when I saw it at half price books I bought it and read it immediately. It's the story of the 5 young missionaries who went into inner Ecuador to take the Gospel to an unreached people group. They were brutally killed by those they were trying to reach. The movie "End of the Spear" is about these men. Elizabeth Elliot, the wife of Jim Elliot, wrote the book using her husband's journal, letters, and journals and letters from the other 4 men.

It's an amazing story. I know that many look at the story of these men, killed in their early twenties, leaving behind wives and small children, and think "what a waste!" I know it seems like a reckless and ridiculous thing to try to do and ultimately a failure of a mission. Yet to me, this story is very challenging.

I don't know if God has in His plans for me to go to an unreached people group to take the Gospel to those without it. But I am encouraged and challenged by young men who valued the salvation of that tribe and felt the burden of sharing the truth they had with others, that they would do whatever it takes to share that truth. I know that I am not like that and would like to be.

It's a weighty thing to recognize that what the world values and calls "success" often is so far from what God values and calls "well done." Though sometimes I think I want a predictable life, with a hint of adventure every now and then, deep down my heart cries out that I want whatever God has for me. I really mean that. I want every part of my life to bring Him glory and to make Him famous in the whole world, or at least my corner of it. And sometimes the lifestyle choices Josh and I have made and are making seem binding and silly. Yet when I think about the possibilities of what God may have for us, nothing else matters.

Okay, so I guess that wasn't just a book corner post. If you were looking for something light, I'm guessing you didn't find it here! Thanks for listening to my heart.

Surprise Visit

On Wednesday my mom called me to see if I had plans on Friday. Since I didn't have anything set up for sure yet, she said she might be able to come up for the day to spend time with me. We had been trying to coordinate schedules for a while to drive down to spend a weekend with my parents and it's just been tough lately. Every other weekend I have supervision at SafeHaven on Saturdays, which basically takes that weekend out for traveling. One weekend we had proposed my parents already had plans to be traveling. With our upcoming trip to the Middle East, it was looking like I wasn't going to get to see my parents (whom I haven't seen since May) until late September.

So Mom worked her schedule to come Thursday night and spend Friday with me! We had a great time! We went shopping and looking at decorating things. We took Josh to lunch and showed Mom his new office at the ballpark. We spent lots of time laughing. The day went by quickly of course, but it was a wonderful day!

Thanks for coming, Mom! It was a treat to have you here!

Anniversary Celebration

This past weekend Joshua and I spent a night at a bed-n-breakfast in Granbury. We had a wonderful time! Here is the little old house we stayed in:


Here is our little bathroom and bedroom. It was so cozy!


The house had this great old jukebox. So cool.Where we went to dinner there was this sign that said Welcome to Granbury. You can kind of read it.
Anyways, we spent time strolling around the town square, looking in antique shops, just spending time together. We found cute decorating things for our house and little gifts for others. We really enjoyed relaxing. Plus, we had a 4 course gourmet breakfast Saturday morning. The food was incredible! I was so stuffed but kept eating because the food was so delicious!

So I definitely recommend Granbury Gardens bed-n-breakfast for a relaxing getaway.

Presenting: my brother

This is my brother, Matt Golley. He is someone that I am quite proud of. He has worked with Young Life for several years now, mostly in the Austin area. He loves getting to work with high school kids, impacting their lives, and showing them what living for Christ looks like. He is loud and crazy and loves God will his whole life. Here is how he describes what he does:
Young Life is a relational ministry that seeks to give teenagers positive mentors who through building relationships can eventually introduce them to the person of Jesus Christ

Soon he will start a new adventure. Matt is going to start a Young Life club in Puerto Rico with inner city youth. It's a very exciting opportunity. Right now Matt is working odd jobs to save money and is fundraising for Young Life PR. Young Life is a non-profit, so they raise 100% of their support. Usually that support is raised in the local community, but because this is a new start, Matt is raising support here in the States first. He plans to move in January if he can get all his fundraising done.

I'd like to encourage anyone reading this post to consider giving either a one-time gift or a monthly amount to benefit what God will do in Puerto Rico through Matt's efforts and this club. Gifts are tax-deductible and you can give online. Here's how:

You can make a donation right now at:

https://giving.younglife.org/starthere.aspx

Select either one time gift or recurring gift...

In the Gift Designation area, check the circle for donating to "A Young Life Area Ministry"...click the search, and in the blank for city type: Puerto Rico.
This will bring up Matt's area which is:
International - X3103 International Volunteer W/O Club
select that...and continue on.

Don't feel any pressure from me to do this. I just want to give the opportunity for others to know what is going on and have the chance to be a part of it. If you are on facebook you can join his group "Young Life Puerto Rico."