12 More Days!!!

The 38th week has come and gone and all is well in the Gaines camp. The house is all set. The crew "finished" (sort of) all of their final house touch ups and the sod is going in the backyard tomorrow. I've finished all of my projects that Abigail asked me to get done before Gracie's arrival. A special thanks to the uncle to be, Benny, for all his help in getting the list complete. Dad, we've left the shed for you and I to get to when you come to meet your granddaughter. We've got one more birth class to take on Sunday night and we'll have finished all ten and so I don't know if we could get any more prepared. So now, I guess we wait. Abigail's feeling good, sleeping alright, and still walking a couple miles a day, though a little slow in her step. The baby has dropped, which is a good sign that things are lining up for a good landing. She's still the acting Executive Director at HH and is even getting all dolled up and painting the town red tomorrow night for crazy girl's night out with some friends in Old Town Pasadena. Me...I'll be hitting the driving range with Ben to get all the kinks worked out before the 2nd Annual Vineyard Golf Scramble Saturday morning at San Dimas Canyon GC. Team Captain, Stuart has high expectations for the young guns and we're counting on a couple 300+ yard drives from Ben. We're gonna win one for Gracie. Looking forward to the Midwest invasion in Oct! Keep us in your prayers!

Just Waiting...

Well, well, well...the 37th week is upon us and Abigail finds herself waiting for Gracie in her new glider that was lovingly given to us by a couple at church (Tom and Chiaki Yasumura), who recovered it for us using fabric Abigail picked out to match the nursery. It's highly comfortable and is kind of the finishing piece to the nursery. This is also an exciting week because she's now considered full-term, so we're at a good place. Comfortablity seems to be a fleeting memory at this point and before dinner tonight we both commented that we think her stomach has made some significant gains in girth over the past week. Yet, we still kept our evening ritual of walking Harley around Glendora and enjoying SoCal at dusk. Tonight we talked about fall and what traditions we wanted to start this year with our daughter. We'll miss our traditional October weekened in Michigan, but hope to return next year! We also used our fetal microphone to have a chat with her. In the midst of my daddy-daughter talk, I unexplicably broke into a medly of old Steven Curtis Chapman slow songs (which incidently I believe he performed on The Great Adventure tour CD probably still residing in mom and dad's basement). She now knows where I'll be when she is a soldier, and where I'll be tomorrow morning when she wakes up and the sun does not appear!

I must say that this has definitely been a new and wonderful journey thus far. It's been fun to see Abigail grow (in many ways) and change. To anticipate new life with her and prepare to be parents. Still somewhat unbelievable that by this time next month, we could very well be holding this gift. Am I ready to receive her? Excitement mixed with holy fear. Excited to start a new chapter of life. Holy fear beacause how do you hold something of the divine without a certain bit of trepidation. Just some thoughts 4 weeks out. Love to all!