I know, I know… HUGE hiatus over the past three weeks or so. Between my surprise birthday weekend (my best friend's visit was the surprise… not my birthday), the Month of Out-of-State Weddings Extravaganza and Other Festivities, and EXCESSIVE HEAT on top of my fun first-trimester symptoms, I've hardly had a moment to gather my thoughts. I'm gearing up for the final wedding in Pasadena this weekend, and ALSO getting ready to experience everything that goes along with second-trimester joys. I am still, however, eagerly awaiting that magical day when I wake up out of the fog I've been in over the past three months, jump out of bed, run a few laps around the neighborhood, cook up some garlicky pasta, eat my body weight in fried chicken, and finally clean the entire house top to bottom; then, after said activities I will not have an overwhelming desire to sleep for 24 hours straight, or die. For now, we just avoid having guests over altogether for fear that they might get attacked by the tornado of paperwork that we haven't bothered to sort through yet.

Over the Fourth of July weekend I was in Minnesota as a bridesmaid in my friend's wedding. I'd say the ratio of pregnant women-to-non-pregnant women in the wedding party (including groomsmen's wives) was 1 in 2, no joke. I was told there were 7 pregnant women at the wedding, and there were 14 attendants, so… huh, look at that. I can do math after all. A childhood friend of mine, fellow bridesmaid and accidental travel partner happens to be due in January as well- three days after me! She is convinced that she is having a boy, and that I am having a girl, and that they will have the same birthday and when they grow up they will get married. If the random ways we connected over the weekend are any indication of our kids' future, it may not be such a long shot after all.

The wedding I'm in this coming weekend in Pasadena is also chock-full of women with child, especially in the wedding party. I mean, really, it's just kind of getting ridiculous.

On another note, this whole time I haven't had even the slightest inkling of what I may be having. There's no reason that I should know anything at this point, but for some reason I've been thinking that I'm going to have a girl. I don't necessarily want one over the other- I would be perfectly happy with either one, of course- but for whatever reason girl names stand out to me more, and I absolutely melt when I see, for example, a little girl all dressed up in a red velvet, white-fur trimmed dress over her summer pants and sandals because she ABSOLUTELY REFUSED TO WEAR ANYTHING ELSE and, according to her mom, wouldn't leave the house unless she could wear her Santa dress, bringing Christmas in July at its finest. My mom immediately decided that I was having a boy, so given a 50/50 chance we may just have to start a guess-the-sex pool after all.

Speaking of adorable little girls, please visit prayforkate.com and follow the updates on this precious 5-year-old. Two weeks ago today, which is really hard to believe given all that has taken place since then, doctors discovered a rare malignant tumor in her brain. The prayer movement has become a globe-spanning wildfire, the only kind we want to spread further until everyone is praying for Kate and her family. As a soon-to-be mom, I cannot even begin to fathom the pain of what her parents are enduring, but I have tremendous respect for their trust in God, and I can only hope to have such unshakable faith should we ever be faced with the unimaginable.