Hunting while pregnant

This is what hunting looks like when you are around 8 months pregnant.
*disclaimer: my doc ok'ed the hunts

Dove hunting at 7.5 months

*for some reason I felt more at ease with a towel around my belly cause I thought it would muffle the noise more. Not sure if this did anything-probably not but it did give me peace of mine and made me look more ridiculous than I already did.

Deer hunting at 8.5 months

*we were hunting out of a ground blind not a tree stand (safety first!)

We bow hunted and I say "we" because Jonathan had to help me get my bow back since I have lost my core strength due to the baby bump and can't draw as much as I used to.

Some perks about hunting when you are this far along...

1) Extra attention to comfort. Now Jonathan has always been concerned with my comfort when we are hunting or anywhere for that matter. But it is magnified when pregnant. Notice the recliner chair that I sat in while dove hunting versus what Jonathan is sitting in which is the norm.
His, not so comfy. But mine was heavenly.

My deer hunting chair didn't recline but was just as comfortable!

2) "Hunt-side" service. Jonathan would always drive me right up to the blind or the area where we were dove hunting, help me get settled in and then go park the ATV far away and then walk in. Normally I would just walked in with him but not this time-carrying 30 extra lbs and his first born child! I got valet service! He knows how to treat me right!!

3) Comfy wardrobe. Since I haven't found any maternity hunting clothes (probably for a good reason!) all I was left with were some old ones of Jonathan. But they were big and comfortable even though they weren't the most flattering or fashionable.

Didn't get a deer this go around but there is still more season left! Just will have to wait and see if I'll be able to go after Georgia arrives. Hopefully, by then, I will be able to fit in my own hunting clothes but I still might request the special treatment.

Baby Georgia in 3D

We went to go get a 3D sonogram to see a glimpse of what Georgia would look like this early on. At first she had her hands in her face so we couldn't see much at all but then she moved them so we were able to see more of her face. She was in a difficult position so they weren't the best pictures but we loved being able to see what she looks like and it made us more than ever excited for her to get here!!!

Sticking out her tongue

Big Lips!

Hands in her mouth

Profile pic

My Little Brother's Wedding!

My little brother, (& only brother) James married Krista Jenks on Sept. 5th. It was such a fun weekend and a beautiful ceremony. They are such a beautiful couple-inside and out! Here are some pics I took from the fabulous occasion!!

Beach Vacation

A couple of weeks ago, we went with my family (minus James and Krista) to Gulf Shores, AL to the beach. My parents rented a house for the week and Nat, Josh, the kids, Jonathan and I spent 4 nights of the week down there with them. It was such a great time and made some fun memories!!

Luke loved digging and building in the sand

Lily riding the waves

Jonathan caught a crab for the kids to see

And he caught a starfish that Lily saw in the ocean

Liv always had a smile on her face

Hard to see but Jonathan out fishing early one morning

Mom and dad and the kids

"Pleasure Key"

Beautiful!!

What's in a name?

Baby names...We never really talked about baby names until after we found out we were pregnant. But we both quickly agreed on a boy's name that we loved...Jackson Ray James. (or Jaxon-we never really decided on which spelling we liked.) Ray is Jonathan's middle name so we wanted to use that for a boy and we both just love the name Jackson (or maybe it had something to do with Stonewall Jackson for why Jonathan liked it so much!) But we could never really decide on a girl name...we had a couple of top contenders but nothing really stood out to us early on. Well, when we found out we were having a girl, we knew we had to tackle that and give our little one a name!

Since Jonathan found out the gender before I did, he started looking at lists of girl names. We like the older/traditional names so he looked at turn-of-the-century names and one stood out to him...Georgia. He told me the name he had found and I had to admit that the name never stood out to me before (cause I am sure I went over that name in all the lists that I looked at!) but I really like it! Then we looked at the meaning of the name "Georgia." We had always wanted a name that had a great meaning behind it. When we searched for the meaning we found that Georgia means "farmer" which we weren't too excited about. We were hoping for something a little more, I guess, deep... So we kept looking for another name hoping to find one that we would love and love the meaning of the name. As we looked through more lists and thought of more potential names, everything was being compared to Georgia. We just had this feeling that Georgia might be it...despite us not being too excited about the meaning behind the name.

One morning, Jonathan was driving by himself up to his parents' land in Oklahoma and the Lord gave him new meaning to Georgia's name. God told him that He wanted Georgia to be a "cultivator of hearts." Jonathan read the definition of cultivate for me after he told me what the Lord had said to him...

Cultivate:
1) to improve and prepare
2) to grow or tend
3) to promote the growth of
4) to nurture; foster
5) to form and refine
6) to seek the acquaintance or goodwill of; make friends with

After hearing this it confirmed that Georgia Renee James would be our baby girl's name! And we pray everyday that she will cultivate the hearts of everyone she will encounter! We are so thankful that God has blessed us with the task of raising one of His precious children and we pray that we will show her what the love of the Father is like and point her to Christ in all that we do!

Nat's bday!

Happy Birthday, Natalie Marie Jeffrey Patterson! So blessed to have you as my sister and best friend for the last 28 years! Thanks for always being there during all seasons of life and all the support and advice that I have taken away from our conversations! I am excited for what the Lord has in store for you in the years ahead! I have never stopped looking up to you (even though I am taller than you!) Love you!!

"Sisters, sisters...there were never such devoted sisters.."