Big News from the Millers!!!

Hello friends, today is a very special day! I am so excited to finally be sharing the wonderful news that in mid-August 2012, Ike and I will be expanding our family by ONE!

That’s right,

I’m pregnant!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am currently 12 weeks along which means the end of the first trimester is in sight! Hip hip hooray! As far as morning sickness goes, I have been more fortunate than a lot of women but that hasn’t stopped me from being a big wimp about the nausea and fatigue!

(Related note: say a prayer for my classmates who have been the unfortunate casualties of my exhausted crankiness. At the end of each school day when I just wanna go home and sleep and everything makes me grumpy, I need extra patience from them!)

For those of you who are interested, this baby was not a surprise. I know some of you are curious because Ike and I have been practicing Natural Family Planning throughout the entire course of our marriage, and we still love it! In fact, it helped us to get pregnant very quickly, which was an added benefit.

Some of you might also be curious about what this means for my PhD. For the last year I really agonized over honoring my calling to be a student but wanting to start a family, and after much prayer and conversation Ike and I decided to take the plunge. I know it will be challenging to manage school and family (again, your prayers are SO welcome!) but I am blessed to have the full support of my husband and my parents (let’s be honest, my mom doesn’t need an excuse to fly up here and dote on her grandchild!). It’s going to be an adventure, but I have a feeling I will come to value my family even more than I already do as we walk through these next few years together.

Finally, I am so thrilled to be sharing this news because God has been teaching me SO much through this pregnancy. We learned I was pregnant a couple weeks before Christmas, so I had an entirely new perspective on Mary and her pregnancy as I prepared my heart for the season. I have also been reflecting a lot on what it means to lay yourself down to bring new life into the world, which has given me a new understanding of Jesus’ sacrifice for us. But those are topics for another day. Just know that I will be writing more pregnancy inspired blogs in the months to come!

Wahoooo!!!!!!