Happy April Fools Day!  Today was a happy day for our family.  We are glad to be 35 weeks along in the pregnancy and done with complete bedrest.  As of today, I am on modified bedrest.  This means I do not have to lay flat all the time, but I do still need to take it easy and keep my amount of activity to a minimum.  It will not be difficult for me to keep myself to limited activity as ANY activity right now is exhausting for me! 

This morning I woke up and actually put off getting out of bed for awhile because the idea of getting up and doing things kind of intimidated me!  I knew that I wanted to do simple things like take a shower standing up and blow dry my hair and brush my teeth at the sink, but...what next??  I couldn't remember what to do with my day!  I knew not to do too much, but what exactly was I supposed to do?  Well, that question was somewhat answered for me as I went throughout my day.  Just getting ready for the day took 3 hours as each menial task exhausted me!  I needed to rest frequently to catch my breath and psych myself up for the next task.

After lunch Andy and I decided to take a drive to Tama, IA to look at a campground that we'll probably be staying at this summer.  While in the car I started having contractions that were consistently 10 minutes apart.  So, we called the doctor, and they wanted me to come in to monitor what was going on with me.  Once we got to the doctor, the contractions had stopped, which is good.  The doctor did check me, however, to see if I have dilated at all since leaving the hospital at 27 weeks, and I haven't!  That is amazing to me!  That tells me that I did a great job on bedrest--if I do say so myself!  

All in all, it is nice to have the ability to walk around, or go for a drive, or whatever, but right now the physical pain of using my muscles again and getting back in shape does somewhat hinder the enjoyment of these activities.  I'm not complaining though!  There is no way that I would rather be laying around all day.  But, I'm just realizing how long of a time it will take to get my strength back--it's not coming easily, especially since I'm 3 months more pregnant from the time that I was put on bedrest!

With the nicer weather, Andy is starting to get some work done on our trailer that we will be living in on the mission field.  Our trailer was blocked in from November through March without our permission, which was very frustrating for us and a huge test of our patience and trust in God's timing.  (The owner of the facility gave us his word that he would not block us in.)  But, as of yesterday, Andy was able to go get the trailer and take it to a shop in Bondurant, IA.  There is a trailer shop there that is replacing our carpet for us in the trailer.  We are excited for this project to be done before we start living in the trailer in June.  We pray that everything goes well with this project so that we can officially be done thinking and worrying about it! 

Well, I guess from here on out we are just waiting for the inevitable!  When will this baby boy decide to come?  We'll see!  Only God knows!  We praise Him for getting us to this safe place in the pregnancy!  Three months on bedrest was not an easy task; we thank God for giving both of us the patience and ability to get through these last months. 

Thank you all for your prayers and notes and calls!  We are so encouraged to know that God has worked in your lives too through this pregnancy as you have demonstrated your trust in Him by praying for us.  When we pray, we are telling God that we depend on Him to do what we cannot do!  God certainly did something amazing in our lives, and it's been a pleasure to share this with you all.  We hope you see God's power and His ability to sustain life.

We'll keep in touch and let you know how we're doing!  I'm sure we are all looking forward to the happy news of this little one's safe and healthy arrival, Lord willing!