. . . Since Thanksgiving . . . Part Four

We've been decorating the nursery!!

When we found out we were having a baby girl, I already had in my mind what I wanted to do with the nursery! We are doing pink (of course), white, and black accents. So we began with storing our guest bedroom furniture with our church (thanks Pastor and Jalyn) for my mom to get when she comes down. Then we began painting. Our first project was a crib that was given to us. We wanted black furniture, so we got some spray paint and began. I must admit that it really turned out great!! We were also pleasantly surprised that when putting the crib together without instructions, that we were able to complete it in about 45 minutes with only one or two re-dos. Don was even recovering from a cold!



Step #1 - Slight sanding and priming



Step #2 - Paint Black



Step #3 - Move to inside - touch up.



Step #4 - Assemble!

Don has had an itch, since we found out we were expecting, to put his creativity to work and build something nice for the baby. When he was on Christmas break, he was able to work on "his creation" without the pull of school as well. It is almost finished, but I think we will wait for it to be finished for the big reveal - I know, I know, I'm aweful!


I've also had a crafty idea that I've been meaning to do for a while that I am also working on for the nursery. I've started, but the Virginia yucky winter (if you'd call it that) has put a damper on my creativity. So, I will also reveal that with the before and after pictures. . . Later. =)


Lastly, we had the daunting task of picking out fabric for the bedding, which Grandma Katie is going to be making for her namesake, Kate. Then following that, we picked out the paint. I've got one coat of the "cotton candy" pink done and it will need another coat to be completely finished with that. Then, I spoke with my Pastor's wife, Jalyn, about some possibilities of what to do different with the walls, since she is a paint/decorating queen. She gave me the idea of doing some diamonds on an accent wall. So, we have a shade darker pink that we will alternate with the wall color pink in the diamonds. I am really excited to see what it will look like. Again, I will post pictures later.

So, I guess the theme of this post, is that we are working on our nursery, and as things finish up (within the next three months - since I am entering my last trimester this week!!!!) we'll be posting our before and after pictures of our projects. Stay tuned!

. . . Since Thanksgiving . . . Part Three

We found out we were having a baby GIRL!!!

Don and I had plans of being surprised by the gender of our baby at the birth, but many of those reasons were trumped by the reasons for finding out the gender early. We had heard from a some good friends that if you don't find out, you are more likely to get the things you NEED at showers rather than cute, frilly outfits. Right now, I have a church shower planned, but the bigger showers with our families will be after the birth anyway - so that reason was completely knocked out.

Another reason we had for waiting and being surprised was that we were planning on moving quite soon after the baby was born, since Don will be graduating in May. If that was the case, then I wouldn't really spend much time in putting decorations up for just a month or two. However, the earliest we would be moving would be August/September with also the possibility of staying for another whole year (depending on which way the Lord directs our family). So, another reason to not find out hit the fan.

Many other factors brought us to the point of choosing to find out. So, we had our ultrasound December 20th and had the nurse put the results in a little red box (the one we are holding in front of the Christmas tree on the last post). We decided that we would open up the results on Christmas morning as a reminder of our precious gift from God. We celebrate God's provision of His Son as a gift that we can receive, and we were able to celebrate the wonderful gift of our child that He has given to us as well. It was very special for us as well as our extended family who were all involved in receiving the news as quickly as we could dial the numbers.

The photos are from our ultrasound. The first one is just the profile picture of our daughter, Katelyn Jane. The second one is the picture that the nurse put into the box for us to open. She said it would be obvious what it was, but I didn't think it would be that clear! She did a great job for us and we were thrilled!

. . . Since Thanksgiving . . . Part Two

We had a lovely holiday season celebrating with friends!!

Since we had a longer vacation around Thanksgiving and were able to go home and visit family and friends. And we were able to get away for another week on the cruise, Don was limited in the time-off department, and so we stayed home and enjoyed some fellowship with some great friends. Don had the Sunday before Christmas through Christmas day off. Christmas Eve we had the Logsdons over for Don's two favorite things - Food and Games!! Christmas Day, the Logsdons had us over for a yummy dinner complete with ham, potatoes, salad, bread, veggie cassarole, jello, and an assortment of desserts.



The pregnant ladies trying to be patient for the meal!



One view of us on Christmas day - Baby Bump somewhat noticeable.



Alternate view of Baby Bump - Check it out ladies, it's there, but still just a minor bump.

For New Years, Don had to work on New Year's Eve, but got the next day off. We had some plans fall through, but at the last moment decided we would see what a few of our friends were up to. They accepted our invitation to come over for pizzas and some more games. We had a great time enjoying time away from school and just hanging out. We ended the night with watching the ball drop in New York City.

We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and are enjoying being back in the routine again. We desire for our God to be magnified through us this year as we seek His wisdom with the coming life-changing events. We have entitled this year "New Beginnings" since we will be adding new and great responsibilities in becoming parents. We also are beginning the next stage of life, out of school, come this May. Don will be finished with his M.Div. and will be seeking opportunities to use his degree to fulfill God's call on our lives. Please pray with us as we desire His direction. On our way home from Wiliamsburg two Sunday's ago, Don recalled a list of things that he was thankful for, beginning from when He was very young up until now. It was such a blessing and reassurance to us as we once again saw the grace of God's leading in our lives even since before we had trusted Him. He is so faithful and will continue to be faithful throughout these transforming events to come in our lives. We serve a true and living God who will be glorified!!



The Gang - Including Godiva (who loved our choices of invites - Her very favorite people, her dog sitters!!)



The Logsdons - showing off her baby bump!



The Branines



Me & My Love!

. . . Since Thanksgiving . . . Part One

So, this is what happens when you have things happening and you keep saying to yourself that you will blog that post tomorrow. Before you know it, you have three or four bloggable life events take place and you haven't revealed the first in the blogosphere. Some I guess would say that would be procrastination, (I would be in that number too!), and the result of that - Segmentation! Here goes part one of a innumerable segments. Thanks for your patients. Tune back later for later installments of the same theme, just different things that have happened with the Hines!

. . . Since Thanksgiving . . . We Went on a Cruise!!!

The Hines side of the family decided that we would try to do a family cruise this year in celebration of Don's great uncle & aunt's anniversary. We were offered this instead of our normal Christmas gifts. So, we opted for signing up! There were 38 others of Don's extended and immediate family that came along. This was the first cruise we had been on and hopefully it won't be the last! We loved it! We went to the Bahamas. We had two ports of call - Coco Cay (the Island that Royal Caribbean owns) and Nassau. We also had a day out to sea to finish off our five day cruise.

Some of our favorite things included: snorkeling, buffets, soaking up some sun in December, buffets, corny cruise ship shows, CHOCOLATE buffet at midnight, our waiter, buffets, towel animals, chocolate on our pillows, men's belly-flop competition (which we can proudly claim was won by Don's very own cousin) and of course lots and lots of food!



Grandma at the first meal - she was quite thrilled!



Grandma on the last night! Whew! What a hum-dinger! Just kidding! She just allowed us to mess with her a bit!



Safety First! Don is ready for the mandatory evacuation drill before we shove off!



Upon entering Coco Cay



The ship and us . . . This is December?



The guys.



The gals.



Captain's Dinner - Don, Katrina, Grandma (a little more presentable), and Dad



The Towel Monkey!



The Atlantis Resort - Nassau, Bahamas



The immediate family.



I'm relaxing on the beach, doodling, while the guys were playing in the water.



The one, the only, Jordan - Bellyflop winner for our cruise! He was up against about 10 other guys all out-weighing him by at least 100 lbs. Jordan sealed the victory with a moved called the "flying squirrel". Hilarious!



Mountain climbing? Yup! On the ship!



The best waiter on the ship - Glendon from Jamaica! He was amazing! By the first night, he had our names memorized! It somehow got out that Don was in seminary and preparing to be a pastor. From that time on he was known as "Reverend" by Glendon! It was so cute and funny (since that is Don's least favorite term of endearment for that position!)



Uncle Tim & Aunt Carol



Tabitha & I - The minor & the pregnant lady - yup - alcohol free! =)



The final food farewell - our last breakfast together on the ship!



Tourists!