My Hero

If you spend very long with me you will find very quickly how proud I am of my husband and the fact that he is a firefighter. At first it was scary, and I definitely still have my moments, but what outweighs all of that is how proud I am of him for wanting to serve - and how excited he gets talking about a recent fire. He is truly passionate about what he does, and as his wife I love to see him doing what he loves! I love that I can immediately tell by the tone of his voice on the phone, or when he gets home in the mornings if he has caught a fire on shift. This last Tuesday I heard that tone. He said, "I'm pulling up to a huge fire, go outside and you can probably see the smoke." Sure enough, I saw the billowing smoke coming over the rooftops in our neighborhood. He was excited about being called to that fire, and wanted me to know. I asked him to be safe, we hung up, and I said an extra prayer for him. Not only did he get to fight the fire, he got to go up on the 50 ft. aerial ladder for the first time. I think he had a lot of fun, and he was safe and so we're both happy. :) I'm obviously proud of him, so I wanted to share a picture that one of the guys took of Brad helping put out the fire.

That's Brad at the top of the ladder, although you obviously can't see his face.

Headed West

Well, the time has come... We are moving to Lubbock. Most already know this, but just in case you don't let me get you caught up real quick.

Brad tested with the Lubbock fire dept. and was recently offered a job. There are a ton of details in between the test (and prior to the test), and the job offer, but I will sum it up by saying there has been excitement, fear, uncertainty, joy, tears, faith, and A LOT of prayer and seeking God's will for our lives and our family. And at the end of it all, we have felt God leading us to move our family to Lubbock. So, here we go...

Obviously the timing of all of this is very difficult as we are making this huge transition in our lives right before the birth of our first little one. But, God has already been so faithful. We put our house on the market, and there was a contract on it in 2 1/2 weeks - praise the Lord! One stress down. :) So, now as soon as we get to Lubbock we can immediately start looking for a house...YEAH!! :) Just as God provided a buyer for our house, I know He will provide a house for us to buy.

Another stress during this time is the transition to a new doctor. I LOVE my doctor here and trust him so much. So, leaving and finding a new doctor has been a very scary part of this whole move. However, I have an appt. with a doctor in Lubbock on July 7th. After a shower that my mom helped host she called and said that she had met a lady expecting her third baby and she uses the doctor I have an appt. with and loves him. She also said, "I'm surprised that she got in with him, his practice is full." Once again, I think God is watching out for us!!

So...here's the plan. Brad starts work August 17th in Lubbock (exactly one week before our due date). But, I can't wait that long to go and get established with another doctor, and get everything in Lubbock ready for our little arrival, because she could very well come before then. So, I am moving to Lubbock July 6th - in time for my first doctor's appt. there. And Brad will work in Waco until August 1st, and then move to Lubbock - in time to get there for when I reach "full term." It gets a little tricky because we close on our house July 17th, and Brad won't leave town until Aug. 2nd...so, he is going to either stay with friends or get an extended stay type place for a couple of weeks. It's all a little confusing, but I know everything will work out.

So, that's our plan. I feel like I could go on and on about the emotions I'm feeling, the transitions we're making, the enormity of it all...but right now I need to go to bed as my sister and mom are coming to help me pack tomorrow (YEAH!). More to come...at least that's the plan. :)

All the Cute Things

Baby stuff is too cute! I know I might be a little biased at this point, but baby girl stuff is the best! All of the pink and the lace and the flowers, and it's all so soft. I can not get enough!

Last weekend four of my wonderful friends (Britni and Karen from church, and Katie and Nicole from college) threw me an amazing shower! Mostly girls from our Sunday school class came (which, can I just interject how blessed we are and have been by our Sunday school class the last two years!), along with of course my two best friends from college, my mom and Brad's mom and my sisters. It was so much fun having so many people I loved all together in the same place to celebrate our little girl. I felt so blessed, as did Brad (in a more distant kind of way since he wasn't there), by everyone that was there.

Which brings me to the cute baby girl stuff. You would not believe how adorable all of Baby Barrick's clothes are. She is going to be one adorably dressed little girl. I don't know where the girls found all of these amazing outfits, but she will be styling - no doubt. :) Plus, she is going to have so much fun with all of the little things that she got to play with, chew on, bathe in, etc. And, her mommy is so excited about all of the things I will need to take care of her! She is definitely one well taken care of little girl. So, thank you to everyone who has shared a part in this - we are truly overwhelmed with the amount of love we feel. AND especially to the girls who threw the shower. WOW! Your hard work is so appreciated and it is something I will remember forever!! :) Here are a few pictures from the event...

With the girls from our Sunday school class.

The girls each made me a scrapbook page so later all I have to do is add pictures (they know me too well!). These are two of the super cute pages.

With "Grammy" (Brad's mom) and "Nana" (my mom).

Some of the ADORABLE clothes.

With my sisters and mom.

With the hostesses, behind the yummy cake and food.

Celebrating Two Years

Yesterday, June 2, was our anniversary. It was wonderful: chocolate, gorgeous flowers, yummy dinner, ice cream, and a movie. What could be better?? Well...we agreed going back to Jamaica would be nice, but other than that... :)

The last two years have been the most amazing of my life! I could never have imagined how wonderful marriage could be. I am so in love with the man I married, I feel so blessed. I love the way Brad:

• opens my car doors
• lets me put my cold feet on him to warm them up
• says goodbye to me when he's leaving for work
• offers to go to the store for me
• loves to work hard and get dirty
• is humble
• helps me make dinner and do the dishes
• dreams about the future
• talks to my pregnant belly
• helps me stick to a budget... :)
• lets me decorate the house
• makes me laugh the hardest when I least expect it
• prays with me
• serves people unconditionally
• encourages me and builds me up
• watches romantic comedies with me without complaining :)
• loves being a firefighter and helping people
• seeks out God's will for our family
• loves me unconditionally

I could not have asked for a better two years. Even though the year ahead holds a lot of BIG life changes, knowing that we will do it all together, makes it all seem like one big exciting adventure. I could not do it without him. I am so excited about spending the rest of our lives together!!