When we found out

Thank you all so incredibly much for your sweet and thoughtful words in my previous post. Your kindness has filled and encouraged our hearts, and we truly appreciate your coming alongside us in this miraculous journey. God continues to overwhelm us with His grace during this season, and I do hope you'll patiently indulge me as I step back in time to the day we found out:

Sunday, February 3, 2013

My period had yet to visit by nearly two weeks now, and I was nervous that I could be, er, with child, but fearful that I could be wrong (we had been praying about having kids, and were open to the possibility). I almost didn't want to check. After taking a shower, I tore open the box of home pregnancy tests, and with shaking hands, prayed that I would rejoice in the Lord's will, no matter if I were pregnant or not. I read the directions twice (just to ensure I wouldn't mess up), awkwardly peed on the stick, clumsily snapped the cap back on, and watched the digital screen blink with an hourglass, as my heart thumped twice as fast as normal. Less than 20 seconds later, the word "PREGNANT" materialized, bold and unmistakable. My heart nearly stopped.

The husband was reading in the bedroom and obliviously waiting for me to finish getting ready so that we could head over to my mama-in-law's house to catch the latest episode of Downton Abbey (We don't have television, and since Downton is the only show we care to catch on real time, we customarily end up at my mama-in-law's for it on Sunday nights). It wasn't the right time to tell him when his mind was occupied with what Lord Grantham's next decisions could be, and I needed to process the news myself. After watching the Crawley family's latest shenanigans, we went home. We got ready for bed, did our devotionals, and talked a bit, before the husband started drifting off to sleep.

He falls asleep so hastily that I knew I had to tell him before he knocked out like a log. "My love?" I said, staring him in the eyes with a faint smile. "Hm?" he replied sleepily. "You're going to be a daddy." I said. His eyes widened. "What?" he gasped after a beat, as if trying to comprehend what I just said. "You're pregnant?" he asked slowly, in absolute wonder. I nodded, tears filling my eyes. "Jean Valjean Hong?" he uttered with amazement. And we burst out laughing (he had been saying that he would name our future son Jean Valjean ever since we watched Les Mis onstage). I started crying, and he said, "We have to pray. Let's pray for this little child and thank the Lord."

A time of new beginnings

It's true - we are going to be a family of three! It still feels surreal that God would bless us in this way - that there is actually a wee human being growing inside of me. He is so kind to entrust a little one to us. We are thrilled but nervous at the same time. If you pray, won't you please pray with us - that the Lord would keep this baby healthy as it grows, and that he/she would ultimately be used for God's glory?  Any advice from you lovely mamas is welcome, too!

Oh, and many thanks to dear and talented friend Ruby for taking our pregnancy announcement photos for us, which I hope is a comprehensible play on the theme of our wedding/this blog. We took the pictures when I was 14 weeks, though I am 15 weeks now. It is all going by so speedily, though I have to confess that I am so glad the first trimester is over!

Chocolate frogs and pepper imps

Patronizing Honeydukes was a sweet finale to our stopover at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. Oogling at the bounty of wizarding candy tempted us to tout home with us Chocolate Frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans. And perhaps even Pepper Imps and Fudge Flies, all as sweet remnants of a magical place that exceeded our imaginations. "Do you feel at home here with your nerdy brethren?" the husband asked. Most definitely, m'dear. And though we are not Orlando residents, we are all ajitter with excitement to be able to visit the Wizarding World of Harry Potter's Hollywood counterpart this time next year.

In case you missed prior posts on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter:
+ Hogwarts Express and Hogwarts
+ Hogsmeade
+ Owl Post & Ollivander's

Owl post and wands

Aren't the haphazardly piled parcels inside the Owl Post so charming? Ollivander's was legit too. So much so that we were nearly about to cough up $66 for a pair of plastic wands. Then we decided we wouldn't know what to do with them when we got home, so we settled for cheesy snapshots of ourselves in Gryffindor robes instead.

In case you missed prior posts on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter:
+ Hogwarts Express and Hogwarts
+ Hogsmeade

The most magical village

Adjacent to Hogwarts is captivating wizarding village Hogsmeade, where we dilly dallied away the majority of our time at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. How could we not, with the array of oogle-worthy store displays and barrels of butterbeer just sitting in the middle of the thoroughfare? After we ate pretty decent British fare at The Three Broomsticks, I drank in all of Hogsmeade's details that were painstakingly aligned to those described in the books (Quirky tricks at Zonko's! Wizarding wear at Gladrags! Published works by Gilderoy Lockhart!), while the husband happily guzzled down two frothy mugs of butterbeer - frozen butterscotch-tasting ice cream float goodness. It was jolly grand fun to poke around inside the stores too, but that shall surface in a future post.

In case you missed the prior post on the Wizarding World of Harry Potter:
+ Hogwarts Express and Hogwarts

The day Hogwarts became real

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter was indubitably one of the highlights from our whirlwind sojourn in the sunshine state. I had been itching to pay a visit ever since I discovered in 2007 within my college dorm room that they were opening in Orlando, and golly molly, it was absolutely as brilliant as I had imagined. I was one of those nerds who bought each book the first day it was released at 6:30 in the morning, spent all day and night reading it until I finished, and secretly wished that world were real. As we traipsed around Hogwarts and Hogsmeade that day, I kept blurting out unabashedly, "All my dreams have come true!" I snapped so many photos that I shall share more in subsequent posts, but I must divulge that the ride within Hogwarts is the best theme park attraction (and most technologically advanced ride) I've ever experienced - an amalgamation between a roller coaster, 3D simulation, and legit magic that transports you into scenes within and around Hogwarts. I am still in awe of the creativity God has bestowed upon people to conjure up an amazing literary series-turned-theme park and movie phenomenon.

Back from a much-needed respite

Hello, friendly folks! It's been a while since a post has materialized on this little blog, for life has been a veritable hullabaloo of late. Perfect timing that God blessed us with a vacation last week! We crossed the country over to sun-drenched Orlando for some R&R, primarily for this amazing biannual conference, and, to fulfill my 6-year longing, this epic place. It was such a relaxing respite that I kind of wish we were still on our Floridian jaunt. Hope all has been well in your neck of woods, and that you're all enjoying some pure Vitamin D in lovely springtime weather!

Full of hope

Hope you had a lovely Easter weekend, all! What a blessed hope that we have in the resurrection - because Christ is alive, there is everlasting hope, the glorious gospel is true, and our faith is not in vain. How often I simply glaze over such a sweet truth in the daily hullabaloo of life! I am thankful for a weekend to remember God's kindness to us through Christ's death and resurrection on the cross that changed the world and our eternal destiny forevermore. We celebrated Resurrection Sunday with our church family in the morningtide, and then in the evening with dear friends at a legendary seafood feast and a munchkin Easter egg hunt in which the husband wished big people could've participated. It was a peachy weekend, indeed.