Snoooooow, snoooooow, snoooooooooooooow.......

So this is how I feel about snow the first time it hits (I don't know how to make it show the video automatically so click on the link folks!!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQ9cxfumEOo

Everyone loves that first storm.  So fresh, powdery, lovely, and magical looking. That feeling lasts for all about 15 seconds for me.  When I see snow first thing in the morning, or even on the radar, I get a pit in my stomach. I get anxious. I get agitated. I get angry.  It's almost like the steps of grief. 

I seriously think of Ned Stark from Game of Thrones saying, "Brace yourself." I know this is a very old joke at this point but it's truuuuuuue!!! Ask Matt.  I see snow on the forecast and I literally start a plan of attack on how to best combat the beast and ensure that the horses are well cared for.  This past storm definitely put me in a slight pickle.  Cold. Then warm. Then regular rain. Still warm. That turns into sleeting rain because it's starting to get cold. Then sleeting rain that turns into snow because the temperature drops literally 25-30 degrees in a 24 hour period.  Then snoooooooow. We got 6 inches in 6 hours, which I know people who are used to being in massive amounts of snow will respond with "quite your belly aching!"  But I'm sorry, that's a lot of snow! And WET snow. Here is my list of horrible badness when it comes to wintry conditions:

1. Freezing rain on top of melted then refrozen snow. It was like a frickin' slip in slide ice rink getting out to feed the horses.  And it's not a short walk. Especially when you have to take baby steps. And avoid tripping over wild snow puppies.
2. Freezing rain full stop. I. Hate. It. Especially when it's windy. Yuck.
3. Plummeting temperatures with freezing cold wind to make the wind chill literally 20 degrees colder.
4. Snow. Any kind. Any amount (well, except for a dusting, that doesn't hurt anything).

This is what I look like when I come in from being outside.....

To be fair, this is how Matt looks half the time too since he's really picked up the slack in helping me with having so much snow and ice. 

Now I know what almost any and every one of you are saying to me right now.  But YOU  wanted to have YOUR horses at HOME so YOU  can take care of them. IT'S YOUR FAULT!!!!. 

I agree. Seriously I do. I know I brought this upon myself.  That doesn't mean I can't hate it every now and then.  Look here's the deal.  If just one of these factors were at play, it would be NO BIG DEAL at all. Seriously.  But the fact that:

1. This has been a horrific February
2. We don't have a full barn up (by NO ONE'S fault.  It just wasn't feasible to get that up before the bad weather set in with out spending an absolute fortune).
3. First winter having the original 4
4. Getting Rui right before the winter set in and sadly having some herd integration issues (poor guy is all alone most of the time because the older guys don't really like him. The girls, however, love him.) I am so incredibly thankful that he is SUCH an AMAZING baby!!! He doesn't act like a coming 2 year old 95% of the time.  And he's learned that he can be a wild baby when he's been turned out for run around time-it's hilarious to watch. And terrifying. All I can think some of the time is "I REALLY REALLY REALLY hope he doesn't do that with me on his back in 2 years. 'Cause I will be T.O.A.S.T." He's pretty level-headed so I have good faith that he will be a perfect gentleman when it comes to that point.
5. And being knocked up. Yea I said it.

With all of these factors, winter has been tough.  I know that slogging through this winter will make me that much more grateful when the barn is up! And although my pregnancy has been pretty easy for the most part, I've started to pop out like a turkey thermometer within the last few weeks.  Apparently, that makes doing things (mobile, needing to be flexible outside while wearing 4 layers of snow gear kinds of things) a little more difficult.  Thank to the Lord that I didn't start popping sooner and that I made it 6 months before I actually had a belly to contend with. And apparently people think it's a small belly, but I'm feeling like small is a relative term these days....

At the end of the day, when I'm snuggled warm in my bed, feeling Critter kickin' around, I know I'm blessed.  Horses are healthy, safe, and warm despite the awful weather.  I am healthy, safe, and warm-no worse for wear for having to work a little harder to take care of the animals I love so very much. My husband is an absolute angel and saint for helping me without complaint (most of the time) and all he wants in return is a warm dinner (and maybe some lovin' but that's a different story!!).   I know I can sound ungrateful when it's 10 degrees outside and I have to trudge out to feed.  But it could be worse, I could not have them at all which would be heartbreaking.

Regardless, this is me when spring hits:

And this....

And this.....

Ok, I may have digressed some. But you get the point.

Alright, one last crack at this.....

So I'm hitting a pretty good record at the moment of writing on this thing every six months.  And I know every time I end it with "I'll try harder!" "I'll get better updating" " Next one will have more pictures!" Well, this time it may actually happen since the best and biggest adventure of our life is about to begin!


I purposely named this blog "Blessed Be:" for several reasons, but the biggest one is that Matt and I are incredibly blessed by the Lord.   Blessings come in all shapes and sizes and they aren't necessarily "good" things-there are times that something that is painful or difficult and it can be a blessing. We can find the Lord and His goodness through our heartbreak and struggle.


Happily, we are not seeing the Lord and His blessings through sadness and difficult circumstances. He once again is blessing us with goodness and faithfulness.  That's right folks, there is a baby a coming! Now, between Matt and me, he is the one who is ecstatic and so excited for it all. Me, not so much.


This is a situation where I see that we are fortunate, blessed, and incredibly lucky. We know other couples who have tried to get pregnant for years; they used all the fertility treatments available and tried and tried and tried everything they could to have a baby. For some, it worked after a while and they have bouncing babies in their lives.  For some, it didn't take but they became parents through adoption and are also terribly happy in their lives. I think the Lord knew I would lose my resolve if we had to try for years and go through lots of turmoil to have baby M, aka, Critter.


I was never one that felt I HAD to pass on my genes. I always knew I wanted to have kids, but I didn't care that they came FROM me. Since I was a teenager I have wanted to adopt, so that was my preferred method of parenthood. Matt hadn't really thought about adoption until we went through pre-marital counseling and it's been something that we've had to keep on the table of discussion ever since.  A few years ago we started to really amp up the discussions because we had said that between years 4 and 6 of marriage we would start thinking about kids. If adoption was our route we needed to get on the ball because, as may people know, it can take a while.  We were also still in Cyprus at the time so we had some logistics to think about, for both adoption and biological kids.


So after much discussion, between us and some others on the topic, we decided to try to have one biological child to kick things off.  Kind of a "let's see where this goes" sort of situation.  This took a little longer than I thought it would but you know what, moving internationally, looking for cars, house, and a job, can be kind of stressful.  Just adjusting to being back was stressful. According to some research, stress can play a big factor in the baby making realm. However, I myself was CRAZY stressed when Critter happened so I dunno. I always say that if the Lord wants you pregnant there isn't ANYTHING that can stop it from happening.


Anyhew, it's been a few months since we've known about it all. We're coming up to 25 weeks, which for those who aren't sure how many months that calculates at, is 6 months. Yes. 6 out of 9 (10) months.  So we're at a point where if we were to find out what the gender is we'd already know, which we don't. Hence the nickname of Critter (partly).  People get mad when you call your baby "it" for some reason.  Critter is my term of endearment for the baby and most people are on board with it-Matt's ok with it and actually calls the baby it as well. 


So with all these new changes that have happened and are coming, I will be updating a bit more. I figure this is going to be a great outlet for me to be honest and real about what is going on. It's never been a secret that pregnancy hasn't been something that I wanted to experience. And it's also no secret that I don't really like babies. So this is proving to be an interesting endeavor.


Speaking of endeavors, we have a few other major changes that have occurred in our home.  In typical Lynsey fashion, I will bullet point what's been going on.

• The horses arrived late September and settled in quickly and beautifully.  They loved the grass, when we would let them eat it.  I think Rusty and Cheyenne remember being here before and are reveling in the humidity and greenery again.  Rusty has also loved going back to our old stomping grounds of Greenwell state park.
• We FINALLY got a puppy!!! His name is Samson and he ridiculously cute! Having another Aussie has been challenging at times but awesome-Joey is loving having a wild buddy to run and play with.  It'll be so fun to see how he grows and how he loves Critter-we already know he loves kids and babies so score!
• I bought a new horse. He is also amazing and the sweetest! He reminds me of Harley in a lot of ways which makes me terribly happy and sad at the same time. With Critter on the way we (really I, Matt was supportive of whatever path I decided to take with my new horse) decided that getting something young, unstarted, and totally fresh may be the best way to go.  And Rui is all of those things.  He is coming 2 in May which means I have 1.5-2 years before I plan to start him which gives me plenty of time with Critter before I HAVE to get on him. He's been the best baby so far and is the quickest learner.  He comes from great Lusitano bloodlines and I have high hopes he will be my long term dressage horse. He will definitely be the focus of many posts in the future, much like Harley was.
• Sis had her baby, Vivian, in October and it's been wild watching them be parents and love this little girl. My parents are LOVING being grandparents and I'm excited that our kids will be very close in age. 
• Matt's brother and sister in law are 6 weeks ahead of us in pregnancy so twins having babies close in age will be great fun as well!

That's all for now. Stay tuned for more posts that are guaranteed to be very thought provoking. They'll more likely be rantings. This is me we're talking about