and maybe it's time for some peach cobbler

the champeen

just cooking quietly on low....

Last night, my mom picked up on my VERY subtle hints here yesterday and
delivered some peach cobbler. I had a massive helping and now feel
capable of at least 4 and a half more months of pregnancy.
Eva brought ice cream and cookies, and Richy brought an assortment of
candy bars. I might be busy for a while. But no, I don't need any help,
thanks.

This is Leah's new due date. Let's all pray that this is the big day,
because she's getting ornery, threatening people's dessert and whatnot.

I feel good. No contractions yesterday, and just generally at peace.
YAY!

in which i reveal that i still don't have peach cobbler, or any
reasonable hope of gaining some...

R2 got a big boy haircut yesterday... sigh. I think he likes it a lot. He looks in the mirror and dances.

I received this email yesterday from someone I'll call "Leah"...

"I called mom and asked for some peach cobbler. We got it last night...HaHa!"

now, it's probably too far back for you to remember, but a really long long time ago I expressed a desire for peach cobbler... which never materialized... and I would have just sucked it up and saved the pain for Dr Phil, but this email....

I'll update later...

Is everybody back yet from Rita?

UPDATE
Everything looks good! Praise God! I have an additional appt next week to start having this test (fetal fibronectin) that should show if I'm at risk for delivery in the following 2 weeks... whatever. I'll do what they tell me, but the real report I'm listening to is Jesus...

On the way home, my weekly special treat of fast food in the car... Taco Bell today... act in haste repent at leisure, as they say.
The problem with 7 layer burritos: well, first; rice. There's too much rice. I just get a 6 layer. But even then, unless you have a skilled fast food employee like many of my nieces and nephews... there's the glop problem. It should (in a perfect world) be evenly layered ingredients... but nooooo. First, 3 inches of lettuce and beans, then at the very bottom cheese followed by sour cream and "guac". oh , and I guess they count tomatoes as a layer... up with the lettuce/bean combo.
by the time you get to the "guac" layer, you are too ill to finish. It's a sad thing.

sailing right along here in the second half of my pregnancy....


"Week 21 - Twenty-One

Fetal Development:

Your baby is about 7 ½- 8 inches in length and weighs about 10 ½ ounces. Your baby has a lot of amniotic fluid to move around in and your baby can spin, turn and somersault. Your baby is very active! Your baby is able to hear now, so if you talk, read or sing to him or her- your baby can hear you."


If you've ever seen this amazing picture of a tiny hand holding a surgeon's finger... here's the article. This baby was 21 weeks in the picture. WARNING: it's a little bloody and stuff... but the baby is a big kid now and doing fine!
www.bibletopics.com/biblestudy/76.htm

R2 has been walking around the house labeling everything. "Nini's book. Nini's cup. Nini's." I think he learned a lesson this weekend...

Well, it's a blessing, really. For us, anyway. No real damage and it
looks like not a lot of power loss, etc... although Beaumont looks pretty rough. Poor Houston reporters. They keep showing where a lamppost fell down, or a big branch that fell. They wanted a disaster real bad.

Over here at the Nelson house:
mama and bobby and richy are watching the news, (i think they're hoping
this thing will turn around and knock down some trees)
richy II is having some waffles and jelly. Mostly jelly.
Anila is having repeated crises. First she put on an extra pair of
panties and both legs were in one hole around her ankles and she could
hardly walk. Grandma to the rescue. Then she couldn't find her
stroller... There's been 2 or 3 since then but Leah just laughs so I
don't know what's going on in there.
hang on I have to check on Geraldo.
Ok he's ok. The front doors blew right off the Holiday Inn where he was
sleeping in the lobby... dang
Nate: back to the birthing center to gather belongings
Leah and Kai (still in utero) are trying to catch a little shuteye.
easier said than done around here.
and Toby and I are having a quiet morning... watching TV then taking a
little rest.

We're here at Leah and Nate's. Once we found out that it would take us
12-15 hours to get to S-port, plus the fuel issues... we decided not to
go. PRAISE GOD because that area of 59 N is a quagmire now,,, I was
watching the news last night and could not get over my gratefulness to
be in a house... with my family.
Decided not to stay with the Juans once they did a mandatory evac of
Liberty Cty... across the street.

So here we are. Kai is still in a holding pattern, we were all hoping
he would come last night. He is so big now I can see his facial
expressions through Leah's shirt. ;-)
If he comes soon, they can come back here and spend the night at
home... most likely it will be at the birthing center.
We plan to sleep in the hallway, the safest place.

on a philosphical note; when you're packing up to leave and you don't
know if your house will be there when you get back.. it's amazing how
only a few things matter... guess we don't have much, really.
Everything we needed fit in our car.

blogging till the big one comes
jess

the woodlands branch of the fam is headed over there.... it would take
us all day... so I guess we can't go.

re-evaluating our evac plan. it may be more stressful to do the
drive... don't know yet.

We've decided to leave today... even if there's no damage the power
outs, etc... would probably be stressful to me... and I must stay at
peace.
We're going to stay with some friends in Shreveport La. They have a
garage apartment that is so peaceful and it will be very easy to
continue bedrest there. We'll be there until the situation is stable
here.
I feel such peace. God has His hands on us, folks... even in the storm.
He is still God.
There's such panic and fear out there... just try to rise above it. Get
out if you need to, or stay. But get under His wing.

I will still be blogging from my remote location... hopefully everyone
keeps power and we can laugh through this.

Richy has put on his hurricane evacuation shirt and socks. We should be
just fine.

MESSAGE FROM MIKE WALSH

(please forward this email to anyone that is not on this list)

He is leaving for Tyler Texas tomorrow morning at 6am from CTK.

Kerry Kirkwood's church, Trinity Fellowship, has opened their facility

to house any of us. There are showers there, but you would need to
bring

your own bedding.

Mike said he will wait at church 15 minutes in the morning for anyone

who wants to  follow him out. He will have cash for those who need
gas money.

Please call the church tonight if you are interested. 936-756-0063

He suggest that everyone should leave here due to the circumstances.

If you need directions Trinity Fellowship, go to their website...

CORRECTION: 8:41 pm
Mike Walsh did not say that everyone should go...he just wanted to help those who felt they should go have a place to stay and help them get there.

Rita can be turned around to say I Rat.

hmmmmm

and kiss your butt good-bye...

Hurricane Rita is coming right here for Midway Texas. First Pearland,
then Midway. All hope is lost.

Richy's going to town today to buy supplies. Worse case scenario, we
have a LOT of cranapple juice we can drink, and maybe we'll eat
Thumper. (natalie's dog)

Richy and my mom love stuff like this. They don't want anybody to get
hurt, but they really hope some trees fall down and maybe a cow flies
by or something. Richy reads the projected path all the time and says
"yep." that's all... unless I act like I heard him.

IF Rita comes as it looks like she will, Leah will probably have a baby
in a hurricane. She said she was already doing an old-timey birth, she
might as well do it by candlelight. But how will Nate boil water?
That's what husbands do at old-timey births... we'll have to wait and
see.

I have an ultrasound today... really just a cervical ultrasound which
is not very interesting to watch. Except every now and then it
accidentally shows Toby which is a happy thing.

Continue to pray for me... yesterday was a little more of a battle
although we did have victory.

Post away, happy bloggers... I love to come home after an appointment
and have a good conversation already going.

UPDATE 1:12
My appointment went ok. besides the fact that I have to register at the hospital EVERY time including consent forms and hospital bracelet... then wait ... times infinity
then I finally get my u/s.
Well, Toby looks great. He is becoming very abusive of me, however, with kicks that shock me at times. He and R2 are definitely going to the mat ASAP when he arrives.
Today he was doing "the cute show" where he grabs his feet and rubs his head and waves his little fingers at the screen. It's in the blood, folks.
Don't know how my cervix is, doctor has to "read" the report and tell me.
Richy (the 1st) is very good at reading ultrasounds. He always says there's the femur and things at the same time as the tech. Then they ask if he's a doctor. They ask me that when I pronounce medicines correctly. Ahhh, cheap thrills.

Today marks halfway to full term... for the average person. For Leah,
it's just another day.... ho-hum.

Since I'm shooting for 36 weeks, I'm well on the downhill slide.
BUT.... if I go all the way to my due date, it's 20 weeks from today!
Halleraylujah!

"The fetus (TOBY) measures about 5.6
to 6.4 inches from crown to rump and weighs about 9 ounces. Your baby
can hear sounds by now -- your voice, heart and your stomach growling,
as well as sounds outside your body. It will cover its ears with its
hands if a loud sound is made near you, and it may even become
startled and "jump." The baby is moving often, too -- twisting,
turning, wiggling, punching and kicking."

well, folks, I haven't had a contraction in over 3 days... HOORAY!
I have been healed. I am still trying to get my mind around it. Pray
for me for faith and grace to believe what God has done.

Going to church today... still planning on resting most of the time but
I feel good and excited about going and worshipping!

Dreamed about spending a LOT of time in a seafood shop connected to a
convenience store... complete with a fake alligator in the eel tank.
Is this because I ate shrimp last night? I can only guess.

R2 went to Pearland with Bedste today.... I'm bereft. I always am
kicking him out of my room and urging him to go play with his toys and
now I wish he was knocking stuff down in the other room. He'll be back
tomorrow. But today! He'll have adventure with Mercy and Madison and
Graceson but not really Israel. He's pretty one track if you know what
I mean.

and maybe a light-saber fight with Uncle Arberto...

was a very very good day... pray for continued peace and faith.

In the news: the President asked for a bathroom break. This is in the
news. Strange

peaceful today... pray for continued peace for us...

more weird dreams. i don't remember. continuez, amies

and i will hold my belly and laugh gently

starting a new topic as the other has mucho mucho comments...
I went about 16 hours w.o a contraction! Praise Jesus!
Then I had one this morning which was kind of a bummer... but Richy is
having all kinds of revelation from God and so I'm just learning to
rest and trust.

verrry strange pregnancy dreams... A black richy and I are at the
supermarket... and we're frustrated with Chris Rock over the
telethon....

jess here typing briefly....
my appointment was good... my cervix is unchanged which is a praise
report.
now back to laying very still.

ps: what should josh's baby be named? jehu dawkins is back in
circulation....

19 Weeks!

"Your baby is approximately 6 inches/ 15 centimeters long from crown to rump and he
weighs about 8 ounces/ 225 grams. His chest moves up and down to mimic
breathing but he's not taking in air, only amniotic fluid"

Almost halfway to the finish line!
Unclear what fruit or vegetable toby is now the size of.

(Richy transcribes for Jess, also his full name is now TOBIAS PAXTON CLARK, which Tobias means "believing that God is good," and Paxton means "from the town of peace." )

This is not the best time to do a news flash, as most people are
leaving work etc.., I will re-insert this post on Jessica's blog,
Monday.

During our hospital stay 2 nights ago, I felt the Lord spoke to my
spirit several things. The most important was that NOW is the time to
win the battle in prayer over our fourth son's life. That prompted me
into a 24 hr "esther" fast. Immediately, I felt the Lord tell me it is
his will that Toby should live, and that he will bring peace to our
home. ( which has had a cloud of grief over it for the past 6 years )
This peace will mainly be felt in Jessica's life, which will result in
a healing emotionally, and be a platform in which she will minister to
many. His birth will also be followed by a new birthing in our
ministry, which will result in many more people encountering God. So I
believe this is a very spiritual war, because there are a lot of
spiritual things at stake. Praise God in the natural for doctors who
are doing everything they know how, however, we must fight the battle
foremost, in the spirit. Jess and I have noticed a strong spirit of
fear come upon us sometimes when she has contractions. Today, this
happened, and we both felt just gross. We then prayed together, and
recognized the spiritual side of this, and the contractions ceased!
Last Night, a female intercessor was awakened at Midnight with a burden
for us and this baby, and prayed 'till 5am! At the end of this prayer
time, the Lord spoke to her spirit, "It is when fear turns into faith,
that the impossible happens." Folks, we need the impossible! We need
a deposit of faith! I'm not trying to preach, but I am convinced this
child will effect many spiritual things. We live in pivotal times!
These are important days! I covet your continual prayers and acts of
faith! Please consider taking some time within this next week to pray
for this child, let's win this battle now! Jess and I thank everyone
for their prayers and words of encouragement. May God's kingdom be
advanced, - Richy

feeling pretty good today, no real contractions since yesterday
afternoon. Last night Leah and Nate came over bearing gifts.
Books....mmmmmmm
and Mama's peach cobbler. I wish I had some more. (SUBTLE HINT)
then I went to bed and I was waiting until 10:30 to watch Everybody
Loves Raymond and then all the sudden it was 4:30 and the room was
pitch black. Verrrrry mysterious. Similar to all those times I fell
asleep in my parent's bed and woke up upstairs, in my room, in the
morning. I think I must have some mysterious sleep-transport ability.

So I slept great and I feel better today, emotionally. Thanks for the
prayers. Now somebody pray for Josh. What a face!

oh and sometime today a woman named Brandy is going to come and stick
me in the hip with a large needle. I just know it.

toby and I spent the night in the hospital... again... and my baby
daddy stayed too.
Contractions, etc etc... anyway I'm ok now but on more meds and
stricter bedrest.
Ciao

uninspired.... maybe I'll start an advice column. Lets hear it from all
you neurotics or lonely hearts out there.

blah blah bladder full in a dark cold room with insufficient
clothing... and a middle eastern man who doesn't speak pressing VERY
hard on my belly for a long time. Wouldn't be surprised if Toby is now
flat.
But as far as we could tell, everything looks fine. The doctor has to
officially look at it and call me sometime, but he looked good to us.
A lot cuter than Rob's kids, for sure.

I get my big ultrasound today... they'll look at the heart and brains
and all that....
It's at 2 which is really probably 3:30 and then I'll update.
Until then: more of the same.

ARBERTO and his 'stache

"What your baby's up to
Your baby continues to grow rapidly. His bones are continuing the ossification (hardening) process and the pads of the fingers and toes are formed. He even has his own set of fingerprints developing as well. Your baby is approximately 5.5 inches and weighs about 200 grams (7.5 ounces).

Your baby can kick, swallow, and sleep. He also is developing his stomach, intestine and colon and the intestines collect meconium (the initial stool a baby will pass after birth. If the baby is a boy, the prostate will begin to develop this week as well. The skin is still a bit pink and transparent and his ears still stick out from his head. The four-chambered heart begins to build up muscle cells and is pumping between 25 and 30 quarts of blood per day."


* Feeling pretty good... no real contractions for a day or two... and my leg has finally quit hurting from my shot. I'm getting pretty hungry but have yet to motivate the chef to action.
He made spaghetti yesterday, his first solo meal that didn't come in a box. Of course it was very good!

Happy Birthday Bobby! And Tim!

One kind of bummer thing about bedrest is that weekends aren't really
any different.
Now, weekends have always been wierd in my life. When we were youth
pastors, we worked all weekend... Friday night church, Saturdays doing
stuff with youth or (gulp) visitation... and then Sundays ALLLLLLLL
day. So the weekend was kinda Monday. At least that was Richy's day
off.
With Radiant, it's whenever there's a break from Radiant work... Many
times Richy and I have made reference to "last weekend" referring to
Tuesday.
And when you're on the road, there's no weekend. The only thing that
changes is dressing up a little for Sunday services. But you go to
church every day, pretty much.

Despite the variety of weekends, at least there was a day that was
different. Now they all appear the same -- a couple exceptions....
doctor appointments and shots.

Today I had breakfast. And medicine. Now I'm laying in bed. I will make
uncounted treks to the restroom, finish 2 novels, check my blog
obsessively, have lunch, repeat. 6:30 Everybody Loves Raymond.
And I will be kicked repeatedly from the inside and climbed over and
smooched from the outside. R2 is taking great joy in Mommy going
nite-nite all the time. He crawls over me like I'm a playground, and
rubs his syrupy little face and hands on my face. He elbows me in the
belly and laughs when I say "OOh!" He talks rapturous affectionate baby
gibberish. Then he points repeatedly to the TV. Sometimes he disappears
for a long time, and I hear him playing piano with his daddy, or I just
don't hear anything for a long time, and then something big and heavy
falls down and he casually comes back in my room and points at the TV.

This is really on my mind today. Maybe because Richy watched news half
the night, I don't know.
But the refugee situation all around us is just so desperate and sad.
We've been wondering about hosting families.. how you would find them,
how it would work...
http:www/ksbj.org has several links to how you can help, and I know
some of our churches are doing something in the Woodlands tomorrow, I
need to get more details.
What are you going to do? Anybody have any ideas or plans?

Every day I'm reminded that I could have the career of my choice, or
meet ....attractive... singles in my area. I could receive
complimentary golf clubs, and I need to pick up some money that is
waiting for me.
Whoever is supposed to be receiving these emails leads a much more
exciting life than I do. But it is not free of affliction. Because I
could also buy Prozac or (gulp) Viagra at ROCK BOTTOM PRICES. Hmmmm....
and how do they know my name?
JESSICA, pick up your gold and diamonds TODAY...

Medical report: I feel ok. I haven't taken my first pill yet today and
thus have not yet developed the shakes. Richy and Juan are doing some
more stuff today... I have not been advised of the plan.

I may meet a single in my area today, if he comes over to help his dad
with the deck.