A long past due blog!

Hey everyone, as we all know, I have never been good at this blogging thing. I just realized that the last time I updated was in April. Ooops. Sorry. Where to begin?? Lets see. Our little guy Josiah Thomas is due in just about 3 weeks. I am actually praying that he stays in for about 4 1/2 more weeks. I know that is a lot to ask the little one, but that is when his Daddy will be coming home, PRAISE THE LORD! After a ton of praying and believing for Matthew to be here, the Lord once again has proven very faithful to us. When we first found out that we were having a baby, the Navy said "Oh well, that is not our problem." They pretty much said no such chance of him coming home. Well the Navy is not God and God said he had another plan =) So they have changed their minds and he will be flying home on Sept. 8th. One week after Josiah is due. So we are very thankful for that.

Matthew deployed last Friday for his big 6 month deployment. We are so thankful that he gets to come home to celebrate Josiah being born! It will be hard to say goodbye though! I cant imagine how is going to feel saying goodbye to not only me this time, but to his newly born son. He wont be home until Feb. So prayers are need for him to stay safe and stay focused on the Lord while he is away. He has no one to fellowship with while he is out to sea. It is really sad to see how little people believe! He is doing great though, we have 2 1/2 years left, and are praying for some guidance on where to go next! Who knows where the Lord may put our family.

Before Matthew left we decided to take a long over due vacation, or as we liked to call it our Honey/Baby moon. Since we never got to take a honey moon we decided now is the time. So while 31 weeks pregnant, we decided to go to Jamaica! And boy are we glad we did! What a blast! We did lots of fun things while we were there. Some of which I could not take part, that is ok though. We snorkeled and hiked and did all kinds of fun stuff. Something we cant wait to do again, Jamaica is so beautiful! We have also done Disney Land the begining of summer and six flags a few weeks ago. I dont suggest six flags when it is 100 degrees and you are 34 weeks pregnant. Other than you cant ride a single ride, it is just too hot. All in all we have been making the most of the last few months as "Matt and Steph". We are so excited to have Josiah join us soon!

Well I suppose this is a pretty good update. I will for sure be doing this more once our little tyke gets here. I will post when he is born. Thanks for reading! Hope all is well with everyone and your families! Cant wait to hear more about what is new in you alls lives! We love you guys!!!

Josiah Thomas Benton.

As I am sure that all of you know that we found out yesterday that our little one is a boy. A very shy boy =). Everything went great at our appointment, the ultrasound tech. said he is doing great and he is developing in all the ways that he should. We are so thrilled to have a baby boy join our family! Poor Josiah did not like the ultrasound though. He was pretty much in a ball the entire time! We didnt think we would know yesterday what the baby was. He finally lifted his little leg and there is was. A Boy! So I am going to be out numbered by 4 now. Madison and Samson are boys as well. I dont mind a bit though!

Other than that, we are finally almost in our new house all the way, everything is in, just not quite set up (almost though)! Praise the Lord! Once we get everything in order, I will put up some pics. Matthew leaves on Tues. for a little over a week, still no word if there is a chance he will be home when Josiah gets here. We are praying! Madison and Samson are doing great and Samson LOVES the new house; mostly the back yard! We love the house as well and we are finding that our neighbors are all very sweet! So that is a big blessing as well! That is about it for the Benton family update! We hope that everyone has a great Easter!

The new rental.

Matthew and I are so pleased to say that we finally found a house to rent!! We were looking to buy, but looking at 1500 square feet house for 1/2 a million dollars doesnt sound very fun. We found a great rental! It is more than 1300 square feet, but that is like 400 square feet bigger than what we live in now. We already have the keys and can move in anytime! Once we get in and start making it "home" I will put up some pics! It has a huge 2 car garage which is great! And PLENTY of room for BB! It has a living room and a huge family room! Lots of Flowers and we even have an avocado tree. Samson will be very happy because there is a nice bricked in/ fenced in back yard, so he can roam a little! I will put up some pics. as soon as I get some! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Update # 2 on BB!

I hope this post finds everyone doing well! Things here lately have been going pretty well! Matthew finally comes home today, so that is awesome! I had my 2nd appointment yesterday and the Dr. said that BB is doing great and sounds healthy! The only problem that we are running across right now is that I am not gaining weight, I am losing =( We dont know why, my belly is growing, but I have yet to gain a lb. and have lost since my last appointment! I have been eating, Lord knows I have been eating!! And I have not gotten sick for over 3 weeks. She said she is not too worried about it now, but I have to have gained weight by my next appointment! So hopefully I will! I also had the quad test yesterday, which I am not stressing about, but we will find out the results to that soon. Other than that things with BB are going great! I will have more of an update soon! We will know if we are having a Nora Grace or Josiah Thomas on April 8! We are so excited to find out and can hardly wait! I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Baby Benton update.

Hey everyone! We finally had our first prenatal appointment yesterday! What a huge relief! The doctor said that the baby is doing great, but is huge. So I guess he or she is going to be tall like their Daddy! And BB refused to stay still long enough to be measured. We have a little gymnast on our hands. They were having a blast in there. Praise God, Matthew got to be there so that was a huge blessing! It was so great to see our baby for the first time and hear it's tiny heartbeat, together!! We are already in our second trimester, so crazy! So far I seem to be feeling pretty well. Although, I do go numb sometimes and get really bad migraines. And the usual.... Vomiting. But not too bad. Our next appointment will be March 13. And then we will know the sex the first week of April. So that is our BB update.

Matthew left this morning and will not be home until March 14th! It is going to be a long month without him! We are still praying that somehow the Lord will provide a way for him to at least be here for the birth! So if everyone could keep that in your prayers, that would be great! Also prayers for Matthew to be safe and well while he is out to sea. We are sure learning patience through all of this. The military life is a whole nother kind of life. It is crazy how different it really is! But we feel so blessed and know that God will get us through this!

We sure do miss all of you! We hope that you are all doing well! Hope to get to see you soon!

Update from sunny San Diego.

Hey everyone! I know this is way past due! As I have said before I am horrible at this! I dont even know how to add friends blogs to our page!?! Anyway things here have been hectic lately! From the last time I blogged, which I think was JULY?!?! I have quit my nanny job and moved on to an amazing teaching job! It is at a school called The Institute for Effective Education. It is a researched based school for servilely autistic children! I absolutely love it there! I have been there since Sept. We are still loving San Diego, esp. now this last week in JANUARY it has been in the 80's~ so we cant complain too much! Our christmas was great Matthew and I both took vacation for a little over 2 weeks, so that was nice and much needed!!!! We had a low key Christmas, and then for the New Year we decided to take a little road trip to Las Vegas. It is just shy of 5 hours from our house. We had a blast in Vegas. Needless to say we did not come back Millionaires! But we did come back with some great memories!! Matthew is still of course in the Navy and waiting for some guidance from the Lord! We have no clue where we are supposed to be right now. This has been weighing down on him for so long now and it has him completely stressed! We also got a huge surprise, as I am sure most of you know by now we found out on the 4th of this month, we are having our fisrt baby. Due Sept. 1st! We were both surprised but so very happy!! We could use prayers for a healthy fast heartbeat at our first appointment! We could also use prayers that some how Matthew could be here when the baby joins us! He is due to be deployed at the end of July and return either Jan. or Feb. of 2010. So he will miss from birth until the baby is 4 or 5 months old =(! On another note, Madison and Samson are doing well! Both are still loving to sleep! We tried the dog park with Samson and he laid under Matthew's feet the entire time! He was having non of it! Gosh we wish we could be back in Charleston we talk about how much we miss it and all of you!! Sorry this is so past due!!! We will keep you updated on BB aka Baby Benton. Our first appoinment is set for Feb. 17, but I am trying to find a new Dr. Because that appointmen will be passed my 12 week mark and of course I do not want to wait that long! I will keep you all posted. Oh I guess it would be nice of me to tell you how far along we are, we are 8 weeks today! Please just send your prayers and thoughts this way! I am nervous and esp. since there is a chance Matthew will miss it all! We have already had to make a trip to the ER. But thank goodness the baby and I are both fine. Anyway, we miss you all and cant wait to see you guys again!!!! Love you guys!

News from San Diego...

Hey everyone! I know I am terrible at this blogging and keeping you all up dated! Everything in San Diego has been a little crazy lately! We recently had to rush the little man, Samson to the pet ER for swallowing a sewing need and thread. It was a very long night that started at 8 p.m. and ended after 4 a.m. the next day, that was when we left the hospital. Needless to say, Samson did not get to come home until 10:30 the next night. He had surgery to remove the needle and they also removed his spleen, just because it was abnormal. But he is alive and well and feeling much better!! Matthew and I are still a little sick though, just because of the pretty $2600 he cost us that night =)! But we love him!

I am so as most of you know we have finally found a church that we love and are finally making some non Navy friends, which is a major blessing!! The church is just starting and it is great to see the Lord bringing new people every Sunday! Matthew even plays the drums for the worship service! He loves it because he never gets to play. We live in a condo surrounded by babies so needless to say, he is loves being able to play at church!! We have also found a small group, which is good! Even though we still miss our small group from Charleston and nobody can replace that!!!

A couple of nights ago we went to a John Mayer concert. Matthew won tickets and we even got to go to a VIP show before the concert. It was a lot of fun! Something we both needed! Other than that, we have been trying to make our way around San Diego, but it seems like we think we have seen it all and then you find a new place. This place is too big! We have been going to the Zoo a lot! We have a great Zoo, and it is huge! If even in the San Diego area, the Zoo is a must stop! We have recently gone hiking and that was a lot of fun too! This weekend we are planning to do something really special for the whole weekend, we dont know yet. But I will post a blog after.