Dreams

I have heard people say that during pregnancy, dreams get weird. This freaked me out, because normally my dreams are fairly strange.
Well...They have started. The last three nights have been nuts. I told someone yesterday that I wake up exhausted because I am living adventures all night long.

Short review...Last night I was kidnapped by two men trying to make money off of returning me, but then ended up in the Alps, rescued by an animal who told me to zip-line across a river (by holding onto a chain), found a lantern, and then the fairies helped me by leading me through a secret garden filled with "dwarfs" (like the 7) who watched over me till I ended up in the Gap (yes, the clothing store) where I worked folding clothes by the pool at my childhood home where I kept watch for the Tiger that then attacked my brother in my parents room. I woke up as Josh was slaying the tiger with a knife...a steak knife...it was a rough fight.

aannnnnddddd.....Good Morning!
Any of you ladies have crazy dreams while pregnant?!



In better dreams news, Andrew and I have been reading through the Bible this year. We have just a few chapters left of the Old Testament, but just wrapped the New.
This imagery from Revelation 22 is way more up my alley when thinking of things to dream about!

"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God ill be their light, and they will reign forever and ever."

Amen.

Have a blessed day today, friends!
S

The family portrait

Many of you know at least one or two members of my family, and I am sure, by now,  you feel like you know Fred and Charlie...unless you are a new follower.  I am going to let you in on a secret. Although I am a photographer, by education and even trade, we do not do well family photos.
Almost all the photos I have of me and Andrew are pics we have taken of ourselves...holding the camera. When it comes to the "whole" Welker side of the family there is always some big ordeal. It is quite humorous in retrospect. The kids are nuts, Josh doesn't love posing in the pictures, mom has to look great, and make sure that dad looks great and even though we will all be in the same place for like 5 days, we have to SCHEDULE the time that we are going to take the pic.
Last Christmas there was a beautiful snow and the air was hazy and we all went outside and ended up with these really beautiful photos...which were used for this years Welker Christmas card...yes, the photo was a year old.
This Christmas I laughed because I just wanted to take a photo of the family. We will all be together in August and there will be a new addition to the photo, so these pics...they are just for fun. Well, when I saw how they turned out, I about died with laughter. If you know my family I think you will be able to tell exactly what was going on in these but in the case you don't, I will caption them. I will show you in the order they were taken in. I hope you at least laugh a little...and I would love to hear about what happens when your family gets together and wants to take a pic!

Fred, in a good mood, ready to roll!

Charlie, hair did...lookin fly...ready!

Dad...cracking my mom up...ready and in place first while I do light check and the kids get prepped.
This may be my favorite pic of my mom...ever.

Dad...being awesome.

This is my favorite. Mom and dad are serious. Andrew in place.  Michelle is making sure Charlie is good to go, Josh holding Fred while he has a breakdown about having to put his truck down.

All in..everyone smiles...dad not quite ready and Fred is mad.

Better...Fred still mad.

Imagine everyone saying, "Fred, come on...just one pic!"

Notice Fred's face here...This is in response to me first saying, "do I have to put you under my feet to get  you to smile?" no smile.
"then I will bring you over here, sit on you and put you under my booty."
Booty...Gets em every time. 

almost.

lets try another way.

KIDS! LOOK UP!

oh wait...a ragdoll...(Which I think is hilarious!)

Freds Almost smile. Charlie getting bored.

And...Josh was sniffing Michelle right before this one...which made her crack up...
But it was as good as we were gonna get!
MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERY BODY! 

Watch It Wednesday

Often, almost weekly, I come across a video that just needs to be shared. I watched one on Monday night and I cried. I laughed so hard. I decided to make Wednesdays "watch it wednesdays". So here is your first one!


Alana, Age 6, Best Beauty Pageant Kid, Ever - Watch More Funny Videos
While I watched and laughed, Andrew watched on and commented, "This is my fear."

Have a great day!

Birthday Dinner Menu

For Andrew's b-day dinner gathering, we went with Italian. I love Italian food as much as the next person, but I love the fresh, light dishes much more than the heavy cream sauces.  We chose a penne pasta with a vodka sauce for one dish and the other was chicken scampi. I like Olive Garden's scampi, but it is usually a pit to oily and buttery for me. I found this recipe and it was delish! Like, maybe it was my favorite thing I have ever made.
It takes a bit of time, but if you like this kind of dish, it is totally worth the work.

So here is the recipe.  You can also find the recipe here.  I made a few slight changes.
It easily makes food for 4.

WHITE SAUCE

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3/4 cup milk , hot

SCAMPI SAUCE

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons fresh garlic , crushed
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tablespoon dried cilantro (optional)
• 2 teaspoons italian seasoning
• black pepper
• 3/4 cup white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth

REMAINING INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 lb angel hair pasta , cooked and drained
• 1 green and one red pepper , thinly sliced
• 1 red onion , thinly sliced
• 10 garlic cloves , roasted
• 2 chicken breasts , sliced
• olive oil

Directions:

1. For white sauce: Heat 1 tablespoons butter in sauce pan, add 2 tablespoons flour and cook for 2 minutes on med. heat. heat stirring constantly. slowly add 3/4 cup hot milk (hot so it won't get lumpy). Set aside. (Make sure that the white sauce is hot when adding to the scampi sauce). I had problems getting the lumps out, so I put the whole sauce in the Magic bullett and processed it, it was AMAZINGLY SMOOTH! 
2. For scampi sauce: Heat butter over low heat. add the garlic, Italian seasoning, crushed red pepper and black pepper. cook for about 2 minutes on low heat. add the wine and chicken broth. stir until combined. (I simmered for about 30-40 minutes). add 1/4 cup white sauce and cook till slightly thickened. Again, I had lumps so it went back in the magic bullet. 
3. ROASTED GARLIC: peel all the outside peel/paper off the head of garlic. cut at the point for an easy release of each clove. rub the opening with a little evoo. wrap in foil. bake on 400 for 30-35 minutes. when the garlic has cooled to the touch you should be able to squeeze it out of the 'paper' shell of the individual cloves.
4. In a large skillet, saute chicken in a little olive till nearly done. add the peppers and onions, saute till chicken is done. add the sauce. saute until everything is warmed. add roasted garlic cloves. serve over pasta.

1. The Pasta will have a nice thin coat of sauce...and it is so good!
   
   

We also had::
 a Caprese - fresh roma tomatoes, fresh Mozzerella, and Basil with a little EVOO and some sea salt.
Bread and dipping sauce
an olive tray with different olives
two green salads


And btw, Italian is the way to go, because leftovers are AWESOME! 


have a great day!

Read more: http://www.food.com/recipe/olive-garden-chicken-scampi-yummy-copycat-179336#ixzz1kJRQRrle

I've said it before...I will say it again.

When we met, I never imagined that he would want to marry me.

I admired his love for people, his constant encouragement of everyone he spoke to, and the way he never says a negative thing about anyone. 

I admired his kind heart his desire to be like Jesus. 

I loved being led in worship by him, and worshiping with him!

 The moment he asked me out, I knew he was my prince charming. Before he asked me out...I wanted to marry him.  Some people don't believe in fairy tales. I am living in one. My best friend, the love of my life, is who I get to spend every day with.

He constantly sweeps me off my feet. 

He makes me laugh so hard. We have so much fun together.

He makes me feel beautiful and he tells me I am every day. He encourages me, constantly, to be better. He values me and shows me that he does through word and action. 

 He has never gotten angry or frustrated with me and constantly works to make sure we are communicating clearly. He is patient and kind.

 He leads us in ways that are GOOD. He prays constantly for me and for our growing child. He prays with me, that we will be God honoring with our lives and our marriage. He prays for his friends. I completely trust him with every important decision. He is wise. He is prayerful.

He is my best friend in the whole world and each day we say so. 

I love and respect this man more than words could really say. 

Before Andrew, I didn't really want to have kids. Once I was with him I realized that no matter how we came about having kids, it would be near criminal for Andrew to exist without some kid having him as a daddy. He already is an amazing uncle and I can't wait for our baby to KNOW him! 

Hey baby, get ready, you have the best daddy. He tells me every day that I am doing a great job making you, and tells you every day that you are doing a great job "growing in there". Every day he tells you he loves you and prays over you. 

If you are a boy, you have so much to learn about being a man. 

Just watch your dad as he loves us and take notes. He is the best man I know. 

If you are a girl, watch how he treats me, loves me, and shows me he loves me. Watch how he loves you and never settle for ANYTHING less than what you see. 

 Andrew, On your birthday, I hope these words aren't new. I do my best to let you know how much I love and respect you on a daily basis. I know that life without you would be just okay and with you it is absolutely better than anything I could imagine. I truly thank the Lord everyday for allowing us to be married and to serve together. I am so thankful for you! I love you.

Happy 30th Birthday, my Love!

Sarah

Blogs? really?

More sweet tears have been shed over your congratulations, encouragements, texts, tweets, and facebooks...AND BLOGS! I had two friends write about hearing the news.

theorangelens.tumblr.com/
http://amyliveslife.blogspot.com/

As I read Amy and Alessandra's posts I just felt more blessed that I could have imagined.
Tears. Sweet, sweet tears.

I love you friends. Thank you so much for your support and excitement.
I am more excited than anything that the Lord is getting so much glorification for this miracle!
I couldn't have asked for anything else.


This is the video we shot to tell the student at Highland Park UMC. They do these every week with each life group leader...this was mine.

The post that took me 5 years to write.

This is actually one of the hardest posts I have ever written.

In my time of blogging, I have been very open about my life. I have shared lots of thoughts about not being able to have kids. I have written a lot about the faithfulness of the Lord, my marriage, and our ministry.

I have written about how much I love my friend's children, my nephews, and how I do love to hear about my friends pregnancies and I rejoice with them. All that is true, although sometimes it has been hard. I have been honest about that. 

I have also been adamant about how I know that the Lord is GOOD. 

 I have preached this more times than I could count;

From Ephesians 3,

"²⁰ Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, ²¹ to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

I believe this with all that is within me...HE WILL DO MORE THAN WE COULD ASK OR IMAGINE. Glory to God.

So the thing is...He has done more than we could imagine.
this post is my first from the other side.

Andrew and I are going to have a baby.

Baby Beard is Due June 21st.

Seeing that line on that pregnancy test stunned us to silence. We stood there, then we hugged, and then immediately Andrew prayed a beautiful prayer of thanksgiving. I mean, what else can you do!?

It is the most exciting, joyful, un-believable, blessing I could imagine. 

Breaking the news has been more fun than ever because there were so many amazing friends and family praying fervently for us. So many that we didn't even know. There have been so, so many joyful tears. Even now as I write this I am crying. It is just an unbelievable miracle.

This is the most precious photo of my grandmother finding out. Before this, the last time we spoke, I told her that I didn't think that Andrew and I would be able to have kids...

She opened the picture of the sonogram.

Okay... and here is a pic of the baby's face.

This is the picture she was holding.

We already love it more than we could imagine.
GLORY TO GOD!

Thank you for being a part of our journey!