Much has happened

Yikes! It has been a year since I updated my blog. Oops. Anyway, much has happened since the last time I wrote. We have come a long way on our house, finishing our frontroom, guest bathroom, dining room, attic/recording studio, and now we're drywalling in the kitchen. But all that is ho-hum compared to the biggest news of all... we are pregnant! Well, mostly me. But you know what I mean.

You are probably going to to ask me, "Were you trying?" The answer is no, maybe even 'heck no'. But we seem to have succeeded none the less. To say we were shocked would be a gross understatement. When that little plus sign appeared I yelled "JOSH!! Come here, you're not going to believe this!!" In the past almost 6 years of being married I had taken about 8 pregnancy tests, each time CONVINCED I was with child. But this time I really didn't think so. To be honest, the only reason I took the test was because I was a little later than normal, and we were going to a wedding reception that night where there would be champagne, and I wanted to make sure I could have some. That was honestly my only reason for taking a test. For the first time ever, I was so casual about taking it. Not nervous at all. But when the test turned positive I cried like a baby. I think I remember sobbing into Josh's shirt something like, "This sucks." But litterly 30 seconds later the Lord started changing my heart and I became increasingly excited as I imagined the prospect of having a child, of being a mom, of seeing Josh as a dad. Suddenly all the fear and whatifs were drowned with excitement (although I do have my mild panic attacks here and there).

The day we found out was December 11, 2009. Now we are settled into February and I am 14 weeks along. We have come to realize just how much better of a planner God is than we are. If it were left up to us, who knows when we would have finally decided to have kids. But God knew now was the right time. Really, it couldn't be better.

So, please please pray for Josh and I, and for the health of the baby. Josh is pretty cool and collected about all of this, but I do have my waves of freak out hit me once in a while when I start thinking about the pain of delivery, the stink of diapers, the loss of sleep, and all in all, the drastic change this will make in our lives. All of this of course is trumped by excitement to meet and raise the little bugger, but still, do pray for me if you would.

That's it for now. Until something else cool happens (probably our trip to AZ in March and then the 20 week ultrasound when we find out the gender)! Much love! -Cynthia

(A horror novel I've been reading)

New happenings with the Paaps

Ok Ok it's been a while. But here are the updates...

We are remodeling the house like CRAZY. All of our spare time is spent renovating and we love it! We finished putting up the backsplash tiles and new countertop in the kitchen and have moved on to the frontroom. Josh cut molding for baseboards in the frontroom and it made such a big difference! I have been painting the frontroom by myself so it is taking forever... but I will be done this week, and then next week I am refinishing our hardwood floors - by myself! I am excited to take on a new challenge. If it turns out looking terrible we can get them done professionaly... but I had to at least try to do it myself.

Josh has been doing well with recruiting and as a side note he is just wonderful! It is a roller coaster ride in recruiting, but right now we are coasting and doing well. I have been recording here and there and still hope to have a new CD by the end of Spring. We are putting part of our tax return towards a nicer CD layout this time which will hopefully include lyrics. I can't wait!

My sister Cristin is flying in the 27th of this month and staying for a few days. I am so excited to see her I can't even stand it!

So that's it for now... more pictures soon to come.

PS - Sorry about the Cardinals :(

Superman

I don't have a mountain to shout from so I am turning to this blog.

When I look at Josh a few words come to mind.

Wow!

How?

Superman

Wow, because he worked 12 hours at the office today, then as soon as he got home he changed out of his uniform into sweats and spent the next 2 hours hauling old carpets, appliances, and wood scraps back and forth from the basement to the dumpster. (The previous tenants of our home left a lot of JUNK in our basement). And I thought I deserved to be tired and lazy because I did a load of laundry and mopped the kitchen today.

How, because how on earth could anyone come home after such a long and tiring day at work and still have energy or motivation to do these things? How could you want to do anything but vegitate on the couch watching Law and Order: SVU?

Superman, because that's the only explanation I can come up with when I see how he is always go, go, go - until the last drop of his strength runs out. After he works his butt of, he doesn't even say, "See what I did?" He just comes back in the house, and enjoys his last half hour before bed relaxing.

I try telling him how wonderful he is but I just can't fully convey it.

I don't think he understands what a gift he is to me and everyone around him, or how much I appreciate him. I also have trouble letting God know how thankful I am to Him, for orchestrating all of the events that led to Josh and I meeting and for giving me such an easy road thus far.

Back from the cruise

Well we are home now from the family cruise we took to celebrate my mom's 50th Birthday. It was awesome... except Josh and I came in contact with the flu on the flight to California, and we were both sick the entire cruise. We still had fun, but just had to do it with a box of tissues and Benadril.

I hadn't seen my parents or my sister for almost 9 months. I was shocked to see how much weight they had lost. Especially my mom. When I saw her for the first time I actually broke into tears! I was so floored! She was wearing cute jeans and a little purple shirt and she looked hot! I had not seen any pictures so it was a big adjustment for me to get used to her!

The food on the ship was rediculously good and I am still trying to get used to cooking and cleaning up after myself since returning home. We were spoiled.

Josh and I took pictures out on the ship in my wedding dress that my mother in law made into a new dress. So check those out! ;)

Anyway, now that we are home and the summe has cooled off, we are back in business with remodeling our home. Josh's dad Larry will be here in a couple weeks to help us with some electrical and drywall. Also they will be installing our new countertops. We have also picked out the wood flooring for our kitchen and dining room, and at the very latest we should have those installed by Spring... but hopefully sooner! I'll post pictures of the renovations once they are done. Anyway, enjoy the pics from the cruise!

Adjusting

Hello there friends, family, and "framily" (friends who are basically family)!

As you may or may not know, Josh and I have recently moved from Nebraska to Pennsylvania where Josh is now a recruiter for the Air Force. We have become more comfortable but still find ourselves missing Nebraska, our friends there, and our church. But it has been wonderful to live close to family and we even bought a house with my cousin Liz and her husband Drew! We always said as kids that only seeing eachother every couple of years was not enough and someday we were going to just get a house together. And what do you know! Here we are! We have been renovating like crazy but took a short summer hiatus since we do not have AC in our 100 year old home. It's a little difficult to work in 90 degrees and wicked humidity!

A couple weeks ago Josh and I celebrated our 4 year wedding anniversary! I have to say it was the best yet. We exchanged cards and went out to eat at a swanky Japanese restaurant, where neither of us knew what to order. The word "chicken" stuck out to me on the menu, so I went with that. Whereas Josh decided to get the "Chef's Special" because....well... it sounded special. Little did he know that the "Chef's Special" was a raw mahi tuna steak and 4 rolls of raw sushi. He was determined to eat it for the experience, and later... well let's just say we both regretted it. But it was a memory made at least. It was wonderful to spend the evening talking about one of my favorite subjects - "our feelings" ... and also our favorite memories from the past 4 years we've spent together.

So what else is new? ... I've been writing more songs lately. I have to say it has been a real blessing for me to be able to work with Josh at his office during the week and also be able to stay at home and write whenever I want. I do have a goal to have a new album or demos recorded by the end of the year but that time is fastly approaching! It seemed so "doable" when I made the goal this past January!

We're looking forward to leaving for a family cruise to Baha Mexico a week from this Saturday, in celebration of my mom's 50th birthday! I will post pictures from the cruise after we get back... also I am turning 22 on the 6th of September. So I am enjoying my last couple weeks as a 21-year-old.

I think for now that is all the updates I have... much love ♥