We're Getting a House!

So, you all know how long we have been salivating for owning a home of our own! Well, for the past few months we have been involved with getting a mortgage approval to purchase a home in Broken Arrow, OK. Just when we thought we would have to put it off for another several months to save the money we would need, our prayers were answered. My mother has offered to help us with our up front costs! The Lord had a plan.

We met with the individual who is selling us the house, a real estate investor who is giving us a very steep discount, today to discuss numbers. It looks like a very good possibility that we will get the house for $64K-67K, and the house is likely valued at $85K+. Totally within our budget!

The house is a 3 bedroom/2 bath with a large kitchen/dining area and a huge backyard. Julius already has some landscaping plans for the front and I already know which interior updates will be taken care of first! :) I attached a few pictures to share. I am really looking forward to showing everyone when we are settled in...preferably when I have my birthday party in April (it's the first weekend, so set it on your calenders...Texas and Tulsa family/friends you will all be invited.)

Traill Christmas - and the News!

Kimberly and I drove down to Katy, TX to spend a few days with her family for Christmas. We left on Christmas day which made for open roads and smooth sailing. Since Jennifer, Tammy and their families weren't showing up until Friday, we got the chance to spend the evening with Tom and Donna telling them about the pregnancy.

On Friday, Tammy & Chris and their family showed up and were just as excited when we told them the news.

Later, Tom and myself were drafted as grunts to go on a suicide mission into enemy territory to retrieve a package - one of those "loud, messy, chaotically-energetic, miniature humans of almost 3 years old" packages, codenamed "B.R.Y.C.E". To this day, I still don't know what the acronym stands for. However, we were able to extract the package and return to base without incident.

The way we were telling people about the pregnancy was by having them open up a box which contained the baby blanket and the sonogram pictures on top. After Jennifer had seen the package, she later mentioned that when she saw the pictures, she wondered to herself, "What is Kimberly doing with one of my sonogram pictures?"

All in all it was a very fun and happy weekend spent eating, laughing, playing Bookworm and decorating charger plates (you will probably see pictures of those later).

Also, Tom & Donna gave each of their girls a set of very nice stud earrings with their birthday gems and then got Chris and myself each a very nice necklace - a nice chain-style necklace for Chris and a very nice and simple cross necklace for me. I haven't taken it off since! THANKS!!!
--Julius

First Baby Blanket - Dec 19

Because of all the different families that everyone wants to spend time with during Christmas, Janet decided to have our 'Family Christmas' on Dec 20 with a sleepover Dec 19. It was fun - as always - to have most of the family together and to play with the girls. Unfortunately, Joel and his family were not able to spend it with us, but they were very close to the birth of another beautiful baby.

Anyways, I got a really cool lightweight OSU jacket (Go Pokes!) from Kimberly - which I love! (Yes, both Kimberly AND the jacket! lol

Also, we got a very nice and soft Baby blanket from my parents - officially marking the first 'baby' gift.

--Julius

First Doctor's Visit - Dec. 9

I know this post is a little late, but Kimberly and I were still trying to figure out in what way we wanted to tell everyone that we were pregnant. One of our ideas was to have people check out our blog and see the first post saying that we were pregnant. If we did that, then I didn't want a bunch of extra posts to take the top spot on the screen. (*shrug*)

Anyway, by now I think most everyone knows, so now I'm trying to bring everything up-to-date. So Kimberly's doctor is Dr. X - I really don't remember his name - and he is at the Tulsa Women's HealthCare clinic at 101st & Yale. He is very laid back, down-to-earth and easy to talk to.

During the visit, we were able to hear our baby's heartbeat - loud and healthy - and see the extremely tiny baby, measuring only 1.37cm long which is approximately half an inch. I have included the pictures of the sonogram below. Unfortunately, we didn't have any way to record the heartbeat, but I hope to take a recorder next time. =)







(Yes, I know her name shows Kimberly Traill, but that was because they had to admit her under the name shown on her insurance card and the insurance company kept screwing things up and didn't get it changed until recently. We just had not yet received the updated insurance card at the time of this visit, so it still shows Traill.)

--Julius

Let's Get It Started!

... and so it begins!

Just started the blog, obviously. Will be chronicling events now that we (Kimberly) are PREGNANT!!!

---Julius

Hey everyone!  You've just read the Patton-man version, but read on for the Patton-woman version, which has all the juicy details!

Well, the home pregnancy test showed a positive result on November 21, 2008. By then I was pretty sure of the results after being more than a week late and experiencing other symptoms, though thankfully not morning sickness.  Julius was away at the Men's Boot Camp having a much needed spiritual revival so he was oblivious to the possibility of pregnancy.  When he came home, he was so full of the joy that comes with discovery of self and God, that I was happily able to keep my mouth shut.  I stopped at the doctor's office for the blood test and received the news the day before Thanksgiving - "positive, positive!"

So, in the Patton family, there is a tradition of telling everyone what you are thankful for over the past year, and I thought that this was the perfect time to break the news to the husband and his family. After Julius shared his wonderful experience at the Men's Boot Camp, it was my turn.  Check out the video below to watch all 14 minutes of his speech and mine! 

A wonderful experience...and we have not been more joyful and excited than we are about starting our family together.  We have both been waiting for the first child that belonged only to us, and now God has provided the best blessing in the world!  Thank you, Father!