Hello friends and family! It's Dallas here. Ashlee told me I had to write this blog update (and we all know it's better for me to just do what she tells me to) so here goes:
It all started back in 7th grade when Ashlee couldn't take her eyes off of me. Wait... who am I kidding? Ashlee didn't even know I existed in the 7th grade (even though we were in the same class, but we won't go there). Let's jump forward a few years. We date, she breaks up with me, we date again, she breaks up with me again, I really start throwing out the charm and she is hooked for life. Once we were married, we were able to spend two amazing years together. What was my favorite part? Oh, you know, just being together. After two years, we really began to look toward the future of our family. Two wonderful years of being married and having an amazing job that paid the bills, the timing was right to begin growing our family. Ashlee was born to be a mom and I felt blessed that she would want me to be her baby daddy. We definitely gave our plans to God and wanted Him to carry out His will for our lives. However, we didn't know just how much we needed to rely on Him.
When talk began about possible layoffs for teachers in Texas, I knew I didn't have anything to worry. I was in a growing district and school. As soon as it became a real possibility that I might not have a job next year, my mind went crazy. What if I lose my job? What if I lose my job and Ashlee gets pregnant? Can a family live off of Ramen Noodles? For three weeks we were told news would be coming about our job situation. Finally, as the district's state mandated deadline was nearing, we had our answer: news would come on Thursday. It was the longest week of my life. Little did I know, the stress leading to Thursday was about to shoot through the roof.
On Wednesday I was in the middle of class when I received a phone call. I don't usually get phone calls during the day so when I got a chance, I looked to see who it was. It was Ashlee. Of course I started getting worried because she knows I can't answer my phone. Then I get the text: call me when you can (let's just say this did not calm the nerves). As soon as the bell rang, I gave her a call. I was short with her saying, "what do you want? what's wrong?" Her sweet voice was overwhelmed with excitement as she told me the news, "I'm pregnant!" She couldn't wait until she got off work to tell me the news. I don't really remember what happened when I walked back to class. Emotions were racing through my mind. I was so excited to hear such great news. However, I'll be honest with you. I think I spent the rest of the day and the next morning freaking out that I might not have a job to support my wife and child.
Thursday came and it was one of the worst days I have ever experienced. I sat at my desk staring at the door waiting for the principal to appear and take me down to a meeting with Human Resources. They were letting people know they lost the job that they had been told they will always have (we are always going to need teachers, right?) I received the news from several good friends that they would not be returning the next school year. Fortunately, I was one of the many teachers that will never take their job for granted again after being selected to stay at my school for another year.
I learned a very valuable lesson that day. I had wasted too much time worrying about what was going to happen tomorrow. God has a plan for my life and it is a perfect plan. We worry when our own selfish plan doesn't seem like it is going to go our way. I hope that I would have learned the same lesson if I had lost my job because I know (and already have seen) that God has a perfect plan and great things to come for those people that lost their job that day.
After a crazy week, we couldn't wait to share our good news! We wanted to tell our parents in person (this does not always come easy when you live 6 hours away from home). The Templeton's would be coming in town to celebrate birthdays. Easter was the following weekend and we would be making the drive to Abilene. Of course (I quickly learned) you can't just run up to your parents and say "We are having a baby!" You have to be creative and come up with ways you can tell them. After many suggestions (and looks from Ashlee that said, "are you serious?") I finally came up with a great idea (don't let her make you think it was her idea). Since the baby would be coming in December, we decided to go with a Christmas theme. We would make an outfit, bib, and stocking that said "Coming Christmas 2011".
As soon as Gaylene arrived in Katy, Ashlee knew she wouldn't be able to be around her for very long without telling her the news (women....). Ray was on his way so we gave her the news first so she could see his reaction later. After some confusion (and trying on the bib), she realized grandbaby number 7 is on the way and the look on her face was complete shock and excitement. We wrapped the bib back up for round number two later on in the evening. Ray and the rest of the family was just as excited.
We made the trip to Abilene the following weekend. It seemed like it took forever to make it home since we couldn't wait any longer to tell the news we had been holding back from my parents every time I talked to them on the phone that week. My dad could tell something was up when they both had a present to open (and by the grin on Ashlee's face). They were both very excited and we were glad the secret was out.
We waited until after our first appointment to tell more people. The ultrasound was able to show us our baby. Words cannot describe the feeling you get when you hear your child's heart beat for the first time. We were both really glad to know that the pregnancy tests were not playing a really mean joke on us and there really is a human growing inside her belly (I also made sure the doctor looked extra hard to make sure there was only one).
Today we had our second appointment. We were able to hear the baby's heart beat again and the doctor said everything looks good! We were disappointed we did not get to see another ultrasound but we are really looking forward to the next one at the end of summer. At that point we should be able to find out whether we will be having a boy or girl (I'm just ready to be able to replace "it" with "him" or "her"). I made my first baby purchase a while ago for Ashlee's Valentines present (so she knew I was serious about this whole baby thing). As you can see, I made sure no matter what the gender, we would get them started out in style.
I was hoping if I went all out on this post that Ashlee wouldn't make me write another one. So, thanks for reading my novel.
