This Is Only The Beginning

What a wild ride it has been!  I cannot even think where the time has gone since we came to Fort Worth in Aug. of 2009.  In 09 we cam down with the goal of going to Seminary.  Now looking back, I can see how God worked through so many situations and circumstances it is AMAZING!

Diamend has worked at some great places and experienced some wonderful people that she will always be friends with.  She has made connections with other minister wives that will help her as we continue this journey that God has placed us on.  She has built relationships with friends that will last and be life long.  It is crazy to see where God has taken her and grown her into the perfect pastor's helpmate!  She is the most amazing woman I know and I thank God each day for placing her in my life.

I too have been blessed to work at an amazing place that has not only provided funds for living but wonderful friendships also.  It is weird to think that soon I will leave Apple and it has been such a big part of our lives here in Texas.  I also have made life long friends that I will get to bounce ideas off of as well as pray for as they serve the Lord in areas that I will most likely never get to go!  I have been blessed to have been trained by some of the most amazing men I know and I cannot wait to see what else they will give the Lord to work with!

Diamend and I both have been blessed so much by our son Grayson!  We cannot express the joy he brings us.  There is frustration for sure but he is a gift from God for sure and we cannot see ourselves moving on in life without him!

Our next adventure takes us to Houston, Texas where I will be serving as a Junior High Youth Pastor at Houston's First Baptist Church.  God has blessed me with the opportunity to work at, with, and alongside an amazing church family, leadership, team, and pastor.  We are truly humbled that God would even use us to proclaim His name!

For those who have been reading this blog the last 3 years and those who have supported through prayer, gifts, and thoughts I want to thank you!  I'm not thanking you like an off the cuff thank you but THANK YOU!  Really.  God has used you in ways that you will never know or see but He has shown us and we have felt it in our lives.  None of this would be possible without YOU so thank you thank you thank you!

Diamend says that I never post, or when I post I just type.  So here are some pictures of our amazing son Grayson!

Thank you all again and look for another update soon on the move and my first few days at Houston's First!


Tony Bianco

Grayson's Arrival!

Just one day after my last blog post, Grayson made his surprise arrival! I know I am almost 3 weeks late posting this... but time really gets away from you with a new born!

Let me catch you up with what has happened the last couple weeks.... Friday morning (March 9th) I woke up about 7AM thinking I was wetting the bed! I woke Tony up and texted a couple friends trying to find out what was going on... b/c I really didn't know that my water had broke. As far as I knew, we were scheduled to have the c-section on Monday and that was that - we had a schedule to stick to.. haha. So after about an hour, a phone call to the Dr and a quick shower we wereheaded to Baylor Hospital in Dallas. Tony kept his cool - though I think he was a littlefreaked, as he got from Ft Worth to Dallas in about 30 minutes!

After a few hours of contractions they were finally ready to do the c-section at 2pm. I was so scared, but the doctors and staff were great; and at 2:33 PM Grayson Anthony Bianco made his arrival.

He is absolutely perfect!! Weighing 7 lbs 15 oz and 21 inches long.

That's all I've got for now (sorry for the teaser), but more to come! :)

The last weeks...

Weeks 36-38 are a big blur. I know that we had our ABC's of Baby class at week 36, which went really great. We learned a lot about Infant CPR, Breastfeeding, baby bathing and swaddling and safety... and feel pretty prepared. Week 37 I got to go to one more JBF consignment sale and got a ton of clothes for Grayson. We've had weekly doctors appointments which have gone fairly well. Grayson is doing great - heartbeat is good and he is measuring on track! :) I, however, have been swelling quite a bit and have some protein in my urine... So because of that, at week 38 I was put on early maternity leave with limited bed rest.

So this equals a lot of this:

We've been doing a lot of baby laundry and organizing getting ready for his arrival!

Week 36 and 37

Week 38

We kicked off week 38 (right before being put on limited bed rest) with a little baby moon! We wanted a small one night get away where we could rest and enjoy being alone. So we stayed a night at the Magnolia in Dallas and rested and went to the Dallas Aquarium on Saturday for a little fun.

He is so handsome! I'm so excited for him to become a DAD!

After the aquarium, we stopped by the Dallas Farmers Market. We had never been there before and wanted to make sure we were able to experience it. It was great and so much great produce!!

And we even snuck in a quick movie to end our weekend, thanks for a group on deal!

So that's whats been going on in these last weeks! I've been at home getting ready for Grayson while resting up. Saturday my mom and Tony's dad and sister will get in town! :) Sunday Tony will be preaching at church (praying this baby boy doesn't come early!). And Monday (at way to early in the morning) we will all go to Baylor in Dallas for my C-Section and welcoming Grayson into the world!!! I cannot believe it is already time to meet our son and become parents!! Please pray for us and family as they travel... pray for our doctors and a smooth surgery and hospital stay.

Weekly Updates

I cannot believe that I am in the homestretch!... and that I haven't done a weekly update in over 5 weeks! Definitely need to remedy that! It has been so long since my last weekly update that I can't even remember what happened during some weeks. Lets see....

Week 31: All I remember from this week was doing our maternity photo shoot. We had a lot of fun, as you can see from pics I've already posted. By this point.. I'm still feeling fairly good.

Week 32: I had baby shower #2 this week! Grayson and I felt very blessed. We also had another Dr. appt this week, but with a different doctor. It was neat meeting with someone else in the office and he was very pleased with Grayson's progress. :)

Week 33: I can't remember much about this week... except that we had baby shower #3. Beginning to feel large and uncomfortable at this point...

Week 34: This was a very busy week! It was Super Bowl Sunday and we had a little get together. We had a Dr. appt and scheduled the c-section!! So this was a very exciting week! Grayson is schedule to be born March 12, 2012 (as long as he doesn't decide to come early!). We also had a meeting with a great woman of God who will be teaching our ABC's of Baby class (later). She came and talked to us all about the c-section and what to expect and gave us peace of mind about everything. Oh, and this week also happened to mark 10 years that Tony and I have been together. :)

Week 35: This week I was sick. :( Tony gave me his stuffy nose and sore throat - which stunk since it was Valentine's day week. Apart from being sick, not a lot happening.. except that I'm really beginning to feel uncomfortably large and have begun the pregnant waddle. To the point of ready to be done being pregnant! ;)

31 and 32 weeks

33 and 34 weeks

35 weeks!

In the next weeks we will have our ABC's of Baby class, where we will learn all about first time parenting, infant CPR and breastfeeding; begin weekly Dr. appts, a Baby Moon, and praying that he doesn't decide to come early! :) Also praying for my last weeks of work, finances and to be as comfortable as I possibly can be as large as I am getting.

Baby Shower #2 & #3

I'm about 3 weeks late, but I'm finally getting around to posting about baby showers here in Texas! :)

Baby Shower #2 was hosted by my sweet friends Jeanne and Emily. And this one is a little photo overload because I just could not get over the awesome decorations!! Seriously, these two crafty divas outdid themselves! I am blessed with some crafty Texan friends. ;)

So, we are doing Grayson's nursery in an All-Sports theme. We want all sports and fun bright colors - and for this shower they built up that theme big time! There were sports balls everywhere, it was awesome! And Jeanne couldn't stop sewing Grayson tons of sweet goodies and displayed them all over the room!

Even the food was sports themed!! Check out the baseball cake and basketball cupcakes! And they even had fries for my crazy craving! :)

They had a jar of baseballs for everyone to sign and put advice, scripture, etc. on... It was great!

My friend Letty (and awesome hairdresser) made me an adorable sports-themed diaper cake

And my sweet friend Paula-Beth, her mom and little Lucy even traveled to the shower to celebrate Grayson!

Grayson and I are very blessed!

Thank you dear friends!!!

Baby Shower #3 was a very low-key get together with some of the college girls here and a few seminary friends. I am so blessed to have this job and get to work with such awesome friends and the college girls! Though it was a small get together - we know how to have fun and Grayson and I felt VERY blessed!

They made me a princess crown that said "Grayson's Mommy" and I even got my own Princess Repunzel (I love Tangled) cup! And how cute are those cupcakes!? They have sports rings on them!

Though I am not one for games... The girls planned some very fun and low key games to play with some yummy sweet prizes.

Thank you sweet girls!!!

10 years and a photo shoot

Ten years today I started dating my best friend, my husband and love of my life! I cannot believe it has been ten years! There have been SO many changes and different life chapters the last ten years: graduating high school, graduating college, getting engaged/married, several surgeries, a dog, a new calling on our life, moving to Texas and now.... we are about to become PARENTS!

So, instead of the typical blast from the past of photos of our last ten years, lets get excited about our next chapter of our lives with photos from our maternity photo shoot! YAY! :)

Hope you enjoyed some of our favorites! We have some awesome talented friends here to take theses photos!!