Our 2nd doctor's appointment! 12 weeks 5 days! April 5th!

On Tuesday April 5th, we had our second ultra sound done! I was soooo excited to see our Baby Blessing because I knew this ultrasound would actually resemble a baby! My appointment was at 2pm and so Drew and I went to the appointment. This time the tech did the ultrasound and Baby Smallwood was moving like crazy. He/or she was waving their arms and everything! It was soooo precious to see our baby so active. If you check out the bottom pic you can see their little hand in their air! Wave at them! :) The tech was trying to get the baby to stretch out so she could measure him/her, they didn't seem to want to stretch. She kept pushing on my belly trying to get the baby to stretch out, over and over again and having me roll over. The tech then realized my bladder was full and said that is probably why the baby is not stretching. So after going to the bathroom, Baby Smallwood finally stretched out to get a good measurement! :) The heartrate was at 171this time, a little higher than the last! The tech then scheduled my next ultrasound which would be the BIG one! So May 26th at 2pm The Smallwoods will know if we are having a Baby Boy or a Baby Girl! Cant' wait for this day!!! 7 weeks from today we will find out! YAY!


I then got my weight checked and another urine sample while we waited to speak to Dr. Morton.


We saw the Dr much faster this time! :) She told us all my blood work and urine came back healthy and good from our first visit! She also said the Baby was doing great. She said my placenta was in a great condition and the Baby is right on track. She even said that when the tech measured the space by the neck to check for down syndrom that it was normal as well! :) So yay! Healthy Baby! :) So excited! She asked us if we wanted any genetic testing or anything we declined, and she reassured us that she didn't think it was necessary either! She asked me how I was doing and of course if we had any questions. We talked about May 26th which would be the big gender reveal. She told me she wanted to see me again in 4 weeks to make sure everything is okay. So my next Drs appt is May 4 at 7:30!

So yay we are excited! Even more anxious for 7 weeks to hurry up and get here! :)

Below is Baby Smallwood, our precious blessing...ENJOY!

The first doctor visit! March 1st~!

Some background knowledge
 It took me forever to decide on what dr to use. Also, what hospital to have my baby at. As you all know living in Columbia, there are tons of choices. I finally decided to just use my regular Obgyn, and I would deliver at Palmetto Baptist....well...guess God had different plans. Because when I called to schedule my appointment they didn't have any openings until I was 10 weeks. I felt like that was too long to wait. So after talking to many of my pregnant friends, they said it was too long. So I called a new place Carolina Women's Physicians with Lexington Medical Center and they agreed to see me at 7 weeks 5 days! I was sooo excited! I didn't have to wait. And just so we know, I was going to cancel my appt at the other place, but right before I called, they called me to cancel because they were going to do a surgery that day...so that means my 10 week appt would have been postponed even longer! So thank God I found a new Dr's office that saw me quickly and were way friendlier!!!! So yes, I do believe it's God's plan always not my plan!

On March 1st, we had our first dr's visit! We were soooo excited to go because I didn't feel pregnant. I wanted proof! My appointment was at 1 so I took a half day off from school and went to my appointment!


After getting all my paper work done, they took me back for my ultrasound! :) We got to see our little blob! It was priceless. Drew and I just looked at each other and smiled because well, we knew it was true! We were going to be parents! She told us the baby was measuring at 7 weeks 5 days, just a day shy of my own calcuations. The baby's heart rate was 160!


We then went into a waiting room where we watied to see my doctor. We waited for like 40 minutes before she finally saw us (there was an emergency she had to take care of). They did check my weight, got a urnine sample, and then I finally saw the Dr. She gave us our due date: October 13th, 2011! We were so excited. She then did a pap and got all my blood work done! It took forever but we finally made it out of there 2.5 hours later!


Below is our Baby Blessing's first ultrasound pics! We were so excited!!!!!!!!!!

How we told our families that we were expecting!!!!!! :)

We came back from the DR that Monday night. We ended up not getting back to our house till 2:30 am. I was supposed to go to the work the next morning, but I was so tired and so sick I ended up not making it. I pretty much slept all day Tuesday.

Well Tuesday evening I started going through all our pics of the DR and decided to start my creation of my video to tell our families!

I just completed it when Drew walked in the door at like 10pm. So together we watched it and had tears in his eyes as he watched it together. He was so cute, and anxious to tell his family. They all live out of state. So he called his Mom, but she was still at work. So then we called his Dad. His dad was already in bed, but he woke up so he could go check his computer! What I did was send a you tube link to their emails and told them before they opened the link they had to call us!

Well, Drews Dad got right out of bed and watched it! He was sooo excited for us and kept saying "I'm going to be a grandpa!" It was cute~!

Well, after we hung up with Drew's dad on the phone, we went to bed. I guess at like midnight Drew's mom was off work and so she called us back. She watched the video with us on the phone and she loved it. She kept saying "You turkeys! I knew you were up to something!" It was funny! She was tearing up and everything! So sweet!

But needless to say everyone loved our video and it was a creative way to tell those around us! Especially those out of state! :)

Below is the video! Enjoy!

The Smallwoods are getting an addition!

Back in February......February 2-7, 2011............
Drew and I had a GREAT opportunity to take a FREE vacation thanks to Drew's hardwork and dedication at SONIC. If you did GREAT in mystery shop scores in 2010, etc you got to go on a FREE vacation for 5 nights to the Dominican Republic! Drew and I were sooooo excited to be able to go! While we were there we met a lot of great people and made a lot of friendships that I know we will keep for a life time! I will never EVER forget this vacation! Special thanks goes out to everyone who made it possible for us to go! GO IRONS!!!

So our first night there, everyone got together and was having a really good time. Because the resort that we stayed at was all-inclusive, you could eat/drink as much as you wanted (this included alcohol). Now I am not a big drinker at all, so Drew was not suprised that I wasn't drinking anything! :)

Now earlier that morning before we even left to go the airport, I took a pregnancy test.  Yes we were trying. January was our first official month of trying. When I took the test it was one of those with that shows two lines if you are pregnant. Well, it showed one line very clear, and the other one was so faint, I completely dismissed it....I packed some tests to take while in the DR (I wasn't due for my cycle, till Sunday, so I figured it was just too early to test since it was early early Wednesday morning).

Well....as we all went to unpack out bags once at our resort in the Domincian that test from the early mroning kept flashing back in my mind. I kept thinking, maybe I should take another one...SOOOOOO about 4pm or so .....I took one of my tests out of my bag and took a new one. Well this test was one that clearly says "PREGNANT" or "NOT PREGNANT". So I took it....and to my surprise it said...."PREGNANT".

I couldn't believe it. I knew we were trying, but I didn't think it would happen so fast (afterall, this was our first attempt trying). I was stunned.....So that evening, I just really kept to myself... I just kind of took everyone and everything in. Thinking about WOW, I'm PREGNANT, and WOW how am I going to tell Drew....

Ever since we had talked about having kids, I always pondered, even researched ways that I would tell my sweet husband that we were going to have a baby. But when that moment finally came, I couldn't tell him. I couldn't...I couldn't find the right way to tell him....I ended up keeping it a secret to myself that first night because I really wanted it to be special when I told him.

Obviously, because I hadn't told Drew yet, I was in desperate need of talking to someone....Well....it just so happened that I met Stefanie (that very night) who worked at another Sonic in NC and was on the trip with us. Well we both went in search of finding a computer to use on the resort, and while we were walking, Stefanie asked me "why aren't you drinking? do you not drink?" And I was like..."well....I may be...well I am pregnant"....just like that it came out my mouth....and she was like "seriously?". And I was like "yea, and your the first person to know, I just found out today. I haven't even told my husband yet!". Well needless to say, I consider Stefanie one of my dear friends now! :)

I wanted to think of some creative way to tell Drew...I still kept thinking....I remember on my plane ride to the DR, sitting next to Sutton, she told me Lisa would be a good person to think of creative ideas to tell Drew I was pregnant. So I went and found Lisa...and she gave me a few great suggestions, but I kept thinking back to my orginial idea of telling Drew through grace at one of our meals....sooo.....that's what I decided on...I would tell Drew at breakfast the next morning...

So that night I could harldy sleep. I was tossing and turning,trying to recite the exact words I would say to Drew in my head... Well morning came...I did wake up and take another pregnancy tests (the line one) just to be sure I was still pregnant, I guess, lol! Well, this time there were clearly two lines, which means YES, Jennifer YOU ARE PREGNANT! LOL!

Well, Drew and went and got our breakfast and sat down to eat together. Well, Drew normally says grace over our food. That morning, I told Drew I would do it...He looked at me like, really? And so I started saying grace...something to this affect (don't remember exact words of course, but somewhat...)

"Dear God, thank you for allowing us to take such a wonderful vacation and just have time to get away together. Thank you for my sweet husband and thank you for this food we are about to receive. And thank you God for this baby growing inside of me, AMEN"

When I opened my eyes I could see tears in Drew's eyes. We hugged each other and just began talking about how excited we were for this next step in our lives! It was truly beautiful!

So needless to say we will never forget our vacation to the DR! We got to share all the great news with everyone that was there. Word sure did spread fast among our Sonic friends, lol! We waited to tell our families till we got back from our vacation because I wanted to tell them in a creative way. I had video that I wanted to make! Which I will post about telling our families in my next post!

Challenge #3: In Christian Witness

In my previous two posts I shared the first two challenges. Here is the final challenge posed by Dr. Bouknight at church. I hope you will take the final challenge...


To be ....

3. In Christian Witness
-a Christ honoring witness


-John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.


In the book, A Voice in the Wind (I know I keep referring to it, but like I said, the book helped inspire me to propose these challenges to you!) Hadassah was a witness to God everyday. As a slave, her master would call upon her to tell them stories. Every story Hadassah shared was a story from the Bible. Although her masters did not fully understand and make the connections they enjoyed her stories. Eventually two of them did become Christians.

How exciting is that? Can you imagine being a slave and sharing with your master the story about Jesus? Stories from the Bible?

It can be so hard to be a Christian witness. Maybe we are shy and we don't want to talk. Maybe we are scared of rejection. Maybe we are even embarrassed to share about our faith. There are so many things that stops us from sharing about God.

 In my own Christian life, I know how hard this can be. At this time in my life, I don't feel God pushing me towards mission trips, or even going house to house to share the Word of God. I don't feel comfortable going up to strangers and sharing either. I don't know maybe I am embarrassed and shy when it comes to that.


As I grow in my faith, I do feel the need to share with others more. I ask myself, how can I be a Christian witness? How can I share about Jesus?


The more I thought about this question, the more I realized I am a Christian witness. In a lot of things that I do, I witness to those around me.


Facebook has been a great way for me to witness to others. I can post a Bible verse, a prayer, anything about the Glory of God and how God has helped me in my own life. People are reading it. Maybe a nonbeliever reads it one day and has hope. Maybe even a Christian reads it and gains new hope.


Blogging has been another way that I can witness to those around me. The story of me is my greatest witness. I can share about me. People can read about my story and my faith. I started this blog as a way to track the life Drew and I are building. But the more and more I type the more I realize...this is my Christian witness. This is the life God is building for us. This is my story of how God is working in my life. You feel my tears, my hopes, my joys, my faith. This is my Christian witness. This is my story. Just sharing your own story with someone is being a Christian witness...


At church Sunday, Dr. Bouknight challenged us to be witnesses even when we are at a restaurant. Before you eat a meal do you say grace? Are you embarrassed to do it in public?


I will admit, in the past I said grace over my food every once in a while, but not consistently. But last year, something clicked in Drew and I, and our faith grew stronger. We also became stronger in our marriage. We started praying together over our meals at home, and soon started praying over our meals when we are at restaurants. And honestly, it makes me feel good. It makes me feel good to know I am not ashamed to publicize that I am a Christian. God gave me this food to nourish my body so that I can do His work. Saying grace to God for this food? Not a question. It's my praise and my thanks to God. You never know who is watching you. So why not say a prayer? Maybe someone else will have the courage to say grace in public too! I'm not going to lie, every time I see another family hold hands and say grace, it brings joy to my heart and feels me with even greater hope knowing God is everywhere!

 One way I want to challenge myself to be a better witness is through Sonic. If you listen to WMHK you know on Fridays they do the Drive Thru Difference. Drew and I discussed that every Friday sometime during the day he would pick a customer and pay for their meal. And that we would include the letter available online at WMHK's website (see below). We are going to start this next Friday. I can't wait to see how it goes and see how God touches someone else's life!

(image from WMHK's website)

*I think ours would be signed "Your friends at Sonic" (or something to that affect)

Sometimes it's just the little things we do to be part of Christian witnessing. What can you do to be part of it? Will you pay for someones meal behind you in the drive thru? Will you say grace over your meal in public? Will you leave a bible verse for the janitor? Will you post a prayer on Facebook? Will you give a Christian book to a friend? Will you take the hand of someone in need and pray for them and with them? Will you invite someone to church? What will you do? The possibilities are endless.


Good luck my friends! I hope you have read and considered participating in the three challenges I have proposed over the last three days.


Will you....


1. show Christian love (even to your enemies)?
2. be useful (at church, at home, at work)?
3. be a Christian witness?


I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT! Pray about it and see what God can do in your life and even in someone else's life!


Be blessed!







To hear Dr. Bouknight's sermon: Click Below...
http://my.ekklesia360.com/Clients/sermonaudioplayer.php?CMSCODE=EKK&siteid=3053&sermonid=202711&useSkin=

Challenge #2: In Usefulness

In my previous post I gave you the first challenge that was proposed to me at church Sunday....


Below is the 2nd challenge...

2. In usefulness
-2 Timothy 2:21
 "Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from what is dishonorable, he will be a vessel for honorable use, set apart as holy, useful to the master of the house, ready for good work"


In the book that I read, A Voice in the Wind, Hadassah time again proved to be useful. She was useful to her master and useful to God. Although, she was later forbidden to worship in a secret Christian church, when she did attend, she was useful by her voice. Hadassah was a great singer and served her church through her voice. She was also useful to her master, by knowing her needs and attending to everything that she could in the main house.

I think about how useful am I? How am I useful to God? How am I useful to my church? How am I useful to those around me?


I know it can be so hard. We get so wrapped up in our work, our families, our lives. We sometimes forget that we are supposed to be serving someone way more powerful than ourselves...God.


Growing up, I was very active in my church. I used to love helping in the nursery. And I adored helping with Vacation Bible School during the summer. Anything to do with kids, I loved. That was my way to be useful in my church.


However, as I have gotten older, and we now attend Shandon. I know I am not useful. I go...I attend (most Sundays) but I know I am not as useful as I can be. Drew and I have helped with child care a few Sundays, but not consistently. This is something I know I need to work on. I don't just want to "sit on the premises" as Dr. Bouknight preached on Sunday. I want to be present. I want to be useful. It's time to step it up...I know I fall short, so if you feel like you do too, than know your not the only one. ;)


I guess my biggest problem is that I attend a large church. Shandon is quite large. My Sunday school is quite large. So I need to find my niche...I'm praying about it, just need to research my options... :)


How are you useful in church? Do you just attend? Do you just sit on the premises? I challenge you to become more involved in your church this year. You can do it! Find something of interest, or talent. Talk to some people and pray. God will answer!


As I think about challenging you to be more useful in church, I would also like to challenge you to  be more useful in all that you do. How can you be more useful at work? How can you be more useful to your spouse? How can you be more useful to your kids? How can you be more useful to your friends? The questions could go on and on. I think you get my point. :) Think about different ways you can be useful in church and in your life!


Good luck my friends! I know you can meet this challenge! Be useful my friends!


As always be blessed!

Challenge #1: In Christian Love

This past Sunday at church, we had a guest pastor because our regular pastor, Dr. Lincoln, was on vacation. Our guest pastor was Dr. Bill Bouknight and he continued our series on Faith, Hope, Love.

He had three challenges for each of us this year.

To be...


1. In Christian Love
2. In Usefulness
3. In Christian Witness

Over the last few days I have had a lot of time to reflect on the sermon. Because we have had 4 days of no school because of snow and ice I had a chance to read some books written by my favorite Christian author Francine Rivers.

The first book I read was A Voice in the Wind, and the second I started was Echos in the Darkness (they are both in the same series). In the book, a young slave girl, Hadassah, loses everything around her including her family. She falls in love with her master's son, but refuses to marry him because he is not a Christian. The daughter of the master is out-raged and she sends Hadassah to be eaten by the lions.

In the second book (which I am not finished yet) Hadassah's life is saved by a young student studying to be a doctor. Although Hadassah lives, her master's family does not know that she is alive because if they did know, their daughter would probably have her hang. Because of all the scars from the lion's attacks Hadassah wears veils over her head to hide her scars mainly to keep from scaring people around her. The doctor uses her as his assistant.

This is a general summary of the books I read, but in the book it goes a lot deeper than just the words I said above. I saw Hadassah use each of three challenges Dr. Bouknight set before us, and it challenged my own mind of how I could do this in my own life....

Challenge #1: In Christian Love
-In church, Dr. Bouknight challenged us to love everybody, even our enemies.

In A Voice In the Wind, Hadassah entire family was murdered and she was taken in as a slave. She was assigned to care for her master's bratty daughter, Julia. Julia got everything that she wanted, she took advantage of Hadassah, called her names, and everything. Yet, Hadassah loved Julia. She cared for her. She learned her needs, she learned her temper tantrums. She even took a beaten that was meant for Julia from Julia's husband.

I think about if I could do that? Could I love the one that curses my name? Could I take a beaten for the one that wants my own life destroyed? Could I lose my entire family and be the only survivor?


Realistically, no...I don't think that I could do that. I want to be more like that. I pray that I can be more like Hadassah, more like Jesus. But we all know it's so hard...

The Bible says...

Mark 12:31
The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these."

Luke 6 27-31
[27] "But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, [28] bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. [29] If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. [30] Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. [31] Do to others as you would have them do to you.

I know how hard it is to this. I know how hard it is to forgive and to love those you hate. I can honestly say I am working on this myself.

Growing up my parents were not the kindest to me and my brother. They were abusive, and my brother always got it the worse.  My dad would often come home in a rage just waiting to take it out on somebody. No one talked in my house, scared of what my dad might do. He would beat us for the littlest things. I remember getting in trouble and having to stand in the corner. My dad went outside, and I had to go to the bathroom, so I snuck real fast to go. But he caught me. I will never forget the bruises on my legs and the look on his face. My brother however, got in way more trouble than I did. Patrick was always the center of his target. His power over us was overwhelming. My entire childhood I lived in fear. If you ever read the book, A Child Called It, that was my life. Not as severe, but severe enough, where the wounds are still there.

Growing up, school was my haven. I couldn't wait to go to school so that I wouldn't have to be in the house with him. Part of the reason I am a teacher today is to create a safe haven for my students because you never know what those children go through at home.

Growing up, I have always believed in God. My neighborhood friend, Lindsay Sanders, use to pick me up and take me back and forth to church, and when she moved away the Dusenburys would pick me up (which I am so grateful) So then church became my haven. I loved it. I loved everything about the warm feelings of having those around you love you. I loved knowing that no matter what I did, God loved me. I knew that with God's help I could endure what ever pain my dad could deliver. I knew that God had plans to prosper me, to not harm me. I knew it. And I just knew I was not giving up on my faith living in that house. I could not let God down.

Now that I am adult, and I look back on the environment that I grew up in, I don't know how I survived. I don't know how my brother survived. But I know we survived. I know God had better plans for us.

Through my college years, I have held onto a lot of pain towards my parents. I hardly talked to them. And I hardly saw them. I didn't wish to, I didn't want to, I had no desire to.

But over the years, God has been weighing on my heart every day to do something about the relationship that I have with my parents. I have been reading and reading, and praying and praying about how to forgive them. How to love them? I have also been able to talk about my life growing up more and more with my friends and my coworkers. This has helped me to let go of that anger I have felt.


Before the holidays I wrote my parents a letter. Basically asking them to forgive me for the horrible daughter that I am. For taking such a grudge on them, for not being a better daughter.

That letter still sits saved on my computer. I have reread it and reread a dozen times. I have not mustered up the courage to mail it my parents. I know I am scared to send it.


But I can honestly say, although my words were chosen carefully, I don't think I was hurtful to them. I used words of love to explain myself and to ask for forgiveness and to ask and give them love...

After reading that book, A Voice in the Wind. I am so much closer to actually mailing that letter to my parents. After hearing the sermon on Sunday, I know I need to reconcile.

I want to show Christian love so badly to my parents. I want them to know God's love. To feel God's love in my letter, in my words. I want them to feel God's love in me.

My friends, I ask for your prayers. Please pray for me. I am almost at the point where I think I can mail it, but I need your prayers. Pray I will hit print on my computer, sign that letter, and stick in the mailbox. Pray for me. Pray for my parents. Pray we will show Christian love towards one another.


Friends, I challenge you. What can you do to show Christian love? Do you love your enemies? Do you turn the other cheek? Do you forgive? Do you love unconditionally as God loves you?

Thanks for taking the time to read this. I wanted to put challenge 2-3 on here as well, but decided I would post them in a separate entry. Challenge 1 is enough to take in.

Be blessed.