Monday, August 25, 2008

Mushy Mushy Post

I really do, honestly think I have the best husband in the world. He takes care of me so well!! You know, this baby has been kicking my butt. I mean, were talking stomach flu from the moment I get up to the moment I go to bed. It's been pretty depressing, to be honest. I remember around week 7 thinking, "there is NO way I can do this for another six weeks". UGH. And we haven't even done much this summer because I sit on the couch snacking on cheez-its and chewy sprees (the two things I can eat) all day. We once attempted to go putt putting and got half way there and I told Jon he had to turn around (promptly went home and puked). So I come home from work on Friday and walk into the bedroom and there was a gift certificate to the Douglas J Salon for a spa treatment of my choice, a book I've been wanting to read, and pregnancy magazine from the hubs! I almost cried.

Welp, I should probably go- being that I am at work and all. Hope your day is puke free!

Chaeli

2 Samuel 22:33 It is God who arms me with strength and makes my way perfect.

Friday, August 15, 2008

We Have An Announcement. . . .


After six pregnancy tests, we can confirm, WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!!

Yep, it's true! :) We finally are finishing up our first trimester and heard the baby's heartbeat this morning. We've been waiting to spill the beans and both told our co-workers this afternoon!

Here's the low-down. . . I have been so extremely fickle when it comes to having a child. I love my job- am very content with our lives right now and it was a really scary jump for me. I actually told Jon I was ready to start trying at Christmas, and then freaked out! After much prayer and anxiousness, we decided to jump off the cliff into the land of the unknown and stop- stopping it. We were pregnant three months later in June!! The story of how we found out we were pregnant is kind of crazy too, but we'll save that for another day.

We told Jon's parents at a restaurant in Kalamazoo. . . here's their reaction:


We told my parents the next weekend before my dad's 50th birthday party. We got him a book called "My Grandpa is Great" thinking he'd get the hint. . . but he didn't. (He's sitting in the new office chair my mom bought him). Watch on. . .


Untitled from Jon Ackerman on Vimeo.



We had the Bishop's and Braam's over for a BBQ one night and had a blast telling them:


Besides our family, we told our closest friends and small group. Our small group surprised us with a little celebratory party:

It's been a pretty crappy first trimester if I'm going to be honest. I've been sick from the minute I wake up to the minute I go to bed. I found out I actually lost weight this morning at the doctors! But we are happy to be past the first scary weeks and are looking forward to feeling better! My hubby is amazing and has been grocery shopping for us and cooking. He's the best.

Oh, we'll leave with a great video of the heartbeat this morning!!!!


Baby Ackerman's Heart beating strong from Jon Ackerman on Vimeo.



Monday, August 11, 2008



Ohhh man.  So it's Monday at 3:33 pm (ironic, I  know) and I'm at home, glorious home.  I was planning on taking just this morning off because I was SO tired from the weekend and fighting a bad head cold. But 1 turned to 2 turned to 3 and I was still sitting on the couch sneezing my head off. So I decided to take the whole day off. And, I am SO glad I did!

Sooo, this weekend? Where to begin.  In summary, it was honestly, the funnest (yes, funnest), wedding I have ever been to.  I think the highlight was watching my dad dance to Usher's song "YEAH". Oh man, if you know my dad AT ALL, this was AWESOME.  

The wedding started with dad explaining that the bruise on Seth's neck was NOT a hickey, but in fact a mark made by a paint ball from his bachelor party.  It was hilarious.  Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the actual wedding because I was in it. . . I'll try to find some and post them later. Here's some photos of the reception:


Grandpa getting it down on the dance floor



O'Neill Family Tradition- the guys singing Enrique's "Hero"


Meaghan and Seth First Dance- I wish you could see how amazing her dress is

It was great because the ceremony was Christ-honoring and the reception a blast.  My brother Andy was the MC/DJ and did a stand up job interacting with everyone.  Were so glad it went smoothly!! Now, if I could just get over my jealousy about them being in Cozumel right now. . . . 

Congrats Meg and Seth!!!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Countdown to Meg's wedding!!!!!
Thursday- manis and pedis in Ann Arbor. Then Bachlorette party including dinner at Kana (Meg's favorite place).
Friday- Decorating and rehearsal dinner.
Saturday- wedding!!!

I can't believe my little sister is getting married! Here's to praying
a) there aren't any power outages (seeing that the last two O'Neill wedding's had power outages)
b) I don't pass out while standing up
c) They get the wedding (and the marriage most importantly) they always dreamed up.

I'm outtie for the week!

Chaeli

Friday, August 1, 2008

My healer, and why crying at work can be a good thing...

Just so we are all clear: this is Jon...
So it isn't often that I can sit in my office, listen to a song and cry at the drop of hat. If you know me at all, you know that I can sometimes be an emotional guy, not in a sappy way, but when I hear a story that moves my soul I often cry. At work we listen to more music than you can shake a stick at and often that means that most songs get lost in the shuffle between Coldplay and stock music as we are picking it out for a video we are producing. Very few songs get stuck in my head but this song has stuck and will stick with me for the rest of my life. If you haven't heard this song, get ready to be rocked. You first need to watch this video and post your comments here in this blog.

What hit me this morning was how often this song has come up in the past two weeks. On my morning blog checking excursion I found three different blogs that had listed this song and how it has moved them. Which was a surprise to me!

So it's a typical Friday morning with almost no-one here at the church (I counted a total of 4 cars in the parking lot this morning). I am waiting on a project to finish exporting so that I can finish the videos for this weekends service and decided to listen to "Healer". Then I found this website. In my line of work story is it, period. If there isn't a story to be told, don't bother talking about it. So as I listen to the song, and watched the video, it finally hit me: there are things from the superficial wounds to the ones that reach so far down into the depths of my soul where it can only be God that has healed me. I guess that's why this song was so moving this morning. I finally got it...