Carissa has been pregnant for years.  No, really… that’s what it feels like.  Some people say it feels like the last month drags by.  I feel like the whole thing has dragged on.  I love the milestones, like  the last ultrasound before we see him in real life, and seeing him move for the first time through her belly.  But I’m ready to see my son.  Which brings up a good point!

This has been an ongoing debate in the Graham household.  Carissa says she has a baby in her “stomach.”  I correct her every time.  You don’t have a baby growing in your “stomach;” A stomach is an organ that digests food after it passes through the esophagus.  You have a baby growing in your “womb”… or your “belly”… I mean, even “abdomen” works better.  I know, womb isn’t the prettiest word, (I put it in the same category as “bosom;”  only the Bible uses those words.) so I prefer “belly.”  I don’t care if it sounds childish, it works, and it’s appropriate use of vocabulary.

Anyway, as the title of the blog goes, we only have one month to go before Hunter is supposed to enter the world, as of today.  I’m stupid excited about it.  I just want to see what he looks like, and show him the cool things in the world he should know about, which I know it’s going to be a while before he can understand, but it’s one of the things I look forward to.  We finished his nursery, and it’s a safari theme.  If you know me well, you know I’m a zoology nerd, and nothing fits my son’s room better than safari.  I’ll post pics below.  Not too much longer before he comes!

On December 23rd I took a trip to Thailand with my pastor and his family.  I missed spending Christmas with Carissa, but I went to lead worship for a group of young missionaries that are located all over southeast Asia.  They have to leave their respective countries every 6 months to renew visas and it’s their only chance to worship with other people that speak their language.  They were awesome people, and they worshiped so loudly, because they don’t take it for granted.  They were a gift to me and I received more from them than I could ever give them.  

Thailand was really interesting.  It’s very western compared to most of southeast Asia, from what I understood, and it was a weird mix.  Bangkok is a big city with terrible traffic.  Lanes are a suggestion.  You feel like you’re in a New York style city until you are riding in your taxi and pass an elephant walking on the sidewalk.  There are tons of street merchants selling CRAZY stuff, and half the snacks you see are fish flavored.  SICK!  Pattaya City was where our conference was and it is the prostitution capital of the world.  Apparently, more people get sex changes there than anywhere else, and all of this is very evident.  There are lady-boys everywhere.  There were also a ton of otherwise very pretty REAL Thai women walking on the beach with HUGE, FAT eastern European men with thong speedos on.  No joke.  They were everywhere, and it broke my heart to think of the kind of life they live.

The time I got to spend with Buster (my pastor) and his family was great.  They are very gracious people and Buster taught me all about Thailand history.  He’s brilliant when it comes to that kind of thing.  I enjoyed their company very much.

I ended up buying a big wooden elephant as a gift for my wife (because she’s a die hard republican) and for my son’s safari room.  It’s really cool.

As for my job at the church, we just had a prayer service with our new congregation in the North Area.  I had a great worship team consisting of two guitars, two vocalists, and a violin.  It fit well, as we have a small congregation and I want to grow our worship team from what’s available in our church, rather than pulling from our large Mt. Pleasant campus.  We had a trailer that we used to transport all our equipment and the church members all helped diligently in the rain to get all our children’s ministry / music ministry equipment in.  I have a great church, and it’s exciting to finally do what I was hired to do: lead the North Campus in congregational worship.  Good times.  

To wrap it all up:

1) my wife is a beautiful pregnant woman

2) my son is coming soon

3) Thailand was awesome

4) my church started it’s north campus

5) I’ve gained 11 lbs. since my son was conceived (that’s just for fun, now I’m going to eat ice cream.)

This is Hunter’s nursery.  It’s hard to get a shot with my camera because I don’t have a wide angle lens, but you get the idea.  The rhino head is one of my favorites – thanks Dean!  Carissa did the alphabet with flash cards and string.  That is a very comfortable chair too.

Hunter’s elephant canvas.  It will go into my office when he’s done with it.  I think it’s too cool.

Hunter’s crib.  That’s the elephant I bought him in Thailand in the left hand corner.

A bad picture of Hunter’s Bathroom.  Safari, again.  Cool frog that picks up, drains and stores bath toys.

Hunter’s bathroom again.

Hot pregnant woman in a sassy pregnant pose.

This is the coolest looking fruit in the world.  It’s dragonfruit, and this photo does it NO justice, because it was almost neon white, neon pink, and neon green.  It tastes like spongy kiwi… sortof

Buddhist temples like this one were everywhere. This was actually a “miniature” replica of a historic site at a park called The Ancient City. We had a great time riding bicycles through it. The park was huge and shaped like Thailand.