'Tis the Season to Be Busy!

     Hello everyone!  Well, truly, 'Tis the Season to Be Busy and also Jolly'! In the Brock's household, it has been very busy! However, in all the hustle and bustle, God has remained good to us, just as He said He would! Since it has been a while since we updated you on the our lives, I would like to just let you know what has been happening these last few months!
     As many of you already know, at the beginning of October, Mary and I found out that we are going to have a baby! A BABY! Needless to say, my first reaction was shock and I pinched myself a few times to see if it was a dream or reality! (You know dreams can seem pretty real, at least until you wake up!) Then my mind began to flood with many questions, thoughts (both scary and good) and many prayers to God!
     Because we were in shock and disbelief, Mary went to have her blood tested to see if it was truly a reality! And the test came back positive, Mr. & Mrs. Tyler Brock are going to be parents! (I think the thing that scared us the most is the fact that a little Tyler or little Mary (more scary than Tyler) was going to be running around like a Comanche!) HAHA LOL!
     At 8 weeks, Mary had her first ultra sound to see our little one! It was so neat to see our little baby, even though the extremities were barely visible! We could at least see that it was a baby! Here is a picture from the ultra sound!

 It is a bit blurry! (L to R) It is the head, trace of left and right arms and then lower extremities! Cute!

After all the shock of a baby, in November, our church had the 32nd Anniversary! Pastor Whitecar was our main speaker at the Mission Conference! The conference was very good, especially being able to see Pastor Whitecar and his wife! The Lord also worked on Mary & I's heart about some things through the messages! 

       As of this week, Mary is 12 weeks along! In the last few weeks, Mary has been feeling very, very sick! To the point that we thought that there could be something wrong with the baby! So the doctor had another ultrasound done today! God is SO GOOD! There is nothing wrong with the baby! Today, Mary went to have the ultrasound and as you can see the baby (we say "he") is doing good and has not skipped a beat! 

 A side profile of the baby! (R to L) Head, hand by his face and rest of body!

 Another side profile! (R to L) Head, a little more detail on the hand and faintly, the lower extremities!

A little blurry! But same thing without the hand by the head! Very cute! (It is because of Mary! Oh yeah, brownie points for me!)

While the nurse was measuring the baby, he was so cute--he kept raising his hand and moving around! Praise God for a healthy baby!

      We had a great Thanksgiving with my parents and some of my mom's family! Of course, I ate a lot, but I was very good about eating before Thanksgiving and I went back to my good eating habits! 

       Surprising enough, Mary & I went "Black Friday" shopping! (Neither of us like to shop!) At Midnight on Thursday, we went to a couple of stores! They were not too crowded, but we did "Man shopping", which is go in, get WHAT YOU NEED (nothing else) and leave! We heard that Walmart and Best Buy were a zoo! Then Friday morning, we woke up about 8:00 and went to finish our shopping! FYI: If you are going to shop on Black Friday, after the rush is the BEST time! We still got everything that we needed! And almost all of our Christmas shopping is done! PTL! 

       The school is doing well! Right now we are working on our Christmas program! This weekend, Mary & I are going to get our Christmas Tree for our FIRST Christmas together! AWW! 

       Well, that wraps up our life these last few months! It is pretty normal with a few interesting, exciting days! During this Christmas season, DO NOT get all "wrapped" up with the hustle and bustle of the selfish world...Remember Christ is the Reason for the Season! Share a smile, show Christ love to others and God will bless your Christmas Season!

College

       Every morning on our way to school, Tyler and I drive by the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology...most people just call it School of Mines.  We drive by between 7:15 and 7:30 and we always see one of two things, or both things.  Sometimes we see college students running to class so that they will not be late, and we also may see a college professor (easily distinguished from a college student) rushing to get to class so he is not late to teach.  Many mornings when we drive by I will say to Tyler, "I really miss college."  The first time I said that, he looked at me a little strange, but after a few minutes he said, "I guess I miss parts of college too".  As we said what we missed about it, it was different things...
       Tyler first of all missed the good times that he had in the dorm with the other guys.  He missed all the deep (and some not so deep) conversations that they had about different issues and on different topics.  Another thing he really misses is being able to sit under a teacher and be the one taught, rather than the one teaching.  We both wish we could go back and just learn more...you can never get to the point where you have learned "enough" or all that you need.
       I also miss the learning, but there are some things that I miss more than that.  I think two of the things that I miss the most about college are tests and projects, specifically reports.  To me, each test was a challenge to see how much I had really learned...the most challenging were those in my Biology class, which included: Botany, Zoology, Anatomy & Physiology, and Micro Biology.  A report was also a challenge to me of how much information I could gather through my own research, and how well I could put it into my own words.  Turning in a paper or a test that you have worked hard for gives such a great feeling of accomplishment.  I remember one night in which I finished a Zoology report on Killer Whales until about 3:00 AM, slept for an hour, and then got up and studied for my Zoology final until 5:30.  I was very worn out and sick from all the coffee I drank, but when I was able to turn everything in, it was very, very rewarding.  One last thing that I missed about college is student teaching.  I enjoyed every minute of it, and I learned SO MUCH myself.  One of my college teachers said that the test of a true teacher is whether that teacher can put into her students' heart the same love that she has for what she is teaching.  As I taught, I would think of that often.
       I know there is a much larger paragraph about what I miss about college than what Tyler misses, but he is not here with me, and I cannot remember everything that he said, but I know I have the basic details.
      I cannot believe that I am now a college graduate...it seems as if I was just in 7th grade, and finishing high school seemed far away.  Our lives go by so quickly, which is a reminder that whether we are in junior high, high school, college, or completely done, we need to be using every day for the Lord, because there is no way that we can take yesterday back.                                                                                           

Oh Deer!

       This past Saturday, our alarm went off at 4:45 a.m.  As it did, I was glad that it was not going off for me!  Tyler on the other hand was ready to jump out of bed.  All night he had been like a little boy trying to sleep on Christmas Eve...he could not wait to wake up so that he could go hunting.  I supported him by getting his breakfast and making sure he had warm clothes, hunting license, water, etc. 
      At about 9:00 Tyler told me that he had gotten his deer!!!  I was so excited for him!  Later he told me the story of how it had happened...He and his dad had been out waiting for a deer for a couple of hours and had seen nothing.  Finally, they decided that it was time to go home and come back another time.  As they got in the truck, and began to back up, they saw two deer off in the distance in a little valley.  Tyler got out of the truck, but he did not have a good shot at it.  He waited and waited, while his dad drove the truck, hoping to get the deer to move.  One deer finally began to run, and would not stop...so once again it could not be shot!  Finally it stopped, and Tyler aimed and fired.  He had gotten his deer!
      Later I finally got to see the deer...I made sure not to get too close!  I saw it from about 15 feet away as it hung in his parents' garage.  Thankfully the head was in a bucket, because that is where it was shot, and I am not sure if I would have been able to see that!  Tyler, my father-in-law, and mother-in-law spent about an hour processing the meat...I did not help here either!  I did give it a distant glance after all the fat and hair had been removed and it looked a little more normal. They are excited about the deer jerky, deer roast, deer shredded meat, and everything else they will get from it.  I am very excited for them as well, but am not quite sure how much of it I will eat!
      I am definitely in South Dakota now!  I know of two other people who shot a deer over the weekend.  I am just thankful that there is a Wal-Mart here with good cow meat!  It did put me into the Thanksgiving mood as I thought of the Pilgrims and Indians on the first Thanksgiving...everything they were eating they had killed themselves!