And the Verdict Is.....

On Tuesday Ben and I went to the doctor to get an ultrasound done and to find out what the gender would be and we found out that we will be having a girl! She is very healthy and on target with all of her developments and the due date still stands at May 27th. It was a very encouraging visit to the doctor and since then we have had fun telling family and friends all about it. Now we get to start the fun part of painting and decorating the nursery. We are very excited and anxiously await her arrival. The pregnancy continues to go well, however the frequent bathroom visits get a little old sometimes. We just took a road trip over New Years and Ben had fun stopping frequently so I could use the bathroom. Anytime he couldn't find me he quickly figured out I was probably in the bathroom. It has become a funny joke between us now. Anyways... I really have much to be thankful for. Based on all the stories I've heard, I feel very fortunate to have had such a great pregnancy thus far. Well... I will write and post more pictures later when we progress to the next stage.

On to the 2nd Trimester

Well... I am done with the first trimester and have now moved on to the 2nd trimester. I am now in my 19th Week! I had a very smooth 1st trimester and felt very fortunate to not have gotten sick at all. I only experienced being really tired, but now am not experiencing that as much anymore. It is really true when they say you feel great during the 2nd Trimester. So far I feel great and continue to not have any complications. We continue to go to monthly check-ups and the baby is growing and developing as expected. January 5th is our next appointment and at that appointment we will get to find out if it is a boy or girl. We are very excited to find out the gender of our baby. We will post the news as soon as we find out. We have been having fun starting to get the baby room ready. Sometimes it is overwhelming all that there is to get for a baby, but then I remember that there is 9 months in which to get it all and that is very helpful. I have posted a picture of what I look like right now. I haven't grown too much for the public eye, but I can tell that growth is taking place. Enjoy!!!

On other notes, Ben and I are overall doing well. Ben just completed his first quarter of Graduate classes and he is really enjoying it. He now has 3 weeks off to gear up for the next quarter and to enjoy the Holiday season. We are staying plenty busy this Christmas with Church programs and holiday parties etc. We will not be going back to the west coast to see our families, which will be hard for us to not be with them, but we have had to make choices in regard to traveling since Ben started Graduate school. We are glad to have each other and know that we will have a very enjoyable Christmas together. We also have plans to go to Kentucky to see the Mammoth Caves over the New Year break. We are looking forward to getting away for a couple of days and seeing some new sights. Those are the highlights about us. More to come in the coming months!!!

Ben In Seminary

At the beginning of September, Ben began Seminary in the major of Family and Children's Ministry. He is doing his studies through Bethel Seminary in St. Paul, Minnesota. Primarily his studies are done at home and from a distance, but 2 times a year he goes to St. Paul to have 2 week intensive courses. Right now he is attending his first intensive studies and really enjoying it. He has met some great people and gets to sit-up late at night and discuss Children's Ministry with other Children's Ministry directors. The program he track he is on is 3 years. Ben looks forward to applying what he is learning to the current Ministry. This is the only new update in our lives, other than expecting a baby. Otherwise we are just plugging away at our jobs and Ministry at the church. We are entering a very busy season with the holidays coming up and all that goes with them. We will post more later.

First Ultrasound

Ben and I went to our first ultrasound a couple of weeks ago and it was really fun. Seeing the baby makes everything real. The doctor said that the baby was healthy and that all the tests she did came back normal. The baby's due date is definitely May 27th, which was also confirmed by the ultrasound. Below is a small picture of the baby, but the best that we have right now. I (Christina), continue to feel pretty well. I have had to fight off a few colds, but have continued to not have any morning sickness. I have decided to keep pressing on with my 10 hour work days as my doctor said I will not experience this extreme tiredness in my 2nd Trimester. I have 4 more weeks to go until the 2nd Trimester, so we will see if I can do it.

We're Expecting!!!

Many of you have found out by now that Ben and I are expecting our first baby. We found out in early September and we are very excited. We will be due on May 27th, 2010! Soo.. right now we are in the middle of our 7th week. We plan to utilize our blog to keep everyone updated on how the baby and we are doing. We will even post pictures!!

So.. this being our first update we are doing well. I (Christina) am overall feeling great. I have not experienced any morning sickness per se, however I have found myself getting nauseous when I am hungry. After I eat something the nauseousness goes away, but it is sometimes hard to figure out what to eat when I'm nauseous. It really isn't all that bad and now that I have learned how my body is operating I know what to expect and how to deal with it. Other than this I have just been very tired and wanting naps a lot. This is not bad on the weekends, but does pose problems during the week while I am at work. Some may or may not know that I started working four 10 hour days and have Monday's off, which is really nice. Please just pray with me during those 10 hour days that I would have the Lord's strength to get through each day.

We have had one doctor visit so far where they poked and probed me all around and took blood samples etc. to be sure that I am healthy and that the baby will be healthy. All of those tests came back normal. We go back on October 12th for our next appointment and first Ultrasound. We are very excited to see the baby and to check on whether everything is okay. We will update after that appointment with a picture from the ultrasound.

Six Years Together

In the Fall of 2003, Christina and I were in a class together at college. On September 16 of that year, we took a walk after class and shared that we were very interested in each other. We got Slurpees at 7-Eleven and sat down for a couple hours in a park . I remember many details of that day because it was very significant in our relationship. Six years later, we're married and love each other more than ever.

Our Trip to Alaska

Greetings again from the Malans! We took a bit of a sabbatical from blogging this summer due to being extremely busy, but we are back and ready to start sharing our lives again. The best way to start is by sharing about our most recent vacation we took.

We recently got to take a fabulous vacation to both Seattle and Alaska. We had been planning this vacation for quite some time and it finally arrived. Here are some tidbits about our journey:

Day 1: Getting to Seattle

To begin our trip we had to drive from Indianapolis to Chicago to catch our flight to Seattle. On our way to Chicago our electrical system in our car decided to go out. The car was driving fine, so we weren't worried much until we realized that not only could we not run the air conditioner, but that our windows would not roll down either. It was about 85 degrees outside and we had to sit in a hot car, sweating for about an hour and a half. We didn't know what the fate of our car would be, but we managed to make it to Chicago (opening our doors to get air every opportunity that we had) and made our flight out to Seattle. All the meanwhile our faithful friend Andrew picked up our car from us at the airport and took it to a mechanic to get fixed while we were away. The Lord was good and worked all that out for us.

Day 2: Visiting Leavenworth, Washington

We went with Christina's parents to the small town of Leavenworth in Washington. Leavenworth was just a normal town until about 40 years ago when the city decided to boost their tourism by adding a section to their town that resembles a Bavarian village. Ben had never been there before. It was a quick tour of the town, but it was great to go there and see all the shops and eat some delicious salt water taffy. Leavenworth All in all we spent more time in the car than actually touring the town, but Ben was glad to see some new sites and it was a great chance to chat with Christina's parents. Plus, we took the "scenic route" through the beautiful Cascade Mountains, and that was great.

Day 3: Savannah's birthday party

I know it seems insignificant to mention a birthday party, but the thing is that we rarely get to go to family birthday parties since we live so far away. It was great being at Christina's niece's fourth birthday party and to be able to celebrate with her. It is so fun reliving the experience of birthday parties. Kids get excited over the littlest things, which is awesome.

Day 4: Fly to Anchorage

After spending about 3 full days in Seattle the two of us flew out to Anchorage Alaska for our own personal vacation for the summer. We met a nice lady on the plane that gave us lots of advice for our trip and ideas of good places to go and sites to see. She was very resourceful for us. The only bad news we got was that we were going to Alaska during their rainy season. We had prepared for colder weather when we packed, but not wet weather. Sure enough when we landed it was pouring down rain. We were a bit disappointed, but didn't want it to wreck our time. We were determined to make the best of it. Another funny thing about our first day in Anchorage was that we were driving around in the pouring down rain trying to find a place to eat. We found a place, walked in, sat down and looked at the menu. It turned out we picked what seemed to be the most expensive steak restaurant in town. We laughed about it and ate a great meal anyways.

Day 5: Glacier cruise

The highlight of our first full day in Alaska was taking a Glacier Cruise. We learned several interesting things about glaciers while we took a 1-hour boat cruise to see Portage Glacier. We didn't get to see any break off, but there were several that had already broken off and were floating in the lake.

Day 6: Hiking in Denali National Park
Unlike most national parks, Denali does not have many hiking trails, but the few it does have are very scenic. We started with a steep hike up Mount Healy and were treated with a wonderful panoramic view of the valley below. We had to hike in a little rain, but it was worth it. Later in the day we hiked to a nearby lake. The lake was beautiful, and it had some beavers busy cutting down some trees.

Day 7: Taking a shuttle bus 66 miles into Denali
We took an 8-hour bus trip into the park and saw several mountains and animals along the way. Some of the animals we saw were: Moose, Grizzly bears, a fox, a wolf, a marmot, and several Dall Sheep. We were able to see the bottom of Mount McKinley (the tallest mountain in North America), but not the top because of the clouds. It is actually pretty normal for Mt. McKinley to be completely covered with clouds, so we were actually lucky to see the bottom of it.

Day 8: Fun in Fairbanks
Just outside the city of Fairbanks is a town called North Pole, Alaska. We drove there and got to meet Santa Claus at his "house" and saw some of his reindeer. Then we mailed some postcards from the "North Pole" post office.

The main reason that Fairbanks grew to be a city was because of the gold rush. They have a park called Pioneer Park that has several replicas of log cabins and some actual machinery that was used for finding gold. They also have a Salmon Bake every night, so we joined them for some for some amazing fish and prime rib, along with other great food.

After dinner, we drove out to the Chena Hot Springs, a natural hot spring where you can go swim and relax. They've turned it into a sort of shallow pool with a fountain in the middle. Most of the water is comfortably warm, but there are some places along the side that are extremely hot! When the water comes out of the rock it is 145 degrees, so we quickly learned which places to avoid!

We were hoping to see the Northern Lights, and Fairbanks would have been our best chance to see them, but it was cloudy every night of our trip, so we didn't get to see them. However, we bought a book that has several great photos of the Lights.

Day 9-10: Return to Indy
The nickname for Fairbanks is the "Golden Heart of Alaska". The "Golden" refers to the gold rush and the city is close to the center of the state. Therefore, Fairbanks has a Golden Heart Plaza that has a nice fountain and statue of Eskimos, along with several plaques of historical information about the state. This plaza is positioned right by the river that runs through town. it's a great place to visit.

Our trip home had four main components. Part 1 was to drive from Fairbanks to Anchorage, seeing the same great scenery had seen on the way up. Along the way we stopped for lunch at Denali and picked up a few more souvenirs. We made it to Anchorage in time to get some photos developed before getting on the plane. Part 2 was to fly to Seattle, where Christina's parents picked us up and took us to breakfast during the 4 hour layover. It was fun to show them the photos and tell the stories of our trip. Part 3 was to fly to Chicago where Andrew met us with our repaired car. Part 4 was the drive back to Indiana. We had really enjoyed our trip, but it sure felt good to get home!