Her first pictures...

Our baby girl had her first pictures taken on Tuesday, February 10. We had our 4D ultrasound that morning and it was truly amazing!!! We are in love and seeing her just made us so much more anxious to meet her in person! We had a time getting her to cooperate at first- she was still sleeping and 10:30am is really early for her to be up and moving around. She is already a night owl- every night at about 10:30pm she starts having a party!!! So the midwife and I tried several techniques to get her to move those little hands from the front of her face. She finally began to cooperate. She was so precious- moving, and drinking, and sucking her fingers!

The first thing that we noticed when we got a good view of her was that she definitely has my nose! The umbilical cord is draped around her neck in these pictures. The midwife said that its just floating there and not choking her or anything. It looks kind of like a scarf (she is already stylish like her momma!).
Here she is sucking her little fingers. This ultrasound truly gave new meaning to Psalm 139:13-17 which reads:
"You made all the delicate, inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous- and how well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed. How precious are your thoughts about me, O God! They are innumerable!"

We thank God for this precious little life- we already know that the Heavenly Father is as crazy about her as we are!

Finally, Pictures!!!

The two pictures above and below are of the market were I volunteer about 3 times a week. This market was started by the church that we go to here in Selfoss. People in this community donate items (i.e clothes, furniture, dishes, etc) that they don't want anymore and we take the items and sell them at low prices. Part of the proceeds go to help the ABC foundation, which is a foundation that helps children in Africa go to school. The other half of the proceeds go to help families here in Selfoss that are struggling during these hard economic times. Our church and this market has been a tremendous blessing to me and to this community. It gives me something to look forward to, it gets me out into the community, allows me to meet people, and it helps me learn Icelandic! I love being able to serve the Lord in this way!


I wanted to give ya'll a little comparison of how much I have grown. The picture above and below is what I looked like in January. The two picutures below that is what I looked like at Christmas. I don't know about you but I can tell a difference! I'm glad- that means my little princess is growing!

Me at Christmas- December 2008.
Me on Christmas Eve.
This is Sy paying for our doctor's visit. We are not in the Icelandic social medical system yet- its a six month process to get in. We bought medical insurance before we came and thought that it would cover the pregnancy, but when we got here we found out that it did not. We will get into the system in April- praise God- right before the baby is born in May. We pay for all of our visits in cash and that is something that the receptionists are not use to (they don't recieve many cash payments) becasue no one hardly ever pays- everyone in Iceland is in the system. Consequently, we get charged a different price for our visits almost every time we go. Thankfully, it's not very expensive overall, especially considering what we would have to pay in the States if we didn't have medical insurance.
This is a me getting checked by the midwife. She usually checks to find the bottom of my uterus and then she checks the baby's heartbeat, among other things. On this visit, as she was checking the heartbeat, I noticed that the heartbeat was slower than it usually is. Just as I was thinking that the midwife goes "judging by this heartbeat, I would say that you are having a boy." Me and Sy looked at each other and then at her and Sy goes "our sonar showed that we are having a girl". Well, that did it for me! I made Sy call and make us an appointment to get a 4D sonar- we need to make sure that our girl is a girl!!! Our 4D ultrasound is scheduled for February 10 and we are so excited!!!! Our next checkup is also February 10 at 8:00am and after that we head to Reykjavik for the 4D which is at 10:30am. We will have a busy morning.

This is the building that we go to to get our checkups. No I will not have our baby here. The picture above this one is the waiting room inside this building. You can barely see the sign on the right side of this building in this picture, but its called Hvita Husid in Icelandic or White House (a fitting name, don't you think). We took these pictures during our last visit, which was January 20.

I can't believe it's 2009...

Well, I really can't believe that it's 2009. I am looking forward to a lot of new things this year. For one thing, I will become a baby's momma this year!!! I will also become an auntie to my new little niece, Khloe!! Hopefully, I will also become half way fluent in Icelandic this year with a lot of grace and mercy from the Lord! Oh, one more important thing- I turn 30 this year!!!! Oh, my goodness!!!! What the crap- 30! Anyways, this should be a wonderful year!
The FSU basketball team played their first game since the Christmas break Friday night...I am soooooo happy to report that they won! It was a close one (83-82). It was a great game...Saevar played really well. I was really proud of him and the entire team for keeping their composure throughout the game. Their next game is this Friday night I believe.
I have a prayer request for anyone reading this blog. One our friends and Sy's teammates, Arni (pronounced Out-nee), has been asking a lot of questions about the Lord. He is one of the sweetest guys that I have ever met. Arni went to bible study with me, Sy and Tyler last week for the first time ever (He did not grow up in the church). The bible study is really small and intimate and people are really free to share openly. We thought that it would be great for Arni to experience. We are studying a lesson by Rick Warren, the author of the book, "The Purpose Driven Life". That night we talked about the priorities in our life and if the Lord is top priority in our lives. Arni really enjoyed the group and the study...He said afterwards that he didn't feel weird being there at all and I praise the Lord for that because I feel like alot of Icelanders that aren't Christians have a lot of preconceived notions about Christians, church, etc. Arni's heart is really open to the Lord right now so I just want to ask anyone reading this blog, who is a believer, to please pray for Arni's salvation and that the Lord would continue to draw him unto Himself. Arni will be attending the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) next year on a basketball scholarship!!! Also pray that he will get involved with the right crowd next year that will encourage him in the Lord.
My sweet husband got me three hours of massages for Christmas this year. It's probably one the best presents he has ever gotten me!!! I went for my first massage Wednesday of last week. It was awesome!!!!! The massage table had a big hole cut out for my belly and everything!!! The massage tech was Icelandic but she lived in Scotland for eight years where she got her license. We talked the entire hour pretty much. She has three children ages 4,5, and 6! I was impressed that they were all back to back because I have been thinking recently that if me and Sy are going to have three children (Sy said recently that he wants 4 kids- everyone please PRAY) they are going to have to be back to back as well. I am going for my second massage tomorrow morning!
The baby is doing great! I feel her moving all the time now. I am about 23 weeks now and I weight 86.3 kilos (which is about 187 pounds and I still have 4 months to go- again everyone please PRAY)!!! Today all of a sudden I am experiencing some heartburn, acid reflux kinda symptoms- not liking it too much...
We are still working on a name for our baby girl, but I don't think that we are remotely close to coming to a consensus...
That's all for now...Happy New Year!!!

It's a Girl!!!!!!!!

We had our 20 week ultrasound this morning at 9:30am...The drama, however, started well before then...I was so restless last night...I woke up at 1:30am and just couldn't go back to sleep until about 4:00am...I think that I was just so anxious about the ultrasound that I couldn't sleep. Sy had to go and pick up one of his teammates, Tyler Dunnaway, from the airport this morning. He left the house at 5:00am so that he could be at the airport by 6:30 (It's an hour and a half drive to the airport from our house)...I wanted to go with him, but he wanted me to stay behind in case something happened...He wanted to be sure that I would make it to the doctor because we have had so much drama with all of our appt thus far since we have been in Iceland...Sy called me at 8:30am to tell me that he has picked up Tyler; our car had broken down in Reykjavik (30 minutes from our house); and Siggi was on his way to see about them...My first response was "You have got to be kidding me!"...No, he wasn't kidding...So I get up out of bed and start to get dressed because I realize that I have 30 minutes to get ready before I need to start making my way to the hospital...
Now, it would take any normal person about 15 minutes to walk to the hospital from our house, but I am not normal when it comes to being in a hurry...I am probably one of the slowest people you would ever want to meet and the fact that I am pregnant does not make matters any better...so I knew that it would probably take me 25-30minutes to walk to the hospital...I started on my way at about 9:00am...
As I am walking I see an ambulance coming my way and I was soooooooo close to flagging him down and asking him to take me the rest of the way BUT I didn't...Saevar calls to tell me that our car has to be towed; Siggi is letting us borrow his work truck; and that he is on his way!!! He also asks me to stall the ultrasound tech as long as I can...At that point I realize that the paperwork that we need for the ultrasound is in our broken down car...Thankfully Sy remembers it!!!
I get to the hospital just in time sweating like a pig...The technician calls me back into the room...I explain the situation and asks if there is anyway that we can postpone the appt a little so that we can wait for Sy, who at this point is about 10 minutes away...She kindly explains that she is booked all day and that she can't wait, but that we could re-schedule the appt for next week...I kindly DECLINED that suggestion- we had already been postponed a week (our appt was originally on the 23rd of Dec)...She said that the appt would last at least 30 minutes so Sy would be there in time for the majority the session...and she was right!!! When Sy got there (papersork and all) he hadn't missed hardly anything!!!! Praise the Lord!!!!
The ultrasound was wonderful...She measured the baby's head and femur, which showed that we are actually 21 weeks and some days instead of 20 weeks...My due date was moved from 14 May to 11 May...We saw all 10 fingers, 4 chambers of the heart, the kidneys, eyes, nose, two little lips, the stomach, two little legs, and last but not least the female anatomy!!!!!!
Honestly, me and Sy thought we were having a boy, but we could not be happier!!!!
The funny thing is that we went to a birthday party this past weekend with bunch of Sy's friends that he grew up with- ironically, all of his closest friends growing up were girls...Anyways, four of the girls that he grew up with are pregnant- all with girls!!!
Happy New Year everyone!!!!! It will definitely be a new year for the Sigurmundsson's...Life, as we now know it, will NEVER be the same!!!!!

Some Christmas Pics

Clearing all the snow off the car


Siggi, Sirry and Einar with the Christmas Tree we found in the woods


Mr and Mrs Good Looking


Merry Christmas!!

Sy's Email

The following is an email that Sy sent out to our friends and family from our church back home, The Light, a few days before Christmas...I am posting it for two reasons: 1) It gives a good update on what's been going on with us, as well as the economic conditions here in Iceland and 2) Not everyone that reads this blog is on our church email distribution list...

Merry Christmas everyone. I have been meaning to send an email for a while, but better late than never. Just wanted to let everyone know that Dasha and I are doing very well in Iceland. I know some of you have been keeping up with us on our blog that Dasha does such a good job of updating. I have been extremely busy with basketball and work and I am really excited about a little Christmas break. Our team hasn't done as well as I would like, but we are getting better. We are 3-7 in the league, but we have lost some very close games that we could have won. I am hoping we can pick it up in the new year and get on a winning track.

The baby is doing really good. We had a doctors appointment this week and we got to hear the heartbeat and everything seems good. We go for the the 20 week ultrasound on the 30th of December and then we will get to know if we are having a boy or a girl. We had decided not to find out, but then Dasha changed her mind so we are really excited to find out what we are having.

We have found a really nice church here in Selfoss where we live. It is a small church and it really reminds me of the Light. I got to share my testimony last Sunday and it went really well. Dasha has been getting more and more involved in the community and she is really starting to enjoy Iceland more. We have also had several opportunities to share with my teammates and we are praying that God will bless them and draw them to Him.

We will be spending Christmas with my family in the capital city. It is only 30 minutes from our home and we are going to stay with them for 4-5 days and just hang out.

I know many of you have probably heard about the economic crisis here in Iceland. The country pretty much went bankrupt and many people are really hurting. I know it is going on all over the world, but we were the first country to go down. My mom lost her job, but she will continue to get paid for a few more months, which is such a blessing because there are no jobs available here. God has also really blessed my dad because he had just gotten a pretty big project that will last until this summer. They are saying that things will get really bad in about 2 months since most people that have been laid off the last couple of months will be receiving their last paycheck then. Who knows what will happen, we just keep praying.

Dasha got her residence card which was a lot easier process than what I had to go through in the states. The only problem we have right now is that we are not in the health system. We didn't know this, but it takes us 6 months to get into the system to receive free health care. So we have to pay for all our doctors visits, which is not bad since prices here are not nearly as bad as in the USA. It was just bad timing due to the pregnancy and we have to see the doctor every month. Dasha and I should be in the health care system in early April, which is just in time before we have our baby in mid-May. We are thankful for that because it could have been really expensive to have the baby without being in the system.

Well I don't want to write to long and bore you guys. We really hope all of you are doing great and that you have a blessed Christmas.

Here is all our contact information. We actually have a US number you can call anytime. It is a local call for you guys we would love to hear from you.

Phone (local): 256-513-6575
Sy Email: saevar@inbox.com
Dasha Email: ladashat@yahoo.com
Skype: sysigur, dasha sigurmundsson
We also use facebook

Catch Up...

Several things have happened over the last two weeks...I won't mention them all, but I will try to hit the highlights...Me and Sy somehow end up in Reykjavik almost every weekend...The weekend before last we went to a Christmas Buffet dinner with Sy's parents and another couple....This wasn't a typical buffet...It was at this fancy resturant and we had all this fancy food...Everything was wonderful and the food was delicious...After dinner we walked around downtown and went to several places that had live music...We ended up meeting a guy from France that was in town for the weekendat a place called Cafe Rosenburg...He was actually a violinist and he played with the band that was performing at the resturant that evening...He had never played with the band before, but you wouldn't have known it because he was great! AND his french accent was da bomb! Later on that night I met a guy from Maryland who was visiting Iceland for the first time...He just went to his travel agent and said I want to go somewhere I have never been and she suggested Iceland...He got a really good deal because the dollar is so good here right now...We had a nice little talk...He was an mechanical engineer who built night vision system for the army...We had alot in common with my missile defense background...
Me and Sy have been going to a little church here in Selfoss called Hvitasunnukirkjan...don't ask he what that means...Anyways, we really like it...It reminds of so much of The Light...Its a small community and they have pastors, but they have different speakers come in regularly to share the Word...The pastors of the church are Aaron and Gunna...They are a sweet couple about mine and Sy's age...They invited me and Sy to dinner this week to get to know us better...It was really nice...We talked about 3.5 hours during and after dinner...They told that the church has approx 7 small groups that meet every other Weds night for bible study and they invited us to join them...So, this weds night will be our first bible study!!!! We are really excited because we have been wanting and needing some accountability...Praise the Lord for helping to get us plugged in...The church put together a market to help raise money for needy children...People all over Selfoss have been donating items that they don't want anymore and we are selling the items at reduced prices...This effort has gotten a wonderful response from the community...Poeple have been very thankful because with the econmic crisis many have little money for Christmas presents so the market has given them the opportunity to shop for the presents...I have been volunteering at the market this week and I have really enjoyed it...It has given me an opportunity to meet and fellowship with people in the community and with people in the church.
A very exciting thing happened this past weekend...We bought my ticket to come home in February!!!!!!! YYEEEAAAAAHHHHH!!!!!!! I will be home Feb 13-March 2...I will fly from Iceland to NY and then me and my Momma will both fly from NY to Nashville together...My ticket from Iceland to NY was only $350!!! So anyone planning to come and visit us anytime in the next decade should really checkout flights right now...the are pretty reasonable...Now, the kicker, as always, was getting the flight from NY to home which also costs us about $350...All in all, it was pretty reasonable...
We are having a baby shower for my sister on Feb 15 in Florence and I am really excited about seeing all the fam...It will be great!
Oh, me and Sy have decided to find out the sex of the baby!!! I was really sold on NOT knowing, but now since I'm coming home I want to be able to shop for the baby...Plus I want to be as prepared as possible...So I really had my heart set on finding out next week (my sonar appt was the 23rd of December); however the sonar office called today to re-schedule my appt to the 30th of December...Uuuuggghhhhh...So now we have to wait another week...In the meantime the belly is getting bigger!!!!
The basketball team has been having weekly pool meetings...So we have been going to the pool at night in the freezing snow...Its been awesome!!!!...Americans really don't understand swimming in the winter, but its the best...Iceland has heated pools...They are more like hot tubs really, but you really haven't lived until you've been in a heated pool with 3 feet of snow all around you!!!!
By the way its snowing over here like crazy...I love it and I am dying to have a snowball fight!!!!