Sweet times...Lord continue to teach me

Days around our house have gotten sweeter these days. I am still not sure what God's purpose is in us losing our baby, but I know that there have been a few changes in me. I am enjoying some extra special time with my girls. Things like reading books, curling hair, coloring etc have taken on a whole new light for me. I am finding that I am spending more time doing with them rather than shooing them while I complete a task. I'm not sure how this is all occurring, but I am still keeping on task with my everyday chores etc., but I am just loving my time with the girls. God is keeping me strong about the loss of the baby too. I am having to answer occasional questions and listen to occasional cries from Stephanie and Katie about the baby's death(none of which are brought up by myself or Chris). My girls have always just seemed to have impecable memories. I guess that God is using this to help us teach Stephanie and Katie that we don't always know why things happen and things aren't always as happy as we want them to be, but we still have to trust God. That is a hard lesson for a mature adult, much less a 5 and 3 year old(of course they only can comprehend so much of it). Anyway, I just thought that I would share a little of what God is doing in us as a family. We are still waiting to see what God has in store for us. We know that no matter what it is it will be great. Because we serve a GREAT, GREAT God.

Stephanie's check-up

Today I took Stephanie to the doctor for her 5 year old check-up. She is growing up so very fast and is becoming quite a fine young lady. No shots today, just a hemoglobin stick, but you still would have thought she had had a shot. She didn't even cry until after the fact and then she just let on. She is such a drama queen. Here are her stats: 40 lbs 42 in I don't exactly remember her percentiles, but she is right around 50% on both. Dr. B. says she is doing great and very well proportioned. Sorry no pictures, but the computer has had to go to the hospital so we are surviving on the one upstairs(thanks Aunt V. for getting this one up and running for us--we never thought we'd actually have to depend on it!).

The untamed monkey

Can someone please explain to me why it is that my Katie bug suddenly acts like an untamed monkey whenever it is time for devotion. I know she is a bit of a wild child(or at least that is what I like to call her), but she was trying to climb on my head tonight. Seriously people...that is just not right. I think there is something wrong with her.

Sadness like never before

I don't know why I am writing this, other than perhaps I need to get it off of my chest. Chris and I experienced the loss of a child yesterday. I didn't even really have a chance to blog and let everyone know that we were expecting. I guess I should start at the beginning. We found out about 2 months ago that we had been blessed again and would become parents again. We were both so excited. I had been praying for such a long time that God would show us if he wanted us to have another baby. I felt that I was ready, but Chris was not certain. God answered my prayers and Chris and I had agreed together that we would like to try to have another baby if it was God's will. We were ecstatic to find out a couple of months later that we were expecting. I kept things quiet until I was about 8 or 9weeks and then we told several very close friends and of course our girls. The cat was out of the bag then!!! I was about to bust to tell so everyone quickly found out. We agreed that we would tell our family on Christmas day(which is the reason for not blogging about it until now) Stephanie and Katie did an awesome job of not leaking the news to their grandparents. I was so proud of them. Anyway, things were going along great. I was tired, but not at all sick. All in all I felt really good. But I was not alarmed because my previous pregnancies were pretty much the same with just a little nausea with Stephanie. The holidays came and we were so busy and then Christmas arrived and we told our parents. I was 11 weeks pregnant and felt that even though I had not heard the baby's heart beat(I was scheduled to go to the doctor today) everything was fine. I wasn't having any any problems and had never had a miscarriage. I had had 2 healthy pregnancies surely I wouldn't be affected? Everyone was so excited. I was at my mom's on New Years Day and went to the bathroom one last time before leaving to drive home. At this moment my excitement as I knew it came crashing down. I will not give any details other than to say that the timing was terrible and I was unable to see the doctor. I stayed at my mom's until Friday morning and drove to the doctor's office. He had ordered blood work, but was not there to see me. Over the next 3 days, things progressively got worse and I was certain that I was miscarrying. I have never felt such emotional pain before. We celebrated Stephanie's birthday over the weekend and it was bitter sweet. I tried really hard to enjoy it for her sake, but I was crying inside. On Monday, we went to the doctor and were told that our baby had died. We both were expecting it, but it didn't make it any easier. Why am I telling you all of this? Maybe because I want you to know that I am okay...maybe because I want the word to spread so that I don't have to answer the questions a ton of times...maybe I just need to vent. I don't know. I do know that God has a plan and that our baby is in heaven with him. I have no idea how people go thru this that don't have a relationship with our Lord and Saviour. I know that God is going to teach me thru this experience. My heart aches, but I am okay. I know now how painful miscarriage is for a woman. I hope that maybe I will be able to help someone else that is going thru this same pain. I want to say thank you to everyone who has prayed for us, helped us, taken care of our kids, provided a meal for us or whatever else you may have done. We love you. Our God is bigger than any heartache we may ever experience; I know this, believe it and hold onto his truths. My favorite verse is still 'I can do all things thru Christ who strengthens me' Phil 4:13. And second to it is Jeremiah 29:11 'For I know that plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." I praise my Lord for his wonderful Word.

katie on the balancing beam

This was taken at Stephanie's birthday party. We didn't get Stephanie, but we did get Katie. Both girls start gymnastics tomorrow. It should be lots of fun.

Happy Birthday Stephanie

Today is my sweet Stephanie's 5th birthday. I can hardly believe that she is 5 and will be starting kindergarten in August. We had her birthday party yesterday at the Family Y and she had a blast. It was a gymnastics party and they got to do several things in the gymnastics room. She was too cute and way to big to be my little girl. She is growing up to be a beautiful girl. She has a very tender heart and is very polite and kind. Her manerisms are changing every day(some which we like and others we don't like so much). She is excited to be 5 and can't wait to start kindergarten(I on the other hand can wait). Happy Birthday Baby. Check out those legs! A few of the party animals. My dad and stepmom came and were able to bring my step brothers two girls(these are Stephanie and Katie's only cousins) Stephanie on the balancing beam. Stephanie with two of her most favorite people.

Publish Post

Revelation

This is what I heard at 3:30 am...Mom, there is a roach in the bathroom(Katie). Well, use my bathroom(mom) pitterpatter Stephanie, mom says to use her bathroom(Katie yelling up the stairs to Stephanie) pitterpatter (Stephanie coming down the stairs) I already used the bathroom. pitterpatter THUD-- I ran into the box(Katie's comment after running over the laundry basket in my room and dumping all the folded clothes in the floor)... I just love this kind of drama in the middle of the night!!!!

Christmas Cookies and the before

Today was our day to do our traditional Christmas cookie decorating. This year I was excited about the prospects of really enjoying it as the girls were able to do most of the decorating. I was right and it turned out to be wonderful fun despite the hours right up to it. Let me share about the hours prior to... I thought I was doing great. I had the steaks marinating and the twice baked potatoes ready to go back in the over. The sugar cookies were all mixed up and in the fridge waiting to be baked. I was ready to get dinner on and then on to the festivities. Then I had a revelation...it would be a better idea for me to actually bake the cookies so we could decorate them after dinner instead of standing around waiting on them to cook/cool. So, I pulled out the dough and began to cut the cookies with the cookie cutters(Disaster #1) The dough was too gooey and was impossible to work with. Thankfully I had a sugar cookie mix in the cabinet. I quickly whipped that up and will use the other to make mexican wedding cookies instead. With the cookies baking and breathed a sigh of relief. The grill was going and I was waiting on Chris to call and say he was on his way home. When he called, I put the potatoes in and headed out to put the steaks on. (Disaster #2) I discovered the grill as now off--the gas had run out. So, I decided to stick the oven on broil and hope for the best. The steaks turned out good and dinner proceeded as planned(thank goodness). Next up was the decorating which did not come with any disasters. The girls did a good job(for a 4 and 3 year old that is). They glopped icing on and poured sprinkles everywhere---but they had fun. No yelling, fussing or fighting and all had a good time. Enjoy the pictures. Stephanie decorating her cookies That's Katie's cookie--not just a glob of icing! Katie licking the knife. Daddy enjoying the fruits of our labor--he did decorate a few. Stephanie eating and decorating at the same time. Katie eating that gooey cookie

Catching up with November

I realize that it has been an extremely long time since I posted. Let's just say I am a slacker. We have been extremely busy and I'll be brief as I tell all that we have done.... Chris went to the Swamp(University of Florida) we several of his friends and the girls and I headed to mom's for Disney on Ice. We had a blast and the girls loved every second of the show. We had our Sunday school Christmas party the weekend before Thanksgiving. Yes, I know it was early for a Christmas party, but we planned that way to try to keep th ings less hectic thru the season. We had a great turn out at the party and we laughed so hard that many of us cried. It was a great time of laughter and fellowship. We put up one of our trees before Thanksgiving to get a jump start on decorating since we were going out of town for Thanksgiving and are having a party at our house this weekend. The girls got to open their traditional Christmas pjs and also received their ornaments for this year. Katie got an ornament of Sleeping Beauty as this was the once princess that she was enthralled with at Disney. Stephanie received an ornament with three of the princesses as she was just thrilled with all of them. Chris got an ornament of ESPN guys! I received a tweety and sylvester ornament that was just adorable(I love Tweety and Chris has given me several tweety ornaments over the years). Stephanie had her class party the Friday before Thanksgiving and I was able to take off work so I could be there. I of course left my camera at home(shame on me), but will hopefully get the pics from someone else. Her class dressed up like Pilgrims and the 3 year olds were indians. They were all adorable. Finally, we headed home to my mom's for Thanksgiving. We ate at my aunt and uncle's on Thursday and had traditional Thanksgiving at my mom's on Saturday night with some friends. My husband was greatly dissapointed that we are venturing elsewhere for Thanksgiving(we have never done this in all our years of marriage) so my mom satisfied him by cooking at home as well(turkey, dessert etc). Actually I think mom had planned on it anyway. I actually did most of the cooking this time around. I made the pies, turkey and dressing and Vicki made the macaroni and cheese and sweet potato casserole. It was all wonderful...again.. We had the chance to visit with some friends and their new baby both Thursday night and Saturday night. I had seen H., but no one else had. The girls were thrilled with him and doted all over him. As you can see, we were very busy and the busyness hasn't stopped. Our house is all decorated now with 2 trees, wreaths, and lights and tomorrow I will begin the cooking for our annual pharmacist party. I'll try not to make the next blog as far apart as this one. Enjoy a few pictures....

Off the wall

Okay, Stephanie was sick a couple of weeks ago with her annual 'ring in the fall/winter' illness. In case you don't know this usually means we bump up the steroid inhaler again and go into 'winter mode'. Well, we never seem to bump the inhaler up until we realize that the nose has stopped running, but the cough just won't go away. So, once we realize this we increase her steroid and everything usually gets back to normal. Well, I took off to mom's for a short visit to see Disney on Ice on Thursday night. I realize while in the car that Stephanie just will not stop coughing. Seems like it was getting worse to me. I then remember that I have left the house without the nebulizer or the her albuterol (rescue) inhaler...I'm ju.st not in the habit of carrying them anymore since she doesn't generally need them. So, I get a little panicked that perhaps she might need a little albuterol to help that cough and I have NONE. So, I track down our pediatrician while in the coliseum(to see Disney on Ice) and have her call the medicine in to the local pharmacy(thankfully I had the spacer with me or else I would have been out of about $60 or so). So, we start the albuterol on Thursday night and continue to give it to her three time a day thru the weekend. Now we are at Sunday afternoon where my story really begins... While at the lunch table on Sunday, Stephanie has one foot in her chair and the other on the window sill. She will not stay still. I can't get ther to focus while I am going over her AWANA verses and she is just wild, to put it mildly. At this point I realize that all of this is from the albuterol(which I know this happens and I always forget since we rarely have to use it). The child was running thru the house, screaming, jumping all around, climbing on the window sill....come on this is so not Stephanie. Katie maybe, but not Stephanie! To top it all off when I finally figure it out I remember that the girls didn't go to sleep until 11pm on Saturday night!!!! Somehow it all makes since at this point to me. Her cough is gone and so Chris decided that we would stop it last night. I figured that she would be good today at school and then I arrive only to find out that she was defiant and was calling names today. She called a kid a poo poo diaper because she wanted to play with someone else(In case you are wondering this came from Dennis the Mennace which I will not allow her to watch again--I didn't realize that boy was so ugly!) I'm just glad that I opened the conversation up with her teacher(who is a good friend by the way) by asking if she was wild today...I just hope that this is all medicine related!!!!

A Reminder

We had a wonderful day today in the Lord's House. Dr. Gray Allison is with us for a revival today thru Wednesay. We will spend the entire week in the book of Jude. I didn't realize that one little book was so packed full. We only did 4 verses today! Anyway, all that aside...We have been giving the girls an allowance(allotment as Chris calls it) each week for completing their chores. They have to put a portion in their piggy bank to save, they tithe a portion, and they have a portion to spend(or save if they wish). Stephanie is old enough to go to children's church where they take up an offering each week. She gives her tithe during that time. Since Katie is too young for children's church, we go and pick her up at the end of each service and bring her in to give her offering.(our church takes up the offering at the end). Today, while the offering was being taken up and the praise team was singing, I saw Katie lift up her hands. You see, the praise team and other members of the congregation were lifting their hands up in praise and worship to our Lord. So, naturally Katie did what she saw them doing. The Bible calls us to be imitators of Christ. Katie had no idea what she was doing today, but it struck me that she would just automatically do what she saw others doing. I was quickly humbled to realize that I have a very importan job to do. I must imitate Christ because my daughter is going to imitate me--Oh how often I am reminded of that in the speech and mannerisms of my girls! I praise that Lord that even though Katie had no idea what she was doing, she is learning at a young age what it means to sing and give praise to the Lord.

You made my day

Today I received this beautiful arrangement of roses. I knew the minute I saw them that they were from my sweet husband. No, he didn't do anything wrong. We have not said any harsh words to each other lately. I knew because of the color of the roses. Here's the story.... When we were dating in college, I was at home for the summer and Chris was working in Aiken. He came to visit me for my birthday and carried a dozen, peach roses in a graduated cylinder in the front seat of his car all the way from Aiken to Summerville. He won lots of brownie points that day. Ever since, I always get peach roses, not red. Now, these roses aren't peach, but yellow. However, the florist didn't have peach and told him they would send yellow instead. But when they arrived they have a beautiful peach tint to them and so I still figured they must have come from him. He's the greatest husband and I am so thankful that God gave him to me!!!

My baby is growing up

Chris called today and wanted to talk to Stephanie. I called her downstairs and this is what happened during their conversation. I am having a really hard time dealing with this grown-up child. I have been told since day 1 of motherhood how quickly they grow up. I guess I just didn't think that it would happen to me. My oldest has become quite a grown up girl and I am sad.

Happy Halloween

We have just commenced the Trick or Treat adventure for this year and have successfully put the children to bed. Now the candy is all ours!!!! We had a great time. The girls were Raggedy Anne and Andy thanks to grandma's sowing. Thanks grandma. They were a hit. They got lots of compliments and we heard many times that they were the cutest of the night. We thought so, but they're just our kids. The Wizard of Oz clan, otherwise know as the M. Family, joined us yet again for this year's trick or treating. It is always great to have an older one around to help steer the children the right way. Katie fell so many times in her quest for candy that I lost count. She kept right on going. We've decided that next year we will have to come up with a theme for all three of them. (this is the third year we've done this with the M.s minus the mister since he has been unable to join us until this year.) Ms. K. and J. joined us again this year as well. Everyone had a blast, but we did freeze our little tooshies off this year....

Helen, GA

We went to Helen this weekend because Chris had to speak at a GSHP(pharmacy) conference. We left on Friday night around 8:45 and arrived around midnight. We took the girls on a frog pond nature walk on Saturday. The walk was a little muddy because of all the rain, but not too bad. The girls enjoyed riding on daddy's shoulders. Saturday afternoon we ventured over to BabyLand USA. This is the home of the original cabbage patch kids. We got to view the 'birth' a cabbage patch and hear the 'story' of the cabbage patch kids. The girls enjoyed it, but were disapointed that we didn't buy them a baby doll. To the tune of $175 for a bottom of the line original baby, I think not! They had the 'knock offs' but we already have one of those. The girls both fell asleep in the car on the way home and so Chris and I thought we might venture into Helen to see what there was to do. Unfortunately we turned the corner out of the state park and were immediately met by a line of traffic. Oktoberfest is going on right now so the traffic was tremendous. We decided that this was not the time to try that. We'll have to go back again some time. We had a nice dinner at the lodge, provided by GSHP, on Saturday night. Chris stayed and watch part of a football game and I ventured back to try to get the girls to sleep. The hope was that they would be asleep by the time he came back...no such luck. So the two of us sat in the corner with the bathroom light on until they fell asleep. The things we'll do to get kids to go to sleep! Chris did his talk on Sunday and did a great job(so I hear) Someone stopped on the way out and said that he had the most questions of any speaker and did a great job. I'll take their word for it as I am sure he did. We headed out after the talk and ate at an awesome bbq place in Helen for lunch and then headed home for AWANA. It was a quick trip, but good to get away. Enjoy the pictures!!!

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Live and Learn

This is one of those wonderful recipes that you make one time and then never attempt again. I found this recipe in the Family Fun Magazine(love that magazine). You use prepared pie crust and cut out your shapes. You then are supposed to fill the middle with mini chocolate chips or whatever you choose(marshmallows etc). Then brush the edges with an egg mixture and place another cookie cut out on top and then pinch together. They turned out great and tasted wonderful, but there were two problems. First of all, one shell only makes about 10-11 cookies. Second, they took forever to make. I think that if I ever try this again I will use bigger cookie cutters. It was just really hard to get the candy to stay in such a small place. Everyone raved about them though so maybe it was worth the effort.

Riding Bikes

Now that fall is upon us, at least for a few days, the girls have been enjoying riding their bikes outside. They have had a blast. Stephanie likes to ride down the hill(that is all we have here--no flat ground in this neighborhood) screaming. Katie just looks funny with her little legs just a peddling. She is pretty good at it too.

Sorry the picture aren't that great. I really to read up on how to find/use the sport setting on my camera. Mabye there will be time tomorrow. In the mean time, hopefully you can get the picture.

Visiting with Oma and Opa

The girls and I went to my dad's house Saturday night for a visit. The girls had a great time. They ventured upstairs with Uncle Jonathan and had a great time hollering down from the upstairs(it overlooks into the living room). They each picked stuffed bear out of the toy pile and Oma drew a picture of it for the to color. She had a rainbow crayon and so she taught them how to use it. That thought that was very cool! Oma helping Katie with the rainbow crayon. Katie listening intently to Opa.

The 'Pumpkin Patch'

After we left the scarecrows, we headed over to the pumpkin patch. Now for anyone who has a true pumpkin patch, this is not really a patch. It is more like a church parking lot, but this is our rendition here. The wind wasn't quite as brisk so I was able to actually get the girls with their cute pumkin shirts(hairbows and all--thanks J.H.). We plan to go to another one here at home and I'll post those pictures soon too.