Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

• 4 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

June 2, 2008 - Update

I left you with a prayer request and then left for the weekend. I am going to give you a quick update and will blog more hopefully later in the week after the Memorial Service.

Heather went to the hospital at midnight on Thursday to be induced. This was a few weeks before her actual due date. Nothing much happened and so the doctor broke her water at 1:30 p.m. on Friday and labor picked up later in the afternoon. Owen Matthew was born at 5:08 p.m on May 30 but unfortunately labor was too much for him and his heart stopped beating before he was born... He weighed 3 lbs 10 oz. and was 17" long. Jason called me late Friday night. He told me that Owen had features similar to their other boys and even had a little hair. Their parents and their two boys were able to spend time holding him and had many pictures taken. They planned on going home the next day but were going to spend the night holding Owen.

My heart breaks when I think of them going home from the hospital with empty arms that ache to hold their baby...   

• 2 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

May 29, 2008 - My Cousin's Wife

I have mentioned a couple of times that my cousin and his wife are expecting a baby with anencephaly (the baby's brain did not develop). Tonight Heather will be induced and I ask that you would please pray for her and her husband. I am so proud of her! I know that there are women who would have chosen not to continue to carry a baby with this diagnosis but Heather gave all she had to this precious baby that God created within her. She talked about not robbing him of the time he needed to grow.

Heather's emotions have gone places mine have never been. She has gone to doctor appointments watching the other expectant mothers knowing her outcome will not be as happy. When shopping people will stop and ask "when are you due?"  How do you answer without breaking down? Heather now begins her last moments of carrying her precious Owen and I cannot imagine the pain she is going through. I talked to her earlier and she said that God is sustaining them and today has been a good day. I know she is obviously quite nervous also. Their desire is that Owen would be born alive and that they would have time to spend with him before he goes to be with Jesus. Please pray in that way.

Here is a 3D ultrasound picture taken of Owen a few weeks ago. He is perfect in every way except one...

• 3 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

May 28, 2008 - Busy Week

This is a busy week preparing for the first off-road race of the season. Thankfully we had a nice relaxing weekend before the mad rush began but the motorhome is almost completely packed and the race car is ready to go. Just a little baking and meal preparation left. The kids are excited and have been counting down the days.

Here are a few pictures from our weekend.

I love when the hummingbirds return. We had not gotten our feeder out yet and as George and I were standing by a sliding glass door a hummingbird came flitting to the door seemingly looking at us as if to say, "I'm here, where is the feeder?" We got it ready with sugar water and have had a steady stream of guests often a couple at a time.

The boys have a new book called "Dangerous Book for Boys" that is not dangerous at all but has all kinds of things that boys need to know. One thing was making a tree fort and they got Daddy to begin working on one with them.

Missy Blue is quite the fun one to photograph as she poses so nicely for me. Here she is in the tree fort after it was a little farther along.

• 3 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

May 23, 2008 - Show & Tell Friday -- Big Girl Bed

The time had finally come to move Missy Blue to a "big girl bed". She had still been in a crib while her baby brother shared her room in a pack 'n' play. Missy never attempted to climb out and I was quite content to let her stay confined but Baby Boy needed to move to a crib. We didn't relish the idea of buying another bed and thought to move her to a toddler size but the Lord provided a new bed for us.

My Dad is a maintenance man for an apartment complex and the perk of the job is that he can have anything that is left in vacated apartments. This time however, the model apartment furniture was in storage and ended up wet from all of the melting snow. The apartment manager didn't want it anymore and my Dad asked if we wanted a few things. We ended up with a loveseat, sofa and also a brand new twin-size bed. Perfect! We moved Missy to her new bed a few weeks ago and she was so excited. We haven't had any problems with her not staying in bed so all went well. This week the bedding I found on ebay arrived and now her bed is all set and Missy Blue is delighted.

Missy & Baby Boy's room. At some point I plan on painting "grass" on the bottom portion of the walls with a few flowers.

Missy Blue in her new bed. I love the "shabby chic" bedding I found.

If you would like to see more Show & Tells please stop and visit Canada Girl by clicking below.

• 7 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

May 19, 2008 - Racing Practice

The off-road race season begins at the end of this month and my husband has been preparing for the past couple of months. He gets up early most every morning to work on his car so that he is able to still spend time with us as a family in the evenings. Everything is finally coming together and today he had the opportunity to test the car on a racetrack. Typically he will test run the car up and down our country road and so he was thankful that a few guys decided to rent the track a few hours north of here and he was able to chip in.

Yesterday we drove the motorhome hauling the race-trailer to church and can I just say that is a great way to head to church. I was able to feed the baby on the way and then ate breakfast. My husband joked that I could have just taken a shower and gotten ready on the way also. After lunch with my parents we headed up North and were able to spend the evening with my in-laws. The children were up bright and early at 6 a.m. and were excited to get going despite the fact that my husband and I were really looking forward to sleeping in.

It was a beautiful day, although a little chilly from the wind. My husband was able to test out his car to see how ran. The children were able to spend time with their grandparents and get a little taste of racing. They can't wait until the first race and Tank kept asking to go to Missouri today as he did not want to go home. You do know it is boring at home don't you?

We are home again after a quick trip but it was well worth the time for my husband to get the confidence he needed to know that everything is working as it should be.

Here are our little race fans watching their daddy.

• 2 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

May 14, 2008 - New Look

Last week I decided that my hair was getting a little too "blah" and I needed to do something to give it a little lift. Typically I would go to the salon and have it highlighted but thought we could save money and I would buy a kit and have my Mom do it for me. After-all, quite a few friends highlighted their hair at our recent ladies retreat and theirs turned out quite nicely.

My Mom has dyed my hair before and does her own so that wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately, the kit uses a cap that you painstakingly pull the strands of hair through and after a short time my Mom's wrist and then back began to hurt. I decided to enlist George to help her out. He was up to the challenge, especially since it involved pulling his mother's hair. They did a great job but when they finished it seemed as if they had pulled all of my hair through which would color everything but it was too late to think of that, especially since we needed to be at church for bible study fairly soon.

I kept the solution on for the minimum amount of time and after I tested one strand I had the feeling that my hair was going to be blonde rather than just highlighted. After drying it I wasn't crazy about my reflection in the mirror.  Now my hair has been many colors and styles over the years so that shouldn't  phase me but I really only wanted natural looking highlights, not to completely be blonde. I have been told it looks nice and that may very well be true but yet, that wasn't what I was going for. My Dad asked what my real color is, "the same as yours dad!" Oh well, I guess I am ready for the summer.

George using the "crochet hook" to pull strands of hair through the cap.
We do have some better photos of this process but I am not about to share those here. :)
Me as a blonde. It looks a little lighter in real life.

• 6 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

May 7, 2008 - Sign of spring

Spring has seemed so long in coming this year. How exciting to watch for new signs of it everyday from the daffodils in the field and buds on the trees to the Goldfinches flitting around our bushes. The temperature has finally reached into the 70's this week and I love that! As soon as it hit 60° the boys wanted to get out our inflatable swimming pool as they were all "BOILING!" Unfortunately around here we will drop back to the 40's again before a true warm-up remains.

The daffodils in our field. You can see our house in the background.

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

May 6, 2008 - Dentist Appointments

Today I had my third dental appointment in the past month. I don't know how many of you enjoy going to the dentist but I dread it as I have ever since I can remember. One memory I have is as a child, hiding from my Mom behind boards and boxes in the garage because I did not want to go. Ultimately I was found but she had to call and say we would be late. I am fairly certain I was in big trouble for that one! Thank goodness my kids love to go to the dentist and I cannot believe that I pulled that kind of stuff in those days. Because of my dread/fear, unfortunately, I have not gone in years. Combine that with being pregnant and nursing almost constantly, thereby depleting calcium and causing hormonal changes and what not and you have a mouth of problems. So I had four cavities on the outside of my molars to be taken care of.

My first appointment four weeks ago was great! I was so numb that it didn't wear off for six hours! That was okay with me though as I felt absolutely nothing even as they worked on two teeth that could have possibly needed root canals (thankfully they didn't!) An added bonus for me was that they have special glasses you can wear and watch a movie through. That was a perfect distraction! Unfortunately, my mouth was so sore for over a week after that visit

I went again last week for the other side and after being numb found that I was still able to feel the drill. The dentist tried to numb it further but I still felt pain. He explained that once the brain knows where to look for pain he would not be able to do anything more to prevent it. I had never heard of this but he asked me to come back again where he would numb it differently. (My brother-in-law told me it was all psychological and I wondered if that could be true as I know how my mind works.)

So my third appointment was today. Thankfully I did not find out how they go about numbing it until after. That alone took 1/2 an hour before they could begin. I found out later that they put a small hole in my gum and put the anesthesia directly into my bone (something called an x-tip). So that worked great except for the fact that it wears off quickly and toward the end I began to feel pain again. I endured and literally sweat through that while gripping tightly to my volume control (from my movie that I couldn't get loud enough to cover the sound of the drill!) but I am sure it wasn't as bad as it could have been. My Mom likes to tell me how as a child she would go to the dentist and hold on tight to the chair as they did not have anything to take away the pain. Oh, thank you Lord for anesthesia! I am also thankful for my new dentist who was very caring and did his best to keep me comfortable at each visit. (At one visit they covered me with a heated blanket as it was so cold there, in addition to my nerves, that I couldn't keep warm).

Lesson learned -- I will now be scheduling regular check-ups to the dentist for myself and keep on top of my teeth. I have yet to figure out why it is that I almost have an easier time having a c-section than going to the dentist. That doesn't quite seem right.

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

May 3, 2008 - 11th Annniversary

Today is our 11th Wedding Anniversary! Wow, how the time flies. We celebrated last night by going out for a nice dinner, a walk along the lake, a little shopping, and topped it off with a trip to Cold Stone Creamery. It was so nice to be just the two of us having adult conversation without little voices all around. We don't have a date night often enough! I posted our anniversary video today but you will need to pause the music on the sidebar first. Thankfully we look better with age.

• 3 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

May 2, 2008 - Show & Tell Friday -- Household gadget

I was trying to think about what I could do for Show & Tell Friday as I have skipped a few weeks now. Then last night after we finished supper Missy Blue saw the crumbs she had dropped and got out of her chair bringing back our Swivel Sweeper and proceeded to clean up her mess. I started to laugh as this is something the boys would never do but then I knew what to show. Have you ever seem them?

Last summer I was pregnant and having a hard time sweeping the floor (which is never-ending with all the food and whatnot that gets dropped at each meal) and bending down with the dustpan. The children could do an adequate job sweeping but the broom was difficult to maneuver when trying to get everything picked up. My husband began looking for a broom to help out. We began with some Dirt Devil thing which did not work at all. He then found the Swivel Sweeper and it works wonderfully! Each of the children can operate this lightweight broom and it just sucks up the junk as you pass over it. It works on carpets as well as hard floors. It is battery operated and is rechargeable. Empty out the pan when you are finished and that is all there is to it. Children will fight over who gets to sweep when they use the Swivel Sweeper. Okay, that sounds like a commercial - but it really works well, as long as I remember to assign someone the job.

Stop by CanadaGirl's blog for more interesting Show & Tells.

Missy Blue using our Swivel Sweeper

• 10 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

April 30, 2008 - Itchy Baby

Baby Boy has been on Zantac (or the generic version - Ranitidine) because of his "floppy esophagus" which causes reflux. Unfortunately when increasing his dosage to go along with his weight gain he began to get eczema. Missy Blue also has it but usually only in the winter and hers is in small patches on her legs and arms. Now that she has been spending time out in the sun it has disappeared. Baby Boy began to have eczema covering his back and belly  and his skin felt like sandpaper, not the silky smooth that a baby should have. I was trying any cream/lotion that I could but nothing was working and it began to spread to his arms and legs and when he scratched at it it began to bleed. The only thing I knew that was different was his increase in medicine as he is still not on any solid food and I haven't changed laundry detergent. We looked online for side effects of Zantac and of course a major one is eczema. My husband decided that we should try him off of the medication and see if his eczema cleared up and if he could tolerate the reflux. Well, Baby Boy has been off for two weeks now and the rash is indeed going away, albeit very gradually. His skin is still red and irritated but it feels much smoother. He is spitting up more but thankfully his reflux doesn't seem to be bothering him at this point.

Baby Boy seems to only be bothered by the rash when he doesn't have clothes covering it and then he scratches at it like crazy. This is a picture after the eczema began to clear up.

• 3 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

April 28, 2008 - Is it in the water? - update

You may remember a post I did back in October about three friends and I being pregnant and due within weeks of each other. We have wanted to get an updated picture with our baby BOYS but over the winter it is difficult to get a day that everyone was healthy and at church. Last weekend we were finally able to get a picture, although the babies aren't very cooperative at six months! We look forward to our boys growing up together.

• 2 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

April 24, 2008 - What Women Need To Know

I love listening to Revive Our Hearts with Nancy Leigh DeMoss and since she is on the radio at a time in the day when I am the busiest I have taken to downloading the day's program and listen as I prepare breakfast or supper or am nursing a baby. Earlier this month she had a 4-day series featuring Shaunti Feldhahn who is the author of the book For Women Only: What You Need to Know About the Inner Lives of Men. I blogged briefly about this book awhile back when I first read it. Needless to say, this is a must-have book for any woman who is trying to understand how her husband is wired. It is about seven things "we women just don’t get about men and things that, most of the time, our husbands really desperately wish we knew" but don't know how to explain. While it is written by a woman, she gathered all of the information from men and put it into a form that women would enjoy. A few things I was vaguely aware of. For women, our highest need is typically to feel loved and cherished. But the highest need for a man is to feel his wife’s respect and trust and admiration and honor. Reading the book was great but now having listened to the series for the second time this week I have been so encouraged as I was reminded of how I can best meet my husband's needs and help to make him the best that he was created to be. I have learned so much and I encourage you to go to Revive Our Hearts and listen to this series or just read the transcripts.

• 3 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

April 21, 2008 - Business and pleasure

My husband had meetings at work today with some men from Korea who came over to see where their Hyundai engine block is being built. They needed to make a good impression and things needed to be just so, so he did go in on Saturday to prepare. The lengths they go to impress people amazes me. The best of the best it seems, from accommodations at an area resort to lunch and then dinner at the finest restaurants. I will say that I was a bit jealous as my husband had two wonderful meals today while I sat home eating peanut butter and jelly for lunch and pancakes for supper since he wasn't here anyway (and I haven't been to the grocery store in too long!) I was in luck though as they were told to buy dessert for their wives. My husband knows me well and brought home chocolate cake with a filling of chopped nuts and coconut. Yum! One of the guys he was with told him to get the Tiramisu or then just to get both so I ended up with two desserts! A nice treat after a long day. I do plan on sharing with the children tomorrow.

On another note -- my husband told me they were discussing their families today and the guys jokingly told the Koreans to ask him how many children he had. He told them he has six children and they couldn't believe it, especially after he told him how old he is.  One of the men even made a note of it on my husband's business card. We got a chuckle out of that. (I suppose they did also.)

I am so proud of my husband and am always amazed at things like the fact that this major project for his company is in his very capable hands. He definitely deserved to take it easy today and enjoy himself.

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

April 21, 2008 - New Normal

Last week I was kind of dreading going to the visitation and memorial service for Jean. But then really, who ever wants to be in that situation? We found out what we already knew, that she was a very loved lady and touched many lives. We stood in line at the visitation for at least 45 minutes just to get into the room and the line never seemed to end. Many people sharing different stories and reflecting on Jean's quick wit and her love for others.

The service the following day was beautiful and had so much music with some of the songs requested by Jean, her favorite being, "In Christ Alone". Her love for her Lord and Savior was so clearly proclaimed as was her desire that everyone there would choose which path to take at the fork in the road. Follow the world or follow Christ. You can't have it both ways. At the dinner to follow it seemed almost like a big family reunion as we got reacquainted with family from other states. It was bittersweet though as it was a strange feeling not to have Jean there with us.

For our family, there aren't any big changes as we hadn't seen Jean much in the past year. But I knew that her family would be feeling the changes. On our way into church yesterday morning Jerome, Jean's husband, passed us on the highway, alone. He sat in church a few pews ahead of us with his daughter's family. My eyes often went to him at various times in the service wondering what he must be feeling and tears came as I thought how this is his new normal. Pastor preached on Psalm 46 which was excellent and so timely.

Another trial this family is facing is that Jean's mother needed to have her gallbladder removed the day after the funeral. During her surgery she suffered a mild heart attack. They will now decide what course to take. She is strong and feisty and I don't think there is much that can keep her down.

Jean
1953 -- 2008

• 1 Comments • Post A Comment! • Permanent Link

<- Last Page • Next Page ->