Going... Going... GONE!

Just like that summer is gone...

It has been a SUPER busy week adjusting to a new schedule for all of us... 

Hopie is doing great adjusting to 1st grade...

Levi loves preschool (he loves most everything) 

Isaiah is a wild man in class and is totally worn out by noon :)

Anna and Jojo are knocking it out of the park with getting some of their school work done while I am gone... they are both actually working ahead, just because they want to:) 

And the bigger boys are doing bits and pieces and getting ready to start their college prep work soon... 

A few last pictures of summer... 

What a view right out of door:)  We are so blessed!

Isaiah having a ball at the pool:) 

The kids sharing slushies at the pool:)  What would we do with out our family pool pass?:)

Sharing Sugies with my littlest love!

The boys helping to reroof the barn on campus...

It is outdoor movie time... We had so much fun having friends over and hanging out outside...

Jojo wanted to camp outside... The whole crew stayed out there a couple of nights... Anna and I even got up one night to watch the meteor shower.  Unfortunately, there are just too many lights where we live so seeing a meteor shower just didn't happen:)  

But we sure had fun sleeping in the tent:)  Easiest camping trip ever:):) 

My frog boy Jojo:)

Bits and pieces... gearing up for summer:)

Hopie and Anna on after Hope's preschool program night:)
She is growing up so fast... next year off to St. Peter for kindergarten:)  She is super excited:)

Jojo has become a bird tamer...  He fell in love with this crazy bird he found outside and was holding and taking care of all night... It even slept in our mudroom He was so sad to let it go the next day. All the following day he was watching it , trying to teach it to fly:) (and another bird) holding them, letting them perch on his finger... It was strange how tame these birds were...  So it is looking like there will be some pushing for a pet to join the family in the near future:)

Anna and I discovered Cute girl hairstyles on you tube... Wow, they can explain some really cool braids in a very easy manner.  So that has been fun to spend some evenings trying out some new hairstyles... This was a zipper braid... so pretty, and not really all that difficult.

The hanging bed is out for summer:)    I still am amazed and thankful for Caleb's quick and wonderful handiwork to make that last summer:) I absolutely love being out in the perfect weather we have been having lately...

The garden is planted (almost completely, thanks to our kind, neighbor and head pastor :) Wahoo!!!

Let the summer lounging begin:)

Love seeing HIS handiwork...

Talk about beautiful young ladies right???

This past week we had the pleasure of participating in all sorts of fun activities at the school that is a part of our church...

Louis was the photographer for the 8th grade banquet and dance... What a fun night for him, Greg and myself... Lou has had the pleasure of getting to know most of these young ladies on the Moore mission trip, Sweet Jillian and her mom came to Uganda with us, and through youth group... It was a fun and beautiful night:)

Then the following night I had the opportunity to be one of the 3 speakers at the 8th grade graduation... To be TOTALLY honest, I had completely forgotten that I had agreed to do it until Greg reminded me the day before... hello????  Get this girl some ginseng pronto!!!:):)

When the principal had asked me, I immediately asked if I could speak about Samuel... I didn't want it to be a downer so to speak... but that is the story that God has written for us... The principal was totally fine with that and actually wanted me to speak on how the Lord gets us through the hard and good times in life.

It honestly was such a precious opportunity for me... I was totally nervous, it is not my gift to speak in front of groups at all... but I felt so blessed to share Samuel with a whole new group of people who haven't heard of him and how important he is to us... and felt even more blessed to be able to share with those kids and their parents that THE LORD IS FAITHFUL THROUGH IT ALL!

I have always felt a little ill prepared to handle the trial of child loss in this life... I have wished that someone had really prepared me for the deep deep sorry and grief I would feel... That is why MEND has always been so important to me, because it affirmed in me that my feelings were indeed normal when everyone else and everything else seemed to be  screaming the opposite...

So I was grateful to be able to share with them the full reality of the hurt that can come in life, how clinging to the truths of God's word and not our emotions through those trials is so important, and to how to look for His amazing faithfulness and sometimes miracles through it all... Of course all of my kids were a part of THAT miraculous story...

TOMORROW on the agenda... church, soccer, graduation party up north... and then let the real craziness of June begins...

MEND Chicagoland starts Tuesday:)  Two 50th anniversary parties (both sets of parents), 3 families coming to visit, VBS, Greg's trip to Haiti, me traveling all the way to Houston with the kids on my own, and much much more... and that is just June... We are so thrilled to have friends coming to visit...

We are so excited for the things God has planned for our summer...

SLIPPING AWAY...

I can literally feel Summer slipping right through my fingertips...

Today I had numerous moments of feeling totally overwhelmed...

Sort of overwhelmed with the sheer number of things that have to happen in the next couple of weeks...

I had a Dr.s appt... We are still trying to figure out why I am making the kidney stones.  Praise God, I haven't passed any since my 2 procedures last fall... but my calcium levels are still high...

Her suspicion is that most likely I have a tumor on my parathyroid... one more round of blood work in a few months, most likely some scans and then possibly surgery... FUN!  She said most times they are benign, so that is what we are praying for... I feel a total peace about it all at this point:):)

While I was at the Dr. the kids were getting the house ready for another showing... The previous people who looked twice wanted more info today... We will see, God knows just the right buyer... it only takes one... Honestly, I have loads of mixed feelings on it... I love our neighbors... love our yard...love our house... love living more in the country... but am trusting God and my hubby's leading on this one...

School starts 2 weeks from tomorrow... There will be some big changes for Miss Hopie... I hope to fill you in soon on that...


I have 2 sweet friends that have babies that were born into Heaven a year ago this week... My heart is so heavy for them... I was blessed to get to spend time with both of these young ladies today:):)  I have a hard time separating myself from what they must be feeling.  I think because when something like that happens to you, you remember how alone you felt... you remember what it was like to somewhat relive it all again on that first anniversary...

I just can not help but want to do EVERYTHING in my power to help them get through the first birthday in the best way possible for them... that looks differently for everyone... ( I know really not too much of that is in my power... but I want them to know that they are loved, supported, not judged in their grief and that their little girls matter to us... we won't forget them!)   I know this weekend will have me and my family honoring the beautiful lives of these two precious baby girls Emily and Autumn...

If you think of it, would you pray for their mommies this week...

We are getting the pop up ready for a little excursion... should be interesting... the kids have been jazzed about it for weeks:)

Here are a few pictures from a neighbors birthday party a few weeks back...

VACATION MEMORIES

The kids enjoying the beauty of Fence Lake and the Northwoods:)

A photo of all the cousins that were present at the land for a few days together... The older kids watched all the little kids... they were brave and did a great job while the adults all went out to eat:)

Sibling dinner, all of us except for Greg who was home in bed with Pneumonia... poor guy, that was such a bummer... more on that in a bit... Oh my, it was a night to remember, lots of laughter cruising around all together in my big white van... GOOD TIMES...

I am so thankful for the healing that the Lord has done in my heart to allow me to feel like I can finally FULLY participate in fun times with my siblings again. There have been 3 other baby boys added to our family, 4 including Levi, in the last 3 years since Samuel died and at times that was more than difficult for me. God has been so faithful to restore joy to my heart even amidst the sadness of still missing Samuel. My family is such a gift from God... such neat people, grief has a way of making even the best relationships hard at times... Bummer, but it is the hard truth...

I gave them all, including my parents the book, Tear Soup... it is in my opinion one of the best books on healing after a loss. I am hoping that it will continue to help my family and others understand where I am at even now almost 3 years after Samuel died.

This trip was one of such sweet times with my family and I am so thankful...

The kids outside of Paul Bunyans... why are trips home to Wisconsin all about the food at times?? :)

Jojo blowing out the candles on Greg's cake. We didn't want Greg spreading any germs to the rest of us. By far the biggest bummer of the trip was that Greg was sick almost the whole time. He literally spent the first 5 days in bed... We went up from southern Milwaukee to northern Wisconsin and he went right back to bed for the next 2 days. After a trip to urgent care, a blood draw, a chest x-ray... it was determined that he had pneumonia. I have not seen him that sick since his cancer 19 years ago. At one point, I found him in bed on his hands and knees with his face in the pillow. He said it was the only way he could stop from coughing. POOR GUY!! How is that for vacation time huh?:(

The last 2 days of vacation he did make it up to the couch and even twice outside with the rest of us. Needless to say, the family time was almost non existent... big bummer... the kids and I had a great vacation, but it was not at all the same as it would have been had Greg been able to hang out with us. I went from taking care of and playing with the kids, to checking on him. We are hoping and praying that some how the Lord will bless us with some sweet times together in the next few weeks before school gets into full swing for us.

He is still really tired, but thank God for His healing touch on Greg that he seems to be on the mend now:)

On the way up to Wisconsin when we stopped in St. Louis for me to share our story at the seminary, I was blessed to have a couple of hours with my sweet "blog in real life friend Ebe" She and I met in Georgia about a year and a half ago with our other blog friend Tonya (we missed you so much Tonya:(

Since the last time I saw her we have both added healthy, living, precious children... It was such a sweet time to just visit and know that the other "gets it" She and her husband are now in St. Louis at a different seminary than we were during our time there:) It was a gift to get a chance to visit with her again... God has been so good to bring friends into my life because of Samuel that I never would have had the chance to meet otherwise...:)

EXPERIENCING A LITTLE SORENESS:)

Experiencing a little soreness....

on my rear that is:)

Experiencing what my husband would be like as a male nurse...

and the freaky thing is he would be really good:)

Experiencing some nausea...

for which I am extremely grateful...:)

Experiencing too much over the top heat...

I think we are supposedly expecting a cool front...

It is supposed to be around 93 degrees and Greg is trying to convince me, that it really will feel so much better:)

Experiencing our last week of summer coming up this next week...

I am school planned, schedule made up for all 5 kiddos, and have our daily/weekly/and monthly chore charts made up...

I feel like I got a HUGE amount of things accomplished on my day out...

Thank you Greg for letting me do that...

I am hoping we will all reap the benefits:)

Experienced a whole lot of tears tonight watching the movie Letters from God with my 2 older boys...

It was really good, and very touching... yay... for a good Christian based movie out there!

So I want to give you a quick little overview on the meds that I had to take for the Frozen Embryo Transfer...

Basically all we did was pick a date for the transfer... Wednesday JULY 14th 2010. The clinic counted back 3 weeks and that was the first day of my delestrogen shots. I needed to take them 2 times a week until the transfer. This was to help prepare the lining of the uterus to be ready to receive the baby/babies. You need to have a good thick lining to make it the perfect place for the baby to grow:) And each ultrasound I had showed that my body was doing just as we were hoping it to. One week before the transfer we added the shots of progesterone every morning. You need progesterone early in pregnancy to help sustain the pregnancy. In fact for me I have needed progesterone supplements with a couple of my pregnancy because I was low on my own. So after the transfer I have continued on the daily progesterone and the delestrogen twice a week.

Now let me tell you, the needles are big... REALLY BIG to me:), but I am a bit of a wimp. Actually my mom who used to be a nurse even said they were pretty big. Truly I am not sure how Jen, my friend at http://www.kellerfamilyof9.com/p:// gave the shots to herself when she was pregnant with Blakely through embryo adoption. I am impressed:) But with some ice on the old rear prior, sometimes I barely feel the needle going in. The medication is thick so there is usually some pressure as it goes in.

It is funny, Greg does a great job... and the kids love to watch him give me the shots.

So that is basically it as far as the meds go... really that part hasn't been a big expense at all... and so worth every penny and needle prick...

We are so thankful for every step of this journey and for the little one/ones that he has given us for as long as He allows he/she/them to stay with us.:) Won't it be nice after my ultrasound, Lord willing, to know what and how many are in there exactly:)

Trusting in HIM

EVERY GOOD AND PERFECT GIFT IS FROM ABOVE... COMING DOWN FROM THE FATHER OF THE HEAVENLY LIGHTS WHO DOES NOT CHANGE LIKE SHIFTING SHADOWS. JAMES 1:17