RANDOM THOUGHTS AND REQUESTS:)

Greg playing horsey with the little girls:)

I always think Izzi looks like a little elf (I mean that in a totally good way:)... she is so petite and precious:)

Anna and Sara Beth


I was a complete slacker over the Thanksgiving holidays as far as taking pictures goes. We did grab a few of the kids with my sister Beth's kids from Boston. Since my parents live right next door to my 2 brothers there were up to 16 kids running around but only my sister's family and her 4 kids, and our family actually stayed with my parents. It made for a ton of fun for the kids...and a lot of busyness that is for sure.

Thanks to my sister's planning we were able to actually get all 5 of us siblings and spouses together for dinner out. Louis and a couple of the older girls watched the little ones for us. I can't tell you how nice it is to have a child old enough to babysit. At the same time, it makes me a little sad that I have one that old... I know that sounds crazy. We had a lot of good laughs over dinner... it was just nice to be together. My sister and I rarely get home at the same time, so when we do, it is a treat. She is a great listener:)

My parents had a really nice gift made for Samuel's garden. I will need to go out there and get a picture and then post about it. It meant so much to me for them to do that for us in memory of Samuel.

I had an absolutely delightful night out for tea with my college roommate Samantha. She has been one to TOTALLY hang with me over the last 2 years... she is always reminding me that her boots are still on for the stormy weather we may face at any time. She never tires of hearing what I have to say. We had a lot of time to talk about what is new with her, and she is so intuitive... she asked lots of questions about how I am doing with being pregnant again after Samuel. She knows how absolutely overjoyed I am, but yet understands the fears that can also be involved after losing a child full term. It was so nice for me to be able to talk freely, and be real about ALL the feelings I am experiencing as a part of this pregnancy. I love you my sweet friend Sam:)

As far as feelings... I think we have got a name... pretty sure that is. I am not sure the kids all love it... but that is why they will get to name their kids. Greg and I love the meaning behind why we may name this baby boy these names.... I am not sure we will actually share it before the birth or not. It is funny, this is the first time we have actually known the sex, so it is a bit different. This little pumpkin is moving more and I just love it. It sets my heart at ease, and truly, I feel like when I feel him move... my heart falls more and more in love with him. I am 22 weeks today and that would make it about 16 weeks until we can meet him unless we have a reason to meet him earlier. I know 16 weeks seems like a ton, but my heart rejoices that we are getting closer. This may sound crazy but I always breath a sigh of relief at 24 weeks, viability, when this little guy would have a chance of surviving if born. I am also thrilled that we are so close to the holidays... It always makes these couple of months go by so quickly.

I want to cherish the moments and memories with my family... but I would be lying if I didn't say... that I just plain can't wait to get to Spring when hopefully we will meet this precious little gift God has blessed us with.

I have a prayer request for you... I don't know why I didn't post it right away... I was totally a lazy blogger while up north...

While we were up in Wisconsin, my sister in law Katy's niece Brienna was in a really serious car accident. She was actually outside of her vehicle at the time and was hit by a drunk driver who was going 50 mph. She was hit and thrown 50 feet. The driver fled the scene, but thankfully was caught by police later that night. It is a TOTAL miracle that Brienna survived and she is doing miraculously well. She did have lots of facial lacerations, some broken bones and some bleeding on her brain. She will require a lot of therapy and some more surgeries. She is only 18 years old. The Lord is clearly using this to draw her and her family closer to Himself... but I know it is going to be a long road. Would you please pray for her physical healing and that the Lord would sustain her through the months ahead... where I know there will be many difficult times. Thank you so much for lifting her up to our Heavenly Father.

Soooo Thankful:)

You may think that this is a pre Thanksgiving post... it could be, but that will have to come later.
Right now, I just wanted to quickly update you all that I passed that crazy kidney stone.


I literally had just gotten off the phone with the nurse at my OB's office and she was saying that I should go to urgent care if I needed anything stronger than Tylenol for the pain and to make sure that is what it really was, a kidney stone. I was thinking.... "Hmmmm, I am not a big medication kind of gal, especially pregnant, and I KNOW this is a kidney stone:)"

Probably 5 minutes later, I went to the bathroom and had one ZINGER of a pain... and thought I better check in the toilet... and there she was ( Sorry, I know, probably TMI)

I am just so thankful that I was able to pass it... Yes it was uncomfortable and hurt, but really, this is the 2nd one I have passed and praise God, it isn't THAT bad for me... I remember an friend of mine once saying that he was in the hospital on a morphine drip when he passed a kidney stone the size of a grain of salt. My guess is mine was about almost a 1/2 cm... Honestly, I think it is by the grace of God that they don't hit me nearly as hard as they do many other people.

Don't get me wrong, I don't look forward to doing that again anytime soon:)

Thanks so much for your prayers... the last one took me a month to pass, and this was just a few days... So very thankful for that today!

I will try to post some pics soon of the kids with cousins...:)

SHE'S GROWN UP BEFORE MY EYES...

I LOVE THIS PICTURE THAT LOUIS TOOK OF ANNA!

I CAN'T BELIEVE THAT SHE TURNED EIGHT A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO...

I DISTINCTLY REMEMBER AFTER I GAVE BIRTH TO HER, JUST BEING TOTALLY IN AWE THAT I HAD A DAUGHTER... THAT TEA PARTIES, SHOPPING, AND NAIL PAINTING WOULD ACTUALLY BE IN MY FUTURE. I WAS ALMOST SURE THAT SHE WAS GOING TO BE A BOY.

GOD HAS GROWN HER INTO SUCH A SWEETHEART. I CAN'T WAIT TO EXPERIENCE THE REST OF HER LIFE HERE WITH HER:)

I LOVE THAT GOD IS THE ONE TO CHOOSE EXACTLY WHO IS GROWING IN THERE.

G AND I ARE STILL REALLY BATTING AROUND A LOT OF NAMES FOR THIS LITTLE GUY GROWING INSIDE OF ME. WE HAVE NOT COME TO ANY DECISIONS. ALL OF HIS FAVORITES I AM NOT SURE ABOUT AND LIKE WISE WITH THE NAMES THAT I LIKE.... BUT I THINK WE HAVE A FEW THAT WE BOTH LIKE... WE WILL SEE!

WE ARE GONE FOR A FEW DAYS... BUT WILL BE RETURNING HOME SOON...

I BELIEVE I HAVE A STONE ON THE MOVE

UGH!!!! I am pretty much sure that I have a kidney stone on the move...

At first I thought it was a UTI... but after all my natural remedies and being on an antibiotic for over 24 hours... not much has changed. The only other time that I have had where my body didn't respond to the remedies and an antibiotic was when I passed the kidney stone early in the morning... the day I found our I was pregnant with Samuel.

I just wanted to throw it out here on the blog so that you all could pray... We are out of town, and it is making it a bit hard to fully enjoy all the relatives:) Please pray that it would move quickly, (I am drinking so much water, I feel like I might float away:) that it won't be too big to pass on my own... and most of all that this precious little guy inside of me will be protected.

By the way... I am finally feeling him move a lot more....:) I love it, it melts my heart completely... I have thought I have been feeling him move the last 4 weeks... but just such tiny movements... now I am getting bigger ones:) Yay!

This may sound crazy (totally different than the natural childbirth instructor, birth doula, that I used to be) but, I am praying that they can induce me a couple of weeks early, like maybe 38 or so weeks, that is the plan at least with my Doctor and the High Risk doctor. That would make 19 weeks 1/2 way there... I will be 21 weeks on Sunday... I am so thankful to God to be this far... but I can hardly believe it.

I will keep you posted on the kidney stone... Thank you so much for your prayers!

BROTHERS WILL BE BROTHERS...

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE TO HEAR THE BELLY LAUGHS THAT ABOUND IN OUR HOME. AFTER TIMES OF GREAT SADNESS IT IS SO NICE TO HEAR THE GIGGLES THAT MAKE THEIR WAY AROUND THE HOUSE... LIKE MUSIC TO MY EARS!

JOJO IS DOWN RIGHT SILLY AND ALWAYS HAS A WAY OF MAKING THINGS FUN AND FUNNY. HE HAS THIS LAUGH THAT AUTOMATICALLY MAKES ME START TO GIGGLE.

I OFTEN THINK OF HOW DIFFERENTLY JOJO'S LIFE WOULD BE IF SAMUEL HAD LIVED AND THEY COULD BE BUDDIES. WOULD HE HAVE BEEN BLOND LIKE JO OR DARK HAIRED LIKE LOU? I AM SO THANKFUL THAT REGARDLESS OF THE AGE DIFFERENCE JOJO IS SO CLOSE TO LOUIS AND CALEB. THEY ARE REALLY GOOD TO HIM.

WE SURELY HAVE OUR FAIR SHARE OF ISSUES WITH THE KIDS NOT ALWAYS GETTING ALONG PERFECTLY, BUT THANKFULLY THEY REALLY LOVE BEING TOGETHER AND HAVING BUILT IN PLAYMATES ALL THE TIME.

I AM GLAD THAT THERE WILL BE MANY MORE OF THESE GIGGLY MOMENTS AROUND OUR HOUSE TO WARM IT UP AS THE TEMPS GET CHILLIER...

BY THE WAY, I JUST FINISHED THE MARYBETH CHAPMAN BOOK, CHOOSING TO SEE, AND IT WAS SOOOOO GOOD! THIS IS THE BOOK WRITTEN BY STEVEN CURTIS CHAPMAN'S WIFE... SHE IS INCREDIBLY REAL AND HONEST IN HER GRIEF... YET VERY WITTY AND FUNNY AT THE SAME TIME. IF YOU GET A CHANCE TO READ IT, IT IS SO WORTH IT!

THEY CRACK ME UP:)

Anna has a couple of he dolls from www.visionforum.com and for her birthday a couple of weeks ago she got a matching Historical dress for her doll and herself. She was so proud of that present... I am so blessed to have her in my life. She has been going to each of my Doctor's appointments with Greg and I. She has seemed to be a bit more needy as of late, not sure why that is.

We worked like crazy this week to get a full weeks worth of school done... but it didn't fully happen. I think Anna is the only one who will have to work a bit more this week. But after that I am excited to just hang out with the kids and enjoy playing games together without the schedule of school for the next week. Yay for perseverance:)

We had a break through with Sweet Baby girl. I have been sort of trying to blanket train her while we do school. She is the MOST busy little one, I have ever seen. She is the first of all the kids to color on the wall amongst many other things... She is just busy, busy, busy... :) But yesterday and today she was so good. She actually sat on the blanket and played with the toys and stayed put while we all did Science. Maybe I am speaking too soon, who knows what she will be like tomorrow:) She has never been one to play by herself... it was so nice to see.

I can not believe that in a few years we will have had her with us for full year. Craziness! We are thankful for the precious and wildly fun gift that she is to us.

This is a picture Caleb drew on the Magna Doodle for me. It cracked me up. I may have to print this one up to stick in his memory box... :) I would love for his future wife to see that one:)

SO MUCH ON MY MIND

These precious kiddos are always on my mind...

But there has been so much more on my mind this week. Such a smattering of different things...

I was so so thankful that my sweet friend Becky and her family safely welcomed their new baby boy Micah into the family this week. God knew the time that he needed to be born safely and we are so thankful that He moved to make that happen.

At the same time my heart was heavy this week for my 2 blog friends that I met in Atlanta last January.... both of their sons were born into heaven this week, 2 and 3 years ago. I know how hard anniversaries are...

My sister in law had surgery this week. It is hard to be away when you wish you could be up there helping out in some way, with meals or whatever... I am thankful to be heading up soon to hopefully be able to do some of that. We are thanking God that the surgery went well... She had the same surgery a year ago, and now is back at it just 13 months later. We are praying for the Lord to allow her to have a smooth, safe and speedy healing.

Orphan Sunday went well at church last Sunday... we are praying we can do it again next year as it was somewhat of a last minute thing... we hadn't even heard of it until a few weeks before. Actually the timing really was perfect. This past Wednesday we had a choir of about 14 orphaned and disadvantaged kids come to do a concert. We were so blessed to have 2, 10 year old boys get to stay with us for 2 nights. This is where the week got totally interesting on another level for us.

OH MY GOODNESS... THEY COMPLETELY STOLE MY HEART. They were amazing... so polite, funny, a total joy to have around. The kids had a ball with them. They were enamored with the simplest of our toys and truly as I made dinner for them all on Tuesday, I loved looking in the other room and seeing 2 sweet dark skinned boys from Nepal and Uganda, belly laughing along with my kids as they played with Jacks of all things. (We have so many great pictures, but are allowed to post them online:) Bummer!)

During their concert... I was choked up continually. I just CAN NOT FATHOM that these kids don't have parents on the other side of the world waiting for them, and worrying about them. As we did family prayers at night with them and I watched them sleeping in our beds my heart was completely broken for the poverty that is a part of so many orphans lives and here we sit in our cush, huge houses. My heart is totally convicted on so many levels.

Part of the mission of the organization that they travel with is to promote getting sa

fe water to these countries. Did you know that children are dying every single day because of drinking unsafe, unclean water... the number is staggering. It would be the equivalent of 20 jumbo jets crashing every day. I could not help but think of the upheaval that would happen if 20 jumbo jets really did crash every day... something would be done immediately ... But yet, all of these children are dying and we are oblivious, or we know, and still stand by idly.... really, it makes me sick to my stomach.

I called the organization that they came with to see if any of them are adoptable after their tour in the states is done... I had to leave a message. We will see if I get a call back. They may get tons of calls like that... If I don't hear back from them... I will call them back. I highly doubt it would even be possible... but it is certainly worth a try.

The kids and I were talking about how blessed we are here in America... we were just batting around all sorts of stuff... I asked them... would you rather have a pool (this would never happen, I was really just curious to hear their responses:) or adopt another sibling?? Their unanimous response was no pool, but adopt 2 kids. They can be so sweet sometimes... I would love to say they always act that way and respond that way... but that wouldn't be the truth:)

So who knows what God has planned for the future of our family, and our ministry here in OK. What I do know, is that my heart was changed this week, in so many ways, some ways I can't even describe to you. I CAN NOT imagine millions of children literally living without one of the most basic needs of life... the love of a family... a mom and dad to care about them... It is too much for me... I know that the global picture is huge, yet if churches would all do their part, I have to believe that the problem could really be so much smaller.

Thanks for listening as I try to put into words some of what I have been thinking... Greg and I were going to talk about it ALL last night... after dinner, I of course laid on the couch around 8:30, moved to my bed and didn't get up till 9:00. The talk will have to wait... we will have lots of time to discuss on the road this week:)