A Great Investment!

This past Friday, Jeff and I hit the sales. We went to quite a few stores starting at 3:30am. It was alot of fun to be out in the middle of the night while the kids stayed with their grandparents. We grabbed us some coffee and made mad dashes for presents for our family and friends. We scored some great deals. One thing I noticed in the Walmart flyer was this vacuum. Jeff's sister headed to Walmart that morning and I asked her to pick us up one. It was only $9.00. I'm telling you, if you have small kids, this is a great thing to buy. My kids have been vacuuming my house all day. While the suction on it is not as good as a heavier vacuum, it sill works pretty well, especially on bathroom floors and hardwoods. My kids loved it so much, I had to go buy another one for a Christmas present. It would make a great gift for a child that likes to help. They come in lots of cute colors, too. Buy one for each of your kids and I promise they'll love to help with vacuuming. Now, that's my kind of Christmas gift.

A Couple of Projects

I love reading this blog! She gives so many ideas on how to decorate on a budget. I love it! It's so much more fun to decorate your house with stuff from yard sales, thrift stores, and clearance racks. I mean, anyone can go to Pottery Barn and buy stuff from their catalog, but who wants to be anyone? :) Well, I took a few of her ideas and this is what I came up with. This is a garland of fabric and ribbons that I used for Susanna's room. The only thing that I bought was the wooden letter S at Michaels for $2.49. For the fabric, I went through some of her old clothes that had the same colors in it that we were using and cut them into strips. We had a good time putting this together.

Just recently she gave tips on how to make a garland for your fireplace. Mine is not nearly as cute as hers but is an improvement from last year. Well, that's not saying much, because I didn't have one last year. :) Baby steps, right?

I didn't have enough garland to make mine as full as hers. I could go and buy some but that would defeat the purpose. Check her blog out. She will be showing everyone how to make a wreath next week.

Our New Family Pet

Well, actually, this is my hair that my sister cut out. I am blessed by being able to have my sister Katie as my hairdresser. Not only do I get great deals on haircuts and highlights but she gets to experiment on my hair. That may be a curse, the jury is still out. Katie informed me that my hair was the thickest that she has ever cut. Am I bragging? Not in the least! What is the deal with everyone wanting thick hair? There are products for making your hair thicker and fuller every where you look. What I'm looking for is a product that makes your hair look thinner! Does it exist? My hair grows as the day goes on. You know, kind of like a Chia Pet. Well, Katie decided that she was going to "thin it out like crazy." This is the hair that was on the floor before she even cut any length off it. I wanted to find some wiggly eyes to put on it. It was a scary sight. But, I must say, that I like having thin hair. All of you with thin hair, quit your whining! It is so much better! :)

Pray, Pray, Pray

I have added a link to the side of my blog about praying for our children. It is the sweetest thing that I have seen. Please check it out for ways to pray for your child, your grandchildren, etc.. My Mom also gave me a list of things to pray for when praying for them. She and Gene use it as they pray for their 14 grandchildren. Here are some ideas:

Spiritual:
1. Salvation
2. Love His Word
3. Desire to Learn Word
4. Obedient to Word
5. Witnesses
6. Soul winner
7.Prayerful
8. Sensitive Spirit toward God
9. Contrite Heart toward sin in their lives
10. Mission Minded
11. Humility
12. Purity
13. Buoyant Spirit
14. Faith
15. Faithfulness
16. Thankful
17. Spiritual Songs in their Heart
18. Bold
19. Wise all around
20. Listens to Godly Instruction
21. Responsible to God

Mental
1. Choose and enjoy good reading material
2. Memorizes Scripture
3. Logical thinking
4. Desires to learn new things
5. Learns from mistakes of others
6. Ability to organize
7. Disciplined mind
8. Curious/creative
9. Proper Priorities
10. Learn to handle Money wisely
11. Initiative to DO
12. Common Sense :)
13. Loves instruction
14. Appreciates good criticism

Emotional

1. Compassion
2. Forgiving
3. Unconditional love for family and others
4. Able to show Love
5. Self control
6. Stability in mind
7. Submission
8. Accepts Discipline
9. Thoughtfulness
10. Thankfulness
11. Honesty
12. Healing of emotional hurts
13. Meekness
14. Flexibility
15. Accepts others as they are
16. Patience
17. Contentment
18. Truthful

Physical

1. Strong
2. Heals quickly
3. Sticktoitiveness :)
4. Desire to eat healthy foods:)
5. Enjoys wholesome hobbies
6. Safe, proper competitive spirit
7. Endurance
8. Self Control
9. Not afraid of work
10. Hard worker
11. Dependable
12. Punctual
13. Accepts personal appearance (that which cannot be changed)
14. Affectionate
15. Cleanliness

Social

1. Hospitable, Friendly
2. Loyal to what is right
3. Wholesome friends
4. Quality people who will guide them
5. Able to reach out to help others
6. Able to share Gospel clearly
7. Able to choose good friends Prov. 13:20
8. Mate- saved and desires to be obedient to the Lord
9. Keeps his testimony clean
10. Selfless
11. Fair with others
12. Generous but thrifty
13. Individuality
14. High standards for self

I love this list. It gives me direction in what to pray for my children as well as how I need to train them. Many of the things that I know my children need to work on are ones that I need to also. Isn't that how it usually works? I had to laugh at the one that says "selects good reading material". We had an issue with this last week. Luke brought home a reading book that I would not read to him. It had to do with Halloween in an aspect that we clearly do not agree with. It just had a lot of creepy pictures. It turned out to be a great discussion. I explained to him that he is to make good choices when he selects books. He knew that it was not a good choice. He returned it to his teacher. While I was at his school for his Fall Party, she came and told me that she totally agreed with my decision about the book. She even told Luke that he should probably not pick that one. She let me know that in the future she would watch out for this and that we were on the same page. Yea! Now, Luke is very alert to picking out books and making good decisions.

Grace

We have been so busy since Sam's surgery. Now with having most of our family out of town, we have had company staying with us about every other weekend. Andrew's headstone came in and I have yet to go see it. The finality of it all seems to overwhelm me at times. I do ask for your prayers. I know that guilt has no benefit for me, but I am filled with it. Somedays, I cannot get out of bed, and I feel guilty because I have other children to care for. Other days, I function normally. I laugh, I shop, I clean, I play. Then, I cry because I functioned normally and I wonder if I am forgetting about Drew. As we approach the holidays, I miss him even more. I had imagined this Thanksgiving taking Drew to Florida to show him off to our family, hanging 5 stockings up, watching Drew play with his brand new cousins, Annie and Davis. I know all of the right answers to all of these issues that I struggle with, yet I sometimes fail to apply them to my own life. Thank you all for your continued prayer. Hardly a day has gone by that I have not received encouragement of some kind and I'm so thankful. Thank you for mentioning Drew by his name or asking me about him. Thank you for acknowledging his life, even if it makes me cry. Please don't feel bad if you do and I cry. I'd so much rather talk about him than ignore what happened.
Some have asked me what happened or what were the events leading up to his death. I have written in my journal about everything yet have been unable to share with everyone.
While I was 32 weeks pregnant, I was experiencing some pretty sharp pains in my side. I knew that it was not labor but something that I had never felt before. It was not the usual uncomfortableness that one experiences during pregnancy. It hurt! I called my Dr. and insisted that I come in that day. I went in, he told me that I was just experiencing contractions. He checked for a heartbeat and it was normal. Fast forward two days later. My oldest daughter was being baptized that night at church. It was such an exciting event for our family. I remember during the service waiting for Drew to kick. He just seemed less active that day. Much to my relief, he had an active spurt that night before I fell asleep. I just reassured myself that his living quarters were getting quite cramped and that his movements were normally slowing down. I felt that I could not keep calling the Dr. for every little issue. The next night, I told Jeff that I could not feel Drew move. I knew all of the right things to do such as eat a snack, lay on your side, etc... I did all of them. I put a call in to the Dr., and they reassured me that everything was ok, and to keep trying to get him to move. Still no movement. I remember just crying and praying throughout the night. The Dr. told me to come in in the morning. Jeff reassured me that everything was going to be ok and I rushed to the doctors. I drove myself up to the office and I remember signing my name in, then sitting on those couches crying as I waited for them to call my name. Why didn't I just barge in and demand help? I don't know? So many questions... After what seemed to be forever the nurse came and got me. She put the Doppler on my stomach as she waited to hear his heartbeat. I thought I heard something, but she said it was my own heartbeat. I began to cry, knowing that he was gone. She began to press painfully on my stomach as she searched frantically for it. Still no heartbeat. She asked me to go to the ultrasound room to check on him there. I don't remember walking to that room. The sonographer turned the screen to herself as she scanned my stomach. I cried the whole time. I knew. She then said how sorry she was and that the baby had no heartbeat. My heart broke in that instant. I had to call Jeff and tell him and then call my Mom. They escorted me to a private room and I waited there for Jeff. I remember thinking that this was not something that I could handle. Hadn't God promised that He would not give us more than we can bear? I was still grieving the loss of my Dad and the thought of burying my baby was too much. At that time. You know, as much as I knew that I could not handle it, He knew I could. Well, looking back, God's love filled me that day yet I wasn't so sure at that time. The Doctor met with Jeff and I in order to make decisions as far as when we should induce labor. They then escorted me to the maternity ward in a back room used for this very purpose. They put a tear drop on my door so all workers would know that this was not a live baby being delivered. No big blue ribbon, just a tear drop. My family was all spread out at the time but were all there by my side in no time at all. My sister that lives in Miami was there with her own newborn by that afternoon. I remember telling them that I did not "feel" God's love at that time. My heart did not feel comforted as I have heard many other people speak about. It just felt broke. No one told me that God was in control or anything. They just listened and that is what I needed. God listened too. I knew He was in control, but that didn't mean that it hurt less. I was reminded that God lost His Son too. He knew. I prayed that God would miraculously breathe life into him as he was born. Yet, He did not. I don't know why. I may never know. I do know that I treasure my children even more. I hurt more for other people. I yearn for Heaven. I feel a little closer to Him. Is it because I need Him now more than ever? Probably. Will I ever forget the grace that He has given me to survive each day? I hope not. I don't know what God has for us or why He let this happen. I may never know on this side of Heaven. What I do know is that He has sustained me thus far and will continue to do so. He will sustain you too. Most of the time not an overflow, but just enough to put one foot in front of the other. Then, You will look back and see that although you still hurt tremendously, His grace is indeed amazing. It's beyond what we even think possible. That I know.


My grandmother wrote this verse out for me:
"I will strengthen you, surely I will help you,
Surely I will uphold you with my righteous hand." Is. 41:10b

Don't you just love that word"surely"? Not maybe, not probably. SURELY...