Happy Birthday, Todd!!

It is hard to believe that it has been six years since God blessed us with such a sweet boy. As I look at these pictures of him as a baby, I am saddened at how fast time has flown by but I am so proud of who he is thus far. I could not ask for a child that could bring anymore joy to our lives than Todd has brought. He is my entertainment every day. As I look at his face, I am reminded of those spit-up drenched clothes, those smiles that still melt my heart, of those tantrums at two, the first time he told me he loved me, the first day of pre-school, and the first day at school. But most importantly I see a precious soul that God has granted Brad and I. When I look at him. I see the true meaning of the lyrics of the song Every Time.

Every time
Words and Music: Philip Organ © 1994 Philip Organ Lyrics:
Everytime I kneel to pray I open up my heart to my Lord
Everytime I close my eyes I feel the sweet embrace of my Lord

Chorus 1:I don't know why so many things seem to get in the way of seeing my God's glory
But I try everyday to see and thank Him for all the things He's given me

Everytime I see a child I see the gentleness of my Lord
Everytime I watch a storm I know the awesome power of my Lord

Chorus 2:I don't know why so many things seem to get in the way of seeing my God's glory
But I try everyday to see and thank Him for all the things He's given me

Everytime I see a cross!

Happy Birthday, Buddy!

PS I Love You

Brad and I watched this movie tonight. I will not tell too much about it but at deals with coping with death of a spouse. Thankfully, I have never had to endure this. However, I cried like a baby during parts of this movie.

As most of you know, almost a year ago we were expecting a baby. We ended up losing this baby at 8 weeks. We had genetic testing and found out that it was a girl. We named her Faith. As I watched this movie, I thought about the lose of this baby. I will never know what she looked like or who she acted like. I will also never have a little girl in a physical sense (We are done after Jackson). All of that is sad to me, however, as Jackson was kicking non-stop, it made me realize he would not have been here if Faith had been here. I do not know what the Lord has in store for our family. I do not know what Jackson will be like or who he will look like, but I do know that God has a plan for him. He needed Jackson on this Earth. So, though my heart still hurts with our loss, it leaps for joy at the thought of my baby boy, Jackson! I can't wait to see what God has in store for him!

Baby Update

Today we had our follow-up ultrasound since they could not get all of the views at the 20th week. I was nervous still because of the 2 vessel cord that I mentioned. Today, after much poking, we were able to get all of the views except the profile possibly. She got a picture of the profile, but was not sure if the Dr. would think it was good enough. All of the anatomy was NORMAL!! We are very excited. Today showed that he is 24 plus weeks. This is a week ahead of what we have said. That makes the estimated due date my birthday! He is already 1 lb 8 oz. He is not a small boy.



By the way, I have had some ask if we have a name. Yes, we do. He will be named Jackson Ray. These are both family names. We will call him Jackson, not Jack!



On a side note, have you ever felt that God places situations in front of us to make us rely on him? That is the way I have felt this entire time with this pregnancy. First of all, we were able to get pregnant after many years and a miscarriage. Then, I was so worried that we would lose this baby. Each of the first few visits, they were unable to locate heartbeats so I had to have ultrasounds. After all of that, they told me about the cord issues. Each visit I have had has required me to wait to get answers. Some visits is is minutes others it is days.

I guess these experiences are forcing me to trust. Trust God and no one else. It is also teaching me patience. I have always considered myself patient. I guess this just proves you can always better yourself. In the scheme of a christian walk with Him I guess trust and patience would rant high with Him.

Complaint

I have to say that I hate a modified year around school schedule. I did not like it as a teacher and I hate it as a parent. We got out of school on May 30th. Todd will be back in class on August 1st. That is not enough summer break. It seems like they just get started and it is over. Between VBS, vacation to Brad's dad's house, birthday party, Brad's mom visiting, and Forth of July, there is no extra time. Anyway, I guess I will have to deal with it or home school, which will not happen. Does everyone else have such a short summer?

VBS

Okay, this time last year I was heading up our VBS. I organized everything from registration and advertising to crafts and skits. I loved the imagination part of it and since I wasn't working I had time to bargain shop. This year, I refused to head it up. However, I got roped into crafts again. Since I was trying to finish up my school work, I ignored it for a while. The church-wide VBS is this Saturday and we are doing a small VBS for some girls on Friday. I have good memories of VBS. I really had fun with it in high school. A friend of mine always had extravagant ideas. We would spend countless hours together working on it. Perhaps that is how we became such good friends. However, I think VBS has lost some of its impact. What do you all think. Do you think it is still an effective outreach or in reach? Do you think it may be a time when something else is more effective? I just would like some others feedback.

A weekend alone

Brad and Todd got up early Saturday to take a trip to Six Flags for the day. Since Brad traveled so much last summer, he has tons of hotel points. They decided they would spend the night Saturday night and return home today. Well, I get a call this morning from Todd saying he REALLY wanted to go to Six Flags again today. See, it was so hot yesterday that he spent a lot of the day in the water park. Thus, he did not get to ride all of the rides. Since he is so tall, he can ride things that go upside down and backwards. I told Brad to go to the store and get a Lunchables because they had a free child's ticket. He went and purchased the last box they had. So, Todd and Brad are spending all day today at Six Flags and will return home tonight. My house has been so quiet I do not even know what to do. Yesterday, my mom and dad came and painted the nursery Aloe Vera green. I love the color. I figure we will do something besides blue while we can. I will have to take a picture of the nursery when we are done. It will be several weeks, though. We are going to lay wood flooring before we move everything back in the room.

Laminin

I was able to hear this lesson live at a Chris Tomlin concert. I was reminded of it this week. This is by a guy named Louie Giglio. He does a lot of teen talks. I have added the video. It is about 9 min. It is amazing stuff. If you get a chance, watch this!

http://www.godtube.com/view_video.php?viewkey=152b5103d741aca61093