tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-63976414636042788232024-02-19T08:24:42.505-08:00grace and joymichellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.comBlogger166125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-90356203955103986582009-10-07T22:45:00.000-07:002009-10-08T07:18:03.993-07:00Moments . . .<meta equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><meta name="ProgId" content="Word.Document"><meta name="Generator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><meta name="Originator" content="Microsoft Word 11"><link rel="File-List" href="file:///C:%5CDOCUME%7E1%5CMICHEL%7E1%5CLOCALS%7E1%5CTemp%5Cmsohtml1%5C01%5Cclip_filelist.xml"><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:worddocument> <w:view>Normal</w:View> <w:zoom>0</w:Zoom> <w:punctuationkerning/> <w:validateagainstschemas/> <w:saveifxmlinvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid> <w:ignoremixedcontent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent> <w:alwaysshowplaceholdertext>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText> <w:compatibility> <w:breakwrappedtables/> <w:snaptogridincell/> <w:wraptextwithpunct/> <w:useasianbreakrules/> <w:dontgrowautofit/> </w:Compatibility> <w:browserlevel>MicrosoftInternetExplorer4</w:BrowserLevel> </w:WordDocument> </xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml> <w:latentstyles deflockedstate="false" latentstylecount="156"> </w:LatentStyles> </xml><![endif]--><style> <!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Georgia; panose-1:2 4 5 2 5 4 5 2 3 3; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:roman; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:647 0 0 0 159 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman";} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> </style> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >There are moments in our lives that change us forever – some are big and some are small, either way they impact us on some level . . . the moment you get picked for the lead in the play that you’ve been dying for or the or the moment that boy finally asks you out on your first date or the moment you go from being a Miss to a Mrs or the moment you realize . . . we are about to become a family of THREE!! or the moment that . . . you finish it.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >For us, we had a moment last October 9th . . .it was the moment our doctor told us that, at 6 ½ months pregnant, our baby no longer had a heart beat!!<span style=""> </span>That was a moment that will never be forgotten and has forever impacted our lives!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >We’ve had miscarriages . . . but this was different . . . far different!<span style=""> </span>I had just felt our baby kick the week before . . .I had seen ultrasounds of our baby moving. . . I knew that there was a life in me!<span style=""> </span>Yes, we knew that our baby had some abnormalities – the month prior we had found out that he had a large hole in his heart – a ventricular septal defect – and that his right kidney was not functioning.<span style=""> </span>We had been told that there was a possibility that our baby wouldn’t survive to term.<span style=""> </span>There is a HUGE difference between “the possibility” and the reality!<span style=""> </span>On October 9<sup>th</sup> we were living the reality!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >That Thursday and Friday were two of the most wonderfully terrible days of my life!<span style=""> </span>What do I mean?<span style=""> </span>If we hadn’t been in that situation we wouldn’t have been able to see the Lord work.<span style=""> </span>Those were two days where I felt the presence of the Lord in a way I don’t think I ever had before!<span style=""> </span>My husband and I had such a peace within this storm.<span style=""> </span>We were surrounded by family and friends (who frankly are more like family!).<span style=""> </span>We were blessed by the Lord in ways that I can’t even begin to count.<span style=""> </span>Big ways, little ways, ways that we didn’t even know we needed to be blessed.<span style=""> </span>We were prayed for and just loved!<span style=""> </span>What an amazing time that was!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >As this first anniversary comes it is very surreal . . . it seems like only yesterday we were in the hospital and yet it seems like it has been ages.<span style=""> </span>God is so good how He protects our hearts.<span style=""> </span>And yet the heart still hurts!<span style=""> </span>There isn’t a day that doesn’t go by where I don’t think of my son in one way or another.<span style=""> </span>What would it be like to be getting three kiddos ready for the day? or What would it be like to look back and hear the sounds of my baby boy cooing at me while we are driving along?<span style=""> </span>So many thoughts go through my mind and then I look at the two girls I have here with me and I’m so thankful for what the Lord has given me here!<span style=""> </span>I can’t wait to meet my son when I step in to glory, but I have two precious girls here who need me right now!<span style=""> </span>I have no guarantees on their eternity . . .I have a son who is in heaven . . . walking hand in hand with the God of the Universe – with my Jehovah God!<span style=""> </span>Wow!<span style=""> </span>I can’t even fully fathom that!!!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >We’ve had moments that have been more difficult than others.<span style=""> </span>The moment when someone asks how many children do I have . . . well, I have three . . . but do I say that and have them pity me if they ask the ages and I share about my son who is in heaven?<span style=""> </span>I don’t want pity, but people don’t always know what to say and I don’t want to make people feel badly.<span style=""> </span>Or the moment when someone doesn’t say anything because they are afraid that they are going to hurt my feelings or say the wrong thing . . . honestly, it is worse when someone avoids the fact that I have a son who is in heaven.<span style=""> </span>That hurts.<span style=""> </span>Yet, I understand . . . I’ve been there – what do you say. . .well, just be honest!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >The moments get easier and harder all at the same time, but I have to be honest I wouldn’t change a thing!<span style=""> </span>Yes, I would give just about anything to be sitting here with my baby boy, but that is not what the Lord had for our family!<span style=""> </span>I am constantly reminded of Job’s response to his wife, who wanted him to curse God after his children and every possession had been taken away.<span style=""> </span>Job 2:10 “But he said to her, ‘You speak as one of the foolish women would speak.<span style=""> </span>Shall we receive good from God and shall we not receive evil?’”<span style=""> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >From the beginning our desire was for God to be glorified in all that happened – we only pray that that has occurred.<span style=""> </span>So many people have said such kind and lovely things to us and encouraged us over the last year.<span style=""> </span>We are tremendously blessed!<span style=""> </span>We are so thankful for your prayers and love!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >I cling to the hope found in I Peter 5:10-11 “And after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will<span style=""> </span>himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you. To him be the dominion forever and ever. Amen.”<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" ><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >These moments of suffering are nothing in light of eternity and to know that my God, my Abba Father, my Creator and Redeemer will HIMSELF restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish ME, this wretched little redeemed sinner!!!<span style=""> </span>That is a moment worth waiting for!</span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style=";font-family:Georgia;font-size:100%;" >And then . . . there is the moment you find out God has blessed you with another little life! What a joyous moment that was!!!
<br /></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">
<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3kx2Oj8idc4UvnsEN4zrtGBSaJob98cEM7AK6DTyeLqh7NnBXY9oYmLKdJYnXDS43UPVHXkCgI-IImyIW_0DddDkGRIbo_wRAdINPHsaiQVeDFOkTnwz6SjXVXM9Qi0VVglAD8AwKJXQ/s1600-h/jackson+christopher_edited-1_01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3kx2Oj8idc4UvnsEN4zrtGBSaJob98cEM7AK6DTyeLqh7NnBXY9oYmLKdJYnXDS43UPVHXkCgI-IImyIW_0DddDkGRIbo_wRAdINPHsaiQVeDFOkTnwz6SjXVXM9Qi0VVglAD8AwKJXQ/s400/jackson+christopher_edited-1_01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5390105188364486322" border="0" /></a></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:100%;">
<br /></span></p><span style="font-size:100%;">You can read more about my precious Jackson Christopher <a href="http://grace-and-joy.blogspot.com/search/label/Jackson%20Christopher">here</a>!</span><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-61576965583540163602009-10-04T16:15:00.000-07:002009-10-04T16:27:41.712-07:0040 years!!!It's been quite a while since my last post, but today seems like a perfect day to break that streak!! Forty years ago today, October 4, 1969, my parents were married!!! Words cannot express how grateful I am that they have been faithful to their commitments to one another that October day!! What a blessing it is to not only be able to say that my parents are still married forty years later, but I can truly say that they love one another and enjoy each others company still! They continue to make each other laugh, drive each other crazy at times, spend time together frequently, look to one another for advice, encouragement, guidance, dog selections (that's for mom!), and so much more. From my vantage point they are one anothers best friend. Their relationship is inspiring! And I would venture to say - if you know them you have been blessed by them!!<br /><br />I love you mom and dad! Thank you for your faithfulness, diligence, godliness, wisdom, sacrificial love, time, and so much more!!! Here's to another 40!!!!<br /><br />A couple weeks ago I had the privilege of photographing my parents . . . so here are a few!!!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">I love this one . . . says so much!!!<br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOoiWJUg9aLCGHXvoUQC_x2SkwT0nIeGmDd3pCzoCGFDuuQWHSjmfPAZIbwH2IoP8GAH1xS_qWpjqqmxRd7d5BuVWJYdTFgy21T2V7iEInaRl6aKr0LIgGT5sYYc9eLNj4a4IIuiClD7w/s1600-h/2009+09+18_0217.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOoiWJUg9aLCGHXvoUQC_x2SkwT0nIeGmDd3pCzoCGFDuuQWHSjmfPAZIbwH2IoP8GAH1xS_qWpjqqmxRd7d5BuVWJYdTFgy21T2V7iEInaRl6aKr0LIgGT5sYYc9eLNj4a4IIuiClD7w/s400/2009+09+18_0217.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388890275417710002" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4loFaAT-r6_I-tlIjSi8VFzbTEOwZrye8aIU0x_KI3WQWLg1oZ-SMp-broc7GjvAzFF_wunnBejeCnn-5vIB__AnJSceXEBovj2m5s5HNwmVbKGsd8A4E4sLD0ZnoSNSBl1qhAkbYU4U/s1600-h/2009+09+18_0185.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4loFaAT-r6_I-tlIjSi8VFzbTEOwZrye8aIU0x_KI3WQWLg1oZ-SMp-broc7GjvAzFF_wunnBejeCnn-5vIB__AnJSceXEBovj2m5s5HNwmVbKGsd8A4E4sLD0ZnoSNSBl1qhAkbYU4U/s400/2009+09+18_0185.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388890263349457314" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ5SQYrGcTKHsN-hXl5DoRJodiktBR70jiBOAKwpw5gpH9wkoGg5VlvhSxioR_95kZQ3BIeeUDOzIZICbMlkJFeX_Bsk7DsV6mYXYFMXIulC-o_zY6Tt3mKo3J1ZskyZ6BbPJwDEwLgE0/s1600-h/2009+09+18_0179enhanced.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZ5SQYrGcTKHsN-hXl5DoRJodiktBR70jiBOAKwpw5gpH9wkoGg5VlvhSxioR_95kZQ3BIeeUDOzIZICbMlkJFeX_Bsk7DsV6mYXYFMXIulC-o_zY6Tt3mKo3J1ZskyZ6BbPJwDEwLgE0/s400/2009+09+18_0179enhanced.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388890255822230242" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDC91198gE57wSFtTC3zFTxYHHBIGcuIgL4NQyAnhBvh33hgG4dVyVUrfw-jyhhD3MFn4Pgrtju6FSSi4pgmrDswMiPf8YjVwRUhBWv3EGf_s-vgbDKohAkXF8RSHok6beTJD_FyQPa3I/s1600-h/2009+09+18_0152.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDC91198gE57wSFtTC3zFTxYHHBIGcuIgL4NQyAnhBvh33hgG4dVyVUrfw-jyhhD3MFn4Pgrtju6FSSi4pgmrDswMiPf8YjVwRUhBWv3EGf_s-vgbDKohAkXF8RSHok6beTJD_FyQPa3I/s400/2009+09+18_0152.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388889763318475474" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi62o6SbiOyZmk7G0JhWbwROVTAyZ-wmJrHbMBmCg7lPR3YAIIZVT0pIMhhqD7KMg_JFTheyva5FI51XInIlAM0qRV5mIl-zeb9ZVUnwxEWJeqe1Q6LGLV05QSqSCb8wnhlX0KnS22hSa4/s1600-h/2009+09+18_0116.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi62o6SbiOyZmk7G0JhWbwROVTAyZ-wmJrHbMBmCg7lPR3YAIIZVT0pIMhhqD7KMg_JFTheyva5FI51XInIlAM0qRV5mIl-zeb9ZVUnwxEWJeqe1Q6LGLV05QSqSCb8wnhlX0KnS22hSa4/s400/2009+09+18_0116.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388889756967315810" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhT_9ModhMjb8elSK44KxrAWVTNo7dhSYAY3vXujpUWlw1ifiHciqFUk4hEKheSMmM8jg5e1HiumZ6ukrmPdMgyjmqCS5Nl9EeksiPed0XVgL9B_7Vj4XccgAxiUVvSLRZw0EsGzxqLjI/s1600-h/2009+09+18_0070.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhT_9ModhMjb8elSK44KxrAWVTNo7dhSYAY3vXujpUWlw1ifiHciqFUk4hEKheSMmM8jg5e1HiumZ6ukrmPdMgyjmqCS5Nl9EeksiPed0XVgL9B_7Vj4XccgAxiUVvSLRZw0EsGzxqLjI/s400/2009+09+18_0070.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388889748855859954" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhkoz74vXEDSh_4rPTeoeBs9mnyfUPg2ir1YVgNyKceAM4I9592fHHfxyU0UakzK8_BXkX3co_JJipui5Mqnms1-0D6AIm4cQ3av9gliC2NlmCs-hQ2m9Nmt18OU0WvvK9kp7TJWZxa6M/s1600-h/2009+09+18_0041enhanced.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhkoz74vXEDSh_4rPTeoeBs9mnyfUPg2ir1YVgNyKceAM4I9592fHHfxyU0UakzK8_BXkX3co_JJipui5Mqnms1-0D6AIm4cQ3av9gliC2NlmCs-hQ2m9Nmt18OU0WvvK9kp7TJWZxa6M/s400/2009+09+18_0041enhanced.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388889735672131778" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlQSjOlSPouiBHokV5AZe2PLbRz6EDo7DmBhlMpYafI8IfSpC2mYkB7Sx_NPbKpYB6qSaEtsLWyrobfPzHH6Fp20V0u83Fu2GEfDOpjGymr3Lq8B6ki7J08SYb3ngoebjot2Tm0aLk1nQ/s1600-h/2009+09+18_0038enhanced.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlQSjOlSPouiBHokV5AZe2PLbRz6EDo7DmBhlMpYafI8IfSpC2mYkB7Sx_NPbKpYB6qSaEtsLWyrobfPzHH6Fp20V0u83Fu2GEfDOpjGymr3Lq8B6ki7J08SYb3ngoebjot2Tm0aLk1nQ/s400/2009+09+18_0038enhanced.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5388889727821663506" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-38473293845102693662009-05-24T15:05:00.001-07:002009-05-24T15:43:56.732-07:00in gloryAs a little girl I always knew there was something special about me. Not just because my parents were very eager to praise me for any little thing I might do or because they made me feel like I was the most beautiful, smartest, most talented little girl (far from it - a parents' love will do that) - no I was given a very special name. My parents named me Michelle Ellen - the Ellen was after my grandma - my mom's mom - one of the most wonderful women I have ever known. Now she would tell you that there wasn't anything special about her, but I am here to tell you that she was, in a word, REMARKABLE! As much as I knew that I carried a special name I knew that my grandma was a very special woman - I knew that she wasn't like all other grandmas. For starters she was 60 when I was born - a bit older than my friends' grandmas, but I knew Grandma Cook could and would run circles around them. I cannot think of an event, party, performance, birthday, etc that she was not at! If my brothers or cousins and I were participating in something SHE WAS THERE!!!<br /><br />My grandma was not just remarkable because she invested time in to my life, but because she first loved Jesus Christ! Jesus was her first love and she let us know that by her words, deeds, and actions! When Grandma Cook said she was praying for you - SHE WAS!! She loved her Lord and because of her faithfulness, He blessed her abundantly! Over the years I have seen her faithfulness and been able to see her love for Christ played out. She never wearied of sharing her faith with anyone and everyone - she has lived a life, in my eyes, of faithfulness, godliness, perseverance, wisdom, and joy!<br /><br />My grandma was beyond special! It has been fun watching her with each great grandchild (now totaling 20) how her eyes would light up as they came in the room. My girls could not wait to see Grammie Great! They loved to sit in her room while she read them stories or played games with them or while she allowed them to carry-out one of their rather lengthy meetings. One thing I have admired about Grandma is how she so willingly loved my husband and friends. All of my friends know my grandma as Grandma Cook - they loved her like their own grandma and she loved them as well. She has always been so interested in what Flavio is up to and has taken a genuine interest in his golf career. When he was pursuing the PGA Tour she watched him play - walking the 18 holes - as he caddies she asks how they are doing. I love that she doesn't just love him because he married her granddaughter, but she genuinely LOVES Flavio!!<br /><br />Last Saturday, May 16th, my grandma went to be with her Lord. While I still can't get my mind around the fact that she isn't here - it is a glorious picture I have of her in Heaven, worshipping Our Saviour, walking hand-in-hand with Jesus Christ, talking to Him, looking upon His Holy face, asking Him all of the things she has been dying to know. I can only imagine the joy she felt when she saw her Lord, when He embraced her and told her "Well Done good and faithful one". I like to think that after that she found my Jackson, hugged him, kissed him, and told him how much he is loved. Oh what a glorious day it will be when we will all be re-united together in Glory.<br /><br />God graciously gave us a wonderful week with her - surrounded by family and friends we were able to sing some of her favorite hymns, pray together, laugh, and just enjoy our last times with this precious, precious woman. She had one final request of the Lord, she wanted to see her 20th great grandchild - Peter and Emily were expecting their first baby on May 14th - Scout Magnolia made her arrival on May 15th @ 4:46am - grandma was able to see pictures and video of number 20 and about 24 hours after Scout's arrival grandma entered in to the presence of the Lord.<br /><br />My grandma will be missed here on this earth, but she has left a tremendous legacy.<br /><br />Here are a few pictures of my Grandma Cook!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Psalm 92:12-15<br /></div><div style="text-align: center;">The righteous will flourish like a palm tree,<br /> they will grow like a cedar of Lebanon; </div><p style="text-align: center;"> planted in the house of the LORD,<br /> they will flourish in the courts of our God. </p><p style="text-align: center;">They will still bear fruit in old age,<br /> they will stay fresh and green, </p><p style="text-align: center;">proclaiming, "The LORD is upright;<br /> he is my Rock, and there is no wickedness in him."</p><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVXG2dHrS8nOAkjHiA00WvC_GLg0VBzUpUva8AXLivCzfmr8L56rAO9PdWD2tZYZkdTeqpatoR-zYHS_ITB1zLqDRRDrEP_h-ICBHEr9rcPC3FueHmhIPodJs0iBwZA2Sg1HB9fcgPTU/s1600-h/IMG_3093.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCVXG2dHrS8nOAkjHiA00WvC_GLg0VBzUpUva8AXLivCzfmr8L56rAO9PdWD2tZYZkdTeqpatoR-zYHS_ITB1zLqDRRDrEP_h-ICBHEr9rcPC3FueHmhIPodJs0iBwZA2Sg1HB9fcgPTU/s400/IMG_3093.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339515852183320546" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicmMm9COBTdjIOR6wPlH8WyWxDpr5qQCr0bhqZ6WDDmP0fZb3qu2MGr7Tyamen-oIWOfTu0t-XxUhSUZxU9Px7uwRuuapdXi_u1FL0aLjTRfg8CO7ZxnAkeT4A4Q3BTNOLo2GzYwLSq7U/s1600-h/145-4520_IMG.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicmMm9COBTdjIOR6wPlH8WyWxDpr5qQCr0bhqZ6WDDmP0fZb3qu2MGr7Tyamen-oIWOfTu0t-XxUhSUZxU9Px7uwRuuapdXi_u1FL0aLjTRfg8CO7ZxnAkeT4A4Q3BTNOLo2GzYwLSq7U/s400/145-4520_IMG.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339515845860712306" border="0" /></a>Uncle Herbie (grandma's little brother)<br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ezLvkjOWeFNlI1VtxwMm8SNz7QBcxlcT-iXxb3mbivZ6f3fxe2te5xKSHyN2KNxDVujKW7iRtav4d54j-AQ6zc9-LnVrf5uyFFcGOiAcffHgSYq08jMPCZo83PXh0UUWSX4TWm5gNLA/s1600-h/105_0591.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3ezLvkjOWeFNlI1VtxwMm8SNz7QBcxlcT-iXxb3mbivZ6f3fxe2te5xKSHyN2KNxDVujKW7iRtav4d54j-AQ6zc9-LnVrf5uyFFcGOiAcffHgSYq08jMPCZo83PXh0UUWSX4TWm5gNLA/s400/105_0591.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339515841949574338" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCn9XyTFkWF0lw1jZcySmmNuEOnaPilCvcghE9234fJC7syv336s7Z-HhvrioKwqzDpD9LZGS9kd0bx1tsb1tgrqCIE1wVoO6dfV8C2iZA26n52m-iACEfcZ0naDBOA8Eam1s7bvUGnZQ/s1600-h/101_3602.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCn9XyTFkWF0lw1jZcySmmNuEOnaPilCvcghE9234fJC7syv336s7Z-HhvrioKwqzDpD9LZGS9kd0bx1tsb1tgrqCIE1wVoO6dfV8C2iZA26n52m-iACEfcZ0naDBOA8Eam1s7bvUGnZQ/s400/101_3602.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339515838228202226" border="0" /></a>Grandma and Lily - on one of our Scrapbooking Weekends<br /><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6RCcJFiWs69bdcFYY_31UCCwNbRq3GuXwzve99MxGlhlRjtsKErzecQWZTcOKh6M_Q-1uCm0BAiLN5NyVo40zmUidbkdq-jzfUdD2PsIttbMZoBZjzvO1m_yg3USfwsF4I-cK53BWJ0/s1600-h/101_3509.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6RCcJFiWs69bdcFYY_31UCCwNbRq3GuXwzve99MxGlhlRjtsKErzecQWZTcOKh6M_Q-1uCm0BAiLN5NyVo40zmUidbkdq-jzfUdD2PsIttbMZoBZjzvO1m_yg3USfwsF4I-cK53BWJ0/s400/101_3509.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339515834853836082" border="0" /></a><input id="gwProxy" type="hidden"><!--Session data--><input onclick="jsCall();" id="jsProxy" type="hidden"><div id="refHTML"></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDbs69Ymhgdpmt03VZa9OwppIee3zcvExDvA69sJcHr6s7C6DbODrxJhJg0PaJlGt2D44opGYVeX6-W2fJSPnViO3xWgdNTEi1Epj0mLWe2GEbbDnzm9TbETY2yiCAxD-60ta3vnDz-CA/s1600-h/scout_8days-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 244px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDbs69Ymhgdpmt03VZa9OwppIee3zcvExDvA69sJcHr6s7C6DbODrxJhJg0PaJlGt2D44opGYVeX6-W2fJSPnViO3xWgdNTEi1Epj0mLWe2GEbbDnzm9TbETY2yiCAxD-60ta3vnDz-CA/s400/scout_8days-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339524575475873026" border="0" /></a>#20 Scout Magnolia<br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitkGfZVvTiC6-utvEkmVXynGQB5JtqopdscViO-h6x4L9KcwFylXLktHtIrHIjcJr5M5LumdS85HNEx-tQHziPWhL-h1HrarAGy8mENDe2951WX8XTGau4WMBbBSYFKG2h3PJFmHtdn2Q/s1600-h/IMG_4684-1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEitkGfZVvTiC6-utvEkmVXynGQB5JtqopdscViO-h6x4L9KcwFylXLktHtIrHIjcJr5M5LumdS85HNEx-tQHziPWhL-h1HrarAGy8mENDe2951WX8XTGau4WMBbBSYFKG2h3PJFmHtdn2Q/s400/IMG_4684-1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5339524575986896562" border="0" /></a>The two Ellen's - Grammie Great and my Ellie Grace</div>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-60770887053200545152009-04-10T15:59:00.000-07:002009-04-10T16:12:09.973-07:00six months ago today . . .I've heard it a million times - "my how the times does fly" . . . and that it does!!! It doesn't really seem possible that six months ago today we met our son, <a href="http://grace-and-joy.blogspot.com/search/label/Jackson%20Christopher">Jackson Christopher</a>! God has sustained us in so many unbelievable ways within the last six months and how fitting that we are able to look back upon the goodness of God in our own lives on this Good Friday!! Today is the day that my Saviour, Jesus Christ, laid down His life for me!! His Heavenly Father, God, understands far more than I what it is like to lose a son - the amazing and miraculous thing is that Jesus did not stay in that grave - NO!! He was raised on that third day, Easter Sunday, so that I might be have life eternal! Yes, my heart has been broken in the last six months over the loss of my son, but I have hope because God was willing to sacrifice His one and only son for me and my sinfulness!!! <br /><br />God has and continues to sustain us as we walk through each and every day! There have been some really hard days in the last six months, but all in all we are finding such joy in watching Ellie and Lily grow and learn and explore, we are clinging to Our Lord more and understanding His truths better because of all that He brought us through. <br /><br />The girls often talk about Jackson and wonder what he would be doing right now - it tugs at my heart because I often wonder the same things, but we talk about how our little guy is rejoicing at the feet of God Almighty - none of us really fully understand that, but what joy and comfort it brings to our hearts.<br /><br />Ellie and Flavio went to the driving range one day and on the way back she asked her daddy if he thought Jackson would've enjoyed playing golf! I'm pretty sure he would have!<br /><br />We are blessed beyond measure!!!michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-45355710075087569992009-02-15T13:05:00.000-08:002009-02-15T13:15:33.072-08:00One tooth down. . .the tooth fairy will be visiting tonight!!! Ellie is so excited ... and well, so are we!!!!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDOfIqsSHJ6ErJvX501-pJ-xnQllEUElb5nAEyy1iJ1V1FAglDxrUfUI3M1S2T3gk9vpX2_ex_arnZjGeLbstKD_SLIgAsErPBhhkUGSsCV0SXL5UUJzD9yek3uB6c2lsUXhX9G5dCFKA/s1600-h/IMG_8919.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDOfIqsSHJ6ErJvX501-pJ-xnQllEUElb5nAEyy1iJ1V1FAglDxrUfUI3M1S2T3gk9vpX2_ex_arnZjGeLbstKD_SLIgAsErPBhhkUGSsCV0SXL5UUJzD9yek3uB6c2lsUXhX9G5dCFKA/s400/IMG_8919.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303135276383981826" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOz4qsLP2awGUwz7rh7jorC-VZil1ZoeDLxIRZHR-XkhAP-uYDEcxZG6cVgwD9nxyUYXzyYDwE1ngn7Df9fc_8OthnSiosnNEceplfXl44eSr3M5nzFrH67IReaEaM0SrmTUSDBHtSols/s1600-h/IMG_8918.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOz4qsLP2awGUwz7rh7jorC-VZil1ZoeDLxIRZHR-XkhAP-uYDEcxZG6cVgwD9nxyUYXzyYDwE1ngn7Df9fc_8OthnSiosnNEceplfXl44eSr3M5nzFrH67IReaEaM0SrmTUSDBHtSols/s400/IMG_8918.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303135272175131938" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1HCprjCmVavzEthNdyahVAKas1-CS07qN3N2dS2Q7s2VHgAFIzCaLWO97HDAAuY4507KcLVNp9cR6scWtBA4sGdEdorA103_ta5A8Hth8IEwKdhFOqW-BlRvFNm2VDN0dddIApDfHt34/s1600-h/IMG_8913.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi1HCprjCmVavzEthNdyahVAKas1-CS07qN3N2dS2Q7s2VHgAFIzCaLWO97HDAAuY4507KcLVNp9cR6scWtBA4sGdEdorA103_ta5A8Hth8IEwKdhFOqW-BlRvFNm2VDN0dddIApDfHt34/s400/IMG_8913.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303135266967528274" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeiSSj1jJ2WFoPqp3Iy5XyJiPYP1e7DLGzABrp5k00kxYawl5d8aXs1cqoj5XUJcrO7c_6Snk-YKt9P03T9Ue9vS8fu-7jFk4udVu7YPfL759RSHCk_HXKHs9-JmC0Ltayv8hMoWXMfs0/s1600-h/IMG_8912.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeiSSj1jJ2WFoPqp3Iy5XyJiPYP1e7DLGzABrp5k00kxYawl5d8aXs1cqoj5XUJcrO7c_6Snk-YKt9P03T9Ue9vS8fu-7jFk4udVu7YPfL759RSHCk_HXKHs9-JmC0Ltayv8hMoWXMfs0/s400/IMG_8912.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5303135261976241874" border="0" /></a>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-67262106838944939612009-02-11T14:40:00.000-08:002009-02-11T16:25:17.304-08:00Happy Jackson Day!!That is what Ellie said when we were leaving the park today! So adorable! Today we did have a celebration in honor of our son, Jackson Christopher, (you can read more about him <a href="http://grace-and-joy.blogspot.com/2008/10/jackson-christopher.html">here</a>) as today was our due date. I wasn't really sure how I would feel today . . . it has been rather surreal to have this day get closer and closer and not be preparing for a baby. I have to say that Lily has been the beneficiary of many, many hugs and snuggles -Ellie too, but Lily is still small enough to carry around and hold on my lap. She has filled my arms where I had hoped my son would be. As we appoached today - I could not help but think about God's goodness to us! He spared our son a life of pain, agony, surgeries, and a host of other things. He spared our hearts the torment of watching our son go through so much. I do not understand the fullness of His power and might, but I do know for certain that Our God is an Awesome and Mighty God - that His plan is far better than mine!!<br /><br />We had decided that we would do something special on this day. I didn't want to be at home all day - I wanted to have something to look forward to. We told the girls that we were going to go to the park for a little celebration - we told them that today was the day that their brother was due to be born - honestly I think all they heard was park, play, cupcakes, balloons, and friends - well that sounded GREAT to them!!! And it was!!!<br /><br />I made some special "J" cupcakes, got some blue balloons, packed and lunch, and off we went to the park. My parents joined us along with our sweet friend Abby and her two little ones. The kids played and played and then we had a little balloon launch for our sweet son!!!!<br /><br />Flavio prayed this morning - thanking God for today - this is the day that the Lord planned from the beginning of time. He knew that today would be a day of sadness and joy and He also promises to never give His children more than we can handle - that is from point A to point Z and we can honestly say that He has been faithful. It is by His strength <span style="font-style: italic;">alone</span> that we have been able to do anything, most of all Praise Him through this! No, we are not perfect and yes our hearts hurt, but God has been so gracious to put His arms around us and comfort us and He has used many of you as those tangible arms! We are forever grateful for our family and friends who have loved us so much - they have cried with us, laughed with us, thrown their arms around us, carried our burdens, and mostly just loved us! To name you all would take too long, but you know who you are (plus I want your reward to be in Heaven - what a blessed day that will be!!)<br /><br />Over the past 4 months or so there have been many verses that have greatly ministered to my heart, but I would have to say that this one is quite tremendous:<br /><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">1 Peter 5:10-11<br />And after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you.<br />TO HIM BE THE DOMINION FOREVER AND EVER. AMEN.<br /></div><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfOjkCTMS20mqnA6nC-ap-Pyi0cRJnqc5s_LxWufkQsomeqbKxyDD6dLmPsRgVbF-ih8oz2AM8lN1cA4TUiVMNs_cp7VmwVvcajDBZry6hFO8MiF8TEnj2qlQdfG8Suu20rBRPE5gW7gM/s1600-h/IMG_8761.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfOjkCTMS20mqnA6nC-ap-Pyi0cRJnqc5s_LxWufkQsomeqbKxyDD6dLmPsRgVbF-ih8oz2AM8lN1cA4TUiVMNs_cp7VmwVvcajDBZry6hFO8MiF8TEnj2qlQdfG8Suu20rBRPE5gW7gM/s400/IMG_8761.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301679482379766434" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPwT3p6gTKgZ-J3C4zyq_xUo5aERat_ipVI7nkiCjhAqHYuqBzJKHqNPvESCUUbwxHnThgrTXcGll1ewzjuSOWtwuO1qPF3t8XXh5EH_BLIpMnJskK8F9ZNEbJMxrC6RgH9TP_Ax8vPYg/s1600-h/IMG_8762.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPwT3p6gTKgZ-J3C4zyq_xUo5aERat_ipVI7nkiCjhAqHYuqBzJKHqNPvESCUUbwxHnThgrTXcGll1ewzjuSOWtwuO1qPF3t8XXh5EH_BLIpMnJskK8F9ZNEbJMxrC6RgH9TP_Ax8vPYg/s400/IMG_8762.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301679486144360034" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii69J636h_xRCuAjxqW_q0vwa30oATbq_VeQedqK1idJSJEAU7R_kep3WDWiDEsc9GHF9LaAjc8Qw4BPAc8dSNbqBgKnxOf-K0xtXVEjfxBW49DX9qZFotvwcYQRHiNZWmOmYBvTEdgCI/s1600-h/IMG_8773.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii69J636h_xRCuAjxqW_q0vwa30oATbq_VeQedqK1idJSJEAU7R_kep3WDWiDEsc9GHF9LaAjc8Qw4BPAc8dSNbqBgKnxOf-K0xtXVEjfxBW49DX9qZFotvwcYQRHiNZWmOmYBvTEdgCI/s400/IMG_8773.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301679503797096098" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3gRU-5LjmV71c7tYFquGWzbNXC6d48gq1x13-nos-UmFS-LGH1bA555EbYRzGMWqXc6FnJLnuyf6PsVJSNtgkpQJ0dECBrpRx6TBMhtRzysO3oFh09wrgxt_0uYPDlHJjAQwGEkdegSo/s1600-h/IMG_8786.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3gRU-5LjmV71c7tYFquGWzbNXC6d48gq1x13-nos-UmFS-LGH1bA555EbYRzGMWqXc6FnJLnuyf6PsVJSNtgkpQJ0dECBrpRx6TBMhtRzysO3oFh09wrgxt_0uYPDlHJjAQwGEkdegSo/s400/IMG_8786.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301679507720683314" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJlKAXQRpD_qGG_LZQRPx39h8sK2wr83K5CzERhyphenhyphenrKviQWrFFljnKt-J6Q5tZToUcnxL3pkrSCxY6qGbkcL6W7-QTayLrCbH0-MKzHExE6hMIcLLuwhJBzomt-CF0sYgPllx17_uGuPo/s1600-h/IMG_8790.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfJlKAXQRpD_qGG_LZQRPx39h8sK2wr83K5CzERhyphenhyphenrKviQWrFFljnKt-J6Q5tZToUcnxL3pkrSCxY6qGbkcL6W7-QTayLrCbH0-MKzHExE6hMIcLLuwhJBzomt-CF0sYgPllx17_uGuPo/s400/IMG_8790.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301679511332116370" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTcDzVSxViXacjH9_b1Y2nitJjxFTBbIFMELYV1HEEhK5utCZ_Wm-6IMMLZpht_imrMhvZyzFRo7EhN0a3oAJm6kB-Niq8Vdx37Vz1j25JeOPKz2r7bjTpaqNKdbrsdkhJrrN3CwDecUI/s1600-h/IMG_8812.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTcDzVSxViXacjH9_b1Y2nitJjxFTBbIFMELYV1HEEhK5utCZ_Wm-6IMMLZpht_imrMhvZyzFRo7EhN0a3oAJm6kB-Niq8Vdx37Vz1j25JeOPKz2r7bjTpaqNKdbrsdkhJrrN3CwDecUI/s400/IMG_8812.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301692127989480098" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhQi5fCpWqne70SdteV8VF7aeNX3hH9RotLyQ253b7t4uKg3kkcTV-_WWHLy461nxI27AfJV4UwBFesBppnt1i27CjlITy-S0OZ_KMFkRsw_GSkPna45l6pNe5KmwImwgp-wGqpiuO8HM/s1600-h/IMG_8809.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhQi5fCpWqne70SdteV8VF7aeNX3hH9RotLyQ253b7t4uKg3kkcTV-_WWHLy461nxI27AfJV4UwBFesBppnt1i27CjlITy-S0OZ_KMFkRsw_GSkPna45l6pNe5KmwImwgp-wGqpiuO8HM/s400/IMG_8809.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301692123732640274" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhit3Q4cPXelYQZFivD-ARjfSxH34D9f53a4xw_cWm0TrHC1mZ-AFtIuwk58CN1feThRQkOdS2I3tMYLHHl1c6utKzj1nn__Z5p_d2O_AwQF2eO4F7S_Gdb43cDoJchzAzFJi_sJ1l7kwU/s1600-h/IMG_8815.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhit3Q4cPXelYQZFivD-ARjfSxH34D9f53a4xw_cWm0TrHC1mZ-AFtIuwk58CN1feThRQkOdS2I3tMYLHHl1c6utKzj1nn__Z5p_d2O_AwQF2eO4F7S_Gdb43cDoJchzAzFJi_sJ1l7kwU/s400/IMG_8815.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301692130998421122" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGouOQpAESZE-EUuTj9kCQrIqABPFwo63Gzi_broezyZVZs5Tm4XEZYRq1t7R2fCBXyo7PKd5StXvjSBlC0yIFdgTX_4KZ96yZy49SMaxTJCaCU1HJ04eGzuc1be1U9ILi8fMs3CpYmcU/s1600-h/IMG_8816.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGouOQpAESZE-EUuTj9kCQrIqABPFwo63Gzi_broezyZVZs5Tm4XEZYRq1t7R2fCBXyo7PKd5StXvjSBlC0yIFdgTX_4KZ96yZy49SMaxTJCaCU1HJ04eGzuc1be1U9ILi8fMs3CpYmcU/s400/IMG_8816.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301692136557966866" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkENt7jwokABE0Nc_9UpnDqcWaEipAfWrZmS-MiANWSPWCjGxofSBGjlLIkuXp2VZ1P1w3zjgF7NU5Jfe1j5pFcgdi1-9NeRgSYLN5jyjmU3nHVGNx07IR77HrYilCT56GYnt6QhT0yss/s1600-h/IMG_8819.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkENt7jwokABE0Nc_9UpnDqcWaEipAfWrZmS-MiANWSPWCjGxofSBGjlLIkuXp2VZ1P1w3zjgF7NU5Jfe1j5pFcgdi1-9NeRgSYLN5jyjmU3nHVGNx07IR77HrYilCT56GYnt6QhT0yss/s400/IMG_8819.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301689454415517714" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0obrICTdjlD5iirNuF59aRcSGqAbUv4JW-oqFKTL_AO4DXJWaEP1RW_LW7VS0PhICXHnAhKiTuq7PrytxlphX-YXrBTnYQXW2L3I1qD8RDZkKtxINYBsA49KWAy2lD6HGruo6IqRJtVE/s1600-h/IMG_8821.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0obrICTdjlD5iirNuF59aRcSGqAbUv4JW-oqFKTL_AO4DXJWaEP1RW_LW7VS0PhICXHnAhKiTuq7PrytxlphX-YXrBTnYQXW2L3I1qD8RDZkKtxINYBsA49KWAy2lD6HGruo6IqRJtVE/s400/IMG_8821.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301689461372492146" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig-5jHjrfwYU6uy4nf0-zrT2UmG044GhUSS-JHWUVR0OwdbWK1sOrNu2o91BQiYLeNXHT83Q9Sssd3N-xUbWMwN2p9KpdC1K2afafT76Dqd-4FFWzKrJxlc9Oc9BG_FMksWcnyjiZRJvs/s1600-h/IMG_8817.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEig-5jHjrfwYU6uy4nf0-zrT2UmG044GhUSS-JHWUVR0OwdbWK1sOrNu2o91BQiYLeNXHT83Q9Sssd3N-xUbWMwN2p9KpdC1K2afafT76Dqd-4FFWzKrJxlc9Oc9BG_FMksWcnyjiZRJvs/s400/IMG_8817.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301689452736886082" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaT3l8iSMdZqGkZRxD0dNjndeCB8HIVDuIyjU49PmWrxVlzBNRPLlE8Ee4_l9IXtljijgRwsmjc_B393RTq6e5Nm7vbQeHzPmktu4E1ArHYfN3TeWbCjPvVpzccs7D4Cd5u12ApjxObss/s1600-h/IMG_8833.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaT3l8iSMdZqGkZRxD0dNjndeCB8HIVDuIyjU49PmWrxVlzBNRPLlE8Ee4_l9IXtljijgRwsmjc_B393RTq6e5Nm7vbQeHzPmktu4E1ArHYfN3TeWbCjPvVpzccs7D4Cd5u12ApjxObss/s400/IMG_8833.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301689465694019538" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZzDHPf124jJM8PI7H2d0tNQMyaVU4vKDFVz44WLCExuCIuSMLM8l7Y_e7N59g5_9efZYuJkoAxibyfUcZna28u5DozVbodgUgkP3x92Z__BA1BMkf_vyWlIaUHd0cosmoIYRVs4l32aA/s1600-h/IMG_8837.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZzDHPf124jJM8PI7H2d0tNQMyaVU4vKDFVz44WLCExuCIuSMLM8l7Y_e7N59g5_9efZYuJkoAxibyfUcZna28u5DozVbodgUgkP3x92Z__BA1BMkf_vyWlIaUHd0cosmoIYRVs4l32aA/s400/IMG_8837.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301688474177305842" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiBZYIFH6wfyLcVyRNxwEmsodAjWfJFXE7l-y7qDTcg2bOI29jvSXySAX21vZ8GG3MC0xr6_ON5FT-ZvwTJ6RMI0sfjPsoyJ3UZ9G_wdelZiAUv3lFFXz6opqFHmtNVB6M0gpFGzPTvsk/s1600-h/IMG_8836.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiBZYIFH6wfyLcVyRNxwEmsodAjWfJFXE7l-y7qDTcg2bOI29jvSXySAX21vZ8GG3MC0xr6_ON5FT-ZvwTJ6RMI0sfjPsoyJ3UZ9G_wdelZiAUv3lFFXz6opqFHmtNVB6M0gpFGzPTvsk/s400/IMG_8836.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301688467003743650" border="0" /></a><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0vUHUpL7LBrR6zEobVDNTGf2n1JKPusCwvuTKiCgjIYHRw6S4gVuLW5Vvn4Vvqztn76iQWWkLMQonDMPMLmCPh8DKZRvwvrRLQ5mYJFux2CsHnRfGLMqDV94-5OlT0xf_ulvn8Ko_dYM/s1600-h/IMG_8832.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0vUHUpL7LBrR6zEobVDNTGf2n1JKPusCwvuTKiCgjIYHRw6S4gVuLW5Vvn4Vvqztn76iQWWkLMQonDMPMLmCPh8DKZRvwvrRLQ5mYJFux2CsHnRfGLMqDV94-5OlT0xf_ulvn8Ko_dYM/s400/IMG_8832.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301689458233100354" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxHAtZAyx2pKkuwNoDRHRCPfHM_HIvY30ksbavqRtNFlRt04n1nZekURsXBROqfSXgE7W6h8omnxHSTid7Vz2aZe9HzBg2GhdSu5wfvzzQZOWihMMZPaNrwiSEgry_FK9WyJ2m1o6S6zo/s1600-h/IMG_8842.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxHAtZAyx2pKkuwNoDRHRCPfHM_HIvY30ksbavqRtNFlRt04n1nZekURsXBROqfSXgE7W6h8omnxHSTid7Vz2aZe9HzBg2GhdSu5wfvzzQZOWihMMZPaNrwiSEgry_FK9WyJ2m1o6S6zo/s400/IMG_8842.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301688476879668498" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg4ERTrJIeBkCJurqqklHskLTpk54dfrvS5KS5lIuDzkixHYZ4FkWZE6dBJiUkm1qN7txtjnh5rSrh-Cb1VTfSdz4j4BsCX6E7h8HTQvmChEUwAc9MIC7mC1mEz8V0YJ5RLt_tegFKJWU/s1600-h/IMG_8845.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhg4ERTrJIeBkCJurqqklHskLTpk54dfrvS5KS5lIuDzkixHYZ4FkWZE6dBJiUkm1qN7txtjnh5rSrh-Cb1VTfSdz4j4BsCX6E7h8HTQvmChEUwAc9MIC7mC1mEz8V0YJ5RLt_tegFKJWU/s400/IMG_8845.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301684687235400834" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-hVloIzifDEzeQfqBndJ8R3WFy-uJfB09YZ2hw15RjCr_Tr6DTS7JoW90m8RsdwtJiPW8Kmj1dFNt3rd1IzddnGIkXkLz1MZ2OtY6KtKEuGcNnXPZen8N1IOlg_-Us3d7t6lGN1gPeHk/s1600-h/IMG_8843.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-hVloIzifDEzeQfqBndJ8R3WFy-uJfB09YZ2hw15RjCr_Tr6DTS7JoW90m8RsdwtJiPW8Kmj1dFNt3rd1IzddnGIkXkLz1MZ2OtY6KtKEuGcNnXPZen8N1IOlg_-Us3d7t6lGN1gPeHk/s400/IMG_8843.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301684685770280594" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWiZ8fAqpj_Y9El-NfGbt9hOb6Wj4rF1kVeVZa9FwmLUzZSAEIkDm_ZWJdaBAbAJfTI2wPfXxTFKyiYSa7KbwI42NHzrvPxgVraU1mvcRm9fL6Apw48DQNBHlNKl3jjIlAGUeFdpxowTg/s1600-h/IMG_8858.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWiZ8fAqpj_Y9El-NfGbt9hOb6Wj4rF1kVeVZa9FwmLUzZSAEIkDm_ZWJdaBAbAJfTI2wPfXxTFKyiYSa7KbwI42NHzrvPxgVraU1mvcRm9fL6Apw48DQNBHlNKl3jjIlAGUeFdpxowTg/s400/IMG_8858.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5301684107865842626" border="0" /></a>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-71953304021969813522009-02-01T22:54:00.000-08:002009-02-01T23:12:02.814-08:00overwhelmedThis is more for me than anything else. . . I don't journal anywhere else, but here, so here goes...<br /><br />For the past couple weeks I had this overwhelming feeling of gratitude. Gratitude for a few things, but mostly for my salvation! I, like so many of us, have gone about my life just plugging along - thankful for God's gracious gift in sending His son, but not always or completely understanding the depth of that gift (nor do I still . . .ahh Heaven!). But last Sunday as we were singing and praising God I was just filled with emotion and gratitude to My Heavenly Father for sending His son, Jesus Christ, to die for me! Me, a wretched, selfish, stubborn, undeserving sinner, and yet, He did!!! I don't know how else to put it but I am so thankful that God saw fit to save me from the snares of the devil and write my name in The Lambs Book of Life. What a tremendous gift!!!<br /><br />I have also felt so overwhelmed by the relationships that God has put in my life. Each one is there for a specific purpose - not all known to me yet. Some are easier than others and yet, I am grateful for them all! I am particularly grateful for my parents and their tremendous love and support - their prayers and their practicality. What would I do without them!?!?! I don't even want to imagine. Last night I got to spend some time with two of my dearest friends - oh how I enjoy their sweet fellowship and their encouragement and their wisdom and just their laughs - such joy they bring to my heart! I hope they know how much I love them!!! There are just so many ways that I have been blessed - to name them all would take forever, but I just wanted/had to get my thoughts down on "paper". My heart is overflowing with gratitude, with emotion, with joy because of all that God has done for me and all those He has brought in to my life!! This morning we sang "And Can It Be" - I LOVE that hymn - I love most hymns - but this is at the top<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote>And can it be that I should gain<br />An interest in the Savior’s blood?<br />Died He for me, who caused His pain—<br />For me, who Him to death pursued?<br />Amazing love! How can it be,<br />That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?<br />Amazing love! How can it be,<br />That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?<br /><br /><p>He left His Father’s throne above<br />So free, so infinite His grace—<br />Emptied Himself of all but love,<br />And bled for Adam’s helpless race:<br />’Tis mercy all, immense and free,<br />For O my God, it found out me!<br />’Tis mercy all, immense and free,<br />For O my God, it found out me!</p> <p>Long my imprisoned spirit lay,<br />Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;<br />Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—<br />I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;<br />My chains fell off, my heart was free,<br />I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.<br />My chains fell off, my heart was free,<br />I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.</p> <p>Still the small inward voice I hear,<br />That whispers all my sins forgiven;<br />Still the atoning blood is near,<br />That quenched the wrath of hostile Heaven.<br />I feel the life His wounds impart;<br />I feel the Savior in my heart.<br />I feel the life His wounds impart;<br />I feel the Savior in my heart.</p> <p>No condemnation now I dread;<br />Jesus, and all in Him, is mine;<br />Alive in Him, my living Head,<br />And clothed in righteousness divine,<br />Bold I approach th’eternal throne,<br />And claim the crown, through Christ my own.<br />Bold I approach th’eternal throne,<br />And claim the crown, through Christ my own.</p></blockquote></div>I could go on and on and may on another post, but . . . that is where my heart is right now! Overwhelmed with gratitude!michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-19569474639787020262009-01-25T20:01:00.000-08:002009-01-25T20:54:34.076-08:00MIAI cannot believe it has been so long!!! I've had many things I have wanted to blog about in the past weeks, but by the time I sat down to do so . . . I forgot or just ran out of time! But here I am . . . back!!<br /><br />I've had a lot of things on my heart lately, one of which is our blessed Bible Study! We have a great Bible Study and through the course of the last year we have all (maybe not ALL, but a large majority of us) been going through some "various trials". On Friday, Dan Gallagher gave us an update on his condition (he has aplastic anemia - go <a href="http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/thegallagherfamily">here</a> to read more about what he has/is going through) and shared about suffering. It was so encouraging and awesome to hear what God is doing in he and Pam's life through their present suffering, but also God's perspective on suffering. <br /><br />He had two points:<br />I. Suffering is designed by God for us - Job 2:7&10, 42:11<br /><ul><li>suffering is for my good and GOD'S glory - Romans 8:28</li><li>It's good to consider life and death - do I really long for Heaven or am I too tied to this world?</li><li>suffering should increase my longing for Heaven.</li></ul>II. Suffering is a gift from God - it doesn't always seem that way as we are going through a trial and suffering, but it is!<br /><ul><li>Phil 1:29 tells us that we've been given a gift of suffering</li><li>I Peter 2:21 - suffering is a megaphone for God - we get an opportunity to tell others about our amazing God through suffering.</li><li>Phil 3:8&10 suffering brings fellowship</li><li>it is an opportunity to tell others about Christ!</li><li>the Body of Christ is able to come together to support and love.</li><li>God uses our suffering to conform us!</li><li>through our suffering we are able to comfort others</li></ul>It has been so amazing, comforting, challenging, & indescribable to watch each member of our Bible study go through their trials. It has been a little over three months since we met Jackson and, as hard as it has been, it has been so awesome to see God use our suffering to change our lives, to help us be more compassionate, to show us areas in which we needed to change in our lives, to help us see what <span style="font-style: italic;">is</span> important and what isn't, to help us long for heaven in a way that we hadn't previously done. Suffering is HARD, but as painful as it has been, I wouldn't change it for what God has done to me and my heart! Yes, I wish with ALL of my heart that I could be anticipating the birth of my first son, but I will have to wait a little while longer!<br /><br />Thank you to those of you who continue to uphold us in prayer - we so appreciate it! I so appreciate those of you who have come up to us and asked us how we are doing and not the typical - hey, how ya doin'? kinda thing, but the really sincere, making eye contact -"How are you doing?" - that means a lot to us! To answer that question - we are doing good, but as February 11th approaches I find that I am having a hard time. Jackson was due on or around February 11th - it is weird to have that date getting closer and closer and knowing that he won't be coming . . . I'm not pregnant and anticipating the birth of a sweet baby. Thankfully I have these two, busy little girls that don't allow my mind to stay on that thought too long - Praise the Lord for Ellie and Lily - they are wonderful distractions!!<br /><br />I pray that you are doing well and that if you are suffering right now you are leaning upon God Almighty!michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-72102397231749822662009-01-11T20:35:00.000-08:002009-01-11T21:11:37.325-08:00Happy New Year!!Yeah, I know . . . we are 11 days in to the new year and I am already running behind!! So why should 2009 be any different than the last 10, 15, 20+ years??!?! We had a great Christmas - it was nice and relaxing! It was so wonderful to have Ellie girl home for two whole weeks!!! Loved the late nights of doing whatever and the late mornings sleeping in!! I didn't relish our time at home as much as I should of before she went off to Kindergarten!<br /><br />Here are some random pictures from the last few weeks . . . can't wait for the next day off! That's Friday!!! Woo Hoo!!!!!!!!!!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">Our Impromptu Cookie Decorating Party<br /></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWviDWIPLOqCFsVP-HpFBO5A5cY_eMAfAlTpAAyxMmzQBvzavgwX51c_e6Y8U5mY6h_5ty30mICkwrwa0R0eJ_vMtqAb1boeSH18Xz5GT8ZWx6Opj96kE62uOGrXC8L3ojxRwUAR0J4m0/s1600-h/IMG_6625.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWviDWIPLOqCFsVP-HpFBO5A5cY_eMAfAlTpAAyxMmzQBvzavgwX51c_e6Y8U5mY6h_5ty30mICkwrwa0R0eJ_vMtqAb1boeSH18Xz5GT8ZWx6Opj96kE62uOGrXC8L3ojxRwUAR0J4m0/s400/IMG_6625.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQFU45BaeHRZ1Pz96RFPVBynz_TcUVs54Q6IP592W5F0n-ZsJ44Gi7e3VhDNZEGeyFD-ZWBRHZ2L-mBvbRdeO4elcJY7kkWkbogaZhyiTgsbWS7f09_S_e0Cgsy6uy_FhyphenhyphenEZwQy3OwlGY/s1600-h/IMG_6628.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQFU45BaeHRZ1Pz96RFPVBynz_TcUVs54Q6IP592W5F0n-ZsJ44Gi7e3VhDNZEGeyFD-ZWBRHZ2L-mBvbRdeO4elcJY7kkWkbogaZhyiTgsbWS7f09_S_e0Cgsy6uy_FhyphenhyphenEZwQy3OwlGY/s400/IMG_6628.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq9flNIwWN6lf9Ot1rFmcFkdu50R0rXMJYw_yayB40NLgdUdo3P2JR72dL6MAj89qsfQF6U4A4DLxumLlGPapNW605BgXCc-6hjO55BYo8Mp2HaTdyDBc82GUuK64B3CQfIDeKnR3XLY0/s1600-h/IMG_6647.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq9flNIwWN6lf9Ot1rFmcFkdu50R0rXMJYw_yayB40NLgdUdo3P2JR72dL6MAj89qsfQF6U4A4DLxumLlGPapNW605BgXCc-6hjO55BYo8Mp2HaTdyDBc82GUuK64B3CQfIDeKnR3XLY0/s400/IMG_6647.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div style="text-align: center;">Oh Tate!!!! :o)<br /></div><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJs09NqLgCyKszxLRlV3SyEfUjR_3V8-9DF7zr0fbs1Y41PGBhqJm2J4QBJoBBY7dmAC039E_UUtAvTJmeD28sVou-Qsoc7hAnKAssUrWSS-qfaMQhk1b27uDQaw9BCEuLYcdT4z7s1rU/s1600-h/IMG_6649.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjJs09NqLgCyKszxLRlV3SyEfUjR_3V8-9DF7zr0fbs1Y41PGBhqJm2J4QBJoBBY7dmAC039E_UUtAvTJmeD28sVou-Qsoc7hAnKAssUrWSS-qfaMQhk1b27uDQaw9BCEuLYcdT4z7s1rU/s400/IMG_6649.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">A Tagliere Christmas - I know - it's a little blurry - not sure why . . . gotta figure that one out!<br /></div><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx0avFlrvGE0jGAt7Nbdghr-bWTJ6yU6gEMssX0uNMoFX_RuJxDMMNnmzxe0hk6gzpVzQjqYz3hIOwFQdO5nM6WbtV4sWsaU9Bh5hFauDi4KH0mTHOddvFzdtvgOF5rdt3rn6cWARGXWU/s1600-h/IMG_7014.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjx0avFlrvGE0jGAt7Nbdghr-bWTJ6yU6gEMssX0uNMoFX_RuJxDMMNnmzxe0hk6gzpVzQjqYz3hIOwFQdO5nM6WbtV4sWsaU9Bh5hFauDi4KH0mTHOddvFzdtvgOF5rdt3rn6cWARGXWU/s400/IMG_7014.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikvrLuElfz5MgyFlmLX4_USGaMiHQuk2tYB0770xr2KCprDN0r9VDCfb2YTfvM25WtnBMNWNqu6JyDlPg9h9CzXJ7CnN-C-fe6UBSpIaVuB-It3bL73qjSEqpPs6qNh97iKPl3zwy0QxY/s1600-h/IMG_7052.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEikvrLuElfz5MgyFlmLX4_USGaMiHQuk2tYB0770xr2KCprDN0r9VDCfb2YTfvM25WtnBMNWNqu6JyDlPg9h9CzXJ7CnN-C-fe6UBSpIaVuB-It3bL73qjSEqpPs6qNh97iKPl3zwy0QxY/s400/IMG_7052.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div style="text-align: center;">Aren't they so cute!!!<br />And my sweet little niece on the way!! Can't wait to meet her!<br /></div><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvfKABFzCznCrT4x2lDZHBOQ5t8dOf0PYVLL6Y7j-omHDnBSmlpEjx6-D5tp-KgBK2zfUP8t7Fqscqka5U0oZ2TPhvfM-JsXvJCSx2QH6WYA2WL3f3UtDNIWYRTmDvPNjs0zb5ZSL4x4o/s1600-h/IMG_7062.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvfKABFzCznCrT4x2lDZHBOQ5t8dOf0PYVLL6Y7j-omHDnBSmlpEjx6-D5tp-KgBK2zfUP8t7Fqscqka5U0oZ2TPhvfM-JsXvJCSx2QH6WYA2WL3f3UtDNIWYRTmDvPNjs0zb5ZSL4x4o/s400/IMG_7062.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWAW1j6cIkC6YX-TQXOau4Zh87LvyiIvbGVfLcMJ4WAQsCcxLNtpg4Gdps1r_IashLzJJ6LuiSAJhXTllgm_04tEI8QViQ81C0_L3eG1KFJuaQFLN5QbINQWJ47AWvm9VccidbHG8f3Y/s1600-h/IMG_7073.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmWAW1j6cIkC6YX-TQXOau4Zh87LvyiIvbGVfLcMJ4WAQsCcxLNtpg4Gdps1r_IashLzJJ6LuiSAJhXTllgm_04tEI8QViQ81C0_L3eG1KFJuaQFLN5QbINQWJ47AWvm9VccidbHG8f3Y/s400/IMG_7073.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">Are we the greatest aunts and uncles ever???? We, meaning all of their aunts and uncles, got them a drum set, guitar, and set of fun little instruments!! We figure Parker will be on the drums, Alyssa on the guitar, Reagan on the cymbals, Laura on the piano, and Danny . . . Lead Vocals of course!!!<br /></div><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtkQwCfwJm_wbB4jW-9RHcqT52VbvfCBDqrjSZPUo_RT4dZokBY_hnNtYLf5Uow8E9jUkOCRIvqRvH9SC-8baP92bHi_LGD3rQXVXqYNtr4RL5gAYY_81yatNx9yq36bNlfxUcVRBfANM/s1600-h/IMG_7131.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtkQwCfwJm_wbB4jW-9RHcqT52VbvfCBDqrjSZPUo_RT4dZokBY_hnNtYLf5Uow8E9jUkOCRIvqRvH9SC-8baP92bHi_LGD3rQXVXqYNtr4RL5gAYY_81yatNx9yq36bNlfxUcVRBfANM/s400/IMG_7131.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUrV0_0VD2tgdq0yypcmz5f0CBV-JudWFVLFncazyNaPwFTdlpVv99_ZfASqOSfEjsbkLjgtoNmaJD8izz__nJORUv1x0E2UlfAQsU59szOoexc-JYL-u-niAOPey8UngMysYETPKrMY/s1600-h/IMG_7137.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFUrV0_0VD2tgdq0yypcmz5f0CBV-JudWFVLFncazyNaPwFTdlpVv99_ZfASqOSfEjsbkLjgtoNmaJD8izz__nJORUv1x0E2UlfAQsU59szOoexc-JYL-u-niAOPey8UngMysYETPKrMY/s400/IMG_7137.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDSbo6ogIJkWAENavx5NkSoaRJRJAnnNfto3Y2xvAaVWAFwJk648XqTnUK13C4mPa-dAUs5x4YdgCLa8s1A_LLAWP8pg-N-7XyFNy9vBviwYydsqU3CwbKyzuKOWAczd7AxeAC67_G9rs/s1600-h/IMG_7149.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDSbo6ogIJkWAENavx5NkSoaRJRJAnnNfto3Y2xvAaVWAFwJk648XqTnUK13C4mPa-dAUs5x4YdgCLa8s1A_LLAWP8pg-N-7XyFNy9vBviwYydsqU3CwbKyzuKOWAczd7AxeAC67_G9rs/s400/IMG_7149.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div style="text-align: center;">Ahh sweet!<br /></div><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHhIPAQJPyuPMx-xD-v8p_rdZx5YF5dntkQSp_MBCCl-vdp1KAWovJKer1E_i-K5WPjMqr3BomBImnrSAiuzlar-hwRu2Sge0PyuYayZ1uVrGWLeldAcBqV4u3dJpxym8Jnj5jj-YNovE/s1600-h/IMG_7217.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHhIPAQJPyuPMx-xD-v8p_rdZx5YF5dntkQSp_MBCCl-vdp1KAWovJKer1E_i-K5WPjMqr3BomBImnrSAiuzlar-hwRu2Sge0PyuYayZ1uVrGWLeldAcBqV4u3dJpxym8Jnj5jj-YNovE/s400/IMG_7217.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a></div>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-10537720389950127382008-12-24T16:07:00.000-08:002008-12-24T17:44:56.623-08:00class Christmas party<div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;">Last Friday Ellie's class had their Christmas Party - the kids had so much fun decorating "gingerbread" houses and sugar cookies - neither of which, too me looked very edible, but the kids could hardly wait to bite in to their overly frosted and decorated cookies!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCbThlnpnREXrLSpNm5VgHBtperYcKMyS86TPnRCujIopYkUX9Wjix09zhLwREd-2prsuSmygd4_5Sb1Ay_Eyc8soDuS3hC6NKUYlA3TkzJyN-sPbg0vKvn_0pUrv8MQ9808M5K0EGIbk/s1600-h/2008+12+19_0002.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCbThlnpnREXrLSpNm5VgHBtperYcKMyS86TPnRCujIopYkUX9Wjix09zhLwREd-2prsuSmygd4_5Sb1Ay_Eyc8soDuS3hC6NKUYlA3TkzJyN-sPbg0vKvn_0pUrv8MQ9808M5K0EGIbk/s400/2008+12+19_0002.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipJ4880R-dwiqeQVdBFYRNdbCvIvTWUP-mcpFFS7cfO-HYHeEC-xXpUyjEqHTh8Esvt22G_BJ9Zp8w8BQU8Jbg7dUfu3Nnj5tUR5c51dIRXGPUffoCAza44_mpiLlIKsumuXaa7vuoiZk/s1600-h/2008+12+19_0026.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipJ4880R-dwiqeQVdBFYRNdbCvIvTWUP-mcpFFS7cfO-HYHeEC-xXpUyjEqHTh8Esvt22G_BJ9Zp8w8BQU8Jbg7dUfu3Nnj5tUR5c51dIRXGPUffoCAza44_mpiLlIKsumuXaa7vuoiZk/s400/2008+12+19_0026.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq8FGu6y2TYg4BWfNyQCLDFORoc6I8c1DxpSvsXzPUwo1gdEvSb6kV8eT7YjyLAG_1ylDmsH7HQFBWaEknZvTPYUzkzcRbOfJMno4zmrUvrHTTr3hCu-nm1WP79_X5gKEbAXoEP6iz-Po/s1600-h/2008+12+19_0039.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjq8FGu6y2TYg4BWfNyQCLDFORoc6I8c1DxpSvsXzPUwo1gdEvSb6kV8eT7YjyLAG_1ylDmsH7HQFBWaEknZvTPYUzkzcRbOfJMno4zmrUvrHTTr3hCu-nm1WP79_X5gKEbAXoEP6iz-Po/s400/2008+12+19_0039.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj58LOf4a2WnBv-6DMd9qBPQ56rYzUmm0crdeOmF0cE0iXgjAeMNNMjyo754hQuAjGxMHjBZVwVYphfMtX8VXBkoVyRbT-F2SlOmBmFLfWRnXX1w33SFfxGun8b0ZQadvdP0k57ahdF73U/s1600-h/2008+12+19_0082.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj58LOf4a2WnBv-6DMd9qBPQ56rYzUmm0crdeOmF0cE0iXgjAeMNNMjyo754hQuAjGxMHjBZVwVYphfMtX8VXBkoVyRbT-F2SlOmBmFLfWRnXX1w33SFfxGun8b0ZQadvdP0k57ahdF73U/s400/2008+12+19_0082.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg5Wz81NV7czq0gaKkxR_s7tVtI7xybGBOgTGI6za3iNBCBgcs4QpC8vpMAX4C7ebX2i_jz6XlflGxxcRZnvFzJONA7XPQqRvTCtmiiB-xRFqAH034VzGVGvzmNIaO4I71nWC6WjiG6BY/s1600-h/2008+12+19_0135.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgg5Wz81NV7czq0gaKkxR_s7tVtI7xybGBOgTGI6za3iNBCBgcs4QpC8vpMAX4C7ebX2i_jz6XlflGxxcRZnvFzJONA7XPQqRvTCtmiiB-xRFqAH034VzGVGvzmNIaO4I71nWC6WjiG6BY/s400/2008+12+19_0135.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a></div>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-5704145494142300112008-12-24T15:54:00.000-08:002008-12-24T15:54:37.828-08:00visiting Santa<div style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center">We went to see Santa last week - the girls had so much fun telling him just what they wanted.<br />Here it is . . .<br />Ellie asked for a candy cane and Hungry Hungry Hippo<br />Lily asked for a candy cane and Tinkerbell band-aids!<br />We can't complain with that!!!<br />Merry Christmas to all!<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8gSbo0oPHlj3pW2ExTrzJvx_TvNlFH6d3amnwsTjfMiO5hf_5edHGe0c2lWDbpifyMpKMllKKNXAHj4SI8E6BE3m2O334KRlaozrYWu2ONAtOIR9wnaytf8o9iIdbIR8t75EvTC6OKQs/s1600-h/2008+12+16_0001.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8gSbo0oPHlj3pW2ExTrzJvx_TvNlFH6d3amnwsTjfMiO5hf_5edHGe0c2lWDbpifyMpKMllKKNXAHj4SI8E6BE3m2O334KRlaozrYWu2ONAtOIR9wnaytf8o9iIdbIR8t75EvTC6OKQs/s400/2008+12+16_0001.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW8__QJzVBCH8TK5S16li7wM9k77j422fPJO9WlyXZKCJHl4WY0Jgyi9arDtb0HRsa1_XmXjzOaXnRQbtQvwetcqQhLETrVKFyzIzLI1lmslWAKPZazWT1Sgqjdo6D7yfioCgJCS6LoM8/s1600-h/2008+12+16_0010.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW8__QJzVBCH8TK5S16li7wM9k77j422fPJO9WlyXZKCJHl4WY0Jgyi9arDtb0HRsa1_XmXjzOaXnRQbtQvwetcqQhLETrVKFyzIzLI1lmslWAKPZazWT1Sgqjdo6D7yfioCgJCS6LoM8/s400/2008+12+16_0010.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWX4-GnWVCvDBAwkqu_4YW6MxwbYRJFLCSwtt0mhJ2TTP9C5XV9KOp5UL2MPny6m4KuOdcwH9-Bgr78LlRi3exe3yJTvP5cHmfDwrYnFJrD83iUGC9H-KExbSK1IHQ8ozcv3JpHvfOvbI/s1600-h/2008+12+16_0031.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWX4-GnWVCvDBAwkqu_4YW6MxwbYRJFLCSwtt0mhJ2TTP9C5XV9KOp5UL2MPny6m4KuOdcwH9-Bgr78LlRi3exe3yJTvP5cHmfDwrYnFJrD83iUGC9H-KExbSK1IHQ8ozcv3JpHvfOvbI/s400/2008+12+16_0031.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; TEXT-ALIGN: center"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPw-1z6sZPDXkitksElXXT6B1br1km5_KmhyBFfyrI__WEPcX7mFyD3Pc_cQRevHeiptN2KNffbemuETa64LejgYbIfDkE0MAtFAK6ivy9kG-RPJvHZeDYMGBdzTwwLZYEQHGx2RGvJRE/s1600-h/2008+12+16_0061.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPw-1z6sZPDXkitksElXXT6B1br1km5_KmhyBFfyrI__WEPcX7mFyD3Pc_cQRevHeiptN2KNffbemuETa64LejgYbIfDkE0MAtFAK6ivy9kG-RPJvHZeDYMGBdzTwwLZYEQHGx2RGvJRE/s400/2008+12+16_0061.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div style='clear:both; text-align:CENTER'><a href='http://picasa.google.com/blogger/' target='ext'><img src='http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif' alt='Posted by Picasa' style='border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial;' align='middle' border='0' /></a></div>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-49696384414070250142008-12-20T23:05:00.000-08:002008-12-20T23:09:08.649-08:00update on GrandmaI have been so bad at blogging lately . . . please forgive me!!! I have been meaning to give an update on Grandma . . . she was in the hospital for about 10 days and finally went home last Friday!!! Yeah!!! She is now at Auntie Pat's house. She has a full-time nurse with her which certainly puts all of our minds at ease - knowing that there is a medical professional with her. I am not certain how long she will have the nurses . . . I think it is just until she gets over this infection. Please continue to pray for her. She is a strong woman, but she isn't used to relying upon so many medications and doctors and such. <br />We are so blessed to have her in our lives and treasure her greatly!!michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-68665025123345523962008-12-05T20:10:00.001-08:002008-12-05T20:17:55.908-08:00grandma cookHi there!<br />If you would take a minute and pray for my sweet grandma - she ended up in the hospital early Wednesday morning. She was having a very difficult time breathing and my parents ended up calling 911 and having her transported to Henry Mayo. They were hoping to have her transported down to Encino-Tarzana near her doctors, but there wasn't any room and grandma seems to be happy where she is. My aunt drove down on Thursday to help with watching grandma. We are so blessed to have such a terrific family and so many who are willing to drop everything and run. Please pray for grandma - she seems to be getting better - as long as she doesn't do anything she is fine (and by "anything" - I mean brush her teeth). Please pray that she gets her strength back and can return home as quickly as possible.<br /><br />It was so cute - my mom called me Wednesday morning to tell what had happened whilst we slept - I got off the phone and told the girls, then called Flav to let him know. As I was talking to him I looked over and saw the girls sitting at the table praying for their "bammy bape" (grammy great).<br /><br />I will keep you posted. Thank you for your prayers!michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-80940974480389471782008-12-04T14:30:00.000-08:002008-12-04T17:14:09.473-08:00never a dull momentYesterday the girls and I headed down to Palm Desert - Flavio is working down here all week, so we thought we'd skip a few days of school and enjoy the desert. We went to dinner and returned to our friend's house - Steve, the friend, suggested that I park my car in their driveway and that Flavio park his car (actually his parents' car) on the street in front of their house. No problem. Did that. Flav and the girls went to bed around 8:45 and at about 9:15 Steve and I heard this loud sound - kinda like a trash truck going down the street. We went outside to see what happened . . . and well . . . the car that was parked in front of the house was now in the neighbors driveway!!!!!!! In the middle of the street was a man, obviously intoxicated, holding his chest. His $70k F-150 was next to my in-laws Tahoe. According to this gentleman - "the car just jumped out in front of him!" and he told the police officer that he was only going 15mph! That's funny!!! Not only did he propel the Tahoe at least a car length and a half, but he knocked over our friends very substantial mailbox - we are talking all concrete!!! Solid and HUGE!!!! Praise the Lord we hadn't gotten home any later - and weren't getting the girls out of the car. The PGA West patrol came by along with the Sheriff who cuffed the guy and took him off to jail - I've never seen someone handcuffed before.<br />Well, that was our fun night - hopefully the rest of the week will be uneventful!!!<br /><br /><object height="300" width="400"><param name="flashvars" value="&offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2F32596972%40N08%2Fsets%2F72157610736109940%2Fshow%2Fwith%2F3082567549%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2F32596972%40N08%2Fsets%2F72157610736109940%2Fwith%2F3082567549%2F&set_id=72157610736109940&jump_to=3082567549"><param name="movie" value="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=63961"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><br /> <embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=63961" allowfullscreen="true" flashvars="&offsite=true&lang=en-us&page_show_url=%2Fphotos%2F32596972%40N08%2Fsets%2F72157610736109940%2Fshow%2Fwith%2F3082567549%2F&page_show_back_url=%2Fphotos%2F32596972%40N08%2Fsets%2F72157610736109940%2Fwith%2F3082567549%2F&set_id=72157610736109940&jump_to=3082567549" width="400" height="300"></embed></object>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-47657167791506887192008-11-20T22:35:00.000-08:002008-11-20T22:54:27.418-08:00Happy Birthday Alyssa - a day late!!! Please forgive me!!Well, true to form I am a day late and a dollar short! Yesterday was my niece's sixth birthday!!!! Where does the time go??? Although she is only 16 weeks older than my dear Ellie - there are times when I am fairly sure she is much older - she is so sweet and loving and the most mature little thing I have ever met and I mean that in a good way! She cracks us up with her matter-of-fact way of getting things done and her maturity and understanding of the things around her!<br /><br />We love this little girl to death and have so enjoyed watching her grow and grow! My girls look forward to any opportunity to play with their sweet cousin Alyssa!!! Lily is counting down the days until the Birthday Party - every day I am asked, several times mind you, if today is "lyssa's birt'day paaty?" <br /><br />We hope you had a fantastic birthday and look forward to celebrating with you on Saturday!!!!<br />Love you sweet girl!<br /><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJWlrtvHPoMPv4cP-Z-S1lLcBGCnDueYbI9liG5NT-b1Ci1NM5Nsl0nVDbV0X35-VyRrm-z8NbMd23M_xco-KAg6oYGbKcG0PeHD-Ct0olv5d5p-A8p4ykLy7GyG1F7wEor8U4c_uT5ew/s1600-h/IMG_7156.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJWlrtvHPoMPv4cP-Z-S1lLcBGCnDueYbI9liG5NT-b1Ci1NM5Nsl0nVDbV0X35-VyRrm-z8NbMd23M_xco-KAg6oYGbKcG0PeHD-Ct0olv5d5p-A8p4ykLy7GyG1F7wEor8U4c_uT5ew/s400/IMG_7156.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiP6gCiNsXD1MZ3rDZOB2yIZuJOm63_2Awt62qOKhvIIBkIpWHNU-DXZcNtMo4yahj6Y5ZlWJNcnm93XQBp1sj9G1deCNIyepQOKoiggd9iKNjmnYI8KUgix83VFiiRBmHyuWd0qj8Fzk/s1600-h/IMG_7200.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgiP6gCiNsXD1MZ3rDZOB2yIZuJOm63_2Awt62qOKhvIIBkIpWHNU-DXZcNtMo4yahj6Y5ZlWJNcnm93XQBp1sj9G1deCNIyepQOKoiggd9iKNjmnYI8KUgix83VFiiRBmHyuWd0qj8Fzk/s400/IMG_7200.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_7avhP95m59jbPChc2fcWM2FmiRCepcaWOnSzAwG_pBJJ4lfWbeTU4tKW843tYwk-dUvi9z7AxvW_AhKbUTrcsVYnNHIDVuQWQ6ocuPTvcLDCX2AZAslcy_W2VEZGvt_saBClHftnsE4/s1600-h/IMG_7210.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_7avhP95m59jbPChc2fcWM2FmiRCepcaWOnSzAwG_pBJJ4lfWbeTU4tKW843tYwk-dUvi9z7AxvW_AhKbUTrcsVYnNHIDVuQWQ6ocuPTvcLDCX2AZAslcy_W2VEZGvt_saBClHftnsE4/s400/IMG_7210.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a></div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOynvjuzhiHcLwVhVW4XmCT6n6IQOnAW9aCRfhaLM-g3BD1x82RrgGUlpcj6XEew7jcz45PTsFq_Elqf_xXT2Vge2ppNBgm7zlfkBLZ1-Hxov7fTSIgPEzkL7LEHnpYKQRL7NRFk5B0ME/s1600-h/IMG_7329.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOynvjuzhiHcLwVhVW4XmCT6n6IQOnAW9aCRfhaLM-g3BD1x82RrgGUlpcj6XEew7jcz45PTsFq_Elqf_xXT2Vge2ppNBgm7zlfkBLZ1-Hxov7fTSIgPEzkL7LEHnpYKQRL7NRFk5B0ME/s400/IMG_7329.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><br /><div style="margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4P3yzIAkurPHa4sCbSLCX1sFVaEwFLqIOO15jIWZznyTwtT4auLUh3w7RiDE87hq3Yz5f1Th_LkNqHwHjQEpGKWa_xRO99Ehm5IZAmIyrf_-8hz9UonnRzcq-7yVYh2vFkn7MVdAMEw8/s1600-h/IMG_7370-1.JPG"><img alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4P3yzIAkurPHa4sCbSLCX1sFVaEwFLqIOO15jIWZznyTwtT4auLUh3w7RiDE87hq3Yz5f1Th_LkNqHwHjQEpGKWa_xRO99Ehm5IZAmIyrf_-8hz9UonnRzcq-7yVYh2vFkn7MVdAMEw8/s400/IMG_7370-1.JPG" border="0" /></a> </div><div style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://picasa.google.com/blogger/" target="ext"><img src="http://photos1.blogger.com/pbp.gif" alt="Posted by Picasa" style="border: 0px none ; padding: 0px; background: transparent none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: -moz-initial; -moz-background-origin: -moz-initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: -moz-initial;" align="middle" border="0" /></a></div>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-40545551965324203822008-11-19T16:00:00.000-08:002008-11-19T16:04:30.188-08:00sweet conversationAfter Lily and I dropped Ellie off at school this morning we were out running a few errands and we had this little conversation:<br /><br />Me: "Lily, did you have sweet dreams last night?"<br />Lily: "yes"<br />Me: "What did you dream about?"<br />Lily: couldn't understand<br />Me: "What <span style="font-style: italic;">did</span> you dream about?<br />Lily: "'bout God."<br />Me: "Really! What did you dream about God?"<br />Lily: "Dat he waz playin' wif Jackson."<br />Ahhh! Made me cry!<br /><br />I love that little girl - and how right she is!!!michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-11267617733445391872008-11-09T23:11:00.001-08:002008-11-09T23:11:55.563-08:00sweet feet<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi81f7tfRIhwf7U6n8kNRSAM_Zy2Ol8OnhCWPJOSxpKbTT2rUXLhgWMZcUEXat_zyWAeLSuYiqwgxVZ83hvvFsuTOxD6VKbIjU8Y_JM_N0NdSHrzOdOCOMMBvhm8o-l1VzLwuYN4ih78Ss/s1600-h/jackson+christopher_edited-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi81f7tfRIhwf7U6n8kNRSAM_Zy2Ol8OnhCWPJOSxpKbTT2rUXLhgWMZcUEXat_zyWAeLSuYiqwgxVZ83hvvFsuTOxD6VKbIjU8Y_JM_N0NdSHrzOdOCOMMBvhm8o-l1VzLwuYN4ih78Ss/s400/jackson+christopher_edited-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5266923141409484210" border="0" /></a>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-50517630382348505682008-11-07T15:11:00.000-08:002008-11-07T15:22:03.544-08:00fridaysFour weeks ago today we met our son, Jackson Christopher - it is crazy - I'm looking at the clock right now and realizing that exactly four weeks ago I laid eyes on my son! In some ways it seems like the time has gone by rapidly and in other ways it seems as though time stopped on October 10th!!! I was thinking last night how everyone looks forward to Fridays - they have taken on a whole new meaning for me . . . a day which is a reminder of my son - not that every other day isn't a reminder, but for the past four weeks, without fail my eyes have gone to the clock right around this time - I don't know why, but they have! I go back to that room in the hospital, I see my baby boy lying in the bassinet where my two daughters once laid kicking and flailing around - he was still, he was perfect, but he was still.<br /><br />This week has been more difficult than others, I don't know exactly why, but it has. I've found myself weeping and can't exactly put my finger on the reason, I just know that my heart aches for my little boy! And just the time I start to get sad my sweet girls do something so silly and funny that my tears of sadness turn to tears of joy! Over and over I praise God that He gave me two beautifully healthy girls to ease my heart just a bit, to make me laugh, to hug and kiss! They are truly a blessing beyond words!!!<br /><br />I know my heart aches and yet, I can't begin to imagine what our friends <a href="http://www.kostjuk5.blogspot.com/">The Kostjuks</a> are going through right now - tomorrow will be a celebration of their sweet Reese's life - last week she went home to be with Jesus! She got the best birthday present ever - to be in the arms of God!!! Please pray for them and their families as the service is tomorrow morning. We rejoice with them that Reese is looking upon the face of God and that she is perfect and healthy, but we hurt with them as no parent ever wants to say goodbye to their baby!!!michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-51999314965249452822008-11-06T15:59:00.001-08:002008-11-06T21:22:48.425-08:00DISNEYLAND!!!!!!!Yesterday the girls and I, along with Tilly, headed down the The Happiest Place on Earth!!! We hadn't been since our passes ran out in the spring. I picked Ellie up a little bit early from school and told her that we were going on an adventure - they tried to figure out where we were going the entire time - it was so cute! I love surprising them. Although, Lily was pretty sure that we were going to either Chuck E. Cheese, McDonald's, or Disneyland. They got so excited when we pulled into the parking structure.<br /><br />We had a great day - there were almost no lines and we were able to go on several rides. The highlight for me was taking Ellie and Lily on Matterhorn! They loved it!!!! Many more Disneyland adventures to come!!! Can't wait!<br /><br />BTW, the pics are in reverse order, but I'm too tired to change them right now! enjoy!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIKpAwEaBlz4_SfBwk-w4rDrmJiLkqu0yYGqB7MCNS8Np4zw1eOBckLIESkeaETSGNh_Vx-9a_PL60aGp7WwSfu1obkNQ0GHxSiFjr3QEP1ZZhrjhyUHTvYEW2ZGF2pEu-o8iWOTA_tYw/s1600-h/2008+11+05_0107.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIKpAwEaBlz4_SfBwk-w4rDrmJiLkqu0yYGqB7MCNS8Np4zw1eOBckLIESkeaETSGNh_Vx-9a_PL60aGp7WwSfu1obkNQ0GHxSiFjr3QEP1ZZhrjhyUHTvYEW2ZGF2pEu-o8iWOTA_tYw/s400/2008+11+05_0107.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265781376541836546" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw95wn46tKhbZxtbyowIxSkd6AoTviH2Ea0FRu0Rmpk2oBpAH4TQI1IZW7IA4W_jn7VQNtYBsORKNMSTuN77DssaVL3obDRKTR51L0L-UHDZ8aHVa5JLQ6NDDTmZVAFsuMhmpZBa46Yeo/s1600-h/2008+11+05_0093.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjw95wn46tKhbZxtbyowIxSkd6AoTviH2Ea0FRu0Rmpk2oBpAH4TQI1IZW7IA4W_jn7VQNtYBsORKNMSTuN77DssaVL3obDRKTR51L0L-UHDZ8aHVa5JLQ6NDDTmZVAFsuMhmpZBa46Yeo/s400/2008+11+05_0093.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265781372826969314" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioyfaSB9AQ9keCZ3gSSbavJKTl6C1y75pAj27ChtHq8QqCRPLbJIufURr3VI5_vJwSK198rv6GLYl4F0CsYZA6Lem6uBJw67CjR3-ltsboxhzPSkeQJhLifgwvadSxAY7hSfwC6apUyEY/s1600-h/2008+11+05_0090_edited-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioyfaSB9AQ9keCZ3gSSbavJKTl6C1y75pAj27ChtHq8QqCRPLbJIufURr3VI5_vJwSK198rv6GLYl4F0CsYZA6Lem6uBJw67CjR3-ltsboxhzPSkeQJhLifgwvadSxAY7hSfwC6apUyEY/s400/2008+11+05_0090_edited-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265781369442496370" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy681PaB1E1m8SfNI51KyT6fZY_RUCscaZbqgWv1iUB3G_FClw-yfkbMYamoeKON6w7YPuB99CV5F2D4p3EsaiA_j36foD25JUMvc4BK7amtpjID0FUax-oc4sDTR4o6xsbK39GN6wno8/s1600-h/2008+11+05_0082_edited-1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgy681PaB1E1m8SfNI51KyT6fZY_RUCscaZbqgWv1iUB3G_FClw-yfkbMYamoeKON6w7YPuB99CV5F2D4p3EsaiA_j36foD25JUMvc4BK7amtpjID0FUax-oc4sDTR4o6xsbK39GN6wno8/s400/2008+11+05_0082_edited-1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265781358391048402" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7_8OOFVxQDI6CiQ2ufOc_UFWGisZhsDI_FVtbxiiGv3YJt-xBzbQeh3575SA8dwshvLtTHOTj0PrOOnRfAZZeWiYh73f1_28Z-o_8rluoL60yjzhh60qHNCOLre0y7Xqy-JFHBe3oVkE/s1600-h/2008+11+05_0079.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7_8OOFVxQDI6CiQ2ufOc_UFWGisZhsDI_FVtbxiiGv3YJt-xBzbQeh3575SA8dwshvLtTHOTj0PrOOnRfAZZeWiYh73f1_28Z-o_8rluoL60yjzhh60qHNCOLre0y7Xqy-JFHBe3oVkE/s400/2008+11+05_0079.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265780020247134962" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ4xj11cpexazFbLDzHtQPF87-SZfWyvptoVjK8ZRMcMH6UHQxiJ50WqvAkuDmnvMvPrfPXkEQ0zCPTdV9dxDcl-IAzETS5IUYIuEH1QrKqzjp0nAaLuyaK6tZiKDwaRfJWD83VAuSS3U/s1600-h/2008+11+05_0066.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQ4xj11cpexazFbLDzHtQPF87-SZfWyvptoVjK8ZRMcMH6UHQxiJ50WqvAkuDmnvMvPrfPXkEQ0zCPTdV9dxDcl-IAzETS5IUYIuEH1QrKqzjp0nAaLuyaK6tZiKDwaRfJWD83VAuSS3U/s400/2008+11+05_0066.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265780015538563970" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipn1Kn4a7jPOz3cDpC0dVB2160WflOSBNgkauakropJO1FhQRoPtC-UVDO3dygbop6fbhNEbDPihnbEGkJ0McqSi71inOAmH5DuZ3-QgaUL6Gk1sDf4TQqi5Ak6_Xv8GIx-FcqaAa1vcM/s1600-h/2008+11+05_0065.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipn1Kn4a7jPOz3cDpC0dVB2160WflOSBNgkauakropJO1FhQRoPtC-UVDO3dygbop6fbhNEbDPihnbEGkJ0McqSi71inOAmH5DuZ3-QgaUL6Gk1sDf4TQqi5Ak6_Xv8GIx-FcqaAa1vcM/s400/2008+11+05_0065.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265701123838290658" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHNjbVsXMXGAw4z1BNSfSnb2qlfQnA6pwGaSNOFY1kenlmjqIZA_PFNEkbQn8fEWY0ddUPwktlzzq3IfVvcaU4CiOsJluHrGwiNMmRhOEhi82IupjjqcOqY3jDrV0KjCi_pxDWD_So0Xk/s1600-h/2008+11+05_0039.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHNjbVsXMXGAw4z1BNSfSnb2qlfQnA6pwGaSNOFY1kenlmjqIZA_PFNEkbQn8fEWY0ddUPwktlzzq3IfVvcaU4CiOsJluHrGwiNMmRhOEhi82IupjjqcOqY3jDrV0KjCi_pxDWD_So0Xk/s400/2008+11+05_0039.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265701113343720514" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnaoUMOFKtU2-mLY5WeXzZncbfegtJWz-8I9-ypbKFSxmf7SszY2jtrW2XED5Jgxx-RNt7Fr-TgKfzBICbq3EdJ9GrSEl1ABh4Es0HPQ2Qt1-_xNjRdqFZrjFld-i8PxUxkzIVjoQC4zA/s1600-h/2008+11+05_0033.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 267px; height: 400px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhnaoUMOFKtU2-mLY5WeXzZncbfegtJWz-8I9-ypbKFSxmf7SszY2jtrW2XED5Jgxx-RNt7Fr-TgKfzBICbq3EdJ9GrSEl1ABh4Es0HPQ2Qt1-_xNjRdqFZrjFld-i8PxUxkzIVjoQC4zA/s400/2008+11+05_0033.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265701109040624802" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtNP7Q3nB6vD-LUPaxTal1ASmteubhsR6ZE-Bd_ryQHkyIRGt1WP2hqcfm4gpB-kXa1uHdbD8lnKZWxYIrwLYgmMdYGqmEjiAYZanGx2oqWu4rC7ZUx4X5GH9XhphLf-_6VcdEx66djJE/s1600-h/2008+11+05_0021.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtNP7Q3nB6vD-LUPaxTal1ASmteubhsR6ZE-Bd_ryQHkyIRGt1WP2hqcfm4gpB-kXa1uHdbD8lnKZWxYIrwLYgmMdYGqmEjiAYZanGx2oqWu4rC7ZUx4X5GH9XhphLf-_6VcdEx66djJE/s400/2008+11+05_0021.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265701106382546242" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOmwf7-pXLs3i3omhEkzO6fH3GSfeHinRpz7cn9H7Ubg69189jxgf-o-6AwlaWw-cbAkG6S7dGbp5ist-7hKngesKYGId7Kqp-67cpz8YANTrb2kXXAQCNdbOdD3ZD3noQmAhUPv3mi6o/s1600-h/2008+11+05_0009.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 400px; height: 267px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOmwf7-pXLs3i3omhEkzO6fH3GSfeHinRpz7cn9H7Ubg69189jxgf-o-6AwlaWw-cbAkG6S7dGbp5ist-7hKngesKYGId7Kqp-67cpz8YANTrb2kXXAQCNdbOdD3ZD3noQmAhUPv3mi6o/s400/2008+11+05_0009.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5265701098305020034" border="0" /></a>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-36673237789944020272008-11-02T23:40:00.000-08:002008-11-03T00:04:05.191-08:00uploadingIs anyone else having trouble uploading pics to blogspot??? I've been trying and keep getting an error code!!!<br />If you have any tips leave me a comment.michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-57333310132365311092008-10-26T12:58:00.000-07:002008-10-26T13:45:17.001-07:00today<div align="left">The message this morning was so amazingly applicable! Tom, our Sunday School pastor was talking about joy amidst trials and struggles - wow!!! He might as well of said that this is for the Castro family, but why don't the rest of you listen in! I'm sure that there are many others in our group who are going through their own trials, this just happened to hit so close to home for us.<br /></div><div align="center"><br /><strong>I Peter 1:3-6</strong> </div><p></p><p align="center"><em>Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God's power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials</em><br /><p align="left">Tom was saying that Christians can greatly rejoice because of three things found in this text:<br />1) God grants us joy <p></p><p align="left">2) God guarantees joy</p><p align="left">3) God guards joy</p><p align="left">We have seen, first hand, God showing His mercy to us and we have been able to experience true, lasting joy.</p><p align="left">I've been thinking much about trials and what God gives to us and was thinking about Job - a precious man from the Bible - he was a wealthy man, he had a wonderful family, had many animals - by the world's standard he "had it all" - in a moment it was all taken from him!! Job 1:20-22 (after finding out all that he had was gone)<em> "Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head and fell on the ground and worshiped. And he said, 'Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.' In all this Job did not sin or charge God with wrong."</em> At the end of chapter 2 (verses 9&10) he says this: <em>"Then his wife said to him, 'Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die.' But he said to her, 'You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?' In all this Job did not sin with his lips." </em></p><p align="left">The example of Job has been an amazing one! He is right - why should we only expect good from God? God is good, but without trials we wouldn't know what we really believed! We can say that we love God and believe that there is a God, but when you walk through fire that is when you have to "put your money where your mouth is" so to speak! </p><p align="left">Do you know what you believe? Why do you believe it? Many people <em>believe</em> in God - do you know that James 2:19 says <em>You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe - and shudder</em>.</p><p align="left">If I have learned anything from the life and death of our son, it is that there is no time like the present to make yourselves right before God Almighty, Creator, Redeemer, and Saviour! </p><p align="center"><strong>Jude 24-25</strong></p><p align="center"><em>Now to him sho is able to keep you from stunbling and to present you blameless </em><em>before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.</em></p><p align="left"><em></em> </p><blockquote></blockquote>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-14609208222675454582008-10-25T20:18:00.000-07:002008-10-25T21:18:25.217-07:00grace and joyWhen I started my blog last year I decided to name it after my girls . . . little did we know that their middle names would be so meaningful!! God was gracious to give them to us and they have provided immense joy . . . but today, those names have so much meaning - more than I could have ever imagined. According to dictionary.com grace means "the freely given, unmerited favor and love of God" and joy means "the emotion of great delight or happiness caused by something exceptionally good or satisfying; keen pleasure; elation". It is because of the grace that God has bestowed upon us that we are able to express true joy through the loss of our son, Jackson. <br /><br />In the past two weeks, actually since we found out about Jackson's initial heart condition, we have been asked how we are doing - our answer has varied slightly - today we have moments that are harder than others and moments that are really good, moments of joy and moments of tears, but all in all we are doing good! I was talking to a friend today and she was asking how we were doing and before I could fully answer she said probably as good as can be expected and I thought for a second and said no, I think we are doing better than that - only because we have hope in God. Our Jackson is not here, but he is perfect with Our Lord, the Creator of all things - the Creator of sweet Jackson!!! <br /><br />I got a call yesterday morning from my doctor, Dr. Frields. It was two weeks from meeting our son. He called to tell us that he had just received the preliminary report from the autopsy. He is still waiting for results from the heart and kidney, but what we did find out is that Jackson suffered from triplody - a condition where he had an additional set of chromosomes. If you think back to high school biology you will remember that we each have 46 chromosomes - if there is any variation in that there are liable to be some problems - well Jackson had 69 chromosomes!!! My doctor said that babies with triplody don't usually make it past the first trimester and rarely survive outside of the womb for very long. I am grateful that our son survived as long as he did and that we were able to meet him - it was not how I had wanted to meet him, but there is something very comforting to this mama to have a face and a name attached to this precious baby in heaven! <br /><br />You can ask us how we are doing - you may get tears, but that's ok with me! I love to talk about my sweet little boy and would love to share his footprints with you. Thank you for praying for us - we are completely overwhelmed at God's goodness. Jeremiah 29:11 says, 'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. God's Word is true - I can tell you first hand that when He promises to never give His children more than they can handle - He means it - so, I know that His plan <em>is</em> to give me a future and a hope! That is AWESOME!! Unlike me, what God says He WILL do - I may flake on you, I may forget, I will disappoint you, but GOD NEVER WILL!! <br /><br />All that to say, it is because of God's grace that we have joy - true joy!!!michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-66480146679603358082008-10-18T14:48:00.001-07:002008-10-18T15:18:29.273-07:00a week . . .Yesterday, it was a week - a week from meeting our first son and saying goodbye to him. It was quite a day, October 10th, 2008 - and one week later we are still being carried by Our Precious Lord and Savior! I know, without a doubt, that there is NO WAY on earth we could have gone through the past week without God sustaining us, without your prayers! God is good! I cannot say it enough and yet I don't want it to become trite, but HE IS GOOD to His children!!!<br /><br />We have been blessed beyond measure - we have two beautiful little girls, I have a wonderful husband who is so caring and loving, we have family who has surrounded us, and we have tremendous friends. Over the last week we have received meals, flowers, cards, phone calls, emails, and hugs - thank you seems so insufficient for the immense gratitude we have for all of your thoughtfulness. Thank you, thank you, thank you for loving us and our family so much - we are blessed and tremendously grateful! We pray that God will bless you richly for being so compassionate towards us! I honestly wish that we weren't the recipients of such kindness right now - that would mean that we were still awaiting the birth of our precious son, but we know that God had other plans for Jackson - we know that with our heads, but our hearts still ache for him. My arms ache to hold a little boy - I will have to wait to get to heaven to see my precious son - I know he is with Our Lord God Creator, but I selfishly want him here!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lamentations 3:21-23</span><br />But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope:<br />The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;<br />his mercies never come to an end;<br />they are new every morning;<br />great is your faithfulness.<br />"The Lord is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I will hope in him."<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">We love the Seeds family worship cd's and my girls love the song "Crushed" - I LOVE the verses<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Psalm 34:18-19</span><br />The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.<br />Many are the afflictions on the righteous,<br />but the Lord delivers him out of them all!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: left;">God alone has seen us through this week and will continue to carry us through the weeks ahead, He alone deserves the glory and honor for any strength that we may show. Because of Him we have been able to take Ellie to school, go to the market, go to the pumpkin patch, and do other relatively normal things. I am so grateful for our girls who "force us" to continue with a somewhat normal schedule.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCP87JME8RlJlMFXm3ysZEjqB2pJgJxDX7SYMp_LXhGDIQF728B-9lHSgbVB2_LEiTGE__R5dPy2qH8Z3tFvdOKG2copAuag5rhRSKSdCtTQiWXtDEFMtYXL2MdDrwlc1fwhyphenhyphenpZjCjYqQ/s1600-h/2008+10+17_0005_edited-1.JPG"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCP87JME8RlJlMFXm3ysZEjqB2pJgJxDX7SYMp_LXhGDIQF728B-9lHSgbVB2_LEiTGE__R5dPy2qH8Z3tFvdOKG2copAuag5rhRSKSdCtTQiWXtDEFMtYXL2MdDrwlc1fwhyphenhyphenpZjCjYqQ/s400/2008+10+17_0005_edited-1.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5258621035208304274" border="0" /></a><br /><br />We had a great surprise yesterday, God was good to plan it for then. We were going to have lunch with our friend Joyce and her two precious daughters Jessie (Ellie calls her Princess Jessie) and Amanda - we were looking forward to seeing them and hugging them - Ellie could hardly wait she was so excited. They came and along with them they brought a HUGE surprise - our dear friends, Walter and Carol Crutchfield and their daughter Rachel - I was blown away - they had flown in from Arizona to see us!! I still can't believe that they were here! It was good - I needed that - I needed to see them, hug them, and cry with them. They have had a tremendous impact upon my life over the past 20+ years. Thank you guys for coming - it was just what we needed!!! I could never fully nor properly express how much I love all of you! God knew that I would need you guys yesterday - yet another show of His loving faithfulness to His children!!! GOD IS SO GOOD!!!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ephesians 3:20-21</span><br />Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think,<br />according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in<br />Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span></div></div></div></div></div>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-82233606085465472008-10-12T17:32:00.001-07:002008-10-12T20:40:30.684-07:00Jackson Christopher<blockquote></blockquote> <p class="MsoNormal">I don't want to forget a single thing from the last few days and at the same time I wish they had never occurred - Flavio told my mom Friday evening, "this was one of the most difficult days of my life....but I wouldn't trade this one for anything." <br /><br />I don't journal, but I do blog, so this is probably more for me than anyone else . . . so please bear with me as a mother shares the birth of her precious son, perfect, complete, lacking in nothing!<br /><br />Thurday, October 9th was our follow-up appointment for the perinatologist, we were, naturally, running late :o). It was Flavio, Lily and I, my mom had taken Ellie to school and was going to work in her classroom for me since we had this appointment. God had been preparing my heart in some way - I knew that there was something wrong. I had even toldFlavio the night before that I just felt like something wasn't right - I couldn't put my finger on it, but there was something amiss. . . little did we know. We were ushered in to the doctor's office and sat on the table to prepare for the ultrasound. As soon as he started I KNEW something was wrong - if you have ever seen an ultrasound picture - there is movement - we saw none, but he didn't say anything - he went about taking a few measurements - I couldn't really see the numbers, but I could tell that they seemed to be off from how far along I was. Then he measured the femur - it was measuring about 19 weeks . . . I knew that wasn't right - I even asked Dr. Mullins, "did that say 19 weeks?". At that point he asked if he could speak to me alone, since we had Lily, again I KNEW something was really wrong. I can't remember if he said it first or if I did, but it was apparent that there wasn't a heartbeat! I was completely at a loss for words. It is one thing to "think something is wrong" and a complete other to KNOW something is wrong!!! We knew that this was a possibility, but again, not the same when it actually happens! It was a feeling I pray I will never have to know again!!! The doctor eventually asked if it wasok to bring my husband and baby back in - he was very sensitive to the fact that Lily was with us - I thought that was very thoughtful! I toldFlavio - we cried!! Up to this point we didn't know the sex of our sweet baby, I wanted to know, NOW! Dr. Mullins told us what I had expected, it was a little boy! That was hard!!! I love my girls to no end, but the thought of a son was just . . . heartbreaking!!!! I desired a sweet little boy, but know that God needed our precious Jackson more than we did is of immense comfort! The doctor asked what we wanted to do - we said that we wanted to see Dr.Frields (my OB) as soon as possible - he wouldn't let us leave his office until he had spoken with Dr. Frields - he just wanted to make sure that Dr. Frields and his office were aware of what was going on and would usher us immediately in. <br /><br />We left in a haze! And yet, there was always the grace of God around us - I can't tell you when or how, but we knew that God was supporting us through this! I was immediately thankful that God had, in some small way, prepared me. He is so gracious!!<br /><br />Dr. Mullins' office is at St. Joseph's in Burbank so we got in our cars (Flavio was going to go straight to work after the appt.) and Flav headed down Alameda - I wasn't so sure what he was doing - he found a shopping center, left his car there so he could be with me and Lily! I was so thankful for that! I didn't want to drive to Glendale Adventist Medical Center (GAMC) by myself and I suppose he didn't either! We had talked before about what to name our baby and once we found out that he had a heart condition and may be in need of some help I had toldFlav that it was really important to me that our baby's name meant something - so on the way to<br />GAMC I told Flav that I wanted to find out what name meant something along the lines of a gift from God.<br /><br />We arrived at Dr. Frields' office - if you know anything about him he is an excellent doctor and therefore he is BUSY (understatement of the century) - they were so kind and rushed us right in so we didn't have to wait with everyone else. Our doctor came in - we talked - He is one of the many gifts that God granted us! What a blessing to have a doctor who fears God! He told us to go over the Labor and Delivery where we would get started on all the things that were to take place.<br /><br />God took care of EVERY detail - things that we would have never thought of - one was in the form of Flavio's best friend Jon. Jon and his family moved to Chicago a few years back - he was here for two days on business, Wednesday and Thursday!!! That was not a coincidence!!! God planned that - my husband needed his dear friend! Along with Jon, Heath came by - what a blessing to have these dear friends by our side at this time - we did our fair share of laughing and crying together! We love them so dearly!<br /><br />Another precious gift was our nurse on Thursday - Bethany! She had been one of my nurses with Lily - her husband is studying to be a pastor and attends The Master's Seminary! Again, not coincidental that she had had to call in sick on both of her regular days because her little girl wasn't feeling well and when they asked her to come in on Thursday she was available! She was awesome!!<br /><br />Because I had delivered Ellie Grace via c-section and Lily was a vbac (vaginal birth after cesarean) we had a choice to make - how was I going to deliver? (Side note - in the state of California if you deliver after 20 weeks it is considered a stillborn - we had a lot to learn.) This was a rather difficult decision to make - do we take the one that would result in a quick birth and yet have a long recovery or do we take the potentially longer approach of inducing labor (this could take anywhere from 6 hours to 3 days!) with the shorter recovery. Flavio was up for the c-section he didn't want to see me in any pain and wanted to "be done" and move on to the next step - I was torn! I could see his side, but I didn't really want to have to endure the after effects of major surgery. My dad had the idea that we should start with the induction and see what happened - my doctor had said we could change our minds at any time if we wanted - so that seemed to be the way to go. After about an hour or so of deliberating we asked our sweet nurse, Bethany, to order up the medication and get the anesthesiologist here ASAP! Under the circumstances I wanted to feel NO pain!!!<br /><br />Again, we could see God's grace abounding! My cousin, Susan, who is really more like my sister and best friend, was able to be there the entire time - she and her husband have five children - her parents and brother and sister-in-law and nephews were in Europe leaving her with no babysitter - until she called her husband and found out that he was on his way home for the day and going to be home on Friday as well!!! Is God awesome or what?!?!?! She was with us the entire time!<br /><br />One of the most precious moments during this entire time was right before our baby was born - Dr. Frields had said it would be about 30 minutes longer - my parents, Susan, and Flavio gathered around me and my dad prayed - a precious prayer from a father watching his daughter and son-in-law go through something so excruciating and the prayer of a sweet grandfather waiting to meet his grandson - that was a special time! Susan began singing "How Great Thou Art" - a time that I will treasure in my heart forever!<br /><br />On Friday, October 10th at about 2:15pm we welcomed our first son Jackson Christopher Castro! He was, in our eyes, PERFECT! He had ten fingers and ten perfect tiny toes! He was PERFECT! He was 9 1/2 inches long and weighed 10 ounces. He was a tiny, perfectly put together little boy!<br /><br />We are grateful to Our God and Father for giving us 5 1/2 months with our Little Jackson and praise Him that he is running on streets of gold rather than suffering here on earth!<br /><br />This was awesome . . . Flavio had liked the name Jackson - I had constantly said it was too popular! I knew that the name "jackson" meant "son of Jack", but get this - Jack is derived from John and guess what John means??? Given by God! So amazing! See, God took care of EVERY detail! And Christopher means Christ Bearer! His name seemed so perfect! God planned this pregnancy and not us! We weren't planning to get pregnant at that time, but God's ways are higher than ours - His plan is perfect!!<br /><br />I am sure that I have forgotten some things - maybe another blessing from the Lord!<br /></p><p class="MsoNormal"></p>We don't quite know how to thank all of you who have been and continue pray for us, who have called, emailed, sent text messages, or come in person - you have a special place in our hearts and are so grateful for each and every one of you! What a gift you are to our family! <br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Psalm 139:13-16</span><br />For you formed my inward parts;<br />you knitted me together in my mother's womb.<br />I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.<br />Wonderful are your works;<br />my soul knows it very well.<br />My frame was not hidden from you,<br />when I was being made in secret,<br />intricately woven in the depths of the earth.<br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Your eyes saw my unformed substance;</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">in your book were written, every one of them,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">the days that were formed for me,</span><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">when as yet there were none of them.<br /><br /><blockquote></blockquote></span></blockquote></div> We do not know why God chose to take our son home with Him, but we DO know that His ways are higher than ours and that He gave us our little Jackson as a gift, for a time! Our prayer is that, if you do not have a personal relationship with the God of the Universe, Almighty God, that YOU WOULD!!! Life is short and we have but one opportunity, this lifetime, to choose to serve God or not to! If you choose not to serve God then your eternity is bleak! It is separation from a merciful God and it is eternity in Hell! If you choose to know God, honor God, serve God, have a relationship with God, then your eternity is bright! It is an eternity in Heaven! John 3:16 is clear that God sent His one and only son, Jesus Christ, to this earth to die for OUR sins - yes, ALL OF OUR SINS! We are all sinners! Romans tells us that we have all sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God! We all deserve death, but God, in His graciousness, sent His son, Jesus, as our sacrifice - to take away OUR sins! That is awesome! There could be nothing greater than to know because of our sons death you have questioned your eternity and chosen to make Jesus Christ the Lord of your life! If you have ANY questions about the Word of God and what it has to say about your eternity we would be honored to talk to you!<br /><blockquote></blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"></div><blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Romans 11:33-36</span><br /></div>Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscurtable his ways!<br />"For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?"<br />"Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"<br />For from him and through him and to him are all things. <br />TO HIM BE THE GLORY FOREVER. AMEN.<br /></div> </blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold;"></span><blockquote><span style="font-weight: bold;">Romans 8:28<br /></span>And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.</blockquote>Thank you for praying for our family!<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;"> </span> </div>michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6397641463604278823.post-39972801117530542352008-10-10T12:51:00.000-07:002008-10-10T13:28:53.554-07:00Castro Family UpdateHello, this is Lynn Leonard with an update on my precious friends, the Castro family. Yesterday Flavio, Michelle, and Lily went to the perinatologist for their next scheduled visit. During this visit, the doctor told them that the baby no longer had a heartbeat. After hearing this sad news, they waited to meet with Dr. Frields. Since Michelle is 5 1/2 months pregnant, she will have to deliver the baby. She was induced last night at Glendale Adventist at around 9:00 pm. As of right now (Friday afternoon), she has not yet delivered, and is progressing slowly but surely.<br /><br /> Even though they are obviously grieving, it was absolutely amazing to hear them talk yesterday. Michelle spoke a lot about the peace she had from the Lord and just the assurance that God is in control, even in this. She was rejoicing in the fact that their little baby boy is already in Heaven with Jesus, and "the streets in Heaven are so much more wonderful than the streets down here!" (her words!) It is evident that they want to use this sad and unexpected situation to bring glory to God by recognizing that their comfort and strength is through Him alone. It was such a testimony and an example to me and I know it will be to many others too.<br /> <br /> Please pray that Michelle's delivery will go quickly and as pain-free as possible. The doctor was supposed to be giving her another dose of the inducing medication this afternoon to help speed up the process. Please keep them in your prayers as they go through the next few days. Also please pray for their little girls, Ellie and Lily, as it will probably be difficult for them to understand, but again, Flavio and Michelle are such an example of God's grace and strength to them too.<br /><br />Psalm 62:1-2 "For God alone my soul waits in silence; from Him comes my salvation. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be greatly shaken."michellehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11430735550874894828noreply@blogger.com4