Our first sweet niece arrived on 4/13/11
Audrey Ruth
We love her already!!!
Friday, April 15, 2011
family weekend
It was Paw's birthday last weekend so we drove down to see him. We bought him some balloons and took them to his office... suprise! We love you a lot, Paw!
We had a yummy birthday dinner that night with NeeNee and Robbie.
His birthday gift request was that the kids could spend the night with him... OK!
After our great excitement over Peter's good report on Friday, it was hard to leave them.
Peter got to spend some time with his best dog friend.
After we met to pick them up, we went to visit Mike's sweet grandparents.
silly lily!
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
I just can't get anything done today! I'm too giddy! We had an awesome, relaxing Easter Brunch this morning... the speaker was funny and sweet, just talking about God's faithfulness thru dark times (appropiate!).
And Peter's report... I'm just still so excited and in awe of God's answer & kindness.
And my friend, Kari, is pregnant for the first time with TWINS!
And Jessica is gonna have a baby soon! Oh, I just CAN'T WAIT to meet her and snuggle her!
The days are longer, its springtime!
Such exciting times.
I really wanted to upload pics from the weekend of Paw's Birthday (we love him!) but can't find my camera and I'm too giddy to concentrate on finding it....
And Peter's report... I'm just still so excited and in awe of God's answer & kindness.
And my friend, Kari, is pregnant for the first time with TWINS!
And Jessica is gonna have a baby soon! Oh, I just CAN'T WAIT to meet her and snuggle her!
The days are longer, its springtime!
Such exciting times.
I really wanted to upload pics from the weekend of Paw's Birthday (we love him!) but can't find my camera and I'm too giddy to concentrate on finding it....
Sunday, April 10, 2011
"Thank you, Lord!"
Those are the words I am breathing! I lay on the couch Friday afternoon trying to take a quick nap, my heart raced with excitement and those were the words on my mind with every.single.breath., over and over. I was unable to sleep Friday night either, just full of joy and giddiness! Here is the battery of tests that Peter has had over the last 2.5 months....
(I am so proud of my little man and his bravery!)
EEG (x2)
MRI of his brain and L-spine
lots of "chemistry" and more routine labs
expanded newborn screening
~CSF lactate
~CSF amino acids
~CSF neurotransmitters
(Plus, add to that... 2 hospital admissions, 4 ER visits, one ambulance ride, one surgery with pinning, one arm in a splint/cast for 4 weeks.)
ALL OF HIS TEST RESULTS HAVE BEEN NORMAL! We so praise God for this and just rejoice with great delight! It has been a HARD 2.5 months... our souls have felt in anguish. After his most recent normal test, a great meeting with genetics and neurology, and just seeing how well he's been doing for a couple weeks, we are just delighted! We thank God so much for His mercy and sweet answers to the prayers of MANY. We are so thankful. Thank you, Lord. We can't thank You enough!
In the Tuesday morning Women's Bible study that I do, we have been going thru the Psalms. Its been good, and a little too close to home for comfort, freeing, comforting, hard... yes, all of those. Most recently we've studied Psalm 88 & 130. I don't think I've EVER read Psalm 88 (and sorta glad I hadn't). Our study title for it is "Dark". It says things like "For my soul is full of troubles, my life draws near to Sheol (the grave). I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength" (v3-5) and "I am shut in so that I cannot escape; Every day I call upon you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you." (v8-9) and "Is your steadfast love declared in the grave?... Are your wonders known in darkness" (v11-12). Unlike other Psalms, it doesn't then end sweetly and tie things up in a positive way.... I can hardly bear to type it so here's a link. This was hard to read and study during a hard time. But the thing we talked about is that this writer is still engaged with the Lord. This writer is still acknowledging his relationship with the Lord, even in his extreme distress, rather than ignoring that. We see that we aren't alone in our laments & distress but rather God chose to put these in His Word, to show us how honest we can be with Him.
Psalm 130 is about waiting. Waiting is hard because we are not in control. We talked about how in waiting, a way to worship is to repent, not from a particular sin, but from self (my control) instead to trust Him. Again, we talked about being engaged with the Lord during our waiting, like "watchmen wait for the morning". As I "watch" and think about what the Lord has done during all of this (our waiting), one theme that my heart sees is how He has expanded my love for our family. At the start of this in January, I felt sure that we might be "done", we might be a family of 4 and the Lord had made me content with that (which is a praise, I am not often content, and it has been a prayer of my heart... to live where we are now, not just dreaming of what will be). But after the pregnancy and miscarriage, and after knowing that Peter is being worked up for genetic issues so that may mean we need to be "done", I feel like God has both increased my heart for my own children (the 3rd pregnancy we had!) and for adoption and just thinking of the possibilities that could be... seeing others stories of adoption unfold, reading Choosing to See (I still haven't read the ending, not sure if I will right now). None of this is written in stone, I am just trying to reflect on what God has done in our lives thru this trial. I am thankful, I feel like He has increased my JOY. Thank you, Lord! You have been good and merciful to us. And I am thrilled that he has shown us promise of good health, we also thank Him that our eternities are secure through Jesus' blood on our behalf (and we beg Him for long life on earth!). O Lord, we thank you. Today we especially thank You for our Pete and our Lily, who we ADORE, ADORE, ADORE!!! Thank you, Lord! (Now I just need a bigger house for my future children!... hehe! ;)... honesty!)
(I am so proud of my little man and his bravery!)
EEG (x2)
MRI of his brain and L-spine
lots of "chemistry" and more routine labs
expanded newborn screening
organic acids
urine creatinine disorders panel
urine creatinine disorders panel
SCN1A Gene Test
lumbar puncture to check for:~CSF lactate
~CSF amino acids
~CSF neurotransmitters
(Plus, add to that... 2 hospital admissions, 4 ER visits, one ambulance ride, one surgery with pinning, one arm in a splint/cast for 4 weeks.)
ALL OF HIS TEST RESULTS HAVE BEEN NORMAL! We so praise God for this and just rejoice with great delight! It has been a HARD 2.5 months... our souls have felt in anguish. After his most recent normal test, a great meeting with genetics and neurology, and just seeing how well he's been doing for a couple weeks, we are just delighted! We thank God so much for His mercy and sweet answers to the prayers of MANY. We are so thankful. Thank you, Lord. We can't thank You enough!
In the Tuesday morning Women's Bible study that I do, we have been going thru the Psalms. Its been good, and a little too close to home for comfort, freeing, comforting, hard... yes, all of those. Most recently we've studied Psalm 88 & 130. I don't think I've EVER read Psalm 88 (and sorta glad I hadn't). Our study title for it is "Dark". It says things like "For my soul is full of troubles, my life draws near to Sheol (the grave). I am counted among those who go down to the pit; I am a man who has no strength" (v3-5) and "I am shut in so that I cannot escape; Every day I call upon you, O Lord; I spread out my hands to you." (v8-9) and "Is your steadfast love declared in the grave?... Are your wonders known in darkness" (v11-12). Unlike other Psalms, it doesn't then end sweetly and tie things up in a positive way.... I can hardly bear to type it so here's a link. This was hard to read and study during a hard time. But the thing we talked about is that this writer is still engaged with the Lord. This writer is still acknowledging his relationship with the Lord, even in his extreme distress, rather than ignoring that. We see that we aren't alone in our laments & distress but rather God chose to put these in His Word, to show us how honest we can be with Him.
Psalm 130 is about waiting. Waiting is hard because we are not in control. We talked about how in waiting, a way to worship is to repent, not from a particular sin, but from self (my control) instead to trust Him. Again, we talked about being engaged with the Lord during our waiting, like "watchmen wait for the morning". As I "watch" and think about what the Lord has done during all of this (our waiting), one theme that my heart sees is how He has expanded my love for our family. At the start of this in January, I felt sure that we might be "done", we might be a family of 4 and the Lord had made me content with that (which is a praise, I am not often content, and it has been a prayer of my heart... to live where we are now, not just dreaming of what will be). But after the pregnancy and miscarriage, and after knowing that Peter is being worked up for genetic issues so that may mean we need to be "done", I feel like God has both increased my heart for my own children (the 3rd pregnancy we had!) and for adoption and just thinking of the possibilities that could be... seeing others stories of adoption unfold, reading Choosing to See (I still haven't read the ending, not sure if I will right now). None of this is written in stone, I am just trying to reflect on what God has done in our lives thru this trial. I am thankful, I feel like He has increased my JOY. Thank you, Lord! You have been good and merciful to us. And I am thrilled that he has shown us promise of good health, we also thank Him that our eternities are secure through Jesus' blood on our behalf (and we beg Him for long life on earth!). O Lord, we thank you. Today we especially thank You for our Pete and our Lily, who we ADORE, ADORE, ADORE!!! Thank you, Lord! (Now I just need a bigger house for my future children!... hehe! ;)... honesty!)
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
love
We've had such a fun couple of weeks. There hasn't been much (any!) real cooking or serious cleaning (just the necessary- laundry, dishes), instead we've just been huggin' and playin'! It's amazing what sickness makes you happy to lay aside. We are thrilled to all be together and doing well. Each day after naptime, we spend at least 30 minutes just hugging and snuggling! It might be my new favorite time of the day! My heart is full & my physical affection tank overflowing! I couldn't interrupt the moment to grab my camera but my cell phone was nearby so the pics are poor but oh so full of love!
One on each shoulder... does it get any better?!
Then I found the flash...
Peter's sweet face against mine is too sweet.
We've also loved the warmer weather and have played outside. :)
(these two pics are old but from my cell phone- I love them!)
looking for the cat under a bush
Is she not a doll?!
We've had lunch outside several days!
Peter wanted to share a chair today (not surprising!- love him!)
"Look up Lily!" Peter's my monkey (with dried boogies on his nose)!
Can I say I love this stage of "managing" them together... its so nice that they can do a lot of the same things since Lily isn't a "baby" now... and they so enjoy being together... even better!
they are having a little conversation below
Our other new favorite after naptime activity (since its light so long now!) is going to the pool parking lot to ride and "exercise"... Peter's been riding his scooter and...
pedaling his tricycle.
Its been a lot of fun to soak up some rays and know that he's working out his legs for "big muscles"!
longest sentence yet
Lily was eating her breakfast of oatmeal this morning and Peter joined her half way thru to eat his oatmeal.
Lily's bowl was 2/3rds gone but after Pete joined her, she pushed her bowl over to me and said,
"I unt cin-min in it!". She is a little copy cat of her brother's ways. :) (He hadn't asked for cinnamon but she knows that he often gets that in his oatmeal.) Too cute... we are often impressed with her development!! She is too cute and such a little doll!! Every day we are thankful for our babes!
BTW- Lily is 21 MONTHS OLD today!! What?! My baby is growing up toooo fast! You bring us such joy, sweet girl!
Lily's bowl was 2/3rds gone but after Pete joined her, she pushed her bowl over to me and said,
"I unt cin-min in it!". She is a little copy cat of her brother's ways. :) (He hadn't asked for cinnamon but she knows that he often gets that in his oatmeal.) Too cute... we are often impressed with her development!! She is too cute and such a little doll!! Every day we are thankful for our babes!
BTW- Lily is 21 MONTHS OLD today!! What?! My baby is growing up toooo fast! You bring us such joy, sweet girl!
Sunday, April 3, 2011
a weekend to ourselves
Mike and I have had a weekend of rest. My parents took the kids to the river house and we've had the weekend to just be without an agenda (except a race).
Blair and I did the 10K yesterday. We had planned to run it but then with everything that's happened recently, plus the required rest period in March, we decided to just walk it. But yesterday morning, we had a moment of motivation so decided to run as much as we could (we ran 2 miles about three times in Febuary!)... and we ran ALL OF THE RACE! This might not be a big deal to others but I'm so not an athlete (Blair has done a half marathon!). We were proud of ourselves! Our time was 1:23 so a 13 minute mile. But we did it (no walking!) and it was a lot of fun! And so fun to spend the morning with Blair!!
Mike showed his stuff as well and did it in an hour!! He hadn't trained since Feb 21st!
We've enjoyed a leisurely time since then without plans... some shopping, eating, the VCU game, church, eating, shopping and just being together in quiet. Its been calming and nice! We miss the kiddos though and can't wait to see them in a few hours!!
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