So much to be thankful for.....

It's hard to believe that our roller coaster ride started 37 weeks ago today. WOW!!! We truly had so much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving season. We enjoyed an awesome day with family and food. :) I prepared the food ahead of time since surgery was scheduled for Monday. This made Thanksgiving day so calm...all that needed to be done was put it all in the oven. Definitely the way to go! No stress!

We had church directory pictures made the day before Halloween, and they showed up Wednesday. How exciting! Perfect timing to use one of them as our Christmas card pic!!! Which, by the way, are in the mail! Go me!!!

Surgery was....well, surgery. It has definitely put me down this week....a lot more than I thought from four small cuts in my stomach. I did pretty good Tuesday and Wednesday, but really overdid it Thursday. Therefore, was in bed all day Friday. Up all day Saturday led to being in bed all day today. Definitely not ready to go back to work yet....hopefully ready by next Monday. Wayne, as always, has been a wonderful nurse, husband, father, etc. He takes such good care of me. :) Dr. Asbury was wonderful in the OR, as usual. Hoping for a good one-week checkup tomorrow when I see her.

As we have made it so quickly to 37 weeks, I have begun thinking about Reed's ONE-YEAR BIRTHDAY PARTY!!! It will be here before we know it. I can't wait!!! This will be his first experience with THE WORLD! Definitely going to plan a big bash for this boy!

I'm including our church pics as well as pics from Reed's 37-week birthday today. I look back over pics from the very beginning, and cannot get over what a miracle our baby is. As we enter the Christmas season, we have had the honor of witnessing a modern day miracle. How awesome!!! Christmas will take on a whole different meaning this year in our house...and many others around the world who have been involved in our journey.

Love to all,

Just a quick note

Just a quick note tonight. Reed is 36 weeks old! I'm not spending time on here tonight because I'm relishing every minute with my kids before surgery tomorrow. I'll probably add pics on Thanksgiving day to show off Reed's precious My 1st Thanksgiving outfit. :) I covet your prayers as I have my hysterectomy tomorrow morning. I have to be at the hospital by 6:30 a.m. More to come later.....

Much love,

~8 Months of Blessings~

8 months ago today, was both the best and worst day of my life. The very early and very unexpected delivery of Reed in such an emergency situation was a blessing but felt like a curse in the heat of the moment. At 8:37 p.m. on March 14, 2010, I would never have imagined we would be where we are today. The small piece of my heart that knew all along that he would be fine could not have fathomed how perfectly healthy  he is today. Thank You, Lord, for the biggest blessing we could ever imagine. Today we celebrate our 8 months of time with our blessing, and we are so thankful for all the time we have been given with him.....looking forward to many years to come. :)  I believe the pictures can say much more than any words I can possibly type.... So I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

 Reed actually STOLE my creamsicle and SCREAMED when I tried to take it away......

 I'd say he enjoyed it!

 The many faces of Reed.... Such a sweet smile!

 Always so happy.....

 More smiles......

 Wouldn't you like to know what he's thinking???

 Looking up at his daddy with smiles.....

 A little mommy love...... He looks so serious.....

 More smiles after bath......

 Full of smiles.....and chins.....

 Bright eyes......

 Got to love that face.......

 Enough of the pictures already, Mommy!

 The girls love when he does this look with his mouth.....

 All eyes and cheeks......

And one more smile to say goodnight......



One closing thought, I will be having my hysterectomy on Monday, November 22, so I covet your prayers for an uneventful procedure and a SPEEDY recovery!  "Count your blessings, name them one by one... Count your many blessings, see what GOD has done!!!" Thank You, God, for all You have blessed us with!

Much love,

~Thankful for chill bumps~

Today I'm thankful for chill bumps.....it means I'm alive and able to feel. Life had gotten to a point this time last year that I was just going through the motions of life....not really feeling anything. Now there is no doubt I'm alive! In the last 8 months I have felt every emotion that exists, but the one I feel most is extreme happiness. Life is not for just going through the motions. We need to be alive and feel every experience. We need to do more than just exist.

Love to all,

~Day 8 of Thanks~

Today I am thankful for a warm, cozy house to protect my precious family. During the economic hard times, we are blessed to have our home. Being a teacher, I see so many kids who go without.... and my kids have pretty much all they want. I'm thankful that Wayne and I are both able to work and have college educations that enable us to make a nice living for our family...... even on the days when we complain about our jobs. :)

Sara got braces on her top teeth today, so we've had lots of complaining about pain. :)  Anna pulled a tooth last night, trying to catch up with her sister. Reed just wants some teeth. :)

Make it a great week! Love to all,

~7 Days of Thanks & 34 Weeks Old~

Today I'm thankful for an all-knowing Father who knows our needs even before we do. He protects us and provides for us. He carries us through the tough times when we turn to Him. I don't know how I would have survived our 52 days in Macon NNICU without Him. All of the prayers that were lifted to Him on behalf of Reed and for us as his parents definitely made a difference. I believe with my whole heart that we would not have our Reed today if it weren't for us, as his parents, totally turning him over to the Healing Father and turning to Him to get us through our dark days. I also believe that the prayers lifted up by so many of you magnified our pleas to God to heal our son. God definitely used Reed's crisis to work on others who needed to see something to make them believe in our Healing Father. I, as a mommy, cannot fathom knowingly and willingly sending any of my children to die on a cross....how that would have felt. I am so thankful that Our Father was willing to do that for us, His Children. Thank You, Lord, for giving Your Son for our sins.

Reed will be 34 weeks old in a few short hours. Of course, I have gobs of pics to share. :)  I cannot begin to tell you the depth of the happiness and joy he has brought to our lives. Not that all other babies don't do the same, but with Reed it all goes so much deeper because of his situation.

He is trying to sit up now. However, he has quite a belly to maneuver around, so he has a little trouble holding it up for long. :) Thank God for that belly, and every roll on his body!!! He still LOVES his bath time. I'm not sure who ended up getting more wet tonight....him or me..... 

The Thanksgiving season is here, and it will be so much more powerful this year with all the thanks we have to give! I hope your life has many thanks to give in this season of Thanksgiving. I'm thankful for all of you who continue to care and want to keep up with Reed's progress. You inspire me to continue this blog. We can't wait until we can share him with the world at his one-year birthday party!!! We are 2/3 of the way there!

Love to all,

~Day 6 of Thanks~

Day 6 - Today I am thankful for wonderful opportunities for my children to have once in a lifetime experiences. Sara had the best time at State Honor's Chorus, met knew friends, and learned some great musical lessons. I'm also thankful for WONDERFUL friends to help out when we are in need....to whom we can entrust our most prized possessions - our children. :)

We had a wonderful trip to Atlanta to experience State Honor's Chorus. We met some great people and reconnected with some old friends. Although very short and busy, this was a nice little getaway.....even in the freezing temperatures and rain. :) 

We drove up yesterday and spent the night. Anna and I did a little shopping while Wayne and Reed stayed at the hotel. A little more shopping this morning while Sara and the group had a final practice before the concert. We flew down to Forsyth to drop Reed ....and Anna..... off with our friends Hall & Melinda, who so graciously kept them for us to go to Sara's concert. I'm sure Anna had tons more fun playing than she would have at the concert. There were a bazillion people there! It was wonderful to see what our kids can do in such a short time. The kids practiced pretty much from noon to nine last night with a two hour supper break. Then they practiced from 8:45 to 11:45 this morning. WOW!!! What an amazing job they did with only 1 1/2 days of practicing.....singing from memory, sign language, and singing some songs in rounds. It was AWESOME!!!

We are all exhausted and settling down for the night. More tomorrow when our little miracle turns 34 weeks!!!!

Love to all,

~Days 4 & 5 of THANKS~

We are heading to Atlanta tomorrow afternoon. Sara is a part of the Elementary Honor's Chorus from all over the state. She will leave in the morning with the group to spend the day practicing for the concert on Saturday. We will join up with her tomorrow evening and spend the night. Saturday morning will begin with early practice until lunch. The concert is at 1:30. She is super excited, and has really enjoyed this opportunity. Because we will be out of town tomorrow, I am posting days 4 and 5 tonight.

I'm thankful for a new wonderful work place that is a great place to go each day. I am also thankful for supporting administration and a great group of teachers to work with. They have all made this year the best yet. Knowing you are appreciated makes a huge difference in your desire and effort at your job. Being told you are doing a good job makes it even better! God definitely blessed me by putting me right where I am this year. Blessings in disguise.... :)

Be sure to bundle up! This weekend is going to be COLD....especially in Atlanta! Make it a great Friday and have a wonderful weekend!

Love to all,

~Day 3 of THANKS~

Today, Lord, I thank You for blessing me with a wonderful husband. In the past 12 1/2 years of marriage, he has continued to bless me with a wonderful life full of wonderful things, including our 3 precious children. He takes care of all of us in ways that so many others wish their husbands did. He picks up the slack where I leave off......which I have done a lot since March 14th. We often take each other for granted, but You have definitely set our priorities right in the past 8 months.

Love to all,

Day 2 of THANKS

Today I am thankful for all three of my perfectly healthy children. We learned this last time around that things can change so quickly for the worst in a matter of seconds...we went from a perfectly healthy pregnancy to emergency premature delivery with no chance of survival. Thank You, God, for blessing us with 3 healthy children.

Love to all,