Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt: COMFY

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Photo Theme: Comfy
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This first picture is of our youngest, from several years ago.
She loves to lay right on top of our chocolate lab, and she
has even fallen asleep on her!

    I thought these kittens looked pretty comfy too!

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If you have participated in the Saturday Scavenger Hunt,
be sure to leave a note below!

Next week’s theme:  SLEEPING 

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A Heart Issue: Joy & Inspiration

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have been thinking of something to write on that has brought "great joy and inspiration in my life". With having had 10 living children, they are certainly great joy and inspiration.  From the joy of having my first child that made me a first time mommy to the little one I carry within that has given us new joy and inspiration after the death of our son.  Yet, in thinking of one incident of something that stands out in my mind is after our daughter, Jessica Joy (then 14 months old) spent 8 weeks fighting for her life in ICU after having her first open heart surgery, most of those weeks in an induced type coma, we needed the joy and inspiration  . . . and hope to continue on this fight for her life. 

It was arranged for her to have her second open heart surgery.  They only gave her a 30-40% chance of survival.  She was on a ventilator the past 8 weeks, and there was no way to wean her off, until she had this surgery.  The day before her surgery, early in the morning we were walking to her ICU room, noticing several nurses coming out in tears.  I panicked, thinking the worst.  When I walked in the room, Jessica was awake, pointing at a family picture, trying to say names of her siblings.  One of the nurses in there pretended to rip out her heart and throw it on the floor.  They saw her as a precious little girl, and knew the possibilities of this surgery.  We were given the joy and inspiration that her mind was still alert.  It gave us the push we needed to keep fighting for her, no matter what the statistics said.

The surgeon seemed to be avoiding to talk to us.  He knew the statistics.  The morning they wheeled her away for surgery, many nurses in tears, and us following, also blinded by our tears, the surgeon came over to me, touched my elbow, and said "I WILL bring her back."  The nurses told us he never makes a promise like that.  It did not matter. God whispered those words through him.  We knew Jessica Joy would be ok.  What joy and inspiration, before surgery even began.

The surgery took much less time than they anticipated.  The surgeon was all smiles and full of joy when he came to give us the report.  She came home with us two weeks later, still on a small amount of oxygen and a feeding tube, but so much better and she was home, alive!

We walked into our home after midnight.  We thought she would go right to sleep, but she brightened right up, seeing familiar toys, and pointing to a small rocking horse that she wanted to go "rock rock" on.  Yes, what joy and inspiration.  And that little 14 month old daughter is now 10 years old, and still full of joy and inspiration.

This was written to participate with Jen’s "LoveFest" at her blog, Stay-at-Home Motherdom and also submitted to Family Life Carnival where many more inspiring stories can be read.

Don’t miss out on the "Homemade Gifts for Giving" Contest to win a $25 gift certificate to either Bath & Body Works or Olive Garden!!

A Heart Issue: Joy & Inspiration

I

have been thinking of something to write on that has brought "great joy and inspiration in my life". With having had 10 living children, they are certainly great joy and inspiration.  From the joy of having my first child that made me a first time mommy to the little one I carry within that has given us new joy and inspiration after the death of our son.  Yet, in thinking of one incident of something that stands out in my mind is after our daughter, Jessica Joy (then 14 months old) spent 8 weeks fighting for her life in ICU after having her first open heart surgery, most of those weeks in an induced type coma, we needed the joy and inspiration  . . . and hope to continue on this fight for her life. 

It was arranged for her to have her second open heart surgery.  They only gave her a 30-40% chance of survival.  She was on a ventilator the past 8 weeks, and there was no way to wean her off, until she had this surgery.  The day before her surgery, early in the morning we were walking to her ICU room, noticing several nurses coming out in tears.  I panicked, thinking the worst.  When I walked in the room, Jessica was awake, pointing at a family picture, trying to say names of her siblings.  One of the nurses in there pretended to rip out her heart and throw it on the floor.  They saw her as a precious little girl, and knew the possibilities of this surgery.  We were given the joy and inspiration that her mind was still alert.  It gave us the push we needed to keep fighting for her, no matter what the statistics said.

The surgeon seemed to be avoiding to talk to us.  He knew the statistics.  The morning they wheeled her away for surgery, many nurses in tears, and us following, also blinded by our tears, the surgeon came over to me, touched my elbow, and said "I WILL bring her back."  The nurses told us he never makes a promise like that.  It did not matter. God whispered those words through him.  We knew Jessica Joy would be ok.  What joy and inspiration, before surgery even began.

The surgery took much less time than they anticipated.  The surgeon was all smiles and full of joy when he came to give us the report.  She came home with us two weeks later, still on a small amount of oxygen and a feeding tube, but so much better and she was home, alive!

We walked into our home after midnight.  We thought she would go right to sleep, but she brightened right up, seeing familiar toys, and pointing to a small rocking horse that she wanted to go "rock rock" on.  Yes, what joy and inspiration.  And that little 14 month old daughter is now 10 years old, and still full of joy and inspiration.

This was written to participate with Jen’s "LoveFest" at her blog, Stay-at-Home Motherdom and also submitted to Family Life Carnival where many more inspiring stories can be read.

Don’t miss out on the "Homemade Gifts for Giving" Contest to win a $25 gift certificate to either Bath & Body Works or Olive Garden!!

No Ordinary Proverbs 31 Mom

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am having a difficult time writing for my blog today.  It’s not the nausea this time.  I am in the middle a "can’t put down" inspiring book.  I’ve not done much reading since being pregnant.  Even this has seemed too difficult with the flu-like symptoms all the time. 

I was introduced to this book just a few weeks ago through CWO when Tuesday, September 19th’s quote was "No distinction was made between the sacred and the everyday life . . . their life was all one piece.  It was all sacred and all ordinary" (quoted from Sue Bender’s book, Plain and Simple).  But, I am not reading Sue Bender’s book.  One of the other gals who wrote on this quote, mentioned that this quote is quoted in another book, No Ordinary Home – The Uncommon Art of Christ-Centered Homemaking by Carol Brazo.  Her writings on this inspired me to get the book,and I found it in our library.  I can hardly put it down! 

This is a book that will inspire you and give you a great shot of encouragement.  Carol shares an open journal from her early days of marriage and having three children in three years.  I have found myself reading sections to my husband, from making the Sabbath day a true time of rest and worship to relating to her that I will never fit in as the Proverbs 31 woman.  She began studying Proverbs 31 while she was pregnant – with the nausea and all.  She called it the "wife to beat all wives chapter"!  She shares her discouragement of this chapter with her women’s Bible study group as she relates her inadequacies and her response from an older wiser woman is what she needed . . . and me too: 

"This is the picture of a woman’s life over the long haul," she comforted.  "Sometimes she rose early, no doubt when she had a nursing baby, and sometimes she worked late into the night.  For a season she was a businesswoman.  For a season she taught.  After many seasons she spoke with wisdom."

At the end of each chapter is time for you to do some Scripture searching, with verses to look up and make application to your life.  This is a book I now plan on purchasing, so I can read it again and again, mark it, and keep notes of my "over the long haul." 

I am off to read more.  I may have more to share later on it. 

Don’t miss out on the "Homemade Gifts for Giving" Contest to win a $25 gift certificate to either Bath & Body Works or Olive Garden!!

HEADACHE: Finding a Doctor

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esides having all day pregnancy sickeness, with still, not much relief, we are having a very hard time finding a high risk OB. We had a high risk OB  with my last 4 babies, which we first started with when I started to hemmorhage and had a stillborn daughter.  This doctor was wonderful. He cried with us and prayed with us.  We trusted him with our next three babies, and felt like he was a friend, as we shared much in common with him and his Christian homeschooling family.  When I first became pregnant with this little one we were blown away to learn he has fallen away from God.  It is easy for us to put people up on a pedestal, and he was one I probably did.  Yet, just as it can with any one of us, sin seeped in his life, and distroyed his family.  I am sure he did not realize when he saw the first pornographic picture, or began a hidden affair, that his family would find out. Did he think how these sins would affect his family and ripple even further as it also affected his friends, his church, his patients, his testimony, etc.  I am just one patient of his many, many hundreds of patients.  Most probably will not find out about his lifestyle, yet, there are those that have, such as me, and it has affected us.  Not only have my husband and I felt burdened for this man and his family, it’s caused major stress on us now in finding another high risk OB. 

I am going to a local OB office, but they want to have a high risk back up doctor.  We have contacted several offices.  I think for some I am "too" high risk – being we have a child with heart defects, a stillborn daughter, this will be my 5th c-section, and my age, just to name a few of the so-called "risks".  Some offices only take so many "high risk" patients so they are not overloaded at delivery times with too many that need more attention.  My last 3 babies, though they were considered high risk, the pregnancies overall when well.  We seemed to have found another high risk OB, but they want to know HOW high risk I am – meaning, they require us to see a genetics counselor, go through my complete history, be told our risks and be recommended for test after test.  Also before seeing the OB, they want a detailed ultrasound to find any abnormalties.  Some of the tests they may want we have already been told have a high "false positive".  Why would we want to put ourselves through this for the next 6 months of worrying?  It’s not changing anything as far as keeping the baby or not.  With the last 3 babies we have had an ultrasound at 20 weeks to check over the heart, but even this I am not concerned about. 

So as I ramble about all of this, please pray that we can confirm soon on a high risk OB that will take us, and that we feel comfortable with.  This is a precious life we are growing, and of course don’t want to take risks, but also don’t want unneeded concerns.   And pray for our unnamed doctor friend.  We know God wants him back.

Don’t miss out on the "Homemade Gifts for Giving" Contest to win a $25 gift certificate to either Bath & Body Works or Olive Garden!!

In Other Words: Dreams

  Christian Women Online
  This Week’s Quote: 
"It takes a lot of courage to show your dreams to someone else."
~ Erma Bombech ~

I

have thought of this quote several times since it was posted on CWO, and came close to not participating with this one.  I think maybe I just have "short-term" dreams, and not dreams so personal that I would not share with someone else.  Oh, I dream of things I hope we can change or remodel with our house, dreams for our children as they mature and have dreams of their own in careers or girls dreaming of a wedding.  I dream of this new little precious life to be born in the spring, and presently dream of all the things I want to do once I get over this all day pregnancay nausea.  I Can Only Imagine what the first moments in heaven are like and what awe my son sees every second.

I think the only dreams I don’t always share are the "what-if" dreams  . . . the thinking of the past, the regrets, the things I wish I could change, and how things could be different, if I would have only . . . But this is where Satan gets a hold of us – taunts us – tries to tell us how we are failing . . . and how we should give up.  My husband is one to remind of this verse, when I get into this mindset of the what if’s . . .

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.  Philippians 4:8

I have dreams – yet, I know too with life’s challenge’s and God’s plans, dreams can change quickly.  I am thankful God knows our dreams, yes even the hidden ones, and His plans can change our dreams, for a much better dream and outcome. 

Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails. 
Proverbs 19:21

For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11

This writing is in participation with Christian Women On-Line and the weekly In Other Words . . . ."  Click the graphic to read other women’s interpretations of this quote.

Don’t miss out on the "Homemade Gifts for Giving" Contest to win a $25 gift certificate to either Bath & Body Works or Olive Garden!!

CONTEST: Homemade Gifts for Giving

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E need ideas! With the holidays not being too far away, and not one gift purchase has been made yet, my girls and I need some ideas for easy gifts we can make!  Do you have something you make that has been a hit that you can share on your blog? 

I have read of a few neat ideas from some other ClubMom bloggers.  Amanda from the Naked Ledger recently showed  how to make a pinata – well, almost!   Wouldn’t a pinata filled with candy and little toys make a fun gift for a child?  Sara from Mommy, are the Toys on Sale? gave two great gift ideas; one for How to Make a Microwaveable Heating Pad and another for Scented Christmas Ornaments.

How about YOUR ideas?   Again, it has to be "easy".  The items used for it should be for the most part household items, or inexpensive items  that are easy to get.  The craft idea should be something that we do not have to learn a new craft – such as no soap or candle making, knitting or crocheting or jewelry making.  Simple sewing projects, recipes in a jar,  decorating an already made item to make it unique, etc. would be some additional ideas.  Then, post your idea along with complete directions in how to do, on your blog starting today through next Wednesday (October 4th).  You may post up to two different ideas in two different posts.  My girls & I will then go through all the entries, and choose one that we like the best, that we would find ourselves making, and that person will be the winner!  The winner will have the choice of a $25 gift certificate from either Bath & Body Works OR Olive Garden. 

There will also be a second prize winner, who will receive the gift certificate that was not chosen.  This winner will be the one who has referred the most posts to this contest (minimum of 3 referrals).  So, all you need do is either post on your blog about this contest, with a link back here, or along with your entry, encourage others to post an entry on their blog.  When links are posted in the comment section of this post, please also mention where you learned of this contest.  The person who has the most referrals wins the other gift certificate!  (I will not be included as one of these).   The winners will be posted the following week.

This is what should be posted in the comment section below once you have a craft project posted on your post between today and October 4, 2006, 12:00 p.m. EST:

1.  The name of your blog
2.  A link to your blog
3.  The title of the post for the craft directions
4.  A direct link to your craft post
5.  Who referred you to put this post on your blog
6.  Your name with e-mail.

HAVE FUN!  I look forward to reading these and receiving wonderful ideas!

Baby Update – 14 weeks

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S I write this, I am sitting very still in the recliner, hardly moving, knowing as soon as I move too much I have to make a run for the bathroom. I still have morning sickness all day sickness from shortly after getting up, until I lay down at night.  And to be honest, I am getting a little discouraged with it. I am not getting much done, unless I can do it from the recliner.  My main staple food is Chicken A La King on a toasted bun, even for breakfast.  One of my girls makes this for me, and it tastes good, for awhile.

My last OB appointment was this past Friday.  I’ve lost 25 lbs. since the beginning of this pregnancy, which is the good part – but sure the hard way to lose it being sick all the time.  The PA was not able to get a heartbeat, and thought I was measuring a little big and being I have already had twins, there is a greater liklihood of this.  My twin girls have even been hoping for twins!  I had to go across the street to the hospital for an ultra sound, and the technician was able to get ONE heart beat very quickly.  NO TWINS!  I was relieved!  It was again amazing, being able to see all the body parts, seeing the legs and arms moving.  Seeing this little life has given me more inspiration as I fight this all day sickness.  I am just praying for some relief from this very soon – before the heartburn, leg cramps and body aches start. 

Don’t miss out on the "Homemade Gifts for Giving" Contest to win a $25 gift certificate to either Bath & Body Works or Olive Garden!!

NEW CONTEST STARTING MONDAY!

On Monday the details of a new contest will be posted here!!  I have not been able to host any contests lately because of being so sick with this pregnancy, but am ready to start one!  Anyone with a blog will be able to participate and the winner will have the choice of a $25 gift certificate from either Olive Garden or Bath & Body Works.  Here’s a little hint what this contest will be about – "homemade crafts for gift giving".  So come back on Monday for the details.  You won’t want to miss out on this!

Learning the History of our Church

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ast Saturday our church had a historical celebration, remembering the foundations of our church and the people who had a great impact on it.  Next to our church is the original church, well over 100 years old.  Along side and in back of the church is a cemetery.  Our pastor’s wife has done a lot of genealogy research, finding out who the forefathers of the church were, and stories of veterans including some from the Civil War.  One of Abraham Lincoln’s pallbearers is buried in this cemetery.

I shared about a month ago how one of our daughters drew pictures of the old church and surrounding areas of how it used to look.  She put together a coloring book and another booklet of these sketches.  She learned a lot of the beginnings of our church, while drawing, which she loves to do.  On Saturday the old church was open to the community, along with tours of the cemetery to share about many of the individuals.  The setting was 1896, along with many of the volunteers dressed to that era.  Along with many pictures, albums and newspaper articles telling the history of the church, there were toys and homemade soap and demonstrations, including kids doing their own wash through a wringer washer (which they thought was FUN and wished we would do laundry this way!!  LOL!)

What an opportunity of learning this was, along with learning some of our church heritage and many lasting memories.  Our twins spent part of the day at the celebration, dressed for the 1890’s, and gleaning more historical information as they viewed all the displays and info set up along with the cemetery tour.  Education comes in all forms, and some times the children do not even realize this is "school" as they learn in the format such as learning local history, as our children did. 

This is my entry to win a camera in the "Capture the Educational Moment" Contest sponsored by Spunky and Academic Superstore.