What Are Your Hopes, Goals & Dreams for 2007? Come Share!

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y friend Laurel Wreath, who I’ve met through Christian Women On-Line, is asking us bloggers to share our hopes and goals for 2007, to post January 1-5th!

“I would like you to post on your site about your hopes, dreams, goals, for the next year. What would you like to see God do in your life? How would you like to see Him move in things? Make this as general or as personal as you feel comfortable. What are your goals for next year? I am not looking for the “lose 10 lbs this year” answer, something a little bit deeper. When you look back December 2007 where would you like to be? "  Read the rest here

Will you join me in looking forward to a New Year and sharing with Laurel’s audience? 

What Are Your Hopes, Goals & Dreams for 2007? Come Share!

M

y friend Laurel Wreath, who I’ve met through Christian Women On-Line, is asking us bloggers to share our hopes and goals for 2007, to post January 1-5th!

“I would like you to post on your site about your hopes, dreams, goals, for the next year. What would you like to see God do in your life? How would you like to see Him move in things? Make this as general or as personal as you feel comfortable. What are your goals for next year? I am not looking for the “lose 10 lbs this year” answer, something a little bit deeper. When you look back December 2007 where would you like to be? "  Read the rest here

Will you join me in looking forward to a New Year and sharing with Laurel’s audience? 

PHOTO HUNTERS: NEW

~ ~ ~Theme: New | Become a Photo Hunter | View Blogroll

This pictures was taken last Saturday just after our "NEW" bedroom was revealed to us for our "Extreme Bedroom Makeover".  We have new carpet, beautiful new hand-made crown molding, new drywall and paint, a new ceiling, new curtains and blinds, new pictures of the children on the wall, new handmade headboard, table, candles (ETC), new joy, laughter and memories, and blessed with a new friendship by the couple who did rennovations and remodeling as a priceless gift to us.  You can read the rest of the story here, along with more pictures of our NEW bedroom!  (There’s also a NEW baby boy in that big belly!)

This Pregnant Body – 27 Weeks

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saw my daughter’s cardiologist yesterday for a "fetal echo" and the baby’s heart is fine! I really was not worried about it, but thankful too, that it all turned out ok.  The technician doing the ultrasound with the cardiologist noticed right away that it is indeed a little boy. It’s good to have it confirmed. 

There are some concerns though, and I’d appreciate your prayers.  After our daughter was stillborn, I was diagnosed with lupus.  Lupus is an autoimmune disease that can go in and out of remission, or as they call it, I am possibly having a lupus flare-up.  The risk of another placenta abruption and/or stillbirth are quite high along with a risk on my life.  The OB is quite concerned.  I had blood tests today, but as the OB says, it’s not always conclussive.    So, I may have to be going to another OB, and the visits from now on to the OB will be a lot more frequent.  Because of my having contractions and the risks, they want me almost on complete bedrest.  The good thing is the children heard from the PA in the office who is a friend, that I have to delegate the jobs, and I am off my feet. 

I can get a little worked up over this.  Before we lost Angela, I had a lot of contractions, I thought were normal Braxton Hicks type . . . only to begin hemmorhaging later and nearly losing my life.  The "high risk" doctor and neonatal hospital are a 45 minute drive compared to our local OB and hospital which is 10 minutes away but cannot take care of all the high risk stuff.  I know in my heart God can take care of all this, and put His protection around me and the baby, but my head sure can wander with the what-if’s. 

Be sure to vote in our baby contest.  For more details and the prizes, check here.

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Extreme Bedroom Makeover – The Revealing!

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could be like TeeJay & Melissa and say, I was just teasing about revealing the room today. This happened NUMEROUS times to us throughout the week of the locked door! One of them would come upstairs or send one of our children up saying, "Want to see the room?"  Of course, I would light up and jump for the opportunity, only to get a big smirkey response, " CAN’T ! " So, I thought of having pictures below that you would have to click to see the picture, to get some silly picture, but I won’t do that. 

Our oldest son is actually finishing up the doorknob in this picture, taken before we came in, but this was just a real neat, touching surprise.  Melissa took black & white pictures of each of the children, and scanned one of Matthew’s and put them all in these black frames.  The middle picture is blank, for a family picture after the baby is born.  They also gave us the table and painted it.  The picture on the right side on the table is our reception picture also done in black and white.  The rocking chair we have had since before our oldest one was born.   

If you were wondering a few days ago when I showed the projects TeeJay was working on, this was another major surprise, with such thought and love put into it.  Our headboard we have now looks like it’s from the 1960’s – a big clunky, dark wood one in a bookshelf style.  I had seen in a magazine a wall that was done like the headboard above, and the bed put against it.  One of our girls snuck the picture to TeeJay, and he made this headboard.  It is beautiful!  The black candleabras will go on the walls next to it. 

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The molding that TeeJay put together is such a God-given talent that we were blessed he used in our bedroom.  This was not crown molding he bought, but that he pieced and put together.  Our children said each corner piece he did took over an hour to make.  When we have tried to thank TeeJay, he has repeatedly told us, he is "God’s feet and hands" doing this work. 

And here is my husband (left), oldest son, young excited daughter, and TeeJay & Melissa.  As we expressed our concerns to them in not being able to repay them, TeeJay touched us with his own Mastercard commercial: 

A tank of gas:  $50
A lifetime friendship
PRICELESS

We can get emotional thinking of how this bedroom came about.  We certainly would prefer that things did not change in our home two years ago, with the death of our son.  Yet, God sent His healing rain through this couple and our children.  When I have shared with others personally about this, the part I have the hardest time holding the tears back from is another major change that came to this bedroom.  When Norm & I worked on this bedroom, it was an emotional job that just could not be completed.  There was not joy when we were doing it.  When TeeJay & Melissa worked on it with our children we heard something coming from that bedroom we have not heard in over two years from that room . . . laughter, singing, music, voices with joy.  There is a changed beautiful room with new memories made and to be made.  There is not the hesitation from the children to go into this new room.  There’s sparks of joy that’s contagious.

PRICELESS

12-18-06  Our Extreme Bedroom Makeover Begins
12-21-06  Still Locked Out of Our Bedroom
12-26-06  Extreme Bedroom Makeover – Remodeling
12-27-06  Extreme Bedroom Makeover – The Progression

Extreme Bedroom Makeover – The Progression

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ere are a few more pictures of the progression of our "extreme bedroom makeover". 

Here’s TeeJay finishing up the carpet laying. This carpet was a gift we stored for almost two years. You can get a little peek of the new blinds that were put up in the windows. 

Our oldest son is puting on the new door handle. It had been a deadbolt lock so we could not get in! This is the inside of our bedroom. Notice the nice look to the painted door.

Here we are just as we were walking in.  What a "wow" it was for us!  Tomorrow we will show the finished details! 

The Death of Gerald R. Ford

Gerald R. Ford
July 14, 1913 – December 26, 2006

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s I sit here writing my post for the day, breaking news has come on that former President Gerald R. Ford has passed away.  The longest living president was 93 years old.  After his state funeral, he will be buried here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, just a half hour south of us.  In my first days living here in Michigan, and then much later for homeschool field trips, we have visited the Gerald R. Ford Museum numerous times, where he will be buried. 

A statement from the family of his death included, ". . . His life was filled with love of God, his family and his country."

Wikipedia Encyclopedia’s Summary of his life
Gerald R. Ford Boyhood Home, in Grand Rapids, Michigan

Extreme Bedroom Makeover – Remodeling

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ell, since we were held in suspense for a week with our bedroom, I am going to post a few pictures throughout this week of our bedroom.  I have so many pictures that the children and Melissa took, that I just could not show them all at one time anyway!

First though, Norm & I both  want to publicly thank TeeJay and Melissa for their time, generosity, serving hearts and hands, and most of all, the love they put into this project.  We "needed" just the drywall ceiling put up, and the carpet put in (all which we had) and they went so much above and beyond.  In knowing them just over three weeks now, they have certainly become a special part of our lives, not in just what they have done for us, but their openness, and the way God blessed us with an instant friendship.  The last evening they were here, the children kept asking, "will they come over again?"   If you click their names above, you can go to their blog.  Instead of leaving comments here, please leave them a comment. 

So, today, I am going to give share some pictures that Melissa took, while they worked on the bedroom.  Maybe you can guess what’s happening.

There are two surprises in the making here, we did not have a clue of whatsoever.  Can you guess what they are?

It’s hard to see in this picture, but the developing of the doorframes and crown molding are peeking through. 

Tomorrow more pictures! 

Not A White Christmas – The Sleigh Could Not Make It

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he sleigh on the way to grandmother’s house did not make it on Christmas day.  What frustrations!  We knew the van was going to die on us eventually, with over 230,000 miles, but now?!?!?!  The clonking and clanging was the alert that something was going wrong, as we coasted into a gas station, and it quit.  Our son, the auto mechanic, was following behind, wondering why we went into a closed gas station.  He looked at it and is sure a rod blew the engine. The van does NOTHING right now.   Thankfully, we were about 15 minutes from Norm’s parents, and his dad and brother came to rescue us and his dad drove us home tonight.  We have several appointments this week we have to work out, including one a distance to our daughter’s cardiologist to check on our unborn baby’s heart.  I don’t see the big picture here yet, but God has something planned.  Don’t you wish in these moments you can just pull up the blinds to get a better view?

It’s early in the morning, but I will get some preview pictures up of our room remodeling later today.  Come back. 

Christmas 2006

~ ~ ~Tomorrow we will have an update on our room remodeling. 
What a gift we received!