Ah-ha!

There are several verses people and we have been reminding ourselves of.

"Do not be anxious abut anything but in everything, through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving present your request to God."

"And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

Quick confession. I'm horrible about memorizing scripture. The verses I do have memorized I typically can't remember the reference. Something I'm trying to work on. The other day I found the reference to the first verse. It's Philippians 4:6. I was reading that chapter and discovered that the second verse is Philippians 4:7!

I had an "ah-ha!" moment. When we pray, even about hard things we don't understand or like we still need to be thanking and praising God. This is how Matt and I have been trying to pray. Especially when dealing with the miscarriage. As I read Philippians 4:7 and the promise that we will have peace which transcends all understanding, all I could think about is if we continue to praise God even in times of trial and suffering, He'll bless us with His peace. Which surpasses the understanding of men.

I think this struck me because this is what Matt and I experienced with the miscarriage, We were sad, didn't understand and were questioning God. We intentionally sought to praise Him. While He didn't give us an answer He did give us peace. A peace we can't explain that enables us to tell people we really are doing well, considering.

What a faithful God!

Bathroom

Here's Jeremiah's bathroom. I love the shower curtain. All the fun patterns and bright colors. The wall were looking especially plain next to all that.

Before

Nice and boring

My solution!
It was awesome because I already had the frames. The same size but one was wood and the other white. Painted the wooden frame white so they would match. I traced some of the sea critters of the shower curtain and then cut them out on some scrapbook paper I had. The only thing I had to buy was the solid back group paper, which was just over a dollar! I think they turned out really cute and can't beat the price!

I still want to paint the walls. I think a blue or green. That will happen another day.

Getting Creative

I got home the trip to KS and TX and was struck by how bare my home is! Sure we have some photos and limited art on the walls. But overall, most of the walls are blank. After being in my mom and sisters home were there are lots of pictures hung and it's such a welcoming atmosphere, I've decided to take action!

I'm almost finished two projects for Jeremiah's bathroom. Before and after pictures will come later today.

I got some of the supplies I need for this project. I'm going to try in in our half bath. If it turns out as well as I'm hoping it will I have a feeling it'll end up all over my home! I already bought everything to do it in the master bedroom.

It's times like this I wish I lived in KS. My sister, Shannon is an amazing artist! I wish I could go through her work and see what she thinks would go well in my home. At least I have two of her pieces. One will be going up soon!

And of course I have the cutest little boy! I think so new pictures of him might be going up as well.

So be expecting lots of pictures of the little changes, and maybe a couple big ones going on in my home this weekend!

Once....

There was a little boy and a dandelion

He played with it till all the puff-seed-things feel off

There was another dandelion that he could play with

He liked the dandelion so much, he thought it must be good to eat

The little boys mommy knew that wasn't the case and tried to stop him

But it was too late

Hurriedly she tried to get all the of the puffy-seed-things out of the little boys mouth

It had tasted bad and his mommy had messed with him!

He was so upset!

So upset it took his mommy a little while to calm him down. Thankfully a little bird flew by and helped the little boy forget about the dandelion

Lesson learned... Dandelions are to be played with not eaten!

13 Months

Jeremiah turned 13 months old while in Kansas. He thinks he's a pretty big boy now!

• Still not walking on his own. Just doesn't have the confidence yet.
• Says "bye" while waving. Does it when some one leaves and when he's ready to leave.
• Loves his silky more each day.
• Can go up stairs all on his own. No idea how to get down though
• Is perfecting the art of throwing himself on the ground when crying. I'm so proud. :-)
• Signs "all done" for more, thirsty and all done
  
  
  
  

Thanks for taking the pictures Aunt Shannie!

Mother's Day

Today was an emotional day for me. I would be enjoying the time with family, playing with Jeremiah and them I would remember that I'm not about to be a mommy of two. Despite the ups and downs it was a great day! Here are some pictures of the day.

Here are a few pictures from our pregnancy...

Matt made this bib. We used it to announce the pregnancy to Matt's family.

Very faint but there, March 25th 2010.

Sweet boy

In all the craziness of the last few weeks I haven't posted any pictures of my little boy. The other night I tried to get some of him. Much harder now that he's crawling normally and more quickly and cruising. I think we got some good ones! Here's a quick up date:

Has NINE teeth and counting

Trying to go to one nap a day, not fun for him or me

Cruising on everything. I think walking will happen any day, just needs the confidence to let go

Says: no, mama (momma), dada (daddy), da (dog), ba (ball)

Dances to pretty much any music he hears

Facing forward in the car seat now

Waves and gives kisses

Signs "all done"

Crawls on all four, no more army crawl

I'm always blown away by how blue his eyes are!

Look what I'm doing!

The past year I've been playing with the idea of starting a garden. I've always blown it off say I don;t have the time or that I would probably end up killing everything. Well, today I took the first step. I bought some seeds and starter plants. Tomorrow, hopefully, Matt will build a planter box and will get all the soil on Monday. I'm a little nervous but very excited. Hopefully I'll have something to show for it, other than a box of dead plants this summer! Wish me luck!

Zucchini, can't wait to grill it!

Sweet green peppers

My Mother's day present. :-) I have such sweet boy!

The song

Here's the song I was talking about yesterday. Awesome song...

Praise You in this storm

I've always enjoyed that song by Casting Crowns. This past week Matt and I have been in a massive storm.

This time last week I was trying to figure out how I would announce our pregnancy. Last Wednesday we had an appointment for our first sonogram. We were thrilled to be pregnant and couldn't wait to see our baby. The sonogram didn't go as we hoped. Our pregnancy ended because of a blighted ovum. Meaning the baby's cells probably weren't multiplying correctly and the growth stopped. Our baby was gone.

We were and still are devastated. All we could do was cling to the truth that God has a good plan for us, Jeremiah and our baby. Jeremiah 29:11 "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." is a verse we've been clinging to. We're believe this verse applies to all four of us. Romans 8:28 "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose." We're not sure how the death of our baby is for good, yet. We're waiting for God to show us that. Knowing that it'll probably be in Heaven when God's good plan is made known to us. We're trusting that God will use this for our good and His glory.

Matt and I tried to not limit our prayers to just asking God why and for comfort. We wanted to pray as Paul said to in Philippians 4:6 "Do no be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplications with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God." I have to admit, this was a struggle. What was there to praise God for when dealing with the death of a child??? But then Matt and I remembered the above verses and clung to that hope. And then we would see Jeremiah. We became so grateful that God blessed us with Jeremiah. We found joy in being with him. A reason to praise God in the storm.

There was concern that I would have to have a D&C since my body hadn't started to miscarry. As we were praying for comfort and peace we began to pray that God would allow me to miscarry naturally. God mercifully answered this pray with a yes. Another reason for praise.

As I spoke with my doctor's office I was able to speak with a very sweet, kind and understanding nurse. Another praise.

On Sunday I went to the ER to be sure I wasn't hemorrhaging. Praise the Lord, I wasn't. Sweet friends brought Matt food and sat with us for hours. Praise. The doctor I saw wasn't nothing like the other ER doctor's I've seen and spoke and comforted us like a believer. Praise!

My in-laws keeps Jeremiah while we were in the ER. What a blessing to not have to worry about him while we were waiting. Praise! They have genourousl brought us meals. Praise.

Today I had a follow up appointment. Again, didn't go as we expected. We thought I had successfully miscarried, but there are still remnants of the pregnancy in my uterus. I got to see the nurse I spoke with before. Praise. She was just as encouraging as she had been over the phone. She stayed with Matt and I threw the whole appointment, sonogram and everything. Praise. She explained everything to us and really listened to our concerns. Praise!

I'm so thankful that God has helped Matt and I to see some of the reasons we have to praise Him while we're in this storm. What and faithful God we have!

Because I haven't fully miscarried yet I had blood work today and more again on Thursday. If my hormone levels don't drop I'll need to have a D&C because my body should have miscarried on it's own. Please join us in praying that God will allow me to miscarry on my own so I won't have to have the D&C. And that we'll continue to see the abundant reasons we have to praise our awesome God!