...for a little boy, Keagan's age, who is from our town and is suffering greatly right now. I don't know the family, and I have never met Patrick. But our Sunday school class began praying for him a few weeks back, and I stumbled upon his parent's Facebook prayer page and have been praying for him ever since. I know the power of prayer. I also know that God hears us, and therefore Sweet Patrick cannot have too many "Prayer Warriors" talking to God on his behalf. If you are interested in joining the Facebook page, or learning more about this family, here it is: https://www.facebook.com/#!/groups/341734999207183/ . They have this page specifically to pray for Patrick, and they update it with his condition often. It has touched people nationwide.
From what I have gathered, Patrick was a lively little boy just a couple of months ago. He apparently began sleeping more and more, which was unlike him. The family are related to a local doctor in our town and they took Patrick to him because of this and also because of a fall off the couch Patrick had a couple weeks before, thinking it was a concussion. It turned out to be a very aggressive brain tumor. Patrick is in Vanderbilt receiving around-the-clock care, and his little body has just now become "healthy" enough to finally receive the chemo. He has had so many struggles already in his short life.
When I see the pictures of Patrick, I can't help but see my own Keagan. I want to hold and snuggle Patrick as if he were my own child. I cannot imagine what his parents (and 3 older siblings) are going through right now. But I have to say that the strength his family is exhibiting in their faith in God is amazing and redeeming, considering what they are going through. I have felt compelled to share this story for two reasons: 1) never take your family and children for granted. Hug them, spend time with them, cherish every moment. For we are not promised tomorrow. 2) Watching the faith this family has in God, despite the desperate situation they are in, has compelled me to have more faith. And it has also compelled me to ask that you all join me in prayer for this sweet little Patrick.
Dear Lord, please lay your healing hands on this child, Patrick. Provide his medical team knowledge, compassion, and faith in you, our Heavenly physician. Provide his parents with strength to continue their prayers and faith, parenting of their 3 other children, and vigilance as they stand over their baby, despite the sleepless nights and the unknown. Provide peace and solace to all who grace Patrick's room, so that they may recognize your awesome presence. Please shower this family and this baby with your blessings and healing. In Jesus' name I pray this. Amen.
April 26, 2012
April 15, 2012
A Busy, Busy Week (24!)
This has been a big week! A very fun, exciting week. A very, very busy week. But I love weeks that keep our family hopping and remind us just what life is about. This week, some dear friends of ours welcomed a new baby into their family. Keagan's best friend EJ became a big brother!! And we were so lucky to be able to help Dana and Kerry out by "watching" EJ the day baby Ethan was born...they think we were doing them a favor but it was more of a favor to us because Keagan LOVED it!! Who wouldn't love to spend the afternoon with their best friend? I picked EJ up from his Grandmother's house and told him we were going to go meet his new baby brother soon. His response: "I wanna go get Keagan." Priorities. (But, trust us, he was more than excited when we eventually pulled into the parking garage at the hospital.) These boys had so much fun and Josh and I had a blast as well! Here are some funny pics I got of the boys...and I thought taking a picture of one moving body was tough! I think you can see the excitement written all over Keagan's face.
A Family of Four! EJ meets his baby brother Ethan. Absolutely precious and it brought tears to my eyes.
Dana had a bunch of gifts for EJ to open when he came to the hospital to meet his baby brother. Keagan did pretty good for a while, but once he saw that EJ was playing up on the bed with cool toys, he wanted "up up" too! Dana was a champ...she let both boys crawl into her hospital bed with her and play. While the boys played, Josh and I were reminded of how it felt to hold a newborn. (Let me point out, however, that this newborn was a whopping 3 pounds heavier than Keagan was! Little 5'-tall Dana had an 8#8oz baby!) The next day, all Keagan could talk about was EJ's "bobay" (phonetic for how he says baby) and when asked if he wants a baby of his own, his response is a very affirmative "mhmm!" So, I hope that he still feels that way when Finley comes! :)
Fast-forward a few days...some home renovations took place this weekend. Well, I should be more specific, they were started but not completely finished. We don't do anything around the house in a timely fashion. First home renovation: changing the fan in our two-story livingroom. Nearly two years ago (right after we brought Keagan home from the hospital) our living room fan went out. This fan is impossible to reach without a very tall ladder, and that isn't very safe when talking about fixing it/changing it out/etc. So, there it remained and collected dust for nearly two years. Unworking. Until about a week ago, Josh got a wild hair and ordered a new fan, rented scaffolding, and proceeded to change out the fan. I am extra thankful because just the thought of going through a hot summer very pregnant and without a fan made me swell. Thing is, scaffolding is not something that can be assembled by one person. Sooooo, since Josh works allllll weekend, we have scaffold stuff in our livingroom (and will be here probably until tomorrow). But, PRAISE JESUS!, our friend Jarrett came over late last night to help Josh get the third row of scaffold up and the fan replaced (thank you thank you thank you!). So while I am currently watching TV through a gridline of scaffolding, I am at least being cooled by a working fan!
I also started painting the nursery this weekend. Josh was working this weekend. That means I was also a full-time mommy while I attempted to paint. Hmmm. Not smart. I started in the morning, realized I wasn't going to get very far (because toddlers like to put fingers/hands in paint, throw toys out an open window, lean up against freshly painted walls, run laps around furniture placed in the middle of the room while chasing the dog and tripping on the plastic drop cloth), so I waited until nap-time and banked on his usual 2-3 hour nap to get a big chunk knocked out. Um, riiiiiiiiiiiiight. How about a 30 min nap? Not enough time to get anything done. So, needless to say I was up late finishing the base coats! Oh well. It will get done. I did snap this picture of Keagan watching Kung Fu Panda-2 on the computer, but realize this was early in the game (and mommy was very naive at this point) and only lasted about 20 minutes. HA!
Lastly: I hit 24 weeks this weekend. Hard for me to believe! I am feeling good and energetic (thank God, because otherwise the above would have been oh-so-difficult) and I am also feeling large-and-in-charge. I truly think my butt and belly are growing at a rapidly equal pace. I step on the scale and nearly pee on myself from disbelief. But Josh (lovingly) reminds me that big belly=healthy baby and that the last pregnancy we didn't have either. So this is a good thing. I know why my weight is increasing. I am hungry all the time. I mean, so hungry my tummy growls. So I eat. I am walking and pushing Keagan in his stroller about an hour a day, 5 days a week, so I am getting good exercise...but the scale just keeps going up up up. And I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. I am scared.
In other 24-week news: Finley is insanely active. I mean, all the time. It is wonderful...and what I missed most once Keagan was born. I always try to imagine just where in my belly he is laying, and sometimes I feel like he balls up really tight then lets his arms and his legs go as quickly as he can...because I feel movement on either side of my belly at the same time. I do not sleep well at all. This is new in the last month. I am up to pee 2-3 times a night (nothing unusual) but I can't get back to sleep. I hear everything and I know when the sun is coming up. Sigh. But it doesn't seem to be affecting my energy level, so that's ok. I am waiting for a crash though. Morning sickness is gone. GONE! Yay! And now we are a-looking forward to our Jamaican babymoon in two weeks!
A Family of Four! EJ meets his baby brother Ethan. Absolutely precious and it brought tears to my eyes.
Dana had a bunch of gifts for EJ to open when he came to the hospital to meet his baby brother. Keagan did pretty good for a while, but once he saw that EJ was playing up on the bed with cool toys, he wanted "up up" too! Dana was a champ...she let both boys crawl into her hospital bed with her and play. While the boys played, Josh and I were reminded of how it felt to hold a newborn. (Let me point out, however, that this newborn was a whopping 3 pounds heavier than Keagan was! Little 5'-tall Dana had an 8#8oz baby!) The next day, all Keagan could talk about was EJ's "bobay" (phonetic for how he says baby) and when asked if he wants a baby of his own, his response is a very affirmative "mhmm!" So, I hope that he still feels that way when Finley comes! :)
Fast-forward a few days...some home renovations took place this weekend. Well, I should be more specific, they were started but not completely finished. We don't do anything around the house in a timely fashion. First home renovation: changing the fan in our two-story livingroom. Nearly two years ago (right after we brought Keagan home from the hospital) our living room fan went out. This fan is impossible to reach without a very tall ladder, and that isn't very safe when talking about fixing it/changing it out/etc. So, there it remained and collected dust for nearly two years. Unworking. Until about a week ago, Josh got a wild hair and ordered a new fan, rented scaffolding, and proceeded to change out the fan. I am extra thankful because just the thought of going through a hot summer very pregnant and without a fan made me swell. Thing is, scaffolding is not something that can be assembled by one person. Sooooo, since Josh works allllll weekend, we have scaffold stuff in our livingroom (and will be here probably until tomorrow). But, PRAISE JESUS!, our friend Jarrett came over late last night to help Josh get the third row of scaffold up and the fan replaced (thank you thank you thank you!). So while I am currently watching TV through a gridline of scaffolding, I am at least being cooled by a working fan!
Old, non-working fan. And Josh attempting to put scaffolding up by himself.
New fan!! And scaffold still up as a weekend fixture in our livingroom.
I also started painting the nursery this weekend. Josh was working this weekend. That means I was also a full-time mommy while I attempted to paint. Hmmm. Not smart. I started in the morning, realized I wasn't going to get very far (because toddlers like to put fingers/hands in paint, throw toys out an open window, lean up against freshly painted walls, run laps around furniture placed in the middle of the room while chasing the dog and tripping on the plastic drop cloth), so I waited until nap-time and banked on his usual 2-3 hour nap to get a big chunk knocked out. Um, riiiiiiiiiiiiight. How about a 30 min nap? Not enough time to get anything done. So, needless to say I was up late finishing the base coats! Oh well. It will get done. I did snap this picture of Keagan watching Kung Fu Panda-2 on the computer, but realize this was early in the game (and mommy was very naive at this point) and only lasted about 20 minutes. HA!
Lastly: I hit 24 weeks this weekend. Hard for me to believe! I am feeling good and energetic (thank God, because otherwise the above would have been oh-so-difficult) and I am also feeling large-and-in-charge. I truly think my butt and belly are growing at a rapidly equal pace. I step on the scale and nearly pee on myself from disbelief. But Josh (lovingly) reminds me that big belly=healthy baby and that the last pregnancy we didn't have either. So this is a good thing. I know why my weight is increasing. I am hungry all the time. I mean, so hungry my tummy growls. So I eat. I am walking and pushing Keagan in his stroller about an hour a day, 5 days a week, so I am getting good exercise...but the scale just keeps going up up up. And I have a doctor's appointment on Tuesday. I am scared.
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A gentle reminder: I am walking in the March of Dimes walk on May 5th and am raising money to fund research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. And your donation will also be used to bring comfort and information to families with a baby in newborn intensive care (this is where I was directly touched). I sincerely hope that you will consider giving to this organization. You can support me and my team here: And to see my original blog post with more information, go here.
Thank you again to those who have generously given. You have not only supported me, but you have supported babies and families that you don't even know.
__________________________________________________
April 8, 2012
Easter Egg-stravaganza.
Literally.
This weekend has been a fun, egg-filled, blessed one. As our sweet boy grows up, and we prepare for another son, we can only thank God for sending His only son to die on a cross to save us from our sins. What a sacrifice! We are so thankful for the blessings God has bestowed upon our family, and it was a wonderful weekend to be reminded of all that we have been given.
Easter Weekend started off with an egg hunt at Keagan's school (his first ever!) and a visit from the Easter Bunny (he really didn't care much about him, not scared, just not interested)... Keagan didn't really know what to do during the hunt, but he figured out pretty quickly that the eggs had something in them and he wanted to know what it was before he decided to put the egg in his basket. He definitely wasn't competitive (however, Mommy had to do everything possible to just STAND BACK and not help! He got the fewest eggs of anyone at all the egg hunts he went to, except his own personal hunt). Check out the utter confusion on his face in the second picture...some might say this is a game-face, but he had no clue what was about to happen.
Keagan cared more about "mowing" than egg-hunting. This is my kid...he does his own thing!
Friday night was our first family egg-dying. WOW. It was a mess, and it was stressful, and one of my coffee cups was sacrificed along with a pair of Keagan's socks when he spilled the orange dye. I always wondered how I'd handle it when my kid broke one of my glasses (i.e. I now don't have a complete set). Well, I handled it pretty well. I didn't cry or scream or get mad. Luckily the handle just broke, so it continues to reside on the top shelf, behind the intact mugs. And the cabinet still looks nice and put together. (Yes, I AM this OCD, and I am ok with it. I like complete sets.) I don't know how much Keagan enjoyed this portion of our Easter weekend, he couldn't participate like HE wanted to, instead it was a constant banter of "No, Keagan, don't touch." "Careful! Don't spill it!" "Josh! Grab him!" and the list goes on...we will try again next year.
Easter egg hunt at church on Saturday. He might be getting the hang of it. He had a good time hanging out with his buddy, EJ. These boys are so cute together, I can't wait to see how their friendship grows as they do. Funny thing is both boys know the other's house, car, etc...when we drive by EJ's house or see a car like one his mom drives, Keagan points and says, "EJ!"
Carrying his basket like an old pro!
Annie's first Easter egg hunt! I don't know how much she got it this year...but maybe next year! :)
Exploring his loot...
Happy Easter!!!! Keagan is super-excited about this day. I love Easter...and I hope I pass this onto my children. There is something so redeeming and fresh about this day. Pure Joy!
Keagan lets us know how he really feels about sitting next to the bunny!
His own, personal egg-hunt...no competition, no hurrying, no stress!! And he did pretty darn good! He found all the eggs and delivered them perfectly to his basket. What a champ. Practice makes perfect.
Then he found his Easter Basket! If you can't tell, the theme is "balls"...and Keagan loves to throw balls!
After church, Stacey and Jarrett and Annie came over for Easter dinner. We thoroughly stuffed ourselves and waited for Tassie, Joey, and Joey's daughter Kourteney to come over for dessert. We stuffed ourselves again and enjoyed the company and conversation. It is so wonderful to have friends to celebrate such a wonderful day!
HAPPY EASTER!
On a "Finley Note": I have been feeling him move like crazy for quite sometime. I can now see my belly move sometimes when he gets going. Today during church and Sunday school, he got the hiccups. I had forgotten how this felt...but then it hit me that the long-running rhythmic pulses were hiccups. I hit the 23-week mark this weekend. How is this possible?!
__________________________________________________
A gentle reminder: I am walking in the March of Dimes walk on May 5th and am raising money to fund research and programs that help moms have full-term pregnancies and babies begin healthy lives. And your donation will also be used to bring comfort and information to families with a baby in newborn intensive care (this is where I was directly touched). I sincerely hope that you will consider giving to this organization. You can support me and my team here: And to see my original blog post with more information, go here.
Thank you again to those who have generously given. You have not only supported me, but you have supported babies and families that you don't even know.
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