Please pray with me

A family in our church has just experienced a loss that I can't even imagine. This woman and her husband have 2 children already and were excited when they found out that she was pregnant again. She had many complications throughout her pregnancy, but they had faith in God that he would carry them through and keep their baby healthy. Earlier this week her water broke (six weeks early) and she went into the hospital. The doctors gave her steroids to help develop the baby's lungs and they had scheduled a c-section for today at 3pm. This morning she had some complications: the baby's heart rate dropped and she started bleeding so they did an emergency c-section. The baby has gone home to heaven. I can't imagine what this family is going through right now, but through it all, they still continue to praise God and keep their faith. Please pray with me for this family during this difficult time.

God is in control and God is good.

The coming year

With 2010 coming to an end, I can't help but look back to see all the things that have happened. I've learned so much and I also am looking forward to what God is going to do in 2011!

Here are some of the things I thought of while thinking about our past year starting from January:
*We stepped out on faith with telling our apartment complex we weren't staying, uncertain if we would be able to rent the house. We had faith that God was going to bless us.
*Pat lost his job and was able to stay with us for 4 months. Even though it was tough at times, I felt blessed just as much!
*I started my photography business
*Pat got a job working for Camden, only 10 minutes from our house.
*Declan started school, and learned how to write on top of everything else he's learning.
*Alaina's speech is improving weekly
*God has given us more than enough this year so that we could be a blessing to others, whether it was through our time, finances, or just a helping hand.
*I was able to quit my job to stay home with my kids as well as help out a friend of ours by watching their baby while they work.
*Met many new and amazing people through serving at church.
*Learned ALOT on forgiveness, patience, and compassion.
*Alaina is potty trained!!!!

These are just some of the things that have happened over the past year. I am anxious to see what 2011 will look like, especially since Pat and I will have our bachelor's degrees, Declan will be in kindergarten and Alaina will hopefully be in preschool. I know that God is going to do some amazing things in the upcoming year! I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and trust that you will have a blessed and Happy New Year!

UPDATE

Friday morning I went to put a diaper on Alaina and she informed me that she needed to go potty. "okay!!!" was my reply. She'd done this many times before and never actually did anything but she liked to sit on the potty and I wasn't going stop her. Anyway, so she actually went and I was SUPER excited! I asked her if she wanted to wear underwear and her reply, "I want to wear ungerwears!!" with a huge smile on her face. We've since had undies on everyday since and she's only had 2 accidents...one the first day and then one today (she fell asleep in the car and accidently went). I am sooooo proud of her. It could be because I told her that Santa Claus wouldn't bring her any presents if she didn't start going on the potty. I know that sounds like bad parenting, but really it was just that she kept getting really bad diaper rashes and I felt bad for her. I knew the only way to get rid of the rashes was to get rid of the diapers.

Today we went to church, get our haircut, and to the mall and she didn't have one single accident while we were out (until she fell asleep, but that's okay!). I am so glad that we didn't try to force our kids to potty train before they were ready!

On another note, yesterday we went to Mizzou to see Pat's youngest sister graduate with her bachelor's degree. She graduated with a BS in chemical engineering, pretty cool! Other than that, we're just getting anxious for Christmas to get here. Declan informed me the other night that we need to leave out cookies and milk, "because that's what Santa REALLY likes". It's so much fun watching their excitement.

Our Winter

So for us, December is typically the busiest month of the year and this year is no exception. We have my dad, Pat's dad, Pat's step-mom, my grandma and Alaina's Birthdays all this month. That doesn't include Christmas, New Years, our anniversary and then all the Christmas programs and parties that we get invited to. I have to say that even though this is the busiest time of year for us, it's also the best. I LOVE Christmas time. I love it when it snows and everything is covered in a glistening white snow. It seems so magical and beautiful. Overall people seem happier and more cheerful and it's a great time for kids, too. I love seeing how excited my kids get on Christmas morning. Every Christmas, since Declan's been born, my parents come over on Christmas morning and we open gifts and we have breakfast and then we spend the rest of the afternoon with Pat's family. It's such a relaxing and fun time to the end of a year.

Last night we got our first snow of the year and the kids were SUPER excited about it. They wanted to go out and play so we dug out the boots from last year, bought them some snow suits and let them have a blast! They loved every minute of it! Hopefully it snows some more so we can actually take them sledding!!! Yesterday, since Pat worked, we went to see santa and then spent the afternoon with my mom and dad. Luckily we went to church last night so we didn't have to get out this morning!

Wow...it's been a while

Oh my goodness, I can't believe it's been a month and a half since I wrote on here. Not too much new stuff is going on here. Pat and I are nearing our Bachelor's degrees. He will be finished in March and I will be finished in June. This next semester is going to be a crazy one. I have class monday and tuesday nights and he has class wednesday and thursday nights. I just keep reminding myself that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Things with the kids are great! I think Declan has hit another growth spurt because his pants seem to be getting shorter. Alaina just had a visit from her Parents As Teachers lady and it went really well. She said that since September, she can understand Alaina so much better. Alaina will be 3 in just 3 short weeks :o( My baby is getting so big. Since Declan has been going to school, Alaina has really been enjoying her alone time with me on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and Declan has been much more behaved now that he gets out of the house frequently. He has his first school Christmas program next Wednesday! I can't wait!!!

Other than that, just living one day at a time and looking forward to actually having some free time!