One Year Ago

Right after Avery was born, before my blogging days, I started a little journal of sorts. I was looking over it today and found this post from that journal exactly one year ago today. I thought I would post it here as a reminder of how far we have come. So here are some of my thoughts from one year ago today:

This is Avery on 2/27/08

2/28/08

Today Avery is 3 pounds 1.6 ounces. Slowly but surely. I feel like we are on a roll now. I hope so. She is doing so well. Today they did say she has a little eye infection. Nothing serious though. We have been so blessed that she has done so well. God is so awesome and taking such great care of of Avery for us. Today they put her on "Ad Lib" which apparently means they give the preemies a regular size newborn baby bottle and let them take as much as they want. she had been on 25 cc's, then yesterday they gave her 30 cc's, but today they let her have the big girl bottle of mommys milk. She took 45 cc's of it until they took it away from her. She processed all of it. WOW I still feel like I wish all of this wasn't happening this way. I wish everything was normal like with my three babies and all my friends babies, and their kids babies. But I guess we just have to say this is "our normal".

We have certainly experienced a new normal for us. We are thankful for God's purpose in our lives. We know without a doubt God is good, all the time! This is our Avery today!

Sunsets

I really love sunsets. I guess I have always loved things in nature. I love mountains, oceans, stars, sunsets and the like. For some reason I feel like telling you this story about sunsets. In October of 1997 I lost my daddy to lung cancer. We knew, of course, he was sick and got the call to come. My husband drove me to Memphis to the hospital. He had to work and since we didnt know how long I would be there; he went back home to work for the rest of the week He also had a wedding to perform in a few days. So he went back home. Unfortunately a day later my daddy passed away. That was one of the two hardest days of my life. I wont give all the details because I wouldn't be able to see to type through the tears. The exact moment that my daddy went to be with the Lord, our family was gathered there in the hospital room. My mom was standing by my brother, and they embraced. My sister was by her husband. They embraced. So on and so forth around the room. Everyone was paired up with someone who comforted them. Remember Todd had gone home not knowing that things would happen so quickly and so, in that room full of people I was alone. That was the most alone I have ever felt. I walked over to the window facing away from his bed. I looked outside and immediately saw the most beautiful sunset I had ever seen. I will never forget that sight. The Lord sent it to me to comfort me and it did bring some comfort. There are sunrises and sunsets. Life begins and life ends. There is beauty in both. It was a very painful day (time) for me. But I believe my daddy got things right with God before October 17, 1997. I know that one day I will see him again in Heaven. I'll see him, Carson, Jesus, and so many others. So until then I will enjoy the sunsets God chooses to send me, each and every special one.

Almost Wordless Wednesday

An example of her walking on her tippy toes! Not a good thing. But we are working on it. :)

Tonight

Tonight we had a delicious supper. I made Po-Boys. They had grilled chicken breast with melted cheddar cheese, roasted red pepper, avocado, chopped calamata olives, lettuce, tomato, mayonnaise, and mustard. Just to let you know how good it was, I dove into it and didn't even get a picture to show you here. Sorry, but let me assure you it was Deeeeeeee Licious! (As Todd would say)
After supper I went to my Beth Moore study. We had some good discussion. We talked briefly about different personalities and how our differences show in the way we serve God. One person there talked about how she wasnt particularly emotional. I of course shared something and ended up in tears over it. I guess I am the opposite of "not particularly emotional". I really hate the way I always end up in tears over things. My emotions always well up when I talk about things I am passionate about. I was speaking of someone at school. There is this student who I really care about. I care about all of them, but this one in particular is in the front of my mind right now. I know she needs the Lord and His love and presence in her life. I realize that I only have a couple of months left to show Gods glory in my life to her. So I asked them to pray for me that I will follow God and know exactly how to do that for her. Of course I cried in the asking. I wonder why I cant just do something like that without tears. I hate it. But they did pray for me and threw me a tissue too. So thats a couple of things that went on with me tonight. What did you do tonight?

Avery's Early Entry

You may already know this, if you read Casey's blog you do. But I wanted to put it here just in case. Today Avery had an article written about her in the Profile section of the local newspaper here. The writer did a great job and we are very pleased with it. Those were certainly scary days, wondering what God had in store for us. It was definitely a time when we daily put our trust completely in Him. We trust Him daily now as well of course, but there are times in your lives when there are no answers only waiting on the Lord. That is what we were doing then. We were waiting on the Lord every moment. We are fully blessed. Here is a link to the article. if you haven't seen it yet, take a look.

Who Me?

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.
I wasn't going to do a Not Me post this time, but so many things did not happen I decided to! LOL So on with the show!
I did not leave one of my bags at Walmart this week and have to return there the same day to reshop the items I left.
I then did not get backed into by a little old lady at Walmart who promptly drove away with her little white head just above the steering wheel.
I DID NOT get a large scrape on the back side of my Brand New Toyota Camry!
I definitely did not throw my Walmart bag onto the counter when I got home after seeing the aforementioned scrape. That would probably be considered throwing a fit and I am a grown woman who knows that material things are not what matters.
I did not pay quite a large sum of my income tax return to repaint the damaged area of my car, because I wouldn't mind at all to drive it around like that.
It is not completely back to normal now and beautiful again already.
I also did not drop the spatula into the stand up mixer while I was mixing a cake batter and jam it up since I couldn't grab the spatula or turn it off quick enough.
The beaters are not bent at all and will still turn normally in my expensive mixer.
So I know you folks had plenty you could have written too. Come on, admit it.

Wordless Wednesday

I love...

This is Valentines week, so I decided to list several things I love. Of Course I love the Lord, first of all, and Todd my man-as Beth Moore would say.

I love my beautiful daughter-Casey,

my precious oldest son-Mark,

and my only child living at home now-Josh.

I love my sweet Avery,

and my family. But here are some other things I love...

In no particular order------------

• Mocha Blended Ice, with an extra shot of espresso, no cream
• Sunsets
• Mountains ---- This is actually the Grand Canyon which I have never seen. This picture is from Marks trip.
  
• The Beach
• My Nikon D60
• My Wood laminate floors
• My new Storm door Uncle Mickey got us for Christmas No this is not the door, this is Uncle Mickey
  
• My Guitar
• Being Creative
• My Toyota Camry
• Taking pictures
• Spaghetti and many other pasta dishes
  
• Spending time with Todd
• Singing Praises
• Cooking
• Clothes
• Jackets
• Cheesecake
• Weekend Trips away
• Watching "It's A Wonderful Life" at Christmas
• Being in Gods will
• Finding something in Gods word that speaks to me
• Saturdays
• The way Todd talks in his sleep sometimes
  
• The sound of limbs creaking from the heaviness of ice on them
• Macaroni and Cheese
• Unsweet Tea
• The sound of Todd breathing in bed beside me as he sleeps
• Looking at the stars and moon
• Fresh Fruit
  
• Laughing until I cry
  
• 
  
• Those are some of the things I love. Comment here and tell me some of the things you love! Happy Early Valentines Day!
  

Every part of my week

Well this was certainly a long week. Some weeks are longer than others. Why is it that when stuff happens or things get crazy it seems to drag the week out? Then of course the weekend flies by like it's coming off a sling shot. I cant believe I have to work in the morning again already! Hopefully this week will be less eventful at school. Maybe a week with no drug dogs, no federal or state observers, and no resignations. Maybe even some education happening. That would be great. Just a thought. I am still enjoying my memorization with Beth Moore. This week my verse is Deuteronomy 6:5-7 Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down, and when you get up. I love this verse. First of all I think it is neat that it says to love God with all your strength. Ever noticed how some days we have more strength than others. We are to love God with what we have at that moment. God loves us with all that He is, but He is God, and we are not. We love him and praise Him and worship Him. We do. Some days though we feel weaker than others and on those days too, we are to love Him with all our strength. I think it is neat how this reminds us how important loving our Lord is. It is so important that we teach our children how to love Him with all their strength, great or small. I always laugh a little at the part that says talk about them while you sit at home. Like I am sitting at home eating bon bons. Or in Averys case here, birthday cake!

Anyway I know this is telling us, that He is to be in every part of our lives. Not just the church part, every part. At home, on the street leaving the home, (What sweeter feet to walk on a road with than these.)
At the end of the day,



and the beginning of the day. Jesus is in every single part. Thank God that He is in every part of my life, for how would I make it without Him. I wouldn't, that's how.

OMG Is is Monday again already?!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Okay here are some of the things that havent happened to me lately.

I guess I would be kind of embarrassed if this really had happened so its a good thing it really did not. Here's the thing (Act like you dont know this already) I decided to get a little more organized by taking my cookbook where I write my recipes and remove all the computer printouts and all the recipes that are written on paper and actually write them down in the cook book and throw away all the papers tucked inside. Good idea right? So what I did not do is-I did not take the VERY FIRST recipe that I wrote in the cookbook-and I did not IMMEDIATELY get up and go make those cookies when I realized I had all the ingredients. I did not then eat them while they were warm until I was full! Done with organization on with chowing down on some Peanut Butter Blossoms! I mean NOT done, NOT chowing down. No Peanut Butter Blossoms. Thats what I meant.
I did not open that same cookbook again this week and make another batch of another kind of cookie - Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip simply because I had all the ingredients. Darn my stocked cabinets!
I did not get the tiniest bit jealous because one of my friends (Pattie) gave me some hand me down clothes that someone had given her; because they were too big for her. I was not the least bit surprised nor at all frustrated or disgusted that none of them fit me either; because they were too tight! (I am a little suspicious that she doesnt keep her cabinets well stocked! She probably doesnt even like peanut butter!) Blast her!

I did not keep Avery on Sunday all day and skip eating(except for a half a piece of her birthday cake), first because I was waiting on Todd to get home and was going to order something for both of us. But then when he didnt get off and had to work until late into the night, because I just was too busy. I absolutely understand how Casey gets everything done since she works a full time job, takes care of Avery (while not being able to take Avery with her to run errands...) and keeps her house PERFECT! (She is a bit of a neat freak. Sorry precious!) It's perfectly understandable how she does it all. I mean she is young right?

Okay and last but not least this is not another picture of Avery:That definitley does not melt my heart!