Being Thankful

First of all I'm thankful for a Heavenly Father who gives us His Spirit to lead and guide us through the crazy things in life. He gives me peace and joy and patience and all the other things I need to live a life that glorifies Him.

James started reading a devotional book to us that he got for Christmas. It is about growing in thankfulness. He figured our kids could use some encouragement in being more thankful. Couldn’t we all? So here, in this first week of 2011, I am thankful for:
God’s protection. There were two incidents, that I know of, where God’s protective hand touched our lives this week.

Let’s go back to New Year’s Eve Eve. The conversation with James went like this: “I’m (Lori) not ready to take the tree down yet. I just love having it lit at night and I think I’d like to keep it up a few more weeks.” “I’m okay with that,” said James. Now onto New Year’s Eve. I’m in the kitchen, getting ready for the evenings festivities, when I suddenly hear a big crash. I look up and see this:


I didn't see Jay (he was helping me clean it up), but I saw Jesse standing there. He pushed that nine foot tree right over. That was the end of my idea of keeping the tree up. Down it came, but I am so thankful no one was standing under it. I am also thankful for the ornaments that miraculously didn't break. We did lose three special ornaments, and a bunch of others, but as Jay said, "Christmas is not about the ornaments". James was in the midst of changing two broken door knobs. He asked if I wanted to use them for anything, I told him to throw them it away (its those smaller, fake door knobs that Jay broke). One of the kids suggested I could make ornaments out of them. I made one for Elijah (the baby we lost) to replace the one I had made that got broken. The second I made for Jesse to remind him of this memory.


The kids got a basketball hoop for Christmas and we have had it set up in the livingroom. They weren't allowed to use it; we were just waiting for a good time to move it outside. We had a couple heavy wheat buckets weighting the back down to keep it from falling over. A couple days ago I was in the kitchen again and heard a big crash again. I looked up to see Rachel, Jedaiah and Jesse, all standing behind a fallen basketball hoop. I was so thankful none of them were by the hoop. Rachel said Jesse took the buckets off (I think she might have had something to do with it too). I have a chip out of my floor to remind me of God's protection.


I'm thankful Jesse made it through his first trip to the dentist. He got his first cleaning and cried a lot through it, but he didn't try to fight it. I'm thankful the dentist was able to fill Jonathan's first cavity right then in the office and saved us another trip.


I am thankful it is Friday. I've decided to change our schedule a bit for school. We are going back to Friday's off. It won't be a day off today because Josh and Jay still have school to do. It has been a rough week for them, trying to get back into the routine. They had some catching up to do from the week before Christmas and they still haven't caught up.


I'm thankful for the body God has given me. I am trying to do better to take care of it. I'm working on loosing a few pounds that I gained this past year. In trying to eat healthier, I'm learning about sprouting wheat. I learned this yesterday:


"According to research undertaken at the University of Minnesota, sprouting increases the total nutrient density of wheat berries. The nutritional content of the wheat berry quadruples in some of the vitamins and minerals through the sprouting process. For example, once the wheat berry is sprouted, vitamin B-12 quadruples, other B vitamins increases 3 to 12 times, vitamin E content triples, and the fiber content increases three to four times that of whole wheat bread!"

Also, the folic acid increases 278% and vitamin C increases 300%. I don't know how much it contains to begin with, but wow! I'm looking forward to learning something new and hopefully the process won't be too tedious. It doesn't sound too difficult. I'm all for increasing nutrients into our diet.


I am thankful for friends who are willing to watch our kids so James and I can go on a shopping date tomorrow. We have a few things to return and I want to shop for some birthdays that are coming up.


So that is week one of 2011. I am thankful that these are the stories I have to tell.

Wrapping Up 2010

Here are some pictures from our December. What a fun time we have had this past month, celebrating the seaSON.
We have had two snows this past month. I wouldn't really call this first one a storm. We got an inch or so, but the kids went sledding anyways. On Christmas Eve day we got a good storm that gave us four inches of snow. It is gone now, but the kids did play in it some (not as much as they could have though).
A week before Christmas we had our annual family Christmas program. The Hayes family joined us again this year and the kids sang and played songs. They got to practice some songs that they did the next morning in the church service.

Here are the younger kids singing. They did so well and they were quite cute!

Here is our audience.

At the end the kids did an improv, acting out the Christmas story while James read it. Here are the shepherds (Jon and Jay), reacting to the angel.

Here are the kids the next morning, singing in church. I especially enjoy watching Josiah sing, he really gets into it. Usually he strums along too.

Thanks to Mrs. Whitby, the kids got to make a gingerbread house. They were more interested in eating it, than making it look nice (that's boys for ya).

I just love this picture of Jesse and Jedaiah, playing with the tree.

Our annual Christmas Eve picture that will be made into an ornament for our tree next year.

Christmas morning. All healthy and feeling good, yeah! (if you wondering, see last Christmas' post)

Jesse got his favorite gift, an electric guitar, now we can throw the broken, baby guitar away.

James' parents shower us all with many gifts. Wow!

Josh and Maw-Maw

Josiah got a real mandolin! His Mommy has wanted one for many years, now she'll get to learn too (if she can find the time).

Rachel, with her doll and matching outfits. I loved helping to pick these out for her, so cute!!

She was very happy with her knock off American girl.

'Tis the Season to be Jolly...

I am loving this season of the year. It is my favorite. Our schedule is nice and light and so we have been enjoying lots of family time at home. I love sitting by the fire, watching a Christmas movie with the kids, with our Christmas tree all lit up. It is so peaceful and warm. We are doing school just three days a week this month. On our days off we are spending the time cleaning, baking, and other fun things (well, okay, the cleaning is not so fun, but it is nice when it is done). We are also preparing for our annual Christmas program that we put on at home. This year is our third year and the kids are getting better and better at their musical abilities. We invite some friends and family to come watch and it has become a great tradition that I hope to continue on into the grandchildren years. With my shopping almost complete and my wrapping just about finished, I am enjoying these days before Christmas with peace and joy. (Now, I've got to get to work on the yearly Christmas newsletter, I've put that off long enough.) Oh how blessed we are!!

Doing Well

I saw the OB today and am doing well. I have to wait another week before I start running on the treadmill again. Until then, I will just walk briskly. I have done well to take it easy this week. Tomorrow I'm spending the day shopping, hopefully I'm good and rested up for that. Emotionally, I'm doing fine. I have waves of sadness here and there. Overall, it was a healing week and God carrying us through it all.

Celebrating Elijah James

I want to share how God has been working through this miscarriage. Sunday night I started spotting and then last night before bed, the bleeding started. Throughout the night I had some contractions, but nothing too painful. I thought I was hours away from passing the baby, but just to make sure, I got a strainer. I was very surprised when I caught the baby. I woke James up and said, "I've got him". He took him and rinsed him off, he was so tiny, about 3/4 of an inch long. Then came the placenta and that was it. I've been feeling fine. I could hardly go back to sleep at 3:00 in the morning as I marveled in awe at God's creation. I'd be happy to share more details in person, but some of you think this is already too much information.

God fulfilled His purpose for Elijah on this earth and I am blessed to have been His vessel to carry him. God has blessed me through this with His presence, His peace and His joy. He knew the number of days of Elijah's life before even one of them came to be and I am priveleged to be used by God in this way. And I am so glad I got to see our little boy and look forward to seeing him on the other side of eternity.

We celebrated Elijah's life today. This morning the kids and I painted rocks and then wrote on them. I wrote on mine his name, his dates: 8/24/10 - 11/9/10 (conception to delivery), and the words: "straight into the arms of Jesus" and "we love you". We painted one for James and when he got home at lunchtime, he wrote on his. When I saw his rock that said, "Your Daddy loves you" the tears started to come. We went out as a family, on this beautiful fall day, to the swings we have back by the woods. There James dug a hole and then read part of Psalm 139. He started weeping as he was reading and then I started crying and we stood there for a few minutes, just holding each other and crying. Then James prayed and after that I comforted Rachel who was crying uncontrollably. I'm sure it was quite a sight to see her Mom and Dad so sad. But what a good picture for the kids to see that this life is valuable and that we love him and this loss is difficult. It was hard, but it was good to bring closure and to honor little Elijah. He left this world too soon, according to our plan, but not according to God's.

This afternoon I got a good nap. I am trying to take it easy these next couple days. Today we took off school, but the kids will do school the rest of the week (as long as I am feeling well, as I have since the miscarrage). Two people are bringing us meals this week and tonight James is bringing home Chinese (a rare treat). It will be a good way to end this day of mourning our loss and celebrating his life. The kids will probably never forget this day and we pray that this lesson of how precious the unborn are will stick with them for their lifetime.

God is Good

I went to my ultrasound today and my suspicion was confirmed. I wasn't surprised to hear "no heartbeat". The baby measured about eight weeks. That's about when my morning sickness stopped. I think God has been preparing me this last week for this news. We are sad, but I have such a peace. The baby must have died in this last week and I believe God gave me insight into this. I knew something was wrong with the baby. I prayed for God to take the baby, if I wasn't going to carry to term or if there was something wrong with the baby, so that it would not live. I feel He has answered that prayer and I am thankful. I'm thankful for all His blessings in my life. I just got off the phone with the doctor's office and they said my levels were great (hcg and progesterone). They want to do a repeat test on Monday to make sure the baby is gone. I pray that before then my body takes care of him (we'll assume he was a boy) on it's own. Thanks to all of you who have prayed and continue to pray for us through this sad time.

Sometimes it is Good to be Wrong

Yesterday morning I came to the conclusion that my uterus is too small. I thought for sure the baby had stopped developing and died a couple weeks ago. My morning sickness dissapated a couple weeks ago and that is too early for me. I was able to get in to see the doctor this morning. The doctor said my uterus was about normal for 11 weeks, but we couldn't hear the heartbeat (also not unusual for this age). Then the doctor did an ultrasound to see if he could see a beating heart. He did see one, to my surprise (and delight), but he did say the baby was small and that I must have had my dates messed up. I could only be off by a week at the most. I suspect my dates are right (I double checked them this morning). Next Thursday I will get a real ultrasound and we'll go from there. I'm at peace with whatever happens. I know God is in control and I trust him. I was prepared for the possibility of having a miscarriage this weekend and now I have hope that I won't for now.