Friday, April 23, 2010

God is Good... ALL THE TIME... God is Good

In my Easter post I mentioned how we were celebrating God's goodness to us. Little did we know that our family would be celebrating EVEN MORE of His goodness in the weeks to come.

On Sunday morning, April 11, my parents came in my room at 12:30 am and told me that Bethany had been in a horrible car accident and they were going to the scene. At that very moment my heart quit beating. They didn't know anything except that she was trapped and they were having to cut her out of the car. Bethany had been on her way home from work when she was t-boned by someone running a red light. He hit her going 70 MPH and sent her into a pole. She was trapped from both sides. For the next hour, I sat on my bed crying out to the Lord begging Him to save her and for her not to be hurt. Of course, I couldn't do anything but that because I had 2 precious little people sleeping and couldn't leave them. When I wasn't praying I was posting on Facebook! :) I know, funny but what was AMAZING to me was the amount of people actually on FB at that moment and had begun praying within seconds of me posting just the words "pray." (on a side note... do you know that Facebook is the THIRD largest "country" in the world, behind India and China??? FB has over 400 million people). A few "coincidences" happened that night. However, we as Christians know that that word isn't the right one. :) The first police officer at the scene recognized Bethany right away. Bethany had been her ER nurse about 2 years ago! The police officer got on her phone and told the ambulance to get there right away because Bethany was "one of their own." Gives you goosebumps doesn't it?!? The first paramedic that came to Bethany's window was someone that she knew as well. The other "coincidence" was that Bethany had gotten off the freeway because of another accident. The other accident was the son of some great family friends of ours who the Lord chose to also save that night! Bethany and Garrett were across the hall from each other in the ER. Because there was a car on one side of Bethany and a pole on the other side they ended up cutting off her rear passenger door thinking they could get her out that way but her seat wouldn't recline far enough for that to happen. Since Bethany is an ER nurse and since she knew she could move everything she told the paramedic to put a collar around her neck and help her crawl out of her drivers window. So that is what happened. Good thing she is so tiny :) They put her in the ambulance and took her to Baylor where she worked. Long story short.. by God's GOODNESS and His faithfulness... my sister is completely FINE! No broken bones, no seat belt bruises that could be seen in her wedding dress, no facial scratches. Just really really REALLY sore! See, I told you God was GOOD! Actually, I think He's pretty darn GREAT! And I think you will agree with me when you see these pictures! Thank you Father for protecting my sister!


You can see my mom coming up to the car. Story about that, when they were about to leave in the ambulance my mom finally got to see Bethany. She grabbed her hand and said a little prayer. The EMT looked at Bethany and said that "in the 8 years I have worked in this rig, I have never seen anyone pray. Something special is going on in here right now."
the first person Bethany called was her fiance Luke who called my parents. of course Luke, the photographer he is, grabbed his camera on his way out!


Bethany did have a nasty bruise on her left hip from the car hitting her in that place :(

sorry, out of order. sweet thing had a pediatric collar on :)


can you see it??? the most TINIEST scratch. that's all she had! the paramedic said that because she was wearing her sweatshirt jacket the glass didn't cut her. thank goodness she is cold all the time :)

I love you to pieces Bethany and I'm so glad you are enjoying Hawaii at this very moment!

Plano Fire Department

One evening before dinner Jake was going a little stir crazy so my dad and I loaded him in the car and took a trip to the fire station. The guys who work at the Plano fire station were SO GREAT with Jake! Jake loved every second of it!







Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Easter

I'm a little bit overwhelmed at some of the posts I need to write... things have been a little wild the past couple of weeks!)
But let's start with Easter.
This was the first Easter I have spent with my family since we moved to California 5 years ago. I was so happy to be able to be home. The only not so fun part is that we were away from Mark. He had scheduled a work trip and at the time didn't know that it was over the Easter weekend. Boo! The Saturday before we headed to the little assisted living facility where my grandparents live for a egg hunt. Personally, I thought the Easter bunny was a little scary and Jake was uneasy at first but he had a blast hunting eggs. Sunday, we celebrated our Risen King by going to church, having the most delicious lunch by my mom, spending time with family, attempting(key word) a decent family picture... see below, hunting more eggs, and soaking in God's goodness to all of us.
Enjoy our pictures from the weekend! :)


sweet guy waiting patiently!


saying "cheese" while eating his chocolate :)


showing his pap-pa how to drill

Jake's easter loot



this is us being "real" :)

unfortunately this was as good as it was gonna get this year!

grass + chocolate= NO WAY we are going to look at the camera!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Mother's Day Out

Today was a big day for Jake! He got to go to Mother's Day Out for the first time. You see, no one in California knows what MDO even is (so sad) so Jake has never been. My dad's church, Dallas Bible has started a program and since we are home for almost 2 months we got to go today. This morning he woke up saying, "skool momma." I loved being able to pack him a little lunch- the first of thousands to come. I loved taking his little "first day of school" picture. I loved walking him into his little class. I loved every minute of it. I know it sounds so cheesy, it's not even a big deal but I don't care, it was a big deal for Jake and his mommy :) Sweet little man is growing up so fast!






Monday, April 5, 2010

Guess Who is Half a Year Old???

"PEUSE IS"! (said like Jake)

Since we are in Dallas for about 7 weeks we will miss our actual 6 month check up at the pediatrician. So we don't have any "official" growth stats but what we do know about this little man is...
- He is on the move!!!
Doing the snake move all over the place (a whole month earlier than Jake)
Time to re-baby proof the house
- Is sitting up for longer and longer periods of time
- Has gone back to waking up in the middle of the night- BOO!
He will wake up anywhere between 3 and 5, completely starving! And then will go back to sleep till around 8
- Is taking 2 naps, sometime 3
- LOVES LOVES LOVES his big brother!
- Still not a fan of cereal. Spits everything out
- Got his first ear infection- BOO!
- We had to raise the rail to his crib because he was starting to pull up on it AND peer up over!
- Owns the hearts of his momma, daddy, and big brother

I just cannot believe he is 6 months already!
My heart is overflowing with love for this little guy!





THANK YOU JESUS FOR OUR MANY BLESSINGS!


Saturday, April 3, 2010

Resemblance Perhaps?

I found this picture a few weeks ago and after seeing the picture of Pierce at his dedication I think I know who he looks like... you be the judge though!


Pierce at 6 months


Pierce's momma at 6 months

Friday, April 2, 2010

SHEER JOY...

... looks like this!


I love you so much sweet Jake!

Dedication

Mark and I had the privilege of dedicating Pierce to the Lord this past Sunday. What a special morning it was that we were able to do it in my dad's church. How fun for a papa to help dedicate his grandson! It was completely different from when we dedicated Jake. With Jake, we were focused completely on Jake, listening to my dad, Mark and I had our thoughts perfectly rehearsed. With Pierce, we were trying so hard to be focused completely on Pierce however I was also trying to keep Jake from knocking down the guitars, jumping off the amps or the stairs of the stage. I guess it was too much to ask a 2 year old BOY to stand STILL for 5 minutes! :) He did stop at the front of the stage and bow his head (couldn't close his eyes though) when my dad said, "Jake, let's pray." Never the less, it was a special time for Mark and me to stand before our children, God, friends and family to give Pierce back to the Lord.

Our prayer for Pierce is for wisdom in raising him in a way that will bring God glory. Pierce from the very beginning has been just a happy baby. He literally makes my heart want to burst (in nothing but the BEST way). He is just so full of joy and that is my prayer is that he will have the JOY of the Lord in his life. That whoever he meets will see that JOY.

Being a mom to both Jake and Pierce has been the greatest most humbling most rewarding job. I thank Jesus everyday for this incredible job. I know that ultimately they belong to the Lord but I'm having the time of my life, cherishing every moment I have with them!

Pierce, I love you, your daddy loves you. We are so proud to be your parents. Thank you Jesus for this special gift!