Randomness at it's Best

Sorry for my lack of posts lately...Not that I haven't been posting, but just not as regularly as I once was :) I'm sure there is no love lost or anything like that! So the holiday season is officially upon us! My mom will be flying into Norfolk first thing in the morning so we can get our Thanksgiving on...or something like that. Last night, while I was putting up our tree (yes, Lindsay I did it--while listening to RK's Christmas album haha), Chris Bradford came over and brought little Macie...whom I might add is not so little anymore.

Macie and Alana

Now you might be wondering why Alana is holding her...or better yet, why she is giving me this borderline evil look. Well, the truth is that she would not come near me haha. I must give off bad vibes or something. As soon as Chris handed her to me, she started bawling. I thought there must be something wrong with this kid to choose Chris over me...but then again, I guess he IS her daddy. Then Justin got home, and just as I had suspected...Macie went right to him with no problem. Chris tried to get her to go to me again and guess what? Yep, she flipped out. Apparently, she forgot about the time I went and stayed with her and she didn't cry at all...Now that she's "older" I guess she has decided to form her own opinion about me. And it's not a good one.

I tried to get some pictures of Alana with our Charlie Brown Christmas tree, but these are what I got...The tree was without the candy canes and icicles anyway. I'm sure there will be more pictures of that to come!

For those of you going out of town this week for Turkey day, be safe! Everyone be thankful for what God has given you...even if it is a knack for making babies scream!

Peace, Love and HUGE Complexes

Happy Birthday, Daddy/Papa!

Today is my dad's birthday! Happy birthday, Daddy! And furthermore, happy birthday, Papa! :) We wish we lived closer so that we could celebrate today with you...especially if it involves eating cake! I know I've been blessed with having such an amazing dad...someone that I know I can always count on. And now you are such a super Papa, too! I couldn't ask for more...







Here's to hoping you have the best birthday ever!!! Happy Birthday, and many many more! We love you SO much!!! xoxoxoxo

Snowing!

I looked out my bedroom window this morning, expecting to see rain...and much to my surprise it was SNOW instead! Nothing accumulating, but it's still crazy to see snow so early! The guys are supposed to be pulling in today, so let's pray that this snow thing doesn't keep them away like the fog did. And I'm pretty sure Justin will be home for a while now...So yay for that :)

Peace, Love and Flurries

Putting it Back Together

Alana got her hair cut today...But that's not really what this post is about :) You can't really see it, but Alana is wearing a necklace in this picture...I'm not sure who gave it to her (and neither is she)...she just knows that today it's her favorite piece of jewelry. Somewhere between video-chatting with the Millers and going to take movies back, it broke...and when I say broke, I mean beads and more beads everywhere. I quickly said, "It's ok, it's ok" and she was quick in replying back with "NO IT'S NOT!!!"

Flashback to Sunday morning at church. I've missed 2 services, because I was either in KidLife changing diapers or in the ER trying to keep my child sane. This week I was extremely happy to be able to go and worship. Pastor Fred used this illustration about one of his kids breaking a coffee mug that was special, and I remembered today what he told him. He told them he could fix it...he is the father that puts the pieces back together.

And just like that, Alana and I collected every last one of the beads...the pink ones AND the shiny silver ones. I threaded each one back on, one at a time...counting them so that they were in the correct pattern. Six pink, one silver, Seven pink, one silver, Six pink, and so on...It was tricky but I managed to get them all back on. I had to leave a few off so I could tie it again, and even that proved itself quite difficult. When I was done, I looked up and saw the smile on Alana's face, where there had so recently been tears. I told her that if she broke it again I wouldn't fix it, but who am I kidding--we know I would. That's what moms do!


It's funny, because had Pastor Fred not used that illustration on Sunday I might have just called it a loss and thrown the beads in the trash. But instead as I patiently (ok, semi-patiently) put each bead back onto the string, I thought of how patient God must be. I just have one child. He has so many...and He is constantly having to put our pieces back together...one by one...How amazing is that?! When life gets us down, we can rest assured that God knows how to get things back the way they should be...and He can do it without leaving off anything!

Peace, Love and Sermon notes

My First "Check"

I am happy to be able to finally post these, because it means that Justin is home. He's been home for about 10 minutes...but he's showering and then it will be camp-out time with Alana. This is a tradition. So I can steal away a few minutes to post a blog about what I've been doing while he's been gone--other than caring for a sick child and trying to keep myself well. On my "list" I wrote that I wanted to clean out our spare room (aka Daddy's room). It was SO full of clutter on a ridiculous level. There were boxes in there that were still in there unpacked from when we moved in August of last year! It is an extra room, no one lives in there...but what's the point of having wasted space. Plus, I watched Oprah the other day and she said that if your house is cluttered, so will your life be...or something like that :) I also decided to add some color to our room. Justin often says that we need some color in our house...not sure this is exactly what he had in mind, but he loves it and said it makes the room so peaceful. So here it is!

The blue is actually darker than it looks here :)

Live Well, Love Much, Laugh Often

That orb is throwing off the feng shui (or is it the tv, Mom?)

The spare room
(Trust me, there was no floor space on this whole wall or behind the chair!)

Spare Room from the other angle.

Ok, so I guess that's the first thing I get to check off my list! Woohoo! Now I'm going to go spend some time with my hubby and Alana. We have to take advantage of the day and a half we have together...Tonight, we are going to eat at Friday's with the McKinneys for a "going away" dinner for Andrea :(

I almost forgot, but I fixed our bed, too!!! We've been dealing with a flimsy frame for about a year now, and all it took for me to fix it was about 30 cents worth of nuts and bolts from Lowe's. Gotta love it!

Peace, Love and Renovations

Fog Schmog

These are the faces of two very sad girls. We have been waiting ALL day to see Justin...and we just found out about 10 minutes ago that he isn't coming home today after all. Apparently it's super foggy out there and not safe for them to pull in. Try explaining this to a 4 year old though. A 4 year old who's had her heart set on going to see Madagascar 2 as soon as Daddy got home. I've even heard whispers that they might just stay out til next week (they were only going to be home until Monday anyway). Please pray that it's not true and my hubby will be here to drag us out of bed in the morning!

Peace, Love and Stupid weather conditions

Finding Comfort in Him

I woke this morning from a dream that seemed to last all night. I don't remember much of what it was about, but I do remember who was in it. It was this darling boy with big blue eyes, Luke Knauss! For those of you who know Luke, you already know how easy he is to love. The way he smiles could melt the hearts of even the most stone-cold souls! For those of you who are clueless, he is the youngest son of some of my dearest friends, Marc and Melissa. By the time I got downstairs this morning and turned on my computer (the way I start most everyday, at least when Justin is gone) I had an email saying Luke's CarePage had been updated...It hasn't been updated in a while, so I was quite interested to see what it said. It's one of those things that you have to be invited to read, but I got permission from Melissa to post what she wrote:

Hello all!

Here is the long awaited next chapter in the Luke Knauss story. Back in July Luke met with a Neurosurgeon and Plastic Surgeon regarding surgery on his head for what is called a “Cranial Vault Expansion” to enlarge the small head he has as a result of his brain injury. The surgery was all scheduled and ready to get underway when his Neurosurgeon got deployed to Iraq. This left us needing to start from scratch and it was now September. We met with a new Neurosurgeon on at Naval Medical Center Portsmouth (NMCP) in VA and again he recommended surgery but it would seem that the surgery would happen just before the end of the year and we knew that we’d be moving back to Washington State in early 2009 when Marc plans to get out of the Navy. Marc and I prayed long and hard and consulted with the medical staff at NMCP and we came to the conclusion that it would be best for Luke if the boys and I moved back to Washington to have the surgery started and finished in the same location.

On October 1st the boys and I arrived in WA. Marc stayed back in Virginia and moved back onto the ship until his service obligation is over. After a couple weeks, Luke had a consult at Children’s Hospital…they denied his surgery. “It’s too dangerous”, “it’s not worth the risk”, “it’d be more cosmetic than medically necessary”. I was flabbergasted to say the least. I had never expected for an instant that it would be denied. I’d never heard the slightest hesitation from the three docs who recommended the surgery at NMCP. I MOVED across country WITHOUT my husband for this! My wonderful husband was thousands of miles away for no good reason!

A second opinion was recommended and that appointment was set up for a month later. At first my prayers were pleas to God to change the minds of the doctors to allow the surgery. I scoured Luke’s medical record for the reports from the doctors who had recommended the surgery and highlighted “the good stuff”. Every day I pleaded with the Lord and hoped that the second opinion would be different. About a week before Luke’s second opinion my prayers intensified and as they did I finally surrendered. “Lord let Your will be done” became my new plea. What if the Lord had been protecting Luke all this time: the Neurosurgeon getting deployed, the denial here at Children’s, what if my selfish pleas were answered and I got what I wanted but it wasn’t the will of God? What if it was a disaster?

The day of the second opinion came. I felt calm and relaxed…not anxious and excited like the first appointment at Children’s. I had my binder with Luke’s medical information in hand, with sections highlighted, but I knew that whatever happened was going to be God’s confirmation of His will, with or without my random data or the appeals to the doctors that I’d rehearsed 100 times in my head but knew I’d never speak of word of. In my back pocket I had a page ripped out of my journal from early July when I first prayed about Luke having surgery…I had scribbled comforting words that I felt the Holy Sprit speak to me.

“Cling to Me. I am in control regardless of what happens. I am healing him and protecting him. I will comfort you. I will be with you all the way. I have and will continue to keep him safe. He is destine to be a testimony to Me and there is no greater destiny than this. “

The doctor began by examining Luke’s head and then pulling up and explaining Luke’s various CT scans. I knew where it was going almost instantly. “I am healing him and protecting him.” My sprit recalled the words on the paper folded in my back pocket. The doctor went on to explain that even if they did the surgery, Luke’s brain had already done the bulk of it’s growing and that it would not fill the space created by the surgery. This could lead to infection caused by the excess spinal fluid that was forced to fill in the gap. Luke’s head would be extremely fragile after the surgery, forever (remember Luke has a brother who is three years older than him, I’m sure Luke is going to take a few footballs to the head in his lifetime). Most terrifying of all: The skull wants to be close to the brain, there is a good chance that the skull may collapse in order to restore its natural place! Wow! “I have and will continue to keep him safe.” I am SO glad Luke’s Neurosurgeon got deployed! What if we had stayed in VA and Luke had the surgery!? The surgery could have been fatal! What if I hadn’t submitted to the Lord and I actually got what I had been praying for? “Cling to Me.”

Luke will continue to be monitored by the Neurosurgery clinic at Children’s. When his about 7 years old they will evaluate him for implants for his forehead and cheekbones to make his face look broader. He wouldn’t have that surgery until after he turns 10. When his face is completely done growing they will evaluate him for implants to his jaw and “lower face”. He would have that surgery as an adult. Luke is a beautiful child. If you were to look at him now you’d only see his big blue eyes and great big smile, his golden ringlets, his eager excitement and his ready love.

So Luke may have a small head, it’s a strong, healthy head. So he might get teased. “He is destine to be a testimony to Me and there is no greater destiny than this.” He may also have those who read this pray that his head does grow, miraculously. The plates of his skull of still open, his head would still grow if his brain gained mass. Every day Luke’s life is a miracle, every day he does something THEY said he’d never do. Everyday I’m brought close to tears by the simple things he is able to do that most people take for granted. Why should this, why should Luke’s brain growing supernaturally be any different? Maybe you’ll ask someone else to pray for this miracle too. Maybe you or those you ask will be encouraged to pray for what seems impossible in your life…for what THEY say could never happen. “I will comfort you.”

I dreamed about Luke all night long, unknowingly. I said it was a coincidence, but we as believers know that it was not! I read these words that Melissa so graciously shared, and I felt completely empowered...That in the times in life that seem most dark and frustrating, she found peace--knowing that this was God's will for Luke's life all along. I am so proud to call Melissa my friend. She is one of the strongest women I know, and that strength comes from her faith in God. If only we could all be so trusting. She holds a special place in my heart, and I know that her confident prayers have also brought peace into my own life. I would like to ask that upon reading Luke's story, you would all take the time to pray for him. I know many of you already are. Pray that God will continue to perform miracles in this little boy's life...and also that God will bless as many lives with Luke's story as possible! I know he's touched mine...

Peace, Love and "unanswered" prayers xo