Prayers apart

Ever want to be somewhere you're not? If I could choose to be somewhere else I'd be in Nashville today! My sweet mama is on my heart today. She has her first round of chemo at 10:00 CST this morning. It'll last 3 hours and she's off for the rest of the week to recover before going back to work. I'm so grateful that God surrounds us with "family" wherever we are. My brother and his wife are there to look after her as is my mom's "family". Her co-workers and church friends have become such an encouragement and support to her over the years and I promise you if they weren't all as good as gold I'd be there with my mom in a minute. But they are all so wonderful and are being so great to my mom when I can't be there for every appointment and treatment. Thank you all for loving on her and taking care of her for me. We are truly blessed and are grateful that God knows more than we do what we need.

My challenge is this--to love those without family near! Jim and I were loved immeasurably when we suffered our miscarriage 2 years ago by amazing people God placed near us for that time since we were 3 states away from family. Who is around us that needs a hand or shoulder as they walk this journey?

What color wig should I get?

Who ever asks that question? Well, my mom did today. After receiving results back from her lumpectomy she is on the low end (40 on a scale of 1 to 100) of high risk for breast cancer recurrance, so now it is advised that she start chemo. She will go once a month on a Wednesday afternoon and be off from work on Thursday and Friday. We are prayerful that this proactive approach will further diminish the possibility of recurrance.

Just so you know I told her to do something fun with her hair! When else do you get the chance to reinvent yourself and come forth with a totally new look? I guess that would be my lemonade in the situation--I think I'd pick a red wig!

***UPDATE*** Mama went wig shopping today (Thursday) and decided on a strawberry blonde! She tried on everything in the store she said except the one she figured was gonna glow in the dark.....can't wait to see that!

Parent commitment

Today was a special day for us. This morning we stood with other families in our church family to commit to raising Jacob in a home that will show him who God is. We desire nothing more than for our precious kids to know the God who created them and to walk daily in relationship with Him! We covet your prayers as we seek to be parents who are authentic with our kids. We're just entering the stage of loving discipline, praying for patience (that would be me) and truly seeing Megan start to "get it." We've recently gotten her a new Bible that steps up the message of Christ in each Bible story and I'm amazed at her level of comprehension. Our prayer is that our kids will see Christ in us and desire that in their own lives. As they grow and begin to process and think critically may they see and choose Him.

To the beach

Many of you know this past year was really hard for our family. We haven't really had the time to take a vacation with all that's gone on and we were starting to feel it. Jim decided and I'm so glad he did that it was time for us to get away! We were able to head to the beach for a week of relaxation and it was wonderful! The house we rented had a pool and we could walk to the beach each day. You'll notice one picture is Megan holding out her hand. The beach was littered with jellyfish which was of great concern to me. Jim promptly went and asked the lifeguard on duty about the danger of so many jellyfish being on the shore. We discovered that these are moon jellyfish and are completely harmless! Needless to say they loved this new discovery. Jim loved to body board while the kids napped and I actually read almost a whole book! Megan and Jim went to a minor league game one night, we went out to eat for my birthday and we shopped a little and rested a lot! We didn't really do a whole lot, but here are a few pictures from our week.....

Jacob pics!

Here are a few recent pictures of Jacob. On the move walking, riding his new scooter, matting his mac & cheese all in his hair, first drink with a straw and bathtime!

Family visit

We love having company and were thrilled when my brother John, his wife Janna and our neice Alana chose to spend their vacation with us! The kids had so much fun playing, we had fun playing cards and getting out to see some sites in Orlando too!

Water park

For playgroup one day we went to check out a new water pad park. The kids love all the water even though both are a bit cautious of the water coming up from the ground and down from spouts.....there's a great playground next to it as well. We enjoyed it so much we took Alana when she came down for a visit!

Vacations and birthdays

Well, the beach was great. I got 26 pages done in Jacob's book--all the way from birth until we moved to Florida! I feel great about that accomplishment. It was so fun to look back over this last year and see his growth and all the people who have surrounded us and loved on us! My brother and his family came last week and spent their vacation with us. I'll try to post pictures soon. (I'm having camera issues). We had a lot of fun and Meg and Jacob both loved playing with their cousin Alana. We miss being near them and letting the kids grow up together--we try to take advantage of every opportunity to get them together now. While they were here we visited Sea World, Downtown Disney, the new water pad park, had a cookout and saw fireworks and tried to eat out a couple of times. Seriously both times we went out for dinner the restraunts were closed--one for vacation and the other with new hours. We're off today for a vacation of our own, so I'll post next week and let you know what all we did. Jacob's parent commitment service is also next Sunday, so we'll let you know about that and share pictures as well. Have a great week everybody.

Just a side note--tomorrow is my 3....th birthday and I just wanted to wish my birthday buddy Stacey a Happy Birthday! She is truly one of the best friends a person could hope for--we met the first time we lived here in Florida and discovered we have the exact same birthday. Couldn't think of anyone better to share this day with!