The anniversary of freaking life

I wasn't quite in the mood to write today-but then I realized that I still had the not so happy post still up at the top and I don't like that much.

So, I'm writing.

Things are getting better. I'm starting to feel better although there have been a few moments where I was just sad, BUT...thankfully, they aren't really happening that often!

Phew.

Thank goodness...I don't like being down.

I just wanted to say thank you so much for the prayers-I can say that I truly know that they work because 1)I'm feeling better and 2)prayers a powerful thing!

I'll end by explaining my title for this post (sorry for the randomness-like I said, I wanted to get rid of the downer post at the top and well...this is what happen when I go blindly into posting!). You see, I was visiting my Gm earlier tonight with my dh and I was telling her about upcoming plans.

I told her we were going to hear Dave Ramsey speak on October 1 (he's awesome..teaches people how to get out of debt using a snow ball effect, and he's Christian and well, just awesome) because my BIL bought us tickets. I then told her that he mentioned that since the 2nd is my birthday (wahoo, I LOVE birthdays!!) that we should probably go out and celebrate on the 30th of September because well, after going to the seminar we aren't going to want to spend money...

My Gm then laughed and told me that I was crazy to get excited about birthdays and then mentioned something about not celebrating that much or something about every 5 years or so.

I told her, "Umm...birthdays are the anniversary of freaking life!" Not, my quote, but a quote stolen from Kelle Hampton and I couldn't agree more. :)

So, if you are wondering what I am looking forward to, it's that in 2 weeks from yesterday, it will be my birthday. And even though there are times I look and think about where I thought I would be by now...I'm grateful for all that I do have and I am not going to let some "what could have would have should have beens" ruin my birthday.

I'm truly a blessed woman-even in the middle of the not so great days.

"Birthdays...celebrate them. Plain and simple. Whether you are 2 or 42. It's not a promotion. It's not a graduation. It's the anniversary of freaking life!" (Kelle Hampton-Enjoying the Small Things).

Heavy heart

I don't even know why I've been feeling so blue because honestly this past month I was at such peace and felt so much hope (maybe not ever for that cycle necessarily, but in general) and was just plain happy relaxing and enjoying every single moment of me and my dh's "off month."

Then this cycle hit and my hormones have just gotten the best of me this week. I have had too many melt downs-wet tears, broken heart, sad soul.

A heavy heart.

There have been so many amazing blogger pregnancy announcements and I am beyond thrilled for these wonderful women!!
I have kept each one in my prayers that things go well and smoothly. I can't even begin to imagine what kind of anxiety it can bring on but I'm going to keep praying for them!

Those announcements actually help to peace back my broken heart.

But then, like I mentioned before-CD1 came with 3 other preggo announcements from people that don't have to try. And it was their second one.

And you see, that seemed to shatter everything again. It's so odd to me that any other day of my cycle I am pretty good and can handle it and even possibly be excited for them-but it always seems to coincide with wacky hormones and PMS.

I actually got another announcement the other day-a dear friend who her and and her husband were "going off birth control and going to have a baby!" And of course, a few short months later I get this text:

Me and the hubs are having a baby due in April. It was hard for me to tell you because I know that y'all want a baby and have been trying so hard.

I, already feeling emotionally, broken saw that text and all i could think of was, "thank God that this is a text and she didn't call me" because I never could have faked excitement like I did in my text back to her:

Oh my goodness...that is so wonderful!!! I'm so happy for you guys!

Boo for the timing of this text. Yay for it being a text.

I am hoping and praying that I get out of this funk soon. I'm ready to not be in tears anymore.

I'm ready for this rock weighing on my chest, that I call anxiety, to be lifted.

I'm ready to smile and laugh and mean it and not just doing it because I don't want my husband to see me sad for yet another day.

I am stronger than I think-I think.

I don't give up and sometimes that's all that I can do...through the pain and uneasiness, I don't give up and that's got to count for something, right?

I sure hope so.

I have my "don't let comparison steal your joy" sign in my closet so every morning that I get dressed I see it and it does help. Comparison definitely is a sneaky little brat and loves to steal that joy. But I'm not going to let it...even if that means I have to remind myself this about 5 million times a day.

Praying that this funk blows over sooner than later...

Lastly, I wanted to say THANK YOU THANK YOU for all the prayers and kind words for my friend's who lost their baby. We will never know why God decided to take him when he did but my friend has said that prayers have helped her and her family find peace and strength throughout all of this. The power of prayer is truly amazing. Thank you so much for that.

"When life gets more than you can stand...kneel."

Please pray **Edited

A few posts back I mentioned that my dear friend and her husband had experienced a miracle-the healing of their baby in her womb.

Sadly, yesterday at a sonogram, they found out that the baby had passed away.

They are at the hospital now, being induced.

Please pray for them.

**I found out that their beautiful son was born at 12:07, Sept.14. His umbilical cord was wrapped around his neck.

From going to no hope with intestines outside of the body and all the cysts on this poor baby... to going to full hope with the miracle of not one thing wrong him...to now this...

My heart aches for this family. Please continue to pray.

Oh the timing...

How is it that CD1 (yesterday) happens when there are 3 new announcements, of former classmates of mine, stating that #2 is on the way?

Geez Louise.

And, because I'm still working on "not letting comparison steal my joy" I'm moving on from that and trying to forget all about it.

I will not let comparison steal my joy.
I will not.
No sirree.

Being hormonal shouldn't coincide with periods-it seems cruel to me that the two go hand in hand. Especially if it's mixed with the struggle to conceive.

I mean, this is the time of the month where I need to be my strongest. Where I hold on to hope and trust and faith. Not the time of month where I am susceptible to breaking down into a blubbering idiot at any given time.

Seriously, I mean yesterday we went to the ball game and as we were singing the National Anthem at the beginning of the game I started tearing up and had goosebumps all over.

I didn't really expect to cry at the ball game.

Thankfully my sunglasses hid the tears.

Prayer buddy, if you are reading this-would you mind offering up a prayer or two for me...specifically that I find strength during the start of another cycle?

Thanks in advanced.


Blessed JP, intercede for us.

Remembering

I can't believe that it's been 10 years since those terrible moments occurred. I'll never forgot where I was or what I was doing when we got the news...

I was a senior in high school and had just finished showering after cross country. I was standing in the locker room curling one of the freshman girls hair when an announcement blared over the intercom.

I got chills throughout my entire body and tears instantly filled my eyes.

I will never forgot that day.
Those lives lost.
The way Americans came together that day.

There were so many lives lost not only that day but also in the years following because of all those that sacrificed to fight and defend America.

My dh joined the Marines shortly after day like so many other men.

So today, I remember.
I pray for all those whose lives were forever changed that day.
I pray for the families of those lost that day.
I pray for all our troops, police officers and fire fighters who responded and fought that day-and still today.

I will never forget.

Happy Friday

I'm so creative when it comes to my titles...aren't I?! ;)

I love the feedback about my friend's amazing story about her little miracle baby. It's so beautiful to see things like this happen in life because sometimes we get so caught up in going through the motions of life and thinking all "realistically" and "logically" or even too much with our hearts, that we forget that God is a powerful God and he's capable of miracles. We just need to believe.

Anyways, for this "Happy Friday" post I wanted to dump off the pictures from my phone (I got the idea of the phone dump from Kelle Hampton @ Enjoying the Small things)of the crafts that I have done this past week, and a little of last week also!

So here's some of the crafts I've been working on. Remember, crafting for me is sort of like a drug-but a good one, not a bad one that causes bad things to happen but the good kind that makes you feel good...oh good grief, never mind ;)-it's something I REALLY enjoy doing and it's my one escape from the IF roller coaster!

Here's a few of things:
First off, a couple weekends ago I was heading to a baby shower for a friend and even though I was a little nervous about going, I decided I would make part of her gift and really, that helped me so much because it got my mind off of why I was nervous!

I had an old picture frame that I covered with scrap book paper and modpodge. I had already bought the little accessories a few days earlier (not shown in the picture are the stinkin' cute sunglasses). All in all she loved it!

Next I wanted to make an ornament for a friend who got engaged last month:

Looking back I should have probably used my stamps to stamp out the "our engagement" because that would have looked a bit better, but it's all good...I just wanted to send her a little something and this worked.

Last night, I finally got around to making my own sign:

All in all I really like how it turned out. I just used a cheap-o canvas and painted it, mod podged some scrap book paper on that front (I LOVE scrap book paper!) and then stamped out the quote.
For the "Joy" part I couldn't find scrap book paper that I had on hand, so I dug out an old paint paper sample thing:

:) The "joy" needed to be yellow in my opinion!

And lastly, this little craft was fun and easy and cheap way to make bright canvas shoes. I am showing the steps because I told Grace in my Heart I would show her! :)
First I started with some cheap-0 white canvas shoes I found at the thrift store. I don't worry, they will be washed and even rinsed in the boiling water with the dye:


Next I boiled water, once it started boiling I turned it down and placed the fun color, "sunshine," that I picked out for my new shoes:

But then I freaked out because when I poured the dye in it turned ORANGE...and I did not want orange shoes:

But the second I put the shoes in I saw they were definitely "sunshine" color and not orange. Phew,

I waited for about 45 minutes to soak and then I rinsed them under the faucet with cold water, then washed them in the washing machine with cold water and let air dry. Here's the finished product:

I do love them-they're quite comfortable and so cute! I've gotten quite a few compliments on them and when I say that I go just re-dyed some old shoes, people were impressed, although it's not too hard! ;)

Ok, so that's probably enough crafts to share for one day! :) Hope y'all have a wonderful weekend! I'm heading the the Rangers game on Sunday and it's not going to be over 100...good times! :)

"What if you woke up today with only the things you thanked God for yesterday?"

Second post in one day: my sweet friend's story

One of my friends and her husband have 4 beautiful and healthy children. Their youngest is me and my husband's godson-he's 2 and will be 3 in Nov. Her husband has unfortunately gone through some hardships when it comes to jobs and has been let go and laid off quite a bit in the last few years. Each time they financially struggled, somehow, someway God has come through for them (ie: anonymous donors, etc).

Well about a month ago, they received an eviction notice from their landlord because they were late paying rent yet again. A few short days later they found out they were pregnant. They were quite surprised and honestly confused and upset with God's timing.

Some time after that they finally felt at peace with the pregnancy and thanked God for the miracle that she was carrying.

Shortly after being at peace with the pregnancy they went in for the sonogram.

She was 10 weeks.

Almost instantly they could see something wrong with the baby.

There were cyst on both sides of the baby's belly. He had a large cyst growing and applying pressure to his spine. His spine didn't appear to be growing properly. There was a cyst on the baby's head. His intestines were outside of his body.

They were devastated by this, as anyone would be.

Some doctor's recommend people aborting because a lot of the times the cysts will grow so large they can cause a lot of damage not only to the baby but also the mom.

They couldn't understand any of this but trusted God and trusted that good would come from their suffering.

Well, this past weekend I was visiting with her and she showed my the sonogram pictures from that sonogram and my heart broke for them. It was quite obvious there something wrong when I was looking at the pictures, and I am no professional. I had tears in my eyes as she described and showed me all that was wrong with this poor baby.

She was so sweet and had said that the pain and suffering she was experiencing she was offering up for my dh and I, because she knew that we had been trying for so long. I was of course beyond grateful and told her we were praying for her also.

Fast forward to today.

She and her husband were heading to see a specialist for another sonogram and were anticipating the potential of the baby not even being alive. They went to the appointment and when the person doing the sonogram began they were in shock...

There was not one thing wrong with this beautiful baby.

Not one.

All the cyst has disappeared and the organs were growing where they should be-inside of the baby.

They had a few others come in to verify and double check but they first person was correct...this baby was completely healthy.

They said, "you can look at it like there was never anything wrong with this baby or that a miracle has just occurred."

Of course we know it was a miracle.

My heart is leaping for joy for my friend and her sweet family. God is so good and he does work miracles. This is the perfect example of having faith and trusting in Him.

God works miracles each and everyday.

Miracles....you know the things that occur where there is no other human explanation for?! Yeah...miracles.

Miracles!!

So tonight, as I offer up prayers of thanksgiving for my sweet friend and this beautiful baby, I am always continuing to pray for miracles for each and everyone still waiting.

I trust our Lord. I trust that our miracle will come and I will never give up hope and faith while I am waiting.

Blessed John Paul, pray for us!

Where hope grows, miracles blossom. (Elna Rae)