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Friday, June 1, 2012

our life in pictures....

while our view most recently has been from the seventh floor of a hospital, i'd like you to view some beautiful kids...

my sweet friend abbey took these next 5 pictures during a shoot a couple months back...she's brillant and will snap memories of your family like no other!!


...they've got to be the MOST stunning four people i know (not including my Man..)


precious, precious baby boy...a miracle



gorgeous, isn't he?! strong and joyful


fearlessly handsome, inside and out


her beauty is beyond compare and yet nothing compared to her heart...


i love how much they love each other, aside from the teasing and bickering, hitting and crying, it's a deep commitment to each other...


enjoying his playpen while hanging out with big bro 'P' at hospital, his smile will melt your soul


smiles through tears for my Girlie and the two most amazingly wonderful & splendid teachers from the last two years...


powerade never tasted so good after 11 days without drinking...'P' has endurance and courage like no other


it's a bit blurry but not for 'K' anymore with his new specs...love that spirit...so blessed he's mine



our life is busy and blessed and i don't want it any other way...

Thursday, May 31, 2012

day 13....

if there is one thing i have learned about being in the hospital with a sick kiddo, it's that circumstances and diagnosis can change quickly. i can be ready to lose it one moment and a tired, weepy mess the next.

thanks be to God that 'P' has been fever-free for 48 hours without tylenol/motrin! yay! yay! yay! so awesome, don't ya think?!

we decided against the procedure to drain the other very small abscess yesterday. there is a portion of his colon in the way and the potential risk of damage to the intestine was too much for my liking...so to ensure the elimination of that infection it tacks on two more weeks of i.v. antibiotics...

the drainage from his j.p. drain is still too murky and goopy (these are of course the technical terms!) for my liking, however it is producing very little "goop" but this will stay in another week to appease this mama and make sure everything gets outta there!

there is the exciting possibility that 'P' gets discharged tomorrow night (squeal!!), so my training begins in the morning how to care for his pic line and how to administer his i.v. meds at home.  pray that he gets discharged soon, but not before everything looks just as the Lord wants it to.

to be honest with you, i'm a bit nervous to get sent home...this has all gone so badly that it's just nerve-wracking 'cause i don't want it to happen again, which i know is very unlikely...i know it doesn't make sense, it's all been a smidge overwhelming at one moment or another

if you have been praying for my boy's healing, i am so grateful, thankful, indebted to you...that you spent time before the Lord asking for graces on his behalf is glorious and again beyond words for me to express my thanksgiving.

God has never left 'P' or our family, He was never surprised by this sickness, the Lord pours out His blessings in ways that not our choosing...however it is just what we need to learn more of His love, strength, goodness

i look forward to see how He will use this experience, this sickness, in 'P's life and our family's, my marriage. i know more of Him that i did 3 weeks ago and i can still loudly proclaim that the Lord is Good and does Good! i believe and know that God is working in our lives no matter what it looks like or feels like...

for our best days are NOT our yesterdays, it's now, it's tomorrow, it's all for Him!!

stay tuned....

Wednesday, May 30, 2012

day 12 of our hospital adventure...

so i haven't blogged in forever, i want to but i can't find the time to shower some days much less write tids bits of thoughts....however with my boy, 'P', in the hospital and more people wanting updates i thought i'd take a few minutes this morning to let you know where we are at as of today:

i am close to completely loosing my mind with 'P's surgeon/doctor. i am an intelligent mama of 4 and i'm sick of my concerns or input not being taken seriously...i practically have to demand things like an out-of-control dictator to get something done, and thankfully it usually turns out (so far) that my hunches produce positive results for my 'P'. i'm grateful to God for the wisdom and discernment He is pouring out on me, i need all the leading i can get.

'P' is still struggling with a spiking fever even after being in the hospital on i.v. antibiotics for 12 days, his j.p. drain (this was put in during the last surgery on the 19th to drain the large abscess that formed after his appendectomy) is still draining pus-y looking fluid not clear but it is draining much, much less. he is on TPN since they won't let him eat anything but jello. so during rounds yesterday morning i laid it all out for 'P's surgeon and he ordered another CT scan to see if for some reason another abscess had formed causing this fever to remain.

thanks be to God there isn't another abscess forming anywhere but there is some free fluid around his colon on both sides that is most likely infected and therefore not helping his situation. 'P' will most likely have that drained today in a much less severe procedure but need His grace and provision during this.

i have also sought out second opinions on the current protocol from our awesome pediatrician, who is also suggesting another culture of the drainage from the current j.p. drain as well as culturing the fluid they get from his abdomen today.

i am a crunchy-granola-natropathic mama, so i've been doing what i can to help his body heal itself and that has definitely gotten his digestive system & colon up and working again, so that makes me a happy

this supposedly simple procedure, an appendectomy, has gone seemingly wrong at every single turn. it's scary at moments, frustrating, tiring, confusing, a stretching of our endurance and faith...growing is uncomfortable and painful so we press in, trusting that as we seek God, He is faithful to guide us and flow favor upon us. it's not easy though....

'P' is amazingly strong and courageous beyond all my expectations. he isn't on any pain meds and we spend most days playing PS3, cards, watching movies, taking walks around the hospital and playing with Baby Ky, who is usually up here during the days. he does have moments of brokenness, he wonders why this sickness, pain is endless. he wants to play ball, swim, sleep in, hang with the guys...but i remind him, just as he reminds me by this display of bravery, that God doesn't waste any minutes of our lives when we are devoted to His will and while 'P' can't see how Jesus will use this, all these long minutes WILL be used for God's ultimate Glory and mold us ever more into Children of the Most High King.

pray, believe with us for this infection to be destroyed, gone, never to return!! but the strength and perseverance to remain...

i'll fill you all in more as it happens!

....the best IS yet to come

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

flooded by grace designs!!

it's been busy around here to say the least with Christmas and new year's, vacation, 'P's basketball games, Girlie's choir concerts, and i had SO many orders to fill in december from my design shop!! and that's my focus today: Flooded By Grace Designs!!





it's my heart's desire to sit (or stand) and create hand-stamped jewelry, fabulous and one-of-a-kind wreaths, jewelry portraits to display your bobbles as a piece of art with the bonus of having it organized....i love organization so much!!




have you secretly when been yearning for a necklace with your kiddos names on it?




a pendant inscribed with your favorite verse?



beautifully stained pendants personalized with initials and accented with beads and pearls?





don't you agree this would make a spectacular gift for a daughter, bestie, mama, mother-in-law or nanny this Valentine's Day?!! me too!!!



well i'll sweetn' the deal...are you ready?





just click twitter.com/FbGDesigns to follow my shop and get the inside scoop onall the new items that will be coming out in the next month and/or LIKE me on facebook and you'll get a coupon code to use at Flooded By Grace Designs for 15% off your Valentine's Day purchase!!


exciting, i know!




and remember if you live in the 417 area you can check out all my items in my store and then simply message me through my store or at floodedbygrace@gmail.com to order and save yourself the shipping charges!!



be blessed today...and remember His gift of Grace is yours, live in His freedom and His Mercies are new everyday!

Monday, January 16, 2012

some new year's thoughts

i so rarely write here anymore, simple laziness i suppose. i write every day, i love opening a journal and pulling out an ocean blue pen to script my day's list and thoughts and needs, hopes and dreams spill across a crisp page in which i have glued torn magazine pictures of my favorite flowers or shoes. typing even simply family updates feels sterile to me, always has but i swore to push through it and that the discipline would somehow change the very fabric of my being....i'm a pen and paper girl. if you could only peek into my bedroom and see the tower of scribbled journals teetering next to my nightstand, it would confirm this confession....


however, it's difficult to put those worn pages onto the screen and i really have the desire to share, to live in community with friends near and far, with those i might never meet...create another form of keepsake memories for my kids, for myself.







so in the grand tradition of setting new goals for a fresh new year, i'm promisimg to put my handwriting to the keyboard, even just for a moment a couple times a week. this form of electronic scrapbooking, it's stretching myself to reveal my heart, my mundane tasks, it's a form of ministry for myself, my family, hopefully encouragement for others or at the very least provides a smile.




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so as we are all venturing out into 2012, looking ahead to what is to be, are you filled with joyful anticipation or hesitancy? trusting that the best is yet to come or longing for what was?






what is it that God whats to do in you in 2012?



i know for me this year will be life-changing! isn't that what walking alongside Christ is supposed to be anyway? just like paul writes in Romans 8, "This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It's adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike "What's next, Papa?" it's living with expectation of God's goodness, trusting that if He sacrificed nothing to bring us into communion with Him by sending Christ for us, that He is able to be all that we need in 2012!






i know that He is drawing me in closer to Him, whispering love over me and asking for my hand as i travel down new paths. when i ask for the provision of physical and emotional strength to birth and raise another babe, He is there just waiting to provide. i look at this family He has entrusted to me, i tend to get a bit weak in the knees, overwhelmed with all that needs tended to, all this raising of teens and tweens and preschoolers and newborns, husbands that needs encouragement and love, time and caring too. He is there and He never told me i'd have to do it all and that His Grace is more than enough (Phillipians)






my words for the year are Mercy and Grace....that i remember that His mercies are new each day, that the Lord extends His mercy over my faults consistently, that by His grace i am made whole, that His grace is everywhere should i choose to see it....all is Grace, gifts, thanksgiving...Mercy abundant and unconditional for His children




share your word for the year, your goals and dreams, for He is able to 'do more than we could ever imagine or guess or request in our wildest dreams' (Ephesians 3), so let us not hold back and dream a big dream for God's Glory!