{ Loved }

The other day I was watching Tim spreading bark on our flower beds in preparation for spring.  I was absolutely overwhelmed by how much this man loves me.  I mean I've always known he does, but it still gets me when I see him in action like this, doing things I didn't ask him to do, just because he loves me.  He tells me all the time he is trying to take good care of me, and he does.  I realized I need to be more proactive about recording these "little" things because it is exactly this kind of love in action that keeps a marriage strong.  It is service and it is laughter, and he's good at both.

 We talked about love languages recently.  Tim's is overwhelmingly "Acts of Service".  It has helped me a lot to recognize this, because I am much more likely to think of writing him a nice card, sending him an email at work or putting my arms around him, and he likes those things, but it is service that makes his eyes light up.  I distinctly remember when we were dating he had mentioned wanting to get a portion of the driveway swept.  I took on the project one afternoon, while waiting for him to get home from work.  I could tell it meant the world to him when he drove in and saw me there, covered in dust.

He prays for me all the time.

Spends hours in the cold doing maintenance on our vehicles to help make ends meet.

Washing loads and loads of dishes.

Meeting me at the grocery store to do the lifting and loading.

Putting the kids to bed because by then I need a break.

Getting me out of the house as much as possible during the winter to keep me sane.

Carrying the laundry up the stairs.

Spending time with the kids when he gets home from work so I can finish dinner.

Washing the cloth diapers.

Opening doors for me.

Making me tea.

He says it is so little and that he is just trying to take of me and it doesn't seem like much.

I pray he sees that it is a lot to me.

Saturday morning he helped with the very overwhelming project of uncovering the bassinet for our soon-to-arrive baby.  It meant pulling everything out of the guest room closet, sorting the clothes by sizes into totes and putting them back in.  There is still a long way to go, but it is so much better in there.... and our baby will have a place to sleep :)  Silly Oliver tested out the new bed!

Then there are the many hours Tim puts in at work to provide for our family.  He is doing his job to please God.  It is his greatest desire and it humbles and excites me to witness his faith in action.

This past month and a half, on top of work, he has plowed through mountains and mountains of paperwork and hours of phone calls in the aftermath of the medical emergency with Katy Grace.  I've seen him discouraged, clinging to God's provision.

I've seen him praying.

I've seen him tested.

Challenged.

I've seen him grow.

And I know beyond a shadow of a doubt how much he loves all of us and how far he'll go to show it.

{ We're all crazy about this guy }

Today he took to day off to spend with his dad who is visiting for a couple of days.  It has been a cold and rainy day and this afternoon both grandpa and kids were down for naps.  Tim suggested a fire in the fireplace, just the two of us.  Then he made us afternoon tea.

How did God ever decide to bless me so fully from head to toe with this man who knows so well how to love me?

We have our struggles.

We get overwhelmed.

We don't always get along.

But because of God and His love, we're keeping at this marriage and it is beautifully rich.

{ Valentine's Day }

source

A crazy amount of life has happened in the past couple of weeks, even though it seems at times like we've done little more than recover from the sickness that went through the whole family and kept us home for most of that time. I am very thankful that for the present everyone is finally healthy, with the exception of myself. I have been fighting an earache since Thursday, which came on the heels of a nasty cold. Uuugh! Can't wait for spring and the death of all these bugs!

For Valentine's Day this year I told Tim I would be perfectly happy if we combined the celebration of the day with my birthday, which is exactly a week later.  We decided to go out for dinner the weekend between.  Valentine's Day itself was a still a special day.  I decided to do a sweet little project for Tim that I had seen on Pinterest shortly before (sorry, apparently I didn't pin it, just did it).  I called it a "Passport of Love" and inside are suggestions for weekly dates to restaurants we've never tried of places we haven't gone.  He loved it!  We've already added to it.  It's fun to see how much there is to do in our area that we hadn't thought of before or maybe had, but since it wasn't written down we just haven't gotten around to it.  He woke me on Valentine's morning with a sweet card and a little box of chocolates.  That's another thing, I've suggested that he wait until the day after Valentine's Day if he's going to go all out on buying me flowers or chocolates.  Seriously, why not wait until they are 75% off?

We were all feeling pretty miserable with our colds that day, but we made the best of it.  I helped Oliver make a little craft for Tim to take to his office and I baked a chocolate cake for Tim and I to enjoy after the kids were in bed.  The thing I appreciated most about the day was that, despite the fact that I was blowing my nose every 5 minutes, eyes were watering and my nose was red and that I served leftovers for dinner, love was everywhere.  I realized just how blessed we are to be living a life where the externals don't matter so much because our hearts are right.  Our love is for every day, not just the "day of love".

The following day, Friday, my mom came up for the day and overnight.  I ran off to Winco when she arrived.  Now that I am so far along in my pregnancy my days of hauling both kids along with me are over!  Tim took a short break from work to meet me there and helped load all the groceries into my car.  So wonderful!  Later that afternoon he called me to say his boss was letting them out a little early and since it was such a beautiful day and my mom could watch the kids, did I want to meet him for dinner?  We went to a new Italian restaurant.  They only serve pizza, but they are traditionally italian so it is on the fine dining edge.  The pizzas are served uncut in the traditional style.  They were delicious!  After dinner we browsed an antique store and bought Katy Grace's very first tea set (though we'll have to wait a few years to give it to her) and came home early enough in the evening to spend time with the kids and put them to bed. 

Speaking of kids being in bed, they are both napping so I better get some work done!

{ Little Mr. and Miss and What They're Up To }

Miss Katy Grace

You are sunshine.

Your smile gets comments all the time.  It's a great one!

You are a happy, happy, happy girl.

Little Miss 14 months

You like to sleep.  A lot.  Often you give me that look, "Mom, pleeease put me to bed" and when you find your pillow you reach your little hand out for your "night-night" (blanket), snuggle in and that is that.  You spoil us in this respect, Young Lady!

You chatter

You never meet a stranger

You are your daddy's daughter,

but everyone is saying you look like a miniature Mama

You're loving shoes and clothes as much as ever.

You know when you've got a pretty dress on.

If you can pull clothes out of the laundry or dresser you're perfectly content

You are getting quite attached to your daddy.

Having him come through the door from work is the highlight of your day,

and romping around on the floor with him, well, those giggles get me every time!

You're actually a little bit naughty sometimes.  Shocking but true.

But oh! can you turn on the charm!

You're cutting four teeth right now.

Waving bye-bye.

Giving out hugs.

Stealing our hearts.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mr. Oliver Forest

You're every bit two.

A goer, a fixer

big brother protector.... but, Sister (whom you call "Day"), don't take my toys!
You hug and kiss your sister so sweetly.
You want to make sure you know where everyone is in the family.
 

You're loving to do:

playdough, puzzles, paint and anything hands on

 You are fascinated with colors

 You are our little helper:

Unloading the dishwasher

setting the table

unpacking groceries

You are EATING DINNER now!  It's taken two years, but what a relief!

You're done cutting teeth.

 You love your preschool Sunday school class.

The stroller we bought for you and your sister is your "car", and because 

you've gone to the carwash with Daddy, you must regularly "wash the car" by sending 

it out to the back porch.  I love that budding little imagination!

 

You're soooo excited about the baby!

You point to the baby with so much pride

 and oh, how your eyes light up when you feel him/her kick!

You've been wakeful at night.

Are you afraid of the dark?

Does something hurt?

We sure wish we knew, but it's a phase.  It will pass.

Until you turned two, you weren't much of a snuggler,

but now you like back rubs and quiet times together.

We love them, too

and we love YOU!

{ A Story of Grace :: Part 2 }

It has now been a month since Katy Grace's illness.  Life has been very busy and I have struggled to find the time to sit down and finish this post.  It is a beautiful, sunny Sunday morning and I am home from church with the little girl who is still recovering from the sickness that has gone through our family in the past two weeks.  Oliver came down with RSV two weeks ago and it hit him hard.  It was a scary and emotional week nursing him back to health.  Praise the Lord, when the rest of us got it we came through with not much more than a common cold.  It is highly contagious, however, so we have stayed close to home in hopes of not spreading it around.  So here I sit, disappointed to miss another week of church and fellowship, but very overwhelmed with gratitude for the health that is returning to us and for the continued grace that God has shown us through this very challenging past month.  We are so humbled and immensely grateful when we think of just how much God has seen us through and that He saw fit to restore our little daughter so completely to us.

And now to complete this:

It was about 3:30 in the afternoon when we began our drive north.  By that time we had two friends offering up their guest rooms for the night and a dinner waiting for us from a friend of a friend, someone we didn’t even know.  The blessings just did not stop!  Tim and I had so much peace as we drove.  The landscape was breathtaking as the sun was setting pink and turquoise over the snow-covered hills.  We wished we had brought a camera.  During the drive we had time to talk and pray together.  We didn’t know how things would look when we arrived at the hospital.  We were told Katy Grace would either be in ICU or Intermediate, depending upon how she did during the transfer.  We received no calls from the flight crew during our drive, but we were also in spotty reception, but we assumed that no news was good news. 

This was the first time Tim and I had really had a chance to talk since all of this began.  I asked him if he remembered me saying a few weeks earlier that I was having some disturbing thoughts, a feeling that something was going to happen to Katy Grace?  He remembered.  We had taken it to God in prayer at the time, not knowing if it was natural motherhood anxiety and completely unfounded or if in fact we would face something with her in the future.  I don’t profess to have any special “powers”, for lack of a better term, but there have been several times in my life when I have felt God impressing something on my mind that later comes to be.  I told Tim that when the paramedics were at our house and Katy Grace was in the midst of her seizure that God brought that to my mind and very clearly showed me that this was what He had meant by it.  He had wanted me to be prepared and wanted me to be on the lookout.  It was an amazing feeling to know that God had prepared me in some way for this experience.  

When we arrived at the hospital, Katy Grace had just been settled into her room in Intermediate care.  What a relief!  Touching her again and seeing her calm breathing was a sight we were so relieved to see.  She had done great on the flight and she was continuing to stabilize.  She still had not come around at all and was completely unresponsive to us so that was difficult.  I was able to hold her when we arrived.  It was heaven to take her in my arms and feel her next to me again, to be able to provide her comfort.  It was difficult to hold her with all of the monitors connected to her, two IV ports, one in each arm and her little arms restrained in splints.  I hated seeing her like that.  

Not much changed that evening.  She just slept while being closely monitored for fevers and another seizure.  Tim and I finally felt comfortable enough leaving her for a little while to go out for some dinner about 8:30 pm.  It helped a little to be away from the hospital and clear our heads a little.  When we returned she was still sleeping so we settled in for the night and best we could.  I stayed through the night with her and Tim went and stayed with a friend who had offered their guest room up for us.  It was amazing to us that even though all of us were in different places that night, we did not feel separated.  I was completely exhausted by the time I lay down to try and get some sleep.  I lay there for a while, trying not to think, just go to sleep.  It was the first time I was still and quiet enough for my mind to start to process all that had happened and the natural feelings of "what ifs" were overwhelming.  It was then that God reminded me of His promise,
"You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you." 
Isaiah 26:3. 
I kept my mind stayed on Him by recounting things from the day that followed the model of Phil. 4:8
"Whatever is true, 
whatever is noble, 
whatever is right, 
whatever is pure, 
whatever is lovely, 
whatever is admirable—
if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—
think about such things."
It was then that I was able to drift off to sleep.  It was not great sleep, but it was peaceful.  

As with any hospital experience, we were woken up every four hours when the nurse came in to take her temperature and check her vitals.  It was so hard when Katy would wake up because she was still so groggy and had no idea where she was or what was happening.  She was incredibly strong and it was all I could do to keep her in my arms while she thrashed around and finally fell back to sleep.  At some point in the middle of the night she did wake up enough to smile at me.  I don't think I'll ever forget how beautiful that sight was.

She was scheduled for an EEG about 10 am the next morning, so the doctor had ordered she be woken up at 6 am so that she would be ready to nap at the time of the test.  We woke her up, but it was all I could do to keep her awake and so I just let her fall back to sleep.  The nurse and I woke her up again about 9:30 am and she slept just fine through the test.  All she wanted to do was sleep.  

Tim came back to the hospital in the morning and we had breakfast together in the cafeteria.  Coffee tasted so good that morning, let me tell you!  We spent that day so hopeful that we would be able to go home that day, but it was discouraging as the day wore on.  By the afternoon Katy Grace had come around to being somewhat alert.  She looked at books in the afternoon and tried her best to play with toys.  She went back and forth on being held by Tim and me.  It was a bittersweet time that we were able to spend with her and only her.  A very rare luxury for a second born! 

The EEG was completed and we went back downtown for lunch while Katy napped and we waited for the results.  They came back showing that both sides of the brain were not working together quite like they would like, so the neurologist then ordered an MRI.  Thankfully he got us one that day, the last one of the day and stayed on duty longer in order to read it.  The most they could find was a tiny spot on one half of her brain.  He ruled out a tumor and did not find it necessary to put her on antibiotics.  He said this spot may have been what contributed to the length of the seizure.  We are scheduled to see him again in a month and she will need another MRI in 6 months, but we were released from the hospital at 8:30 pm that night! Praise the Lord!  

We were then allowed to feed her for the first time since noon the day before.  We have always known she likes to eat, but we had never seen the excitement that she showed when we started giving her food there!  She couldn't eat fast enough!  In the matter of about half an hour she consumed 3 Go-Gurts, graham crackers, animal crackers, goldfish crackers, a banana and part of a cheese stick.  She also drank a ton of water.  It was amazing how much better she seemed after eating all of that real food! 

The final challenge before we could leave the hospital was finding a pharmacy somewhere in Spokane that had the correct medicine (an injection medicine that we have to carry with us in the case of another seizure) and the correct dose that was open until at least 9 pm so we could pick it up on our way out of town.  Tim and two nurses were calling all over town trying to find one.  Finally there was ONE way out of the way, but it was closing in 30 minutes.  We quickly signed the release papers, got our little girl dressed, gathered out things and basically ran to the car.  We arrived at the pharmacy 5 minutes before they closed!  But then we were on our way home!  I don't know how Tim managed to drive home and stay awake!  Katy Grace and I fell asleep almost as soon as we got in the car.  

Oliver was asleep when we arrived home, but I tiptoed in and kissed him, so thankful to be back home with both of our children.  I then collapsed in my own bed, snuggled up to Katy Grace who was sleeping so contentedly, free of any wires or IV's, thank you, Jesus!  

The next couple of days she was still very unstable on her feet and not able to walk, which really confused her.  We monitored her very closely for the return of a fever and waited for our little girl to be completely restored to her happy little self.  That Sunday we were able to take her to church.  It was amazing to be confident enough in her health at that point to be able to put her in the nursery.  We were absolutely humbled and blessed by the body of believers who had been praying so much for us over the week.  

Tim had requested that the elders pray over Katy Grace, so after the service we gathered with them.  We spent a time of recounting God's blessings throughout this ordeal and then praying for her.  She was doing really well by then, but still did not have that spark that she had had before the seizure.  By the time they had finished praying, however, it had returned.  We could tell that she was restored completely.  It was truly miraculous!  All glory to God!

Now as we go on from here, wading through the finances and the paperwork, trusting God to meet our needs, we look back at this time as one of testing but also of great blessing.  We saw God at work in truly miraculous ways.  We don't take the time we have with our children for granted so much.  We value our health and the days we have together a lot more.  Our greatest desire is that God receives from us the growth He desires out of this.  We have weathered a huge storm and God is good!

{ A Very Special Weekend :: Short and Sweet }

I have several posts forming in my head, but I feel most like doing a fun one, so here goes. A recap of last weekend! It is quite miraculous that for the second year in a row Nikki, Chelle and I, with our families have been able to spend a weekend together! It is becoming a wonderful tradition. If you want a reminder of last year, it is over here. This year we were missing Mike, but Lainie and Ruby were here in person, not in their mama's tummies like last year. It was a short and sweet time and wonderfully busy with five adults and seven children under the age of seven, six of whom were under four!

{ Playdough time.  Jack and Oliver crack me up in this one! }

{ Miss Annabelle }

{ The kids playing in the "magic closet" }

and

{ Off to the park with the dads }

{ Mamas and babies off to take Nikki to the airport.  Darling, both of them! }

{ When Chelle and I returned from the airport, Tim and David were just getting ready to build an outside fire.  We watched from the window.  It was so fun to watch the dynamics between the kids. }

{ Ruby enjoying the Exer-saucer while we made dinner.... and Oliver taking a turn! }

{ I love this one of the little threesome.  It is Nikki, Chelle and I all over again.  How I hope they grow up good friends like we did }