It's a First!

Little Guy turned 1 year old on Monday, December 3rd! We had a great party on December 2nd. Here's a picture of him eating his cake.. he did quite well. He dug into his little cake and smeared his icing all over everything. I was so proud! He's not walking just yet, but I think he's getting close. He loves walking while holding on to things and occasionally lets go to stand on his own until he realizes he isn't holding on. It's such a great time in his life.. he's so sweet.. all the kisses and loving he gives. I love it! I'm so blessed!

Prayer Request - please pray for our family.. Big Guy is trying to get back to a dayshift position at work and we anxiously await an opening so we can spend more time together. It's been a year since he went to second shift to help with Little Guy and it's been a rough year with little time together. We have Little Guy at a local sitter, she's a friend of ours and she's great! She LOVES him and she has a little girl that are abou the same age and they play so well together.

New Pics

Okay.. not a lot to blog about, but had to update with a new pictures.. too cute! Lil guy turns 1 in just a little over a week.. I can't believe it! I can't wait for him to start walking.. and talking.. but I'm sure he will in his own good time. Love You All!
God Bless You!

Personality Test

Okay.. not what I expected.. extrovert?? Since when??

Horray.. he did it!!

We've hit a new milestone for lil guy! About two weeks ago he started crawling, slowly at first and fussing the whole time, but he was crawling! Now he's picking up speed and pulling himself up at furniture and chairs. I'm so proud of him. He's 9 months now and doing great. He was just at the doctor today and he's now 31 and 1/4 inches tall and 21 pounds. He loves trying new finger foods.. anything I'm eating is fair game to him.. He actually really likes peas, sugar snap peas, carrots, and of course cheerios.. oh and his little puffs!

As well as his new skills of crawling and standing up, I have to indulge in a story of his other new skill. lil guy actually called 911 the other week and had the cops at our door one morning. Silly us, we left him play with the phone (he loves the phone!) and he somehow dialed 911 and when the operator heard a baby crying, or fussing.. she sent the local cops to check on things. Well, Big guy was caught of guard and finally figured out what happened. Needless to say, we no longer let him play with the phone or our cell phones.. And yes, he does have some play phones, but to him they don't hold a candle to the real thing.. :)

Is it true what they say?? Does bad news come in 3's?

I don't know why, but I've always heard people say bad things come in three's. Maybe it's silly.. but the other night I got three calls right after another of bad news. I could really use some prayer for these 3 situations. In order of the calls:

1. My sister-in-law, Diane, called to say she lost her job she'd been working at for 12 years. She was a nurse's aide at a nursing home and there was some kind of mis-understanding from what she said that they accused her of insubordination and left her go. Please pray the Lord will use this situation to draw her to him.

2. Big Guy called next and told me he would be, once again, working till 2 a.m. Overtime. Overtime sounds great, however, poor Big Guy has been working every night at least 2 hours and many nights 4 hours over. He's been working the past 4 Saturdays and hasn't had much of a chance to catch up on his rest, much less to spend time with little guy and myself. As many of you know, Big Guy works 2nd shift so he can take care of little guy during the day while I'm at work and so we only have the weekends to spend together. He's so overwhelmed he's mentioned looking for another job. Please pray for strength for him and for discernment as to what to do about his job.

3. Last, but not least, my sister, Kathy called. She's been having some issues with the family. Recently she had a problem with my parents. I'm very close with my parents and I believe that my siblings resent that at times. Please pray for Kathy as well as my parents as they attempt to reconcile. Pray against any bitterness and miscommunication. This seems to be a re-occuring issue.

I know God is in control of all of these situations.. I pray he will use these situations with my sister and my sister-in-law to draw them to him.

Thanks for your prayers!

Missing Manda... :(

It's been 3 days at my new job, and I'm missing my Manda terribly!! I miss her bubbly "Good Morning!" I miss her popping into my office just to say "Hi" or give me checks to process.. I miss all my CCC friends, of course, but my Manda.. she was special! We've talked everyday, but it's just not the same. I haven't laughed much the past few days, and for those that know me, that's unheard of!! I'm praying God will send me a friend here that can make me laugh, it'll never be like my Manda and I together, but it'd be nice to have someone to laugh with at work.

I wrote a little poem today entitled:

"My Manda"

She's IMPOSSIBLE to replace
I miss her beautiful, smiling face
She could always make me laugh
Always keeping me on the right path
She'll always be in my heart
She's been there right from the start
She may never know her impact
I'm missing her, that's a harsh fact
Neither of us thought we'd be this blue
I guess we didn't really have a clue
Our heart strings are forever entwined
God knew what he was doing, made us 2 of a kind
I thank God daily for my BEST FRIEND
I pray our love as friends will never end

Okay, corny maybe, but it's all true!! LOVE YOU MY MANDA!! Can't wait to see you again!!

Answered Prayer

God is so good! I wanted to share some recent miracles where God just really answered my prayers and has done a real work in me.

A few weeks ago my right knee began to really bother me, it felt swollen and stiff, but didn't look swollen. It was almost as if it felt like it was full of fluid and very uncomfortable.. not overly painful, but well, you get the picture. I was thinking it might be arthritis. I had some people pray with me at my church and I kept praying and hoping that I'd wake up the next day and it would be back to normal. A few days later, while still dealing with this problem, we had an All-Staff meeting at work and my Manda prayed for me for my knee as well as other stuff, of course, and after that it felt better, and every day after that it felt better and better till it was back to normal! Praise God!!

Writing about that miracle, reminded me of an even bigger miracle that I just have to share. So, here it is.. Big guy and I were married for several years and I had been in school a lot of that time.. I was getting close to finishing school, so we decided to start trying for a baby. We prayed it would be God's timing, but also I was getting close to 29 and knew I really wanted to have our first child before I was 30! I know... drama.. ugh.. 30!! Anyway, I kept praying and month after month, nothing happened. At times it was stressful, I took way too many pregnancy tests and had, in my mind, all but given up. I was approaching my 30th birthday and I started praying, OK God, I know I can't have my baby by my 30th birthday, but couldn't I ATLEAST be pregnant for my 30th birthday!! I guess I didn't think it was too much to ask.. So my 30th birthday came and that night we were at dinner and I said to Big guy, I guess it didn't come true.. I was sad.. but Big guy reassured me and comforted me. Less than one month after my birthday I took a test after being "late" for a week, and found out we were expecting!! I cried and said "Praise you Lord!" I was so overwhelmed! Big guy was overwhelmed with excitement! We went to the doctor and he said that my date of conception was 3 days prior to my 30th birthday! Yeah God!! I was so amazed that he cared so much about me, and about my, seemingly insignificant, wishes because I was paranoid about becoming 30!


Okay, one more quick story. After having lil guy, I started praying that God would open a door for me to find a job closer to home. To the dismay of my CCC coworkers, he answered that prayer and I start my new job August 6th. Please pray for me as I transition. Although I am excited about spending more time with my family, I know I will miss my CCC friends terribly!

Praise God for answered prayer! Amen!