year-in-review

As usual, it's so hard to believe we're closing another year. John and I try to sit down each year (typically on New Year's Eve) and look back and document the major happenings from the year. It's a lot of fun to reflect, reminisce and be reminded of God's goodness. So, here's our year in a nutshell (events anyway)...

Finished up bottles with Abby just after the new year began. Briefly attempted potty training. Celebrated Abby's second birthday with family party at home. John's folks visited for Super Bowl weekend. Vacationed in the Wisconsin Dells at Wilderness Resort. Visited John's family. Got rid of the paci. Woohoo! My folks visited. Briefly attempted potty training again. Watched WKU defeat Illinois in the NCAA tourney.

Enjoyed Easter with family in KY. Visited John's family. Met and listened to Mr. Steve and Super Why from PBS Kids at the Library. Introduced Abby to the "Sound of Music". Loved listening to her sing "Do Re Mi" in its entirety over and over. :) Attended our nephew's high school graduation. My folks visited. Had lots of picnics and play time at several of our parks as well as the pool. Converted Abby's crib to a toddler bed. Enjoyed our first camping experience with Abby. Had a blast on a short vacation to St. Louis to the Zoo and Children's Museum during the hottest weekend of the year. Visited John's folks. Visited family for niece's birthday. Attempted potty training again. Success in just a week! No more diapers, pull-ups, nothing! Yahoo!

I had my second laparoscopy for removal of endometriosis. My folks visited and helped out after my procedure. I attended a Princess Social with Abby at church. Abby started her fascination with drawing on the easel including drawing letters completely self-initiated. Visited family for niece's birthday. Lots of visits to the pool and the orchard. Had a blast volunteering for VBS at church. Discovered mold in the basement. John's folks visited. Had a positive pregnancy test in August. Went to the IL State Fair. Shared the good news with John's family. Took Abby to the Extreme Makeover Home Edition site. Went to the Urbana Sweet Corn Festival. Shared the good news with my family when we visited for Labor Day. Spent the day on the lake on Cathy's boat. Attended volleyball and football games. Tailgated with friends. Abby's love for bathing her dolls in the bathroom sink began. Had an ultrasound to identify miscarriage of pregnancy #2. Had a D&C the following day. Moved Abby into big girl bed and new room. Abby drew her first "person." Won tickets to Matthew West concert and had a blast with some friends. My folks visited. Dressed Abby up as a princess for Halloween and went to Simply Funfest at church.

Attended Living Proof Live conference in Springfield. John's folks visited and attended football game with him. Bought a new-to-us minivan. Yay! Visited John's family just before Thanksgiving and mine on Thanksgiving. Went to choose-and-cut tree farm to get our Christmas tree. Another positive home pregnancy test in early December. Pregnancy confirmed by doc a few days later. Had emergency surgery for ectopic pregnancy less than a week after that. Abby performed in her first Christmas "presentation" at church with a stage full of other 2-5-year-olds. Spent a quiet but very fun Christmas at home--doing crafts, reading tons of stories, baking and decorating cookies, building a gingerbread house, opening gifts, playing with new toys. Yay for new traditions! Visited John's family after Christmas. Partied with friends and their families for New Year's Eve.

What a year. Lots of change. Lots of fun. Lots of joys. Our share of heartache. And an abundance of God's grace and mercy through it all!

Happy New Year!

first family snowman

We built our first snowman with Abby today. She thought it was a great idea at first, but it didn't take long for her to become more interested in throwing snowballs. :) We did have a good time playing in the snow though, and we were quite pleased with how our snowy dude turned out. 

snowy adventures

Abby absolutely loves sledding...so we discovered when John got to take her for the first time this past weekend while we were visiting his family. He took her (up and) down the hill several times. The faster down the hill, the better, though she did prefer to cover her face so as to avoid all the snow in the face. It was so fun to watch though. And she enjoyed making snow angels with her Grandma, too. It was so difficult to sit back and watch the fun. (I was still physically recovering from surgery.)

Christmas happenings

So, we had already determined this year that our new Christmas tradition is to be home on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Of course, we didn't realize what a blessing that'd be this year with me recovering from the surgery. We've been so excited to begin new traditions this year and continue some we already had. The week around/of Christmas looked like this for this family of three...

Abby first Christmas performance with the little ones at church. Abby even attempted the singing and motions a bit, but it was all over for her when she saw John as she was exiting the stage. :) Christmas crafts. I was impressed with Abby's creativity. Christmas-y PB&J. Always tastes better when they're different shapes! Christmas Eve Eve family dinner out. Abby admiring the gifts under the tree and being a ham for the camera. Our first gingerbread house. Yes, she had lots of help from Mom...and was much more interested in eating the candy. :) Continuing our tradition of making and decorating sugar cookie cut-outs. I thought we'd never run out of dough! Was fun though, and I was thoroughly impressed with John's decorating. Watching "White Christmas" a bazillion times per Abby's request. Watching "The Nativity Story" (and zipping past several parts) on Christmas Eve (and answering lots of Abby's questions about who and why and where...). :) Late-night Christmas Eve gift wrapping. Christmas morning gift opening. A new Christmas breakfast tradition of pumpkin cinnamon muffins. Yum!! Playing with new toys. Reading new books before a much-needed Christmas nap. Assembling new toys. Playing some more. Enjoying a yummy Christmas dinner. Singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. Enjoying an after-Christmas celebration with John's family.

Here are a few photos from the week...

Quite an eventful week! We are so blessed. Such fun celebrating the birth of our King!

You are good

I've experienced quite the emotional peaks and valleys in the past few days. These are surely partially due to my hormones being totally out of whack from all the stuff my body has been through over the past week and partially due to my processing our recent loss. Now that I'm on the mend physically, I've had more focused time to process everything mentally and emotionally. Quite honestly, I was caught off-guard by the tears I've shed and the things I've felt...places I've only been a handful of times in my life. My sweet hubby, who was undoubtedly as blindsided as I was, has endured it all and extended such patience and grace to me. I so appreciate you, sweetheart.

As I've tried to refocus my mind by enjoying some of my favorite worship music, God has so ministered to my heart through (among others) Aaron Keyes' song "Nothing Less Than Beautiful." I've included the lyrics below...

You are good, You are good, You are always good to us
You are good, You are good, You are always good to us
Even in tears, You're always good to us
Even in weeping, You're always good to us
You could be anything You want

You, you're nothing less than beautiful
You, you're more than words define
You, you're nothing less than beautiful
Our God, you're marvelous and kind

I couldn't agree more. God is always good to me...to us. Even in tears. Even weeping. He is nothing less than beautiful. He is marvelous and kind. Don't you think?

a roller coaster

As I wrote back in October, we suffered a miscarriage at the end of September when I was just over nine weeks pregnant. It was the kind of loss we wouldn't want anyone else to experience, but by God's grace, we made it through and are stronger for it, like many who have suffered the same loss.

Through a work only God can do (especially given that it's taken us two years to get pregnant with each of our prior pregnancies), on 12/8, we got a positive home pregnancy test. We then received "official" word from the doc on 12/14 that we were, in fact, pregnant and the "numbers looked good." As you can imagine, we were beside ourselves excited. We were thrilled to be planning to surprise our families with the news at Christmas.

Unfortunately, on Friday afternoon, 12/18, I started having severe lower abdominal pain. Less than an hour later we were in the ER, and I was having bloodwork, a physical exam as well as an ultrasound done. The OB on-call confirmed through an emergency laparoscopy late Friday night that the pain was caused by an ectopic (or tubal) pregnancy. In other words, the baby had started developing in one of my fallopian tubes instead of my uterus, which was causing internal bleeding. The doctor was able to remove what had developed in the tube as well as more endometriosis from my uterine cavity.

What a roller coaster. In mid-August we were celebrating the new life inside of me. At the end of September we were grieving the loss of that sweet life. Ten days ago we were celebrating God's goodness and provision of another sweet life inside of me, our third babe. Today, I lay in bed physically recovering from emergency surgery, emotionally, not sure what to feel. A roller coaster.

But, honestly, no matter how much of a roller coaster this is, no matter how little all this makes sense, no matter how disappointing and frustrating, these facts still remain... God is still God. He is still on His throne. He is still in control. He knows our heartache. He knows our hearts' desire to have another child. And, again, His grace will get us through this.

And I still believe there is purpose in these trials.

a Christmas-y kind of week

We've had a fun week of all things Christmas, including singing lots of Christmas songs at home and on the go, reading Christmas stories each night, talking about the Christmas story, pretending to be Mary and Joseph (with Jesus played by a baby doll :)), watching Christmas movies, hearing a Christmas story at story time and baking lots of Christmas goodies.

We spent all day Monday at my dear friend, Michelle's, house baking different Christmas cookies and just hanging out with her, her son, Tanner, our dear friend, Elisabeth, and her daughter, Isabella. The kids had a blast while moms baked and chatted. What a fantastic way to spend a mid-December day...enjoying the company of sweet friends and baking some sweet treats! 

We also had the opportunity later in the week to hang out and bake Christmas goodies with more dear friends, Allyson, her daughter, Eden, Jennifer, and her daughter, Maggie. Thanks again girls for such a fun afternoon!

I look forward to another fun-filled week of Christmas activities. We have more books to read, more movies to watch, gifts to wrap, more goodies to bake and a gingerbread house to make!  

kicking off Christmas

We made our annual trip to the tree farm today to choose the perfect tree for our family. The selection wasn't the best this year, but we still enjoying traipsing through the rows. We ended up finding a good one, though it's a bit shorter than we wanted, and we enjoyed a traditional cup of hot chocolate after our tree was shaken and wrapped. We also had a blast decorating it this year. Abby loved pulling out all the ornaments and hanging them (on the bottom fifth of the tree, of course). :) Her favorite part was putting the star on top and also getting to play with her Little People Nativity Set. I love Christmas! BTW, notice the Minnie Mouse dress Abby insisted on wearing while decorating the tree. A nice touch, don't you think?! :)

enjoying family part 2 - Thanksgiving in KY

We enjoyed a long visit to KY for Thanksgiving. As usual, it was packed with family gatherings and meals, lots of playtime for the girls (Abby and her cousin, Azurie, who’s two months younger) and the occasional shopping trip. This time, one of the shopping trips was a Black Friday trip. Lots of fun…well, sort of. Along with hundreds of other shoppers looking for a great bargain, Dad and I hung out in the Toys R Us parking lot, in the cold, from 10:30 p.m. to midnight until they opened. We ended up getting the main item we were after, Abby’s main Christmas gift, for 70% off! Woohoo! I had a lot of fun hanging out with Dad. And I love me a good bargain! Mom, Dad and I also caught some more good bargains at Old Navy on Saturday. Yay for new clothes...and for parents/grandparents who bless us with them! :)

Here's a photo slideshow from the trip. Enjoy!

grateful

I’m grateful for so many things with which God has blessed me, not the least of which are my wonderful husband and sweet daughter. I’m grateful for my husband, a man of such integrity, a fun and fantastic daddy, who loves me dearly no matter what, makes me laugh continually and works so hard for the opportunity for me to stay home with Abby. I’m grateful for my darling girl's tender hugs and kisses, for her dancing, twirling, singing, piano-playing performances, for her sweet, loving personality and for the challenges she brings me which daily draw me closer to God. I’m so grateful. I’m grateful for our loving, ever-supportive families. I’m grateful for my incredibly encouraging and committed friends. I’m grateful for the grace of God that got us through the loss of our baby in late September. My list could go on and on and on. Though I've tried to say it here, I’m honestly grateful beyond words.

Operation Christmas Child

We took the opportunity to fill a shoebox of gifts for a little girl for Operation Christmas Child this year. What fun Abby and I had shopping for her! Abby even made her a card to stick in the box, and we included a personal note, our address and a family photo in hopes that we’ll hear back from her sometime. Whether we ever do hear from her or not, what a blessing it was to be able to provide some gifts for a child in great need. We hope to fill more boxes next year! As I was explaining to Abby that the gifts were going to a little girl in another country far away, she kept saying she wanted to go to her house and play with her toys. I told her that I wish we could and maybe someday. You never know what God could do!

enjoying family

November has been full of family visits, and there's more to come! It started with a visit from Nana and Papaw at the first of the month. Then we had the opportunity to visit John’s family twice in mid-November. They were both great trips, as usual. We were able to help out with lots of yard work. Abby thoroughly enjoyed playing in the leaves and pine needles, and, of course, being entertained by—and entertaining—Grandma and Granddad, as well as her aunts and cousins. Here's a slideshow of pictures that capture the visits.

our little princess

Since Halloween was kind of a wet, rainy day, and we were rushed to get Abby’s costume on and get to church for Simply FunFest, I didn’t snap any pictures of Abby at home in her costume. So, I decided to take a few today while she was dressed up in her princess costume, which is actually a daily occurrence anyway… :)

Many thanks to my friend Jennifer for letting us borrow Maggie's shoes, which came from Jennifer's lovely children's boutique, Bella Bambini. They really completed the outfit!

touring Schnucks

One of the playgroups of which Abby and I are a part organized a tour of Schnucks grocery store. What a fun learning experience it was! Abby enjoyed learning about the deli, going behind the scenes to see where they make donuts—icing, sprinkles and all, walking into the seafood freezer and decorating her own sugar cookie. Of course, her favorite part was eating it. :)

the old stomping grounds

Abby and I took a day trip to Bloomington for a few appointments and things today, so I thought I'd make a stop at one of our favorite places when we lived in Leroy--Moraine View State Park. I used to take Abby there when she was just a little tike (as she was in this picture at 10 months old), walking around the campground enjoying the beautiful scenery. We enjoyed some family picnics there as well. This time, I wanted to catch one last glimpse--and a few photos--of the beautiful Fall colors before we lose them. We had fun exploring the leaves and playing at the playground.