Happy Belated Fourth of July

Jaylyn is not usually too fond of being close to fireworks, but she was much better this year about it and seemed to enjoy herself. Now the helicopter that kept flying right over our heads before the display started was not enjoyed by her. They were doing short helicopter rides and landing right on the field. Finally she got up to enjoy some games with her cousins.

Happy Fourth!

Yay!

What a nice evening!

A little "London Bridges"

Here are a few more random "Sisters being silly" pictures

Painting finally finished!

Another thing that we finally accomplished in June was finishing the scraping/texturing/painting project in our living room. FINALLY! I don't know if you remember a previous post a FEW months ago when we started. We still have a lot of finishing touches to complete. We still need to get the stuff up on the walls, etc. Boy, these old houses sure are fun. :)

Here is the first half of the room we finished painting a few months ago.
But, we did recently add the new ceiling fan.

Here is the other half of the room that we finally finished painting.

Daddy and daughter being silly in the newly painted room.

Silliness continued.

Silly Girls

Jaylyn grabbed a couple of her hats and the girls decided to wear them around the house and be silly. Jaylyn wanted me to take pictures of them, so I told her she should brush her hair first, but no luck. Instead of red eye removal tools, we need crazy hair removal tools!!!

Anniversary Present

I never thought I would be excited to do laundry. But, now, it is exciting because it doesn't take FOREVER to do a load. I'm not sure that you are really supposed to get things like washers and dryers as an anniversary present, but this is truly an appreciated gift! You have no idea! Our old washer and dryer was actually free. After we got married, we moved into TJ's uncle's duplex and someone had left their washer and dryer. It became ours and it has been a blessing to have a free washer and dryer for so long. But, it's usefulness is now over. When it takes a couple hours just to fill up, you know it is finished. Its capacity size was very small, which aided my ever growing hampers of clothes and blankets and things that collected. It was just horrible! So, I am excited to say that we now have a super front loading washing machine. I cannot express the relief I feel from having a nice washer that works and holds so much. And a big dryer that really works! Now, I am able to keep up with the laundry and not have enough room in our drawers and closets to hold it all! The laundry nightmare that was in our basement is now erased. My huge laundry burden is now lifted. :) If this sounds a little too dramatic for talking about a washer or dryer, then you can find our old set that was hauled away and try it for yourself.

Happy Anniversary

June is definitely full of weddings and anniversaries. I have had several friends this month post wedding pictures on their blog for their anniversary. So, not to be left out. . .

Eight years ago on June 24, TJ and I were married. Woohoo!
I thank the Lord every day for a wonderful husband like TJ.
We had a special part of the service devoted to our wonderful Christian heritage on both sides of our family. Our grandparents carried down these yellow roses and placed them in the vase. One higher than the other representing God and the other two together representing me and TJ. We were so thankful that we had a rare blessing of Christians on both sides of our families and wanted to thank them for their example and prayers for us. From the very start, our prayer was to carry on that Christian heritage and make sure that God was first in our marriage. I know I have friends struggling with their marriage right now and I pray that God would provide healing for them and restore their marriages.
Happy Anniversary, TJ! I love you!

More June Pics

Adley's new hang out. She likes to climb in and hide and say, "I see you!" It has also become the one place where she thinks it is okay to draw on with her crayons. Hooray for Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. I should be thankful that she isn't coloring everywhere else.

Adley and Jaylyn

Cutie

Catching Up!

So, where to start. . .

Here are some pics from June ~

Our children's director, Miss Jenny, planned a Kid's Day Out to the zoo. Malaine and Jaylyn were old enough to ride in the bus with the other kids and without their mommies! It is pretty obvious from the picture how exciting this was.

Sage and Adley checking out the guinea pigs.

Jaylyn in the hippo

Jaylyn in the slide

Jaylyn and Adley on the train

Jaylyn (with orange soda mustache) and Malaine on the train (Jaylyn covers her eyes in the tunnels)

Adley on the piano

Adley and her favorite game of stacking

Therapy

Well, the few days after my surgery, we finally got our internet issues settled and we are sooooo relieved. My pictures finally upload in seconds just like they are supposed to. RELIEF!! So that inspired my "therapy". I needed to get my mind focused on other things. Yes, I have many other important things that I need to be planning, but I really couldn't focus on those kinds of things. I needed to relax and this was perfect. I have been so curious about HTML codes and making my own blog design, so I did a little surfing while I had no energy to do much else. And then I did a little fiddling and here we are with a new blog design. No, I still don't understand much of how it works, but I found quite a few cheats for beginners and I certainly enjoyed doing it. So, warning to those of you (like my computer graphic artist brother) who really do know something about designing blogs or websites, I am not claiming that I know what I am doing. But, just for fun, now I have a fresh new look to start out my week and so you can look forward to many late updates to come.

Thanks again to everyone for the great support you have been through our rough couple of weeks. I am still receiving at least 3 cards each day, and meals, and hugs and so much encouragement. It is definitely making me feel happy, yet guilty because I am the WORST at sending cards. :)

Light piercing through darkness

Well, I began this post a few days ago just to share what God has been doing through our present situation. Here it is:

Hmmmm. . . It is a little harder than I thought to even start typing my thoughts at this moment.
When I was younger and worked at a church camp and went on mission trips with some other girls from around Illinois, there were a lot of times where we focused on “light”. We had many candlelight services with the kids at camp. On one of the mission trips I ended up helping lead when I was in college, we had a quote on our shirts, “Not even all of the darkness in the world can put out the light of one small candle.” (or it was close to that anyway.) And that is what I am focusing on at this time. Yes, this is a dark moment in our life, but there is light shining even in these dark moments. The darkness is there, but the light pierces through. God is there and shining His light through so many. The darkness cannot overwhelm us because that light is there, penetrating. Yes, there are many things that could be worse. We know so many that are facing even darker times than we are, but there is still hurt and sadness in either situation.

This has certainly been an eye opening time to how I should be more of a light to others during their dark times. The outpouring of prayers and concern from our brothers and sisters in Christ has been amazing. I haven’t actually personally spoken to many of you yet, but I am overwhelmed with your presence just the same. The cards and e-mails and thoughts expressed through those I have spoken to are almost like a blanket falling over me. Yes, the tears still come often, but they are not hopeless defeated tears.

I guess God has been preparing me for this. It has been strange for the past several weeks because I kept having a feeling that I was going to have this miscarriage. It was more than the normal pregnancy paranoia that you have until the 2^nd trimester when things are a little safer. Of course, I kept putting it in the back of my mind because I certainly didn’t want to believe it. I suppose He was getting me ready. . .

I know God was at work again when the whole episode began at just the right time for me to put the girls to bed and T.J. happened to be just on his way home from his ball game, and my in-laws were available to take me to the hospital. There was even more light when friends from church actually beat me to the hospital when I didn’t even know that anyone else knew what was going on. Then even more came to be with me in the waiting room as we waited such a loooong time to find out the devastating news. I know God was also at work when I met the doctor who came down to do the ultrasound at the very end of my time in the ER that night. He was so compassionate and kind and had been in the same position before with his wife. He was the only hospital staff through this whole experience that said he would pray for me. I know that he meant it.

Of course, after we made it home, the flood of calls, e-mails, meals, flowers, gifts, prayers, baby-sitters, etc. began and continued. God has certainly overwhelmed us with His comfort through His people. We have not been in need for anything. There is someone constantly offering to help.

Unfortunately, I did have to go to the emergency room before my scheduled surgery in what would so far be the most horrible experience I ever want to face. I am still asking God why it was necessary for me to go through that trauma when I was just four hours away from the procedure. Even though I don’t have an answer to that question, God has still offered me glimpses of His comfort even through that time. I have heard of some who were actually awake early praying for me even though they thought I wouldn’t be in surgery until later that morning. The first two I heard from actually told me the time they were praying and I have been overwhelmed by that because they named the two most horrifying and critical times I experienced at the ER. Those were the two times that I was feeling the most hopeless and hurting the worst and in the most desperate need of prayer. Sorry for those of you awake at that time praying instead of sleeping, but I know that God was using you and I pray that you are blessed.

More light: cousins who have been in similar or same situation helping me through every step. Even calling me from out-of-town to answer my every question about the procedure and experience I was going through. More family coming to visit and call and help and encourage. Church staff visiting and praying. Our kids suddenly kicking up their cute and silly factor to give me some extra laughs. Friends of friends asking for prayer from blog to blog with strangers leaving comments that they are praying for “Amy” when at least one of them has been facing so much trauma in her life right now. I certainly can go on and on about the light that God is shining in my darkness. Yes, I still hurt when I remember the life that is no longer inside of me, but as another mother said in a situation when she learned she would lose her child, “I think my Jesus is still the same as He was before I walked into this room. . . He's no different, it's okay, He's no different..."