Good news all around!

I am BEYOND thrilled to update that sweet Thatcher is now home! If you remember, he had a liver transplant back in March and has been in Pittsburg for the last 2 months. He is doing remarkably well and I just love his little smile! I talked to his Mommy yesterday and she said they are so glad to be home and now just trying to get back in the groove of being a family of 4 since they have been away from each other for so long. Please continue to pray for this family!

Miss Rebekah who was diagnosed with leukemia just over a month ago found out yesterday that there is only .01% of leukemia cells in her body now! The chemo treatments have worked and we are praising God! Continue to pray for positive reports for the Chandlar's and you can follow them at http://jchandler.org/

More good news for Mr. Max Muesch, who was diagnosed with heart block at 28 weeks. Amy had her 32 week check up today and he is doing very well! There has not been any further damage, his heart rate has increased and the doctors are very positive! They are looking to delivery him at 36 weeks which will be here soon! Our great friends just had a shower for Amy and Max this past weekend and I am sad I couldnt attend! Doesnt Amy (she is in black) look great? Their blog is http://maxmuesch.blogspot.com/ if you want more updates.

And last but not least.. this adorable little one is Mr. Briggs Tuten! He was born last Thursday to my friend Jessica and they are both doing well! Cant wait to hug this sweet boy and squeeze those cheeks :)

I thank those of you who have been praying for each of these friends that are very dear to me. God listens and we are so thankful!!!

A thorough Mimi and Potts spoiling

Mimi and Potts got to spend 5 days with us and to say that they spoiled us all is an UNDERSTATEMENT! First up was a trip to Chuck E Cheese.... I'm not sure who had more fun playing games, Griffin or Mimi and JR ha!


We were so grateful to have them watch the boys for us while we had lots to do for the Green wedding. Griffin didnt skip a beat and enjoyed playing with Potts. They played ball outside, rocked in the rocking chairs, got out every toy in his room and had lots of laugh time too!

Griffin reading Potts a book

Carter enjoyed what he does best... LOTS of eating! And there were some coos and giggles too :)

Mimi held him pratically the entire time and gave him so much attention that it took Mommy 2 days to get him unspoiled haha... JK! Well not really but I know thats what great grandmothers are for :)

They took us out to lunch after church Sunday and I was finally able to snap a shot of all 4 of them.

There is NO doubt that this weekend couldnt have happened if they werent here to help us. We were busy Thursday-Saturday until very late each night so we were thankful to know the boys were well taken care of!

Now they are continuing their anniverary vacation and headed to the beach! Happy early 50 years to the greatest couple I know. We love you and are so glad you let Wake Forest be your 1st stop on your trip!

Mr. and Mrs. Green!

We were honored to be a part of a VERY special wedding this weekend. Our Pastor, but more importantly great friend Jacob, was marrying my sweet friend Stacey! The fun began with a bridal luncheon on Friday morning. Girl time was a great way to kick off the fun!


I had the awesome priviledge of helping the groom with the rehearsal dinner. I love party planning and jumped at the opportunity when Jacob said he needed some assistance. He wanted a luau theme and although I was a bit of a crazy woman for a week getting it together I think it turned out well!

Stacey and her bridesmaids

The engaged couple enjoying their last night of being single!

Of course Griffin would DROP my camera the day before a very important event that I wanted to take a TON of pictures at.. so my focus is way off on these. It was also hard to take a bunch being in the wedding... and I helped the bride out and took pictures with her camera too!

Here is the best shot of the bridal party I have... looking forward to seeing the photographers!

They had a beautiful ceremony and needless to say Will and Kate didnt have ANYTHING on this couple... they were stunning!

Can I just say how much fun it was for BOTH JR and I to be in the wedding? Not only did we both get to go to everything together but it was so fun to be dressed up and take pictures too!

We were extremely grateful that Mimi and Potts came up to help us by watching the boys all weekend. It was fun to have them all at the reception with us! Here is our oldest cutie... sporting his seersucker and bowtie :)

And the little chunky monkey looking too precious sleeping in his smocked jumper.

Somebody found him an older woman and asked to "dance dance" the whole time!

The newlyweds at their reception

Look what happened to their poor getaway car. The guys wrapped it... and THEM!

We had an awesome dance party!!! And yes Baptist do know how to dance and have fun too! It was incredible to see pratically our entire church their having a BLAST!

Last dance for the happy couple

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Green! Thank you for letting us be a part of your special day....We love you!!!

Our new RIDE!

We are thrilled to welcome this new ride to our family! Its a 2008 Honda Odyssey and we feel so blessed that it worked out for us to get it. We always knew that we would welcome a van to our family one day but it worked out to come now and I'm THRILLED! We had been saving for awhile and then JR also decided it was time to sell Big Red, which was really hard! He is such a good Daddy though and knew that the truck was not practical with our family and therefore we shouldnt just keep it around. It broke my heart to see him have to part ways with him and Griffi is still asking where Big Red is :( So we sold Big Red last Sunday and just decided to go and "shop around," but not planning to buy anything for about a month. This was actually the first van we found and I had told myself I couldnt fall in love with it just yet.... but after some major negotiating we went back on Thursday and decided we couldnt pass up the offer they gave us! The van as I said before is almost 4 years old but it honestly looks brand new on the inside. The relief of having a dependable ride is the most wonderful thing because we have been having serious trouble out of our Civic for 3 months now.

With all of that to say... I am ONE HAPPY MOMMA :)

Celebrating being a Mommy!

As if these 3 alone werent enough of a blessing to me as a mommy! We had a family day around the house Friday filled with doing some cleaning both inside and outside. Like I have said before, if I'm doing something with these 3.. I am happy!

My sweet big boy was loaned some beautiful flowers by the neighbors and gave them to me!

Saturday Carter turned 3 months old! What joy this little boy has brought our family!

AND JR let me sleep in!!! Ahh... just what Mommy needed, and obviously so as I laid down with no alarm and woke up 4 HOURS LATER!!! Daddy and the boys went for a stroll around town and hung out with Uncle Phil.

Saturday night we took our first trip of the season to see the Mudcats play! We went last year for Mother's Day as well. There is just something about seeing your boy's face light up when he gets so excited to see some baseball.

Plus it was Carter's first game too!

Griffin was given a ball and had Muddy sign it.

Sunday at church we were able to celebrate with our church family and it was extra special because we had Carter dedicated to the church!

another family shot

We were invited to have lunch with our church family and we were so grateful! Then we went to see Jacob and Stacey's new house! We were so blessed to eat their first meal in their home with them :)

The frame my Mom got me for my birthday and pictures JR had printed to complete it for me for Mother's Day!

and the sweet card my boys made me!

I am SOOOO incredibly thankful to be these 2 boys Momma!

Being a Mom

Now that I have been a mom for 2 years now, celebrating Mother's Day has taken a whole new meaning. I always loved celebrating the special women in my life and thanking my mom for all that she has done and will do for me... but now I understand so much more how thankful I really am!

I have wanted to be a mom for as long as I can remember. Having 2 siblings born when I was 1o and 12 really sparked the maternal instinct in me and so much that even through college with my friends I became a "mom" to them. I think back now that I actually am a mom and realize I had no clue ha! I never realized what a high calling being a mother is. I didnt have any idea the amount of selflessness, sacrifice, patience, endurance, and engery it would take. Nor did I understand how I could love 2 little people so much or they joy that they could bring me. Being a mom is the greatest thing I have ever done, apart from accepting Christ as my Savior and marrying JR. And those 3 things alone affect each other in major ways.

Making the decision to not only be a mom, but quit working and be a stay at home mom seemed to be a somewhat easy decision in the beginning. Yes I knew we would be sacrificing financially but we knew God would provide. I laughed when I saw on Good Morning America the other day, "the salary of a stay at home mom" they had calculated. $60K they said, providing 40 hrs a week of childcare (which is funny bc I know there are more hours in a day than that! Moms are never "off" ha), chaffeuring, tutoring, disciplining, cooking, cleaning, etc. Pretty funny to put a value on it but of course thats what you do when you think about it being a job, however I dont think there is enough money you could pay me to be AWAY from my boys. Yes eventually when they are in school I want to go back to work but my time at home with them is truly precious. I often have to remind myself of that when I have changed the 6th diaper, fed Carter 3 times, been up since 6am, Griffin is whining... AND its only 8am :)

I just recently was talking to a friend who is pregnant and about to experience motherhood for herself. "It is just hard to explain," I said, knowing that I could tell her so many things but until she actually experiences it for herself she wont truly know. Then I think to myself... and you have only done it for 2 years, imagine when the boys are in college how you will feel!

It is true, a mother's love is unmeasurable, never ends and is worth more than all the money in the world. I am so honored and blessed to be a Mom and will consider my life a success if one day when I go to be with Jesus that my boys say, "Our Mommy loved us SO much!"

To my mom- thank you for the love you have shown me for 28 years now, the sacrifices you have had to make along the way and for letting me know how proud you are that I am yours :)

And to the many other mothers out there who also have shown me so much love and what it means to be a mom, thank you as well!

Happy Mother's Day!

Brand new woman!

I am so thankful that lately we have gotten mostly all smiles out of this little man! Goodness for this past month or so JR and I would look at each other ALL the time and say, "Does he ever stop crying?!?" He literally was fussing if he wasnt being held, HATES the car seat and was fighting naps like crazy. Well now....

We not only have a boy who naps BUT also HE IS SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!! Ah I could scream its so glorious haha. The last 4 out of 5 nights he has slept from 8:00pm-6:30am and I cant believe it! With Griffin it took until he was 5 months old before he conquered this and I know it has a lot to do with us getting him good and full before bed! I had learned with Griffin to make sure he took a bottle his last feeding so he would get good and full without falling asleep first. So with Carter we did the same and because he is such a piggie he also started eating extra before bedtime. He eats at 5:00, 6:30 and 8:00 before going to bed and this has worked to get him good and FULL!!!

It is crazy how much uninterrupted sleep will change your life :)

Griffin and I were so thrilled that we took a trip to Chickfila to celebrate while some people were looking at our house. He had his first ice cream cone and LOVED every lick! Check out this adorable video of how it made him giggle :)

I have also been taught something simple and yet profound by our little 2 year old this week. Listen to the song he literally sings 100 times a day.....

UPDATES:

Max Muesch now has his very own blog that you can keep updated with him at http://www.maxmuesch.blogspot.com/ AND as an update, they had their first OB appointment since bad news streak of last Tuesday and Friday. Max's heart rate was 73 and scored an 8 out of 8 on the BPP (he studied). At this point, we consider that a win and a good visit...next appointment is Friday!

Also Miss Rebekah IS HOME!!! She has been home a week now and is responding really well to her chemo treatments. She also has updates posted on her Daddy's blog at http://jchandler.org/

Could you please also pray for my Dad's church! The organ sparked a fire and it destroyed their entire sanctuary. It was a beautiful place.... and the church where JR and I got married!

Please Pray for Max

Another very close friend of mine from college needs our prayers! Amy was a sorority sister of mine and we have remained close the last 5 years since we graduated. Her and her husband Tyler are pregnant with their first son Max and live in Franklin, TN. Here is whats going on in her own words:

I went to my OB for a routine, 28 week appt this week and found out that my Sjogren's Syndrome is causing problems in the baby. Sjogren's syndrome is an autoimmune disorder that I was diagnosed with at the same time as the Rheumatoid Arthritis. There is about a 2% chance of women with Sjogren's Syndrome passing antibodies to the baby that can cause congenital heart block. Well, unfortunately, this has happened. Structurally, his heart looks ok, but the electrical system of the heart has been damaged by these antibodies.

On Tuesday, Max was diagnosed with 2nd degree heart block. This means that the top part of his heart is not communicating with the bottom part of his heart effectively. They set us up with a Cardiologist appt on Friday and we just hoped for the best.

Tyler and I met with a Pediatric Cardiologist at Vanderbilt on Friday and we found out a lot more information. It's actually worse than we thought. She diagnosed Max with 3rd degree to complete heart block. This means the top part of his heart has completely stopped effectively communicating with the bottom part. His heart rate is in the 60's and 70's when it should be in the 140's. Also, the heart's rhythm is not normal.

So, the plan is... They put me on steroids to hopefully help prevent any more damage. I will be monitored closely by a high risk OBGYN once to twice per week and I will see the Cardiologist every 2 weeks. I will have frequent ultrasounds and echocardiograms in order to see if the baby's disease is progressing or if other problems are occurring. The goal is to get me to 36 weeks and then deliver by C-section. If at any time between now and then, if Max looks like he is doing worse, he will be delivered then.

I will deliver at Vanderbilt and the baby will immediately go to the NICU for care. He will most likely need a pacemaker and they will evaluate at that time when would be the best time to do the surgery. We probably won't really know until that time. He will be in the NICU for at least a few weeks, but that also depends on a lot of factors.Because of the damage that's already been done, if more damage occurs, there is a small chance that Max may need a heart transplant. Right now that's not the focus.

If all goes well, Max's quality of life should be good. He will always have a Cardiologist and will most likely have a pacemaker. He will have to be careful not to do anything to get his heart rate too high. This probably includes playing contact sports. We are hoping he will be a heck of a golfer though!

So, Tyler and I would really appreciate if everyone would pray for us and for baby Max. Please pray specifically for...

1. A better than expected outcome. Miracles do happen and we certainly do believe that.

2. That the steroids will help prevent further damage to Max's heart instead of causing more complications.

3. That complications, in general, will be minimized.

4. That I will be able to carry him to as close to term as possible. (at least 36 weeks).

5. That when he is born, Max will be strong and recover well.

6. That God will give Tyler and me strength and peace because we are going to need it.

Now, I want to be sure and point out a lot of positive things that we are very thankful for...

1. God is giving us a baby boy and we love him so much already.

2. We have a lot of wonderful friends and family to support us.

3. We discovered this problem when we did and we were able to see a Pediatric Cardiologist within 3 days. 3 days was long enough to wait. I cannot imagine having to wait longer, which is usually the case.

4. I don't have to be admitted to a high risk OB unit.

5. We live within a few miles of Vanderbilt Medical Center and we have easy accessibility to it. I cannot imagine how much more complicated things would be if we did not live in an area with such wonderful healthcare.

6. Although this problem is extremely rare, our Pediatric Cardiologist, seemed very competent and clearly gave us a plan. We really liked her.

7. Our bosses are being very understanding and flexible with our schedules.

8. We are hopeful that Max will have good quality of life.

9. God has given us faith and we know He will not give us more than we can handle.

10. We have such faithful friends and family.

11. Tyler and I have each other to lean on; we are not doing this alone.

Here is a picture of Amy and I back in December when we had our girls' weekend so that you can put a face with the name. I thank you on their behalf for your prayers!!

I did want to update on the other friend that I had recently asked prayers for, Jessie and her baby boy Thatcher. His liver transplant went well and although he is still having to stay at the Ronald McDonald house in Pittsburg, they are only having to go in once a week to the clinic for checkups. They are hoping to come home this next month!!! Praise the Lord! She also got to see her sweet older girl Amelia who recently got to visit. Thatcher is now 9 months old and cuter than ever! Check them out at: http://bjandjessielink.blogspot.com/

Celebrating our Risen Savior!

We had a wonderful Easter! We do our best to celebrate that Jesus has risen every single day because that reason alone is why we now have life... oh how wonderful! It is great to have a "holiday" to celebrate it as well and make us all take the time to reflect on the sacrifice Jesus made for us.

We also celebrated our 1 year anniversary of being on staff at Bethesda today! I remember this time last Easter I was so nervous for "the vote!" Oh what a year it has been :)

Easter also marks the start of Spring in my eyes... and a GREAT excuse to dress up for church. My mom found the MOST adorable outfit for Griffin... I couldnt get over how cute he looked! And I really hate that I didnt get more pictures of him in it in the rush to get to church and then the chaos of the rest of the day... BUT we will be taking him to get pictures made in it for sure. This outfit is in my eyes the best thing he has ever worn... hands down :)

And our other adorable cutie in another sweet outfit Cici got!

Carter in his casual Easter outfit... still looking handsome on his first Easter!

God continued to show favor to us on this Easter, allowing us to have our first family vacation. A couple at our church that we are very close to allowed us to go and stay in their beach house for a few days.. FOR FREE! AND on top of that gave us their car to drive down because ours is still being worked on. An absolute blessing and the most generous act of kindness ever shown to us!

We loved having our toes in the sand... more on that in another post to come :)