To See and Know...

I will rejoice and be glad in Your lovingkindness, because You have seen my affliction; You have known the troubles of my soul- Psalm 31:7 (NAS)

Before I write about our most recent update on Harper, I wanted
to just let all of you who read our blog how very thankful we are for your
prayers and lovingkindness you have shown for us and for Harper and how very
blessed we have been to watch the Lord's provision unfold. From the first
visit with the specialist, the enemy has wanted nothing but to steal the joy of
Life and that ended with a decision to share what was going on and not just keep
it to ourselves and fret and worry without the support and care of those we know
and love, and even some that we maybe don't know, but who love the Lord enough
to visit back and check on the progress and continue to pray. We give
entire credit to the Lord for growing our Harper beyond belief and giving us a
peace that surpasses all understanding. But, we'd love to know who you are
that have been such a great source of support for our family so that we may give
even greater thanks to the Lord for allowing others to see our affliction and
soul troubles and let you know how much we appreciate you.

Quick Recap: I am having scheduled sonograms every 3 weeks currently and scheduled check-ups with my doctor every 4 weeks...therefore, they don't always coincide with each other.

My last sonogram was on the 28th of February and I was waiting to post until my visit with the doctor which was scheduled for last Friday. However, the doctor's office follows school closings and delays (I know...I thought this was crazy). So, because of the snow storm that hit last Thursday, there was a 2 hour delay in the Grapevine/Colleyville school district and since my appointment happened to be at 9:30 and the office wasn't going to open until 10:30, I at least did receive a 7:43am call from the office to let me know about this procedure and that I would have to reschedule my appointment. Thankfully this was before getting up and ready and trudging through the crazy, North Texan freak-out about driving in some snow traffic, and I got to sleep in on a Friday morning (plus my sweet hubby let me really sleep in). So...today I had my visit with the doctor. She confirmed that the sonogram was good, at the time of the sonogram I was at 25 weeks 3 days and Harper measured 26 weeks 3 days...so yet again, the Lord extravagantly showed His might with a gain of 2 more days since the last sonogram. Right now I am at 27 weeks and my doctor confirmed today of how my visits will progress so they can closely monitor Harper.

I have another sonogram scheduled for next Thursday, the 20th and my next doctor's appointment will be on the 4th of April. Sonograms will continue every 3 weeks unless there is a concern. In April, my doctor's visit will go to every 2 weeks. She did tell me that at about 34 weeks, she'll want me to come in twice a week until delivery to monitor Harper with a sort of "stress test" to measure his responsiveness and monitor his heart rate. She was saying it almost apologetically about the amount of time I'll be in the office. I told her how rather than feeling put out by the visits that it just gives us another opportunity to see the Lord's faithfulness and how it has put us at ease rather than being anxious. She also said that full term pregnancy is 38 weeks and that is the max that I'll go. So we have just under 11 more weeks before getting to hold our Harper and offer praise back to the Lord once more.

"Do you understand the words that are coming out of my mouth?" #1

Do you ever feel like screaming this out loud to your children? Now don't get me wrong I absolutely adore Whittaker, but lets face it, some times the boy don't listen. I guess that is the run of the mill 2 1/2 year olds parenting experience.

So I find myself talking louder and louder like I am speaking to my moms 3rd cousin at Christmas dinner and still no response. To make it even worse Whitty is looking right at me, and low and behold he decides it is best for him to go ahead and lick my eye glasses just one more time. Sound familiar to you...well I will tell you who it sounds like the most.....Barrett! (I had to tell on myself)

How is it that as a parent we tend to forget that we do the same things that we ask, tell, and eventually yell at our kids about. The only difference is that God somehow never seems to yell at me. He just sits back and adores me licking his glasses. Although I am pretty sure that I have never done that to Him when he was standing in line waiting to vote for O'Nunya Business.

So to say the least I find myself blowing up and doing things I said that I would never do like clapping or snapping or well......YELLING!

After you have found yourself in the position of "What am I doing?" you feel like crap but great things can come out of our impatience with our kids when you let the Lord in to guide you even after you have blown it. I am going to post a video of a song I wrote as soon as I can get it formatted. Let me know what you think.

That Taste's A Whole Lot Better

Today I went to lunch with a friend of mine as we usually do on Monday's. I have always enjoyed this time because we engage in a lot of great conversation over our Taco Bell. (Mmmmmm!) But let me tell you what I love the best about this lunch, can you say 2 dollars! Why does food this cheap always taste better? Is it just me? But today was incredible, we went to one of those 3 in 1 restaurants you know a Taco Bell, KFC, Pizza Hut type of thing and let me tell you a Leg a thigh mashed potatoes gravy and a biscuit all for $2.15, now that was an amazing meal. Anyone got a cheaper option?

Praying for Snow...

This is a video from my cell phone that I got in the drive from Argyle, Texas while we were stuck in the car on the highway for 2 hours for a drive that is normally 20 minutes. The snow at our house is all gone today, but wow, was it a down pouring!

On Monday afternoon, Whittaker was watching a cartoon called the "Backyardigans" and the episode was the characters playing in the snow. Whitty had not experienced snow until this past Christmas when we were at my in-laws house in Edmond, Oklahoma and it snowed the day after Christmas. While watching the show, Whitty turned around to me and said, "Mama, I want snow."

I replied to him, "Baby, you're gonna have to ask Jesus for snow 'cause Mama can't do anything about that."

Well, Monday night, we actually did have a bit of snow falling so Barrett took him outside to show him that Jesus heard his prayer. I guess Whittaker just wanted some more, because yesterday was some snow like I hadn't seen in years. Thanks Jesus for letting my Whitty's faith grow this week...and for letting ours grow as we watched it unfold.

Watch Out Beckham!

Growing Out and Growing Up

(Above)Whittaker just after his first bath- 5 days old (Below)Last Sunday after getting his hair cut

Just 3 months before his 3rd birthday, my Whittaker is looking bigger than ever!

Two weeks ago, I went to pick him up from the nursery after Life Group and this kid came running toward me that I didn't even recognize and thought, "Who is that chunk?" (I know, I am so compassionate!) Only to discover that it was indeed Whitty running at me. We had dropped him off 2 hours earlier with a cheeseburger and french fries (we're obviously health nuts) and as he got into the car, he told Barrett and I, "Chee-burger awe-gone." Which were glad that he was telling us that he had indeed eaten his dinner. Some of the ladies in our Life Group had spoken earlier of seeing him chow down when they dropped their kids off, so the confirmation of this by our son and the communication of it was well received. However, Whitty kept telling us, "Chee-burer awe-gone!" Each time a little louder and a little fussier. Realizing what was going on now, I asked him, "Are you hungry?" He nodded his head and replied with yes, then told us he needed another "chee-burger."

Growing boys need food and we have discovered a pattern with Whitty as he has growth spurts that he grows wide and then grows tall within a few days. Five days after the "chee-burger" night, I was getting him dressed for church and putting on his Converse All-Stars that he had gotten for Christmas and had not worn yet. As he stood up and I was so excited to see how they looked with his jeans, only to be shocked that his jeans were now too short. I was sad, not because he had gotten taller, but because I love those jeans and thought that when I bought them in August that they would last all year. I hadn't even had to adjust the waste to a bigger width yet and he had already outgrown them. So, I'll be off to find another pair now in a 3T, with still 3 months to go before he actually turns 3.

Exceeding...

How many times do we ask and plead with the Lord to answer our prayers, only to find that when He answers He extravagantly exceeds our requests? Well yesterday, we saw yet another example of this as we got to see Harper again. The Radiologist took all the measurements and let us watch our boy moving and even smiling. I asked her how he was measuring and she input all the numbers and said that he is actually measuring 5 days ahead of schedule and weighs even more than expected (already at 1lb 4oz). Barrett and I both said Glory to God aloud and Barrett asked her if she knew why were in there, which she did, and we said we've had a lot of people praying for him and were so thankful with what the Lord had done. She replied with "God is Good." And I replied, of course, "All the time!" (this was always the opening cue at Life Church at the begining of Craig Groeschel's teaching as he would prompt with "God is Good" and everyone would respond "All the time")

When we sat down to wait for my doctor. Dr. Cope came in and with a smile she said, "Well, so you know the results of the ultrasound?" (Barrett and I nodding in agreement) "Well that stole all my thunder!" she said with a bigger smile.

I asked her about the amount of amniotic fluid and she said it looks great. We are just living in the promise of "FR NT" (see http://snareshare.blogspot.com/2008/01/hope-note.html) and seeing just how much the Lord fulfills and exceeds our requests.