Thursday, April 16, 2009

I Love Sunshine!!

The sun is shining today and it is almost 60 degrees already!!!!  I am so excited!  I was supposed to go to community bible study this morning but I couldn't even handle the thought of sitting inside for 2 hours.  So, I am going to go find me a place outside somewhere and have some alone time with God!  ....Just me and God and SUNSHINE!!!  I hope you are all having a great day and I hope the sun is shining wherever you are!!

Monday, April 13, 2009

Birthday and IVF


Today is my birthday!!  I wish it wasn't raining but my mom told me that it snowed the day I was born.  That's April weather for ya!  I am so thankful that God has chosen to give me life (here on earth) for 29 years so far!  I have such awesome friends and family and I am so blessed to be able to spend my time here with such wonderful people!  Each day is such a gift!
I think Rob and I are going to go out for sushi tonight!  I can't wait!  I love sushi!!!

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Now onto baby stuff:)....We are still on for our appt with Dr. J on May 7th.  Please continue to pray for God to reveal His will to us.  We don't feel that God has told us NOT to go forward with IVF, but I don't know if He has told us TO go forward with it either.  We really want to follow His plans.  So please, please, please pray with us.  I am doing pretty good about not worrying about it, but pray for that too.  I am not worried about IVF.  I am worried about not doing what God wants us to do.., but I am trying not to worry about that(and so far I'm not doing too bad), but the closer it gets the more I am sure I will worry:).  I know that God could still bless us with a baby before we even have our appt too, so I am trying not to think to0 far ahead and just go day to day and trust God.
I am so thankful for Jesus's sacrifice for my sin.  He is risen!!!

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Psalm 40:1-5


I waited patiently for the Lord;
he turned to me and heard my cry.
He lifted me out of the slimy pit,
out of the mud and mire;
he set my feet on a rock
and gave me a firm place to stand.
He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the Lord.

Blessed is the man 
who makes the Lord his trust,
who does not look to the proud, 
to those who turn aside to false gods.
Many, O Lord my God,
are the wonders you have done.
The things you planned for us
no one can recount to you;
were I to speak and tell of them,
they would be too many to declare.
Psalm 40:1-5

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

Life's not fair, but God is good



My sister and I drove home to Illinois on Monday for Norm's Celebration of Life.  We met up with mom and dad and Zach and all went together.  It was all Norm.  She always told Dennis(her husband) when they were at viewings that she didn't want people waiting in lines and looking at her dead body.  So there were no lines....just people walking around and talking, remembering, laughing, crying.  There was red wine available, because Norm loved her red wine.  There was fun music playing.  There were pictures everywhere of the adventurous life that she lived.

After a couple hours of that, they had a service.  Norm's son in law, Nate is a pastor and he was the "master of ceremonies".  First Dennis talked and went through their life together.  They started out as high school sweethearts.  He told funny stories and more serious ones.  He talked about all the things she had went through in her life.  And the thing that stuck out to me was when he said, "Norm never asked God, why me?  I did, but not Norm.  Norm never got mad at God.  I did, but not Norm.  She went about her life fighting and not whining and always trusting in God's perfect plan for her life."  If you didn't read my last post,  throughout Norm's life she had lost a baby and then had uterine cancer and a hysterectomy at a young age and was unable to have more children.  Shortly after that she got breast cancer and was told she had six months to live.  She beat it.  She got hit by a car, but she worked and worked and got better.  

After Dennis spoke, their daughter, Rachelle spoke.  She is just like her mom.  Spunky, full of life, always laughing.  They were best friends.  Rachelle told funny stories and serious ones also.  There were lots of funny stories because Norm was hilarious.  A few things really spoke to me from what Rachelle said.  She said when someone came to her mom to talk about a problem.  Or if someone was worried about something.  Norm would say, "my Father will take care of that for you.  Just trust in Him."  She had such a close relationship with her Heavenly Father.  She didn't call Him God.  She always called Him, my Father.  I really like that.  And one of the last things that Rachelle said truly spoke to me and I hope it never stops speaking to me.  She said when her and Norm would be talking about something...maybe something going on in someone else's life, Rachelle would say, "but mama that just isn't fair."  And Norm would say, "Life isn't fair."  And Rachelle said she hated that saying and she always told her mom that.  She said I know it's true but I hate it when you say that and I won't ever say that to my boys.  And Norm would say, "Honey, life's not fair, BUT God is good."  When Rachelle was done speaking at the funeral, she looked at the little pine box(casket) and said, "Mama, you were right.  Life's not fair, but God is good."  If someone that can go through all she's been through in life and still say, Life's not fair, but God is good, then i want to live my life like her.  Compared to Norm I haven't been through too many rough things.  I would say infertility has been the roughest.  And now I am looking at that in a different way.  I don't want to be a mommy any less than I did last week, but God is good and I truly believe that His plans for my life are far greater than any plans I could ever make for myself.  Even if it is hard to see that through our human eyes, I truly believe and I am at peace and trusting in God's plans for our future.

Norm you lived a life for God and He ministered to many people through you and He is still ministering through you, through your death.  You were an amazing woman and I am sure it was all worth it when you got to meet your Father face and face and hear the words, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."  You are an inspiration to everyone!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

A Sad Day...

Norma and Mom(just last month)
Today has been a very sad day. One of our good family friends passed away. A few weeks ago my parents went to visit her and her husband in South Carolina, where they were living. They had an awesome time and had made plans to take a trip to Hawaii sometime in the next couple of years. Norm had endured so much throughout her life. She battled breast cancer several years ago and beat it....she was hit by a car when taking a walk near her house when they still lived in Illinois about 6 years ago. She suffered many injuries, but she made it through. Every time she was going through anything, she always had a smile on her face and was always so upbeat. She was a person everyone wanted to be around. She was spunky and full of life. Selfless and giving. A follower of Christ in every way! Last week she got really sick with pneumonia and went into the hospital. She was so sick and ended up going on the ventilator. They did lots of blood tests and found out she had Leukemia. But they had to get her over the pneumonia before they could even think about treating her leukemia. On Tuesday they tried to wean her off of her sedation to let her wake up....and she didn't wake up. They did an MRI and saw that she had suffered a severe brain bleed and there was no brain activity. They took her off of the vent today and she passed away soon after. I just can't believe it. God has been teaching me lately that the only thing constant in this life is Him...and this is just another moment that we have to hold onto that. He was and is and is to come.....the alpha and the omega....the beginning and the end. Thank you God that we can trust that you never change and you are always there no matter what.
Please pray for Norma's mom and dad...her husband, Dennis....her daughter Rachelle and Rachelle's husband Nate and two sons Kaden and Carder. I know that they are missing her soooo bad. I can't even imagine..