This past weekend has been full of blessings and very busy! We were lucky enough to host Samuel's, our two year old nephew, second birthday party so all of my family came in. He is so cute, and soooo ornery! We made magnetic boards for him and our niece, then made a ton of magnets for them to play with! For Samuel we made a bunch of farm related magnets, for our four year old niece, Grace, we made a bunch of words, names, and life related pictures. She is really into writing and learning to read, so this should be a fun thing for her!
Everyone spent the night and Saturday the boys went to work on our basement, while us girls watched the kiddos, played cards and hung out. Both kids love to play outside, and after it had warmed up it was a battle to get them to come back in! We are trying to get our basement finished by May, and the guys got a lot done so we are well on track.
I love that we are close enough to have weekends like this together with our family. It is a trememndous blessing.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Superstart!
Last weekend we travelled with 17 preteens (4th-5th-and 6th grades) to Bloomington, IL for Superstart. This is a conference CIY (Christ In Youth) puts on all over the United States, just for preteens. We joined with 850 preteens for an amazing weekend. The worship by Yancey was funky and awesome. The illusionist battles to test best friends were mind boggling. The speaker was able to bring the Bible and a real issue with preteens--friendship-- to their level in a practical way. It is during a child's preteen years they begin to really understand friendship, and pick friends. Over the weekend they were taught how to be a true friend based on Proverbs 17:17: "A friend loves at all times..." There were three main sessions, each session had a main point with how to love at all times. 1: Put each other first 2: Always stand beside each other and 3: Forgive each other of your wrongs. They did a great job meeting the kids where they were in all of their preteen awkwardness. The kids LOVED it and were ready to go back the next weekend! I however, needed a break, a nice QUIET break! Did I mention how loud 850 preteens are??!?
Monday, March 2, 2009
Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
We wouldn't consider ourselves big fans to the point we have to see every episode, but we do enjoy watching Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. We particularly enjoy the variety of stories the families have. The things these familes have went through and experienced, are heartbreaking. It is very rare for me to make it through an episode without tears.
For last night's episode the team had travelled to Keller, Texas to help out the Augustin family, whose house had been destroyed in a flood. Their story touched our hearts in so many ways. Brief Summary: Their youngest son, Lane was born premature and spent several weeks in the NICU. Throughout those weeks there were many days the family was told it could be his last. Through this time, the family had taken hundreds of pictures of their baby boy. They are blessed to have Lane with them today. The mom had always wanted to be a photographer, and after her experience with Lane, she wanted to use it for good. She began using her gift by taking pictures of premature babies, babies in the NICU, and stillborn babies. They showed some of her pictures on the show, which were beautiful, along with testimonies from families whose child she had photographed.
What a precious gift this woman is giving to so many families. I admire her strength and heart to be able to take these photos. It is an extremely difficult and emotional situation to a part of. These pictures are something the family will treasure for the rest of their lives. The photos we have of our triplets mean so much to us. It is a way of keeping our babies near to our hearts, for them to continue to be a part of our families, for us to remember every perfect detail about them.
Needless to say, I wept through the entire episode, but it touched my heart in so many ways. Little things that people have done, helped us through the difficult loss of our babies. For example, at the hospital we received tiny crocheted hats and blankets for each of our babies. The nurses made plaster imitations of each of the babies hands and feet. I still have all of them, each of them a precious treasure.
When my heart is ready and able, I fully intend on crocheting hats and blankets to donate to hospitals for this specific purpose. We are also planning on getting involved in March of Dimes. Their mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. They carry out this mission through research, community services, education and advocacy to save babies' lives. March of Dimes researchers, volunteers, educators, outreach workers and advocates work together to give all babies a fighting chance against the threats to their health: prematurity, birth defects, low birthweight.
To watch this episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, go to their website at http://abc.go.com/primetime/xtremehome/index?pn=index. Make sure you have a box of tissues at hand--you will need them, I promise!
To find out more about March of Dimes or to find out how you too can get involved, visit their website at www.marchofdimes.com.
For last night's episode the team had travelled to Keller, Texas to help out the Augustin family, whose house had been destroyed in a flood. Their story touched our hearts in so many ways. Brief Summary: Their youngest son, Lane was born premature and spent several weeks in the NICU. Throughout those weeks there were many days the family was told it could be his last. Through this time, the family had taken hundreds of pictures of their baby boy. They are blessed to have Lane with them today. The mom had always wanted to be a photographer, and after her experience with Lane, she wanted to use it for good. She began using her gift by taking pictures of premature babies, babies in the NICU, and stillborn babies. They showed some of her pictures on the show, which were beautiful, along with testimonies from families whose child she had photographed.
What a precious gift this woman is giving to so many families. I admire her strength and heart to be able to take these photos. It is an extremely difficult and emotional situation to a part of. These pictures are something the family will treasure for the rest of their lives. The photos we have of our triplets mean so much to us. It is a way of keeping our babies near to our hearts, for them to continue to be a part of our families, for us to remember every perfect detail about them.
Needless to say, I wept through the entire episode, but it touched my heart in so many ways. Little things that people have done, helped us through the difficult loss of our babies. For example, at the hospital we received tiny crocheted hats and blankets for each of our babies. The nurses made plaster imitations of each of the babies hands and feet. I still have all of them, each of them a precious treasure.
When my heart is ready and able, I fully intend on crocheting hats and blankets to donate to hospitals for this specific purpose. We are also planning on getting involved in March of Dimes. Their mission is to improve the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth, and infant mortality. They carry out this mission through research, community services, education and advocacy to save babies' lives. March of Dimes researchers, volunteers, educators, outreach workers and advocates work together to give all babies a fighting chance against the threats to their health: prematurity, birth defects, low birthweight.
To watch this episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, go to their website at http://abc.go.com/primetime/xtremehome/index?pn=index. Make sure you have a box of tissues at hand--you will need them, I promise!
To find out more about March of Dimes or to find out how you too can get involved, visit their website at www.marchofdimes.com.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)