So ... the day before Thanksgiving, Jonathan and I were on the way to close on our house (to refinance) and ... we had been running around that morning, getting things together to leave for Williamton and getting last minute things done. We got in the car and were on the way towards Wendell to take our dog (Romeo) to my mother-in-law's house. When we got in the car, I told Jonathan that I didn't feel good ... I felt like I couldn't breath and I felt like I was getting ready to pass out. So ... I rolled down the window (even though it was cold outside) and ... he said I leaned my chair back to lay down and all of a sudden, the next thing I knew, we were in the parking lot at Percy Flower's and Jonathan was talking to me, trying to wake me up. I had passed out in the passenger's seat. He said he thought I was just resting my head at first, but he tried to lift my head (as he was running the red light at Percy Flower's) and my eyes rolled in the back of my head. He said I then coughed all of a sudden and woke up. Now ... I've had this before during pregnancy (the morning I jumped up out of bed and was running late for my doctor's appt), but not an episode where I was just sitting down in the passenger's seat. The ambulance came and my blood sugar was ok ... but blood pressure was low. They suggested we make an appt with my obgyn so we immediately called and they were able to see us in the raleigh office at 2:50. Being the day before Thanksgiving, we were very thankful for that. We just wanted to make sure everything was ok before we left town. The doctor was very helpful and said it was probably my blood sugar - I needed to eat more proteins in the mornings - start exercising more (3 times a week for 30 minutes a day) - and drink more water, as well as 3 gatorades a day.
So ... I've been doing better ... eating eggs in the mornings ... more protein, drinking lots of water (plus gatorade).
Until ... this morning ... I was headed to Greenville for my end of year meeting with my boss to go over goals for next year, etc. (which ... my MAIN goal will not have anything to do with work ;)) ... and all about my relationship with God, my husband, and our precious new addition to our family! .........
But anyway ... I had left the house and got on I-95 and was soo exhausted and tired feeling. I had had a banana and a package of nabs and was planning on stopping at Bojangle's, as we were out of bread and eggs this morning (for my usual egg sandwich). So ... about 10 miles down the road, I started feeling really weak and started to get anxious because I was on the road ... not a good place to be when you feel like you are about to pass out (especially on I-95). So ... I KNEW it was coming on ... my blood felt like it was boiling and I rolled down the window to get some cold air ... and pulled off immediately at exit 106 and put my emergency flashers on. I remember dialing 9-1-1 but ... I don't remember anybody answering or what happened next ... it had happened again ... I had passed out. The next thing I knew, I woke up to my phone playing music (which was my ringer). The emergency services number was calling me back - I guess b/c they heard nobody on the other end when I called?? I didn't answer it in time but called them right back. They immediately got an ambulance to come check me out. By that time, my blood sugar was ok and my blood pressure was ok but they were more than willing to take me to the hospital but felt like I could get home ok since I was only about 10 miles away. They talked to me all about the pregnancy and what I needed to be doing/not doing/etc. and they didn't feel comfortable with me still heading to greenville (which I didn't either). So ... I called Jonathan and my mom and they both stayed on the phone with me, of course worried to death, while I made my way home. I called the obgyn again and ... I already had an appointment scheduled for Friday for my glucose test ... but they moved it to tomorrow morning (12/7) at 8:10. You know ... Jonathan and I have rarely EVER called 9-1-1 before ... I mean, we're ones who don't even like to go to the doctor if we don't absolutely have to, but ... I will say ... I have been more appreciative these last two months for the emergency services (paramedics, firemen, etc.) - moreso than ever. I have ALWAYS appreciated my husband as a fireman, but until you really have to call on them, week after week, you don't realize how truly awesome they ALL are. My husband was actually on a call and wasn't able to answer me when I called him this morning ... but I told him ... "you know?? you were out helping somebody while somebody else was helping me ..." Somebody who was able to get to me much faster than he would have been able to from Cary.
Thank you, LORD JESUS, that you are our comforter and healer and protector. God, we KNOW that you are in control and I THANK YOU for keeping us both healthy and safe.
Monday, December 6, 2010
Crazy couple of weeks ...
Ok soo ... as of my last post ... we were waiting on answers for Jonathan's chest x-ray.
Well ... a LOT has happened since then. That same day I wrote the last post, I got a call that night (when I was staying with my grandparent's in Williamston - b/c I had to work down that way) from Jonathan at work, saying that he had had an attack while out training and they were at the urgent care. Well ... urgent care couldn't do anything, so they took him to the emergency room in Cary. When I got this call, I IMMEDIATELY got on the road and thankfully made it to Cary as quick (and safely) as possible. Since I was about an hour and a half away, Ms. Debbie and my mom went ahead and met him up there. I am SOOO thankful for his "family" (captain and other firemen) at the firestation b/c they stayed right with him and kept me posted until I got there.
To make a long story short, they did a chest x ray first and it was clear. Because they didn't have an ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat Dr.) at that hospital, they came back in and said they were sending us home ........... ummm, excuse me, "WHAT"?? No ... we were determined to leave there with answers!! ... Luckily, they contacted the ENT at the wakemed in Raleigh and they told them not to let him go home ... that they would need him transported there to do some tests. Soo ... in the meantime, they did a CT scan of his neck (all was clear - praise Jesus!) We then waited until about 4:00 AM for the transport unit to come get him and take him to wake med in Raleigh. As soon as we got there, the ENT came right to us. He did a scope down Jonathan's nose and throat and all was clear (THANK YOU JESUS!!) They also did another test (where he swallows some liquids in a bunch of different positions) and they showed a little bit of swelling at the bottom of his esophagus ... and a hernia. We stayed there all day, waiting for a room where they would observe him for 24 hours, but the hospital was so full that he was actually "admitted" and taken to the back of the emergency room. Late that afternoon, the ENT doctor finally came back and talked us through what they thought it was - Vocal chord dysfunction (where his vocal chords actually close when he's trying to cough/breath), hernia, esophageal reflux, and viral pneumonia. Of course Jonathan had not had an attack all day b/c he had not eaten or been to sleep (that's when the attacks normally happened ... during the night or early in the morning). They felt comfortable for him to go home b/c they said that with these episodes ... even though he feels like he's not getting ANY air during the attacks, he is actually getting a little bit ... and if he did pass out, he would "reset" himself and wake back up. Hmmm ............. not what we want to hear, but we were very thankful to rule some things out (tumors, etc.) They gave him a few different medicines (steroids, antibiotics, and acid reflux medicine), put him on a strictly "bland" diet, and gave us their card to schedule a follow up appt with them for the following Tuesday.
Of course, the next morning, he had two attacks. We called the ENT doctor and they sent us some breathing exercises to help him until we got to their office Tuesday morning. Thankfully, the attacks have, for the most part, gotten a little better. He still has them, but they aren't as severe (except for one where he had blood in his mucus). After going to the follow up visit with the ENT, we decided we still needed to go see a pulmonologist just to rule any issues out with the lungs as well. We have that visit scheduled for December 22nd - that was the best they could do.
The last 3 or 4 nights, he has been sleeping in the recliner right beside our bed and hasn't had any attacks - he has had one or two times where he "almost" had one ... but was able to breath and drink water and ween them off. At the fire station, he lifted his bed a few inches at the head and that helped him sleep as well. We are going to do the same thing here.
THANK YOU FOR ANYBODY WHO HAS BEEN PRAYING FOR HIM - GOD IS FAITHFUL!
Well ... a LOT has happened since then. That same day I wrote the last post, I got a call that night (when I was staying with my grandparent's in Williamston - b/c I had to work down that way) from Jonathan at work, saying that he had had an attack while out training and they were at the urgent care. Well ... urgent care couldn't do anything, so they took him to the emergency room in Cary. When I got this call, I IMMEDIATELY got on the road and thankfully made it to Cary as quick (and safely) as possible. Since I was about an hour and a half away, Ms. Debbie and my mom went ahead and met him up there. I am SOOO thankful for his "family" (captain and other firemen) at the firestation b/c they stayed right with him and kept me posted until I got there.
To make a long story short, they did a chest x ray first and it was clear. Because they didn't have an ENT (Ear, Nose, and Throat Dr.) at that hospital, they came back in and said they were sending us home ........... ummm, excuse me, "WHAT"?? No ... we were determined to leave there with answers!! ... Luckily, they contacted the ENT at the wakemed in Raleigh and they told them not to let him go home ... that they would need him transported there to do some tests. Soo ... in the meantime, they did a CT scan of his neck (all was clear - praise Jesus!) We then waited until about 4:00 AM for the transport unit to come get him and take him to wake med in Raleigh. As soon as we got there, the ENT came right to us. He did a scope down Jonathan's nose and throat and all was clear (THANK YOU JESUS!!) They also did another test (where he swallows some liquids in a bunch of different positions) and they showed a little bit of swelling at the bottom of his esophagus ... and a hernia. We stayed there all day, waiting for a room where they would observe him for 24 hours, but the hospital was so full that he was actually "admitted" and taken to the back of the emergency room. Late that afternoon, the ENT doctor finally came back and talked us through what they thought it was - Vocal chord dysfunction (where his vocal chords actually close when he's trying to cough/breath), hernia, esophageal reflux, and viral pneumonia. Of course Jonathan had not had an attack all day b/c he had not eaten or been to sleep (that's when the attacks normally happened ... during the night or early in the morning). They felt comfortable for him to go home b/c they said that with these episodes ... even though he feels like he's not getting ANY air during the attacks, he is actually getting a little bit ... and if he did pass out, he would "reset" himself and wake back up. Hmmm ............. not what we want to hear, but we were very thankful to rule some things out (tumors, etc.) They gave him a few different medicines (steroids, antibiotics, and acid reflux medicine), put him on a strictly "bland" diet, and gave us their card to schedule a follow up appt with them for the following Tuesday.
Of course, the next morning, he had two attacks. We called the ENT doctor and they sent us some breathing exercises to help him until we got to their office Tuesday morning. Thankfully, the attacks have, for the most part, gotten a little better. He still has them, but they aren't as severe (except for one where he had blood in his mucus). After going to the follow up visit with the ENT, we decided we still needed to go see a pulmonologist just to rule any issues out with the lungs as well. We have that visit scheduled for December 22nd - that was the best they could do.
The last 3 or 4 nights, he has been sleeping in the recliner right beside our bed and hasn't had any attacks - he has had one or two times where he "almost" had one ... but was able to breath and drink water and ween them off. At the fire station, he lifted his bed a few inches at the head and that helped him sleep as well. We are going to do the same thing here.
THANK YOU FOR ANYBODY WHO HAS BEEN PRAYING FOR HIM - GOD IS FAITHFUL!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
The Power of Prayer
The last couple of weeks have been pretty crazy for us ... health-wise. Jonathan started with a little cold towards the end of October and ... it has been a roller coaster for him ever since. For the first week of it, just like usual, he was taking dayquil and nyquil. When that didn't seem to help, we decided he needed to go to the doctor November 1st ... so he went that Monday and they gave him some kind of cough medicine and told him to take Mucinex. Well ... he did that for a few days and then that Thursday morning he jumped out of bed CHOKING on his cough/throw up. IT WAS THE SCARIEST THING!! All I could do was pray ... and call 911 all at the same time! At first when he jumped up, I just thought he had to cough really bad and deep but ... then he stopped coughing and couldn't get any air up or down or through or anything ........ so I immediately started panicking and asked him "do I need to call 911?" - he shook his head yes ........ at the same time, I tried to get behind him and do the heimlich (b/c I didn't know what else to do!!) - but he pushed me off of him .......... and ended up sticking his hand down his throat and was able to get a little air (PRAISE THE GOOD LORD!) So ... the fire truck got there first and the first one in our house was a Cary fireman ... he said "where's my boy at? is he ok?" Thank goodness for Wilson's Mills volunteers! At that point, he was "ok". Ok, meaning that he was at least breathing. He didn't want to go to the hospital because he was fine at this point but we knew he had to go back to the doctor. So I called and got an appt for that morning. Well ... the doctor spent maybe 5 minutes altogether with us and ... needless to say, we were a little frustrated. She prescribed him a z-pack and told him to call back in a few days if he wasn't better. Well ... every single morning/day after that he had one of those attacks again. Coughing to the point of throwing up, but not able to pass air through at the same time. So ... Tuesday morning we called back again and she prescribed him another cough medicine. He took that all afternoon Tuesday and through the night and he woke up Wednesday morning and didn't have an attack ... THANK THE LORD! ........... and he went all day, just laying on the couch and resting so we thought he was getting better. So that afternoon, we were both standing in the kitchen, kinda playing around with each other and being silly (getting ready to start cooking supper), and all of a sudden he went into one of those attacks again - scared me to death!!!!!!!!!! Soo we decided ... doctor's closed ... it's time to go to emergency room or urgent care. Well ... we headed to Knightdale to the urgent care and one of them was closed and the other one had an hour and a half wait and by the time we would be seen they'd be closing. Soo we decided to go get something to eat and we'd go back to the doctor in the morning. So I called as soon as the clock struck 8:00 the next morning to get a doctor's appointment. We went in to that same doctor and ... she took a few more minutes with him because I think she realized it was a little more serious than what she was originally thinking. He actually had a miniature episode in front of her (which I was thankful for) so she could kinda see what he was talking about. She said it sounded like he had asthmatic bronchitis and she prescribed him Advair and an inhaler. Well .......... he tried that for a few days, but no such luck. He had an attack Friday morning, Saturday morning, and two on Sunday. Sunday night he even started throwing up food with it. He then got up at 2:00 in the morning Monday morning and had an attack then. Well ... we have been praying about this daily and for his health and just for answers ... but Sunday night after church activities, we went to the sanctuary and prayed ... God, put your healing hand upon my husband ... we TRUST YOU, we KNOW you are our ultimate PHYSICIAN and we love you. I know He has already been working in us and through us during this and we pray He continues to use us through this experience. God had already been revealing answers to us, through two friends/church members of ours/that had been nurses. One of them told him to take prednizone (which, I'll get to in a second, but has been a BLESSING for us!)The other one told us he needed to go to Dr. Hart ( a pulmonologist). So Monday morning I got up and called our doctor and the specialist (Dr. Hart). Dr. Hart didn't have an opening until FEBRUARY!! ... wowww can't wait THAT long. But our doctor told us to come in in the meantime to get a chest x-ray and they prescribed him prednizone ... by the grace of God, so far, in more than 24 hours ... he has not had an attack!!!!!!!!!! He has been coughing up his lungs still but ... not to the point of not breathing! HALLELUJAH!! Soo we are currently waiting on the results of that chest x-ray and will go from there. I KNOW God can perform miracles and I KNOW this is just another chance to draw closer to Him. HE IS OUR EVERYTHING. We thank HIM for every breath and ... pray that He continues to heal Jonathan. I'll keep you posted! But please PRAY! :) THERE IS POWER IN PRAYER!
Monday, November 8, 2010
Doctor's Appt at almost 23 weeks :)
We had a doctor's appointment on Friday, 11/5, and it was short and sweet. Thankfully, the doctor told me I'm "boring" and she likes boring - we do too! Because all she had to do was take my blood pressure (which was normal), measure my belly (which was right on with the measurements it should be), and listen to the baby's heartbeat (which was strong and ... wonderful!) He was moving around a lot again too :) But the funny part was ... my weight!! The first time I went to the doctor, after I found out I was pregnant, I was a certain weight - I consider that my starting weight. The next doctor's office visit I had lost 2 pounds (so I was thinking umm ... ?? why am I losing??) The next doctor's visit I had gained 4 (from my last doctor's visit - so I had gained two pounds in all, from my starting weight - which was good) ... but THIS TIME ... I had gained 10.7 pounds from my last doctor's visit - soo 12.7 pounds altogether!! The funny part was ... I had not even thought twice about my weight ... at all ... this whole time ... and then, of course, the first thing they tell you to do is go into the bathroom, get your weight and your urine sample. So I went in there and stepped on the scale first and I was soo flabber-gasted (in a good way) that I sat down on the toilet and completely forget to get the sample. OOPS!! The doctor told me that weight gain was completely normal - that I'd probably have two times during the pregnancy that I'd have big jumps in weight - but she said, and I quote, "I wouldn't suggest gaining 10 pounds EVERY 4 weeks" ... HAHAH. Well ... ok! So then I was eating at my mom's house on Sunday and she has a scale and I stepped on it and I had gained 3 more since Friday - this was TWO days after my doctor's appointment! Granted, I HAD just eaten two plates at lunch but still .......... :) hahah
I just think it's funny - especially b/c the holidays are coming up and ... (I LOVE my grandma's cooking at Thanksgiving and Christmas) ;) ... and I've always been a picky eater and was worried about not gaining enough weight - HA! thinking about another life inside of me & eating for two has caused me not to be so picky :) And I think this is a GREAT thing (gaining weight) - b/c that means I've got a healthy baby boy in there :)
Here are a few belly pics:
My belly at 23 weeks
20 weeks
My husband and the puppies taking belly pics for me (and them loving on him in the meantime ;) )
I just think it's funny - especially b/c the holidays are coming up and ... (I LOVE my grandma's cooking at Thanksgiving and Christmas) ;) ... and I've always been a picky eater and was worried about not gaining enough weight - HA! thinking about another life inside of me & eating for two has caused me not to be so picky :) And I think this is a GREAT thing (gaining weight) - b/c that means I've got a healthy baby boy in there :)
Here are a few belly pics:
My belly at 23 weeks
20 weeks
My husband and the puppies taking belly pics for me (and them loving on him in the meantime ;) )
Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Gender Revealing Cookout!
Crystal had suggested a gender revealing cookout towards the very beginning, when we found out we were pregnant. We definitely liked the idea, but wanted to make sure everything was ok with the baby/pregnancy first. The closer it got to finding out, we kept talking about the idea. We even debated on waiting to find out when everybody else found out (i.e. having the ultrasound technician write it out on a notecard and seal it and we would take it straight to a cake baker to make the cake w/ the appropriate color -- blue or pink). Although we thought that would be cool, we wanted to have "our" special time together, finding out. I'm soo glad we did it that way. What an amazing feeling finding out the gender of our baby that God has blessed us w/ - w/ the most important and amazing man in my life - my husband! :) TRULY a blessing!
So we found out Thursday at 11:00 and decided to have the cookout Friday night. It was going to be soooooooo HARD for us to keep that secret -- but 24 hours? -- we could do it (and we did!!) We decorated with pink and blue balloons, tablecloths, flowers, plates, cups, napkins, forks, spoons, knives, candy, etc. We also wore the color that we thought it was - and told some of the others too that they were more than welcome to do the same. The whole time I was thinking it was a girl ... I'm not sure why?? And the whole time Jonathan thought it was a boy ............. HE WAS RIGHT!!!! And I'm sooo glad he was! God knows exactly what we need at the exact time in our lives -- I have never felt more blessed than I do right now!
Soo we ate dinner (hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, baked beans, broccoli salad, etc.) and then for dessert ........... we revealed the gender by Natalie's AWESOME cake!! :) What we did was call her after we found out and she made the cake the color of the baby -- BLUE!!! -- and made the outside of the cake both colors so nobody would know until we cut into the cake! It was DELICIOUS!!
Can't WAIT to meet our baby BOY!! :)
So we found out Thursday at 11:00 and decided to have the cookout Friday night. It was going to be soooooooo HARD for us to keep that secret -- but 24 hours? -- we could do it (and we did!!) We decorated with pink and blue balloons, tablecloths, flowers, plates, cups, napkins, forks, spoons, knives, candy, etc. We also wore the color that we thought it was - and told some of the others too that they were more than welcome to do the same. The whole time I was thinking it was a girl ... I'm not sure why?? And the whole time Jonathan thought it was a boy ............. HE WAS RIGHT!!!! And I'm sooo glad he was! God knows exactly what we need at the exact time in our lives -- I have never felt more blessed than I do right now!
Soo we ate dinner (hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, baked beans, broccoli salad, etc.) and then for dessert ........... we revealed the gender by Natalie's AWESOME cake!! :) What we did was call her after we found out and she made the cake the color of the baby -- BLUE!!! -- and made the outside of the cake both colors so nobody would know until we cut into the cake! It was DELICIOUS!!
Can't WAIT to meet our baby BOY!! :)
Monday, October 11, 2010
Boy OR Girl?? ............ :)
So ... we were anxiously waiting for our next doctor's appointment, which we scheduled exactly two weeks after our last one (so not TOO long of a wait). Starting Sunday, I was thinking the week was going to go by soo slow - but it actually went by pretty fast. We just prayed and prayed that the baby's heartbeat was still strong and that everything would be ok with the baby (and mommy too)! God is SOO good! He has continued to answer that prayer. So ... now for the exciting part!! As I was laying there, the ultrasound technician was showing us the heartbeat, the hands, the legs, the arms, the stomach, and every little detail .......... she kept asking us "so you do want to see the gender right? you do want to know what you're having right?" She definitely wanted to make sure she didn't tell us if we didn't want to know but ....... we did!! Soo as she scanned over the lower region, she stopped and held the image still, with the babies legs wide open!! She said, "do y'all want to guess what it is??" SIDENOTE - she was being funny because there was NO QUESTION what our baby was!! ... we both looked at each other ... soo excited ... and she said "well ........ ??" and we both said IT'S A BOY! As I saw Jonathan's face ... tears started rolling down my face. It was one of the most bittersweet moments I have had the whole time. We couldn't believe it and were soo excited to finally know what our precious baby would be! This made it soo much more real! As she finished the ultrasound, we took the pictures and just kept looking at every detail while we went and sat back in the waiting area (we had to wait and see the Nurse Practitioner just for my blood pressure and measuring my stomach).
As we left, the radio was on in the car and ... the Brad Paisley song "Anything Like Me" was on. I had never heard it before (or never really payed attention to it) but Jonathan had heard it and recognized it. When it was over, he changed the channel to another country station and ... again ... no lie ... it was on the other station. I don't know who has heard that song or the lyrics but ... the first part is this ...
"I remember saying I don't care either way
Just as long as he or she is healthy I'm ok
Then the doctor pointed to the corner of the screen
And said "You see that thing right there well you know what that means"
And I started wondering who he was going to be
And I thought heaven help us if he's anything like me"
It's kind of a funny song to us but also a sweet song.
We then went to TJ Maxx to buy our first little outfit for our baby BOY (one that I had seen the day before). We couldn't WAIT to tell everybody! ... but they would have to wait until TOMORROW (Friday) to find out at our gender revealing cookout :)
As we left, the radio was on in the car and ... the Brad Paisley song "Anything Like Me" was on. I had never heard it before (or never really payed attention to it) but Jonathan had heard it and recognized it. When it was over, he changed the channel to another country station and ... again ... no lie ... it was on the other station. I don't know who has heard that song or the lyrics but ... the first part is this ...
"I remember saying I don't care either way
Just as long as he or she is healthy I'm ok
Then the doctor pointed to the corner of the screen
And said "You see that thing right there well you know what that means"
And I started wondering who he was going to be
And I thought heaven help us if he's anything like me"
It's kind of a funny song to us but also a sweet song.
We then went to TJ Maxx to buy our first little outfit for our baby BOY (one that I had seen the day before). We couldn't WAIT to tell everybody! ... but they would have to wait until TOMORROW (Friday) to find out at our gender revealing cookout :)
Thursday, September 23, 2010
Doctor's Appointments ...
First of all, I go to Capital Area OBGYN - i LOVE them. Before I found out I was pregnant, I just went to a regular primary doctor and had NO idea who to go to when I got pregnant. My friend Crystal has had two precious babies and highly recommended this practice -- I'm soo glad she did - they are GREAT. The very first appointment we went to was in their old office (in Cary). This appointment was just to meet with the pre-natal nurse to discuss things like health history, nutrition, overview of my appts going forward, to draw blood, urine sample, etc. etc. When we first got there, the nurse had me go to the bathroom to do a urine sample ... when I came out, I made eye contact with two girls I went to high school with and cheered with - Shanacee Holden & Wanette Williams!! They work there!! It was aweeeeesome and reassuring to see them and know that this really IS a good practice - b/c these girls are awesome. That first visit was July 29th. We scheduled our next visit for August 10th to do the first ultrasound.
The week before August 10th, we had something come up with church where we weren't going to be able to make our appointment that Tuesday ... so we thought ... we've waited this long, we can surely wait another two days. Soo we rescheduled the appt. for Thursday, August 12th. It was the most awesome feeling getting to see/hear our precious baby's heartbeat for the first time. What a miracle!! ........... The ultrasound technician told us that everything measured exactly where it was supposed to be measuring and the baby's heartbeat was 165 beats/minute.
The next doctor's office visit was on August 24th. This was the first time we were actually meeting with the doctor. The one I met with that day - Dr. Christin Richardson - was AWESOME. She sat us down in her office and talked about my blood type, asked us all kinds of questions about how everything was going, and then she did a papsmear/pelvic exam and we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat as well. She said "if I had to guess, the baby's heartbeart is about 160 beats/minute" -- so about the same as it was last time.
The next doctor's office visit was on September 2nd. This was our first trimester ultrasound and down's syndrome testing. We met with the nurse practitioner, Kristin Shields, first to discuss down's syndrome, etc. She did the ultrasound and we got to see the baby's heartbeat again -- and, of course, printed out several pictures. During the ultrasound she was measuring the neck and said "everything is measuring well within normal range". (I wouldn't have known this ... except Crystal had told me ... that sometimes they can tell if it's gonna be abnormal or more of a risk by the measurement of the neck -- I would never have known that otherwise). They then took my blood and ... we were on our way back to work. About a week and a half later, I got a notification through e-mail telling me I had a new message on my online account with them -- the message said everything with my first ultrasound screening was within normal range.
The next visit was .......... today. This was supposed to be a routine visit just to take my measurements, weigh me, blood pressure, etc. Of course, with me, nothing is ever routine/normal. Last night I did not sleep very well at all. I woke up at 4:45 and could NOT go back to sleep .. why?? I have no idea. Jonathan had to get up and go to work (but since the dr's office is within his fire district, he was just planning on meeting me there). I finally fell into a deep sleep about 6:00, right before his alarm went off. So he got up and went to work. He reset the alarm for me to wake up at 6:50. I guess I was in such a deep sleep that at 7:06, I jumped up, realizing I HAD to get up right then or I would be late, and turned the shower on. I got in the shower and when I started wetting my hair, I realize 'I'm about to pass out right now ...' I immediately turned the shower off and got out and put my head down between my legs (this has happened to me and my mom on mannnny occasions, so this is nothing TOO unusual). But ... I was still running late so I decided to turn the bath tub on b/c half my hair was wet and I at least needed to wet the rest of it so I could get ready and leave. I remember turning the bath water on and then opening the closet door to get a towel out and then ......................... the next thing I know, I am waking up from being facedown on the floor. The LORD is sooo good to me ... b/c somehow I woke up all of a sudden ... (Jonathan thinks my blood pressue finally leveled out - and we've also tossed around the idea that our dog Romeo started licking me or something) - but I sincerely know that God was just taking care of me. It couldn't have been too long b/c the bath water had only filled the tub about 2-3 inches. I also immediately looked at the clock and it was 7:13 so that's another reason I couldn't have passed out for too long. I got up and went straight to the bed to lay down, thinking I HAVE to cancel this appt - there is NO way I am going to be able to make it - I don't feel good - I can't get myself up out of this bed - I'm wet - I've only had half of a shower ... So I debated for 2 seconds whether to call 911 or Jonathan but, as I was laying there for the first few seconds, I started to feel ok ... like I wasn't going to pass out again. Plus, I was butt naked, didn't have any bumps or bruises (that I could tell) and I was alive soo I decided to call Jonathan. I was balling my eyes out, NOT scared for myself, but scared for this little life inside of me. I didn't know if I had fallen .. I didn't know if I had hurt the baby .. I NEVER lay on my stomach anymore and that's how I woke up on the ground - facedown on my stomach soo I was soo worried. We immediately just started praying. Jonathan kept insisting on him coming to get me and driving me but ... I literally felt OK after all that. I really really think I just jumped up too fast out of bed and had not let myself get stabilized before I tried taking a bath/shower. Jonathan says my blood pressure just dropped and then when I was on the floor it started to level out. We obviously kept our doctor's appointment - we wanted to make sure everything was ok. My heart was relieved when we got to hear our baby's heartbeat again ... just as strong as before! The doctor kept thinking it was my blood sugar or that the water in the shower was too hot ... but ... I've had numerous occasions where I've had issues with my blood sugar and ... that one wasn't it. I have also taken the same shower with the same warm water every day ... so I don't think that was it either. But I sure did learn my lesson ... I won't be jumping up out of bed like that again!!!!!!!!!!!!! PRAISE GOD, for being the HEALER, COMFORTER, PROTECTOR, & for taking care of me & our baby. It could have been a whole lot worse.
We scheduled our next visit for two weeks from today - Thursday, October 7th. This is when we will find out if it is a BOY OR GIRL!!!!!!! STAY TUNED!! :)
The week before August 10th, we had something come up with church where we weren't going to be able to make our appointment that Tuesday ... so we thought ... we've waited this long, we can surely wait another two days. Soo we rescheduled the appt. for Thursday, August 12th. It was the most awesome feeling getting to see/hear our precious baby's heartbeat for the first time. What a miracle!! ........... The ultrasound technician told us that everything measured exactly where it was supposed to be measuring and the baby's heartbeat was 165 beats/minute.
The next doctor's office visit was on August 24th. This was the first time we were actually meeting with the doctor. The one I met with that day - Dr. Christin Richardson - was AWESOME. She sat us down in her office and talked about my blood type, asked us all kinds of questions about how everything was going, and then she did a papsmear/pelvic exam and we were able to hear the baby's heartbeat as well. She said "if I had to guess, the baby's heartbeart is about 160 beats/minute" -- so about the same as it was last time.
The next doctor's office visit was on September 2nd. This was our first trimester ultrasound and down's syndrome testing. We met with the nurse practitioner, Kristin Shields, first to discuss down's syndrome, etc. She did the ultrasound and we got to see the baby's heartbeat again -- and, of course, printed out several pictures. During the ultrasound she was measuring the neck and said "everything is measuring well within normal range". (I wouldn't have known this ... except Crystal had told me ... that sometimes they can tell if it's gonna be abnormal or more of a risk by the measurement of the neck -- I would never have known that otherwise). They then took my blood and ... we were on our way back to work. About a week and a half later, I got a notification through e-mail telling me I had a new message on my online account with them -- the message said everything with my first ultrasound screening was within normal range.
The next visit was .......... today. This was supposed to be a routine visit just to take my measurements, weigh me, blood pressure, etc. Of course, with me, nothing is ever routine/normal. Last night I did not sleep very well at all. I woke up at 4:45 and could NOT go back to sleep .. why?? I have no idea. Jonathan had to get up and go to work (but since the dr's office is within his fire district, he was just planning on meeting me there). I finally fell into a deep sleep about 6:00, right before his alarm went off. So he got up and went to work. He reset the alarm for me to wake up at 6:50. I guess I was in such a deep sleep that at 7:06, I jumped up, realizing I HAD to get up right then or I would be late, and turned the shower on. I got in the shower and when I started wetting my hair, I realize 'I'm about to pass out right now ...' I immediately turned the shower off and got out and put my head down between my legs (this has happened to me and my mom on mannnny occasions, so this is nothing TOO unusual). But ... I was still running late so I decided to turn the bath tub on b/c half my hair was wet and I at least needed to wet the rest of it so I could get ready and leave. I remember turning the bath water on and then opening the closet door to get a towel out and then ......................... the next thing I know, I am waking up from being facedown on the floor. The LORD is sooo good to me ... b/c somehow I woke up all of a sudden ... (Jonathan thinks my blood pressue finally leveled out - and we've also tossed around the idea that our dog Romeo started licking me or something) - but I sincerely know that God was just taking care of me. It couldn't have been too long b/c the bath water had only filled the tub about 2-3 inches. I also immediately looked at the clock and it was 7:13 so that's another reason I couldn't have passed out for too long. I got up and went straight to the bed to lay down, thinking I HAVE to cancel this appt - there is NO way I am going to be able to make it - I don't feel good - I can't get myself up out of this bed - I'm wet - I've only had half of a shower ... So I debated for 2 seconds whether to call 911 or Jonathan but, as I was laying there for the first few seconds, I started to feel ok ... like I wasn't going to pass out again. Plus, I was butt naked, didn't have any bumps or bruises (that I could tell) and I was alive soo I decided to call Jonathan. I was balling my eyes out, NOT scared for myself, but scared for this little life inside of me. I didn't know if I had fallen .. I didn't know if I had hurt the baby .. I NEVER lay on my stomach anymore and that's how I woke up on the ground - facedown on my stomach soo I was soo worried. We immediately just started praying. Jonathan kept insisting on him coming to get me and driving me but ... I literally felt OK after all that. I really really think I just jumped up too fast out of bed and had not let myself get stabilized before I tried taking a bath/shower. Jonathan says my blood pressure just dropped and then when I was on the floor it started to level out. We obviously kept our doctor's appointment - we wanted to make sure everything was ok. My heart was relieved when we got to hear our baby's heartbeat again ... just as strong as before! The doctor kept thinking it was my blood sugar or that the water in the shower was too hot ... but ... I've had numerous occasions where I've had issues with my blood sugar and ... that one wasn't it. I have also taken the same shower with the same warm water every day ... so I don't think that was it either. But I sure did learn my lesson ... I won't be jumping up out of bed like that again!!!!!!!!!!!!! PRAISE GOD, for being the HEALER, COMFORTER, PROTECTOR, & for taking care of me & our baby. It could have been a whole lot worse.
We scheduled our next visit for two weeks from today - Thursday, October 7th. This is when we will find out if it is a BOY OR GIRL!!!!!!! STAY TUNED!! :)
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Expecting our first BABY!! :)
Soo my plan last time I logged in (August 11th) was to get on here the next day and post our NEWS. However, I've been very slack at this soo I'm just now doing it (over a month later). Woww ... i think I'm busy NOW (without a child) ... I wonder how in the world I'll update this blog WITH a child?? :)
For those of you that didn't know, we're expecting our first BABY March 6th 2011!! We are soo excited and feel very blessed already. I think it is finally starting to set in that this is "real".
We found out July 2nd and we were FINALLY able to tell people after we saw the heartbeat on August 12th. We just wanted to make sure everything was OK and that there really was a precious little life in there ... there IS and everything's going well so far! :)
So ... the funny part is HOW we found out. Here's the story:
Jonathan and I left on a Wednesday afternoon (June 23rd) to drive down to Marco Island, Florida (which is where we go on our family vacation every summer). Mom and Michael had already arrived because they had flown. Jonathan & I drove b/c I am not a big fan of flying (that's a whole 'nother story in inself). Todd and Laine were scheduled to fly in that Friday (when our time share starts). On the way down, we stopped and stayed at the Red Roof Inn, before making it to Marco Island around lunch-time on Thursday. The first couple of days we were there, I did completely fine out in the sun (like usual). Starting Sunday, however, I got this AWFUL heat rash/sun poison that burned soo bad and was itching me to deathhhhhhh!! I had NEVER experienced that problem with the sun and, in fact, had been laying out here and there (at the beach, at my house, etc.) before we went to Florida just so I wouldn't burn as bad when we got there (and had not had any trouble at all). So ... we went to the pharmacy Sunday night and it was too late ... the pharmacists had gone home for the night. Soo the next day I stayed under the umbrella all day, but it still hurt (b/c it was a heat rash too). Finally, I saw a pharmacist that afternoon (Monday) and they suggested I take benadryl and gave me a cream to use. The cream helped tremendously b/c it helped soothe it and ease the pain for a while and, of course, the benadryl helped a little too. So the rest of the week ... I was ok with the rash ... it would come out during the day when I was out on the beach or by the pool and ... it would go in some at night. By Thursday, it was ok ...
Mom kept telling me that it could be my hormones changing ... b/c she knew I was off birth control ... and they kept laughing about the possibility of me being pregnant. It was ALL just a joke. I mean ... I did keep eating pickles and drinking Mt. Dew and Laine kept giving me a hard time about that ... but it was literally .. a JOKE (or so we thought)! ...
So ... Tuesday morning I had woken up and had two spider-looking bites on my left leg. I thought nothing of them ... I was more worried about the heat rash. By Thursday night at dinner (the day before we were leaving), they looked huge - one of them had a red target looking ring around it and ... of course, the worst thing you can do is look it up online and try to find out what kind they are ... well, I did. NOT a good idea - b/c it kept showing pictures of brown recluse (sp?) spiders, etc. ... so this was about 10:30 Thursday night. We were scheduled to get up Friday morning and leave at 4:00 AM to take Todd and Laine to the airport and me, mom & Jonathan were leaving straight from there and driving back to NC (15 hour drive)!!
So ... Jonathan and I looked up an urgent care just to go get some medicine or something for them and to make sure I was ok. Of course, there wasn't a 24 hour urgent care and the closest place we could find was the emergency room in Naples (about 15 minutes away). So ... we drove to the ER ... there were probably 5 people total there ... me, Jonathan, the receptionist, the doctor, and the nurse. Literally, it wasn't like Wake Med or Rex!
So ... after about 2 minutes of waiting in the waiting room, the nurse called us back and started asking all my symptoms. I told her about my heat rash, the spider bites and I even mentioned I was two or three days late. She took all my vital signs and then came the doctor. He was this haitian looking man that kinda reminded me of Burke (you know, Christina's old fiance that is no longer on the show - from Grey's Anatomy). He was straight to the point - he went right to popping my spider bites and I had to hold on soo tight to Jonathan's arm b/c I thought he was killing me. It hurt soooooooooo bad. He then asked me if there was any chance I could be pregnant b/c they were going to prescribe me a certain medicine. I said well ... actually I'm two or three days late, which isn't unusual ... and he jumped in and said we would do a urine test just in case. So ... I did the test around 12:25 AM and ... we sat, and waited, and sat, and waited ........... and by this time, we knew everything was ok with my spider bite and we were just ready to get out of there ... we knew we had to get up at 3:30 and drive all day soo we just felt we were wasting time. Soo finally at 1:05 AM, the doctor comes back in and says ... matter of factly "well, you are pregnant." WHAT?!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) I wish I had a camera to catch Jonathan's facial expression. It was incredddddddible!! We sat there just almost laughing with each other b/c he had JUST said (before the doctor came back in) -- "what if we find out we're pregnant in Marco Island Florida in an emergency room?!" - and we laughed it off because, of course, we thought it was a joke!! .......................... God had BIGGER plans for us!
Soo ... the doctor goes straight back to working on my spider bites and checking them out before we left ........... what spider bites?? I'm not even worried about THOSE anymore!!
So Jonathan and I checked out and left and ... we didn't know what in the world to do about telling any of our family?? We had always talked about waiting until a special occasion or ordering grandma/grandpa bibs or something and having them open them all together ... but how were we going to keep this HUGE secret????????
WE COULDN'T!! ... we ended up telling all of our immediate family and then we waited until August 12th to start telling others (after we got to see and hear that precious baby's heartbeat)!
Jonathan and I are sooo very lucky to have the love and support from all our family and friends. And we can't WAIT for Baby Williams to arrive so we can love it, care for it, and spoil it just like all our family has done to us over the years. :)
For those of you that didn't know, we're expecting our first BABY March 6th 2011!! We are soo excited and feel very blessed already. I think it is finally starting to set in that this is "real".
We found out July 2nd and we were FINALLY able to tell people after we saw the heartbeat on August 12th. We just wanted to make sure everything was OK and that there really was a precious little life in there ... there IS and everything's going well so far! :)
So ... the funny part is HOW we found out. Here's the story:
Jonathan and I left on a Wednesday afternoon (June 23rd) to drive down to Marco Island, Florida (which is where we go on our family vacation every summer). Mom and Michael had already arrived because they had flown. Jonathan & I drove b/c I am not a big fan of flying (that's a whole 'nother story in inself). Todd and Laine were scheduled to fly in that Friday (when our time share starts). On the way down, we stopped and stayed at the Red Roof Inn, before making it to Marco Island around lunch-time on Thursday. The first couple of days we were there, I did completely fine out in the sun (like usual). Starting Sunday, however, I got this AWFUL heat rash/sun poison that burned soo bad and was itching me to deathhhhhhh!! I had NEVER experienced that problem with the sun and, in fact, had been laying out here and there (at the beach, at my house, etc.) before we went to Florida just so I wouldn't burn as bad when we got there (and had not had any trouble at all). So ... we went to the pharmacy Sunday night and it was too late ... the pharmacists had gone home for the night. Soo the next day I stayed under the umbrella all day, but it still hurt (b/c it was a heat rash too). Finally, I saw a pharmacist that afternoon (Monday) and they suggested I take benadryl and gave me a cream to use. The cream helped tremendously b/c it helped soothe it and ease the pain for a while and, of course, the benadryl helped a little too. So the rest of the week ... I was ok with the rash ... it would come out during the day when I was out on the beach or by the pool and ... it would go in some at night. By Thursday, it was ok ...
Mom kept telling me that it could be my hormones changing ... b/c she knew I was off birth control ... and they kept laughing about the possibility of me being pregnant. It was ALL just a joke. I mean ... I did keep eating pickles and drinking Mt. Dew and Laine kept giving me a hard time about that ... but it was literally .. a JOKE (or so we thought)! ...
So ... Tuesday morning I had woken up and had two spider-looking bites on my left leg. I thought nothing of them ... I was more worried about the heat rash. By Thursday night at dinner (the day before we were leaving), they looked huge - one of them had a red target looking ring around it and ... of course, the worst thing you can do is look it up online and try to find out what kind they are ... well, I did. NOT a good idea - b/c it kept showing pictures of brown recluse (sp?) spiders, etc. ... so this was about 10:30 Thursday night. We were scheduled to get up Friday morning and leave at 4:00 AM to take Todd and Laine to the airport and me, mom & Jonathan were leaving straight from there and driving back to NC (15 hour drive)!!
So ... Jonathan and I looked up an urgent care just to go get some medicine or something for them and to make sure I was ok. Of course, there wasn't a 24 hour urgent care and the closest place we could find was the emergency room in Naples (about 15 minutes away). So ... we drove to the ER ... there were probably 5 people total there ... me, Jonathan, the receptionist, the doctor, and the nurse. Literally, it wasn't like Wake Med or Rex!
So ... after about 2 minutes of waiting in the waiting room, the nurse called us back and started asking all my symptoms. I told her about my heat rash, the spider bites and I even mentioned I was two or three days late. She took all my vital signs and then came the doctor. He was this haitian looking man that kinda reminded me of Burke (you know, Christina's old fiance that is no longer on the show - from Grey's Anatomy). He was straight to the point - he went right to popping my spider bites and I had to hold on soo tight to Jonathan's arm b/c I thought he was killing me. It hurt soooooooooo bad. He then asked me if there was any chance I could be pregnant b/c they were going to prescribe me a certain medicine. I said well ... actually I'm two or three days late, which isn't unusual ... and he jumped in and said we would do a urine test just in case. So ... I did the test around 12:25 AM and ... we sat, and waited, and sat, and waited ........... and by this time, we knew everything was ok with my spider bite and we were just ready to get out of there ... we knew we had to get up at 3:30 and drive all day soo we just felt we were wasting time. Soo finally at 1:05 AM, the doctor comes back in and says ... matter of factly "well, you are pregnant." WHAT?!!!!!!!!! :) :) :) I wish I had a camera to catch Jonathan's facial expression. It was incredddddddible!! We sat there just almost laughing with each other b/c he had JUST said (before the doctor came back in) -- "what if we find out we're pregnant in Marco Island Florida in an emergency room?!" - and we laughed it off because, of course, we thought it was a joke!! .......................... God had BIGGER plans for us!
Soo ... the doctor goes straight back to working on my spider bites and checking them out before we left ........... what spider bites?? I'm not even worried about THOSE anymore!!
So Jonathan and I checked out and left and ... we didn't know what in the world to do about telling any of our family?? We had always talked about waiting until a special occasion or ordering grandma/grandpa bibs or something and having them open them all together ... but how were we going to keep this HUGE secret????????
WE COULDN'T!! ... we ended up telling all of our immediate family and then we waited until August 12th to start telling others (after we got to see and hear that precious baby's heartbeat)!
Jonathan and I are sooo very lucky to have the love and support from all our family and friends. And we can't WAIT for Baby Williams to arrive so we can love it, care for it, and spoil it just like all our family has done to us over the years. :)
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Where have we been??
This is wayy overdue! I'm sorry! I have been so bad about updating this thing and .. honestly haven't looked at it in over a year and a half (oops!).
I am going to try and be better about this (keyword = TRY)!
So ... I wanted to start off by giving a little update on what has gone on since I last posted (almost 2 years ago) - wow, time flies.
God has blessed us so much over the past year and a half. I never thought before we got married that I/we would be where we are right now ... but I am sooo abundantly blessed and grateful for God's love & mercy. Soon after we got married, the Lord showed us that we couldn't continue to live out of His will and continue to be disobedient to Him, and glorify Him at the same time ... it's just not possible! The devil was hard at work already trying to break us down (including even our marriage!) ... let me just say ... through GOD, there is NOTHING the devil can do ... nothing! God is so much GREATER and STRONGER and He PROTECTS and PROVIDES and LOVES unconditionally and has been teaching me to do the same. Psalm 46:1 says ... "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." Thank YOU, LORD - for being our refuge and strength. There is nothing we can do under our own strength and without God ... NOTHING!!
I don't anticipate too many people reading this ... but those that do, I hope you know that God desires to have an intimate relationship with YOU - yes, YOU! ... that's something I never even thought twice about ... even though I grew up in church ... I "thought" I was a true Christian only because I was there every time the doors opened ... for youth stuff, for praise band practice, for Sunday School & Church on Sunday mornings ... events on the weekends ... World Changers, Ski trips, etc etc etc. I had been baptized and saved BUT ... I was completely living out of God's will ... being disobedient ... doing things that brought shame to God's name ... all the while, still claiming to be a "Christian". James 2:19 says, "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder." .......... Truth be told, I "believed" that God was the one true God. I believed all the things I had learned (or heard) growing up ... but was I living like I believed? Had I really put my faith and trust in Him?? Did the desires of my heart change when I was baptized early on?? Did I really have a true relationship with Him?? NO ............ I DIDN'T!! ...
But PRAISE GOD for opening my eyes and breaking me to the point where I would FINALLY realize life is NOT all about me .......... it is ALL ABOUT HIM!!! Having a true relationship with Him ... REPENTing of my sins (meaning - completely turning away from the things that are/were disobedient to Him and out of His will) and starting to live in obedience to Him and His call for my life. Leading others towards Him ........ Matthew 28: 19-20 says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
This is God's desire for us all.
Now ... let me just go back saying ... I am in NO way, shape, or form and by NO means completely where I need to be. I KNOW that God has a LOT of work left to do IN me and through me ... b/c I still stumble ... I still sin ... and even still fall ... and my husband & family sometimes gets to see that first hand! ... but they are also the ones that encourage me! We all need encouragement ... and I hope that this is encouragement to YOU.
I know that there is a reason that all this is being typed into my computer right now ... because I haven't touched this in a longg time and opened it up just to update with a paragraph or so of what's been going on since we got married ... and here I am 45 minutes later, still typing.
Anywayyy ... I do want to catch you up on some other things that are going on with US - both of US - me and my wonderful husband, Jonathan! And I especially want to add to all this (with all the other that has been typed so far) .. that I have the most amazing, loving, giving, most supportive and encouraging husband I could have ever asked for. He is such a Godly leader and makes me feel so safe and secure. Again ... God had bigger plans than we ever had for ourselves.
I want to update you on US but I think I'll start another post. When I titled this, it was "Where have we been?" ... and then God lead me to type all this. I think the real question is "Where are we going from here?"
<3
I am going to try and be better about this (keyword = TRY)!
So ... I wanted to start off by giving a little update on what has gone on since I last posted (almost 2 years ago) - wow, time flies.
God has blessed us so much over the past year and a half. I never thought before we got married that I/we would be where we are right now ... but I am sooo abundantly blessed and grateful for God's love & mercy. Soon after we got married, the Lord showed us that we couldn't continue to live out of His will and continue to be disobedient to Him, and glorify Him at the same time ... it's just not possible! The devil was hard at work already trying to break us down (including even our marriage!) ... let me just say ... through GOD, there is NOTHING the devil can do ... nothing! God is so much GREATER and STRONGER and He PROTECTS and PROVIDES and LOVES unconditionally and has been teaching me to do the same. Psalm 46:1 says ... "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." Thank YOU, LORD - for being our refuge and strength. There is nothing we can do under our own strength and without God ... NOTHING!!
I don't anticipate too many people reading this ... but those that do, I hope you know that God desires to have an intimate relationship with YOU - yes, YOU! ... that's something I never even thought twice about ... even though I grew up in church ... I "thought" I was a true Christian only because I was there every time the doors opened ... for youth stuff, for praise band practice, for Sunday School & Church on Sunday mornings ... events on the weekends ... World Changers, Ski trips, etc etc etc. I had been baptized and saved BUT ... I was completely living out of God's will ... being disobedient ... doing things that brought shame to God's name ... all the while, still claiming to be a "Christian". James 2:19 says, "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that-and shudder." .......... Truth be told, I "believed" that God was the one true God. I believed all the things I had learned (or heard) growing up ... but was I living like I believed? Had I really put my faith and trust in Him?? Did the desires of my heart change when I was baptized early on?? Did I really have a true relationship with Him?? NO ............ I DIDN'T!! ...
But PRAISE GOD for opening my eyes and breaking me to the point where I would FINALLY realize life is NOT all about me .......... it is ALL ABOUT HIM!!! Having a true relationship with Him ... REPENTing of my sins (meaning - completely turning away from the things that are/were disobedient to Him and out of His will) and starting to live in obedience to Him and His call for my life. Leading others towards Him ........ Matthew 28: 19-20 says, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
This is God's desire for us all.
Now ... let me just go back saying ... I am in NO way, shape, or form and by NO means completely where I need to be. I KNOW that God has a LOT of work left to do IN me and through me ... b/c I still stumble ... I still sin ... and even still fall ... and my husband & family sometimes gets to see that first hand! ... but they are also the ones that encourage me! We all need encouragement ... and I hope that this is encouragement to YOU.
I know that there is a reason that all this is being typed into my computer right now ... because I haven't touched this in a longg time and opened it up just to update with a paragraph or so of what's been going on since we got married ... and here I am 45 minutes later, still typing.
Anywayyy ... I do want to catch you up on some other things that are going on with US - both of US - me and my wonderful husband, Jonathan! And I especially want to add to all this (with all the other that has been typed so far) .. that I have the most amazing, loving, giving, most supportive and encouraging husband I could have ever asked for. He is such a Godly leader and makes me feel so safe and secure. Again ... God had bigger plans than we ever had for ourselves.
I want to update you on US but I think I'll start another post. When I titled this, it was "Where have we been?" ... and then God lead me to type all this. I think the real question is "Where are we going from here?"
<3
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)