Touch of Jesus

I rarely post twice in one day, but today I just had to share my thoughts. Earlier today I went to a benefit to raise money for a local sheriff's deputy who died recently. They were serving lunches and I went and bought two of them for our lunch. I came home after picking up the lunches and read again on the internet the details of this man's death. He was off-duty and had pulled over on an icy morning to help another person who had had an accident. He truly did not have to stop and help-he was on his own time in his personal vehicle. I was just so touched that I felt the need to reread the details of this courageous man and the details of his last morning. What is interesting, is the fact that we were out on that icy interstate the same morning and we feel that his accident may have been one of the many we passed that morning.

David came over to me and realized I was crying. He climbed up in my lap and literally laid his head on my chest. I told him that Mommy was okay, I was just sad over a man that had died. He then took his little brownie-caked fingers and wiped my tears away with the most tender touch you have ever felt. It never phased Kyle that I was wiping away tears, but David was so aware that he climbed up on my lap and wiped my tears.

It just truly reminded me that my Father in heaven just like David knows when I weep and wipes my tears away. Isaiah 25:8 reminds us that "He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces.." In the midst of budget turmoil and anxiety across our country, it is such refreshing news to hear that the King of Kings knows about our tears and gently wipes them all away. If you ever doubt that and need a sweet reminder, I will gladly let you borrow David for a few moments the next time you run across something that brings tears to your eyes:)

Sweet Relief

This has been a pretty stressful week full of "must do's" and some pretty stressful budget meetings for Mike. By Friday morning, I really wasn't feeling myself. I went on to preschool, but after about an hour, I felt really dizzy when I stood up or leaned over to help a child. I left preschool immediately and went right to the doctor.

My doctor wasn't there, but I saw one of his partners who was as kind and sweet as he could be. I just felt so nervous and felt so bad that I just wept. He assured me that I was not the only pregnant lady that has ever cried in his presence. My blood pressure was a little elevated, and my iron was a little low, but the reason that I felt so dizzy was because I have that pregnancy condition (I know it has a fancier word but I cannot remember it) where your blood pressure changes when you change positions. It is not a problem at all, but it does make you nervous when you feel dizzy.

Then he volunteered to do an ultrasound!!!! Gotta love a doctor that can read your mind:) He did a thorough ultrasound where he took lots of measurements. The good news is that the baby continues to grow beautifully and the ultrasound measurements match his measurements on me which matches the due date:) That is very good news! I have another appointment Monday to recheck blood pressure. No final news yet on a Mr. or Miss Peanut, but frankly that news will just be icing on the cake:)

I have a precious ultrasound picture that I will scan later today. As a way to recharge Mike's batteries after a rough week and to keep my blood pressure under control we are officially having a "Robinson hangout weekend." We had pizza and a movie night last night (The Express-great history lesson centered around football but the language was not great).

We truly covet your prayers for the rest of this pregnancy. It has not been the smoothest one and I am a little worried about my blood pressure-it keeps creeping up. We are officially at the half way point of this awesome journey and time is truly flying. I am getting to that stage where I just want to hold this baby in my arms even though I am sort of remembering now the lack of sleep you get when there is a newborn in the house:)

A Little Help From My Friends

One of my friends, Tracy sent me this picture of me and David from two years ago in response to my new revelation that the King is enthralled with my beauty. Pictures of me with my children are few and far between since I am the picture junkie in our family. Look how sweet and little David looks:) I was so touched that she dug out this old picture in response to that post.

I was even proud of myself for analyzing this picture without even looking for any gray hair:) Also, my Mother is going to be thrilled with this picture of me because I have some serious lipstick action going on!

Also, I was venting to my friend Samantha about some issues that frankly are out of my control and in a bout of frustration I said "I just feel like I am losing my mind!" She then said in such a sweet way that only another pregnant Mommy could say "Oh Laura, you are not losing your mind, you are just pregnant!" I really appreciated her chalking all my random ramblings up to hormones in overdrive:) That is friendship!

You gotta love friends...

Not Me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

Well, it is Monday again-time to confess about those things that I truly have NOT done.

I did NOT wear to bible study last night what I slept in the previous night. Just because the King is enthralled with my beauty does not mean that I need to neglect basic cleanliness standards:)

I did NOT cheer (inwardly of course) when a little boy on the opposing basketball team racked up 11 fouls in one game.

I did NOT carefully count each and every foul that same child received at the game because lets face it-we are all here to have fun and learn.


I did NOT suggest a family movie outing over the weekend to see Mall Cop just because I was craving (truly I was) movie popcorn. I was way too concerned with quality family time to consider what we would eat while we were out having fun:)

I did NOT eat any tapioca pudding that jumped into my grocery cart today. I have no idea why certain things are jumping into my grocery cart these days-clearly I am pregnant and I am staying vigilant about proper nutrition.

Soothing Words for the Soul

Sometimes God just surprises you with exactly what you need at the precise moment you need it. Tonight I experienced His grace and mercy in a very wonderful way. On Sunday nights I go to a local church for my bible study (Beth Moore Breaking Free) with my friend Samantha and some other wonderful and Godly women. I knew Samantha had a sickly baby at home and wouldn't be going, so I trudged along solo.

I have to admit my attitude has not been that positive and upbeat today. There are some external things going on outside of our home that just put me in a funk today. But I headed on to bible study in my yoga pants and comfy maternity top:)

We started the lesson and had a good discussion about it, and then we turned on the video of Beth Moore teaching our weekly lesson. I will not share all the details, but one verse of scripture screamed to me so loudly tonight that I felt tears roll down my cheeks. In Psalm 45:11 Jesus speaks directly to us (the bride of Christ) by saying "the King is enthralled with your beauty, honor him for he is your God." (NIV). You talk about soothing the soul for this pregnant girl desperate for a good haircut and root job. Despite all our society hang ups about fashion, image, weight, size, etc.. the King of Kings is enthralled with my beauty? This concept is going to take a while to sink into this child of God. Despite your age, weight, fashion sense, or even root job, the King is enthralled with your beauty!

Then after the video was over, the leader asked for prayer request. Just know that there are several school employees and spouses at this bible study and talk of the dismal school budget has come up. One of the ladies spoke up and said " I think we need to pray for Mike and Laura and their children. He has some tough decisions to make over the coming months concerning the school budget and I am sure this is a stressful time for them in addition to their new arrival coming soon." Then they went on to pray for us. I am not talking about some little generic prayer that lasted a minute or so, I am talking about praying aloud for our children (all three:)) and specific budget concerns, his health, my pregnancy, for us both to be full of grace under pressure, and mostly that the tide will turn soon rather than later. I have not felt that united with the body of Christ in along time and I must say that God knew exactly what we needed. When I came home and told Mike he was as appreciative and thankful as I was. He obviously could tell that something had happened at bible study because my eyes were all red and puffy and my makeup was gone! What a wonderful group of women that could care for my family so much in this crazy time and what a wonderful God that even with my puffy eyes, no makeup, and faded yoga pants He is still enthralled with my beauty:) Have a great week!

Family update

This has been a pretty busy week for us. Mike has been out of town and we have not had any burgulars or intruders considering the local paper advertised through an article about the school budget that Mike would be in Richmond for several days. I was so incredibly annoyed at that for some reason-most of you know what a chicken I am and that definately did not add to my comfort. Thankfully, my mom came and stayed and we have been to busy redecorating the boys rooms to notice. We are officially in the process of moving David into Kyle's room!!! I have no clue how this will work, but we will try:)

This week I also got really nervous about peanut's kick counts. I realized Monday or so that I never felt him/her move while we were in Knoxville and frankly I got a little nervous. So I trudged to the doctor in the snow Tuesday and sure enough Peanut is growing, and kicking quite beautifully in my womb. Thanks to you all that knew this was going on and encouraged me and prayed for me during that. It was scary and made us all realized how much we are totally in love with this little peanut! Mike really hates that I am calling him/her Peanut, but that is how it looked on the first ultrasound and the name stuck. Hopefully soon we will know if it is a Mr. or Mrs. Peanut:)

Mike is still out of town until Friday on a consulting gig. It often baffles me (in a funny way honey because you know I love you) that people actually pay him money for his opinions!!! Just joking of course, because this house definately does not lack opinions.:) He really gets into sharing his dissertation research and helping teachers understand that their attitude towards their students impacts achievement. He is actually in our old stomping ground in central Virginia providing a school system with staff development. He loves doing this kind of thing, but we are ready for him to come home!

This is so odd also, but I have had three seperate calls just in the last three days about our local Down Syndrome group. It is always so fulfilling to talk with new parents about raising a child with DS. It has really made me remember those first few confusing months with David. All of us have grown so much in the last four years spiritually and emotionally because of David's birth. It is so hard when you talk with new parents to get them through the shock and grief to get them to see the joy of where we are today in our parenting with David. I truly believe without David I would have been the most obnoxious mother on the planet-that I would have put way too much stock in my children's successes and achievements and quite frankly used that to boost my own ego. I am such a better mother and overall person because of David!

That is all of my random thoughts for the week. I truly covet and appreciate your prayers for our little Peanut. We are coming up on that big ultrasound (20 week) and I just pray for good news and a healthy baby:) Being a veteran mom you unfortunately know too much now of what could go wrong and it is hard not to bring that worry into the ultrasound room. I know people think when I say that I mean another child with DS, but that is not our concern. We have two thriving and healthy boys and that is what we pray for our third:) Thank you for your interest in our family because if you have read to the end of this dissertation-sized post then you really must love us!

Not Me Monday!

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week.

For a while now I have been reading MckMama's blog and I have so enjoyed her Not Me Monday, that I felt that I needed to join in. Basically, you tell what you definately have NOT been doing over the last week. Lets face it-being a mom is hard and sometimes you just have to live it to tell it!

I did NOT huff at a small child at a swim meet that dropped my camera-she was only about 10 and how did she know I was using my nice camera to save a seat for Mike?!

I did NOT eat the last swiss cake roll at my house:)

I did NOT turn my head and roll my eyes at another mom today when she was bragging about her child. (really because that would have been rude)!

I did NOT have my third serving of caffeine just today-I am pregnant and that would be pretty unhealthy for our unborn peanut.

I really did NOT fall asleep today while putting David down for a nap and woke to him watching Calliou perfectly content because that would have been dangerous right?!

I really did NOT put something in the box for goodwill today because I was too lazy to take it to the Christmas storage box downstairs. Really, I was just looking out for David's safety-I didn't want him to follow me downstairs and fall on the steps. He was pretty worn out from watching the Calliou marathon and was much to sleepy to be playing on the stairs:)

That is all I am willing to share that I definately did not do over the past week! How about you?!

Winter Wonderland

What a fun day today. After our big weekend at UT, we were so thankful and excited that Mike called a snow day today!!! (bless his heart-Kyle and I put so much pressure on him to make the call!) We spent the morning being lazy and then we headed out in the snow for some fun. You never know how long David will last, but we met up with some friends on the golf course and we were out for over two hours! It even started snowing HARD while we were out there and David still loved flying down the hill. I could not believe how brave he was!

Mike has already called school off tomorrow since the roads are still a little iffy, so I look forward to another day out with the boys. My house really needs some attention, but with my goal of enjoying this "one life" (see post called Christmas gift) I left it all behind and went outside with my boys:) They have big plans with neighborhood friends to walk out to an even bigger hill and make our snowman even taller:) I just wanted to share some cute pictures from our day in winter wonderland!

By the grace of God my two boys were able to work cooperatively together to build this snowman. They have big plans to improve him tomorrow:)

Big boy David riding the sled:) This was his first ride ever down the sled solo! We were so proud of him!

Kyle loved flying down the hill!

My sweet angels:)

Our house sits on the golf course-this truly looks like a winter wonderland. We love the golf course for safe sledding! No cars, few trees, and friends from the neighborhood make snow days precious and memorable.

Our big adventure

Wow-what a trip! We just got home from spending the weekend in Knoxville at a huge swim meet at UT. Our trip home was interesting in pouring snow, but we had a great time together. Kyle swam both Saturday and Sunday afternoon and we really enjoyed this huge place. UT has recently built a new aquatic center and what a thrill for a seven year-old swimmer to get to be apart of such an event. Kyle swam well and decreased all his times which is always great:)

What impressed me so much about this adventure was the confidence that Kyle exuded. He was a nervous wreck all week and I kept reassuring him until Saturday morning when I walked into that place! I was overwhelemd:) This center is set up that only coaches and swimmers are allowed on the pool deck and parents are to stay up above in the stadium seats. Really, they meant it and the rules were not budging!

Let me get this straight Mr. Swim Marshall-I am suppose to let my child go on the deck all day and me just watch-you mean I cannot give last minute pointers, or take my own child to the bathroom, or make sure he doesn't miss an event? YES! This was a test for this control-freak mammma and mamma-attached kid! But, I must brag-Kyle handled himself like a confident swimmer that has done this a million times. He left us right before warmups and we didn't see him again until after his last event. We cheered for him (loudly I admit!) and we waved a few times, but that is all that was allowed.

Sometimes our children rise to occassions we never think are possible and today was such a lesson for me. Kyle is that MP3 loving kid that exuded more composure today than his mother probably did. I could not have been more proud!

Swim baby swim! I had to yell really loudly at this arena for him to hear me! I would go as low as I could to take pictures and yell during his individual events-according to my friends who stayed with Mike, he yelled just as loudly as I did!

Hanging out listening to his MP3 player chomping on some fruit snacks. He just looks so grown-up to me in this picture-where is that little boy that loved Thomas the train?

Right before a race, Kyle is getting some last minute pointers from Coach Bob.

What a huge and amazing aquatic center Ut has recently built! WOW:)

Sweet Caroline

Friday night we went to sweet Caroline's 7th birthday party here at the bowling alley. She has been so excited about her Hannah Montana bowling party that she has frankly invited everyone she meets along her path:) Of course she was the belle of the ball and had lots of people there to help her celebrate her big day. Caroline touches so many hearts every single day of her sweet life that it was no wonder Tom had to run out and buy more pizzas.:) I just had to share some highlights of the big party!

Kyle, Trey, and Caroline bowling at the party. Kyle was a little annoyed with me for interupting the bowling for a quick picture.
Caroline blowing out her 7 candle on her Hannah Montana cake:)

Our Christmas gift

As I shared in an earlier post, Mike and I got each other the same CD for Christmas-I know that is weird and probably a sign that we have been married too long or something, but we both giggled Christmas morning!

About a month before Christmas Mike came home and told me he heard a great new song on our Christian radio station and asked if I had heard it. Since I only listen to that station I knew exactly what he was talking about. After dinner he looked for it online and I heard him say "I cannot believe this-I know that guy!"

Come to find out our new hit song is written by an amazing group, called 33 Miles and Mike went to college at LA Tech with the main singer for the group. Mike even remembers him in college being on fire for the Lord and singing then. We were so amazed and then we just went a little nutty and bought each other the CD:)

Of course we love the CD but it makes it more personal when Mike realized that the main singer is someone Mike knew during college! When you open our blog, the song that starts is called "One Life" by 33 Miles and I am just enamored with this song and group right now. Both my kids can sing along with this song if that is any indication how many times we listen to it in the car!:)

The song hits home to me that during our life's "business" don't forget that we truly only have one life and to pursue the things that truly matter-often we miss the forest for the trees. I cringe when I think how many times I have told David I would read him a book when I finished the dishes, or I told Kyle I would take him out to play in the snow and it melted before I could get outside (okay, that really happened last week and I am still harboring guilt-it snows here but not like everyday). In the stage of life we are in now, this is such a needed reminder in our lives-Mike's job could consume his every moment and this house could keep me busy for decades, but we are trying to choose life and matters of the heart in this season of our life.

"You only get one time around
You only get one shot at this
One chance, to find out
The one thing that you don't want to miss
One day when it is all said and done
I hope you see that it was enough, this
One ride, one try, One life to love

One Life, 33 Miles (they got the name of their group from the number of years that Jesus walked on this earth-cool huh?!)

I hope you enjoy this song and that it will speak to you as well:) I think it is awesome when you find a good song and the lyrics speak to your heart and soul.

Random Wednesday Thoughts

Happy Wednesday!

This week has been a bit of a blur around our house due to busy schedules. This has been the highlight of the week so far:)

Sunday night I started a new/old Beth Moore bible study called Breaking Free. I did it years ago and I am so encouraged to see some growth that has taken place in me since I filled in that workbook five years ago. Five years ago I was a relatively new mother (Kyle was almost two and we had just found our that we were expecting David) and I had only been married four years. The fears and worries that I wrote about five years ago are now nonexistent. Of course, now on the cusp of another addition to our family, Mike's crazy job, current economy, etc.. there are new things that I approach God about daily. I have found lately that I have been struggling with excessive WORRY over things that frankly I have no control over, so this bible study comes at a time when I REALLY need to be reminded who is the One on the throne and who isn't:)

I had someone touch my belly the other day!!! UGGH-it is not exactly like I am hugely showing in my stomach now, so I was not clear on that one!!! It is someone who I really like, but I am not that close to. The boys touch my belly all the time, but not someone outside of the family at Walmart!!!:)

I am getting a little annoyed about all the talk about girl versus boy. I have said it from the beginning that I would be thrilled with either one, so I just want to get through the upcoming ultrasound to hear that everything is cooking along with little Peanut beautifully:) God knows what this family needs and we trust that He certainly knows better than we do:)

Kyle is so excited about his upcoming swim meet this weekend at Knoxville-UT. He finally gets the concept that he needs to work hard in practice to prepare for this meet-I believe there are nine hundred and some odd swimmers registered-wow:)

I do admit that while I worked out yesterday at the gym, I borrowed my 7 year-old's MP3 player!!!!

Have a great day!

Birthday Fun

Happy 4th Birthday Clayton! Yesterday we headed to Roanoke for my nephew Clayton's 4th birthday party at Chuck E. Cheeese. My kids were excited and despite the fact that the whole city of Roanoke decided to go to Chuck E. Cheese also that day, the kids had a blast:) Clayton was one sweaty, but happy birthday boy!

This is my cousin Mary Lee. Clayton is quite the ladies' man and on Christmas Eve he was so taken with her that he invited her on the spot to his party! Check out his thumbs up!:)

David loved the air hockey table:) Ilove this picture of his sweet pizza-stained face:)

Kyle and Clayton during the party!

Comment from the peanut gallery

I am so thankful that I have these sweet little boys in my life that keep me humbled:) Tonight I was "encouraging" David to finish his dinner and perhaps I had a little too exasperated tone in my voice with David, because Kyle piped up and said "come on Mom-he is just a little kid with a disability!!!" I was so amused but humbled that a seven year-old could keep a perspective that a 33 year-old mom could not!:)

Doctor's Appointment

Yesterday I had my 16 week checkup at the doctor. Everything seemed to be fine! The doctor did have to do an ultrasound to find the heartbeat-I was freaked out for a few minutes until I heard that glorious whomp, whomp whomp sound! I will probably know mid-February if this is a Mr. or Miss Peanut!!! I honestly do not care-just let me at the newborn section at the mall!!!!!! My Mom did buy some precious green and yellow little gowns over the weekend:)

Yesterday, at the doctor I was due for some bloodwork that I had failed to do last appointment. I had already told the doctor and nurse that I wanted no prenatal testing and I know they marked my chart accordingly. I went into the lab to do the bloodwork and the sweet lab tech went into how much blood was being drawn and what tests were being run. She then said that this is also the time to do the AFP test-I have no idea what it stands for, it just "screens" for Down Syndrome, spina bifida, etc.. I know very well what that test is all about and I also know that there are many many false positives on that test. In my previous pregnancies I never had any of the testing done because I went to a Christian practice that did not push it at all.

So, I told that sweet lab girl that I knew I had to have all the mandatory stuff, but no thank you on the AFP. You could tell she was stunned, but trying hard not to let me know. She then reminded me that I would need no additional blood drawn for this test-bless her heart, she was trying so hard!!!!

I then said that I never had the test with my prior pregnancies and I certainly wasn't starting now and that my doctor and I had already discussed this. She then further try to persuade me by saying that there is only a short window where this test can be completed and to call her if I changed my mind! I know what window she is referring to and I am certain that it has to do with the fact that if a result came back that I wasn't comfortable with that I could have "options." No thanks!

I am sure that for many people that AFP test is important to help them prepare mentally for a special needs child-our family will do just what we have done so far in our parenting-wing it and rely on God to carry us through. If He can get us through potty-training both of our boys and my pregnant hormonal state, and He can get us through anything

Icing on the Cake

Well, our two weeks of family and fun is over and to put the finishing touches on our Christmas break we headed to Pigeon Forge for the weekend. A new place there, called Wilderness at the Smokies is open now which is a HUGE hotel with a waterpark inside. We started off at Dollywood and the outlet malls on Friday and then went to the waterpark for Saturday and Sunday. It was a wonderful way to end our Christmas break-back to the real world tomorrow!

This waterpark is so much fun and all my boys (Mike and the kids) had a great time. Me, being the pregnant girl was assigned to the baby pool on David patrol. It was fun to watch him swim and play. The ceiling is made to allow the sun to come through and you can actually get a tan inside. Today I sat in a little chair by the wave pool watching David and to feel the sun on my face and the water washing over my toes just made me anticipate summer! I can honestly say I relaxed some even though I had to chase wild man! Here are some pictures of our fun this weekend:)

This is my Dad, Pops, coming off the water slide. He was injured from a previous incident between his face and the car door:) But despite the injury, he had fun on the water slides with Kyle.

David loved riding his "boat" around the wave pool when the waves were turned off!

Kyle really loved the big wave pool. The waves were wild and Kyle couldn't get enough. Here is a picture of Mike and Kyle out riding the waves:)

Kyle and David playing in a water spout.

Kyle loved the surf rider! He was great at it, but he was the only one brave enough to try it:)