Wow...

Last night, as I read the updates on Brayden and Harper, I was just in awe of God's goodness. When Jenna says "I talked to his morning nurse and she said that it's very, very uncommon for PPHN to go away this fast." I just started crying.

That is God.

I believe in miracles. I believe in miraculous healings. I have been witness to several, one in particular serves as a constant reminder to me of the goodness of God. I even have my own from when I was very little...maybe someday I will have my dad guest post and tell the story.



My awe continued to grow as I read Kelly's dad, Pastor_Steve's entry last night. Tears just streamed down my face as I read his wise words. I am guilty of sub coming to my human nature and asking "why?" so many times in my own life, and I have definitely asked "why?" in regards to Kelly and Jenna's recent trials. Kelly's dad's post last night was so insightful and uplifting, I would encourage every one to take a moment and go here and read it.



I am so encouraged by the progress Brayden and Harper are showing, but as my sister so wisely put it, a NICU stay is a marathon, not a sprint. Let us remain faithful in prayer for these babies and their families!!



This weekend Dave and I watched "Facing the Giants" on recommendation of my dear friend Julie. We both enjoyed it, and if you haven't seen it, you should rent it. There was one part in movie that really stood out to me, where one of the actors says that the Bible mentions "Do Not Fear" 365 times.

One for every day of the year.

Coincidence?? I. Think. Not.

The power of prayer...

James 5:16 declares, "…The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective..."

Corinthians 10:4-5 tells us, "The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds..."

"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints" Ephesians 6:18

1 John 5:14-15 says, "This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us - whatever we ask - we know that we have what we asked of him."



Please click on the Praying for Harper button and read about sweet Harper's progress...God is hearing our prayers...
We are still waiting for an update from Jenna on Brayden...

What the enemy means for evil, God means for good. God is not surprised by any of this. He knew -before the beginning of time- that these babies would need faithful people lifting them up their first days. And He has provided any army. An army who knows we serve a miraculous God.

I love how Kelly's dad posted on his blog that Harper is doing better "on her own" (quotation marks his), we believe this is due to the power of prayer to the Almighty.

Our Lord, thank you for providing power in prayer. We will remain vigilant and await your handiwork...

More prayers needed!!

Wow...I do not know what is going on...I do not know what to say...you all probably already know this, but in case you are the one person who doesn't, please pray for Harper, Kelly's newborn daughter. Go here and read, and then please stop and pray.

I lift my eyes up to the hills, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, maker of Heaven and Earth.

Lord, you are the Great Physician, we believe you are a God of miracles, we know you love Harper and Brayden more than anyone. Please God, move mountains...move and heal...bring peace...Our eyes are on you Lord.

Prayers needed!!

Some of you probably saw the link on Kelly's blog the other day, so you are already praying, but in case any of you hadn't seen it, PLEASE be praying for sweet Jenna's newborn son, Brayden. He was born on Tuesday and she updated this morning that Brayden was taken by helicopter to a different hospital and is a critical care NICU. They believe he is suffering from pulmonary hypertension. Please also keep Jenna and Chris in your prayers, I can't even imagine how hard this all must be. Click here for updates...

The reviews are in

It's not great.


But it's not awful.


I think I need to learn how to speak "hair". Apparently I don't.


I said I wanted my hair thinned.


I meant "less thick than it is now thin"


She must have thought I meant "Hair Club for Women thin"


When I reached back to grab my mane after she was done, I literally gasped. Turns out it wasn't really gasp-worthy. You know how that zit on your face always feels 10x larger than it really is? Well, it felt like there was only a tiny rat-tail of hair left, but it wasn't that drastic.


Still, between the over-thinning, and the layers, and the almost 2 inch clean up of messy, dead ends, there was so much of my hair on the floor by the time she was done that it looked like a Pomeranian was laying there.




But it needed to be done. Maybe not so much thinning, but the rest needed to be done.


And I can live with it. Ever since the Great Weed-Whacking Incident of 2006, I feel like I know bad hair cuts, and this is not bad.


When I got home last night, David said it reminded him of Jennifer Aniston, Circa 1996

I must have made a face, because he was quick to say "that's not a bad thing".

.

This morning though, after attempting to style it on my own, I felt it was more reminiscent of Steven Tyler.

Oh well, it is just hair. It has been better, but it has also been much, much worse.

I will try and post a pic tomorrow. I am not trying to create suspense here, it's just that I didn't get home until almost 10:00pm last night, so I didn't take one then. And Lord knows I have a hard enough time getting to work on time each morning...add in the extra time I wasted singing "I was cryin' when I met you, now I am tryyyinnn to forget you..." into my hairbrush while I was channeling Steven Tyler, and there was no time for a photo shoot this morning either.

EEK!

Happy Tuesday All!

I woke up this morning thinking "only 4 more days until Saturday". Ugh. I was gently reminded that is SO not miracle-of-the-momenty thinking, and realized that I am falling back into old habits again and need to be better about living for TODAY. I prayed for grace to remember that there will never be another January 13th, 2009 again, and I should embrace today for being just that - today.

And now on to the EEK part. I have an appointment tonight with a new hair stylist. And I am oh so nervous about it. I know it's just hair, but remember I had an incident. I have been putting off finding someone local to cut my hair for months now, and it has been since SEPTEMBER since I have had a trim!

So, the answer to the question I assume you are asking yourself is yes I do currently bear an uncanny resemblance to the Shaggy Dog.

But tonight- hopefully- that all changes. Tonight I am going to someone new, who comes highly referred by a coworker with GREAT hair. Which is great because I am in desperate need!

How have I managed the last 2 months with shaggy, unruly hair? I have been going with 3 basic hairstyles:

1. Pulled back in a french twist/ponytail/clip thing. Regrettably, I do not have a photo example of this. But it's not really all that awesome.

2. Since the ends are too uneven to straighten my hair and just let it hang, I have been doing this straighten most/curl ends concoction, shown here:

Nice, but time consuming.

3. Then there is the au-natural look. Where I just let my natural curl/wave/rats nest do what it pleases with just some added gel to tame the beast:

Option number 3 is blessedly my husband's favorite. How lucky am I?!? I am married to a man who truly thinks I look the best when I am the laziest.

The problem with option 3 is that while Dave loves it and assures me it looks great, I feel like it's a wild and crazy mess that resembles Animal from the Muppet's.

So tonight my plan is to get it finally fixed so I can go back to just a blow dry and a straighten in the morning. A cut, thinning, and some subtle layers... wish me luck!

*If I don't post in the next few days, it's because the appointment went horribly wrong and I have moved to a country where women wear head coverings.*

Just kidding, I am not really that vain =-)

Oh, Beth...

She just has such a way with words!! Listen to this quote from the Esther Bible study homework I am doing:
"Oddly, the most freeing thing we can ever do is to abdicate the throne of our own miniature kingdoms".

So true, I almost actually yelled out "preach it sista!"

Now I just have to work on the whole act of actually abdicating my throne...