Glorious Unfolding

October is pregnancy and infant loss awareness month. It was designated by President Ronald Reagan in1988 as a means to bring awareness, support, and education about miscarriage, SIDS, stillbirths, other pregnancies and childrens lives that end tragically and too soon. This month is a great opportunity for parents to rally with each other in support and understanding for what they/we have gone through. It provides opportunities for others to speak out about their pregnancy losses and/or their children's death. I know when I first went through the pain of losing my daughter through a stillbirth I knew only one person who had suffered like I had. Since Lucy's death I've met many others and heard about others who have also endured the pain of losing a child. Awareness is a good thing and can be a comfort to know you're not the only one.

With those thoughts, much of what I read or see posted on various Facebook pages put so much emphasis on grief and dealing with the grief. I'm not trying to minimize grief, I have my share, however, I wish the focus centered more around hope than grief. Because you see, there is a great hope, even in the midst of pain. We have a sovereign God who orchestrates our life in a perfect way that will glorify Himself. We can't see the big picture but He can. And that is the Glorious unfolding. 

I heard this song the other day on my way to soccer practice and these thoughts I've shared came to mind. I can't focus on sadness and grief at the loss of my little girl. I must turn my focus to the hope in Christ who gives and takes life away. He has a plan and it is good because God is good, all the time. To God be the glory!

Take a minute and listen to the song. It has a powerful message for anyone who is struggling or going through something they wouldn't have chosen to.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&persist_app=1&v=qVxxTsSUFdw

For all you parents who have lost a child through miscarriage, stillbirth, or another way, you can grieve but remember there is hope in Jesus Christ. Trust Him and rest in His unfailing love. 

Kid's Day

Back at the beginning of May, sometime before Mother's Day, Molly decided that since there is a day to celebrate mothers and fathers there should be a day to celebrate kids. She chose a random day of July 22nd. She hasn't forgotten this day and once July hit she's been anticipating the 22nd. Well the day is here. She expected to not have to do any work, be in charge, choose dinner, and have dessert. 

We celebrated the first Kid's Day by going to kaleidoscope and eating lunch at Fritz's. The kids did have to work (of course I reminded them that I still work on Mother's Day and Matt works on Father's Day). They chose hot ham and cheese sandwiches with chips for lunch and ice cream for dessert. Matt made them a card. When I prayed at dinner I made sure to thank God for them (Molly was thrilled with this gesture).

I hope the day was all it was supposed to be. 

        

        

        

        

     

    

Swim meet

Molły had her first swim meet tonight and did fantastic! She's been practicing for about 2 weeks every morning at 8 a.m. and loves it! It's a little bit of a struggle to get her up in the mornings but that's because we're on summer schedule which means no set bedtime. We just take it as it comes. However, once we're in the van she's fully awake and ready. She never wants practice to end and wishes she could go to evening practice as well. One a day is the rule though. 

Tonight's meet was a new experience for all of us. It was a very well organized event and moved rather quickly. Matt's always been concerned that swimming takes up so much time, and I suppose if you do it year round it could. Summer swim is perfect for us. Molły swam in 3 events, 400 medley relay (first leg swimming the backstroke), 25 m freestyle, and 25 m backstroke. She set very reasonable times to try and beat the rest of the season. Freestyle was her best event at 47.31 sec. This is 15 seconds faster than her practice time last week! She swam the backstroke in 53.89 seconds. 

We are so proud of how far Molly has come in these past 2 weeks. She's learning an important life skill, competing against herself (which is good for her competitive nature), and having fun. Her coaches are wonderful and have so much patience with the little ones. Go Creekers! 

       

 

Pinterest mess yet success

I found the idea for banana pops on Pinterest this morning and decided to give it a go during Miles' nap. I'm so glad I excluded him from this activity because it didn't go as so nicely described in the blog. http://we-made-that.com/frozen-yogurt-banana-pops/. 

Here they are, almost gone (don't mind the dinner dishes on the table). They were yummy but a pain to make. I used vanilla greek yogurt and straws instead of cake pop sticks. The biggest problem was the bananas fell off the straws as soon as they were dipped in the yogurt. I don't see how cake pop straws would have been any better but maybe they would have. So now there's a banana in the yogurt. The banana was put back on the straw and then I had to sprinkle the sprinkles instead of dipping. I was hoping the girls would be able to do it alone but not this time. Next time I will freeze the bananas for a bit to see if they stay on the straw. Or maybe I'll splurge and by cake pop sticks. 

      

      

The girls thought they tasted like popsicles .

     

Miles preferred to just eat the sprinkles. 

I will make them again. Fun snack that just needs some tweaking. :)

Art Fest

Recently, Molly and Sophie put on an art show. They're always crafting and displaying art but this particular show had different motives. Money. They wanted me to purchase their art. They were pretty confident I'd give it to them also because Molly was disappointed when she had to settle for a quarter. Nice try, girls! It's not that easy to make $70 and $30. :) 

      

(I wish i could figure out how to flip the picture.)

Donuts

Who doesn't like donuts? I mean, they are delicious and when you eat one, it's hard to just eat one. You've gotta have at least 2. The cream filled are some of my favorites but I also like a good glazed as well. The trouble with donuts is they are terribly unhealthy and not so waist-line friendly.  Miles is obsessed with donuts. He thinks they should be a staple in his diet. He asks for donuts all the time. I usually buy a package at Aldi once a week. They're only $1.89 for 15 and are decent. Not Krispy Kreme, but they work. This week I decided to buy a donut pan so I could make my own. Miles was  excited and expected donuts the minute we walked out of the store. 

We made our first batch that evening and they tasted like chocolate cake. Matt even asked if I used a box cake mix to make them. So good. But still, not healthy. Last night I set out to make them healthier and they are still good. Not quite as good but the kids didn't seem to mind. Miles is currently eating his 4th! 

            

I'll post the original recipe at the bottom but here is what did.

1c flour (next time I'm using whole wheat. I was out of it last night.)

1/2 t baking soda

1/4 c cocoa 

1/4 c sugar

Mix together

1 egg

1/4 c milk

6T plain greek yogurt 

1/2 t vanilla 

1/4 c unsweetened applesauce 

Mix together

Mix all together. Put in donut pan and bake for 8 min. 

I used a powdered sugar, milk, vanilla glaze after they were completely cooled. 

           

http://www.bunsinmyoven.com/2013/04/01/glazed-chocolate-donuts/

This is the reason...

I've been asked numerous times, how do you do it? How do you cope and go on with life after losing a child? How are you not depressed? Well, for me, it's simple. It's because of today, Easter. This is the reason. The resurrection. My hope is in Christ and that one day I will spend eternity with Him and with my precious little Lucy. 

Now don't get me wrong, it's not always easy. I don't want to paint this picture that it doesn't bother me that she's not here, because it does. I miss her dearly but know she has it so much better in the presence of God. It's simply because of what Christ did that makes carrying on possible and worthwhile.

I believe in the living, true God. The God who sent His Son to be born of a virgin, live a sinless life and then die the cruel death on the cross for me and you. John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." 

The best part of this is that He didn't stay dead. My God is not still hanging on a cross. 3 days later He rose again. You can read the accounts of Jesus' resurrection in all 4 gospels.

Christ suffered so we could live eternally with God. 1 Peter 3:18 says,"For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the spirit."

We are unrighteous and unworthy of God and His love for us. Romans 3:23 "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." However, His love for us is greater than we can ever imagine. He demonstrated this on the cross. Romans 5:8. "But God demonstrates His love for us, that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us." 

"The wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus," Romans 6:23. We can't earn this gift of eternal life. No matter how good of a person we are or how many times we go to church or give to the needy or any other good deed it WILL NOT bring us to Christ and give us eternal life in Heaven. Titus 3:5, "Not by works of righteousness which we have done but according to His mercy he saved us, by the washing and regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. 

Here's the way. God is looking at the heart. He wants your heart. Romans 10:9-10, "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised  Him from he dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." 

So you see, you have to not only believe but admit you are a sinner and need a savior. Then you must ask God to forgive your sins and come live in your heart. This my friend, is when you will have the peace that surpasses all understanding. I don't worry about a lot of things and feel okay about the path God has put me on because I have full assurance that the God who loved me enough to die on a cross for my sins is going to get me through any tough time I encounter. 

The best part is, when I die, I know exactly where I'm going. Straight to Heaven to see my Lord and my Lucy.  

I serve a risen savior, he's in the world today...you ask me how I know he lives? He lives within my heart! 

If you made it to the end of this, thanks for reading. This is my heart and I wanted to share the thoughts that have been running through my head today. 

Creative!

Molly is such a creative little girl. She's constantly coming up with new ideas and drawing them out or writing books. Sometimes she makes us paper jewelry or things to wear. She likes to make 3-D objects and pop-ups. These are the most recent gems I found in my living room. A lift the flap book about a monster. She's only 2 pages in but one monster eats people's fingers! She has a flap to lift on each illustration. The other is a coloring book. Last Christmas she received an art projector with lots of slides and she used to to create the coloring pages and then captioned them herself.