Life.....Expect the Unexpected

In life the unexpected is delivered every day like a morning newspaper.

When I came to post this morning, I noticed the post below this and I thought how ironic.

Like nearly every other morning of the week, Dave left for work yesterday at 6:00 a.m. Dave arrived at work and set the meeting rooms scheduled for the day. Dave was then called into Human Resources. Due to the economic times meetings and events are down in the hotel and they have eliminated the Audio/Visual Department of the hotel. Please get your personal belongings. You are free to leave.

Just like that.

Just like that we became another statistic in the growing number of individuals and families that are faced with the loss of their job and uncertain futures. Yesterday morning at 10:05 a.m. the statistic for unemployed individuals in the United States was 11.6 million. Yesterday morning at 10:06 a.m. the statistic was 11.6 million and one.

I do believe that God does not close a door without opening a window. I believe everything happens for a reason and He has a bigger plan for Dave and for us.

The unknown is scary. Leaving a comfort zone and security is scary. I trust in His plan and that He will guide us to that window and beyond it will be something very exciting and fulfilling for Dave and our family.

I am thankful that I have a very full calendar of brides, grooms and weddings. I know times are difficult and I appreciate and feel very blessed with any and all business that I get. I have certainly seen changes in my business and the wedding and event business as a whole, but I remain to have business and am very thankful.

Uncertain times are stretched before our family right now, just as they are for millions of others. Please keep us, and the other families that are facing the same circumstances as us, in your prayers. Please pray for an optimistic attitude, endurance with difficult times, clarity in decisions of which avenues and opportunities to pursue and peace and love within the family.

Expect the unexpected is one thing. Accepting the unexpected can be another thing entirely.

Acceptance is the first step in any unexpected circumstance; Accepting whatever has happened. Accepting that it is fact. Accepting that you were meant to move on. Accepting that you were meant to rise higher as a direct result. Accepting that you don't have all the answers . . . don't understand all the meanings . . but that you will make it. From acceptance, you will find surrender. From surrender, grace. And from grace, a new life and a sacred triumph.

I'm Sad The Angels Get To Play With You Before I Do

These are the words Cynthiaa said to her son Aiden as she held him in her arms upon his birth.

Cynthiaa was due to deliver her son in just 2 weeks. But on Monday, February 2, when she went to her routine doctor’s appointment she learned that her beautiful baby boy had passed away due to umbilical cord strangulation. They immediately scheduled her for a C-Section and Aiden James was born into heaven at 11:23 that morning.

This is a mother who wants her baby back. She wants everything to be "fixed". God has a plan for all of us and only in time will we know what that is. In the heart of grief it is so hard, nearly impossible, to imagine what His plan could possibly be. He whispers to us through our pain that there is a life beyond the present suffering. He sits silently with us in our anguish, in the moments that are so heavy and unimaginable, the ones that we cannot escape or blink away. He reminds us that the seemingly endless grief is but a moment that will fade in the vast expanse of the Life to come.

He promises, trust in Him, He will carry us through this, there will be Goodness, but it is difficult to see beyond our grief at the moment.

Please pray for Cynthiaa and that she lets Him carry her right now. Pray He will comfort her and hold her close. Pray that she will hear His whispers and know that she is not alone.

To read more about Cynthiaa and Aiden please read her blog here.

On Wednesday, February 11th, there is going to be a balloon release for Angel Aiden. They are looking for everyone possible to join in. If you could release a blue balloon (or a few of them..your choice) and take a picture, then email it, they would like to put them into an album, showing all the places that balloons were released for Angel Aiden.

If you would like to participate...THANK YOU...please spread the word. Contact information is:

e-mail address: yummy_mummy_x@live.com.

Guess Who Is Going Home Today!

Miss Harper!!

All your prayers have been hard at work. After the possibility of losing her and 20 days in the hospital she is doing amazing and will be on her way home with her mom and dad today.

God is sooo good!

PRAISE THE LORD!

Rejoice!

I know so many, many, of you have been praying for Harper. I wanted to post an update for those of you that haven't had a chance to go over to Kelly's blog for the most recent (just click on the button in the sidebar).

Harper is doing soooo much better! Your prayers are strong at work.

Monday Harper was put on a regular ventilator.

Tuesday they brought her oxygen level way down, took her off the NO and..............she opened her eyes. For the first time!!

Yesterday..................they took her completely off of the respirator and Kelly was able to feed and her hold her.................for the first time!!

What a testimony of God's faithfulness in answering prayers.


A beautiful blessing!

Power of Prayer and Prayer Request

At this moment, my cousin Trinity, a young mother of just 18, has went into the hospital in pre-mature labor. Her baby is not due until March.

Oh Lord, please care for the precious lives of mother and child, be present at all times. Blanket them with your love and healing so they both may live long and healthy lives.

Please keep Trinity and her baby in your prayers.

Update on Trinity:

Jaiden Craig has been born. Everyone is healthy and doing well. He was over 7 lbs!!

Thank you everyone for your emails and your prayers!





I read a story once about the power of prayer I would like to share with you;

Helen Roseveare, a missionary doctor from England to Zaire Africa, told this as it happened to her in Africa.

"One night I had worked hard to help a mother in the labor ward; but in spite of all we could do she died leaving us with a tiny premature baby and a crying two-year-old daughter. We would have difficulty keeping the baby alive, as we had no incubator. (We had no electricity to run an incubator.) We also had no special feeding facilities.

Although we lived on the equator, nights were often chilly with treacherous drafts. One student midwife went for the box we had for such babies and the cotton wool the baby would be wrapped in. Another went to stoke up the fire and fill a hot water bottle. She came back shortly in distress to tell me that in filling the bottle, it had burst. Rubber perishes easily in tropical climates. "And it is our last hot water bottle!" she exclaimed.

As in the West it is no good crying over spilled milk, so in Central Africa it might be considered no good crying over burst water bottles. They do not grow on trees, and there are no drugstores down forest pathways.

"All right," I said, "Put the baby as near the fire as you safely can, and sleep between the baby and the door to keep it free from drafts. "Your job is to keep the baby warm."

The following noon, as I did most days, I went to have prayers with any of the orphanage children who chose to gather with me. I gave the youngsters various suggestions of things to pray about and told them about the tiny baby. I explained our problem about keeping the baby warm enough, mentioning the hot water bottle. The baby could so easily die if it got chills.

I also told them of the two-year-old sister, crying because her mother had died. During the prayer time, one ten-year-old girl, Ruth, prayed with the usual blunt conciseness of our African children. "Please, God," she prayed, "send us a water bottle. It'll be no good tomorrow, God, as the baby will be dead, so please send it this afternoon."

While I gasped inwardly at the audacity of the prayer, she added by way of a corollary, "And while You are about it, would You please send a dolly for the little girl so she'll know You really love her?"

As often with children's prayers, I was put on the spot. Could I honestly say, "Amen?" I just did not believe that God could do this. Oh, yes, I know that He can do everything. The Bible says so. But there are limits, aren't there?

The only way God could answer this particular prayer would be by sending me a parcel from the homeland. I had been in Africa for almost four years at that time, and I had never, ever received a parcel from home. Anyway, if anyone did send me a parcel, who would put in a hot water bottle? I lived on the equator!

Halfway through the afternoon, while I was teaching in the nurses' training school, a message was sent that there was a car at my front door. By the time I reached home, the car had gone, but there, on the verandah, was a large twenty-two pound parcel. l felt tears pricking my eyes. I could not open the parcel alone, so I sent for the orphanage children.

Together we pulled off the string, carefully undoing each knot.

We folded the paper, taking care not to tear it unduly. Excitement was mounting. Some thirty or forty pairs of eyes were focused on the large cardboard box.

From the top, I lifted out brightly colored, knitted jerseys. Eyes sparkled as I gave them out. Then there were the knitted bandages for the leprosy patients, and the children looked a little bored. Then came a box of mixed raisins and sultanas--that would make a nice batch of buns for the weekend.

Then, as I put my hand in again, I felt the.....could it really be? I grasped it and pulled it out--yes, a brand-new, rubber hot water bottle!

I cried. I had not asked God to send it; I had not truly believed that He could. Ruth was in the front row of the children. She rushed forward, crying out, "If God has sent the bottle, He must have sent the dolly, too!"

Rummaging down to the bottom of the box, she pulled out the small, beautifully dressed dolly. Her eyes shone! She had never doubted.

Looking up at me, she asked: "Can I go over with you, Mummy, and give this dolly to that little girl, so she'll know that Jesus really loves her?"

That parcel had been on the way for five whole months. Packed up by my former Sunday school class, whose leader had heard and obeyed God's prompting to send a hot water bottle, even to the equator.

And one of the girls had put in a dolly for an African child--five months before--in answer to the believing prayer of a ten-year-old to bring it "that afternoon."

The power of prayer.

Please keep Trinity and her unborn child and all mothers and their babies in your prayers. Pray for their strength, courage and healing and God's grace upon them.

Update on Harper

This is to update you on Harper. This is a post from Kelly's blog. You can click on the button above "Praying for Harper" and it will take you right there.


This is a picture of the two people I love most in this world - Harper and her daddy. It didn't take long to completely wrap him around her little finger. I don't know if I've ever seen anyone as crazy about their little girl as he is. It has made me fall in love with him all over again when I watch him talk to her with tears in his eyes every day. Every time he talks about her - I see this light in his eyes I've never seen before and I just want to bottle it up!

I love this picture.
The night Harper was born and they took her away in the helicopter - the NICU gave me these two little blankets to sleep with so I could bring them here and put them in with her so she could have my smell near her. All today - she has been just holding it in her little hand and I love it. I can't hold her or feed her or have her open her eyes and look at me - but she can hold this blanket and know that her momma loves her more than life.

We met with our doctor twice today and he is so good to give us a lot of details. The latest is that her heart appears to still be good. He showed us x-rays from each day of her life. The pneumonia in her lungs gets a little better each day. They took her oxygen down to 95% at one point today but her levels dropped a little so they took her back up to 100% tonight. The plan is to watch her for the next 5-6 days and if her oxygen level doesn't get down to 75-80% - they will probably go ahead with ECMO. We are okay with that but we are praying that she will use less oxygen. I just have this calm assurance that she is going to be okay. God has made Himself so real to us over and over and over in so many ways. I wish I could share all the ways He has blessed us through others. We have had so many visitors and gifts and messages and today we recieved something so amazing we had to just go to a private place and sob at God's provisions for us. We know God continues to bless us to encourage us so that we can trust Him and look for ways to share Him. Our nurse saw us crying today and we were able to tell her it was because people had been so good to us - especially our church family. Later she reacted to something else that happened by saying "You have such a nice church".
Oh - I hope each of you have a church family that you love - there is nothing like it.

Thank you for praying for Harper. We tell her every day that she has no idea how many people are praying for her. We found that someone started a blog just for her so you could leave us messages. This is the blog. It is so amazing - I can't thank ya'll enough. I still haven't had time to get through all my e-mails or facebook messages or comments so if you are the one who started it - hopefully I can thank you once I figure it out!

Jesus said "Whatever you did for the least of these - You did it unto me" Matthew 25:40.

P.S. Just a couple of things people have had questions about:
1. I didn't have a c-section - I birthed that big girl the normal way. Which explains why I now walk like an 80 year old.
2. We are staying at the Ronald McDonald House for now. It has been a huge blessing to us.
3. We are expecting to be here for probably at least a month to 6 weeks or more right now.
4. We have laughed because we have been asked this more than anything - Dawson is GREAT! He was at doggie daycare but my dad had to go home today so he picked him up and took him home with him. He has a great set up and Dawson will be more than happy to be with him. Thank your for all the concerns and offers on our sweet puppy - we haven't forgotten our first baby.

Praying for Harper

You may have noticed a new item in the sidebar.

"Praying for Harper".

Harper is a baby that was born four days ago. She is the daughter of a fellow blogger. http://www.kellyskornerblog.com

Kelly has been blogging about her pregnancy experiences and went in to have Harper on Friday. As is life, things are not always as expected. What was expected to be a joyous day of celebration quickly turned into a day filled with fear, uncertainty and sorrow. Harper was born very sick and is in intensive care. It has been a struggle for her life since she was born. Please pray for God to show his power and his love in healing Harper.


In the intensive care unit that Harper is in there are at least 40 other babies. There are hospitals full of babies fighting for their lives. Please pray for all babies in intensive care and their families. Cover them in your prayers and ask God to shower them with his love.

If you have healthy children in your life, thank God for them. Thank God for them.