Tragedy

I can't even believe I'm typing this.

As if the horrific tornados that hit Tuscaloosa weren't bad enough, my tiny little hometown in central Alabama was completely devastated by a tornado tonight. Hundreds are without power, have lost their homes and belongings, and the last I heard, three lives had been lost, seven were injured and one was missing. Rumor has it that two of the lost lives were children, but nothing is official.

For a town with less than one thousand people (and one red light!), this is tragic. Definitely something that's going down in history. We'll be telling this tale to our grandchildren, for sure.

I am SO thankful my sisters were all safe. The tornado picked up literally a couple miles before their house and touched back down a couple miles after. It destroyed everything all around them, but not them. 

Please keep all of the people affected by this terrible storm in your thoughts and prayers. 

You always say, "Oh, that'll never happen in my town."

Except it did.

And it was bad.

I don't want to forget

....the way Sara walks Delaney, then gets tired of her pulling and starts panting little breaths and says, "Okay, mama, I need a break!"

....the way June snuggles up to my back when she sleeps with us.

....how much Sara loves Mr. Bubbles (the fish) and she NEVER forgets to feed him!

....the way Sara sleeps all crazy. I never know if I'm going to end up with feet in my face, my back, or what!

....when Sara tells June, "It's okay Juniebuggy, there's no need to cry!"

....the way I felt when I held June as I rocked her to sleep the night before her very first birthday. Such sheer thankfulness...so proud to be her mama.

....how June has almost NO hair except for right on the crown of her head -- and then it sticks out like a little alfalfa sprout!

....when Sara REALLY wants to do something, she'll ask to do it, then at the end she'll say, "and that'll be fine with you, mama?"

....how Sara makes up her own rendition of "The Wheels on the Bus." So far we have:
-- Grandma says, "Where's my doggy?"
-- Nana says, "I love you"
-- Daddy says, "I'm late for work"
-- Mommy says, "Shh, shh, shh"
-- Junebug says, "Waah, waah, waah"
-- Laney says, "I want to go for a walk"
-- Will says, "Choo, choo, choo" (my nephew loves trains)
-- Cade says, "Let's ride bikes"
-- Mamaw says, "Where's my coffee?"
-- Pawpaw says, "Where's my hammer?"

And I'm sure there are MANY more. I love it, though!

Happy Easter!

image via google

Happy Saturday!

We haven't been up to much lately. I've been job hunting and have gotten THREE job interviews in the past week! Out of three I've gotten a callback, an offer to start in two weeks, and the third isn't until Monday. I'm PRAYING they offer it to me -- it's perfect, it's five miles from the house, and I'm pretty sure it will pay more than the offer I already received. Cross your fingers for me!

June loves her pancakes!
 

Last week, June cut a second tooth on the bottom left side. Teething is TERRIBLE for her. Sara never acted like it bothered her, but June....goodness. I say (more often than not) that if June had been the first, there wouldn't have been a second! But we love her, fiery temper and all.

image via google

A couple of weeks ago, we got Sara a chore chart....and so far, it's worked really well for us! It was important to us to have the girls start pitching in and realizing what responsibility is as early as possible. Both parents did that for us & it's something we wanted to do with our kids. We got the one above from Target. I really like it, and it was only about $8. Can't beat that! We have things on there like helping to feed Delaney (our dog), feed Mr. Bubbles (the fish, don't you love his name? haha), brush teeth, help to make bed, pick up toys, and eat a good supper (because we have the hardest time getting Sara to eat ANYTHING these days). Each Sunday we pick out a "reward" (the past two weeks it's been an ice cream cone at Chik-Fil-A or McDonalds) and then we work towards it during the week. Sara's room stays more clean now than it ever has!

We are busy, busy, busy this weekend. Yesterday Michael fished all day long with my family, and he was gone at 6 am this morning to fish some more. This evening we're having Easter dinner with my dad, sisters & their family. Tomorrow we have church & then Easter dinner and an egg hunt with my mom's side of the family. I love holiday weekends, and I especially love that we're able to celebrate them with family!

image via google

                              In just a little while I'll start to dye the FOUR dozen eggs that's sitting
                                         in the fridge. Hello, messy afternoon! I did not miss you. :)

In other words, it's going to be a fun, busy weekend in central Alabama!

Hope ya'll have a wonderful Easter!

PS -- I'll be making a post tomorrow about June's first birthday!

 I can't wait to share all the details & pictures with you!

One.

On April 21, 2010
I woke up at 1:30 in the morning with cramps.
I was 27 weeks pregnant.

We eventually decided to go to the hospital.

We arrived there at 4:30 a.m.

I was checked at 5 a.m.

I was fully dilated and ready to push.

The NICU transport team was called.

At 6:05 a.m. I gave birth to a tiny, beautiful baby girl.
She was just called Junebug.

                                                       The doctor laid her on my stomach

and I looked up to see sadness written all over his face.

They told us it would take a lot for our baby to survive the transport to Childrens, 

and a miracle would be needed to make it through the night.

Friends, I'm so glad I serve a God who is in the miracle making business.

When she was 8 days old, I got to hold her for the first time.

At 13 days, I heard her cry.

On July 6th, almost three months after her birth, 

I scrubbed in for the LAST time

  and our precious Junebug left with us.>

June Claire, you have come SO far. 

You've taught me what strength really is.

You're beautiful, you're smart, and you're funny.

And you are a miraculous child of God.

No doubt, the life He has planned for you will be great.

From 2 pounds, 6 ounces & 13 inches...

No eyebrows, eyelashes, fingers & ears were barely there

On 100% oxygen with a breathing tube doing the work for her

Couldn't even take any food

A few hours old -- they brought her in to see me before they transported her to Children's.

They took this picture as soon as she stabilized and brought it to me.
She was probably less than two hours old at this point.

Her three week birthday.
This day we were told she had pneumonia
and it was bad.
To 13.5 pounds, 26 inches

FULL of life!

Smiling, laughing, crawling, pulling up,

and even starting to "talk"

LOVING peaches & pears

Tolerating green beans & peas

Giggling at her big sister

and snuggling with mama & daddy 



I will NEVER forget. Many years may come and go, but I will always remember the despair and grief I felt. The sheer joy when we got good news. The gentle way the doctor delivered the bad. The way the nurses held my hand, hugged our necks, cried with us, handed our baby girl to us for the FIRST time....and even the last time. The people who dropped their lives at 6:30 am on a Wednesday morning to drive 10 hours to Orlando, FL, so that we wouldn't be alone. And all of those who wanted to, but couldn't, so they stayed home and prayed. And prayed some more. And prayed some more after that.

All the fundraisers, cards, letters, phone calls...

They'll never be forgotten.

And it will be passed on.

Thursday musings

Yesterday June Claire had a PT evaluation.

Overall, she's a happy, healthy baby.

But I still heard some news I didn't want to hear...

It's always hard to have someone tell you your child is less than normal.

Yes, she's alive. Yes, she's healthy. Yes, she's come SO far

and has exceeded our expectations time and time again.

But yet, she still lacks.

I remember watching an episode of Desperate Housewives once.

Lynette was dreaming about her twins she was pregnant with,

and she dreamed of one that was born with cerebral palsy.

 In the dream, she was getting so frustrated (and so was he) with therapy.

They touched on how hard it was to continuously WORK WORK WORK

 with your child and have them be frustrated and cry

because of the pain or the pure feeling of failure.
That's how I feel right now.

I feel like no matter HOW hard we work with June

every single day, multiple times a day

I have got to accept the fact that
I just can't MAKE her do it.

I'm not in control here.

Somtimes it's so easy to forget Who is in control.

He has complete, total control.

Yes, we have opportunities to make certain decisions

each day of our life, which absolutely factor in.

But all of this?

 It was planned out as He formed us in His vision.

Every disability that June may or may not have...

it'll be ok.

As we get ready to celebrate June's first birthday

I seem to get more emotional.

This has been a rough week

and I'm glad I have an outlet to get my emotions out.

I hope ya'll have a wonderful Thursday & get started on a great weekend tomorrow!

Three weeks?

My last blog was 3 weeks ago!

Sorry, ya'll. We're all safe & happy, just had a lot going on.

Turned off the Internet for that time period until I just couldn't take it anymore

...but I will definitely be taking a large step away from the Interwebs from now on.

 Going that time without it was refreshing

. I was less anxious and my girls were happier

because I was spending a LOT more time with them.

 From now on, Internet is cut down to when they are asleep ONLY.

What have we been up to since my last blog? Weellll...

I turned 26.

I'm still not sure how I feel about that one.

Before I say anything else,

please don't bash me because you think 26 is still young.

I KNOW it's young.

I don't think 26 is old by any means.

I just can't believe that I'M 26.

 I mean, I still feel like I'm 16.

Does this mean I'm going to be one of those women

who are clearly older and still try to dress and act like they're 25?

I hope to God not.

 But if I am, I am giving you permission to slap me back into reality!

Anyway, the weekend of my birthday,

 my mom & some of my family went back down to Panama City for the weekend.

 This time we stayed at Tyndall AFB

 because we got a 4 bedroom TLF

 (temporary living facility, like a little apartment, for you civilians out there) for $52/night!

SCORE!

We had a blast.

 My girls played until they couldn't possibly play anymore.

We went crabbing on the beach the first night,

 where a very kind police officer told us it wasn't allowed

 because it was a turtle sanctuary or something like that.

That Saturday we played at the beach ALL DAY LONG.

 Sunday we ate at my favorite restaurant EVER,

 The Back Porch,

 before heading back home.

Since then we've been working in trips to the river & lake

...and this weekend we went to a music festival in our city.

They started off with blues, then some bluegrass, and finished with what I think was rock.

 The girls had fun & I enjoyed the blues & bluegrass. :)

SOMEBODY I know is turning ONE very soon!

Little Miss Junebug is turning into quite the little girl!

She cut her very first tooth on my birthday,

 she's crawling up a STORM (this started the first week of April),

 and as of this week she is slowly beginning to pull up on things!

Her birthday party is next weekend & I can't WAIT to share the pictures with ya'll!