Saturday, April 30, 2011

grandma jones'.



Seriously could have brought this little guy home with us. There aren't many things cuter than a baby kitten...


I think Lawson would have brought this little guy home, too...


Someone had to change into her sparkly tennis shoes when she stepped in a mud puddle. I think the pretty pink Easter shoes may have been saved, though. =)
She's taking after her brother and turning into a climber. 
As in "Gretchen's on the table!" kind of climbing.
Good thing she's so cute! =)

Saturday, April 23, 2011

beans.

Gretchie's fun new toy... 


She has spent hours scooping, shoveling and spooning beans into little cups and bowls... 

And she's getting lots of fine motor practice picking up all the beans she drops! =)

Thank you so much, Megan for giving us this fun little table! Gretchie is having so much fun with it!
Maybe someday we can meet in person... =)

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

from danielle...

Surgery was successful... praise God!
Just met with the surgeon and everything went perfect!
Hopefully we will get to see her within the hour.
THANK YOU FOR YOUR PRAYERS!


Danielle sent me that text around 2:30, so they should have gotten to see her by now.
Thank you so much to everyone who was praying today.
Our prayers were definitely answered!!

Please keep this sweet family in your prayers over the next few weeks.
Although her surgery went great, Miss Britton still has a long road ahead of her.
I was trying to explain it all to Sophie and Lawson after school and we were imagining how Gretchen would feel if it were her.
Not very happy, they decided.

Danielle will be home from school for 6 weeks so that she can care for Britton full time.
Please pray for her... that God would give her the strength and energy that she needs to keep this little girl happy.
Thank you again for all your prayers!

"Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!" 
1 Corinthians 9:15 

Tuesday, April 19, 2011

please pray.

Do you remember my sweet friend, Danielle? My organizery twin. My friend that loves lists and organizing so much that I know it will put a big smile on her face when she hears I got my new lime green mini notebook in the mail today?! (Now we are notebook twins, too!) 

Do you remember her sweet baby girl, Britton? Hidden inside that sweet little mouth is a cleft palate that needs to be fixed. Three months ago she was scheduled for surgery, but as he was ready to start, the doctor discovered that her little mouth was just too tiny. Even with his smallest knife, it just wasn't safe for him to continue. So her surgery was rescheduled. For tomorrow. 

Britton's cleft needs to be repaired before she reaches 18 months. If they wait longer, it will affect her long term speech. (This little miss is already talking way more than Gretchen! My favorite... when you ask her what a penguin says... "Waddle!") Britton is 17 months old now. So from what I understand... they WILL be doing the 3-4 hour surgery tomorrow. If her mouth is still too tiny, the surgeons will figure out another option. (And we don't really want to spend time thinking about that option...)

I watched Gretchen run all around the house tonight... watched her climb up onto the couch and chairs... and tried to imagine what it would be like to have her in arm restraints for two weeks. I cannot even imagine. Britton will be on a liquid only diet for the first two weeks... applesauce, baby food and broth-like substances for weeks 3 and 4. It's not going to be easy... for this little one, or for her mommy and daddy. 

Miss Britton did get some exciting news awhile back, though. This sweet little girl found out she's going to be a big sister at the end of October! So, so happy for them!! Danielle does so many things really, really well. Sadly... she doesn't do pregnant well. She gets sick. Really sick. The kind of sick where they give you medicine to make you not be sick. The kind of sick where you just want to crawl in bed and stay there. But this momma doesn't need to feel sick right now. This momma needs to feel strong.

So will you pray for this sweet family? 

Pray for Matt and Danielle as they hand their precious daughter over to a team of doctors and nurses. 
Pray for Britton... that her little mouth would be big enough for them to safely perform the surgery... without the scarier option. 
Pray for her surgeon and all the doctors and nurses.
Pray for Danielle... give her strength and peace and a calm heart (and stomach). 
Pray that this sweet smile will be seen again soon... 


 "So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand." 
Isaiah 41:10

"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." 
1 John 5: 14-15 

He hears us, Danielle. 
He hears all of us. 
Praying that you will feel His arms around you tomorrow. 
Love you, my friend! 

Saturday, April 16, 2011

scrapbook.

This was one of my Spring Break projects. It's my new favorite little scrapbook.... just Halloween. 
Trick or Treat... 


It starts in 2002 with a 17 day old Baby Sophie...

We couldn't believe how much this picture looks like Gretchen!

2005... Lawson's first Halloween... (chubby little guy)

2006... (we had a little pink bunny and a chubby orange carrot!) 

2009... an 11 day old Baby Gretchen...

And just this past year... 

I love that I actually have a scrapbook that is current!

(fyi... I have pictures from every year... I just didn't think I needed to photograph the entire little book.)  =)