Got Tagged

Well, I never end up doing the blog tag thing, mainly because I don't have the time but my friend, Micahl tagged me and I thought this one would be fun to do.


So here are the directions:
1) Choose the 4th folder where you store your pictures on your computer.
2) Select the 4th picture in the folder.
3) Explain the picture.
4) Tag 4 people to do the same.~No cheating (cropping, editing, etc.) Have fun!!

I couldn't think of a BETTER picture! This is what Faith looked like as she came out of the play house, LOTS of beads and a "Mask of Zorro" hat!

Tagg~

Christie

Katey

Suzanne

Tiff

A New Addition

We would like to show off our newest family member! She is very sweet and cute! We have been looking to get an English Bulldog for 3 years now and we finally took the plunge. I believe we are going to call her, "Maggie". Faith has enjoyed the new puppy except when Maggie decides to chew on Faith's feet! She is a great family dog, needs little exercise, (my kind of dog!) and loves to cuddle in your lap!

Maggie

Oh, sweet kisses

Faith is already training her to like books.....except I don't think Maggie can stay awake for all the books Faith reads!

Cute

Loves to sleep......Look at that belly!

Health update-

I have been doing well, praise the Lord. Although I am over all doing well I do have one issue that I have been struggling with for a couple of months now. My swallowing has been having trouble. My food gets stuck in my throat and it takes me a little while to get it to go down. It happens at least once a day so it was something I needed to get checked. I have went in to see a GI doctor last week and on Wednesday I will go in and they will take a scope and look down my esophagus to see what might be going on. I continue to ask for your prayers through this. Thanks!

My weekend has been fun as we have enjoyed our new puppy yet it's been mixed with tears and heart break as I lost a friend, Jenny, who received her second transplant a couple of weeks ago yet passed away over the weekend. She had a very difficult fight and I thought for sure God had given her these second pair of lungs so she could begin a new life again yet it's hard to know or sometimes understand what God has planned. Let me just say, I do KNOW it was never the Lord's will for Jenny or anyone to die in the first place. When He created the world He created us to live forever, not to have disease, heartache, troubles or pain. We chose to sin and therefore we have to live or watch the consequences of sin. Yet, I'm also thankful the Lord is still in control and His plan is always good. Someday it will be just as God once created it to be but until then this life is a journey, pilgrimage that is difficult yet He is there with us each step of the way. Leading us Home.....

Please pray for Justin, Jenny's husband and her family.

When I saw Justin and Jenny in December, she was doing everything she could to survive till her new lungs came available. One day when I was walking the halls I stopped and talked with Justin, expressing how much my heart hurt for them and praying she would receive that call very quickly. I will never forget his words. He thanked me for my concern and prayers but he then he said, "You need to get well and go and live your life with your husband and little girl. Go and enjoy this new life!" What an unselfish thing to say when I know he was hurting as he watched his wife suffer. Thank you Justin & Jenny for being such shining lights...

2 Toddlers+Mischievous=A WHOLE LOT OF FUN!

I would like to think we all have a little mischievous in us but when it comes to toddlers, mischievous is just another word for lots of FUN! Faith & Sissy have begun to make quite a name for themselves when it comes to finding trouble (excuse me....fun). When those two little minds come together there is no limit to what can be thought up or tried out! Now most of the time they are on the same page but sometimes the competitiveness side comes out. For 2 girls who LOVE reading books, wearing shoes, watching Dora & playing dolls, we better have 2 of everything or the claws can come out. It amazes me how they can be so sweet together having "tea" and the next minute either in destructive mode or about ready to end the friendship over who gets to wear what jacket! (Not sure if there is this much drama with little boys but it certainly keeps our lives interesting)

Altogether though these girls have had a lot of fun and it is a joy to watch them play, unless they are pumping all the hand sanitizer into cups! =) We still don't know if Brandon & Christie will be able to adopt Sissy, there are many factors that make this case a difficult one for the judge to decide. Yet, we continue to pray for the Lord's will and hope that it is for her to stay. She is such a joy to be around and I'm glad Faith has a good buddy in crime......I mean friend. =)

Faith & Sissy

The girls always have time for reading


This picture is blurry but I wanted to give you an idea of how they do everything together! They both came downstairs with (play) swords! AHHHH! WATCH OUT!

This is one of those mischievous moments~ They unpeeled all the bananas and left a trail starting at the bottom of the stairs and we found them sitting at the top of the stairs, quite content with themselves, eating whatever leftover bananas they had.

Thanksgiving~ of course, both must fit in the baby doll Pack-in-Play

Here comes the Bride....

A beautiful bride, a handsome groom, an amazing wedding, a great couple coming together as one, what more could you ask for?! It has been 7 years since Callie & Hayden first met and 4 years of dating so you could say they have been waiting for this moment for quite some time! I'm so thankful I was able to be apart of such an important moment in my sister's life. To be able to help and serve her on her special day meant the world to me! There is no way I would have been able to keep up with my old lungs so Praise the Lord for this gift. Although I was happy to serve Callie she had another helper that was RIGHT there ready to help in anyway........her favorite niece, Faith (her only niece). =)

I was so surprised how much Faith wanted to be apart of helping Callie get ready. It was as if she jumped from 2 years old to 10 in a matter of minutes. She had to be involved with every part, it was a lot of fun to watch her so excited to be one of the girls. =)

It was a beautiful wedding and we are so excited to have Hayden apart of the family! I know God has much in store for them as they begin this new journey.

I once heard someone say that on your wedding day you look at your bride/groom with so much love that you don't see their faults or imperfections, just beauty and joyfulness! That is how Christ looks at us, His bride. Because of Jesus we are that perfect bride to him, beautiful and spotless.

Congratulations Cal & Hayden! We love you!

Romans 12:12

December is one of my favorite months and like most people I have a list of all the fun holiday things I would like to do.

*Bake Christmas cookies & goodies for family & friends
*Go look at Christmas lights
*Take Faith to the Christmas store so we can buy a new ornament for the year (I have bought her one every year so that when she leaves the home she will have her a good collection to start with on her first tree)
* Buy gifts

*Pick a tree out and decorate it

and the list continues.....

I was especially looking forward to this Christmas with my new lungs and energy. I thought for sure I would be able to accomplish many things for my family and friends and do lots of fun things with Faith. Well I was in for quite a different Christmas and an opportunity to examine my heart. As many of you know December started out with my scary episode in AL but Praise God we were able to come home a week later and I thought,"OK, now we can enjoy the rest of the season". A week later my WHOLE family, extended family as well all got sick with the tummy virus! Just as I thought we were better and that I had some how missed this sickness I got the bug on Christmas Eve and so I spent it with Faith, Jason and the trash can. So, the next day we had to cram in seeing all of our different sides of the family and therefore just how it worked (not by choice) out we missed 2 of our Christmas dinners so by the time we got to my moms house that night we were tired, hungry and a little frizzled out. Faith had not been feeling well ALL day and was very cranky so before we headed to my moms we decided to give her some Children's Tylenol for her running nose and cough. I was in a hurry getting things together and Jason asked me the dose for her and either I said the wrong thing or he heard different I'm not sure but he gave her too much. We realized that she had been overdosed on the way to my moms house (Christmas Day night) so as soon as we walked into the house we had to call Poison Control and make sure we didn't have to make a run to the ER or something. Praise God she was fine and it did a good job of drying her up and she was in great spirits!

You always hear, Jesus is the reason for the season. But.....is he really the center of our Christmas? This is the question I had to really ask myself since everything had fallen apart and my joy seemed very slim due to all the things I wasn't able to do with Faith during the holidays and our plans constantly changing. It was as if He had allowed all the "traditional" things I do for Christmas to be stripped away and then pose the question..........Where does your joy come from?

It's not in the doing or giving of Christmas, it's not baking goodies (which I'm not good at anyway, hehe), it's not the decorations or how we spend Christmas, it's not even that I have new lungs (even though I am truly thankful!). Although all these things have reason to rejoice in, it should not be the center of my joy.

"Be joyful because you have hope. Be patient when trouble comes, and pray at all times." Romans 12:12

I read this verse Christmas morning, I can have joy because I have hope. Hope in what? In Jesus who came to earth as a baby and grew up and chose to feel and understand what it was to walk this difficult road we call life and then lay down His life for us, sinners so that we might have hope. Just as Jesus was raised from the dead we can have the same hope that for those who have trusted Christ as their Savior we too might be spiritual raised to life and live with God forever.

Like I said before it was a strange and very different Christmas yet it was a kick in the pants that I needed. To examine ones heart is never easy and most of the time I find it quite unpleasant but then sometimes we have to allow him to clean the cobwebs so the light can shine through.

Here is a look at some of our activities in December~

My sweet cousin, Jessica was able to stop by and see us when I was in the hospital the first of December. Her two cute little guys~ Lucas & Alex

I asked Jason if I could have one of these huge blow up Christmas decorations for our house and the answer was.....No! Although I really would like one of those snow machines so we could really have snow on Christmas!

Sick & pooped out on Christmas, this was the only time she would cuddle so Papa took full advantage of that!

Hayden, Callie, Tyler & Landon

Enjoying the nice crisp weather with Nana (or Nannie what Faith has changed it too)

Love my new Dora pj's that mama & daddy gave me

The new style....a onesie, shirt, head band & boots!

Tea anyone? Love to have tea parties with my new tea set

Sweet babies, our nieces~

Nan & Lily

WOW!!!

All I can say is WOW! It has been quite the ride since we have moved back home with trying to adjust to a new place again, the holidays, the scary episode in Birmingham with my health, all of our family being sick over Christmas and just finished celebrating Callie & Hayden's wedding! I look back and think how crazy yet I also am so thankful I was able to keep up and really be apart of all the activities (I could have skipped the being sick part though).

I feel like I have so much to share with everyone since my last post so I'll try to catch up a little at a time. =) Hopefully I'll have some good pictures up of the wedding and some things we have been up too the past couple of weeks. For starters I got to work on getting my Christmas stuff down, as it has been placed on the back burner with everything going on. But HEY! my Christmas tree continues to live on! Now that is a miracle! Anybody that knows me knows any living green thing that comes into my home never stands a chance to live longer then a couple of weeks....or days!

Ok, I've rambled on about nothing but I just wanted to let people know we are still here and doing well. I'll try to update more soon....Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

Merry Christmas!!!

Merry Christmas....from our home to yours!

No surprise the Christmas season has come up faster then I was ready.... so with many regrets I will not be sending out a formal Christmas letter this year. Please except this blog post as our Christmas greeting and hope you are enjoying the season with your loved ones. It's hard to believe it's only been a year with all the new changes in our lives yet it's been a joy to share with you all our adventures, joys, difficulties, struggles & victories!

I put together a slide show that gives you a glimpse of what 2008 looked like for us. I think I got a little carried away with the pictures but I enjoyed doing it. So enjoy watching however many you want! =)
Our lives were forever changed in 2008 when I was given the gift of "new" life. It's hard to put into words the overwhelming thankfulness my family and I have to the donor family who decided to unselfishly give someone the gift of hope in the midst of their darkest hour.

It sure has been an full 6 months filled with transplant, my mom's wedding, moving back to TX, gaining 2 new sweet nieces, Jason getting back into his job & looking forward to Callie & Hayden's wedding in January! God is faithful and we have seen His grace and miracles time and time again through our journey. Through this transplant experience I'm reminded of how God too unselfishly gave us the gift of hope. Sacrificed His son, His son that was perfect so that we might move out of the darkness and into the light. We are all in need of a spiritual donor, a Savior and Jesus is the perfect "match" for us. He bares the scares for us and we are given new life. Hope you have a wonderful Christmas celebrating our Savior and spending time with your family & friends.

Love~ Jason, Emily & Faith

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless his holy name! Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, who satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagles." Psalm 103:1-5

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

*I think we need to start a new tradition of doing January greeting cards instead of December....hmmmmm..just a thought! =)

Tis the Season......to be sick....Fa La La La

Lysol, hand sanitizer, Sprite, crackers, trash can..........what do all these have in common?

A fun weekend with the yucky tummy virus! Well, I guess Jason and Faith felt like I was having all the fun being sick so they BOTH decided to try it out. I think they both would agree it's not to much fun. I feel so bad for them! So, we have been laying low since Friday and continue the weekend theme of Pj's & sleeping.

Poor baby....it's been rough

Just to let you know I'm doing what I can to NOT catch this bug! My hands are going to be so chapped due to washing and hand sanitizing. I've been calling on my Healer to just put a shield over me and keep me healthy and strong.

Hope you all are staying well and enjoying the season!

Home Sweet Home

Well....it was quite the adventure getting home. To make a long story short neither Jason or I had our picture IDs because we got new licenses so all we had was our paper temporary license and Jason lost his temporary during our stay in AL. PLUS, I had my IVs (medicine bags more then 4oz) that had to go with me on the plane. So, to say all that we were very concerned about getting through security! I think our saving grace was that I brought our birth certificates just in case. Although we were searched high and low (all 3 of us), we were allowed to go through!!

Anyway, we are home safely and it is good to be home. Hopefully we can relax some and just enjoy the Christmas season.

A Good Word, goes along way

Sorry for not updating yesterday, my sinuses got a hold on me and I felt pretty much worthless all day. They did manage to get a PICC line in, praise God! So, I was able to get that big central line out of my neck, although my neck feels like it's been in an accident. Lord willing, the plan is get to be discharged tomorrow and leave for TX, Saturday morning. I will continue to be on IV's for a little while and I think it's going to take some time recovering from this pneumonia. I'm ready to be home with my little girl & family and enjoy my living Christmas tree while it's still living! (Thanks Cal, for keeping it alive!)

The angels brought Good News to the shepherds and I too have had a sweet "angel" Monica, my respiratory therapist who comes in every morning to bring me a good word. She is always bubbling with God's love. I'll ask her what the Lord has been speaking to her today but many times she is just quick to share the simple, strong truths of God's word and His love. When you spend any amount of time in the hospital you can see on the faces of those who are hurting, people are clinging to some kind of hope or joy. That's what Christ came to do......bring hope to those who are in despair, joy for the broken hearted, healing for those who are sick & most importantly Christ, the bridge that would bring us Home.

Thanks for sharing your family traditions! I loved them! I again, always appreciate your words of encouragement! I never knew how much support, encouragement and love I would receive being able to share my journey through a blog. Thank you!