HEADLINE OF THE YEAR!!

No you are not seeing double on this pregnancy test....we are PREGGO!! Yes, you read right...we are pregnant! Kinda hard to believe, right?!! LOL! We are not sure how far along, but thinking only 3-4 weeks. I will go next week to confirm the pregnancy with the doctor (although we know we are - just the steps you have to take to get an OB appointment.
Please keep us in your prayers as we begin this new chapter in our lives!!
Please excuse my handy dandy camera work (it was 11pm - way past my bedtime when I took this)

Prayer Request

I have a dear friend that is close to our family that is in need of prayer....I have been extremely delayed in posting this request. Lauren was in our wedding and her and Darin met and married and married a few years ago. Such a wonderful, sweet couple!! She is pregnant with twins and it has been a prayerful road thus far. Here are the latest updates from her....
On Tuesday I received this update...

Hey everyone!

I had my BIG ultrasound at 18 weeks 3 days pregnant today. I found out that my identical twins are girls which I am very excited about as I have always imagined spoiling little girly girls!

I also found out that they have Twin to Twin Transfusion Syndrome (TTTS). For more information on TTTS, please check out - http://www.tttsfoundation.com/index.php . I haven't had a chance to do that much research yet, but it basically means that one baby takes more than its fair share of the nourishment via the placenta- potentially taking all the amniotic fluid away from the other. I will have further testing on Thursday to see exactly what TTTS stage out of 1-5 (5 is the worst) that my babies have. Currently the high risk specialist believes that my babies have stage 2. The MRI and Fetal Echo Cardiagram could reveal that they actually have stage 3. TTTS is treatable and Cincinnati has the best treatment/doctors in the country for this particular thing. With treatment, both babies have a 67% chance of survival and there is a 92% chance that 1 will survive.

All that being said, I am officially on bed rest for the remainder of my pregnancy. From the little I have read, apparently bed rest and a high protein diet are the two things I can do to help the babies have a better chance.

We are asking for prayers for the babies that they will both not only survive but be born healthy and happy. We are also asking for prayers that I can handle being on bed rest for the next 3 -4 months and that God will direct Darin and I to make the right decisions regarding treatment options and will continuously calm our fears.

And then I received this last night......

Hello again!

Darin and I spent all day at Cincinnati Children's Hospital - working with the Fetal Care Center. We found out that our babies have Stage 3B of TTTS. It turns out that Stage 5 means the babies are already gone, so Stage 3 out of Stage 4 is pretty serious. We were told that we needed to take action by Monday. So, we decided to have the fetoscopic laser (laser abration) done tomorrow at 10:30 am at Children's Hospital. I will be in the hospital overnight so they can monitor the babies. I will have a follow up appointment on Monday at Good Sam Hospital. If you want to read up on the Fetal Care Center and the procedure we are having done tomorrow, check out this website - http://www.fetalcarecenter.org/

Please continue to pray for Haley & Katelyn and for me & Darin! Thank you so much! Your prayers are much appreciated!

Love,

Lauren

Please continue to pray with us for Darin, Lauren, Haley and Katelyn!

Wouldn't Change a Thing!

So I am driving to work last week and had a "revelation!" Not exactly sure why this thought popped in my head, but I was thinking...there is not one thing in my whole 28 years of life that I would even change. I used to always think well if I would have done this or that then I would be at this point in my life. For instance, when we were in Germany, there were many of times I would get down in the dumps because I did not get to finish my nursing degree before we left even though I had a great job there, I still needed to fulfill this one thing. I was not mad at J or anybody but myself because I had plenty of time to get it done but nothing ever seemed to work out right (Wonder why that was?!! maybe God had a part in it - well of course He did!)
But as I was driving I was getting more and more excited to be able to say I would not change a thing in my life, past nor present...I definitely would not be where I am now had I changed something. I would not be physically, spiritually, mentally etc where I am today. Many people ask, if there was just one thing you could change in your life what would it be....nothing would be my reply. I would not have the wonderful parents I have, the bestest (my made up word) hubby/bff in the world, greatest brother and family, and friends. I would not have experienced the patients that I have in the past year (to include my "Jesus" patient - that is another blog in itself - definitely opened my eyes!) And I could go on and on......
So this thought has continued to consume my mind and humble me more and more and oh so Thankful!!
I will try to post my Jesus patient story between now and the weekend!
Hope everyone is enjoying their short week!

Happy Anniversary Brad and Kelly!

Today is Jason's brother and wife, Brad and Kelly's, 8th wedding anniversary. My has the time flown by.

We hope you two have a wonderful day celebrating and reflecting on where you have been as a couple and what more wonderful blessings the Lord has in store ahead.

(Sorry this is the only "current" pic we had of them...we did not take our camera on our latest trip:(

Happy Memorial Day!

We just to say thank you to the troops past and present for the sacrifices they have made or are making for our freedom!!

And I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free,
and I won't forget the men who died, who gave that right to me and
I'll proudly stand next to him to defend her still today, 'cuz there ain't
no doubt I love this land, god bless the USA. -Lee Greenwood

Catchin' Up

Here are a few long lost pictures I am finally putting up!

The first 3 are of the remnants of a nest a bird decided to build in our dryer vent. J cleaned it out....imagine toting each individual piece to build a nest for your kids! AMAZING!! Unfortunately due to it being a fire hazard, we had to take it all out only for the determined bird to try to build another one a few days later. So we then bought a cover for the vent.




























This is a quote my parents sent me after passing my boards!









These are the beautiful roses Nanny sent me after passing my boards!!









And this beautiful angel is what our life group gave me as a graduation present!!









Jason, Mamo, and Michelle on Easter this year









J and Michelle

Record Catch!

J went fishing Friday evening and then again yesterday...and he of course caught some fishies. One of the ones he caught, was one of the biggest ones he has caught yet. Unfortunately it looked like it had some skin disease so he laid it in the kayak without touching it...so the picture does not give it justice of how big it really was (30 incher') He caught several different kinds of fishies on Friday evening but only got a pic of a couple. And yesterday he caught a few more fishies and a couple of stingray. And you could not leave out a pic of the beautiful sunset....hope you enjoy the pics!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

We just wanted to wish our moms a wonderful mother's day today!! You are honored and lifted up every day and most especially on this day. Thank you both for helping us become who we are today!! (Sorry we are still having computer issues and I can not get on our other computer to put up some pics of our moms.)

"Happy Mother's Day" means more
Than have a happy day.
Within those words lie lots of things
We never get to say.

It means I love you first of all,
Then thanks for all you do.
It means you mean a lot to me,
And that I honor you.

But most of all, I guess it means
That I am thinking of
Your happiness on this, your day,
With pleasure and with love.

It's Official!!!

Yes, it is official....I am an LPN! I PASSED my boards on Tuesday. I got the minimum of 85 questions (the most you could get is 205) and I was finished right at an hour....and I PASSED! I must say I am still in shock. Praise the Lord for coming through again with me on this one!
Now onto the next chapter in my life as a nurse....RN school (unless He decides He has other plans - so we shall see!)
So now I am wondering what to do with my time this weekend - the first free weekend I have had in over a year, where I am not having to study or worry about a test coming up!
We hope you all have a blessed weekend coming up!

Updates

Sorry,I have been horrible at blogging lately....I thought graduating would free up some time, but hopefully after my boards it will?? But then again, I will be starting back up with school again.
Anyhooo...
My dad is doing awesome...still a bit sore, but is getting out and about rather than being cooped up in the house, so that helps out a lot in recovering!
Last we heard about Poppa was he was still in the hospital. The x-ray looking for pneumonia came back negative however they were thinking he was in acute renal failure. So they took him off all of his meds and he was doing great besides all of the pain he now endured without the meds. I am guessing he was retaining urine so they had to cath him again and get off the urine (which makes me think his kidneys had to of been working if urine was being produced - but I "ain't" no doctor.) But hopefully he will be going home today or tomorrow if he did not leave yesterday.
So that is about it for now...off to wash the car and cut the grass before the storms come!