Not the way you planned

I got this from a Friend today and I’m thankful for her. You see it was a friend I’ve never “met”, but we’re best friends and talk on the phone every day! You see God sends these people into our lives for reasons unknown to us, but one day he shows us just why he sends them to us.

Someday we will understand the path we’re lead on.

But until then………….

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A Tale of Trees:

Once there were three trees on a hill in the woods.

They were discussing their hopes and dreams when the first tree said, 'Someday I hope to be a great treasure chest.  I could be filled with gold, silver and precious gems. I could be decorated with an intricate carving and everyone would see the beauty.'

Then the second tree said, 'Someday I will be a mighty ship. I will take Kings and Queens across the waters and sail to the corners of the world. People will feel safe in me because of the strength of my hull.'

Finally the third tree said, 'I want to grow to be the tallest and straightest tree in the forest. People will see me on top of the hill, look up to my branches, and think of the heavens and God and how close to them I am reaching. I will be the greatest tree of all time and people will always remember me.'

After a few years of praying that their dreams would come true, a group of woodsmen came upon the trees. When one came to the first tree he said, 'This looks like a strong tree, I think I should be able to sell the wood to a carpenter, and he began cutting it down. The tree was happy, because he knew the carpenter would make him into a treasure chest.

At the second tree the woodsman said, 'This looks like a strong tree.  I will be able to sell it to the shipyard.' The second tree was happy because he knew he was on his way to becoming a mighty ship.

When the woodsmen came upon the third tree, the tree was frightened because he knew that if they cut him down his dreams would not come true.  One of the men said,'I don't need anything special from my tree, I'll take this one,' and he cut it down.

When the first tree arrived at the carpenters, he was made into a feed box for animals. He was then placed in a barn and filled with hay. This was not at all what he had prayed for.

The second tree was cut and made into a small fishing boat.  His dreams of being a mighty ship and carrying Kings had come to an end.

The third tree was cut into large pieces, and left alone in the dark.

The years went by, and the trees forgot about their dreams.

Then one day, a man and woman came to the barn. She gave birth and they placed the baby in the hay in the feed box that was made from the first tree. The man wished that he could have made a crib for the baby, but this manger would have to do. The tree could feel the importance of this event and knew that it had held the greatest treasure of all time.

Years later, a group of men got in the fishing boat made from the second tree.  One of them was tired and went to sleep. While they were out on the water, a great storm arose and the tree didn't think it was strong enough to keep the men safe. The men woke the sleeping man, and he stood and said 'Peace' and the storm stopped.  At this time,the tree knew that it had carried the King of Kings in its boat.

Finally, someone came and got the third tree.  It was carried through the streets as the people mocked the man who was carrying it. When they came to a stop, the man was nailed to the tree and raised in the air to die at the top of a hill. When Sunday came, the tree came to realize that it was strong enough to stand at the top of the hill and be as close to God as was possible, because Jesus had been crucified on it.

The moral of this story is that when things don't seem to be going your way, always know that God has a plan for you. If you place your trust in Him, God will give you great gifts.

Each of the trees got what they wanted, just not in the way they had imagined...

We don't always know what God's plans are for us. We just know that His Ways are not our ways, but His ways are always best.

Please keep this moving....... Pass it on, so God may inspire more people on the way.

May your day be blessed. And until we meet again, may God cradle you in the palm of His hand.

The whole Story

We found out we were pg October 27. My grandma had just passed away the day before, and I was tired of Joel begging me to take a test, when I knew my period wasn't due for a few more days. We'd been trying for 6 months with no success. I took the test shortly after lunch, and it said positive. I was so excited, but was bound and determined I was going to tell Joel in a FUN way. So knowing I only had a few hours until he got home MacKenzie and I headed to the basement to make a shirt for Kaitlynn. We painted and labored away, and before I knew it Joel was on his way home. Kaitlynn was still sleeping, so we had to wake her up, and unfortunately she was running a temp. She wasn't in much of a mood to wake up let alone change shirts and go to her daddy.

When Joel got home I had Kaitlynn meet him at the back door wearing her shirt that said "Big Sister in Training" and holding the test. I kept telling her give it to daddy. He just stood there shocked. Staring at her. It was priceless, and I'll never forget it. This was the first time I've surprised him. *With Dahrran I just told him scared, b/c I was still in HS he was in College. With MacKenzie I told him over the phone b/c I was so excited/scared, we were supposed to be getting married, and she was due 1 week before our wedding date. And well with Kaitlynn, he told me. I'd taken a test and it was negative, so I threw it away (after a year/months of trying I was tired of neg test) 2 hours later he goes in and takes it out and it was positive.*

Things went smoothly and we decided to wait until Thanksgiving to tell our families. This was the longest we'd ever waited to tell anyone. It got easier as the days went on, except when I wasn't feeling well. The pg hormones were kicking in and I was feeling more pg than ever. We told our families on Thanksgiving, and everyone was excited. At this point I still hadn't went to the doctor, but had taken the required OB class through the hospital so I could see my doctor. Everything was going good, so I wasn't in any hurry to get in. My dr doesn't usually see you until you were 10-12 weeks along, so I scheduled my appointment for 11 weeks.

At my dr. appointment on December 15, Joel & the girls went with me. My Dr. had a medical student working with him, and she came in first. She tried to find the heartbeat, but couldn't. We figured it was just because I'm a heavier girl, and she is new. When my Dr came in he went ahead and looked for the heartbeat first. After 15 minutes and still no heartbeat, he decided maybe baby was just being uncooperative and maybe after some messing with me during my PAP would help. He send DH and the girls out and we did all the girly stuff.
Dr. said my uterus was tilted (which I still know nothing about and why it's like that) and that he after better feeling he thought baby was in a certain spot. He went ahead and tried to find the HB again. After a few more minutes he said to me "It's early, and so I could just not be able to find it yet. We can have you come back in two weeks, you'll be 13 weeks then and it should be easier to find then." He went ahead and went out so I could get dressed and sent DH back in. When I got dressed, and he came back in he said "If you guys don't mind, I have one more patient, and then we could go down and do an u/s just to make sure things are okay." Of course we said yes, and waited.

We went in for the ultrasound and my bladder wasn't very full, and he couldn't see anything but the Gestational Sac. We were given the option of an internal ultrasound or eating lunch and coming back. Having the girls with us, and it being 12 (apt time was 10:45) we opted for lunch and filling my bladder. An Hour & full bladder later, we still couldn't see anything. They sent the girls out while we got the internal u/s ready and let the girls come back in. We then could see the little one. Baby was measuring 8w4d, and I was 11 weeks. Dr said well maybe your dates are off. I was 100% certain on my dates b/c I'd written them down.

He turns on the heart rate thing where they listen. Nothing. No heartbeat. Just whooshing. Nothing. Then he turns on the colored part where you can see the heart. Nothing. No color on the baby.

He goes ahead and tells me let's schedule another u/s in two days with the u/s tech and go from there. He was still saying something about my dates being off, but it was possible I'd miscarried. I was unsure what to do/say. We walked out and tried to schedule the appointment when he wanted it but couldn't b/c they were booked. I took the soonest appointment to when he wanted me there and left crying. A nurse from the clinic called me about an hour later and had set up and 8am appointment on Thursday December 17.

We showed up 10 minutes early for the u/s and waited. I had a full bladder but the u/s tech couldn't see anything but the Sac again. We opted for the internal u/s again, and then saw the babe. Baby was measuring 8w6d. So we had hope. The baby had grown in two days, and we had hope. Until we turned on the little color part. There was still no color. The u/s tech ended the u/s then, and said I'm so sorry, patted my knee and told me where the things were to clean up and to leave the door open when I was done.

Just like that.

I was sent home, and told my doctor would call. Joel & I didn't say 5 words the whole way home.

When he called he told me that after looking over my numbers it was certain that I was miscarrying. He prescribed me Cytotec and told me how to take them and what not. He told me the things I needed to do, and I vaguely remember what he said. All I knew is I was supposed to take these pills, and within 24 hours it would be over.

It’s now been almost 3 weeks since we first knew something was going on. It’s been hard. It’s been rough, but at the same time I thank God because I’m alive, and this too shall pass. God knows my path in life, and knows which road I should take even if I don’t believe him right now.

I’m not going to try and be a downer this New Year. I’ve got some fun posts about our Christmas, and such coming up so please stay tuned. I mainly wanted this here for reference. So I don’t ever loose it!

Wordless Wednesday

These pictures won’t be too good after Christmas, so I though I’d just better get motivated to post them.

      

   
And then there is the ONLY picture I can find with all three of the kids in front of the tree(2008). Bad Mommy!

*****************************************************

Would you mind? If I shared the story I’ve written up about everything that happened last week. I have already written it up, but want a way to have it stored for memory purposes. So do you all mind if I post it here? Let me know what you think. It’s just very long, and somewhat detailed, but I want to remember it, so we never forget.

Happy 5 year anniversary

 

****************************************

Sorry I’m not going to say much else. We’re facing a tough time right now, and unfortunately it deals with our newest family member. We found out on Tuesday that baby #4 had no heart beat, and we’d lost him/her around 8 weeks. Thank you ahead of time for the thoughts and prayers.

I won’t be posting again before Christmas, and probably won’t be blogging much from now on. At least for a while. If you still want to keep in touch with our family, let me know here, and I will email you my Facebook name/profile/whatever you call it.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year to you and yours! Hug  your families all you can!!!

The post I leave untitled

More tomorrow……

What I’ve been up to…

….no good of course!

Just kidding.

Actually I’ve been knee deep in fabric. Trying to accomplish a project that seems un-accomplishable.

If you promise not to tell, I’ll tell you.

Promise?

Okay so I trust you all now.

I found this, and wanted to join in!

Here’s a sneak peek of one of the THREE I’m going to TRY to get done before Christmas!

So sorry if I don’t get much blogging done between now and then. But know I’m reading along with your blogs!

I'm Alive, and well

It's true. Sorry just not much in the blogging mood lately. Hopefully soon I'll be back up to blogging. Just wanted to let everyone know we're doing good. Had a good Thanksgiving despite a little bug that managed to make it's way through our house.

And just because. Take the time to listen, really listen.