The Coker's Blog

Tip of the Week!

2011-05-26T13:17:00.000-05:00

One of the BEST things I have discovered since I've changed the way we spend money, is FREE SAMPLES! Almost daily, I get a gift in the mail! And they aren't small "sample" sizes! Nothing is better than free toilet paper, granola bars and yes even laundry detergent! Awesome! I use the following two sites to help me locate my freebies: www.allyou.com and www.hip2save.com. All You has a daily free sample, and Hip2Save posts when new samples become available several times during the day, she even has a "freebie" section! Love them!

Went to Kroger and Publix yesterday, will post the deals that I got there later!

New Purpose of Blog!

2011-05-24T10:31:00.000-05:00

Hey Hey bloggers! I have been using this blog in the past just to chronicle the lives of the Cokers! But I am changing direction. Recently my family has gone through a difficult time financially. I have had to change the way my family uses it's money. And it's been a very positive change! So I will be sharing the different things that I am doing and how I am saving money here in Murfreesboro, Tennessee!

First things first here is how we have changed our everyday life!

1. No Eating Out! If we do eat at a drive-thru or restaurant, we eat almost free with coupons!
2. I COUPON and mainly purchase items that are .50 or under! Except for essentials such as milk, diapers and meat. But I get good deals on those as well.
3. We BUDGET! Every Penny has a Name! If you aren't a listener to Dave Ramsey, you have to check him out!

Now I am no means an expert. I am just getting started on this adventure. And I am not an extreme couponer, nor a hoarder of food. But I am a mom, of three beautiful girls, who are in a private Christian school, and who has a lot of medical bills to pay!

So lets do this together!!

Dr's Dr's Dr's!

2011-01-19T12:06:00.000-06:00

My life is full of doctor appointments these days!! I'm starting to get a little frustrated. I'm seeing my chiropractor, my general practitioner, my physical therapist AND my neurologist and no one seems to be giving me any answers as to my crazy mind! (Yes we all know I've been a little "crazy" for a while, but this is different hehe!)

After the accident I started having trouble with different things. I can't remember things well, my mind gets jumbled, and I can't make my brain talk to my fingers well, so my classes are a struggle (they are online). Last semester I didn't do well at all, and I think a lot of it was because I can't get things out the way I want them. I am getting mixed up all the time. For example, I'll want to say, "Go put that on the table" but instead I'll say, "Go put that in the bathroom". It makes no sense, and the girls laugh at me, but it's frustrating! And I've always had to put things into my phone calendar so I can keep up with all of our activities. But these days, if it isn't in my phone, I don't remember it at all!

My neurologist and my general practitioner both say that it's from the headaches and the lack of sleep. But since I've started my new medicine (almost a month ago) I have been sleeping well. And as long as I take the medicine as prescribed, I don't have headaches as bad.

I don't konw what to do about it. I feel, well just overwhelmed and frustrated. I feel like none of it should be a big deal. The car accident I was in wasn't a terrible one, I guess. So why is my brain so weird now!?!

I have faith it'll work itself out! My God is an awesome God, and I know I'll be taken care of!

Until next time....

Prayer WORKS!

2011-01-13T17:16:00.001-06:00

Hello! Lots has changed in the Coker Household! One of our prayers has been answered! We've been praying for a way to payoff some extra debt so we can keep our babies in Private School (Middle TN Christian School) and that prayer was recently answered! I've been given the most amazing opportunity to babysit my niece full time!! I can't believe it! I get to hang with my amazing niece (who is two weeks younger than Katy) and make a little extra money! It's a win-win for everyone!!

Right now, I'm not able to use that extra money for our debt. I'm having to pay all of my medical bills out of pocket. Well I guess I never blogged about my wreck. I was in a wreck in November and am still suffering from headaches. I've been seeing my general doctor, my chiropractor and my neurologist and also my physical therapist. So I'm on the road to recovery. But we are paying for EVERYTHING out of pocket! And it's EXPENSIVE!!! But hey, it's ok! I am so thankful to have the extra money to use for my treatment!!

I'm still teaching! I adore my kiddos! They are amazing and they are such a joy to my life! I'm so blessed to be able to be in their lives!

Isn't God wonderful!! I'm so thankful for my family and my friends, and our jobs and, well just everything! Life is amazing and we are so blessed!!

I'm going to ask for prayers. We are feeling the need to make some important changes in our lives and we need prayers for the guidance to make those changes. We are so excited about our future and what God has in store for us!

Ah what a life! It's full of craziness, and change and lots of PINK! But I couldn't ask for any more! Now here's the BIG IMPORTANT question!!

WHAT'S FOR DINNER?!?!

Until Next Time.....

Kindergarten

2010-01-18T20:45:00.000-06:00

We have been in the process of testing Madelyn for the Magnet schools here in town. It's been a little nuts! Getting teacher evaluations, sending in applications and pictures. Going for two testings for one school and waiting on a test date for the other school!! But I know it'll be worth it in the end. It's nuts that we've been thinking about where to send Maddy for Kindergarten for years and years. And now it's here!!

We are so blessed because we have so many fabulous options between public, magnet and private schools here in Murfreesboro! We couldn't have picked a better place to raise a family!!

And that's all for now!!

~Blessings~

You're Kidding!

2009-11-24T18:54:00.002-06:00

It's almost Thanksgiving! I just can't believe how quickly this year has passed us by! Isn't it just awful? I have a baby who's almost 5 months, a 2 1/2 year old and a 5 year old. Geeze, I'm going to sneeze and I'll have a 32 year old, a 30 year old and a 28 year old. Gag me!

We have really been enjoying all of the Christmas Movies on ABC Family and listening to some beautiful Christmas music! I know it's early for all that stuff, but I'm excited! Hopefully we'll get our tree up this weekend!! Our neighbors have already started putting up their decorations and the girls just adore it!

We are LOVING our new house! If I forget something, I can just swing back by the house and grab it. I'm 5 minutes to two Kroger Stores and 5 minutes to two Publix Stores! Our trash gets picked up every Tuesday Morning. I can run by the post office when I need to! Maddy's school is 8 minutes down the road, Church is 8 minutes down the road. Mama and Daddy are 8 minutes away, My mother-in-law and father-in-law and also sister-in-law and brother-in-law are 15 minutes away. It's just wonderful!! Just wonderful!!

We will be submitting applications for the magnent schools here in Murfreesboro for Maddy soon. The testing will begin in January, I believe. There are two elementary schools here, we are 99% sure she'll get into at least one (one takes city kids first and the other takes county kids first, since we live in the city, we aren't sure we'll make the county school's list). We are excited for Madelyn, we know no matter which school she gets into, she's going to enjoy the snot out of it!!

It has really hit me how big Izzy is getting. She is talking so clearly and is SO funny! She loves to make us laugh, she's so super silly!! But she's a mess, she keeps us on our toes, but she's getting so big. Her hair is getting longer and her face is loosing the baby shape. Why do they have to grow up so fast!?!?

Baby Katy is doing amazing. She has a cough, and she has for a couple of weeks. But it seems to be clearing up. The peditrician has assured us it wasn't croup, that it was probably just the way her allergies were manafesting themselves. So, hopefully, we will get her 110% again. She's so cute!

That's all I've got for now!

~Blessings~

Maddy and Katy uptdate

2009-11-02T09:31:00.002-06:00

I know, I'm a bad blogger! Life has been extremely wonderful but very busy!! We moved into our new house, which we just LOVE, but we are still not unpacked! We all started school, which is going well, and we are loving life and feeling very blessed!!

Maddy had her 5 year old appointment today. She weighed in at 43 lbs and is growing great! She is on track to be about 135 lbs and 5'6" or 5'7" as a grown 'woman'!!! So she is going to be super tall and thin! Can we say Super Model?!?! She got two shots and a finger prick and did it all by herself. She was very brave and I am so proud of her!! Not even a tear!! She goes back to the doctor in two years.

Katy also had her check-up today, her 4 month check-up. She is developing great!! Her motor skills are those of a 5-6 month old!! She's doing awesome! She's been given the clear to try fruits and veggies. But I'm not too anxious to start them. We've tried all juices and she HATES juice. She almost gags herself on it. So I'm a little apprehensive with fruits...she might like veggies. But she seems to not like sweets....and you know to think of it, when I was in my first 6 months of her pregnancy, I couldn't eat too many sweets. She got two shots and did awesome!

Izzy also got two shots and did awesome! Just a couple of tears! I'm so proud of my babies!!

Well that's it! We are doing great!!

~Blessings~

Bad Blogger hehe!

2009-08-14T10:12:00.002-05:00

I know I've been a bad blogger here lately!! Life is GREAT! The girls are doing so good!!

Maddy started PK-4 at Middle TN Christian School and she LOVES it!! She goes Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. And she has two amazing teachers, and an amazing class! This is her first full week and she's learned so much already! They do chapel each morning, and are learning lots about math and science and letters!! I'm so proud of my smarty pants!

Izzy's Mothers-Day-Out starts the beginning of September and she is SO ready! She has the same 2 year old teachers that Maddy did, so I'm beyond THRILLED!! She is ready to go back! Every morning we drop Maddy off, she says, "I wanna go to school too mommy!" I can't tell you how proud it makes me that my girls love school so much!

Katy is getting SO big! We are out of size one diapers and out of newborn clothes completely! She's even fitting into a couple of 3-6 month outfits already....I wish she would slow down!!! She is rolling from her tummy to her back. Which makes Tummy Time quite difficult....because she never stays on her tummy!! And I swear she's trying to commando crawl!! Especially if you put something shiny or red in front of her. I can't believe how big she's gotten!!

Justin and I are wonderful. We close on our new house on Friday the 21st and we are so excited! We have really loved staying with my mom and dad, but we are ready to have our own place again!! We went this past weekend and bought a beautiful new leather living room set complete with a reclining leather sofa and reclining leather love seat, a leather ottoman and two beautiful end tables! We also got a new kitchen table and china cabinet! It's soooo gorgeous! School starts back at the end of the month. Justin has one class and I have three. Justin's going to graduate in December and we are all so proud of him!

I've been asked to teach 4 year olds this year! So I'm excited about that new journey! I'm busy trying to get my class room together and my new curriculum, etc. I only had 6 kids last year and this year I have 11!!!!! So many changes!! It's going to be great though! I am ready to get back in the swing of things! I've also just started seeing a chiropractor. My back has been bothering me a ton, especially since I had my wreck about 3 weeks ago. So I broke down and went and I'm glad I did! I have scoliosis. Basically I have about a 13 degree curve in upper part of my spine. Which means I have a very mild case, good news! But my neck is supposed to have between a 40-60 degree curve and it's only got a 10 degree! Dr. Stanlick said that is why I've been having so many headaches and my fingers go numb so much. And my curve in my back has pinched some nerves which is causing a chest pain every now and again. BUT he said he could fix me, yeah! And he said that my insurance will cover massage therapy as well, so I'm going to get me some good massages too!! I thought all of my issues were just due to stress and having 3 babies in 4 years, but I'm thrilled that I will one day feel much better!!

Well that is our update! I hope all of you are just as blessed!

~Blessings~

2009-07-29T16:10:00.002-05:00

Well Katy is 1 month old, Bizarre I know! But she's a happy healthy baby! Her next appointment is August 28th!

We closed on the house in Bell Buckle today! So until the 21st of August we are homeless, haha yeah!!

The car is still in the shop. It's going to be about $8,000 to fix it. Thank GOD for car insurance haha! We just have to pay our deductible! The girls all got new car seats, of course. But Maddy doesn't like hers. It's a booster, but it's just black. So I let her pick out some pretty blue fabric and I'm going to cover it for her.

We are all doing GREAT!! Just a quick update for ya!

~Blessings~

The Scariest Day of My Life

2009-07-20T15:55:00.002-05:00

Was today about 1:30 this afternoon.

Katy had her audiologist appointment and the girls and I were on our way to it. I had pulled up the directions on my Google Map Application on my phone. I looked down at my phone for a moment to see where my turn was and rear-ended the guy in front of me. He had to stop suddenly because the car in front of him stopped suddenly. The girls are fine, the guy I hit was fine, and I'm fine. I'm sore as all get out though and my air bag deployed. My car has some pretty funky damage to the front. But the guy I hit only had minor damage and he was ok. And I got a ticket for Following Improperly (which is a blessing because the cop could have sighted me for reckless driving, but since I have a clean record and I was so visably shaken, I think he had pitty on me, plus he fell in love with Maddy, those blue eyes I'm telling ya).

So we are all ok. But geeze, what was I doing looking down at my phone with all three of my babies in the car??? Thank God I wasn't speeding! We could have really been hurt, I could have really hurt them!! Gosh my nerves are shot, and Justin's nerves are shot (he was on a conference call and all I could do was send him a message saying we had been in a wreck). So we are home, no doctor visits, just mellow time!!

But please DON'T play with your phone while driving!!!!!!!!! I'm so thankful God was looking over my sweet babies today, and that we are all ok....gosh I'm so thankful!

~Blessings~

Post Partum Check-up

2009-07-13T14:15:00.002-05:00

Marilyn and Jeanne came to check on Katy and I. We are doing splendidly!! Katy is as healthy as a horse, or course! And I'm doing ok. My blood pressure was a little low 100/70. And I've been having some issues with it. But Jeanne knows that I'm aware of it being low and that I'm taking care of myself. So we are confident that it'll work itself out!! I just have to remember that breastfeeding takes a lot out of me so I have to make sure I'm snacking and taking in plenty of fluids and resting, resting, resting!!!!!

Marilyn wanted a copy of my blog that I wrote about Katheryn's birth! I thought that was so cool!! Having a double VBAC doesn't happen every day! Even though it should!!

And I'm pleased to announce that we have found a house! We are under contract and close on the 21st of August! I'm so flippin' excited I just can't stand it!! It's perfect, move in ready, no paint or anything! Perfect neighborhood, perfect price! And the home is GORGEOUS!!!! Sigh...so excited!!!!!! I'll post pictures soon, I'm taking the girls to see it on Thursday!!

God is SO GOOD!!!

~Blessings~

Katy's Follow Up Check-Up

2009-07-09T09:05:00.003-05:00

Well Katy is growing GREAT! Today, at 10 days old she weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs 1 oz (She was 8lbs 6oz at birth)!! Yes, mama is making some good milk haha!! We've had the easiest time breast feeding. I never had such an easy time before, so it's been such a great experience!! I'm so thankful!!

BUT, Katy's left ear still didn't pass the hearing test. The right ear did again, but the left ear still failed. So, we've been referred to the audiologist. They'll call me and tell me when to come in for that appointment. Dr. Humphrey isn't worried though. He thinks there might just be some extra wax and/or some fluid from birth still in her ear. She responds really well to noise. She'll turn her head and look at Maddy and Izzy. And she'll follow mine and Justin's voices. SO, although we don't think there is a problem, we are still a little worried and can't wait for this appointment to be over with!!

Well my chunky monkey needs to eat again!! Will update soon!!

Maddy and Katy

Izzy and Katy

~Blessings~

Katy's First Peditrician Visit

2009-07-02T20:39:00.002-05:00

Katy had her first appointment today! At birth she was 8lbs 6oz and today she was 8lbs 5.4oz. She was 20 1/2 inches long at birth and today she was 21 3/4 inches long. Her head circumference was 13 1/2 inches at birth and today it was 13 3/4 inches!! So she's already growing!! And she hasn't lost hardly any weight!!

She got her Hepatitis B shot and they did the newborn screening (foot prick). She also had her hearing test done. She passed her right ear, but she kept failing her left ear. It's probably just because that ear had wax in it or some excess fluid from birth. So we are so not concerned about her hearing. But we will go back on Thursday to recheck it. If it still fails then we'll be referred to the ear doctor for a hearing test. Dr. Humphrey said it's very common and that is why we are not concerned.

She looked very healthy overall. But boy, she hated to be messed with!! Justin and I both think she cried more today than she did at birth haha!!

We are so very proud of our healthy baby girls!! We are so blessed and so thankful!!

~Blessings~

The Birth of Katheryn Anne Coker

2009-06-30T20:25:00.004-05:00

I have to start this post with the birth of my oldest, Madelyn.

After having an uneventful pregnancy, my OBGYN wanted to induce at what I thought was 2 weeks overdue. I thought due date was September 28, 2004, but they had changed it at my last ultrasound to October 5, 2004 without informing me of the change. We went in for an induction October 8, 2004. I was 1 c.m. dialated when they broke my water, started pitocin and instructed me to get an epidural. At barely 20, I agreed to all they told me. I laid on my back, in bed for 12 hours and only dialated to 2 c.m. When it was time for my OBGYN to go home (5:00 p.m.) she told me that I could labor all night and get a c-section in the morning, or I could go ahead and get the c-section then. She said that Maddy was just too big for me, and I was just one of those women. We consented and Maddy was born on my moms birthday! She was only 7 lbs 9 oz. She had a lot of gas issues, issues with colic, etc. But I thought it was just how a baby was supposed to be.

Isabella's birth was supposed to be much different. After having Maddy I was determined to have a VBAC (vaginal birth after Cesarean). I switched OBGYN's to one that was supposed to be VBAC friendly and began the pregnancy process. Izzy's pregnancy was also very uneventful until I hit 36 weeks. We had an ultrasound done and I was informed that something wasn't right. At 36 weeks she was already measuring, according to the ultrasound, very large and they were concerned. They wanted to do a c-section the day I turned 37 weeks. They had us scared to death and we consented. Izzy was born at just 7 lbs 1 oz. Two days later my OBGYN left for vacation. We were devastated. Izzy had a lot of trouble nursing, she had colic and had acid reflux from being born too early. She had a rough rough start.

Now enter Katheryn. The day we had Izzy, Justin and I knew it just wasn't right. So when we found out Katy was on her way, we did a lot of research, we prayed a lot and we decided to find a midwife and have a homebirth. After lots more research, we found Marilyn Green and Jeanne Stoltzfuz. I had an amazing pregnancy again, until about 30 weeks when I put myself into early labor trying to get our house ready to sell. Then we got up to our due date, June 4th, and we passed our due date....and another week passed....I was still healthy and so was Katy, so we kept going! Marilyn and Jeanne both agreed that I might just carry longer than the "normal" 40 weeks and that as long as Katy and I were fine, there was no need for intervention. We had an ultrasound done and Katy was measuring behind our due date. Not because anything was wrong, but because we probably conceived her later than we thought. So, we sort of "moved" our due date from June 4th to June 13th. Then another week passed and in order for my midwives to stay in good standing with their board I needed to go see an OBGYN. He was terribly uncooperative and unsupportive of what we were trying to achieve. He wanted to tie me down and do a c-section right then! Even though it wasn't medically necessary! We had another ultrasound and Katy, once again, looked perfect!! Justin, Jeanne, Marilyn and I all agreed that since Katy was perfect and I was perfect that we would go one more week. I will have to say that this entire pregnancy I was never against another c-section, as long as it was medically necessary. Justin and I understood that it might have just been our path, but we had left this pregnancy and birth up to God and were letting him take the lead. So, another week almost passes and we discuss how if she doesn't come by Monday, June 29th, that I'll have to go to Vanderbilt and fight my way to a trial of labor. My midwives were tremendously supportive, but their hands were tied because I was so past due (42-43 weeks).

On Thursday, June 25th I had contractions all afternoon. They were about 5 minutes apart and were not painful. A lot of pressure but not painful. By Thursday evening they were gone. Friday morning I woke up with contractions that faded. Marilyn came by to check on me. I had been 3 c.m. dialated for a couple of weeks without change. And sure enough, I was still at a 3, but was having lots of show, which meant some progress. And again on Saturday and Sunday I woke up with contractions that faded. Actually, Sunday I had a contraction wake me up from a dead sleep and I started having more show. But of course they faded. Justin and I, by this point, were tired and extremely frustrated. We decided to spend the day looking at houses and making preparations to head to Vanderbilt the following day. About 2 p.m. I started having contractions. But, I figured they would pitter off. By 3 p.m. Justin asked how many I had that hour and I guessed about 5. So, we decided to start timing them. They were about 10 minutes apart. By 3:45 they were about 5 minutes apart and I sent Jeanne a message. By 4:00 they were 3 minutes apart. I called mom (she had the girls at home) and Marilyn. Justin and I decided to try walking the mall to keep them going. They were not painful, just pressure. But I was only able to make it one lap around the mall before I decided to head home. Justin and I got home about 5:00 and Marilyn said she would come by about 6:30. She checked me and I was still about 3 c.m. dialated, having lots of show and contracting about every 3 minutes. But this time, I was a lot more thinned out and she decided to go run some errands and come back around 8:30 to check on me again. By 8:30 I was 4 c.m. and completely thinned. So she called Jeanne to head on up! Justin and I were still in denial. We still had the contraction master up on the computer timing contractions!!! We were exhausted, truly exhausted and tried to lay down for a bit. This is when I loose all track of time. I had already been in the tub for hours. Marilyn checked me and I was at a 6, we were so encouraged!! So we layed down and maybe 10 minutes later I was woken from my cat nap by a monster of a contraction. But that nap was much needed!! I was hitting transition. I knew that this was going to be hard. But I kept telling myself that I wasn't in pain, that it was just pressure and baby making her way out. That I was fine and so was she!! So we worked through transition in about an hour and a half. I became very vocal. But it helped keep my mind off of "pain". Finally, during one contraction Jeanne said I think you're ready to push!! She could tell just by my vocalization that I was ready!! And I was, my contractions immediately changed once I started pushing. I got a large break in between each one, and the contractions became much different. I lost a lot of control during my pushing phase. I was not prepared for it at all. It scared me actually, because I was in pain and didn't want to push through, but my body took over and I pushed anyway. So that scared me and I pushed for a good hour and a half before she was born. It was a good hour of pushing before I surrendered to my body. And she was out in about 30 minutes after that!! My water didn't break until right before she was born. Because I had already had two c-sections, Marilyn and Jeanne were extra vigilant about checking her heart tones, and she always sounded perfect!! She tolerated labor like a champ!!

I still can't believe we did it! I remember looking at her right after she came out and thinking holy cow!! That beautiful being just came out of my vagina!! Her cord was short so she couldn't be plopped on my chest right away. So she sat between my legs and we all ooohed and ahhed over her until her cord stopped pulsing. Justin got to actually cut her cord!! And then I got her!! She was perfectly amazing and alert, wow was she ever so alert!! And surprise surprise, No cone head!! We all just knew she would be because she had been engaged for weeks!! But nope, she's got such a perfectly shaped head!! And get this no tears!!! NONE!!!!

Katheryn was born at 6:35 a.m. on June 29th. She was 8 lbs 6 oz, 20 1/2 inches long with a 13 1/2 inch head! So the woman that couldn't have a 7 lb 9 oz baby vaginally because she was "too big" pushed out an 8 lb 6 oz baby, with a 13 1/2 inch head COMPLETELY DRUG FREE!!!! Haha!! I love it!!

She's such a good good baby!! She just fuses if she wants to eat!! She nurses so well, she's so alert and attentive and she will just stare into your eyes like she's looking deep into your soul!! She's got lots more hair than Maddy or Izzy did. We are so in love!!

And I feel amazing!! Being at home was great....sleeping in my own bed, eating my own food, and just...being mommy has been beyond awesome. I'm sore today (and so is poor Justin, I had him in a head lock the entire time I pushed) and I'm tired. But gosh, it's a million times better than after either surgery. I can actually walk with my baby and sit up and turn over in bed. And I'm not taking ANY pain killers!!

The only thing is that my blood pressure was low today when Jeanne came by. After delivery I lost more blood than they like to see. So, I was ordered to add more red meat into my diet to increase my iron level. But I feel amazing, I was shocked it was 100/55 today!!!!

We have to thank everyone that stuck by us during this process. We had a lot of stress put on us by friends and family who didn't believe in us. Who didn't trust in God's process like we did. We had a lot of people give up on us. Those that were supposed to support us the most were some of the first to tell us to go into the hospital. But we are so thankful for all of the support we did receive, the love and care and prayers that came our way through this journey!! It was testing and trying, but God had an amazing plan for us, and we give him all the Glory!!!

~Blessings~

Labor Update

2009-06-28T18:39:00.004-05:00

1:30 update. Baby's heart rate is still perfect. She's tolerating labor extremely well (go her!) Although she's making me lay on my back in order for us to hear her (which is uncomfortable), little stinker pot!! My blood pressure has been wonderful as well. Marilyn just checked me and I'm thinned even more and am at a 6 c.m. dialated. So, I guess there isn't any going back!!

Labor has slowed slightly. But, I know transition is coming so my body is probably trying to give me a little break. So far contractions have been intense, but tolerable. I've been reminding myself during them that this isn't pain that it's just pressure, just pressure. And it's been getting me through. Plus, dancing with hubby during them has been amazing...better than the tub actually.

I'm so excited! I never got past 2 c.m. dialated with Maddy and now I'm a 6!! My body isn't broken, wahoo!!!
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8:30 update. Baby still sounds amazing. I'm almost 4 c.m. dialated and more thinned. Marilyn thinks that most likely, this is it!!! She went to call Jeanne and tell her to head on up here. Justin went to go draw me a warm bath. Contractions are 2-3 minutes apart, lasting still about a minute. They are getting pretty intense. Shew. So I'm going to go soak and hope it takes the edge off. Will update later.
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Hubby and I decided to go look at more homes today. There were a couple of Open Houses we wanted to check out and several we wanted to just look at and see the neighborhood, etc. About 2 I started having contractions, but, I've been having contractions for days so I didn't think anything of it. They weren't painful, just pressure. By 3:15 Justin asked how many I had had within the hour...I told him I thought around 5, so we decided to time them. They were 10 minutes apart. By 4 they were 4 minutes apart lasting a minute. By 4:30 I was on the phone with Jeanne and Marilyn. Hubby and I tried to go to the mall and walk a bit, but I made it one lap. They were 3 minutes apart. Marilyn told me to call her when I got home. Which was about 5:15.

By 6:30 Marilyn came by to check on us. Baby sounded GREAT!! I'm still 3 c.m. dialated but she was able to reach my cervix a lot easier than she was able to on Friday. And I've thinned more. I'm also having lots of "show" (gross haha). So, she told me to eat and rest (I've secluded myself in my bedroom). She went to eat dinner, get gas and hang for an hour then she'll come check on me. Jeanne was in Chattanooga when I spoke to her around 4:30, so she's on her way back now.

We have made progress!! And these by far are the most uncomfortable contractions I've had. And they've stayed with me the longest. (The other times I've been contracting they've only lasted an hour or two....I'm on hour 4) I'm still in denial that it's real labor, but these are different. I've had three while writing this and have had to stop during each one and focus, focus, focus!!

I'll update more when Marilyn comes back and checks on me!!

~Blessings~

A.M. update June 27

2009-06-27T07:39:00.002-05:00

Labor has stalled and I'm exhausted. I had random contractions all day yesterday but none were close to timeable. And I've stopped loosing my mucus plug, so no more funky discharge or anything. My back is bothering me today and I'm exhausted. Just plain exhausted. I slept normally last night but I feel like I didn't sleep a wink. So I hope I can take a nap today.

Yesterday mom took the girls out for hours and I took a bath and rested and read. But nothing. Justin and I went riding and walking around last night and nothing. I can't do much to help labor move along because we don't want to bring it on too hard or too strong. So, we are really relying on our faith and God to get us through this crazy time!!

Baby has been VERY active. So I know she's tolerating it all well. I'm just so anxious to meet her. My Monday deadline is creeping up fast!!

~Blessings~

A.M. update June 26

2009-06-26T10:17:00.001-05:00

Midwife just left. I am still about 3 cm dialated. I'm having lots of show and my blood pressure is up slightly. Marilyn said that the blood pressure goes up a little when your in labor. So good signs! She said babies come at night typically, so we are praying I start contracting again soon and she comes at night.

I haven't had a contraction since about 6 a.m.

Marilyn told me to relax as much as possible, and go about my normal routine. We are doing SOMETHING!!

Hubby home now...praying I can just be left alone. Surely between mom and hubby my kids will be occupied!! The stress of them being....themselves...is really getting to me.

Oh, and Marilyn told me I had until Monday to have her or we would have to do something. Either let the Dr. we saw last week do a repeat c-section or go to Vanderbilt and fight with them to give me a trial of labor (which they will, since baby is fine and I'm fine, it'll just be a fight the whole way). Sigh. Praying this is it!!

Labor Has Begun

2009-06-26T05:34:00.002-05:00

Yesterday (June 25) morning I woke up nauseated and exhausted. By 9 a.m. I had the girls in their room playing and I dozed in and out on their bed. Around noon, I was laying on the couch and had some cramping, then a contraction. So THAT's what they feel like! Ok...then a couple of minutes later I had another one. I had to get up. I told mom that I needed to go sit on my ball that my back was hurting. I came to my room to get some peace and started timing them. They were about 5-6 minutes apart lasting 30 seconds each. Not painful, just a lot of pressure with each one. I let Justin and Jeanne know.

Fast forward to 4 and they are now 3-4 minutes apart lasting 1 minute. Justin and I go walking at Wal-Mart, Lowes and Target and the contractions space out. Get back home and they pick back up. Justin and I eat dinner and go lay down to rest. We are both pretty exhausted. We both ended up getting a great nights rest!! I had some contractions last night that woke me up, but all in all I feel great!!

So now, I'm waiting on them to come back again! And I'm so thankful God gave us such a great nights rest! We needed it!! So now, bring on the labor!!

I'm not updating the blog much, but I am updating facebook & twitter so you can follow me there:
www.facebook.com/lesliecoker
www.twitter.com/leslie_coker

~Blessings~

Biophysical Profile & OB Visit

2009-06-23T13:09:00.003-05:00

Boooooo for this OB!! What a day that tested my strength and faith, shew!!

SO, I'm past due, very past due. Since my original due date puts me past the 42 week mark, I had to go see an OB to get a second opinion in order for my midwives to stay compliant with their board. So we go, I fill out all of my paperwork. Blood pressure was 118/65, no temp, up a pound from last week, etc. Get into the room, the doctor comes in and reads my chart, introduces himself and then immediately says we have to get a biophysical profile (BPP) immediately and schedule a c-section ASAP. He didn't ask me about my previous c-sections, he didn't examine me, listen to baby's heart rate, didn't touch me other than to shake my hand! I was by myself because the nurse said he wanted to talk to me first and then bring Justin and Jeanne (one of my midwives) back. So I was shocked. But I put on my game face and said that we were not ready to schedule a c-section and we really just came out of necessity and wanting to check on Katy. He gets a very stern "doctor" look/voice and proceeds to try and scare me by LYING about statistics, etc!!!! I calmly told him that we have done our research, extensively, that we respectfully decline his request to schedule but I would take him up on the offer of the BPP to check on Katy. He starts to get a little huffy/puffy because I rejected him :) and I just requested that the nurse bring Justin and Jeanne in. Once they came in I didn't let the Dr. speak, I told Justin and Jeanne that the Dr. wanted to schedule a c-section, but I declined and we were going to go to the hospital for a BPP. When we went to leave for the hospital, the Dr. shakes Jeanne's hand and says, "c-section immediately!". Jeanne is wonderful, she just smiled and said, "Thanks for seeing us!"

So they scheduled the BPP as "stat" status, so we could get in quickly. We still sat in the hospital for an hour. The BPP took, oh 20 minutes. Then we had to wait until the radiologist read the results. Aggravating! So Jeanne went and ran errands and Justin and I went to do some work at his office. The Dr.'s office calls about an hour and a half later to tell me the results were ready and wanted to know if we had made a decision.....WHAT?!?! I told the nurse that we hadn't, that we were waiting on the results, she needed to fax me a copy, and that we would all talk (Me, Justin, Jeanne and Marilyn) and I would get back with her. She made sure I knew that the Dr. still STRONGLY recommended I schedule a c-section ASAP. So, we get the fax:

Cervix length: 3.4 c.m. (didn't get that measured last week)
Baby's Heart rate: 142 (she's always been 130s-140s)
Fluid Level: 10 (it was 10.6 last week)
Active movements shown, breathing present, baby normal size and acted normally (same as last week)
Placenta anterior and not too mature (same as last week)
Baby head down (same as last week)
Baby's score 8/8 (same as last week)

SOOOO this OB wanted to take my perfectly healthy baby out of her perfectly healthy incubator JUST because I'm overdue and I've had c-sections before!! Makes NO sense!!!! She's PERFECTLY fine!!!!

After we got the results we called Jeanne and Marilyn, and we decided that none of us was comfortable having a c-section at this point. Baby is fine and I am fine. And we've done everything we needed to do to be "compliant" with the state's midwifery rules. So we are just going to hang out....

I do have to say that I understand that OBs are typically scared of a double VBAC like me. I understand that their malpractice insurance doesn't like patience like me and I'm sure I scared him to death!! I just didn't want to have to defend our decision....AGAIN....but I don't blame the OB for being concerned. It's what he was taught and he doesn't know any better. (Not saying I know better than an OB, just in this case, he obviously isn't properly informed on all of the up to date VBAC statistics, reports, etc.)

So, yah!! Baby Katy is great and so am I!! I'm so thankful today is over with!! I'm exhausted! And I'm so thankful to have my midwife team. They are amazing! Even Justin was like, wow that was night and day (midwife vs this OB). I'm so thankful for my husband being my rock. And I'm so very very thankful that Katy is doing so well!!! She just needs more time, and by golly, I'm going to give her every moment she needs!!!

~Blessings~

Midwife Appointment ~House Update~

2009-06-22T12:48:00.003-05:00

Jeanne came by to see me today. Have I mentioned how much I love midwife appointments?

Blood Pressure was 120/65, perfect. Baby's heart rate was still in the 130's and showed great fluctuation, perfect. AND she's dropped another c.m.!!! My fundul height is 37 c.m. now, and it's been 38 c.m. for the past two weeks!! Wahoo!! I am swollen some today, but Jeanne wasn't concerned because I haven't been swollen at all this entire pregnancy. So she chalked it up to it being so darn hot and that I'm retaining water because of the heat. My blood pressure is still perfect, so we are not concerned with Pre-Eclampsia at all.

So, the bad news. My original due date was June 4th. So that puts me at 42+ weeks pregnant. Now, we went last Tuesday and had an ultrasound done. Roy (the ultrasound tech) thinks that my due date was off, and that she should have come around June 13th. That still puts me at 9 days past due. So, in order for my midwives to stay compliant with their "board" I have to go see one of their Dr. back-ups tomorrow. *Sigh* At 42+ weeks I'm having my first OB appointment. My husband, and both of my midwives are going with me, so that's good. And we are just going for a consultation to make sure all is well. He'll check my blood pressure, Katy's heart rate, etc. etc. And he'll do an internal check for dialation/effacement (which is why we didn't do a check today). And he might order another ultrasound since it's been a week since i've had a Biophysical Profile done, and maybe a Non-Stress Test to see if I am contracting, etc. So, a basic work-up! The great thing is that he and his entire staff are VERY VBAC/Home birth friendly, so there isn't going to be a guilt trip about our home birth choice, etc.

SO, if he gives us the ok, then we are ok. We will keep going on and keep trucking!! But if something is a miss (the placenta is getting too mature or if my fluid levels look low or if baby looks "stressed") then we will all be there to talk about my options. Since I'm a double VBAC, doing an artifical induction isn't an option for us (using Pitocin) because it'll cause too much stress on my uterus/baby. Which I'm against anyway, I DON'T want an artifical induction. And they might push for a repeat c-section, which I'm also dead set against (unless baby is not doing well of course).

So we will know more tomorrow. It is very frustrating and somewhat annoying that we are having to do this. BUT it's important to know that Katy is doing well. So, we are going with it! I'm SO releaved that Jeanne and Marilyn are going too!!! That way they can answer all of the questions, etc!! And with hubby, they'll be my rocks!!

So pray for us, say lots of prayers that Katy is well and that this OB gives us the ok!! My late grandmother's (Mom's mom) birthday is on Wednesday (June 24th) so we are praying Katy will come then. It'll at least give this delay a purpose....a reason....and how amazingly cool would that be?!?!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Ok, on another note! We've got a contract on our home!! We should close at the end of July!! I'm so excited to have that off of our shoulders!! And we are going to look at two homes tonight. We are really hopeful about one. It looks perfect online....so we'll see!!! Wahoo for new homes!! How fun!!

~Blessings~

Thanking God for Patience

2009-06-21T20:31:00.002-05:00

I have been asking GOD for more patience for a while now. I told him that I knew that it would be a long, hard lesson. But, I knew it was a lesson I needed, and I was ready. I just realized today that I'm getting that lesson!!

I'm learning a lot by living with my parents again, selling my house, buying a new house, and waiting on a very overdue baby. I really feel like I've finally learned to let things go to God, and to not "sweat the small stuff" anymore! I'm so thankful for that. I've always had a hard time letting God have control of my life fully....I want to be in control, I want to do things MY way, you get the drift. But, I have finally learned to give it up!

Life isn't about me, it just isn't. It's about what God wants for me and my family. It doesn't matter what I want or what I think, etc. It's all about God's plan. And I'm so appreciative of that!!

The biggest challenge has been waiting on Katy. EVERYONE has their opinion on when she should come, what we should be doing to get her here, etc. But they just don't understand that, quite frankly, we don't care what they think. We know God has picked the perfect birthday for her and we are waiting on her. I get rude comments ALL the time from friends AND family about Katy. It's very discouraging to think that the people closest to me wouldn't be supportive. But I guess it's "human nature" to judge. Haha, sometimes I think if one more person says something about this baby I'm going to just punch them!! But I wouldn't ever...it's just tacky. Like I'm not feeling what they are saying.....like they are helping me or making me feel better by saying things about her being overdue. It's just tacky and rude of them.....but I know they don't realize it. Most people don't go overdue now because Dr.'s induce. And since we are homebirthing, it's throwing people off!! YES you can have a baby when your baby needs to come, not when your Dr. needs your baby to come.....I know what a NOVEL idea :) haha!!

See, here is my lesson. I'm so thankful, truly thankful, that God has control of my life, that I am walking with him, and doing all I can to be who he wants me to be. Gosh, it's hard!! It's the hardest thing I've ever done. But I love it!!

Well, thanks for listening to me vent/be joyful!!

~Blessings~

Praise GOD!!!

2009-06-16T20:33:00.002-05:00

Today has been just full of blessings!!!

First, Maddy had her VGUC test done. Basically it's a test to check to see if her pee was refluxing to her kidneys or not. Well, thank the Lord, her's isn't!! So, she's perfectly healthy!! She even did well for the test. I couldn't go because I'm still pregnant, and would have been exposed to the x-ray, but my husband and my mom went with her. She did ok, she cried and was scared, but she trusted that all was going to be ok, and she got ice cream afterwards, so all is good!!!

Second, I think we've found the house we want haha! It's just perfect! So once we sell our house, maybe we can buy it!!

And last, but not least, we went and had an ultrasound to check on baby Katy and I have some GREAT news! So, by my last period I should have been due June 4th. When we went for our ultrasound at 20 weeks, Katy was measuring 19 weeks, but we didn't change her due date. Today, Katy was measuring 40 weeks 3 days, not 41 weeks 5 days. So it looks like we conceived little Katy a little later in my cycle than we thought. Which is GREAT news! That means I'm just around 3 days over due...not 12!!!!! Ya'll might think I'm weird to be glad that my due date was a week off, but I am! It means we are no where near our "end" point!!

He did a full Biophysical Profile on her and gave her a score of 8, which is great! Her fluid level measured 10.7 c.m. and they don't worry until it gets to 5 c.m. or less. And he checked her heart, kidneys, bladder, etc. etc. and all looks perfect! She was "breathing" as well and in a good position. Also, he guessed she is measuring right at 7 lbs 6 oz. Perfect!! So, since we aren't as far past as we thought, he's guessing I'll have her within the next 5 days! Cool!

I'm such a happy mama!! Not only is my big baby perfectly healthy, but so is my littlest!! What a day of blessings and joy!!!

~Blessings~

Midwife Appointment Today

2009-06-15T15:24:00.003-05:00

So, I have a midwife team. And they decided they did want to see me today after all and not wait until after the ultrasound to have an appointment. So, Jeanne came on up and we had an appointment! My blood pressure was 110/70, perfect. I've just put on a pound, wahoo! And my fundul height is still 38 c.m. (which it has been for the past two weeks). Which means baby is still fully engaged, and there isn't any wiggle room around her head. Wahoo! I asked Jeanne if she thought baby was in a good position. I've been thinking maybe she was a little crooked, or "off", maybe that's why she hasn't come yet. But Jeanne said that she was in a GREAT position, not Sunny Side up, not "off", she was great! Wahoo! Also, I had her do my first internal check. I'm already 3 c.m. dialated and fully thinned out!!!!!!!! YEAH!!!!! When I labored with Maddy, I never got past 2 c.m. dialated, so I've already made more progress, and I'm not even in labor yet!! That makes me feel soooo much better! My body isn't broken!! Whoop Whoop!!

We also had a LLLOOOONNNGGG talk about the what ifs. And they are not going to let the 42 week mark be an end point for us. Baby WILL come out, so we are just going to let her be! I feel so much better, because I was getting really worried that we were getting to our end point!!! I am still going to have an ultrasound done this week (just waiting on the guy to call me back to schedule) and we are going to check on her placenta, her size, and her fluids!

We also talked about ways to "help" baby move on out! I have been given way too much advice on ways to "self-induce". But I haven't tried anything more than just walking, oh and eating Eggplant Parmigiana (which didn't do anything but was very yummie)!! And I'm so glad I haven't wasted my time. Jeanne said that since I have had c-sections before we don't want to add any stress to my scar. And many of the self-induction techniques, such as Castor Oil, would probably put me into labor now, but it would also put too much stress on my uterus. And it would put me into labor too hard, too fast. It's best if we let my body naturally go into labor, gently, and at it's own pace. It knows best, baby knows best, GOD knows best. And we need to leave it that way. Jeanne did say the best way to "help" baby come, is to RELAX!!! So I'm going to work on that!!

So, what a great appointment! What a huge weight off of my shoulders. I do feel so much more peace now!! Isn't GOD soooooooo good?

~Blessings~

Update

2009-06-15T08:52:00.002-05:00

We are still here, still pregnant and still doing great!!

I'm going to go in for an ultrasound this week to check on Katy's growth, fluid levels, placenta, etc. And if all is well then we'll just continue on. If something is a little off then Marilyn will want to start talking about natural induction techniques. If something is really off, then I'm sure we'll have to be referred to Centennial for a medical induction with Marilyn's OB back up. So pray this little girl comes out soon!! We want her to be safe and healthy!!

The girls were in a fashion show on Saturday and they both did SOOO good!! Maddy of course was Mrs. Diva! Love it! And the Dance Recital was Sunday and OMG my girls are stars!!! Of course Maddy was spot on with her dances. She did just beautifully!!! And other kids were watching her so they could keep up with the right steps!! Oh and her ballet, was really beautiful!! This year she has really learned true ballet steps, and she did just an amazing job!! Izzy, she did the dances, but she was SO funny!! She sort of just did her own thing, that was sort of part of the dance!! She loved it, and laughed and clapped and had a GREAT time!!! She was one of the youngest in her class, so I'm so proud she wasn't scared and she had fun!!

I promise to post pictures soon!!

~Blessings~

Midwife Appointment

2009-06-09T13:58:00.002-05:00

Not too much to report! We are 5 days overdue. Katy's heart rate is still in the 130's and showed great fluctuation! My blood pressure was 110/70, which is perfect. I just noticed some swelling today, when I put on my rings, but it's not anything major at all. Marilyn thinks it's because of the heat. I've put on 2 lbs in a week...oops! But total weight gain is 44 lbs. I'm fine with that, a little bit more than I wanted, but hey, I'll deal with my weight later!! My fundul height was 38 cm, same as last week. So baby has still "dropped". Also, there was zero wiggle room around her head, so she is fully engaged, low and ready!

We set up an appointment for Monday. Next week I'll need to go to see Roy, the ultrasound technician our midwives use, to check on fluid levels, etc. Just to make sure. Marilyn said in all of her years being a midwife (35+) she's had only two women go past 42 weeks. And one went one day past and one went two days past. She also said that most women have their babies this week (the week they are past due). So, that gives me hope!!

So how am I? I'm doing ok. I'm sleeping just about 45 minutes at a time at night because my back hurts so bad. It's my lower back...so there isn't anything I can do about it. But I'm exhausted because of the lack of sleep...which causes me to be crabby and not so tolerant of unwanted comments, suggestions, etc. And not a happy/tolerant mommy. My hips also ache because of her being so low. But I would much rather her do her thing now....because the more we progress now, the less we have to do during labor :) And I can't walk or be on my feet for very long. I've been trying to exercise, to walk the mall, etc, but I just can't do much because it hurts so badly.

But in all honesty, I'm doing perfectly fine!! I'm just about 41 weeks pregnant, and my aches and pains are nothing, we are so very blessed!! We have fully given this birth over to God. And he has already determined the perfect birthday for her, and so we are waiting!! I know I won't be pregnant forever!!! And I know that every moment she spends in the womb is a moment she needed to be in there. This isn't about me, or my family, or how uncomfortable I am, or how anxious everyone is to meet her. This is about her, her safety, her health, her well being. And so we wait!!

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I'm planning on updating my blog and facebook and twitter throughtout labor as I can. I want to document as much as I can while it's happening, so I can remember this amazing moment!!!!!

~Blessings~

Awesome News!!

2009-06-05T06:49:00.002-05:00

Well we are officially overdue. Ha, I love due dates!! Just kidding! But I didn't expect Katy to come this week. But it's getting hard not having her. There is a mommy that was using the same midwives as I am, who was due today actually, who had her baby two days ago!! And there have been so many mommies on my babycenter birth board who have had their babies, I can't even get on there anymore!! I know she'll come, and I'm not doing anything to rush her! But I REALLY want her to be here! I can't wait to hold her and see what she looks like, to smell her and hear her little coo's!!! Ugh, I'll be pregnant for another week and a half, watch!!! Haha!

Well, our house has been on the market for a little over a week now and we had 3 showings yesterday (two of them by the same people) and one offer made! And it was a good, legitimate offer!!! So we countered, and are waiting to hear what they think!! I'm thrilled! They want to close by the end of June! The sooner we get out of this house, the sooner we can purchase our next house!! We found one we love! I just don't know if we can honestly afford it or not....we will see!!!!

Here lately we've had lots of little bumps in the road, lots of challenges and frustrations. And I'm amazed at how easily we've been able to turn it all over to God. That's one of my biggest struggles with my walk with faith....letting God handle things. And I've really been tested on this issue this week. And it's working nicely!! God never promised the road would be easy, but he did promise that you would never walk it alone. And I've felt that this week!!

Please continue to say prayers for baby Katy. Our next appointment is on Tuesday, but hopefully I won't keep it :) Please pray for our house, and for all of us! Thanks!!!

~Blessings~

Midwife Appointment/ House on Market

2009-06-01T10:57:00.004-05:00

Had a midwife appointment today. We've got 3 days until our "due date".

My blood pressure was 100/60. Low for me, but still good. I've been having a hard time staying hydrated here lately, so we think that has a lot to do with my lower blood pressure. I still have good pee. Katy's heart rate was still in the 130s, but once again showed great fluctuation! So she's developed perfectly! My fundul height has been dead on (I was 32 weeks and my tummy measured 32). But today, I'm 39 weeks and my tummy measured 48. So that means baby has REALLY dropped. She felt her head, and confirmed how low she is. I told her my lower back has been bothering me and my hips ache, and just about every movement she makes is painful for me. She said that is normal for this "stage of the game". Which I figured. Katy's developed sleep/wake patterns now. So, her activity level has slowed, but she has definite periods of sleep and awake. I opted out of being checked. I DO really want to know if any progress is being made (dialation, etc). But I don't want to know I'm at a 4cm dialated, and get my hopes up, and then not go into labor for another 2 weeks!! So, I chose just not to know. Knowing it doesn't mean anything, so I'm choosing to just remain in the dark! So we are doing great, and we are healthy!! We are just waiting on her to decide when she wants her birthday to be!!

We finally got our house put on the market!! It's been listed since last Thursday! We are so excited and are praying it sells quickly!! Here is the MLS# 1085990. Go check out the house and do the virtual tour!! So fun!!

That's all for now! I plan on updating my twitter/facebook/blog with my labor as it comes! So stay tuned!!

~Blessings~

38 1/2 week check-up

2009-05-26T14:45:00.002-05:00

I saw Marilyn on Monday. It was a very quick appointment. Her best friends daughter was seriously injured in a car accident, so she saw me and another lady quickly on her way to be with her best friend. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

My blood pressure was perfect, so was baby's heat rate, and my pee is still "good" haha! She mentioned by the way baby was measuring and by the way she felt that it looked/felt like Katy had dropped EVEN LOWER into my pelvis. I told her my hips had been sore, like my bones. And she said she wasn't surprised!! So, that's a good thing! The more Katy does now, the less we have to do during labor!!

So I'm doing great! I feel really great today! Not too tired or grouchy! My only complaint is my back, but that isn't anything abnormal for me and pregnancy. So no real complaints!!

Since baby is due soon, I'm interested to know when you'll think baby will come, what she'll look like, etc. So vote on the poll to the right!!!

We are listing our house Wednesday evening! Please pray for us and our home, and that it sells sooner rather than later, and that we have the patience to wait it out!!

~Blessings~

Bad Blogger

2009-05-21T08:04:00.002-05:00

That would be me! Ha, I have been neglecting the good ole' blog!!

Life is going great!! Summer break has been so much fun! The girls and I have played and played. And I've really appreciated some "down time" before Katy comes!!

Izzy is talking so so well!! She is such a big girl! We've taken a break on potty training. She regressed when we moved in with my parents, and I think she will regress again after Katy comes, so I'm going to just wait until the baby arrives, and potty train over the summer. Less stress is always best!!

Maddy is also doing great!! She feels great, and is getting excited about the baby! Mom is taking the girls to North Carolina for the weekend, and all Maddy can talk about is getting to swim!! She's a fish, I swear!! She's so creative! She'll see a project done on Sprout and then go and do it, without any help or instruction from us! It's wonderful!!

I'm doing ok. I'm 38 weeks preggo. I'm feeling the typical aches and pains of this stage. And I'm not sleeping, so I'm kind of grouchy!! Ok, not kind of, I am grouchy!! But Katy is healthy and I want her to stay put as long as she can! Izzy was born at 37 weeks and had a lot of issues from being too early. So I want Katy to just come when she's good and ready!! NO A 36 WEEK BABY IS NOT FULL TERM!!! Can you tell I've gotten a lot of "those" comments here lately?!?! "Any Day Now" um no....I still have two weeks, but thanks for the pressure :) I'm sorry, see, I AM grouchy!!

Justin's been working his tooshie off. He's been finishing house stuff and tieing up loose ends at work so that he can take time off once Katy comes. He's been working long hours. But he's doing really well!! And we couldn't be prouder of him. He's the best hubby and daddy!!

The house is ready for the market! Justin is meeting with the stager tonight to arrange the house and then we just have to meet with the realtor next week, when our schedules can coordinate! I'm so excited to have this off of my shoulders. Once the home is officially listed, then it's done, it's just a waiting game!! Nothing else for us to really do!!

Well that is it on us. I have a midwife appointment tomorrow night, so I'll update on that soon!!

~Blessings~

Midwife Appointment

2009-05-12T16:36:00.002-05:00

Ya!! We are getting close!

Baby is still doing really well. Her heart rate was in the 130s-140s. Perfect. I've put on 30 some odd pounds, which is good. My blood pressure was 110/70, which is perfect. Baby is still head down and super low and engaged. So we are just hanging in there! Everything is just normal, typical, perfect!!

Hubby has to go out of town May 19, 20, and 21. So please pray she comes Thursday, after Sonshine School graduation, or she waits and comes after he comes back from being out of town. I'm a little scared he'll be gone for the birth!! But she's still a little early so I'm probably worrying about nothing!!

~Blessings~

We're Doing GREAT!!

2009-05-11T06:53:00.003-05:00

Well Maddy is doing great! The antibiotic she's on has really helped her feel better and recover quickly from her UTI. What a blessing! She's just about back to "Normal" Maddy again!!

Mother's Day was nice. We went to eat at Caraba's with the whole family. It was so yummie!! But my kids were so bad yesterday. I was so stressed and on the verge of tears (yes hormonal preggo/stress tears) all day. The only thing I wanted to get done this weekend was to get a pedicure, but I ran out of time. But that's ok. I got to take a long nap. And Saturday I got to hang out with my mom for some "girl" time. That was great! I know my kids are still too young to understand what Mother's Day is about. So we'll take this one as a wash and then move on! I'm so blessed to have them, even when they act like terrors all day!!

I'm feeling ok, preggo wise. I'm peeing every hour now. And I'm not sleeping more than 45 minutes at a time at night....partly because of the peeing....and partly because I'm so uncomfortable. My back has also started to ache a lot. Katy sits sitting so low, she's putting a lot of pressure on me, and pulling on my back a lot. I'm eating a lot now too. I'm starving all the time! But I know that's because Katy is putting on as much as an ounce a day! I promise I'm not trying to complain. Katy is safe and healthy, and so am I. And the longer she "cooks" the better!!! I'll deal with the typical aches! I can't believe I have 20 something days left! I'm so excited to meet her and smell her and hold her!! I wonder if she's going to look like Maddy and Izzy...and what color her eyes will be....what about her hair? Agh, so exciting!!

Well my back is killing me, and the girls aren't awake yet, so I'm going to go lay back down for a little bit!!

~Blessings~

One Hard Day

2009-05-04T15:50:00.003-05:00

Please keep Maddy, my 4 year old, in your thoughts and prayers. She had a UTI back in October, it was a pretty bad one. Then I took her to the Dr. today because she was showing signs of another one and sure enough, she had a really bad one again. Her white count in her pee was "Extremely High" as Dr. Humphrey put it. So, she's back on antibiotics.

When Maddy had her first bad one back in October, we went for an ultrasound and her Kidneys and bladder all checked out fine. And anatomically we know everything is "correct".

Dr. Humphrey is concerned. Maddy's only 4, and she's had two really bad UTIs in less than a year. He said the bad ones can be treated. He's afraid she's having small UTIs in between the big ones. Ones so small she doesn't notice a difference, and even an adult wouldn't notice anything. But when you have a UTI, it causes the pee to reflux back up to the Kidneys....which causes Kidney damage over time, and if left untreated, it can cause Renal Failure. And since we treat the big UTIs but we don't treat the little ones, those little ones become very dangerous because they are constantly exposing the Kidneys to "bad pee". Causing damage.

So we are treating this UTI with antibiotics and in 6 weeks (June 16th) we are going in for a test. In 6 weeks this UTI will be gone and the antibiotics will be out of her system. So her bladder, kidney function, etc will be at its "normal" level. They are going to take a small catheter, put it into the bladder, insert dye into the bladder, then watch her urinate under an X-Ray. This will show if the pee is refluxing up to the Kidneys during her "normal" state, or if it's doing like it should, and just going out.

IF Maddy is having problems with the urine refluxing we will have to see a urologist and she will have to take a medication daily to keep the urine from refluxing and causing kidney damage. Dr. Humphrey said that most children grow out of that problem, and so we'll go back and have the catheter test every year until her urine stops refluxing.

IF Maddy is not having problems with her urine refluxing I don't know what we are going to do. She doesn't take baths (she showers), she'll only have a sprite maybe once a month or so. She drinks a lot of water and juice and tea. So I don't know what could be causing them. I'm going to really have to do some research to see if there is anything in her lifestyle we can change to prevent them.

So please keep her in your prayers. I know she'll be ok. But the thought of my 4 year old having Kidney damage is just terrifying. I'm trying not to be scared, and to just pray about it and give Maddy's health to God and let him hold her in his hands, but I'm still so scared. I mean, you can't fix Kidney damage, ya know? And my gosh, she's only 4 years old!!

To top it off, 8 years ago today I lost a great friend. I still think of him often and I still really miss him. I often wonder what he would be doing now...getting married...having babies...graduating college...I don't know. He was only 17 when he died, so he had his whole life in front of him. So, it's been a very emotional day!!

Thanks for the prayers!

~Blessings~

Friday's Midwife Appointment

2009-04-28T17:54:00.002-05:00

Sorry it's taken so long to update!! We are in the week of Finals for school, so I've been swamped! Plus, we moved in with my parents over the weekend so that we could finish the house. It's been so wonderful and helpful!! I'm being spoiled rotten by living RIGHT in the center of town :)

So I had a midwife appointment this past Friday. I put on another 3 lbs in nearly 3 weeks, which puts my total weight gain at 30 lbs even. My blood pressure was 118/75, which is really nice. Baby's heart rate started of slow and then sped up! Marilyn said that she heard herself and got excited! And hearing that change shows that she's developed perfectly neurologically. I'm also measuring (fundul height) right at 35 weeks. Katy's head is now fully engaged (could have told you that one). My hips ache and hurt from her being so low, so does my back, but it isn't anything a good warm bath won't take care of. Marilyn is giving Katy 2-4 weeks max. I told her not to put a time line on things because then Katy will become stubborn and be a week overdue!! But Marilyn said with her being so far engaged, there isn't anyway she'll make it more than 4 weeks. So, who knows. Babies come when they are ready, not when we are ready!! Good news is, I'm almost 35 weeks so if she came in a week and a half then we'd be able to still have our home birth and Katy will be born healthy!!

My work at church gave me a baby shower last Tuesday. It was a lot of fun! My preschoolers got to eat cookie cake and drink capri suns while Mrs. Anna (a lady I teach with who is due in August) and I opened all of our goodies! It was such a blast, and I got a whole bunch of cute things for Katy! I have my other shower this weekend!! Can you believe it's May already, well just about!! We will be having a baby soon!!

Ok, I have more homework to get to!! Thank-you all for your thoughts and prayers! They've kept baby Katy in, and healthy!! Praise GOD!

~Blessings~

David Young's Story

2009-04-15T13:19:00.002-05:00

David Young, my preacher, was caught in the direct path of the Tornado on April 10th. He was running on the greenway. Today he sent out his story via e-mail. I know he won't mind me posting it. It's long, but please take the time to read it. It's extremely powerful!!!

Angels Performing Ballet - David Young

Angels performing ballet. Unbelievable, I thought. This can't be real. I was lying on
my side wrapped around a tree like a koala bear looking straightup into the eye of
an F-4 tornado. And the debris at the top of the funnel looked just like angels
gracefully performing ballet.

How ironic. Those few seconds in the eye of the tornado may have been the
most peaceful seconds of my life. It felt transcendental and sweet.
That is, until the back wall of the tornado slammed against me, hurling two-by fours,
trees, and sheet metal at 200 miles per hour.

Here I was caught on the trail in the middle of a tornado. It was Good Friday, and
my mind was distracted. A minister for a large church in Murfreesboro, Tennessee,
a few miles south of Nashville, I was thinking about the Easter
program that had required so much preparation over the last several months.
I should have been thinking about the Resurrection itself, but I confess that, instead,
I was obsessing over the details of the upcoming service. We were hoping for 2,000
people at church, and there were so many things that could go wrong. It had been an exhausting week of preparation, and I just kept going over the program in my head.

What I needed, I decided to myself, was a good workout. I hardly paid attention to the weather reports this Good Friday. The broadcasts since last night had indicated that storms were expected to blow across Middle Tennessee around lunch time. At around 11:00 that morning a local traffic reporter had warned Nashville to eat lunch early
because of approaching storms. A tornado warning had even been issued 60 miles northwest of Nashville.

Most people knew to stay off the trails for the next several hours. I should have
known too. But I really needed to run, and somehow I convinced myself that the storms were all north of Murfreesboro.

I've been a runner all my life, though I rarely run competitively. I mostly run to
manage my weight, to relieve stress, and to talk to God. Last fall I had trained for a marathon, but two weeks before the event, I accidentally swallowed a fish bone
and ended up spending a week in the hospital with abdominal surgery for an acute abdominal infection. Recovery after that had been slow, and I was down from
running 35 to 40 miles per week to running 15 miles or so. I was determined to
build back up to a respectable distance.

Today was going to be a good run. In spite of the warnings, the weather felt
great: mid-60's and overcast. My energy level was up. My motivation was high.
It was my day off, Easter was approaching, and I was eager to run off some stress. I intended to spend time in prayer, which I do in the form of an inner dialogue with
God pretty much every time I run. My prayers sometimes take the form of memorizing Scripture or merely offering thanksgiving. More frequently, however, they take the
form of character discussions with God. I talk to God about my weaknesses,
and together we develop strategies for helping me to mature. I often preach to
myself as I run, lecturing myself on the need to be stronger, more disciplined,
and more like the One I follow.

I drove to my favorite running spot, a paved greenway that meanders four and a
half miles along the Stones River in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. Stones River is a
small river, but it has a big history. It was here that one of the largest battles in the
Civil War was fought a century and a half ago. Ninety thousand soldiers slugged
it out on New Years Eve 1862 and on New Years Day 1863, as Federal troops continued their slow push towards Chattanooga, and, eventually, Atlanta, Savannah,
and the Atlantic Ocean.

A hundred yards from where I parked my car on Good Friday the battle had ended on January 2, 1863, as thousands of Confederate troops forded the frigid river and tried to climb the western bank, only to be slaughtered by Federal canon, canister,
and grapeshot. Twenty-three thousand soldiers fell fighting for this river.

The modern greenway was opened in the 1990s and is a popular place for the
people of Murfreesboro. Any given day you can find people walking their dogs,
bicycling, strolling with friends, fishing, or running. When I parked my car and
began my run, it was a couple minutes after noon, and there were several others
on the trail walking. I had run six miles on the treadmill the day before, so I planned
to keep it to a gentle four miles today. I was wearing a headset, a white headband, my favorite running shorts, and a new rain jacket.

The rain jacket was important, because I had just bought it in response to a near
disaster that my buddy, Thad, and I had experienced backpacking a couple months
before. We are winter backpackers, because we don't like heat. We had gone up into the Smoky Mountains on a four day backpacking trip back in February. It rained the
whole way up the mountain on the first day. We arrived at camp just as the darkness
came and as the temperature dropped to dangerous levels. A windstorm suddenly
blew in, and all my raingear failed. By the time Thad managed to build a fire (against all odds), I was slipping into hypothermia in the freezing temperatures. I couldn't stop shivering, and for
ten minutes or so, I hovered as near to panic as I've ever been. By the next morning,
I was mad at myself for being so ill-prepared after years of winter backpacking.
I was even angrier with myself for feeling panicked.

When I got home, I decided to buy the best raingear I could afford, but I also
decided that, of all people, a minister ought not to panic, regardless of the
circumstances.

I began to talk to God about trust, and I began to read about others who had survived extreme circumstances. I looked inward and asked myself whether or not I have what it takes to manage an extreme situation. I have the kind of brain that can obsess over such matters (I get that from my dad, and I've passed it on, I'm sorry to say, to my son).
So, I began to role play disasters in my head every single day. I began to tell myself,
every day for the last couple months, that I will never go down without a fight. I made a commitment to God and to myself that I will stay calm if ever confronted with disaster.
I will trust God, act smart, and be a man. For me, this commitment was not an act of
strength; it was a confession of weakness.

So, even as I left my car for my four mile run, I wore my new rain jacket
thinking about the severe weather I had endured in the mountains a few months before.
As I approached the trail I mumbled something to God about the possibility of rain: let it rain, God. Together, we're strong.

Before the hour was over, the jacket wouldn't make much difference, but the
commitment to be a survivor helped me make just the right moves. Through my commitment to be calm God probably saved my life.

The first two miles of my run were uneventful. I wasn't in a hurry, so I was
clipping along at about six miles per hour. At the end of the second mile, I made a
u-turn to begin working my way back to the car. As soon as I turned around,
a gentle rain began to fall. I pulled my hood over my head and kept going.
Thank you, Lord, I continued in my fixation, for my new rain jacket.

After several minutes, however, the sky began to look ominous, and it began to hail.
I kept running, but I noticed that nobody else was anywhere near the greenway.
I was on the most popular part of the trail all alone. Being alone gave me an eerie feeling -did everyone else know something that I didn't know?

The hail continued to fall, but the hailstones were not that large, maybe the size of dimes. I was surprised that it didn't hurt when the hail hit my body. I can run in this, I thought.

When the lightning started, however, I grew cautious. The first few lightning
strikes were a mile or two away (I counted the time between the flash and the sound). Within a minute or two, however, the lightning was right overhead. I was in trouble,
and I knew it.

I had been thinking about survival in extreme circumstances every day for two
months. Here is my first test, I thought. Lightning may strike near me, but I can beat it if
I position myself in the right place. I'm going to get a real test of my new survival skills,
I thought. Okay, Lord, let's test my commitment. I was actually pumped.

The first mile marker on the Stones River Greenway lies directly behind
Thompson Lane-a heavily traveled road in Murfreesboro lined with businesses,
offices, an auto garage, gas stations, and apartments. The parking lots of two of these businesses, the Greenway Office Building and the Stampede Saloon look down on
the trail, which is about 15 feet below, but separated by a jumble of trees and bushes.
From the trail to the river is another 10 foot drop off, also separated by a jumble of
trees and bushes. If it weren't for the trees, you could probably throw a rock into the
river from the parking lots above.

Across the river is an established neighborhood on a rise of another 20 feet or so.
The houses in this neighborhood are some distance from the river, and separated
by tall, majestic trees.

When the lightning began to strike overhead, I left the trail and climbed down the bank
to within a few feet of the river, crouching beneath some bushes. I was careful to keep
my feet together and plant my hands on the ground, so as to create a circuit in the event that lightning struck near me. I was actually feeling pretty smart, and I was confident
that the storm would blow over in a couple minutes, leaving me feeling good about my survival instincts. I thanked God for keeping me calm. I remember watching a stream of water trickle down the side of the bank, creating tiny waterfalls over the leaves and mud before finally reaching the river. I remember being proud that my jacket was keeping the water out. No big deal, I thought. I'm going to be fine.

Suddenly, after four or five minutes, the rain and hail stopped. It was odd-the
rain didn't slow down; it just stopped, all of the sudden. After ten minutes of lightning,
of rain, of wind and hail, the silence was disturbing. But, hey, I thought, at least the storm was over and I could continue running. I stood up to climb back onto the trail.

When I stood up, however, something didn't seem right. To this moment I cannot say
what I felt, but I knew in my gut that something was wrong. I don't remember if the wind
was blowing, and I don't remember much of what the sky looked like. Actually, I couldn't see much of the sky. I could see the trail, which was about eye level, and I could see the wooded slope leading up to the parking lots, but I couldn't see the horizon beyond that.
In the distance I heard a low rumble.

The L&N railroad runs pretty close to the greenway at mile one, but my gut told me
that the rumble I heard was not a train. It sounded like a train ... I mean just like a train,
but somehow I knew that it wasn't. So I stood there for a minute, maybe even more, listening and hoping the rumble wouldn't get louder. But it did. It got much louder.

At this point, I feel like I should confess that I was terrified, but the truth is that I
wasn't really scared. Events were unfolding too quickly for me to feel much fear.
Besides, I had been talking to God for forty minutes about my ability to survive in any circumstance. So, rather than fear, I felt this adrenaline rush and this intense sense of challenge-my survival skills are going to be tested, I thought. This will be good for me.

I actually felt some bizarre sense of appreciation that God was going to allow my
faith to be tested in an extreme way. I know it sounds crazy, but all I could think of was
how I wanted to pay close attention to what happened next so I could learn more about survival to pass on to my church. I was thinking that after I survived, I would be able to share what I learned with others, and maybe help someone else survive.

Don't get me wrong- I was not thinking about glory or fame. Rather, I was thinking
that this disaster would give me a great testimony about the power of God as well
as giving me lessons on survival that I could share with others. I was thinking that I
could write about the story and share it with other backpackers to help them develop survival skills.

Ever the preacher, I was thinking that I could use my experience in sermons to
encourage Christians to face cancer, loss, or even death with trust. God will take
care of me, I said to myself. I can survive. And I really believed it. I think I nervously
giggled at the strangeness of the situation. I never once thought of death.

The rumble was very loud by now, and I heard cars honking, metal screeching, and transformers exploding. Dude, I said jokingly to myself, you're in a tornado. This is even bigger than Backpacker Magazine. You're gonna be on Oprah. It sounds flippant now,
but at the time, humor was my way of staying in control of my emotions, and it worked.

Panic is the number one killer in survival situations. Presence of mind, a sense of
purpose, and even humor are often the very elements that determine who will live
and who will die in the midst of a disaster. By talking to God, by looking for a lesson
to be shared with others, and by kidding myself, I was able to stay calm and to act
smart. By the grace of God, staying calm and acting smart probably kept me alive.

When I heard the transformers exploding, I had five seconds to decide what to do.
I quickly looked around at the options. Bunches of trees, the river, a small dock built
by the park service jutting out into the water. Nothing else. The nearest tree of size
was a few feet away. I quickly wrapped my arms around it at the base, laid on the
ground, curled my body around the trunk, and looked up to monitor the situation.
I asked God to forgive me of my sins, then, mumbled something like "let's get it on!"

Within two seconds I saw the first pieces of debris flying over me. They were
topping the trees above the trail, coming from the direction of the parking lots. I was impressed by how much debris there was and how fast it was traveling. It looked
like it had been shot from a canon.

Then I heard the cracking of wood; not a little bit, but the sound of an entire
forest being split at once. It is not a sound that you can ever forget-wood from a whole forest violently exploding. If you can imagine ten thousand baseball bats being wildly broken at the same time, you will know what I heard.

I checked my grip on the tree, and thought to myself, "Here she is!"

Immediately afterwards, I saw the wall of the tornado top the crest of the slope
and slam into me. The sound was amazing, and the power incredible. Everything around me, including the ground, was shaking. I could feel my tree groaning as it was trying to leave the ground. The whole forest heaved. Debris was crashing all around me. Static electricity made my hair stand on end. I saw what appeared to be a house fly right
over my head, past the river and off into the wild.

Though I had curled myself around the tree, the tornado picked up my legs and
extended my body into the wind. I suppose my adrenaline was working properly,
because I never lost grip of the tree, even though my body was now off the ground
flapping in the wind like a flag. I never thought I'd lose my grip; I was determined that
I would not fail this test. I wanted to make God proud of me. I kept thinking that I
needed to document the experience in my mind so I could help others. I never
closed my eyes.

The front wall of the tornado was bad, but when it passed, I found myself in the
strangest world I've ever seen. I was in the eye of the tornado, and I knew it.
I dropped back to the ground and instinctively curled around the tree again.
A lot of debris was still shooting across the river, firing across my line of sight like
meteors. But now I also saw debris spiraling inside the vortex of the tornado.
Close to me, it was traveling at lightning speed, racing around and around just
like you'd expect.

But farther up, along the inside of the funnel, the debris was moving slowly,
gracefully, almost playfully at the top. It wasn't circling; it was dancing, up and
down more than from side to side. I don't know how far up I could see, but it seemed
like miles. A strange light illuminated the inside of the tornado. It was totally surreal.
It was peaceful, calm, and, I hate to say it, incredibly happy. I fancied that angels were performing a ballet just for me at the top of heaven's ladder.

So this is what's inside a tornado, I remember thinking. It is not possible to describe the feelings you get in the eye of a tornado. There is such a mixture of primal feelings-blood pulsing, mouth drying, eyes focused, heart racing, muscles taut. Everything that
has been you, in my case for 48 years, comes down to one infinite point and freezes;
your breathing calms and your mind seems to step out of your body and look around in amazement. You notice the smallest details: a leaf blowing past, a small sound, the
strange illumination inside the vortex. You watch the inside of the funnel as though you were watching a movie. There's a strange sense of detachment.

And you feel, at the same time, both all alone and totally immersed in the love of God.
I mean that literally. In the eye of the storm, there is no one else, and as far as you
can tell, the entire world is now gone. Nothing looks familiar, and you sense that
you have already died and gone to heaven. The peace, the beauty, and the
overwhelming view up the vortex above all lead you to feel an intimacy with God.

I felt loved in the eye, and even now that feeling moves me to tears. It's like going
to heaven and seeing the book of Revelation. It's like waking up in Alice's Wonderland, Deep Space, and your mother's womb all wrapped into one. There is no yesterday, no tomorrow, and no worries. Just peace, calm and incredible beauty. In the eye of the
storm, you may not even be you any more.

To be in the eye of the tornado is unforgettable. I want to say to anyone who has lost a loved one to a tornado that, chances are, your loved one died far more peacefully
than you think. Inside the storm the love of God is more intense than you can ever, ever, ever imagine. It is calm, peaceful, and overwhelmingly safe. Your loved one died in the loving arms of God, and I guarantee you that they knew it.

Being in the eye makes you thankful to God, and I remember murmuring some
words of gratitude, at least in my heart, if not with my mouth. I was thankful for
the three seconds-or was it an eternity?-that I spent in the eye of that storm.
Grateful, that is, until the back wall of the tornado hit me. The front of the
tornado had been violent, but the back was even worse. Best I can tell, the front
of the tornado had picked up trees and broken off large branches. Now the back of the tornado began to drop them all around me. Debris was slamming everywhere.

Though I had been in the tornado only 10 seconds or so, it already seemed like a
long time. The peaceful feeling quickly dissipated; now I had to ride out the worst.
I remember thinking, "almost over; hang on; you're going to make it!"

Meanwhile, stuff was dropping all around me. Two trees fell on me; I saw the
first one coming. I remember thinking it was odd because it fell backwards away
from the river. Most of the debris was flying across the river. The trunk was
robably 5 or 6 inches in diameter, and it landed on my left leg, just above my ankle
(which was curled up behind my bottom). I saw it hit me, but didn't feel anything.
I think I was too pumped. Immediately afterwards, a second tree fell on me from above.
I didn't see this tree coming. When it landed, it was on top of my body, and must have hit my head, since later I would discover a deep gash above my left ear. I didn't feel any pain.

Then, just as quickly as I saw the tornado come over the rise, I saw it cross the
river and leave. The back of it looked almost like a curtain; it was distinct. You could
see where it began and where it ended. I remember as it crossed the river water danced upward, like a million little dancing fountains in Las Vegas. I watched the tornado
move up the opposite bank into the trees and towards the neighborhood behind the woods. Then it was gone.

For me, the storm was over. I lay there a little while to make sure that there was
no residual debris following it. I couldn't see much because of the trees on top of me,
but I just kept thinking "I survived! I'm a survivor! We did it, God!" I remember giggling
and saying thank you to God over and over again.

As soon as I knew the storm was gone for sure, I wanted off the greenway fast.
To get off, I had to climb out of the trees that were on top of me. It only took a moment.

But, when my head emerged from the top of the downed trees, I stopped in my
tracks. There before me, where only 30 seconds before had been a beautiful woods,
lay the remains of a nuclear explosion. You've heard it before, but until you see the destruction caused by a tornado, there simply are no words to describe the view.

Everything was destroyed. The trees were twisted, mauled, tangled over the ground.
Huge sheets of metal were wrapped around many of them. Two by fours with
jagged nails were lying everywhere. Entire sections of buildings, roofs, glass, twisted pieces of who-knows-what were everywhere. I gulped and realized that this was serious. Very serious. If anyone else was in this storm, I realized, they were probably dead.
From what I could see, I assumed that the entire city of Murfreesboro had been
wiped out. My heart sank.

I couldn't walk on the trail, either to the left or to the right, as the debris was
piled ten or fifteen feet high. So I climbed through the debris up the slope towards the parking lots I knew were above me. It took only a few minutes (I was really,
really motivated to get off that trail).

When my head emerged above the slope, all I could see was devastation.
A three story office building to my left had lost the top floor and half of
the second. Directly in front of me a pile of trailers was stacked 20 or 30 feet tall in
a twisted, smoking pile of angry destruction. Live wires and cables were everywhere,
as were trees, broken telephone poles, and tons of debris.

My first instinct was to run to the office building to check for survivors. I assumed
that if anyone had been in the building, they were probably dead. It is hard to
describe how bad it looked. As I began to walk, however, I stumbled. I didn't realize
that I had been hurt. My left leg was beat up badly, and the gash on my head was
bleeding. I was wearing a white headband, and though I hadn't seen any blood,
it was filling with blood (as well as mud from the storm).

Circling in the parking lot were four immigrant workers. I don't know why they
were there; I assumed that they had been landscaping nearby and ran over to
check the same building I wanted to check. When they saw me, their faces grew white.
I could tell by the looks on their faces that I must have looked bad, though, again,
I didn't feel any pain. One of them ran towards me, and as I took a step towards him,
I fell. I think I was in a mild form of shock, though I never lost my awareness.
He picked me up, threw my arm over his shoulder, and carried me towards a couple of pickup trucks that were pulling up at that moment. I asked him his name, but we
were both in such shock that Ican't remember if he even answered.

"We've got to go to that building and check for survivors." That's all I could say
as several men gathered in the parking lot. One of them was a rescue squad responder, who was putting on a firefighter's uniform as quickly as possible. "I'm going in
with you," I yelled out. "No, sir, you are going to the Emergency Room. You are hurt."
We argued for a few seconds, as he continued to put on his uniform. Finally he put his hand on my chest, as if to threaten me, and yelled. "You're injured and you're
going to the Emergency Room right now. End of story."

A couple of guys from a landscaping business had pulled up in their truck.
Turning to these guys, he asked them if they would take me to the ER. "Of course,"one said. "Get in the back of the truck," he ordered me. I must still have been pretty
disoriented, because I stumbled around trying to figure out what he meant by
"back of the truck." I fell again, though I couldn't figure out why I kept stumbling.

The truck had a double cab, and they put me in the back seat. As we hurried off
towards the local hospital, we turned onto Haynes Drive, a heavily traveled road
dissecting one of Murfreesboro's largest clusters of neighborhoods, including my own.

We got a couple miles before we saw debris on Haynes-terrible debris. Trees were
down, huge chunks of houses were scattered across the road, telephone poles
snapped in two. It looked horrible. Only later would I find out that a beautiful young
woman and her nine week old baby had just been killed on Haynes Drive only a
moment after the tornado had shaken me. Haynes Drive was completely blocked by mounds of wreckage. We had to find another route to the hospital.

We drove around for a few minutes trying to find a way to get through the neighborhood
to the other side of town, where the hospital is located. The men who were driving me
to the hospital were anxiously trying to call their family members, but most of the cell towers were jammed. We only managed to get a few calls through. Because my wife and kids ere, unbeknownst to me, crouching in the back of a grocery store seeking shelter from the same tornado, which they saw from only a few yards away, they were unable to answer their phones. For thirty minutes, we were out of contact, but I wrongly
assumed that they were safe far on the other side of town, so I wasn't worried
about them. I only wanted to tell them where I was so they wouldn't worry about me.

Later I found out that they were all praying for me. Incredibly, my thirteen year old son, Jonathan, was anxiously pacing the floor of the store while a tornado was directly
over his head, praying over and over again that God would save me. What others
would call "luck" in my survival, I credit to their prayers.

It took some time, but eventually my new found friends pulled up to the ER. I opened the door of the truck and fell out again onto the pavement. During the truck ride, my head
had begun to hurt a little, but I still couldn't figure out why I kept stumbling. I remember a handful of emergency personnel at the entrance of the ER; several picked me up and
put me into a wheelchair. When they wheeled me in, a lineup of ER staff members
stared at me with wide-opened eyes. They had already been told to expect the worst,
and I was their first patient.

It wasn't until they rushed me back to a cubicle and removed my clothing that I
realized why everyone looked at me in amazement, as well as why I kept stumbling.
My white headband was bright red, soaked in blood. My clothing had blood all over it.
Soon the sheets on the hospital bed would have mud and blood on them. The gash
in my head was pretty bad; all the way to the skull, and requiring 7 or 8 staples to stop the bleeding.

My leg looked awful-bloody, cut up, and quickly swelling to a large size. Oh, I
thought, this is why I keep falling. I had a concussion and my leg was badly bruised,
but I knew in my heart that I was okay. I knew that God had saved me; that I had lived through they eye of a tornado, that two months of prayers about trust had been
answered in a massive way. Odd, but I felt euphoric; I couldn't stop laughing.
The morphine and the hydrocodone only made me more animated. I joked with the
ER staff, who seemed more stressed than I was (they weren't on morphine).

I tried to encourage them to wheel me over to the side and prepare for an onslaught of seriously wounded people, but they were too professional and too kind to do that.
Every one of them was super nice to me. Two different women, both named Jennifer,
were especially kind to me; I remember thinking that Jennifer was going to be one of
my new favorite words. I felt as though we were all in this together. I know I must have talked their heads off. All I could say, over and over again, was "I survived a tornado.
Can you believe it? I was in the eye of a tornado. And I survived!"

I went home from the hospital with dear friends, who prepared dinner for me
while my family went to see if we still had a house. Incredibly, our house didn't have a single shred of damage or debris, even though scores of houses all around us were
hit by the storm. By eight o'clock I was home with my family. We had no electricity,
but we had all survived. God is awesome, we agreed, before saying goodbye to the
wildest day of our lives.

The Good Friday tornado was one of the worst storms ever to strike
Murfreesboro. To this date, no one is even sure how many tornados touched down in Murfreesboro. Were there two? Even three? The tornado that caught me cut a 23 mile
path through Rutherford County, sometimes as wide as half a mile. Experts estimate
that the tornado measured four on the Fuchita scale (an "F-4" tornado) when it
passed over me; that's a "Devastating Tornado packing winds between 210 and
260 miles per hour" according to the National Weather Service.

Over 800 businesses and homes were damaged by the tornado, scores of them
completely destroyed. Fifty-one persons were treated for injuries, some severe. Two precious people lost their lives. I suffered a concussion and a beat up leg. Thirty eight million dollars worth of damage was inflicted on our community.

But Tennesseans have a knack for bouncing back. The very next day, literally
hundreds upon hundreds of people roamed the neighborhoods with chainsaws,
shovels, food and water, helping neighbors clean up. A hundred-fifty people from my church gathered at 8:00 a.m. and spent the day helping their neighbors. To date,
there has not been a single incident of vandalism. Instead, everyone is pulling together
to help each other out. Our community has come together. We're going to be okay.

Easter Sunday, 2009, was one of the prettiest Sundays I've ever seen. The weather was cool, the sun was beautiful, and the sky was perfect blue. It was an Easter unlike any
other in my life.

I had already planned to talk about the Resurrection, but now I had felt it.
God raised me on Good Friday.

Our church had 2,307 in attendance, shattering our old attendance record. Across
the stage we had over a hundred lilies, looking a lot like angels in front of the empty
tomb. And there I was, hobbling onto the platform with my brother ministers,
surrounded by the white heralds of spring, proclaiming that, no matter how dark
the storm may seem, Christ is Risen!

David M. Young
Murfreesboro, Tennessee
April 14, 2009

~Blessings~

DHS Right Wing Extremism

2009-04-14T21:17:00.002-05:00

I promise this is a real report. The Department of Homeland Security just issued it. According to it, I am a terrorist and possibly a "White Extremest" (just because I'm white) because I believe in securing our borders, I believe abortion is murder and I believe in gun rights and I don't believe in Socialism.

THIS IS OUR COUNTRY FOLKS!!!! This is "Obama Nation". This is a time when we, as Christians, need to band together and pray. We need to pray for our president and we need to pray for our leaders. We need to pray for our country.

Below is the link to the full report. I copied and pasted it on here. I highlighted important parts in red and bolded them. What are your thoughts? Comments? This totally scares me to death.

http://michaelsavage.wnd.com/files/filesSavage/dhs-rightwing-extremism.pdf

Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment

7 April 2009

(U) Prepared by the Extremism and Radicalization Branch, Homeland Environment Threat Analysis Division. Coordinated with the FBI.

This product is one of a series of intelligence assessments published by the Extremism and Radicalization Branch to facilitate a greater understanding of the phenomenon of violent radicalization in the United States. The information is provided to federal, state, local, and tribal counterterrorism and law enforcement officials so they may effectively deter, prevent, preempt, or respond to terrorist attacks against the United States. Federal efforts to influence domestic public opinion must be conducted in an overt and transparent manner, clearly identifying United States Government sponsorship.

UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY

Key Findings

The DHS/Office of Intelligence and Analysis (I&A) has no specific information that domestic rightwing* terrorists are currently planning acts of violence, but rightwing extremists may be gaining new recruits by playing on their fears about several emergent issues. The economic downturn and the election of the first African American president present unique drivers for rightwing radicalization and recruitment. Threats from white supremacist and violent antigovernment groups during 2009 have been largely rhetorical and have not indicated plans to carry out violent acts. Nevertheless, the consequences of a prolonged economic downturn—including real estate foreclosures, unemployment, and an inability to obtain credit—could create a fertile recruiting environment for rightwing
extremists and even result in confrontations between such groups and government authorities similar to those in the past.

Rightwing extremists have capitalized on the election of the first African American president, and are focusing their efforts to recruit new members, mobilize existing supporters, and broaden their scope and appeal through propaganda, but they have not yet turned to attack planning.

The current economic and political climate has some similarities to the 1990s when rightwing extremism experienced a resurgence fueled largely by an economic recession, criticism about the outsourcing of jobs, and the perceived threat to U.S. power and sovereignty by other foreign powers. During the 1990s, these issues contributed to the growth in the number of domestic rightwing terrorist and extremist groups and an increase in violent acts targeting government facilities, law enforcement officers, banks, and infrastructure sectors. Growth of these groups subsided in reaction to increased government scrutiny as a result of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing and disrupted plots, improvements in the economy, and the continued U.S. standing
as the preeminent world power.

The possible passage of new restrictions on firearms and the return of military veterans facing significant challenges reintegrating into their communities could lead to the potential emergence of terrorist groups or lone wolf extremists capable of carrying out violent attacks.

Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.

Proposed imposition of firearms restrictions and weapons bans likely would attract new members into the ranks of rightwing extremist groups, as well as potentially spur some of them to begin planning and training for violence against the government. The high volume of purchases and stockpiling of weapons and ammunition by rightwing extremists in anticipation
of restrictions and bans in some parts of the country continue to be a primary concern to law enforcement.

Returning veterans possess combat skills and experience that are attractive to rightwing extremists. DHS/I&A is concerned that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to boost their violent capabilities.

Current Economic and Political Climate
DHS/I&A assesses that a number of economic and political factors are driving a resurgence in rightwing extremist recruitment and radicalization activity. Despite similarities to the climate of the 1990s, the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells is more pronounced than in past years. In addition, the historical election of an African American president and the prospect of policy changes are proving to be a driving force for rightwing extremist recruitment and radicalization.

A recent example of the potential violence associated with a rise in rightwing extremism may be found in the shooting deaths of three police officers in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, on 4 April 2009. The alleged gunman’s reaction reportedly was influenced by his racist ideology and belief in antigovernment conspiracy theories related to gun confiscations, citizen detention camps, and a
Jewish-controlled “one world government.”

Exploiting Economic Downturn
Rightwing extremist chatter on the Internet continues to focus on the economy, the perceived loss of U.S. jobs in the manufacturing and construction sectors, and home foreclosures. Anti-Semitic extremists attribute these losses to a deliberate conspiracy conducted by a cabal of Jewish “financial elites.” These “accusatory” tactics are employed to draw new recruits into rightwing extremist groups and further radicalize those already subscribing to extremist beliefs. DHS/I&A assesses this trend is likely to accelerate if the economy is perceived to worsen.

Historical Presidential Election
Rightwing extremists are harnessing this historical election as a recruitment tool. Many rightwing extremists are antagonistic toward the new presidential administration and its perceived stance on a range of issues, including immigration and citizenship, the expansion of social programs to minorities, and restrictions on firearms.

Perceptions on Poverty and Radicalization
Scholars and experts disagree over poverty’s role in motivating violent radicalization or
terrorist activity. High unemployment, however, has the potential to lead to alienation, thus increasing an individual’s susceptibility to extremist ideas. According to a 2007 study from the German Institute for Economic Research, there appears to be a strong association between a parent’s unemployment status and the formation of rightwing extremist beliefs in their children—specifically xenophobia and antidemocratic ideals. Rightwing extremists are increasingly galvanized by these concerns and leverage them as drivers for recruitment. From the 2008 election time frame to the present, rightwing extremists have capitalized on related racial and political prejudices in expanded propaganda campaigns, thereby reaching out to a wider audience of potential sympathizers.

Most statements by rightwing extremists have been rhetorical, expressing concerns about the election of the first African American president, but stopping short of calls for violent action. In two instances in the run-up to the election, extremists appeared to be in the early planning stages of some threatening activity targeting the Democratic nominee, but law enforcement
interceded.

Revisiting the 1990s
Paralleling the current national climate, rightwing extremists during the 1990s exploited a variety of social issues and political themes to increase group visibility and recruit new members. Prominent among these themes were the militia movement’s opposition to gun control efforts, criticism of free trade agreements (particularly those with Mexico), and highlighting perceived government infringement on civil liberties as well as white supremacists’ longstanding exploitation of social issues such as abortion, inter-racial crimes, and same-sex marriage. During the 1990s, these issues contributed to the growth in the number of domestic rightwing terrorist and extremist groups and an increase in violent acts targeting government facilities, law enforcement officers, banks, and infrastructure sectors.

Economic Hardship and Extremism
Historically, domestic rightwing extremists have feared, predicted, and anticipated a cataclysmic economic collapse in the United States. Prominent antigovernment conspiracy theorists have incorporated aspects of an impending economic collapse to intensify fear and paranoia among like-minded individuals and to attract recruits during times of economic uncertainty. Conspiracy theories involving declarations of martial law, impending civil strife or racial conflict, suspension of the U.S. Constitution, and the creation of citizen detention camps often incorporate aspects of
a failed economy. Antigovernment conspiracy theories and “end times” prophecies could motivate extremist individuals and groups to stockpile food, ammunition, and weapons.
These teachings also have been linked with the radicalization of domestic extremist individuals and groups in the past, such as violent Christian Identity organizations and extremist members of the militia movement.

Illegal Immigration
Rightwing extremists were concerned during the 1990s with the perception that illegal immigrants were taking away American jobs through their willingness to work at significantly lower wages. They also opposed free trade agreements, arguing that these arrangements resulted in Americans losing jobs to countries such as Mexico.

Over the past five years, various rightwing extremists, including militias and white supremacists, have adopted the immigration issue as a call to action, rallying point, and recruiting tool. Debates over appropriate immigration levels and enforcement policy generally fall within the realm of protected political speech under the First Amendment, but in some cases, anti-immigration or strident pro-enforcement fervor has been directed against specific groups and has the potential to turn violent.

DHS/I&A assesses that rightwing extremist groups’ frustration over a perceived lack of government action on illegal immigration has the potential to incite individuals or small groups toward violence. If such violence were to occur, it likely would be isolated, small-scale, and directed at specific immigration-related targets.

DHS/I&A notes that prominent civil rights organizations have observed an increase in anti-Hispanic crimes over the past five years. In April 2007, six militia members were arrested for various weapons and explosives violations. Open source reporting alleged that those arrested had discussed and conducted surveillance for a machinegun attack on Hispanics.

A militia member in Wyoming was arrested in February 2007 after communicating his plans to travel to the Mexican border to kill immigrants crossing into the United States.

Legislative and Judicial Drivers
Many rightwing extremist groups perceive recent gun control legislation as a threat to their right to bear arms and in response have increased weapons and ammunition stockpiling, as well as renewed participation in paramilitary training exercises. Such activity, combined with a heightened level of extremist paranoia, has the potential to facilitate criminal activity and violence.

During the 1990s, rightwing extremist hostility toward government was fueled by the implementation of restrictive gun laws—such as the Brady Law that established a 5-day waiting period prior to purchasing a handgun and the 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act that limited the sale of various types of assault rifles—and federal law enforcement’s handling of the confrontations at Waco, Texas and Ruby Ridge, Idaho.

On the current front, legislation has been proposed this year requiring mandatory registration of all firearms in the United States. Similar legislation was introduced in 2008 in several states proposing mandatory tagging and registration of ammunition. It is unclear if either bill will be passed into law; nonetheless, a correlation may exist between the potential passage of gun control legislation and increased hoarding of ammunition, weapons stockpiling, and
paramilitary training activities among rightwing extremists.

Open source reporting of wartime ammunition shortages has likely spurred rightwing extremists—as well as law-abiding Americans—to make bulk purchases of ammunition. These shortages have increased the cost of ammunition, further exacerbating rightwing extremist paranoia and leading to further stockpiling activity. Both rightwing extremists and law-abiding citizens share a belief that rising crime rates attributed to a slumping economy make the purchase of legitimate firearms a wise move at this time.

Weapons rights and gun-control legislation are likely to be hotly contested subjects of political debate in light of the 2008 Supreme Court’s decision in District of Columbia v. Heller in which the Court reaffirmed an individual’s right to keep and bear arms under the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but left open to debate the precise contours of that right. Because debates over constitutional rights are intense, and parties on all sides have deeply held, sincere, but vastly divergent beliefs, violent extremists may attempt to co-opt the debate and use the controversy as a radicalization tool.

Perceived Threat from Rise of Other Countries
Rightwing extremist paranoia of foreign regimes could escalate or be magnified in the event of an economic crisis or military confrontation, harkening back to the “New World Order” conspiracy theories of the 1990s. The dissolution of Communist countries in Eastern Europe and the end of the Soviet Union in the 1990s led some rightwing extremists to believe that a “New World Order” would bring about a world government that would usurp the sovereignty of the United States and its Constitution, thus infringing upon their liberty. The dynamics in 2009 are somewhat similar, as other countries, including China, India, and Russia, as well as some smaller, oil-producing states, are experiencing a rise in economic power and influence.

Fear of Communist regimes and related conspiracy theories characterizing the U.S. Government’s role as either complicit in a foreign invasion or acquiescing as part of a “One World Government” plan inspired extremist members of the militia movement to target government and military facilities in past years.

Law enforcement in 1996 arrested three rightwing militia members in Battle Creek, Michigan with pipe bombs, automatic weapons, and military

Lone Wolves and Small Terrorist Cells
DHS/I&A assesses that lone wolves and small terrorist cells embracing violent rightwing
extremist ideology are the most dangerous domestic terrorism threat in the United States. Information from law enforcement and nongovernmental organizations indicates lone wolves and small terrorist cells have shown intent—and, in some cases, the capability—to commit violent acts.

DHS/I&A has concluded that white supremacist lone wolves pose the most significant domestic terrorist threat because of their low profile and autonomy—separate from any formalized group—which hampers warning efforts.

Similarly, recent state and municipal law enforcement reporting has warned of the dangers of rightwing extremists embracing the tactics of “leaderless resistance” and of lone wolves carrying out acts of violence.

Arrests in the past several years of radical militia members in Alabama, Arkansas, and Pennsylvania on firearms, explosives, and other related violations indicates the emergence
of small, well-armed extremist groups in some rural areas.

Rightwing extremist views bemoan the decline of U.S. stature and have recently focused on themes such as the loss of U.S. manufacturing capability to China and India, Russia’s control of energy resources and use of these to pressure other countries, and China’s investment in U.S. real estate and corporations as a part of subversion strategy.

Disgruntled Military Veterans
DHS/I&A assesses that rightwing extremists will attempt to recruit and radicalize returning veterans in order to exploit their skills and knowledge derived from military training and combat. These skills and knowledge have the potential to boost the capabilities of extremists—including lone wolves or small terrorist cells—to carry out violence. The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.

After Operation Desert Shield/Storm in 1990-1991, some returning military veterans—including Timothy McVeigh—joined or associated with rightwing extremist groups.

A prominent civil rights organization reported in 2006 that “large numbersof p otentially violent neo-Nazis, skinheads, and other white supremacists are now learning the art of warfare in the [U.S.] armed forces.”

The FBI noted in a 2008 report on the white supremacist movement that some returning military veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have joined extremist groups.

Outlook
DHS/I&A assesses that the combination of environmental factors that echo the 1990s, including heightened interest in legislation for tighter firearms restrictions and returning military veterans, as well as several new trends, including an uncertain economy and a perceived rising influence of other countries, may be invigorating rightwing extremist activity, specifically the white supremacist and militia movements. To the extent that these factors persist, rightwing extremism is likely to grow in strength.

Unlike the earlier period, the advent of the Internet and other informationage technologies since the 1990s has given domestic extremists greater access to information related to bomb-making, weapons training, and tactics, as well as targeting of individuals, organizations, and facilities, potentially making extremist individuals and groups more dangerous and the consequences of their violence more severe. New technologies also permit domestic extremists to send and receive encrypted communications and to network with other extremists throughout the country and abroad, making it much more difficult for law enforcement to deter, prevent, or preempt a violent extremist attack.

A number of law enforcement actions and external factors were effective in limiting the militia movement during the 1990s and could be utilized in today’s climate.

Following the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, the militia movement declined in total membership and in the number of organized groups because many members distanced themselves from the movement as a result of the intense scrutiny militias received after the bombing.

Militia membership continued to decline after the turn of the millennium as a result of law enforcement disruptions of multiple terrorist plots linked to violent rightwing extremists, new legislation banning paramilitary training, and militia frustration that the “revolution” never materialized.

Although the U.S. economy experienced a significant recovery and many perceived a concomitant rise in U.S. standing in the world, white supremacist groups continued to experience slight growth.

DHS/I&A will be working with its state and local partners over the next several months to ascertain with greater regional specificity the rise in rightwing extremist activity in the United States, with a particular emphasis on the political, economic, and social factors that drive rightwing extremist radicalization.

~Blessings~

April 10, 2008

2009-04-13T11:27:00.002-05:00

Friday was a day that changed all of our lives here in Murfreesboro, TN. We were hit by two tornadoes, the strongest being an EF-3. Two were killed, a 20 year old mother, Kori and her 9 week old daughter, Olivia. Kori's husband, Olivi's dad, was critically injured and is still in the hospital. 41 people were injured. Hundreds of homes were destroyed. It was totally devistating. It's taken all weekend for me to fully grasp the magnituted of the damage. Thank GOD we are all safe.

Our preacher, David Young, was out running on the Greenway when the storm hit. He literally held onto a tree for dear life. After the storm passed, he and the tree were the only things standing. You tell me that isn't the work of our Lord and Savior. He was hurt, but not badly, and delivered our sermon on Sunday, with one crutch :)

Please pray for our town. Please pray for our friends that had their homes destryoed. Please pray for those that were hurt. Please pray for emotional healing. We know that our Lord was watching over us all on Friday, and we have so much to be thankful for. It's going to be a long road of rebuilding.

~Blessings~

Midwife Appointment

2009-04-06T16:14:00.002-05:00

Good Appointment!

I've put on 4 lbs these past 5 weeks. Which is very very good. Total weight gain thus far is 27 lbs. Excellent! My blood pressure was 110/65, which is great. My blood pressure 5 weeks ago was 110/60, so no blood pressure issues. I also have had no swelling, and I still have "Good Pee" haha!

Baby's heart rate was around 135. I swear this baby's heart rate has been so much lower than Maddy's and Izzy's! Their heart rates were always in the 150's and Katy Bug just wants to be different!! Katy has gotten pretty low, she's out of my ribs totally now (probably because of the surges I've been having) She is defiantly head down, and her head is right on top of my pelvis, but not engaged. Good signs! We don't want her engaged just yet! I'm also measuring (my belly or fundus height) right on target at 32 weeks.

I'm still having pre-term labor issues. Although I don't believe I am dilated any because I haven't passed any of my mucus plug, I am having contractions. It's odd because I never had pre-term labor issues with Maddy OR Izzy. I'm on "Modified Bedrest". Basically, when I'm on my feet too long I start contracting, I'll have a surge about every 20 minutes until I lay down and put my feet up. If I stay off my feet, I might have some light cramping if I get dehydrated, but I don't start having regular surges. It's been VERY difficult staying off my feet with little ones to take care of. But, Baby Katy is top priority right now, so I just HAVE to do what I HAVE to do to keep her in here until 36 weeks.

We are planning on moving in with my parents within the next couple of weeks. That way I won't have to worry so much about house work, and I'll have the extra help in the eveings from my folks. It's going to be cramped and difficult, but that's the only option we have! Jeanne doesn't have a problem with me still working two days a week because I can sit all day. Plus, graduation is just a month away. But she's concerned that the stress of my day-to-day life of my kids, selling the house, babysitting, teaching Sunday School AND college (plus work) is too much. So I am going to have to cut some things out. I'm probably going to have to stop babysitting, and the house is going to have to be put on the back burner, or at least I can't do much to it anymore.

Jeanne and I made our "game plan" for the birth. Plan A is, of course having her at home. I've got my check list of items I need to get together for the birth. Plan B, is if baby Katy decides to come before 36 weeks. Then we will head to Centennial Hospital in Nashville. They work the best with my midwives, and actually "house" my midwives doctor back-up. So they'll let Marilyn and Jeanne stay with me, still provide care, etc. SOOO we have our game plans!!

So Katy is healthy, and I am healthy. We just need LOTS of prayers that she stays put for at least 4 more weeks!! Can you believe I might have my little girl in as little as 4 weeks? Of COURSE I want her to wait the full 8-9 weeks to come to make sure she's good and ready!! But we are on the home stretch!!

So keep us in your prayers!!

~Blessings~

Prayers Needed for Katy

2009-03-31T17:04:00.002-05:00

I've been up this morning since 2 a.m. with contractions. They are every 20-30 minutes, and have been all day. If I'm on my feet, they are painful. If I'm sitting, they are uncomfortable. So far, no changes in discharge, and cervix has become soft, but I am not dialiating. I'm only 30 weeks, so it's way too early for her to come. And way to early for me to have a safe home birth.

I'm drinking as many fluids I can get down and I'm staying OFF my feet! My midwives are concerned with the pattern of the contractions, and that they woke me up at 2 a.m. They are worried gravity is NOT being my friend. Baby is less active today than usual, but she is active. I'm exhausted, from being up since 2 a.m. and from dealing with this all day.

I'm not too worried, since I am not dialiating yet, and baby is active, and the contractions are not too painful, just mainly uncomfortable. So say a little prayer for us. That she stays put, and that these cramps GO AWAY!

~Blessings~

Izzy's 2 year old Check-up!

2009-03-23T09:42:00.003-05:00

Oh geeze, what a disaster. I knew I made hubby come with me for some reason!! She screamed from the moment we walked into the exam room until we left!! But Dr. Humphrey is amazing, so he totally understood that she'll be best friends with him again by next year!

Let's see...she weighed about 25 lbs, which puts her in the 25% for her weight. Her height was 33.5 in. which puts her in the 40%, and her head was 47.5 cm which is the 50%. So she's perfectly healthy but just petite :)

All checks out well. She demonstrated how well she understood two word or more requests like, "Kiss Mama" or "Give Daddy Juice". She even demonstrated how well she's been speaking, even through screams, she told Dr. Humphrey, "Thank-You" after he gave her a sticker. She responded to all of his questions with "Yes" or "No". She even told him to "Go Away". Sigh :) But developmentally she's right on track. She's healthy as a horse!! And doing great!!

They gave her the last Hepatitis B shot and pricked her finger to check her lead and hemoglobin counts. She did fine with the shot and the finger prick, of course there were some tears, but daddy was there so, it wasn't too bad!

I'm so proud of her, you wouldn't even know she had such a traumatic morning by now. We are peeling paper off of crayons :)

~Blessings~

Years and Years

2009-03-18T08:38:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow Izzy will be 2 years old. I can't believe my baby is two....it's so wonderful and bizarre! I'm so blessed to have been given the chance to be this beautiful girls mommy for the past two years!! And I hope I'm able to be her mommy for another 102 years!!! She's such a beautiful part of our lives!!

Friday is my wedding anniversary!! March 20, 2004 I married the man of my dreams, my best friend, my partner sent to me by God. Yes, this Friday is our 5 year wedding anniversary!! I was thinking about it this morning, and I thought I'd share our journey, thus far, with you!

The Spring of 2003 Justin and I were both working at the new Wal-Mart in Murfreesboro. He worked in lawn and garden and I worked in jewelry. He was (and still is) so cute. But I wasn't looking for a relationship at the time. On May 20th, 2003, I ran into wal-mart to get my cat some cat food before going to eat dinner with my parents who had come into town. It was my 19th birthday. I ran into Justin and some of his friends who were also shopping. We began talking and we realized that it was his birthday as well! Yes, I was born May 20th, 1984 and Justin and his twin brother Dustin were born May 20th, 1983! I made him show me his drivers licence to prove it ha!! I went on with my evening as planned, but Justin told me later that he really wanted to ask for my phone number :) but he didn't that night. After then, my friend that I worked with noticed Justin coming around more, noticed he was going the long way to take out the trash so he could come by our counter, etc. I didn't notice he was going out of his way, but of course I noticed him!! The beginning of June my roommate and I were having a party at our apartment, and it was the night of the MTV Music Awards. My friend that I worked with, finally convinced me to ask him to come over. At the end of my shift, I walked out to lawn and garden with the biggest butterflies in my stomach. Justin was putting up stock, he had his shirt off, but still had his green wal-mart vest on. Oh My, I just about couldn't speak!! But I managed to stumble out the words, and he agreed to come over to my apartment. And that was the beginning of Justin and Leslie. We spent the whole night on the couch, talking and talking, I don't think he went home until 3 in the morning! I don't know what everyone else was doing because I was so focused on him!! Right before he went home I kissed him on the cheek, and then a couple of minutes later we had our first kiss. He said he had wanted to kiss me all night, but didn't want to push it, but once I kissed him on the cheek, he knew he could and it would be ok. We were inseparable, we ate our lunches together, we got in so much trouble at work by sneaking to talk to each other instead of working :).

By the Fall of 2003 Justin and I were living together. Our relationship moved quickly, but we had felt like we had known each other all of our lives!! The beginning of February, 2004 I felt awful, I was so sick and noticed I had put on weight. After a missed period, I took a test, and sure enough, little Miss Madelyn Grace Coker was on her way! Boy were we scared, but excited, nervous, and blessed!! We were using protection AND being careful by the way :) But God wanted her to come to us!! On Valentines Day 2004, Justin popped the big question. I said yes, of course! We married March 20th 2004!! Madelyn made her grand appearance on October 8, 2004. A couple of years later we had Isabella Jane, who joined us March 19th, 2007 and our third daughter, Katheryn Anne, should come somewhere around June 4th, 2009!

It's been a crazy road of ups and downs, struggles and blessings!! I never thought, in a million years, that at 19 I would find the man of my dreams!! But I did! And here we are still, 5 years later, he's still my dream guy, my night in shining armour, my soul mate, my best friend, my husband. He has made me the woman I am today, he brought me to my Lord and Savior, he's been my all. I'm so thankful for him, every moment of every single day, I am thankful for him!! And I'm thankful that GOD knew what he was doing and brought us together!!

So.....

Happy Birthday Isabella!!!
Happy Anniversary Justin!!!

May we have many more years to share with each other!!

~Blessings~

Twitter

2009-03-16T08:27:00.003-05:00

You'll notice right above this post are my Twitter updates. Twitter is this addicting program that allows you to just update your "status". It's a lot like Myspace and Facebook, except it's just the status. You can follow friends and family and even celebrity's!! Like I'm following Taylor Swift and John McCain along with friends and family!! Following just means when they update their status, It shows it to me :) It's really a lot of fun, and, since they have a blackberry app. "Twitterberry", I'm able to update a lot!! Sigh, I'm in love with techno-geek stuff!!!

So, if you sign up, or already tweet, let me know and I'd love to follow you too :)

~Blessings~

Paint

2009-03-14T22:11:00.002-05:00

Shew, painting this home has been a pain. But it'll be worth it when we get the home sold! I have two rooms to go, mine and baby Katy's room. Then I'll need to do trim and doors. And get someone to clean the carpets professionally. We hope to put the home on the market next week.

Izzy will be two on Thursday....crazy huh? I sure can't believe it!

We got a letter in the mail today saying that Middle TN Christian School was reviewing Madelyn's application and we should hear from them soon! Say a prayer for us that she gets in!!

Sorry this is such a short post, we've been doing stuff around the house all day and I'm just plain exhausted!

~Blessings~

3D/4D ultrasound

2009-03-06T14:33:00.003-06:00

Well today was our 3D ultrasound! And I have a picture of Katy's foot and her behind, showing SHE is a SHE!! Ya!!!! She was flipping around and has her feet up by her head, so we couldn't get any clear pictures of her face. We tried turning me on the left and right and then walking up and down the halls and drinking a Hi-C Punch, but she was facing my spine the whole time!!

So in two weeks (March 20th, which is mine and hubby's 5 year anniversary) we will go back and try again. I'll be 29 weeks preggo, and hopefully baby will be in more of a head down position (instead of a breech like she was today) and be more spread out so we can really see her!!

But the good news is that our little girl is STILL a little girl!! And she was moving and very active and just beautiful!! So no cool pictures now, but check back n a couple of weeks!!

~Blessings~

Midwife Appointment

2009-03-02T15:44:00.002-06:00

GREAT appointment!!

My mother-in-law was over helping me watch the girls and do laundry so I could paint and pack! So she got to meet Jeanne and Marilyn! My blood pressure was back up 100/65! Finally, "normal" blood pressure!! It's been too low the past couple of months, so I was thrilled to hear the number be normal! Baby is head down, but I could have told you that one, baby likes to kick my rib, OUCH! I'm measuring 28 cm, which is a little big, but not big enough to be worried about. And since this is my third baby, they are not concerned at all.

BUT I've put on 13 lbs in one month! Total weight gain: 23 lbs. Sooooo.....I'm shooting for a 4 lb weight gain for next month. My midwifes are not worried though, because I really haven't put on "too much" weight at all. And baby must have had a huge growth spurt (once again, could have told you that one!) because I really haven't put on weight anywhere else except my tooshie (sorry TMI) and my belly!!

Here is the kicker of the WHOLE appointment!! Baby's heart rate is still measuring in the 140s!! Perfectly normal....but typical for BOYS not GIRLS!! AGH! And one of my midwives said she thinks it's a BOY not a GIRL! AGH!! I've got to talk hubby into going for that 3D ultrasound NOW!!!! I'm fine with either sex, but I would like to know what I am having. If it is a Boy, I have nothing remotly boy-ish!! Now of course heart rate doesn't mean anything, it's really an ole' wives tale. But Marilyn has been Midwifing for almost 35 years and she said in her experience, most boys do have lower heart rates, and most girls have higher. Sigh. What if Katy turns out to be a ...... Kevin or a Kaden or a Keegan....Oh no!

Life is good! Baby is good, Maddy and Izzy are good and Justin and I are good! We've gotten a lot done on the home, a lot packed and painted, moved and sorted. And with the beautiful 70 degree weather weekend coming up, I know we'll get the rest done, hopefully this weekend!!

Pray for us!

~Blessings~

Long Time No Post

2009-02-26T16:34:00.003-06:00

This will be short but sweet.

I have a midwife appointment on Monday, just my regular check-up! I'm 26 weeks pregnant. I've been put on restrictions. No lifting, nothing heavier than 3-5 lbs. And I shouldn't stand longer than 15 minutes at a time. I started having regular contractions on Tuesday after doing major packing Monday. I just over did it. No big deal, but I am taking it easy.

We will be putting our home on the market within the next two weeks. We are madly packing and staging the home. I'm making lots of progress, lots more to do, lots lots more to do. But there were six homes in our neighborhood for sale and within the past two weeks, two just sold! So homes are selling, yea baby!! Pray for us!!

The girls are doing GREAT!! I couldn't be more proud of them!!

I've got lots of homework to do tonight! Better get to it!

~Blessings~

LOTS of CHANGES!!

2009-02-16T10:31:00.004-06:00

Wow. Lots going on over here on the home front!

1. We have OFFICIALLY decided to put our home on the market. As soon as baby Katy comes (Early June) we are putting it on the market and moving into Murfreesboro!! YEAH!! Justin is even bringing home boxes so we can start getting the home ready to stage and sell! Whoop Whoop!

2. We are going to send Maddy to Middle TN Christian School in the fall!! She'll be in the 4 year old pre-k class full time. We are so excited and we are going on Wednesday to do the tour and fill out the paper work. It's EXTREMELY expensive. But, I can't find another school I love more. We want our kids to go to this Magnet School called McFadden, and this pre-k program will do a lot to help Maddy be prepared to be tested in!! She's such a smart cookie. She's going to LOVE this pre-k program!

3. Mama is changing majors in college! Yes, I am! Justin and I had a serious talk about how the Early Childhood Education degree just wasn't in my heart anymore. I don't want to teach school, I want to teach preschool. And I don't have to be certified to teach at my church's mothers-day-out program like I already do. And I don't want to work. I want to take my kids to school, pick them up, go on field trips, help in their class rooms. The school schedule is what drew me to teaching in the first place. But it just isn't in my heart anymore. So what's the point in doing it, ya know? So I'm going to switch to a degree that will get me out of school quickly. And then I can decide what I want to be when I grow up later!

I love Sonshine School. Where I teach preschool now. It's 9-2. I have lots of help and I just love being at my church, and teaching the kids about God and Jesus and their love! It's been by far, the most rewarding job I've ever done. Plus, it allows MY kids to be first!! They are my number one priority! I spoke with Mrs. Janice about next year and she does want me to come back and she said to bring Katy with me! She said she's got the perfect spot for her, so she'll be there too!!!! I was worried since she'll only be like 3 months when it's time to return to school. But Mrs. Janice is anxious to have a new baby in the place! I LOVE SONSHINE SCHOOL!!!!!

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Well I have to brag on my husband for a minute! 5 years ago, for Valentines Day, Justin popped the big question! We were married a little over a month later! That was the best Valentines Day ever, because I got the best gift, my husband! But I got my second best Valentines Day this past weekend! As you know, Hubby had been out of town for a full week. He came home on Friday. He had made plans with his parents to watch the girls so we could go have dinner Saturday. He took me to Bucca De Bepo, my all time favorite Italian Restaurant. It was beyond fabulous, I am actually still dreaming of their cheesecake! And we got a chance to hold hands, flirt, walk through the mall in Franklin like we were teenagers. It was perfect, man I missed him. AND he got me DIAMOND EARRINGS! Talk about a total shock! When he gave them to me I cried and cried. He thought I was crying because I thought they were too small!! And that is so not the case, if he got them any bigger they would cover my whole ear! They are PERFECT!!!! I was in total shock, because I wanted some badly, but I don't know how he knew!!! I posted a picture below so you can see their sparkiliness!!!
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As usual we have a lot going on in our lives and I would appreciate the prayers!! I need to go make some hungry babies (and mommy) some lunch!!

~Blessings~

Bliss

2009-02-11T22:08:00.001-06:00

I'm sitting here with the laptop resting on my growing belly. And Katy is rolling around in there and kicking/punching, etc. Well she's moving so much she's knocking my laptop off my stomach! That is awesome!! We are so blessed!!

~Blessings~

Open Mouth, Insert Foot

2009-02-08T20:36:00.002-06:00

Ha, I swear when I complain, God overwhelms me with the blessings in my life! Like, "See your life is PERFECT!" And it truly is!

The past few days have been just beautiful here in Tennessee. Tomorrow is going to be the best of all! We've played outside for hours, taken walks, we slid down the slide (which mommy's hiney doesn't fit in very well anymore!) And we played on our swing set! We ran around with the dogs until we all passed out for naps! I just LOVE being outside!!

Last night I went out to eat at my favorite resturant, Fuji's, with Michelle. We had a GREAT time catching up (we only get together once a month or so) and eating some great sushi (fried for me!) and habatchi grill, yum! Michelle brought some old pictures of High School/Early College. Wow, we looked like babies! We've only been out of high school for....7 years...but we looked like babies!! Those were such fun days!!

Hubby left yesterday for his week long Dallas trip. I've kept myself busy so I don't miss him as much. But night-times are lonley! I'm counting down the days, hours, minutes (ok not really) until he comes home!! When I got my new Blackberry Storm last month, he wouldn't let me take his picture, so it would show up when he called. So I took a picture of his hiney! He has on PJ pants, so it's not a vulgar picture! But when he calls both of the girls recognize his hiney and they get excited! Tonight was no exception, although the excitement was times ten! They miss their daddy! And the picture cracks me up! Hubby has a great hiney!

I realized last week that I only have 17 weeks until baby Katy arrives. So I'm really trying to get stuff ready for her! I found an amazing double stroller on Craigslist, and I'm going to grab it on Tuesday, if it's in good condition of course! I found the boobie pump I wanted on sale last night so I grabbed it! Thanks Kennye for the GREAT recommendation! My other one died, and I'm determined to give this baby boobie milk for longer than 3 months!! It was super expensive. Shew, but it's such a cool "toy". I dunno, can you call a boobie pump a "toy" SURE! I've got to get her room put all together. I have so many clothes to hang up......Maybe I'll get some of that done this week. Ah, I dunno. I just don't want to wait until the last minute to get stuff ready, like I did with Maddy and Izzy. I just can't do that this time!!

I'll leave you with an amazing picture I captured today while the girls were playing. It truly captures the beauty of God's love and grace! I'm just amazed by how beautiful it is! It sums up my new mood and outlook!

~Blessings~

A Vent Post

2009-02-06T07:11:00.002-06:00

I'm probably in a bad mood today because I have a cold. I haven't slept well in three nights because I can't breathe!! I'm hopeful to get it all cleared up within a day!! The blessing is that we are all over the tummy bug! Hubby woke up Tuesday morning with it, but went to work anyway. He was over it in a couple of hours and we've been puke free for....3 days now yeah!!!!!

Well hubby has been working his bottom off. He's been doing his job, plus some. He's been working such long hours...plus he has class on Thursday evenings. So we haven't spent more than a couple of hours a week with him in over a month. He usually gets home after the kids go to bed, so I've seen him a lot more than they have. I feel awful for them. Well tomorrow he's leaving for a full week....he'll be back next Saturday. He has a managers conference to go to. And instead of flying back on Thursday, he's driving back with his brother and mutual friend....so he'll be back Saturday. And to beat all, they are taking our car....which hubby didn't tell me about until YESTERDAY!! Hubby's letting his brother and their friend drive our car all the way to Texas (hubby has to fly down) and then they are all driving back.......sigh.....

I'm upset. Hubby knows it to. I'm upset that he's taking off the extra time. First, because he would have been gone long enough anyway. Second, because my kids haven't seen their dad in like a month, and Third, I'm so dang tired of playing "single mommy". And the the straw that is breaking the camels back is that he didn't tell me they were taking our car! It's not that I don't trust my brother-in-law and their friend....it's just I didn't know....like hubby was trying to hide it from me.....I just don't like that.....

So this next week I really have to make sure that I'm staying positive and calm. We've all been sick so we all have short fuses. Maddy was so sassy yesterday that the guy that came to service our heater even noticed....I was so embarrassed. I have to make sure that I keep the house together.....it's going to be a very difficult week. But I know we can do it!!

Mama's never get a break.....

On a side note, I realized today that we only have about 17 weeks left until we meet baby Katy!! I can't believe it's that short of a time!! One of my baby updates said I should be putting on about a pound a week (yikes, not sure about that) and I was in shock that it's already time for that to be happening......didn't I just get pregnant?? I'm so excited to meet her though!!

I have to run. Maddy, once again, woke Izzy up an hour early. So Izzy is acting like a maniac....

~Blessings~

Midwife Appointment

2009-02-02T16:21:00.003-06:00

Well we had a midwife appointment today! All is well!

Katy's heart beat was around 145. Once again, Jeanne had to push her gently to one side so her tiny butt would sit still long enough for Jeanne to get a good heartbeat! Katy is just as stubborn and active as my other daughters haha! I can't believe I'm 22 weeks pregnant and I'm dying to see what my little girl looks like!!!! What does her voice sound like? Will she have Maddy's, Izzy's and Justin's toes?

My blood pressure was low again. Actually it was lower than last time. Today's reading was 90/60. Jeanne said I was fine since I wasn't on the verge of passing out. But to make sure I took it easy when going from sitting to standing. I wonder what causes low blood pressure. I don't restrict my diet any. I just don't crave sweets, actually can't tolerate sweets much. And most salty food tastes too salty. We usually eat pretty healthy. We don't heat white bread, or pasta, it's all whole grain. And we love veggies and fruits. And we don't like cokes and don't keep them in the house. I don't know why my blood pressure keeps on being so low. But I feel ok......at least the blessing is that we won't have to worry about it being too high!!

I have been feeling really well. My back hurts on occasion. And Katy likes to kick my cervix, which doesn't feel particularly wonderful!! Over the past week I've noticed I've been more weepy than normal. Last night Justin accidentally laid on my hair and pulled it. It was a total accident, but I cried! And today I was watching Everybody Loves Raymond, and Ray was taking his oldest, Allie, to a father daughter dance and had a flashback of when she was born....oh I was a mess!! But other than that, I'm doing really really well!!

I've only put on 10 lbs this pregnancy. My appetite is just now starting to pick up. I had a snack of goldfish crackers about an hour ago, and I'm starving right now! But I'm sort of at that stage where I'll eat half of my meal and then be so full, and then a couple of hours later I'll eat the rest of the meal. Oh and I've gotten some heartburn! According to Ole' Wives Tales, if you have heartburn, then you'll have a baby born with hair!! I'm holding out hope that Katy has enough for bows! I desperately want to put bows in my tiny baby's hair!!

Oh what else. Oh, I jinxed myself on my last post! Izzy had the tummy bug Monday night/Tuesday morning. Well I had it on Friday, Justin even had to come home early because I felt so awful!! And then Saturday Night/Sunday morning Maddy had it! I have been scrubbing my house like a maniac trying to get this germ out of my home!! And hopefully I've gotten it out!!

Now we are just dealing with runny noses. But that is totally manageable! I'll take snot over throw-up any day of the week!!

Justin has been working a lot. I've been playing single mommy for a while now. Justin's had to work over the past two weekends. And then Saturday, he's leaving to gout of town for a week. It's been difficult. I've never gone so long without him here, or without his support. It's been hard for the girls to only see him a couple of hours a week. It's been hard on mommy too. I'm anxious for this conference he's going to to be over, and for our lives to go back to some sort of normalcy!

Well I really am starving now, I'm going to go start some dinner!! Pasta night, yeah!!

~Blessings~

Thursdays

2009-01-29T17:11:00.003-06:00

Thursday's are amazing, and hard.

About a month ago hubby and I hired a lady to come clean our home once a week. We were both very surprised to learn that we could actually afford that. And Lord knows mama needs it! So Thursday's are wonderful because I go to work, I hang out with my favorite little people (besides my kids of course) and then I come home to an amazingly clean home!

Thursday's are also hard because hubby has class. So I'm stuck to do dinner and bedtime by myself. I don't know why it's easier with hubby home....maybe the emotional support? The girls just LOVE seeing their daddy and playing in the evenings! And it didn't help that they both woke up at 5:30 this morning....yikes!

We are all feeling GREAT!!!! Izzy had the "tummy" thing on Monday Night/Tuesday Morning. I sent Maddy off to school via Justin and Iz and I stayed home. It was Pajama day at school on Tuesday and Maddy just couldn't stand to miss out! Izzy's over it now, but geeze, I don't like the tummy thing!! Praise the Lord because Maddy and I haven't gotten sick! I don't want it!

Maddy is doing well. She has been pretty congested over the past week. And her poor nose is rubbed red! But she has special tissues with lotion that help a lot, and she's on a decongestant medicine. So hopefully it'll clear up soon!!

I'm feeling well. My tummy has really popped. I'm 22 weeks pregnant and Katy should be finally weighing about a pound. I have only put on about 8 pounds this pregnancy. I'm still able to wear "normal" shirts as long as they are the empire waist and "normal" jeans with the special belt loop holder thing so I don't have to button them. So I guess I've only put on weight in my tummy. Which is GREAT! I guess I've finally realized that I don't have to gain a ton while pregnant!! It's too hard for me to loose it all!! I feel wonderful, although I swear Katy is trying to kick out of my cervix....ouch! She knows exactly where to kick/punch to leave a mark! She's very active now and even Justin is able to feel her knocking around in there. I'll try to take a picture tonight and post. She's really sticking her butt out today ;)

I'm reading an amazing book. It's Ina Mae Gaskin's "Guide to Childbirth". If your pregnant, or are thinking about becoming pregnant, go to Barnes and Noble tonight and get it. It'll change your view of pregnancy/birth forever. It doesn't just prepare you for birth, it prepares you for what is going on with your body during pregnancy. It'll change your life. I only wish I had the book while pregnant with my other princesses! But at least I have it know. It's helping me prepare for our home birth a lot!

We are also doing the hypnobirthing home study. We are practicing the relaxation techniques frequently and they are amazing, even for my day-to-day. Hubby is really enjoying helping. I never thought he would be into this whole thing, and half expected to be doing this by myself. But he's jumped on board 100%. And I'm thrilled. I highly suggest this method, even if you are planning a hospital birth. It's an amazing technique that really puts you in touch with yourself!! Beautiful!!

Isn't birth beautiful? Sigh. I would have a thousand babies if I could just give birth to them and not be pregnant for the almost 10 months before :) (ok not really but you get my point!)

Justin is doing really well. He is working a lot and taking classes. He is anxious to graduate! He has had some promising news over the past week or so. We'll have to wait and see how things pan out before I post! I just can't express how proud I am of my husband!

Well I'm thinking about some Chinese Food for dinner. Justin's on a diet and won't eat it with me often. And, since he's in class tonight, I think I might make a run for it!

~Blessings~

Your Attitude Determines Your Destiny

2009-01-25T11:41:00.002-06:00

We had an amazing sermon today. It really home. It was about not complaining and not being frustrated. And how God takes that very seriously, just look at the book of Numbers in the bible. The Israelite people complained and he gave them exactly what they asked for.....but in a not so good way.

And also people need to look at Christians in a positive light. And how can you look at a Christian, and Christianity in a positive light when they see Christian people never have enough, when their God never gives enough, when they are never happy? Hello....

I'm bad about looking at the glass half empty instead of half full....to pout as my hubby would say....to play the "Oh Whoa is Me" Card. And I have so much to be thankful for, so much to live for. And I've been stuck in a world of pity and always "needing".

I know Brother David was speaking directly to me. (I mean the sermon was one that hit home). And I'm hoping to make some very positive changes!!

~Blessings~

New Book

2009-01-18T21:04:00.002-06:00

Saturday, while hubby was out of town, I went and ran my bazillion errands by myself while the girls hung out with my parents. I ran by Barnes N Noble (my all time favorite book store) and picked up a GREAT book!

When Your Kids Push Your Buttons and What You Can Do About It by Bonnie Harris.

It's truly been a GREAT read. I've been having a lot of parenting issues here lately. I know that it's me. I know that my daughters are VERY strong willed and I also know that I am not handling their bad behavior well.

This book is really opening up my eyes. I'm being able to take a step back and look at the girls behavior in a different way. Why is Izzy screaming? Why is Maddy whining? What do they need that they are not getting? What is there agenda, what is my agenda?

It's been fabulous. Last night I read a huge portion last night and am still not done, but I've read a lot and I'm loving it!! Today was a great day. It was not perfect, but it was so much better. The girls behavior was not perfect, but I handled it differently, I looked at WHY they were acting out, and stayed calm and realized what they REALLY needed. That they were not being silly because they liked it!! And I felt so much better too! I feel more in control, I feel like they felt more included, more loved today. This has been great...I'm so thankful for this book!

And it isn't a put the blame on anyone kind of book, it's a get to the root of the issue kind of book. It focuses on all age groups, so the book works for my almost 2 year old to my 4 year old, and even teenagers!! And it gives real life examples of the author's own students and their struggles, and a ton of them I've been through as well!!

Anywho! School has started and I have to get back to it. But I had to give my ringing endorsement to Mrs. Harris!!

~Blessings~

My 4 year old is CRAZY!!!

2009-01-14T11:00:00.002-06:00

And I say that title in the most loving way possible. But she's really going crazy!! For the past week or so she's been an emotional wreck! And she's just 4! Honestly she's more weepy/temperamental than I am at nearly 20 weeks pregnant!!

If things don't go just as she would like, she busts into tears, not like she's pitching a fit, but full blow, feelings hurt tears! And she's always been a bossy britches but she's become more of an "Alpha Female" over the past two weeks.

She hasn't napped in almost a year, but I still make her lay down and rest while Izzy is napping. And she's eating healthy, still.....And she's sleeping normally......

The only thing I can think of is maybe an increase of stress from the new baby coming......she so desperately wanted a baby brother and since we found out that baby Katy is on her way, she's acted differently towards her.....She's a little disconnected from this pregnancy where before she would love and kiss on my belly and talk to the baby....and now not so much. I have faith she'll reconnect, and she'll love her baby sister Katy just as much as she loves her little sister Izzy.

But I'm just at a loss. I don't know how to deal with the emotional mess my daughter has turned into....I thought I had years and years to prepare myself for this stage....

Say a little prayer for me and her!! Help me understand how to help her get through this tough stage!!

~Blessings~

New Layout

2009-01-12T08:57:00.002-06:00

Once again I've changed the layout!! What'cha think? I like it a lot, and hopefully will keep it this way for a while. Ah, who am I kidding, I grow bored with my Blog Layouts as quickly as I grow bored with my room decor!!

Life is going very well. I'm still having a hard time putting on weight. I'm up a total of 4 lbs this pregnancy......But I have to remember that God is in control and my body is doing what it needs to do!!

Izzy is potty training! She's doing so well!!! She's picked up on it so much quicker than I had expected!! I'm so proud, and she's so proud of herself!! I'm going to try sending her in her big girl undies to school tomorrow, so we'll see how that goes!!

We are still looking for a preschool for Maddy next year. I still want her to do a 5 day-a-week program next year, instead of just the two days a week at Mothers-Day-Out. Don't get me wrong, I love our MDO program, but since she has a late birthday, Justin and I just want the best for her, we want her to have a step up, to be prepared! Keep us in your prayers!!

School starts back on Thursday. Justin is taking another part time load (3 classes) and I'm doing another full time load (4 classes). And both of us will be taking a class on campus. Mine is Tuesday evenings from 4:20-5:45 and Justin's will be Wednesday's from 6:30 to 9:30 (I believe that is what he said!). Justin is still on track to graduate in August/ December. I'm so stinkin' proud of him for getting this done, I just can't express it in words!!

I'm trying to talk Justin into getting me a 3D ultrasound for Valentines Day/ Our 5 Year Anniversary! Since this is our last baby, I want to get that done something awful!! Hubby doesn't want to. He doesn't like the pictures, but I really would love to have them! We won't actually go for the appointment until Mid-March or so, but I hope he gets the hint! I e-mailed him the link to the place to get it done and gave him the best dates to go, etc. So I know he's gotten the subtle "hint"!!!!

Ok, I have lots of laundry to do today, I better go get started!!

~Blessings~

You've Got Your Hands Full!!

2009-01-09T12:14:00.002-06:00

"Haha, why yes I do and I enjoy every moment of it" is usually what I respond when I get that annoying statement.

I'm 19 weeks pregnant and am at the stage where most people can tell and that means a lot of unwelcome comments. When I leave the house to run errands, attend events, etc, I usually have both of my daughters with me. And I can't tell you how many times someone has come up to me and said, "Wow You've Got Your Hands Full!" And yes, I do. I have my hands more than full, but it's such an amazing journey! God has blessed us tremendously and we are enjoying each and every moment of our lives!!

Most people ask what we are having and when I respond that we are having another girl, people act like they are so disappointed for us! Like we didn't want another daughter, or she will be a burden on us or we are upset because we are going to have three beautiful healthy daughters!! Even some of our family has acted this way......

Let me just set the record straight. Yes, we have a family flooded with girls. And they are all amazing, beautiful, healthy wonderful baby girls!! We are thrilled, beyond thrilled to be adding another daughter to our family!! Katheryn is going to complete our family, she's perfectly healthy and amazing and we are more than excited to have her!! We are not disappointed one bit!!

I guess my goal for the week is to figure out how to answer the unwanted comments about having three daughters with something positive! Humm!!

Ok, enough annoying chatter!

GREAT news!! I posted a couple of weeks ago that we found out someone was expecting! And I feel safe to report that it's my brother-in-law, hubby's twin Dustin, and his wife Claire are expecting! They are due about the 4th of August!! So we are going to be adding ANOTHER Coker baby to the family!! Isn't that such exciting news?? Claire had her first appointment yesterday and they got to hear the little one's heartbeat!! So we are going to have a new cousin for the girls and a new niece or nephew for us!! We are SO excited for them!!! And we are so excited to be adding another wonderful baby to the family! What an exciting, blessed year 2009 will be!!!!!

Also GREAT news!! I have a great friend and I watched her two sons last year. She quit working for a while and I quit watching the boys. She's back on the job ;) again and I will get to watch one of the boys again!! I love Cathy and her hubby and the boys so very much! And I've missed them terribly over the past months! Now, Colin has started Sonshine School on Tuesdays and Thursdays and I'll start watching him soon!! I'm so thrilled!! Not only to have my sweet Colin back, but I'll be making a little extra money! That's going to be so amazing because of baby Katy coming! And it'll put us closer and closer to getting out of debt!! Wahoo!!!

I am just amazed daily at God's love and grace and how he works with us, and protects us and helps us!! I love the plan that is unfolding for me and hubby and our family!! I'm just in love with life right now!!

~Blessings~

Midwife Appointment

2009-01-05T16:03:00.002-06:00

It was a great appointment!!

First, they looked at the ultrasound measurements and said Katy looked perfect. I was worried because the ultrasound said that on Saturday, baby was measuring only 17 weeks instead of the 18 weeks I am. Marylin and Jeanne said that ultrasound measurements can be off by up to two weeks! And by her measurements baby Katy is measuring perfectly on track!!

Also, I have been a little concerned because I have only put on 3 pounds this pregnancy!!! I'll weigh myself and I'll be up 5lbs and then I'll weigh myself a couple of days later at the same time and I'm down to just 3 lbs again! But they are not concerned about it at all. When I snack I want cucumbers or tomatoes with vinegar. I can't tolerate sweets. My appetite is also pretty normal, although I usually have an extra snack of cereal in the evening. And, baby weighs only ounces and is measuring perfectly so my weight gain is not an issue.

My fundus, which is the height of my uterus, is actually measuring at almost 20 weeks!! Marilyn and Jeanne said that is normal especially since this is our third baby!! So my fundus is right at my belly button! Ya!!

We heard Katy's heartbeat really well today! Jeanne had to kind of push on my stomach to push her to once side so her tiny butt would sit still for a moment so we could listen!! It was perfect and strong! She's going to be a stubborn child because when Jeanne pushed her to the side gently she kicked and squirmed in her little bubble like, "Leave Me Alone People!" It was funny!! Another Diva-Licous Daughter!!

The only concern is that my blood pressure has been 110/70 at all of my past appointments. That is normal and great! But today it was 100/60. During this middle point in pregnancy, your blood pressure does drop and then it'll come back up once I get closer to my third trimester. I have been having dizzy spells, especially when I get up or move too quickly. So, I just need to make sure I take my time or I might get too dizzy!! But I've never had my blood pressure that low before, ever. Marilyn and Jeanne are concerned, but not too concerned. They both agree that it's better to be a little low than a little high while pregnant. But I just need to take extra care to be careful!!

It's so refreshing to hear your baby and see your baby. You know they are there. You feel them kicking and punching and trying to break ribs and rupture bladders (hehehehe). But once you see that tiny baby and hear that little baby's heartbeat....ah it makes the miracle of life so amazing!!!!!

So baby Katy and mommy are healthy!! On a funny note, Izzy keeps calling baby, "puppy". I keep trying to tell her that I have proof that it isn't a "puppy" but she doesn't get it!! I find it so funny!!!

~Blessings~

1st pictures of Katheryn Anne Coker

2009-01-04T06:36:00.002-06:00

Ok in-utero pictures!! But still precious! These are the one's my mom took. I'm going to take some more this afternoon off of the video Roy made for us!!

~Blessings~

And It's A....

2009-01-03T20:05:00.002-06:00

GIRL!!!!

We are so excited!! She's beautiful and healthy! She has long legs! But she's measuring about a week smaller than I should be....so I'm going to have to ask my midwives about that. I got a positive pregnancy test at 3 weeks 4 days if I'm 18 weeks pregnant. If I'm only 17 weeks pregnant then I would have gotten a positive at only 4 days pregnant (which isn't possible because baby wouldn't have implanted yet giving off the HcG hormone needed to detect pregnancy). So I'm a little concerned that baby is measuring smaller than she should be! But all checks out, heart, kidneys, head, everything!! She even said "peace" with her fingers and waved at Maddy!!

Maddy is disappointed. She just knew it was a boy. I feel so awful for her. I don't know what to tell her except that God wants us to have another girl. And we are thankful she's healthy. But it still breaks my heart to see her so upset that she will never have a brother.

Of course I left my digital camera with all of the pictures on it in moms car, so I'll pick it up after church and load them tomorrow!!

Looks like Katheryn Anne is our new Coker!!!!!

~Blessings~

TOMORROW!!!

2009-01-02T15:27:00.002-06:00

We are going tomorrow, January 3, 2009 to find out if we are having another beautiful, divalicous baby girl, or a surprising baby boy!! Our appointment isn't until 6:00 p.m. but I'll update as soon as I can!! Wish us lots of open leg vibes!! I hope we don't have a shy little one!!

~Blessings~

New Year's Resolutions!

2009-01-01T09:45:00.002-06:00

I usually don't make New Year's Resolutions. If I do, I never keep them and it's always the same, to loose weight or to quit smoking, when I did smoke. To be more organized, budget better, eat healthier, etc. Sigh....

But this year I am making one. I've read that it takes about 30 days to create a new habit. So I'm not setting my expectations too high. But I have high hopes I can become a more patient person. Specifically with my children.

I pray for patience daily, sometimes multiple times a day. It's something I struggle with. I have high expectations for my daughters, and I'll be honest, a lot of them are unrealistic right now. Maddy is JUST 4 and Izzy is JUST 21 months old. They are still babies and yet I find myself expecting Maddy to remember things that I can't even remember, or expecting Izzy to know NOT to do something. And it just isn't fair for me or them. I get frustrated when my expectations are not met, and it is not the girls' fault.

So, hopefully, with a lot of tongue biting and hard work I will become a more patient mother. I want my children to be well rounded, to be loving and caring. But they can't get that with a mommy that stays on their tails all of the time. I need to make time to play, just play. But most importantly, I need to learn to be ok with mistakes, with imperfections, with childhood.

You know, with the children I teach, I'm able to look at those children and understand their ages and know what to expect for them, and know what not to expect. But for some reason I have a hard time doing it with my own children....maybe because I want them to be so much better than I am, was or ever could be......

I pray that God walks with me on this path, this journey, a lifelong journey. And I pray that God walks with you on your path over this next year!

~Blessings~

Need Your Input!!

2008-12-29T21:05:00.002-06:00

So the time is drawing near and we will be finding out what our little peanut is soon!!

As most of you know we have pretty much decided on Kathryn (Katy) Anne Coker for our little girl. However, if we do, by some small chance, have a son, we have no name for him!! I know I know, we have plenty of time, but if you know my hubby, we have to start thinking of the names now or the poor child won't be named until he's 3!!!

So here are the "rules"!! The first name has to start with K. There are several names we want to try to include. We don't have to use the actual name because most are too "old fashioned" for our taste, but maybe if we could use a name that has the same meaning of a family name.....Anyway, the names we want to include are Carl (Justin's grandfather), Radford (my mom's maiden name) and Harold or Wayne or Norman (my dad's name). Hummmmmm see why we are stuck....

We need a name that begins with K that honors Carl, Radford and Harold/Wayne/Norman....tricky!!!!

So please leave us your suggestions, even if you think it's silly, leave them!! We need help, I need help naming this little baby!! (If it is a boy, of course if it's a girl we should be all set hehe)

~Blessings~

Tidings of Comfort and Joy!!!

2008-12-21T16:54:00.003-06:00

I have several things to share!!

First, we learned that members of our family is expecting their first baby in the beginning of August! I don't want to give too many details yet because they haven't told everyone yet! We are THRILLED that our little family is getting even bigger!!!!! As our journey ends, so the others begins!!!

Second, baby Hannah is still doing amazingly well! The girls got to meet her last night! She's such a GREAT baby! And Kennye and Jared couldn't be prouder parents of such a GOOD baby girl!!!! She is such a good baby, I could just gobble her up hehe!!

Third, I have great news about our dogs! So I posted in my last blog about the cat incident. After my hubby spoke to our neighbor, we found out that the cat was a stray. Tony said they had been trying to get it away from their home for about a week. So, it wasn't one of their kittens, and it totally explains why the cat came IN the fence! Also, after much research and speaking with my vet, hubby and I have decided to keep the dogs! Ya! My vet said that Labs, Great Danes, and German Shepard's are all very territorial dogs. (Which is the mixes of our dogs). And they understand that we are their owners, they love us and they were protecting us. See, dogs don't have the ability to realize that a small cat isn't a threat to THEIR family. The cat came in the fence, on their territory, and the dogs defended. No biggie. My vet has known my dogs since the day we've had them. And she knows how loving and kind and wonderful they are. So that is GREAT news!! GREAT news!!

I just love good news!! I'm so thrilled for all of the new babies coming into our family!! And I'm so thrilled that we find out what our little bean is very soon!! And I'm so excited that everyone is healthy and very happy!! It's just been the perfect end to a GREAT year!!

I wish everyone a Merry Christmas!! And the happiest New Year!! I hope God continues to Bless your lives and keep you safe and healthy!!

~Blessings~

Dog Issues

2008-12-19T15:01:00.002-06:00

We have two GREAT dogs! Clay is a mix. His dad was full blooded German Shepard and his mom was full blooded Lab. And Mila is a Lab/ Great Dane mix. They have a great time together, but they sometimes play rough. We have a large back yard that is fully fenced in, so they are allowed to play freely, without risk of any other animals coming in or them getting out.

We've never had any problems out of them. When Clay was younger, he chewed on our deck, but that is it. No other problems at all.

This morning about 3:00, I heard Clay barking, a weird bark, it was constant. I remember thinking, "Breathe Clay!". We've had a stray dog coming around so I thought that it must be right at the fence. So I go and flip on the lights and the barking didn't quit, slow down, it's like I never did a thing. So I step outside and the dogs have a cat. By this time my husband is awake and out on the back porch with me. He yells at the dogs and they go quickly under our porch (they always respond so well to my husband) and I go see about the cat. The cat passed right then, at least it wasn't alone, I was right there (not touching it of course). I was so torn up, hubby came and disposed of the cat properly.

Two homes down from us a man has several cats. They are all solid black (the cat that passed was one of his). They are allowed to roam freely (which is illegal in Rutherford County, no dog or cat is allowed to roam free). And they tease the dogs badly. They'll rub up against our chain length fence and sit right at the fence edge. It was quite funny to watch, actually, sly cats!

But now we are worried about aggression issues. They have never shown an ounce of aggression towards anything, us, each other, other animals, etc. We dog sit my mom's dog and my brother-in-laws dog all of the time, and the dogs LOVE them. Plus we have an indoor cat who's 13 and when she ventures outside, they leave her alone. But I'm convinced they are slightly scared of her ;)

I've read that it's normal for animals to attack other animals (especially dogs vs cats/birds/bunnies) especially if they come into the dogs yard/territory (which the cat would have had to have come in, there is no way the dogs could have gotten to it other wise). But still....our kids are young, and I'm 16 weeks pregnant......We just don't know what to do! If we take them to the pound, we are afraid that they'll put them down, which might need to happen. We don't have thousands of dollars to hire someone to come and "re-train" them......

We are stuck....We love our dogs.... We just don't know what to do!

Any thoughts or suggestions or prayers would be much appreciated!!

~Blessings~

Blessings and MORE prayers!

2008-12-17T10:33:00.002-06:00

GREAT news!

First, Maddy and Izzy's skin is getting so much better with the Cetaphil soap and lotion!! It's just been a couple of days and one bath and we've seen such a huge improvement! Praise God!

Second, Grades are in! Justin made an A, a B and a C!!! He kicked bootie this semester and I'm really proud of him!!

Third, I'll be 16 weeks preggers tomorrow!! We are just about 4 weeks from finding out what this little bean is!!

Now to my prayer request. My grades from this semester were an A, two C's and an F. Yes, I failed a course. If you know me, I have only made two B's, the rest A's, since going back to school in 2004. So you can imagine how disappointed I am to have such low grades this semester. But my real prayer request is for the F. I am appealing the grade.

See, it was a general education requirement. And it was an online class. We had two assignments that we had to complete that I couldn't afford to complete. Weird, I know. But since I'm appealing the grade, I don't want to go into too much detail. I am not asking for much, just a D. It'll do major damage to my GPA, but at least I passed and get some points, not 0. This is a pain in the bootie, and I'm upset with the teacher. Please pray that I get over those silly feelings. Please also pray that the appeals process goes smoothly and is as stress-free as possible. And please pray for a positive outcome! I'm not asking for much! Not even the grade I "deserve", just a passing grade!! Sigh, If it isn't one thing it's another, huh?

~Blessings~

Prayers and Peace

2008-12-16T06:30:00.002-06:00

Please keep Kennye, Jared and baby Hannah in your thoughts and prayers. Everyone is doing fine, so please don't worry! They came home yesterday and I would appreciate prayers for peace, and patience, and getting a good start. Ya'll know how difficult and weird it is to come home with your first baby! So just keep them on your mind over the next week!

I have been having Braxton Hicks contractions. Can you believe it? I can't! I never felt them with Maddy or Izzy. I read that they start at 6 weeks but most women don't feel them until the very end of their pregnancy, if at all. And I never felt them. I called Jeanne, and she said all is well. I love her! But they are weird. Not painful, but not comfortable. I'll be in the middle of something and have to stop and remind myself that this isn't something to worry about, it's not hurting me or baby. Baby is moving around well, I'm feeling lots of kicks/punches and flutters. Ah, love those!

I took the girls to the doctor yesterday. My mom, Sister, myself, Maddy and Izzy all have eczema. Well all of ours is manageable. I have a little cream I can put on my elbows or knees if it flares up bad. But Izzy has chronic dry skin. I have tried everything I can think of to keep her comfortable and up until Sunday she hadn't itched or messed with it. Once she figured out how good scratching felt, I knew it was time for doctor intervention. Dr. Humphrey is an amazing doctor! He said both girls are doing well! Maddy is 39lbs and Izzy is 24lbs. WOW!! And Maddy's skin was just mildly flared up yesterday, but Izzy's skin was fully flared up. So he said to ditch all soaps and lotions except Cetaphil. Apparently it's what a dermatologist would recommend. Since Eczema is chronically dry skin, it's something we'll have to deal with all of our lives, but the Cetaphil soap and lotion will keep it manageable. He also gave me a prescription for a cream to put on their skin IF it cracks. It has a mild steroid in it, I'm leery about it, but he said it wouldn't bother them since the dosage of steroid in the cream and the dosage I would put on her is so small. Whew!

Justin and I are praying like crazy for their skin. Izzy's in particular, it was so bad last night!! Please pray that this soap and lotion and the cream does the trick and she gets some relief and peace!!

Well schools here are opening 2 hours late because of Ice. I'm not sure what that means for me, do we have preschool today? I'm going to get off and go find out!

~Blessings~

A Few New Pictures!

2008-12-13T15:35:00.003-06:00

So I thought I would first post a picture of my new niece, Hannah Claire! We got to see her for a moment before heading to Knoxville to do Christmas with my Nana and family! Isn't she BEAUTIFUL? Kennye is doing very very well and so is Jared! She's perfect!!!

And here is the first "Belly Pic" I'll post. I thought my belly really poked out today! So here it is, 15 weeks 2 days preggo with #3!

~Blessings~

Hannah Claire is HERE!!

2008-12-13T05:00:00.002-06:00

We got the text message shortly after 4. Justin's mom kept us updated! And I haven't been able to go back to sleep, so I thought I'd jump on here!

Hannah Claire was born at 3:59 a.m. She is 19 inches long and weighed 7 lbs even! Mommy and Hannah are doing very well!!

We are so blessed to have her in our family! God is such a good God!

We are going to Knoxville today so hopefully Justin and I can go see her before we leave. Keep checking www.jaredholt.com for updates and pictures!!

~Blessings~

Snow Day!

2008-12-12T09:56:00.002-06:00

It started last night and I prayed it would stick long enough for us to play in it this morning! And it did! The girls had a blast! Although all Izzy wanted to do was eat it out of the bird feeder the whole time ha! Enjoy the slide show!

~Blessings~

Fall Semester Complete!

2008-12-10T09:38:00.003-06:00

I will be done with this semester of school today. I have two finals to complete and then I just have turn in one tonight and one tomorrow evening. So I'm done with the work tonight. I'm so relieved. School was an awful thing for me this semester. It's never too fun, but this semester it was nothing but a stresser. I truly need prayers for one of my classes. I can't go into detail without becoming furious. Please pray for me on that. I just pray I pass! I have made ONE B since 2002!! And now I am going to fail a class......see here I go. Please pray over this class!

I don't have too much to blog about, I just wanted to give you an update! We are all still doing great and are excited about Christmas!

Ok off to do laundry!

~Blessings~

With Wisdom, Power and Love.....

2008-12-04T18:51:00.002-06:00

OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD!

I am on a journey. I've fallen away from my relationship with God. I have let a lot of things slide here lately, but that is one thing that can't be let go.

This morning before the kids woke up, I was getting ready for work this morning and I was overcome. I immediately went into my bedroom and dropped to my knees. I pray, but I haven't been talking with God. I let it all out this morning, I let it all go, I cried, I spilled my heart and I gave up all of the weight that was on my shoulders!

It was amazing. I know logically that my relationship with God should be number one, before anything else. And I've been putting it last. Not anymore. I had an awful day today. My class was great, I have such an amazing group of kids, but it was a hard day for me personally. I even had a couple of teaches keep asking if I was ok today! I guess I had that look of thought on my face! But it's ok. I'm not worried, I'm not stressed, I know that all will be as God has planned.

I urge you, if you haven't in a while, to stop what you are doing, go to a quiet place and have a long, heartfelt conversation with God. And listen....you never know what you'll hear!! God is amazing and he wants to have a relationship with you. He wants to be your friend, your confidant, your Father. I urge you to go to him and give yourself to him again!

~Blessings~

Third Midwife Appointment

2008-12-01T16:37:00.002-06:00

It went so well. I'm so blessed to have Marilyn and Jeanne!

I haven't gained any weight since I saw them a couple of weeks ago. So still up just one pound for the whole pregnancy. I suspect that'll change now that I'm feeling really well! But my cravings are pretty healthy, so I'm really doing well this time around!

We heard the baby kick/punch and we heard the heartbeat after Jeanne had to tell peanut that he/she needed to be still for just a moment! Yes, another very active baby!! The heartbeat was in the 150s. They said it was perfectly normal and too early to tell if it was high or low (for boy or girl) because all babies heartbeats are high at this age. But it was perfect!!!!!!!

My blood pressure was good, 110/70 I believe. And we are just assuming I'm anemic because I was with Maddy and Izzy so Jeanne gave me the name of an amazing supplement that won't mess up my tummy. Ya!

They both said I look great and since I'm feeling great, things are GREAT! They told me to keep up the good work and they would see me in 2009! It looks like we'll have another appointment around the 5th of January and then the BIG ultrasound around the 15th!! I'm going to call the "Ultrasound Guy" at the beginning of the year to set up the appointment!!

Thanks for reading! I'm really pumped now, that sweet little baby is really there! And I'm so close to knowing what my little peanut is. I say girl!! Katheryn Anne Coker! But that's just my guess, I was wrong with Maddy AND Izzy, so who knows ;)

~Blessings~

A wiggily Baby!

2008-12-01T08:10:00.002-06:00

I have my third midwife appointment today. I'm so excited! We will be able to hear the baby's heartbeat today without much trouble! I'm so excited to hear that precious sound!

Yesterday I cleaned out my closet (Finally! Talk about a disaster area!) and it really pooped me out! So Justin took over and let me rest for a while. (God Bless that man, I swear he is too good to me!). And I felt the baby move!!! It is those tiny little punches/kicks and flutters almost like butterflies, but not! I've been feeling it ever since, off and on. It's like once it turns on it doesn't turn off! I LOVE those little kicks, thank-you God for those little kicks!!

I'm so releaved! Since we have decided that it is safest for the baby only to have one ultrasound (My midwives and I believe the research that shows that multiple ultrasounds have NOT been shown to be safe for unborn babies). And with Maddy and Izzy I had already had one ultrasound by now, so it's hard not to see that baby, even though I know it's the best. Feeling that movement just reassured me that my little peanut was ok!!

Isn't the miracle of conception to birth such a miracle???? I am 13 weeks pregnant and I can already feel this little peanut and hear the little heartbeat.....Wow, praise GOD!

My sister-in-law Kennye is due very soon!! She had an appointment a couple of weeks ago and little Hannah is gearing up and getting ready!! We are all sooooo excited to meet her! And Kennye is really doing well! It's so easy to get so run down at the very end of a pregnancy, and she's such a trooper! Her and Jared are going to be such GREAT parents! I can't wait until Bailey and Hannah get older so we can have a HUGE sleepover!!!!

On a side note, Izzy has learned how to open doors, Sigh. We have round door knobs and I was in the bathroom this morning and she came right on in! Agh! But I guess it's time! Haha, she's also speaking in sentences. Of course I don't really understand what she is saying, but every third word or so is "Izzy". Haha it's so funny! She's one amazing kid!

You should see Maddy's coloring skills. Wow, just suddenly she's developed this ability to color so well!!! I'll have to take a picture of the picture she colored at my moms. It's truly a georgous picture, we were all, quite frankly, shocked with the picture. It was beautiful! I knew this would be a big year of change, but I'm still in awe of how smart she is!

Well that is our update! I have commited myself to "babysitting" Maddy's "baby" so she can go to the grocery store....who knew I'd be a "gramma" at 24 hehehehe!! I LOVE Maddy's imagination!

~Blessings~

Happy Thanksgiving!!

2008-11-28T08:31:00.002-06:00

If you are reading this I want you to know how thankful I am for you! My family is so blessed and I couldn't be more thankful for those blessings!

Bless your family! I hope you had an amazing Thanksgiving and you continue to enjoy your families!!!!

~BLESSINGS~

Wow, A Crazy Life!

2008-11-25T20:33:00.002-06:00

I'm going to start this post by saying that I'm more blessed than I deserve. I have no idea how I got such great family and such great friends, but I did, and I'm so thankful for each and every person in my life!

I've realized over the past week that I'm losing my mind. Truly! Life is becoming overwhelming. I am forgetting things that are very important, such as assignments. I feel overwhelmed, exhausted, nauseous, and emotional. This is by far the hardest thing I have ever done in my life. Being pregnant and having two babies is extremely difficult. I am truly in awe of you mommies that have done it plus some!

I've had to let a lot of things slide here lately. I'm being pulled in a million directions, so it feels. My children are such a blessing, but they are truly exhausting. My home is untidy. My floors unvacuumed, and piles of laundry in my laundry basket. I've got two papers to write that are due next Tuesday. Plus 6 math assignments due next Wednesday. I also have a months worth of lesson plans to do for my class. I also have about 10 ornament art projects to put together.

My children are getting used to playing by themselves. I think I dislike that the most. It takes so much energy for me to do the smallest task, and I don't have the extra umph to do all of the fun things with my daughters like I used to. Thank God for Maddy. She is truly helping me out more than she knows.

Ah, and there is my husband. As much as he huffs and puffs, he really steps up to help me around the house. He's quick to get me what I need and truly understands when I'm sick or just feeling bad. He's kept the house in order, the laundry manageable and he keeps me motivated. He's my rock. He also goes to school and works 50 + hours a week. And yet he still finds time to make sure I know he loves me, and will always take care of me. And he truly understands that this pregnancy has been more difficult on me so far than the girls. He truly understands that I have zero energy, I've had terrible morning sickness, basically I've been useless! God Bless him.

Praise God he gave me the energy to get all of my Christmas Shopping done today. And I'm in budget, which is another blessing!

I've been neglecting relationships lately. I've let friendships slide, and haven't stayed in touch with family. But most importantly I've lost contact with my Lord and Savior. I turn to him so much during the day for guidance and patience. But I haven't sat down in a long time and just talked to him. I need to set aside time each day for just him and I. Maybe in the mornings while I'm cooking breakfast before everyone wakes up?

Mama's how are you doing it??? How do you balance your families with your God and your other responsibilities? Elizabeth? I feel like I'm letting too much go......

I am sorry to vent on the blog. I don't like negativity. But I feel better now.

God is so good. I am just in awe of his glory and his love every single moment of every single day. He knows what we need and what we don't need. He gives and he takes. I know and I trust that this difficult time will pass, and that I will only become stronger from it. I know that God truly has a plan for my life, and this baby is a huge part of it!

Monday we have another midwife appointment and I'll hopefully get a recording of the heartbeat and if I can, I'll post it! I'm so excited.

May God Bless every single one of you on this blessed Thanksgiving. Have fun and be safe and enjoy every moment with your family!!!

~Blessings~

Picture Overload!!

2008-11-23T12:06:00.003-06:00

I realized that I haven't posted pictures in a while when I pulled 206 off of my digital camera today! Oops! So be prepared! I put them in slide shows, I hope you enjoy them as much as I do!

Maddy and Izzy at Dance the day we could Observe:

Here are pictures from the MTSU vs UT Men's Basket Ball Game:

This is from Thanksgiving/ Kennye's Family Baby Shower last night! The 2 men with Kennye are Justin's Uncle Stan and Justin's step-dad Bobby! Funny!!

Ok, that is it for now!! Thanks for watching!

~Blessings~

Prayer Request

2008-11-21T15:42:00.002-06:00

I need prayers for my memory. I'm forgetting assignments for my online classes. I've been so busy lately. And my two online classes are really suffering. Please pray for me to be able to make it through the end of the semester. Since I've returned to college I've made all A's and B's. This will be my first semester to make a C I believe. I'm trying so hard but I'm struggling.

Please pray for me over the next three weeks!

Also please pray for a child in Madelyn's class.

~Blessings~

Thank-You Dear God!!

2008-11-17T20:53:00.002-06:00

I'm 11 weeks 4 days today. I had my second midwife appointment and it went splendid! Justin came home early and got to meet Jeanne and Marilyn! I was pleasantly surprised! Marilyn said I was A PERFECT CANDIDATE FOR A HOME BIRTH!!! We also tried to listen for the heartbeat! It's very difficult to hear at this stage of the game, but Marilyn and Jeanne heard it! And I did too! It was VERY faint but such a good good sound! Maddy and Izzy just clung to me making sure that Jeanne and Marilyn were not hurting mommy! But they could sense that mommy was happy and so were Ms. Jeanne and Ms. Marilyn!!!

Shew! What a relief! Hearing that tiny little blump blump blump was the best sound!! It made this baby so real. Not that my terrible morning sickness or my sore boobs, or my mood swings or fatigue were not real! They are! But that heartbeat made it all perfect!! Just perfect! I'm having a BABY!! There is a tiny swimming, kicking, little baby inside my tummy! God is so good!

I've put on a pound. Which is good because I had lost about 3 pounds! So now I'm back up a total of 4 pounds. I've been craving Chinese food like they are going to quit making it! The China Panda in the new Kroger shopping center on Rutherford has the BEST Sesame Chicken. Oh it's heaven! I've been eating a Ton. Seriously about 12 times a day. If I don't, I get sick. I'm trying to eat healthy, but today the pizza bites got the best of me!!! Oops! Jeanne and Marilyn are both in agreement if I can keep it down I can have it! God Bless them!!

We have decided that since I was anemic with both of the girls, and I have been feeling very run down here lately, I am going to start taking an extra Iron supplement to prevent any further fatigue issues. My life is crazy busy right now and I can't afford to get run down! I am also going to try to incorporate more protein and fiber into my diet. Marilyn and Jeanne both agree that it'll help keep me fuller longer. Plus I'm going to incorporate celery and pimiento cheese and/or peanut butter into my daily snacks. Celery is empty so there aren't many calories in it, but it'll keep something in my stomach. And the pimiento cheese or peanut butter will be the added umph to keep me fuller longer. I'll be glad not to be hungry every hour!

Jeanne and Marilyn are coming back in two weeks. They said we can hear the heartbeat really well then and we can even record it for Justin to hear!!!!!! How cool is that! And then I won't see them for 5 weeks so we can get through the holidays. And THEN we'll have an appointment and the big Ultra Sound!!!!! Can you believe it? Marilyn thinks it is a boy, but I think girl! But I've been wrong on both of my kids thus far! Haha!

Thanks for listening to me blab about my day! OH and I found out that you can buy raisin bread WITHOUT raisins! Thanks Christina! I've been eating some for breakfast but picking out the raisins, and I won't have to do that anymore!!!!! SCORE!!

~Blessings~

Kennye's Maternity Pictures

2008-11-12T07:48:00.002-06:00

My sister-in-law Kennye is due in December with her little girl, Hannah Claire! She went a little while back and had some maternity pictures done with her and Jared's friend Bo. He's an amazing photographer! I just saw the pictures and cried through all of them. Just beautiful!

You have to go to Jared's Site and look at all of the beautiful pictures!!

~Blessings~

Brain Dump

2008-11-12T07:26:00.002-06:00

I'm taking a class right now with one of the most unorganized teachers I've ever had. She's taught preschool longer than I've been alive. But this is her first time teaching this course. We have to observe 6-8 year olds. We just submitted our papers on our observations of 3-4 year olds and last week she didn't tell us what school to go to. So this week we asked and she said, "You haven't found a school yet? Typically you find your own school to go to!". So while on our break (It's a long class that meets once a week) the class got into a discussion about it and no one knew we were supposed to find our own school to observe. Our teacher, after further probing, finally said we were to call the principle and it was up to them what grade we would observe. Sigh. I have a week to complete this plus a project she just assigned last night. This course shouldn't be hard. It's Human Development 2. Not hard! But she is making it difficult. I'm very discouraged. I was finally feeling like I was on the downward slide for this semester and now I'm stressed with the amount of work due next week.

Next semester isn't going to be better. Going to school full time while having children is very difficult. If you're thinking about doing it, don't! You sacrifice much more than you know. I still have 5 or 6 semesters left if I stay full time. Next semester is going to be insaine! I'm going to be pretty pregnant and I'm taking a killer semester. Full time again. But after next semester I'll probably have to go back to part time because of the baby ;).

Ok enough about the vent, I'm sorry just to dump that all out there. It's still fresh on my mind from last night's class!

I'm going to go now and start getting ready for the day, It's already 7:30 and I'm still in bed!! Haha! I hope you all have a blessed day!

Praise Him Monday!

2008-11-10T07:21:00.003-06:00

I have come to a point in my life where I am trying to give all of the glory to God. Because it's all his anyway! I have been living my life "my" way for so long, and over the past two years I've really learned a lot about God and my savior Jesus Christ and I've really built a solid relationship with them. But I still have trouble giving all of the glory to God. It's so easy for there to be an accomplishment in my life and accept the praise for it. When in actuality, I am nothing without God. None of us are. We can't do a thing without him. And everything we do, everything we have and everything we accomplish is because of him. Cool Huh?

So every Monday I am going to try to sit down and give the Glory from the previous week back to God. And I encourage you to do it with me. If you do it on your own blog, please leave me a comment so I make sure I praise with you! And if you want to just comment here, please feel free to do so! You know I love comments!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Dear God,

I thank you for giving me life, and giving my mother the strength and wisdom to raise me. I thank-you for my father and his guidance. Thank-you for my children, my husband, my friends, my family, and my foes. Please help me do your work, please shine through me.

God, this past week, I was able to complete a project for my parenting class. Thank-you for the strength. I was also able to drive my family safely to Knoxville for the weekend, thank-you for the guidance. Last night, I was able to finally restore some order to my home, thank-you for the strength. I registered for a tough semester next semester, thank you for the guidance to know that even though it's going to be tough, I can push through! Most importantly I am finally getting over some of the fatigue and morning sickness, thank-you for this pregnancy, this baby!

God, this week I ask that you please help me continue to keep things orderly in my home. Please help me get things further uncluttered and organized. Also, please help me attentive during my courses. Please show me that I have the time to just play with my children, and enjoy them. Please give me the stomach to cook dinner this week!

In Jesus' name I pray,

AMEN
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~Blessings~

10 weeks pregnant

2008-11-06T05:49:00.003-06:00

Well we are double digits!! It is very exciting but sad at the same time, since this is our last!! It seems like it is just flying by!

I'm feeling great! I've been pretty sick and have actually lost about 3 pounds. I had a great day yesterday, so I'm hoping that this is the beginning of the end for my morning sickness and fatigue! I already look like I'm pregnant. I took a picture and will post it later.....it's sad to have a tummy already, Oh well!! I should have another appointment with my midwifes soon, and I'm excited, I love them and feel like I haven't seen my good friends in over a month!

I found out on Monday that I am immune to 5th disease! Praise God! Turns out, Izzy had it last week though. So I was defiantly exposed! But because I'm immune, this baby is perfectly fine! Praise God!

Both of the girls are doing really well and so is Justin, he's just working a TON!! We are going to Knoxville this weekend to visit with family and watch U.T. play with Philip Fulmer as their head coach one last time! I will be so sad!! He's been there for my entire "Loving U.T. Football" Career, I think!! He's the only coach I know!

Ok I have to go start getting ready for the day! I have class tonight and I teach all day! I haven't seen my kids at school since LAST Tuesday and I miss them a ton!! We have a big project due in my Parenting class. Please say a little prayer for us today, that we do well, and have it all together! THANKS!

~Blessings~

It's Over!

2008-11-05T08:32:00.002-06:00

We have a new president elect. And I will be honest I'm so glad it's all over with. It's been great watching TV without any nasty commercials on about who will be the better president, senator, congressman, etc. And now if we could just get the politics off the news....haha ya right!

I am disappointed that John McCain didn't win. But I'm not surprised. I am very proud of Tennessee for voting for them though! I'm going to be completely honest on this post! I'm very nervous about Obama. There is so much that is negative about him, so much that is scary and unknown. I've been thinking about it all night and all morning. How are we going to fair over the next four years? What changes are going to happen? I know we will just have to wait and see because all politicians are guilty of saying one thing and then doing another. So we will see.

I truly hope that Obama exceeds my expectations. I hope he makes some positive changes with this country. But I'll tell you what. He better not touch my husbands 401k. He better not "spread the wealth" and he better not tax us anymore. Times are hard right now and Justin and I bust it daily, seriously bust it, so we can have what we have and I'll pitch a fit (yes probably like a 2 year old hehe) if he wants to take things away that we've worked so darn hard for. Last night a poll came out that said 60% of Americans, not 60% of republicans, 60% of AMERICAN's believe that their taxes will be raised under Obama. Sigh.

Don't get me wrong. I think our country is in a huge financial crisis. We depend on credit instead of cash. We make $600 and spend $1000. Instead of saving up and buying a car, we buy a car 10 times what we need and put it all on credit. And our government wants to bail us out, even though we have trillion dollar deficit! That is beyond wrong!

We need to get out of debt as a nation. We don't need to bail out companies that are going bankrupt so that they can merge with other companies. We don't need to bail out banks so that they can pay their CEO's and dividends. We shouldn't help those that got in over their heads. Do you know what happened when Justin and I got in over our heads? We sold stuff, we worked extra, and we got ourselves out of our mess. But we didn't ask for a bail out! And didn't need it! And I'm not in support of paying to help those that won't help themselves. (And yes I know these are Bush mistakes, thus the need for some changes!)

But I'm praying. That is all I know to do! I'm praying that this isn't the work of the devil. That this is God's plan and that we have to trust in his work. I'm praying that he gives us all the peace to get through our day-to-day and the strength to stand up for what we believe in! I pray that Mr. Obama takes this country to a good place, and brings us back to a nation that is respected and a nation that is welcome and comforting and home. That is my prayer!!

And hopefully this will be one of my last political posts. I don't like politics, it stresses me out! But I have to stand up for what I believe in!

God Bless You All!!!

Social Security, WHAT A JOKE!!

2008-11-03T11:03:00.005-06:00

If there is anyone out there that doesn't know this, this is the best visual presentation I have ever seen...

just remember who did this when you vote....

Social Security, How It Got Stolen

Franklin Delano. Roosevelt

32^nd. President, Democrat

Terms of Office March 4, 1933, to April 12, 1945

GOOD TO HERE !

Our Social Security

Franklin Delano. Roosevelt, introduced

the Social Security (FICA) Program. He promised:

1.) That participation in the Program would be Completely voluntary,

2.) That the participants would only have to pay 1% of the first

$1,400 of their annual Incomes into the Program,

3.) That the money the participants elected to put Into the Program

would be deductible from Their income for tax purposes each year,

4.) That the money the participants put into the Independent

'Trust Fund' rather than into the General operating fund, and

therefore, would Only be used to fund the Social Security

Retirement Program, and no other Government program, and

5.) That the annuity payments to the retirees would never be

taxed as income.

Since many of us have paid into FICA for years and are

now receiving a Social Security check every month --

and then finding that we are getting taxed on 85% of the

money we paid to the Federal government to 'Put Away'

-- you may be interested in the following:

----------THEN---------------------------------------------------

Dwight David Eisenhower

34^th. President, Republican,

Term Of Office: January 20, 1953 to January 20, 1961

If I recall correctly, 1958 was the first year that Congress voted to remove funds from Social Security and put it into the General Fund for Congress to spend.

It was a democratically Controlled Congress.

Congress' logic at that time was that there was so much money in Social Security Fund that it would never run out / be used up for the purpose it was intended / set aside for.

-------------WORSE STILL------------------------------------------------

Lyndon Baines Johnson

36^th. President, Democrat

Term Of Office: November 22, 1963 to January 20, 1969

Question: Which Political Party took Social Security from the Independent 'Trust Fund' and put it into the General Fund so that Congress could spend it?

Answer: It was Lyndon B. Johnson (and the democratically Controlled House and Senate.

Question: Which Political Party eliminated the income tax Deduction for Social Security (FICA) withholding?

Answer: The Democratic Party.

William Jefferson Clinton

(Bill Clinton)

42^nd. President

Democrat Term of Office: January 20, 1993 to January 20, 2001

Albert Arnold Gore, Jr.

(Al Gore)

45^th. Vice President

Democrat Term of Office: January 20, 1993 to January 20, 2001

Question: Which Political Party started taxing Social Security annuities?

Answer: The Democratic Party, with Albert Arnold Gore, Jr. (Al Gore) casting the 'tie-breaking' deciding vote as President of the Senate, while he was Vice President of the US

------------------THE STRAW THAT BROKE THE CAMEL'S BACK !!----------------------------

James Earl Carter, Jr (Jimmy Carter)

39^th. President, Democrat

Term of Office: January 20, 1977 to January 20, 1981

Question: Which Political Party decided to start giving Annuity payments to immigrants?

Answer: That's right! James Earl Carter, Jr. (Jimmy Carter) and the Democratic Party.

Immigrants moved into this country, and at age 65, began to receive Social Security payments! The Democratic Party gave these payments to them, even though they never paid a dime into it!

Then, after violating the original contract (FICA), the Democrats turn around and tell you that the Republicans want to take your Social Security away!

If enough people receive this, maybe a seed of awareness will be planted and maybe changes will evolve. Some Democrats are awfully sure of what isn't so. But it's worth a try.

How many people can YOU send this to?

Actions speak louder than bumper stickers.

AND CONGRESS GIVES THEMSELVES 100% RETIREMENT FOR ONLY SERVING ONE TERM!!!

Thomas Jefferson

3^rd. President, Democrat

Term of Office: 1801 to 1809

“A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have.”

Thomas Jefferson

THANKS FOR THE COMMENTS!!

2008-11-01T09:31:00.002-05:00

I LOVE comments! I do, I LOVE them! So I thank each and everyone of you for each comment you leave! I just loved the questions and the response posted, so I HAD to post it! Thank-you again!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
From a Friend of Mine:

I have a question for you:

If you say that Obama is a socialist and the govt will be interferring more in our lives, then what don't you think that the Govt has no right to tell a woman she can have an abortion or a gay couple that they can not have a wedding and marriage?

Also we all preach seperation of church and state, but we bring religion in on abortion "stating its Morally wrong (unchrisitan) or that marriage is between a man and women because the "Bible" says so. that is not a seperation there.

Now I personally would not do either but I can not tell others what to do with thier lives its thier business and they have to answer to the one above later.

What's next telling a women how to have a baby C section vs Natural way (the way they did it in the Bible), or What about Divorce are we going to say that no one can get a divorce because the Bible says its wrong?

Some things in our lives the govt should not be involved in esp if the reasons are because of morals and the Bible
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
An amazing Christian said...: Let me try to answer your question.
1st--The govt has certain responsibiilities, making/enforcing laws, protection, that sort of thing. It is not about taking away womens rights but protecting the rights of the unborn. While I am conservative and don't believe the govt. should interfere in peoples lives, neither should they advocate by complacency the wholesale slaughter of innocent children.

2nd--I don't know who "we all" are, but for the most part it is the liberal movement preaching separation of church and state. Our founding fathers had very little to say on the subject, but set up our country using Christian principles. Separation of church and state is not anywhere in the constitution. While I don't believe in a church run state, neither do I think we should disregard Biblical morality. You see, the "we all" movement wants to rid us of Biblical morality, but when that is gone all that is left is an agnostic lack of conventional morality. Neither one should run the country, but we should also not leave all to only one.

Thanks for your time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~: I posted this for one reason. I loved the response to the question. I loved the answers! And I appreciate another Conservative Christian standing up for what they believe in! I mean I can't say anything else to answer the questions any better....honestly, the response sums it up perfectly. So thank-you!!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

We are all feeling GREAT! My cold is gone but I'm still working on keeping the nausea down. As long as I keep my stomach full then I am fine! So I'm eating a lot! I'm still waiting on my blood test results back to see if I had 5th disease. It turns out Izzy had it. She has the rash now, and so she isn't contagious and feels great! But that means I have been exposed to the virus. So I need to know if I'm immune or not. If I did catch the virus I'll be high risk until about 24 weeks to make sure the baby doesn't develop extra fluid, heart failure or anemia. I don't exactly know what that means, "high risk", but I know I'll be getting some extra Ultrasounds done. I'm just praying that I'm immune!! So we don't even have to go there!

The girls had an amazing Halloween! My mom took all of the pictures so I'll try to post some soon of my little lady bug and my tinker bell! It was a fun Halloween and the girls slept in until 8:30 this morning, which was great!

My niece, Bailey, had her first Halloween yesterday! She was a Giraffe and looked as cute as a button! And she had her first taste of sucker, yummie! I'm so thankful to have her here! I love how our family has expanded, and keeps expanding!

Can ya'll believe it's November already? Wow, where did this year go? My new niece, Hannah Claire, is due in a little more than a month and a half! I know that time is going to FLY by! I can't wait to meet her!! She is going to be such a beautiful, amazing little girl!!

Well I have a mountain of laundry to tackle today! Got to get started!

~Blessings~

Life Update!

2008-10-30T08:05:00.002-05:00

Life is amazing. I'm so thankful that God has given me life, given life to my husband, and to my beautiful daughters and this beautiful baby on the way! I just can't express how thankful I am for the blessing of life!!

My sister-in-law Kennye is blessing our family with Hannah Claire in December! My sister blessed us with Bailey Paige in July! And my friend Laura blessed us with baby Austin in June! We are blessed beyond belief!

I would like to ask for prayers. I have been exposed to a virus called 5th disease. It's a common childhood illness for kids 5-15. Most adults are immune to the disease (it's a Parvo virus but not related to the one in animals that is dangerous) because they've had it as children. But it's potentially dangerous to women who are pregnant in the first trimester. 1 in 3 babies are affected because the virus crosses the placenta. It can cause the baby to become dangerously anemic. And thus cause a miscarriage, which can occur weeks after the mom has become infected.

I don't know if I ever had the disease as a child. If I did then I should be immune. And the child that I teach that has the disease didn't present any symptoms at school that I remember, but that doesn't mean anything. I took a blood test yesterday and should have the results back by the beginning of the week.

But I'm 9 weeks pregnant today. Tuesday I presented with cold like symptoms, which could be the beginning of the 5th disease virus. I was so sick that Justin had to stay at home from work yesterday. So, if I am infected with the disease, it could be very harmful to my innocent little baby.

So please say an extra prayer that I just have a nasty cold and not 5th disease. And if I am infected, please please pray that it doesn't cross over to my innocent little baby. He/She is too defensless and helpless!

I have to brag on my husband! He was amazing yesterday! He came home and cleaned up for me because I had to lay in bed while he had to go in to work for a few hours. And the kids just ran rampid. If they could smash it in the carpet they did! And if they could scribble on it, they did! I was so out of it, and sick I couldn't do hardly anything but lay! So hubby cleaned all of that up. He also cooked dinner!! It was perfect, amazing chicken, biscuits, mac and cheese and peas! Perfect! And I hadn't laid anything out for dinner! He wasn't feeling great either! He's hurt his back somehow! But he's amazing. I'm beyond blessed to have that man in my life!!

THANK-YOU HONEY!!

Ok, I have to go give my smurf baby (yes Izzy colored herself blue with blue marker yesterday) a good long soaking!!

~Blessings~

Letter From Dutch Sheets

2008-10-30T07:19:00.001-05:00

October 20, 2008

Dear Praying Friend,

In 2000, I wrote the 2nd most important letter of my life—a call to prayer for the elections of that year. I’m now writing what may be my most important letter. I knew the importance of those elections in 2000 was beyond any in my life up to that point and that the spiritual warfare surrounding them would be unlike anything any of us had ever seen. That letter was read by millions of people and I believe millions of them responded by praying. I also believe the prayers turned the tide.

You may question whether President Bush was the right choice; obviously, he has made some blunders in his tenure as president. But two of his decisions alone left no doubt he was God’s choice: Roberts and Alito. These two Supreme Court Justices have proven critical in the process of breaking the hold of humanism, death and anti-God agendas that have ruled the Court for 50 years. I assure you that more devastation—the shedding of innocent blood, immorality, decay of the family and an erosion of our godly heritage—has flowed into our nation through that institution than any other door in America. Many times more. The poison allowed into America through their decisions is beyond any of our abilities to articulate.

The reality in America is that you don’t need to control Congress or the White Hose to rule the nation. You only need 5 people – 5 out of 9 on the Supreme Court. And for decades those who disagree with just about everything you and I stand for have been in control!

In Bush’s two terms, the process of turning this around began with the appointments of Roberts and Alito. Now, we win some cases 5-4 and lose some 4-5. (We barely outlawed partial birth abortion. The vote of one judge saved thousands of babies from this horror.) We need one more conservative Justice for a consistent majority, then more to build a strong majority.

In Obama’s own words, “the next president will appoint at least one, perhaps two or more Supreme Court Justices.” He’s right. Almost certainly two or more older, liberal Justices are waiting until after the elections to retire, in hopes of Obama winning and appointing more liberals to replace them. And he certainly would. He voted against the confirmation of Roberts and Alito. So did Biden. And Biden led the fight against Justice Thomas several years back, another of the 4 solid conservatives. Make no mistake about it, the two of them do have a litmus test for Supreme Court Justices, and a major part of that test is Roe vs. Wade. McCain and Palin, on the other hand, both have very strong pro-life positions. This alone makes the choice for President simple. To vote for the 2nd and 3rd most liberal senators (Obama and Biden), both of whom are firmly and blatantly pro-abortion, would be unconscionable. Obama has actually said that if he wins, he would like his first action as president to be the signing of the Freedom of Choice Act, which would eliminate every other law against any aspect of abortion (partial birth abortion, parental notification, etc., etc.).

And with a democratic majority in the House and Senate, pretty much any legislation he and Biden want to pass will be a slam-dunk. There are many other unrighteous positions they hold but this position alone makes the choice easy. If they win this election, it will set America back decades in the cause of life and the restoration we seek.

Just as many of you do, I too want to see a first black President, but not Senator Obama. To allow that noble and godly desire, the economy or one’s position on the war to trump this issue of life and death for the innocent unborn is simply wrong. The scriptures teach that if we choose first to exalt righteousness and turn from evil, God promises to heal our land (see Proverbs 14:34 ; 2 Chronicles 7:14 ). It is righteousness that exalts a nation, not wealth, prosperity or armies. If we will finish the process of removing the curses of death and anti-God laws off of America by electing a president that will continue to shift the Court, God will grace us with breakthrough in other areas such as the economy, the war against terrorism, etc. My faith is not in a person, and certainly not a political party, for the healing of America , but I know God’s word and His ways well enough to know that our decisions do move Him to action or inaction.

Now to the heart of my reason for writing this letter (I realize I am “preaching to the choir”—most of you who know or listen to me are conservative enough to vote for McCain and Palin.) I have not written any appeals for prayer concerning this election because: 1) others have, and 2) I believe our movement has matured to the point that the prayer base of the Church is already praying.

But I now feel the need to raise my voice. I am appealing to you to pray for these elections the next two weeks like you’ve never prayed for any in the past. Faithfully. Passionately. Boldly. Ask God for His mercy and grace. We deserve His judgment for removing His influence and authority from our government, schools, homes and businesses; for the killing of 50 million babies; for leading the world in the consumption and exporting of pornography; for passing laws to reject His; etc. But mercy triumphs over judgment and in His wrath He remembers mercy. In 2000 we actually lost the popular vote and won the election—talk about grace! Please pray for this grace to be released again.

But I am also asking you for something more than normal prayer. For those of you who understand spiritual warfare, I am asking you to also include this aspect of prayer. There is no doubt that we have entered a Daniel 10 moment in time: “Then he said to me, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel, for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, I have come in response to your words. But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia’”(Daniel 10:12-13 NAS). The spiritual warfare in this election is incredibly fierce, and just as it was in Daniel’s day, is all about the restoration of a nation. And also like Daniel, we must keep praying until we win the battle in the heavens.

In August of this year I predicted that September would mark a shift in momentum for these elections. This happened with the appointment of Sarah Palin as the Vice Presidential nominee (who is a true Esther in our generation), but when the economy began its meltdown and the media ramped up their unprecedented attacks on Palin, that momentum wasn’t sustained. But we can see it turn again if we approach this battle as the spiritual warfare it truly is and bind the evil forces involved (see Matthew 16:18 -19).

The reality is that this election can be the breakthrough we need to fully shift the Court (and ultimately our nation) or it will be an immeasurable setback that could take many years to reverse—if ever. Please understand what I am saying: if we engage in this battle and do what I am asking—in mass—we will win; if we do not, we will lose. I, for one, don’t intend to allow the latter. I am in Washington , D.C. now (October 20-22) with Lou Engle and a team of prayer leaders from around the nation to war for this election. Join us! Lose some sleep, miss some meals - pray! Pray like never before for these elections. And as you do, involve yourself not only in petitioning prayer but also in spiritual warfare. Use your God-given authority over the plans and strategies of satan’s kingdom. Bind all witchcraft that is working to control the outcome, including occultic powers that are suppressing truth. Release Christ’s Kingdom rule in every way the Holy Spirit leads you.

Don’t be deceived and don’t lose hope (if you have to, turn off the TV). It is not too late to turn these elections. God is plenty powerful enough to do so. The real question is will we rise to the level of prayer and spiritual warfare necessary to release that power. And remember, we don’t need a majority of Christians who are willing and able to do this—only a praying remnant. We can do it!

Here are some practical suggestions to consider:

1) Fast (a meal a day; a day a week; a Daniel fast; 3 days; 10 days; TV; etc.) and spend the time praying.
2) Agree in prayer with someone everyday for God’s will to be done.
3) Form/participate in prayer groups regularly. Churches could pray everyday.
4) Take time in every gathering to pray. (Take 15 minutes in every service to pray for the elections. Turn an entire service to harp and bowl style intercession—worship and prayer combined.)
5) Join 2 or more on a conference call and pray for 15, 20, or 30 minutes.
6) Pray on the way to work (and on the way home).
7) Pray before you go to sleep.
8) Pray before church services.
9) Ask God to give you His strategy—He will!

In His grip,

Dutch Sheets

In God We Trust.......God Bless America !

Citizenship continued

2008-10-27T09:38:00.003-05:00

First I have to say that nasty, rude comments with foul language, and nasty rude e-mails will not be permitted. Period. If you don't agree with me, that is fine, but don't even dare to be nasty and hateful. I understand that this time is filled with stress and uncertainty, but don't take out your hate on me! I'm not going to read them and it's not going to affect me.

Please feel free to leave your comments, if they are appropriate, and send me e-mails! I love hearing all sides of the story!

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/citizen.asp

It states that this claim is False. But it is TRUE. The snopes website states that it couldn't be true because Obama was born in Hawaii.

Ok, Mr. Obama, then why does your Paternal Grandmother keep doing media interviews expressing how proud she is of you, and how she was so proud of you the day your were BORN IN KENYA!!! When she was in the delivery room!!!!!

And why, Mr. Obama, won't you produce your birth certificate? You produced, on your own website, an obviously false document. Obviously False.

And why won't you release your college records.....is it because you received foreign aid????

You've got a lot of questions to answer........
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I believe in all my heart that this man is not good for our country. He stands against most everything that I, as a Christian, stand for. And I can't even see how we will be a successful country under a Socialist man like Obama. Spread the Wealth? Haha, that is a joke. I don't want my government telling me what kind of insurance I can have or can't have, what type of light bulbs I can use, what kind of car I can drive and you are not going to take my hard earned money and give it to some one less fortunate that I. If I choose to do so then I choose to do so, but my GOVERNMENT shouldn't SPREAD THE WEALTH.....that is a joke. Our markets should be about Supply and Demand, if gas powered cars are in demand then the supply will meet the demand. If energy efficient light bulbs are in demand, then the supply will meet the demand. My government shouldn't tell me how to live my life, where and what to eat, what medical care my family can receive, etc. And that is exactly what a Socialist government is......and guess what folks....Socialist Governments FAIL!!!!!!!!

God is amazing, and he is so good and I am just so thankful that I have him in my life and that I am able to teach my children about his amazing son, Jesus Christ. I just have to keep my faith and raise my kids the best I can and pray.....and pray and pray!! But I'll be honest, I'm scared for this country. Truly scared......

~Blessings~

Obama NOT a CITIZEN?????

2008-10-26T20:14:00.002-05:00

I heard about this a couple of weeks ago. My first reaction was, "Come on, lets not get desperate!" That is just crazy, outrageous, there is just no way this man would run for president and NOT be a CITIZEN........RIGHT?!?!?!?!

Friday I was taking Maddy to dance class and the man behind the law suit was on 99.7 (our local talk radio station) and he was talking to Phil Valentine who is a strong CONSERVATIVE and CHRISTIAN and believes in CHRISTIAN morals and values and OPENLY talks about them. The man is truly amazing. So I listened and listened and listened.....and it's true...can you believe it? It's true.....Haha....he got us all. The biggest scam in American History.....and he fooled us all......and he's probably going to be the next president of the United States...Please sweet Jesus....No......

I don't listen to Michael Savage much. He's always too angry and yelling.....but he's also a strong Conservative so I don't like how he delivers his message but I do like his message.....if that makes any sense! Well here is Mr. Phil Berg (Who by the way is a DEMOCRAT!) on Michael Savage:

http://michaelsavage.wnd.com/?pageId=2256

Also, once you listen and get ANGRY and BELIEVE then please sign this petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/produce-obama-embossed-birth-certificate?page=

You might ask why this has not been on the news.......and I laugh......The only news station that is somewhat NON BIAS is Fox News. All of the other stations are OBVIOUSLY pro-Obama. And it's their prerogative. The news has the right to report on what it wants, even if it's WRONG!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This is from Guns America:

Hi Everyone,

We have had a lot of email into GunsAmerica and especially into our MySpace about voting for Barack Obama for president.

Setting aside the socialist policy issues, and "spreading the money around" that you work for, everyone should be very clear about where Barack Obama stands on guns.

This was taken from http://www.gunbanobama.com/ which is an NRA-ILA project, and it is available in PDF form at: http://www.nraila.org/media/PDFs/2008Obamafactsht.pdf

FACT: Barack Obama opposes four of the five Supreme Court justices who affirmed an individual right to keep and bear arms. He voted against the confirmation of Alito and Roberts and he has stated he would not have appointed Thomas or Scalia.¹⁷

FACT: Barack Obama voted for an Illinois State Senate bill to ban and confiscate "assault weapons," but the bill was so poorly crafted, it would have also banned most semi-auto and single and double barrel shotguns commonly used by sportsmen.¹⁸

FACT: Barack Obama voted to allow reckless lawsuits designed to bankrupt the firearms industry.¹

FACT: Barack Obama wants to re-impose the failed and discredited Clinton Gun Ban.¹⁵

FACT: Barack Obama voted to ban almost all rifle ammunition commonly used for hunting and sport shooting.³

FACT: Barack Obama has endorsed a 500% increase in the federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition.⁹

FACT: Barack Obama has endorsed a complete ban on handgun ownership.²

FACT: Barack Obama supports local gun bans in Chicago, Washington, D.C., and other cities.⁴

FACT: Barack Obama voted to uphold local gun bans and the criminal prosecution of people who use firearms in self-defense.⁵

FACT: Barack Obama supports gun owner licensing and gun registration.⁶

FACT: Barack Obama refused to sign a friend-of-the-court Brief in support of individual Second Amendment rights in the Heller case.

FACT: Barack Obama opposes Right to Carry laws.⁷

FACT: Barack Obama was a member of the Board of Directors of the Joyce Foundation, the leading source of funds for anti-gun organizations and "research."⁸

FACT: Barack Obama supported a proposal to ban gun stores within 5 miles of a school or park, which would eliminate almost every gun store in America.⁹

FACT: Barack Obama voted not to notify gun owners when the state of Illinois did records searches on them.¹⁰

FACT: Barack Obama voted against a measure to lower the Firearms Owners Identification card age minimum from 21 to 18, a measure designed to assist young people in the military.¹¹

FACT: Barack Obama favors a ban on standard capacity magazines.¹²

FACT: Barack Obama supports mandatory micro-stamping.¹³

FACT: Barack Obama supports mandatory waiting periods.²

FACT: Barack Obama supports repeal of the Tiahrt Amendment, which prohibits information on gun traces collected by the BATFE from being used in reckless lawsuits against firearm dealers and manufacturers.¹⁴

FACT: Barack Obama supports one-gun-a-month handgun purchase restrictions.¹⁶

FACT: Barack Obama supports a ban on inexpensive handguns.⁹

FACT: Barack Obama supports a ban on the resale of police issued firearms, even if the money is going to police departments for replacement equipment.⁹

FACT: Barack Obama supports mandatory firearm training requirements for all gun owners and a ban on gun ownership for persons under the age of 21.⁹

1. United States Senate, S. 397, vote number 219, July 29, 2005. (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00219)

2. Independent Voters of Illinois/Independent Precinct Organization general candidate questionnaire, Sept. 9, 1996. The responses on this survey were described in "Obama had greater role on liberal survey," Politico, March 31, 2008. (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0308/9269.html)

3. United States Senate, S. 397, vote number 217, Kennedy amendment July 29, 2005. (http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=109&session=1&vote=00217)

4. David Wright, Ursula Fahy and Sunlen Miller, "Obama: 'Common Sense Regulation' On Gun Owners' Rights," ABC News' "Political Radar" Blog, http://blogs.abcnews.com, 2/15/08. (http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalradar/2008/02/obama-common-se.html)

5. Illinois Senate, SB 2165, March 25, 2004, vote 20 and May 25, 2004, vote 3.

6. "Fact Check: No News In Obama's Consistent Record." Obama '08, December 11, 2007. (http://www.barackobama.com/factcheck/2007/12/11/fact_check_no_news_in_obamas_c.php)

7. "Candidates' gun control positions may figure in Pa. vote," Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Wednesday, April 2, 2008, and "Keyes, Obama Are Far Apart On Guns," Chicago Tribune, 9/15/04. (http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_560181.html)

8. 1998 Joyce Foundation Annual Report, p. 7.

9. "Obama and Gun Control," The Volokh Conspiracy, taken from the Chicago Defender, Dec. 13, 1999. (http://www.volokh.com/posts/1203389334.shtml)

10. Illinois Senate, May 5, 2002, SB 1936 Con., vote 26.

11. Illinois Senate, March 25, 2003, SB 2163, vote 18.

12. "Clinton, Edwards, Obama on gun control," Radio Iowa, Sunday, April 22, 2007. (http://learfield.typepad.com/radioiowa/2007/04/clinton_edwards.html)

13. Chicago Tribune blogs, "Barack Obama: NIU Shootings call for action," February 15, 2008, (http://blogs.trb.com/news/politics/blog/2008/02/barack_obama_comments_on_shoot.html)

14. Barack Obama campaign website: "As president, Barack Obama would repeal the Tiahrt Amendment . . ." (http://www.barackobama.com/issues/urbanpolicy/#crime-and-law-enforcement.)

15. Illinois Senate Debate #3: Barack Obama vs. Alan Keyes (http://www.ontheissues.org/2008/Barack_Obama_Gun_Control.htm and http://www.ontheissues.org/IL_2004_Senate_3rd.htm) Oct 21, 2004.

16. Illinois Senate, May 16, 2003, HB 2579, vote 34.

17. United States Senate vote 245, September 29, 2005 and vote 2, January 31, 2006 and Saddleback Forum, August 16, 2008.

18. Illinois Senate Judiciary Committee, March 13, 2003. To see the vote tally go to: http://www.nrapvf.org/Media/pdf/sb1195_obama.pdf.

Paul (Shlomo) Helinski
GunsAmerica
Where America Buys and Sells Guns.
http://www.gunsamerica.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm sorry to bombard you guys with negative information. But I am sick and tired of this man and several of my good friends and I were talking at church the other day.......What are we going to do if this man becomes PRESIDENT??? Seriously, what are we going to do? He's against everything CHRISTIANS should stand for....he's pro-choice, he's pro-gay marriage!!! He even voted against stopping live birth abortions! What kind of a sick, sick man.......no, I'm going to stop there.

There is no need for me to judge. There is no need for me to get on my high horse, to rant, to rave.....All I can do is pray that Evil doesn't win out and that God sends us a miracle!!!

~Blessings~

C-Sections ARE DANGEROUS--YIKES!!!

2008-10-24T15:05:00.003-05:00

Sorry for the posting overload today, It's been a day of learning!

"CESAREAN SECTION QUADRUPLES THE RISK OF MATERNAL DEATH
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 1, 2003
Contact: Rae Davies, Executive Director Phone: (888) 282-CIMS Fax: (904) 285-2120 E-mail: info@motherfriendly.org
The Coalition for Improving Maternity Services views with alarm a recent study showing that U.S. women having cesarean sections are four times more likely to die compared with women having vaginal births.1 Investigators reported a maternal death rate of 36 per 100,000 cesarean operations versus 9 per 100,000 vaginal births. This is the difference attributable to the surgery itself, not any complications that might have led to the need for surgery. Based on calculations of what constitutes a reasonable cesarean rate versus the actual U.S. cesarean rate,* 135 women die every year as a result of having surgery they did not need.
Moreover, the difference in mortality rates between cesarean section and vaginal birth is almost certainly larger than it appears. Investigators only considered deaths occurring up to 1 year after delivery. Some surgically-related deaths—scar tissue causing a twisted bowel, for example—may occur after the 1-year cut-off.
In a press release entitled “Weighing the Pros and Cons of Cesarean Delivery,” the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists offered the theory that cesarean section benefits mothers by protecting against pelvic floor prolapse as a counterbalance to the fact that it was associated with an increased maternal death rate.2 The research, however, does not support this theory. While some studies do report a short-term benefit with cesarean section for a few women,3 none find long-term differences in symptoms resulting from pelvic floor weakness or injury to maternal tissues.3-7 Other studies report considerable percentages of women with urinary or bowel problems in the early weeks and months after cesarean surgery.8-9
The finding that cesarean section offers no long-term advantages holds true even without taking into account that many features of standard obstetric management cause or contribute to weakness or damage, and the use of these features could be greatly reduced or eliminated. These include episiotomy, fundal pressure (pushing down on the woman’s belly to expel the baby), vacuum extraction, forceps delivery, and how and in what positions women are directed to push.10 Indeed, the ACOG press release acknowledges that vaginal instrumental delivery produces the worst results. Epidural analgesia also contributes indirectly by increasing the need for vaginal instrumental delivery and episiotomy.11-12 Had women birthing vaginally received optimal care, the incidence of pelvic floor laxity and genital injury would likely have been much smaller.
CIMS contends that reducing the use of injurious practices would do far more to improve maternal health and well-being than substituting major abdominal surgery. Increased risk of maternal death is but one of the many hazards of cesarean section. (See CIMS fact sheet, The Risks of Cesarean Delivery to Mother and Baby.)

*The 2002 cesarean rate was 26%. This means that about one million of the 4 million U.S. women giving birth every year have cesarean sections.13 The World Health Organization recommends no more than a 10% to 15% cesarean rate.14 If the U.S. cesarean rate were halved, 500,000 fewer women annually would have had cesarean sections. The death rate among them would have been 9 per 100,000 (45 women) rather than 36 per 100,000 (180 women) – a difference of 135 lives. {the present cesarean rate in the US is 33.1%}"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Patient undergoing C-section dies

October 22, 2008

For the first time in more than 10 years, a patient at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center has died while undergoing a cesarean section, the hospital reported yesterday.

The mother died Friday, and the baby experienced complications but appears to be improving, Dr. Kenneth Sands, the hospital's senior vice president of healthcare quality, said in a brief statement.

"This sad and very rare event appears to relate to an unanticipated complication at the time the baby was delivered by caesarean section," it read.

"We immediately launched an internal review and have reported to the Department of Public Health. This is obviously a very sad and distressing event for our staff . . . who have not experienced a loss like this for over 10 years. We continue to extend our deepest sympathy to the family."

The patient's name and other medical details were not disclosed.

The risk of death from a cesarean section is estimated at fewer than 1 in 2,500, according to information on the hospital's website.

That is significantly more than the roughly 1-in-10,000 risk of death during a vaginal birth.

CAREY GOLDBERG

Ralph Bristol

2008-10-24T14:30:00.001-05:00

Reject the message, not the man
Ralph Bristol
October 23, 2008

People have asked me repeatedly why I don’t do more to help spread the word
that raises doubts about Barack Obama’s citizenship, religion, and other
basic elements of his life and relationships.

Here’s why.

If the American people want what Barack Obama is selling, then I don’t care
whether we elect a Christian, God-fearing, conservative, free-market
Republican or a transvestite Muslim illegal alien socialist.

An American population that wants what Barack Obama is selling deserves the
worst that God, nature and ACORN can deliver.

Obama is selling a view of America that I find offensive to the greatness
of my father’s generation and his father’s generation. Those generations
had some pretty big warts, but that does not detract from their positive
attributes that took America from an also ran on the international stage to
the undisputed superpower of the world.

We inherited America from strong, self-reliant people.

We inherited America from a generation who believed that the hierarchy of
welfare should be that you turn to your family first, then friends, then
charity, and only as a last resort to the government, which must (and for
which it has developed a voracious appetite) confiscate your neighbor’s
property in order to help you.

Obama is selling a view of America that would bypass family, friends,
neighbors, and charity and make government the first and only support group
in most American’s lives.

He has even demonstrated, in his own life, that he will leave a family
member to try to survive abject poverty, even as he promises to “spread the
wealth around,” among Americans, through the federal income tax system.

Other countries have done that. In fact, MOST other countries have done
that. None of those countries are the undisputed superpower of the world.

Unless the people of America, voting in a democratic election, electing a
constitutional republic government, reject the future that Obama is
selling, it won’t matter whether we buy it from Obama or whether we buy it
from a salesman with all of the necessary, even pristine, credentials. The
problem is not the salesman. The problem is the product.

If the only, or even the main, reason you oppose Barack Obama is his
citizenship, his religion, his race, or even his many troublesome
associations, then you and I are on the same side, but for reasons that are
so distant that we simply can’t help each other. I’d rather not win this on
technicalities.

I want the court of public opinion to tell me now, when I still have a
chance to react, whether they want the America my father and his father
gave me – the only America I’m interested in defending – to die now or live
to fight another day.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This You Tube video shows how ignorant voters are. Not just Obama voters but ALL voters!

~Blessings~

Please Pray

2008-10-24T14:18:00.002-05:00

My little family has hit a bump in the road. We are fine, the girls are still amazing and Justin is doing well, he has a tiny cold but is well and I'm doing great and so is this baby. But we've hit a bump and I'm frustrated. I shouldn't be, I should be able to just pray and trust that this will all work out, but I'm still frustrated. So please play that this bump goes away soon, that we can get back on track and that we'll walk away from this wiser and better off. Thanks!

~Blessings~

An AMAZINGLY blessed day!!

2008-10-20T18:43:00.003-05:00

Man, today just totally confirmed our decision to have a home birth assisted by midwives!

Marylin couldn't come today because she's a professor and had class ;) But I met with Jeanne and we talked for an hour!! We just got to know each other. We didn't do an exam today, but I'm only 7 weeks so one was not needed. She is AMAZING!!!!!! She has 6 children, 4 of whom were birthed at home. She said hands down that the home birth experience was 200% better than the hospital birth experience. She is a preachers wife, a strong woman of faith, and she totally reassured me, just by getting to know me and answering my questions so personally, that this is the right choice for us!

In January we will have an ultrasound done by an amazing tech they use so we CAN find out if we are having a boy or a girl! That was a huge question of mine....can we find out the sex?!?! We also will not have to buy anything for the birth except a shower curtain liner :) She explained that they'll do all of the paperwork to get the babies birth certificate and social security number, which was another huge question of mine! They'll come prepared with a mini hospital room, including oxygen if needed haha, I thought that was funny! And of course she explained how they clean up EVERYTHING before they leave, they even do LAUNDRY!!! AND they'll come to my home for at least 2 post-partum visits!!! COOL!!!

She went over how each exam will work. They'll come and we'll talk and take my blood pressure and I'll pee in a cup so they can check my glucose and protein levels. But NO internal exams unless I ASK for one!!! She said they are not needed and actually invite bacteria into an extremely vulnerable area ;) So NO uncomfortable exams! AND she said that we are not going to use the due date of June 4th, we are going to give me a week from June 1-7, so we have a birth due week instead of a due date. It'll be much easier for me not to obsess over one date!

But most importantly Jeanne and Marilyn will go with OUR plan!! There won't be any strangeness to this birth! No strange doctors and nurses coming in and out, no family or friends we don't want here, it's going to be extremely personal and intimate. How cool?! I already feel a friend in Jeanne!!

OH and I spoke with our insurance today and they are going to pay for MORE THAN HALF of the cost!!!!!! So we are going to be paying LESS for this birth than we have for either of the two c-section/ hospital births! COOL!!!

No, it's not COOL, it's a Blessing. God just keeps opening doors for this baby and this birth. It makes me wonder what this baby's purpose is here on earth......

We just can't express how grateful we are for all of the prayers, and we continue to ask for them throughout this pregnancy!!!! And I'll ask for selfish prayers....please pray that this silly all day nausea goes away soon....blugh!

Bless you all!!!!

Waldon Pumpkin Farm

2008-10-18T15:15:00.001-05:00

We went to the pumpkin farm this morning. It was a ton of fun! Justin is working on his mom's car, but I brought the girls home and we carved the pumpkins we got. When it gets dark I'll take pictures of them and post them. They turned out really cute and it was a fun, family morning. Enjoy the slide show!!

LIZARDS!!!

2008-10-14T20:51:00.002-05:00

The highlight of my day was by far the visit from Mr. Lizard! During my class it was time for free play and I was cutting out something the kids painted for Columbus day. I asked one of my students to bring me the trash can, he did and another child said, "Mrs. Leslie there is a lizard in our home!" and I said, "That's great sweetie, I bet your mother LOVES that you have a lizard in your house" and he said, "No, it's right there!" and sure enough he had been hiding behind the trash can.

I pride myself on being able to smoosh small bugs with the wack of my shoe. But I'm really anti-creepy crawly! So I ran to the class next to mine and asked my friend Megan if she did ok with lizards. What a sweetheart she is! Not only did she cook my eggs during Green Eggs and Ham day so my room wouldn't smell, but she slayed the Lizard!

So Megan comes in and traps the lizard with a broom, I go running out and asked for something to put it in. Sweet Carla brings us a coffee can, all the while I'm hiding behind Mrs. Jenny and Megan and Vela are trying to scoup the lizard into the coffee can! They do and Megan puts some clear plastic wrap and a rubber band on top of the can so her class and my class can safetly see! The kids all loved it, especially since the tail came off during the "struggle" and was wiggling in the trash!!! Yuck!!

After Megan had successfully set the poor lizard free in a more suitable habitat, my kids and her kids made sure we knew that they were brave and were not scared of the lizard!!

How Fun!!

~Blessings~

Billy Graham's Prayer

2008-10-14T15:44:00.002-05:00

Billy Graham's prayer aired by Paul Harvey...

THIS GUY SURE HAS A GOOD VIEW OF WHAT'S HAPPENING TO THIS COUNTRY!

PAUL HARVEY'S ON- AIR PRAYER

'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.

We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem.

We have abused power and called it politics We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.

Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!'

Commentator Paul Harvey aired this prayer on his radio program, 'The Rest of the Story,' and received a larger response to this program than any other he has ever aired. With the Lord's help, may this prayer sweep over our nation and wholeheartedly become our desire so that we again can be called 'One nation under God.'If possible, please pass this prayer on to your friends. 'If you don't stand for something, you will fall for everything..

~Blessings~

NO OBAMA!!!!

2008-10-10T10:38:00.001-05:00

If you are an Obama supporter and have been sucked into all of his lies.....watch this video....it's 100% TRUE, RAW and HONEST......and it's APPALLING, DISGUSTING, and OUTRAGEOUS!!

We should all be SCARED TO DEATH of what this PSYCHO will do to our country......

Vaginal Birth after C-section Information

2008-10-09T10:35:00.002-05:00

Risk of Uterine Rupture With a Trial of Labor
in Women With Multiple and Single Prior
Cesarean Delivery
Mark B. Landon, MD, Catherine Y. Spong, MD, Elizabeth Thom, PhD, John C. Hauth, MD,
Steven L. Bloom, MD, Michael W. Varner, MD, Atef H. Moawad, MD, Steve N. Caritis, MD,
Margaret Harper, MD, MS, Ronald J. Wapner, MD, Yoram Sorokin, MD, Menachem Miodovnik, MD,
Marshall Carpenter, MD, Alan M. Peaceman, MD, Mary J. O’Sullivan, MD, Baha M. Sibai, MD,
Oded Langer, MD, John M. Thorp, MD, Susan M. Ramin, MD, Brian M. Mercer, MD,
and Steven G. Gabbe, MD, for the National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development Maternal-Fetal Medicine Units Network*

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the risk for uterine
rupture is increased in women attempting vaginal birth
after multiple cesarean deliveries.

METHODS: We conducted a prospective multicenter
observational study of women with prior cesarean delivery
undergoing trial of labor and elective repeat operation.
Maternal and perinatal outcomes were compared
among women attempting vaginal birth after multiple
cesarean deliveries and those with a single prior cesarean
delivery. We also compared outcomes for women with
multiple prior cesarean deliveries undergoing trial of
labor with those electing repeat cesarean delivery.

RESULTS: Uterine rupture occurred in 9 of 975 (0.9%)
women with multiple prior cesarean compared with 115
of 16,915 (0.7%) women with a single prior operation (P
.37). Multivariable analysis confirmed that multiple
prior cesarean delivery was not associated with an increased
risk for uterine rupture. The rates of hysterectomy
(0.6% versus 0.2%, P .023) and transfusion (3.2%
versus 1.6%, P < .001) were increased in women with
multiple prior cesarean deliveries compared with women
with a single prior cesarean delivery attempting trial of
labor. Similarly, a composite of maternal morbidity was
increased in women with multiple prior cesarean deliveries
undergoing trial of labor compared with those
having elective repeat cesarean delivery (odds ratio 1.41,
95% confidence interval 1.02–1.93).

CONCLUSION: A history of multiple cesarean deliveries
is not associated with an increased rate of uterine rupture
in women attempting vaginal birth compared with those
with a single prior operation. Maternal morbidity is
increased with trial of labor after multiple cesarean
deliveries, compared with elective repeat cesarean delivery,
but the absolute risk for complications is small.
Vaginal birth after multiple cesarean deliveries should
remain an option for eligible women.
(Obstet Gynecol 2006;108:12–20)

LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II-2
See related editorial on page 2.
* For members of the NICHD Maternal-fetal Medicine Units Network, see the
Appendix.
From the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the Ohio State University,
Columbus, Ohio; University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama;
University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas; University of
Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah; University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois; University of
Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem,
North Carolina; Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Wayne
State University, Detroit, Michigan; University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, Ohio, and
Columbia University, New York, New York; Brown University, Providence, Rhode
Island; Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois; University of Miami, Miami,
Florida; University of Tennessee, Memphis, Tennessee; University of Texas Health
Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas; University of North Carolina
at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina; University of Texas Health Science
Center at Houston, Houston, Texas; Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland,
Ohio; Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tennessee; and the National Institute of
Child Health and Human Development, Bethesda, Maryland; and the George
Washington University Biostatistics Center, Washington, DC.
Supported by grants From the National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development (HD21410, HD21414, HD27860, HD27861, HD27869,
HD27905, HD27915, HD27917, HD34116, HD34122, HD34136,
HD34208, HD34210, HD40500, HD40485, HD40544, HD40545,
HD40560, HD40512, and HD36801).
The following core committee members participated in protocol/data management
and statistical analysis: Sharon Gilbert, MS; and protocol development
and coordination between clinical research centers: Frances Johnson, RN, and
Julia McCampbell, RN.
Corresponding author: Mark B. Landon, MD, the Ohio State University College
of Medicine and Public Health, 1654 Upham Drive, Means Hall 5th Floor,
Columbus, OH 43210-1228; e-mail: landon.1@osu.edu.
© 2006 by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Published
by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
ISSN: 0029-7844/06
12 VOL. 108, NO. 1, JULY 2006 OBSTETRICS & GYNECOLOGY
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

http://www.cbc.ca/health/story/2008/09/04/c-sections.html?ref=rss

Mothers who push to give birth may be more responsive to the cry of their babies than those mothers who elect to have a cesarean birth, a brain-scanning study suggests.

When U.S. researchers looked at functional MRI brain scans taken up to a month after mothers gave birth and heard their own babies' cries, they found more activity in areas linked to motivation and emotion among the six who had vaginal deliveries compared with six who had cesarean sections.

"We wondered which brain areas would be less active in parents who delivered by cesarean section, given that this mode of delivery has been associated with decreased maternal behaviours in animal models, and a trend for increased postpartum depression in humans," said the study's lead author, Dr. James Swain of the Child Study Centre at Yale University in Connecticut.

"Our results support the theory that variations in delivery conditions such as with cesarean section, which alters the neurohormonal experiences of childbirth, might decrease the responsiveness of the human maternal brain in the early postpartum."

The differences in brain activity were found in regions that seem to affect how a mother responds to her child and regulate her mood.

Postpartum depression risk
In natural birth, contractions help trigger the release of the hormone oxytocin, which is thought to shape a mother's behaviour. Hormones are not released in the same way during a cesarean section.

Obstetricians have long known that women who have a cesarean section sometimes have problems bonding with their baby.

That's why doctors and nurses on maternity wards commonly advise women to cuddle newborns against their skin right after birth to establish a bond, and offer support for feeding and care for the baby.

It is possible that the clinical reasons that lead women to have C-sections may play a role. To rule that out, researchers studied six mothers who opted to have C-sections, rather than cases where the procedure was medically necessary.

The study appears in the October issue of the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry.

The number of women giving birth by C-section in Canada rose to 26 per cent in 2005-06 from 23 per cent in 2001-02, according to a report by the Canadian Institute for Health Information.

"As more women opt to wait until they are older to have children, and by association be more likely to have a cesarean section delivery, these results are important, because they could provide better understanding of the basic neurophysiology and psychology of parent-infant attachment," said Swain.

"This work could lead to early detection of families at risk for postpartum depression and attachment problems and form a model for testing interventions."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"The risk of a baby dying because of uterine rupture appears to be less than one in one thousand. To put these numbers in perspective, remember that in the United States the [overall] perinatal mortality rate is around 1.1 percent."7 In contrast, mortality and morbidity rates associated with cesarean section are higher than these average rates. In addition, rupture can also occur in an unscarred uterus, and these ruptures tend to be much more catastrophic than those in VBACs.8 In fact, in one study of 93 reported cases of uterine rupture over a five-year period, 61 were in unscarred uteri and 32 in scarred. Nine maternal deaths occurred, and all were women who had not had cesarean sections.9 It may be these catastrophic ruptures in unscarred uteri that cause the misguided fear of cesarean scars rupturing.

from Bruce Flamm's book, Birth After Cesarean 1990

~Blessings~

OUR GOD IS AN AWESOME GOD!!!

2008-10-09T08:32:00.002-05:00

I swear that my all mighty God is the most amazing thing that has ever happened in my life. He saves me, he protects me, and he takes me out of my comfort zone. PRAISE HIM, PRAISE HIM!!!!

We are all sick, I posted that yesterday. Praise GOD we are feeling much better today, but still blah! So I'm going to tell on myself. I thought I had this huge paper due tonight for my parenting class. I was going to write about parenting preschoolers. But forgot about the paper until Monday. I have to have 7 sources but only 3 can come from the internet and none of my sources can be copyrighted after 2003. I had Justin get me a whole bunch of books while he was at the library last night and they were all copyrighted in the 60's haha. Sweet man he tried!!!! He did bring me home 10 books!! So I e-mailed my teacher last night letting her know that we were all sick and I might not be up to class tonight and asked if I could e-mail her the paper tonight when I got done. She e-mailed me back and said that the paper wasn't due until the Thursday AFTER fall break! So not tonight, not next Thursday, but the Thursday AFTER!!!!!!! WHAT A BLESSING!!! THANK-YOU GOD!!!!!!!! I was beginning to get a little worried about writing a 4 page paper in one day!

I've been praying a lot lately for GOD to work through me. So that I can help others. Helping is a huge passion of mine. My mom works with one of the most amazing young men I've ever met and he and his girlfriend are 6 weeks pregnant. They are both transplants to middle Tennessee from other parts of the state so they have limited support here. They've been together for a long time and love each other deeply. But they are scared, nervous and she isn't getting much information and has no idea what is going on with her body. Mom asked last night if Justin and I would reach out to them, get them involved in our church and guide them through this crazy time. Because Justin and I have been exactly where they are. I was 19 and Justin was 20 when we found out Maddy was on her way. We were not married, we had only been dating for 6 months before we got pregnant. But God gave us Maddy. She was such an amazing gift. He turned a sinful act into a beautiful beautiful baby girl. We are so blessed by her and her sister. It hasn't been an easy road, but it's been full of God and his amazing son Jesus Christ. And we've had an amazingly blessed life. I just pray that God helps Justin and I help this family. Please please keep them in your prayers and thoughts!!

And now, since I don't have to do the paper today, I'm going to go clean my house!!

~Blessings~

She's 4!!!

2008-10-08T23:14:00.002-05:00

It's official. Madelyn is officially 4 years old. Gosh this child has truly blessed my life, I hope she knows that!! We had a fun day. It's also my moms birthday so we hung out with her a lot today. We are all sick with sinus stuff though, blugh haha!

Maddy went to the doctor this morning. She got 4 shots, ouch! But she weighed 38lbs and was 41 inches tall. She's in the 75% for both height and weight. If she keeps up this path, at age 20 she'll be 5'6" and be about 140 lbs. So she'll be taller than I am! Haha! She's really healthy and happy and doing well. So all is good!

It's really late, I don't feel well so I'm off to bed!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM AND MADDY

~Blessings~