My Sister's Appt...

is tomorrow morning at 9 am at Sloan Kettering in NYC. She is getting a second opinion. Please pray the doctor there will present some more options for her!

Can't thank you enough for taking time to pray for this!

Read more here.

Ultrasound Pics- 7 weeks

Here are our latest ultrasound pics! We decided to keep the continuing story of our second baby here on the same blog with Tyler's story. One led to the next, and it's the continuing story of our family. I would eventually like to change the header above, but first I have to figure out how!

This ultrasound picture was taken at 7 weeks. I swear I can almost see a profile if I look closely, but I know that's not possible yet!

By the way, for anyone having trouble seeing the baby in the ultrasound pic...the dark area in the top half of the pic is the gestational sac. The arrow is pointing at the baby itself. You can also see umbilical cord that is starting to form as it trails away to the left of the baby.

Surprisingly, we heard and saw the heartbeat at this ultrasound. I, of course, got choked up immediately, and Mike laughed with joy. I could have kept listening to that sound all day!

My due date is officially January 9th, but they will schedule me sometime in December for a c-section. This is due to my inverted-T incision, so they can't risk me going into labor again.

It still seems so surreal that I'm actually posting ultrasound pictures now! Please pray that we make it to December with this baby still safely inside me!! Thank you, God, for this gift!!

You may remember this picture on my sister Melissa's blog. There's a story behind it. I didn't want to share it on her blog, as I want to keep her blog about her and not about me.

When I was in Indy for a couple months, we were walking through a "Hobby Lobby" store. They have every decoration known to man in that store. I told her that I wanted to get a sign that said the word faith on it, and I wanted to set it next to an empty picture frame in my living room. For me, it signified holding out faith for our future child, a child that would actually live here on earth with us. I really felt like I should do this. We saw this sign, and I loved it. Miss, being the kind person she is, wanted to buy it for me.

So after she went into the hospital, I took the sign in for her room. This picture of it was in her hospital room when she had her chemo and bone marrow transplant.

When I returned to PA in March, I put the sign in my living room next to the empty picture frame. Some of you may have noticed it there. I placed a small empty picture frame next to it. It stayed just like that for the next two months, then we found out that another little one was on the way.

There is not power in the sign itself, but faith the size of a mustard seed goes a long way. And encouraging sisters are priceless! I hope I have and can continue to extend that same encouragement to her!

My Sister Melissa

Please pray for a miracle for her. She and Doug both need prayer for peace of heart, soul, and mind right now while their world is being turned upside-down.

www.danceintherainmelissa.blogspot.com

Please pass the word to all you know who believe in prayer! We need to stand in the gap for her now to try to beat this thing!

Remember WITH GOD ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE!!!!!

Thank you in advance, my friends!

Mother's Day

As kids while growing up, Mother's Day meant giving Mom a card that Dad had picked out for us. I remember seeing Dad give Mom a box of Russell Stover chocolates. Of course, I would sneak into it and try to claim all of my favorite cream flavors. (Not surprising, huh?)

Later, especially while I was in college, Mother's Day brought a phone call home to Mom and Grandma. I'm sure at least one time in there I apologized for not getting a card out in time. Across the miles and hours apart, you really grow to appreciate your family and loved ones.

And that is true even now, as we are 10 hours apart. I appreciate them even more and am so thankful for the blessings that they are.

In the past few years, Mother's Day took on a different meaning. It brought pain and was a reminder of what Mike and I wanted so badly. It meant watching others get recognized in church and standing up all around you as the mothers were recognized during the service.

Then last year, even after Tyler had left us, I was finally a mother on my first Mother's Day. It still wasn't a happy one obviously. I vowed that morning before church that if mothers were asked to stand during the service, that I would. Not standing would mean denyng my son. Fortunately, there was never a need for that. But I celebrated my son that day.

And this Mother's Day...

I celebrate something different...something new...a new thing...

Just a few days after posting "A New Thing" below, we found out that we are expecting another baby!

From that moment of finding out, we felt so many emotions. But I can tell you how I've been holding on to that verse that I posted below. Knowing that this is a new thing has already given me so much peace...peace replacing the doubt and fear that I had been feeling before. It was amazing to see how God gave me that verse right before I found out, to start preparing me and changing my emotions.

So now, this Mother's Day, we remember Tyler...

And we look toward the future with this new Baby we have been given now. This new life growing inside of me. I am thankful for every ounce of fatigue, every bit of sickness that I am starting to feel. It has already brought us so much joy!!!!!

And so much joy to get to share our "Mother's-Day news" with you!!!

Melissa

Please be praying for my sister, who has her 90 day post-BMT scan tomorrow. We celebrate that she has seen improvement over scans in the last couple months, but still, we all eagerly await the results of tomorrow's scan.

Read her words here.

Thank you!!!