Mother's Day Giveaway

Whew! I finally got my giveaway together!! *smile*

SOOOO I thought it would be fun to try a giveaway and with Mother's Day just around the corner what better reason to have a giveaway then that?!

I am giving away one of three gift baskets from:

Choice #1 Garden Lover's Gift Box:

Choice #2 Relaxing Spa Gift Box

Choice #3 Chocolate Lovers Bath Set

The winner can then choose which gift basket they would like!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

For His Glory,

Missing Our Daughter on Her 5th Birthday

Today is our sweet Emma's 5th birthday.

It's so bitter-sweet.

It makes the reminder of her absence so much stronger.

I sit here reflecting on her past birthdays and it hits me like a "slap in the face." I don't know what her likes and dislikes are anymore. I don't know what the theme of her party will be...or what she would love for a gift.

Oh what pain it brings not knowing.


Lord willing I plan on sharing the story of losing her at a later date. Today I want to share about her and God bringing her into our lives.

My oldest daughter Dakota, starting asking for a little sister. I didn't think it would happen...I was not going to marry her father...what godly-man would want to marry a single mother...so how could I possibly giver her a sister?!

I told her to pray...

She was three and she did...

I found her one afternoon outside in the grass...arms stretched heavenward...her face looking up...loudly praying, "Please God, I just want a baby sister!"

I broke my heart and I prayed, "God how can I give her a baby sister?"

Well, God heard us and later that summer my mom told me my aunt (her sister) had called. My cousin apparently had a 3 month old daughter. My cousin's life style is a wicked lifestyle and not good for Emma. She call my Aunt and Uncle and asked to meet her at the train station one day. They thought she and the baby were coming home. Far from it! She got off the train hand Emma to them, with a few items and turned around and left back for her lifestyle.

We found out Emma had been dehydrated so bad she was hospitalized as a newborn. She had bruises on her face and body (the pimp/father beat her) and she weighted less then when she was born.

They got emergency permanent guardianship of Emma. But was asking if there was anyone in the family that would be interested in raising (eventually adopting) her. I knew in my heart that she was an answer to prayer, so I jumped at the chance. 

I was not their first choice, since I was a single mother. But the two other cousins and their spouses they asked said, no (for various reasons).

Dakota and I would go out (a FAR drive) and visit for a weekend, to get to know Emma. Then at the end of the summer they left her with us for a week trial. Which went wonderfully and I knew that I wanted to pursue permanent guardianship and adoption. 

I raised (and shortly after my husband as well) Emma as my own daughter. She only knew me as mom, Joseph as Dad, and Dakota as her sister. My Aunt and Uncle were Grammy and Grampy.

The last birthday I spent with her and threw for her, was her 3rd birthday.

I just had cake with my husband and Dakota for her first birthday.

Her second birthday we were down South visiting my husband's family. We threw her a party there with everyone, she LOVED Elmo. So it was Elmo themed and I even made her an Elmo fish bowl cake. *smile* Such bitter-sweet memories.

Her third birthday party was at our house and was the first one with her grandparents and my family. It was Big Bird/Sesame Street themed. She got her own purse with her very own glitter crayons and she loved ballerinas.

Is she having a party today? What does she now love? Sometimes the pain feels like it is going to suffocate me. But I trust Jesus in this pain! He has a reason and purpose. Just like Joseph went there many trials and I'm sure questioned, but..."You meant it for harm, but God meant it for good."

Happy birthday my sweet, sweet Emma! I miss your contagious giggles...those beautiful sparkly brown eyes... the way you loved your blankie and to snuggle...I miss watching you twirl like a ballerina....

Happy birthday my love! May you have a wonderful birthday and pray that you are happy and healthy! I love and miss you my daughter, my heart.

                                                                          Love,
                                                                              Mommy

Easter Eggs

Have you seen the shaving cream colored eggs on facebook? We decided to give it a try. Here is our results...

Dakota getting ready.

What you need:
-Eggs     -something to cover your table (dollar store table cover)     -vinegar     

 -toothpick/knife     -Food coloring     -plain, unscented cheap shaving cream     -preferably 

throw away containers 

The vinegar it what causes the color to stick to the eggs. So we tried to let them soak for about a minute each. 

You squirt the shaving cream into the containers and put a few drops of food coloring then you need something to swirl it with (toothpick, knife, etc). We did a back and forth motion so that it made a neat pattern and slightly mixed the colors together. But you don't want to mix and stir otherwise the colors just mix together and don't leave the fun pattern.

Rolling the egg.

Roll the egg around nice and good.

Careful it is VERY tempting to play in the shaving cream after! *smile*

Green monster!!

Imitating "green monster!" :)

Then we layed it them on a cooling rack to dry. It takes along time to dry. So we did it in the evening and let them dry over night.

Eggs ready to dry.

Voila! Our eggs the next morning!

For His Glory,

Hosanna in the Highest!

Photo credit:tiemanddate.com

"So the disciples went and did a s Jesus commanded them. They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.

And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.

Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:

"Hosanna to the Son of David!

Blessed is He who come in

the name of the Lord!

Hosanna in the highest!"

And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"

So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

Matt. 21:6-11

Photo credit: wbcjax.com

    Praise be to God that He was not just a prophet...but the SON of GOD!! He came down to earth as a human, fully man...fully God. He led a sinless life and willingly suffered torture and death. All in order to conquer death for US! He was the ultimate sacrifice...for OUR sins!

I hope you have a wonderful Palm Sunday!

For His Glory,

Easter Baskets

Photo credit: Punchbowl.com

   

     I like to try and keep our Easter baskets Christ centered. Since Easter isn't REALLY about the Easter bunny or baskets. I certainly don't mind giving them a little candy and perhaps some small toys. Everyone is different. Some people might not do baskets, others, might do something small, and others might really get into it.

     I like to include a little candy, with one larger piece of chocolate (my mom always bought us a big chocolate shaped into something fancy, (such as a car, etc.) from the local homemade candy store.) We can't afford that at this time. But I like to go to the dollar store, the Dollar Tree to be exact. They sell chocolate in the shape of crosses! My oldest loves white chocolate so she gets one, while my youngest daughter gets a milk chocolate one.

Chocolate crosses.

     I then might buy something like peeps (gross! but my oldest loves them) to add to it and either a spring outfit or some toys. Such as sidewalk chalk, squirt guns, coloring books, etc. most items you can buy at the Dollar Tree as well. Plus if we do an East egg hunt, they get candy from that as well.

      My mom had a bag of Dove chocolates she gave me to add (thank you mom!) and I have some videos from Voice of the Martyrs. I had bought the movies about a year or two ago and have been slowly giving them as gifts. I'm planning on adding two of them movies to their gift bags. If I had money, I would buy them one of the beautiful books they offer for children. Check them out!

     Which by the way, this year I am just giving them brown paper lunch bags to decorate with markers and stickers. I know nothing fancy! But, that's not the purpose of Easter anyway. *wink*

Do you do Easter baskets? If so what are your plans?

For His Glory,

To Eat or Not to Eat?

     Well Josiah stopped attempting to eat out of a haberman feeder after his lanthem device surgery. A haberman feeder is a special bottle designed for babies with eating problems such as a cleft lip. It has a long nipple. If your baby doesn't have a palate or Josiah's case a partial palate, you need the lip nipple to hit further back so they can suck. You can also get something for your breast, if you're breast feeding (Josiah wasn't physically able to).

Haberman Feeder

     After his surgeries we really wanted to work towards getting him to fully eat orally,, so we can get the feeding tube removed. Unfortunately he still has major problems with gagging and choking, especially with liquids. Here are some of the devices we used to try and get him to drink .

 They didn't work so well. :(

     Josiah's therapist gave us the juice box to work with. After giving it a try, she decided it was best to get a swallow test done with his feeding specialist! *wink* He choked his way through a few swallows. Which we had to squeeze it up, since he can't suck.

     The specialist from the plastic surgeons office said she has only known one other child (and people come from all over the country to see this surgeon, he is one of the best. We are blessed to have him do the surgeries) to have this problem and suggested the Tilty cup, which worked for this other family. We didn't even bother and I'm glad, because I now know it wouldn't have worked.

     Praise the Lord, for Judy, out feeding specialist! She came over right after Christmas to observe him eating and immediately said, yup somethings wrong and scheduled a swallow study. Once again, Praise God! There was a cancellation and we got to have the study done at the beginning of Feb instead of March. It almost got canceled, since it was during a blizzard! *smile* But we got in and out safely and before everyone was snowed in.

     Judy, Marge (nutritionist), an intern, and Melissa (therapist) came over last week and we watched the video. (For the swallow test I had to feed him different consistencies of food and liquid while the x-ray machine basically took a video.) I will share with you later the findings, what it means, and am working on getting a copy of the video to share. I do have to say that God is merciful! Josiah really enjoys trying to eat and wants to eat. Which is HUGE, I mean HUGE! Everyone kept commenting how blessed we are with that and that already gives us a "heads start" compared to other children. We just have to be careful not to push him and turn him off from enjoying food. *smile*

     Anyway...most will probably find this boring, but I want to share our struggles, problems, journey and new knowledge in case there are more mamas out there in the "same boat." *smile*

Have you had similar issues or know of anyone who has?

For His Glory,

Easter Ideas

                                 Share "Jesus is the Good News"
                                                 This Easter!
   

 Over the next two weeks I thought it would be fun to share with you some Easter gift ideas. I usually give a little candy and then something else (Which I will share more later).

The creator of Veggie Tales had created a new series called, Whats in The Bible.

I think this would make a GREAT Easter "basket" gift! I wish I could purchase some for my girls.












You can check them out and make a purchase here: Whats in the Bible 20% off


For His Glory,