Best Christmas gift ever...

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2010

It seems almost impossible to believe this time 3 years ago we were waiting to find out the most important news of our lives. We were in the dreaded 2ww!!! When my doctor told me that my blood test would be on December 24^th I knew it would be either the greatest Christmas ever for us, or one of the toughest. Thankfully our Christmas was the greatest. ( And I didn’t have to return the grandma picture frame I bought for my mom :) We celebrated the birth of Christ and the hope of another birth to come in about nine months. We are now only a week away from yet another Christmas. I look at Jakob and am amazed by him. He is such a blessing to us. As I look at him I realize Jesus was a young boy just like Jakob. I find myself wondering, what kind of baby was Jesus? What did he look like? What did he act like? I know he was God, but he was also a small child. As I think of how much I love my little boy, and how I’d do anything to protect him from harm I consider God and the fact that he sent his son, (who he loved so much) to earth for us and I am so thankful for the gift of Jesus Christ. I am so thankful Jesus wasn’t just born so that we could have a celebration or a few days off from work, or even a big family gathering. I am so thankful Jesus came as a little baby to grow up and become our Saviour. What a gift Jesus gave us. The best Christmas gift ever.

Coincidence??? Maybe not...

My mom bought Jakob this schoolhouse tin and it has little magnetic letters in it as well as cards that the letters will fit on (in the picture). Yesterday Jakob sat down with the letters. -Usually he calls every letter he sees a B and every number is a 1.- He picked up the letter B and said B and placed it on it's card.  Next he picked up the letter Y and said Y. There is a yak on the Y card so he always says (or attempts to say) yak when he sees the card. Then he picked up the letter D and said D and then the letter S, he didn’t say S but he made the ssss sound. I was sitting there thinking…hmmm, could he actually know those letters or did he just get really lucky? As you know, or maybe have just heard me say Jakob doesn’t do anything he doesn’t want to do so last night I thought I’d try to get him to do it again, knowing he probably wouldn’t do it. He said D and S correctly last night! I think he is really learning his letters. I am so excited for him!  

If at first you don't succeed...

Well, we didn’t get the whole hearing test accomplished yesterday. The first thing the Dr. did was to test Jakob’s over all hearing. I sat with him on my lap and she played sounds to see if Jakob reacted to them. He did really well on that part. It was funny though, whenever he reacted to a sound there would be a little toy that would light up and move around. On one side there was a pink elephant that played the drums. When it moved the first time Jakob started fussing and kept saying “go” “go” and trying to crawl off my lap to get to the door. I felt bad for him because I knew he was scared of it, but it was cute too because he just wanted out of there! Eventually he got used to the elephant and started having fun with the game. After that she tried to put these little ear plugs in Jakeys ears, it would put out sounds and measure how his ear drums accept sound (or something like that?) but Jakob was not having any of that. He is a pretty stubborn little guy and he kept knocking the earplugs out (they are for little ears, so they didn’t hurt him or anything like that) and screaming like a banshee. He needed to be quiet to hear the sounds coming from the headphones. Needless to say we have to try that part again. The doctor recommended we start getting Jakob used to us messing with his ears. We also bought some earbuds yesterday that have little rubber ends just like the doctor had so that he can wear them while watching movies (in the car). We go back in January and we will try it all over again. The doctor said she can tell us he does hear, but she needs the other test to make sure he hears well from both ears. She’s seen children that can hear, but don’t hear well from one ear and it can affect them. So I guess we’ll try again next time!

Hearing test...

Hey everybody! Jakob’s appointment with the audiologist is this morning. Please pray that he will cooperate and we can get this done in one try!

Thanks

-Me

"One of those days"...

Yesterday was “one of those days.” I woke up with a really bad migrane brewing 

(one of the side effects of my thyroid acting up again). I got up around 7:30 a.m. but was slowly getting about my day. I got a call at 8 something that the carpet guy (who was supposed to come out a few months ago and never did) was finally coming to fix the carpet that Jakob had ruined with the bleach. The carpet guy said he’d be at my house in about 15 minutes. -I had actually called Monday to find out what day and time he would come, but of course he wasn’t available and never called back so I was not prepared for him yesterday morning.- I had to rush around get out of my pj’s, get Jakob out of his pj’s, tidy up the house a bit, all the things I was “getting to” but hadn’t done yet because I was dealing with a major headache! Jakob of course had no idea what was going on with me, but seemed to undo things as quickly as I fixed them yesterday. I spent a good portion of the morning following behind him and picking up. I had been getting texts Tuesday and Wednesday about Denise and the condition of her health. I had no idea that her cancer had progressed so badly or that the doctors had said they really could do nothing else to help her. This was on my mind constantly. I have known “Mr. Jeff” (sorry, but I’ve known him so long I still think of him that way) basically my whole life. I have been so worried about him. So worried about Jonathan, he’s so young to lose his mother. So worried about Denise. Yesterday all I could do was talk to God. No, not really talk, but cry. The only thing I knew to ask was that God would be with them. Imagining myself in their situation I could only think that this is the time when I would need  God to make himself known in my life. Death is scary. It is unknown to us. I know that when we wake up (after death) we will be in heaven, and we will be so happy, but the process of dying can be frightening. Losing a loved one is so hard. Losing a loved one at a young age, a loved one who served the Lord and lived a good life is really hard to understand. I pray God will be more real to Denise than he ever has before. I pray he is right beside her holding her hand. I pray that God will be with Jeff and Jonathan and comfort them when the pain is almost too much to bear. I pray he will give peace when the questions come. During the middle of the day I sat down and started to read 2 Corinthians chapter 5. I needed to be reminded of God’s promises to us. This morning I read 2 Corinthians 4:7-18 which says : But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us. We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you. Since we have the same spirit of faith according to what has been written, “I believed, and so I spoke,” we also believe, and so we also speak, knowing that he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to more and more people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God. So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.

Lately the Lord has been reminding me a lot that he’s in control. I am so thankful that I can turn to him in any situation, but especially in situations where it is hard to see his plan. I know that I can trust him, even though his plan doesn’t make sense to me. Even though I had “one of those days” yesterday I was blessed and comforted by the Word of God. I was blessed in the realization that God will be there to comfort my friends. I know it’s not that simple, and that when bad things happen we will hurt, we will question, we may even doubt, but I know that God is patiently waiting for us to look to him and he won’t leave us alone.  

Saturday morning thoughts...

Well, my bloggy thoughts are really random this morning, so I figured I’d just make some bullet points. There’s nothing totally exciting going on at the moment, but here’s what’s going on with us…

·      I was awakened this morning by little smooches on my cheek. Jakob has figured out how to pucker and smooch (like real kisses instead of open mouth ones) and I’ve just been waiting to get one myself (he kisses his Buzz Lightyear all the time, as well as his Toy Story alien) so what a happy morning I had getting my first smooch : )
·      Jakob did qualify for the Early Steps program. He did awesome on his motor skills (almost 100%!) but obviously failed the communication part of it. A therapist will be coming 2 times a month to work with Jakob and also to help me learn to teach him.
·      Of course the day after everyone came to the house to evaluate Jakob he started saying so many more words, and even repeating things we will say. He started using the word Dad and Momma, we always knew he could say it, but he just never used them. He still needs some work, but I’m seeing progress (yay!)
·      We found a small (fake) Christmas tree in town for only $12!!! I was so happy when I saw it and definitely pleased with the price. We put it up yesterday along with a few other decorations and Jakob was so happy. He loves Christmas trees : )
·      We put up a blow up snowman in the front yard (gamma sent it last year) and Jeremy took Jakob out to see it last night. It’s one of those ones that you plug in and it blows up and lights up. Well I guess the wind was blowing and the snowman looked kinda creepy. Jakob would scream anytime Jeremy took him anywhere near it. After they came in Jakob would walk over to the (open) window and look to see if the snowman was still there. If you asked him if he wanted to see the snowman he’d say no-man and start crying (lol)
·      I tried tofu for the first time yesterday. If you know me very well then you’d know I don’t like anything that jiggles when you eat it (i.e. jello). I used to not even eat yogurt, but when I was pregnant I loved yogurt and I can eat it, but I don’t really because of all the sugar it has. -Sometimes I eat greek yogurt.- Anyways I found these tofu shirataki noodles at the grocery store so I decided to try them. They are super low in carbs and sometimes you just feel like eating some mac and cheese, ya know? The noodles were not that bad. They were a little jiggly and not quite hard enough, but I think I could get used to the texture. I made them with alfredo sauce but next time I will try them with regular cheese sauce for mac and cheese. I told Jeremy we have now become “those” people. The kind who eat weird things (i.e. crispbread, tofu, hummus) or maybe not so much weird things but we just eat way different than the average person. It works for us though, and I’m hoping that Jeremy won’t have to battle diabetes (or at least not have to deal with it at a young age) like most everyone in his family.
·      I’m down to 123 pounds! 3 pounds from my goal weight!!!
·      I’ve been off my thyroid meds for almost 6 weeks now and things are all messed up again. I am going to have to be on medicine for the rest of my life, there’s not a doubt in my mind. I may only have to take one or two pills a week, but I need them. I am having all the old symptoms again, including a super late cycle : ( I’m o.k. with taking the medicine though because I know it helps and I feel so much better.
·      Oh! One more thing. Remember that job? The one back home that we were wondering whether we should even consider taking because it was only for 2 years? Well it’s been put on another 90 day hiring freeze. We’re beginning to think that maybe God is trying to tell us something…

The Holidays are here???...

Hey everybody! I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving holiday :)  I roasted my first ever “holiday” turkey and it turned out really good. I don’t know why but cooking a turkey has always seemed like a daunting task but I’m glad I finally jumped in with both feet and tried something new. Our Thanksgiving was quiet it was just our family but we enjoyed it. Football was on t.v. most of the day and we just took it easy and enjoyed family time. Now that Thanksgiving is over they tell me it’s the Christmas season. Every store I go into has Christmas music playing and there’s lights up everywhere. I guess it’s kinda hard to comprehend Christmas is less than a month away when you step outside in the 85 degree weather!!! I know if I laid out in the yard I could have an awesome tan goin’ on right now. The middle of the week we’re supposed to have a cold front move through and the weather will be in the mid-70’s during the day, low 50’s at night. Every time I hear someone complain about the “nice weather” going away I want to knock them upside their head. Who doesn’t appreciate a little chilly weather at Christmas time? Well, I’ve found a whole bunch of people who don’t. We’re going to be spending Christmas back home in NW Florida so hopefully we’ll get at least a little chilly weather then. For now I will continue to wear my sleeveless tees (seriously, going sleeveless in November??? Not cool.) and daydream about cooler weather :)

In other news…

Wednesday we have another evaluation with the Early Steps program. This eval. they will be bringing a therapist and she will fully evaluate Jakob (I’m guessing to see how much or what kind of help he will need) Jeremy is taking the day off to be home and see how the evaluation is done and what their recommendations are for us. I am glad he will be here as emotional support for me because last time was a little rough. I finally got Jakob’s hearing test scheduled also, so we will know the results of that the beginning of December. This weekend we will be looking for a Christmas tree. We won’t even be here for Christmas, but we are not leaving to go home till the 23^rd so I think we still need to put up a Christmas tree. Jeremy thinks we shouldn’t bother, but he’s a man and I’m the mommy of a two year old boy, so this weekend we will try to find a cheap Christmas tree. Maybe we’ll go buy a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. I saw one of those in a store last year :) Anyways, I hope everyone is doing well. I got a new phone/number and I tried to text everyone, but if you didn’t get it just send me an e-mail and I’ll send you the new number.

<3 Shauna