Things Enjoyed

peaceful evenings by the pond with my sweet little girl...

beautiful Sunday morning ponytails for church :)

totally relaxing....

and as many of our last days at the pool as possible!

  

~Whitney

These Two!

                  

 They get so big, so fast!

                                     

Tessa's First Day!

To say she was totally excited and motivated to be back at school would be an UNDERSTATEMENT ;)

Tessa is in the habit of doing very shocking things on her first days of anything.

This is her 'oh my goodness I've worked really hard on my first day of school' face ;)  

~Whitney

Our Kindergarten Kid

 We have a sweet, funny, compassionate, handsome little Kindergartner!

  ENOUGH with the pictures, Mom ;)

~Whitney

A Few More Favorites

I'm still short on words these days, so I'll share a few (or several ;) other favorites from Wrestling with an Angel!

The Lucas family:
http://sheepdogger.blogspot.com/2010/06/fathers-day-gods-great-grace-in-being.html

http://sheepdogger.blogspot.com/2010/01/where-broken-are-swift-and-weak-are.html

A story about how good janitors make good preachers:
http://sheepdogger.blogspot.com/2010/01/cleaning-up-crap-and-preaching-hope.html

http://sheepdogger.blogspot.com/2010/01/i-love-youno-matter-what.html

God's purpose for each of us:
http://sheepdogger.blogspot.com/2010/02/sovereign-solution-to-cold-case-crime.html


Love this one...empathy is huge:
http://sheepdogger.blogspot.com/2010/03/contagious-comfort-and-mercy-of-god.html


The humor in this one is grand :)
http://sheepdogger.blogspot.com/2010/03/what-are-you-looking-at.html


Grace in the small things (peaceful bathtime):
http://sheepdogger.blogspot.com/2010/04/great-grace-in-small-things-of-life.html

http://sheepdogger.blogspot.com/2010/05/pay-attentionsomething-eternally.html


"All things are going as planned"-life must be lived moving forward, but understood backwards:
http://allthingsgrace.blogspot.com/2011/10/god-doesnt-wear-seatbelt.html



~Whitney

A Favorite Blog

Smiled the whole way through this!

http://sheepdogger.blogspot.com/2013/08/indispensable.html

~Whitney

Firsts and Lasts

Parker lost his first tooth at the pool tonight!  And he pulled it himself!

And Tessa, well, she's just taking in the last days of summer!

 

 

Encouraged

In the last 2 years I have been blessed to share, via facebook and blog, in the life of precious little Emma.  In the summer of 2011, right before Tessa's first CI surgery, I stumbled on a YouTube video of Emma's first CI activation.  The similarities between our two little girls were striking!  I took a chance and sent a message to the email tied to the video...and soon after heard back from Kristina, Emma's mom.  Being connected with their story has been the biggest blessing since that day!

Emma is 5 almost 6 (two and a half years older than Tessa), and it has been huge to get to follow her journey so closely. Congenital CMV affects children so differently, but these two cuties share an awful lot in common.  Kristina's willingness and dedication to share so much about Emma has truly helped us on our journey with Tessa.  We have learned so much from them!  

We have spent so many of our recent days discouraged, and today I just wanted to share the Lord's provision of encouragement to me, once again, through Emma's life!  Tessa will start her first full year of school next week, and Emma has just graduated from preschool and is headed to Kindergarten!  Her mother writes so beautifully about it here and shares an awesome video!

http://howlifehappens.blogspot.com/2013/08/preschool-graduate.html

Sending Tessa to school is a very hard thing.  Like anything else; lots of unknowns, new routines, new people, new places...there is excitement, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't coupled with a level of fear. I just love how Kristina sums up this particular transition for her sweet Emma:

Thank you Kristina and Emma (and Julia and Chris ;)!  We are blessed by you guys and are so thankful to share glimpses of your journey!  This is just one of the many many times you have encouraged me to keep moving ahead and have helped lift my spirits for a brighter tomorrow :)

~Whitney

From Nuggets to Folding Clothes to Loveable Giggles

 Random cuteness by these 3 :)

We ordered Tessa some skinit covers for her CIs ~ aren't they fun!

Her new thing is grabbing her tongue ;)

It's a mommy-sandwich!

a sweet site

me and my handsome little man

Check out her nugget-eating-skills!!

This is seriously impressive stuff folks!

My 5 year old helping out by folding his own clothes ~ Blessed!

And these Giggles!!!

...can't get enough!!

~Whitney