The Will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.

A Promise with a Gift

A Promise with a Gift
Lilypie Angel and Memorial tickers
Lilypie First Birthday tickers

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Please meet Marie




Dustin and I decided not to exchange gifts with each other this Christmas. Rather than exchanging gifts, on Christmas Eve Dustin and I adopted/sponsored Marie. She's from Congo Africa. I've always heard great things about the World Vision organization and have always wanted to do this. We can mail her gifts throughout the year, write her letters, and be an example to her of God's unconditional love. She'll know our name and we'll receive letters and updated photos from her. It's only about $1.00 a day ($35.00 a month). Our donation will pay for all her medication and food.

Listen to the first two songs on my playlist. "Orphans of God" by Avalon, and "Save You" by Kelly Clarkson

I know we think at times...well"I" can't make a difference, but that is so wrong! I would like to plant the seed in your heart to join me in helping these kids. The website is Worldvision.org. You can choose a child who touches your heart by selecting a gender and a country. Their photos will appear and you can pick the one you would like to sponsor.

How it works is there are different communities, and one leader in each community who ensures your child gets their gifts, letters, etc. Your child writes you letters in their handwriting, and the community leader translates it on the same letter. For more information, you can call 1-888-511-6542. Marie's favorite thing to do is football/soccer...so she'll be getting a late Christmas present from us and I think it'll be a soccer ball :) Join me in praying for Marie, and all the other children. Grace was made for lives like this.

If you choose to sponsor a child, please leave a comment with the name of the child so we can pray for them as well! To one of these children it would be like winning the lottery for you to sponsor them. Chills came over my body the moment I did it, and it was better than receiving any gift for Christmas. Make a difference in a child's life in 2010. Ask yourself,
"What would Jesus do?"

Born: Oct 16, 2003
Grade:0
Health: Satisfactory
Favorite Play: Football/Soccer
Gender: Girl
Chores: Runs Errands
Country: Congo-Democratic Rep of

This is the initial child photo and history I received. I will receive an updated photo and information directly from the child's community each year.

Marie lives with her parents, 1 brother, and 5 sisters. Her parents struggle to provide for the family. Her father is an agriculture worker and her mother is a market vendor. Despite their efforts, it is difficult to meet the family's needs.

Marie and her family live in a community severely affected by the HIV and AIDS crisis. In some communities, AIDS effects entire social structure as a generation of hardworking adults is being wiped out. Frightened children and exhausted grandparents rarely have money for food, school, or medical care. Through sponsorship, you can help with these and other basic needs for Marie and her family.

Your sponsorship commitment will help provide Marie and her community with the assistance they need to save a generation from the HIV and AIDS crisis. World Vision will faithfully use your sponsorship support of Marie to meet her needs and minimize the impact of AIDS in her community through tangible prevention and care programs. You are an answer to prayer, helping children and families gain access to basic needs and learn about God's unconditional love.


Monday, December 28, 2009

"I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" Christmas 2009

We were so blessed to have such a wonderful Christmas! Snow in Texas, my niece's 2nd birthday (on Christmas Day), and a special time with family. This year the family pitched in we got the a 2 seater car (see below). They were so overwhelmed!! We called it a "Country Christmas" this year; and had barbeque, mac n cheese, potatoe salad, coleslaw, beer, and smores out by the fire. Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!!














My niece Aydia turned 2 on Christmas Day!




Snow in Texas this Christmas!! Kobi loving the snow!




My nephew and my mom watching fireworks.


Me and my niece at Christmas party.





Sunday, December 20, 2009

The Ultimate Gift

The Ultimate Gift is one size fits all! This year as we are all unwrapping our many gifts,and having fun with all our festivities, my prayer for you is that you keep Jesus as your focal point; the ultimate gift this Christmas is him being our Savior. I always like to read about the birth of Jesus during Christmas (Luke ch.2). Something pretty amazing is Isaiah 53:4 was written over 100 years before Jesus died on the cross. It reads...."but he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." It was written before it even took place. It was a promised gift-Genesis 3:25, and a timely gift.-Galations 4:4-5) The gift of Salvation-"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life"-John 3:16. This Christmas, we also have the gift of the Holy Spirit. John 14:16-18 Jesus promises the Holy Spirit. If you want to experience Joy like you never have before, then give your heart and life to Jesus Christ. He is the Ultimate Gift this Christmas. Ask yourself...What have you done or will you do with the Ultimate Gift this year? Have you given thanks to it, modeled it, and shared it?

"For its by his grace you have been saved, through faith-and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."-Ephesians 2:8-10

Saturday, December 19, 2009

Christmas Greetings

Tito Age:7 "Merry Christmas...." Prada Age:5 "to all..." Roxi Age:9 "and to all..." Kobi Bear Age:6 "a good...." Charli Age:3 "night!"

Here's a few pictures from what I'm calling "Santa's Workshop" this year :)












Wednesday, December 16, 2009

The Climb

I can almost see it
That dream I'm dreaming but
There's a voice inside my head sayin,
You'll never reach it,
Every step I'm taking,
Every move I make feels
Lost with no direction
My faith is shaking but I
Got to keep trying
Got to keep my head held high

There's always going to be another mountain
I'm always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes you going to have to lose,
Ain't about how fast I get there,
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

The struggles I'm facing,
The chances I'm taking
Sometimes they knock me down but
No I'm not breaking
The pain I'm knowing
But these are the moments that
I'm going to remember most yeah
Just got to keep going
And I,
I got to be strong
Just keep pushing on,

There's always going to be another mountain
I'm always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes you going to have to lose,
Ain't about how fast I get there,
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

There's always going to be another mountain
I'm always going to want to make it move
Always going to be an uphill battle,
Sometimes you going to have to lose,
Ain't about how fast I get there,
Ain't about what's waiting on the other side
It's the climb

Keep on moving
Keep climbing
Keep the faith baby
It's all about
It's all about
The climb
Keep the faith
Keep your faith

Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Cowboy Game







Although we lost, it was a great game. The stadium is awesome!! The weather was perfect too.

IVF consultation appt

We met with R.E. this morning to have our IVF consultation appt. It looks like we'll be starting this process mid Jan. It's about a 6-7 week process, so if we start mid Jan, we'll complete it around the 1st week of March. It was a lot of information today. Luckily I've researched on my own alot so I wasn't totally overwhelmed. Below is the protocol and timeline we'll be doing.

Lupron protocol
Jan. 15-mensus (acupuncture once a week)
day 3-baseline sonogram, start birth control pill
day 11ish-trial transfer visit (physician evaluates uterus and injection teaching)
start Lupron injections (acupuncture twice week)
bloodwork and sonogram
day 14ish-start ovarian stimulation (for about 10 days)
bloodwork and songograms about 4 times each during this 10 day period
day 25ish hcg injection to mature eggs
around Feb 20th egg retrieval
start progesterone
day 31ish embryo transfer
day 41ish serum pregnancy test

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Sign?

I have to share this. I created my blog on Friday. On Thursday the day before, as I was driving home from lunch, I was praying to God to show me some kind of sign in the clouds (as you can see from the bottom of my blog I love clouds). I normally wouldn't share this, but I'm sure we all do this from time to time (or maybe not all of us :)). Anything at all...I just wanted to see something in the clouds. Well after looking the whole way home (about 10 minutes) all I saw was a question mark (?) made out of clouds in the sky. The next day I started my blog and because I love clouds I went to google and typed in clouds clip art. The 1st pic that showed up was the pic I have at the top of this blog. Question mark was no where in my search in google. Pretty awesome! I don't think that is a coincidence. What's crazy is I didn't even think about this resemblence until I was laying in bed awake at 1:00 a.m. last night! I told Dustin and my sister about it, but decided to share on the blog as well. All I can make from this is my story is not finished and no one knows the answer or reveal except Him.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

The Beginning

Rather than recapping everything I've gone through thus far, on the left I've posted my "timeline". Yes, a little depressing, but keep in mind that through each of those trials, I've become stronger. God's grace has filled me with happiness and I can honestly say I've never been happier.
Christmas is here and its my favorite holiday. My house is heavily decorated this year, I'm calling it Santa's workshop. I'm so thankful and blessed to have a wonderful husband, a healthy family, great friends, a beautiful house, and Five sweet dogs. Yes, five dogs...those are our children for now.
My IVF consultation appt is set for next week. This is where we'll go over what protocol I'll be doing and we'll go over calendar dates. Stay tuned...:)