Friday, July 25, 2008

Recent pics

Well we are back from the dead. I thought we were fine and then Tuesday Stephen came down with the plague. We are now referring to it as the "Black Death." Well, that's what we felt like anyway! Thankfully, Stephen is better now and we *seem* to have kicked everything, praise the Lord! Yesterday we scoured the house top to bottom, so hopefully we won't have to deal with anymore killer viruses anytime soon!

Here are some recent pics. We have not been well, so we haven't taken a whole lot lately. Luckily we just got some family portraits done, so I will be posting those after this. Enjoy!
On the 4th we went to my Uncle and Aunt's house in Tulsa. We had so much fun catching up and stuff. Here is Hope's 4th of July outfit. Sorry for the bluriness. It's a camera phone
My cousin Liana had her first baby in June. We got to meet her when we went to Tulsa. She's so tiny and cute!! Her name is Anna-Li.
Stephen's parents came into town a couple of weeks ago. They only stayed overnight, but we had fun nonetheless. We went shopping and they took Hope on her first carousel ride!
Random pic of Mommy and Hope
Hope and one of her little friends from church. I was babysitting that day. This little girl is about 6 months older than Hope, but they have lots of fun together.

Friday, July 18, 2008

Sick, sick, sick

Yes, we are sick, sick, sick. Hope threw up all day on Wednesday, as you are aware from my previous post. Yesterday was fine, except that she didn't know what she wanted to eat all day. Nothing was tasting good to her. We took it really easy on the food and no throwing up yesterday at all!! YAY!! Then this morning at 7:30, I hear it. That unmistable sound coming from your child's room, like they're choking and dying. I ran into her room and, sure enough, puke all over her bed. She was just crying and wretching, poor little baby. Then an hour later I get this sinking feeling and run to the bathroom. Yep, I am sick with it now too. It's that achy, nauseated, feverish feeling. I can't do anything but lay on the couch and try to ignore the pins pricking me everywhere. Poor Stephen is running around like a chicken with his head cut off trying to care for both of us. I feel so badly for him. He so looks forward to his weekends to get some much needed R&R. Thank the Lord I got sick now instead of two days ago so he didn't have to take off any more work. Please pray that he does not get it! That's the last thing he needs right before Sunday services!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Just an update...

More will come later, I promise. For now I just wanted to let everyone know that we're okay and we're still here! Things have been mega stressful and busy lately. I am sure that all of you can relate!

We just got done with a children's musical and adult musical at church, and since we have no children's minister at the present moment, Stephen was in charge of getting Children's Camp up and going this summer. I am telling you, I cannot express with ANY words how HUGE of a feat it was to get all of those campers and sponsers off to camp last week! PLEASE go hug your children's minister and tell them you appreciate all the hard work they do! They do so much that we don't even know about!

Anyway, we thought after we got last week over with that things would slow down around here, but as it so happened, Hope decided it would be a good week to get a nasty stomach virus! Fun times. (WARNING...if you are eating, you might want to put your food down before you go any further. It's going to get kind of graphic.) She's thrown up 4 times today and has had the "runs" (I use this term lightly) on and off. She's had no wet diapers and can't keep anything down. She was even throwing up her juice. Finally I decided tonight to just try and give her little sips of juice at a time and SO FAR she has managed to keep that down. She really didn't want to drink anything today at all, but I managed to coax her by letting her drink from a straw (she loves to drink out of straws). PLEASE pray for us this week. Having a sick kid is hard; having a sick and throwing up kid is excrutiating. I have never cleaned up so much puke in my life.

One last think before I let you go. I just want to ask for your prayers for myself this week. I feel like I'm kind of at a "crossroads" in my life right now. I have applied, been accepted, and even registered for classes at Mississippi State University for the Fall. I want to go back to get my degree in Meteorology. Many of you know that I have a huge passion for the weather and I would really LOVE to do it as a career. However, we are kind of waffling back and forth on whether I should go or not. Our first and probably biggest issue is that I really don't want my family to suffer emotionally, mentally, spiritually, or financially because I chose to go to school. The classes are all on-line, but I know it would take away from my time with family and to me that is an even bigger thing than my desire to go to school.

Secondly, and most importantly is my heart in all of this. I feel like a part of me is looking to this program and a career in meteorology to sort of "give me identity." I've always felt like I really don't do anything special that sets me apart and this would "help" my issue. I know this is wrong of me to think, and I know that my identity should not be wrapped up in what I DO, rather it should be about who I am in Christ. But what does that really look like for a ministry-minded stay-at-home wife and mom?

Our third obstacle is, of course the money issue. I will need to find a job or something in order to go to school and this will take more time away from family and church. The program is $13,000. The school is really pushing me to get loans, but we feel very convicted that we should not do that. We have been working very hard to get out of debt, not to mention that we already have upwards of $30,000 in school loans combined. Adding to that total would just be taking one huge step backwards.

One part of me feels like this is a passion that God gave me and wouldn't God want me to pursue a passion that He Himself gave me? But then another part of me asks, well how could I glorify God in the field of meteorology? The field doesn't exactly call for in-depth Bible study and long periods of deep, theological discussion. But what a better way to bring glory to God than to study the "hugeness" of His creation and remember that He is ultimately in control of all of those things? Sorry for all the confusion. I just want to glorify God in what I do and I want to have peace whether I do this or not. Part of me really really wants to pursue a lifelong, God-given passion. But another part of me feels like it's just not the right time. We just don't know what to do about all this. Stephen has been so supportive and I know he would love to see me do this, but it just doesn't look like it's the right timing, and that makes me kind of sad. I really don't have another shot at this. I have already applied and not attended once. I can't do that again. Give me your thoughts, and if not, just your prayers would be nice. We love you all and thank you for your love and support. Pics of Hope will come soon!!!