Some One Month Pictures

I really wasn't in the mood to be photographed, but Mommy insisted that since it was my one month birthday we take a bunch of pictures. She had to send some to my birthmom, so she was trying to get some to show how big I am now. I endured the photo session, but saved my best expressions for after she put the camera away. Hehe.

SwagBucks Update

Well, it has been just over a week since I put up the information on SwagBucks. I already have 58 SwagBucks which is equivalent to one $5.00 Amazon gift certificate or $5.00 Starbucks gift certificate and about 13 more towards the next one. I haven't aggressively been searching everything known to man, but when I've had to do a search, I've used their search box.

2 Things I've Learned:

Number 1. It's important to have friends to be successful. Of my 58 SwagBucks earned, 44 of them have been from friends. You can get up to 100 SwagBucks per friend signed up, so those can add up.

Number 2 You don't get SwagBucks every time you search. That is what I would love. Just give me one for every time I ask you for information. Instead you randomly (or so it seems) get them in varying quantities (1, 3, 5) whenever they so decide.

All in all, it hasn't been bad - wasn't that difficult to sign up friends (thanks to everyone who signed up), and has already netted one gift card - though I am waiting for a few more. I think I'll go for the $20.00 Target card and use it formula for the little guy. I only need 162 more for that. So keep searching... :)

SwagBucks

I heard about swagbucks.com through the Money Saving Mom website. Swagbucks is apparently a basic search engine much like Google is. However, the big difference is that Swagbucks gives you points for searching. Then you can redeem those points for gift cards to various places.

Sign up is super easy and does not require any sensitive information that you wouldn't want to give out. No fees, no phone number or address required...

You get three points for signing up and you can download their toolbar to search easier or you can go to swagbucks.com each time you need to search for information on the internet. After only 45 points you can already qualify for an Amazon gift card.

The great part is that the points really can add up because you can get referral points from friends who are doing their searching through swagbucks too. If you do a lot of searching and your friends do a lot of searching, you just went from being able to get an occasional $5.00 gift card to being able to earn a lot more. There is one blog that tells how a lady earned enough gift cards to cover her Christmas gifts just by using swagbucks and signing up friends.

So, if you are interested and wouldn't mind using my referral, here is the link:

http://swagbucks.prodege.com/?cmd=sb-register&rb=245533

If nothing else, it could be interesting just to see the potential.

I Love My Boppy

Grandma Staples, Aunt Barb, Aunt Danelle and Aunt Lynelle gave me this Boppy and I love it. Mommy and Daddy say it is much easier on their arms when feeding and I like to hang out on it in between feedings. I hate to be vain, but I think I am pretty cute. Watch out, ladies!

My Boys

Okay, so it is 1:50 a.m. and Jonathan is 3/4 of the way through his 4 ounces. For some reason, I have sleep on the brain, so I thought I would post a few of my favorite pictures of my boys while sleeping. This first one was so cute...I came out into the living room to find them both sound asleep and Jonathan looked so happy and content to be sleeping next to Daddy.

The best part is that in life BJ (before Jonathan), I usually couldn't get away with taking many pictures of Mike either awake or asleep. Sometimes I would get one that I thought was hilarious only to find it deleted off the camera next time I checked it. Now, Mike lets me take more pictures (and sometimes just must be so exhausted that he has no clue I'm doing it). WHOHOO. :)

Works of God, Love of Others

Seriously. The last six weeks of my life have been a big time work of God. As I sit here and look down at my beautiful son, I cannot help but praise God for all He has done. We went from losing Angel (that is what the birthmom named the little girl who was stillborn who would have been our daughter), to finding out about the potential for this little guy, to hearing that we had actually been chosen again, to the joy of seeing our little guy come into the world 10 days ahead of schedule (I think because he was anxious to get out and meet his mommy, but maybe I'm a little off in my thinking). :) He has been an absolute delight and we give God the glory for directing Jonathan into our home.

Often I will just sit and hold him and look down at his cute little face with amazement that God would entrust this little one to us. I cry now just as I did before him, but now I cry with a full heart, thankful for the sacrifice of his birthmom who chose a different life for him - who chose to put him in a family with both a Mommy and Daddy who would love him completely. Even when he is fussy (which really isn't that often), I remind myself that I would choose full arms of a temporarily fussy little guy than empty arms and a heart continually filled with ache and longing for the chance to be a Mommy. I praise God every day and thank Him for bringing Jonathan home to us.

Part of the way God has been blessing us is through friends from near and far, family, my volleyball players and friends from church. Last night the church had a baby shower for us and it was such a blessing. Here are some pictures for those who missed it and said they wanted to see pictures...

The room was decorated with a jungle theme since that is going to be the theme of Jonathan's nursery. The decorators did an awesome job and I loved it all!

I liked the wall decor and they actually took it down for me afterwards so I can put it up in his room. You might not be able to see from the pictures, but there were stuffed animals everywhere. My friend Julie is in the middle of this picture...she saved the night when halfway through the service I realized that I had forgotten to bring the thank you note envelopes (our church will often use those at a shower to instead of a guest book because then you already have all your thank you note envelopes addressed). Since Julie's little girl was a little loud in the service, she had to be out in the hallway anyway and she quickly ran to the store to hook me up. She rules.

This was the AMAZING cake that Erica's mom made for the shower. She has such a gift! I have had the privilege of seeing many of the cakes she has come up with and I'm always so impressed. I do have to say that this is my favorite of her cakes though - it fit the theme so perfectly.

Many of the pictures of me opening gifts ended up a little blurry or I didn't like how I looked in them, so I refused to put them up (okay, so I'm a little vain apparently - shocker).

All in all, the shower was such a big blessing and encouragement for us. Between this shower and the shower that my volleyball players threw for us, we are set on diapers for awhile. Jonathan also received many cute outfits which I'm sure you'll see in pictures to come. Thank you to those of you who played a big part in this night. It really was special and more than I ever expected it to be. The work behind-the-scenes is much appreciated. We are thankful for those who have poured out their love and support through this entire process. We know that God has worked through many of you to be a blessing to us.

One quick side note...I think I'm finding that I now do my best blogging at midnight. Scary.

Yes, we are still alive

Daddy feeds me often. We enjoy our bonding time together.

Us at church my first Sunday. I wore this super great onesie that says "Mommy's Little Man"

Check out my great basketball outfit. The pants are so huge that Mommy rolled them up , but I think I look pretty cool.

Mommy was taking fifty thousand pictures of me this night and I was sick of the flash going off in my eyes. She was trying to take a picture of me with the beautiful blanket my great grandma made just for me. I guess I could have cooperated more and given her a nice smile, but I wasn't in the mood.

I have really long fingers. Everyone keeps saying that I should learn to play the piano when I get bigger.

Hey everyone, it's Mommy talking. Sorry for the long delay in posts...it seems like being a mommy and keeping up with everything else in life takes a little more of my time. I also have the good excuse that for awhile Mike had the plug at work that allows me to download pictures of our little guy. I will try to do better. Apparently 12:31 a.m. is a good time to blog since Jonathan doesn't feel like sleeping unless he is being held by Mommy (he is currently blissfully lying across my lap on the Boppy, but I know if I go put him down and try to sleep, he'll decide that he is going to be fussy).

Loving Life With my Two Guys

Mike caught these pictures of Jonathan sleeping the other night. There weren't even posed...he was just sleeping like this on the couch with his daddy.

I have to tell you that Mike has been so great with the little guy. One night earlier this week he sent me to bed and took care of Jonathan all night long so that I could catch up on sleep. It was blissful. He comes home from work and is quick to want to spend time with us and take care of our little man. He has done a great job with him and with taking care of me during this time. I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful husband who is also a great daddy.

More Pics of Jonathan David

Aunt Barb and Mommy and I - my cousin Allan took this picture and everyone told him to aim for the baby. Don't Mommy and Aunt Barb look funny with no tops on their heads? :)

Daddy and my cousin Michael and I

Uncle Brian and I

I like to sleep in my car seat.

My cousins and I.

What Else - Of Course - More Pictures of the Little Guy!

Here I am chilling out in my bouncy seat - just trying it out so Mommy could take a picture of me with my eyes wide open.

This is a great picture of me in my swing. I could sleep for hours in it if they would let me. I'm still too little to fit totally, so Mommy swaddles me all up so that I can't move while I'm in it, but I still love it.
Here is our first family photo since I came along. It is kind of fitting that it was in a gymnasium because I think I'll be spending lots of time in gyms over the course of my life.

Another family photo - unfortunately I put my hand up at the last moment so you can't see how handsome I am in this one - but at least you can see that my Mommy and Daddy are totally happy to have me.

Stay tuned for more...they are always taking pictures it seems, so I'm sure you'll see lots more of me in the days to come...

Doing Great!

Well after our first 24 hours at home with the little guy, I have to say he is doing great. He hardly ever fusses. We are so thankful for the sacrifice of love his mother chose when she chose to make an adoption plan. Unfortunately, there are so many out there who would rather choose to do a quick abortion than to give their babies a chance to live. This birthmom knew that she wasn't at a point in life to have another baby and instead of aborting gave us the chance to love this little guy.

I'm sitting on the couch typing this while Mike and Jonathan are sacked out together on the other couch. They looked so cute. Of course, he opened his eyes just as I took the picture. The more I see them together, the more thankful I am. He is an awesome dad already (and I totally knew he would be).

He's Home!

Thanks to everyone who has been praying for us. As of this evening, our little guy is home. He is doing very well. Things went smoothly at the hospital today and we actually were out earlier than we expected. We look forward to the next days and weeks of experience life with a newborn.

I'm sure you'll get to see tons of pictures as time goes on. By the way, for those who have questions on how we came up with the name:

Jonathan means "God has given"
David means "Beloved"

The combination of the meaning of the names and their Biblical background, and a little of the fact that we just liked the names together were all a part in our choosing his name. He isn't named after anyone specifically in our lives.

Anyway, off to change a diaper - which I'll be doing much of in the days to come...

More Pictures from First Holding/Feeding/Etc...

More Pictures of Our Little Guy

Holding our little guy for the first time
Seriously, isn't that so cute?
Mike holding him for the first time.
Awww...he is going to be an awesome dad!
Yeah...I love him already. So precious!

Today we came to the hospital and were able to hold him for the first time and I fed him and changed his diaper. Then Mike helped me get his shirt changed. Yeah - that was the funniest part...I was so afraid of breaking him that it took us forever. I joked that it will take me 45 minutes to change his clothes.

We will be here throughout the day (hanging out in the general waiting room - yay for free wireless network) and going up every 3-4 hours to feed him. He is eating so well right now that the nurses have put him on a four hour feeding schedule right now, but that could change is one of his feedings is smaller.

YAY! He is beautiful and words cannot do justice to this entire experience and how we've seen God's hand at work. Watch for more pictures...they will be coming like crazy. :)

And Then There Were Three - Announcing...Jonathan David Herriage

He wasn't supposed to be arriving until October 27th, but God had other plans. We got the phone call this afternoon around 4:30 p.m. that the birthmom had gone into the hospital, but thought that it was just early contractions and that they would send her home. We planned to meet in Brandon this evening to register for baby items we'll need. Mike called around 5:30 p.m. to say that we needed to go to the hospital because they were prepping her for her C-section. WOW!

This evening at 6:16 p.m., our little guy was born. He weighed 5 pounds 12 ounces and was 17.5 inches long. The birthmom's mom called us and said "This is Grandma. You have a beautiful baby boy."

We weren't able to get up to the nursery until about 8:45 due to recovery time for the birthmom required before she could sign the paper allowing us to see him in the nursery. She spent some time with him and then sent him to the nursery. We scrubbed down and then went to see this handsome little guy. His temperature hadn't stabilized yet, so we couldn't hold him, but we could touch him. After spending a little time with him and getting some suggestions from the nurses on going home to sleep at night and coming back in the daytime to spend time with him, we decided to take their advice. This hospital doesn't provide a room for adoptive parents, so we would have been spending 3-4 hours in the main downstairs waiting room between each feeding. They said that we don't need to be exhausted when we take him home in a few days, so they recommended going home to sleep. We'll be up there bright and shining in the morning though as we wait out the next 48 hours and pray that the birthmom doesn't change her mind.

We can't wait for all of you to meet him. On a side note, we do think he has really long feet. :)

Bragging For My Baby (Sandra, that is)

Well, I am somewhat surprised that Sandra did not say anything in her blog last night about the game last night.

This season has once again proved to be a hair-pulling experience for her. She has a great team, the girls have raw talent that she struggles to get them to believe. It has been a struggle to get them to register in their mind that when they do what she teaches them that they actually do a great job. They score, which makes them happy, they then have happy going through them which causes them to focus and do better.

Well, apparently, last night was one of those nights. They played Community. This was the team that went all of last year without losing one game in the regular season. They then made it all the way to the championship game where they met up with us. We had only lost two games (to Community). They came to the game so confident that they were going to clean house. Our girls played their hearts out and were rewarded with winning.

This season was one where Community was definitely ready for some revenge. The first time we played them was in their gym and they took us to town. They played a great game. They only thing that was not good that night was their attitude. You could see on their faces that they were ready, willing and able to cause us as much embarrassment as possible. Well,they did a good job of winning.

Then they came to our gym. I did not show up as I was not feeling all that well, but did meet up with Sandra and two of her college friends for dinner. She had not told me that they won so I asked. I was not sure if she was joking with me when she said that they beat Community. I was so excited.

I guess that this is going to be a game to attend when we make it to the Championship game (if the girls win the rest of the games to get them there). They are definitely going to be out for blood. They do not want to lose the championship again to us. The only better scenario would be for them to lose in the playoffs.

I just am so proud of Sandra and all that she has been able to do with the girls these last two seasons. Some have said that she got lucky the first season. But she has proved them all wrong by bringing these girls so far once again.

Oh, and I am excited about the baby coming soon too. I look forward to seeing Sandra being able to walk around the house with that little one in her arms and know that she does not have to give the baby back to their mommy. She is going to be a great mom and once she realizes that she is doing a good job maybe she will stop stressing and sleep. =)

Thank you all for your encouraging notes. We have actually started receiving things for the baby. So thank you all who have given.

14 Days and Counting

Birthdate. Well, at this point, we think that since we have heard nothing to the contrary that the C-section will be October 27th. I find it crazy to believe that in 14 days we could be parents. EEK! So much to do...so little time. I'm not sure what nesting is supposed to look like, but my desire to get completely organized and the house ready is certainly in overdrive.

Sleep. I think my body clock is also preparing for the upcoming changes in sleep times because for probably the 5th night in about a week, I'm wide awake and it is 12:51 a.m. This is actually on the early side of when I've been crashing lately. It isn't caffeine induced, either. I can go to bed with Mike early, but then I just lie there thinking. After awhile I figure that I might as well get up rather than do nothing. Then I'm up for hours. Mike still has to get up at 5 each morning, so he is sound asleep in bed and I'm wide awake in the office.

Names. We haven't picked them yet. We've got a list going of potentials, but nothing finalized. I think about that quite a bit each day.

Volleyball. Heading into the last two regular season games to be followed with playoffs starting the week the baby is born. JV is still on the bubble as to whether or not they will make it into playoffs. Varsity will definitely be in playoffs, but what remains to be seen is exactly which seed they will be going into it.

Basketball. Starts the next practice day after volleyball ends and goes through February.

There you have it. A quick rundown on the latest with us. One of my college friends, Kimmie, is in town until Wednesday and we've been enjoying catching up. With that, I'll probably spend a few minutes checking up on other blogs and try to get some sleep. Maybe I can fall asleep by 1:30...

She's Having A Boy

We met with the birthmom tonight. Thank you to everyone who prayed for us. I (Sandra) was stressed and nervous all day, so by the time we got to the restaurant, I wasn't really hungry and was feeling continued stress/nervousness. However, we made it through the evening and I think all in all it was a good meeting.

We did find out that she knows for sure that the baby is a boy. This is awesome because Mike has always wanted our first child to be a boy so that he could learn to be a gentleman and hopefully someday have a younger sister to practice his manners on. Plus, that way the sister can know how it feels to have a gentleman treat you right and that will hopefully prepare her for picking a guy with manners as well. So it is definitely exciting that we will have a boy.

Thanks again for all your prayers. We are supposed to find out the planned C-section date tomorrow.

Here we go again!

This is Michael.

This morning when my employees came to work one of them came and asked me that if she got pregnant would we want the baby. I said that I would bring it up to Sandra. I know that the employee's heart is clearly in the right place. She has a strong desire to possibly help those that cannot have children by being the vessel. It was obviously something that we, for a short time, thought about seriously considering.

Then around lunchtime the attorney's office called and said that they had a new birth mother that they were going to meet and wanted to show our profile to her. We said ok, but obviously we lacked much of the contained enthusiasm from the previous profile viewing.

She called back later that afternoon and said that the birth mother chose us. So we are very cautiously approaching this process. Most of the caution is from a financial stance, so we are going to look at everything closely, but we think that things should work out well enough. So here is the information we know so far:

* Mother is caucasian, dad is an illegal immigrant =)
* Mother is 35, light skin, blueish/green eyes, light brown hair 125 lbs. (pre-pregnancy)
* Mother has twin boys, 2.5 years old who are a handful, which is why she is choosing to put the baby up for adoption
* Mother is "due" October 27 - yes, I know =)
* Not sure, but it may be a boy. Two sonograms have been done, but have not been able to verify the gender of the child
* This Wednesday she will go to her doctors appointment and they will schedule the C-section, so we will have a definite date and time planned in advance (which Sandra is really happy about).
*She is planning to have the C-section at Brandon Regional hospital

We are surely going to take this moment by moment, but wanted to share with everyone we could the latest news. Will keep you posted. Thanks again for your prayers during the last whirlwind 8 days.

This is Sandra.

Amazed...that is all I can say. God is good all the time. He had a perfect plan even when we were going through all the emotions of this past week. I almost cannot fathom that His plan might include us being parents within the next month. Thank you for your prayers. Please continue on. We will keep you updated as we know more.

God is good...all the time...especially when I hurt...and when His plan is to turn those tears to rejoicing in such a short period of time I can only praise Him more.

There is no doubt that this was all part of His plan and that He is in control. There is nothing else to do but to give Him glory in this situation.

Update

I want to say a heart-felt thank you to all that have responded so openly to Sandra with emails, cards, words of encouragement and most-appreciated prayer. It has been very obvious that people have been praying for us. It is such a wonderful spirit lifter knowing that no matter how low, hurt and discouraged we can get in life, knowing that we all have a LIVING God that not only hears our hearts cry, but desires to heal our hurts. We may not see that "Balm of Gilead" (that Pastor Stockard mentioned) immediately, but we know that His way and timing is perfect.

Well, I must say that this week has been one for the record books. When Sandra called and told me the news last Sunday all I could say to her was that I was sorry that this happened. I knew of nothing else to say to somehow comfort the heart of my wife that was just ripped out and stomped upon so mercilessly.

I then began to make calls. I was able to call only a few people that I could think of at that time. The hardest one to talk to was Kristin, my sister. I did not think I was as emotionally attached to this adoption process as I guess I am. It was so difficult to tell her that the baby we had been praying for, the one that we felt God was bringing to us special delivery was suddenly gone.

I made only a few other phone calls before I had to stop. I still had to drive home so that I could be with Sandra. On the way one of the phone calls I had left a message with returned my call. It was to James who was one of the few that I could think of to call - mainly because they had gone through a fairly similar ordeal (though I think theirs was more difficult). I knew deep down that they would understand the roller coaster that we had just been forced upon, and would be one of the few that we could go to as we dealt with this going forward.

This week has been good to finally get through. We both stayed busy. Sandra had three volleyball games (they won them all!!! YEAH!!!), practice and a two days helping her sister in Kissimmee. I went to work as usual. Several of my clients knew that we were in the process of adopting so they would routinely seek updates. I like to get fairly personal with my clients. This creates a bond with them that helps to keep them using us.

Then we got some more bad news from the attorneys office. We knew that we were going to be getting back any money that was left over so that we could try to press on when the next baby came along. It was a complete shock to me when they told us we would be getting back less than 1/3 of what we put into it. It was like pouring salt into a fresh wound and then hitting it over and over again. Those of you that know I cut my forehead about 2 weeks ago know that I got stitches. Well, in order for them to do that they had to numb the wound. That meant sticking a needle in the wound and injecting solution. That was nothing compared to the pain of finding out about the low amount of refund.

Well, we went to the football game that night. It was Sr. Appreciation Night and we wanted to be there to support her girls. After halftime Sandra went and spoke to James' wife, Erica. There was much crying, but I think it was good for Sandra to open up to someone that understood where she was at in the grieving process. There are just some things that a woman can't communicate to her husband and she needs that connection with someone that can relate. I am so thankful that James and Erica have made themselves available to us. Their help is not lost in the emotions.

Tomorrow is going to be the first Sunday back since we got "The Call". It is going to be difficult for Sandra tomorrow as I am sure there will be alot of crying, hugs, etc. This will definitely help in the healing process as people will rally around her, but it will be difficult.

As we move forward please pray for the following:

1. That we will be able to move on in the healing process and not be stuck in the Anger Stage.

2. We would be able to sort out the refund issue as we are having a difficult time accepting that they could have spent that much money is so little time. Pray that we will approach them in the right spirit as we want to keep our testimony with the attorney's office.

3. The birth mother. She is out of work and therefore does not have income to pay for bills that we would normally have helped her with in this process. She is also grieving. Even though she was not going to keep the baby, she still lost a part of her.

4. There may be some legal ramifications towards the hospital/doctor(s). This may be a long process.

5. Us as we try to figure out the next steps to take for adoption. We want to keep going, but funds and trust are severely lacking.

If you know of anyone that is thinking of putting their baby up for adoption and you would think it would be a good match, please let us know. We have another attorney that will be a lot cheaper if we could bring the birthmom to her.

Again, a huge thank you for all your prayers and support. Please keep us in your prayers as this is going to be a long healing process.

Michael

God's Grace

Isn't it amazing how God's grace abounds when you need it the most? I guess it shouldn't be amazing to me, but it is. I'm so thankful for His comfort. I'm also thankful for the prayers, love and support shown by friends and family throughout this time. Thank you for holding us up in your prayers. We truly can feel God's grace at work.

We received among several emails an email with the words to a song in it. While I do not normally listen to the group who performs this song, I have chosen to receive comfort from the words. Maybe you have a storm in your life that you have the opportunity to praise God through...

"Praise You In This Storm" (by Casting Crowns)
I was sure by now, God,
You would have reached down
And wiped our tears away
Stepped in and saved the day
But once again, I say
"Amen", and it's still raining
As the thunder rolls
I barely hear
Your whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

And I'll praise You in this storm
And I will lift my hands
For You are who You are
No matter where I am
And every tear I've cried
You hold in Your hand
You never left my side
And though my heart is torn
I will praise You in this storm

I remember when
I stumbled in the wind
You heard my cry to you
And you raised me up again
My strength is almost gone
How can I carry on
If I can't find You
But as the thunder rolls
I barely hear
You whisper through the rain
"I'm with you"
And as Your mercy falls
I raise my hands and praise the God who gives
And takes away

I lift my eyes unto the hills
Where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord
The Maker of Heaven and Earth

Here are some verses that have also been a blessing to me in the past few days...
II Corinthians 4:16-18
"For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal."

Psalm 27:13
"I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord."

In Need of Prayer

I sit here at the computer with aching heart and weeping eyes. We just received word that this weekend our baby was stillborn. The birthmom had an infection and was put on medication. They thought all was fine, but she was experiencing some difficulties on Saturday and ended up in the hospital. Her water broke and the cord was wrapped around the baby's neck and there was nothing they could do. We found out today our baby was going to be a little girl.

Though she was never a part of my body and I didn't even know if she was a boy or girl, she was still mine in my heart. I had imagined holding our baby, caring for our baby, watching Mike be an awesome dad, and having the awesome responsibility and privilege to rear her to be Christ-like.

Please pray for us. God is good all the time even when I hurt. He does have a plan and a purpose and while I know this to be true, that does not change the fact that my heart will still ache for the baby we never were even able to meet and my eyes will still weep.

Pressing On

The girls are pressing on. We were able to beat the undefeated team on Tuesday. I made a few more changes to the team and the six girls who were on the court for the first game worked together very well. We continue to work.

Thanks for your encouragement, everyone. It is true that you often learn more about yourself and your relationship with God when you are in the valley when you are on the mountain. I'm hoping that through sports, I can teach the girls more about where to turn both in the valley and on the mountain and how to relate to other things in life.

Roller Coaster

Yep, that is how I can best describe our volleyball team this year. We go from a really high moment to a really low moment. We are so far 5-3. The sad part is that we really should be 7-1 (the other team would have taken a championship effort to beat). The two matches that we have lost have both had highs in the middle, preceded and followed by super low lows. In the first match we lost, we beat the other team 25-9 in the second game of the match. In rally scoring, keeping the opponent to less than 10 points requires that you keep the "side outs" to a minimum. Realistically if you can beat a team 25-9, you should never lose a match to that team. Granted, we missed 25 serves that match, so in that aspect we deserved to lose.

Last night we played a team that we had previously beaten earlier this season. We lost the first two games of the match. The third game they suddenly decided they were going to play and beat the team 25-13 only to come back and let the other team beat them in the fourth game.

Honestly, this is the most frustrating season I have ever coached. We started out so solidly in the pre-season tournament in Kissimmee where we won the championship. Then our first game was on August 25th. By the end of next Thursday, we will have played 13 out of 18 conference games for the entire season with only 3 practices. Then, from September 26-October 28, we will have the other five games and 13 more practices. Regardless of the fact that the girls need to execute better, playing that much of the season with only three practices makes it very hard for me as a coach to have the opportunity to fix the issues they are having. We are going to have to somehow find an adjustment for next year's schedule. To be fair to our athletic director, there are some things he cannot control (we can't have games on Friday's because of football - something I'm going to try to renegotiate to be able to have home volleyball games on Friday when football is away, we can't have games during the PBC mission's conference or the school Band Festival, we can't have games during the end of the football homecoming week, and there are two no school days in October due to teacher conference or something like that).

However, more than my frustration due to the schedule and lack of practice, I just am really struggling with finding the "magic button" to push with this team to make them do what they know they need to do. I've tried every method I've ever used successfully in the past, completely without success for this team. I've prayed for the girls as individuals and their relationships with each other. I've prayed for wisdom in my decisions and how to handle them. I've tried subbing, giving extra "bench time" to help focus. I've tried running them to death for their 25 missed serves in one match. I've tried changing the order of the lineup. I've tried switching entire offenses from using two setters to using one setter. I've tried using more encouragement based timeouts and coaching. I've tried using more disappointment/pull-it-together-now-or-else based timeouts and coaching.

Seriously I'm at the end of my rope. I've never so much felt like quitting anything in my entire life. I'm NOT going to, but I totally feel like it. So today, we try again. We face a team that is undefeated so far. I'm making another change to see if somehow that is the magic. Maybe I need to have a revival service with them and tell them that I want whoever has the sin in the camp to deal with it so we can start winning again. :)

Thanks for listening to me vent. If you think of it, please pray for me that I'll have wisdom and please pray that no matter whether we win or we lose (though I really would rather win) that our attitudes (both inward and outward) will bring honor and glory to God and will represent Providence well.

An Interesting Morning

I remember feeling Mike get up out of bed. He does this each morning. I roll myself over on to his side of the bed (because I like it better) and go back to sleep. Usually he spends a few minutes waking up and then puts the dogs out. So it was no surprise when a few minutes later a couple of the dogs started barking. I thought Mike might be outside playing with the big dogs and the small dogs were barking because they were excited and wanted to be outside with them. They barked for at least a few minutes and I was getting ready to get up and deal with them when I heard Mike say something to them. I figured he was outside and was yelling in to tell them to be quiet.

A few minutes later, Mike opened the door and told me he needed me to get up and help him. He left the door open and headed towards the bathroom. I got up and as soon as I walked out of the bedroom, Mike told me that he needed me to stop and to be calm, okay? Okay. Still waking out of sleep, I trudged toward the bathroom, but was instantly alert when I saw the pile of blood on the floor. I asked what happened and he told me that he would tell me in a moment. He then turned towards me and I saw a large gash above his forehead and blood all over his face. YUCK! So I got out some towels and helped him get things cleaned up. Then he sat down so I could look at it. The bleeding seemed to be stopping, but it was still a big cut.

He had been feeling lightheaded and had already gotten down on the floor once and put his feet up to try to make that lightheaded feeling go away. He thought he was feeling better and got up. He doesn't remember passing out, but must have and hit his head on the bathroom counter (we are assuming). This must have been what the dogs heard and why they were barking, but I didn't realize that. He woke up on his own on the floor in his blood. Again - YUCK!

So, since the cut was on his head, I didn't feel great about just butterfly bandaging it. We decided to go to the 24 hour clinic to see if he needed stitches. I went to get changed and at this time noticed that it was like 2:10 in the morning! This whole time I had thought it was later, so this was a shock to me.

Of course, we got to the clinic to see that they were not indeed open 24 hours. So, we went to the hospital emergency room. Believe it or not, we were only there for a little over 2 hours. They did an EKG to see if his heart rhythm affected his passing out. Cleared that! WHOHOO. They did a CT scan to make sure that he hadn't hurt himself more when he fell. Cleared that! WHOHOO. They gave him a Tetanus shot because he hadn't had one in more than five years. And finally - they gave him 6 stitches in his forehead.

Unfortunately he still had to go to work today. One of his co-owners was on vacation today, so they needed him to be in the office. I wasn't thrilled with that, but I called him and he is doing okay - just needed pain killer for the headache.

We plan to spend the weekend mostly inside the house and I'll get to take care of him. Whohoo! Praise the Lord it wasn't worse. I'm almost thankful that I didn't find him lying on the floor in a pool of blood. I think I totally would have freaked out. At least this way he was able to warn me and ask me to be calm.

He's Home!

YAY! Mike arrived home this evening and it is so nice to have him back. He spent the weekend up in Georgia with his sister, Kristin, and her family. He left on Friday morning to go up there and spend some time with them as well as help them with training a new to their family dog. Apparently it went really well.

Mostly I'm just happy to have him back home. This was the first time in our marriage when he has left and I've been the one staying behind. There have been 4 other times when I left and he stayed behind. It was just harder to be the one still here. I missed him as I went through our daily schedule without him. I guess the good news is that I was crazy busy and spent a lot of time in Kissimmee helping my sister.

So anyway...happy to have him home. Hoping we don't have to be separate again anytime in the near future.

Hurricane Party with Julie, Samantha & Cats

Saying hi to Cody.
Here she was wearing my "Elmo Shoes". :)
Smiling after petting Sasha.
I love hurricanes. You may think I'm crazy, but I was so excited in Guam when Typhoon Pongsonga came and hit with such awesome force. I just love big storms. The best part of big storms is fellowship. In Guam, everyone would kind of gather together in groups and ride it out together. By the time it was over, you were much closer to the people you were with when it was going on.

So, when we thought Fay was going to hit, I was naturally excited. Then, when my friend Julie decided to "evacuate" from the base and come over along with her 19-month old daughter and their two cats, I was REALLY excited. What fun! The main reason for her coming was that her husband, Peter, was out of town and she is near the end of her pregnancy. Often these storms change the barometric pressure and that can have an affect in the form of starting labor, so no one really wanted her to be home alone even if it was a small storm.

She brought the cats who hung out in their bedroom the whole time. I don't think all of the dogs really realized there were cats inside the house. Samantha was so cute with the dogs. We didn't want to overwhelm her in the beginning, so Mike kept the three biggest ones outside when we first got home and we introduced Samantha to the quietest one first. Then we continued bringing them in the house one at a time. She could even count them! Okay, I have no children of my own, so I'm not sure about developmental rate, but is it normal for a 19-month old to be able to count to 10? She easily could count the four dogs. She would run from side to side of their kennels and say "kisses" and stick her finger out to them. They would happily lick any part of her that they could get to. Very cute.

After Mike got home from work on Tuesday, he got out Sasha (who is probably one of the most tame) and let Samantha meet her up close. Samantha petted her and smiled and in general had a good time. It was good to see the dogs behave so well with a little one in the house.

I can't wait for the next hurricane!

We Are The Champions...Again. :)

Yes, I'm ultra-competitive. Yes, I love the fact that my girls have managed to now pull out two championships. Last fall they won the FCC State Championship. Out of 18 or 19 schools, they were able to end on top. This weekend they ended on top out of 6 to win the pre-season tournament hosted by Heritage Christian in Kissimmee.

They didn't take the easy way to get there. We lost our second game today, which of course happened to be against my sister's school. That sent us to the loser's bracket. We waited for a few games. Then the madness began... We had to win four matches in a row to win the tournament. If we lost even one, we were completely done.

To be honest, I didn't think we had it in us today. We were missing some team players and just hadn't really played to potential. The first match we were able to win in just two games. The next match was against a team we beat easily yesterday, but they had greatly improved. We ended up having to take it to three games to win. That brought us back to my sister's team again. My girls stepped up...it took three games, but they pulled it out, much to the surprise of most people in the gym.

On to the championship! Wow. We played against Eastland. They have improved quite a bit and had already beaten us when we played them on Friday. They had not lost a match the entire tournament. We again chose to take it to three games instead of two, but we started the last game well and slowly began to pull away. Yes! Finally one that didn't require too much raising of my blood pressure.

I'm not a fan of putting a bigger target on our backs, but tonight I celebrate that they pulled out the victory. Hopefully we will be able to push forward throughout the season and win another state championship.

Life & Times, Weekend Edition

The Editor-in-Chief is out of the office and so it has fallen upon me to take charge of the office and see that the news gets out (of course, she has no idea that I am doing this so once again I get to have some fun).

Sandra is in Kissimmee this weekend and will be back home tonight around 9:30. She was invited to a volleyball tournament with her girls. They did OK for their first night. They won 3 and lost 2. The two teams they lost to were not a surprise, but I am sure by the end of the season they will be able to beat them. It will take some time for the girls to get back into the "serious play" mindset. It took nearly all season for them to get to that point, and when they did they started beating "the unbeatable". Then preceded to go to the championship and win.

These girls have a lot of pressure on them. Everyone is going after them. They will need to stay focused and do what their coach tells them to do. I think that was the main problem last year in both volleyball and basketball.

Anyway, that leaves me at home with the dogs until she gets back. I loves these dogs. They have their moments, but I believe that they are going to do so well with the baby. They will take the baby right into the pack and protect him/her.

Speaking of the baby, I think I really want to find out if it will be a boy or a girl. I struggle with calling the baby an "it". I think it hits my belief that it is not an "it" but a fully alive being that mankind in general has come to numb itself into believing a lie so as to sooth their conscience as they murder millions of them to try to keep their lives the same. They want the grown up life without the responsibility that goes with it.

It causes me to think sometimes on how our world goes through "Ages": Enlightenment, Reason, Renaissance, etc. I wonder what the next one will be labeled? Will they see their lost condition before it is too late? Will we have another great period of revival where millions are tired of fighting God and yield to Him? Wow! I am not sure I can imagine millions of people turning in true faith and trust to Christ in a relatively short period of time.

Maybe that is why the Lord has delayed His return. He knows that there will be one more great revival. Who will He use to bring that revival about? Some great evangelist? Or could it be one of our own from our youth department that has a passion for God and a desire to reach the world for Christ?

Well, there I went on a side road. I tend to do that quite often.

Anyway, I love the dogs and look forward to training the dogs so that their lives will not be completely ruined. I look forward to the day when we can take all four dogs on a walk with the baby. We get so many looks when they see us walking with two of the dogs. Then when they see us with all four you literally see jaws drop. I think it will be very amusing to see the faces when they see Cody hooked up to a cart pulling the baby (and yes, I will have Cody leashed still so that he does not run off with the baby).

OK, done rambling. Hope your weekend goes well.

Michael

Works of God Tuesday

Okay, so I know it is supposed to be "Works of God Monday" however, sometimes I manage to get a little behind. So even though today is Tuesday, I thought I would take a moment to share God's working. We have officially entered into contract with our adoption attorney and the birthmom who chose us. Mike went by the office and dealt with that yesterday.

We are now in the waiting and trusting phase. We wait and pray that the birthmom won't change her mind. We trust that Jehovah Jireh will provide the finances required between now and finalization. I couldn't help but think of Dr. Ollila yesterday. Those of you who went to Northland will remember the phrase "We trust in Jehovah Jireh, not jehovah visa." (basically making the point that many will put things on a credit card that they cannot afford rather than trusting God to meet their needs). Well, we found out that our adoption attorney accepts credit card, so we put the huge first payment on credit card so we can get the miles for it. Don't worry though - we have already transferred the funds so that is paid off right away. We are trusting God to provide and we know that He will. I look forward to seeing the ways He works, even if it is just in helping us to be more budget-conscious and frugal.

And...we have a due date! January 20th. I admit to hoping that she goes a little early. By January 20th, we'll be off Christmas break and back to regular basketball practices and games. If she goes a little early, that will leave me more time to get used to the joys of motherhood and not sleeping without having to deal with practices yet.

Thanks for your prayers. We are excited that God has allowed us to take this next step in our adventure. We'll keep you up-to-date as we know more!

Crazy Busy with Volleyball Camp

Sorry I haven't been very vocal on the blog this week. We have volleyball camp going on and it has been crazy busy. The Herrons (my former coach from NBBC) arrived on Sunday morning. We got home from the airport after 1 a.m. We had church all day Sunday. Monday was the start of volleyball camp. We arrived there around 8:15 a.m. and didn't leave for home until after 9 p.m. I can promise you we were a little tired when we arrived home last night.

Today we were there by 8:45 a.m. and got home around 8:45 p.m. Again a long day and again tired. Mike was supposed to be working really late tonight, so when I found that out, I downed a Mountain Dew thinking I would stay up and wait for him to come home. Then the power went out at work with no hope of quick restoration, so he got home around 10:45 p.m. Consequently, I'm now running on the power of Dew and not quite ready for sleep. So you get a quick update.

Tomorrow is Coach and Mrs. H's last day of running the camp and we go from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. Thursday I will run the camp by myself from 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. and try to reinforce the things we worked on early in the week. Friday I will run camp from 9:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Then from 4:30 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. we will have a pizza party and fun time for the girls in the gym. Then to top it all off, from 7:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m., we have invited the parents to come and we are going to have a parent night where the parents can play against the kids and we'll have an informational meeting at the end so they can know what I expect of them and what they can expect of me.

I anticipate that around 10:30 p.m. on Friday, having wrapped everything up, driven home and taken a quick shower, I will fall into bed and be thankful it is over. I love volleyball camp. I love working with the kids. However, I'm getting old.

I promise to catch up on your blogs and what is going on in your life as soon as possible...just not tonight. It is 11:18 p.m. and I have yet to take a shower, get ready for bed and will my body to forget that can of Mountain Dew.