My Love.

Well, I have always been a little anti-Valentine's Day. When I was single, we used to name this day SAD (Single's Appreciation Day - a day to celebrate our state of singleness) and I used to regularly wear all black in some crazy independent external statement when internally I longed for what all those other couples around me seemed to have. I wanted someone else to love me - to have that "special someone" I could always count on to be happy to see me and who would love me unconditionally - quite a challenge. :) Just when all hope seemed to be lost that this person existed, a friendship began to turn into something so much more.



The dating process was unique, but we survived it. Then on May 2nd, 2003, on a quiet beach in Guam, Mike got down on one knee, told me he loved me for the first time and then asked me to marry him. He had no way of knowing that ever since I was little I had dreamed of being proposed to on a beach under the stars. I will never forget that moment and how special he made me feel. We quickly began making plans and God blessed each step of the way as we were able to schedule everything for an early July wedding on such short notice.



For 5 1/2 years now I have had the privilege of being his wife. The time has flown by so quickly. Now beside the titles of Husband and Wife, we are also Daddy and Mommy. I loved him so much before we were married (frankly, before he was sure he loved me), then we got married and I thought that I could not possibly love him more. Now as I'm able to watch him be a great Daddy to Jonathan, I find that I continually love him more. He works hard to provide for us and comes home exhausted and yet still finds time to listen to me babble and vent about everything that has occurred during the day. He truly is my prince charming in every way.



So while I reject Valentine's day because the world and Hallmark require that this be made into some commerical holiday, I still choose this day to tell you how much I love my husband. I am blessed beyond measure and will forever be thankful that he chose me.

Here are some pictures for us from these past 6 years...

In Guam after my bridal shower

In Guam at church

At our wedding rehearsal breakfast



Before the wedding

Resting my feet after pictures

The Happy Couple

Mike's happy expression

Kiss the Bride! Is it time YET to kiss the bride??!! Just say "Kiss the Bride" already!

Holding Hands

In Pennsylvania a few days after the wedding

In Michigan, summer of 2007

Michael,

I love you. I love reminding you that I loved you first because I knew that I wanted you to be my husband way back in September of 2000. I'm so thankful that out of all of the choices that you had, you chose me. I love it that we have never had a fight and that we are both committed to keeping it that way.

You complete me. You know me better than anyone else and still love me despite all of my insecurities. When I have days of being discouraged about myself, you lift me up. When I'm feeling a little on the chunky side instead of berating me or making me feel like I've disappointed you, you remind me that you love me and completely support me. You have been so supportive of my coaching and really of anything I try to do. I hope that you can feel that I am supportive of you too. I want to always be a help in achieving your dreams and never tear them down.

One of the things that I first loved about you was your servant's heart. I still see that in you as you look for ways to serve others around you. I love it when we can do things together for other people. Thank you for being a leader in our home in that area. I'm glad that Jonathan will grow up seeing this example in his father.

You truly are my best friend and there is no one I would rather spend time with. You are the first person I think of in the morning and I get excited when I see a text message from you or a phone call from you. When you are working long hours, I miss you and I can't wait to have you come home to me.

No matter where the future leads us, I am so thankful that I am by your side. Whether we have one dollar to our names or a million, I will be happy because God has given you to me. I will fiercely protect our marriage and will fight anything that could drive a wedge between us.

I love you with all that is in me and I praise God for binding our hearts together. You were totally worth the wait.

Sandra Lynne

Jumper/Activity Center

This past week we set up Jonathan's jumper/activity center thingy. This was his first time in it. I think he was a little overwhelmed by all the new colors and textures surrounding him. He does seem to like it now though. Our little guy is growing up so quickly. I was traumatized this past week when we had to switch him over to #2 diapers because he'd outgrown the #1 diapers. Tomorrow we start adding rice cereal to his diet. Next week he'll turn four months old. He is a fun little guy and we are blessed to have him.

Discovering His Fists

Jonathan lately has discovered his fists. Some of his favorite new moves include staring at them intently, trying to stick one completely in his mouth, putting them up like he is prepping for a boxing match and etc. The last picture is just one of my favorites of his smiley face. :)

Hanging Out With Friends...

Several weeks back Jonathan and I went over to Erica's house and spent the afternoon working on a project. In the meantime, Eliana loved hanging out with Jonathan and they had a great time together. Here are some pictures from that day...

Our Little Man

I like this little outfit, but seems like a definite step away from "baby clothes" and into "little boy clothes". Sigh.

We found out today that the finalization should happen sometime in May. Not as soon as I would like, but God is in control and I have to remind myself of that every time I start to stress that something could go wrong. Mike also likes to remind me of that too. Thanks, Honey!

Feeling Better & Happy Birthday To Me!

So yeah, I'm definitely feeling better than I was last week. My Mommy and I were both pretty sick, but I'm really happy to tell you that we are both doing better. I celebrated a big milestone this weekend. I hit my 3 month old birthday. I'm becoming quite the big boy now. I like to make lots of baby noises and I'm already trying to talk to everyone. My Mommy and Daddy think they have been blessed by God to have such a great guy as me. I have to agree. I'm trying to be humble, but it can be so hard when you are this cute. Oh yeah, for those young ladies out there scoping me out (Molly, you know who you are), if you think I'm cute now, just wait until I get older. :)

My Sister and Her Family

Those of you in our Sunday School class know that we have spent much time over the past few years praying for my sister, Danelle, and her family. Recently, the local paper in their town decided to run them as the "story of hope". Click here you'd like to read it. Since this story was written, while I was home for New Year's, my brother-in-law, Mark, started having problems with some of the muscles on his face and was diagnosed with Bell's Palsey. Please pray for them as they seek to overcome this too.

Update on Jonathan and his RSV

So...we went to the pediatrician for follow up today on Jonathan. She said that while the after-hours pediatrician place did nothing wrong in what they put him on for breathing treatments, she would have been more aggressive since he is so little and we need to limit how much scar tissue he can develop on his lungs.

So, she put him on a more aggressive treatment to give him every six hours via his little nebulizer thingy. She also put him on liquid steroids that he has to take twice a day for the next five days. She said that within a few days he should be feeling REALLY good.

The negative is that she said that since he got RSV when he was so little, for the next 2 years or so each time he gets a cold he will have the tendency to get this all over again unless we catch it early and hit it strong. So we'll have to be very vigilent in keeping him away from germs as much as possible. I'm pretty sure that means he won't be able to go into the church nursery until he is like 3 or so. :)

The other big shocker was the bill for the new improved medications. I was pleasantly surprised when his first round of breathing treatments only cost us $15.00. So, you can imagine my heart failure when the girl behind the pharmacy counter told me this stuff and the steroids combined were going to be $193.00. WHAT? Is it made of gold? But...I know that God is in control and that He knew this was coming, so He must have a plan. If it makes the little guy better, it is necessary.

So, that is the update. On a side note, in the midst of his sickness I've slowly been developing my own sickness. First it was a sore throat, then today it started to turn into head congestion and has continued into my left sinus. Ouch. I'm looking forward to both of us feeling better. Please keep praying for Jonathan and I.

RSV

Sorry for the long delay in posting. We did have great holidays and I'll update with some pictures later, but right now the main thing we are dealing with is Jonathan being sick. After seeing him struggling to breathe so much this afternoon, I decided to take him in to see a doctor. Yes, it could have been just a cold and they could have told this over protective first time mom to go home and just deal with it, but it wasn't just a cold. He has RSV/bronciolitus and has to be on breathing treatments every 6 hours for the next 5 days. They said it was good that I brought him in and that it probably saved him a trip to the hospital. We still need to watch that he doesn't get dehydrated as that is a concern that also could send him to the hospital.

On a side note, Mike is super busy at work and has to work all weekend, so neither of us will be at church on Sunday. Please pray for strength for both of us as we are dealing with little sleep and pray that Jonathan heals quickly. I do praise God for giving me the "mommy instinct" that he really needed a doctor today.

I'll post more pictures soon...

Recent Pictures

Computer Virus :(

Yes, my computer decided to tell us on Saturday that it was sick. After spending hours trying to figure out why our McAfee didn't stop the virus and what we needed to use to remove it, we ended up giving up and Mike took it to work on Monday. So far it is still sick and not at home where I can use it each day. I think I've been going through withdrawl all week. Thankfully Mike has been able to bring home his laptop each night so that I can quickly check email for any crisis and ship whatever items have sold via Ebay and Amazon.

I can't wait to have a working computer again. Oh yes, and I'm VERY thankful that they were able to pull my files and pictures of Jonathan off the computer before it was able to permanently delete them.

If you need to get ahold of me about something imminent, the best plan is a phone call right now until we resolve this problem. I'm just praying that it doesn't completely die as I don't think replacement is an option right now.

Meeting Family

In the past several weeks, Jonathan has had the opportunity to meet several relatives. I thought I would post some of those pictures for you to see.

Jonathan and Uncle Ken

Jonathan and his cousin, Ryan
Aunt Kristin feeding Jonathan

Jonathan and his cousin, Braden

Jonathan and his cousin, Jason

This is Jonathan with Mike's brother Royce and Mike's Dad.

Jonathan with Grandpa Staples

Grandma Staples meeting Jonathan for the 1st time.

Jonathan and Grandma Herriage

Rested Mommy is Happy Mommy

Score for Jonathan! Monday night he slept for almost 7 hours between night feeding and morning feeding. Tuesday night he slept for 7 1/2 hours between night feeding and morning feeding. And last night he really made Mommy happy...

He went to sleep at 10:30 p.m. and didn't wake up until 7:00 a.m. WHOHOO.

Wait, did I mention...WHOHOO!!!!!

Seriously, I need my sleep. Which reminds me - it is midnight and I need to sleep. I'm still hoping for a repeat and maybe I'll get at least 7 hours before he is ready to eat again.

The Dogs & The Little Guy

Mike, Jonathan, Sheba and Cody

Mike, Jonathan, Casey and Sasha

One of the most frequent questions we receive seems to always revolve around how the dogs are handling the baby. I think they are all doing very well. When we first brought him home, they would jump up every time he made a noise and would wake up in the night when we woke up with the little guy. Now they tend to sleep through just about everything. When we bring them out, they've learned not to come running over, but to lie down on the floor and wait until we give them permission to come closer.

We did have one person (who has never met us or our dogs) criticize us and say that we shouldn't keep such "known aggressive dogs". Anyone who has ever met our dogs (and Julie could probably attest to this since her daughter had only good experiences with our dogs) knows that they are well behaved and not at all aggressive - unless you count licking. I do think some people believe that we put Jonathan in the middle of the floor and let the dogs just run wild around him. Obviously that is not the case.

Pardon me for just a moment while I step up onto my soapbox...

Wow - I love being taller.

Anyway... so many people seem to have this belief that the bigger a dog is, the meaner it is. Some believe that certain breeds will always become dangerous or violent. This drives me a little bit crazy because when I was in 5th grade, someone asked us to dogsit their dog. I came home from school and was petting the dog which was sitting on my mom's lap. Out of no where, the dog decided to lash out and bite my face. Six stitches later and scars that are still on my face to this day, I will always have a healthy fear for - yes, you might have guessed it - LAP DOGS. You know, the cute little ones that look like they couldn't hurt a fly. Any breed can bite. Any breed can become nasty. I truly believe it is in the breeder and the training. Don't tell me that just because my dog was born a Rottweiler, he will eat Jonathan first chance he gets.

Okay, back down off my soapbox.

Bummer...I'm short again.

Now you know how I feel. We have good dogs. In the right circumstances they are allowed to be around Jonathan and we have even allowed them to lick his foot a little (to start building some loyalty - and an opportunity for them to express their love). However, we do recognize they are animals and we do not allow them to sleep with him, play with him, or be anywhere near Jonathan without us controlling the situation.

There you have it. I know you were all wondering.

Happy Birthday, Matthew!

Six years ago, God blessed my sister Danelle and her husband with this little guy (Matthew). I was in Guam when he was born, but I came home for Christmas that year and I was able to hold him when he was just 8 days old. The first picture was from this summer when I was helping him do some fishing on the dock.

Since I was thinking of his birthday and saw these pictures, I thought I would post a happy birthday message for him. Maybe my sister will see it and show him. Hint hint. I'll have to start making this a tradition for the nephews and nieces.