Happy Birthday Jeff!

Today Jeff would have been 25 years old. Jeff is an amazing kid I met when he was a freshman at Kickapoo. He LIVED for almost 23 years with cystic fibrosis. He was called home to forever be with the Lord January 1, 2006. His amazing personality and adorable smile were just a few things that made him so precious to me and my family. His mother is an inspiration to me. She is another woman that I have the privilege to know that is the picture of grace. Jeff, I think of you often and I know I speak for soooo many when I say that you are greatly missed here on this earth. I will see you someday buddy.

Poor Coco.

Okay. It's high time Cohen gets some love on the blog! I feel like I blog so much about Claire. Maybe because she talks in complete sentences. But, I am working on a Cohen story but for now I will tell you about his poor little fingers. The kids were in my room and I asked Claire to shut the window. I didn't think about A. Claire "slamming" the window shut or B. Cohen's hand being in the window when she did so. It hit so hard that it bounced back up about 4 inches! Needless to say there was A LOT of tears and screaming. Cohen was pretty upset too. There was a minimal amount of blood. A lot less than last week when he bit through his tongue! So two popsicles, 4 jellybeans, 57 hugs and 32 kisses later...he was much better. Black and blue...but better. Despite the screaming fit he threw tonight before bed.....I love that kid.

Nothing is too small.

At school Claire has been working on writing her name all year. She does fine tracing the dots, but when it comes time to write in on her own she just gives up. On Tuesday they didn't have time to work on their names because they were busy dying Easter eggs so Mrs. Sandy and Mrs. Caroline sent the sheets home for "homework." We sat at the table, pencil in hand and got to work. She traced her name perfectly 4 times. Then I said it was time to try it by herself. "Nope. I can't do it. You need to help me." Hmmm. I have a funny feeling she CAN she just WON'T. So I tried the usual "you can do anything you put your mind to" to no avail. It's time to dig deep so I tried a new approach. I told her that she didn't need my help at all and if she DID need help, there was someone who could help her through anything. She looked puzzled and asked me who that might be. I assured her that God would be there for her anytime she needed him. She said, "Oh yeah, He lives in my heart!" Then picked up her pencil and wrote her name....perfectly.

The moral of the story...Nothing is too small or too big for God. He worked in her little heart on Tuesday. It may not seem like much, but to us it was HUGE. He showed her that she "Can do all things through Christ who strengthens her." I encourage anyone who reads this to consider the burden you are carrying right now. Then consider giving it to God. It is so much easier than trying to carry it yourself or to put it all on your spouse or family. Cast your anxiety on Him and He will care for you. Just try it. You might like it!

Also, please pray for Mrs. Holly (Claire's teacher). Her husband Jeff is in the hospital and is very ill. Check out his site and please pray for Jeff, Holly, Lauren and Ashtyn.

My Claire

My baby bump!

Claire 1 Day Old


One of my favorite pictures!


Gymboree.

Where the sidewalk ends.

Cheerleader!

Claire at one of her favorite places. Build-A-Bear!

I've been having one of those days today where I just can't get enough of my kids. They have been so sweet this morning and I am reminded AGAIN about how truly blessed I am. I decided to do a little blogging about my girl and what makes her who she is.

Name: Claire Adeline

Age: 3 years 7 months 18 days 5 hours and 52 minutes

Hair: Long, Brown and beautful (Even with her new bangs that she cut herself. She did a great job and I actually like them!)

Eyes: Blue

Favorites

Food: Bananas

Drink: Milk

Color: Blue

Animal: Horse

Stuffed Animal: Pepper (her giraffe she got from Auntie Monica for her 1st Birthday!)

Song: The Cars song (Real Gone-Sheryl Crow)

Thing to do on a sunny day: Play outside

Thing to do on a rainy day: Splash in the puddles

Brother: Cohen

Best Friend: Drew

Cartoon: Maggie and the Ferocious Beast (It's not as scary as it sounds!)

game: Talent Show

Talent Show character: Her crayon people

Joke:

Q: "What did the bear say when he was offered dessert?"

A: "No thanks, I'm stuffed!"

Her Story.

We weren't actually "trying" to get pregnant but we weren't exactly "NOT trying" either. The night I found out I was pregnant I was at my Mom and Dad's house. I was so sure I wasn't pregnant but I wanted to double check before I took some Advil. So while Brian was at his basketball game, I took a test. OH MY GOODNESS!!! It was positive and all of the sudden, I was freaking out. Not because my life was about to change. Not because I had a little person in taking up residence in my rapidly growing womb. No. I was freaking out because now EVERY person would know without a doubt that Brian and I were doing the deed that created this little person! Welcome to the crazy mind of a woman who just found out she was with child. From here on out, these are the kind of thoughts that monopolized my time. Thoughts that don't make sense.

So...my plan was to wait until Brian got there to pick me up to share the news with anyone because I thought the father should be the second person to know. Well, that didn't work out so well. I don't know if it was my eyes that were the size of silver dollars, my bright red face or the look of sheer panic that gave it away, but my Mom knew something was up. Especially since I was still holding the pregnancy test when I came out of the bathroom. I used to be so much better at keeping things from my parents! So Brian came home and I gave him the news. His first reaction was to be scared that my Dad was going to kill him. Not exactly the reaction I was looking for, but he was still upright so I took it. We went to Grandma Connie's house and gave her an early Christmas gift (a bib that said "I love my Grandma") and she was thrilled!!! The next 7 months was the BEST. I felt wonderful and LOVED LOVED LOVED my baby bump. We went to find out the sex of the baby and of course the baby was sitting on my bladder and refused to move. So we had to wait another 6 weeks and went to have a 3D ultrasound. We were able to see her little face and we could tell already that she had hair! I cried through the whole thing and Brian managed to compose himself for about half! We left and went shopping where Brian bought his first dress. He wanted to pick out something just for her. I love that man. Summer, Steph and Jamie threw me an amazing shower at the Tower Club and I spent the afternoon surrounded by so many people that mean the world to me. A few weeks later I went for my checkup. I was 3 weeks from my due date and my doc told me I was 4 cm!!! Exactly a week later, Claire was born. I never felt a contraction. I pushed 3 times. She was perfect! I was on top of the world! She was 7 lbs. 8 oz. and 21 & 1/2 inches long. Her head FULL of dark hair was amazing. I have often regretted the fact that I was unable to breastfeed but all I have to do is think about the look on Brian's face when he gave her her very first bottle. I will never forget it. I think it bonded him to her instantly. We went home on a Friday and on Saturday Claire attended her first wedding. Jana and Bryce are good friends of ours and we couldn't miss it!!! If you know me, you know I still experience a certain pain when their anniversary rolls around every year! We spent the next week at home as a family getting to know our new little person. At the age of 3 we still haven't figured her out but we love her more every single day. I will save most of the bragging for the journal I keep for her but I still can't believe that she is mine. I look forward to having the relationship with her that I have with my mom. I hope that she loves and respects me as much as I do my Mom. I'm not sure what we ever did without her around here. I know for a fact we didn't laugh near as much! Thank you Jesus for the amazing blessing that is Claire Adeline.