We have so many reasons to celebrate!!!!
Our 14 year old daughter, Reagon Brooke decided to be baptised last week. This was such an extra special occasion for our family, especially since Josh had the honor of baptising his oldest daughter. We are so proud of her and the young lady she is. I look forward to seeing what God has in store for her life.
Another sweet reason to celebrate......baby Samuel. I love this picture. While our church members waiting in line to hug and congratulate Reagon, my mom and sisters and I gathered around little baby Samuel. We were supposed to be taking turns holding him but some of us "hogged" him! lol
We recently celebrated my Dad's birthday! I have never met another human as loving and caring as my Dad. I could search the world over and never find a man that would do a better job as a father than my Dad. As you can see, his grandkids love him! (We were missing two of the grandkids, Landon and Kamry.)
Jed did such a great job at his last appt. He was such a big boy and didn't cry at all when his port was accessed. This was the very first visit Josh wasn't able to be with us. He dropped us off at the Childrens hospital to take his grandpa across town to another hospital for his appt. I was nervous about having Jed by myself but he was so good. I was soooo thankful he didn't cry because Josh is usually the one who holds him.
We had a couple hours to spare before Josh picked us up, so Jed took full advantage of the play area. It was nice to see him play and paint without being hooked up to iv poles.
Jed's buddy Joel...these two are hilarious! They played and played together. They made up names for each other and played "super heroes" for a solid hour. I told Jed that he and Joel (brain cancer) were definitely my heroes!
One of my favorite girls (actually, they are all my favorites!) is sweet Morgan! She is such a bright and funny girl. She is always smiling and will come up to me and get a great big hug every time I see her. I love that!!!!! She took my camera around the clinic and snapped several pictures. Look at her beautiful freckle face! You would never know she is fighting bone cancer by looking at her big smile!
I was looking back at some of the pictures from the past year and I am just so thankful that the five of us are able to be in church together. You don't realize what that means as a family until you are unable to be together in the house of the Lord.
I told the kids that I wanted to start taking pictures again of them every Sunday morning before leaving for church. I used to do this all the time, especially when Jed was a tiny baby and the girls were in their matching dresses. Now I remember why we stopped.......
But there is always one sure fire way to get Jed to smile for a picture....his daddy! We are celebrating his birthday today! Happy Birthday honey! God knew what He was doing when he gave me a pastor for a husband. I can't imagine life without you.
And the greatest reason of all we have to celebrate.....a risen Savior!
Easter was beautiful this year. The weather was perfect and our sunrise Easter service at church is one of my favorite days of the entire year.
As I woke up and started dressing the kids on Easter morning, I had to fight back tears as I looked at Jed's little outfit laid out on the ironing board. I remember last year as I scrambled to find something in their closets for the three of them to wear on Easter morning, I prayed so hard that the Lord would let us have more Easters with our son. Jed was very newly diagnosed last year at Easter and in fact, it was the last Sunday we spent at church before going on "house arrest" for germ prevention. Just seeing Jed's outfit ready for service was such a powerful feeling to me. Plus, it was just so stinkin cute! =)
Singing his special, Chris Tomlins "Where you go, I'll go. Where you stay, I'll stay. When you move, I'll move. I will Follow You". He loves this song!
Jed has a blast dying eggs this year. I think we ended up dying 8 dozen total! He just didn't want to stop!!!
When this picture was taken last year, Jed had just finished surgery to have his port placed. I remember thinking that every thing he did could be the last. The last egg hunt, the last time to dye eggs, the last time to go to church. God is so good and merciful to us. He has delivered our son from cancer. He has allowed us to keep our son when so many other families didn't get the opportunity to pick out Easter clothes or dye eggs this year. Don't take the little things you do with your kids for granted.
And when they come in dripping with mud and walk across your newly mopped tile floors...Celebrate!!!!
They are worth every drop of it!!!!
Luke 24
"Why do you see the living among the dead? He is not here. He has risen!"
