Cute as a pumpkin!!!

Happy Fall Ya'll!!!

The final word...

Today I had a follow-up appt with my doctor. Another ultrasound showed the same empty sack which confirmed the prior diagnosis, anembryonic pregnancy. In a few months, after my body gets back on track we will be back in baby making business :) This will probably be my last post about this pregnancy. I have grieved this loss and am ready to move on. I am out of the valley, back on my mountain and ready to keep on with all that God has planned for me! Thank you all again for all of your encouragement. In the past week God has used this experience to show me how truly blessed I already am! I love you all! God Bless!

Thank you!

You all have been so great to me. Praying for us, encouraging us and loving us. Each one of you are truly a God send and I love you very much!

When I woke up this morning Bryan had left the house for a short while to run down to the church. I headed to the computer as I usually do in the mornings, to check my e-mails. Sitting on my keyboard was a devotional that Bryan had left for me (...have I told you all lately how much I love my husband). I want to share with you this devotional.

Way to a Stronger Heart

Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalm 27:14

When we accept God's gift of salvation, He gives us new hearts. There are many times along our walks with the Lord Jesus when we need additional heart surgery. We need soft hearts to replace our indifference or warm hearts to take away the coldness we feel. We need God's tender touch to heal our broken hearts. And, sometimes, we need a little nourishment for our tired, discouraged hearts.

Before and after surgery, people experience a vulnerable state for what seems an eternity. They have no control over the hospital's timetable. They're in a weakened state that makes them thankful for whatever the doctor can do to help. So they follow the doctor's direction, rest and wait to be released.

Likewise, that's how it is when we are waiting on the Great Physician to encourage and strengthen our hearts. We are sick at heart and should turn everything over to Him. We should thank Him for what He is doing.

When you become discouraged keep hoping, praying, and doing God's will. It will be only a matter of time until He strengthens you heart.

Father, I am weak but you are strong. My hope is in you.

);

I got the call today we have all been dreading. The hormone level is decreasing, from 4,000 to almost 3,000. Not much to say. Just really sad and very disappointed. A comforting word came from a friend that spoke to my mom on Wednesday. Her and her husband went down this same road and she said she looked at it as God wanted to make sure they had a health baby and this was not going to be one. They say that in conditions like this that is true, a woman's body can tell if the embryo is not developing properly and naturally does not continue the pregnancy. Two months later she conceived their very healthy son. My heart is breaking, but I know that God will be my comfort. Love you all!

Your prayers are needed...

I am sure that you all were anxious to hear about how our first OB appt went on Wednesday. I was anxious to get home and post a blog showing all of you the ultrasound picture, but things did not go quite as we had planned. During our ultrasound there was no baby in sight, only a small empty sack. From this ultrasound we are looking at two possible scenarios...one being that we are much earlier in our pregnancy than what was first calculated, or that we conceived but a baby never started to develop. The Dr instructed me to have my blood drawn that day to test my hormone levels and then again on Friday. Tracking the two different days would indicate whether my hormone levels were increasing as they should or decreasing, indicating that there was a problem. I received a call this afternoon from our Dr just to let us know that my hormone levels were at 4,000 on Wednesday. This is a hard indication without the following blood test to compare with. All that it really tell us is that if the hormone are increasing based on tomorrow's blood work, and increasing at a rapid rate (about double), we are looking at a healthy 4-5 week embryo-not 8 weeks like we were expecting. If the hormones are going down than we are looking at a pregnancy that really never was. After conception my body started producing the hormones to give me a positive pregnancy test, but due to deficient chromosomes the embryo never formed. This would be very disappointing news, but we stand strong on the faith that God is in control and knows what is best for us and this baby. We love Him and trust Him. Please be in prayer for us. I am not sure when we will receive the results from tomorrow's blood work, but I will post a blog when we hear something. Thank you all who have all ready been a great support to me and for all of you who are praying for us. We are so blessed for the great family and friends we have. We love you all!

Happy 15th Birthday, Becky!

Today was Becky's (Bryan's sister) birthday! We had a wonderful family dinner to celebrate and I hope that Becky had a great birthday! Here are a few pics of the birthday girl!

Deer...It's what's for dinner!!!

Attn Tree Huggers:

The following may not be suitable for your veiwing...

Bryan's first deer of the season.

A nice 6 point buck!!

Good job, baby!

More mail! YAY!

Today Cheyenne received another package in the mail! This time her mail was from her Granny Williams. She was so excited. She got A LOT of stickers, a pic of her favorite football player-Tebow, some Gator cards, a fury scarf, hat, and purse, and some new big girl panties! Look at her with all of her goodies:

(Yes, those are her new panties on the outside of her clothes!)

Thank you, Granny!

Love,

Cheyenne

XOXOXOXOXO

Easy and Yummy Chicken Salad...

Someone from our church shared this recipe with me and it is too good to keep to myself. It is such a simple recipe and so, so good. You will have to forgive the lack of specific measuring, you will have to mix to your taste.

Chicken Salad

2 cans of All White Meat Chicken
1-2 large spoonfuls of Mayo
1-2 large spoonfuls of Peppercorn Ranch Dressing (feel free to try another flavor of Ranch Dressing if you like)
A dash of Lemon Pepper seasoning

Chill and serve on bread, crackers, ect.

Enjoy!

Hats...

Today at the library Cheyenne learned about different hats and the jobs that people do when wearing them.

317 Underground Ministry

We are so excited to announce that our new youth room is complete!! For those of you who do not know, soon after our move here we started a project to renovate the old abandoned basement of our church and make it a recreation and "hang-out" room for our youth and young adults! After many, long hard working days from Bryan and his dad...the room is finished (Well, for the most part. We are in the process of installing a wheelchair ramp for Catlynn and our 317 logo for the wall is not done yet. I will update with new pics as those projects are completed.) So here are the before and after. Keep in mind that the before pics are even after much cleaning, but before the renovation.


Before...

Drum roll please...

After...

The new room has an Air Hockey table, a Foose Ball table, three flat screen TVs with three game systems-2 Xboxes and 1 Nintendo Wii! It has a fully functional kitchen where we will serve drinks and snacks! We are so excited and blessed to have this tool to reach out to the young people in our area. Can't wait to see it full!!

"Say...It's Great to be a Florida Gator!!!"

Go Gators!!!!!

Update on Catlynn...

Catlynn was able to come home on Monday morning. She has been doing great ever since then. She was even at church on Wednesday! I got to go and spend some time with her yesterday. We did some Bible reading and chatting. She is an amazing young lady and I am so blessed to have her back! Thank you all for your prayers!!! God bless!

You've got mail!!!

After lunch today our mail man dropped off a package for Cheyenne. From her Papa Tom, Grandma Nancy and Uncle Matt! She was so happy to have mail...and even happier to see all of the goodies inside. She got some stickers, a frog necklace, a very sweet card and a picture of "her Matt"!

My little squeaker!!

Today's story time theme was mice. Here are a few pics that I took during craft time, while the kids made mouse ears. They were all so cute.

I have been a "blog-slacker"...

Sorry to be neglecting my blog. This baby is already throwing my schedule off! It has been a crazy couple of days, but we are getting back to normal. Bryan and I did go on our bow hunt Saturday. We saw a few deer, but I never had a shot at one. Oh well, better luck next time.

I promise to update again soon with new pics.

The Great White Huntress!!

Bryan is taking me on my first bow hunt tomorrow. I am excited and a little nervous ( what if I miss???), so we pulled out the crossbow and the target this morning to practice. After a few misses and a little tweaking on the scope I hit it dead on!!! Had to take a picture for proof! I hope I am that accurate tomorrow. Say a prayer for me---my goal is to kill one bigger than Bryan's 6 point!!