50 Free Cards from Shutterfly What What!!!

So Shutterfly has this amazing offer to get 50 free Christmas Cards if you're a blogger and you post about the offer. Ever since I saw a friend's blog post about this I've been checking out their cards, and let me tell you, they have some super cute stuff! My favorites are in order as follows.

My favorite is the “Rejoice the Lord is King” because it is centered around the Lord. And also because this fact, that the Lord is King, has been of the greatest encouragement to our family this year. I think the Lord has matured me more in this year of my life than ever before. He has reminded me in both challenging times and joyous times that He is in control. And I am so thankful that He is! The Lord is on His throne!

My second favorite is the one with the last name initial in the middle. I think this one is very classy and elegant. It's one people could keep on their fridge and it would look cute all year round, not just at Christmas. That's why I prefer it in the color black over the red design.

And my third favorite is the one with the polka dots. I like this one a lot, but I don't think Kyle would. He might think it's not manly enough. But I love the colors and the polka dots. I think it's very festive for Christmas.

We're going to use the family pictures that Cara Croft took for us in the card. I'm sooooo excited to put the card together. This is an extremely generous offer from Shutterfly and I'll explain the process of what you do. First you go to this link: http://bit.ly/sfly2010 and fill out the information. Then in a couple of days you get an email that tells you what to do. Then you write a blog of 200+ words, follow the instructions, and they'll email you the promo card.

Some of the other neat things Shutterfly offers are things like, desk calendars, personalized thank you notes (with pictures, I saw the wedding thank you notes and thought that was such a cute idea), and of course they have many different styles of Christmas cards. Here are some links to get you to these products:

calendars:

http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars

thank you notes:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/thank-you-cards

Christmas Cards:

http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

I hope you're able to take advantage of this great deal too! Thanks Shutterfly!

Shutterfly's 50 Free Holiday Cards with Blog Post

I am so thankful to have some beautiful family pictures taken by Cara Croft. And now there is this awesome opportunity to get 50 free Christmas Cards from Shutterfly if you post about them on your blog. I have seen it on several of my friends' blogs and that's how I heard about it. Can't wait to pick them out and order them. Thanks Shutterfly for such a wonderful gift!

Stand up, stand up for Jesus...

It's been a while since my last blog and Tommy has grown so much! He is now spitting/blowing raspberries, he is rolling over like a champ (just from belly to back, he almost has back to belly down), he is eating rice cereal/oatmeal and all kinds of veggies, and he loves standing now! Tommy boy eats like a champ, there hasn't been any foods he's refused to eat yet, however, I can tell he prefers rice cereal over oatmeal. He's had green beans, carrots, sweet potatoes, squash, and peas. I think his favorite so far is squash. We'll be trying fruits soon and I'm sure he'll love those! Before Tommy I never realized how much of a young baby/child's life revolves around teaching them to eat. As soon as I have nursing down pat it's time to introduce baby food. Next will come solids and feeding himself. Eating is a lot of work. But thankfully our boy's good at it!

In other news, Tommy celebrated his 1/2 birthday with his cousin Brady, they share the same wonderful birthday! We had a blast having pizza and cookie cake and playing Uno with our sweet family. We now have a new nephew - Logan Scott Boone was born on October 27th, and he's so precious! Also, my sister Jeanne is now expecting a precious baby boy or girl, she's due at the end of May! Our family has been so blessed this year - we're growing leaps and bounds.

Oh the big new news, as mentioned before, is that Tommy is now standing! He is such a big boy and he's growing so fast and I cannot tell you what a joy it is to be this kid's mom. The Lord uses this sweet boy to bless my heart beyond belief. We're still working on sitting up, he prop sits really well and he can kind of sit all the way up by himself but if he knows you're not behind him, he loses "confidence" and let's himself fall. His PT explains it as him not having enough confidence to do it on his own because he gets scared if he realizes you're not there and lets his muscles go. However, it is wonderful that he is standing so well. A couple of weeks ago I tried to let Tom stand on his own but he needed me behind him to hold up his little tooshi, well his PT said yesterday that she thinks he could stand on his own if there was something a good height. So I tried it tonight and baby boy stood (holding onto the recliner) for probably 10 seconds! Talk about a champ! And glory be to God because He is answering our prayers. I thank the Lord for Tommy's physical and mental strength but ask Him to continue to strengthen Tommy and He is! Tommy's favorite way to stand up is while bouncing to the song "Stand up, Stand up for Jesus..." It's the only song I can get him to smile to when he's standing. He such a smart boy, he already likes Jesus!

Kyle just wrote a paper for class on counseling a family who has a child with Down Syndrome. And I almost always proofread his papers for him, more for telling him if something makes sense or sounds good/bad, not to help with grammar. Anyway this paper was such a blessing to me because it served as such a great reminder that while I should hope for the best for Tommy - as far as physically and mentally thriving in society - the ultimate goal is that he will be saved and used by God. And while I pray this daily for my son, it is so easy to get caught up in thinking about things like, "how can i get him to do this, or he really should be doing that, or I can tell such a big difference between this baby and Tommy." In the end none of that will matter. Oh and speaking of which, in helping Kyle with his paper I looked up David Ring, the evangelist with cerebral palsy. He had one video, which of course made me cry, where he said when he gets to heaven he's going to have a new body. He'll be able to tie his own shoes, and button his own shirt. He said you may not like me now, but you don't have to, I'm not finished. God's still got me in the oven. But when he gets to heaven God's going to open the oven door and say, "Well done...my good and faithful servant." It was so funny but also such a great reminder of how perfect heaven will be.

I'm not sure if there is anything that the Lord could have used to soften my heart more than this baby boy. I am so thankful.

What do you get...

What do you get when you start out your day by feeding your baby, then getting up to go get him an outfit only to find spit up behind where you were sitting on the couch and down the back of your shirt. After a quick & easy clean up of the couch, you go to change your baby's clothes only to find a bumpy rash on his body from the baby oil you used last night. So then you bathe him with some Aveeno sensitive wash and put some Aveeno lotion on him. As he starts to get fussy from teething you give him a little Tylenol, thinking it might help his little rash to go away too. He usually naps for at least an hour and you'd think with tylenol he'd sleep longer - 45 minutes is all he could stand this morning. While that's only 15 minutes it usually means a cranky time later on b/c he's still tired. The whole time while you're walking around in the morning the cat is constantly meowing at you and the dog is right under your feet. (At this point I was a little teary eyed and asking Kyle not to go to work b/c the past two days have been very long with a sweet baby boy who needs lots of attention b/c he's teething) (Oh and his Nana Gram Gran who is usually hear to help if ever needed is out of town for family/wedding visits). Then your hubby suggests to put the cat in the basement for a little while to have a break. Great idea! You go to the basement to start the laundry and clean the litter box. The cat has puked, pooped, & even peed outside of the litter box. You are now at a crossroads - do you cry really hard b/c you don't think you can handle this, or clean it up & be a big girl. You can't decide b/c you're so angry at the cat so you go to put the laundry in. At this point the Lord gives you grace and you go into survival mode and make a plan of action. First laundry, then clean up everything you can without having to make an extra trip upstairs, oh but first punishing the cat for being bad b/c he definitely knows better (he was not punished for the throw up, just the pee & poop), and finish by getting cleaning supplies and cleaning up the basement. So what do you get when all of this happens...the first 3 hours of my day.

On a positive note, the Lord used the cat mess to push me beyond the point of just thinking of myself and snapped me out of my "i'm trying not to cry but when it comes, it's going to be a big one" mood. Also, Tommy did not get cranky, he has been super good all day (it's obviously not his fault he spit up or needed a bath or that he's teething - it just equals extra work but he's well well well worth it). God is so good to know our needs & bless us with meeting them for us. I pray and hope Tommy's little teeth don't cause him too much trouble today. And I would like to give a shout out to all the working moms out there b/c I can't imagine having to work all week, coming home & taking care of your family, and then have a morning like this morning. I love staying home with our baby boy and wouldn't change it for anything, but let me tell you that I am looking forward to date night this week.

Random side note - we watched The Office last night and it was a GREAT first episode. Possibly one of Kyle & my favorites!

Thank you Lord for my life, thank you for being sovereign so that I am not in control - now that would be a mess of a morning!

Latest Updates

There are many times I think about adding a new post but then I just feel like my mind goes blank and I'm not sure what to write. Anyway I just figured I give an update on how Tommy is doing for any family or friends who are wondering. Tommy is just over 5 months old now, he is 14lbs 12 oz and around 25 inches long. He is having 1 therapy session per week, every other week his physical therapist comes to work with him and then on the other weeks his developmental interventionist (DI) comes to work with him. So far Tommy is doing great, he is a little delayed in his rolling over; he can do it he just has to really work at it and has to be pushed to do it. He is making progress towards sitting, which is a really good sign. As far as his developmental abilities he is pretty much above and beyond what they expect from him, which is a huge blessing. Overall I'm learning not to worry about these things too much, b/c like all babies Tommy will do everything he's supposed to but it could take a little longer.

We had a cardiologist appointment on Monday and everything looked good. He could see that Tommy isn't having any trouble gaining weight; he can still hear the heart murmur. He did a quick echo and Tommy's VSD did close up as he had anticipated and they still expect to fix the ASD (probably before he's 1 1/2 years old). But I pray over Tommy every night asking the Lord to heal his heart for His glory, as a powerful testimony to his cardiologist, and for Tommy's health. And if it's not His will, then that He would prepare us and our family for the surgery in the future.

It is such a joy to be Kyle's wife and Tommy's mom. I am so thankful for Kyle's sacrifice to work and go to school, while he enables me to stay home and play with our baby boy. It's a pretty awesome job when my main goal for the day is to see how many times I can get a big smile and precious giggle from our little boy. I can't explain to you all how blessed we are to have Tommy. I've said it before and unless it changes I won't stop saying it, he has the best personality of any baby I've ever been around (other mom's please don't be offended, I'm allowed to be biased, and so are you). But I told Kyle if I knew all our babies would have personalities like Tommy, then I'd probably want 100!

One of the biggest surprises for me in being a mom, so far, is that it's getting more fun as time goes on. Don't get me wrong, I definitely have my days, but in general as he gets older and can do more things, I'm really enjoying it. It makes the day go by faster and it's encouraging to watch him grow physically and cognitively. I feel like being a mom has made me more confident, decisive, and more grown up. While it has done all those things, those are also struggles for me when new events occur, but motherhood is such a great time of learning and growing. Oh and can I just say that Kyle has amazed me as a dad. During the infant stage it was kind of boring for him (& surprisingly I didn't really enjoy that stage as much as I thought I would) but now Kyle plays with Tommy, makes him smile & laugh, and it fills my heart with joy. (But I can't make too big of a deal about it in front of Kyle but he doesn't like to be the center of attention, even if it's just the three of us). But he has really surprised me in such a wonderful way.

That's all for now! Have a wonderful day or night!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

I am so very thankful for our precious little boy! God is just so good to us. Not only is he the most handsome little baby I've ever laid eyes upon but he just has the sweetest nature about him. One of my very favorite things through out the day is right before Tommy takes his nap, I lay him sideways in my arms and snuggle him really close and he looks up at me with the most adoring look and it fills my heart with joy. And I mean it literally fills my heart with joy! He stairs so intently at me, and he'll smile really big when I sing to him. I just absolutely LOVE that kid! It is an indescribable feeling. And when he looks at me he just seems so wise but innocent at the same time - it sounds silly because he is this itty bitty human being but he just has a look of wisdom about him when he stares at me that way.

One good thing about having such a joyful baby is that he makes it hard to stay grumpy. I wasn't having a good morning and then I went to wake him up from his nap and he was nothing but smiles. The Lord used to him to quickly turn around my attitude.

We had our first session with his physical therapist today and it was wonderful! It is such a blessing to live in a place that offers early intervention for children who need help to achieve their highest potential. She is super sweet and did a great job with Tommy. She showed me some exercises to do with him and said that overall his muscle tone looks really good. Kyle and I always get confused when doctors or therapists say this, because we don't know if they mean his muscle tone looks good compared to all babies or just babies with DS. So she explained that there is a "normal" range of muscle tone they look for, some babies are on the high end of that range and some babies are at the low end of that range; therefore Tommy would be considered at the low end of "normal" muscle tone. Hopefully that makes sense, because the way she explained it made sense to me. Also, she was very impressed that Tommy could "prop sit" (I had no idea what this was or that babies were supposed to do it). But she said that it was really good that he was 4 months old and already able to do that by himself. This just filled my heart with joy! I praise God for giving Tommy such good muscle tone and the ability to do so much already. I pray that he will continue to advance but realize he may not always be advancing so well. The PT was very encouraging and thinks Tommy will catch on to things very quickly.

We serve such a great God!

Oh Alfalfa you're so romantical!

A couple of months ago I was complaining in my head about how Kyle hadn't done anything “romantic” in a while. But God graciously revealed to me the many ways Kyle is truly loving and romancing me. Kyle is the textbook romantic, every now and then; he will randomly bring me home flowers or surprises (like different kinds of candy – it sounds weird but I get super excited over a bag of skittles; I love food!) And he even takes me out on a date night every Tuesday night. He sets aside time from work and computer games (which he loves) and takes me out to eat and usually to a movie. I have grown to appreciate these date nights much more since we've had Tommy. My parents serve us every week by watching Tommy on date night, and I think they like getting alone time with him too. Anyway now that we've been doing date night for over a year, and we've been married almost 3 (Aug. 5th), I forget how he intentionally does things to show me he loves me.

The biggest thing that God showed me was how Kyle treats me in our everyday life. He is affectionate in little ways to me – he'll sit close to me on the couch, put his arm around me in church, pick on me like a 1st grader does when he likes a little girl. And if you know Kyle at all you would know he's being very intentional to show me he cares. If I cry because something is really bothering me or makes me sad – he will hug me and talk to me about it. And as cheesy or dumb as that sounds, that is something that means a lot to me. Because in those moments Kyle is emotionally taking care of me. He does a great job at physically providing for us and that comes somewhat natural to him as a man. But the emotional stuff is more of a challenge. But when those things are happening I don't think, “Oh Kyle is being so romantic.” I think he's being sweet and loving, but for a long time I never recognized the romance in it because I expected it from him. I thought he's my husband – he's supposed to be affectionate. He's my husband so he's supposed to hug me when I'm sad. He's my husband he's supposed to do a lot of stuff for me. But in reality that's very selfish way of thinking. Just because I think he is “supposed” to do anything doesn't mean he will or does. Since I am so comfortable in our life together I have been overlooking the sweet things he does for me and how special he treats me compared to other people. Kyle wouldn't surprise anyone else with a bag of skittles, and there are very few people he would hug b/c they're upset or sad, and he doesn't pick on anyone else the way he picks on me. I know that I am more important and special to him than any other person – and that is all the romance I need.

When I was thinking about this I couldn't help but notice that this is the same way I view God a lot of the time. I expect Him to do things for me. I feel like I deserve a good life – I'm a nice person and I love the Lord. But that is a horrible and false train of thought. I don't deserve anything from the Lord but He continues to bless me and do things in my everyday life that I overlook. God is constantly romancing me in everything He does for me throughout my day. And I know He uses my husband to bring Him glory through romancing me too. God has given me an amazing husband, and I greatly appreciate the way he loves me.

Where to begin...(long introduction)

I'm not really sure where to begin this whole blog thing. First of all let me go ahead and tell you I am horrible when it comes to grammar so please don't judge me because I am good at math, so that makes up for it. But the whole purpose of starting this blog wasn't just so people can read what I'm thinking and what's happening (even though I'll probably include that stuff in here) but it is to keep track of the many ways God has blessed our family. Our goal as a family is to bring as much glory to the Lord as we can and to be used for His good in whatever way He sees fit.

So let me tell you a little bit about my family. We are far from perfect, but we try to live our lives in a way that will honor the Lord. My husband, Kyle, is 24 years old; he's currently in his 2^nd year of seminary; and works diligently to provide for our family. He is a youth counselor for a children's home, and while it doesn't pay wonderfully, it affords him many opportunities to show these young men what a godly example looks like. He has a great, dry sense of humor and would be very embarrassed if he knew I was writing about him. I, Jill, am a 24 year old new mom and I love it! I am blessed to be able to stay at home with our almost 4 month old son, Tommy. Kyle and I have been married for almost 3 years and I have never met someone that I admire more than him. Just about 4 months ago, Kyle and I welcomed our son Tommy into this world. We didn't know if Tommy was a boy or a girl, we chose to find out once he was born (which we really liked doing – it made the birth even more exciting).

When we found out we were pregnant with Tommy, Kyle and I began to pray together daily for him. We prayed for very specific things – that God's will would be done in his life, that God would use our child for His good and to further His kingdom; that he/she would have a great personality and be a very good baby; that He would save our child at a young age; and that the labor and delivery would go safely, quickly, and smoothly. During my pregnancy with Tommy everything was pretty normal – all ultrasounds looked great, we even had special ultrasounds done to check his heart b/c heart defects run in our family and everything looked just right. On the wonderful day that Tommy was born he came out pale and with a fever. I had started running a fever during delivery and they figured that's why Tommy had one, but his was high for a new born. So they cleaned him off, let me hold him for a couple of minutes, and then took him to the special care nursery to check him out. Kyle went with Tommy while our moms stayed with me. Shortly after Tommy was born the doctor came down to tell us how Tommy was doing. He was on oxygen because he was having trouble breathing on his own, they were giving him an antibiotic for the fever just to be safe, and upon examining him the doctor was fairly certain that Tommy had Down Syndrome. I thought that if I were ever to hear something like this that my heart would sink and I wouldn't know what to do. But because of our great God, who we prayed to everyday for His will to be done in his life, I felt great comfort. If I wasn't a Christian I don't know what I would have done because I would see no purpose in my child having to deal with this for the rest of his life.

That night Tommy was examined by a cardiologist because in children with DS heart defects are very common. Tommy has what they refer to as an ASD and it is one of the more common and successfully treatable heart defects. As long as he keeps gaining weight like a champ he won't have to have surgery until he is 1 or 1 ½ years old. (Which is another big blessing b/c some babies can't gain weight until this defect is fixed but Tommy is very healthy...aka chunky). A couple of days later the tests came back and it was confirmed that Tommy did have DS. While it was something we never expected, we knew it was the Lord's will and that He would use it for His glory. It's so funny to think back now because when I was pregnant with Tommy, Kyle and I had a conversation in the kitchen of our house and I remember opening up the refrigerator door and asking, “Can you imagine having a kid with down syndrome? That would be so hard. That would be the rest of your life caring for that child.” Little did we know that the little life growing in me did have down syndrome. But let me reassure you, while I would never choose for my son to have DS I would never choose not to have Tommy. I don't know if that makes sense but so many people have told me that I seem “okay” with Tommy having DS – I am much more than “okay” because I have beautiful, healthy son. Don't get me wrong – I'm not offended by the statement of being okay with him having DS, I just don't feel like that's how I would explain it.

Oh and don't let me forget to tell you that God has answered all of our specific prayer requests from before so far (except for the saving Tommy at a young age – we can't really communicate that too much yet). Tommy is the most content and sweet baby I have ever had the pleasure of being around; he has such a laid back personality and is rarely fussy. The Lord used our experience in the hospital to allow a fellow church member and nurse to share the Gospel with over 9 people, and the delivery was fairly quick and safe. God has been so good to us.

There are a lot of things about DS that we obviously didn't know about. The most common thing is low muscle tone, so far Tommy has pretty good muscle tone – his head control is somewhat lacking but we are working on that and he doesn't put much weight in his legs yet. But he is very strong when it comes to socially interacting – he loves to be talked to and cuddled. It is a huge blessing that we live where we do because we have the opportunity to be involved with the Down Syndrome of Louisville (word on the street is they're the best in the nation) and also he can get various therapies to help in his development through First Steps for the first 3 years of his life.

Tommy is greatly loved by all of our family and they've all been extremely supportive through all of this. We are very blessed. I know this blog is really long – hopefully they won't all be this way but I might as well begin with a long introduction – this way future posts might make more sense. I thank the Lord for my family and the many ways He takes care of us when we are so undeserving.