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.