God Speaks

I don't know if any of you have ever witnessed a night terror but they can be one of the scariest things to watch. Both of my older children have had them. It started around the age of 4 for Bella. She would sit up in the bed hysterically crying with her eyes wide open. She would look straight at you but it was as if she could see straight through you. If you talked to her she would talk back, although most of what said you couldn't understand. The whole time she was inconsolable crying. It is so frustrating and scary to watch your child go through this and not me able to do anything. You just have to ride it out until it is over. And they eventually grow out of them. Micah started having them too and they were very much the same as Bella's only he would try to get away by backing himself up against the wall and he would wave his hands around as if he were trying to swat something away from him. The only things that seem to work were when we would pray over them or I would sing Amazing Grace. Sometimes that would calm them down pretty quickly but not always.

Bella hasn't had one in about a year or so. Micah just stopped a couple of months ago. But, the coolest thing happened right before Micah's ended. He had gone over to a friend's house to spend the night one night. the friend's parents are good friends of ours and are very strong Christians. The next night we were putting Micah down to bed and we were talking to him about his "bad dreams". We got out his Bible to do his devotional and I asked him if there was any scripture that he wanted to read. He said, "Yes. Proverbs 2:24." I opened up the Bible and this is what it says, "when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet." I stopped and asked him if Trent had read that scripture to him the night before. He said, "I think so." So, Michael called Trent to say thank you for giving us such a great scripture to pray over Micah before he sleeps. Trent told Michael that he had not read that scripture to Micah the night before. That is when we realized that God Himself had given Micah the scripture. We have prayed that scripture several times over him and shortly after that his night terrors stopped.

The other really cool thing about it is that Micah is always talking about how God never speaks to him and how He can't hear God. But, when this happened it was clear that through God's Word he spoke to Micah. It was an amazing experience for all of us.

Thank you God. Thank you for your Word. Thank you that you love us enough to speak to us. Just give us the hearts and ears to hear You. Amen

What A Day

So, yesterday was by far the worst day that we have had with Victoria since she was born.  We went to church and she was just fine until the music was over.  It amazes me that she can sleep with the band playing and people singing and clapping, and then as soon as the sanctuary gets quiet (or somewhat quiet) and the pastor starts to preach she wakes up and starts fussing.  So, I had to leave the sanctuary several times because she would get quiet and then as soon as I would go back in she would wake up again.

After church we went home and she had a hard time napping all day.  We were going to go over to my in-laws house and let the kids swim after church.  She was so fussy that I sent Michael and the kids and I stayed at home with the baby.  I must be honest, initially this was nice, sending Michael and the kids out of the house to do something while I stayed in a quiet home with the baby, but for some reason yesterday it just made me sad.  I wanted so much to be with them swimming and getting sun.

Then last night she started crying at 6:30 and didn't stop until almost 9:00.  And it wasn't just fussing or crying for a little bit and then stopping, it was hard, intense, have to take her clothes off because she is profusely sweating kind of crying.  It is such a helpless and frustrating feeling to have a child who is crying and they can't tell you what is wrong and you can't do anything to help them.  I just held her and spoke to her and let her cry.  The crazy thing was that at around 9:00 it was as though someone flipped a switch and she was asleep.

The other thing that is so frustrating about the whole situationis that I miss the rest of my family.  When the baby gets like that I have to quarentine myself off in my bedroom.  I miss the kids and they miss me.  They have all said in one way or another that they miss me.  Bella has written it in a "Dear Dumb Diary" note, Micah has been real fussy and short-tempered, and Aria has flat out said "no one loves me, everyone loves the baby".  It is hard to watch my sister and my husband taking the kids swimming and having fun with them and I can't do that.

Ok, so I thank whoever said the phrase "The days are long but the years are short".  Man do I cling to that saying on days like yesterday.

And today, I must say, was a MUCH better day.  Thank you God!

1 month old picture

Taken by Sarah Cook of Cookwire Photograhy

1 month old today

I can hardly believe that it has been one month since our sweet Victoria joined our family.  The past four weeks have flown by and it is a sobering reminder that our children grow up so fast.  Sometimes alot faster than we would like...sometimes not fast enough.

She has just moved right in with the family and it is as if she was always here.  The children love her to death.  Bella loves to lay next to her and talk to her.  The fun thing is that Victoria has started talking back, which we all just love.  Aria wants to hold her all the time and thinks that the baby is her personal babydoll.  And Micah loves her head.  He loves to rub it and kiss it.  He says that he loves it because it is so soft.  I agree with him, I love to rub her soft head too.

She is smiling and talking alot more now, although it was around 2 1/2 weeks that she smiled for the first time, even if it was somewhat involentary.  It is so cute now because she is trying to figure out how to make sounds come out of her mouth so she is constantly making faces.

It is these things that make the fussy times more bearable.  As with most babies, she is getting more fussy as we approach 6 weeks old.  She is becoming more alert and with that comes increased fussiness.  It is hard sometimes but we know it is temporary.  This too shall pass and I know I will look back and miss this time.