Josh's special day

Today is Joshua's special day.  He turns 12!!  I'm gonna have a hard time next year when I have a "teenager"!!  I look back on this day 12 years ago and realize how every birth is a miracle from God.  Jack and I wanted a year or two alone before we started a family.  I knew starting a family would not be so easy, and it wasn't.  My cycles were never regular.....I could go 3-6 months without having anything.  Finally I went to the doctor and she was going to help me.  I was so excited!!  That excitement soon turned to bad news for me.  I wasn't immune to rubella and needed a shot....but, I had to wait 3 months before even trying.  I know that doesn't sound like a long time, but when you desperately want to become a mom, three months is a long time.  I couldn't understand why everyone we knew was announcing they were expecting or why God would allow a girl and boy to climb into a backseat and presto!!  The three months ended and I once again went to the doctor.  For three months we tried to get everything just right....testing, blood work, the right medicine doses etc.  It was a HARD three months....but then, it happened!!  Jack and I know the exact timing of this.  I woke up one morning and took the test and saw it was positive.....but wait...I turned the test upside down so I must have done it wrong.  I snuck out of the house to get another test and that one was positive too!!  Our prayers were answered and Joshua was born nine months later.  I often wondered if I did something wrong during the pregnancy....he was born with a cleft palate.  I blamed myself for awhile.  We've overcome many obstacles....special bottles, numerous doctors appointments, surgery at 1, speech therapy, tubes in the ears, many teeth pulled, orthodontist appointments....most of this due to cleft palate.  After researching some other areas, I have found that some of the other obstacles we face could be a result of the cleft palate.

    But the story doesn't end there.  We have a cute, bubbly young man.  He is healthy and what every mom could ever want.  God's not even finished with him yet!!  Happy 12th Birthday, Joshua.  We love you!!

He Scored

Joshua scored his first basket Thursday.  It was a three pointer....nothing but net!  I'm not sure if I was more excited or him!  I didn't get any pictures of that game because I was so cold, but these pictures were taken from his game at Wake Christian.  This week we travel to Greenville and Durham.

That time of year

It's that time of year again....yep, it's time for the science fair.  Normally this wouldn't bother me, but when you have three kids all doing different things it makes me a little insane.  Each one has their own criteria and own deadlines.  This year Jenna has to do something about weather....do a report, have a model and poster board.  Since she has to do a model, we are going to do tornadoes.....easy peasy.  Joshua is testing whether the heart rate increases with caffeine.  Actually, Jacob is doing the same thing.  Here is how we are testing.  The person needs to rest quietly for 5 minutes.  Take heart rate for one minute.  Drink as much soda as possible and then rest again for 5 minutes.  After the 5 minutes take heart rate again and repeat two more times every 5 minutes so that we have 4 readings.  So far one person we tested went up, Joshua went up, Jenna's went up and mine stayed the same!  Guess I'm too addicted to Diet Coke.  I still need to test Jacob and Jack. Since we have two doing this experiment, do I have any other volunteers to help us?

Basketball

 Southside played Neuse Christian Academy two weeks ago.  We are certainly a new team with a lot of learning.  It's hard to play a team where their middle school guys are 6ft and taller:)  I do enjoy watching them play though.  Last night we played Wake Christian and I will post some of those once I get them unloaded.  Big thanks to my wonderful hubby for getting my blog fixed.  Sometimes it's handy to have an IT guy in the house!!

Am I The Only One

Is anyone else having problems posting pictures on their blogs?  It seems like one of my options are gone and I can't post like I used to.

10,000 reasons

Today my devotion started out saying... "It is impossible to praise or thank me too much".  Immediately, my thoughts went to one of my favorite songs by Matt Redmond (I hope I got his name right) Here are the words to it.

"10,000 Reasons (Bless The Lord)"
[Chorus]

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name

The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning

It's time to sing Your song again

Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me

Let me be singing when the evening comes

Chorus]

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name



You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger

Your name is great, and Your heart is kind

For all Your goodness I will keep on singing

Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find



[Chorus]

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name



And on that day when my strength is failing

The end draws near and my time has come

Still my soul will sing Your praise unending

Ten thousand years and then forevermore



[Chorus x2]

Bless the Lord, O my soul

O my soul

Worship His holy name

Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name



Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name

Lord, I'll worship Your holy name



Sing like never before

O my soul

I'll worship Your holy name

Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name

I'll worship Your holy name

2013 Goals

It's gonna take awhile for me to get used to writing 2013!  I don't really make resolutions....I try to set goals.  I realized last night I really didn't have any goals for 2013.  Jack is really good about making new ones.  I guess my goals are to keep up with my fitness routine.  I don't work out near as much as I did last winter/spring, but I still try to get in 3 hours a week.  I would like to run two races again this year (and we are signed up for the Krispy Kreme run).  The thing that I would really like to make for my goals is the handout our Pastor gave us about making the most of your time.  I would like to set apart more individual time with the kids.....this is hard on our schedule though.  Jack works and gets home around 6 and with the kids being in school it makes it harder.  I do want to find the time though.  I know two weeks ago I took Jacob out for pancakes at McDonalds and he loved it.  I would love to have date night once a week with Jack, but that's really not going to happen.  We don't even get out once a month....more like every other month.  It gets hard to pay a sitter every time, make sure they all have dinner, and then pay more for Jack and I to do something.  I thought about after the kids go to bed, but most nights I'm in bed before Joshua is!!  I guess I would like to keep the every other month up and hope that we could make it monthly somehow.  The sheet also went into details about devotions, doing things for others, etc.  I think I need to read this once a week to work on the areas that I am neglecting.  How about you?  What are your 2013 goals?