Ice, Ice Baby...

Today is the 3rd day we have been iced in and school cancelled. It has been a nice break and much needed. God's timing is so perfect. I have enjoyed resting and doing things around the house that have been neglected during the chaos of the last couple of weeks. We have been fortunate enough to keep our electricity so far, but that is not the case for about 100,000 people in our area. I was able to take a couple of pictures of the ice and some slight snow that has fallen around our house the last couple of days.

A tree in the field behind our house.

Our grill covered with a ton of ice on it

Front porch. I LOVE all the icicles!
Neat shot!

Our house. (Note: this is mainly ice, I would venture to guess we have gotten about 4 inches of ice and about 1 inch of snow...but I am no meteorologist).

Even the small twigs that usually get no attention have about 2 inches of ice that were able to collect on them. Crazy.

Icicles on the garage. Do you see how long that one is??
I had to take my picture by it! Smile icicle you are on camera!!

Also, last weekend Cory's mother, brother, sister-in-law and niece came to visit us. It was a quick trip but we had a good time. On Saturday, we went to the Razorback basketball game. Although the Razorbacks played terrible it is always fun to be in the middle of the cheers, chants and band playing. Mady had a good time and I was able to snap these pictures of her sitting in a chair during the game.

She is such a happy baby.

Anyone want to bet if school will be cancelled again on Friday????

CEC.

My heart will choose to say, "Lord blessed be your name"

The blog title comes from the refrain of the Christian song titled "Blessed Be Your Name" the lyrics say the following:


You give and take away
You give and take away
My heart will choose to say
Lord, Blessed be your name


These lyrics were based on the verse in Job chapter 1 verse 21. Where Job says, "Naked I came from my mother's womb, And naked I shall return there. The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord."


This verse and these lyrics have never been more true to Cory and I as it is now. Over the weekend, we experienced the miscarriage of our first pregnancy. The experience was scary and involved an ER visit while we were in Tulsa for the day on Saturday visiting family. I believe that the Lord prepared my heart long before the experience occurred. I truly felt that He impressed upon my heart that something was different about this pregnancy. It was discovered through doctor's visits and the ER visit that it was a weak pregnancy with low progesterone levels. This miscarriage was diagnosed as "spontaneous." The baby was about 5 and a half weeks along. The fortunate part is that my parents were in town for the weekend and were able to be a big support for us.


Physically, we are exhausted from all of the pain and doctor visits. Emotionally, we have been on a rollercoaster. Spiritually, we have held tight to Job's words in Job 1:21. During this process we prayed for either healing of my body or peace. The Lord chose to give us both, but not in the manner of our intent. He has given us a peace that passes all understanding and instead of physical healing he has given us a spiritual healing. I have said this a million times to my friends and family but I truly believe that we have many, many things to be grateful for through this experience. Although the miscarriage did occur, he protected us and kept us safe. He guarded our hearts and has wrapped us up in the arms of His love.

If you have read the blog before then you know my dear friend, Jill Jarvis Attebery. As I layed in the ER, my thoughts went directly to her. She also experienced a miscarriage. I remember talking to her after I returned from my honeymoon in 2005. She asked me all about my honeymoon and then at the very end of the conversation she told me about her miscarraige that occurred while we were gone. She was so brave, so stinkin' brave. I remember where I was sitting in my duplexe. I had to hold back my tears as we talked. She talked about that verse in Job and was so at peace about the experience. At her funeral in November 2008, the pastor read from her journal the day after her miscarriage. I won't get this exactly right but she wrote something to this effect in her journal, "Surely Lord you are no less good today than you were yesterday!" As I layed there in the ER, Jill was ministering to me. She is no longer alive but her dear words and actions still resonate in my heart.

As the title of this blog says and echoing the lyrics to the song, our hearts are choosing to bless the name of the Lord throughout the loss of this child. It is a choice -- a hard choice -- a daily choice, but one we feel glorifies God which we know was the ultimate purpose of this loss. Many unknowns plague our future. Unknowns that are hard to wrap this organized and planner-type brain around. We pray for continued healing of our hearts and guidance for our future.

Organization at its finest!

I am a FREAK for organization! I love it when things have a place! When I was about 10, my family moved into a new house that had an intercom system in it. One summer after moving in there, I decided that it needed a "key" beside it so we would know which room was which button. So I spent some time figuring out which button was what, typed up a "KEY" (which was color-coded mind you) on the computer and put it beside the intercom. I am pretty sure it is still there. I know my parents must have thought I was a super nerd and I'm thinking they were probably right. They were nice though and acted grateful. I'm sure secretly they were worried about me. This is probably only one of many reasons that pointed me into the career of psychology.

Anywho...for Christmas, I received a giftcard to the Container Store. Lets just say that I talked to Cory after visiting the store about retiring from my job and working there for the rest of my life. He wasn't too keen on that idea, but maybe one day I can talk him into it. That store just made me feel SO at ease. Ahhh, I was able to breathe a breath of fresh air. The first project I decided to tackle at our house is a "junk drawer" that we have in the kitchen. It is a really wide drawer and it had tons of kitchen stuff thrown in there from when we moved in. I wouldn't even use things out of the drawer b/c it was too stressful for me to dig through there. Here is a picture of my drawer and its contents before the organization began.

So, at the Container Store I bought a package of drawer dividers that you can cut to size and place however you want. I was able to make some big compartments and smaller ones. It is wonderful. After I finished the project and shut the drawer, I kept having to re-open the drawer to look at the finished project. I think I have opened that drawer more in a week than I have the first year and a half we have lived here.

Here is my organized drawer.

I could feel you taking a deep breath as you see the organization and order that lives in my drawer now. I know you will be able to sleep better now -- I know I have.

Home for the Holidays!

Wheww...we had a fun, fast and furious Christmas break!! We started off on Christmas Eve and Christmas day with my parents! We had a ton of fun and definitely racked up this Christmas. Some my favorites from my parents were -- northface fleece, piece of silver from wilton armetale and a GPS!!! Cory got a really cook Red Sox jacket, some giftcards and a new grill set (and I have to share my GPS with him!). Here are some pictures from that Christmas.

On Christmas Eve, Mom decided that we all needed to watch the

movie "Journey to the Center of the Earth" with our 3D glasses on. Here we are --

Opening Presents

Opening our GPS!

We also had fun hanging out with Cory's dad! He came over to my parent's house for Christmas lunch.

Next, we spent the weekend in Prescott with Cory's family. It was a lot of fun b/c it was Mady's(our niece) first Christmas. She is 7 months old and getting to be a lot of fun!! She definitely did not leave empty handed. I think between Mimi and Popi and Uncle Cory and Aunt Cari she got about 7 or 8 new outfits, some pj's, a new ride/walk toy, a train and a new book (Goodnight Gorilla). Here are some cute pictures of her opening presents! There aren't too many of any of the rest of us just Mady! :) Oh, and I got a cool new pair of shoes, a Hot Chocolate/Latte maker and a cool new bag with my name on it! (I'll post a picture of the bag b/c it is my favorite)

My name is on there in lime green. It shows up a lot better in person. The flash washed it out.

Sunday lunch at the Lodge in town.

Then on Sunday evening we went with my family, aunts and cousin to Garvin Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs to see the Christmas lights. We did this last year and I guess it is becoming a tradition. It was cold!! Here are some pictures from that....





As for the rest of the week we hung out with my family from St. Louis, Cory's dad, my parents and Cory's mom. We were also able to purchase a new laptop!!! Our desk top is ancient and would take forever to do anything on. We feel SO high-tech!!

We came back home for New Year's Eve! We enjoyed New Year's Day here at home putting together our new toys and grocery shopping. I also worked on an organization project which I will post soon b/c I love organization!!

We are really fortunate that Cory was able to be off such a long time. I joked with him that it wasn't fair that he was off as long as me b/c that is not a "perk" of his job like it is mine!! Honestly, I was really grateful to spend the time together.

Can't wait to read about your Christmas/New Years.

CEC