Wow...

If you have time you should really check out this blog. It's amazing!! It's about a husband and a father of a sweet preemie-preemie. It's about his wife who is battling cystic fibrosis... it's an amazing love story. I should warn you... it's addictive. I found it while reading this blog:).... yeah, I know, "Don't I have anything else to do??" Well.. the boys are watching Cars so I thought I'd do some blog surfing.

Our purpose...

I was talking to my cousin the other day about marriage... she and her boyfriend were discussing how married couples keep their relationships strong. Honestly, I couldn't come up with any great words of advice except for the simple truth that the purpose of our marriages are to bring Him glory. Now, definitely mine and Cameron's marriage doesn't always bring Him glory, neither do our lives but it is His plan and purpose for us. It's not just His plan for my marriage but my entire life. I honestly don't think I realized that much at all growing up but am daily reminded of that now. My sole reason for existing is to glorify God. God has not only blessed me with the opportunity of glorifying Him with my life but with my marriage and with the role as a mom.
My greatest prayer for my boys and future baby Piper:) is that they truly get this. We are solely created for His glory!!
I am so, so thankful that He has chosen me to bring Him glory and I know I fail at it on a daily basis, but OHHHH... how thankful I am for that opportunity.

coupon deals

Here's a coupon for $5.00 your $25.00 purchase on a toy at Target. It doesn't expire until 10/08:)

Also... click here for a coupon for a free bag of Flat Earth chips.

Mmmmm... Delicious

So, I think Piper is addicted to Simply Lemonade. It's soooo wonderful. I seriously think I've consumed 4 bottles of this stuff all by myself over the past 1 1/2 - 2 weeks. I heard Cameron the other night ask one of the boys what they wanted to drink for dinner and he was giving them options and one of the options he threw in there was MY Simply Lemonade. I quickly gave him a glare that said, "ARE YOU CRAZY??? MY LEMONADE ... IN ONE OF THEIR SIPPY CUPS??? HUH????" He quickly said, "Or strawberry milk, tang, etc. :)

Thankful

Today has been a very humbling day. One of Cameron's coworkers is preparing to say goodbye to his daughter, Taylor. She's probably around 7 years old and has had health problems her whole life. Her mother posted this update:

**"There's nothing more we can do . . . ."

We met with the cardiologist and the social worker and others from her medical team. The cardiologist told us there's nothing else they can do. The sepsis is just too much for our Tater Tot. Our options are to: take her off of the vent and let her stop breathing; not to do CPR should her heart stop; and not to give her any more volume to get her blood pressure back up when it drops.

How to handle this, we are unsure. We are allowing her siblings to come again today and give her their love and hugs and kisses.

Taylor will finally get some rest. Her body will no longer be struggling with the heart condition and surgical procedures she has in the past. She will get to run around heaven all day long! I know that God will enjoy her just as much as we have.

When all is said and done, you will know. Thank you for all of your prayers, calls and support throughout Taylor's life and this last leg of her journey. We love you!

In Him,

The Royal Family**

Ugghhhh... how can you read that and not be so thankful for having healthy children? My eyes literally hurt from crying so much for them. It just makes me want to hug Andrew and Parker so tight. Kids are definitely a gift from God!!! My heart is so heavy for this family. Please pray for them as they go through this difficult time. I pray that they grow even closer to Him in their suffering.

Sweet Baby Blanket

My cousin Amy's roommate, Amber, is quilting my wedding dress for Piper Jane. I loved my wedding dress.... but it was taking up a lot of room in a closet and I thought it would mean more if I could get a quilt made out of it. Amber has never quilted a wedding dress before and was a little apprehensive but she's doing a fantastic job!! Amy sent me a couple of pics of the work in progress:)

Let's play ARRRRHHH!

I put some of these pics in the slideshow below of Parker's birthday but couldn't resist posting them separately:) Andrew's face cracks me up, he was definitely in character. After they finished playing, Parker went up to Andrew with the swords and kept saying "Let's play ARRRRHHH".

Parker's 3rd Birthday Party

We had Parker's birthday's party today at Playworld. He'll turn 3 tomorrow (hard to believe). We had lots of fun with all of Parker's cousins. He loved all of his presents! Here is a little slideshow of the day. (The warrior gear was part of Parker's present:)

I'm totally inspired...

I am so encouraged and inspired by a brave, young lady at GHS named Brittany S.

**Rewind 2 years ago~ I wanted to do something at the Jr. High to bring the world to my students so I decided to introduce the Invisible Children to them. The Invisible Children is an organization that began to help bring awareness to the children of Uganda who have been taken as child soldiers. I was personally drawn to this cause because I have a great passion for the children of Africa. I had the opportunity to teach in Rwanda several years ago and it totally changed my life. I was able to visit a memorial site for the genocide of '94. There were 10's of thousands of bodies displayed on tables. They had been preserved so that their bodies kept the same expressions as they had when they died. You could see their hands clinched and their toes curled. I remember walking over that doorway and knowing my life would be different.



I wanted my students to have that same kind of life changing opportunity even if they aren't able to visit Africa. I wanted them to experience what people go through a world away and be challenged to make a difference. One of my students, whom I adore, is sweet Kara Grace S.. She was so excited about the Invisible Children and shared her enthusiasm with her family. Two of her younger siblings even learned a great lesson about giving which was so sweet to see:) Kara Grace also sparked an interest in her older sister, Brittany.**

Back to present day.... Brittany planned a movie night, along with some of her friends and a sponsor, at the high school. She asked me to come and introduce the movie. She was so nervous and worked sooo hard to put everything together perfectly. I was so encouraged by her passion. She allowed God to use her to introduce the Invisible Children to many of her friends and peers. I'm not sure if she or Kara Grace realize just how big of a role they are playing in CHANGING THE WORLD!! I'm soooo proud of them and so thankful I've had the opportunity to know these girls!

Also... you should watch this video by Sara Groves about her trip to Rwanda a couple of years ago...

Under the Weather:(

Cam and I are both sick. I actually started feeling sick on Monday (6 days ago) and it has continually gotten worse. Both of us have a sore throat and my ears feel as though they could explode at any moment:( We're both sleep deprived. I've been that way most of the week. On Monday I went to work after only getting about 1 1/2 hours of sleep.

Today we let the boys have free reign of the house while we laid down:) It was so funny listening to them. Everyone once in a while we'd have to intervene with a scream "Parker, leave him alone" or vice versa. Hopefully it'll pass soon!!

And the winner is....

Thanks to everyone for voting on our name poll. We really appreciate it, however, as parents we do hold the power of VETO:). Avery was ahead with 25 votes while Danielle and Piper held onto 2nd place with 14 votes. We loved all the names but think Piper Jane fits our wee one perfectly! We really liked the middle name Grace but think that Piper Jane is really sweet and like the idea of being able to call her "PJ" if we choose to.
Piper was also Andrew and Parker's favorite pick, well besides Taweinka and Camalla. After serious thought, we unfortunately had to rule those names out:)
So, there you have it... Piper Jane.... and yes we know it's a love it or hate it name so if you don't love it, we don't want to know:)

Keeping up with Memories...

I've been super busy today. I started the day off cleaning a bit and then Cam decided to take Parker to Wal-Mart, soooo I thought it would be the perfect time to update some scrap books. Andrew has been pulling out the scrap books over the past week or so and looking at all the pics and I realized how far behind I was. Now, you ask.... "why is so important that I stay on top of updating the scrap books?" Well, I won't name any names but somebody ~cough -ME-cough~ was the 2nd child and missed out on a baby book and practically any baby pictures {sigh}. So when I realized I hadn't updated Parker's scrap book since he was a wee one, I knew it was time!! So... I was able to finish 5 pages in Parker's book, 5 pages in Andrew's book and 4 pages in mine and Cam's book:) I would like to hope it won't be so long before I can update the scrap books again but with a new little one coming I'm sure it'll be a while....