The Nutcracker!

Gabie's birthday present from us this year was a ticket to The Nutcracker ballet at the Houston Ballet. Stephanie's birthdy is just 2 days after Gabie's and since she had never been either that was her birthday present as well. Travis was also going to go, but was sick so had to give up his ticket at the last minute. We decided to let Gabie pick who would take his place and she picked Elie. We went to the Aquarium for lunch beforehand and found a friend of ours from Huntsville was doing the same thing as we were!

Dawson and Gabie checking out the fish.

Eliya and Gabie after opening their nutcrackers (I got them each a small nutcracker ahead of time to help remember the occasion.)

The four of us.

The beautiful gingerbread house in the lobby.

The stage.

In the theatre.

Sitting by mommy.

Hanging with one of the soldiers.

Gabriel Faith

As I reflect back on 6 years ago in light of this past year, my thoughts and feelings on all we went through have certainly changed. I am so thankful that God took us on such a journey with Gabie. He taught us to trust Him and rely on Him more then ever before. It was during this time that I began to cling to Scripture so much more deeply. I also began memorizing Scripture with new determination. I am grateful for God using this experience to mold and refine us. I am thankful that He taught us to trust Him through it all, He was helping prepare that road and our hearts for what this past year has brought us through. What an amazing God we serve, that so intricately weaves our live's stories into His perfect plan.

Since I started this blog after all the events 6 year ago here is a portion of the story of Gabie's debut - specifically how she got her name :)

It was October and I was 29 weeks preganant. We didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl. One afternoon I was sitting downstairs in our study (Mark's office was in the basement of the parsonage at that time) and when I stood up I noticed my pants were wet. I was pretty sure I hadn't had an accident, so I said something to Mark and grabbed my pregnancy "answer your common questions" book. It said that if you think your water broke that you should go to the hospital. So we did. They took a sample and said that they weren't sure and sent me to Pierre's hospital.

On the drive to the hospital (it was an hour away) I started having contractions. Once there I saw my doctor and he confirmed that I was leaking amniotic fluid and that I had started to dialate. I think prior to him confirming this I was still thinking I was probably just paranoid or that everything was fine. When he said that I remember I immediately started sobbing.

From that point things started happening very quickly. I was giving all kinds of shots and medicines. The Pierre hospital is in no way equipped to handle a premature baby so they had to put a call in to the Sioux Falls hospital. They flew out to get me ~ never before or since have I gotten through airport security so quickly and easily. They have to have enough equipment and doctors on the plane to be able to handle things for an in-air delivery so Mark was unable to fly with me. Since we didn't know what we were having and the doctors had told us I would most likely deliver in the next 24 hours we decided to pick a name while waiting for the meical flight team to pick me up. We decided on the angel Gabriel - boy or girl. That angel so many years ago proclaimed good news of a child's birth and it was a comforting thought as we prayed and cried together. I also remember Mark telling me that if the baby was delivered before he got there to make sure he/she was baptized right away.

I was so scared on that flight. Thankfully I had just been to a women's retreat where we had throroughly studied Psalm 37. I kept repeating the words over and over again in my head through the entire flight from on hospital to the other. Another huge blessing was having Mary there to meet me. She is my dearest friend and was there waiting at the hospital for me. When I got there things had stabalized. All the meds they gave me had stopped the contractions and so they were able to go ahead with an ultrasound. That was when I found out we were having a girl and the name Gabriel Faith was given.


We thank and praise God for the many blessings this precious girl is and has brought to our lives. Tonight she said the prayer at supper and her words reflect some of her precious personality:
Dear Jesus, I am so glad that you came at Christmas, not long after my birthday. I am excited for snow and Christmas. I love my family, thank you for my birthday. Help us to be safe and have a good night. We love you Jesus. Amen.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving ~ one of the few holidays that wasn't begun by Scripture, such as Christmas and Easter, but then was it.....

"Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

1 Chronicles 16:8, 34, "Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name; make known to the nations what He has done. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever."

Psalm 100:4, "Enter His gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise; give thanks to Him and praise His holy name.

Colossians 3:15, "Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful."

These are just a few of many to pick from. God doesn't call us to be thankful for a day, but that being thankful and giving thanks should be a part of who we are and whose we are.

We had a Thanksgiving Eve service at church here and we were asked to bring a basket of things that we are thankful for. I only have one basket in my house - it is large and sits on the floor in my living room. It is filled with cards, letters and pictures that have been sent to us over the past year and half. The thought crossed my mind of leaving it full, however it was too heavy to do so. That thought alone shows how much we truly have to be thankful for.

One thing I placed inside was a block we had made for Samantha's baptism. I am so thankful not only for her life, but also for the new life she found in Christ, both on April 21st through the water's of baptism, but also her new life in heaven she found on July 10th.

We are also very thankful this year that Mark's health seems to be improving more and more each day. There was a time that I wondered if I would ever be able to write those words. Thanks be to God for His faithfulness to us. Thank you to all of you for your prayers and intercessions on our behalf for him.

This morning as I went to put the cards back into the basket I sat down and re-read them. It filled my heart with joy and thanksgiving for our family and friends who seen us through. We are thankful for all of you.

God has richly blessed us this past year. We are so thankful for His many blessings.

Tea Party

We had somewhat of a last-minute birthday tea party for Gabie since the stomach flu hit our family earlier in the week. Thankfully the germs all left so we had a wonderful tea party to celebrate our 6 year old.

Gabie with our dear friend Kelsey.

Gabie and Kaelin

Gabie and Hannah

Address

Our current address is:
581 Elkins Lake (mailing)
1508 Greenbriar Dr. (physical)
Huntsville, TX 77340

The post office would prefer that we include both address lines since depending on what/how/where things are being sent from/to it is better to have the whole address and saves on things being returned.

We no longer have the post office box, although we are having mail forwarded from there.

Some Direction....

It's hard to believe that it has been a year now. It was a year ago that we all came down here having no idea when we would go back. Of course Mark actually came down in October, but it was right before Thanksgiving that the girls and I came down last year permanently - unbeknownst to us at the time. There are moments that I think back and wonder how on earth an entire year has gone by, and other times that I think with all that we had happen since that time a year ago I wonder how it's only been a year.

It's also hard to believe that after another year I still feel pretty lost on the question of 'where do we go from here?' I'm not sure that I have any new news to report, but here goes....

Eliya ~ growing like a weed! She is so tall for her age and is hard to keep up with her size - long and lean. She had a great first report card for 2nd grade. She also is an amazing reader! She is reading The Chronicles of Narnia. She did rupture her ear drum the other evening from a nasty ear infection but is doing much better.

Gabie ~ should be singing 'all I want for Chrstimas is my two front teeth' since she has now lost her second one. She is enjoying learning to read and loves Kindergarten. She's looking forward to her 6th birthday next week and doesn't know yet that her birthday gift is tickets to the Nutcracker!

Rachel ~ loves school. She has really matured in the past couple of months. We are so proud of all that she is learning to do.

Micaiah ~ is really starting to jabber, she says 'pla' for her pacifier, 'fanie' for stephanie, 'vis' for Travis, nana, papa, mama, dada, 'babie' for Gabie, 'pooh' for Rachel, 'uice' for juice, more, 'ee-ah' for Elie and tries to copy anything and everything that mom, dad or her sisters do. She also is recovering from a nasty ear infection and cough. Tis the season for colds and coughs.

Mark ~ is busy doing biofeedback as well as a lot of brain exercises. I write lesson plans for him and give him homework based on recommendations of his doctors. Some days it seems like he's doing better and other days we aren't so sure. I guess time will tell.

Allison ~ is running again! As of a week ago Monday I have been running on my own. I also have a wonderful class at school and really enjoy having the girls with me every day.

For now we continue to live each day to God's glory. We are praying that another year from now finds us with more answers, but even if it doesn't, we know the final answer is in Christ Jesus and we look forward to celebrating Advent again soon and the anticipation of Him coming to earth as a tiny precious baby.

So Precious

I've started pulling out all the Christmas stuff to see what we have and get things organized for decorating. One of the things that I set aside was the Christmas tree skirt, so when Rachel had a nightmere and came downstairs to sleep, I found her curled up the next morning under it :)

wii fit

Part of both Mark's and my therapy is doing the wii fit. For me it's to help with balance and coordination. For Mark it helps with memory and processing speed. The girls love it too and even Micaiah likes to join in!

Breaking Down

Well along with the breaking down of our bodies, it seems that our technology is breaking down this year too. Along with our camera breaking and our computer crashing, we found out that the computer is not salvagable - in other words we can't get anything off of it. I usually take some time at the end of each year to take anything new (pictures, files, etc.) and save it to a zip drive. However, the last time that was done was the end of 2009. So we have lost many many pictures and my file that I was keeping track of thank yous from the past year and a half. There is a part of me that is completely sad/frustrated by this and another part of me that after all we've been through this past year knows that it just really is stuff. I do wish that I could sincerely and personally finish writing each thank you. Please know that if you did not receive one it is not from lack of gratefulness but instead from simple lack of information about which ones were done and which were not. I of course need to get back in the habit of backing things up. One of these days I will get it together! :)