More Birthday!

Faith enjoyed her first birthday party. We had a party at my parent's house so that all my siblings could come. Faith enjoyed opening her present, diving into her cake, and seeing her aunts and uncles. We decided to make Faith a Tigger cake because her favorite thing to do is to bounce in her crib. She LOVES to bounce. Grace and Faith both got red Carhart hoodies to wear when they go to the farm from Uncle Cody. Faith got a Leap Frog Fridge DJ (we had one when Grace was little and are pretty sure she threw it away when she went through a phase of throwing things in the trash!)

Thankful

If there is one word to describe my attitude the last 24 hours it is THANKFUL. Yesterday I experienced a parenting nightmare. Faith fell down the stairs. I was watering my plants and heard her crashing down. I was sick! She really was a trooper though. She didn't cry that long at all. But her head looked pretty rough. I was concerned but she didn't show any signs of trauma other than her banged up head. If you look closely on the left hand side you can see the imprint of our carpet.

I am so thankful that God protected my daughter. It is a horriblle feeling to realize your child experienced pain because of your mistake. I thought the gate was closed-but it wasn't... I know that this situation could have turned out much worse. Everytime I think about what could of happened I tear up and once again offer a prayer of thanksgiving for my baby girl's safety. As soon as Faith quit crying I gathered her and Grace up and began to pray. Immidiately a memory from my childhood popped into my head. When I was a little girl I had to cross the highway when I got of the bus. Because I was so young a highschool girl was assigned to help me cross the highway to my mom. One day the girls wasn't paying attention and a car illegally passed the bus. We were almost hit by a car. I will never forget how rattled my mom was (although I remember not understanding what the big deal was!) She took my brother and I and prayed thanking God for keeping me safe. I'm also thankful I had a mom who taught me what to do when a tragedy is avoided- PRAY.

I know it may take some more prayer to work through the seriour mommy guilt I am feeling. But even my guilt is overshadowed by my sincere grattitude the Lord watched over Faith. Here she is banged up head and all. (She doesn't look like she knows what the big deal is either!)

A Girlfriends Weekend

Baby Hannah's First Craft

Our Little Girls: Hannah, Belle, Grace, Faith, & Sadie

Fun Painting!

Faith "helping" Stephanie see what the future holds with an active baby in the house!

Last weekend the girls and I took a road trip and had LOTS of fun. Jeremy and family & friends were helping to replace our roof. But we were 4 hours away having a great time. We left Friday and spent the night with Stephanie (one of my college roommates). It was the first time we had visited since she had her daughter Hannah. Grace enjoyed seeing baby Hannah and trying to "share" toys with her. On Saturday my college girlfriends all got together. We got to see Kristina, Lindsay, Stephanie, Betty, & Abby. We also had lots of little girls. Even though Lindsay's daughters were not there we still had Belle, Grace, Sadie, Faith, & Hannah! Thats a lot of girls. It was fun catching up & hearing about Abby's upcoming wedding plans. We also did a fun craft with the little girls. Everytime we get together I am overwhelmed at how close we have stayed. We had some serious fun together in college!! One of the things Jill Savage says you have to have to survive in minstry is close friends that don't attend your church. I don't really have any friends in Hannibal that don't attend CRCC. I really value the special friendships I have with these girls. They don't see me as a minister's wife. They see me as "just Jenn" a girl who had some serious bumps along the way to get where she is now. (Can anyone say Tom?) I love you girls!! And I am loving seeing our little girls have fun together now too!