Walk Tall....

Lately with all the hustle and bustle of moving plans I have been getting overwelmed. Between work, home, sick kids, motherhood and every day stress...life has not been easy. While driving to work the other day..I decided to turn off my radio and pop in one of my older church CD's. I wanted a pick me up and that is exactly what I got. The song that started to play was "Walk Tall You're A Daughter of God". I remembered this song from being in Young Womens at Church. My eyes immediately filled with some tears as I sang my heart out while driving. I felt immediate peace. I remembered why I loved that song. I also gained a completely new perspective on its meaning. Here are the lyrics. And...convieniently I have the music playing on my blog. Listen...


Walk Tall, You're a Daughter of God

Right now I have a prayer deep within my heart.
A prayer for each of you there is a special part
That you remember who you are and Him who lives above
Please seek for Him and live His way;
You'll feel His love.

Walk tall you're a daughter, a child of God.
Be strong, please remember who you are.
Try to understand, you're part of His great plan.
He's closer than you know, reach up,
He'll take your hand.

Long before the time you can remember,
Our father held you in His arms so tender.
Those loving arms released you as He sent you down to earth.
He said, "My child, I love you,
don't forget your great worth."

This life on earth we knew would not be easy.
At times we lose our way, His path we may not see.
But please remember, always, please, that you are not alone.
He'll take your hand, He loves you.
He will guide you home.

Walk tall you're a daughter, a child of God.

Be strong, please remember who you are.
Try to understand, you're part of His great plan.
He's closer than you know, reach up He'll take your hand.

I just know that he is aware of me and my situation. I know that not to long ago he held my children in his arms so tender, his loving arms released them as he sent them here to me...and I can imagine him saying the words " My child, I love you, don't forget your great worth". I think we get subtle reminders like these songs of what its really all about. My job is to prepare these children for their journey home. And when I need that extra bit of help doing my job...its as simple as reaching up to take his hand. The key for me is to "try to understand, you're part of his great plan". I am not being punished and neither is Joseph. Its all part of a great plan. I can feel him guiding me and Im going to make it...home.

The Blog Award

So one of my best friends decided to include my name in "The Blog Award". Basically this means I am to write 10 things that are 100% true about myself and then ask others who read my blog faithfully to do the same. This may be a bit tough for me...but here goes nothing!

#1- I truly believe out of all of my dads 6 daughters...I am his favorite. :) Now he could never fully admit it without having the other 5 be upset...but deep down we ALL know the truth. He has proved this to be true on many occasions.

#2- I consider myself to be a great friend. This is not to sound conceited...its just very true. I am 100% loyal and would do just about anything for my friends. I lend hands when I can and my shoulders are always here for a good cry. I feel the advice I give is honest and helpful. My friends are like family and I love them.

#3- I used to get made fun of for this...but its something that always makes me laugh. I have a kissing cousin. Now, it needs to be said that this cousin and I have not shared a kiss since we were VERY young. However the memories from this live on within my Dad's side of the family. Every chance they get...Ryan and I become the center of conversations and I think the red in our faces stays for several hours.

#4- My greatest fear is not the dark...but what lurks around in it. I have HUGE amounts of fear on a regular basis of whats outside. I constantly worry about strangers hurting me or my children. Its something I pray fervently about each night asking my Heavenly Father to spare us that kind of pain. I RARELY ever go outside after dark.

#5- This may be the cause of #4 but I am ADDICTED to Lifetime Movies. I have seen probably the majority of them. No matter what the topic is...I find myself glued to the TV and I have been known to watch them for HOURS. Show after Show...pathetic, but true.

#6- This one is a bit embarrassing but nonetheless still part of me. I have religiously watched the same soap opera since I was a Sophomore in High School. I have even tried to make myself quit watching it..but cant. "Days of our Lives" for some reason is a weakness of mine. One day I hope to stop...but currently there is no end in sight.

#7- I am the mother of 3 gorgeous children. One of which was born early due to an infant stroke while in utero. He is my pride and Joy. I feel he is a gift from God. At times I wonder why Heavenly Father blessed me with such a sweet spirit. I only hope I can live up to his expectations as I care for one of his most loyal and special spirits.

#8- I had the pleasure of meeting my husband on the Internet. I said Hello, he responded and thus began hours of conversation all while typing on the computer. A few days later we met in person and have not been separated since. There is no coincidence that I decided to search out the local area that day. He is my rock, my best friend and one of the best men I have ever known. I am truly a better person after being married to him for the past 7 years.

#9- Getting close to the end now...I have decided that I will not have any children past the age of 30. I want to be done with any and all pregnancies by that point. I am currently 28. My fear is that I feel there is 1 more spirit waiting to join my family. My fear is also starting to become my greatest hope. The thought of bringing another baby into the world after the ordeal we had with Joseph is terrifying. Yet is quickly becoming something I am looking forward to.

#10- Last but not least...I have no trouble at all eating an entire extremely large jar of Maraschino cherries in one sitting. I love those things. I have been known to buy a Costco Size Jar and eat every last one without sharing. In fact...typing this makes me realize it has been quite some time since my last purchase. And now I want some cherries.

I am now going to select 7 new people who are being asked to complete this same task. The following are the new recipients of "The Blog Award"....

Marissa Andersen
Heather Sanders
Nicole Dye
Hallie
Celeste Loveland
Terri Walsh
Amber Edelman

Happy Blogging..... :)

Inspection, Correction and Appraise!

OK, so lets update with the housing situation. So far we have completed the inspection and what the buyers want fixed/repaired. LUCKILY...they only wanted 2 things. Joe and I refuse to pay much more due to the fact we will already be taking a small loss on the home. They asked that we have the AC Unit cleaned and serviced by a licensed company and to repair a window in the shape of a hexagon on the 2nd story of the house. Now...the AC unit request is easy and we agreed to. The window....absolutely not! They said something about the glass being cracked or scratched. The window is high above the front door and is completely blocked off from the inside of the house. There is no way to access it. Therefore...the glass is perfectly intact with no cracks or scratches. Now, there is some fiberglass behind the window that you can see. The whole time we have lived here..we knew it was there..but it never bothered us. So we told them we would not be fixing or even messing with that window. They agreed to drop that request and stick with only the AC. Thank you buyers for understanding...and if you don't like the fiberglass showing through that window...you are more than welcome to fix it after closing. :)

We have the AC specialist coming out today. We had this same thing done with the previous buyers so I am not worried. We will get a receipt from the company and then forward it along to the other agent to show completion of their requests. The last and final thing on the agenda is the appraisal. This somewhat worries me with today's market. I am hoping and praying the house will appraise for the sale price. If not...that's a whole new ball game of negotiations...or the house will not sell. IF the house does appraise...we will be able to close on the 30th and begin the construction of our new home! I hate to get my hopes up because of my worry that something will go wrong...but I keep telling myself..no matter what the end result is...everything happens for a reason. ( I just hope it happens the way I want it to.)

More to come.....

Toothless!

Hailey finally lost her first tooth. She was so excited! Last night while having our fun time together I noticed it was suddenly gone! We ordered Pizza and were watching Monsters VS Aliens when it happened. Hailey started talking and I noticed the hole in her mouth. I asked her where her tooth was and she said she didn't know it was gone. We went on the hunt and thankfully found it on the floor in the family room. Funny how it was so tiny yet we managed to get it safely into a baggie for the tooth fairy. Hailey was so excited to fall asleep. While the girls were brushing their teeth upstairs I could hear Hailey tell Megan "Now we cant talk tonight Megan, I need to go to sleep fast so the Tooth Fairy can come." Its so funny listening to their conversations when they don't know I am listening. Hailey wanted to know what the tooth fairy looked like so I showed her a picture of one on the computer. Her reaction was "OH Mom...She is beautiful!"

After the girls were asleep I printed off a cute little certificate from the Tooth Fairy stating that Hailey had lost her tooth. Joe and I then placed 2 crisp dollar bills in another baggie and headed up the stairs. We quickly slid out the baggie from under her pillow and replaced it with her Tooth Fairy surprise.

This morning when she woke up she came into my room without anything in her hand. I asked her if the Tooth Fairy had come to visit and she said "OH YEAH!". She ran back into her room and looked under her pillow. From my room I could hear "OHHHHH WOW! MEGAN LOOK! The Tooth Fairy came! She gave me Money!!!" She then came running back into my room to show me. I read the certificate to her and asked her how much money she had. She opened the bag and said " I have TWO dollars!"

It was such a neat experience. When you have a baby you always try to picture the future and what moments like these will be like. Its fun to finally be here to live them. It made me a little sad to think of how big my Hailey is getting...but so fun to see her changing so much. We also noticed the 2nd bottom tooth is now loose! I guess it doesn't take long once the first one pops out! Here are some pictures. :)

On the MOVE again...??

So as shocking as this sounds....we actually have a CONTRACT on our house! "I thought it was not on the market" you say?? Exactly! It was not on the market however a couple was browsing the Century 21 website and saw our old listing. They contacted the realtor and were told the listing had expired and was not re listed. The couple asked them to contact us to see if we were still interested in selling. So, we agreed to let them view our home. To our surprise the next day they made an offer and we accepted. So now we have a closing date set for Nov 30th. This is great! Hopefully things will actually go through this time and we will be able to build our new home. The girls are excited to move in with my parents. I don't think my mom and dad realize how much the girls love to spend time with them. Even if its just to be in their house. We are praying the interest rates for homes continue to stay low enough for us to lock in a great rate and get our house! The Lord definitely works in mysterious ways. If all this works out..I will know his hand was in on it. And I guess if it doesn't, it is also his hand telling me there is another plan.

Strangely enough, Joe has approached me with the idea of having another baby. CRAZY RIGHT??? Joe never seems to want another baby..but even having Joseph was his idea in the beginning. I am not quite as on board as he is. I don't know if I am ready to go through another pregnancy and jump into the world of 4 children. I love all of my kids dearly but this last adventure has definitely taken its toll on my emotions. I fear the worst and wonder how hard it would be to hope for the best. Part of me on different days feels there is one more little spirit waiting to come to our family. I think of the movie Saturday's Warrior when Jimmy forgot about Emily and she was begging him from Heaven saying "Don't forget your promise." Did I promise another spirit I wouldn't forget? My fear of course is that we would have another baby with special needs. I feel it would be so unfair to the baby to bring him/her into the world with such a difficult life. Yet, I think of how special my little man is. How incredibly strong he is. He is nearly perfect in my eyes when you take away all the physical challenges. Who am I to prevent another special spirit from an earth life experience? And could I really imagine that baby...MY baby...going to any other family? Absolutely not! So that is where I started praying...

I told myself that my patriarchal blessing stated to not approach God asking "What should I do?" but rather make a decision and then pray about it. So that's what I did. After talking with Joe I told him I would pray about the decision to have another baby. In my prayer I told my Heavenly Father I would need him to provide a way. If I were to have another baby, we would need a larger home. We would need the means to care for Joseph in different house and still be able to accommodate another child. I told the Lord we would be willing to accept any child given to us healthy or no so healthy..but he would need to provide a way. This was on Fast Sunday...Monday evening we had the showing of our home and Tuesday afternoon we were under contact. Coincidence? Some would say so...I on the other had wonder if this is the Lords way of telling me...its time. So, we will see where this road takes us. I dont take these decisions lightly and have not fully convinced myself that "THIS IS THE SIGN". I will continue to pray personally and with Joe. Time will tell....