Today my baby turns one year old. I can’t believe it. I feel like the year has flown by so fast! This is the first time I have cried over the first birthday of my children. Maybe because she might be the last? Maybe because it is a reminder of how fast all my children are growing up? Maybe it is because I have so much to be thankful for? Regardless, it’s been a wonderful year. Lindsey has been a joyous addition to our family. She loves her sisters so much and I am so thankful for her birth one year ago.

Lindsey is almost walking, says “baby, dada, mama, night night, yum yum, bottle, no no, uh oh, hi, hello”, waves, claps, gives kisses…such a joy.

Here is look at the past year:

Very early in the morning on Nov. 19, 2008

Happy Birthday!

One month old

2 months old

3 months old

4 months old

5 months old

6 months old

7 months old

8 months old

9 months old

10 months old

11 months old

One year!

Nate and the girls were walking into church on Sunday and Amy said, “No one lives at church, right daddy?” In response, Natalie said, “Nobody but Jesus. Jesus lives at church, because the church has Bibles and Jesus is in the Bible, and Jesus can’t get out of the pages.”

I can’t believe that Lindsey is almost one year old.  Here is a (awful!) picture of me a year ago:

Here is a recent picture:

A year makes a big difference! Our little Lindsey continues to delight us. Most people have said she looks a lot like Amy. Well, as we have seen her grow, WE think she looks more and more like Natalie. She has Amy’s coloring but WOW she looks a lot like Natalie at this age. I’ll let you be the judge…

Natalie at 11 months (in red sweater)

Amy at 11 months (in pink striped shirt)

And Lindsey at 11 months!

Today our Amy turns FIVE. Hard to believe that it’s been five years since I gave birth to our 9lb 9oz baby girl. She has blessed our life and challenged us in many ways. All three of my children are a huge blessing from the Lord. But Amy has taught me so much about the Christian life…repentance and faith. Amy struggles with sin more than Natalie…but she also understands forgiveness and repentance so much better. I am often humbled by her tender heart and quiet observations about God.

Here is a look at her physical growth these past 5 years!

Our 2nd baby girl arrives!

One year old:

2 years old:

3 years old:

4 years old:

5 years old:

We love you, Amy! I am so grateful for every day I get to spend with you.

Sorry I haven’t blogged in awhile. Here are our three ladybugs for Halloween! It was chilly here this year.

In June, 2005, I had surgery to remove a cyst which turned out to be a very large malignant tumor under my right arm. In August of the same year, my surgical oncologist removed lots and lots of tissue around where the tumor was until I had clear (cancer-free) margins. God was good and the cancer was gone.

It was only 2 months. But it was 2 months of inner turmoil…2 months of fear…2 months of not knowing how far the cancer had spread and whether or not I would have full function of my arm…2 months of looking at my children and wondering if I would be around to watch them grow…2 months of learning to fully trust my Lord and His plan for me. But I am so thankful for those 2 months. Because I have a permanent reminder of what it means to have faith, believe in a God who can do anything, and trust His plan for my life.

This picture was taken soon after the surgery. I like to tell people about how on the way home 4 years ago after this surgery, Nate tried to reassure me that the scar wasn’t that bad and that people would only see it if I wore a tank top or bathing suit. I quickly replied, “If I’m wearing a bathing suit, the last thing I’m worrying about is someone looking at my armpit! I’d rather them look there than anywhere else!” :)

Well, it’s been 4 years. I see my surgical oncologist only once a year now. On August 17, I saw him for this year’s check-up and everything looked good. But…I also had to show him a lump I recently found on my upper chest. To be honest…for the few weeks leading up to this appointment, I was an emotional mess. I still trusted God. I still knew that it could be nothing. I even thought, “Really God? Cancer? Can you give me new one? I’ve done this before.” But the hardest part was that it brought back all those emotions from 4 years ago. Did I doubt God’s love for me? NO. Did I doubt that he has specific plan for me? NO. But it didn’t change the fact that God could use CANCER again as a part of his plan for me. And that scared me a little bit.

So, my wonderful doctor didn’t seemed too concerned, but he said with my history, every lump and bump will need to be looked at. I have good news. I had a biopsy Monday morning and my doctor was pretty confident it was just a cyst. I got the call today about the pathology report and it was indeed benign. Praise God.

Some people might think: Why make such a big deal out of a small bump? Well, my “tumor” grew from a tiny bump to baseball size over 4 years and 4 doctors told me it was just a cyst. Until a regular surgeon cut it out and realized his mistake. I know that sometimes things just don’t turn out the way we expect them.

But the good news?

Jeremiah 29:11: “For I know the plans I have you,’” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.”

Romans 8:35, 37-39: Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? No, despite these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us. And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow–not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below–indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.

I know it’s been awhile.  Here are some highlights:

My baby turned 8 months old:

We spent 2 weeks of vacation in Lake Nebagamon with friends at family.

Nate broke his foot while waterskiing on vacation…he’s in a boot for 3 more weeks.

My baby turned 9 months old! Still not interested in crawling, which is fine with me!

And today my sweet Natalie started 1st grade…and takes the bus! She had a great day and wanted to go to bed an hour earlier so it would be tomorrow and she could go back to school!

And to end…my weight loss has stalled this summer…I blame it on vacation, less exercise (all that running for the marathon burned lots of calories!), lack of routine, and laziness. But the good news is that I fluctuated three pounds all summer. I can usually easily gain 15 pounds over the summer. So, with my girls going back to school, I know the routine will be good for my weight loss! Hopefully I’ll have a good report in the next few weeks.

Ta ta for now…

Our little Lindsey is 7+ months old. She is sitting up, rolling over, eating all her fruits and veggies, has cut 2 teeth, been on her first plane ride (and was awesome!) and warms our hearts with her smiles and giggles. We knew we had a good baby, but after putting her through 100 degree heat at Sea World, she proves it! What a happy girl. She continues to be a blessing in our lives…our sweet little gift from God. Natalie and Amy adore her and Nate and I can’t get enough of her. The other day Nate asked, “Were are other babies this cute?” I said, “Yes! ” She just seems more flexible because she has to be…with the other two babies, I wasn’t running kids back and forth to their activities!

Here are some shots of her trying out Cheerios for the first time:

June 15-24 we had a wonderful family vacation in Orlando, Florida! Why would we want to go to Orlando in June? Well, Nate had to go to a work function for 3 days and some dear friends of ours (also attending work function) suggested we make it an extended family vacation with them!

It ended up being a great trip. We got to spend time with our friends (who moved to PA 2 years ago), spent lots of time in the pool, visited with college friends that live in the area, spent 2 days at Sea World, and one day at Magic Kingdom. It was also some much needed family time for us…the girls loved have Daddy around so much!

When we went to Sea World it was record breaking temps over 100 degrees! Lindsey was awesome. She was the happiest and least crabbiest of us all. Just continued to prove to be a great baby!

Enjoy some shots from our trip!

At the beginning of March, I decided to start running. Within days, I decided to motivate myself and train for a half marathon. It sounded totally crazy, but I needed something to motivate me to actually run. The first month was tough. I hated every minute of each run. But my sister (who created my training program) really pushed me. I remember in April telling her that I “bit off more than I could chew”. There was no way I was going to be able to run 13 miles. She basically said, “Well, you signed up, so you might as well keep trying.”

I am extremely proud to say that yesterday I ran my first half marathon! It makes me want to cry just thinking about it. I know that many people run races. But for me this was more than a race. This was kind of momentous for me. I am not a disciplined person. Over the past seven years, I have put on a lot of weight, have had three children, and survived cancer. The fact that I started running 3 months ago and ran 13 miles yesterday is a huge accomplishment for me. I wanted to take control of my body and my mind this year. I think I’ve made progress! :)

My sister was always planning on running the race with me, but not WITH me. She has been a runner for years and would have ran at her own pace…way ahead of me. She decided to run at my much slower pace so we could do the race together. This was such a great bonding experience for me! Dana is a talker :) and talked to me the whole race…which showed how easy it was for her! She distracted me from my discomfort and pushed me to continue on when I wanted to walk. She teared up with me as we rounded the corner to the finish line and made the whole experience more enjoyable for me. Isn’t she awesome!?

The first six miles I felt good and ran the whole time. At 9 miles I was pretty beat, but Nate and Walter (Dana’s husband) were there to cheer us on. Those last four miles were tough. Dana encouraged and pushed me. It would have been hard to finish without her help! It was also wonderful to have two of my dear friends there to cheer us on…they got up at 4 am with us!

Here are a few photos!