LIFE IS A GIFT

I have been given a wonderful opportunity to talk with the counselors at CareNet about Maddie's Story. CareNet is a place where they help guide young girls into choosing life and not aborting their babies. The doctors gave us an option to abort Maddie more than once, because she was missing her arm, and they weren't sure what other problems she might have.They probably thought we didn't want to have a child that only had one arm, so it was easier to just get rid of her. Abortion was never an option for us and we knew this was God's child and he has a plan for her. Our plans were different than His plans, but he makes no mistakes in creating us. We just had to trust Him at all times.

So with all that said, I am going to be sharing my story about Maddie; the hard times we went through during the months of awaiting her birth, our fears, how we got through it, and why we choose life and not abortion. I am so thankful to be given this opportunity to share with the counselors so they can help the girls they mentor by telling them my story. I have always prayed that God would get the glory and that we would use this as a testimony to share with others, and this is just one thing that he has lead us to. There are so many unknowns in life and sometimes is it very hard not to worry, but God does have a plan and he makes no mistakes in the way he creates us. Also reminded that "pregnancy is not about a disability or an illness, it is about a little child."

One more thing I wanted to share with all of you? Have you seen the picture of the little 21 week old fetus grasping the doctors hand during surgery. Here is a short video and a picture of the baby holding on for life. Very powerful. Keep in mind while watching this video that in IL you can abort up to 23 1/2 weeks. Maddie was the same age as this fetus when they gave us the option. Makes me sick to my stomach that this is legal in our country. So sad.

Friendship

It has been quite sometime since I have posted anything so I thought it was about time:o) Every time I think to write an update there are other things to be done like laundry, cleaning, cooking, and most importantly taking care of Maddie and chasing her around:o)

These past 9 months of living in Elmhurst have been wonderful. Maddie has developed quite the personality and is never afraid to meet other kids (older and younger). She loves all people and is very outgoing. Maddie's arm has caused her to get noticed by a lot of kids. It has been interesting to see the different behavior of children in response to Maddie's arm. Some are curious, some sympathetic, some encouraging, some look at her as a project ("look mom-check out this girl's arm") and others even appear terrified. None of this seems to phase Maddie, by the way.

In the middle of all of this it has been great to see Maddie develop many good relationships with children her age. We are blessed to live in a great town with a lot of wonderful friends who have gotten to know Maddie for who she is and enjoy being with her. We feel so thankful to have moved to such a wonderful community. We have wonderful friends, fabulous neighbors, a great community, and family just a few miles away. Here are a few pictures of Maddie with her good friends. My husband and I were commenting that it reminds us of how thankful we are for the friends God has put in our lives.

Proverbs 17:17 " A friend Loves at all times."

Here is a picture of Maddie And Georgia. They live in Chicago, and when we get together Maddie and GG love to hang out with each other. They pretty much held hands all the way through Nordstrom!
Maddie and Her other friend Georgia Grace. Two friends with the same name! first and middle so funny! I met Georgia's Mom through MOPS at our church. We are both the same age and both hairstylists. We get together with them at least once a week to hang out. They have a ball together.
Here is another picture of Georgia and Maddie and Georgia's brother Noah. Maddie also has quite a crush on little Noah and always wonders when she is going to see him next. They all have so much fun hanging out.
Maddie has developed a little crush on Noah:o)
This is Maddie with her buddy Gavin. These two can't get enough of each other. They pretty much let out a high pitch scream when they see one another. It's pretty cute how they interact. Gavin's mom and I went to HS together. She was one year ahead of me, so it's neat how We only live 3 blocks away from each other in a town we didn't even grow up in. Gavin and Maddie are 5 weeks apart.
Maddie and Gavin enjoying their suckers at the mall.

Thank you all for making Elmhurst such a wonderful place of lasting friendships!

I'm still Here.

I've been MIA for quite some time on the blog, but I will be posting an update on Maddie this weekend. I am still here, just haven't gotten around to updating:o) Hope you all had a Merry Christmas and Have a Happy New Year!!!!

Learning to let go!

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving! I feel like I have to much to write about these days. As you mothers know, Toddlers are into everything. I leave for 10 seconds and Maddie has gotten into something! Today started off interesting. I was getting ready in our main floor bathroom and in just 5 minutes this is what I saw when I came out. It actually makes me laugh, as I am learning there is no such thing as a clean house with a toddler. (what you see in this picture is wipes, her toilet, and her play food) in case you were wondering:o) haha

Following this picture I ran upstairs to get something and somehow Maddie found her purple watercolor pen and colored herself like Barney the dinosaur. Yep, this is when you just start to laugh inside and not let it get to you. She is a bundle of curiosity! We have had to take some disciplinary action recently, as she thinks the walls in our home are her coloring books. Orange walls aren't too flattering. I know all you Mom's understand this:o)

I'll end with one funny story. Recently, Maddie just learned that a shark "bites". So the other evening Bob and I took a trip to the mall and were walking around a department store. Maddie was walking through the store and pointing to all the mannequins and saying, "bite" "bite". None of the mannequins had heads, and so I guess Maddie thought a shark bit their heads off! I thought that was pretty funny.


Just some random pictures:
Playing with her toys
Maddie learning how to use chop sticks at RA Sushi. VERY focused.
Enjoying an evening walk downtown Elmhurst. Love that we can walk here from our house and have dinner and shop! They do such a good job decorating the town for Christmas!
Cute little Christmas display that Maddie likes.

Veggie Tales!

On Friday evening, we took Maddie to the Veggie Tales Live show at our church in Oakbrook. We had such a fun time, and Madeline LOVED IT! Her favorite Veggie is Bob to Tomato, and she would say, "Bob!" "Bob!" when he would come out on stage. We had tickets for the second row, and after the show Maddie got to meet Bob and Larry and get her picture taken with them! Here are a few pictures from the evening.
Bob The Tomato
Singing one of their MANY songs. MY favorite was "Girls Just wanna Have fun", but instead it was "Gourds Just wanna Have fun." All the Gourds were dancing on stage. Hilarious!
Bob The Tomato, Me, Maddie, and Larry the Cucumber.
We had such a fun night!

The Life of Stay at Home Mom:o)

You know when you are a stay at home mom when: I made these up from my experience:o)

1.People ask, "why are you so dressed up." when you are wearing jeans and a sweater.
2. The word most used in your vocabulary during the day is "no"
3. Going to run errands by yourself is considered a luxury.
4. You clean up spills and trails of cherrios multiple times a day.
5. Your purse/diaper bag is over flowing with snacks, sippy cups, books, and rotten food you forgot to take out a week ago. Yep, a rotten banana in mine.
6. You are extremely addicted to caffeine and couldn't live without your keurig or coffee maker.
7. Your movie list consists of Veggie Tales and Baby Einstein or cartoons.
8. You were so distracted you put your keys in the refrigerator. Finding them hours later.
9. You forget to eat lunch or eat your child's left over grilled cheese.

which one do you relate to??:o)

Trick or Treating in Style!

We had such a blast this weekend! My parents came on Saturday morning and stayed overnight until Sunday because my husband was gone on a retreat in NC. I picked him up at the airport Sunday morning and then our festivities began:o) Here are some pictures from Sunday.
Beautiful Butterfly
Posing for a pic in our yard
Gavin and Maddie. Best buddies!

Obsessed with Elmo! maddie referred to him and Mo.In case you were wondering I was the Wendy's girl.

Maddie and Aviator Man! She wasn't too sure...

Hope you all had a fun and safe Halloween! We sure did!:o) What other day of the year can you dress up and look like a total goof ball?? Maddie was beautiful, but Bob and I were the goofy ones!