My story, my testimony Part 1

Chances are, if you're reading this you know me & if you don't know me then God has brought you to this post for a reason, to bring us together. You need to know, I love you & you have touched my life at some point along the way or will:) I created this blog to post homemade recipes but God has really leaned on my heart to post my story or my testimony. He's been telling me to do this for quite some time & now I just can't put it off any longer. I believe God has leaned so heavily on me to do this because if you  haven't heard my testimony, then there's a reason you're reading this now:) Those of you who do know my testimony will probably cry anyway:) (fair warning) Gosh, He works in amazing ways right?!

One year ago yesterday (June 21st), a series of horrific events began in our family. Our daughter, Ava 21 months at the time, had a seizure that lasted every bit of 3 minutes, she didn't have a fever. The doctors ran every test they could think of & decided to admit her into the hospital for overnight observation. They were concerned because of her not having a fever & no family history of seizures, she should never have had one. I held her throughout the night, afraid to take my eyes off of her (even though we were in the hospital I thought if something were to happen surely the power of a mother would be greater than that of a doctor:).  She woke up VERY EARLY in the morning acting like herself. The doctors were still confused but decided to send us home but to watch her closely. Ava was very hyper when we left the hospital & even when we got home so since I left my phone charger accidently at the hospital, I decided to drive back to get it in hopes she would nap on the way since she had hardly slept in the last 24 hours. I left my phone in the car but thought we would only be a few minutes...not knowing my sister was desparately trying to reach me. My dear friend, Kim, works in the coffee area at the hospital so Ava & I were catching her up on what the doctors were saying about Ava so we were in there a few minutes talking. When we reached the car my phone was ringing, it was my sister, Katie. I thought she's probably calling to check on us & see how Ava is doing. But when I answered the phone, she was crying. Through the sobs I could only comprehend the words "Vera was found not breathing" & "She's on her way in the ambulance now, I'm in the ER waiting for it to get here".

I grabbed Ava out of her carseat & took off running through the parking lot. Kim was standing at the coffee area right inside the door, I asked her to keep Ava, told her Vera was found not breathing & was still running, headed to the ER wing. I found Katie sitting on a bench with an aid, crying. Our parents came rushing through the doors....all of us confused about what was happening. Let me explain, Vera Layne is my neice who was 11 days older than Ava. Katie & I were due with them the same day but Vera decided to come early:) Ava & Vera were best friends, they went to the same sitter (along with my nephew Jaxson & my son Graham), they did everything together....much like their mommys but I'll get to that later:) They took us to a room that frankly, scared me, because it meant this wasn't a mistake, something serious was going on. The doctor finally came in, said there was a team of more than 50 people working on Vera & she is very sick. They were going to life-flight her to Children's. He suggested that we say goodbye to her before she got in the helicopter in case she didn't make it. My husband, Jason, got there just in time before she got in the helicopter. Everyone still so confused about how this could have happened. Jason is a paramedic & thankfully we have good friends who are also medics so we sent Ava with one of them to be monitored & another medic friend had heard the run & went straight to the babysitters house to be with Graham. (More later on how much support & love we have from our friends:) Also, the medic that ran on Vera is a dear friend of ours as well so we were surrounded by family caring for the kids.

The doctors at Children's said that Vera's brain had swelled & the outcome was bleak. Devastated, confused, disbelief are just a few of the emotions we all were feeling. It was a long night....the machines were doing everything for her, she was gone. Vera was an organ donor & was able to help 2 kids! That's just the beginning of how Vera blessed people! As a family we ask that you as the reader respect the sensitive details that we cannot discuss. Know that God is in total control & we appreciate every prayer warrior that has been praying for us:).

The reason I gave you the details of this part of my testimony is not for dramatic effect, not to make you feel sorry for our family & definitely not to make you cry:). I pray that this will touch your heart in such a way that Vera's story can touch your life too. Part 2 I will start from the beginning (don't worry, less winded:) & end with where I am currentlly. Again, I love you & am praying for you:)

Father's Day gift

I couldn't think of a great Father's Day gift for my dad & father-in-law that I don't always get them. So I got on Pinterest:) and this is what I came up with. I bought snacks that they both love (the Archer Farms from Target was on clearance). There's a shirt in the back..... I found a great deal at Meijer: Buy 1 get 1 for $1! The mini clothes baskets were 50% off at JoAnn Fabrics for $3. I already had the ribbon in my stash so I got a couple sheets of 'fatherly' looking scrapbook paper & just cut it in squares, then wrote "Happy Father's Day" with a marker, put tissue paper in the bottom that I already had as well & voila!

Happy Father's Day to all the terrific daddys out there!!

Cloth diapering

My husband & I had to make a choice about the care of our children when our babysitter hurt her back & was unable to care for them for months. We've had quite a rough year with the passing of our neice so we prayed about it & decided God was calling me to be a stay at home mom. Obviously we would be saving money on childcare but we needed to create a little more strict budget. So, along with homemade items (which are saving a TON of money!), I decided it would be more cost effective to start cloth diapering since we were spending a fortune in diapers! Plus, we have another little blessing coming in December so we can just pass down the stuff:)

A great friend, Natalie, gave me tons of information on Cloth Diapering 101. It is so different these days. It's modern, cute, & there are lots of tools to make you successful. I really feel like I'm doing something great for the environment too!

Here's a list of websites I use as resources for stuff I need:
www.pinstripesandpolkadots.com- diaper cream (although I haven't gotten any yet since cloth diapers don't really cause rashes) & this is also a fantastic resource about laundry detergent. The most research you should do about CD is about what detergent to use. There is a specific kind to use depending on your water/diapers. This site has almost every detergent on the market & how its ranked with CD.
www.greenmountaindiapers.com- I ordered all of my covers (the ones I started with, I make my own now), diapers & 1 wetbag (I made the other one) from this site. The company sends a booklet about diapering, what to expect, what to watch for, what not to do, what to do when certain issues arise. It's great! They also ship immediately so it takes no time at all to get the diapers you need!
www.pottypail.com- This company is where I ordered my potty sprayer. The options for getting poo off the diaper are: dunk it in the toilet until it comes off, buy liners, or get a sprayer. We opted for the sprayer:) I did the dunking in the toilet until the sprayer came & let me tell you, I was sooo happy when the sprayer came! haha!

I use Clotheez prefolds with Snappis to close them then use a cover overtop. Prefolds look like traditional diapers & Clotheez are the best on the market for absorption.

Snappis work like the closures on an Ace bandage. They are wayyyyyy easier to use than pins!

These covers are made by BumGenius & cost around $17 each. They are great cuz they're just like regular diapers.

I only bought 4 covers intentionally thinking it would work with my every other day wash schedule but didn't take into account that my children poo a lot!:) And I like to change the cover too since I feel that they hold the smell when they poo. I just wipe the cover out when it's only a wet diaper but I like them to smell really nice so when they poo I just change the cover too. Soooo, I refused to pay $17 per cover again, so I did some research about making my own. This is what I found:

I found the company Babyville Boutique while on the Internet. Their products are soooo cute!! (the covers below are made with all their product) My mom owns a sewing shop so she looked it up & discovered she can order their products! Awesome! She carries this book & is ordering more supplies as I type!:) Pleasant Mountain Stitchery (www.pmstitchery.com) The really great thing about this book is that there are many different patterns in it so if you wanted to try something different with diapering you can & it be cost effective!

I actually like these covers better than the ones I bought & these cost around $6 each to make! And that cost will go down as I make more because that includes the cost of the book.

Kitchen decorations

We just moved into our house last July so the decorating seems to be neverending! The only two rooms we have left are the kitchen & our bedroom. But, as every parent knows, we'll be last to getting to our room because of all the other things that we need to buy first:)

The kitchen is almost finished....we just need to paint! It will be Jalapeno Green I think. I'll post a couple pictures of the finished product:)

Sorry about th epictures being sideways! I couldn't figure out how to rotate them:)