Trust

I have this wonderful little devotional that I've been reading for quite sometime. It's called "Jesus Calling" by Sarah Young. It is by far my favorite devotional I've ever had. I am constantly encouraged and often feel like Jesus is speaking right to me when I read it.
I read today's devotion and it was exactly what I needed to hear during this time, and I couldn't help but to share it.
So here it goes. I hope you are just as blessed as I was.

"I AM TAKING CARE OF YOU. Trust Me at all times. Trust Me in all circumstances. Trust Me with all your heart. When you are weary and everything seems to be going wrong, you can still utter these four words: "I trust You, Jesus." By doing so, you release into My control, and you fall back into the security of My everlasting arms. 
Before you arise from your bed in the morning, I have already arranged the events of your day. Every day provides many opportunities for you to learn My ways and grow closer to Me. Signs of My presence brightens even the dullest day when you have eyes that really see. Search for me as for hidden treasure. I will be found by you." 

I would recommend this devotional to EVERYONE! They even have versions for kids. 

The Unknown

I was very surprised the other night when I was lounging on the couch considering getting ready for bed when my water broke. Of course at only being 31 weeks along, this got my blood pumping. I hurried off to the hospital in town and they confirmed that indeed my water had broken and gave me Magnesium to stop the contractions. They sent me off in an ambulance to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita.

It was a long night as I waited to find out what the doctors thought would be best. Were they going to deliver the babies right away or wait? They finally decided to just closely monitor me and do their best to keep the babies in the womb until I reach 34 weeks. I spent the night not really sleeping as the nurses kept coming in checking on the babies heart rates. They weren't stabilizing and they started talking about delivery again. 

I of course just wanted to know what would happen. I wanted to know the plan. I don't like guessing. I don't like not being sure. I want to know what will happen and at exactly what moment it will take place. 

Their little heart rates stabilized and they moved me to another room where I will be spending the next 3 weeks or until I go into labor again. They are still monitoring the boys closely and I am on antibiotics to help reduce the risk of infection since my water broke. I also have been getting steroid shots to help with the development of their lungs. 

I have continued to learn so much during this pregnancy. I've learned a lot about trusting in God and fully relying in Him. I've learned about His overwhelming peace, grace, and love. I have learned as I've cried out God for help in times of great trouble that He is always with me: during the tumult of the storm and the calm.  

I DON'T KNOW what today or tomorrow holds.

I DON'T KNOW what time or day my sweet baby boys will arrive into the world.

I DON'T KNOW what it will be like or what to expect. 

I DON'T KNOW how long they will be in the NICU.

I DON'T KNOW what complications they might face or mountains we will be climbing.

However, I have peace. And this is why:

I DO KNOW that God is holding my precious family in His hands. 

I DO KNOW that He is good.

I DO KNOW that He knows the master plan

I DO KNOW that I can trust Him 

I DO KNOW that He has already done miracles for my little Lane and Eli and can continue to do that.

I DO KNOW that He has great plans for the lives of my boys

I DO KNOW that this is only the beginning of an incredible story and journey

So what I DO KNOW far outweighs THE UNKNOWN, the fears, and the worries.

The boys and I just less than a week ago.

Reflections

Psalm 8:3-6:

"When I consider Your heavens,

 the work of Your fingers, 

the moon and the stars, 

which You have ordained; 

what is man that You take thought of him, 

and the son of man that You care for him?

 Yet You have made him a little lower than God,

 and You crown him with glory and majesty! 

You make him to rule over the works of Your hands;

 You have put all things under his feet."

When I stop and think about the planets God formed, how He created earth, how He covered the ground with blades of grass, how He paints the sky with sunsets, how He creates life, I am in complete awe. What astonishes me even further is God, creator of all things, who is so majestic in all His ways, has crowned us with His glory. 

We are selfish, undeserving, unworthy individuals, but God wants us. He wants us to be His. He wants us to turn from the mundane in life and focus on His beauty. He loves us so much He doesn't care how unqualified we are. He is calling us to Him. He is holding out His hand asking us to join Him. 

Are we willing to set aside out day, our agendas for Him? Are we willing to give all our attention and affection to the one who created us? 

What would our lives look like if we lived with the knowledge that God made us to rule over the works of His hand, that He has crowned us with glory and majesty?

YEE-HAW! It's a Tutorial

Since finding out that I'm having twin boys, I have decided to decorate the nursery with a cowboy/western theme. I had many plans of making all their bedding + more, but now that I'm on bed rest, I'm not really supposed to be spending hours bent over my sewing machine creating cute little baby things. Fortunately, before being put on bed rest I was able to crank out these little quilts.

I cheated a little bit by buying the hankerchief patchwork fabric. It looks like I spent lots of time cutting out those little squares and piecing them all together, but alas I found a way to skip all that work. :)

What You'll Need:

-1 yd. of fabric for the front of the quilt

-1 yd. of fabric for the back of the quilt 

-1 yd of quilt batting

-Thread

 

Suggestion: I would wash the fabric you purchase before starting this project so that if you need to wash it later on down the road you don't have to worry about it shrinking!

 

Step 1: 

Lay the 1 yd of fabric that you intend to use for the front of your quilt on top of your quilt batting and cut the batting the match the piece of fabric. 

Step 2: 

Make sure the fabric and batting is smoothed completely flat. Pin the fabric to the batting. Make sure to pin all over to keep the fabric and batting from getting puckers later on. 

Step 3:

Lay the fabric for the back on top of the front and quilt batting pieces. The front and back pieces should be right sides together, then pin along the edges. 

Step 4: 

Sew at 5/8" all along the quilt edge through all thicknesses. On one side leave an opening of about 12" so that you can turn the quilt right side out. 

(Please excuse the terrible lighting in these pics)

Step 5:

Turn quilt right side out. Be very careful not to poke yourself with the pins that are holding the front and batting pieces together. It's a little tricky.

Step 6:

Poke out the corners of the quilt making sure you get a nice point. I used a pencil to do this. Press the edges of the quilt making sure they are very flat. At the opening on the side fold the excess fabric in and press. 

Step 7: 

Sew right along the edge of the opening making sure you catch both sides of the quilt to close the opening completely. I recommend using a lot of pins to pin the opening shut and to make sure both the front and back of the quilt line up properly. 

Step 8: 

Start at one corner of the quilt and topstitch  5/8" all around the quilt making one big rectangle. This is another one of my quilt cheating ways to keep from having to use binding. 

Step 9: 

This step might look different for you depending on the fabric you are using. Here is what I did- in order to attach all three pieces (the front, the batting, the back) and keep the quilt fabric flat, I sewed along the lines of my squares all the way across my quilt. I sewed at every 2 rows of squares. I'm sure there are many different ways you could choose to do this, but this method worked well for me. The only challenging part was making sure the quilt didn't get bunched up at the end.

 

Step 10: Take out all the pins and you should have a nice new baby quilt.

 

So there you have it. These quilts were actually a lot of fun to make and didn't take very long. Once I finished one, it was pretty easy to whip out a second one. I can't wait to finish the whole nursery so I can show it off. It's gonna be pretty darn cute. 

Blind Eyes

    Since I've been on bed rest I have had a lot of time to read and ponder on the words of Jesus. I've been learning a lot about being still and listening to what He is saying. I thought I would go ahead and share what He has been speaking to my heart.
    I was reading the story in John where Jesus heals a man who was born blind. The Pharisees are questioning this man about Jesus. I was taken by his profound response.
    "The man answered and said to them, 'Well, here is an amazing thing, that you do not know where He is from, and yet He opened my eyes. We know that God does not hear sinners; but if anyone is God-fearing and does His will, He hears him. Since the beginning of time it has never been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, He could do nothing.' They answered him, 'You were born entirely in sins, and you are teaching us?' So they put him out"
(John 9:30-34)
     It is clear the ears of the Pharisees are ears that do not want to listen, unteachable, deaf ears. The blind man's logic makes so much sense, yet they are so blind in their own ways they do not see and miss out on experiencing the beauty of the Lord. They feel threatened and are too proud to have their ways changed, causing them to push away the most Glorious One. They are robbing themselves of all that God wants for them because they refuse to listen.
    These are the questions that I contemplate as I refeclt on this story:

    How many times are we like the Pharisees, refusing to listen to the sweet voice of Jesus, denying ourselves of all He has for us?
    Are we willing to lay down our prideful hearts and truly listen to Him so we can fully experience His beauty?

Whirlwind

That's the word I'm choosing to describe the past couple weeks of my life. A whirlwind of emotions and thoughts. On January 17th  I was sitting in the doctors office excitedly picking out boy names for my identical twin boys, never once thinking something could be wrong, not wondering why we were waiting so long, not worried, but completely happy and carefree. The doctor opened the door, came in, sat in a chair next to us, placed her hand on my knee, and started talking. I started hearing all these words that I'd never heard before.
"Your twins have twin-twin transfusion syndrome" 
"They need to have surgery or there is no chance of survival"
"How soon can you have surgery?"
"There are 5 locations in the U.S. that you can choose from"
"Tomorrow? Does tomorrow work for you?"

As soon as I heard the words that everything might not be okay, that there are complications and my darling little boys might not survive, my mind started racing. In just 30 mins. I learned all about some syndrome that my babies had and already had appointments for testing and surgery in Denver. There was no time to think, no time to stop, no time to process. My husband and I left the doctor's office that day, both of us calling a million people, hurrying home. I threw together a suitcase not sure how long I'd be gone or what I'd really need. We packed up the car and drove off towards the Colorado mountains.

Whirlwind.

I tossed and turned all night in the hotel bed. I woke up early the next morning, tears in my eyes, scared for what the day might hold. We drove across the street to the Children's Hospital of Denver.
Brian held my hand, hugged me, and told me everything would be alright.

Tests, tests, tests.
Whirlwind.

My parents met us at the hospital during the day and in the afternoon we all shuffled into a conference room full of doctors. They reviewed all the tests with us, gave us options, answered questions.

Whirlwind.

We decided to go ahead with laser surgery the next morning. We would know 12-24 hours after the surgery if it had been successful. I spent the night in the hospital. The next morning a doctor came in to do an ultrasound to see if both of my baby boys had survived. I stared at the screen, praying silently.

"There are two heartbeats."
"They both look really good"

This was music to my ears. My babies were going to make it. It was just the beginning of miracles to come. Thankfulness, gratitude, humility, and peace rushed through my heart. Oh, God you heard our cry. You heard our prayer.

Whirlwind.

I am overwhelmed by the grace of God. I am overwhelmed by His love, by His presence, by His faithfulness.

"I am with you always" 

How beautiful are the promises of the Lord. He is with us always.

Whirlwind.

My little boys are growing. They are alive and well. They are having daily boxing matches inside my belly. I'm on bed rest now for the rest of the pregnancy. I never imagined how tiring laying around all day can be. I'm grateful for this time though. So far it's been a wonderful time to spend time with Jesus. I read the Bible to babies and we pray everyday. God speaks and I do my best to listen.

I'm 23 weeks. The doctor's are hoping I will make it to 32 weeks. I'm believing God for even more than that. 

Thank you to everyone who has been praying for me and my family. I am so humbled by the incredible response we received as we asked to be lifted up. I don't think I have ever felt more encouraged than I have through this whole past few weeks. I am also so grateful for all the wonderful care we received at the hospital in Denver from all the nurses and doctors. I left feeling like family. 

DIY: Embriodered Canvas

This project just really came out of me being completely bored and feeling the desperate need to craft. It's really not too hard and it does take a little time, but the outcome is definitely worth it....100% GUARENTEE.

So to get a fantastic looking canvas all you have to do is this:

Step 1- Paint the canvas and let dry

Step 2- Draw a design on the canvas lightly with a pencil ( Don't worry if you think you've just messed up your whole project with one wrong mark, it WILL erase)

Step 3- Pick out some corresponding colors in embroidary thread and just stitch along the sketch you drew.

ANNNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDD....WAH LAH! A brand new peice of wall art that you designed yourself.

Other than doing a few crafts here and there I've been taking care of my adorable new puppy Izzie. She is a loveble German Shepherd who spends most of her time finding things to chew on.

Last weekend Brian, Izzie, and I all went camping at El Dorado lake. It was a beautiful weekend and such a fun time. 

Such a good little camper!