Learning As We Grow

I was driving yesterday, dropping kids off at school. On my way home, a song came on the radio that I've heard a hundred times. It's by an Australian christian band called for KING & COUNTRY , and the song is " Oh, God Forgive Us ". (You can read the full lyrics and listen to part of the song here .) It's a slow and somber song, with a reverent melody. It's on the radio station a lot, but I guess I had never listened closely to the lyrics before. Yesterday morning, though, the song had a resonating message for me. The line that made me rethink the meaning of the song is this: A slave to our uncertainty  Help us with our unbelief  Oh, oh God forgive us I realized that the song is not about asking for forgiveness because of grave sins or mistakes (like I thought it was before). Rather, it's more about asking forgiveness for not trusting in the will of the Lord, and instead letting uncertainty and doubt overrule our faith. The line "He...

Three days ago, we were able to have our "big" meeting with the official cardiologist. We ended up there after first being referred to a Maternal Fetal Medicine (MFM) specialist after my regular OB found an abnormality with the baby's heart at our 20-week ultrasound, and then the MFM referred us to the pediatric cardiologist. When we initially met with the MFM specialist, she concluded that the baby did have an obvious defect. She gave me some literature to read on Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome saying that "this is probably what it is", talked with us for a bit, and then told us that we would need to meet with a pediatric cardiologist and have an echocardiogram in order for the baby to be properly and officially diagnosed. THE ECHOCARDIOGRAM: Fast forward to this past Wednesday. We got there 45 minutes early, anxious, and hoping they could get us in before the appointment time. We waited there for 45 minutes. Go figure. :) We were called back, and first ha...

WHY GREEN CLEANING? After my mom was diagnosed with cancer in December 2015, I took that as a wake-up call for our family to be more aware of the things that come in contact with our bodies. The food we eat, the things we have constant exposure to, and the overall care and awareness we have for our health...this all became more important to me than ever before. My first step was making a shift to green, homemade cleaners. I wanted to know EVERYTHING that was going into the cleaners that helped disinfect and cleanse the surfaces of where we ate, sat, slept or touched, and took special care for things that would specifically go on or into our bodies. I learned so many wonderful things as I started on my "green" mission. It was great to become more self-sufficient, to understand the science behind cleaning, and to realize how unnecessarily commercialized cleaning products had become. I cut out anything from my house that was toxic, and contained health warnings. If t...

The following is an email I sent out to family after we confirmed some findings about the baby: We got some news about the baby that I wanted to share. On Monday, at my 20-week ultrasound, they found an abnormality with the baby's heart. Everything else is fine. He's growing right on schedule and looks anatomically sound in every other way. My doctor wouldn't tell me anything too specific about his heart other than it appears that the left side is underdeveloped. This ultrasound was "meant to be a screen" to discover any possible concerns that needed a closer look. He sent us to a fetal medicine specialist, whom we saw today. She confirmed that the baby's left side is very underdeveloped. She said it looks like a complex condition called hypoplastic left heart syndrome. We're going to another specialist next week at primary children's hospital to have an in-depth echocardiogram and an even more intense look at the baby's heart. They will be abl...