The Boudreauxs

Here we go again!

2011-11-10T21:11:00.001-05:00

With several new friends in our lives I wanted to give a quick glance into the past of where we have been and give everyone an update on where we are about to go.

A little over four years ago God decided to reveal to us just a glimpse of his sovereignty by saving Ethan's brain from bleeding (and probably his life) through what was the scariest moment in our lives and one of the worst case scenarios during labor; the prolapsed cord. You can read all about our experience here and here.

During Ethan's six day stay in the NICU we discovered that Philip and I have a blood platelet mismatch. This is very similar to an Rh factor mismatch in that I make antibodies against our babies' platelets while I am pregnant. It is dissimilar to Rh factor mismatches in that there is no magic shot to stop the immune response against the baby. Instead of a shot, I must undergo weekly infusions beginning at 19 -20 weeks of IVIg and continuing for the duration of the pregnancy. I wrote a long post about the treatments and the biology behind them when I was pregnant with Asher.

Because nurses typically have a hard time drawing blood from me or starting IVs, after the first couple of treatments of IVIg we chose another, slightly more permanent, option: a PICC line. This catheter stays in my body and gives my home health nurse great access to infuse the IVIg into me every week. No needles!!

I can't believe we are already here, but on Monday we will be 19 weeks pregnant! This go round the insurance has been incredibly swift and easy to deal with (not that there haven't been a few snags) and on Monday my nurse called to say that the IVIg treatments are approved! Tomorrow afternoon I will get my PICC line installed and we begin treatments on Monday. We are so excited to have the same nurse that we had when I was pregnant with Asher, Angie!!

My prayer requests at this point are for treatments to go well (people can have wicked side effects from IVIg) and for my general peace during this time of transition. Ultimately I know that no matter what happens God knows what is best for me and will grow me during this time! My hope and prayer is that I glorify Him in all situations and that I share our testimony with people I meet during this time. We have been so blessed I also pray that I can rest in these blessings instead of fretting about what tomorrow will bring.

Thank you all for all of your support!

Fall in the Mountains

2011-10-27T14:28:00.000-04:00

Danielle was here with us last week and we took a day trip out to the Smokies to see the fall colors. Here are some of the pictures we took:

New Videos

2011-10-04T14:32:00.000-04:00

I thought we had our youtube channel linked here but we don't! Here are our latest videos:

First day of Pre-K

2011-08-15T11:28:00.002-04:00

At seven am sharp my four year old boy bounded into my room wanting to know if his shorts were on backwards. As I helped him get dressed he told me all about the dream he had, "I dreamed that I woke up and put my clothes on. Then I waved good-bye to all my friends (my friends were in my room). Then I left for school. That was it." He was so excited he dressed, ate breakfast, and was ready to leave 30 minutes before we could and 45 minutes before we had to.

This one is a little fuzzy, but captures the mood of the morning!

First day of school!!

"This is how you make 11."

Asher needed to check out the toys too!

Ethan playing at one of his classroom tables.

Asher thinks, "Hey man, I'm ready for this place too!"

For more pictures of this morning you can head on over to SmugMug.

A look back through the years.

2011-08-13T14:29:00.000-04:00

With Ethan starting school this week I thought it would be fun to take a look back:

On July 2, 2007 Ethan (at 41 weeks) decided to make a dramatic entrance into the world. He spent the next week in the NICU before coming home as a healthy baby boy!

He took his first trip to the Smokies later that same year (3 months).

Ethan loves his Auntie!(6 months)

In April, we went on a hike with the Boudreauxs.

Apparently Asher did not invent the "scrunchy nose face". (9 months)

Sitting with Pop while he plays on the Wii. (16 mon)

Eating gumbo like a true Cajun should! (18 mon)

Celebrating Mother's Day (20 mon)

Celebrating Jonathan's birthday (2 years)

Bed head! (2.5)

So tall! (2.75)

While Mommy took care of baby Asher, Ethan took care of baby Martin. (almost 3)

Ethan loved playing at Little Gym this past year (3.3)

And no matter how much he likes to read or love on his brother...

....he is ALL boy! (3.5)

He is also our budding photographer!

I'm sure on Monday I'll have some great "First day of school" pictures!

School!!

2011-08-11T11:55:00.001-04:00

Lots of you have asked about where Ethan is going to school next year. I posted a little bit last year about our dilemma of having a summer birthday boy. We have been encouraged by friends and educational professionals to "red shirt" him. We however feel like he will be ready to start Kindergarten next year. To make sure that he is we wanted to enroll him in a pre-K program that was academic. That way he will have a foundation for going to Kindergarten next year and we will also have the opinion of a professional teacher who sees his behavior in the classroom.

River's Edge is the school that we have chosen to send him to next year. It is a Christian Co-op that actually offers classes all the way through high school. We don't know how long Ethan will attend RECA, we plan on just taking it year by year. In this co-op model the teacher prepares five days worth of lesson plans and teaches three of them (Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays). On the other two days of the week the "teaching parent" (me) is expected to complete the rest of the plans with their children. Because I do not feel I have experience in choosing a home school curriculum or any experience in early childhood education I love this model!!

Today we went to Ethan's classroom and met his teacher. One of the things that "sold" us on RECA was the night Philip and I went to a parent interest meeting. We met Ethan's teacher after the meeting and she mentioned that she will be teaching the children French!! We couldn't have been more excited!

As I look forward to beginning Ethan's educational journey I am a little bit surprised that his early childhood years are truly over. I told Philip last night, "When I look at him I see more and more of the boy he will become and less and less of the baby that he was." I'm not the kind of mom that gets upset about her child growing up, after all that is what they are suppose to do! But I have been surprised at how this new season of life has made me look back at how fast time has gone by.

The Search for a Church

2011-07-19T13:46:00.001-04:00

**Disclaimer: This is not an essay on why we left our former church, but more of my thoughts on what we are looking for going forward. **

As some of you know a few months back we left our church to meet with a few other families in our homes. I loved the closeness, transparency and flexibility of meeting with these families and I hated to see it end. But, end it did. Or at least it is put on hold for personal reasons that I would rather not share on this blog :) I could write whole blog posts on why I loved worshiping weekly this way, but that is not what this post is about.

Now we begin. Begin a church hunt that Philip and I have done twice before as a couple. But this time is different. This time we have certain expectations on what a church that we bond ourselves should look like. What leadership in the body that we submit to should look like.
The following ideas are not necessarily Philip's but they are mine and I've been wanting to share them for some time.

Ultimately I would love to find a church that:

knows what the church is for - The church (in my humble opinion) is not for the unbeliever. The church is for the Body. It should be a place where the Body comes to worship, fellowship and grow as fellow believers. I know this is a radical thought, but I don't think you should invite your non-believing friend to church so they can "hear the gospel". The things being taught from your pulpit should be foolishness to the non-believer, but more on that later.
follows Scripture - This seems simple enough, don't all churches believe they are following scripture? The problem comes here when we as fallible humans go to the Bible with our ideas of what church should be. Some denominations even hold up other writings or traditions at the same level as the Word of God. On our search we are looking for a church who starts and ends with scripture. Traditions thrown out, the thoughts and ways of man thrown out, etc.
is family centered - I believe that the family is an institution that is being ripped apart at every opportunity. Because of this we want to do as many things as a family that we can. Worship as a family, learn as a family, serve as a family. There is a spectrum out there of how churches treat a family. On one end you enter and leave the church together and on the other end you drop off your children at the door and pick them up 3 hours later. I am strongly leading toward staying with our family as much as possible.
is small - I didn't realize how much I enjoyed worshiping with a small body of believers until our house church met. When I was growing up we went to a church where everyone knew everyone. You didn't sign your kid into nursery because everyone knew who you were, how old your kids were, where you lived, etc. If you were a visitor everyone knew it, and that's just because of the sheer size of our congregation. Once a church gets so big you don't know who's coming and who's going.
has solid preaching - One of the things I think larger churches fall into is preaching the gospel every Sunday, essentially offering milk to the potential non-believer in the audience instead of meat for the believers that need to grow. We have visited four different churches already and have heard several solid scripture based sermons that have challenged us as believers. Last Sunday I commented to the preacher that the sermon was, "rough", he replied back, "Yeah, it was a real scorcher!" Preaching from scripture is something that we are definitely looking for.
is debt free - "Neither a borrower nor lender be" is actually Shakespeare's quote, but I think it does ring true. The Bible tells us that, " the borrower is the slave of the lender." For years I've been a Dave Ramsey fan and becoming debt free has taught us that when we are a borrower we are slave to the bills we owe. We are not free to do as God calls us to when He calls us to do it. If this applies to a person, why not to the church as a whole? If a church doesn't have money to do something or build something maybe it isn't time to do or build!
has Biblical leadership - The Bible is very specific about how the leadership in the church should be laid out and we are looking for an elder led body of believers.
is a place to serve and glorify God - Ultimately we are all here to glorify Him and that is my prayer. Not that we find a church that meets all of my qualifications, but that we find a church where we can serve and glorify our Father.

If you are still reading I would like to say, "Thank You!" I have had a lot of these things on my heart for a while and it feels good to get them out on "paper".

**Restatement of disclaimer: This was not a list of things our former church did not have, it was merely a list of thoughts that I have been having for two months. I am a sinful, fallible human being and so many of the things written above may be wrong and I pray that God reveal those things to me. **

Getting Caught Up!

2011-07-16T11:43:00.001-04:00

We just got back from an 11 day trip down to Louisiana. We had a great time celebrating Ethan's birthday, visiting with family and eating all of that good food I miss here in TN!!

Here are some pictures of the fun we had on the Fourth! I got to practice my firework picture taking skills.

While we were there one of Philip and I's favorite bands (My Epic) was playing in Texas. Philip got to see this band in Chattanooga as his "Birthday Event" but I didn't get to go. Philip's parents were sweet enough to watch the boys for us while we had our get-a-way! The concert was great! Here is one of my favorite songs put to pictures from a few movies about Christ. The lyrics that this band writes are so profound.....

On our way home from the concert we thought back over our years as parents and we figured out that we have taken an overnight trip away from our kids every year that we have been married. We are so thankful to the family and friends that have allowed us to get some much needed time away as a couple. We would like to thank my Dad and Mom, Justin and Carmen Baba and Danny and Cindy Boudreaux (who have done this twice for us)! It is so important to us that Philip and I have time away together. After all, one day the kids will leave us and all we will have is the two of us again!

On the water with Pop

2011-06-27T09:12:00.001-04:00

Last weekend Pop took us all out on his boat for the first time! You can see all of our pictures on our new photo site!

Here is just a preview of the pictures you will see there:

We had a good time out on the water. Ethan still talks about how fast Pop's boat went.

You'll have to look through all the pictures to discover what CRAZY thing we saw out in the water!!

Smug Mug

2011-06-21T14:49:00.004-04:00

I'm trying a new site to host our pictures.... please go and look at the new site and tell me what you think!

http://rueboudreaux.smugmug.com

Auntie's Visit

2011-05-17T15:15:00.000-04:00

Danielle came to stay with us for about a week and a half and we loved having her here!!

While she was here we went shopping, berry picking, camping and even made strawberry preserves!

She left early this morning and now I'm lonely, but I'm not the only one. Here's what Ethan had to say when we got back from the store today:
"I'm going to make a track all the way to Newrk..... Mommy, what city does Auntie live in?" Me: "New York City" E: "Yeah, I'm gonna make a track all the way to New York City!!"

Asher is crawling!

2011-04-04T07:44:00.000-04:00

He just started last Thursday and already he can cross a whole room!

God is bigger.....

2011-03-28T09:27:00.000-04:00

So after probably two years of feeling called away and after at least a year of prayer and seeking the Lord, Philip and I announced on Sunday that we are no longer going to be attending our church of seven years. This was not an easy decision and for such a long time Philip and I felt like God was telling us, "Yes, I'm going to ask you to leave, but not yet." Then last week we felt like He answered us in a different way, "It is time."

While we will miss attending our church on Sunday morning and seeing all of our brothers and sisters there we know that God is bigger than the four walls of any church. He is so big in fact that I know that the relationships that we have started at our church will not only continue after we leave, but they will continue for eternity! We want to make it clear that we are not leaving because of anything anyone has said, done or not done. We are only leaving because we feel that God is calling us to do so and we want to obey that call.

Most of you have one question left, "Where are you going?" Something that has been pressed upon us over the last couple of years is the desire to live more like the believers in the early church; worshiping in homes (along side our children), giving to the poor, meeting needs of fellow believers, etc. In the past couple of years God has also fostered relationships with believers who feel the same way. It is with these families that we are going to start a new house church.

What does a house church look like? To be honest I have no idea! But, I'll be happy to keep everyone up to date through this blog.

We would love your prayers during this time of transition. We know that God is bigger than we can ever imagine and we look forward to what he has planned for us.

Pushing the Reset Button

2011-03-07T17:11:00.000-05:00

Growing up in South Louisiana I was one of the only kids in my classes that was not Catholic. And coming from a mostly Catholic region this time of year is always fun. After all, tomorrow is Mardi Gras!! But as soon as the revelry is over the next topic for discussion was always, "What are you giving up for Lent?" Since I was Lutheran we did not have the tradition of abstaining from something for the 40 days between Mardi Gras and Easter, but as an adult Christian I now see the potential benefit.

See, sometimes we get into a habit and we don't even realize it until it has almost consumed our way of thinking. Two Christmases ago I took a sabbatical from Facebook after I started thinking in the form of status updates. It's not that Facebook is bad, but it had taken over my way of thinking about life!! Giving up the social network for a month helped me push the "reset" button on my habit. It helped me moderate how many hours a week I spend being a voyeur into others' lives and most of all it helped me prioritize my time in front of the computer.

Now for this Lent season I am ready to give up something that God has been prompting me about for some time. You see, I'm addicted....addicted to fast food!! Actually, I love fast food or take out of any kind. If I could, I would eat out at every meal! I know that this grosses most of you out and you think, "But Bridgette, don't you love to cook?" I do love to cook! What I don't love though is cleaning up the kitchen after I cook, or planning ahead to bring a lunch or snack with Ethan and I as we are out running errands. It is easier for me to skip the prep work and then just grab us a meal while we are out. This in itself is not a bad thing, but when my thoughts immediately go to "getting something out" instead of cooking something for my family and over three fourths of my monthly "allowance" goes to eating out, it's time to push the reset button!

Have you ever given up something for Lent (or for any other reason)? I'd like to hear about it!

Are you willing to pray for our city?

2011-02-24T16:12:00.000-05:00

http://prayforawakening.com/PrayForAwakening.com/Intro.html

Success!

2011-02-23T23:54:00.001-05:00

Little little wearing Pops' hat

Test

2011-02-23T23:52:00.002-05:00

Ethan loving some Pad Thai!

iPad test....

2011-02-23T23:10:00.000-05:00

Blogger now seems to work from my iPad!! I have to admit I haven't tried it in over six months. Oooo, this could mean many more blog posts in the future. That would be so cool!

Car ride Conversations

2011-02-11T13:51:00.000-05:00

Ethan and I have been really having some deep, sometimes theological, discussions lately during our car rides around town. Here was the latest:

After 5 minutes of talking about what Asher did while he was in my "big" tummy:

E - Was Asher always in your tummy?
Me - Nope
E - So, he wasn't in there and then he just was there?
Me - Yep
E - How did he get in your tummy?
Me - God put him there.
E - So, he wasn't in your tummy and then God put him there?
Me - Yep, that's right!

I know there's more logistics, but this is my story for now, and I'm stickin' to it!!

Asher's rolling!

2011-01-11T14:08:00.002-05:00

That title could read Asher is rolling or the rolling belonging to Asher. I can't decide!

Over the last 9 days Asher has learned to roll from his stomach to his back and then from his back to his tummy. He also loves to sit up to play with his toys. Although he is getting better at sitting up he still can't be left alone or else he'll often do a face plant into the carpet.

I'm working on a post that will review our 2010 year and (in my head at least) I'm working on a post about how feeding Asher is progressing.

Meanwhile, Ethan is being a great big brother! He helps me every chance he gets and this weekend at a friend's birthday party I was reminded again at what a sweet boy he is. In the middle of dinner Ethan got up from the kids table and headed in my direction. "I just wanted to give you a kiss." he said as he gently kissed my arm and then headed back to the kids table. What a sweet boy!

More pictures are also going to soon be posted on our shutterfly site. We got three inches of snow yesterday and the three older Boudreauxs had a blast playing in it. I even made a snow angel!

Merry Belated Christmas!!

2010-12-28T11:12:00.000-05:00

I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I know we did!! Philip's parents came into town and since my parents now live in town, we had a big throw down at our house. Ethan opened presents on four consecutive days. It was great! I'll try to get pictures of Christmas day up soon, but until then you can watch our Christmas videos.

I'd like to take this time to discuss Christmas cards. This year I sent out Asher's baby announcements that never got sent out this summer with the additional picture shown above.

My question to my readers out there is who do you send Christmas cards to? With the cost of postage (and cards) going up each year I start to question who should be on my Christmas card list. Don't get me wrong, I love making a Christmas card and I love sending them out, I just don't know how to edit my list. Do you send cards to family only? How about high school or college buddies that you don't talk to often, but still want to keep in touch with? What about local friends that see you every week or month? Or do you keep a list of who sent you a card so you can return the favor next year?

I'd love your input on this. Our list consists of a mixture of these, but I did struggle with our Sunday School class members this year. I mean, we see them every week, but I still want to wish them a Merry Christmas! What I don't want to do is spend over $100 on cards and postage each year.

Help!!

Quitting the Challenge

2010-12-16T11:05:00.003-05:00

I don't quit many things, but after I started posting things on here that I would definitely not share with a stranger I figured it was in the best interest of my family to quit the challenge. Instead I am here today to tell you that I am uploading new pictures on our Shutterfly site and new videos on our YouTube site. I am especially going to add a lot more pictures to Ethan's tab on the site since he has been quiet the photographer lately!

I know this was kind of a "cheater" post but I hope you enjoy all the new media!

Also, for those of you who were confused about the picture below, the fifth letter on the mantel holds our dog's stockings (Emma and Dante). I have a feeling that in a few years or so they will get booted from this place of honor. Either that, or I need to buy some more stocking hangers!

Stockings

2010-12-09T10:35:00.001-05:00

Yesterday afternoon (16 days before Christmas) I finally sat down and made Asher's stocking. Out of the six stockings here I've sewn the first four and although they might not be the prettiest stockings ever they work for us.

In Philip's family each member of the family contributes to each stocking. We have adopted this practice and I love it! It is so much fun to buy things for everyone's stocking (including this year my inlaws and brother in law). Then when it is time to "open" them everyone just dumps their stocking onto the floor and we figure out who bought what.

In my family our stockings were the only things we could open before our parents got out of bed on Christmas morning. I remember my sister and I running out to the living room to grab the stockings and then returning to one of our beds to open them. Then the agonizing wait would begin, but at least we had the contents of our stockings to keep us busy until 8am.

Does your family use stockings in their celebration of Christmas? How do they work in your house?

Yesterday's Doctor's Visit

2010-12-08T23:13:00.004-05:00

Asher's 6-month doctor's visit was yesterday and he did great. Dr. Brice said everything looks fine. At 6 months Asher weighs almost exactly the same as Ethan did (16 pounds) but the big difference with Asher is that he is 2 inches shorter than his brother was at this age!!

Here is a picture I took awhile ago, but I haven't posted it anywhere yet:

Asher did not appreciate the cup of water I poured on his head, but at least in these pictures you can see his chunky-ness!

Toddlers are easy to amaze

2010-12-07T14:39:00.000-05:00

The following conversation was had between myself and my three year old before he took his nap today:

"Mommy can I play with my activities?" (activities = Nativity set)
"No, I said you can read your train book and then go to bed."
"But, I don't know where my book is!"
"It's in the bathroom."
"HOW did you KNOW that?!"

Solids - the second time around

2010-12-07T08:25:00.002-05:00

With Ethan I remember starting solid foods the day that the pediatrician said that we could. My number one motivation was to spend less money on formula. Little did I know the amount of dishes and ultimately money and time having a baby on solids can require.

This time around I have delayed starting solids until what seems like the last minute. Even though I am not anti-spoon, after reading a blog post about baby-led weaning I got really stoked about not having to make purees this go-round. I want Asher to get the majority from his calories from me for as long as possible anyway, so I am in no hurry to start solids. Having said that, Asher has gone through periods this last month where after nursing in the evening he is still fussy. It is at these times when I have offered oatmeal cereal made with formula (or some other liquid). He does sit at the table with us during dinner and we also have tried to give him solids from our plates. So far he has had some baked sweet potato, applesauce and a few grains of rice (all good Cajuns should have some rice in their diet). Most of these foods have been processed and given right back to us, but he has swallowed a few mouthfuls of each.

Unlike this picture the last two nights have gone rather well as far as getting more food into his body then onto his bib. He still is only eating about one tablespoon of cereal a night, but he seems to be getting better at opening his mouth when a spoon comes up to his mouth and then swallowing what is deposited there.

Today we are going to the pediatrician for Asher's six month check up. After Ethan heard that Asher was going to have shots he said, "I want some throw-up in my nose." He means that he does not want a flu shot, but instead wants the flu mist (up his nose). Kids say the darnedest things. Also, I couldn't think of it the other day but another funny word Ethan says incorrectly is "Mirr-e-u" for mirror.

Snickerdoodles

2010-12-06T18:20:00.001-05:00

I have vivid memories of my family members fighting over my Mawmaw's Snickerdoodles. I'm not exaggerating here! After one Christmas where my dad literally hoarded the entire container for hours while he munched away, Mawmaw finally made certain family members their own gallon ziploc bags of the cookies.

That being said every year when I set out to make them I think, "Do I even like these?" "Are they really as good as I remember?" After all with such simple ingredients as veg. shortening, sugar, eggs, flour, etc. and with only a cinnamon sugar topping you don't expect anything spectacular. But then you take the first bite. mmmm.....the salty crumbly somewhat buttery tasting cookie melts in your mouth. I have nothing left to say...I am speechless.

Here is an old picture, but it will have to do for now:

Christmas Tree

2010-12-05T21:31:00.000-05:00

So Ethan finally let me take a picture of him after we decorated the Christmas tree:

This year we went for the "au naturale" look. Do you know how long it takes to make that silly popcorn/cranberry garland? Longer than you think! And you may recognize our ornaments from this post.

Today's post

2010-12-05T15:50:00.001-05:00

Today while Ethan and Philip went out to run some errands I put lights on the Christmas tree. Ethan got home and was so shocked! "Mommy, the tree is blinking!" Granted, the lights aren't blinking but I knew what he meant. I also finished up the french onion soup that I started yesterday. This picture is just for my mom:

If you want to try this soup out it is an America's Test Kitchen recipe and it will take over 2 hours to make (just a heads up).

Yesterday's post

2010-12-05T15:46:00.001-05:00

I really meant to post this yesterday, but spent some quality time with my hubby instead (watching My Cousin Vinny). Yesterday Asher turned 6 months old. Yay Asher! The cute new thing that he has started to do is stick his tongue out and then smile. It is so stinkin' cute! The problem is he does it so quickly that I can't get a picture of it. Here is a picture of our cute boy:

You can almost hear him thinking, "Get in my mouth!"

If you're wondering why I haven't had any pictures of Ethan in these last few posts it's because he doesn't want me to take his picture! Even when he finished his puzzle, he only wanted me to take a picture of the puzzle, not of him.

Yesterday was a fun day Philip and Ethan went and bought our Christmas tree and mom came over and we had chicken panini sandwiches and Brussels sprouts for dinner. If you don't think you like Brussels sprouts go and try that recipe. It will change your mind, it might even change your life! It has made me a believer of re-trying things you don't think you like or giving a chance to things you've never tried before. We also had croissant panini sandwiches (with nutella, bananas, marshmallow creme, etc.) for dessert! They....were....awesome! But, how could they not be?

A Night of Firsts

2010-12-03T21:21:00.000-05:00

Today the boys and I met Betsy and her kids at the Fountain City library for story time. If you have never gone to the FC story time it is worth the drive!! There are songs, rhymes, hand puppets, stories from books, and interactive flannel stories. Also there were chairs for the adults to sit on, which is nice for moms that have smaller little ones to entertain during story time.

Tonight was a night of firsts. While we were with Betsy today she gave us our Christmas presents and for Ethan it was his first puzzle!! He needed a little bit of help, but he was so proud when it was done.

Tonight was also Asher's first fire! He acted similar to his brother the first time he saw a fire in that he just stared at it in amazement.

On the agenda for tomorrow? Buy a Christmas tree and decorate the house!

Library and MOPS

2010-12-02T23:56:00.001-05:00

We had a busy day today including a trip to the library and then tonight the boys and I went to MOPS. I am doing crafts for the moppets this year which means this afternoon I researched and planned a craft for the kids to do. I'll take a picture of one of the crafts Ethan did and post it tomorrow. In the meantime enjoy this picture of Asher when I picked him up from Moppets:

Sweet thumb-sucking boy!!

I'm so glad I met today's post goal (if only by four minutes).

A post (and a picture) a day till Christmas!

2010-12-01T15:03:00.001-05:00

I've been slacking on this blog for a while now (I can't believe it's been 3 months since my last post) and I was inspired today to change that. For the whole month of December, or at least until Christmas, I plan on posting one picture a day. If you are interested here is the blog that inspired me. On days when I have time I am also going to go back in time and document something we have done in the last 6 months or so.

First some updates on funny things that Ethan says or has said recently:

"nockers" for binoculars
"helmets" for some muff-style headphones that he used in the car
"Asher wants to be excused." this after Asher stopped nursing one day to stare at his big brother

My picture for the day is of a craft project that Ethan and I started a few days ago after I read this post.

These have been drying for two days but I think since it has been so humid here they will take a few more days to get good and dry. My goal is to wait until the fruit dries, add some popcorn and cranberries, and then hang them over one our many walkways coming from the kitchen.

We were in Louisiana for Thanksgiving and today was my first day to sit down and "do" our budget. This means I look at how much money we had leftover the day Philip gets paid, save it appropriately and pay most of the bills for the new month. To do this efficiently I had to lay Asher down and chose to place him on the warm sunny changing table we have in the living room. I guess Asher thought it was warm and snuggly, because this is how I found him 15 minutes later:

Ethan also was suppose to go to bed so while I was finishing up the budget I asked him to go upstairs and wait for me. He is currently also passed out!!

See you tomorrow!

Asher - 3 Months old!!

2010-09-17T08:57:00.001-04:00

Since Asher is three months old today (Sept. 4th) I thought I would document his day (for your enjoyment I have left out diaper changes):

3:55 Woke to nurse (and fell back asleep)
7:00 Woke to nurse again (and fell back asleep again)
9:30 Slept in - Mommy had to wake me up!
9:35 Got my picture with brother taken - GEAUX TIGERS!

9:45 Ate again
10:00 Went outside to enjoy the great weather (and watch Daddy work on his truck)
10:20 Morning nap
11:40 Woke up
11:45 Cried while I waited for Mommy to fix brother lunch!

11:47 Lunch!
12:30 Played in the "ocean"
12:45 Practiced laughing with Mommy

1:00 After choking on my own spit (what is that stuff anyway?) and subsequently spitting up and then rubbing my head in it Mom decided I needed a bath (read: life is really hard for a baby)

1:40 Early afternoon nap
4:00 Mommy moved me to the couch because I still wasn't awake....that did not phase me!

4:30 Finally woke up!
4:35 Mid-afternoon snack
6:00 Late-afternoon nap
7:30 Pre-Dinner
8:30 Dinner
8:40 Bedtime
9:20 Dessert
9:40 Bedtime for real!

I'm editing this post on Sept. 17 and what's funny is that for the last 5 or 6 days Asher has been sleeping through the night! That's right, a full 12 hours!! His meals are a lot more regular and I seldom if ever have to feed him once we put him down for the night at around 7:30. Like I've been saying, "Don't like your babies schedule? Wait two weeks and they'll be on a new one!"

Learning to Schedule

2010-08-30T12:43:00.000-04:00

Homeschooling has been a challenge up until today. Mostly I think the challenge has come because I try to plan what we are going to do for the day while I am sitting at the table with an eager three year old! Last night however I sat for about an hour at the computer and planned our day/week. The result? Happy toddler, less stressed mom and overall a great experience! We even managed to get everything done while brother was sleeping in his swing.

Speaking of little brother, I have a post half-written about Asher and I hope to post it soon!

11 weeks and we are "golden"

2010-08-25T16:20:00.003-04:00

Asher is 11 weeks and a couple of days old now and we are doing great!!

He has been sleeping through the night now for about a week and a half. Because of this fact (and the ease in which he has been falling asleep this last week or so) we decided to put both boys to bed last night at the same time in the same room! At first Asher didn't fall asleep so Philip went up to get him and I finished nursing him (he had fallen asleep half way through). Ethan almost cried when Philip went to get him. "I want Asher to sleep up here!" Philip explained that he would be back and on the second try he did stay in bed and go to sleep. Usually Ethan talks a ton before he falls asleep, but last night he was super quiet and I think that probably helped him fall asleep faster.

So far so good!

The final decision....maybe

2010-08-22T15:00:00.000-04:00

So last week I posted a question on Facebook to all my friends concerning weather or not you start your summer born baby in Kindergarten when they are five, or if you wait and start them when they are six. When Ethan was first born I was excited that it was in July because I thought we had avoided the whole "start them/don't start them" issue. But not so! Here the parents I talk to really think that May is the cut off and that if you have a summer baby that you should wait until they are six to start them in Kindergarten.

I feel like after reading the 31 comments left by other moms I have a better picture of why parents keep their five year olds home, but I still struggle because I don't want my kids to bored in school. I know some moms are saying, "Bridgette, you have plenty of time to think about this." Really if I want Ethan to have a full year of preschool before he goes to Kindergarten I will need to have made at least a preliminary decision by this Spring when registration for preschools usually begins.

After reading all of the comments and talking to other experienced moms here is what (I think) we will do. This year I will continue to home school him through our current preschool curriculum which teaches letters, some phonics, numbers, and bible literacy. Then next year (when he is four) I think we will send him to a preschool for at least 2-3 days a week. The year that he turns five I think we will send him to a K5 program that follows the Kindergarten curriculum, but isn't a public school. I think a co-op school would be a really good fit at this step. At the end of that year I feel like we will be better educated about the skills needed in Kindergarten and able to make the decision if he is ready for Kindergarten at the public school level, or if he excelled we can start him in a public school in first grade.

With all that being said, I really am glad that we aren't locked into anything yet and we can wait awhile before making our final decisions.

Thanks to everyone for their input!

Second born....

2010-08-06T15:44:00.001-04:00

You hear it all the time....the second child gets less pictures of them taken and in our case the second child gets less blog posts written about him!

Asher is a wonderful baby and the only reason he hasn't had more posts about him is that when he is sleeping I am either sleeping with him or I'm keeping up with his brother. One of the things that Ethan and I have been doing is "school". After a lot of thought and prayer and after reading Radical I've decided to keep Ethan home with me this school year and instead of going to preschool he will go to the Little Gym once a week. The cost is substantially less and I'll be able to use the difference to give "radically" this year. In place of preschool we are going through "Little Hands to Heaven" which focuses on Bible stories, characters and goes over one letter and one number a week with a review every four weeks. Ethan loves to play school!

Anyway, back to Asher... He is two months old and we go for his two month check up on Monday. Thanks to the Baby Whisper he is on a steady eat, awake, sleep pattern. He has even re-learned how to put himself to sleep after a week and a half of being rocked by myself and my family while I was in Louisiana for my Pawpaw's funeral.

After a rocky start we are both thoroughly enjoying nursing. It is so freeing to be able to walk out the door without having to calculate how long we might be gone and how many bottles we will need for the trip. Growth spurts have been difficult - one night he nursed every hour for four hours, but then he slept for his longest span yet: 7.5 hours!! Right now he sleeps for 4-5 hours at a time at night and he eats about every 3 hours during the day.

Ethan has a few new tricks up his sleeve including going diaper free during nap time and night time. He actually started this skill the week before Asher was born. We've had a few accidents but they mainly occur when something is out of sync (one morning he woke up at 5 and I sent him back to bed without suggesting he go to the bathroom and then when he slept till 9 he woke up wet.) He is a great big brother and he always asks, "I want to see Asher's eyes!" He loves to Asher his trains and planes.

Hopefully my next update will be no later than Monday!!

10 years!!

2010-08-06T10:27:00.003-04:00

Ten years ago on May 11th Philip and I got married!! I can't believe it was ten years ago that we walked down the isle....here's a little trip down memory lane.

When we got married we were both still in college and we lived in a little house that probably had less than 400 square feet. We spent the first year of our married life sleeping in a twin bed!
Our second place to live was 10 yards from the first and was only probably 50 square feet bigger, but it felt huge since it had a full size oven and a walk "through" closet.
Our second summer as a married couple we spent living in Oak Ridge as we both did summer internships at the lab.
The next year Philip finished up his bachelor's while I got my teaching certificate.
In the summer of 2002 we moved up to Knoxville so Philip could get his masters at UT. It took 8 months but finally Nashville and Baton Rouge decided to communicate and I got a job teaching science at South-Doyle.
Three years later Philip had a job at ORNL and we were buying a house and trying to raise two gigantic puppies who liked to eat raw potatoes and chew through immersion blenders!
Five years later we have done so many things to improve this house the list is daunting: vinyl siding, new carpet, paint on almost every single wall, painted the kitchen cabinets, a new dishwasher, a new A/C unit, and most recently a laundry room remodel. (I'll post pictures of the last item as soon as Philip is done.)
Four years ago we decided to expand our family and now we are the proud parents of Ethan (3) and Asher (2 months). The birth of our first son is currently the most scary and wonderful moment in our lives.
This last year we lived through our first high-risk pregnancy and although some aspects could be trying (6 hour infusions once a week) we made a new friend and were blessed with our first "normal" delivery and hospital stay with a newborn!

I plan on writing a whole post about our pre-baby anniversary trip, but that is for another day.

"I painted the Golden Gate bridge today!"

2010-08-06T10:11:00.000-04:00

As I walked around the living room last night, picking up toys that will be taken out again tomorrow, I was reminded of a message I heard on the radio. Supposedly the same paint crew paints the Golden Gate Bridge all day everyday year round. By the time the crew works it's way from one end of the bridge to the other, the end of the bridge where they began needs to be painted again.

I don't know how true this is but it does illustrate a point for the work of a mom. I have a few friends that are stay-at home moms who are occasionally are asked, "What did you do today?" Well, from now on I believe those moms should say, "I painted the Golden Gate bridge." Even though the work we do may not seem evident to the outside viewer we have worked hard all day, and no matter how hard we work today there will be work waiting for us tomorrow.

So, to all those moms out there: keep painting!

How will they know?

2010-07-31T13:38:00.003-04:00

I lost my Pawpaw two weeks ago today. The thing that makes me the most sad is that my boys will never know the man that I loved and that loved me. I don't even think my cousins (who were born 6 and 8 years after me) knew the same Pawpaw that I did. Here are just a few of my favorite memories of him:

During the summers we (my sister and I) would often spend a few weeks at my Mawmaw and Pawpaw's house because Mawmaw could take us to swimming lessons. When we weren't swimming (and this wasn't often) Pawpaw would be doing things outside with us. I loved these weeks of summer and I remember hating to go back home....
No matter what time of day or night he would volunteer to be the adult that would sit next to the pool so that we could go swimming. He encouraged us to be great swimmers and would even time how long we could stay under water and give us tips when we were learning to dive into the pool.
I remember many evenings sitting on the swing with him next to the pool.
He taught me how to spot the "Big Dipper".
He caught fireflies with me.
He bought me my first and only pony for my sixth birthday then he taught me to ride, brush, and take care of her.
If we wanted to get an icee I remember him sending me to the cupboard or counter for his wallet and we would walk across Moss street to the little convenience store to get one.
He ordered me my first Shirley Temple.
He taught me how to ride his "little tractor" as soon as my feet could reach the one pedal.
After we all got bikes we would ride down Moss to the snow cone stand and he would always get spearmint. He was always up to go for a bike ride, even if it was just around the block.
He taught me how to pick eggs, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and even okra. I love the memories of a plate of fresh tomatoes and cucumbers that were served almost every evening.
He always let us bring baby animals in the house - ducks, chicks, rabbits
He was truly a "dumpster diver" although he never dove in one as much as picked off the sides. Great finds included a high chair, a step stool, a bicycle, and I think even a crib.
He accepted my husband as a grandson the day we were married. I remember him taking us out the barn and giving Philip a bicycle (see last point) that he could fix up for me. It turned out to be a great bike and I rode it for years to and from school and work.
He always sided with us at the grocery store. Of course, we need another watermelon!
When I was in driver's ed he and Mawmaw sat out in their driveway to wave at me while I drove by. I'm sure they were out there for at least an hour (in the LA summer heat) since this was before the days of cell phones.
He taught me that the customer is always right, and if you get bad service then make sure to write the company a letter!
He lent me the finances to buy my first car and even before I had paid him back for that, our first house. He didn't make borrowing money from him easy, but in retrospect maybe borrowing money shouldn't be. I know because of him and Dave Ramsey I never want to be in debt again and that is an invaluable lesson.
Phrases that I will always be able to hear him say: "Goodnight, sha", "Outstanding!", and "See you then"
Cigar smoke and the smell of scotch will always remind me of him.

Our new pet

2010-07-13T20:01:00.002-04:00

Conversation with Ethan today:

Ethan: "I think Asher is a pet."
Me: "Asher is not a pet!"
Ethan: "Emma is a pet."
Me: "Yes, Emma is a pet."
Ethan: "Then I think Asher is a pet too."

Uploading Pictures

2010-06-29T21:40:00.002-04:00

I just uploaded a bunch of pictures to our shutterfly site so head on over there and check them out! Some are old and some are new so make sure you look at the whole June album. Also make sure you see the video that I posted a couple of days ago.

Asher is changing everyday and today while laying on his stomach he picked up his head and turned it so that he was looking the opposite direction! It was weird to come back and find him facing a different direction from the one he was facing when I laid him down because he has not done that before.

Ethan still loves his baby brother and he especially like helping give him a bath and put lotion on him afterward. I'm sorry I don't have any pictures of this but when you've got an infant in the tub and a toddler who wants to "help" it is difficult to do anything but tend to the kiddos!!

The best case scenario (Part 2)

2010-06-24T16:09:00.001-04:00

First, I want to apologize that I haven't written anything about Asher since we came home from the hospital.

The day after I wrote that post Asher had a terrible night. He was nursing fine before that, but on that Monday night he screamed for hours at a time and tried to nurse but just struggled to eat. We went in to the pediatrician first thing on Tuesday morning and the lactation consultant watched me nurse Asher and said that I was doing a great job. Asher at that point was continuing to lose weight and so our pediatrician and the consultant agreed that we should start supplementing with formula before and after a feeding. Basically, (she explained) little boys are often lazy nursers and because he was technically 3 weeks early that would make him even lazier. Well after supplementing for four days Asher finally was satisfied with no supplements on Saturday morning. We went back to the pediatrician that morning and he had gained weight so we officially took him off of supplements. Here is a picture of the cake I got to celebrate this milestone.

Since then we really have celebrated the best case scenario!! Last Friday I brought Asher in to the pediatrician and he had regained weight and was back up to his birth weight. Regaining their birth weight by two weeks is exactly what pediatricians look for and that is exactly what we needed to see to know that he is eating successfully. I was so happy!!

Since that visit we have been blessed with many friends bringing us meals. It has been so great not having to plan out dinners and even more of a blessing not to have to cook!! Philip's parents had stayed with Ethan while we were in the hospital with Asher and then they stayed for a week past that. When they left I have to say I was quiet nervous about how I would take care of both kiddos by myself! But so far so good. Ethan and I have survived a whole week and a half by ourselves. He has been a little more challenging, but he loves Asher and that's a relief and a blessing.

Well, I'll try to update this blog more often. I still need to write about our 10th anniversary trip and coming up next weekend Ethan will be turning three!! My mom and sister are coming up to celebrate and meet Asher for the first time too, so that will be fun.

Just one more...

2010-06-12T11:05:00.000-04:00

A couple of days ago we used an ink pad to get a foot print and hand print of baby Asher. During the process (as you can imagine) Asher did not appreciate our pushing, pulling and smooshing of his hand and foot. As he started to cry Ethan said, "Asher doesn't like making art!"

More darndest things....

2010-06-11T22:05:00.000-04:00

At the dinner table:
Me: You can use this spoon.
Ethan: No I can't, this is Daddy's spoon
Me: Yes, but Daddy isn't here anymore.
Ethan: Daddy?
Daddy: (who is sitting in the living room) Yes Ethan?
Ethan: Daddy is still here!

Ethan: When I run really fast my batteries go dead.
Mawmaw: That's funny. Bridgette you need to put that on Facebook.
Ethan: I need to put that on Facebook!

At least five more times at the dinner table Ethan (after saying something funny) would say, "I need to put THAT on Facebook." It was too funny!

Kids say the darndest things!

2010-06-11T12:33:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to record some really cute things that Ethan has said recently.

The week before Asher's birth Ethan prayed and thanked God for Dr.McPeas (Dr.McLees) who delivered Ethan and was suppose to deliver Asher. It was so sweet to see him thank God for someone who played such an intimate role in him coming to the world.

Pawpaw, "Goodnight little man."
Ethan, "I'm not a little man."
Philip, "Yes you are buddy."
Ethan, "No, I not!"
Philip, "You are a little man and when you grow up you'll be a big man."
Ethan, "No, I'm not a little man, I'm a Cajun!"

Last night as we were leaving P.F.Chang's Ethan said, "Thank you for taking me to this restaurant." It was so cute!

I'll try to get this on tape soon, but if you ever want some free entertainment put an almost three year old in front of a full length mirror!!

Look at those Boudreaux Babies!!

2010-06-10T14:28:00.001-04:00

Ethan Asher

Home Sweet Home

2010-06-07T11:49:00.000-04:00

After only a few days at the hospital we got to come home yesterday afternoon. I personally like being in the hospital where they bring you hot food three times a day, change your sheets for you and the nurses were a great help when I had any questions about nursing. The hospital can be aggravating though when you have to deal with all the policies and procedures that they are MARRIED to, but when Philip or I would get frustrated we would just sing "Do everything without complaining."

I do have to say that even though we left without a free diaper bag (I thought this was standard practice) the nurses and staff at UT all seemed to have a minor in hospitality. No one ever left our room without asking if they could anything for us or if we need anything else. The second day of our stay was a little overwhelming just because of the sheer number of people that came through our room, but I don't know if could have been helped. The list included our normal nurse and her assistant, med students, a resident, the lactation consultant, an OB, a pediatrician, a tech from the lab (to draw blood), a photographer, someone from anesthesia, the charge nurse, the birth certificate guy, two guys from maintenance, etc.

With all that said we had a non-eventful day yesterday and we were glad to be home by the late afternoon. Asher is a really laid back baby and he is an excellent sleeper. In fact as I type this I'm considering waking him up so that I can feed him before our lunch time. Our first pediatrician visit will be tomorrow and I'm anxious to get him on the scale to see how much weight he is gaining or losing. Nursing has been going well, but as I'm sure most moms know, it is hard to tell how much he is getting. With Ethan getting bottles we always knew he was getting "enough" so this is new territory for us.

As far as pictures go, I'll try to upload some more this afternoon, but in the mean time check out the pictures that big brother has been taking!!

Update on baby Asher

2010-06-05T16:07:00.004-04:00

As I stated a few days ago, my heart's desire was to have a "normal" delivery and a healthy baby. Well, our God is a wonderful God and he has more than fulfilled those desires.

Friday morning at 6:00am we left for the hospital and after a surreal morning where everything went as expected I got to experience my first C-section. This time around I was awake for the procedure and it was an interesting experience. First, instead of an epidural I had a spinal. There are several differences, but the main one for me was that it is a shot instead of a catheter controlled drug. This makes a huge difference because once it is injected the doctors can't control where the drugs go or how effective they are. This really didn't play a part of my experience until the very end where I felt like I had about 80 pounds of weight sitting on my chest. The doctors monitored my O2 rates and they were fine, but it is crazy for a doctor to tell you that you are not out of breath when you feel like you can barely breath. It was quite an unsettling experience.

After about 3-4 months of being head down and even being head down on Wednesday for the amniocentesis, Asher pulled a fast one on Dr. Howard and was butt down on Friday! Dr. Howard had begun the procedure when I heard, "Well, that's not a head!" It was so exciting to hear him screaming so loudly while he was being cleaned up. For those of you who care interested in that sort of thing his Apgar's were 8 and 9! Better than Ethan's!

Being wheeled from the OR to the recovery room was also a really weird feeling. I've never been on a roller coaster while being drunk, but I have to imagine that it would have felt similar to that trip. If the bed moved just a little, I felt like it was moving a whole, whole lot. Because of these strange sensations I did not feel comfortable holding Asher at first, but that didn't last long and I have hardly wanted to put him down since! He even spent the whole night just sleeping on my chest.

So far our hospital stay has been good. We have had three good platelet counts and Asher appears to have been protected from all possible harm from the NAIT. How amazing it is to just be able to love on him and have him near us!! Our plan is to try and go home tomorrow, but we all know how speedy hospital discharges are.

Thank you all for all your prayers! We will be so glad in the upcoming months to share our blessing with you all.

Asher Nolan Boudreaux

2010-06-04T15:54:00.003-04:00

Asher arrived today at 9:05 AM. He weighed 6 lbs 14 oz with a platelet count of 154,000 which is good. They will check him again tonight and tomorrow as sometimes they start to drop with NAIT. If they do they will likely give him IVIG in the NICU. We are hopeful this won't be the case. Thank you for all the prayers, and continue to praise and worship Father for His great love and care. He surely knows and works all circumstances out for the good of those who love him. Bridgette is doing well, she is already walking a little and sitting up. Just don't tell our nurse that she has already had some cookie cake! We will be posting pictures soon here.

"I'm sure everything will be okay....."

2010-06-03T20:07:00.000-04:00

A lot of people have said this to me over the past week and I just wanted to share my thoughts on this phrase and it's implied (or un-implied meaning). At first when well meaning individuals say this I want to retort, "You don't know that!" but instead I just say, "Yeah, thanks." The thing is that I don't know that everything will be okay. I don't know that my immune system hasn't fought the treatments for the last four months and that baby Asher won't have to go to the NICU after he is born and if he does I don't know how long we will be separated from him. I don't even know if he will be free of cranial hemorrhages (although at this point we haven't seen any and the PUBS results were great four weeks ago). None of us are assured of our next breath, much less that "everything will be okay".

This is what I do know: on the morning of the amniocentesis I got up to do my Bible study and before even beginning I prayed that God's will would be done on that day and that I would glorify him no matter the outcome of the day's events. You can understand my amazement when I opened my Bible study and the first sentence of the lesson was, "Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." The days lesson was all about being willing to submit to God's will no matter what it is. Do you know what this really means? Submitting to God's will? It means that even if God takes everything I have tonight: my children, my husband, my possessions, my life; that I am willing to submit to His will. He knows what is best for me even if I can not understand it or see it and ultimately I was placed here on this earth for ONE purpose and that was to glorify Him. Not to glorify Him "if, and, or but", but to glorify Him no matter what the circumstances.

Our greatest example of submitting ourselves to God's will was Christ himself. Christ who is and was God became man to come to the earth and ultimately became the one thing in the universe that he hated: sin. Then after he became sin he endured the wrath of God so that we would not have to (John 3:36). Have you accepted this truth and are you willing to submit yourself to His will for your life?

When we went through the drama of having Ethan and almost losing him Philip and I came to be firm believers in these two truths: God loves our children more than we do and they are 100% His. Not 99.9% mind you, 100%. We have no claim to them as our own and if he wishes to take them from us or let them endure hardships then that is His will and we must submit to that will.

Our friends the Raby's had 25 week old twins last December and what he said to his wife just before they were born is a perfect human example of submitting to God's will. He told her, "Either God is big enough to heal these babies, or He is big enough to heal us." Listening to Jared say this during a news interview brought tears to my eyes because until then I had really been too scared to pray for what I hoped would happen: a "normal" delivery and birth. Instead I was just praying for His will to be done and for me to glorify Him. These two things are still at the forefront of my prayers but now they include what I hope will happen, because God does want good for my family and he knows my heart's desires. When I pray for them it shows that I am submitting these areas to Him, as only he can affect the outcome of this birth.

When Ethan was born the song and scripture that I clung to was Casting Crowns "Praise You in this Storm" and Psalm 121: 1-2. Today I heard this song on the radio and I felt it fit perfect for how I feel during this pregnancy. It is "Bring the Rain" by Mercy Me and here are the lyrics. The refrain really captures how I have been praying these last few weeks: "Bring me joy, bring me peace, Bring the chance to be free, Bring me anything that brings You glory, And I know there'll be days, When this life brings me pain, But if that's what it takes to praise You, Jesus, bring the rain"

So now instead of being angry when people say, "I'm sure everything will be okay...", I simply think that they are right. I am in God's hands and I am willing to submit to His will no matter what it may be.

"I am Yours regardless of
The dark clouds that may loom above
Because You are much greater than my pain
You who made a way for me
By suffering Your destiny
So tell me what's a little rain"

A delay in the plan!

2010-06-02T22:10:00.002-04:00

This morning was our amniocentesis and after fasting since mid-night and then hanging out in the doctor's office from 7:45 -11:20 we finally learned that baby Asher's lungs aren't quiet ready to make it in the world. I received a steroid shot before I left the office and I have to go back tomorrow to receive a second dose. Finally, on Friday morning at 8:30 we will meet the second little Boudreaux of our family!

Check back Friday afternoon for pictures and updates!

Visit with Family

2010-05-28T22:05:00.003-04:00

This past week we were very blessed that we got to spend time with my grandparents and parents from Louisiana. You can check out all the pictures on my dad's shutterfly site which is listed under "Pictures, Pictures, Pictures" on the right. His site is the link called "Pop's pictures".

We are currently in single digit countdown mode!! Philip's parents should arrive here tomorrow afternoon or evening and then we just have mere days to make the final preparations for Baby Asher's arrival.

Earlier than we thought!

2010-05-24T09:11:00.000-04:00

For those of you who haven't heard my doctor has bumped up my due date to June 2nd! We will have an amniocentesis at 7:45am and then if the results come back with mature lung cells we will walk up to Labor and Delivery and have a baby! Both my doctors seem to think the baby will be ready (99.9% sure).

Philip and I had a great anniversary weekend away and hopefully I'll write about that before this baby comes. In the meantime my parents have rented an RV and are driving with my Mawmaw and Pawpaw up here for the week! Then my in-laws are coming at the end of this week and staying through the birth of little baby Asher. It will be so great to have some extra hands around to help with our transition from a one toddler home to a toddler + infant home.

Best Case Scenario

2010-05-06T21:31:00.000-04:00

Well, first we would just like to thank all of you who prayed for baby Asher today. The news couldn't be better at this point!

Here's the whole story:

The charge nurse called this morning and asked if we could come in early because they needed to get my blood type before the procedure. After heading to the apple store to get some questions answered about my new ipad (a Mother's Day gift from Philip), we went on in to the hospital and arrived at about 10:40am.

Since it was a possibility that this procedure would lead to the baby coming early they prepped me like I was coming in to have a C-section. I was hooked up to monitors, anesthesiologists came by to get my history, nurses checked me in and started me on fluids, etc. Through all of this we got to share Ethan's story over and over. How God stepped in and saved his life through a very scary and dangerous event: emergency C-section because of a prolapsed cord (the mortality rate for babies with a prolapsed cord is 11-17%). The fact that he was born via "stat-C" most likely saved his life and we know it spared him from having severe cranial bleeds because of our blood condition (which at the time we did not know about). After hearing this story the reaction from all involved today was just neat to see. Some would say, "Wow, God's hand!" while others said, "Someone was watching out for you." To which I replied, "Yes, God Almighty was watching over us!"

One of the neatest parts of the day happened in the OR after the PUBS was complete. As we were sitting there waiting for the lab work to come back we got on the topic again of my first C-section and one of the OBs that hadn't heard the story made a groan when she heard we had a prolapsed cord. Before I could say anything the anesthesiologists said, "No it was a good thing. It saved his life!" Praise God! Our prayers of being able to share Ethan's story with those that were present today was answered in a big way!!

Anyway, the procedure itself was pretty uneventful. We got a late start because the hospital was low on platelets and not just any old platelets would do. We needed special baby platelets in case Asher was born. This just means they had to be irradiated and negative for a certain type of virus that causes blindness and deafness in babies. The procedure was suppose to begin at noon but we didn't get started until after 12:30 when the platelets were finally ready.

After 3 minutes of having a needle in my uterus (I do not recommend this, as it was unpleasant) we sent the blood off to get tested and then we monitored the cord to make sure that it was no longer "oozing" into the womb. The oozing stopped pretty quickly so Dr. Howard was confident that whatever number we were going to get back to the lab, it was probably going to be a good one. Sure enough 162,000 was the result which falls right in the normal range of 150-300 thousand. This is great news!! It means that the IVIg that I have been taking is working and that my body is not making anti-bodies against the baby.

After we got the results from the lab and I was going to be moved back to recovery I excitedly asked if I could eat the Nutty Bar that I brought from home, but Dr. Howard said that I could only have clear fluids until after we monitored the baby's heart rate for another couple of hours. Well, when I got back to the recovery area I realized that Philip hadn't had anything since breakfast and since it was going to be a couple hours before I could have anything I offered him the Nutty Bars as a snack. Finally at 4:30 Dr.Howard returned and checked the cord via ultrasound one more time. When he walked in the door he had something special for me: another package of Nutty Bars!! My nurse apparently told him that I sacrificed my snack to Philip and Dr. Howard was sweet enough to run down to the gift shop to buy two Nutty Bars - one for me and one for my great nurse!

What a blessing today was and how great our God is!

Thursday at high noon!

2010-05-05T15:19:00.001-04:00

So the date and time has been set and if anything I'm ready to get the test done so we can know the results (good or bad). Tomorrow at 11am we will get all set up in the Labor and Delivery room at UT and sometime around noon the PUBS will be preformed. We will try to update everyone as soon as we know the results of the test. After the blood sample is taken baby Asher and I will be monitored for at least 1-2 hours to make sure that the cord stops bleeding and that everything returns to normal so that he can "bake" for at least another month.

This is how you can pray for us tomorrow:
1. That we would trust in God's perfect will
2. That God would be glorified
3. That God would protect baby Asher through the procedure
4. That the peace of God that passes all understanding would guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus

Thank you all for your prayers. I know we will feel them tomorrow and in the future.

How much longer?

2010-04-18T21:29:00.001-04:00

So a common question that I'm getting now a days is "How much longer do you have?" Although this seems like a straight forward question and maybe people just want the short answer (10 weeks), for us it is a much more complicated one.

Our cordocentesis will be the first week of May and the results of this test will really effect when baby Asher makes his appearance. Here are the possibilities:

There is a small chance that the baby will come that day. This is NOT what we are hoping for. If this happens it means that there was a complication during the procedure and Asher would probably have to go to the NICU for a while until his lungs developed fully.
If his platelets are "normal" we will continue the weekly IVIG treatments and as long as we don't detect any brain hemorrhages through the ultrasound they will let him "bake" until 39 weeks or so (June 18; 9 weeks away).
If his platelets are low the doctors will start me on steroids (so that his lungs develop as quickly as possible), up my dosage of IVIG and we will begin the discussion of when to go in and get him. An amniocentesis might be done to track the development of his lungs and as soon as they think he is ready they will probably deliver him to protect him from having a brain bleed.

So the first week of May will really give us a better look into the future! In the meantime we have gotten down all of the baby stuff from the attic and I am in the midst of washing it all and re-arranging Ethan and Asher's room so that two boys worth of clothing can fit in one bedroom :) Ethan was super excited to see all of the "new" toys and wanted to play with all of them on Saturday. It was so funny how enthused he was with them all. One of them is now on the top bunk in his room and he has talked about it every night and afternoon that he goes to sleep. "That is for baby Asher?" "He will play with it when he is born?" It's hard to explain to a 2.5 year old that babies are born not doing much....

The other thing that Snooks can't stop talking about is our "Day Out with Thomas" that we are attending on Friday. Our train ride is scheduled for noon and there are suppose to be a ton of activities before then to keep us busy. The tour is coming to Chattanooga so Ethan and I have a drive ahead of us, but hopefully he will sleep on the way back. We even made a countdown of how many times he has to go to preschool before he can go to see Thomas (time is a tricky thing to explain to a toddler). I'm sure I'll take a ton of pictures and I'll be sure to post them next weekend.

Busy, busy, busy!

2010-04-09T22:54:00.000-04:00

Our typical week:

Monday Ethan and I meet with some ladies (and their kiddos) from our Sunday school class for a bible study in the morning and then we come back home for lunch and his usual 2pm nap.
On Tuesday and Thursday Ethan goes to preschool and I try to schedule my doctors appointments on these days. His class lays down for nap daily but since Ethan won't sleep and only "rests" during this time I try to pick him up at 12:30 instead of 2. This way he comes home and takes his normal 2-2.5 hour nap.
Wednesday Ethan and I go to BSF. Ethan loves his class and his teachers Mrs. Long and Mrs. Cartwright. I love the intense study and discussion that BSF provides. This year we have gone through the Gospel of John and 1 John, next year we will work through Isaiah. Asher will be able to come with me to discussion as long as he is "immobile".
Friday is a day that Ethan and I have to be together. We can run errands, go grocery shopping, or like tomorrow we can go the library and then meet friends for lunch.
In addition to this regularly scheduled programming I have weekly 4 hour infusions that usually take place in the evening.

With all that being said last week was particularly different because in addition to it being Spring Break (where all of the above events were canceled), my dad was in town for a while and Philip took off Wednesday afternoon through Friday. This Spring Break was especially glorious because we have had a miserable dreary wet winter and this week was the first week of bright sunny warm weather. We took the opportunity early in the week to go with friends to Fort Kid.

Since the weather was so beautiful, on Thursday (and since Philip took the day off) we took a family field trip to the UT arboretum. We told Ethan we were going to a park and he kept asking where all the kids were. On the way out I was trying to explain to him that this was a special kind of park for trees called an arboretum. After trying to pronounce arboretum several times as we were leaving he finally said, "That's a really hard word to say, Mommy."

On Friday we went on our second ever family camping trip (here is the post from the first). This year we took Ethan to Frozenhead State Park. This park is just north of Oak Ridge. There was a stream about .25 mile from our campsite and Philip and Ethan had so much fun hiking to it that they did it twice on the first day. Ethan just loves throwing rocks into the stream. On Saturday morning I joined them for the hike and Philip and I had a chance to play with some settings on my camera. After packing up the campsite and eating breakfast on Saturday morning we went on a hike to Debord falls. There we saw so many wildflowers that were just coming up and I had fun taking pictures of them. The falls were really pretty and I felt like a professional after I took this shot:

On Easter Sunday we hosted some friends (who might as well be family) for lunch and then Ethan and I had fun dying and hunting for eggs. For some reason blogger is no longer accepting videos so you'll have to watch our Easter morning video here.

On Sunday night Philip got to give Ethan a hair cut that matches his own. Here's the before video, and the after!

In closing I want to say that although I love, love, love my new camera, I don't love how long it takes to upload photos now. I've worked on this blog post and uploading photos to our shutterfly site now for three days!!

Cordocentesis

2010-04-06T22:15:00.000-04:00

Today Philip and I met with our high-risk OB Dr.Howard to discuss the upcoming cordocentesis procedure. Until this meeting Philip and I were debating weather or not we would even have the procedure. The risks are about 1-2% of the mothers that have this procedure end up miscarrying. 1% doesn't sound like a lot, but for Philip and I, 1 in 100 is a huge number compared to 1 in 1,000 or even 1 in 1,000,000. (For those of you who don't know 1 in 1,000 is how rare our blood condition is and 1 in 1,000 is how often prolapsed cords occur, so Ethan was truly one in a million.)

Anyway Dr. Howard explained today that the percentage is really hard to judge our case by because babies that have to have the procedure done usually have a whole lot more wrong with them. There is still a risk of course, but after seeing the placement of the cord he feels certain that this should be a straight forward procedure. You see, like the picture above Asher's cord is located in a position that allows the sampling to take place without ever entering the actual sack surrounding the baby. Dr. Howard will locate the cord with an ultrasound, stick a needle in the base of it, draw out blood and then we are done! All of this will take place after I have received steroids to hasten his lung development and it will be done in a Labor and Delivery operating room so that if anything goes wrong Asher can be delivered on the spot. After the needle is removed I will be monitored with ultrasound for about two hours. Dr. Howard said that we should actually get to see the blood stop coming out of the cord (craziness) and they will also watch for a decreased flow or a pooling of blood in the cord that would indicate a problem.

When I asked Dr. Howard what was so special about 32 weeks he said that at 32 weeks the baby's survival goes up to 99% so really this is the first "safe" time that we can sample his blood. If his platelets are too low we can up my IVIG and start me steroids that will help Asher develop more quickly.

We are so grateful that Dr. Howard is a Christian and that he totally understood our reservations. He even informed us that if we change our minds the night before the procedure that it isn't a big deal.

Thanks to everyone who prayed with us about this decision. We feel the peace that passes understanding and we know that only comes from our Father.

Inside the Actor's Studio

2010-04-06T10:16:00.000-04:00

Please copy and paste this as a comment and leave your answers!!

I love this show and I've been thinking about what my answers would be. Here they are:

1. What is your favorite word? Grace
2. What is your least favorite word? Expectations
3. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally? My Husband :)
4. What turns you off? Anything showing people in pain, this is a recent development (post babies)
5. I took out this question for our own good....
6. What sound or noise do you love? My husband playing guitar, Ethan laughing
7. What sound or noise do you hate? As Philip will attest, there are many...mostly anything that is weird and repetitive I can not handle. Funny enough I can handle a babie's cry better than I can handle some of the the Flaming Lips' songs.
8. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt? Sea World Animal Trainer
9. What profession would you not like to do? Any job that Mike Rowe would be seen doing on television
10. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates? "Well done, good and faithful servant"

Update

2010-03-17T15:53:00.000-04:00

I don't have much to say, but I wanted to let everyone know that my treatments have been going well (just once a week) and I've not had any side effects.

I'm really enjoying this time with Ethan. He's at a really neat age where he understands way more than I think he does and he can really express himself. He's recently been acting as my caretaker and backseat driver. In the morning he'll remind me to take my vitamin or ask me to sit and eat my breakfast. In the car he'll ask me why I'm going so slow or he'll make sure that we are going the right way: "Is this the way to Preschool?". We even recently had a discussion about a police officer that had pulled a car over on the side of the interstate. Now whenever we see a police car he comments that "Mommy follows the rules. When cars don't follow the rules they have to have a time out."

He also is developing his game playing skills. He likes "Hi Ho Cherry-O" but his daddy prefers Uno and Ethan is happy to oblige. I'll post a video soon of us all playing Uno.

Yesterday I got out my camera and had fun photographing my son (as seen above). If you'd like to see more you can head on over to our shutterfly site (see the right side column).

Toddler Speak

2010-02-24T12:59:00.002-05:00

Ethan: I have to go potty.
Me: Okay, pull down your pants so you can go.
Ethan: I can't.
Me: Well, you need to try and then I will help you.
Ethan starts pulling down his pants and underwear I help him a little bit. He gets them both down successfully.
Me: Good job, now you can take them the rest of the way off.
Ethan: Why am I taking my clothes off?
Me: Because you said you had to go potty.
Ethan: Oh

Single Treatment

2010-02-17T20:52:00.002-05:00

Last week I convinced my pharmacist to let me try and receive 100grams of IVIg in one sitting since I wasn't having any side effects to the two doses of 50grams. Yesterday we hooked up my new pump to my PICC line and my treatment was done in just 4 hours! It was great!! I felt fine during the treatment but after the treatment I was exhausted. I didn't even get off of the couch to eat dinner.

I have felt so blessed during this whole process. Treatments that were suppose to have all of these terrible side effects haven't had any, they were suppose to last 5 hours a piece (for just 50 grams) and have not been over three, etc. I have also been surrounded by sisters in Christ who have come along side of me to help me and encourage me. Just yesterday my neighbor Kristin brought me (and my nurse Babette) lunch from Chick-fil-a and my friend Janet brought Ethan home from Preschool for me. Other friends have called or emailed me to ask how things are going. I have really felt God's love during this whole experience and although I'm anxious to meet baby Asher I pray that God just continues to knit him in my womb for the next 17 weeks.

Update

2010-02-13T13:12:00.003-05:00

I went to my OB as scheduled on Thursday while Philip stayed home with Ethan who was running a fever. Unfortunately I was informed that since the last ultrasound at my high-risk doctor was filed as an "anatomy scan" my regular OB was afraid to also do an anatomy scan because my insurance company would only pay for one. This is not what I was told when I got the first ultrasound at the high-risk doctor. I was told by their ultrasound tech that my normal OB would do their own scan. Dr. Howard had also told us at the beginning of the pregnancy that his office would do regular ultrasounds to check for brain hemorrhaging. Now they are saying that I can just come back when my normal OB wants me to! Argh! Anyway, I'm going to call HIROC on Monday and get to the bottom of all this!!

Everything else at the doctor went well. We listened to baby Asher's heartbeat and my uterus was measuring at 21 weeks so that is right on target too. We don't know if the baby's name will really be Asher, but that's what we are calling him for now. After that appointment I walked downstairs to the outpatient registration desk at the hospital and signed in for my PICC line procedure (more about that later). It went great as well. It hurt less than a normal IV stick and I am SO happy that I won't have to get poked again for the rest of this pregnancy.

On Friday Ethan had been running a fever for 4.5 days so I decided to call his pediatrician's office. They agreed to see him at 4pm. Well, usually his nap is from 2-5:30 and you know how fun it is to wake up a sleeping child, so I figured he could stay awake until 4 and then he could just go to bed early. While Philip came upstairs to help me change the dressing on my PICC line we left Ethan downstairs sitting on the love seat. After only about 10-15 minutes we came down to find this:

He had fallen asleep sitting up! Poor thing! When he lays down his nose drains into his throat and that causes him to cough so this might have been the best rest he's gotten all week! At the pediatrician's office the Doctor was shocked to hear that Ethan had not complained once about his ear hurting because in his words, "It's gross in there." Apparently his left ear has a full blown infection with puss and everything. The good news is that his lungs sounded perfectly clear, so even though his cough sounds awful it is still all up in this throat right now.

He got his first dose of antibiotics last night and I was so proud of him for not spitting them out (as is rumored that his mother use to do when she was his age). He didn't even complain about the taste, he just made a funny face and I told him to drink his milk so he did! This morning he is even fever free so that is really great!!

Okay, now I'd like to tell you about my PICC line procedure but some of you might think this is too gross to handle. If you think you are one of those people: STOP READING!!! If you pass out while reading the rest of this post it is not my fault!

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Here is a cool picture of my new medical appendage:

Going from left to right: my bandage, gauze to cover the injection site, the white thing is the sticker that holds everything in place and the purple thing is the continuation of the tubing that is inside of me, and then finally the two lumens (or tubes) where medicine can be injected. These both contain pressure valves at the end which prevent them from leaking when not in use.

During the procedure I was draped with surgical drapes so that everything would remain sterile. Then the tech/nurse/radiologist (I don't know his official title) used an ultrasound to find a good vein. Then the painful part....a little stick and injection of lydocaine. After the count of four I felt nothing! He measured from the spot where he was going to insert the PICC to where my jugular was and cut the tubing to be the right length (41 cm). I guess the length to the jugular is about the same as the distance to the heart. Then using a thin metal wire with a magnet at the end he guided the tubing into my Basilic vein. A detector that was laid on my chest told him if the magnet was going up or down. He needed the magnet to go down until it was just above my heart in the Superior Vena Cava (not up into my jugular). When he thought that it was in the right place he pulled the metal tube out and secured the base of the tubing with a giant butterfly like sticker (seen in the picture). After a chest X-ray confirmed the position of the tubing I was free to go! Easy peesy!

I did have some tenderness in the arm that afternoon but that has gone away. I was even having pain when I moved my arm but after we changed the dressing we discovered that the pain is from the glue on the sides of the bandage pulling on my skin, not from the actual entry point of the tubing. This PICC line can be used now for all of my treatments, for any fluids I may need to receive while it is in, and for ALL of my blood work that needs to be done at my OBs office. How exciting is that? No more sticks, re-sticks, and triple re-sticks. The tech that did the procedure said that a PICC that is well cared for can stay in for up to a year and he even had a patient that kept one in for over 3 years. For this to happen I have to flush each line everyday with saline and heparin and then I need to keep the dressing clean and dry. The dressing also has to be changed once a week and since I get treatments once a week my home health nurses will be able to do that for me in the future.

In the winter longsleeves keep the lines out of the way, but in the summer I'll have to come up with some "avoid long stares from people at grocery stores" dressing. I also can't get in a swimming pool which is kind-of a bummer, but I'll trade swimming for five IV sticks in a week any day! I hope I didn't gross too many of you out, but I just think it is so cool!

Ultrasound and procedure tomorrow!

2010-02-10T20:32:00.002-05:00

Tomorrow I am scheduled for my "full anatomy" ultrasound with my regular OB. Since we already know that it is a boy there shouldn't be anything exciting to learn, but it will be fun to see the baby again.

After I am done at my OB's office I'm heading down to outpatient admissions to get signed in to receive a PICC line. Historically I am a really difficult stick. Pregnant women are supposedly easier to get blood from, but when I had to get a sample at my second glucose test with Ethan the nurse stuck me in both arms and then in the back of my hand. When she still couldn't get blood even from their my nurse practitioner came in to stick me again in the back of the hand and finally got the sample. Have you ever been stuck in the back of the hand? It is.....unpleasant.

With my home nurse Angie she had to stick me twice on the first day and then she used the same port for the second day's treatment. This week she just had to stick me once on the first day, but then my vein stopped flowing today so she had to stick me two more times to find another vein that would work.

This continual sticking is not only painful, but can lead to scar tissue in my arms. A solution that was suggested to me by my nurse practitioner before the treatments even started (the one who had to finally get blood out of the back of my hand that one time) was to get a PICC line. This is just a central line that will be accessible again and again for as long as we need it. According to the internet they can stay in for as long as a year! If it is successful then I won't have to be stuck for anymore treatments or blood work!! They may even be able to use the line when I am admitted to the hospital to have the baby.

My prayer for tomorrow is that the ultrasound is normal and that the PICC line goes in easily!!

Thanks for joining me in prayer!

Bittersweet Day

2010-02-08T21:38:00.005-05:00

As you have probably heard, THE SAINTS WON THE SUPERBOWL yesterday!! How exciting is that?

The sad part about yesterday was that we had to put our kitty cat Yoda to sleep. We first got Yoda ten years ago when Philip's cousin stopped by our house on the way to the pound with a box full of kittens. We had seen this little kitten at their house the weekend before and I thought he was really cute. Philip thought he had a face only a momma cat could love and therefore named him Yoda. To Philip's credit he did have ears as big as his head and he was infected with every worm known to vet-kind and so he was very skinny. I don't have any digital pictures of him at that time, but here are some more recent shots:

In the our old apartment he use to climb up into the computer desk:

His other funny quirks were:

biting people (strangers or family/provoked or sometimes not)
chasing his tail
growling at laser pointers (before Yoda I had never seen a cat growl....quite impressive)
when he was younger he would run from where ever he was if he heard a paper being crumpled (he loved to bat them around)
bringing in small dead (or live) animals as offerings for us and our babysitters (how sweet!)
and more recently: letting Ethan do pretty much what ever he wanted to without biting him!

I found a folder of old pictures from when I first got my digital camera and you can tell that Yoda was the only interesting thing in our lives because I have six videos of him playing with a toy mouse! Here is my favorite:

Here is a more recent one of him in our backyard:

I never thought of myself as a cat person and I still don't, but after you take care of an animal for 10 years you grow attached! We'll miss you kitty!

My first infusion...

2010-02-04T21:12:00.002-05:00

went fine! It only took about two and a half hours and I feel fine. I know it's early to say that I feel great, but so far I do feel okay. I felt a little cold after the treatment, but we figured out that I was probably cold because we keep our house at 61 degrees when we are not here so the meds were a little cold going in. One down blanket and a cup of hot chocolate later and I feel fine.

Next treatment is tomorrow afternoon and I pray that it goes as easy as this one did!

Again I, "praise God from whom all blessings flow!"

We have good news!

2010-02-01T14:52:00.002-05:00

After two and half weeks of waiting and one whole week of calling the insurance company multiple times a day we finally have approval to precede with my in-home infusions! My first round of meds should be here tomorrow by 10:30am and we will go from there!

I'll post more updates here when I get them. I'm just so relieved to finally have this all worked out.

I know this isn't scripture, but it is what popped into my head as I was typing this: "Praise God from whom all blessings flow!"

My first infusion.....

2010-01-20T19:48:00.004-05:00

....didn't happen yet! We were scheduled to go forward with my first two infusions this weekend until I got a call on Friday afternoon. Apparently there has been an insurance/doctor's office/third party scheduler miscommunication. Is that clear, or what? The third party company claims that the doctor's office filed my claim last Thursday (1/14) and that initially my insurance approved the treatment. That is why we went forward with scheduling nurses, etc. Then on Tuesday or Wednesday of last week my insurance company pulled the approval and apparently claimed that the first order was for only 30 grams of IVIG (instead of 100) and that they shouldn't have approved it in the first place. She also said that this has happened before with other patients and that it has taken Cigna 3-4 weeks to get back to them with a re-approval.

Being the take charge kind of person that I am I called Cigna on Friday afternoon to see what the heck was going on. Well, here's the real kicker! They claim that they did not receive this claim until 3 days ago (1/21) and that my claim is not marked rush or as a re-submission. Hmm....both of these stories can't be right! They also said that I should hear something in 3-4 business days from last Thursday, but I'll be on the phone Monday morning to try and figure out what is going on.

Bottom line is that it takes 24 hours for me to get the IVIG after the insurance gives us the go ahead. Then I'll have to schedule again with the nurses which might not be as easy as it sounds. The company that will be doing my infusions only has two nurses that even handle IVIG so me getting an appointment depends on their schedules. I hope to get in at least one treatment this week and then we can go ahead with every Monday and Tuesday starting next week. Through this process I pray that I have God's patience and that I react with grace when dealing with the insurance agents and nurses that are responsible for this mix up. Overall we know that God is in control and that whatever happens he is sovereign. Even if we do not start until next week we will still be within the 15-20 week start up goal.

I do have a bunch of good news to report! After posting about my second doctor's visit and giving more thought to giving up every weekend from now until the middle of June I had a change of heart. Instead I thought about testing the waters to see if I could find some stay-at-home moms that could help me on Mondays and Tuesdays instead. While I was typing up an email God kept reminding me of more and more moms that could help me during the week. All of these moms that I kept thinking of our my sisters in Christ and all of them have responded favorably to helping me out on my infusion days. What an incredible peace it is to be surrounded by the family of God!

In other news, this past Friday Ethan and I went to the Tennessee Aquarium with the Farquhars. I'll be posting pictures (I took almost 300) on our shutterfly site after I publish this post. If you do not have the password please email me!

My New Camera!

2010-01-18T15:57:00.015-05:00

I got this camera a few weeks ago with my Christmas money and Philip and I have had fun playing with it. We still don't know or understand half of the features, but we're getting there! Mostly Philip lets me read and learn online what we are doing and then I explain it to him.

The first thing that struck me when I was playing with this digital SLR was how hard it must have been during the non-digital days to learn what all the different settings did. For example, I haven't posted any pictures yet because most of them have been series of pictures of the same subject all with different aperture or white balance settings. Or, if you'd like to see them, I do have 15 pictures of Philip all taken within 3 seconds! This camera does have live view so we are able to get immediate feedback on how settings change the pictures. I can't imagine having to pay for film, take 24 pictures, send them off to be developed, and then pay for them when they finally are developed. All the while having to remember what settings you used and how you changed them.

Last night though, we were at Keil's house and I had a great opportunity to take pictures of Ethan and Blaise playing basketball. Here are a few of my favorites:

Mostly I got pictures of the back of their heads. I guess I need more practice with live subjects!

My second subject of the evening was Keil's dining room light fixture. All the light fixtures in his house are hung by copper pipe and the light bulbs themselves are covered by mason jars. I loved the shadows that were made by this fixture:

That's all for this post, I'm sure I'll have more pictures to upload soon.

2nd visit to HIROC

2010-01-17T08:17:00.003-05:00

I had my second visit to the high risk OB group on Thursday. At every visit they will be doing an ultrasound to see if there is any bleeding in the baby's brain. This ultrasound went perfectly! So perfectly in fact that we saw other things as well. We are happy to announce that we will be having another boy this June!

After last month's post my BSF leader emailed me and said that her sister had a similar (if not the same) condition with her third pregnancy. Honestly I didn't think much of it, but she also sent me her blog address and sure enough, she had the same condition. If you'd like to read their story you can start here. When they did the cordocentesis her son's platelets were actually higher than hers! I'm excited to get to know her more and hear her advice and stories of her pregnancy so that I can have a glimpse of what is to come. She even mentioned me in one of her recent posts.

My appointment last week was to be my last visit before starting my IVIG infusions next weekend. I say weekend because through the information of Sarah I learned that I can have the infusions at my home! Each infusion takes 5-6 house (not 1-2 as Dr. Howard had first mentioned). I called my insurance company and they will even cover up to 60 nurse visits in a calendar year. This was news to the OB that I saw on Thursday (Dr. Hennesse) so I'm so glad that I talked to Sarah and my insurance company before my visit.

Before I left the office on Thursday the nurse got all of my information and arranged for an infusion company to call me. I spoke with their representative on Friday and she was concerned with my dosage. Because of my weight I need 100 grams of IVIG every week. She recommended that we not try to do this amount of IVIG in one day. She is going to get back with Dr. Howard or Hennesse and make sure, but she thinks that we will have to do two back to back infusions of 50 grams instead of one 10 hour infusion of 100 grams. That means that two days a week I will receive infusions instead of just one. I'll try to schedule these on Saturday and Sundays so that Philip will be here to help me with Ethan.

I've known since Ethan was about 3 months old that weekly infusions would be the course of treatment for future pregnancies. At this time, I'm still trying to wrap my head around the fact that I will have to get two infusions instead of one a week. I'm not nervous or worried about the treatments, I am just having trouble getting use to a commitment of 10 hours a week instead of just 5. I'm also praying that the side effects from IVIG will be small for me. The list includes: flu like symptoms, headaches and nausea.

Thank you again for all the prayers that will be said for little baby boy Boudreaux. Our main prayer is that we will glorify God no matter what circumstances we are called to endure during this time.

Sewing Project

2010-01-10T20:24:00.004-05:00

I regretfully have to admit that I haven't really sewn anything since I made my purse. Part of that is because it is winter and my sewing supplies are in the bedroom that is shut off from the heat! This weekend though I convinced my husband that it wouldn't be too much trouble to bring my sewing maching and cutting board downstairs for a little project:

When we were over at Betsy's house last week I mentioned that I wanted to make an apron for Ethan so he won't get dirty when he helps me cook! She let me borrow a little apron that she made for her little girl and after running to JoAnn's to buy some cute fabric I made this double sided apron for my little Snooks.

"You could shovel the snow off the driveway, or why don't you just....."

2010-01-08T12:33:00.008-05:00

Leave it to the Cajuns:

***For some reason blogger is having issues with video, so to actually see the video you can check out our flickr site.****

Other pictures from today:
Three water bowls worth of water. The bottom one is actually frozen to the deck. We aren't suppose to see 32 degrees again until Monday afternoon! Happy January!

A year in review and a preview of 2010!!

2010-01-02T11:36:00.005-05:00

This last year has been a great one!

In January Philip and I left Ethan for seven days to go skiing for the first time. All in all, Philip and I enjoyed the trip (even with our outing to the hospital).
February was a memorable month for us because we got to shout, "We're debt free!!" You can read about our journey here and here. You can listen to my call in to the Dave Ramsey show here.
For Spring Break in March Ethan and I traveled down to Louisiana and later Ethan went on his first camping trip.
April was challenging as we began the long road of potty training. We also celebrated Easter with my Nanny and our first Easter Egg hunts.
May contained more potty training adventures, but mostly I remember the beginning of summer marked a beginning of the end to my responsibilities outside the home.
Potty training continued through out June, and although I declared him potty trained, I have to say he wasn't independently trained until sometime in September.
In July, Ethan turned two and Philip and I went on our second mission trip to Slidell and the 9th ward of New Orleans. We were both impressed by what God had to teach us there.
Ripping up the deck to install a french drain really took over our August plans.
But, in September we had a GREAT time touring London and Paris with my family. I hope to write actual blog-like posts on the shutterfly site soon.
We experienced déjà vu in October when we found out we were pregnant with our second baby. Also, Ethan went trick-or-treating with his friend Blaise.
In November the deck began to be rebuilt (Phase I and II were completed) and we celebrated Thanksgiving with family and friends.
Our first high-risk appointment for this pregnancy was in December and because of my blog post about it, I have found a woman in Knoxville who went through the same exact experience that I will go through! I can't wait to meet her and pick her brain!! We also celebrated Christmas with my family and Ethan went on his first official hike. Whew, we had a busy month

Preview of 2010:

This year I have challenged myself to read the bible from cover to cover. In the past I've tried the "skip-around" plans where you read OT, Psalms, and NT all in the same day. These don't work for me because I can't follow what is going on in the OT vs. the NT. This past year Philip read the bible with a plan that just starts you in the beginning and goes straight through. He has liked it very much, so that is the plan I'm going to try this year. If you'd like to see the plan please check here and I will keep it ahead of our schedule by a month or so. I have the days listed so that anyone can start at any time. Let me know if you want to join our challenge (Philip is actually starting to read through again this year to give moral support.)

Here are some other highlights to look forward to:

In May Philip and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary!
Hopefully sometime in June we will welcome the second little Boudreaux to our family
Ethan will turn 3 on July 2nd!!!

I'm looking forward to this year and I hope you are too!

Blame it on Facebook: Now with updated links!

2010-01-01T09:04:00.001-05:00

The little one has really enjoyed getting dressed up lately.

So, I've really neglected this blog for at least a year. Earlier this year I had three and a half jobs and was just too busy to update every week, but more recently I have just been obsessed by checking status updates on Facebook. For Christmas, and until I could get some firm rules in place, I have quit Facebook.

This week, I will try to get the blog caught up by posting about Halloween, Thanksgiving, our first snow, and Christmas. I am also excited about the new year and I'm planning on a post about that as well.

See you soon!

Money Troubles in the New Year?

2009-12-31T09:01:00.003-05:00

Julie Sanders is the wife of one of the pastors at my church and she has a blog called Come and Have a Peace (it is listed there on the right as a blog that will get you inspired). For the next two days Julie will be posting our story on her blog. I did an interview for her and she has pulled bits and pieces of the interview out to write a two day blog piece about our financial story. Today she has posted part 1, explaining how we got into debt; and tomorrow she will post part 2, how we got out.

You can head on over there to read it if you like: http://comehaveapeace.blogspot.com/

New Pictures

2009-12-30T15:47:00.003-05:00

As part of me getting caught up I am catching up our shutterfly site with all of our new pictures. There is one hitch, and that is that I have added a password to our shutterfly site. If you are a member of the page nothing will change, except that you will have to sign in to see the site. If you are not a member of the site, or you do not have a shutterfly account please just email me to get the password. If you forgot the website you can look down on the lower right of this blog, or follow this link: rueboudreaux.shutterfly.com

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-26T10:16:00.001-05:00

We had a great Christmas here with my parents and sister. We opened stockings on Wednesday when my parents got here (we couldn't resist). On Christmas Eve we baked Christmas cookies including Snickerdoodles and molasses crinkles. Danielle and I also had a battle with fudge that lasted three rounds :(. The last batch was great, so I guess it was all worth it. Christmas Eve night we went to church and then came home and ate birthday cake. Ethan loved that it was birthday cake for baby "Jee-sus".

Ethan loved opening presents on Christmas morning and even asked days later if we could open presents.
Here he is with the "read" he got from us. An ABC book of his second year of life. He also got a "need" of socks and shoes and a "want" of a work bench with wooden pegs like I used to have when I was a little girl. Probably his favorite toy was the hot wheels city that my uncle bought him. You can see him here playing with it, or on our shutterfly site in the Merry Christmas video.
Here is most of our presents spread across the whole living room:
The day after Christmas we headed to the Smokies for Ethan's first hike. He has been hiking before, but this was the first time he hiked with his own two feet. For a not too difficult hike with a spectacular goal we chose Laurel Falls. In retrospect it was probably the best choice because the trail is paved and that makes walking even easier for a 2.5 year old toddler.
Considering that this trail is moderately difficult I think he did a great job! He walked up the trail for at least a half of mile and then he spent some time on Auntie's back and then on Daddy's shoulders.
When we finally got to the falls I think Ethan was a little overwhelmed. He looked around for a little bit, but then he just buried his head into Auntie's shoulder. The water was higher than I had ever seen it, coming up and over the bridge and covering rock that I know is bone dry in the summer.
On the way down the trail I thought Ethan would fall asleep in someone's arms. Hiking up the trail really wore him out! The most impressive thing for me was that even though we didn't leave the trail till about 3, and even though Ethan hadn't gone to the bathroom since very early that morning, he was dry when we reached the visitor center that had bathrooms!

Our First Snow!

2009-12-05T13:49:00.001-05:00

When we woke up on Saturday, the ground was covered in snow! It was a great way to spend a Saturday morning. Making snowballs:
Mowing the snow:
And of course, eating it:
He actually liked it so much that we had to tell him to stop. There are plenty more pictures here in the December album.

New Baby News

2009-12-03T13:13:00.005-05:00

So, hopefully I have seen you recently and you already know that Philip and I are expecting our second baby in late June. If not, surprise! We are pregnant!

Today Philip and I had our first appointment with our High Risk OB Dr. Howard at UT. Some of my friends have asked why I'm having to go to a high risk OB, so here is a short (and long) explanation.

Immunology lesson (I'm a nerd)
This lesson may not be necessary, but it will be helpful to understand the rest of the story.

All the cells in your body are covered in many antigens. Some of these antigens do nothing but identify the cells as "self". Antigens are molecules that stick out of the cell membranes that can be detected by immune system cells like white blood cells. Just picture all of your cells waving flags that proclaim to be "you". This way when bacteria invade your body and they don't have any "self" flags they can be targeted for destruction.

Any foreign cells are targeted for destruction by using antibodies. Antibodies can be thought of as little "flags" that our body makes to identify something as foreign, or needing to be destroyed. When your immune cells see another cell with antibodies on them they know to kill it immediately. There are several different types of antibodies (called immunogobulins) and they each play a role in our ability to fight off foreign cells or substances. Allergies are just an immune response to a particle that is not "self"(some of us see dog hair and dandruff as a threat while others do not).

The History
Two and a half years ago the day after Ethan made his dramatic entrance (emergency C-section due to a prolapsed cord) to the world the pediatrician noticed that his little body was covered in petechiae. After being admitted to the NICU we had a consultation with their hemotologist and we were informed that Ethan had neonatal alloimmune thrombocytopenia. All that really means is that my body made antibodies against little Ethan's platelets because we had a different type and once he was born he was in great danger of spontaneous bleeding because all of his platelets were being destroyed. The hemotologist also told us that it was a miracle that he was born via C-section because that saved him from having bleeding in his brain. You can read Philip's testament of Ethan's second day of life and how God truly blessed us here.

The Present
Two years ago Philip and I got our platelets "typed" to make sure that this was the issue, and to see what are chances were of having issues with future pregnancies. Well, Philip is homozygous dominant (1a1a) and I am homozygous recessive (1b1b). If you'll remember your high school biology for a moment and do a quick Punnent square all our our babies will be 1a1b. This means that all of our babies will have platelets that my body sees as foreign or "not self". This is bad because my body will make anti-bodies against the baby's platelets while in utero and the baby could possible have inter-cranial bleeding before he or she is even born.

Our Treatment
After Ethan was born he was given treatments of IVIg (Intravenous Immunogobulin G) that helped his platelet count return to normal as fast as possible. It was explained to me that these extra antibodies would attach themselves to the my antibodies in his little body and stop them from marking his platelets for destruction. Our doctor today said that really doctors don't know how IVIg helps this issue, they just know that it does.

Here is our plan of action as outlined by Dr. Howard today:

Beginning at 18 weeks of gestation (end of January) I will begin weekly IVIg treatments to lower the baby's chance of having low platelets and/or bleeding on the brain.
We will have extra ultrasounds through out the pregnancy to check to make sure that the baby's brain is not bleeding. Even if this is the case there is not much we can do, but to increase the amount of IVIg I am taking or to add steroids to my drug regiment. Without IVIg treatment bleeding only occurs in 10% of patients and the numbers are not available for patients with treatment because this is such a rare problem, but Dr. Howard seemed optimistic that IVIg "takes care of the problem".
At 32 weeks we will probably test the baby's platelet count by taking a sample of blood from the umbilical cord. If the platelets are really low the baby can actually be given a transfusion (although that only helps out for a couple of days) and again we will change my drug amounts and/or types.
The weekly IVIg treatments take about an hour unless I have a reaction to them and I'll try to schedule them while Ethan is in Preschool (which will work until May or so).
The baby (when born) will have to have his/her platelet count monitored and may have to be admitted to the NICU, but this time we are delivering in a hospital that has one down the hall instead of having our little one across town. UT even has "room-in" NICU rooms where parents can stay with their babies for long periods of time. I don't know if we would be eligible to stay in such a room, but they are available.

To close up I would like to say thank you in advance for any and all prayers that you say for this little one! We know that he or she is in God's hands "And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." Romans 8:28

Thanksgiving

2009-11-27T12:07:00.000-05:00

For Thanksgiving this year we hosted Philip's parents the Boudreaux, the Jawdys, and the Farquhars. It was a great to be surrounded by family and friends. The best part is that we divided the menu among three of the four families and really came out with a great feast!

Here's what my menu looked like for the day:

Why we didn't take ANY pictures of the food or guests, I will never know! Maybe it was because we were too busy eating :)

Halloween

2009-11-01T10:42:00.000-05:00

This Halloween was our first Halloween where Ethan really knew what was going on. He got really freaked out this year about Scarecrows and for the first time utter phrases like, "They get me." and "They hurt me." For this reason I made sure to carve a happy pumpkin:

We also roasted the pumpkin seeds for the first time. Good old Mark Bittman gave us lots of options and we chose salt with olive oil, jerk seasoning with olive oil, and brown sugar with butter! The sweet ones were my favorite!

Laura brought Blaise over to help Ethan go trick or treating. This first video is flipped, but it is too cute not to post! This was the first stop on their neighborhood outing.

As you can see right at the end of the video Ethan thought we were going to Kristin's house to stay and "trick or treat". He actually cried when we left and it took a few houses for him to catch on to the concept of what trick or treating was all about. After 6 houses into it though he would proclaim, "Next house have more candy mommy?" as soon as the new candy would hit his bag. We then had to have a discussion about saying "Thank you" before moving on to the next house.

It drizzled off and on through out the trick or treating, but finally the rain got heavy enough that we headed home. Here are the boys showing off their skills:

Happy Halloween!

Funny Boy (with a recent addition)

2009-10-19T09:20:00.004-04:00

I have quite a few of these that I've been saving for a post, but this morning's was too funny not to post immediately:

This morning Ethan was in the study with me but playing behind me. He was playing with his little phone, but all of a sudden he started saying, "No, blue!" "No, blue!" "Not green, blue!" Apparently he was pushing the number three button (which happens to be blue) and the little phone was saying, "Three" which he misunderstood to be "Green". After I showed him that the phone is saying numbers (and not colors) he calmed down. Too funny!

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Lately in parking lots after we get out of the car Philip or I will say, "You need to hold hands, you're in a parking lot." Well my son, taking that quiet literally, explained to me a couple of weeks ago that he was going to hold his own hand in the parking lot! You should see him hold his own hand....quiet adorable.

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Back in April when I was at the Women's retreat for our church Philip and Ethan had crackers, cheese, and little smokies for lunch. Philip tried to show Ethan how if you put a piece of cheese on a cracker it is really good. Ethan then placed a club cracker on a Triscit, took a bite, and exclaimed, "Yumm!!"

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Here's another one I forgot to post (but if you are on FB, you may have seen it already). While at his Mawmaw's house this summer he watched some Sup-r-man cartoons and I thought it would be really cute to let him go as Superman this Halloween. I found a cute costume at Wal-mart and when we got home Ethan wanted to try it on. After getting the costume on (cape and all) Ethan ran around the house and then he ran up to me and declared in a somewhat disappointed voice with his hands out and his shoulders shrugged: "No fly, Mommy! No fly!" I guess he really expected to be able to fly once he was dressed as Superman!

Homeschooling?

2009-10-05T14:56:00.007-04:00

So I got a little creative last Saturday and made this fun matching game for Ethan.

When I say "make", I mean (in true teacher style) I stole someone else's idea and made it better. I got the color match sheets from this GREAT website: Homeschool Creations. After I printed off the sheets I cut them up and made this lapbook from a manila folder for Ethan to sort the colors.

Ethan loved telling me which envelope each picture went into, and although he doesn't yet have the manual dexterity to do it himself (without ripping my construction paper envelopes) he will soon!

Baking Oatmeal Choclate Chip Cookies

2009-10-05T14:13:00.008-04:00

The other day my friend Jennifer mentioned these cookies to me, and I just had to try them! This recipe is in Central Baptist Bearden's new cookbook "Taste and See".

This is the first recipe that Ethan has helped me with from start to finish! We even had to pause at the end to run to the store for more M&Ms and more chocolate chips. He did really well, even if at least 1/3 of a cup of flour ended up on the floor and 1/3 cup of M&Ms ended up in his mouth.

The after shot:

The problem in the past has been that I don't like making cookies! Every time you have the envie for a warm fresh out of the oven cookie you remember that in addition to the time it takes to make the dough (not too bad) you have to be married to the oven for hours! Well, I have found a solution! Actually my friend Betsy has shared the solution with me:

My freezer:

Scoop and flash freeze about half of the batch of cookies! Now instead of spending money at the store for those "pull-apart and stick in the oven" cookies you have your own stash of read to be made goodness! After about an hour or two in the freezer on the cookie sheet, stick them in a marked ziploc bag and put them back in the freezer. You can freeze most cookie doughs for 3-4 weeks in a ziplock bag. Just pop them in the oven when you are ready (or just a few into the toaster oven) and get ready for warm chocolate goodness.

Enjoying the fruit of his labors

The funny part was while we were eating the cookies I asked Ethan who made them and he replied (in catechism fashion), "God!"

We're Back!

2009-09-15T12:34:00.005-04:00

Before getting on the plane I told Ethan that he was tired, and he replied, "No I not!"

Well, we got back into town late yesterday and we were happy to be home. It was nice to drive my own car on the right side of the road to my own grocery store and pay with green money! I do have to say though I also really miss it. We had a great time in London and Paris, and if this trip taught me anything it was that: it doesn't matter where you go or what you see, only who you go with. I miss being with my family more than I miss being in London. Danielle even made the mistake of saying, "See you tomorrow!" yesterday and it broke my heart :(

Oh well, now I'm busy busy busy uploading and sorting pictures on our site: http://cajunsgotolondon.shutterfly.com

Head over there and check them out!

London, Baby!

2009-09-01T08:00:00.003-04:00

So if you follow me on Facebook, or if you've seen me in the last 5 months you know that we are going to LONDON, BABY! We leave tomorrow for Louisiana where we will drop Ethan off and then on Friday we fly across the pond!

I've made us a shutterfly site where we will be posting all of our videos, pictures, and journaling about our trip. You can see it here at: cajunsgotolondon.shutterfly.com

Here is a map of our journey:

View London, Baby! in a larger map

The long overdue: Part 2

2009-08-31T15:15:00.002-04:00

I left off by telling you about Wednesday night at "the wall". On Thursday (Ethan's birthday) I helped worked with a team on fixing up Charles's house. We were laying down grout on top of tile that another group had put down. It's not too tough of a job, but you are bending over on your hands and knees crawling all around the floor...in a house with no air conditioning....in south Louisiana....in July!

About half way through the morning I started feeling really sick. I went out in back where Philip was hanging drywall in the pool house with another group to let him know that I wasn't feeling well. He encouraged me to take a break and drink some water. When I returned to the main house MaryAnn asked me if I was feeling okay. Don't you hate it when people do that? Of course I started crying! I think the emotions of the night before, coupled with not being with my little one on his birthday, and possibly a touch of dehydration just sent me over the edge! After MaryAnn and the other women there hurried to find a fan for me to sit in front of, a bottle of Gatorade, and a bandanna to cool my neck off I felt much better.

For the rest of that day I took it easy. Jon Ragsdale was in our group the first summer we went down and so I played electrician's helper for the rest of the day. It was still hot and humid, but I wasn't bending over, or crawling on the floor so I felt a lot better.

The neatest part of this day was that while we were working, one of Charles's neighbors stopped by to talk to Charles. Charles wasn't there, but what the Slidell pastor had "warned" us about was true with this man. The pastor had said on the first night of orientation, "Everyone down here is sick of hearing about Katrina! They don't want to hear any more about the storm, no more storm stories.....but, if you have a few minutes, they would LOVE to tell you their story!" He proceeded to tell us how he had stayed for Katrina because he felt like he could be of help to anyone else who stayed behind. He was especially concerned about an elderly couple who had decided to stay who lived next door. To make a long story short: He and his wife ended up riding the storm out in his attic with those neighbors who probably would have died if he would not have been there.

Why did he stay?
One of the most enlightening topics he addressed was the difficulty in deciding when to ride out a storm, and when to leave. When questioned by a woman on my team he explained all of the preparations that have to go into deciding to leave your home. Just a few of them include: boarding up your windows, finding a place to go, taking off of work, moving your boat or cars,.... He estimated that it would cost him at least $1,000-$2,000 to decide to leave his home if another hurricane looked like it was headed for St. Bernard parish. The decision to leave or to stay is further complicated by the fact that there are usually 2 - 4 storms that come develop or come ashore in the Gulf each year. He went further to say that he probably would ride out future storms just so he could be of help to others who had to stay behind.

When Katrina (and then Rita) hit Louisiana and Philip and I were here, one of the most frustrating things for me was to talk to people who had never lived in Louisiana (or anywhere along the gulf coast) or never experienced a Hurricane. They would ask the same questions that my team members asked to Charles's neighbor. "Why doesn't everyone just leave?" I remember several times explaining the number of residents of New Orleans that probably don't own or have access to vehicles. Even if they had vehicles, most of them have no place to go, no extra gas money to get there, and no money to stay in a hotel if the shelters are full. Even if they had those things the path of a storm is never guaranteed and so you could pack up and leave all for nothing. It was so great to have a south Louisiana resident put it so clearly to people that have never had to live through a Hurricane. For the first time they had to put themselves in the storm victims' shoes and realize that the decision is not a simple one.

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On Friday I worked back at Carpenter's House with Jon and Philip trying to install an exhaust fan in the "blazing hot" kitchen. It was considered a holiday that day so Charles wanted us out of town as soon as we could be. Other team members helped serve lunch and then we packed up to go on a tour of the lower 9th ward.

The first year we were there was the summer after the storm, so not even 11 months had gone by. Philip did take a tour of the lower 9 then and had said that it was terrible. There were no cars or people anywhere. Just destroyed house after destroyed house. Still standing, but unlivable. This trip was different in a lot of ways. In the lower 9th ward there are some new houses, some cars, and some construction crews, but mostly there are blank foundations and over-grown lots. It was good to see that some progress is still being made, but most of all it was sad to think that each square of concrete that is bare represents a family....

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One of my family members commented after we were back in Knoxville that she was proud of us for giving up our time to go down and help out in New Orleans. My reply was an honest one. I am not proud of us for giving up our time! Our time is God's time. Whoever sold us the lie that success at a career is success in life had a good line going, but it just isn't so. This life is God's gift to me and I need to use it as he desires! Philip and I (because of this trip and because of Crazy Love) have recommitted to supporting more missionaries financially, but also supporting God's work with our time and energy. Since we have gotten back to Knoxville Philip has already gotten to help out a local church with his dry-walling skills. I don't say this to brag, but to emphasize that God has places to serve all over this country and we are going to continue to serve wherever we see the opportunity.

I think that is all for now. If I think of anything else I want to share (that Philip hasn't shared already) I will post it later!

I'm THIRTY!!

2009-08-18T15:30:00.002-04:00

I know, I can't believe it either! Anyone who knows me knows that I celebrate my birth month instead of my birthday and even though the last two years have kind of been mellow (having a baby can really change your focus), I figured that ending another decade of life was reason enough for celebration!

The Sunday before my birthday I made a black forest cake for our Sunday School lunch. It must have been good because I didn't go home with any! On my actual birthday I made our family pancakes and sausages for breakfast which is a rare treat. Then Ethan and I went to Panera to meet Carmen and Jonathan Baba, Nancy Mathisrud, Hedy and Max Collins and Kristin VanderSluis. It was so fun that some of us went out to icecream afterward.

Tonight we are having dinner at one of my favorite restaurants: Crown and Goose with some of my favorite people. I can't wait! Then this weekend I'm having a party at Ben and Jerry's complete with a CareBears cake!

The Ditch is Done!

2009-08-09T16:25:00.012-04:00

We have had water problems in this house since the day we moved in. The latest was that there was standing water underneath our sun room. To fix the standing water problem we had to get to the problem, which meant tearing up the deck:

Thanks to Shane for helping Philip do this while I was on retreat! After tearing the deck up we realized that we have standing water under our sun room because over half of the back yard drains to the lowest spot, which happens to be under the sun room. Our friend Curt is a water resources engineer and he came over and helped Philip plan a french drain, which is really just a gigantic ditch with a corrugated tube and gravel in it.....

Special thanks to Curt, Justin, Shane, and Tony for helping us dig this ditch! Also, thanks to Sara for delivering lunch! All in all we had one physicist, one water resources engineer, one biomedical engineer, and two electrical engineers working to dig a ditch! We may have had overqualified help, but we payed them in gumbo, so I think it worked out.

Now as the backyard drains towards the house hopefully the ditch will stop the water from getting to us. Instead it will pipe the water all the way around the sun room and out the other side of the house down the hill!

After two half days of hauling 2.88 tons of gravel to the back yard in buckets (thanks Tony and Ann!) we have a finished project:

Now, to put the deck back together....

If you want to see more detailed pictures you can look here. Also, I wanted to add that I am so grateful to have a husband that is willing to work this hard to make sure our home is a safe place to live! Thanks Philip!!

Kirk Cameron and the Fireproof movie

2009-08-06T15:52:00.007-04:00

So, I know it's been awhile since I posted. I have a few posts that are in the making, but until then I wanted to share what we learned at the Fireproof conference that Philip and I attended a few weekends ago.
If you haven't seen the Fireproof movie, please do! It was made by the same church that made Facing the Giants, but it is a much better movie! Kirk Cameron plays the main character who is a fireman. Kirk Cameron, if you don't know, is a Christian and has several ministries that he is involved in, including Way of the Master.

Here are my notes from the conference:

How to Fireproof your Marriage:
Session One:

The heart of the problem is a problem of the heart. "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9 (The condition of your heart is really the foundation of all of your other problems.) Your second birth is as radical as your first. Before you were born, you weren't there and then you were! Before being saved, your spiritual life is nonexistent, then it is there!
Singing Sinatra or Surrendering Self The hymn sung in Hell is "I did it my way." Be on alert for separateness between you and your spouse and constantly remember to put your spouse's needs above your own.
Burning Bridges and Building Altars Once a dog finds a feeding ground he will continue to come back to that feeding ground again and again to feed. You can burn the bridges to the feeding ground, but the dog will find another way to get there. We are just like dogs when it comes to temptation. We can burn bridges to the temptations that we face, but if we don't build an altar where the feeding ground was, we will continue to return there. We have to replace our temptation for sin with a love of God!

Session Two: This session was really for the men, but it benefited the wives so I took notes!

"Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honour unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered." 1 Peter 3:7 (KJV)

Kirk dissected the above verse in this way:

"Dwell with them" - spend time with your wife

15 min/day - sit and converse with your wife everyday (free of other distractions)
1 evening/week - Date Night!
1 day/month - Spend the whole day together
1 weekend/year - Get away from the house, the kids, the jobs, etc.

"according to knowledge" - with understanding, study your wife - go to school!

"Nothing" doesn't mean nothing!
Romance comes from sacrifice and planning not convenience
Genuine compliments are never wasted
A little help goes a long way

"giving honor" - value who she is and what she does with every available means that you have. Public recognition - What do you say about her to others when she is not around? If your co-workers were asked about your spouse (if they had never met), what could they say about them?

"as to the weaker vessel (body)" - Protection - Protect your wife - be patient with your wife when she desires safety and manage your anger.

"heirs together of the grace (blessings) of life" Open up and share with your wife

"so that your prayers may not be hindered" Pray together

Men are responsible to God for the condition of their marriage!

Also, while we are there Warren Barfield played and he was amazing to see! He wrote the song that became theme song of the Fireproof movie. He was really funny and his acoustic version of "Love is not a Fight" gave me goosebumps. Here is the normal video with scenes from the movie. If you don't have time to watch the video, the lyrics speak volumes so here they are (I LOVE the last stanza - it makes me cry):

Love is not a place
To come and go as we please
It's a house we enter in
Then commit to never leave

So lock the door behind you
Throw away the key
We'll work it out together
Let it bring us to our knees

Chorus:
Love is a shelter in a raging storm
Love is peace in the middle of a war
And if we try to leave, may God send angels to guard the door
No, love is not a fight but it's something worth fighting for

To some, love is a word
That they can fall into
But when they're falling out
Keeping that word is hard to do

Chorus

Love will come to save us
If we'll only call
He will ask nothing from us
But demand we give our all

Chorus

I will fight for you
Would you fight for me?
It's worth fighting for

I hope you enjoyed these notes and lyrics! Pass these on to anyone who is married!

Update: I just read that feedyourfaith.org will be releasing copies of the conference for sale sometime this week. Check their website or FB for more info.

Philip's testimony of Slidell, LA 2009 Mission Trip

2009-07-10T22:05:00.002-04:00

Testimony of Slidell Mission Trip June 29 - July 3, 2009

Dear Lord, I praise your holy name, you the creator of the heavens and the earth, you are our wonderful counselor, our redeemer, you are God, and you are my God. I thank you for your promise to be our help, our shield and our strength. Please speak through me today as your words are perfect and mine are not. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

Before I start giving an account of our week in New Orleans, I would like to begin with some scripture to lay the foundation of a biblical principle: God provides for our needs when we are doing his will.

When God gave instructions to Moses to build the tabernacle he appointed certain people for certain tasks. In Exodus 35:30-35 we see how God calls people to his service and then equips them with skill and knowledge.

“Then Moses said to the Israelites, “See, the Lord has chosen Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe o Judah, and he has filled him with the Spirit of God, with skill, ability and knowledge in all kinds of crafts – to make artistic designs for work in gold, silver, and bronze.” (Ex 35:30-32)

In Psalms David repeatedly states that God helps, protects and gives strength.

“The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him and I am helped.” Ps 28:7

The word “trust” in the Psalms passage is a loaded word and we will discuss this more later.

The last piece of scripture I would like to discuss is the parable of the talents in Matthew Chapter 25. In this parable we see a man who entrusts talents to his servants while he is away. Two of the servants increase the talents entrusted to them, but the other man buries his talent. When the master gets back he sees that two of the men have gained more talents and replied “Well done good and faithful servant, you have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.” But the man who came back with one talent gets rebuked by his master – “You wicked, lazy servant…Take the talent from him and give it to the one who has ten talents.” The master goes on to say “For everyone who has will be given more, and he will have abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. And throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Although the parable talks of money (talents), this can be interpreted as anything that is given to us by the Lord, which is EVERYTHING. From ability, to money, to time, God wants us to use his gifts and blessings (which again is everything) for service to him for his glory. If we use his gifts and blessings for his service he will multiply them, if we do not he will take them away.

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We arrived at Slidell, LA on the night of Sunday, June 28. We stayed at Faith Bible Church, where their main ministry is helping to rebuild damaged homes from Katrina. Slidell is completely rebuilt, so now the church is helping families in need around Slidell by providing free labor for many different things. However, there are still 66,000 homes that have not been rebuilt. So the church is teaming up with the Carpenter’s House in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans to help rebuild. The first two days of the week we spent in Slidell working, and the rest of the week we spent in the ninth ward.

On Monday, my team, which included John, Joey and Katlin, Mary-Ann, Julia, Jo-el and I, went to a single mother’s house in Slidell who needed her shed torn down, some logs hauled off and a new aerator installed in her septic tank. By late morning the heat was already getting to us. When we would take a water break, just five or ten minutes later we would start dragging again. I prayed for rain, the sky looked like it was threatening to rain, but that has been happening a lot recently. After I prayed I had an overwhelming feeling that God was going to answer my prayer. About an hour after lunch it began to rain. We picked up the job site and ran to the cars and waited out the rain. It lasted about 20 or 30 minutes and after we got out of the truck the temperature had dropped 10 or 20 degrees, it was actually comfortable outside!

With our new found God given strength, we worked on getting the trailer full of logs off of our truck and jacked up high enough for the other truck (which had a higher hitch) that was coming to pick it up. This would require us to put a 4x4 block under the trailer jack. The following was a sight to see.

The first idea was to put some bricks under the back tires and we could back over them so the back of the truck and hitch would be higher and hence the trailer jack. We tried this and the bricks broke apart and the tires sent them flying up under and to the front of the truck. The second idea was to bounce on the bed of the truck and hopefully get the hitch high enough for the 4x4 to be slipped under. This also did not work well and we actually bent the foot of the trailer jack.

At this point the next door neighbor and his wife came out and they asked, “What in the world are you trying to do?” We explain and he asks us if we want to use his jack (in our defense we had already checked the truck and there was no jack). He comes over with a heavy duty floor jack and we get the trailer jacked up in no time with the 4x4 underneath the trailer’s jack. They ask us what we are doing, and we tell them why we are here, a testimony to God’s love!

On Tuesday, our same team went to another single mother’s house who was just moving from overseas, where she was a missionary, to Slidell. We pulled up her flooring down to the concrete slab. In the living room and hall there were three layers of flooring: carpet and pad, linoleum flooring and then vinyl tile flooring. In the kitchen there were two layers of linoleum flooring and then vinyl. In the bedrooms it was just carpet. We also helped her paint two rooms. Her parents, who also live in Slidell, own the house and were using it to store old computers, which is her dad’s hobby. He worked for NASA and designed a part on the space shuttle. The whole house was full of old computers. Most of it had already been cleaned out when we got there but there was a lot of stuff out in the yard for the garbage men to pick up. When the garbage men got there we gave them cold water and Gatorade (Joey’s idea) and we threw everything into the truck for them. It was a lot of fun to watch the garbage truck compact computers, crush desks and even a dishwasher (which we found out later wasn’t actually to throw away, but to give to a guy who recycles all the metal from appliances)!

On Wednesday we started out at the Carpenter’s House in the lower ninth ward of New Orleans. Charles and Judy run the Carpenter’s House and live in a camper behind Faith Bible Church in Slidell. They run an amazing ministry with the focus of showing God’s love and making disciples of men. They do this by first meeting the physical needs of people by helping rebuild damaged houses from Katrina and also build houses from the ground up on lots that have been bulldozed in the ninth ward area. They also have a store front in the ninth ward full of clothes and toys; they are all donated and are free for those living around the store. Any day they can come in and pick five items from the store. They also feed the poor 3 days a week and feed the homeless on Wednesday nights at the “wall” which is the sea wall along the Mississippi river close to the French Quarter.

Charles was telling us a few days ago about how he used to feed the homeless hot dogs. Then as he was reading the Bible the following passage changed this.

“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, 'Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.' They also will answer, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you? He will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.' Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Matthew 25:31-46)

Notice verse 40 “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” After reading this Charles thought “Would I feed Jesus a hot dog or a steak dinner?” From then on he has made the homeless hot meals on Wednesday nights. Tonight it was redfish and shrimp courtbouillon which Bridgette helped make, green beans, a drink, and a small piece of cake. Another thing that Charles told us is that he didn’t want us to just serve the food and then leave but to serve the food and then talk to the homeless men and women and encourage them and just carry on a conversation – to love them. This made me nervous because I am not good at striking up conversation, so I prayed that God would give me something big to do, and give me the strength to do it.

Our team went to Charles house, which he bought after God lowered the price so he could afford it. It had to be gutted and but is now almost finished. A few from our team laid tile and John did some electrical work. My part of the team did drywall work in his converted garage. He is going to use this garage for housing long term missionaries that are visiting him. It has a small bedroom, a bathroom, a washroom, and a great room. Tom, Sydney, Katlin, Hannah and I hung drywall and tapped and mudded in the great room. When we were done for the day we headed back down to the Carpenter’s House to get ready to go feed the homeless at the wall. We loaded up the food in Charles’s truck and then he started giving us tasks. Me and two others guys, Allen and Jim, were to hand out drinks from the back of Charles’s truck.

As we were handing out drinks a homeless man came up to the back of the truck and asked, “Do you happen to have any socks, I don’t have any and my feet are badly blistered?”

Right then I knew I needed to give him my socks, but I just sat there. Allen told him to go see Charles. Charles sent the man to Judy and she rummaged through the cab of the truck. I heard her say that she couldn’t find any, and the homeless man responded, “That’s okay.”

I jumped out of the back of the truck and walked up to the man.

“I want to give you my socks.”

“Oh, I can’t take your socks.”

“Brother, You need them more than I do.” I never call people “Brother.”

“OK”

I bent down and started taking my shoes off. As I was taking my socks off I started crying. I tried to brush the grass off my socks and handed them to the man. He hugged me and I hugged him back tightly. He thanked me again and said “God bless you” and I started to walk away. Immediately Joey came up and hugged me and told me “That was awesome.” Judy did the same. As I walked back to the truck bed Jim leaned over from the bed of the truck and hugged me and said “That is what it is all about.” There were no more drinks left to hand out so I walked back over to where the man was and saw Joey cleaning his feet. He was wiping them with alcohol to clean them, and then he applied some antibiotic cream to his feet. When I saw this all I could think about was when Jesus washed his disciple’s feet.

“After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean. When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them. "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.” (John 13:5-17)

It is very important to understand that I am not bragging. This account is to give glory to God. He answered my prayer. He gave me something big to do and he gave me the strength to do it. If I were working under my own strength I would not have left the bed of that truck. He even gave me words to say. I rarely ever call someone brother. But I did. “I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.” (Matt 25:40)

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On Thursday we continued our work at Charles’s house hanging drywall. Today Julia worked with me; she is 14 years old and was so much fun to work with. I had worked with her earlier in the week but now it was just me and her hanging drywall. Her sense of humor was priceless and I had a blast. She had never done this before and she was having a hard time using the power drill. After she tried a few times she said “That was an epic failure.” (Later I noticed in the Carpenter’s House painted on the wall these words Life - Jesus = Epic Failure) Later in the day after taking a water break we were walking back to the garage and she was saying how she wasn’t doing so well; I tried to encourage her and then said “Besides you haven’t even hurt yourself yet.” At that she lifted up her little finger and there was a small cut across it. We both could not stop laughing. Later she was on a ladder and almost fell; I had my hands behind her ready to catch her. Then she said “I am really clumsy, but I have cat-like reflexes.”

On Friday, John, Bridgette, and I worked at the Carpenter’s House and started installing an exhaust fan in the kitchen. We stopped working a little early because Charles said it would get crazy down there because of people celebrating the fourth of July. Charles took us on a tour of the ninth ward. There were a lot of open spaces where houses had been bulldozed. Although a lot of progress has been made since the first summer after the hurricane, there are still a lot of houses that have an X on them. 66,000 left…..

We got back to Faith Bible late Friday afternoon and started unloading our car. As we were unloading another team from Pennsylvania was backing their van and trailer into the parking lot. All the sudden Bridgette started screaming “Stop, Stop!” but it was too late, they backed into the front driver’s side fender of our car. Bridgette started crying and went inside. After the van was parked I met the driver, Steve, inside. He was very apologetic, and said that he wanted to pay to get our car repaired out of his own pocket. I asked if his church had insurance (since it was a church van) and if they could cover it. He said he wanted to pay and proceeded to write down his address and phone number for me. He again apologized and we parted ways.

A couple of hours later I was playing washers and Steve came up to me and pulled me aside. He gave me some cash.

“This is all I could get at the moment.”

“Are you sure you want to do this?” I asked

“Yes, I don’t want you have to pay a lot out of your pocket when you get the bill. If the damages cost more to fix then send me a bill for the difference.”

“OK”

I walked away with a sinking feeling. His words of “This is all I could get at the moment” made me think that this was putting his family in a financial hardship. I told Bridgette what had happened. We decided that the car did not need to be repaired, that it would not at all affect eternity, the headlights still worked so it was still legal to drive. We decided to give the money back to Steve. Bridgette suggested that we give the money to Charles if Steve would not take the money back.

I talked to Steve a little later.

“My wife and I decided that we don’t want to repair our fender, so we want to give you the money back.” I said.

“No, it was my fault and I want to pay to repair the car, if the money more than pays for it then use the rest to go out for dinner or something.”

“Are you sure, is this putting financial hardship on your family?”

“No, I want to pay for the repair.”

“OK, well if the money more than pays for the repair then I will send you back the difference.”

“Oh no, if there is some left over send it to Charles.”

“OK, I will. Thanks again.”

I found Bridgette and we decided to give the cash to Charles because his ministry counts for eternity, body damage on our car is only a vapor or mist (James 4:14). I wanted Bridgette to give the money to Charles.

“Hey Charles, I’ve got something for you,” said Bridgette.

“What”

“Here.” Bridgette handed Charles the money.

“You can’t do that.” See Charles and Steve are good friends so Charles knew what was going on between us.

“Yes I can,” said Bridgette.

“Well at least let me give you a receipt.”

“If it makes you fell better.”

So they walked back to the church office and Charles gave Bridgette a receipt.

“You know sometimes you just know that the money wasn’t even yours to begin with,” said Bridgette.

“I know exactly,” said Charles.

Again, it is important to understand that I am not bragging. How can we brag about giving something away if it isn't even ours. Everything is God's and everything we have are blessings from Him. Just as with the talents, if we are good stewards of what he has given us then we will entrust us with more.

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In closing I would like to share another biblical principal that I have learned and present a few challenges. The principal is this: as Christians we can have faith that God will answer our prayers when we are doing his will because as Jesus said “your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

“Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked. Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matt 21:18-22)

This is a pretty awesome promise, but the word “believe” in the last verse is another loaded word similar to the word “trust” that we talked about earlier. The word “believe” means that we have a faith and confidence and trust that God will hear and answer our prayers. But this belief and trust is not unfounded, it is validated because of the knowledge we can have that we are in his will. This knowledge comes from both God’s word and the Holy Spirit.

Now for the challenge, let’s read a passage from James.

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. But someone will say, "You have faith; I have deeds."

Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do. You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder. You foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is useless? Was not our ancestor Abraham considered righteous for what he did when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? You see that his faith and his actions were working together, and his faith was made complete by what he did. (James 2:14-25)

Many people like to say that no one but God can know a man’s heart and if he is truly a Christian. While this is of course true, that God knows your heart even better than you do, Jesus also said “you will know them by their fruits.” The actions that we take as Christians are the evidence of our faith, it is the outpouring of love from ourselves to others that is not of ourselves but is of God. If you believe that you have faith but do not act in serving God, then please take a closer look at your faith. I direct you to the first few chapters of 1^st John where John says “This is how we know we are in him…” and continues to describe what evidences we should see in our lives of true faith in God. Remember that the type of belief a Christian has (whosoever believes in me should not perish but have eternal life John 3:16) is a different belief than the demons have (You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that – and shudder). The difference is that even though a Christian and a demon both believe that there is one God, a Christian calls God “my God,” who is obeyed, served and loved.

Philip Boudreaux

Keep up with Carpenter’s House

Slidell: Bridgette's version, part 1

2009-07-09T20:39:00.006-04:00

*Note to reader: I write this without reading Philip's testimony. I apologize if there are any overlaps*

So we just got back late Wednesday night from Louisiana. We went there for a mission trip and then we stayed at Philip's mom's house for Ethan's 2nd birthday party.

This mission trip was sort of a repeat of one we did three summers ago. The first summer after Katrina our church sent two teams down to Slidell, LA to help with the reconstruction. That summer Philip and I went down together and actually met my sister Danielle there and the three of us served for a week doing basic construction on houses destroyed by the storm. I learned a lot that summer including to always except gifts from others with grace. The last day we were there my team received gifts from the homeowner who's house we were working on. If we would have refused these gifts we would have been showing her that we thought too much of ourselves to accept gifts from her. Not only would we have been showing our own pride, but it would have been a terrible put down for the homeowner. This was not the only thing I learned that summer, but I have been reminded of it often.

Every year since that first summer some folks from that very first trip have gone down to continue to help with reconstruction. Slidell is now completely rebuilt and because of the ministry that was started at Faith Bible Church for the Katrina relief the chruch is now able to continue to help those in need. During the last two summers our church group has also partnered with another ministry called Carpenter's House. Carpenter's House is a community center located in the lower 9th ward of New Orleans that seeks to shed light in a place of much darkness. Charles and his wife Judy serve free lunches four days a week from the Carpenter's House and the also serve dinner once a week down at "the Wall" near the French Quarter. They also give away free clothes, toys, and books anyone who comes in. What is so neat about thier place is that every inch of wall space is practically covered in scripture. Thier attitude of sharing God's love with those who need it is amazing.

Now my week this summer started with doing some drywall mudding at a man's house in Lacombe, LA. During the first day Tim showed us how to mud the drywall, but during the work I began to be filled with doubt. I don't know how to mud drywall! Tim was very nice, and never said I was doing bad work, but I could tell that my work and his were not the same at all! I also started to doubt that what I was doing was very important, or helping out anyone very much. I was "only" doing mudding, not anything really "important". Then somewhere during the afternoon I thought, "I'm doing this only for Jesus, not for me, not for my glory, but for His!" It occured to me that I couldn't remember the last time I had done anything for Jesus only. For the rest of that day and the next when I thought I wasn't doing much good, I just reminded myself that I was doing it all for Jesus, and he would take my work and use it for his glory.

On the second day of work we got to meet the homeowner and hear his story. It was neat to hear him recount how amazed his friends were that people from out of town had been travelling down to Louisiana to work on this house for free. Even amazing to him was that volunteers would tell him thank you at the end of a long week. It was neat to hear him praise God for sending workers to help him get moved back into his house.

The next day I was on the kitchen crew for the Carpenter's house making a redfish and shrimp court bouillion (pronounced "cou-beeon"), rice and green beans. I worked with some other ladies and the chef there (Lewis), peeling shrimp, chopping vegetables and making rice. We had to bake cakes for the dinner that night too, and Carpenter's house doesn't have A/C, so the kitchen was screamin' hot! Just to walk outside for a while felt good. After Lewis left for the day to run some errands Charles came in and informed me that we would need twice as much court bouillion as Lewis had made and probably three times as much rice! Lewis had kind of left me in charge since Philip has made a court bouillion before and I knew what it was suppose to taste like. That being said, I didn't know how to double the recipe that Lewis had made! He hadn't used a cook book, he had just thrown things together to make a wonderful tasting stew.

Nevertheless we had over 100 homeless people to feed that night and Charles knew that what we had so far was not going to cut it. The ladies and I started chopping more vegetables and opening all the cans of tomatoes that we could find. Charles poured what we had so far into a pot that was at least three times as big and we started adding everything in. We added more redfish and brought the stew up to a simmer again. Well, after a call to my Mawmaw and a little bit of corn starch we had something that was still tasty and would definitely be a good hot meal for anyone who needed one.

Our experience down by the sea wall was one that I will never forget. I had asked another volunteer at the Carpenter's house earlier that day if there would be any children coming that night for dinner. She replied that in the three years they had been feeding the homeless that there had never been any children and only a few woman. After that comment I was taken aback at the end of the evening when a mom with a stroller and a toddler walked up to the truck where we were handing out dinner. After making sure that Charles and Judy knew she was there I walked off to the wall to have a good cry. It is easy to forget how easy we have it in life, and to only focus on the negative. Jessica and her boys drastically shifted my focus and I was reminded how truly grateful I should be for just having a roof over my heads and clothes on my back.

After I composed myself I headed back over to talk to Jessica and her boys. They are 2 and 1 years old and so cute! Judy made sure to get her information and Charles told us on Friday that they had already found a place for them to stay. I think of her and her boys and pray for her often.

To be continued....

New pictures

2009-07-06T16:38:00.003-04:00

We are currently uploading pictures from Ethan's party and his stay at Mawmaw's house. To see them head over to our shutterfly page at rueboudreaux.shutterfly.com

If you are not a member (and you can't see the pictures) just let me know.

Happy Birthday Ethan

2009-07-02T01:12:00.004-04:00

Philip and I are on a mission trip right now, but I just wanted to say Happy Birthday to Ethan. He is turning two today!

Ethan's first Vacation Bible School

2009-06-25T07:50:00.002-04:00

If you look on our Shutterfly site: rueboudreaux.shutterfly.com you can see all of our Vacation Bible School pictures!

The Boudreaux Potty Method

2009-06-12T14:06:00.003-04:00

Disclaimer: I don't really know what I'm doing, but I'm willing to share what I did. Do what works best for your family and please don't supplant my judgment for yours!
First I'd like to say that I have a child who is eager to please (most of the time) and gets excited about three mini-m&ms. Also Lightening McQueen (aka "Kye") is like Kryptonite for this kid and he will do about anything to get a sticker with Cars on it.

Like I mentioned in an earlier post, potty training occurs at different times in different cultures and this timing is more likely based on the culture and not the child! Ethan and I talked about potty training for two whole months before spending a whole day in underwear. At the very beginning he got three m&ms for just sitting on the potty (clothed or not) and that lasted about a week or so. Then if he sat on the potty that would be good, but he only got m&ms if he peed in the potty. A couple of times a week I would put him underwear for an afternoon so that he could feel what it was to be wet. When he went I would not fuss at him or make a big deal we would just talk about the wetness and that our goal was to keep Wall-e, "Kye", or Elmo dry!

Finally when the big day came to start training I put him in underwear and made him sit on the potty every 40 minutes. The key to this plan is to always have liquids available. I didn't really force him to drink, but I did offer plenty of salty foods. I also added a sticker chart in the bathroom and he got a sticker every 40 minutes when his underwear were dry and another one if he could "go" on the potty. Of course m&ms were still part of the system and I would be sure to bring a canister of them wherever we went. Rewarding for dry underwear was my friend Betsy's idea and I really think it has contributed to our success. Ethan even says now when he is in the bathroom, "Kye dry!"

If you read past posts you'll also see that we did use diapers at night and pull-ups only for nursery and VBS. These are only used when an accident would require major clean up (sheets, pillows, stuffed animals, softees, etc.) or would uneedly inconvience someone else. They do have little pictures on the front so I can tell if he stays dry and reward him as such.

To all you moms out there who are considering potty training, go for it! What's the worst that could happen? If you have any questions please feel free to post them. Betsy did post descriptions of the "phases" of potty training over on Tarnished Teapots and it is great!

I declare thee potty trained!

2009-06-09T17:12:00.005-04:00

Okay, so we are still having occasional accidents, but we are in underwear all the time except for naps and night time (and even then we are dry 95% of the time)! I even picked him up today from VBS and he was totally dry! That is amazing since Megan and the other teachers have plenty to do besides ask Ethan if he has to potty. By tonight he had had a 100% accident free day which I am so happy about. Today was a busy day and he ended up crying through part of dinner because he was so tired.

Well, one last day of VBS and then I will try to post a summation of my Potty Training method here since so many of my mom friends have asked. Betsy did quite a good job over on Tarnished Teapots, so if you are desperate for help head on over there.

My Testimony

2009-06-04T15:07:00.005-04:00

I'm participating this summer in a bible study that is reading a book called "Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God". In the second chapter Francis Chan points out that our next breath here on Earth is not guaranteed. This morning at our study, our leader asked the question, "How would you live your life differently if you knew you only had a week left to live?" I waited a long time to answer the question because I was fully aware of the repercussions of my answer. Why should I be living any differently when I don't know that my next breath is guaranteed? One of the ladies next to me suggested that she would write up her testimony and email it to all her friends. Instead of email I'm going to post my testimony here on my blog and then on my Facebook account. Here is my testimony:

When I was six or so my mom began bringing my sister and I to church. I remember her faithfulness in bringing us to church almost every Sunday through out the rest of my childhood and into my teenage years. I went to confirmation classes in middle school, but I really didn't experience the Christian faith until I was in High School.

Let me clarify what I mean by experience. In church I was taught that God was the creator of the Earth and everything in it, Jesus was the only true son of God and that he came here to die for our sins. We also learned that belief in Jesus was the key to eternal life. John 14:6 says, "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." It wasn't until a youth retreat in Baton Rouge (when I was a sophomore in high school) that I had someone challenge me with what it truly meant to be a Christian. He explained that believing in God and Jesus was not enough. James 2:19 says, "You believe that there is one God. Good! Even the demons believe that—and shudder."

Our belief in God does not save us from our sins. We must accept God's forgiveness through his Son and this true acceptance leads to a change in our life. "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

That weekend, when I accepted Christ as my Savior, I made a choice to make him first in my life. I started living for him and I was truly a new creation. I remember feeling this joy in my life that I had never felt before. I started serving Christ any way that I could by teaching and leading the youth in my own church. Of course I still sinned, but for those sins I truly felt remorse and then forgiveness.

God has seen me through some real trials in my life. Periods of extreme selfishness and/or pride, holding on to past sins, and the hospitalization of my newborn boy. How faithful he was during these times! I have felt His gentle (and not so gentle) prodding to change and be more like Christ. I have experienced His grace and His peace and I've seen His sovereignty be evident in my life over and over again.

Now I live my life knowing everyday that God is watching over me and that if I died I would meet him in heaven. Instead of rightfully being convicted of my sins and sent to hell, Jesus would stand in my place and cover all of my transgressions. I will spend the rest of eternity with Him!

Would you live any differently if you knew this week was your last? What has God done in your life that you need to share with others? Do you know where your soul will spend eternity (heaven or hell)? Have you surrendered your life to Christ?

If you have a blog I would LOVE to read your testimony! If you post it please leave a link here in the comment section:

The Boudreauxs

Here we go again!

Fall in the Mountains

New Videos

First day of Pre-K

A look back through the years.

School!!

The Search for a Church

Getting Caught Up!

On the water with Pop

Smug Mug

Auntie's Visit

Asher is crawling!

God is bigger.....

Pushing the Reset Button

Are you willing to pray for our city?

Success!

Test

iPad test....

Car ride Conversations

Asher's rolling!

Merry Belated Christmas!!

Quitting the Challenge

Stockings

Yesterday's Doctor's Visit

Toddlers are easy to amaze

Solids - the second time around

Snickerdoodles

Christmas Tree

Today's post

Yesterday's post

A Night of Firsts

Library and MOPS

A post (and a picture) a day till Christmas!

Asher - 3 Months old!!

Learning to Schedule

11 weeks and we are "golden"

The final decision....maybe

Second born....

10 years!!

"I painted the Golden Gate bridge today!"

How will they know?

Our new pet

Uploading Pictures

The best case scenario (Part 2)

Just one more...

More darndest things....

Kids say the darndest things!

Look at those Boudreaux Babies!!

Home Sweet Home

Update on baby Asher

Asher Nolan Boudreaux

"I'm sure everything will be okay....."

A delay in the plan!

Visit with Family

Earlier than we thought!

Best Case Scenario

Thursday at high noon!

This is how you can pray for us tomorrow:1. That we would trust in God's perfect will2. That God would be glorified3. That God would protect baby Asher through the procedure4. That the peace of God that passes all understanding would guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus

Thank you all for your prayers. I know we will feel them tomorrow and in the future.

How much longer?

Busy, busy, busy!

Cordocentesis

Inside the Actor's Studio

Update

Toddler Speak

Single Treatment

Update

Ultrasound and procedure tomorrow!

Bittersweet Day

My first infusion...

We have good news!

My first infusion.....

My New Camera!

2nd visit to HIROC

Sewing Project

"You could shovel the snow off the driveway, or why don't you just....."

A year in review and a preview of 2010!!

Blame it on Facebook: Now with updated links!

Money Troubles in the New Year?

This is how you can pray for us tomorrow:
1. That we would trust in God's perfect will
2. That God would be glorified
3. That God would protect baby Asher through the procedure
4. That the peace of God that passes all understanding would guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus