One Set of Footprints

One night a man had a dream. He dreamed He was walking along the beach with the LORD. Across the sky flashed scenes from His life. For each scene He noticed two sets of footprints in the sand. One belonging to Him and the other to the LORD.

When the last scene of His life flashed before Him, he looked back at the footprints in the sand. He noticed that many times along the path of His life there was only one set of footprints. He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of His life.

This really bothered Him and He questioned the LORD about it. LORD you said that once I decided to follow you, you'd walk with me all the way. But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me.

The LORD replied, my precious, precious child, I Love you and I would never leave you! During your times of trial and suffering when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you.

When I got to church on Sunday, there was an anonymous card in our family mailbox. I don't recognize the handwriting and I have absolutely no clue who gave it to me. Inside was one of the most meaningful messages - "Know that prayers are lifted for you. Blessings and peace to you as you mourn". Since our blog is public, I can only assume that someone who reads it either sent the card or passed on a message to the person who did. So to that end, I wanted to say thank you - the message meant a lot and was particularly uplifting to know that someone cared enough to send the card.

"Because he loves me," says the Lord, "I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name. He will call upon me, and I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble, I will deliver him and honor him."

Psalm 91 verses 14 and 15

Ups and Downs

Again, long time no post. Time slips away from me so quickly it's almost frightening. We have had a lot going on lately. Emily has started to learn how to ride her bike. She keeps trying to look at her feet though as she rides so it is a bit of a challenge for her to try to steer and keep her eyes on the road at the same time.

We spent the past weekend in Albertville, MN shopping. My sister-in-law and her family (nephews included) met up with us and we had a really nice weekend together. The boys watched the kids for us quite a bit and Janelle and I were able to sneak away and do some shopping on our own which was a wonderful thing as it gave us a chance to catch up and to spend some time one-on-one which doesn't happen very often. I enjoy being able to spend that kind of time with her and only wish it could happen more often. The weekend was a much needed break for me as well for reasons I will discuss later on in this post.

Emily and Danica also were fitted for their flower girl dresses for my other sister-in-law's wedding this coming October. Emily was fine with the fitting although she had a hard time understanding why she had to leave the princess dress at the store. Danica on the other hand, had a great time at the bridal salon until she had to actually put on the dress - a minor meltdown but nothing that was overly embarrassing. The woman from the bridal shop even recognized me - 5 years later. That woman has an amazing memory. The owner also decided to play dress up with the girls - perhaps a hint of things to come?

For all the fun times we have been having lately, personally I have been struggling. We are fast approaching the date we lost one of our twins and it is hitting me quite hard this year for some reason. Perhaps last year I was so preoccupied with a new baby and a toddler at home that I didn't even note the passing of the date. This year however, has been hard. By this time after having Emily, I was pregnant already. There has been much discussion in our house as to when to start trying for another baby. If the past few weeks are any indication, I am completely, totally not ready for that to happen anytime soon. It almost feels like having another baby is in a way replacing the baby we lost. Whenever anyone asks me how many children I have, I give the canned answer of two, yet my heart wants desperately to tell them the truth - I am a mother of three. The fact that one baby was taken from us halfway through a pregnancy doesn't diminish the fact that we had three children. We had passed the danger zone and were more than halfway through a normal twin gestation. We had a second crib coming, a double stroller and extra car seat was on order. For Pete's sake, my sick leave time was set. As I walk though this valley, I know I will come out the other side stronger and perhaps even learn something. The time away that we had gave me some much needed time for myself - to think and to pray. I'm being led by God, of that I am sure. Where too is yet unknown.

Emily's first attempt at riding her bike - notice where she is looking?

Easter SundayFirst ride of the year in our new bike trailer
Hanging out with our cousins in Albertville
Enjoying lunch at CulversHere comes the bride...
Here comes another bride...

Time Marches On

As usual we have been busy here. Time seems to march on more and more quickly these days. Here's the lowdown on what we've been up to lately:

Greg took Emily on her first ice fishing expedition. He went out with our friend Greg and his two daughters. They left right after work, drove to the lake and had a barbecue for dinner. Greg and Donna's youngest daughter, Mikayla, is Emily's best friend and from what I am told, the two of them had a blast together. When Emily got home that night and I asked her how her fishing trip was, the first thing she told me about was how she peed on the ice - she was quite proud of herself for that!

Danica had her 18 month doctor's appointment recently as well. She weighed in at 27 pounds 8 ounces and is 33 inches tall. That put her in the 90th percentile for both height and weight. According to that scale, her pediatrician is predicting that she should be around my height (5 foot 8). We also had her final follow up visit with her pediatric orthopaedic surgeon. He took another set of x-rays of her hips and did some manual manipulations as well. Her hips are normal and he feels that he no longer needs to see her anymore. He did suggest however, that if we do decide to have another child, that that baby have an ultrasound shortly after they are born due to Greg's family history of congenital hip displaysia.

Emily also had her first evening of bowling this past week. Our church organized a youth bowling night and we decided to take Emily. We went with Greg and Donna and their girls and they had so much fun! Definitely something that we will take her to do again.

Our dog Keizer celebrated his fourth birthday at the end of March. I made the mistake of mentioning that fact to Emily and she insisted that he should have a cake. Each time I tried to explain to her that Keizer is a dog and he doesn't eat cake, she got rather upset that we were going to let his birthday pass without a proper celebration. So I caved to keep the peace and we had a little birthday party for him.

Typical Sunday Evening

Life with two little girls is a world filled with princesses and dress up, barbies and babies - and oh yeah, lots of tea parties as well.

Just Cause I Haven't Posted In A Bit

All clean after tub tonight.

I've Been Busy

I can't believe that it's been so long since I last posted! We have had a really busy few weeks and time has flown by. February always seems to be like that - I think it's a combination of having a lot of social things going on during the month and it being year end at work.


First things first - let me send a big thank you to all of you who were prayer warriors for my uncle. His surgery was a success. The doctors found two cancerous tumors when they started the surgery and were able to remove them both. They gave him his first dose of chemotherapy during the surgery and he was back home and recuperating the same day. His oncologist is very optimistic that they were able to remove the entire tumor(s) and that they got all of the surrounding cells as well. He also feels that they caught it very early and so the chances for a full recovery are very high. Uncle Tony has to go for chemo treatments once a week for six weeks and then they will do some more tests to see how he has responded.


Greg and I celebrated our wedding anniversary on the 14th. It feels like only yesterday that we were saying our vows and starting our new life together. Now five short years later, we have two beautiful little girls, a home, a dog and a marriage that I am proud of. We are so very blessed.


I also celebrated my birthday this past month. We had friends over to celebrate and we had a great time. I love having people over and getting to see everybody all at once is an added bonus. I also got to spend some quality time with my friend's little guy Max so that was an added bonus (I can still rock a baby to sleep so I haven't quite lost my touch!).


We had family over as well for dinner for my birthday and that was also a nice evening. I was spoiled as usual this year - a new tv, books, a new coffee maker, a digital picture frame, clothes, Bath and Body works stuff, ice skates, earrings, a new Willow Tree ornament (which are my new favs), my favourite hard to get face wash and the list goes on. It was a great month of celebrating!


We also spent an evening this past month with good friends and had a dinner party with them. It was one of the nicest times I have spent out in such a long time and I enjoyed every minute of it. We had the most wonderful meal, played a rousing round of Taboo and just generally had a great night. After evenings like those, I am reminded once again of the true treasure that those friendships are.


We also spent a morning at the baby and kids show and had a meet and greet with Max and Ruby. The girls had a great time and sang and danced along to the show that they put on.

Bananas in PajamasDanica enjoying the show.
Max, Ruby, Miss Spider, Danica and Emily.
I've had some requests for this one of my nephew.

Enjoying a hat from Disney on Ice.

Prayer Request

We found out earlier this week that my uncle has bladder cancer. He is heading for surgery on February 13 and during that time they will remove his tumor and run some tests to determine what stage the cancer is at and how best to treat it.

It would be greatly appreciated if those who were able could lift my uncle up in prayer - for the doctor's skill to remove the tumor, for strength for my aunt and uncle as they face this new period in their time together and most importantly for healing.