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Thursday, December 20, 2012

Valor's birth story

VALOR’S BIRTH STORY

It wasn’t until a friend far away who is not on facebook commented on Paul’s birthday blog that she was hoping to see some pictures of the baby, that I realized I haven’t posted about Valor yet.

So for all you non Facebook people and those who found it hard to read all the short updates on what happened and for those who just want to pictures from the day of his birth this blog is for you. (For all who know the story skip to the pictures).

The story behind the name. I got the name Valor almost 10 years ago. It came to me while I was teaching second grade from the scripture about the mighty men of Valor. The name William has two meanings, the first is to honor our nephew Wyatt William who went to be with the Lord and the second is since this pregnancy was a surprise to us William broken up stands for the Will (of) I AM. 

Here is his story in a nutshell. Valor was so excited to meet us that he decided he wanted to wave or reach out to hold our hands while he was coming out. Thus, we had to have a c-section. Two days later, after having  two rapid response teams come to my room and try to figure out what was wrong with me because all my vitals were bad and my stomach was bigger than I was pregnant, they transferred me to the ICU and did an exploratory bowel surgery to see if my bowels got nicked during the C-section. The surgeons were able to find the hole and fix it. We didn't find out till later that if they had waited to two more days it could have been fatal because the infection would have spread through my whole body. The road to recovery was really hard in the hospital. I didn’t see Dassah and Noah for a whole week because I didn’t want them to see me with all my tubes , iv’s and wires. Each day someone would bring Valor to my room to see me. He is such a healthy and peaceful baby. My parents, Paul’s parents,  Susan (Paul’s sister), and my sister Courtney flew in from Florida to help take care of Valor and the kids while Paul and I were in the hospital.  Our community at Kingdom Living as well as neighbors and friends helped in a multitude of ways. I would hear reports of people praying for me from all the around the world. My Spirit was touched by all the prayers and helped. It wasn’t until the night before Paul’s birthday, our Messianic Rabbi John came and prayed for me did things take a turn for the good. The next day on Paul’s birthday, I felt 80% better. It really was a miracle to me.  I continued to get better and on Monday 2 weeks from when we checked in I was released. It feels so good to be home.  Still lots of recovery and challenges but we are taking it day by day and thankful for Life.    


He weighed 8lb. 2oz. and 19inches

After the C-section

Harrison was one of the first to see Valor

The hospital did this. He is truly a Christmas gift from God. 

Noah's reaction when we told him we had boy. 

Grandpa's reaction to us having another boy.





My friend Maasen surprised me and took these pictures of Valor and I made them into his announcement. 

If you want to see even more pictures of our little cutie, the hospital gave us a link to view the pictures their photographer took. Go to www.bellababyphotography.com . Then go to view pictures. Type in the password 1204valorblake . 

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Happy Birthday Paul~

Yesterday on 12-12-12, Paul turned 39. He has been feeling like this birthday was going to have significance but never could he have guessed he would be spending it in the hospital with me recovering from two major and unexpected surgeries.  However, on his birthday, I woke up a new person, I felt 80% better than before. I could smile, laugh, move around more myself, and the pain wasn't as strong. I literally took a turn for the better. In my prayer time I asked, "Why I was feeling so much better that day?". This is what I felt like He said,
"I wanted to do it today to honor Paul because I love him and am so proud of him in so many areas in his life but especially in the areas of being a Papa and Husband. He has a heart of gold that has truly been refined by fire."

If there is one thing true about about Paul's relationship with me and the kids it is: it just keeps getting better. I love and respect him more now than when we got married. This didn't just happen, he has been intentional to make more time for me and the kids. He carries the line beautifully in our home of challenging us to become all that God has desired us to be while meeting us where we are at. He is deep and playful all at the same time.  I love you, Paul. May the love of the Messiah continue to fill you and and overflow out of you.
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Monday, November 5, 2012

One more month...

One more month to go till my due to date, Dec. 5.

We are so excited to meet this new little one.
Noah has been asking some pretty funny questions lately about the baby.
Here are a few:

What if the baby comes out speaking Spanish and I can't understand?

What if you have an elephant instead of a baby?

How does the baby come out?

How did the baby get in your belly?

What if you have eight babies instead of one?

How will we know if the baby is a boy or girl?



When people ask Dassah if she thinks she is having a sister or brother, she says, "Sister". But when they ask her if she thinks it is going to be a boy like Noah or a girl like her, she says, "Boy."

We will all find out soon enough. Let the countdown begin...


Friday, October 5, 2012

Special visit

My parents came up for a week. We were blessed to celebrate my dad on his birthday together. It is always such a joy to have them in town. We are so thankful for how much they love and support our family and ministry. They even helped us put up the Sukkah in their backyard for people to come and eat at during the Feast of Tabernacles. 
 






Friday, September 21, 2012

Prayer for the new year

Rosh Hashanah 5773

I try to write a poem or a prayer every year around Rosh Hashanah. I started my new journal today (thanks Susan) with my prayer/ poem for the new year.



Anticipating...


Life
to come
Hope 
to spring forth
Joy 
to overflow
Peace
to surpass chaos
Freedom
to break the chains
Intimacy
to invade deep places
Light 
to shine in the darkness
Unity
to heal divisions
Rest
to revive weariness
Passion
to awaken apathy
Love
to cast out any fears...


so that my life would bring worship to the Great King

and bring His kingdom to earth in this next year. 


Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Community

Paul and I feel so blessed to be a part of such a wonderful community of people who passionately love G-d and each other. Whether it is the behind the scenes things people do for each other, the corporate service nights, playing soccer, just hanging out, small groups, tents, outreaches, or celebrating the holidays, these people never cease to amaze me. Below are just a couple of recent pictures of some of the people we consider our extended family. 






Rosh Hashanah 2012



Sunday, September 16, 2012

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Cousin picture take 2

For those of you who actually follow my blog. I was able to get a good cousin picture that wasn't blurring with my fixed camera before Cassie left for Israel. This picture made my heart happy and I am glad I had the motivation after almost a year to get my camera fixed.


Friday, September 7, 2012

Big Girl

So this past week my baby girl is becoming a big girl right before my eyes. This week she not only moved out of her crib to a toddler bed. But she also went to her first day of preschool. It is just one day a week. But it felt like such a big step seeing her in her backpack and dropping her off.


Wednesday, September 5, 2012

I got my camera fixed

So last November, my nice camera stopped working. Life has been so crazy, I haven't had time to fix it. But when I took this picture of Cassie, Dassah, and Eliana the other day and it came out so blurry on my other camera, I was motivated to get my nice camera fixed. 

So today I got my camera fixed and had some fun taking pictures of the kids outside. 
Here are a few:






Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Moments that have made me smile




Treats for neighbor dogs from Mrs. Denise

Noah has been enjoying his swim lessons

Dassah relaxing during Noah's swim lessons


Dassah's doggie that she has been walking where ever she goes

Paul warming up with Noah before Paul's big game



getting ready to go on the field

Noah's favorite ladder


Latte land smoothies on the plaza
Putting together his first big lego set all by himself