Our 11th Anniversary...A Day Early

This afternoon, hubby and I are going away, just the two of us, to celebrate our 11th anniversary!  It's been way too long, as in 6 years too long, since we've been away for a few days by ourselves. During our time away we've decided to totally "unplug", as in no iPhones, laptops, iPad, or anything.  So, that's why this post is a day early so I don't even have to think about violating our little rule. =)

Here we are on our wedding day 11 years ago (you know, before digital was in and so all our pics are on film!)......

...and here we are 11 years later!

{This man gets more handsome every year =) }

And here we are with 4 kids!

At our wedding my sister-in-law, Ruth, sang the Prayer of Consecration by Mac Lynch.  These are the words to the chorus....

Lord we consecrate this moment,

Lord we consecrate this hour,

Lord we trust you for the future,

Ever step by thee empowered,

Every goal has been surrendered,

Every hope and fond desire,

Take our humble heart,

Purify each part,

Set our only life on fire.

Looking back through our 11 years of marriage, the Lord has truly taken what was our prayer from the beginning, and made it a reality.

Steven and I married young....well, young for nowadays.  We were 18, almost 19.  And there's just something about marrying young and all the maturing and growing that you do together that I think perhaps people who are much older miss out on. 

But marriage, even though it is full of so much happiness (at least ours is and I hope yours is too!) isn't all about being happy. Yes, marriage is wonderful, but really it's about bringing glory to God.  When two very different people learn how to selflessly love each other, help and serve one another, forgive and overcome faults and weaknesses, God is glorified.  Through the challenges and the big learning curves, the Lord slowly changes us to look more like Him.

I did something similar last year, but here's a random little summary of our journey over the last 11 years in numbers:  

6 moves
2 homes bought
1 home sold
2 college degrees earned

14 months unemployed (Steven)
8 years in full time ministry

6 years as home-school parents

145 days in the hospital with our children

3 open heart surgeries (for our daughter)
4 happy little people here with us
2 miscarriages
0...times I've ever regretted becoming Mrs. Steven Chambers =)

And every year that passes, by God's grace, our marriage just gets better and better.  And for some reason, it seems that after we hit that decade mark last year it got really good.  =)

I'm incredibly thankful for the man God chose for me...I tell him often that I couldn't imagine a better traveling buddy for this journey of life.  I love growing old with my best friend. =)

Combining Ministry & Creativity: Blessing our Missionaries with Handmade Cards

I love to create.  No matter how many times I've tried to ignore it, there's a drive within me to just make something.  Anything.  

And I believe all of us, and while some perhaps not so obvious, all have a creative side.  God, who made us in His image, is the Creator.  He is not only the author of holiness, love, etc., He is the very definition of creativity.  When I delve into a science book, I am always blown away at all of the details and the variety in creation! 

So what does that have to do with this post?  

Well, many women love crafting and creating things, especially when they can do it together.  It's great for fellowship, as well as learning new skills!

Well, a year and a half ago, a woman in our church had an amazingly brilliant idea.  Why not take this love for crafting, and use it as a ministry?  Our church supports missionaries on every continent, some in very remote places...why not combine our creative abilities and do something for them?

I know I have struggled with what we could do for our missionaries to show that we love them and haven't forgotten about them.  Yes, we send them money every month to help support them, but beyond that, we weren't really doing anything personal on a regular basis.

And thus, our "Ladies' Card Ministry" was born.

  

The dear lady who began it was an avid papercrafter and she had oodles of supplies.  It really was unbelievable!   Each month she would prepare several new cards to make, and teach us the new skills involved.  

During our monthly card making meeting (say that 3 times fast!), we each make at least 3 cards apiece.  One to write a note of encouragement to the missionary wives, and two (or more) for her to be able to keep and give. (We do a different missionary each month.  As our group of ladies grows, hopefully we can do more so the missionary wives get cards more often!)

{Some of the sweet ladies that come to make cards for the missionaries}

We've all come a looong way in our card making abilities since the beginning...now we're much faster and can make better quality cards.  Most of the ladies now have started their own personal stockpile of card making supplies, so at our monthly meetings we all bring our stuff and share. 
  
A lot of times we just all do our own thing, more of a "freestyle" approach and there's a lot of variety.  But last week when we met, one lady taught us how to make five different types of cards, four of which are pictured below. I enjoyed seeing how everyone made their cards just a little bit different, adding their own personal touch!

Making cards for missionary wives is such a small thing to do in the grand scheme of things, but from what we've heard, they really enjoy it.  I mean seriously, if you were living in the desert somewhere, wouldn't this be a welcome sight?!  I absolutely LOVE mail (you know, that's not bills!) so to me it's a very happy thought. =)

It's tough being a pastor's wife, so I can't imagine what it's like being a missionary pastor's wife in a foreign country, learning a new language and culture, etc.  And if these little pieces of paper can encourage her heart and let her know we love her, then we'll keep creating and sending. =)

I hope that perhaps through reading this you'll get an idea of what you can do for missionaries you know personally or that your church supports.  Yes, crafting is fun, but it's even more fun when we can use the creativity God has given to us to be a blessing!

InstaFriday: My new 8 year old + A First in 20 Years

 Last Saturday we celebrated Caleb's 8th birthday! What a blessing to celebrate his life and these past 8 years.  Hard to believe that he once was only 1lb. 15oz!  (If you haven't already read it, here's part 1 and part 2 of his amazing story.)

Every year for my kids birthday, I let them pick what kind of cake they want.  Now, I am NOT a cake decorator.  At all.  So it's always quite a challenge for me! Caleb wanted a pistol cake and this is what I came up with.  The "cowboy hat" cake is covered in marshmallow fondant. I had never made fondant before, but it definitely wasn't as terrible as I imagined! =)  My husband, Mr. uber-talented, who can literally do anything, molded this pistol out of candy clay and  then spray painted it with wilton food coloring spray paint.  It looked SO cool.  

{Banana cake with Vanilla Banana Buttercream Frosting was what the birthday boy ordered!}

 Birthday boy also wanted to go camping for his birthday.  So what a blessing it was to find this tent for $30 at a yard sale two weeks earlier!!  It is such a nice tent and is HUGE.  It has two big rooms with a tunnel in between.  

Our attempt at camping will have to be another post....oh my, it was a bit crazy.  You have no idea how thankful I was that we were just camping in our backyard and when things got hairy we could just go inside!

Thank you Goodwill for these lovely red shoes...they are becoming a summer staple.  Now I just need some red lipstick to go with them. =D  

These strawberry muffins were amazing.  I even blogged the recipe for you here! 

On Sunday afternoon I was a little desperate for some crafting time. So, I had myself a little crafting therapy session on my bedroom floor and made some cards. Seriously, you don't have to have a fancy set up to get some crafting in...just grab a cookie sheet, sit in the floor and have some fun! 

Our neighbors brought over this tiny tortoise for our kiddos.  Isn't it adorable? I've never seen one this small before!  He/she has been named "Shelly" and is quite loved.  Shelly likes strawberries and hiding in the corner of his/her box. =)

Alert the media...I RODE A BIKE.  Yes ma'am I did.  For the first time in 20 years!!  Sad, but true.  And I was nervous.  Really nervous.  I didn't want to wipe out in front of my kids and scare them to death!  But I did fine. I only ever had one bike growing up and it didn't have brakes or gears or anything like that and you had to pedal backwards to stop. It's crazy how your brain remembers those things because when it was time to stop, without even thinking I began to pedal backwards instead of using the handbrakes!  But I got it eventually and it was really fun.  =) 

And this is what's happening today!  The playhouse is finally, FINALLY being repaired and set back up.  The playhouse has such a neat story to it so I'm going to save that for another time. =)

Hope you have a great weekend, friends!  Thanks for reading!

Strawberry Muffins

I'm a muffin girl.  And a cupcake girl.  If I had a choice, I would pick muffins or cupcakes over a slice of cake any day.

It's like your own personal pretty cake.  And nobody will want to steal yours because it is bigger.

(Can you tell I have a complex from being raised in a household with 6 brothers who always wanted to steal my food?  Or fought over the biggest piece?  Yes, yes I do.)

Muffins are awesome.  And they have so many flavors.

Pumpkin

Blueberry

Coffee Cake

Lemon Poppyseed

Banana Nut
Etc., etc., etc.!!! 

But until last week I had never had a strawberry muffin.  Never ever.  So, I altered a taste of home recipe called "Berry Cream Muffins."

{Come on over for breakfast, we'll sip coffee and gorge ourselves on these, okay?}

Let me just warn you though, these are not "healthified, fuel you for the next 10 hours" kind of muffins.  These are like dessert muffins.  They are like the most moist, rich, delicious little cake ever.

And I like cake.  Seriously, I kept having to tell myself to "step away from the muffins!"  while my tastebuds kept screaming "eat ALL the muffins!!"

It was intense.  =D

It's a simple recipe, that tastes like something fresh out of a fancy schmancy bakery.  Don't want to use strawberries?  Use blueberries, or raspberries, or whatever you want to throw in.  It'll be delish.  Promise.

Strawberry Muffins
yield: 1 dozen

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups fresh chopped strawberries
2 eggs
1 cup (8 oz. sour cream)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract  (lemon would be yummy, too!)

Directions:
1.  Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.  
2.  Combine wet ingredients (minus the strawberries) and mix well.
3.  Stir wet and dry mixtures together, just until moistened.  
4.  Gently fold in strawberries.
5.  Fill greased muffin pan and bake at 400 degrees for 18-22 minutes. 
6.  Cool for at least 5 minutes before removing from pan.  (I think I did 10.) 

Enjoy!

Oh...and try not to eat them all.  Because you'll want to. =D

linking up to: A Living Sacrifice

The Birth Story of My 28-Week Preemie {Part 2}

Today is my son Caleb's 8th Birthday, so I'm sharing the incredible story God has given him. But first go read Part 1 of this story here.  Otherwise none of this will make sense!

Now for the rest of the story....

******

The doctor came after hearing the nurse's alarming news about my blood pressure, and around 11:00pm, it was becoming obvious that Caleb was in distress.  His heart rate was up and down all over the place.  I will never forget the tension in that room.  My doctor, usually positive and upbeat, was grave.  That fact alone scared me.

As the whole room kept their eyes fixated on the monitor and Caleb's heart rate, we were all alarmed when it started dipping into the 60's and taking longer and longer to come back up.  Then it hit 40 and only very slowly did it begin to climb.  

That's when the doctor realized something was terribly wrong.  He checked me and the hemorrhaging that was happening internally had begun to show on the outside.  I had had a placental abruption, a condition that was life threatening to Caleb and myself.  The doctor turned to the nurse and said, "Let's go!"  It was 11:35.

Suddenly, it seemed like my life turned into something I had seen in a movie. People in blue were running everywhere and I was flying down the hall in my bed.  Someone handed me a tiny cup and yelled, "Drink this."  It was disgusting.

 I looked back and there was my sweet husband, waving at me and signing "I love you." I watched him until the double doors closed behind me.

The swarm in the OR was surreal.  There were between 20-25 people in that room.  And everyone was in a mad flurry of activity.  Someone was strapping my arms down.  Another person was inserting IV's.  A lady with blonde hair was taking my blood from my other arm.  An oxygen mask was strapped to my face. Someone else put my hair up and covered it with a blue surgical cap. Curtains were flying up.  I felt someone pinch my stomach and say, "Can you feel this?"  I said yes and I heard him say to someone, "Crank her up!"  (Meaning up the meds.)  At my head was an anesthesiologist stroking my hair and trying his best to comfort me.  I just kept asking my for husband, knowing somehow that he wasn't allowed to come.

Then I heard in shushed tones, "Quick, grab the feet."  I knew then that he was born. A nurse hollered out the time of birth....11:38.  They had him out in 3 minutes.

He never cried or made a noise, and I didn't even get a glimpse of him. There was just a swarm of people over on the side of the room whispering and working feverishly.    

Finally a neonatologist came and told me that he was alive and doing okay. They had had to resuscitate him and now he was on a portable vent and on his way to the NICU.  Then he began to tell me all the things they were going to do to him when he got there and all the things that could be wrong with him because of his prematurity and traumatic birth.  It was alot to digest while being operated on.

But while I was being closed up, my doctor began to tell Caleb's story.  Of the crazy complications and massive clot and how that it was so unlikely that we would have ever made it to this point. God was already being glorified through Caleb's life and he was only a few minutes old!

Later, I finally saw my husband in recovery.  He though, was the first one to see Caleb as they rolled him to the NICU and was able to snap this quick picture.  

In the middle of the night, I think around 4:30am they rolled me down to the NICU on my bed so I could get a peak at him.  

I had seen those tiny babies before when Lydia was in NICU.  Then I had tried not to stare...it is an almost unbelievable sight, like a peak into the womb. I had looked on them in pity while holding my full-term, yet broken baby in my arms.

So when I saw Caleb for the first time, it was a strange sort of shock.  Not shock because I didn't know what to expect, but shock because it was just sinking in that this tiny baby, like all of those others I'd seen, was our baby.  He was so tiny, but beautiful and perfect. His birth weight was 889 grams or 1lb. 15.4oz. 

In my post op stupor I didn't have a camera with me, but how he looked is forever etched in my mind.

It wasn't until late Thursday night that I was well enough to go in a wheelchair to see Caleb again.  He was already off of the vent and on CPAP.  He had already had a spinal tap, an ultrasound of his brain, a pic line inserted, an umbilical line placed, and lots of blood work.  He was also very ill with E.coli sepsis and on seven different I.V. antibiotics. (The infection was not localized, it was found in his blood stream. Also, it was not E.coli like we typically hear of, it was a different strand.) Despite all of that, he was asymptomatic and extremely feisty, which was completely unexpected as sick as he was.

 By Saturday morning, Caleb was off of the CPAP completely and just on a nasal cannula with room air...not even a smidge of oxygen was needed.  It was incredible!   

 Caleb which means "Warrior" was an oh-so-fitting name for this little fighter!

After the C-section, I was SO incredibly sick. It made being on the mag for pre-term labor seem like nothing.  I, like Caleb, was being given six IV antibiotics, two IV's in each arm because some of the drugs were incompatible, and one by mouth.  I too had E.coli sepsis. 

I could keep nothing, and I do mean nothing down, not even a sip of water. To this day we still don't know if the violent 3 day bout of vomiting was from the epidural or from the antibiotics. (But just to be on the safe side, I had my last two babies a la naturale!)

Finally by Sunday night I could keep down some jello and my hemoglobin was back in a safe range after all the blood loss from having the placental abruption and the C-section and I was allowed to go home.

Going home was bittersweet. This wasn't my first time leaving a baby at the hospital and it seemed even sadder.  But I was going home to be with Lydia and I was really excited to see her.  I missed her so much!  

The first few days after birth are so critical for a premature baby, but Caleb continued to progress without too many setbacks. Here's a little video of him at five days old when he was strong enough to really be touched.

Right after that video, the nurse said he was stable enough for me to hold him for the first time!  So at five days old, I was able to hold my sweet baby. It was pure bliss. =)

One of the "highlights" I guess you could say of his NICU stay was the fact that I was able to nurse him.  They kind of broke the rule that said "they had to be able to take a bottle before they could breastfeed" and let me try.  So at 6 weeks old, and 2lb. 8oz., Caleb had his very first feeding by mouth and I was able to do it!  He nursed like a champ, it really was unbelievable.  So from that time until he went home, whenever I was there I could nurse him.  That was just really awesome and an amazing balm to this mother's heart! 

Here are some of my favorite pictures as he grew through those weeks....

The new NICU opened while Caleb was in the hospital, and they had kept it a secret that they put Caleb's little footprints on the "Miracles Begin Here" wall at the entry of the unit.  It's a wonderful thing to know that his tiny feet are up there to give hope to parents in there today!

His little corner of the world in the gorgeous new NICU

Because of the circumstances surrounding his birth,  the prognosis from the neonatologists was that he would certainly be there until his due date of August 28th, and that it was a great possibility that he would have cerebral palsy, retinopothy of prematurity, hemorrhaging in the brain, perhaps hearing loss, and a host of other conditions that may develop along the way.  

Caleb did finally come home at 10 weeks old on August 5, 2005, weighing a whopping 4lb. 17oz.  And the only conditions he had were apnea/bradycardia that required a monitor and acid reflux.  A monitor and 4 medications...that was it!!  

He had absolutely nothing that they thought he would! 

Like I said before, when people hear of Caleb's premature birth, unless they know they whole story, it seems so terrible.  But when you step back and see the big picture, and know the whole story, God mercy, grace and power are abundantly evident.

Our son defied medical wisdom...he's a walking miracle!  This son of mine, who tests my patience almost hourly,(ha ha!!) in man's eyes, should not be here.

"With men, this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible." --Mark 19:26......Hallelujah!!

I hope and pray through Caleb's life and story, that God will be glorified and you'll see Him for the good and gracious Father that He is.  In the words of Ron Hamilton, "He (God) took what seemed to be a tragedy, and turned it into one of the greatest blessings of my life."  

Today is definitely a day for rejoicing!  To God be the glory, great things He hath done!

"The Lord had done great things for us; whereof we are glad." -Psalm 126:3