Counting My Blessings

This week has been exciting! Cooper slept through the night, rolled over and survived his first tornado. Tuesday there was a deadly tornado outbreak in Oklahoma. I spent about an hour in the basement of Cooper's daycare waiting out the storms. Luckily we didn't take a direct hit, but many people did. Including one family who lost two of their precious children. I cannot imagine what that must be like....having two of your children snatched from your grasp never to see them alive again. The thought almost makes me sick.

As I sit here with my son sleeping in my arms, I can't help but wonder if I could survive losing him.  I truly believe there are worse things for my child than death. He could experience things that I don't even want to imagine and live to tell about them. But if God chooses to take him to heaven I know that would be the best thing for him. However, losing my son is probably one of the worst things that I could ever imagine for ME. I don't think I could live if he was gone. How do you get up every morning? What do you do with empty arms? Again - almost sick at the thought of it.

I just continue to trust that God is sovereign and mighty. And that He works for the good of those who love Him and are called according to HIS purpose. Even if we can't see that our circumstances are for our good. Even if our current situation seems to strip away everything worth living for. God is GOOD! He wants to give us good things, abundant life!

God, we ask for peace beyond understanding for the Hamil family. We pray that you would be glorified in this horrible disaster.  May your church surround those who are hurting and help bring healing. God, we love you and praise you in the midst of this storm. Thank you letting me hold my child in my arms, even if only for today.

So.....I'm A Little Behind

Who knew once you have a baby you don't have as much time to blog?!?! Here's a quick update.

April 19th - We went to see Dr. Arambula for Cooper's 2 month check-up. He weighed a whoppin' 11.4 lbs and was 22 inches long. The kid is chuncking out quickly! He also got 3 shots. That part was no fun, but he did pretty well. I hadn't seen him make that face since we were in the hospital and they were checking his blood sugar. He also has a very different cry when getting poked on. NO FUN AT ALL!!! Glad it's over for a little while. We also learned that he is favoring his right side (he looks more to the right than the left). This means we have to encourage him to look to his left, sometimes using a little force. With each diaper change we have to hold his to the left for a minute or so. It's not always his favorite thing, but he puts up with it. When we go to his 4 month check-up we will see if he has progressed. If he is not evened out we will have to go to physical therapy. I don't think that will be necessary, but we'll see.

We celebrated our first Easter as a family of three. Always good to reflect on what Jesus did for us. It's a little different now that I have a son. It just confirms how amazing God's love is - that he would give up his son for a rotten sinner like me. Thanks God!  This year it was pretty uneventful, but in the coming years I know we will struggle with whether or not to even do the whole Easter bunny thing. I just don't want to confuse candy and bunnies the cross. Let's keep it real!

We had Cooper's baby dedication service on May 1. Since before he was born we have been praying for him and doing our best to give him to God. I think going through everything when he was born helped us to trust God even more. We realized that He is in control and will take care of Cooper.  We also saw how he will sustain us when things are tough. The service was really nice. It was great to celebrate our family and make a public dedication of our commitment to raise our son according to God's word.

Cooper went to daycare for the first time on May 2. It was tough to leave him, but we both survived. There's actually a whole long story about daycare, but I'll go into that another time. He did pretty well if you don't count the fact that he won't let them put him down and only sleeps for about 15-30 minutes at a time. They say you can't spoil a child at this age, but I will be the first to tell you that I have spoiled him. We snuggle A LOT! I think he will get adjusted sooner or later.   Hopefully we can get into a nice routine once he is going to daycare full time.

What else.......?  Can't think of anything.  Until next time!