Edmonton

We are going to Edmonton for a shopping trip! Super excited...taking in West Ed, Ikea, and of course a football game. I have list after list made of what I want to buy, where I want to buy it from, how much I will be spending, what colors of shoes I want, etc. I have new music downloaded on my Ipod ready for the trip. I have a wonderful sister ready to take us in and bake me a cake. I have wonderful in laws who are taking the trip with us.

I also have huge apprehension.

Weird, right? Or at least I thought it was until I mentioned it to Mitch last night and he said he's feeling the same thing. I start to feel panicky at the thought of bringing Tyler back to Edmonton. My sister lives only blocks from the hospital and is where we stayed when Ty was in for surgery. We went to West Ed the day before the surgery to take our minds of the gravity of our trip.

We travelled this road six months ago to have our baby boy's chest broken open

I'm getting emotional just writing this. I think merely thinking of Edmonton brings back the memories of that time and how hard it was. God has been good and gracious and Tyler thrives now. We have nothing but praise for the way things have turned out. However, Edmonton is where we spent some of our darkest days. I think all three of us bear scars from the experience.

So we go to Edmonton and remember. I think remembering is so important. I'll probably tell a few strangers in the mall about Tyler. I might even walk by the hospital. And then I'll kiss my boy and thank God for every minute with him.

My Miracle...

So thankful.

Life Group

In our church we have something called "Life Groups". They used to be called care groups, which is a much more familiar term, but have since changed. Not gonna lie...I haven't been a fan of calling it a life group. However I was thinking about it this week and my perspective has changed a bit.

We joined a life group I think it was just over two years ago with three other couples. We knew one out of the three couples well, and the other two pretty much not at all. It's amazing how quickly the bonds grew and I came to call them all some of our closes friends. One of the main topics of conversation for the first year was babies...who was going to be first?

I was the first to get pregnant with Tyler at the beginning of June. (Competitive much?) Christmas time rolled around Jeff and Jen announced their exciting news. Tyler was born in March and that same night Joel and Dominique announced THEIR exciting news - and were due within 4 days of Jeff and Jen. (How's that for timing??) Then just a few months later Daniel and Alisa gave us their news...baby number 4 was on the way. Since then, Maelle Ava and Isaiah James have been born and we are just waiting for Funk baby due in January.

Since Tyler was born quite a bit before the other two, our friends have spent quite a bit of time getting to know him and love him. As far as he (and we) are concerned, they're family. He knows them just about as well as he knows our blood relatives. However I'm not going to lie, I have been preparing myself for when the new babies were to be born as I assumed Tyler would be lost in the shuffle a little bit. It would make sense as there were more babies to love, and they would be their own. I was so wrong.

It is an amazing thing to watch someone else love your child. I can't quite describe it. It really does feel like our group is our family. The new babies have been born and are LOVED. It actually felt weird how much their births affected me. I was away for Maelle's birth and I cried in the middle of a group of people when I got the news because I wasn't around to greet her. When Isaiah was born I couldn't sit still until I held him. After the first time I held him I couldn't get his face out of my mind. I have watched the rest of our group love each child and continue to love ours. Us girls have started getting together for breakfast once a week and it's so much fun to have our kids together and anticipate the fourth on the way. It doesnt' matter much to me who is holding Tyler as I know he's perfectly happy with any of them. Maelle was sleeping so Jen read books to Tyler. He wouldn't go to sleep so he Alisa took him and played with him.

I could go on, but where I was really going with this post is focusing on the term "life" group. prepare for cheese ball
This group has become so life giving. We were talking about it the other day how our kids better learn to get along because they are going to be friends for life whether they like it or not. But that's just it - family doesn't always get along, but you know you're in it for the long haul. Tyler won't have blood cousins for a long time, but Isaiah, Maelle, and baby Funk will be his family. We are so blessed.

Dream house dreaming

We are getting a new house! It's being given to us along with maid service, yard service, and chef service.

...As long as we win the wish home lottery, that is.

I have never bought a lottery ticket in my life, but Mitch and I decided that since it's a cause we believe in, we may as well support it and have a chance at a sweet house while we're at it. So...October 5th we find out if that new house and chef service is really mine all mine. It's funny though how I let my mind run away with me. I've already picked out which house I would live in, how I would save and spend the rest of the prize money, and how our lives would be infinitely better. Isn't that interesting though, how I could think one moment that life couldn't get any better, and then the next moment be convinced that life could never be as good unless I win the house?

I've been working on my perspective this week. Realizing that while there is a rediculously slim chance that we will have a new house, we are already happier than I could ever have imagined. We already have a house, I'm a good cook if I do say so myself, we have landscaped ourselves an awesome yard, and I have been known to clean a bathroom from time to time. We really don't need anything more. We have been blessed with exactly what we need when we need it.

Therefore I will be content to win second prize - vacation for life.