Advents First Sunday

Doing day one of my advent study and the scripture is Isaiah 9:6-7. The prophet is telling of the coming Messiah. What stuck out most from the devotional was God's faithfulness. It took 700 years for this prophesy to be fulfilled but IT WAS. The reflection section reminds us that as we are waiting for Christ's second coming HE IS....right now at work in our hearts, HE IS...our wonderful counselor, mighty God and Prince of Peace. 

I thought of a special friend who is traveling the road of infertility and felt compelled to say a special prayer for her as she continues in her place of waiting.  She is but the face of many, possibly even you dear reader, who will celebrate this holiday season longing for empty arms to be made full. If this is you, just as I prayed for her tonight I also pray for you; as you wait expectantly, in those darkest moments HE IS your peace. 

While there is no way to know what the earthly outcome of your waiting will be, I can say with confidence God has something EXCELLENT in store for you!

Thankful

For the first time in four Thanksgivings I have not felt left out in the room full of my siblings with their families and abundance of children.  This year at the center of it all there is Lillian, grandchild number seven for the Pruitt clan; the child I never thought would be. How grateful I am God chose to say yes this year when I truly believed this would not be the year. 

We (Mom, Rebecca, Emily and I) started the day with the Castle Hills Turkey Trot. I cannot tell you how proud I am of my mom for walking her first 5k and finishing in under 45 minutes.  This time six months ago she would not have even been able to walk that far let along at that speed. She placed fifth in her age group and pushed Rebecca, who is recovering from pneumonia from several weeks, to lace up those shoes again.  

I,with the help of Emily encouraging me along, was able to run my fastest 5K to date. I finished in 3rd for my age group with an 8:18 average pace. I am fairly certain an 8:36 had been my fastest race pace (I'll have to check to confirm that;) but I know it's never been faster than 8:34. 

We took Pruitt family pictures this afternoon before lunch and then had an amazing feast. All in all it's been a great day. 

BUT as great of a day that it was I am saddened and heavy hearted as I know MANY have not had such an amazing day. I've been thinking of my many friends longing to grow their families and having yet to be able to do so, and those who are celebrating their first Thanksgiving without loves ones like Lizzie's family as well as those like my dear brother in law who have lost a family memeber just this week. The holidays are great and remind us of what we have to be thankful for but they also remind us of what we have lost or have not. 

For myself, even in my darkest places and days with my infertility, the one thing that remained and still remains true is Christ.  It is on His solid rock I must stand because truly all other ground is sinking sand.  And so today I am most importantly grateful for a savior who forgives because man I mess up so bad and so often. Just earlier this week I let my sarcastic tongue cause pain to someone so sweet.  Not my intention but my result in trying to get a quick laugh. I know better than that. My God deserves better than that and I just blew it.  My prayer is that God will continue to mold me and use me and my messed up self and that this Thanksgiving whether it be your best to date, worst to date or somewhere in between,  you feel and KNOW Christ's redeeming love. He wants to celebrate the joys with you but he also wants to mourn your sorrows. From experience I know He will hold you my dear friend and never let you go if only you choose to let Him!

10 Months

Lillian is 10 months and getting into all kinds of "trouble"!

She is cruising everywhere and becoming very steady on her feet. She has three teeth and is putting everything in her mouth (we even had a scary choking episode this month on a sequin but thankfully she is all well)!  She can now say please in baby sign and just yesterday blew a kiss to Stephen. She still loves to read and especially loves the feel and read books. 

Time Stood Still: Do you know CPR and the Heimlich?

Before you start reading just know upfront this happened last week and everyone is OKAY!

Lillian picks EVERYTHING up off the floor and puts it in her mouth.  And by everything I mean everything from the two day old puff under the table, the receipt from yesterdays grocery run, the most minute piece of dirt, to the curled up dead bug that made its way through the crack in my door.  It seems I just cannot keep my floors clean enough or rather I can and it's thanks to Lillian? Yikes!

When you are a high schooler taking life-guard training and you get to CPR, you never really think you're gonna have to do the Heimlich and especially on a baby.  

Carrie had arrived to pick up Kate and Wyatt and as she and I chatted it up, the girls were playing on the floor.  (Kate had told me earlier a "sequin" had come off her shoe.  A few rhinestones have come off the front part of her shoe before and she just threw it away.  So I told her I was so sorry and didn't think anything more about it.)  All of a sudden Lillian was coughing and tears, the kind that come from not breathing, were streaming from her eyes.  She seemed to be starting to turn blue.  I hesitated knowing I needed to swipe my finger through her mouth.  Have you ever tried to swipe your finger through the mouth of a baby.  They don't really cooperate and you end up hurting them more than helping them (that is when you are just trying to get them to give you whatever they are currently chewing on); so for two seconds I was thinking "I don't want to hurt her" but then I saw she was actually not breathing and realized hurting her or brain damage from lack of oxygen were two totally different things.  Carrie was closest to Lillian and had grabbed her and was holding Lillian in her lap.  I tried to swipe and did not feel anything.  I told Carrie to try and she didn't didn't feel anything either.  (This is where I'm sure our two versions and perspectives of what happened look very different).  It was at this point time seemed to stand still for me.  I grabbed my baby and began the baby Heimlich.  I kept thinking "what if this doesn't work" and "I have to actually 'hit' her hard if I'm going to get it, whatever 'it' is, out".  Thankfully after what I would guesstimate was about four "hits"she threw up.  There was a bit of blood and she was now crying.  While running my finger in the throw up feeling for something, anything, we asked Kate what Lillian had been chewing on.  She said it was the sequin from her shoe.  Carrie was a little confused and I was assuming it was the rhinestone, so I showed Carrie what I thought Kate was talking about.  It was then that Kate turned her shoe to the side and showed us the actual sequins.  Lillian was now just red-faced and crying but otherwise seemed to be fine and was waiving to the dogs as the tears rolled down her cheeks.  I was still rattled because I had not felt anything and obviously something had caused her to choke.  After a quick call to Dr. Vineyard we decided to be safe and take her to the ER to have a chest x-Ray and make sure she had not aspirated anything.  She had not and so we assume she swallowed "it."  I'm not one to check my daughters poop and I didn't notice any extra sparkle, but I assume it was there the next day.

I write this for several reasons.  One to tell you that our kids are kids and accidents are going to happen, but most importantly to ask you, "Do you know CPR and the Heimlich?"  If you don't and you are a member of society, which I assume you are ;) , but especially if you have children PLEASE take a class or even if you don't get officially certified get someone who is certified to teach you.  I have been officially certified and in the first few moments found myself questioning what to do, so I cannot imagine what I would have done if I actual had NO clue how to react.

I'm Under the Covers

Tonight as Stephen and I headed to bed I told him I was imagining myself under the covers already to which he responded, "I can accept that."  What I was really saying was I wanted to play the "last one under the covers has to turn off all the lights game." Grr...just like Stephen to actually win by accepting defeat. 

But it did make me smile. I really stopped and reminisced about the early years of our marriage when we lived in Lufkin. Our bedroom was right off the livingroom. There was always that moment late in the evening when a tv show was ending or practically over.  It was in those moments  the game somehow began: that break to race to the bedroom to get under the covers first.  There was always a fine line between victory and defeat; you had to make sure to casualy position yourself on the couch were you could win but also secure that the other person was actually playing.  Tonight I realized just how much I have missed our little game and just how much I loved those moments. It's just not the same when there's a dining room, entry way and long hallway to navigate. it's a game best played as a sprint rather than an abbreviated temple run. 

So tonight I ask you, what precious, quirky memory do you have with/of your spouse from the early years of your marriage (and for kicks how long have you been wed)?