Adventures in Our Home & Hearts: Celebrations!

Giving God Glory

Giver of all Good Gifts - Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. James 1:17 The Lord has blessed us with the joy of celebrating many good gifts from Him this past month... 7 years of marriage; Josiah - 1st birthday; many wonderful fathers - Wes, both our dads, Gpa Rush, Papa Maddox; & baby on the way... We are grateful to the Lord for His good gifts!

What's on the Harrisons' Hearts

Sharing our hearts & seeking prayer (June, July, & beginning of August pregnancy journey) -

6.17.13

Our hearts are full of gratefulness to the Lord as we celebrate 7 years of marriage and our 7 week old baby! Please pray for our family... After having 3 miscarriages since Noah, our hearts are trusting the Lord but are also extra tender. Please pray for God's peace to guard our hearts (Philippians 4:6-7) and for us to trust the Lord and not lean on our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6) as we wait on His perfect plans to unfold for this precious life (Psalm 139:13-16).

7.8.13

Baby update ~ We praise and thank the Lord for sustaining the life thus far of our precious little one (Colossians 1:16-17). Over the past few weeks, we had another ultrasound, and baby’s heartbeat continues to be strong. Baby is 10 weeks along, and we are grateful to be past 2 of our miscarriages - 6 weeks and 9 weeks (other was 11.5 weeks). Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for our family! The Lord has been answering your prayers because He has been strengthening our hearts with His peace that surpasses all understanding, and He has been growing our trust in Him - no matter what His plans may be for our baby. The Lord has been encouraging us lately with recalling to mind His character - His lovingkindness, faithfulness, goodness, and wisdom - Lamentations 3:21-26. Please continue to pray for our family in this journey of waiting upon Him - that we would rest in His character (Psalm 46:10), trust His plan (Proverbs 3:5-6), and glorify Him (Colossians 3:17). Thank you!!!

7.27.13
We thank the Lord for blessing us with the gift of almost 13 weeks with our little one on the way. Yesterday, our ultrasound showed baby's heart beating strong and that we have a very active little one! Baby was flipping, kicking, punching, and moving non-stop - similar to these images. The Lord continues to give us peace in the waiting and to keep our hearts steadfast in trusting Him, so thank you very much to all those praying for us! Lately, the Lord has been encouraging us with the truth of how each day with our children (whether in the womb or on this earth) is a precious gift and not a guarantee. So, we are grateful for every day the Lord blesses us with Noah, Josiah, and baby! Please continue to pray for our family in this journey of waiting upon the Lord - that we would continue to rest in His character (Psalm 46:10), trust His plan (Proverbs 3:5-6), and glorify Him (Colossians 3:17). Thank you!!!

7.31.13

Important update on baby ~ Yesterday we went to the ER due to my body beginning labor at 13 weeks. Labor symptoms ceased after 3 hours (& are presently still ceased), and ultrasounds have shown baby with strong heartbeat. However, baby has moved very low. Unless the Lord does a miracle and moves baby back up higher, the baby will not live. Our doctors said they have never seen this scenario not result in miscarriage. We are back home and waiting upon the Lord to reveal His will for this precious life. We know God is all-powerful (Jeremiah 32:17) and can move our baby, but we also continue to trust whatever His will may be since He knows best (Romans 11:33-36). Praise for answered prayer that we would glorify the Lord in this journey ~ the Lord blessed us with several opportunities to talk with ER staff about the Lord, how we’re trusting Him, and the sanctity of life.

8.1.13
We continue to wait on the Lord to reveal His will for our precious little baby as my body remains the same (no labor contractions). Tomorrow afternoon we have an appointment with our OB that will involve an ultrasound to see if there are any changes with baby in heartbeat or positioning. We have definitely encountered a variety of emotions over the past couple days. The Lord has been strengthening us as we seek to reflect on & rest in who He is ~ His attributes & character ~ rather than trying to figure out what He is going to do. The Lord’s sovereignty (how He is in complete control of every detail) has been very encouraging to us ~

~ ...He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords - 1 Timothy 6:15
~ ...“I know that You can do all things, and that no purpose of Yours can be thwarted.” - Job 42:2
~ ...in Your book were all written the days that You have ordained for me [our baby]... - Psalm 139:16

The truth in this song has also been encouraging to us ~ Sovereign Over Us - by Aaron Keyes

8.2.13
Baby update ~ Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for our family! We greatly appreciate each one of you! The ultrasound showed my body is completely clear of baby, and therefore our baby is in heaven with Jesus. We praise the Lord in the midst of this loss because we did not even know that we had miscarried our precious little one while at home - no pain, no contractions, minimal bleeding, etc. The Lord has been very kind and gracious to our family in so many ways throughout this trial, so know that He has been answering your prayers... even if His answer looked different than had been hoped.

Something extremely important to our family we want to share ~ Though today we received difficult news about our pregnancy, news far more deadly than this is how we are sinners who have offended a holy God and have no way to be right with Him on our own.

...for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God... For the wages of sin is death... Romans 3:23 & 6:23

The wonderful good news is that Jesus Christ lived a perfect life & died on the cross for our sins so that we can be saved from our sins & be right with God.

...but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Romans 6:23

Praying to God & telling Him how you are a sinner and are sorry for your sins (repentance) and then telling Him you trust in Jesus Christ's death & resurrection to save you from your sins (faith) would be a prayer that would mean so much more to us than praying for our family, even though your prayers for us have been and continue to be very encouraging to us! Please message me with any questions you have about how you can be right with God. Knowing Jesus blessed you with the gift of salvation from hearing the good news of the gospel due to the life and death of our baby would bring us immense joy!

Praises & Prayer Requests

Various Loved Ones - Continued prayer for wisdom and for Christ's strength and perspective as they are in the midst of various trials (James 1:2-5).

Tache - Prayer of James 1:5 for wisdom for the doctors to determine how to help her back heal.

Paul & Amanda - Praise for the Lord blessing them with the arrival of their healthy and precious baby boy, Caleb.

Tami - Continued prayers for the Lord to give my dad and other loved ones His perspective and that God would heal Tami, but ultimately that His will would be done.

Our Family - See praises & prayer requests involved with the Lord calling our baby home in the "What's on the Harrisons' Hearts" section above.

Wes - Praise for the Lord providing financially as we prepare for furlough that starts next month. Continued prayer for Wes to continue to be a strong light and witness for Christ at work in the midst of a very spiritually dark environment and also for spiritual protection (Ephesians 6:10-20).

Christina - Praise for the Lord answering prayers for wisdom with preparing and teaching VBS at our church this month; it was a joy to serve through teaching the children. Continued prayer of Galatians 5:16 for both Wes and I that we would walk in the Spirit and not in our flesh.
Noah - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will. Praise for the Lord growing Noah in being loving and gentle with Josiah and Sierra. Prayer of Ephesians 4:32 for Noah to be kind others, even when they may not be showing kindness or being considerate towards him.
Josiah - God would graciously save him at a young age and lead him to walk with the Lord all of his days, if that be the Lord's will. Continued prayer for the Lord to grow Josiah in his gross motor skills (ex. progressions involved with crawling & walking) in His perfect timing, and prayer of James 1:5 for wisdom with our response to how God has made Josiah but also with our role in helping him grow & develop.

Marriage Memories

Celebrating 7 years of marriage & our 7 week old baby

Family Fun

Our fam - celebrating our sweet 1 year old boy this month

Making Wonderful Memories with Dad & Mom - visited from WI

Tradition of completing home projects together - gas line, hardware, etc. * Biker "boys" :)

Denver "Double Date" - Enjoying the Cheesecake Factory & some shopping at the mall

Noah couldn't wait to wrestle Grandpa but he was a little intimidated & begged Daddy to wrestle Grandpa * Jumping in to take Grandpa down

More wrestling fun on another day :)

Grandpa Harrison lovin' on the grandsons - Grandpa & Josiah * Grandpa & Noah * Showing off their muscles

Grandsons with Grandpa & Grandma Harrison

Celebrating Our Fathers

Tradition of taking Dad out for sushi

Celebrating Dad & Gpa over dinner at Texas Roadhouse

Papa, Noah, & Gpa ;)

Celebrating our wonderful Daddy on Father's Day

We love you, Wes / Daddy!

Water-fight fun on Father's Day with neighbor friend, AJ

Noah News

Riding on his scooter to the park while sporting a Spiderman outfit ;)

Age - 4 years old

Cute Communication -

*I asked Josiah what he wanted for his birthday breakfast, and Noah interpreted for him. ;) Noah informed me that Josiah wanted homemade cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, & juice. Noah even determined that Josiah would like to have "Breakfast in crib" (since we usually do "Breakfast in bed" for birthdays. We stayed with the high chair this year...maybe next year. :)

*We shared with Noah the news about my being pregnant by Wes praying for "the baby in Mommy's tummy" during our prayer time with him in the morning. Noah caught on immediately and got ecstatically giddy with cute giggling while Wes was praying. Wes asked Noah - "Do you know what Daddy prayed for?" Noah (while continuing to giggle with a HUGE smile on his face) - "There's a baby inside Mommy's tummy!"

*Noah prayed often for our baby. Here's one of his prayers - "I pray for baby. I don't know if the baby will be a boy or girl. I pray baby comes out quickly (so he could play with baby)." This was a precious prayer at the time, and looking back now, I see how the Lord did answer his prayer in a way we didn't expect...

*Some of Noah's favorite names for baby: Hulk, Spiderman, Superman, & other girls' names - that he knows & likes these girls ;)

*"Why did they win us?" Noah meant - "Why did they beat us?" ;)

Latest Likes

Wearing hats

Building forts

Riding his scooter

Movies

Playing with friends - Noah has become very socially aware & wants to wear what his friends are wearing, to do what his friends are doing, & to be like them (which makes for some good teachable moments)

Noah made a "bed fort" to sleep in out of chairs & a step-stool * "Playing drums" & singing away while doing some construction work

All decked out - cammo hat, shades, Daddy's work boots, & a fire ax * Speeding down the street on his scooter

*Video - Noah cruising on his scooter

Josiah Joys

1 Year Old Stats

Weight - 22 lbs. 61%

Height - 30 in. 61%

Head - 17 in. 3%

1sts - crawling - "lurch crawl," 1st bday - cake & ice cream, Oreos, candy, juice, riding in a parade

Teeth - 8 total (4 top & 4 bottom)

Latest Likes

Big brother Noah

Sweets!!! :)

Playing with the animal magnets on our fridge

Riding in our red push-car rather than our stroller

Being tickled

Other Interesting Info

*Physical Therapy Update - We had our first meeting with The Resource Exchange to fill out paperwork and answer questions about Josiah. They will evaluate Josiah next month to see if he qualifies to work with them. We hope to work with The Resource Exchange since it is free, and they would come to our home for all the physical therapy appointments.

Playing with our animal magnets on our fridge * Sound asleep

Ready to ride * Having fun with Gpa

*Video - Josiah's "lurch crawl" (display of perseverance since on a slick surface; Wes ended up providing a stable hand for him to lurch off of)

Bro Bonding

Sweet bros

Fort fun! - Noah likes making forts for Josiah & him to play in together :)

Hiding together * Noah explaining the game-plan to Josiah

Noah feeding Josiah

Homeschool Highlights

Click on this link if interested in the FREE preschool skills/benchmarks that I use - Core Knowledge Preschool Sequence of Skills

Click on this link for a corresponding preschool book that I use - Core Knowledge: What Your Preschooler Needs to Know

Spiritual & Social: 1st VBS - This was my first Vacation Bible School at ABEFC & Noah's first VBS ever. I was blessed with the opportunity of teaching the Bible Story to all ages - they came to me in 4 different age groups, which worked well. We studied Jesus' Journey: Jesus' Birth, Life, Trials, Death, & Resurrection/Ascension. I enjoyed teaching the children about Jesus Christ & sharing the gospel, and Noah enjoyed participating!

Dylan (neighbor friend) & Noah had a great time carpooling together & dressing up for the various theme days

Life Skills: Tree pruning - Brainstorming a game-plan * Wes cut off the dead limbs while Noah supervised ;)

Social Studies: Celebrating Flag Day - We colored pictures about Betsy Ross making the first flag for our first president, George Washington. We also read & discussed concepts such as how Betsy made the flag (sewing) and why there is a difference in the number of stars on the first flag and the flag today.

Reading which prompted discussion that we enjoyed from a book we use - Core Knowledge: What Your Preschooler Needs to Know

Memorable Moment of the Month

Big brothers - At Josiah's 1st birthday party, we decided to share the news about our baby on the way through both of our boys wearing "Big Brother" shirts. Our goal was to communicate that BOTH of them were going to be big brothers and have a younger sibling. We discovered that family noticed the shirts but did not get the message behind them. So, we dropped a few hints, and some started catching on. My dad was not phased and responded, "That's right... Josiah is a BIG (as in size) brother." Then after pausing a moment it dawned on him we meant big (as in older) brother, and he was thrilled! It was quite entertaining. :)

Celebrating Josiah's 1st Birthday

Josiah's Birthday Party

We had it a couple weeks early while Grandpa & Grandma Harrison were visiting so they could celebrate with us.

Big bro helping birthday boy open his gifts

Grateful for the gift of 1 year with this sweet boy!

1st Time Eating Cake & Ice Cream: The play by play - 1st bite * This is delicious! * Completely covered... up to his elbows... all over his face...

Playing peek-a-boo * Sugar starting to kick in... growling/screeching at his big bro

Papa having a great time feeding bday boy some sweets * Auntie Wendy helping hold his cake

Enjoying dinner together

Celebrating on Josiah's Actual Birthday

Big bro giving birthday boy a kiss :)

Birthday breakfast - we asked Noah what he thought Josiah would like for his bday breakfast, & Noah said, "Cinnamon rolls, scrambled eggs, & juice." ;) Noah helped me make everything for lil' bro.