Coffee, Shoes, Phones, and a Couch

We love us some Starbucks coffee, and we start 'em early in this house!

Seriously, it's an empty cup. Samantha was freaking out over my coffee cup on Saturday morning, so I poured it into a mug, rinsed out the paper cup and let her play with it.
Here are some better pictures of her shoes. I know, these are a long time coming, but I didn't forget!

She has also taken a liking to 'talking' on my phone. She'll snatch it off the table and chatter away with some imaginary person on the other line. She won't do it when there is actually someone on the phone though. The Dora couch is quickly becoming her favorite 'toy'. She sits on it all the time, and lays down on it when she's tired. I'm glad we decided to get it for her.

Randoms

Just some random pictures from the past few days. Enjoy!

We got this fold out Dora couch for Samantha this weekend. It's the same one her friend Bella has! I tried to get her to choose the red Sesame Street one, but she kept gravitating to Dora. At least she likes it.

We went to the park this weekend. The swings were a big hit!
Last night we had some friends over, and they have a little (almost) 2 month old girl. We brought down the baby swing and play gym just in case. This morning Samantha saw the swing and decided she wanted to sit in it. Good thing the weight limit is 25 pounds! I can't believe how big she looks in it compared to when she was a baby!
Samantha in the swing at 13 months old:

Samantha in the swing at 2 months old:

Somebody tell me...

...why does my kid close her eyes in every picture I take of her?

...why does my dog think she needs to dig to China every time she goes outside? ...why does my cat think Samantha's tent is her new home?...why does Samantha like her old car seat so much more now that it's in the house?...why is there a rainbow in this cupcake?

Heaven's Gates

When I was in 6th grade I went to a production put on by one of the local churches called Heaven's Gates, Hell's Flames.
The production was a series of skits in which the characters die and find themselves at the gates of Heaven. An angel checks "The Book of Life" to see if their name is written in it. If it is they are ushered through the gates to Heaven. If it isn't, they are dragged off to hell.
It probably sounds kind of cheesy, but it was actually very moving. Truth be told, one skit in particular tugged at me so hard that I gave my life to Christ that night, and I haven't ever regretted it.
The skit that nudged me over the faith line was one where a family of 4 (dad, mom, brother & sister) were driving home from church. They were arguing about something, and suddenly they were in a car accident. All 4 of them died. They all were at the gates to Heaven, and all 4 were told their names were written in the book.
Jesus came out from behind the gates like He had for all the other characters going into Heaven, but this time he came out holding the hand of a little (maybe 3 year old) girl. The whole family burst into tears and hugged that little girl like they were never going to let go of her.

For years that skit has been a memory that I hold close for a few different reasons. It was a big part of my decision to become a Christian, and it has always reminded me that when our loved ones go on to Heaven without us we will see them again.

Now that memory has taken on a whole new meaning. Layla Grace (the little girl I blogged about on Monday) passed away Tuesday morning after a long and painful battle with cancer. I just know that when her family sees her again in heaven they're going to hold her tighter than ever before.

A quote from her pastor's blog has the perfect perspective, and tells the truth so elegantly:

We grieve . . . but we grieve with hope – Hope in God’s promise that Layla is now in heaven with Jesus where there is no more sorrow, no more pain, no more cancer. Hope that even though we die in this life, we live again, forever. Hope, that even though we will no longer physically have her in our lives here on earth, she will be forever in our hearts . . . and when we someday face our last breath that we will have the opportunity to see her again.

"Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him." - I Thessalonians 4:13-14

It's just tearing me apart to think about the pain this whole family is going through. I pray that they will find peace and comfort in each other and in the words of God.
I don't know them personally, and our paths are likely to never cross. All I can do is take their story and learn from their unconditional love and unbelievable strength. I will hold my family closer, and I'll remember to treasure even the most difficult days, because those are days we have together.

Let's Read!

Layla Grace

Sometimes it's easy to forget that the world is bigger than our lives and our own struggles. Recently I came across a blog about a brave little girl named Layla Grace. Here is her story, written by her mother, taken from their blog:

Layla has always been a healthy child, 80th percentile for weight, a great eater, a great sleeper. She is sweet as pie and a little cuddle monkey (she won’t let you put her down!). She has a very advanced vocab for her age which really helps us manage her pain and give her what she needs as her care continues.

Layla had a great 15 month checkup. At around 16 months her sleep habits and appetite started to change and she started to become more irritable. Mid March appetite began to decrease. At the time we thought we were dealing with a “picky eater”. Beginning of May Layla woke up one morning with a swollen eye. We took her to the doctor and she was treated for an ear infection and the doctor said the swelling was just a result of the ear infection. At the same time we noted that her belly was hard and somewhat distended. She had not had a bowel movement for a few days and we were concerned that she was becoming constipated.

The next day we took her to the pediatrician who put her on Mirilax over the weekend and told us to call back Monday. By Monday morning she was not eating at all, still no dirty diaper, her activity level had decreased and was rubbing her belly and lower back and saying “owie”.
Our pediatrician referred us to a GI specialist to see why she was so constipated and wasn’t eating. On Thursday May 7th as we sat in GI specialists office expecting to be told that Layla would need some kind of treatment for constipation we instead hear words like “Cancer” and “Leukemia”. A series of X-rays and tests were ordered and we were sent home to wait on the results.

That evening about five minutes after we walked in the door we got an urgent call from the GI specialist telling us that the test results were in, that things were not good and that we were to bring Layla into the ER immediately and that a team of doctors would be waiting for us.
Layla has a massive cancerous tumor (Stage 4 Neuroblastoma) in her abdomen. It extends from above her left kidney, around her side, over her belly and wraps around her aorta. In addition, the cancer is in her bone marrow.

Our sweet Layla went from normal happy and healthy to lethargic, in pain, and skin and bones in a matter of a week and a half.

You can get to Layla's blog by clicking here: Layla Grace

You might be wondering why I'm writing about Layla and not Samantha today. I've been praying for Layla more than I can remember praying about anything because I know that her story could have just as easily been Samantha's story. There is no rhyme or reason to why these things happen, and they can happen to anyone. It breaks my heart to know that this family might only have a few hours left with their beautiful little girl.

Join me in praying for Layla to be healed.
If God doesn't bring a miracle and heal her, let's pray that He will comfort her family in their loss.

Quick Update

Just a little update from our weekend.
We spent a good majority of our time at home, relaxing and doing some spring cleaning. We tried (again) to put Samantha in the scooters room at church with no success. She's going through a very clingy stranger-danger stage, so she typically lasts about 15 minutes or less before the volunteers in that room have to come and find us. Oh well, we'll just keep trying. Eventually she's grow out of this stage.
We found a new fun little gadget for Samantha this weekend. It's a stuffed lamb with an mp3 player inside it. No joke, it has a USB cord to hook it up to your computer, you load it with music, and then you stash the cord in its back. There are little buttons on its feet where you can turn the music on, control the volume, and skip to different tracks. We loaded it up with her lullaby music and she loves it. You can kind of see the lamb laying facedown on the couch in the background of this picture. I'm sure we'll get a picture of Samantha with the lamb sometime soon.

Yesterday she played with this blanket for the longest time! She kept draping it over her head and laughing like crazy. Whose side of the family does she get that nuttiness from???

We can't forget about her buddy Tweek! He's been getting braver everyday, and will actually walk up to Samantha and rub his head on her back sometimes. The poor cat just wants affection, he doesn't care where it comes from!

New Shoes

Guess what? We have a nifty little addition to our blog. You can sign up to get an email update when new blog posts are published! I did this because I've had a couple of people tell me that they miss the periodic emails I would send when I would put up new posts. I don't want to bombard everyone's email inbox with my link to our blog, so I thought I would leave it in your hands. This will also make it easier for the blog police to keep up to date on our blog without having to check it multiple times a day. :)
The box you can use to sign yourself up is at the top of the right hand column here on the blog.
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Check it out, and sign up for new blog post emails!

This weekend we found a little pair of shoes that Samantha will actually tolerate. She usually throws herself on the ground and wrenches at her feet until she can get her shoes off. We're making progress. Now she can walk around the stores and I don't have to freak out about her getting the filth from the floors on her socks. You can kinda sorta see them here. The mountain of books falling out of the entertainment center is much more noticeable though...
I'll try to get a better picture of her in her shoes for you some other time.