Mixed bag

Today's blog is a mixed bag! First, had a wonderful time in Madison with Kemp/Katie and Jon. SUPER quick trip but fun, nonetheless! Kemp enjoyed being with Jon and having a day away from school! Katie enjoyed picking out her gift from us for baby Carter! I was  pleased that she chose such a beautiful armoire as what she wanted for Carter's nursery and our gift to him. POSH MOMMY & BABY TOO is where she found it. It's the "Enchantment" line, just perfectly matched to Kemp/Daisy's baby bed. YAY! So now, she pretty much is ready for Carter since she has a place to put all his precious little clothes! They have in the nursery now, baby bed/beautiful minky dot chair/ottoman combo and soon ARMOIRE. (it will be here in a few weeks). It is all coming together beautifully!!! Kemp got a big laugh when we showed him, on his old baby bed, his TEETH MARKS! Natalie told Katie to paint it if she wanted to, but Katie loved seeing the little teeth marks there put by baby Kemp!!!! SO, they are staying! LOL ....Anyway, after getting the furniture and doing a few errands, it was time to head back home with Kemp. We dropped him off and ran to the Galleria and met up with Kelley for a little while , while she was on her dinner break. SHe looks good and Ryder looks like he is doing fine as well! Their nursery will be finished when they get to San Diego. Looks like they will be "tying the knot" in about a month! We are going to try our hardest to get out there for their ceremony. Then, hopefully, he will be here for Ryder's birth!!! Such exciting times! TWO BABY BOYS. Just please keep these little pregnant mommies in your prayers! Kelley is diabetic, so she has to be more careful and watchful during her pregnancy. Katie has had a great pregnancy but still, these mommies need prayers as they go through the final few last months!

 Speaking of prayers, pray for Katie's  high school and good friend, Katie. She was due the same day as Kelly (in April) and lost her baby girl Feb.7th sue to Pre-Eclampsia. It has been such a difficult time for Katie (both of them!).Today Katie met her for lunch and they got to visit but Katie is still having such a difficult time, as expected. She had a box of the tiniest little clothes she brought to show Katie that she was given by the hospital for her to keep along with her tiny footprints and handprints/ teensy tiny cap and diaper. All doll sized. Angel sized. There is a group who makes these precious keepsake boxes for mothers who  lose their tiny babies. It's a ministry if you ask me!!!! What a wonderful thing---a TANGIBLE thing for the grieving moms and daddies to hold on to. After lunch  Katie asked me if I wanted to go see where she was buried. So we rode up there and there, in Jefferson Memorial, in the section called Babyland (on Hwy 150) there is a circle where these precious babies are buried. It is moving/sad/precious and heartbreaking. It made me think, again, how blessed we are to have healthy babies---and reminds me there are so many who lose their precious babies before they even get to hold them. I couldn't help it , I just cried as I looked at the tiny gravesites decorated with gifts from moms and dads. Little cars/pinwheels/dolls/stuffed animals. And the heartbreaking words on the the headstones. I could see so much love and sadness and , yes, even joy in the tended tiny plots of earth.  They might not have lived long here on earth but are as much as God's children as you and me.  THEY LIVED. However briefly and in God's perfect timing.  It's hard to understand , certainly for me, but that is where the TRUST IN GOD comes from. Why? I want to ask, why did these tiny ones not get to live their lives out? But yet that is where GOD IS GOD. HE HAS A PLAN FOR US ALL. Even those who weigh 10 ounces and live for a mere 31 minutes. I realized we're all on God's time, none of us know how long that will be! My mother is 96 years old and yet there is one who lived 31 minutes. It's a puzzlement for sure but God knows the "why" and the reasons. I can imagine God will use her 31 minutes to touch many lives ! 
My heart hurts so deeply for Katie and Doug and I pray God will give them  peace as they go through this journey of grief. May  God bless this precious little couple and give them strength to rely on each other during this dark time in their lives and give them hope for more children in their future. Of course, no child will ever replace this one they lost but that the spot that is empty in their hearts now will one day be filled back again with joy and peace and children's laughter....

"My frame was not hidden from You, 
when I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me".               Psalm 139 15-16