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Lots of stuff going on.

Things are super busy as always. Right now I love it though.
We are coming into our favorite time of year: The Fall and the Holiday Seasons.
I am trying to cherish every minute of every. single. day. I love the weather, the atmosphere, the smells....I bought a bag of apples at the store the other day and they seriously just smell SO good. Every time I go into the kitchen I cannot help but to smell them. Chris and I keep discussing how sometime soon we cannot wait to get some apple cider and sugar-covered or pumpkin donuts. We always heat it up in a saucepan on the stove and Chris always "spices" it up. Literally. Cinnamon...nutmeg...and topped off with just a little brandy. We are going to wait until it gets a little bit cooler outside for that though. I think it probably won't be too long...we got a nice glimpse of that cool weather last week. I think it will return the beginning of October, just a guess.

Chris is doing his internship right now and so far it seems to be going really well. I am happy that he loves it and is passionate about helping people. I know he will do really great at it. Besides the long hours and lack of sleep, he is handling it well and so far not seeing each other much has not been too much of a strain on our relationship. In March we will have been married for 4 years. As time goes on I notice that we have better communication, and work more as a team, which in turn makes getting things done around the house and coordinating our schedules much much easier. I am thankful for him, he is such a great husband.

Since it seems I have a lot more free time during the week while Chris is gone I have been doing a lot to keep myself busy. I have a few 5K's and bike events coming up soon that I have been training for. I am pretty proud of myself, I have never been able to run 3-4 miles without stopping and now it is almost effortless. Of course some days are harder than others, but it is going great. I am also trying to bike to work every morning that I can, as long as it is not raining. I love it! I have gotten an opportunity to spend evenings with friends and catch up. I am much more willing to clean, prepare meals and keep up the laundry while Chris is at work. I blame on the fact that handsome face and charm are not there to distract me. I am also looking forward to all of the new season shows that start this week for the Fall line-up.

I am looking forward to this weekend!! Saturday morning is my first 5K. I am doing the Quest for the Cure...and I am pretty excited and nervous at the same time. That afternoon we are setting a monument, and then in the evening go to the football at Grand Valley because they play SVSU. I think it is going to be a lot of fun, and I always love it when we get to hang out with friends and family.
All in all I am really looking forward to this season, and feel so thankful and blessed.

Touching Story

If you have a minute, please check out this blog: http://mkwiersma.blogspot.com/

This poor family has been through so much. And talk about a small world. I initially heard about them through a coworker a couple weeks ago. Then today I was talking with another coworker about running and she told me how there is a 5K that I should do in a couple weeks as a fundraiser for this family, and it turned out to be the same one! I was looking through the brochure and decided to look at their blog and realized that I had read it before. A bunch of us in the office decided that we were going to do this 5K and then the word got out. It turns out a bunch of other people in the office know the family as well, but didn't know about the others who knew them. Such a small world.....

Anyways, back to the Wiersma family. Kate ended up going into labor sometime between 21-22 weeks. The doctors tried to stop it but after being on the meds for a while I guess she got very ill and then they didn't know if she would even make it. They ended up delivering the babies after 23 weeks. Maxwell and Wesley have several medical issues, and are still in the NICU at Spectrum Health. Three weeks after they were born Kate's mother passed away. I do not know many details but she had some sort of cancer. Shortly after that, Kate's father lost his job, and now Kate and Mark are possibly losing their house. It is such a sad story, I guess it just really gets to me. All they wanted was to have children and become a family. Twins...what a joy! And now all of this has happened, my heart just really goes out to them. It just goes to show that you never know what will happen with a pregnancy, and now they are going to have so many doctors bills (especially since there are two babies.) I just could not imagine. They pretty much need any sort of financial help that they can get.

To help them out, we are running in the 2nd Annual Quest for the Cure. It is on Saturday, September 12, 2009. If anyone would like to make a donation, or pledge for my run, that would be amazing! You can also donate online at: www.quest4cure.org. I know that my small contribution will probably not make that huge of an impact on their lives, but every little bit helps.

Babies Galore!

Congratulations Todd and Shauna! (Chris's sister)

Rowan Julia Johnson



Rowan Julia was born at 4:18 am on August 9th, 2009. She was 8 pounds 8 ounces and 20-3/4 inches long. Another new niece! They live in Maine. Hopefully we will get to visit there next year, Chris and I have always wanted to see Maine.


Ayden was born August 10th at 10:32 pm (11:32 pm our time) weighing in at 7 lbs. 5 oz. and 19.5 inches long. He is my new little nephew born to my little brother Joe and fiance Tiffany.



He is a cutie, no?
The problem is that they live in Kansas, and I have no vaca time left this year. It would probably be about a 12 hour drive from Michigan to there. I am trying to figure out how I could utilize a 3-day weekend coming up here soon over Labor Day so I could go and visit. We will see I guess! I really want to meet my nephew, it kills me that I couldn't be there at the hospital. Hopefully I will get to see him soon!

Liam Charles Kelly

Liam Charles Kelly, infant son of Patrick and Megan went to be in the arms of Jesus on July 23, 2009.


I have been wanting to post about this for a while now. It is just such a heavy topic, that I wanted to wait. I wanted to think about everything that has happened in the past couple weeks, the past couple months. It is been indescribably saddening, and emotionally draining.

I cannot even begin to understand what it would be like to lose a child, and I am sure that my words here will not remotely come close to the pain and heartache that my sister and husband have had to deal with over the past two weeks, since Liam was born still. Liam was a fighter, and his precious little heart remained beating for quite some time up until the birth. Megan had gone into the hospital two days before, because her placenta was starting to tear away. Ironic considering that it had absolutely nothing to do with Liam's heart condition and his hydrops. When they got to the hospital, they were surprised to learn that Liam was still alive, and everyone was so thankful and continued to pray. She kept having contractions until Thursday when she finally gave birth at 29 weeks. The doctors from Ann Arbor had told the doctor in Saginaw that they believed that there was a 100% chance that there was no way that he was going to make it. It was the worst news possible. There are so many questions here. It just doesn't make sense. Why would God let this happen? Has he not heard our prays for the last several months? Why Liam, just a small, precious innocent baby? Also, Liam was born a short seven days after Nataleigh. It is best said when asked, how do you feel so much sorrow, and so much joy in your heart, all at the same time? We will never really understand why all of this happened. But God is glorified in all things, and everything happens according to his will and purpose. His timing is perfect. Sometimes it is hard to remember those things, especially in the middle of our angst and confusion.

On Monday, July 27th 2009, a memorial was held. The service was beautiful. Some friends sang a couple of songs and touched everyone's hearts deeply. I believe it truly was a day that friends and family will never forget.

Hopefully time will heal the hurt, the pain, and the suffering. Liam Charles will always be loved, and hold a place in our hearts forever.

In loving memory of Liam Charles Kelly, who entered into eternal life with our Savior on July 23, 2009. May he never be forgotten.

Introducing the adorable Nataleigh Grace.

Isn't she lovely?

Thursday late morning we got the call that it was official, my sister-in-law Emileigh's water had broke. I could barely wait to get out of work at 4 pm to get home, pack my bag and make the drive down to the hospital.
Emileigh's labor was relatively quick it seemed. Her water had broke around 8 am. They went to the hospital and had the pitocin started around 4ish. When I got there around 7 pm she seemed to be doing OK, she was having some contractions and they hadn't checked her yet so she had no idea how far she was dilated. Within like half an hour the contractions got a lot worse and she was in a lot of pain. Soon after that my brother Nathan and her decided that she would try some Demerol to help take the edge off the pain, so they gave her that mixed with Phenergan. Their original birth plan was that they were going to try to do the labor as natural as possible. I think it was around like 8:45 pm when she decided that she really wanted to have the epidural. The anesthesiologist was called, but a couple minutes later we were all standing around and all of a sudden Emileigh was like "I feel like I need to push!" I remember for a moment it was like we all just sort of looked at eachother like oh my gosh, this could be it! Sure enough, when the nurses came running in and checked her she was at 1o cm, and there was no time for the epi. I was proud of her, she gave birth with out the epidural! I know that it was probably not very easy, and afterward she said that it was the worst pain that she has ever experienced. She also had a 3rd degree tear down to the muscle.
It was a pretty exciting and eventful evening. Even though I wasn't able to be in the delivery room when she was born, it was special enough just to be outside the door. It was definitely an experience that I will never forget.

Nataleigh was born at 9:37 pm, weighing in at 5 lbs. 13 oz. and 18 inches long. She was 3 weeks and 2 days early.

Nathan, Emileigh, and baby girl Nataleigh Grace (Notice how it's a combo of their names? Kinda cool, huh?) I also thought that Emileigh looked pretty darn good afterward, she doesn't even look like she just had a baby, haha!



Group Photo



We finally got to hold her the next day!





Niece Nataleigh and Nephew Samuel...what a difference 3 years can make in size!



And last but not least, another picture of precious Nataleigh sleeping. She is so cute and so little....such a little peanut!

10 things I am thankful for today-in no random order.

1. Our amazing, hope giving, gracious Father.
2. My incredible husband. He truly is incredible.
3. My family. I would be nowhere without them.
4. Having transportation.
5. Being able to have money to bless others.
6. Air conditioning.
7. My ability to be active.
8. Our church family.
9. Our pups who love us unconditionally.
10. Popsicles.

I know some of those are random. But those are the things I am truly thankful for at the moment.