Princess Tea

The girls and I were blessed to be able to attend the 2nd Annual Princess Tea, benefitting our local Refuge Pregnancy Center.

 

The Red Carpet.

 

The tables were decorated beautifully.

 

 

Lovely girlfriends.

 

My dear sweet sisters.

 

All the Disney Princesses were on hand and provided us with entertainment.

 

They even walked around to every table and gave autographs.

 

Mulan was so thrilled to see “Little Mulan” (Grace).

 

We love Pocahontas (aka Miss Allison: she used to be the girls’ piano teacher).

 

“Anna” stops by to say hello.

 

Here’s Frozen’s “Elsa”, aka Miss Hannah, Grace’s voice teacher.

 

Hugs from Rapunzel.

 

 

Rapunzel played by none other than Miss Alyssa, Faith’s piano teacher.

 

And their friend, Karah as Cinderella.

 

 

Hundreds of daughters put on their fancy dresses and gathered with their moms at the Heritage Palms Country Club for the Refuge Pregnancy Center’s 2nd Annual Princess Tea.

We enjoyed a yummy lunch, cupcakes, entertainment, raffle prizes and a silent auction.

The girls and I had a lovely time with our friends and we enjoyed being able to help this GREAT cause.

Bonus: We even WON 3 raffle prizes! (That NEVER happens!)

The girls are already looking forward to next year’s event.

There’s no place like home

Zach’s last night in the hospital. He spent it being cuddled by mommy and daddy. Dreaming of home…

 

He did AWESOME on the LONG car ride home. Slept most of the way!

 

They are SO thrilled! Can you tell? “We get to keep him forever now?!”

 

My THREE blessings!

 

So sweet!

 

“Roarrrrrrr!!!”

 

After 75 days in the NICU, 4 bouts of MRSA with pneumonia, over 5,000 miles traveled to San Francisco and back, WE ARE FINALLY HOME WITH OUR SON!!

It feels sort of surreal but each day, our new normal is forming and we couldn’t be more overjoyed that Zachary is now well and at home with us… Only GOD.

His sisters can’t get over how cute he is and have declared, “Our baby brother is the cutest baby in the whole world!”  

Zachary had his first visit to his pediatrician today and the doctor said he looked great! He now weighs 7lbs. 8 oz. and is 19.5 in. long. After reviewing everything that Zach had been through, the doc asked, “And how did YOU make it? How did YOU survive this trying ordeal?”

My answer: We have a great faith and we serve an even Greater God.

Thank you from the bottom of our hearts to all those who have supported us in prayer and encouragement. One journey has come to an end but a whole new one is just beginning. We are so blessed and privileged to be Zachary’s parents. It’s truly humbling that God would choose us to be this special boy’s forever family. Through this trial, our faith has been tested and strengthened. We hope yours has, too.

We serve a MAGNIFICENT, GLORIOUS and FAITHFUL GOD. All glory, honor, and praise to Him!

“Blessed is she who has believed that He will fulfill His promises to her!” ~Luke 1:45

Now please excuse us for a little while we love on our boy… and catch up on some sleep.

D-Day is near!

WE HAVE AN OFFICIAL DISCHARGE DAY, FRIENDS!!!

 

 

 

 

I’m so grateful for all the sweet nurses that keep sending me pictures of Zachary on their phones!

Our boy is growing by leaps and bounds and currently weighs 6 lbs. 13 oz! He’s eating like a champ and breathing well on his own. The nurses are now using the word, “miracle” to describe Zach.           Of course, we knew that all along. ;)

We serve a mighty and faithful God who loves a good REDEMPTION story!

Zach has a couple of final procedures to complete over the next two days but otherwise, he is scheduled to be discharged this FRIDAY!!

Thank you for your continued prayers as we anxiously await the fulfillment of God’s promise!

Praise Jesus, for this indescribable gift!!

“I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.” ~Psalm 139:14

The Unofficial “D” Day Countdown Has Begun!

Last week, this was Little Mister.

 

Multi-tasking!

 

Squeaky clean, after his bath.

Praise the Lord, it’s been another GREAT week of improvement for Zach!

Big things that have happened:

• His feeding tube was REMOVED yesterday. He’s now taking ALL his feeds by bottle!
• He currently weighs 6 lbs. 8.6 oz!
• His oxygen has been weaned down to 23%. Apparently, he really only needs it when he eats (since this takes a lot of energy). We are told his lungs could take a while to heal completely.

In other news… Daddy set up his crib last weekend.

Good job, Daddy!

 

We’ve just about completed Zach’s room. Funny, we’re keeping things pretty simple this time around.   I remember with the girls, everything was brand spankin’ new but with this 3rd child, everything is second hand. Sorry, buddy! 

One word… Craigslist. (Or is that two words?)

Anyhow, our generous friends have also let us borrow some of their baby gear so we’re pretty much good to go!

The unofficial “D” day countdown has begun!

“D” is of course for DISCHARGE and if all goes well this weekend, we’re hoping baby boy can come home sometime NEXT WEEK!! 

How awesome is our God?!! To Him be all the glory!!

“I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the Lord
In the land of the living.” ~Psalm 27:13

Fantasy Lanes

 

 

Grace gets her first strike!

 

Sharing her joy with sis.

 

 

 

Scores for their first game. Not bad!

 

 

 

Faith’s first strike!

 

Ta-dah!

 

 

A couple of weeks ago, the girls tried bowling for the first time and boy, did they enjoy themselves!

We recently found out about the summer specials for kids at Fantasy Lanes. Only $2 per game!

Too bad we came on the last day of the special but Lord willing, next summer, we’ll get to come back more often. So nice that Daddy was able to meet us during his lunch and bowl with the girls.

Fun memories!

Golf Lesson with Mr. White

The girls were up early for their 7AM lesson.

 

Ride to the Academy.

 

 

 

 

 

Derek, the Pro and General Manager at Desert Willow (and most importantly, our good friend!), has all the kids’ attention while he teaches the basics.

 

Dads came to help out their youngsters.

 

 

 

 

 

If you live in the golf capital of the world, it seems totally normal that every kid would play golf once in a while. A few weeks ago, we had the joy of meeting our friends for a fun golf lesson with Derek (a.k.a. Mr. White) at Desert Willow Golf Resort.

It was so nice of Derek to take time out of his busy work day to put on a mini clinic for the kids!

They had a blast and we all survived the extremely HOT and HUMID morning!