You Get in the Water...

"You get in water, go down in the water, and Jesus cleans you.

You come back up and you're all clean."

These are the words spoken by my six year old niece Keira when asked by her classmates what baptism was. Keira, along with the rest of our family, were blessed to be able to watch my eleven year old niece Emma get baptized this past weekend. When asked in school the next day about her favorite part of the weekend, Keira replied that it was watching her cousin get baptized.

 

What a truly amazing thing!

 I always feel blessed by the family that I have. However, it is in moments like this when I am so proud to call them my own. I am so thankful for the lives that my nieces and nephews are leading, even at such a young age. They bless my heart so often.

It warmed by heart to the fullest as I sat and listened to the reasons why Emma wanted to get baptized, how she wanted others to see her love for Jesus and how she wanted Jesus to help her have a better attitude and treat people good.

What made the moment even more special was that her dad was able to baptize her, just as my dad was able to baptize me and my two sisters.

 

I can't wait for life to unfold and to see what these sweet children that I love so dearly are going to do with their lives, how they are going to be used by God, and the awesome things He has in store for them.

 

 

Elliott and Keira holding hands while watching the baptism. If this

doesn't melt your heart I am not quite sure what would!

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Toasted pumpkin seeds are probably my favorite part about

carving pumpkins. I recently discovered them several years ago from a friend and since then

I cannot stop eating them and thinking about them in the fall. Last week, after carving pumpkins with several friends I toasted the seeds from our pumpkins. 

 I separated the seeds from all of the other junk in the pumpkin and rinsed them thoroughly.

After doings so I sprayed a cookie seat, spread the seeds out and then covered them in olive oil.

 (You can also use vegetable oil but I tried to be just a smidge healthier.)

I then coated them in salt, garlic salt, and paprika.

 They baked at 345 degrees for around 30-45 minutes, with period stirring!

Cool and enjoy! 

Fall favorites.

It was a busyyyyy weekend for hubs and I. I felt like we were on the go nonstop. And although I enjoy and crave some solitude on the weekends this was not a weekend for that!

It was jam packed few days but it was worth the sacrificing of my personal time.

I know these weekends are fleeting with winter only a few weeks away which also means hibernation is only a few weeks away. So, I am soaking up every second of fall that I can!

 

Thursday night we had a few good friends over for dinner, pumpkin carving, and s'mores. It was the perfect fall night!



 

Friday night my sister and brother in law headed to a Halloween party which left hubs and I with the four kids! We had so much fun playing Kinect, roasting hotdogs and marshmallows, and watching movies. These kids are so special and dear to my heart and I loved being able to love on them nonstop for a little while. 

                         He is literally the best uncle!                       
                                                                         I think this hotdog fell in the fire minutes later.

 

           Saturday morning snuggles were my favorite!

 

Saturday afternoon we got to celebrate this sweet baby's 1st birthday!

I can't believe it has been a year since precious little Elayne was born. She is seriously one of the happiest and most content babies I know. I could stare at her sweet face all day long.

She ate almost her entire mini cake by herself and kept herself occupied forever in that chair. 

          That top right smile is my favorite!!                          
                                                                                    Yes, my sister made this. Unreal really.

 

Although we didn't have tickets to the much awaited Colts vs. Bronco's game we took full advantage of celebrating the big event. It was a fun (and exhausting) day of tailgating downtown. We were lucky enough to have the hook up with a great tailgating location. Love the Colts, love Peyton Manning, and love my friends...which means it was a great day. 

 



My Sweet Sophie

Three weeks ago I said goodbye to my sweet dog of 13 years.

It was one of the saddest things I have ever experienced and I have missed her every day since.

I have had Sophie since I was a junior in high school. She was with me for every high school and college heartbreak, with me through 9 moves, traveled with me back and forth from Tennessee to Indiana when Coy and I were dating, and been my companion through so many years.

She had been around longer than most of my friends. She was in my life before Coy, before any of my nieces and nephews, and had seen me through high school, college, and grad school.

 

On a Wednesday evening I returned home to find Sophie breathing fast and heavy. This had happened one or twice in the previous week but had only lasted a few minutes before she returned to breathing normally. When this had gone on for the remainder of the evening, I knew something serious had to be wrong. I spent the majority of that night up with Sophie. Although she was alert and otherwise seemed to not be in pain, she was clearly miserable. I spent the long hours of that night cuddling with her, holding her, and praying that if this was the end it would happen quickly.

The next morning, when her breathing had not let up, we took her to the vet. They took us back immediately and when I set her down on the table she did not move. Her health had greatly decreased during our 10 minute car ride to the vet's office. Upon seeing this, the nurse immediately scooped her up and took her to the back to see the vet.

It wasn't 5 minutes later that the vet came into our room and informed us that Sophie was in congestive heart failure. She was already unconscious and had been foaming at the mouth. The vet had given her some anesthesia and before he even could finish his advice to not attempt anything further due to Sophie's age I, through tears, asked him to end her suffering as soon as possible. He said that he would go get Sophie and bring her into the room with us, if she was still breathing, as he didn't know if she had already passed due to her condition.

A few short minutes later the vet and the nurse brought Sophie back into us, wrapped snuggly in a blanket.

She had already passed away.

The nurse cried with us before leaving us to say our final goodbyes.

Although it might seem strange to some that I held my dog in my arms after she had died, it was really a beautiful thing and gave both Coy and I the opportunity to say goodbye and be with her one last time.

She was cremated later that day.

It breaks my heart even now to tell that story. But as sad as it was, I am so thankful that it happened  liked it did. I am so glad that we decided to take her to the vet when we did. Because although the whole process at the vet took only around 20 minutes, Sophie was able to pass peacefully. I had prayed for a quick process and my prayer was answered. Although my prayer had always been for her to die in her sleep I am so glad it did not happen that way and that I did not have to wake up to Sophie dead in our bed.

I am so thankful for her life and companionship over the past 13 years. She was more to me

than just a pet, much more to me than just a dog.

I miss her when I sit on the couch and watch tv, miss her when I go to bed at night, miss her when we take Murphy on a walk and one of us is without a leash. There are SO many things that I miss on a daily basis. But I am glad to say that although I continue to miss her terribly, the immense sadness that I felt at her passing is slowly lessening. My tears have slowly lessened. And I am learning to focus on the life that she lived and all of the joy that she brought to me.

 

RIP sweet Sophie Dreger Schrougham

April 2000-September 2013

  

 

 



More than I can handle?

Let's not sugar coat it - the past few months have been rough. Things have been rough and at times there has seemed to be no end in sight. I could go on and on (and write a book probably) about wanting to have a baby and trying to have a baby and spending a great deal of money and time in this attempt...with no baby. I could also go on and on about all of the side effects of this process - emotional, physical, and spiritual. I could also spend some time talking about how in the midst of this fertility crisis my husband lost his job; how for the past 6+ months we have lived on one income and even though he is now working (hallelujah) it is only part time and there is still a lot of financial stress. I could then talk for hours to you about my precious dog of 13 years passing away. And while Sophie was not human, she was the closest thing to it and she was a huge part of my heart and my life. Because of the above mentioned items I could discuss my occasional depression, anxiety, fear, and sadness. But I won't go into all of that. What I will say is that my personal suffering has been great. Not outwardly, but inwardly.

The reality is that the old saying "God won't give you more than you can handle" is just not true. We sometimes are faced with more than we can handle. There are days when I just feel like I can't go on, like I am empty, like I have nothing left to bring to the table. But when you and I get to the place that we are going through more than we can handle on our own that we finally turn to God. When life is flowers and butterflies we feel capable of taking on the world. But when life is full of uncertainties and questions without answers and pain..that is when we seek God. Because it is in those places we are finally are able to realize that life is greater than ourselves and we are not capable of doing it on our own. If we never get to the point of having more than we can handle we never come to the place of full reliance upon God.

II Corinthians 2:9-10  says: "...this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope and he will continue to deliver us."

I know it to be true that I cannot go through life on my own power alone. I believe with my whole being that God loves me and cares for me. I know that God has given me more than I can handle because I know that without Him I would be lying somewhere in a ditch still weeping from my own self pity and misery. But because of Him I am not. And while each day is a struggle, some days more so than others. While I will myself to continue to seek God's face, I know that he is with me. It is my prayer that through some of my spiritual numbness I will continue to be expectant of God's presence; that I may be restored, renewed, and revived.