UN-BE-LIEV-A-BLE!!

Amber and Mason went home today! They are going to have hospice care, and now we are setting our sights on him living for maybe a week. A week! Can you imagine? We never thought he would even make it to 40 weeks, or survive labor, or live more than a few minutes. They will be giving Mason medications to keep him comfortable and to prevent siezures.

God has been SO good! I know that Mason will be here until he fulfills God's purpose for his life. I am just so happy for Amber and Brian to have this time with him. It's odd, though, we are having to shift gears from sitting around waiting for him to die to helping him live the life that he has, knowing that he will still die too soon.

It's been a long rough 2 days, and I am going out on a date with my husband tonight, which will help me gain a renewed perspective. (no new photos tonight, sorry!)

I thank you ALL for your prayers and support and thank you for sharing in this miracle of Mason's life!

Precious Baby.

This baby boy defies all odds, but he is struggling to hold on. It has been such a blessing to have time with him.

I love you, baby Mason.

This is the Day That the Lord Has Made.

I will rejoice and be glad in it.

That was the verse that has played over and over in my mind since I posted last night. And, indeed, God is faithful and there has been much rejoicing in this day.

Baby Mason was born at 6:20 pm today. He weighs just a wee 4 pounds 10 ounces. He has defied all our expectations of him. He not only survived labor, but has been living. As I type this he will see his 8th hour of life! He is very sick and we don't know how much longer it will be, so for now, we rejoice in each minute that God gives. And, we trust that when Mason's time comes to be born into heaven, it will be because he has fulfilled God's purpose for his life here on Earth. Blessed be the name of the Lord!

Here are some pictures of my precious great nephew...



Great-Aunt Karina gets to sing "Jesus loves Me [You]" to Mason! What a gift!

Wordless Wednesday - Enjoying the Moments You're Given.

Tomorrow is the Day.

Sometime in the morning tomorrow I will get a phone call and I will go to the hospital. My niece, Amber will give birth to her son Mason. Mason, if you haven't been reading my blog, has Trisomy 18 and is not expected to survive more than a few minutes after birth, if he survives birth at all.

The day is upon us. I pray that it will be the perfect day. A day where everything goes smoothly, all the medical staff are sensitive, all the family is peaceful, the memories are beautiful, and the pictures capture the moments. And that the Spirit of the Living God is present in each thought, word and deed.

There's so much to say. So much I am thinking and feeling right now. Too much to express, but if you read this blog I ask that you keep Amber and Brian and baby Mason in your prayers tomorrow as they come face to face with their precious son and at the same time say "Goodbye" to him as well.

Proof That My Daughter Needs a Sister.

I left my daughter in charge of the little boys for a bit after dinner tonight. Eventually she and they came out of the kitchen. They had some pretty wild hairdos. I think she needs a sister, what do you think? Any chance you think I'll be able to convince my husband? Have you ever heard the short phrase "Fat Chance"? Yeah.

"Not Me!" Monday.

I've been on a little blogger break, but it's time to break the silence! I've been saving up some great "Not Me!"s for this week. This blog carnival is hosted by Mck Mama and you can read the rules and join the fun over at her place by clicking the above button. If you're here from Mck Mama's site, please post a comment! I love to hear from visitors!

And now, for the fun!!

Since I am waiting for my great nephew to be born, I so did not send my husband and all five kids on a 13 hour journey to his parents' all by himself! He did not take my daughter's best friend also, since there was one empty seat to fill. I would never subject a man to that. Nope, not me!!!

While he was gone I did not fritter away my time. I did not the first day sleep and play video games exclusively. I did not remove the sheets and blankets from our bed to launder them and sleep wrapped in a blanket on a naked bed for the entire rest of the week! How irresponsible that would have been.

I also did not fail to clean out the cat litter even once the entire week and implore him the night he got home to do it for me! Eeew! Not me!

I did not ring in the new year at a friend's house and revel in the opportunity to stay up late without the responsibility of putting children to bed. I certainly didn't state over and over how nice it was to not have to take ownership of any of the screaming children that were there. No sir, I missed my children, painfully and wished they were with me every single minute! That must have been someone else, because is was certainly not me!!

Speaking of staying up late, I did not stay up until past 2 every single night and sleep until at LEAST 9 every single morning. I didn't skip meals and munch on M&M's and Christmas candy all week long. I'm the model of healthy living so that was definitely not me!!

I did not procrastinate and save the 2 tasks I wanted to accomplish until the very last day. Those 2 tasks did not take me all day to finish. One of those tasks was not to put away the cake decorating paraphernalia that has been cluttering my kitchen since late September. I would never live in clutter for that long. Not me!

The other task was not simply to clean my room. It hasn't been 6 months since it was vacuumed or dusted. There has not been a pile of board games and puzzles (6'w X 2'd X 3'h) on the floor by my bed for the last 2 years waiting for me to organize my closet to be able to put it away. Vacuuming did not require that I empty the Dyson 3 times during the process (I did not specify the Dyson vacuum in hopes that someone would comment that the tank was small and thereby asuage me of all guilt!!). I did not finally get rid of 100 plastic hangers that I haven't used in many years because they were teal green and collecting dust. Who lives like that? Surely, not ME!

Finally, one for my dear husband, because he deserves this! :) On the 13 hour trip home one of my 10 year old sons did not get carsick and barf all over my husband's coat. My husband did not pull over and wrap the puke-filled coat into itself and tie it with bungie cords to the luggage rack on top of the car. He did not leave it there overnight with a promise to hose it down first thing in the morning and launder it. Then he most certainly didn't (being the upstanding, go to it man that he is) leave it on my van as he took his car out to run errands. I did not find it still strapped to the luggage rack when I went out to meet him for lunch. And I did NOT leave it untouched when I left, nor completely ignore my neighbor's kind warnings that there was something on top of the car. Can you imagine anything so gross? No, me neither. That was certainly NOT HIM and NOT ME!!!!

A little note of TRUTH: My niece did not have her baby, but I was glad I chose to stay home. I did get some time to scrapbook with her. Since baby Mason could come at any minute, I have no regrets about choosing to stay home. I anticipate his birth and dread it at the same time. Though a break from the hectic responsibilities of a family of 7 was nice, I did miss my family terribly and thought many times how grateful I was that being alone wasn't a permanent state of being for me! I praise God that they made it safely both there and back!