I just wanted to give a brief update on Marc's eyes! He went for his post-op visit today and everything checked out great! We are so thankful for that. The surgery was incredible, it took 15 minutes and done. He came home and slept the rest of the night and the next morning could see better than ever. He was so excited, it was like a kid waking up on Christmas morning. Which is funny because this actually was his Christmas present from his mom, which we are soo THANKFUL for! We would definitely recommend this surgery to anyone and everyone that has to wear contacts. It is worth every dime. Dr. Brown did an excellent job as well. He also prayed with us before surgery, which was very comforting.
He still gets to wear his protective goggles while he sleeps so he won't rub his eyes! I think they are pretty darn hott!
I know several people have already seen this video and heard the story, but I decided to post a link just in case you have never seen it. It is such a beautiful story about faith, hope, love and dedication. This sweet couple, Matt and Ginny Mooney are from Fayetteville, AR. They lost their son a couple of years ago (2 yrs from this Monday to be exact, which is Ginny's Birthday) to Trisomy 18. Matt is now a community pastor at Fellowship Bible church NWA, which is where I work. They just had their second child a couple of weeks ago and she is precious and perfectly healthy. They have truly made an impact in so many peoples lives around our community and all over the world.
I feel like this story really opened my eyes to how I would rely on God in such a tragedy, or would I just just become angry? It really made me think hard about if I could have joy in a time like that. They are such an inspiration to me and so many others! Eliot’s fingers may have been small, but they have sure made a large fingerprint for Christ across the globe.
They were on Oprah on Tuesday, October 28th. Their story was shared with millions of people. They felt that sharing his story was honoring to God and to Eliot. I'm thankful that they are so open to share their life.
They will also be on Oprah Live this Friday, 10/31 with their new Baby, Hazel! So watch and you can see their new little blessing!
Matt and Ginny also created a blog for him. It is called "Eliot." You can find it under my "Blog List" on the right hand side of my blog. They have also started a new blog, it is under "Matt and Ginny."
My prayer is that the world can see where their faith and hope truly comes from!
Last night we had a random, little fall get together. We had such a blast. I made lots of dessert, the boys played some serious ping pong, and then we had a pumpkin carving contest!
I love the fall, so this was such a great time!
Here are pics from our night!
Let the carving begin!
Marc getting to work on ours!
Me and Lou just chillin
"mYm" was our masterpiece
The Hartnesses working hard
Their finished product:
Ben and Louise's drunken pumpkin?
All the punkins
Ra and I made a "Boo Ya" punkin (didn't turn out so great :)
This past weekend I had the privilege of going to visit Liz in OKC. It has been so wonderful that she has been working in Tulsa and OKC. It is way closer than D.C.! I have really tried to maximize my time with her while she has been working closer to here. I only have until the election though, which is sad, but I think we are definitely making the most of her closeness!
I was thrilled, on Friday night I was able to go pick her up at the airport while she had been flying with the senator all day. She has worked for Senator Jim Inhofe for the past 2 1/2 years now. After two trips to D.C., I still had not met him. BUT, on Friday I got to meet this wonderful Senator I had been hearing about for so long! We were briefly introduced as he was exiting the plane. Then he felt the urge to throw me a t-shirt that he had in his hands. I was thinking "yay, I love t-shirts!" After Liz and I had got in the car I looked at it, and was like LIZ, have you seen what this t-shirt says? She said No. I said it is AMAZING!
See what I mean- I LOVE it! Liz and Ra were super jealous!
At the airport.
The next day Rachael came to meet us in OKC, which was soo fun too! We all 3 had not been together since who knows when. We had a yummy, and I mean delicious lunch at this hamburger joint called Sid's. (and oh how I wish I had a picture of this food we ate). We had onion rings, fries, and fried pickles to go with our yummy burgers! It was amazing!
Later that night we went to an area called Bricktown, which was really cool. Ra and I really were excited about the sights we were seeing. We walked around, went to a movie, and had dessert at the Melting Pot!
We love sonic!
Liz playing the water
Ra lovin on some man
On Sunday we went to the OU Campus, which is absolutely gorgeous (which I hate to admit), but it really was awesome. We also had a great lunch there called Louie's and shopped around at some of the cute boutiques.
We absolutely had a blast and can't wait to do it again. It was such a fun and refreshing weekend!
Besties
Beautiful Pi Phi house
Thank you Liz for showing us around and thank you to mama Joyce for housing us and introducing us to Sid's!!
Today Marc goes in for some eye surgery. We are so thrilled and feel blessed that we have the opportunity to do this. Marc has had trouble with his eyes for several years now. Hopefully this will take care of many of those problems! I'm so excited that he is getting to do this. I still have that small percentage of worry about the "what-ifs," but hopefully there will be no need for that!
While I was home this past weekend, I was able to attend FBC of Little Rock. They have just moved to a new, massive building (a little on the ridiculous side), but it was my first time to go in a long time. The service was amazing. The new FSM pastor, Brandon Barnard spoke to all the venues. I had never heard him speak, but he was incredible. He definitely brought the word and I really appreciated that. He spoke on Acts 3. The main question that he asked that convicted me was "Are you giving Jesus to anyone?" He then stated some of the reasons we might not be sharing Jesus. Which were, are we being leashed by our fears, busyness, or numbness? I think so often these days, when people ask us how we are, our immediate response is "Hi, I'm busy!" I see so many families being torn apart due to them purposely staying busy. It was a great refresher and reminder to be mindful to share Jesus! That could be by meeting the needs of others physically and emotionally. Anyways it was a great message! If you are into listening to sermons, this one was wonderful. Yo can listen to it at fellowshiponline.com
In College, Marc loved to have "Marc Days." I did not really understand what "Marc days" were, but I knew that he loved and cherished them. I quickly learned that these days consisted of him in the woods ALL day, ALONE! They are essential for him to stay sane, and for his well being! Yesterday, Marc would say he has one of the best days of his life (other than meeting me and his wedding day :). He headed out to the woods around 5:30am and took with him some essentials- a tree stand, bow, mat, food, bible, and books! That was all he needed. I was so happy he was able to have this day! He then calls me at 7pm while I am driving back from LR and in a whispering voice tells me he just shot at a "large" deer. He said his heart was still pounding and still shaking. (If any have killed a deer, you know what I am talking about!) Then he proceeds to tell me that he had to make a long shot with the bow, which means it had run off and he would have to go trail it. His good friend Andrew comes out there to help him look for it for a couple of hours, and NO deer. At this point he is devasted and just hoping to find it in the daylight. Please keep in mind, the boy has never left the woods without a deer that he has shot at, and he has never wounded a deer. So this was a big deal for him to find it! The next morning comes, and he goes and looks for it for 2 more hours, and still NO deer. Now he is just sick to his stomach. After work, he gets 2 more of his friends to go help him look. Just as they were heading out of the woods, and by divine intervention (and seriously there was prayer over finding this deer) Marc stumbles upon some thick brush on the way out of the woods and sees the deer. It was still alive, but could not get up. So Marc had to shoot it again and thankfully put it out of its misery. Come to Marc's surprise, the deer was not quite as large as he had anticipated, but was relieved to have found the deer (as was I)! All that to say, Marc had a GREAT Marc day yesterday!
This weekend I was able to go to Little Rock. I went for a wedding and to spend time with my family. It had been almost 3 months since I had been "home." {which is a record for me}! It was great to see my family. I was also able to see my grandparents, who I haven't seen in forever and they are in super bad health. For the first time, my mom had to re-introduce me to my grandfather. We had to explain to him why I was there and where I lived. That was interesting and heartbreaking. I know my mom has already experienced situations much worse, but wow that is hard to swallow. Oh I forgot to add, he has Alzheimer's. Then on Saturday night I got a call saying my grandmother had fallen and was rushed to the hospital. She busted up her face pretty good, but thankfully nothing was broken. BUT, while they did a ct scan, they did find a tumor on her brain. They were pretty confident that it was benign, but it really explains a lot as to why it seems she has been losing her mind. All that to say, my mother has been an absolutely amazing daughter to them. She takes such great care of them, takes them to many, many Dr. apts and is always there for them. She truly serves them with her time. She also helps them a ton with their business that they own. She does so much more that goes unnoticed. I just hope that I will be that great of a daughter when the time comes. She inspires me to be a better person!
We had the joy a little over a week ago to be a part of our good friends, Matt and Kara Hartness' wedding! It was in OKC and was a blast! Marc had the honors of being Matt's Best Man. Matt and Marc were roommates all through college and really close friends. They are absolutely hilarious together. We also had the joy of having Hartness live with us for a couple of months before the wedding! It was so fun, we really enjoyed having him. Funny thing about that, we all used to joke that we would all be roommates someday, who knew it would actually come true! All that to say, we are thrilled that he is now married! He truly married an amazing girl. Although we have not known Kara for very long, we are so excited he found her. She is so wonderful and already a best friend! We call them our "besties." We all really have a blast together. We are super excited for them and their new life together! Congrats Matt and Kara!
I currently live in Northwest Arkansas. I have been married 7 years to the most amazing man ever. As we previously battled through infertility, we welcomed our miracle baby girl on October 8, 2012. We would like to use this blog to keep our families and friends updated about our journey of life. To read through some of our infertility journey, please read the "about me" page at the top of this blog. I have a huge heart for those struggling with trying to get pregnant so please feel free to email anytime.
