What Faith Can Do

I was driving home after dropping Tanner off at school when I heard this song. I was overcome with memories from the past and couldn't stop the tears.

My mind instantly took me back 5 years ago when my fertility surgeon told me if I was ever going to have another child it would only happen either with in-vitro or fertility drugs. I knew that I didn't want to go down that road. I had already had two surgeries and numerous attempts at hormone therapy just to get pregnant with Tanner. Michael and I both agreed that if we were meant to have another child it would be in God's timing not ours. I knew that deep down in my heart but still tried everything humanly possible. Took all kinds of herbs, vitamins, and avoided certain foods. This pain consumed my life. I cried every time someone told me they were pregnant.....and wondered why I couldn't have that. Praying and asking God "why"? I prayed every night for 5 years.....asking God for patience, wisdom and understanding.....because I certainly didn't understand it at all no matter how hard I tried.

About 11 months ago I was finally at peace with Tanner being our only child. Here is where God's timing comes in:

The day after Christmas I found I was pregnant....yep I said it! ME! I took two tests before I told Michael....had to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

I share this story in hopes that someone out there will see that God does hear our prayers....he just wants us to have faith and know that He is on control. Yes, we waited 5 years for our sweet baby girl. But because of it I have grown stronger in my faith and know that God has his reason for it and I can't wait to see how He's going to use my pain to help someone else.

Busy Hands...

Little Chef ; )

Kneading his dough

Fall cookie cutters

Tanner was home from school on Monday with strep throat. I tried everything I could to keep this busy body occupied and uhm... well.....trying to save my sanity too! I came across a recipe for homemade play dough and thought we'd give it a whirl. He enjoyed helping me "cook" the dough. It took 5 minutes to do and was I have to admit very cool.

You can find the recipe here:

http://mizellfamilyrecipes.blogspot.com/2009/10/play-dough.html

By the way, Tanner is still at home. Took him to the pediatrican this morning....swine flu. Poor baby has had one ROUGH week. Last Wednesday he had a stomach virus. Sunday he's down with strep and today we're battling the pig. So many prayers for both my babies.

Weight Watchers???

Oh, please help me! I have lost all self-control! I can't stop.....it's addicting! The sweet and salty combination is oh so yummy and evil all at the same time! Ha!! So much for losing the baby weight. ; )

This stuff which I'm now calling "Harvest Mix" is a combination peanuts, Reece's pieces and candy corn. I ran across it while reading blogs one night. You've got to try this! I hope that you can control yourself.....and not inhale it....like I have!

You make us melt

Sweet baby girl is finally smiling at us....and no, it is not gas! Her smile is just like Tanner's was at this age. Am hoping I can scan a picture of Tanner's one month picture so you can see that adorable smile. OH, how incredibly blessed we are to have two beautiful, loveable children! I love you both so much!!

Happy Fall, Y'all!

Finally....it's here! This is my favorite time of year! Oh, let the decorating begin! The days start to get cooler, there's a nice cool breeze blowing and something's cooking on the stove. I've always enjoyed cooking but there's something about fall that has me in the kitchen more than usual.

Saturday afternoons are spent watching college football games. We're either rooting for UT or Ohio State (Michael's fave).

Here's a few more of my fall favorites:

fall festivals and pumpkin picking

Fall foliage. This is pic from The Smoky Mountains (my favorite place) am hoping we can go in October one of these years.

This is the best pumpkin candle I have found. Smells yummy!!

Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks. Can't enjoy this as much as I'd like to. I'm afraid the caffeine would have Ainsley up for 2 days straight. Ha!

Two Loves

While I was taking Ainsley's 1 month pictures Tanner came in and wanted me to take one with him and "his sister".

Ahhh....you can see how proud Tanner is!

1 Month

Sweet Ainsley is 1 month. She is awake more these days and finally sleeping at night. She is also holding her head up on her own. We had 2 nights this week that she slept from 11p to 6a. You'd think I would have gotten plenty of sleep, right? Nope, I kept waking up to see if she was ok. Funny how that works.

A Day in the Country

Saturday we took a little road trip up to Dime Box to see Michael's grandparents. I was a little worried about taking Ainlsey that far away from home already. But am glad we did. Tanner had a blast!

Tanner loves tractors! So getting to drive one (all by himself) with Great Pa was....uhm...let's just say that all I saw was smiles and that little face he makes when he's doing something really cool! So funny!

Daddy, Pa and Tanner. Fishing for our dinner! Ha just kidding!

WOW! Tanner's first fish. He caught it by himself. Michael and i missed the whole thing. what a bummer! Pa said instead of reeling the fish in Tanner held onto the pole and started running up the bank. Can only imagine....I laugh just picturing that!

That's one big fish! Michael and Pa cleaned it and Tanner came home with his fish. Told him I'd fry it up for him.

Pa was thrilled that he was with Tanner when he caught his first fish.