Lydia Noel Perkins

On Friday, December 7, 2012 Lydia Noel Perkins was born perfectly in tact and healthy, but the events leading up to her birth gave us a reality check that things may not be "ok".

Friday morning at 3:46am I woke up to go to the bathroom for the bagillionth time when I realized I was having some contractions. I went back to bed and had another one. I stated timing them and they were pretty sporadic, but definitely per labor stuff. As the morning went on I was feeling them become more consistent and painful. I was so excited because my labor with Grace was so fast and awesome, I felt that I didn't get to experience labor and really wanted to. Luke planned to stay home for a couple hours to see how things progressed and I began to prep my house for us to be gone for a couple days :). An hour or so later things were really progressing and I called the doctor to see what I should do because I did not want to go to labor and delivery if this was false labor. They told me to come in and they would check me. Luke and I went straight in only to find that we were still the same as earlier that week, but to walk and check those contractions. I was super bummed. We went home where I started feeling a little achey and decided to lay down. As I drifted off to sleep I could tell I wasn't feeling well and this was more then nervousness. Luke took my temp and it was 100.4. I know fevers are not good when pregnant, but also, they sometimes appear in labor. My fever got a little worse then better, but still a fever so we called the doctor who told us to come back in. I was having very regular contractions at this point and just waiting for my water to break! At the office they took my temperature which was now 101.4 and the doctor checked me only to say we were still the same. She told me that they were going to keep me because they needed to figure out where the fever was coming from. They took blood, flu cultures, and all kinds of other tests. The doctor told me to get dressed and they would send me to be admitted and figure out what was going on. As I pulled my leg up to get dressed water gushed out all over the floor and my legs! I told Luke my water broke and he went to get the nurse and doctor. Sure enough it did :). We were so excited to be heading to labor and delivery to meet our sweet girl!

We got to labor and delivery, checked in, got hooked up to monitors, and started contracting on while the nurses rushed around, got information, took more cultures, and tagged me to be in "isolation" because they thought I had the flu (Turns out I didn't and they still don't know what I had, but after being loaded for 48 hours with antibiotics I was back to being normal.) Lydia's heart rate jumped and wasn't calming down, the nurses were scrambling and got the doctor and as I was getting an epidural prepped for my back and having contractions and in the most uncomfortable position ever the doctor told Luke and I that I had to have an emergency cesarean section because the baby was in distress and I had a fever. It was horrible! I broke down feeling a million emotions, Luke was trying to process everything and calm me down. I was freaking out as they rushed me to the operating room, continued to stick my body lots of unnecessary times for blood (they seriously couldn't get a vein to work or something, but by the time we left the hospital I had about 8 holes in my arms and hands from their attempts), tried 3 times before they had success on the 4th time for my spinal tap (which took over 25min in the most uncomfortable position, while still have contractions..oh and Luke couldn't be in the room yet), and then they were explaining the process to me. They started cutting before Luke came in and I heard them say the baby had her first bowel movement in the womb and to get the NICU team down here. That team came in and introduced themselves. Luke came in and sat by me. For some reason I was feeling at peace (must have been those drugs) and Luke was amazing!! We heard Lydia cry and that is when me heart sank realizing I was about to find out what was wrong with my sweet precious baby. I started crying again, she sounded so good, the NICU team jumped into action and Luke just held me looking into my eyes telling me it was ok. He started to take some pictures and before we knew it the NICU doctor came over to us and told us he was going back upstairs because our daughter was perfect!!! PRAISES TO THE LORD went through my head as Luke got to tend to our sweet Lydia and I got to try to relax knowing she was ok. It then hit me that I was sliced open and was actually having a c section! The doctor yelled over from the other side of the curtain to tell me that she is looking at my appendix and it looks great so she can rule that out for the cause of the fever (for some reason that wasn't comforting). Then before I know it I was sewn up and on a different bed heading back to labor and delivery. Before they started rolling me away they took Lydia from Luke and put her on my chest. This moment was the happiest of the day! Part of my emotions before the surgery was that I wouldn't get any bonding time with her, or get to nurse her. I had a good hour with her before they took her to get clean. Luke went with her and I went up to my room only to be reunited with Lydia again shortly after that :). It was so good to have a perfectly healthy baby!

It was a crazy adventure and recovery is horrible, but I have a sweet precious baby girl who is perfect and healthy, a big girl who adores her little sister, and the most amazing husband in the whole world.

The Lord is GOOD

I feel so guilty when great things happen and my first thought is to praise God for His goodness.  I feel guilty because He is always good not just in the "good times" and I fail to recognize that.  We are going through lots of life changes lately and depending more on God has really caused our faith to grow.  Seeing how things have played out has been an adventure.  

Last Sunday we attended our churches Thanksgiving praise service.  It was so neat to sit back and listen to a few elderly stand up and talk about why they were thankful.  They have been through a lot and at the end they would say "God is GOOD"!  The things they have seen, loved ones they have lost, hardships they have endured, and still in the end "God is GOOD". 

GOD IS GOOD.........ALL THE TIME!! 

Happy Sunday friends :)

More lake fun

Here are some more :)

Lake House

Who can pass up a free weekend away with great friends?!?  Not us!  We packed up and went to Trinidad, TX to a lake house with some friends and had a blast!  It was so warm the first day we got there we thought it would be fun for Grace and Ella to stick their feet in the water.  That quickly turned into laying in the water and Grace putting mud in her hair.  It was really funny.  That resulted in immediate baths.

The rest on the weekend was cool temperatures that really made it feel like fall.  It was fabulous to bundle up for golf cart rides, walking and running around in the fallen leaves, make chilli for dinner, have s'mores by the bonfire, and of course hot chocolate!  Grace was not too sure about marshmallows, but did at least take a bite. 

AND....I SAW AN ARMADILLO!!!  I have been waiting to see a live one for the past 5 years and can say that I finally saw one.  Granted I totally thought it was a hedgehog (it was dark and apparently just saw his head), but after I went in Luke and Paul said they saw it come out from under the deck and it was in fact an armadillo.  How cool is that!?!? 

 Here are some pics of our fabulous weekend away :)

Fall

Texas lacks fall-ness big time! The leaves turn yellow and brown then fall off quickly, the temperatures are all over the place, the pumpkins rot way too fast, and we won't even go into the crazy Halloween market here in Dallas. I think that Halloween stores that hang posters in their windows for the public to see should have a certain rating. I mean who wants to see zombies with their eyes falling out, or Chucky the doll all bloody and gross? Seriously, keep that stuff inside the store.

Anyway, growing up in New Hampshire we have been super spoiled by the beautiful fall season! Waking up to cool crisp air, going outside to be greeted with glorious, vibrant reds, oranges,yellows, purples on the trees like God took a paint brush and painted each on by hand while you were sleeping. The weather is perfect, you can actually appreciate yummy fall foods. I miss New England falls. So what is a girl to do? I walk through the supermarket and Home Depot where they are still using their air conditioners and walk through their fall decorations and pretend it is like home. Not quite the same, but almost. I also burn apple pie candles at home to remind me of fall. I am sad that I used up my last apple cinnamon candle! I wish Yankee candles weren't so darn expensive. We also went to the Dallas Arboretum with our church mom group where they are all decked out in pumpkins! It is really fun! Grace could not get enough of the BIG pumpkins that she could sit on. So cute!

Failed!

Ok, so remember the laundry detergent making skills I shared?  Well that is still going fabulous and I love it.  In fact it was going so well I figured there must be more things I can make myself and save more money.  I discovered that dish washer detergent has almost the same ingredients and looked just as easy, so I gave it a shot.  The first load of dishes came out ok...kinda cloudy, but the websites said if this was the case then add more vinegar.  Guys...I added LOTS more vinegar and my glasses and silverware looked horrible!  So after two weeks of playing around with different ingredients I am giving up.  I have failed at making dishwashing detergent.  I am kinda bummed and feel like less of a women, but hey there are still loads of other things to make and get going with, so there you go....laundry detergent great, dishwashing detergent not so great :)

 

Finger Paint

I have been looking into fun things to do with the girls that will stimulate their senses and things I can do with them to integrate numbers and letters.  What better way to do this then finger paint?  I know there are tons of things that can be used instead of paint for toddlers, but my little one still puts things in her mouth as a way of learning and experiencing and I don't want her to think that she can play with food or that finger paint goes in our mouth.  So with that said I wanted to make something made with edible ingredients.  I found the perfect recipe!

Momtastic is a great resource for moms looking to get creative with their day to day doings.  Her finger paint recipe is great and edible.  I tried it, and it tastes salty and not really appealing so hopefully Grace will not think she can just eat it, and actually paint with it.  We will see! 

Mama

It is no shocker that Grace's first word was "dada".  She is such a daddy's girl and I love that.  It makes my heart swell to watch them play and interact together.  Shortly after she started saying "dada" she did say "mamamama", but I wasn't convinced it was in reference to me.  She has been saying "dada" ever since she learned to say it, but "mama" quickly went away.  I didn't think much of it since I was always with her and daddy wasn't, so obviously she would learn to call out his name to get his attention or wonder where he was.

It wasn't until the last week that Grace started needing me and my attention and just not sure how to call out to me.  Luke and I have been working on calling me "mama", but again I am always around so why call out when you can just walk up to me.  She is becoming so much more independent and wanting to play on her own.   I love watching her explore and learn and now call out "mama" when she needs something.  The last couple days she will just look at me and say "mama hi"!  I LOVE IT! 

Yesterday at church we kept her with us to worship with the church during the first set of songs.  Luke was holding her and she glanced over at me, smiled, said "hi mama", and leaned over to hug me.  Then she sat back up in Luke's arms and continued to worship!  Melted my heart.  There is nothing as sweet as that! 

So now Grace knows that I am "mama" not just that crazy lady that entertains her :)  I love being a mommy!

Found it!

I have been trying to find this song by someone who sang it in this century and haven't had any luck until I stumbled upon a friends blog and realized I was searching for it using the wrong title...oops, it helps to know exactly what you want :) so anyway this song:10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman is pretty fabulous, and describes what my heart has been singing (I have been singing it with my mouth, but cannot sing to save my life, so I am thankful God hears our hearts too).

10,000 Reasons by Matt Redman

(Chorus)
Bless the Lord, O my soul
O my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name

The sun comes up, it's a new day dawning
It's time to sing Your song again
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me
Let me be singing when the evening comes

Chorus

You're rich in love, and You're slow to anger
Your name is great, and Your heart is kind
For all Your goodness I will keep on singing
Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find

Chorus

And on that day when my strength is failing
The end draws near and my time has come
Still my soul will sing Your praise unending
Ten thousand years and then forevermore

(Chorus x2)

Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name
Lord, I'll worship Your holy name

Sing like never before
O my soul
I'll worship Your holy name
Jesus, I'll worship Your holy name
I'll worship Your holy name

Hard Working Husbands

This morning I took the girls to the park.  It was gorgeous outside, a nice cool breeze, and no one there but us.  All I was missing was an iced coffee from Starbucks.  Grace and Ella were having a blast running around when Grace discovered the small rocks under the tube and started picking them up and talking about them (in her own language of course).  She brought some over to me and put them in my hands picking them up one by one to show me the different sizes and that they felt cold.  Ella was still at the tube and decided she was going to grab handfuls of rocks and pour them in the tube and listen to the cool noises it made.  Grace soon joined her and for about 10 minutes I just sat there watching these two sweet girls talk to each other and laugh at the funny noises that they were making by pouring and rubbing rocks in the tube.  They even stuck their handfuls of rocks through the openings of the tube and discovered the different noise they created.  They are so smart and discovering so many new things.  It is an absolute heart bursting blessing to be able to have these experiences with them and to stay home with my daughter.

This got me thinking about Luke and what we have done for me to be able to stay home.  It would be so much easier (financially) for me to go back to teaching and put Grace is a day care, however, for Luke and I the emotional weight of that would crush us.  If you asked me when I was two what I wanted to be when I grew up I would tell you a mom.  I have always wanted to be a mom first, then decided to tack on the teacher part when I was in first grade.

When Luke and I would talk about children we had a game plan of getting pregnant during his last year of Seminary and then have school done with before we started a family.  Well after some life happenings and natural disasters we realized school was going to take a little longer then expected and that waiting for a family was not something we wanted.  The Lord blessed our decision and gave us our sweet little Grace Vera and not only that a little less then a year later we found out we were expecting another sweet little girl (we do have a name for her, but are keeping it a secret)!

So here we are with Grace and sweet baby girl #2, and an AMAZING hard working husband who works full time at a job that he loves, Attends seminary and works super hard to stay on top of homework and projects, and makes sacrifices daily so I can stay home and be a mommy which is the BEST job that I can think of.  I am so thankful for a godly, selfless, hot looking husband :)

THANK YOU DADDY!!!

Week 1

I made my own laundry detergent last week.  I have heard equal amounts of good things and bad things about this adventure.  Some people say it works and saves them lots of money, others say they have tried and failed.  I decided to take this challenge on, I mean who doesn't love saving money....or failing..... :) 

Ok so anyway last week I boiled, grated, shook, stirred, measured, and mixed some stuff together and viola! Created my very own laundry detergent (Even gave it a name, but I am not quite convinced to share it yet). 

Doing laundry is VERY serious business in this house.  Luke needs to look and smell nice to impress all the potential students at his job, and I think his coworkers would appreciate his nice smell and neatness too.  I stay at home so I can look and smell like whatever.  At the end of the day I am usually wearing some amount of food, snot, heck even poop so I don't really count.  The most important thing about laundry is Grace's.  We use cloth diapers and they have to be washed and cared for a certain way for them to be effective.  I have never used any "special" soap when washing her diapers and we have been using them for over a year and I haven't had to strip them.  They are awesome!  I figured that they would be the ultimate test whether or not the laundry detergent really works or not.  I do laundry every other day and normally do the diapers by themselves.  This week I honestly think they have come out brighter and smell better then when I have used store bought detergent.  Seriously!  I was apprehensive about washing them in the homemade detergent, but glad I went for it.

Week one of my awesome homemade laundry detergent has been a successful one!  Now lets see if it holds up for week two!

Also, I posted on here about a "life overhaul" that Luke and I are embarking on and let me just say that we have been faithful to our plan and strategy and are bursting with thankfulness on how the Lord has provided and helped us through out first half of the month. I know I shouldn't be surprised, but I am...me of little faith. 

Hippie

Luke calls me a Hippie.  I think it is cute, but do realize that he is totally mocking me :).  Since being a stay at home mommy I have realized that there are a lot of things I do and buy out of convenience that I can make on my own for a lot less the what I pay for in the stores.  There are a number of things I have done and are in the process of figuring out and will share them, but the first thing is laundry detergent.  (Oh, and may I add that I was baking brownies at the same time I was making laundry detergent!  Yup, that's right.  Although all I had to do was make sure they were not burning in the oven, but multitasking all the same).

I pay about $8-$12 on laundry detergent (The cheap whatever is on sale and gets me the most loads of laundry kind) every other month.  This may not seem like a lot of money, but on our budget that is 3-4 meals, or 1/4 tank of gas, or wipes, or Starbucks coffee (priorities right?).  So anyway, I embarked on the adventure of making my own laundry detergent and it works fabulously!  I am so excited.  Here is what I did:

Calculations:

I paid less then $10.00 for the following supplies:
10pk of Ivory soap
Borax
Washing Soda
Oxy Clean (not needed, but I like an extra boost for those pesky stains)

These supplies will make about 20 gallons of laundry detergent and I can do about 30-40 loads per gallon!  So that makes an average of 700 loads of laundry for less then $10 right?!?1  Don't hold me to that yet.  I have just started and haven't completed my experiment yet, but will keep you updated on that :). 

Instructions:

1. Grate 1 bar of soap (equals about 2 cups)

2. Bring 1 quart of water to a boil and add soap to the water dissolving it completely.

3. Pour soap mixture into a pail and add 2 cups of Borax and 2 cups of washing soda.  Stir until dissolved.  (I just added them to the pot and then poured it into the container).  
4. Add 2 gallons of water to the container and mix well.
5. Cover container and use 1/4 cup with each load remembering to stir/shake detergent before each use. 


This mixture will gel and become liquid detergent.  There are TONS of recipes for laundry detergents and mostly powdered.  I prefer liquid because I think it cleans and dissolves better.

And here is Grace having a snack while Mommy makes detergent.  She was not happy that I wouldn't let her "cook" with me this time.  Too many chemicals and hot stuff.....she quickly got over it once the gold fish came out :) 

Life Overhaul

We have been in Texas for about 5+ years now and I cannot believe how much life has changed since that summer day in July 2007 when Luke and I said "I do".  We had our plans, and God has directed us towards His plans, we had our ups and downs, our "we love Texas, we hate Texas" times, and of course our schedule. 

Our initial plan was to be done with Seminary in 4 years and then go to Haiti we would serve as missionaries until the Lord showed us otherwise.  The plan to go to Haiti is still on our hearts, but the time frame is just a bit delayed since we are still in Seminary.  Luke is in his LAST YEAR!!  Can you believe it?!?!  I am so excited and proud of my husband for his hard work, dedication, and accomplishments.  This has been a long, hard, faithful experience both being in Seminary and the events that have taken place these past 5 years.  I cannot believe we are almost at the end. 

So back to the "Life Overhaul" title:  We are going on child #2 and plan on having more (I say 4 more, Luke says maybe 2).  :)  Our expanding family along with needing to make a "next step" decision soon has Luke and I thinking about our life.  We basically came up with three areas in our life that we want to revamp and make considerably better.  1. Finances 2. health 3. dedication to God.  I think there is a time in everyone life where they go through and say they need to make changes, and if they are anything like me I say those things and maybe change things for a week, or maybe a month, but then I fall off the wagon.  Not this time.  Luke and I have really brought these things to the Lord and have teamed together to conquer this life overhaul we desperately need.  But what have we done?

1. Finances:  Luke works full time at DTS and we are so richly blessed to have a job that he loves, can serve, and get paid for!  I work at home as a stay at home mom, and also blessed to watch a friends baby who is awesome, and is like a sister to Grace.  I love it! Sometimes I have other children that I watch during the summer and when they have no school, they rock too! Needless to say these jobs are fabulous, but not your top paying jobs.  Going into marriage we knew that as a teacher and a pastor we were never going to be able to afford that house on the beach, awesome car, and luxurious vacations, and we are ok with that. 

Luke and I sat down and attacked our budget like hungry wolves.  We went through everything and came up with a plan for paying things off, and surviving on what we have.  I am in awe of the mad computer skills my husband has!  He pretty much computerized our budget so it does all the calculations and everything!  He is a genius!

2. Health:  We have started eating better for about a year now, and I am so proud of our accomplishments!  We haven't been through a drive through in almost a year!  We have made some big changes, and not only that, they are habits that are sticking.  Being at home I am in charge and can control the healthy snacks, shopping, and healthy dinners.  Now don't be fooled, we totally splurge once in a while and go all out on junk :)

3. Dedication to God: This is HUGE!  I cannot speak for Luke, but for me I have been in a dry place since Grace was born.  It was really difficult for me to find time to pray, read the  Bible, and just hear God speak.  It would always fill my heart when I would read, or notice a situation where I know it was God grabbing my attention just to know He still loves me and longs for me.  We serve a gracious God!  Going on with this life overhaul I realized that in order to make these changes and for us to be able to survive my focus needs to be on God.  It amazes me how awesome my attitude and day goes when I start my morning in prayer.  I have regular devotions with God (Not daily, but we are getting there).  And have signed up for our ladies Bible study at church.  I am excited!

So there you have it.  We are starting on a great adventure on transforming our life through our dedication and foundation in the Lord.  I cannot wait to see how this all plays out. 

Merging

We are merging blogs! I have a blog for myself, a blog for Grace, and Luke and I have a blog for family and ministry stuff. Do you know how hard it is to keep up with all that? So I have decided that we are just using one. Here you will find everything going on with our family and ministry. Whew...here we go :)