13

13. Some consider it an unlucky number. I consider it a very blessed number. 13 is the number of years that we have spent with our beautiful, bright, talented Rebecca. 13 years ago our baby girl looked like this...

Now... 13.

Daddy's little girl

Nana made an incredible cake!

Make a wish!

Minute To Win It games in the garage!

What a nutcase!

So blessed to have great friends!

Proud Papa...

...and Nana.

Rebecca, we are so amazed at the young lady you have grown into! You are so beautiful on the outside, but more importantly, you are beautiful on the inside. We can't wait to see what plan God has for your life!



Blogger's block

I seem to have a bit of writer's block lately --- or should we call it blogger's block? Or maybe I am just terribly lazy... or terribly busy... or all of the above! Anyway, I am still here and I am still keeping up with all of our heart buddies. I'm just not posting for some reason.

The only recent news that I have to share is that we rescheduled Zach's heart cath to the end of our Spring Break on March 31. They have to close the fenestration that they made during the Fontan. I had originally scheduled it around a school holiday so I would only have to miss 1 day of work, but with all the snowdays that we have to make up, we now have to go to school then. So, we will take a little "vacation" to Charleston during Spring Break. Zach is already anxious about it. He keeps asking, "When do we go to MUSC?" Of course, he has no sense of time, so I just tell him that it will be a long way off. Then, he will remind me that, "We need to go to that playroom!". It's good to know that he remembers how much fun the Atrium is!

Rebecca and her best friend, Sarah asked me to go out in the freezing cold yesterday afternoon to take some pictures of them together. I thought they turned out pretty good...

Of course, Zach had to get in on the action!



An Update and Some Important Dates

Merry Christmas!!! I can't believe it is already December! I have a good start on my Christmas shopping - how about you?

We finished up most of our decorating last weekend, despite most of us being sick. Zach hung the first ornament on the tree, gave Daddy a huge hug and said "It's Christmas Time!!!" So cute! He hung maybe 2 more ornaments and lost interest. Oh, well. They say their attention span about equals their age in minutes, so that's about par for the course!

Ta-da!

Here's our hearth decor, which Zach has destroyed for the most part. He thinks it's all for him to play with.

Rebecca with her best friend, Sarah, in front of Rebecca's new Christmas tree she put up in her room

We just need to put out our reindeer, snowman, and lighted trees out front. It has been cold and/or rainy this week, so we haven't been able to do it yet. We also need to take our Christmas picture so I can get our Christmas cards ready to go out.

We have a couple of important dates on our calendar. First, Zach has a speech evaluation on Jan. 4. He talks with quite a lisp still and is not saying a lot of blended sounds. We'll just have to see what they say.

Also, Zach will have a heart cath done March 17 at MUSC. They need to close the fenestration that they created during the Fontan and I suppose they will have a look around to make sure everything is working well, too. Even though I dread going through another procedure, at least we know what to expect from Zach. We pray we will not have any surprises.

Good Ole Fashioned Fun

Did you ever do this as a child?

There's nothing like a simple cardboard box, big or small, to entertain a child, big or small, for hours on end... My two children actually played together in this box (yes, it's in the middle of our living room!) for about 30 minutes without any fussing or fighting! I think that might be a record!

Big Sister is 12!

Today, on her 12th birthday, the blog is dedicated to Rebecca.

As I posted in one of my very first posts, about a year after we married, God led Bill to Psalm 127 one morning, letting us know that it was time for us to start a family. A couple of months later, we found out that we were expecting. In 1998, God blessed us with a healthy baby girl. A healthy 8lb 13oz baby girl! (Ow!) This proves that it is absolutely true what the Bible says,

John 16:21 - Holman Christian Standard Bible - BibleGateway.com:
When a woman is in labor she has pain because her time has come. But when she has given birth to a child, she no longer remembers the suffering because of the joy that a person has been born into the world."

Well, it may have taken a few days for me to "no longer remember the suffering"...

I know that I may be just a little bit biased, but I want to try to describe Rebecca for you. She is a special girl. God created her with a huge personality. She loves shopping, music, and sports. She is a girly-girl and a rough-and-tumble athlete all in one. She is amazingly smart and makes us so proud by her drive and performance in school.

They say that a picture's worth a thousand words. Since I could write about that many words about our sweet girl, and chances are, you don't have time to read that many words, here a some pictures of her through her 12 years that will kinda tell her story.

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

2005

2006

2007

2008: The girl loves to SMACK a softball!

2009: Typical brother and sister: they usually start out playing nice...

2010

We love you Bec-Bec!

Hope you have a blessed birthday!