New Photos

Hello,

My son Tommy took some photos of me with the babies this morning. I really like them and wanted to share them with you.

Happy New Year to all my dear friends! I appreciate you so much.

Love,

Ange

Eight A.M.

Well it is eight a.m. the morning before Christmas Eve. The babies are still sleeping. The teenagers are still sleeping. And even the other children are sleeping. Heather just awoke and is eating her breakfast.

My blogging time is very limited right now since I am so busy with the babies and the family overall. However, I just want to update the "happenings" around here.

Our oldest son arrived home this past Sunday. He will be living with us until he finds his next step. He will be 20 years old in March! We are so happy to have him home and all of the younger children are so happy to have him here too!


Joshua, our 7th child celebrated his 7th birthday on the same day of Bradley's arrival home. So the whole family got to celebrate together! It was a great day. And it was also the twins 6 week birthday.

I love the Christmas season. It has always been one of my favorite times of the year. To be honest though, it really does not feel like the holidays to me. Maybe it is because of the whirlwind of transition we have been through the last month and a half. But I really want to relax and reflect on our Savior and His birth.

The birth of two new babies in our family is really a challenge. I have struggled with a lot of anxiety since their birth. When I shared this with my doctor she told me that I am a strong lady. I said, "If I was really strong I would be "handling things a lot better!" She said, "No. Strength is when you realize you need help and you ask for it. Weakness is when you know you need help and you keep it to yourself."
I guess you can tell I have a great doctor.

Needless to say, I am not one to take medications except a Tylenol or Advil here and there. But now I am on an anti-depressant/anxiety medication to help me until my body gets back to some kind of normal. Why am I sharing this? I think because I just want people to know that we have to give ourselves grace. This is so hard to do especially for women.

We tend to be harder on ourselves than we really need to be. There are so many pressures from without and within our own selves to be this and accomplish that. And I admit that I tend to be one of those people.

For example, when the babies were born, so many people reached out to us. We had food galore brought in by various families, and help with the house and children. Also, we received so wonderful gifts. The babies are 6 weeks old and I have not written one thank you note. Talk about guilt.....I feel guilty because I want all of those wonderful people to know how grateful I am for all of the love they gave to our family. Pressure and guilt....that is enough to make one anxious.

I know I am not alone in how I am feeling. Christmas is a time to focus on the Lord. However, the simplicity of the season and the joy of it all seems to get smothered under all the pressures we put upon ourselves.

So my prayer is that I can just let go of all of this and just savor the beauty of the Lord. This is my prayer for all mothers....that our joy will be full!

For those of you reading this who have reached out to our family during this time...your words of encouragement, your gifts, your time and service means more to us than you may realize. I say thank you! And may God return to you in a special way all you have given.

Merry Christmas with much love!

Ange

Gallery of Blessings!

We are having a wonderful week. My parents flew here from South Carolina on Saturday to be with us and to support us during this time. Here they are holding the girls!
They have been such a blessing. It is so comforting having my Daddy and Momma here. I am so grateful they came from so far away to spend time with us and to be such a huge help!
Daniel and Timmy.
My arms are full of blessings!
I love those little baby heads!
Joshua is holding Lizzie. Heather and Daniel are close by waiting for their turn to hold one of the babies!
Here is Pa with Timmy and Heather.
As you can see Ma and Pa are grand kid magnets!!
Ma with Jamie, Daniel and Heather.
Our lovely Sara with Lizzie!
These are two very handsome sons....Tommy and Kerry.
Tommy playing guitar. He taught himself how to play! I am very proud of him.

The children are all snuggled up with Pa on the floor as we are listening to Tommy's beautiful music!

Thank you all again for your continued prayers, blessings,and kind words. Things seem to be getting better gradually. Lizzie and Maggie are gaining weight rapidly. Lizzie is now 5 lbs 13 oz. and Maggie is 6 lbs 11 oz. They love to eat and they love to snuggle!

I am slowly feeling better. The migraine headaches are not as frequent and my sweet husband has been feeding the babies a lot at night so I can get more sleep. What a dear man he is!

Sending love and blessings!

Ange

My World has Been Rocked

MAGGIE AND LIZZIE
Yes this about sums it up. My world has truly been rocked. As I rock one baby the other baby is asleep. And as the other baby awakes, the other has just fallen asleep. Poops usually happen at the same time, but not always. Seriously, caring for newborn preemie twins in addition to all of the other children has turned my life upside down like a salt and pepper shaker being forced to get that last little bit out to adequately season the food. Never before did I think about how different things would be caring for preemies who have to have every drop of their milk measured to make sure they are gaining enough weight. And we wash bottles change many diapers,make bottles and I try to pump breast milk in between everything else.

Yes, rock me some more... my new life. And I know that there is a "new normal" ahead for us. But right now it does not seem like there is a new normal any where in sight. Now all this might sound like complaints to you the reader. But please do not misunderstand. Feeling overwhelmed does not mean I am complaining. For me it is just the opposite. I am overwhelmed by these challenges, but I know that God knew ahead of time and He will give me the strength and grace to go through this time with joy. I look at these two sweet babies and all the other children we have been blessed with and I am overtaken with amazement at the goodness of God. I prayed and asked the Lord for another baby. He saw fit to send two little angels into our family. My dream came true.

Maggie and Lizzie are both sleeping right now. And a young lady whom I hired to help me this week has taken the little ones to the park. It is so quiet in the house...but I know not for long. I must keep this post short. Anyway, I just wanted to do a very quick update to let all of my blogging friends know that we are doing fine. MAGGIE

LIZZIE

Both of the girls are pretty peaceful babies. They only cry when hungry,have a dirty diaper or want to be snuggled...and they are VERY snugly!And the most wonderful feeling is cuddling them at the same time! One baby in each arm.

It is so interesting how exited I have been over something seemingly as trivial as weight gain in the babies. We are having to take them weekly to the doctor to have them weighed. Lizzie was gaining very slowly and she was the smallest twin. However this week she gained a lot of ounces and her doctor was very happy.


We are not getting much sleep. And I have to give my husband a lot of credit as many times he gets up with both twins so I can rest. Having a c-section has really thrown my body off and it seems to be taking my body longer to repair this time.

Well, until next time....my blogging moments are few right now but I will post notes and photos as much as I can. Thanks to you all for checking in and for your ongoing words of blessing and encouragement!

Love,

Ange

Trusting Again

Here is a another snugly photo of the babies. On the left is Maggie. Lizzie is on the right. Tommy, our 17 year old, is doing really well getting some great pics of these sweeties.
There have been many lessons learned in this season and I know there are more to come. One thing the Lord is showing me is that I can trust Him in others. Honestly, our family went through so much stuff over the last few years, we had really lost trust in people. God never commands that we trust people. However, He chooses to work in and move through people. The lesson...there really are individuals out there who are good and want to love unconditionally.

In the photo above is our 17 year old son Tommy. He has really been a little man in this time. Here he is reading to his younger siblings one of the evenings I was at the hospital with Maggie. I am so proud of him. He took care of all the children while I was in the hospital the first few days.

There has been a change for the good in our home...especially with the teenagers. Their hearts are more tender and they jump to help do anything we need assistance with.
Here is Heather holding Maggie.
Joshua with Lizzie.

Another lesson I learned is that God will move through anyone He chooses. Most of the time it happens through those we least expect. There is a purpose in that as the Lord wants us to know that it is ultimately His hand in action through the life of others. In addition, we can trust Him in people if we will keep an open heart. And if we are let down or disappointed in a person, He is great enough and good enough to take care of us anyway. He is good, good, good!!

When I was in the hospital, the Lord showed me that I had lost trust in others overall. I did not trust the doctors, nurses, and even those around me that I know. I was terrified of anesthesia, surgery, and amnios. I had all three and was forced to face all of these.

As the doctor was pulling the babies out, the anesthesiologist told me that I needed to trust them. I guess he somehow picked up on my fear and distrust even though I was quiet through the whole thing. However, I did tell him beforehand that he better not to let me die since I have 11 children that need me! I wonder how many times he has to listen to statements like that...bless his heart.

Looking back over it all, I see that the Lord took good care of me in the hospital those 8 days and He also protected our baby girls. He did mighty things through a wonderful staff at Chandler Regional Hospital. I also made some sweet new friends with a couple of the nurses there. I really felt like a queen there. One the sweet ladies on staff gave be massages. All of my nurses worked so hard to help me feel comfortable as I was so sick from the medication. And the NICU staff were so thoughtful and respectful to John and me. They also took excellent care of our little girls.

People that we do not even know have come out of the "wood work" to offer help. We have had meals everyday and help with child care. And to think I was worried about God's provision...Oh me of little faith! When will I ever learn that God comes through every time? When will I finally get it?

Thank you again precious people for sharing in our joy! I really do appreciate all of your support and encouragement during this time. Thanks for being a branch of God and for helping me to trust again.

Love, Blessings and Cheer!!

Ange

Two Gether Again!

Yesterday was a joy filled day. The sisters are reunited out of the womb! This morning we put the girls side by side and they immediately locked arms and turned toward each other.
Lizzie is on the left and Maggie is on the right. It was amazing to see these two little ones together! They seemed to recognize each other!

Here's Heather, Daniel and Joshua...they cannot seem to stay away from the babies...they are always wanting to hold them!
Here is one happy mom! Little Maggie is home at last! What a wonderful feeling. Maggie and Lizzie will be two weeks old tomorrow! Wow, how the time is flying!

This is me with my dear childhood friend and neighbor. She flew here last weekend from San Francisco to spend a week with us! Camille was such a blessing...she helped us in so many ways. I am so grateful to her for taking precious time away from her own family to minister to us in such a great time of need. Camille, you are a gift!

Just wanted to share some more joy with you all!

Love to all,

Ange

Maggie is Coming Home

Earlier this week I felt down and discouraged. The doctor had to put a feeding tube into Maggie as she was having trouble getting all of her caloric intake. She was also having drops in her heart rate. Immediately I sent out requests for prayer. There have been prayers offered all over the U.S from East to West. Wow! I am amazed. The day after I sent out prayer requests, I began to receive emails from so many to let us know that they were praying. At the end of the day, there was already vast improvement in Maggie's condition. She started getting hungrier and could not seem to get enough to eat. And thankfully there have been no more drops in her heart rate.

Today is Friday and we are bringing her home late this afternoon. She had to pass a car seat test. This is where the nurses put a preemie baby in the car seat for one hour to make sure she can tolerate it and the drive. Maggie passed with flying colors.

Well, it sure will be interesting to have both of these little tidbits home!! There is not much rest in store for us, but I am so excited to have them together again. Maybe they will sense and know they are together again as they really played together in my belly. The good thing is that Maggie can no longer sit on Lizzie or kick her. At least for now. Maggie seems to want to rule the roost...sorry Lizzie!! I just had to add this photo of Lizzie's head. She has not had one bad hair day yet!!! Next time I post, I will have many more photos! So keep checking back!!

Thank you all again for your continued prayers and kind words! You truly have been a blessing. Your prayers were answered speedily!!

Blessings and Love,

Ange