Pause, please

Life with an infant goes by at warp speed.  Gone are the days of relaxing after work, watching a movie on a lazy Sunday afternoon, or sleeping in past 6am.  Everyday seems to go by in fast forward...I blink and it is over.  Since I went back to work last week, this phenomenon has multiplied. I am not longer functioning in plain fast forward, I am now skipping entire chapters and Trent and I cannot keep up.  There is always another load of laundry to do, more puke to clean up, more dishes, feedings, diapers, baths, medicine ....Does every parent feel that they need a pause button in order to get it all done and spend as much time as possible with their child? I am beginning to realize these are no longer the problems of a young married couple, these are choices made by every parent every day of their child's life.  So we do what we can with the household chores, but we make sure Gabriel knows us, and knows that we love him and he is our priority, whether it be bonding over some milk, reading a book, singing to him or simply rocking before bedtime....because it is only during those quiet times that the clock doesn't win.

I had previously mentioned that one of our labor and delivery nurses-turned-friend took some shots of Gabriel on November 12th at Holiday park....although it was outside in November, it was nearly 65 degrees and beautiful!  However, there was a little breeze, so Gabriel kept his eyes closed with his signature "frump" for most of the shoot...but we still got some really cute pics...thanks Sarah!

Going back a few weeks, we spent Thanksgiving in Muncie with both families.  It was as chaotic as always, but just that much more meaningful because Gabriel was with us.  He is the reason for our thankfulness this year, and although we thank God daily for our miracle, this was the day that we could really reflect and humble ourselves in front of our families and God and just praise the Lord for our son.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving, we dedicated Gabriel to the Lord at Yorktown Church of the Nazarene with the help of our families and pastor Marty Ballard, who not only married us but has been a rock for Trent and I throughout our journey with Gabriel.  It was a very special day for all those who prayed for Gabriel - a chance to show all of those people that prayers are answered and miracles do happen by the grace of God.  Since we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Gabriel was medically not supposed to make it, there is no question that this was a true miracle.  Pastor Ballard dubbed the entire service "Miracle Sunday" and spoke on the miracle of Jesus (to kick off the Christmas season).  He also shared the whole story of Gabriel.  Together these are two stories of true power in a world of false prophets. 



We also stopped in to a local bible study (that my mom is a part of) who have prayed for Gabriel and believed with us from the beginning that God is great and Gabriel's life is a gift.  Some of the members of this bible study have been my spiritual mentors since I was a young girl and others just faithful friends - pastor Eldon Morehouse and his wife Louise, Georgia and Pete Linn, Bob Gillium, Frank Wyle, the "candy lady" and many more.  As Gabriel and I walked in, they were finishing up bible study for the day, and I only caught the end of the prayer, but Eldon prayed, "Lord show us your answers to prayer"...and there was Gabriel.



Although from this post it may seem that we are jet-setting and socializing all around, the opposite is actually true....Gabriel left the house only a handful of times in the last month, all in an effort to keep him healthy during the winter.  Now that it is getting cold, he is essentially on "lock-down" because even if people don't look sick, when it gets cold, people are sick, and a little cold, flu or RSV would hospitalize Gabriel.   We look forward to the spring and summer when he can go out and see all of his family and enjoy the outdoors, but until then, our daily lives look a lot like this....

and that's ok with us :)