Wednesday, March 31, 2010

In Her Shoes...

God has been working on my heart lately and doing a great amount of healing, but he still continues to push me harder every day.  For any of you that don't know, my sister and best friend are both pregnant (about 6 weeks apart).  This, in itself, pushes me to be stronger every day.  I'll be honest, I am VERY happy for them and I know that their babies are little miracles, but watching them go through this phase in life without me is awful.  I just want to be there with them.  When I see the joy in their eyes it is just so hard.  I have often asked God why he would put me in this situation.  Why, when he knew I was already struggling, would he make it so much harder?  I don't have an answer really, but obviously he wanted me to keep growing.  Losing our baby wasn't enough.  He wants us to become stronger for some other undetermined reason.  I am convinced that infertility is one of the worst things a woman can go through.  You want something so much, but you just can't have it.  At least not yet...

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5

Saturday, March 27, 2010

March Madness Continues

UPDATE:  WE'RE GOING TO THE FINAL FOUR!!
(In case you  were sleeping under a rock this evening and didn't hear).
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I have always been a proud Butler Bulldog, but today I am EXTREMELY proud as we head into the Elite 8!  I think if we can beat Syracuse, a #1 seed, we can beat anyone.  I wish this was 2002 instead of 2010, because then I could've watched the game from the sidelines!  But hey, i'll settle for a television and will still be cheering for them anyway. :) Today I took a walk down memory lane...

Let's go BU!
A blast from the past...

There's nothing like cheering at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
LET'S GO DAWGS!!!

Monday, March 15, 2010

Remembering You

♥ To Our Dearest Little Logan ♥  
March 15th, 2010 ♥
We thought of you today, but that is nothing new.
We thought of you yesterday, and will tomorrow too.
We think of you in silence, and make no outward show.
For what it meant to lose you, only we will know.
Remembering you is easy, we do it every day.
It's the heartache of losing you that will never go away.

Thinking of our baby more than ever today.  Oh, what I would do to have him/her in my arms right now.  Sigh.  We love you little one and dream of the day we will get to meet you in heaven.

~If you lose hope, somehow you lose the vitality that keeps life moving, you lose that courage to be, that quality that helps you go on in spite of it all. And so today I still have a dream.~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

Friday, March 12, 2010

Sunshine and Rain

Chris and I were lucky enough to get away last week as we headed to Arizona to visit my parents.  It was great to see my mom and dad, especially since it had been almost a year since we had seen each other!  Here are some pictures:

A little burst of sunshine over the White Tank Mountains
Hiking in the mountains on a gorgeous day

Taking some pictures out back by the pool (it was still too cold to swim in though)
We had tickets to the White Sox vs. Cubs game on Sunday, but unfortunately it rained ALL day and the game was canceled.  Hence, the umbrella and sad faces in front of the White Sox spring training field... and to make Chris' day worse, we spent the rest of the day shopping :) 

We had a great time visiting and did lots of sight-seeing, shopping, and of course found time to relax.  We both have been pretty busy lately with work and having our bathroom remodeled due to a leak we discovered in December.  So, it was nice to get away for a bit and enjoy some sunshine (and rain) together.  

On another note, as I kind of anticipated, March has been hard.  My due date was March 15th, and I find myself constantly thinking about how things would have been right now had things gone a little bit different 6 months ago.  I know some may think I should be "over it" by now.  In fact, I was kind of hurt by someone who made a comment similar to this.  However, I read a quote recently and it hit the spot:"If you haven't been where i'm coming from, then you don't know where i've been".  I think this is SO true, especially for me.  It's easy to imagine what it would be like.  Maybe you would brush it off and go about your day, or maybe you think it would be the hardest thing ever.  Maybe it brings you to tears just thinking about it.  Whatever your reaction, in my opinion, it's something you can't really grasp until you are faced with it.  I remember thinking "what if" before I miscarried, and somehow thought I had myself prepared for the worst.  But, nothing prepares you for something like this.  Nothing.  It is just something you have to get through as you grieve.  

We are all different, but for me, it takes a lot of help from my spouse, a few understanding loved ones, and much more help from God.  Just because I have depended on God throughout this doesn't mean that it has been easy.  Here is another quote from a book that I recently read about miscarriage/infertility,

 “Healing, I’ve learned, is hidden work.  It’s the touch of God on the tender, raw places of your soul.  It’s something you don’t feel all at once, something you can’t see.  You don’t mark that day on a calendar.  You just look back over the weeks and months and realize you don’t hurt the way you used to.”

God has been working on my heart lately but He still has some work to do :)  If you read this and think of me on Monday, please say a prayer for me.  We miss our baby every day and still think about him/her all the time.  Our little Logan will be on our minds more than ever on that day.  Even though he/she went to heaven months ago, this could have been the day our baby was born into this world.  The day we would celebrate every year for the rest of our lives.  We will still never forget this date, and will celebrate in a bittersweet way, every year. 

"There are things that we don’t want to happen but have to accept, things we don’t want to know but have to learn, and people we can’t live without but have to let go."  Author unknown

 "Be still, and know that I am God."  
~Psalm 46:10~

Monday, March 1, 2010

And the Medal Goes to...

Well, if you didn't get a chance to watch on Friday night, Katherine raced really well and ended up with a Silver medal.  I'm not sure if I enjoyed watching her more or Chris.  It was fun to see how excited he was for her.  He didn't want to go to sleep because he was so excited.  Way to go, Katherine!  You are amazing! Maybe she can teach me how to ice skate sometime.  You know, without falling down every few minutes after finally letting go of the wall :)

Click here to watch:  Katherine Charges to Silver

Here are a few pictures from Christopher's trip to Vancouver 

Chris, Uncle Rick, Chris' dad (hiding in the middle), 
Cousin Nick, and Zach (cousin Emily's husband)


Supporting Katherine in their "Rootin' for Reutter" sweatshirts
(Katherine's parents, grandparents, and the rest of crew)

 
Katherine waiting to skate (#157)