A beautiful Day for a Beautiful Baby Girl

March 28th, 1995 dawned a gorgeous spring morning. I was 38 weeks pregnant and the road was finally coming to an end. We were about to see our most anticipated, most incredible baby girl that we had prayed fervently for for many months and years.

When Matthew and I married at the very early age of 19, He slaved away working like a mad man trying to finish his degree at A&M. About a year into our marriage, God gave me a very real, very pressing desire to speak with Matthew about starting a family. I can remember sitting in a Chili's Restaurant pouring my heart out to him telling that for some reason, I strongly believed the Lord wanted us to begin thinking about babies. His eyes bugged out of his head and gave me all of the reasons why this was NOT a good time at this point in time, but we commited to pray.

A month later, I went in for a routine exam with my endocrinologist in Galveston (UTMB medical center). At that appointment, I could tell that something was wrong. My doctor started asking me random questions about whether or not we wanted kids, how many we'd like to have, etc. I thought they were very personal and extremely random questions. A few minutes later, he explained that some tests on my kidneys had come back abnormal and he referred me to a nephrologist (kidney dr.) at UTMB the next month. The outcome of that appointment was basically "Have as many kids as you want (within reason...3-4) as quickly as you possibly can because your kidneys may present a problem at any point in time." I had an "Ah-Ha" moment immediately. I realized that God was preparing our hearts in anticipation of this news.

I discovered I was pregnant the day that Matthew graduated from Texas A&M. What an exciting Graduation gift! We consulted with an incredible OB-GYN who watched me like a hawk through my pregnancy. I had some scary run-ins over the course of the pregnancy. First, it was the dreaded "Alpha-Feta Protein" test that was done at 15 weeks. It came back abnormal with a 35% chance that our baby girl would have Down's Syndrome. We refused to do an amniocentesis, but I worried about that for the duration of the pregnancy. At 23 weeks, I was hospitalized for 1 week with a kidney infection, which happened while Matthew was out of town (of course). I was hospitalized 2 other times for what was believed to be toxemia. At 30 weeks, I was hospitalized again with high blood pressure and kidney issues, at which point my precious OB/GYN came to me and told me that the current "goal" was to get me to 32 weeks, where he would most likely transfer me to a Neonatal doctor in Houston. I spent 24 hours in the hospital pouring my heart out to the Lord, asking for His mercy.

Because of my high-profile (HA!) pregnancy, all of the doctors and nurses in Dr. Anderson's office knew me on a first name basis and by the time I was ready to deliver, all of the nurses in Labor and Delivery knew me as well. They even got to the point that they were taking bets on whether or not I would have an April Fools Day baby.

Well, Jessica Gabrielle Flippen made her grand entrance at Brazos Valley Medical Centeron March 28th, at 12:30pm. She weighed 6lbs, 2 oz. and was 18 3/4 inches long. It was one of the best days of my life! Before she was born I prayed many times a day, asking God to allow me to deliver a child that would honor Him and be a blessing to all around her. That He would let His light shine on her and that she would bless His holy name. I continue to pray this prayer over her.

I was scheduled for a c-section at noon (Dr. Anderson's lunch of course). When I was laying on the table waiting for Dr. Anderson, I began to notice that all 3 of the doctors in his practice were coming into the room to assist with the delivery. I also had a wonderful surprise waiting in the form of my pediatrician being there to assist as well. She was the doctor that had diagnosed me with juvenile diabetes and we had a special relationship. What a blessing to have her be there with me when I delivered my first baby girl. As I lay on the table anticipating what was to come, I was simply overwhelmed with joy for all that God had done for me and for my precious baby. He had calmed my every worry (he knows me SO well) by bringing in every possible doctor into the OR that would give me confidence and encouragement and peace. I'll never forget, as long as I live, the incredible joy that bubbled out when I heard her cry.

Jessica has always has been a joy from the Lord. She has a quiet strength that I admire so much. She is bold and courageous and completely unashamed of the Lord. She holds herself with dignity and strength that is rare in a 14 year old. She adores children and desires to be a woman of God. I couldn't ask for anything more in my wildest dreams.

Jessica, you are my one and only daughter, a continual gift from God. I pray God's richest blessings on you in the year to come. Keep your eyes on Jesus and He will show you the way.

I am immeasurably blessed to be her Mommy. Happy Birthday Jessica!

Mommy :)

Hail Storm - March 25, 2009

We had the worst hail storm hit today! As you can see from above, the hail covered everything almost as far as the eye could see. The numbers coming in record the damages at $160 million so far. I'm sure the roofing companies are seeing dollar signs right now...sigh

Catching up (again)...

As I sit down to write about what has been going on in our busy lives over the last 2.5 months, I am very much enjoying naptime :) We are down to 1 nap a day, but if we time it right, it can be a very much-needed break in the day.

So much has happened since I last updated. Christmas was an awesome experience this year. We always travel as a family to Bryan-College Station to spend Christmas with our families. We have a total of 4 Christmases in 2 days, which can definitely be overwhelming at times. We have Christmas with Matthew's Dad and Susan on the 23rd, then have Christmas Eve morning with Matthew's Mom, and then end the time in BCS on Christmas Eve with my side of the family before making the 2 hour drive back to Austin so that we can have Christmas morning as a family. This year, it took until Christmas morning for Joshua and Josiah to realize that there was actually a point to all of the chaos. At the beginning, they would simply pull at the paper and rip it off, not realizing that there was a prize inside that they might want to play with. It was quite funny to watch their expressions change with each gift that was opened. It was SO MUCH FUN! This year was a neat Christmas for many reasons, one of which being that we were able to spend Christmas morning with my Mom, sister and brother-in-law and my niece and nephew. The last time that we were able to do that was the year that I graduated from High School and we won't even discuss how long ago that was! Just assume that it's been awhile :) All kidding aside, it was such a blessing to do that again.

Joshua and Josiah doing one of their

favorite things: climbing on top of boxes!

Christmas Morning

Josiah and Joshua in their new "treehouse"

A few days after Christmas, Matthew's Dad took them (Matthew, Jessica and Christopher) deer hunting in Stephenville for a few days. They had a great time together, especially since Christopher shot not 1, but 2 deer. I don't quite understand the joy that comes with shooting a deer, but I'm happy that they enjoyed their time together. Christopher, being the 12 year old boy that he is, immediately compared his deer antlers to Jessica's (that she shot last year). I'm calling it a tie, but they might beg to differ on that.

One of my gifts this year came from our sweet Ethiopian friends, Mesfin and Genet. Their gift was a cooking lesson to teach me how to cook some traditional Ethiopian food. They LOVE spending time with Joshua and Josiah and we get to spend some time with great friends. What a neat time we had with them. I'm not ready to open a restaurant, by any means, but at least I can cook a couple of things now :)

In early February, Matthew and Jessica went back to Acuna, Mexico on a medical mission trip with Hill Country Bible Church and Global Outreach. They spent 2 days in Acuna (just across the border from Del Rio, TX), ministering to the community through a medical/dental clinic. It is an amazing experience to be a part of and is something that Jessica particularly feels drawn to. In past trips, she has helped the dentist with tooth extractions, teeth cleaning, etc. This trip, however, she and Matthew spent their time with the children (no surprise there!) who come to the clinic. They did things like face-painting, skits, water balloons, etc. By the time that they got home on Sunday, they were very tired, but also very blessed by the people that they'd spent time with in Acuna.

As we are getting into the month of March (I can't believe that!!), we're getting into the frantic spring schedules that come with having teenage kids. We just finished up school basketball and are getting into baseball full-swing (literally). Christopher's first game is tomorrow and we've only had 1 week of practice. Yikes! It will be very interesting to sit through 1 1/2 hour baseball games with twin (almost) 2 year olds. I'm praying that the other parents don't run for the hills after the first few minutes with us in the stands (I'm kidding). It should be fun, but baseball is not nearly as fast-paced or interesting as basketball, so I'm wondering how they'll do. We shall see!

Speaking of the twins, they are really developing little personalities and changing so fast! I love this age, when they begin to discover all kinds of new things and you begin to see tons of development going on. Joshua and Josiah still love, love, LOVE to dance. They can find a beat in absolutely the most random things, like whisking eggs - seriously! If there's any kind of beat at all they will find it and start dancing. Christopher taught Josiah some crazy dance moves that are absolutely hysterical to watch. Josiah is also becoming quite the bookworm. He loves to get a book and will sit for 10 minutes at a time just looking at the book and turning the pages. Joshua, on the other hand, doesn't sit still for a second! He runs everywhere he goes and has a smile on his face at all times. He runs through the house over and over again, laughing as he goes. Josiah is just now getting the hang of running and doesn't necessarily like the fact that Joshua can run faster than him right now. Josiah is still the charmer and the first to reach engage new people that he meets, especially pretty little girls. The two of them have the charm down to a tee. It is comical to watch them in a group of people. If there's a pretty 4-6 year old sitting anywhere near them, they do everything that they possibly can to flirt with her. They are so darn cute, that we have yet to meet a woman of any age that isn't smitten with them immediately!

It looks like nap time is over and it's almost time to pick up Jessica and Christopher from school, so I'm going to end this post. I'm going to try to sit down every week to update the blog, but I'm not making any promises ;o) Hopefully it won't take an hour to read the next one!