What's Your Answer Wednesday: My Home

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No matter what stage in life we are in or what activities and responsibilities make up our days, all of us have some place that serves as our living space---it is to that I am referring when I use the term, "home". This week the meme question will be: "What is (or are) some thing(s) that you love about your current home?"

(Please click the pictures to enlarge!) The thing I love most about my home is that there is a place for everything! This is the first time in a REALLY long time that I've had a place for everything and everything in it's place! My house is organized and free of clutter so I am able to spend time decorating, rearranging, and being creative in blessing others in and through my home! This has been a huge step for me as I spent way too many years with a cluttery, disorganized mess!

The number one thing that has contributed to my clean home is my dishwasher. With a family of 9, it is almost impossible to keep up on dish washing without a dishwasher!! I know because I've done it for the majority of 12 years of marriage! When we moved into this house in January and I began using the dishwasher, I was amazed at how much time it left me to do all the other chores!

Another thing I love in my house are fresh flowers. Since about April, I've tried to always have some fresh flowers around. I am very frugal with them: picking out the dead ones, replacing the water, making new (and progressively smaller) arrangements until they're all dead! I like to see how long I can get them to last!

Thirdly, I love my collections. I collect all kinds of things! Old books, crocheted pot holders, tea stuff, Amish things, vintage cutting boards...all kinds of things! I love to decorate with my collections!

Happy Wednesday everyone!

Free As A Bird: Blue Monday

Happy Blue Monday!

If you've got some time, visit Smiling Sally for more Blue Monday participants!

Last Day!!!: I'm hosting a giveaway in honor of my new linking party! Read through for details!


No kidding: I have spent this entire week trying to get a shot at this crazy blue bird that has been squawking outside my window for...ever. (Please click on the pictures to enlarge them).
I've been hearing him all day long, every day...but thought it was just a noisy ol' crow or something. Then my kids came in early last week and said they saw this blue bird in the tree outside my bedroom and could I hear it?

BLUE!!! I immediately thought of all my Blue Monday friends and knew I should try and get some pics. I grabbed my husbands good camera, opened up the door and got the shot above. Then the chase began! He immediately dove into a tree:Can you see his outline there? After that, I decided to shoot him (uh...photograph him---though, after the week I've had with him, I'm ready to shoot him now!!!) from my bedroom window--less noisy that way.
I've spent this whole week listening for his awful squawk and running to try and get a good shot.

I've wanted you all to get to see his pretty blue feathers. He's got black, spiky hair and slick black and blue feathers. When he's standing up and far away, he looks black but when he gets up close, he's obviously blue:
The kids are saying he's a blue jay but I don't think so.
This is definitely one bird who thinks it's better to be heard and not seen! Alright, Mr. Bird, it's Blue Monday and I've done the best I could. Go back to your life of freedom and freely taking off with my Rhododendron buds. I'll leave you alone now!
GIVEAWAY: I'm hosting a giveaway in honor of my new Wednesday linking party. Click HERE for up to 5 chances to win!

Miracle MakeOver Party: Pink Saturday

I'm hosting a giveaway in honor of my new linking party! Read through for details!

I am honored to be participating with over 100 other bloggers to celebrate Colette's Miracle Makeover Party. Guideposts Makeover Reveal Party can be seen at Kelee's blog: The Katillac Shack. Kelee introduced us to Colette and she, along with Guideposts magazine, has inspired this great blogging effort today.

Click here to watch the video of how Colette, a cancer patient in need of some encouragement, received a cheerful update to an otherwise dreary healing room.

Guideposts magazine made this happen and is willing to do so again if we join in the fundraising effort. For every comment submitted in the following manner, $1 will be donated toward another Miracle MakeOver for someone in need. You can help by commenting on the following sites:

You may earn up to $5.00 in donations by leaving comments at these four other partner site links:

www.facebook.com/guideposts

Spiritual Sunday @ BloggerSpirit

Country Wings in Phoenix Blog

Pink Saturday @ How Sweet the Sound

http://www.katillacshack.com/

Now, for my own inspiring story:











Everyone loves to hear a story of the miraculous and it's especially meaningful when it involves a child. Many friends, family and readers have been curious about the circumstances surrounding the birth of our newest son, Liam Bradley. (This story is intense but has a happy ending--still, please feel free to skip it if you feel it might be difficult for you to read).

Liam is our seventh child and was our first home birth. With all my other children, I was medically induced at a hospital with Pitocin---which brought on very painful and strong contractions. I was used to a panicky labor and an excruciatingly painful birth. From the time I went into labor with Liam at 12:30 am to the time he was ready to be born at shortly before 5:00 am, my contractions were mild and the experience was calm---I even got rests of up to 3 or 4 minutes between contractions!! Unbelievable!

It was because of this calm labor that I didn't realize I was ready to deliver him at shortly before 5:00...so I got up to use the restroom. At that time, his cord became prolapsed and my midwife called 911. The next eight minutes or so were frantic! My midwife began instructing me on positions to get into and when to push as she desperately tried to maneuver him into the correct position to be born, while also trying to keep the cord from being pinched. The entire time, I was calling out to God, "please Lord, save my baby!" There were five EMTs in my house within just a couple minutes and they were all trying to decide the best course of action. The EMTs wanted to transport me to the hospital for an emergency c-section but my midwife, knowing that Liam wouldn't make it that long, insisted that I stay put and try to deliver him. (The fact that he was my seventh...and that I'd just had a baby last year worked in my favor here!)

Finally, she got him in the right position and seconds later, he was born! He had a steady heartbeat but was not breathing or moving. I couldn't bring myself to look at him as they performed all of the actions to get him to breathe so I just lightly touched his head and continued to pray. Soon, I heard the sweetest little sigh so I opened my eyes and all I could see was this little pink nose. As the EMTs took him out to the ambulance, my husband whispered to me, "you're going to need to be brave because I'm going with him."

I can't really explain exactly how I felt but I don't think it was the normal reaction! I just felt really peaceful. I told my midwife that I thought we'd done everything possible to save him and that it was in God's hands. I really did feel peaceful and knew that whether Liam survived or not, God had brought him into the world for some reason.

About a half hour later, my midwife took me up to the hospital to see him. He was being given oxygen and was hooked up to several monitors. Everyone reassured me that he was going to make it---which actually made me feel a little wary. Were they all saying this just to keep me calm or was it true? My midwife soon assured me that he really was going to make it.

Long story short, Liam was in an oxygen tent for 12 hours (the doctor said initially that it would be 2 or 3 days). He was taken totally off of oxygen after the 12 hour mark but required it during eating for the next couple of days. He developed jaundice on the second day and was put in a bili light bed for 5 days. On the sixth day he left the bili light bed but was still on monitors for 24 hours. On the seventh day, he got to come to my room (the hospital graciously gave me a room so I could stay there with him)! The morning of the eighth day, we finally came home!

Liam is a healthy and strong little guy who just turned 3.5 months old and began rolling from back to front to back again this week! According to the hospital staff, a prolapsed cord is a very rare thing. In fact, one nurse who'd been there for 20 years said he was only the third baby she'd ever seen who had survived a prolapsed cord and the first to be delivered without a c-section.

I have to say that I really believe my midwife saved his life. She kept a level head and knew exactly what to do to allow both of us a safe and speedy delivery. Several people have asked me if this experience has turned me off from the home birth/midwife experience---thinking that I might have felt safer in a conventional hospital with a conventional doctor. My answer is absolutely not! Even the hospital staff said that Liam would have not made it to the hospital had we been transported and probably would not have made it through an emergency c-section if I would have been laboring at the hospital in the first place. In this instance, it was because of our choice to do the home birth that Liam and I both came out of the experience alive and well!

Today I am grateful for God's protective hand on our little boy and for my midwife, Michelle, and her assistant, Melissa, two well-deserving heroes!

Visit Pink Saturday today for more stories of inspiration!

GIVEAWAY: I'm hosting a giveaway in honor of my new Wednesday linking party. Click HERE for up to 5 chances to win!