Peace.

In my last post I talked about how I was telling the kids who they were, what God calls them. This was a conversation I had with Ethan the other night while discussing this topic.
mom: Ethan, who does God say you are?
Ethan: I am strong!
mom: That's right...you are strong! You are a leader!
Ethan: If I'm a leader then that means I am the boss of Isabelle.
mom: Well not exactly. When you are a leader, you let God show you how to lead His people. You let Him tell you what to do and then you tell them.
Ethan: I already know what God wants.
mom: What's that?
Ethan: Kindness and Peace.
mom: Yes, That's right.
Ethan: Mom? Will you pray God gives me Peace?

Who are you?

Lately it's been on my heart to tell my children the story of how they were named. Mike and I didn't just choose a name we liked, we prayed and the Lord gave us a word for each baby and it always matched with the meaning of one of the names we liked.
When I was pregnant with Isabelle, every time we prayed over her in my womb, the word we got was "Set apart for God". When we looked at the meaning of the names we liked, we saw that Isabelle meant, "Consecrated to/Set apart for God".
When I was pregnant with Ethan and we prayed over him in the womb, the word we would hear was "Strong". Again, we looked at the meanings of names we like and saw that Ethan means "Firm, Steadfast and Strong".
The story is a bit different with Anna. Three years before she was born, I had a dream that I was pregnant with another girl and there were 2 names that I liked: Allison and Anna. In the dream Isabelle told me to name her Anna. So, that name had been in my mind for 3 years before she was conceived. When I was pregnant with her it was 2008, and the Lord spoke a promise to Mike and I for the year. The word was "Grace". We held fast to that in every situation we walked through and took hold of it in my pregnancy as well.....again, when we looked at the meaning of Anna, we were pleasantly surprised to see that it meant "Grace". This time it only confirmed the name we felt we were supposed to give her.
With all of that said, the reason I've been wanting to tell each of them those stories (of course Anna doesn't understand it yet) is because I want them to know what God says about them....What He calls them. I want their identity to be ground in their hearts and minds so that when the world tries to label them, i.e. "too hyper" or "tom boy" or (heaven forbid) "fat", they'll brush it off because they already know who they are.

Can you believe it???

Ok, so today was Pop's urology appointment. Understand that for the last 10 months, he has been having issues with his Prostate....after numerous appointments with doctors, who we trust and know are highly trained, and after numerous tests...there's a final result: Diagnosis: Prostatitis (infection) Remedy: Ibuprophen.
We don't feel this was just a misdiagnosis.....we honestly feel it was a miracle! Every doctor we went to and spoke with said, with a PSA that high, it was likely cancer and not just that, but that it had already spread. Not only was his PSA high, his prostate was lobulated (not symetrical), and his symptoms were fairly sudden onset over the last year. EVERYTHING pointed to Cancer! Again, let me stress that 2 of the medical providers we spoke with, who treated Pop, were Christians who believe in the healing power of Christ! We believe this was nothing short of a miracle. Test after test came back clear.....this is unreal and almost unheard of in the medical circle we run in....so praise God....He is Good. And yes, we BELIEVE it!

God is good...ALL THE TIME.

As we all know, God is good. CT scan results came back today....no metastasis (spreading)! Though, we all still knew everything would be ok, it is still a MAJOR sigh of relief to know Pop's "innards" are cancer free! Thanks to all you who are supporting us and standing with us in faith! We will keep you posted...Bone Scan is Tuesday, Urologist/biopsy on Wednesday.

Hi friends and family,
Terence, my Pop, has been undergoing some medical testing and medications for the past few weeks for an enlarged prostate.

He underwent further testing because he wasn't responding to meds. He recieved his test results back on Wednesday.
His PSA levels were high (Prostate-Specific Antigen is a protein produced by the cells of the prostate gland).

A normal count is 3. One that is significantly high and is medical marker to test for cancer is 20. Terence's levels were 350.
(they ran several tests just to be sure).

With levels that high, they have by-passed the biopsies (will run them next week) because the question is not if he has cancer, but what stage it is in.
They said levels that high usually means it has already metatisized (spread) into tissue or bone.

Terence will be going straight to Cat scans and bone scans (the results will show where or if it has spread). They are hoping that the cells have been contained within the prostate.

We will know more after his scan on Monday, the 23rd, and will definittely know more after the appointments with more doctors next Weds. It will take time.


Here is a scripture our family prayed and is standing on:
Please pray this and stand with us: Proverbs 4: 20

20 My son, listen closely to my words.

²¹ Do not let them out of your sight,
keep them within your heart;

²² for they are life to those who find them
and health to a man's whole body.

²³ Above all else, guard your heart,
for it is the wellspring of life.

We are praying for health to his whole body.

The eyes of faith sees the answer before it manifest in the three dimensional physical world.

Tonight, our family decided to have eyes of faith, and we are going to walk through this together, encouraging one another and standing on the word of God.

Please stand with us. Love Nadine

Sometimes...

Sometimes, I have a chance to actually sit and think about things without being interrupted by screaming, the sounds of children jumping off furniture, or the sweet melody of "mooooommmmyyyy!!!". It's during these times that I really realize how amazing everything is around me. Despite the clothes and toys all over the floor, the lack of millions of dollars in my bank account, the missing Cadillac Escalade in my garage, I think I have an unmistakably amazing life.
So, here you go...a few things I am thankful for:
1. the smile of my children's faces.
2. the sound of my husband's voice.
3. running water...running, heated water.
4. a full pantry.
5. utility bills, because they mean I have a house to live in.
6. family 5 minutes away.
7. skype to I can talk to family that's not 5 minutes away.
8. sunshine coming through my window.
9. health insurance.
10. the fact that Bella and Ethan are best friends.
11. the ability to breastfeed.
12. an amazing father for my children.
13. pacifiers.
14. books
15. the fact that I can legally, read my bible.
16. a camera to capture almost every precious moment in my life.
17. a big brother and big sister that LOVE their little sister.
18. that each of us have a bed to sleep on.
19. windshield wipers.
20. a washer and dryer.

89

Preceding events: Ethan has been cooped up all day in the house due to rain...very rambunctiously running and screaming through the house. I've asked several times to stop yelling and use an "inside voice"....finally out of frustration I say:
"Ethan, how many times have I asked you to be quiet?"
His response: "89."

Adorable Annie

You're 6 months old and absolutely amazing. I love your personality. You are more than I ever imagined! These are a few of your favorite things:
Favorite place to crawl: kitchen
Favorite food allowed: Pears
Favorite forbidden food: Ice cream
Favorite toy: a rubber whale...love to chew it!
Favorite place to sleep: car seat
Favorite saying: "na-na-na"
2nd favorite saying: "ma-ma"

You are one happy baby, Annie! We are so blessed by you!

Neglected blog.....

Well, I suppose it's excused with the "move" that I haven't kept up on here. Soooo much has happened and everyone's changed that I don't even know where to start....so here's a blanket blog:
Moved from Oklahoma to Gig Harbor, WA....love it!
New house...in the woods, near the water...love that, too!
See family everyday...very blessed!
New job for Mike...he's favored there!
New church....it's family now!
Bella into sports...swimming, tae kwon do, and everything under the sun!
Ethan into sports as well, same as his sister, a healthy competition sometimes and others..teammates!
Annie, 6 months and growing.....saying mama, dada, and crawling everywhere!
And last, me...surviving and thriving being a wife, mother, teacher, administrator, and newly Children's Ministry Developer!