As I was in our room this evening getting things ready for church in the morning, I realized that our calender on the wall was still on July... We were away from home for quite some time! Our calender is made with quotes from the book "The Purpose Driven Life" I am always encouraged by the quotes each month. As I began to turn the calender to September, I saw the date Aug. 17th and on it I had written "due date" wow I thought to myself, who knew when I wrote that down how different things would be then we had expected. I decided to read the quote for Aug. (Ella's birth month) It said "Trusting God completely means having faith that He knows what is best for your life. You expect Him to keep His promises, help you with problems, and do the impossible when necessary." Wow so true and appropriate for all of life but especially for Aug.! Then I continued on to read the quote for this month, it read " Our hope in difficult times is not based on positive thinking, wishful thinking, or natural optimism. It is certainty based on the truths that God is in complete control of our universe and He loves us." Again I was blown away by the truth in these words. I got so excited I took the calender of the wall brought it to the living room where I read it to Jon, then with a smile I said, "that is worthy of a blog! :)" I just had to share these great quotes! God is so good to encourage me when I am feeling low, and He always reminds me what is really important! I pray you all find a place to worship our gracious Heavenly Father this Sunday!
What wonderful quotes, and what a precious picture! Miss Ella has a beautiful smile!
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Oh, what a beautiful baby! This picture would brighten anyone's day!
ReplyDeleteWhat encouraging words! Thank you for sharing. 1 week from tomorrow......We miss you guys, but are so excited for Ella's progress. Love seeing that big smile on Ella's face.
ReplyDeleteHi Amy, my name is Shannon Moore. My husband, Aaron, is a close friend from a loooong time ago of your brother-in-law Jonathon.We live in CO now, but we still keep up with the Smalls thanks to FB :) We have read your blog and been praying SO very often for you all since Kristina told us about your high-risk pregnancy with Ella. I too, have a daughter named Ella :) My ella is 2 years old. Your Ella is just so, SO very precious! My best friend Tawni, just had her baby girl Kaelyn last week. Kaelyn also has HLHS. She just underwent her first open-heart surgery last wednesday. It's been so very hard to read your blog, knowing what was coming for Kaelyn, and yet God has been so faithful to soothe our hearts as we watch him provide for all of you, do amazing things in tiny little Ella and see how very faithful he has been and will be. For you and for us! Thank you for your blog post today...we all are stuggling, as I know you do, with the "whys" of all of this, but faith is being sure of what we hope for and CERTAIN of what we do not see! We can be CERTAIN of these babies lives', of their healing, of their protection and growth. Our God is a mighty healer and I know He has a plan for these girls that far outweighs anything we could even HOPE for for them! I know Tawni has been reading your blog too, and it has helped her a lot to "prepare" mentally as she watches you! If you are ever curious, or want to add Kaelyn to your heart baby prayer list, their blog is at www.tonyandtawni.com. Blessings to you all, and know there are many, many people praying for you in Colorado!
ReplyDeleteThat's wonderful, Amy. And Ella is getting so big and chubby ;) She's beautiful!
ReplyDeleteElla is looking fantastic!! Filling out nicely! God sure is good all the time!
ReplyDeleteYour young and beautiful family is an inspiration. Ella is truly a gift from God. The pictures of her are wonderful!
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