We've moved!

Well, our blog did anyway. 

Jak(ofhearts)

I'm still trying to figure out wordpress so it will probably be a little bit longer before I'm actually blogging again.

See you there!

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The main reason I've moved blogs is to protect our last name as much as I can. 

I don't know what I was thinking, having it as part of the domain name.

I'm pretty happy with our new blog name, but I'm going to save the explanation of it for my first post as a wordpress blogger!

wordless wednesday

♥ At TCH snuggling with my one week old miracle ♥

Streams in the Desert

I'm babysitting a good friend's little girl this week.

This is all I have time for :)

Plus it sums up everything that's going on in my heart.

June 15

God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering. Genesis 41:52

A poet stands by the window watching a summer shower. It is a fierce downpour, beating and pounding the earth. But the poet, in his mind's eye, sees more than a rain shower falling. He sees a myriad of lovely flowers raining down, soon breaking forth from the freshly watered earth, and filling it with their matchless beauty and fragrance. And so he sings:

It's not raining rain to me - it's raining daffodils;
In every dripping drop I see wildflowers upon the hills.
A cloud of gray engulfs the day, and overwhelms the town;
It isn't raining rain to me - it's raining roses down.

Perhaps you are undergoing some trial as God's child, and you are saying to Him, "O God, it is raining very hard on me tonight, and this test seems beyond my power to endure. Disappointments are pouring in, washing away and utterly defeating my chosen plans. My trembling heart is grieved and is cowering at the intensity of my suffering. Surely the rains of affliction are beating down upon my soul"

Dear friend, you are completely mistaken. God is not raining rain on you - He is raining blessings. If you will only believe your Father's Word, you will realize that springing up beneath the pounding rain are spiritual flowers. And they are more beautiful and fragrant than those that ever grew before in your stormless and suffering-free life.


You can see the rain, but can you also see the flowers? You are suffering though these tests, but know that God sees sweet flowers of faith springing up in your life beneath these very trials. You try to escape the pain, yet God sees tender compassionate for other sufferers finding birth in your soul. Your heart winces at the pain of heavy grief, but God sees the sorrow deepening and enriching your life.


No, my friend, it is not raining afflictions on you. It is raining tenderness, love, compassion, patience, and a thousand  other flowers and fruits of the blessed Holy Spirit. And they are bringing to your life spiritual enrichment that all the prosperity and ease of this world could never produce in your innermost being. J.M.M.

Songs across the Storm
 A harp stood in the calm, still air,
WHere showers of sunshine washed a thousand fragrant blooms;
A traveler bowed with loads of care
Struggled from morning till the dusk of evening glooms
To strum sweet sounds from the songless strings;
The pilgrim strives in vain with each unanswering chord,
Until the tempest's thunder sings,
And, moving on the storm, the fingers of the Lord
A wonderous melody awakes;
And though the battling winds their soldier deeds perform,
Their trumpet-sound brave music makes
While God's assuring voice sings love across the storm.

no limitations

You know how you hear and see warnings with just about everything these days?

I bet you never noticed it before, but almost everything says to not do/take/use if you have a heart condition. 

Every time I am confronted with one of those warnings, I make a mental note.

"Allie can't do that."

Not in a sad way just in a "good to know" way.

I'm tired of thinking about all the things she can't do.

When we were given the choice to either go down the road towards transplant or towards the surgeries, we chose the transplant because it would give her a fuller, richer life. She might be here longer if we went with the surgeries, but her life would be bogged down with doctor's visits, medicine, and a very long list of things that she was unable to do.

We want her to get the most from life. We want her to have no limitations. 

And here I am limiting her.

Aliyah can

run.

climb a moutain.

go fishing.

dance.

watch clouds with me on a sunny afternoon.

listen to the rain fall.

learn about Jesus.

read books with her Momma.

fly a kite.

go snorkeling.

swim with her friends.

learn to sew.

bake cookies.

travel.

go to college.

The things she is able to do far outweight  the things she can't do.

Heart transplants, especially in infants, are too new for the doctors to give us any long term data on life expectancy. Denver Children's is following a young lady that was transplanted as an infant from the same diagnosis Aliyah had. She is now in her 20's and going to college. 

In another 5, 10, 20 years the advancements in medicine may give Aliyah a life well into her old age. 

She could get married, have children.

For now, we have today. I won't let her today be dictated by what she can't do

because

Aliyah can.

7 months

My miracle is 7 months old.

Seven.

She's closer to a year old than a newborn. 

I'm so not okay with that.

Those big blue eyes have captured my heart.

Side note, if I didn't tell you that her scar is visible above her shirt, I bet you'd never know.

She's so much more active and involved in her world.

It's a really good thing she's not walking yet.

I think she'd already have covered herself in paint.

Allie and her bunny on her one month birthday.

She was such a little pip squeak. 

Newborn outfits swallowed her tiny broken body.

Now she lifts the bunny.

If she could walk I think she'd carry that bunny around.

She has grown so much in such a short amount of time.

Happy day, big girl.

Thinking of our donor family.

We wouldn't have had this last month with her if it wasn't for you.

Flashback Friday

This is one of my favorite pictures of John and I. We were at Gettysburg, at the site of the battle of Little Round Top.

John is a huge Civil War "fan" 

can you even say you're a fan of war?

and being from Maine makes this battle his ultimate favorite. 

Seeing John explore the exact location where his childhood hero fought so many years ago is one of my favorite memories.

We were driving a Budget truck full of our stuff from Maine to Colorado.

We took a "detour" to see Gettysburg.

Really it was super out of our way.

Our plan to only stay one afternoon turned into two days and one night.

We stayed at a haunted hotel, drove around the whole park, walked the town at night, and ate breakfast at the worlds cutest coffee shop. 

It was a fabulous trip.

the coffee shop

the town

the cemetery

the artifacts

it's my blog and I'll cook if I want to

Hubby came home yesterday with a binder as big as a law book.
I would know. I spent a good chunk of time helping best friend organize the entire State of Maine's law books. 
I swear, I've never seen so many freakishly huge, old and dusty books in my life.

He plopped it on the counter.

THUD

Is that what I think it is?

Yep.

OH MY GOSH!
CONGRATULATIONS!

Confused?

That ginormously huge binder is studying material for the promo board.

Still confused?

Hubby is up for promotion, which works a littttle bit different in the military than in the real world.

In short terms, he has to pass a test that contains any and all the information in the law book binder

and

pass a PT test.

The thud of the binder symbolized the need for my husband to lose a lot of weight and really get in shape for that PT test. 

He had two surgeries in the last 10 months, one on each shoulder, which hindered him from just about every physical activity. In addition to post-op recovery, we spent months eating hospital food. 

You know the phrase "body by baby"? 

We have "body by cafeteria food".

I'm sure you're wondering where I'm going with this.

He has until July 30th to lose a pretty good chunk of weight so he can be promoted. 

You cannot be overweight in the military. 

Have you ever seen a fat soldier?

Not that my hubby is fat, but we're both definitely out of shape.

So we're embarking on this journey called eating really, really, ridiculously healthy.

Hubby is an insanely picky eater.

INSANELY.

Which makes cooking healthy next to impossible, especially since I can't really cook to begin with.

I can make any cake, pie, cookie, brownie, whatever desert you throw at me.

Grilled chicken? Oven roasted veggies? Not without a recipe and a half-ton of confidence.

So I've spent the morning scouring the internet for the kind of recipes that make you go 

That looks healthy

instead of 

That looks delicious!

Example?

Fried beans with sorrel, feta and sumac

vs.

Chicken Pot Pie

If I watch who reads my blog, most of them are woman and the majority of them are married.

What married or unmarried woman doesn't want to eat healthier?

I have yet to meet a woman that doesn't think she has some weight to lose.

And even if you are the skinniest thing in the world

and I see you and immediately hate your jeans size

we can all be a little bit healthier.

With summer coming, I can't think of a better time to try to get my family in the habit of eating things that are more God-made than man-made.

All that to say, 

if we try a recipe that is something I would've never ever made before and it ends up being a huge hit

I'm totally going to post it.
I'm not planning on turning this into a cooking blog or anything but be prepared for recipes.

I hope you're okay with that.

So far, my favorite looking healthy recipe is Grilled Shrimp with Lime & Cilantro

Maybe this eating super healthy thing won't be so bad after all.