Please Pray...

I'm not even sure who reads my family blog but if you come across this... can you please pray for this sweet family...

I had the honor today of being at the hospital while the precious baby boy (pictured in her belly) was born.

Let me give you a little back story... I met this family this summer when a mutual friend called me and bought a photo shoot for them. The friend wanted her best friend to have maternity pictures done because she found out when she was pregnant that her baby boy had spina bifida (severely) and was not expected to live. The doctors said 100% fatal.
This precious mom asked me if I would come to the hospital today and take a family pictures after the baby was born. I was honored that she asked me. I went this morning... w a heavy heart for this precious family... knowing that this would be a day that would forever be marked for them.
The doctors expected that the baby would need a breathing tube once he was born and they said they would give him one so that the family could meet him. They only expected him to live a few hours (w help from a ventilator).
He was born at 11:14am this morning.
After being delivered by C-Section, he cried... HE. CRIED. What a precious sound. He was breathing... on his own... He is absolutely BEAUTIFUL. They bandaged his spinal wound and I saw him as they opened the door for his big sister to see him (she is 7) and a few family members. I was able to take a picture of him ... They were taking him to the NICU.

I felt like I was in such a sacred place. I felt like I witnessed a miracle. What man said was IMPOSSIBLE... right before me... IT WAS POSSIBLE. This baby was breathing on his own. He was sucking a passie. He was crying and responsive. WOW.

I watched the family gather in a circle before the baby was born and pray... asking God for a miracle in Jesus name. Then after hearing the news... no breathing tube... they gathered again and THANKED THE LORD that he was breathing on his own. They also began to pray about what would happen next...

Now I am asking you to pray... This baby has a LONG road ahead of him.

The doctors have not been optimistic ... since the very beginning. They told her the best thing to do was terminate her pregnancy. She said "no way".
They again, are not very optimistic about what they can do for him. Tomorrow the neuro surgeon and a plastic surgeon will talk about how they can close his spine and IF they can close his spine. It is very severe. I don't get the medical part of it all... but I know it's a serious surgery. A questionable surgery.

I feel like I witnessed a miracle take place today. A baby was born. He is alive and they said he would not be.
Will you pray w me for him to continue to live.
This mom is absolutely precious. Her prayers are so touching... Here is what she posted on her facebook today before she went in for surgery.

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I cry out to the Abba Father to have mercy on me today. I pray for the love of my son. I pray for peace in my family. I'm begging for strength & wisdom. When I am weak He is strong. Please Father give me your eyes to see, give me your heart of love & understanding. Let me make you proud even when I feel I can't take another step. Give me the grace to understand your will.

Please pray for baby Elijah and his beautiful family. Thank you!

MONKEY SEE MONKEY DO MONKEY GET FROZEN TOO

IT HAS BEEN COLD HERE... VERY VERY COLD. The kids love to see snow falling from the sky! It means NO SCHOOL (well, we homeschool .. so they didnt' go to co-op but we had to do work at home), it means hot chocolate, movies, Christmas is close... THEY LOVE IT. Hey, I do too! Just wanted to share a few pics from the fun they had.

LONG TIME NO BLOG...

I have wanted to write more on the blog but I am trying to find out how to manage all the other things I have to do in life... The blog seems to fall to the bottom of the list.
THIS WEEK... we are doing home study week. We are on "fall break" but we don't get a break. We get to study a subject... and guess what we have decided to study? No, not space... No, not the weather system... No, not the rain forest...

HORSES!!!!


Today we learned the different types of horses and how to groom them. The kids got to brush the horses and Avery even got to clean his feet. Below is Sam. Sam is the horse that we all got to ride. What a gentle horse! Thank you to the SMITH family that let us come out and learn about horses.






We had such a great time! What a fun morning!

GO VOLS GO!

A Few Funny Ancelet Kid Stories...

Abel story:
In looking for a 10 dollar bill this morning and telling my kids we'd leave for the swim team pizza party once I found it, Abel tells me he has it... Breaks out a lunch box (which he packed w 5 granola bars and 3 mystery fruits from a tree in front of the pool)... He pulls out $100 dollars. He got into my bank deposit to have some snack bar money!!! What????
I am so thankful I lost $10 in order to find $100!!! Note to self... Keep EVERYTHING out of reach of Abel.


Addie story:
It was bed time this past Saturday night... Avery was having a friend spend the night and Addie came in my room and said "Nobody likes me"... I figured it was because her sister and her friend maybe weren't paying attention to her. I said "I like you... in fact, I love you. Why don't you come crawl in bed with me and let's hang out." She walked out and decided to go cry to her daddy. Ted was finishing his prep work for the sermon on Sunday morning and Addie went to him... "Daddy, nobody likes me." He said "Addie, why do you say that?" and she said (as she was crying) "no one likes me because I am so different". He said "What makes you different?" and she said "Everyone else was born in Texas and I was born in Tennessee". REALLY? (did I mention that my sweet Addie tends to be a little dramatic). Ted reminded her that though we (being him, me, Avery and Aidan) were all born in Texas... but Abel was born in Ethiopia. So you both weren't born in Texas and It makes you special... not different.
She didn't buy it.

Another Addie story...
Today I was braiding her hair and we were heading out to meet friends for icecream. I said "You guys need to be on your best behavior when we go to Chic Fil A". She reached her pinky back to me... I instantly got where she was going with it... She was giving me a pinky promise that she would be on her best behavior. I said "Addie! A pinky promise?! Thank you!" and she replied "this pinky promise is JUST GOOD for today". :-)

I seriously have something happen just about every HOUR that I could write down.. I never do. I need to. I decided to start putting them on our family blog so we can remember these things that happen. Life goes by too fast!!!

I love being a mom... it is such entertainment! and hard! and fun! and trying!

On the blog again...

I can't wait to get on the blog again...

I have been a HORRIBLE blogger these last past... WELL, A LONG TIME.

Here are a few highlights from our summer....

1. This summer we have LIVED at the swimming pool.

All of the 3 big kids are doing swim team. Tonight we actually have our last swim meet. I can't believe it's already ending. They have LOVED doing swim team and I have loved spending time w friends at the pool. We have several families from our church that go to our pool. It's been fun having lunch out there just about every day and sometimes even taking our dinner out there.


This is Addie and Audrey (above).

Aidan has been a GREAT swimmer this year. I can't believe how daring he is. He loves doing flips off the diving board and he is really doing well in swim team. He has brought home lots of ribbons. Avery and Addie have too. I would say though that he is our fastest swimmer.


I love Abel's hair at the pool. So fun and curly.
Sad to say... he looks like this (below) very often. He is definitely going through the "twos". WOW. He's so cute and he knows it :-)
2. CHARLOTTE IS MARRIED!!!
On May 30th - we were ALL in Charlotte and Critter's wedding. I was the Matron of Honor, Avery and Addie were flower girls, Aidan and Abel were ring bearers... and Ted married them. It was a wonderful day! BEAUTIFUL WEDDING!!!!


3. We had an AMAZING vacation with friends (The Horne Family) at North Myrtle Beach in South Carolina. It was an incredible 7 days of total relaxation (unless a kid was throwing a fit :-). We enjoyed beach time every day, great food... either that Angela made (pre-made) or at a restaurant in the area. We all went to see Toy Story. I did photoshoots for the Horne's and their extended family (they gave us a condo for a week in exchange for the photos). We watched movies. LAUGHED A LOT and just had a great time!!!





4. We also went on a mission trip to Kentucky (see post below for the slideshow of our trip).

5. I've done pictures at 1 big wedding and two small weddings this summer. Also, I have been a second shooter with a friend who has a photography business. I also have three more weddings coming up - BUSY TIMES!!!

School starts on Aug 17th. The kids will be going to "part time" school. (that's what I call it). They will go to school 3 days a week and homeschool 2 days a week. Avery will be in 4th, Aidan will be in 2nd grade and Addie will repeat Kindergarten.
SCHOOL YEAR - HERE WE COME!

Family Mission Trip

Our family went on a mission trip this past week (3 days) to Cumberland, KY. Our church had a group go (they went for 5 days) to run a day camp for kids in the Cumberland, KY area.

Here is a slideshow from the days we were there...



We had a great week. Our kids (Ave, Aidan, Addie and Abel) had a great time and asked if we can go for the whole week next time. They loved being in those kid's world and participating in the camp. Our church did crafts, games, story time, helped in the kitchen, helped w the music... it was a great week ministering to the kids of Cumberland, KY in the name of JESUS :-)

SUMMER TIME SUMMER TIME SUM SUM SUMMER TIME

I am SO THRILLED it is SUMMER! We will be doing some science and reading over the summer but the kids are thrilled and so am I to just have FUN, SWIM, and BE TOGETHER. I love summer!

The girls introduced Abel to honeysuckle... HE LIKES IT :)



Addison loves to swing. One of our struggles right now is she always takes her hair down. I fix it and before I know it, she's got it all down and hanging in her face. It's so her. She's my Punky Bruster (remember her?).


This is Bruce (above). My friend Christy has 5 kids and Bruce is the middle child. He cracks me up. He wore snow boots out to play (see below). I love this picture of him. Addison says she is gonna marry Bruce when she gets older. I guess we'll see.

Addie and Audrey - Audrey is #2 in the Randall family.
Aidan... he is such a rock solid kid. Just easy going. Very obedient. He reminds me so much of Ted. He is such a joy! He is getting to the point where he gets embarrassed by things that I do. Example... I said "Aidan do you need to go potty?" He was like "Mom, don't call it potty".
NOW.... the funny thing is... after I broke my foot and was at the Doctor's office (WITH NO KIDS), I asked the nurse... "Do you guys have a potty I can use?" Ted said "Tracie.. Potty?" haha. I guess it's part of my vocabulary! I'm a mom of 4 for sure!

The bracelets on Aidan's arm are all the craze! They are called Silly Bands. The kids got some recently. It seems to be the fad right now. It's fun to see them trade with their friends.

Abel is DEFINITELY TWO right now. He is such a joy to parent but keeps us on our toes (and on our knees!). He's so dang cute that I pretty much give him what he wants and then Ted reminds me he needs to be told no. (oh yay, that's right!). He has been throwing some real fits lately.
I mean HOW DO I SAY NO TO THIS?!

Aidan was listening to Audrey read her text book out at the park and something was funny in the book. It was about sea creatures... they were laughing at the different weird looking sea animals.


Abel is always doing something CUTE!
This is his model face...
Bruce is a climber! Aidan is too... but Bruce is a CRAZY climber!


We start swim practice tomorrow... here we go!
I can't wait to hang out with our summer friends!!! THREE CHEERS FOR SUMMER!