Way to My Heart!

It's amazing how Angel knows the way to mommy's heart! She has a way of always brightening my day. Angel has one of the most catching laughs in the world. Time and time again we have found ourselves looking at one another laughing hysterically, with no real reason. The other day she was playing in her exersaucer and I was just sitting here watching her, as I sometimes do. She wasn't paying me any attention, she was just playing with her toys, and all of a sudden she looked up at me...noticing that I was watching her and for some reason that was funny to her so she starting laughing. I got tickled and ended up laughing so hard I was in tears, which caused Angel to just laugh harder. We probably laughed for 10 minutes straight and didn't even know why we were laughing. Children are such a blessing...God definitely blessed me with the best!

Well I better start getting things ready for our trip to KS..we leave in two days!!!!

Stay A Baby A While Longer!

Well it seems that Angel is determined to grow up faster than I want her to. Even with my little pep talks of "Angel can't you stay mommy's little baby forever!" she continues to think she needs to be a BIG GIRL! It's interesting and amazing to watch her each day as she grows and challenges herself to learn new things.

Today she decided to set her all time record for walking. That's right she thinks she needs to learn to walk at just 7 1/2 months old. She has been able to take a few steps since she was about 6 months old, but only with a little nudging from daddy. Now she is off and going! She holds your hands and takes off in big strides, well as big as she can with her short little legs. I tell you there is nothing cuter than someone as short as her walking...it's adorable. Anyway, because she is so short I have to lean over to hold her hands and my back can only handle so many trips around the living room before I give out. We would walk around the entire living room and when we got to daddy's chair she would grab on to it and look up at me with a huge grin on her face..she had just done something big and knew it! We went around 4 times and mommy decided she needed a break. Angel wasn't done yet and was a little irritated with mommy for making her stop, she was on a roll. It looks as though we will be skipping the crawling stage and going from scooting to walking, no need to take our time here ;-)

I will continue to plead with her to stay a baby a while longer, but I think I've already lost the battle on this one! Well 1 week and counting till we are in KS to visit family and friends...CAN'T WAIT!!

Hard to believe but true!

This is a story that most of you probably won't believe, but it's the truth! It really did happen! Angel and I were spending the day Wed doing our normal stuff while daddy was at work. He works 24 hours at a time, so we have to learn how to manage while he's gone. Well Wed was a true test for me. First of all I got ready to put Angel to bed. When I walked into her room to get her ready for bed...you know change diaper, clean up, put pj's on, say bed-time prayers...well we got as far as turning on the light and I saw a dead mouse in the middle of the floor. For those of you that don't know...I think mice are the nastiest creatures alive, well this one was dead, but still the nastiest creature. I have never in my life picked up a mouse and disposed of it, always had someone else to do it for me. So I called Jon and told him he had to come home there was an emergency!! Ok so he did exactly what you are doing...he laughed at me. So I took some Kleenexes...that's right plural, more than one...picked it up by the very tip of it's tail and took it out to dispose of it. Then I got Angel ready for bed and did all the things that we normally do and went on about my business. About an hour later I got ready to head to bed myself. As if it wasn't enough that I had to dispose of a dead mouse...when I walked into my hallway, there was a SNAKE going under the door into Angel's room!! Yeah you heard it right a snake, ALIVE!! So I called Jon once again and said you have to come home there is an emergency!! He laughed again and said yeah right you are kidding. And I expressed that the two creatures I hate most are mice and snakes...no matter if they are dead or alive, but especially if they are alive. Finally after he realized I was not kidding, we figured out how I could go about killing a snake...Me kill a snake, I never even picked up a dead mouse before and this particular night I had to not only pick up a dead mouse, but kill a snake too. I was ready to pick Angel up and move out! While I chased the snake around the room, they are fast creatures, Angel sat in her bed laughing at me. Although I love to hear my little girl laugh, I could think of a lot of other things I would much rather do to make her laugh. Long story short, I disposed of a dead mouse and a dead snake and swore that if any other creatures entered my house that night I was packing up and moving out! Hope your sides are too sore from laughing at my expense. Now for some less entertaining and more informative news!

We are Praising The Lord for his goodness! We have answers to our prayers. Angel is feeling much better. She is back to her normal self finally! She has regained her appetite and is back to playing instead of sleeping all the time. It does a mom's heart good to see her little one enjoying life!

The other praise is that I got some good news at the doctor's yesterday. I went to find out the results of my tests for Celiac Disease. Praise the Lord...I do NOT have Celiac Disease. And even better than that, I do NOT have to go on the very expensive gluten-free diet that they had previously told me I would have to go on. There is medication they can give me to help with the gluten intolerance that I have. What a miracle!!

Please continue to pray for the family that lost their baby as they are dealing with the grieving process. And continue to pray for Jon's cousin as he is making great progress, but has a long ways to go.

Lots of Prayer!!

I want to thank everyone for their prayers this week! Angel is feeling somewhat better. She decided yesterday that she would rather be held then play on her own and has continued the behavior today as well. She is still sleeping a lot, but is eating better. Hopefully this means we are on the tail end of the sickness and she will be back to her normal self soon...just in time to leave for KS!

Please continue to pray for me as I am still trying to find out all the health issues I have to deal with. I will be returning to the doctor tomorrow to get my lab work report from last week's visit. I just pray that they have some sort of news that will lead us in the right direction. It gets discouraging going to doctor after doctor! It's been my life for the past few years and I just pray that we are finally getting somewhere. Although the reports are not all that good lately, at least we are finding out what it is that we are dealing with. Sometimes it's just better to know the bad stuff then to know absolutely nothing.

We continue to pray for Jon's cousin as he is healing from his head injury! He is making great progress, but has many obstacles that he will have to overcome in the weeks, months, and even years to come. We know that little Hinton and his family need prayer for strength as they are struggling through this trying time.

We also ask that you pray for a friend of ours that lost her grandbaby last week. The baby was born on Tuesday and past away on Thursday. How devastating to carry a baby to full-term, deliver a presumably healthy baby, only to have him pass away a couple days later. Please pray for this family!

Lots of prayer requests coming from the Barnes household this week. Please just keep on praying, that's what we need! I know I'm asking for a lot, but I also know I have lots of family and friends that are willing to join with me in lifting up these requests. I also look forward to the time when I can share the praise of answers to the prayers!!

Paranoid Mom!

One thing I am good at is worrying! You can ask anyone that knows me, I'm always worrying about something. Since I became a mother, my worrying has become a million times worse. God has given Jonathan and I a great responsibility, to raise Angel, to keep her safe, to protect her, and most of all to teach her how to live a life for Christ! What an amazing responsibility we have!

This week has been filled with worry! Angel started out the week with a rash on her bottom, presumed to be part of a viral thing. By Wed it had turned into something that needed a doctor's attention. Come to find out it was an infection, not just the viral stuff we were under the impression it was. Friday we were back at the doctor's office due to the onset of a fever. They were not able to find anything that would be causing a fever and are sticking to it being the end of the viral mess she previously had. Having to try to figure out what's wrong is difficult with a baby cause they can't tell you what is hurting. The doctor said that if the fever was not gone by Monday to bring her back. So far it is looking like we are going to be back at the doctor again Monday. Please be praying for little Angel as she is trying to get over whatever it is she has going on.