Happy 38 Weeks... near 39 Weeks!

Wow! Where has time gone? I really  now realize how busy we are in the world we live in! Looking back on my journey of 7 weeks of bed rest at the hospital, I really got to cherish each day fully and was blessed with time to focus fully on my prayer life and sharing this amazing story with you. I will forever cherish that time as I really got to fully relax in God. As I am back into reality, I still am sure to take each moment and praise God for His daily blessings. I still am sure to take time to be with God and pray. However, I feel at times I am not giving him enough of my time as my days are filled with so much. At times it begins to really bother me, but then I stop and remind myself that isn't what God wants me to feel or think. Any moment of time with him each day is what matters to him. He knows our world is busy, but He doesn't want the world's busyness to take over time with him. So where am I getting to with all of this? When we have time to fully be with him.... take advantage of it and truly be with him! Those 7 weeks were a gift from God... giving Asher and me time to fight together and to let us rest fully in God! When our days are crazy and we don't know if we can handle much more, rest in God and don't forget to take a moment to do just that. Even if it is for 5 minutes, take it and rest in Him. After all, He will be your calm in your day of craziness. Don't feel guilty when you feel like you aren't giving Him enough time. Remember.... He cherishes any amount of time with us... what is most important to Him is that we give him that time each day. This experience has changed my life.... and no matter how crazy my day is... I will find time to rest in Him... He is my rock, my calmness, and my Greatest Friend!

So much has occured over the past couple weeks! Let's begin with the greatest blessing.. our little miracle Asher!

He is now a happy and strong 38 weeker... heading to a 39 weeker on Saturday! He has officially doubled his birth weight.... now weighing in at 6 pounds and 4 ounces! Our next big moment, which we are currently working on, is getting him to full feeds off the feeding tube. He is still at a very low oxygen setting, but the doctor plans on keeping him there until he conquers the feeding tube. He is up to 52 ccs of breast milk... which is amazing... growing strong! As Asher was born early with underdeveloped lungs, it is a learning experience to be adjusted to a bottle. He has had a feeding tube since the beginning, so it is a new learning experience also as he got so use to it. His challenge  is to learn to suck, swallow, and breathe through his bottle feedings. Currently he is taking about 30 ccs of breast milk through bottle and the other 20+ through tube. The reasoning is that he is still struggling a bit with the suck, swallow, and breathe causing him to choke. Until we can get that under control, we will feed him through both and gradually get off the tube when he is ready. He has therapists working with him on these strategies. So please say a special prayer that God may bless him off the tube in His most beautiful timing.

I am also trying to breast feed him. The challenge is getting in there enough to get him use to it. With James working and I taking care of Easton during the week, it is a challenge to get there but more than one time a day. They recommend that I try at least 2 times a day, which is easier on weekends. However, my parents helped out this week by taking Easton home with them for a few days so I could get in to work with Asher on breastfeeding twice a day. Asher has been doing pretty good with it... that is when he is awake lol. With preemie babies, we can't feed them if they are sleepy and not alert. So during those times, he is fed through a tube. Most of the time though he has done very well and gets close to an ounce (30 ccs) of breast milk before falling asleep on me, and then rest through tube. He is a true warrior, and I have complete faith that God will bless him off his feeding tube in His perfect timing. Patience is key!

I thank God each day for my strong little man! Each time I look at him I think back to what could have been, and praise God for the miracle He gave us! I really can't believe 40 weeks is almost here. His planned c-section was to be this Monday the 19th. Again the key word "planned". We can plan anything we like, but in reality God's plan always shines right through to an even greater and more beautiful plan! At 40 weeks...... that will officially be 18 weeks of hospital stay combined for Asher and I! We have been at the hospital each day for 1/3 of the year! Crazy I know! But I wouldn't change one moment! God's miraculous works have shined through the nurses and doctors at the amazing hospital and brought us our little miracle! I look forward to bringing him soon.. in God's perfect timing!

As we wait for his arrival at home, James has been busy getting our company going! He has built several trays.. and we even have sold some to some of our amazing prayer warriors! He has also built a Christmas sign and Stocking Holders. Our next venture is to create monogrammed stenciled trays. We are patiently waiting for our stencils! Then go onto making rustic arrows as they have a very special meaning to us! The arrows are to signify strength and bravery... what makes a strong warrior... just like our little warrior! As I have already asked James to create arrows for Asher's warrior themed nursery, we then were led to the decision to make them to sell also as a beautiful way to say thank you to our amazing God for blessing Asher with strength. My mom is also having James create a special arrow for her. We will then move on to creating napkin holders and maybe even chicken wire mason jars with rustic wood backing to hang on a wall. We have tons of other ideas in our minds... and I also have to give credit to my sister and mom for giving us ideas to create and sell! We thank God for James talent of wood working and giving us this idea as it is something we both enjoy and it brings us peace to build each item... it is soothing to our soul as we journey together throughout the year to take the greatest care of Asher and Easton.

My Godchild Spencer holding a cookie and milk tray we created for them... he is eager to make Santa some cookies and milk to put on the tray at Christmas! 

Our first Christmas sign we made... we love how it turned out!

We made this stocking holder out of barnwood from the barns of Southern Indiana!

Check out our store at the link below! If you are interested in purchasing any of our items, we are offering you 10% off for veing Asher's prayer warrior! If ordering off of Etsy, use the code PRAYERWARRIOR10. If you are in the Evansville or Jasper area and can pick up your items, you will get 10% off the Etsy price too plus no shipping cost! We want to thank you in advance if you are interested in purchasing, it means sooo much to us! Also if you could share our store with others that means so much too! Stay tuned as we will add items to our store throughout the coming weeks! Most importantly, thank you for all your prayers... those are what matter the most to us!

Old Southern Sawdust Store Link:https://www.etsy.com/shop/OldSouthernSawdustCo?ref=hdr_shop_menu

To order through me insteas of Etsy and pick up in Jasper or Evansville: email us your order at oldsouthernsawdust@gmail.com.

Lastly, I can't leave out stories of my daily delight... Easton! He has really grown this summer! He is a true chatter box! He cracks me up each morning as he wakes me up and tells me that I have to pump and give him his cereal bar. This past week we visited the post office quite a bit to get items weighed and to ship out one of our trays. Each time he went, he called it the mailman's house. It was too cute! He wants to be just like daddy... as he has had to paint blocks while daddy stained wood. He has had to get a pencil and put it on top of his ear just like daddy. He has had to take a mini tape measure and pretend to measure things just like daddy.... his measurements are in dollars tho.. everything to him is $2.00! He even helped daddy pick weeds! The other day when he and I were outside and daddy was still working, he had to even come and show me a weed in the landscaping and pick it out! He also loves to be just like mommy! While I vacuumed the house, he had to get his toy push mower and pretend to vacuum with me. As I was cutting strapping off a package of boxes, he took his play scissors and pretended to cut with me. As I was writing on a box with a marker, he too had to have a pen to write on his own piece of paper. The best moments of the week though were when he crawled into bed with me after James left for work, and told me he loved me and then fell asleep, when he asked me to play the song "Every Move I Make" (or as he calls it.. the "na na" song as he moves his pointer fingers up in down as I taught him that move when we sing it together) to worship Jesus together, and when he randomly went and got my Rosary and prayed to Jesus to heal Asher's lungs ("ungs")! All these moments melted my heart and are beautiful God Moments! These moments are so special to James and I.....what a special big brother he already is!

Easton has my Rosary clasped in his hands pausing to pray to Jesus for his little brother and asking Jesus to heal his "ungs".

Dear Loving God, I praise You for all Your beautiful blessings in my life! Thank You for this amazing journey. Thank You for the time in the hospital to rest fully in You. Thank You for letting me rest in You even on my craziest days. Thank You for always blessing me with strength even on days where I feel exhausted and overloaded. Thank You for blessing us with a miracle from You! Thank You for keeping Asher strong and holding him in Your loving and healing arms. Thank You for blessing us with God Moments each day. Thank You for blessing us with Easton's love and special moments. Thank You for James' talent and this beautiful idea to bring us the gift of peace as we take care of our two blessings from you.. Easton and Asher. You are a merciful and loving God who I trust completely and have complete faith that You will bless Asher with complete healing in Your most perfect time. I pray You may prosper him through his feedings. May You continue to shine Your miraculous works through him guiding all closer to You as they witness Your amazing healing grace. Please bless all the miracle babies in the nicu with healing and keep all of their families strong. I love You above all things! Amen.

To all of you... Asher's Amazing Prayer Warriors... Thank you so much for continuing to pray for our little miracle. I know I have said it time and time before, but I truly mean it... Your endless prayers do wonders! You and God keep Asher and us strong! Asher is the strong little warrior he is because of God's beautiful love and you. May we continue to unite together with God, Josh, and all the Angels and Saints in this miraculous journey to keep Asher the strong little warrior he is! God is AMAZING and so are all of you!

Check out this sign my sister got me from the Magnolia store in Texas (if you watch Chip and Joanna on Fixer Upped.. it's their store!) This sign is so true and is a perfect addition to Asher's Nursery! James is going to put it on barnwood. :) Thank you Lacy for this beautiful gift! It means so much to us!