The Ole Gall Bladder

If you know anything about me, you know I have never eaten healthy in my life.  My food preferences include crap, junk, and overly processed fatty and starchy foods.  That being said, I have never had any issues with any of my insides. 

But…..as luck would have it, on Christmas Eve, I started experiencing some pretty nasty pain in my right side, right under my rib cage that went up into my right shoulder.  My sister, being the nurse that she is, looked up the symptoms, and we had all diagnosed it as a gall bladder attack.  Granted, I had just consumed more prime rib and fried shrimp than any small army should be allowed, but what else is new?

My mom asked if I should go to the hospital, but I was not about to ruin Christmas morning for my kids!!!  I went to sleep (if you want to call it that) and still had the pain.  We left to go on vacation, but that sucker bothered me all week.  It would literally take my breath away.  Not to mention the TERRIBLE indigestion I had all week.  But that may have had something to do with the what-should-be-illegal amounts of JUNK we consumed during the week.

When I got back to work on Monday, I got in to see the doctor.  She said it sounded like the gall bladder to her too, but I would need an ultrasound.  When I asked her what the treatment was, she kindly informed me that if there were stones, we would have to take it out.  GREAT NEWS!!!

I went for the ultrasound the next day, and luckily God must have performed a great miracle on my gall bladder, because there wasn’t a thing wrong with it.  I was more than thrilled to learn that indeed my pain was from a torn muscle, which came as a result of my 5 weeks of hacking up my lungs.  I was convinced my gall bladder was messed up due to the one and a half boxes of Sudafed, and the one entire bottle of Benadryl I had used to treat my illness.

In all seriousness, I was indeed so thankful to not have to have surgery this week.  God really took care of that!  What a blessing!!!  In the mean time, I will gladly take my Tylenol, and nurse my poor muscle back to health:)

Christmas 2010

Christmas was so much fun this year. I think partly because both kids were really excited. SG would turn on our Christmas tree everyday, and sing Rudolph, Jingle Bells and all of the other Christmas songs in her repertoire.

Our festivities began Christmas eve with prime rib, shrimp, and the fixings at my parents house, to celebrate Christmas with Nanny. After we ate, we exchanged gifts with her. It was a lot of fun!

We, along with Beas, Jah and Brinley, spent the night there. We just knew our kids would be up early, so we lectured Aunt Kiss and Uncle Jacob that they better be there by 7:00 am, because little ones just don’t wait!!! Wouldn’t you know, we had to PRY our kids out of bed. Once they got up, it was ON! We realized how truly blessed we all are. I thought Christmas morning would be tough, but God blessed us with peace and excitement as we watched our children enjoy all of their loot!

We left that day to go to the “Hun-tin House” for our vacation. It was so relaxing, especially when there is nothing to do but shoot animals and sit around and eat. And we did a lot more eatin’ than shootin’. I do love that all of our family enjoys to hunt. We all (including the kids) go together and have some good family fun. Things had been pretty slow at the beginning.

Tuesday we celebrated Rob’s 32nd birthday. My mom cooked his favorite, chicken and rice, and I got him a Carvel ice cream cake. It was heaven on earth I tell you!!!

Then, around 9:00 that night, my dad got the call. My sister, Christen/Kiss and her husband Jacob were up there with us, along with his 2 kids. The sheriff’s department called my dad to make sure no one was at their house, because it was up in flames. Of course, we were all devastated. What a year this had been!!! After we all spent time realizing the blessing that no one was home, we were going to pack up and come home. But they told us there was nothing we could do, so we needed to stay put!

They left the next morning, because they had to see it for themselves. We offered to go with them, but they wouldn’t let us. But, my mom was worried about them, because she knew it would be devastating when they saw it. Good ole’ Amy, my BFF was so kind to go and be there when they got there. Thank God for her. I really don’t know what my life would be like without her!

Here are the pictures she sent:

Jacob’s truck and her boat were under the new car port next to the house, and they were lost as well. But it is amazing how God shows up at times like this. We always question Him, asking “Where are you, Lord?” or “How can you let this happen?” But I can assure you that He is everywhere, even in the tragedies. The outpouring of love and support for them has been amazing. God has blessed them far beyond what anyone can imagine. They have a temporary place to live, and are working hard to put their lives back together. Please continue to pray for them.

On Wednesday, I was feeling kind of down, because I hadn’t felt Faith move in over a week. I don’t feel her very often, but just when I start to worry, Jesus lets me know that she is still there through a little kick!! I cherish each time I get to feel her move. Anyway, I was convinced she was gone, but that night I was laying in Rob’s lap and twisted a certain way. She didn’t like that very much because she kicked the snot out of me!! I was just so thankful for that little blessing.

The rest of the week was fairly laid back. We enjoyed each other as a family, and made memories that will last a lifetime!

I will definitely post some pictures as soon as I get them from Beas’ camera!

I hope that the new year brings you peace and blessings that come only from God. We never know what tomorrow holds, but we do know that He holds tomorrow!

Our Christmas Card

I wanted to share our Christmas card and letter with you. We hope that each of you have a Merry Christmas, and we pray that you will know the love of the Savior this season!

2010 has been the hardest, yet greatest year in the life of the Vaughn family.

We started out with a trip to VA to see some old friends in January. During that trip, we started making plans for a mission trip later in the summer.

March was exciting in that Cade, our 7 year old son, made the most important decision a person could make. He invited Jesus to come into his heart!

The week of July 4th, our family traveled to West Virginia to take part in a mission trip with the Volpes. We did VBS for the little church there, and it was LIFE CHANGING! It was there that Cade was baptized. It was so special to have our children take part in a mission trip, and see God work throughout the week.

Cade turned 7 in June and SaraGrace turned 3 in July. SaraGrace went to Disney and had a princess makeover and dinner with Cinderella. It was priceless. We also celebrated our 8th wedding anniversary. What a difference 8 years can make!

Cade started playing tackle football in August, and Rob coached his team. Football season brought a lot of good times for our family. Cade scored his first ever touchdown during the last game. His momma was the proudest girl in the park!

We were surprised in September to find out we were expecting our third child. What a great surprise! Little did we know how much our lives were about to change. Two weeks later, our baby was classified as a threatened miscarriage, but God prevailed and spared our tiny one. At a follow up ultrasound in October, we learned that our baby had some serious problems, and that we needed to see a specialist at Shands. We had to wait the longest two weeks of our lives to find out the final diagnosis of our sweet baby.

On November 15th, we learned that our baby girl, Faith Mackenzie Vaughn, had suffered a severe case of amniotic band syndrome/limb-body-wall complex and that her case was fatal. Our doctor strongly urged us to terminate our precious girl, but our Heavenly Father urged us differently. We decided, against the wishes of the doctors, to continue to carry our child, and that God would have complete control of our daughter’s life. He gave her life, and He will take her to heaven when He is finished telling her story.

To say we were devastated would be an understatement. We left Shands in complete shock and disbelief, but God has given us the strength and the grace to get through each day. We are holding on to the fact that His plan is always perfect. We know that He has a purpose for our baby, no matter how short her life may be.

Christmas has a different meaning for us this year. That baby in the manger isn’t just a baby anymore. He is the Savior! We have a deeper understanding of God’s love than we ever have before. As parents who will face giving up a child, we can’t imagine anyone on this earth who would be worthy of the sacrifice of our daughter. However, God loved EACH of us so much that he CHOSE to send that baby in the manger, His Son, to pay the price for us so we wouldn’t have to. There is no greater love than that!

Our prayer for each of you is that you will accept the gift that Jesus has given. We want our story, our trials, our family to point each of you to Him. Don’t waste another minute wandering this earth without the Hope that comes from Christ.

Merry Christmas!

Our Thanksgiving (A little late!)

I finally got my pictures from Thanksgiving downloaded onto my computer.

We spent our holiday in the hunting woods.  I cooked the entire meal by myself, and it was delicious, if I must say so:)

The highlight of our trip was hunting, of course.  SG got to go hunting for the very first time, because Papa gave in and took her.  Other than her yelling, “Shoot ‘em Papa, Shoot ‘em!” everytime an animal came into sight, she did pretty good.

They did manage to get something.  Here they are with their prize:

She was so proud.  But she wanted to get her brother in on the action.

The next day, she put in for some “huntin” pants, so we rigged up some of Cade’s with a string.  But that wouldn’t do.  Then she needed a jacket, so luckily Cade had his old one there, so she was good to go…..so we thought!  Then she needed some “huntin” boots.  Cade had some there that were his old ones, so she insisted on wearing them, even though they were about 4 sizes too big.  Without further ado, here is our Camo Princess:

The only thing we couldn’t muster up was some “huntin” hair.  I couldn’t get that creative.  The weekend definitely left us with some memories we will never forget!

Here is our family photo.  Maternity Camo wardrobe provided by Rob’s closet:)

   

Always the Momma, Never the Aunt…..

Until yesterday!  I officially became an aunt for the first time yesterday afternoon at 2:36 pm.  Brinley Nicole Othus decided to finally join us at 9 lbs, 1 oz and 20” long.  I have to say it was AWESOME getting to meet her for the first time.  Oh, and Beas did good too!

Here are some pictures:

Those cheeks!  And all of that hair!

  

This was the proudest girl in the room!

 

Cade and SaraGrace are smitten!  They’ve already asked me if we can go back to see her today!

We’re so thankful for a healthy mom and baby! 

Yesterday

Yesterday was a tough day. I have had a really good two weeks, and have been overwhelmed with peace and strength, but yesterday was a breakdown.

We had an ultrasound appointment. I wanted so badly to include our baby on our Christmas cards this year, so they scheduled another ultrasound. Amy, our ultrasound tech, is AMAZING! She has photographed our baby from the very beginning, at just 6 weeks. She has been so kind and loving, and I am just so thankful for her.

Of course, I had my BFF Amy with me, and my mom came this time too. It was the first time she has gotten to see the baby in action.

When Amy got started, I could tell that our sweet baby had grown, which also means that you could see all that is going on. That was harder than I expected. The heart is still beating strongly. We watched the baby put its hand to its face. It really was AMAZING!

I asked Amy to confirm that it really was a Mack. Guess what! It's a GIRL! So Mack is now Faith Mackenzie Vaughn. Rob picked out the name Faith, because that is the only thing that keeps us going.

I cherish each time we get to see our baby, but I won’t lie. It gets harder and harder. As a Momma, it’s hard to see your child have all of these problems that no one can fix. I just want to take her out, hold her, tell her how much I love her, and that it’s all going to be ok. I want to tell her that Jesus is going to take such good care of her.

I find myself in a place between having faith in God that He can heal our baby girl, and also having faith in God that even if it is not His plan that our child be healed, He is the same as He was before this child came to be. I know that He is the Great Physician, and that He could heal her in an instant. But I also know that His plan may be different than my plan for our child. And if it is, it doesn’t mean He loves us or our daughter any less. In fact, He has confidence in us that we can tell His story.

Some days can be so crippling. But I don’t want to be crippled. I have never in my life wanted so badly to tell people about Jesus than I do now. I also want to tell people all about our daughter; how she has changed our lives; how He has changed our lives. I pray everyday that Jesus will use me to bring glory to Him, and that He will give me what I need to point people to Him.

Ecstatic!

I have the cutest pictures to share with you from Thanksgiving, but they will have to wait until I can find that pesky little cord that keeps walking away.

But I did want to share that I felt Baby Mack move for the first time yesterday. I'm so thankful for that blessing! It made my day!!!

I'm going to search my house over this weekend so I can upload pictures of my Kamo Kids. We had a HILARIOUS weekend!