Today I am thankful for FAITH. My pregnancy journey...

Giving thanks can be so "easy" when things are going well and life is in a happy place. This is my fifth pregnancy. All (with the exception of the miscarriage) have been very healthy pregnancies with no issues. I have always been very thankful for that and I think that I have became a little expectant of it.
This journey began many months ago during my morning devotions. My quiet time to sit and reflect and be with the Lord before I began my day. I was at peace with my family size and used every "excuse" that any more children just did not make sense in this world today. The stronger I have become in my faith the more that I have realized that the things of the world are of no matter if you have faith and follow what God is leading you to, regardless of what others (and sometimes even yourself) may think is "right". After no time at all I began a process that would begin with me laughing at the thought that God had planned another child for our family, to beginning to desire it myself, to convincing my husband that this was God's plan for us and that we should trust in His plan no matter how scary it may be. He knows best. I knew that this was a lesson in trust and I wanted to truly let go and do so. So, by the time that we were beginning to trust and become open to the idea of maybe......the test came up positive! All in His timing and planning, not on ours.
Isn't that how it really is though?! Don't we think that we are in control when really He is the one who controls all things? We just end up with what is best for us if we truly give up control and just let it be. Hence baby #5 is truly a gift from God and my faith that brought this gift to us.
Little did I know just how much faith I would need and what a lesson in faith, trust and letting go, this journey would be.
All was going well and we were really getting excited about the baby growing inside me. The kids were elated and could not wait for the new baby to join our family! Then around 12 weeks I woke up to a gush of fluid and blood. At 2am all I could do was expect the worst and did not sleep the rest of the night. I prayed a lot through the night and realized how much this baby really meant to me and to our family. 10 hours later I would finally see my baby on an ultrasound and get some answers as to what was going on and if my baby was OK. I was relieved (to say the least) to see a healthy heart beat and a very active baby. There was something else going on that a different ultrasound would better show the next day.
The issue is a Subchorionic Hematoma, subchorionic bleeding is the accumulation of blood within the folds of the chorion (the outer fetal membrane, next to the placenta) or within the layers of the placenta itself. These bleeds, or clots, can cause the placenta to separate from the uterine wall if they get too large, if they develop in a bad spot, or if they aren’t eventually reabsorbed.
Worse case scenario it could hemorrhage and the pregnancy could end in miscarriage.

I was somewhat relieved that the baby was OK and that my water hadn't broken. However, taking it easy with four kids 6 and under (and no sex) for at least the next  month sounded less than appealing. However, the baby was alive! No matter what I had to do I was willing to do it.
Now we are playing the waiting game. Praying that the Subchorionic Hematoma reabsorbs and that I can complain in 25 weeks that I am ready for this baby to come out already! I have a feeling that the complaining will be limited as I remember that journey that it took to get to that happy ending. I am so grateful for the faith that has carried me through this difficult time. Without it I would be lost. Without it I would have never been opened to the idea of welcoming another bundle of joy into our family. By the grace of God we will be welcoming another ABUNDANT BLESSING into our beautifully created family. I am very, very abundantly blessed!

Doubly Blessed

Almost seven years ago our lives would forever change.

In the matter of a two week time period we would find out that we were expecting 

not only A baby, but TWO precious blessings!



Our first glimpse at our first little blessings!



And they grew....as did I ...



I was only 14-16 weeks along in this picture!



AND GREW!!!

WOW!

And the next thing I knew I was a mother :)

And we were a family!

I am SO abundantly blessed

And seeing my husband as a father

made me fall in love with him all over again.

They were so tiny!

...but as before, they quickly grew... 

...and grew...

...and grew...

...as did our family...

...and their love for each other...

...and now...

... they are growing up to be beautiful young ladies.

They finished preschool last year and are starting Kindergarten this fall.

Six years have quickly passed, but, in my heart they will always be my baby girls.

Happy 6th Birthday Emilee Elizabeth and Olivia Grace.

You are my abundant blessings.

Abundant Blessings in our family...Owen

 It seems like just yeaterday that Owen Michael Dahman was layed on my chest and I told him that I loved him for the first time face-to-face. It doen't seem possible that four years have passed.... yet, it has. What a blessing Owen has been to our family!

Happy Birthday Owen! Welcome to the world and to our family! June 28, 2008

Our prayers for a healthy, happy, baby boy had come true.

The girls LOVE(D) their new baby brother!

so little...

                                       

Welcome home.

gettting bigger....

                                     

And before we knew, it we felt called to give Owen a baby brother of his very own.

He loved him from the start.

                                      

Owen LOVES being a big brother and Evan loves him SO very much.

 

 Last year at his 3rd Birthday party...

   

 I never knew that I could love another man other than my husband....until I met my son(s).

Happy 4th Birthday my beautiful boy. You are such a blessing from God.

....An Abundant Blessing

It's the little things in life...organizing my sanity

    This is our sock bucket...

 I found this idea on Pinterest and have adopted it in our home....

 All of the socks go into the bucket after laundering. When all of the laundry is "done" you match the socks! After a month if we haven't found the match to the leftovers we pitch the spares. Let me tell you this is one of my biggest pet peeves and it has made a HUGE difference in our house.

 The kids closet is FINALLY organized!

All of the puzzles, play-doh, coloring books, etc. have a home...

                                     

And the blocks and Legos can be taken down, played with, and put back in there containers which would make anyone who has ever stepped on a Lego very happy.

Now if only the rest of the house was as organized...but we are steadily getting there. Like I said, it is the small things. Pinterest, along with a lot of women on Facebook with their own blogs, have really inspired me and more so given me ideas to get me started. Around our house we are feeling a little bit less crazy and are feeling more Abundantly Blessed.

The transformation of my blog and my life...

My blog...."My crazy, busy, beautiful, life" has changed.
It is now called "My Abundant Blessings" and it's purpose is to share my abundant blessings so that they may abundantly bless others. My crazy, busy, beautiful, life is still relevant, but is being transformed. The crazy and clutter is being organized and filtered out. The busy is being looked at as more of a blessing these days. Through different perspective we are learning to slow down and enjoy the moments. The beautiful is still present, but appearing in ways that I have never truly seen before because I wasn't really looking. And life....life is what it is all about. Life IS the Abundant Blessing and that is why we are going to shift our focus on the crazy, busy, and beautiful to the abundant blessings that they all bring.So join us for faith, organization, homeschooling, sanity and the not so sane moments of motherhood and child shaping, homeschooling, and a little bit of this and that. I hope you enjoy what is to come and that it may abundantly bless you in some way. I know that it has been blessing ours.

-Kristin