2009....20/20 style

We don't often get to look at our future and have a clear picture of what will happen but somehow, we get to see our past with 20/20 vision. Things that we could have done differently or maybe how evident God was with us. This past Sunday we were able to take a look at the life of our church throughout 2009. So Joe and I came home and took a look back at our 2009. What an amazing year it was for us. We had some pretty challenging times. I know it was in January when I was admitted to the hospital (9 weeks pregnant) with an inflamed and enlarged gall bladder, not able to eat or drink for a couple of days. God brought us through it. When our Pastor at church preached about being obedient to God. It spoke so clearly to Joe that he was finally baptized after 20 years of being a Christian. Joe was asked to be a Deacon and was ordained. We had our third child, our precious Maggie Grace. We were able to dedicate her on the same day that Granny (her namesake) Wilburn went home to be with the Lord just three years earlier, we were asked to be co-Sunday school teachers, the boys have basically accepted Christ, they were accepted into the Christian School that we prayed about for so long and so many other blessings. I am not one to ever talk about our accomplishments or to be boastful about things but it has been an exceptional year for our family and God deserves all the glory, honor and praises! I have often wondered why he has chosen to bless me beyond measure. Who am I? I am not a Biblical scholar, I was not raised in an active/praying Christian home (although my parents are Christians!) I didn't go to a Christian school. I am so thankful for the life that God has given to me. We don't live in a fancy home full of rooms and furniture, we don't drive luxury cars that cost a fortune to get an oil change, we don't own numerous houses or buildings, we don't drink elaborate wine at night (we don't drink at all for that matter!) We live in a home that is perfect for us in this season of our life. We drive cars that are perfect for us in this season of our life. But most importantly we praise our God for this season of our life. Joe and I have come so far this year. Please join me in prayer as we prepare for the upcoming year. So many are in difficult times and I pray that they will allow God to see them through it. I remind myself, If God can bring you to it, He can definitely bring you through it. I pray for all of my family and friends. May God continue all of His blessings and may you all see his miraculous works. God bless you all.

Happy Anniversary

Joe and I just celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary. My goodness, I cannot believe that 9 years have already come and gone. If you would have told me on our wedding day that we would be even happier than we were then, closer to Christ and have twin boys and a baby girl I probably would have laughed and said "that sounds nice, but I don't think so!" We have been so blessed over the years. I remember the day I told Joe how I felt about him. It was a Thursday night, I was spending the night with a sweet friend, Jennifer and I told her that I really liked Joe. I had just come to terms with it and she thought it was a perfect time to call and tell him. So I did! I even got up enough courage to ask him out only for him to turn me down. The next day we all went to the movies after work to see "American Pie" and Joe and I flirted and when he took me and Jennifer back to her house we ended with a good night kiss. That Monday I told Joe that I had just broken up with my boyfriend and he asked where that left us. That was the beginning of a wonderful marriage. On Christmas Day of 1999 Joe asked me to marry him ( I of course said YES!) Then on November 18, 2000 we became husband and wife. For our anniversary this year Joe put together a surprise evening. We stayed at the Georgian Terrace in one of their luxury suites, had a delicious fondue dinner at the Melting Pot and ended our night with front row seats at the Fox to see the Radio City Music Hall's Rockettes. It was such a wonderful night. If you know my husband, you know that this is so out of character for him but he knows exactly what to do to make me smile. It's amazing how much our love for one another has grown over the years. I've learned throughout the past couple of years that there are people out there that will try and tear down a marriage by betraying their spouse and I'm so thankful that Joe and I keep Christ at the center of our marriage. I have such a huge passion for marriage. I do not believe in divorce. I believe in being faithful and honest at all times and I'm grateful to share those same values with my wonderful husband. So to my honey, I love you so much. Thank you for giving me the greatest years of my life!

I'm an American!

It's been a while since my last blog. My how the time flies by when you're having fun. That's exactly what our family has been having too. A few weeks ago my sweet boys came running upstairs. They were both very excited. Ethan looked at me and with a big grin upon his face he said "Mommy! Me and Bryce are going to heaven!" I assumed he was imagining a trip to heaven. I definitely didn't think he was serious. So I said "Really? When?" And to my surprise his response wasn't what I thought it would be. He informed me that he was in fact very serious. He said that he and Bryce had just asked Jesus into their hearts. I guess because Joe and I were both 9 when we asked Jesus into our hearts I automatically assumed that they were too young. However, after carefully speaking with them and asking them some pretty tough questions. Even meeting with our Pastor at our church, we came to the realization that our little boys are in fact going to heaven. They understand exactly what it means. They understand what it truly means to call yourself a Christian. I could not be more proud of my sweet boys. The day we met with our Pastor we came home and individually asked the boys if they were a Christian. Bryce answered with a proud yes. We made sure he could tell us what it means to be a Christian. Then Ethan came to us. We asked him the exact same question. We said "Ethan, are you a Christian?" And with his big blue eyes he said (very serious) "NO!" Of course I'm shocked. What on earth? We just met with our Pastor, we went over everything, he explained it to us. He told us how we could become a Christian and yet he's not? HUH? So I asked him why not. His response: "Because I'm an American!" I couldn't help but smile. I explained him that when we become saved, we call ourselves Christians. I got the typical "oh" and we moved on. Now they're asking if their grandparents are saved and if their little friends are saved. I pray for my boys that they grow up to be men of God. I pray nightly for their future wives, that they are growing up in Christian homes with values. God has blessed us with His children to call ours but only for a short time. I'm learning that time flies by quickly and to cherish every moment of it.

Joe was ordained

I am so proud of my husband! Just a few weeks ago he received a phone call informing him that he was nominated to be a deacon at our church. It's a funny story too...we along with our best friends were joking that each man would nominate the other. Simply joking! Then we get the phone call. Joe had thought at first that Chad took him seriously and even called to confirm, however, it wasn't Chad! So just a few days passed and Chad got a phone call informing him that he had also been nominated. Coincidence? NOPE! It's a God thing! So, Joe prayed over the decision. He had just told me that he wanted to become more active in our church. It didn't take much prayer before he felt the Lord's calling. On October 11, 2009, Joe (and Chad) were both ordained! It was, by far, the most overwhelming experience. They had something called "Laying on the hands" and that is where all the ordained deacons and ministers come and pray for the newly ordained. To hear these men come and pray over my husband (there were a total of 5 men being ordained and who knows how many praying!) My tears flowed like the Nile river! I am SO PROUD of my husband and to see where he has allowed God to lead him. It is truly an honor to be his wife! Joe does so much for so many. He's always had such an amazing heart, even when he's had every right to be bitter, he's been kind. And to put up with me, well that says a lot! It's very humbling to know that the church looked highly upon Joe as well as myself (as I had to be with him during the interview, whew!) We had our family and some pretty awesome friends there to support Joe on this very special night.

Update..finally!

Life with a newborn has been fun and hectic. School is in good and strong now and the boys are LOVING it. They've already learned numerous Bible verses, their vowels, small math problems, songs, poems, and are learning how to read using phonics and are writing their letters in the upstairs, downstairs, basement form. The school uses the ABEKA curriculum which I love! By the time they're in the 8th grade they will have the same education as a graduating 12th grader. They had their first field trip to the zoo and loved riding on the bus more than anything. I am still just so thankful that God made a way for them at Creekside. I as well as them just love their teacher. I admire her for handling 14 five year olds all day by herself. While we are on the boys, they just love their little sister. They are so wonderful with her. When she cries they go up to her and ask her what is wrong and that they are the big brother and they're there to help her. Speaking of the "little sister." Maggie is doing just great. She's getting bigger everyday. We took her to her one month check up and she has gained 3 pounds. I just love playing dress up with her. She's just so beautiful. She is already a daddy's girl. As soon as Joe comes home from work, her eyes get so big and she's looking all over until she finds him and then she just grins. She definitely has her daddy wrapped around her little finger. Oh, and about Joe...this Sunday, Joe is being ordained as a deacon at our church. We got the phone call just a few weeks ago and was informed that he was nominated. Joe said this is the most humbling thing for him. Not only does he get to serve God but he gets to do it with our best friends (Chad and Sarah, of course just men are deacons.) It's a three year term and one I know he will enjoy. Just to see where we were 6 years ago. We were good people. We went to church on Sunday mornings and that was it. There was no Bible Study or personal devotion time. Ever since I came close to losing my life during labor we decided to give all we have to God because He gave it all for us! Our lives are blessed everyday and all though we may not understand God's blessing at the time we give Him all the praise. So that's our life in a short nutshell. I hope to have more time to update again soon.

She's here!

It's been a hectic last few weeks but I am pleased to announce that on August 17, 2009 at 5:01PM I gave birth to Miss Maggie Grace Wilburn. She weighed 6 pounds 11 ounces and was 20 inches long. She's absolutely beautiful! Our journey began on Thursday, August 13. I had a scheduled doctors appointment and was having contractions all day. Nothing serious, maybe 10-12 minutes apart. I told the doctor of this and he examined me. Everything was fine and closed but he made the comment to call him Monday morning. He was on call and said he wanted to hear how my weekend went. It was as if he knew something. He said depending on my weekend he might go ahead and induce me since he was on call. So, Friday came and my contractions were coming every 5-6 minutes. So Joe and I made our way to DeKalb Medical and they examined me and I had dilated to 1 and the contractions were still continuous. So the on-call doctor had me walk around for an hour in hopes that I would dilate more. Well, no luck! So I went back home. Then on Saturday I began having contractions every 2-3 minutes apart so back to DeKalb we went. This time they examined me and I was 2 centimeters dilated. Wooo hooo! So the new on-call doctor admitted me. They took me out of triage to an actual labor and delivery room. Got the iv in and got me all hooked up. I was ready to go. This time, my contractions stopped! The on-call doctor made a visit to my room and said she didn't feel comfortable with giving me pitocin to induce labor since she isn't my primary doctor. So we went back home. Then on Sunday, Joe and I went out to eat with his family to celebrate August birthdays. We enjoyed our day and I enjoyed having spontaneous contractions rather than steady ones. On Monday morning I called my doctor just as he ordered. He was quite upset that they even sent me home and told me to get up to DeKalb that we were going to have a baby today! So that's exactly what we did. I checked in at 9:00am. They monitored me for a couple of hours and finally at 12:00PM my doctor came in, asked why they hadn't started pitocin yet and ordered them to do it immediately. I got my blood work back and thankfully my blood was thick enough to enjoy an epidural. The contractions began coming and I was feeling great! The nurses came in and said that the pitocin could have been making Maggie's heart rate drop during contractions and wanted to monitor me more closely. Then the doctor came in. He broke my water and put an internal monitor on her head to make sure the pitocin wasn't making her heart drop. Thankfully it wasn't. She was perfectly fine and as they kept saying "happy!" The next thing I remember is this horrible shooting pain in my back. A pain that came every 3-4 minutes and was quite intense. They gave me an IV drug called Demerol but that didn't work! I was begging for the epidural but the nurses said I had to finish one complete bag of fluids, a bag that was already going and still extremely full. I went from 4 centimeters to 5 in less than 30 minutes. The doctor came in and said to call the anthistesiologist for the epidural. The nurses informed the doctor that hospital protocol is that you must have a bag of fluids before the epidural. My doctor informed the nurses that he knew what protocol was and that HE was THE doctor and he wanted my pain to go away. Thank you Dr. Arshad! So about 5-10 minutes later my best friend, Mr. Epidural, walked through the door. A couple of hours later they examined me and I was ready to go. We had to wait just a few minutes on my doctor as he was delivering another baby. When he came in, they took apart the bed and I pushed twice and out she came. She is the most beautiful little girl I've ever seen. As soon as she cried we heard the boys outside the room giggling. They were so excited to meet their new sister. Once they got me together, Joe went out and got the boys and we were able to share our first family moment together. It was a moment that I will never forget. Of course, it lasted maybe 3 minutes but the greatest 3 minutes. Then the flood gates opened. My mom, dad, Joe's mom and dad, Sarah and Debbie all made their way in to see our little princess. I cannot tell you how much it meant to have friends and family surround us with love and support. I am blessed to have these people in my life! It's been busy around the house but things are starting to get to normal. The boys come in and check the cradle every morning before school to make sure their sister is ok. They enjoy hugging her and loving on her but have made it quite clear that they will not change any poopy diapers. What a journey we are on and how thankful I am to have God leading our way.

And we're off!

This past Monday the boys started their first day of Kindergarten. What a momentous occasion in their little lives. I was quite worried about my little Ethan. The Friday before his little nerves truly got the best of him and as soon as we got to the school for their "mini day" he got sick and had an upset tummy for the remainder of the weekend. We managed to get through it fine but on Monday morning he began complaining of a tummy ache. He used the bathroom and felt much better. Unfortunately, I cannot say the same thing for myself. I was so worried about my babies (who have informed me that they're big boys, not babies!) Joe and I made the 15-20 minute drive to Creekside Christian Academy, parked the car and walked our "big boys" into their classroom. Both boys went in with huge smiles on their faces and began talking with their teacher. No hugs or kisses for mommy and daddy just a reassuring smile that they were fine. Joe and I walked away both in tears. I find myself tearing up right now. I just think back to the day they were born. A day that I didn't even get to enjoy completely due to my illness as well as theirs. A day that I didn't even get to hold them. And now, here they are, 5 1/2 years later, perfectly healthy boys and starting Kindergarten. Where has the time gone? I am so proud of my boys. They are so smart, well behaved and have manners better than most teenagers/adults. It's been very quiet around the house but I've managed to get things in order and have them stay that way. As this week has come to an end, the boys are really enjoying school and they just love their teacher. I am so thankful that God allowed the doors at Creekside to open and accept our boys into the school.

On another note things are taking off in the Wilburn household. I have 3 due dates. August 30, 31 and September 2. We're now going on the August 31 due date. However, due to my blood clotting disorder, my wonderful doctor has agreed to induce me on August 25 at 8:00am in the morning. I am so excited. I am a planner and this to me is great news! Not to mention I didn't want to take the chance of having an on call doctor deliver me. My doctor knows all of my history and was the one to diagnose me with Factor V Leiden. I asked him if I could go into labor on a night when he is on call and he said that sounded like a wonderful idea. I'm nervous about the whole inducing process but looking forward to (hopefully) enjoying an epidural this time. We had two doctor appointments yesterday. The first being at my high risk specialist where they did an ultrasound and took measurements. The first set of measurements they took, she said that Maggie looked to be very small. As in the 9th percentile small. She started telling us that we would have to come in once a week for measurements to confirm that she is growing the way she should. Then I asked her if the measurements could be wrong so she got a better angle of her head and jumped to the 30th percentile. She's weighing in at 5 pounds 15 ounces so almost 6 pounds (and their measurements are almost exact!) They say the baby usually gains a 1/2 a pound a week so by the 25th she could be weighing close to 7 pounds. For most that probably sounds average or small but for me, it scares me! Ethan was 4 pounds and Bryce was 5 so adding 2 pounds is a big difference to me! I know that God is good and He never gives us more than we can handle so I'm not worried. The nursery is just about complete. I've had two wonderful showers given by three of the greatest ladies in my life and I have two more this weekend. I'm not sure why so many people feel the need to want to throw us a shower but there will never be enough words to thank them. Joe and I had nothing! NADA! We have been so blessed. Maggie's nursery is near complete thanks to the thoughtfulness of others. So that's really about it. I will do my best to keep everyone updated on the arrival of Maggie Grace. Please keep us in your prayers. They are greatly appreciated.