I Have Found A Friend In Jesus!

I have found a friend in Jesus,

He's everything to me,
He's the fairest of ten thousand to my soul;

The Lily of the Valley in Him alone I see,

All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole.

In sorrow He's my comfort,

in trouble He's my stay,

He tells me every care on Him to roll;

Hallelujah,

He's the Lilly of the Valley,

the Bright and Morning Star,

He's the fairest of then thousand to my soul.

He all my griefs has taken,

and all my sorrows borne;

 In temptation He's my strong and mighty tower;

I have all for Him forsaken,

and all my idols torn from my heart,

and now He keeps me by His pow'r.

Though all the world forsake me,

and Satan tempt me sore,

Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal;

Hallelujah,

He's the Lilly of the Valley,

the Bright and Morning Star,

He's the fairest of then thousand to my soul.

He will never, never leave me,

nor yet forsake me here;

While I live by faith and do His blessed will;

A wall of fire about me,

I've nothing now to fear,

With his manna He my hungry soul doth feed.

Then sweeping up in glory to see His blessed face,

where rivers of delight shall ever flow;

Hallelujah,

He's the Lilly of the Valley,

the Bright and Morning Star,

He's the fairest of then thousand to my soul.

xo. betsy

from stump to fire ring

A couple summers ago we cut down a big tree in the back yard.
It was rotting in the center so last year I planted sweet potato vines in it.
This year we discovered it was full of termites & grubs (icky.)
So when Bryan got home from work yesterday evening,

He decided to cut the stump off at the ground & make it a fire ring! (:
(made me quite happy, I've wanted a fire ring for quite sometime.)

olivia & i sat in the yard & watched! (:

thinking maybe a weiney roast for supper tonight is in order! (:

xo, betsy

Happy 24th Birthday, Bryan!

Today, April 25, 2012, Mr. B turned 24!

Seems like just yesterday it was the week before our wedding, he was in Ohio &

celebrating his 21st birthday!

The past 3 years have been filled with love, laughter, spiritual growth,

family growth, disappointments & sorrow.

We have welcomed a beautiful little girl into our heart & homes.

We have lost special loved ones & gained love for our Lord.

God has truly blessed us way more than we ever deserve.

As I look ahead,

I pray that God will continue to bless my dear husband with good health,

a continued desire to be a spiritual leader at home & in the community,

and the wonderful husband & daddy that I know he is!

I love you Bryan!

xo. betsy

Denver Trip

While we were in Denver to see the specialist we decided to stay till Friday evening.
We had a Betsy shopping day. (Ikea, Old Navy, Target & a few other stores)

& a Bryan's shopping day (Mile High Flea Market.)

Plus we did some much needed relaxing.

so, maybe Olivia did most of the relaxing.

It was funn to take our first little family trip! (:

I'm already counting down the days until we go back

(& yes, making a list of the other places I would like to stop at)

xo. betsy



11

11 weeks old.

I can't believe it!

Where have the last 11 weeks went?

It seems like just yesterday we were bring Miss Olivia home for the first time!

I can't imagine life without her, now. Somedays I wonder how I did it. I worked 5 days a week & just had to worry about making sure Bryan had clean clothes, a clean house & food at every meal. Life has changed, but it's been a wonderful well accepted change!

First time laying under the 'homemade' jungle gym

(she can keep herself happy for at least an hour here)

Olivia loves bath time.

Olivia loves to stand & walk around, with Daddy's help of course.

Olivia makes this sweet pouty face alot. (:

I've tried uploading videos of her bath time & walking with daddy but it took forever & they didn't fully load. Anyone have any suggestions as to what I was doing wrong?!

xo. betsy

{little} family

our FIRST family picture
olivia: 1 weeks old

our SECOND family picture
olivia: 4 weeks old

We need to take another one soon!
I love my {little} family so much!
God has blessed us so much!

xo. betsy

5 generations

February 2012

We are so blessed! Olivia made the 5th generations of first born daughters on my side of the family.

When we were in Ohio for Kyle & Emily's wedding we got a chance to take some wonderful pictures

This will be a moment I remeber for the rest of my life!

love all these wonderful ladies so much.
They all had a very special part of raising me & training me to be the woman I am today.
I am so thankful God has blessed me with such a wonderful family!

xo. betsy

Vascular Hemangioma

   Last week we made a trip to the Denver Children's Hospital to see a specialist about a Vascular Hemangioma that is forming on Olivia's neck. The birth mark showed up on her ear lobe when she was 1 week old & has continued to grow. A month ago I suddenly noticed a lump that was starting to form on her neck. So I took her up to the doctor to see what it was (yes, I was worried, any mother would be) & she recommended that we go to Denver to see a specialist so we could get some answers. So we left last Wednesday morning at 6am to make it to our 9:30 appointment. Unfortunately we don't really feel like we got any answers because they don't really know what to tell us. Each hemangioma is different. It will continue to grow till she is about 6 months old & might not be completely gone until she is 5 or 6 years old. We did get some comforting news as well. They don't think it is or will grow into anything in her neck (salivary gland, ear drum. etc.) but it will put pressure & will possibly close her ear canal. So we get to go back May 9th so they can see how much it has grown. They options for it are put her on Propanolol (a heart medication) or Prednisone (steroids), neither of them are an option as far as we are concerned. We don't want to put those drugs in our 3 month old's body. So the other options if her ear canal closes is for her to wear a headband that has a hearing device on it so that her ear drum will still develop & will be 'normal' when the birthmark finally goes away.
   As a parent this is something you never want to see your child go through. Thankfully it does not bother her, she turns her head that way, she lays on it & you can mess with it & she doesn' t act like it bothers her. That has been comforting to me because it would be hard to see her in pain for the next 5 years. Pray for us as parents that God will continue to help us be strong for her & that we will learn the lesson that is to be learned here. She is fearfully & wonderfully made & my prayer is that we can instill that in her & she will grow us knowing she is beautiful NO MATTER WHAT!

{this picture was taken 2 weeks ago. her double chin make it look alot worse but you can see the lump on the side of her neck, it is bigger than this now, i just haven't gotten a chance to take a picture.}

love, betsy

Fresh Start

Good Afternoon, friends! As you can see here, all my previous posts are GONE! Yes, GONE. Last week all my pictures disappeared from both of my blogs & I could not get them back. Since most of the posts didn't make any since without pictures I deleted them & we are starting over. It's sad but yet feels good to have a fresh start & I'm hoping I will find more time to post here!

peace & love, betsy