So much time in between!

i have taken this huge break from blogging. just when i thought i was catching up, life just got busier. so, today is a fresh start :-) a lot has happened in between, so i hope to gradually add in some 'landmark' events from here in Dothan.

Happy Father's Day!

Father's Day this year couldn't even compare to last year. I was 12 weeks pregnant with little Elle and the fear and anxiety was overwhelming. now, we have this healthy, beautiful baby girl who started officially crawling on Father's Day!!! Here is just one picture of the many we took that day!

Happy Mother's Day!

Well, it's mother's day- my second mothers day, but my third official :-) it's amazing to look back over the past year and feel like you've come full circle. last year's mother's day was very hard for me. i didn't even want to go to church because i was afraid of someone either saying something stupid, or forgetting about Rhema and not even mentioning her to me. but at the same time, joel and i had so much to celebrate! mothers' day last year i was 13 weeks pregnant with my little Elle-bell and it was the first day we started telling people! there was a great article written up in the sun news about Rhema and at the very end the article mentioned our new expected arrival! so that WAS very special.

this year was much easier, although i have to admit, i think i will always be saddened to feel like we are 'missing one'. Elle is here and as healthy as can be, and to have full arms again eased the pain and made mothers day exciting for me!!! so..

joel planned to take me out of town this year just to get away for a night. we got to go to charleston, sc..one of our favorite quick get-a-ways. we got to walk around with Elle, eat at our favorite places, and spend some great family time together. we had such an amazing trip.

March of Dimes- March for Babies

April 26, 2008 was our families second march of dimes we participated in. Since Rhema passed away, we have decided to make it a yearly family event. thousands of people met at the football stadium at coastal carolina university and walked 3 miles to raise money for preterm deliver and infant birth defects. Elle 'walked' with us last year (in my tummy) and this year she was right there with us. i brought her great jogging stroller, but she had more fun on daddy's shoulders. oh, and what was really cool is that Elle was on the news that weekend (a major close up) when they featured the march of dimes. that's my girl!

Blake Andrew Truett

March 31, 2008 a precious baby boy was born to our dear friends Tony and Amy Truett. Blake went to be with Jesus just the day before the delivery. I really don't know how to articulate my feelings and emotions about Blake. i remember getting the phone call the night of the check-up. without tony speaking, or joel saying anything i knew something was wrong. a moms' intuition maybe? i'm not sure. Blake was to be delivered in just 10 days or so. i remember my heart sinking and just breaking down crying. some people felt bad for me because they said it must have been hard for me because of Rhema. but really that wasn't my saddness. Rhema is in Heaven, and yes i deal with it daily, but my heart just plain 'ol hurt for the Truetts. it wasn't about the sewell's. we spent most of the hospital stay with them, and then the days to follow we tried to just be available as much as possible. one thing that was so evident was that God just graces us through the toughest of times. just when you think you can't do it anymore, you do. and as unfortunate as everything was, pain ministers to pain, and we are now SO much closer to them for having walked through it together. who knows, maybe Blake and Rhema are playing up there in Heaven :-) it's just sweet to think about.

Moving out of 1024 Cadbury Court

March 25 was moving day for the Sewell family. Back in Jan. we made a decision to move to Dothan, Al to be part of a church plant with some dear friends of ours. Our moving day is May 31 and we are very excited. so, to save, save, save we moved in with our gracious friends for about 6 weeks--rent free! this has helped so much, and it's been a lot of fun living with them!
it is definitally bitter sweet moving on to such a different phase of our lives. for me, i have had to work through leaving the house that both of my girl were born in, where Rhema lived her whole life and passed away, leaving her grave, leaving stability with friends and a job...need i go on. but the only thing i know FOR SURE is that God told us to GO! so that's what we will be doing. and because of that simply, i look forward to the new chapter in our lives. (but i really will miss our cute little house!)

Happy New Year!

Welcome to 2008! The years just keep on passing. As a kid, i would always here adults around me saying "the older we get, the faster the years pass". Gee that will be the day! when i was in school i could only WISH the years would pass by. but now here we are...25 years old, 2 kids later...and the years just keep passing by :-) this was Elle's first New Year and we are so glad we got to share it with Randy, Meggan, and little Sophia Goff. the girl were best friends starting in the womb!

Fall Festival, Rhema's First B-Day, and Christmas!

here are a few pics of the wrap up of 2007. Elle's first Fall Festival (and really her first time out of the house for a period of time!), and Rhema's b-day celebration and balloon release, and then of course her very first Christmas! great pictures and memories! Enjoy!

My little Glow Worm!

Poor little Elle had jaundice really bad when we got home. so, we had a billi blanket for her for about a week. even though it was such a minor thing for her to have, i still had so much anxiety about there being another machine at our house for the baby. with Rhema we had the apnea machine and the oxygen and back up oxygen. but i just had to keep reminding myself that it's no big deal. poor girl had to go everyday for a week and get her foot pricked to test her levels. and at her 6 week check up, her levels were FINALLY down to 3! so glad that was over.

October 16, 2007

apparently i didn't quite make it!!! I can remember like it was yesterday... It was monday, Oct. 15 (grandma sewell's birthday!) and i was at the church helping joel get the youth bulletin board done. i was up and down off of a bench while stapling things up. i finished around 11:30am and headed home for lunch. after i ate, i started to have contractions. but they were so irregular i didn't think much. (but i knew they were feeling a bit different than braxton hicks) after about an hour or so, i called joel just to let him know that i was feeling funny. he told me to start writing down my contractions just to keep track and to call Dr. Golden to let her know. so after about an hour of that, i did call. some were 3 min apart and some were 10, so i was told to just keep keeping track! hours passed and we had a meeting with a couple at church to go over kids church while we were going to be out with the baby. still having contractions, i got a sub at firehouse and just kept writing down my contractions. (it was becoming more like a game to me at this point) after dinner, we continued our night with a meeting at church. i didn't have much energy, so i stayed in the back and kept walking around to try to relieve some of the pressure from my back. i had a few people tell me to just go in and see if i had progressed, but of course i didn't want to be one of "those" people that they send on home! lol we went home after the meeting, took a bath (shaved my legs just in case!) and then layed down for bed. contractions were getting stronger, so i had joel keep track of them since i was so tired and in pain. when they got to be about 4 min. apart, we went ahead and left. i almost didn't bring my suitcase because i thought for sure it wasn't really happening! long story short...within 3 hours of getting to the hospital, Elle Evangeline Sewell was here! 5 lbs 6 oz, 18 inches long. and as healthy as can be born at 4:59am. and it was a totally different experience. what a precious gift she is!