Adventures in Dothan!

So much time in between!

2008-08-23T08:07:00.001-07:00

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!

2008-08-23T08:01:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-11T10:48:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-11T09:25:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-10T09:11:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-10T08:57:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-10T08:50:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

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!

2008-06-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

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

2008-06-08T08:11:00.001-07:00

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!

Will I Make It?

2007-09-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

today was my weekly check-up (yes, i'm finally on my weekly schedule!). today marks 33 weeks...and boy am i feeling it :-) so, lets just get to the facts: baby girl is still measuring a few days ahead of schedule. my tummy is measuring a whole week ahead..that should give you a good heads up that my tummy is STILL growing. i've gained a whole 27lbs...but like i said before...she's worth every pound. (i just sure hope it goes away!) as for labor in the near future...well, lets not hope too near. i am 70% effaced and 1 cm dialated. my doctor said that whether we make it to the amnio at 36 weeks or not; baby will probably be here by then! i think today was the first day that joel and i actaully believed that WE ARE HAVING A BABY! there is a light at the end of this ever-so-long tunnel. she's almost 4 1/2 lbs, so we are guessing about 5 1/2 lbs at birth...but lets just keep our fingers crossed. i had to make a trip down to the hospital today (and will have to go back tomorrow) for steroid shots to help speed up baby girl's lungs JUST in case we meet her earlier than scheduled! We are getting soooo close!

tossing and turning...all night long

2007-09-09T22:01:00.000-07:00

another sleepless night....and only about 5 more weeks to go. it's 1:15 in the morning, and joel is sleeping soundly next to me. i'm up because of the non-stop heart burn (from i don't know what!), the pressure in my lower back from baby girl weighing down, the stomach ache and soar ribs from her pushing off of me to swim around more; not to mention the many, many thoughts running through my head about her soon-to-be arrival day! what will it be like when that day finally arrives?! even more than that, what will the NEXT day be like? i picture myself getting up early, taking a shower...of course, and rushing off to see my new daughter in the nursery :-) i picture holding her ALL DAY LONG as people come in and visit (and bring her presents!) what will her noises be like? what will be her favorite spot to lay on? daddy's chest perhaps?! will she have a lot of hair? (she better with all this heart burn i'm having!!!) so many things i'm curious about, and that will remain a wonderful mystery until she's safely in my arms. and until that day, i think the anxiety will remain. i am feeling so close, but yet so far away from that highly anticipated day.

6 weeks left!

2007-09-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

so, 30 weeks along....and only 6 to go. we scheduled our apt. for an amnio in october. they will be checking to make sure baby girl's lungs are developed enough to deliver. and once those results come back that night, we will go back in to meet our second daughter! it's so crazy to look back at this point in my pregnancy and feel like we have almost made it to the end. when it was just a few months ago i thought i would never make it through! i think having a busy summer helped that a lot!

total weight gain thus far...22lbs. not too bad. as much as i CANNOT believe that it is still ok to gain weight when you are preggo, i just remember that 1. i lost it all last time, and 2. she is SO worth it!

we had a check up yesterday with dr. golden, and all is still going so well. baby girl is head down (since week 20!)with her body on my left side, and her booty pushing against my stomach right above my belly button. i can't believe it hasn't popped out yet! she pushes hard! her little legs and knees are on my right side, and her feet are nicely tucked away under my RIBS! her movements have been so strong lately...enough to take my breath away. not to mention the many braxton hicks i continue to experience throughout every day :-) do you think she will be here sooner than 6 weeks? well, the longer she stays in my tummy, the healthier she will be, so for that reason, i'm ok with not meeting her yet....but boy is it tempting!

27 weeks!!!

2007-08-10T18:13:00.001-07:00

only about 76 days left until we get to meet this little girl! and boy, are we excited :-) look how big my tummy is getting!!! so far, i've gained 16 lbs...hmmmm, i wonder if she weighs 16 lbs?!?! yeah right....only at about a little over 2 lbs i believe!

All the way from Africa...

2007-08-05T15:54:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share this email with everyone....
it's from an old friend of mine from highschool that is a missionary in africa with his wife and 3 kiddos! Just another example of the support our 'family' has given us through Rhema's passing to the new little blessing inside!!!

Val,
Hope this email finds you doing well! I just thought I would send you this quick email to encourage you and Joel.

We had (at least tried to have...) a film service in the village of Roigrond. (pronounced "roy-ha-ron-d")

About 250 people squeezed into this tiny tin building to watch the Jesus film. Everything was ready and we were singing praises, when BAM...our generator won't start. No biggie...just get another one...

Long story short, we are looking everywhere for a generator as these precious people sit in the total dark and it was cold too...

I decided to make a run for the town of Jaggersfontein to try and get a generator and make it back before everyone left...

On my way I stopped at one of the national believers homes to ask for directions. He could tell I was in a hurry....and just as I went to close the door on the car and fly off to the next town, he said, "Hey, how are Valerie and Joel doing? We are really praying for them..."

Wow, I was pretty shocked myself seeing he remembered both of your names. I told him that I would be telling you about their faithful prayers.

Then, just yesterday I was sitting with another missionary in Mafeking and he asked, "How is that couple doing...Joel and Valerie?"

While we are 8,500 miles away from you both, we are certainly praying for you and want you to know we love and care for you and can't wait to see God's plans for your lives!

Oh...never made it back in time to the church with the generator...the devil sure thought he had won the victory...LOSER!!! The next day (last Sunday) we had our first service in the new church building in Roigrond and Praise the Lord, 210 people came to hear the service and 10 accepted Christ. We also saw another 6 accept Christ this morning and one young lady, Palesa Mothupi came with her 1 year old daughter and accepted Christ. She asked if we could come on Saturday and teach her more about the Bible.

Satan had his tail between his legs.

God is good,
Adam

12 weeks left! (or less!!!)

2007-07-31T17:28:00.001-07:00

it's so hard to believe that Rhema has been gone from our arms for 27 weeks...well, 26 1/2 actually. she would be turning 9 months old on Aug. 3...in just 3 days. my heart hurts at times more than usual just thinking about her, wishing she were here with us. wishing that we could have watched her get her first tooth, take her first step, start her first day of school. sometimes i miss her so much, i just want to go to sleep and dream about her- i know...a bit silly. even with all the excitement and anticipation there is with our newest little addition (who i wouldn't trade for anything either!), i will always know that one is missing from the table, from the family photos, and from the house.

but now we have this amazing little jem to add to our family...so hard to believe that only 12 short weeks she will be in our arms. i anticipate such a different experience delivering baby #2...cutting the cord, holding her as soon as she's cleaned off, and having her sleep in the room with me in the hospital. joel and i look forward to a totally different experience. we look the most forward to celebrating the new birth, and sharing with our friends and family just how wonderful our God really is!

i wonder what she will look like? maybe her big sister just a bit :-)

m-i-s-s-i-s-s-i-p-p-i

2007-07-31T17:20:00.000-07:00

so...my friend and i have agreed that the next time we decide to cross the mississippi it will be by airplane....and not with 2 vans full of middle schoolers! ha ha!! but this pic is joel and i and baby girl sewell(of course) overlooking the mississippi. within minutes of this picture, it down poured, so we're glad we got just the slightest memory :-)

2007-07-14T09:38:00.001-07:00

do i hear an echo-echo-echo-echo....

2007-07-13T13:35:00.000-07:00

today was our last apt. in charleston to see the specialist for baby girl sewell. we had an echo done on her heart just to make sure that there are no defects- which there are not! and they also looked over her organs, and everything appears to be great! the doctor said they were "beautiful ultrasound pictures" which sounds good to me :-)

right now, baby girl is about 3 days ahead of schedule, weighing in at a whopping 1 lb, 1 oz! isn't that just so cute!? we tried to get a good shot of her face, or even profile for that matter, but she had other plans in mind! she kept both arms over her face, and remained in an indian style position with her head to her knees. i mean, she acts like she has no room in there! lol we may not have gotten her face, but we know she has cute ears!!!

5 1/2 months along, and only 3 1/2 to go! and believe you me; i AM counting.

Family Vacation!!!

2007-07-13T13:16:00.000-07:00

what a great 4th of July! the entire sewell family spent the week relaxing at Kill Devil Hills in a 3 story beach house! we had a pool, hot tub, theater room, and not to mention the amazing view from our deck!!! it was baby girl sewell's first vacation....and we plan to have many, many more with her! i wonder what we'll do NEXT year?!

Give me some shade

2007-06-29T04:34:00.000-07:00

yesterday was Thursday, June 28....and our "Rhema Tree" was planted at church! A couple at our church lost their daughter about 2 years ago from a rare heart condition. So they built a park at our church in her name and in her memory.....it's perfect! When Rhema passed away, they had a 15 year old Live Oak tree donated to them in her name to plant in their park. It was the big day yesterday when they planted it, and it is so beautiful! I can't wait to watch her tree grow and provide beautiful shade for all the kids that play there! It's so amazing to think that in 200 years, her tree will still be there and growing...that is, until Jesus comes back :-)

oopppsss....my bad!

2007-06-26T13:30:00.001-07:00

so,
joel and i went in for our anatomy sonogram on friday, june 22. that's where they measure all the babies bones, head, looks at the heart, etc. we didn't have the level II done for this, but we go for the heart echo on july 13, so i was ok with an ordinary scan. after the tech looked over our little one for about 30 min. i asked if she could just confirm for us that it was a boy. without a whole lot of time and any warning, she blurted out "congrats! you're having a girl!" the room went silent...i thought she was kidding. then i realized that she was serious....and i burst out crying! i immediately thought of Rhema and how no girl can replace her, but then i became sooo excited. just to be able to continue with what we started....it was a wonderful surprise! it took joel just a few hours to process; for 2 months they had been telling us they think it's a boy. it just took some time to take it all in.

so it was a text book shot...just like she was sitting on a glass table....just adorable! all the measurements looks great- right on schedule, and she LOVES to wiggle around and stay in a ball :-)

so, only 4 months left.....and yes, we are counting down. joel and i unpacked all the things we packed up of Rhema's on Sunday night. it was so much fun unpacking. we packed it all up as Rhema's and took it back out as our new daughters!!! God is just so good (and funny how he does things!)

One big step for man-kind

2007-06-13T05:53:00.000-07:00

well, last night joel was out with the boys for "man's night" and it was time for me to finally do it: i cleaned up Rhema's room and put all her things away. well, most of her things. some things were easier than others like the things she never got to wear or use. but the things that she used daily were pretty tough to put away. the closet is cleaned out, and the crib drawer too. the bottom two drawers of her dresser are cleaned out now, but i just couldn't bare to put away that top drawer. when you open it up, it still smells like her! so i'm going to wait on that...i just need to get a little bit more momentum.

it's such a thing i have been dreading. almost as if it's one step closer of putting Rhema out of our lives forever. sometimes i feel like if it's put away, people will forget, but then i realize how could they? and we surely won't and that's all that really matters!

then you have the flip side to it: i was so excited to be preparing for our new little baby boy! (name still not being revealed!) i was able to hang up the things we've started collecting for him, and some things that belonged to Rhema that were yellow, white, and green....well, we're able to use them for him, too. so it was just a mixture of emotions, but a much needed time for me. just to sit in her room and look at all the things we hoped for her; expected for her and finally take the next step in moving forward. our intention is to put just a few things up in the nursery of hers when baby boy gets here, just so he can get to know his big sister in the smallest way:-)

17 weeks!

2007-06-07T18:40:00.000-07:00

this week marks 17 weeks! crazy to think i'm actually almost there....this pregnancy has been so different than being pregnant with princess Rhema. i never had an ounce of morning sickness, but boy have i made up for that with this little one. all i can say is...no complaints from me. i just kept telling myself that if it means everything is working, i'm ok with it! he's worth the gagging and breakouts :-)
AFP test results came back today and....that's a big negative! nothing found....no concerns. mommy and baby are doing great!

The results are in...

2007-06-07T18:34:00.000-07:00

so,
may 11, 2007...ONE of the most anticipated days of this whole pregnancy. joel and i went down to musc in charleston, sc for fetal testing. chromosome testing was done by ultrasound and blood work. so far, no problems and none are anticipated for the rest of the pregnancy. baby sewell looks amazing and is actually measuring 4 days ahead of schedule :-) we could not be more excited: to see ANOTHER baby inside my tummy just blew my mind. God is truely good. and Rhema has a little brother!

here are the results...
for a mommy my age...a whole 24....i am given a 1 in 1,000 chance of having a downs syndrom baby. after testing and blood work it showed that i now have been put up to a 1 in 6,000. (for those of you who aren't familiar with these stats...that's VERY GOOD!) now, for having another trisomy 13 baby or a trisomy 18 baby, they went ahead and but me at a 1 in 141 chance....not very high if you ask me! but after the testing, i'm at a 1 in 3,000! and even though Rhema was a 1 in 15,000, these numbers have eased my mind and nerves :-)

Our precious little man! or is it lady? 13 1/2 weeks along

2007-06-07T18:31:00.000-07:00