Happy Birthday Miguel!

Michael aka Miguel (this is what my sister calls him) and I share the same birthday week! I love that we get to celebrate our birthdays together because the celebration just keeps on going and I feel like it is my birthday all week! Michael's birthday was on Friday the 24th and my birthday will be on Tuesday the 28th. To celebrate, we went out to dinner at a local Mexican restaurant called the Happy Mexican. We have been trying to find a good Mexican restaurant in Memphis for a long time and we finally did! It was delicious! I should've taken pictures of the food but they won me over with their chili relleno. YUMM! I will continue to tell about our fun filled weekend in pictures!

New turtle neck I snagged at Target for $3.50! I love good deals!

The birthday boy at Happy Mexican! They sang him a song, gave him an enormous shot of Tequila and then did this...

We had so much fun! Michael kept clapping his hands and saying ARRIBA!

Michael and Layne at the Flying Saucer!

My sister-in-law Maria, and I!

Happy Birthday!

We drove around Memphis and showed Michael's family Mud Island and the MS River

For dinner we went to the Butcher Shop! They had delicious steaks!

I had the Filet and Michael had a T-bone

After dinner we came back to our house and sang Happy Birthday, had dessert, and opened presents. I had so much fun celebrating our birthdays with Michael's family! Their family has a precious tradition of singing "May the good Lord bless you" to the tune of Happy Birthday after singing Happy Birthday. I love learning about their family traditions and continuing them in our own little family :) They were all so sweet to drive to Southaven to celebrate with us. 25 has been a crazy year with a lot of changes good and bad! I will be doing a post on my 25th year next week. I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!

-Whitney

The blessing of a sunrise

A month ago last Tuesday, my husband and I found out that we had lost our precious baby. I was supposed to be 9 weeks and 4 days pregnant. The doctor was not able to find the baby's heartbeat with the doppler and at that point I felt the pang in my heart that something was wrong. We then went in to the ultrasound room and the ultrasound tech was not able to find the heartbeat, although she did not give us any information other than the fact that our baby was measuring smaller than expected. I instantly knew that something was wrong. We then met with the doctor and she affirmed my fears. But for some reason I just could not accept it. I asked for another ultrasound to affirm that our baby was gone. The doctor felt that it was best for me to have a D&C. I did the next day. The loss of our precious baby was heart wrenching and something that I pray we never have to go through again. The weeks following the miscarriage were very difficult but I finally feel like myself again and I am ready to continue our story and life together. God has so much in store for our little family and now we have a precious angel watching over us as we continue our journey. The letter below has given me so much strength and I wanted to share it. I have included a picture of a gorgeous sunrise because to me the sunrise represents a new beginning and new day.

In this time of loss I call upon my spirit within to guide me to my strength so that I may find peace and completion. I will use this strength to demand of myself and others my need to grieve completely, for this will be my first step to healing.

During my time of grief I will seek guidance not only from my inner spirit but from loving persons who may offer wisdom and comfort. I need to understand that the soul as well as the physical body needs healing and to pay attention to this. I will learn to accept that the soul may never heal completely.

I will learn to live not in fear and once again see beauty in my world and purpose in my existence. In spite of my new knowledge that things happen that cannot be controlled, I must call upon the places within me that tell me I do have control over much of my life and use this control to aid my healing.

Let me recognize the gift in my ability to conceive and carry life however briefly.

Let me take joy in my ability to love so deeply and desire to nurture a soul unbeknownst to me.

Let me find healing in the belief that this soul knew my love for it and that love helped it to pass to another place.

Let me honor this short life not only with my love but in finding meaning in its existence. Let me recognize this meaning in not only my ability to survive, but in my fullest appreciation of all the moments motherhood will bring me, along with my deeper compassion and sisterhood to other women who’ve experienced loss.

Let a part of this soul be reflected in the spirit of my future children, born or adopted, so that I may know it through them.

I will listen to and trust the place in my deepest heart that tells me I will once again be reunited with this soul and will fulfill the need to hold it in my arms.

I will help myself to feel comfort in the knowledge that there is a star in [the sky] that belongs to me.

by Stacey Dinner-Levin

Found here.