My Little Girl

Right before Christmas, our family was blessed with another little baby girl. My sister Danielle had her first girl of four children! I was there to deliver her and let me say, that was an amazing experience! Thank God for new life!


Little Leigha (Pronounced: Lee-uh)


Also, here is an updated picture of my healthy and beautiful little sister!


Thank Heaven for little girls!!!

Decisions...

Well, Thanksgiving is over and that means I am another Holiday closer to the end of the second quarter, the first semester of my last year of high school. I have made my decision.... I am going to Montgomery College for my first two years, and then I am transferring to the University of Maryland for my nursing career!!! Yep, an Operating Room Nurse is what I have chosen. I am way too excited for college to start! Although, I know it will be hard.... Still, I can't wait.

Answered Prayers

Well, first off I want to thank all of you who prayed for my little sister and her parents through this time of waiting... We have the results... Isabella does have Craniosynostosis, BUT it is the best form that you can possibly get. This meaning that although she does have to have surgery, they will only have to cut her from one inch above the ear on both sides all the way up her head (kind of like where a head band rests). They barely have to shave any hair off and it wont ruin her hair line. The surgery is about 1-2 hours long and they do not have to touch the brain at all, they are just expanding the skull (probably at the sutures) so that there is room for brain growth. As of right now, there are no long term effects of this diagnosis besides a scar under her hair. Praise God!!! I'm sure there are still chances for things to happen during the surgery or right after, but I don't have all the details for this right now. Bella's surgery is on November 6th and she will have to be in the hospital for about 3 days and the doctor said that when she recovers "you probably wont be able to know she had anything wrong with her to begin with"!!!!!! Thank you thank you thank you for praying, please continue to lift this up from now until recovery. I will keep you updated with any significant information...


Romans 12:12-
"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer."

Update... and a Prayer Request

Well, the first month of school is just about over and everything is going great. I am pretty crammed with school work and classes, but the busier the better the sooner the time passes the sooner I graduate from high school! I'm taking AP Biology, Spanish 3, Church History, American History, Algebra 2, Integrated Physics and Chemistry, Art, and American Literature. All-in-all, I feel like I have everything pretty well under control. Lots of rest and lots of help from God this year and I think I will do pretty good.

I have a prayer request to send out to all those who read this blog. My little sister Isabella, 7 months old, (from my dad and step-mom) is going to a pediatric neurologist on Wednesday, October 3 to get some tests run. She went for her check up and the doctor told my step mom that she could no longer feel a soft spot on her head. This could very likely mean that Bella has Craniosynostosis. The short of the long is that the skull is closing too quickly before the brain is finished developing. So the brain will continue to grow without the proper amount of room to do so. In almost all cases of this, the child will have to have a surgery in which they cut from ear to ear, not touching the brain, but opening up the scalp to give the brain room to grow. If this was caught early enough, she could come out of this surgery pretty clean, with just a scar to show for it. Otherwise, she could suffer from vision loss, hearing loss, disabilities, deformities and so on. Please pray that the doctor was wrong and that little Bella does not have this disease. Please pray that if she does, God would guide the surgeon and nurses' hands and that there would be no long term effects on my little girlie. Thank you so much! I will keep you updated...

James 1:2 "Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith will develop perseverance."




I also have some awesome news. This morning at church, Papa and I were baptized!!!! WOOHOO! It was definitely a great experience to just be able to stand up there and profess my belief in Christ for everyone to hear. I was so nervous all morning before-hand, but when I got up there it started to fade away and I couldn't even hear the crowd clap or anything. It was like it was just Jesus, Papa, Mr. Chesemore, and me up there. It was such a special time to be able to share in that wonderful experience with my Papa (step dad). God has really brought his and my relationship SO far over the past 5 years. That we were able to do this together, is an amazing testimony of God's faithfulness and steadfastness in our lives!

The End...

Well, we just got back from the beach last night. We had a great time! Aside from the really bad sunburn my brothers and mom and papa got. I was the only one who didn't get burned, except for a little bit on my cheeks... Fenwick Island is so nice and a great place for families, a quaint little Island. I'm not a huge fan of just laying on the beach, so I usually like to get up and go for a walk in the little "village" or go to the room and watch T.V or go to the hotel pool, and if the water is right, I love to go in the ocean, but it has to be just right for me. The water was pretty wild on the first day, and ok the second day, but the third day it was awesome!

The family pretty much just hung out and did whatever, but we did go mini golfing on the last night and then got icecream afterwards. YUM! We had ice cream every single day, yes we are all fat in the mind... All in all we had a great time! It was jsut really nice to be with the whole family. :)

Here are some photos of the vacation...
































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And now, summer has come to an end. School starts Thursday for me, and has already started for others.... My last highschool year.... Let's make it good!!!!

Coming to an End...

Well, my two horrahs are well over... Although, one of them never actually happened. I went to the youth retreat and that was great! CJ Mahaney spoke twice(!!!) and Jeff Purswell spoke once! Big treat!! Ministry night was awesome, as usual :) One of the people I have been praying for for a while came to me and asked me to pray with him and he accepted Christ! So amazing. I am so grateful to have been able to be part of that experience. It really was a special time. King's Dominion was a lot of fun too! Mr. Somerville spent the whole day with me and my two friends and my mom and another mother. It was a small, but awesome group! :) I can't wait to look at everyone's pictures...

After the retreat I was looking forward to having my dad come into town and visit with me, but that didn't work out as planned. Hopefully I'll be able to visit with him soon.

Well on Friday me and my family head out to Fenwick Island next to Ocean City!! It's gonna be a blast, I can't wait! Although there is apparently, 33% harmful bacteria in the water... blah! So, I may not go in the water...

The day after we get home from the beach, school starts! I honestly, can't wait for an organized, scheduled day to be the norm once again! Plus, it's my last year and I cant wait for highschool to be over. I graduate May 31st 2008! WOOT WOOT!

But yes, in all of this excitement, summer is coming to a very fast close. We have exactly six days left of summer. Well, I better make them good!

Passing Time...

This summer passed by so quickly, yet I feel like I've accomplished little.... I guess that is because I haven't gone on any real vacations yet this summer, but I have been working a lot and I'm starting to prepare for the school year. My last highschool year! I guess getting older brings more responsibilities and less time for vegging out and just being lazy! :) In a way, I'm looking forward to real life starting up again in about 3 weeks. Planned schedules, earlier bedtime, homework, studying... It all brings this sort of sense of organization and that makes me happy! :)

Anyways, I have three more hoorahs before the school year starts up. The youth retreat, which starts this Monday and goes through Thursday!!! I am super excited anout this! It is my last one, so it is kind of bittersweet... I love everything about this retreat, from the food, to the rooms, to the baptisms, to the messages, to freetime, to Kings Dominion! I cannot wait to see what new things will happen this year.

Secondly, I have my dad coming into town to visit me the day after the retreat until Monday! So i get a few nice days alone with my dad. I am really looking forward to this and I can't wait till he gets here!

Lastly, I have our annual Labor Day Weekend beach trip. I love this trip! We are heading out to Fenwick Island on Friday the 31st and coming home that next Monday! My mom, stepdad, brothers, and my Aunt, Uncle, and cousin are all coming and it is going to be a blast! Although, I just heard this morning that there is 33% of some harmful bacteria found along the eastern shore.... hmmm... well, hopefully that will all be cleared up by then.

Then after these nice, long, wonderful trips and visits, school is starting. The day after I get home from the beach. Hopefully all these plans go well and we all stay safe!