Tonight we went to mass and then took the kids to our church festival.  The boys had a blast!

Thank you for your prayers.  We found out on Wednesday that Nathan and my blood work came back normal.  We are so thankful for another answered prayer.

Before dinner for our 4th anniversary

This weekend we went to Austin to celebrate tax session being over (for all the accountants in the family) and Great Grandma Austin's 83rd birthday.  James and John Patrick had a blast and James is already counting down the days until he gets to go back.  Some of my favorite childhood memories are from spending time in Austin.  It makes me so happy that our boys will have the same wonderful memories.  On Saturday Joshua would have been one month old.  We wish Joshua could have taken his first trip to Austin with us this weekend.  

"Joshua isn't going to get to go to Austin with us Mommy because he is in Heaven.  But he will go in my heart."-James

Watering the plants

Helping Grandma bake Grandma Austin's cake

Swinging

Cheese!

On Saturday night Uncle Jeff, Julie, Grandma and Grandpa went to the Willie Nelson concert.  All that opted not to attend listened to the concert outside on the deck.  (XM had the concert broadcasted live)

Looking at planes and stars

ARRR!

Pool time!

 

I can't believe that four weeks ago today Joshua was born and went home to his Heavenly Father.  Today, April 18th was our tentative scheduled c-section date.  It is hard to think about what today would have been like... I just have to be thankful for the precious time we had with our beautiful son and be joyful that he is in his eternal home.  
I have tried multiple times to post this video without luck.  I think this time it should work.  Before you push play you might want to scroll to the bottom of the blog and pause the music first.  We haven't heard news yet about the blood work we took last week.  Please keep this intention in your prayers.

Results

We found out yesterday at one of my follow up appointments the results of Joshua's genetic testing.  Joshua did have a chromosomal anomaly, however not what the doctors had guessed.  Joshua had a much more rare condition than Trisomy 13 or Trisomy 18.  He had a chromosome 21 deletion.  Because this is so rare Baylor is running Nathan and my blood to check to see if either of us have transverse chromosomes that would have caused this anomaly.  We are hopeful that these results will come back normal.  If they come back showing something abnormal then it could mean significant risk of this happening again in the future.  Regardless of the results Nathan and I know that God is in control and we aren't worried because we know our future family is in His hands.  Thank you for your continued love and prayers. 

Joshua's Funeral

Here are some pictures from March 28th.  We are so thankful to every single person who made this day so special.

As a surprise to me, my friends had gotten 42 balloons to celebrate the 42 minutes we had with Joshua for a balloon launch.

Inside the balloons was a beautiful scroll with Joshua's name, birthday, blog link, and the scripture that Nathan read during his eulogy.

Joshua 1

"5 No one can withstand you as long as you live.  ...I will be with you: I will not leave you nor forsake you.  6 Be strong and steadfast... 9 I command you: Be strong and steadfast!  Do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord, your God, is with you wherever you go."

Happy Easter

Here are some pictures from our Easter weekend.  

My favorite James quotes of the weekend were, "Joshua is in Heaven with Jesus Mommy, praying for us.  And he already has had Easter because he is in Heaven." & "Jesus died on the cross so that we can go to Heaven to see Joshua"  Nathan and I are so blessed to have James and John Patrick.

My brother, Kenneth saw this on the side of an abandoned building downtown while he was walking back to work from Mass one day last week. 

I really wanted to see it myself and take some pictures with it so on Sunday we drove downtown for a quick photo shoot.

Easter morning with the boys

Dyeing Easter eggs at Grandma and Grandpa's House

Easter egg hunt

Cute cousins after digging their bunny holes