More Sickness

Date: 02/26/2012 02:16:23 PM
OK...I'm so ready for "winter" to be done with.  It has been a fairly mild winter temperature wise, but this has been the worse winter for the Greenwood Family as far as sickness is concerned.  There has been someone in the family that has had a cold since the beginning of January..and most recently Josiah had a bout with pneumonia.  As much as I wipe things down, wash hands and have gotten the kids not to put toys or fingers in their mouths, I would think that we wouldn't have been as sick as we have been.  I guess Mommy can't control everything.   This has definitely been a time of learning for me.  The first lesson learned is pretty obvious...I can't control everything.   Even though I have come A LONG way in my walk with God in this area, it is easy for me to slip back in the habit of trying to control things.  Over the last several weeks, I have had to depend on Him for many things...strength and energy to care for sick kiddos after not getting much sleep;  strength and energy to care for kiddos when I haven't felt well; patience, patience and more patience with kiddos and a mommy who have cabin fever; and encouragement when it would be so easy to get down.  I share all those things to say that God is good, and He has met me right where I needed Him to.  Another thing I re-learned, is being thankful for our kiddos.  I know I sometimes take them for granted.  Last week after Josiah was diagnosed with pneumonia, I slipped into a small pity-party, but God got my attention rather quickly.  He reminded me that I should be thankful that I have kiddos who can get sick and that we have a pediatrician to take them to.  Some reading this might be thinking, "Has she lost her mind?"  or "Maybe she needs to go take a nap because her brain obviously isn't working right."  But let me explain...I am thankful that God has blessed us with three wonderful children.  We have quite a few friends that we know who are trying to get pregnant and are having a difficult time. So when God told me that I need to be thankful that I have kids who can get sick, I totally got it and my attitude changed from having a pity party to being thankful for sick kids and all.  Thank You, God, for reminding me what is important in life and for the privilege of these three wonderful children.    

 Even in the midst of all this craziness, we have had LOTS of fun hanging out as a family.  We have laughed quite a bit.  Chris and I were just talking the other day how this season has brought us closer together.  I do want to give a BIG shout out to the hubs because he has been super wonderful...even surprised me with a little shopping trip yesterday since I had been in the house so much and carrying a lot of the weight with caring for the kiddos.  He truly is a gift from God, and I'm so thankful for him!

 Well, I guess it is time to wrap it up.  Please continue to pray that the Greenwood Family is done with sickness for awhile.  If we aren't, then pray that we depend on God for strength and energy to get through another round.

 PS--I almost forgot....Kyrie is now rolling from her back to her stomach!!!

Valentine's Day 2012

02/15/2012 03:12:58 PM
Well, last night we celebrated our 2nd Annual Valentine Tradition...still trying to come up with a fun name, but nothing has come to me yet.  Hmmmm...still nothing.

Last year we had so much fun getting all dressed up in our fancy clothes and taking the kids out, we decided to do it again this year.  Josiah and Chris went to run an errand yesterday afternoon and came back with a rose for each of the girls.  Chris gave Sophie and Kyrie their roses and Josiah gave me my rose.  Then the girls headed upstairs to get all dolled up while the boys put on their suits.  After we were all dressed, the boys came to our bedroom door and knocked to ask us out on a date.  Josiah took Kyrie and me to IHOP for dinner...he was super sweet trying to open the doors for us...trying to be a gentleman.   Chris took Sophie to Wendy's...she let him know she wanted a cheeseburger from there...to show her how she should be treated as a lady.  I really enjoy our tradition...it is a great opportunity to show them how they should treat others and how they should be treated.  Well, that is all for now.  I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day...however you decided to celebrate.

Sickness

Well, the last couple of weeks have been pretty hard for the Greenwood family...sickness has hit our home. Chris started off with a cold a couple of weeks ago, and we thought we were out of the woods.  A week ago, Kyrie came down with a cold, but nothing serious.  Mommy was trying so hard to keep everyone healthy...washing hands like crazy and keeping the other kiddos away from Kyrie.  Then a couple of days ago, Sophie woke up with a runny nose and watery eyes.  By the afternoon, she was running a fever.  That night, Josiah started running a fever, too.  He has a horrible cough and has lost his voice.  Sophie seems to be doing well, but Josiah's lungs are sounding pretty bad.  We are taking him to the doctor because the last time he had a cold, he needed to have breathing treatments.  In the process of it all, Mommy is now not feeling good, but not as bad as the two older kiddos.  So if you can please be in prayer that this will pass quickly.  I guess one benefit of us all being sick at the same time is that this junk won't carry on for weeks/months.  Thanks in advance for the prayers!

Happy New Year--The Perfect Life

Well, I am a little late with writing this...that seems to be the pattern lately. :)  We didn't do anything exciting for New Year's Eve this year.  As a matter of fact, I think we were in bed by 10pm that night, not knowing when Little Miss Kyrie would be getting up to eat...we didn't want to regret staying up late the next day.  Kyrie did get up just before midnight to eat, so we spent bringing in the new year feeding the baby and listening to people set off fireworks...how exciting is that!?! :)  Some would say, "Absolutely BORING!!!" But you want to know something?  I wouldn't change it for the world.  Sure, it would be exciting (for the moment) to be staying up all night and getting all dressed up to go to a party, but that is only for a moment...having a new member of our family and nurturing her...well, that is a lifetime.  So, yes, for some they would look at us and say, "You need to get a life."  But to us...it is the perfect life. 

Christmas 2011

Well, Kyrie celebrated her first Christmas.  Most of it was spent sleeping...this girl knows how to nap! :)

We started off our day by reading the birth of Jesus from Luke 2 and had a little prayer time with the kiddos.  Then we came down stairs to open up stockings and presents.  Then we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast.  We got ready for church and then went to worship with our church family.   After going to church, we came home and had some lunch before taking a nap.  We were blessed to spend some time with some our family.  Chris' Uncle Chuck, Aunt Melody and Lola all came over for dinner and a visit.  The kids had so much fun with Uncle Chuck.  They played with trains and played with their flashlights in the bathroom.  The kids went to bed shortly after our family left, and Chris and I realized how tired we really were.

Some things the kids got for Christmas:

Josiah--clothes, shoes, cards for his Alfie, a kiddie digital camera, a couple of Thomas trains

Sophie--clothes, shoes, tights galore, and baby doll clothes and accessories

Kyrie--mostly got clothes with a few shoes.

Mommy and Daddy--got clothes and money--not overly exciting, but things that are GREATLY appreciated and needed! :)

We had a great day as a family.  We were able to relax and enjoy each others company.  God has truly blessed us!  2011 has been an exciting year and we can't wait to see what He has in hold for us in 2012.

CHRISTmas 2011

So I can’t believe this is the 9^th year for the Greenwood CHRISTmas letter…have we REALLY been married nine years!?! 

Well, where do we begin?  This year the Greenwoods have done lots of traveling.  In March, we loaded up the kids and headed to Tennessee to see Chris’ grandparents.  We then headed south to Northern Georgia to see Chris’ mom and step-dad.  In April, we headed to Orlando, FL with Sara’s family as part of our Christmas present.  We had LOTS of fun going to Animal Kingdom and Sea World and spending time with our family.  In May, we headed to NC to spend some time with Chris’ dad and step-mom.  We were able to spend a couple of days at the beach with them and had LOTS of fun riding go-carts and playing putt-putt.  In June, Sara and the kids headed to GA to spend time with her family and some of Chris’ family.  While we were there, we celebrated Josiah’s birthday early with a Thomas the Tank Engine party.  The kids had LOTS of fun swimming and running around.  In July, Chris and Sara headed to Daytona Beach, FL with the youth group from our church to be taught under Louie Giglio and Chris Tomlin.  We had a wonderful time hanging out and building relationships with the youth.  At the end of July, we headed to VT to see Sara’s extended family.  We were able to stay at her aunt’s camp for a week and enjoy the peace and quiet of the country.  The kids had LOTS of fun fishing, tubing, kayaking, riding in the motor boat and having LOTS of space to run around.  As you can see, we had a very busy year of travel, but we made LOTS of wonderful memories with our children. 

Speaking of our children…maybe it is a good time to fill you in on what they are up to.  Josiah is now 3 ½…yes, 3 ½!  We can’t believe that our first born is already that old.  He continues to be a great source of joy and laughter.  His sense of humor has really developed and actually makes jokes and picks up on things that are funny.  We are still debating where he gets this from…Chris often says he lives with a bunch of crazy people, but really we are all normal and Chris is the odd one out! He had a really great school year last year and continues to be excited about “going” to school, so we have continued with home schooling this year.  A few things he is able to do is read some simple books,  begun to memorize scripture,  is able to tell me beginning sounds of words and is starting to make rhyming words. He continues to amaze us with this memory…a quick story to share about how amazing his memory is.  Just a couple of weeks ago, I was buying some ingredients to make hibernation cupcakes.  We were at the store, and I was explaining why we were buying all these ingredients.  He said that he had made hibernation cupcakes before—which we had.  I asked him if he remembered who he made the cupcakes with.  He then told me with his cousins Harper and Auden—which was correct.  When I was telling Chris about our conversation, I told him that I couldn’t believe he remembered making cupcakes from last year, but then when we got to thinking about it, we actually made the cupcakes 2 years ago!  Did you just hear that?  That was the sound of us shuddering…I think we need to be afraid…very afraid!

Sophie will be turning 2 in January.  She continues to be the free-spirit of the family.  She is so full of life and energy…nothing slows her down.  Sophie is one smart little cookie—she believes if Josiah can do it, so can she.  With that, we went ahead and started school with her.  Last spring, she started picking up things as I was teaching Josiah…I wasn’t really teaching her, but she just learned 12 shapes (she has a clock with 12 different shapes), all the colors, numbers 1-10 and the letters.  So she “goes” to school twice a week and gets a more focused time to work with Mommy on lessons.  She continues to do really well with the “Your Baby Can Read” videos and has begun to read quite a few words and sentences in books (many words aren’t even part of the reading videos)!  This reading video series has truly amazed us and is well worth the money.

The most exciting news of the year is the arrival of Kyrie Eleison (pronounced “K-long i R-long E” “Ella-s-short o-n”).  Let’s just say this little one made quite an entrance into the world.  We found out around 36 weeks that Kyrie was breech, but we had a few more weeks with the possibility of her turning.   When I was about 37 weeks, I was driving to meet Chris for lunch.  I started feeling a little sick and then there was a brief moment where I don’t remember anything.  After I came to, I remember seeing a green   light with no traffic around and saying to myself that I needed to go because I didn’t want to hold up traffic.  Later on, I realized that I had blacked out.  What I didn’t realize is that I had rear-ended the car in front of me (the reason there were no  cars around me when I came to was because they had pulled over into a parking lot).  I was pretty close to home, so I called Chris and told him I wasn’t feeling well and was just going home.  He came home with lunch to check on me.  Shortly after he got home, a cop shows up at the door.  The cop wanted to know who the driver of the van was—that was the first time Chris saw that there had been an accident.  Chris explained that I had been driving, but I was on the couch 37 weeks pregnant and not feeling very well.   The cop then explained that if I didn’t go back to the scene of the accident, then he would have to charge me with a felony of hit and run---OK, cue the COPS theme music right now.  Once the cop saw me lying on the couch looking miserable, he changed his tone quite a bit.  Chris drove me back to the scene of the accident, and we got everything situated.  When I got home, I decided to go ahead and call my OB to see if I should go in for a visit.  She told me that passing out is not a normal side-effect of pregnancy and that I needed to go to Labor and Deliver so the baby could be monitored.  After spending a few hours in L&D, they sent me to the ER so I could be monitored and have some tests run to try to figure out why I had passed out.  Eight hours later no explanation of why I passed out came to light.   We went back to the doctor at 38 weeks to find out that she was still breech.  Our doctors are wonderful and wanted to try turning her before jumping to a C-section…I was really thankful for that.  At that appointment, we decided that we would go in for the turning and an induction on Nov. 3^rd.  We arrived at the hospital on the 3^rd to find out that Kyrie was still breech.  The doctor was going to go ahead and turn her.  Now, most women…so we are told …usually get an epidural for the turning of the baby, but I absolutely DID NOT want an epidural, so she went ahead and turned her without one (by the way, it wasn’t painful).  The doctor got Kyrie turned most of the way down, but if my stomach was a clock face, her head stopped at 7.  The doctor did an ultrasound to find out why she couldn’t turn her anymore and discovered that there was a foot covering my cervix.  Since I had eaten some toast, they weren’t able to do a C-section right away.  So the next four hours, the nurses were giving me different exercises to do to try to get Kyrie to move her foot.  The doctor came back to our room just before noon to find that Kyrie’s foot hadn’t moved (Chris said that she gave a whole new meaning to the phrase “digging your heels in”) and that I had been having some contractions, so we decided it was best to go ahead with the C-section.  Now remember, I was adamant about not having an epidural—this is how much I was—I asked the doctor if they could just go ahead and knock me out and I would see everyone later that day.  After talking with the anesthesiologist, we decided that there were too many risks with the whole knocking out option.  This is when God really started working on me.  At this point, I had a choice to be anxious and fearful, or I could trust Him and the doctors He created.  With His strength, I was able to trust Him which also allowed me to trust our doctors.  So at 12:05pm, I was walking into the OR in full-confidence that God had His hands on me and the doctors.  At 12:22pm, the doctor was starting the incision and by 12:24pm, Kyrie Eleison was born weighting 6 lbs. 8oz. and measuring 19 ¾ inches long.  By 12:40pm, I was being rolled into the recovery room.   We are so thankful to God for blessing us with a healthy little girl.  Even though she made quite an entrance into the world, she is very much a laid back and peaceful baby.  We are thankful that we have a God who cares about every detail of our life and walks with us during those trying times.

As for Chris and I, we are doing well.  Chris continues to stay busy with all his church responsibilities—we can’t believe we have been here for 3 years!  I am so thankful that I am able to stay home with the kids and to support Chris in his calling, which on some days feels like 2 full time jobs, but I wouldn’t change it for anything because I am doing exactly what God wants me to do.  We look forward to seeing what God is going to do in the Greenwood family in 2012!


Blessed because of Him,


Chris, Sara, Josiah, Sophie and Kyrie

Thanksgiving 2011

Well, we have so much to be thankful for this year.  God continues to pour His blessings on our family.  Our biggest gift this year was the arrival of Kyrie.  Even though her arrival wasn't how we planned it to be, God got her here safely and that is all that matters!  We continue to be thankful for good health for our family.  Sure, we have had our share of colds, but nothing very serious.  Yes, I might have passed out while 37 weeks pregnant, but the doctors didn't find anything wrong.  For these things we are thankful!  We are thankful that God continues to bless our ministry here in Northern Virginia and that Chris has a job to go to each week.  We know there are many out there who don't have a job and aren't able to provide for their family, so for this we are thankful.  We are thankful for our families who support us and the calling God has on our life.  We know that it isn't ideal that we live so far away, but we are thankful for your support and your visits.  We are also so thankful for our church family. They definitely step up and do things our family would normally do if we lived in the same town.  We have truly been blessed for all the meals that have been provided, the help with the kids as I recover from the     C-section and all the prayers and encouraging words spoken. For these things we are thankful.  We are thankful that God has allowed me to stay home with our children. Sure, we might not be able to vacation as much as we like or buy all the things that we want, but we are thankful that all of our needs are met.  The most important thing we are thankful for, is for our salvation in Jesus Christ.  Without Him, we might not see all these blessings.  We pray that you take a moment to reflect on all the blessings that you have in your life.  Happy Thanksgiving!