Rough.

I won't lie, it's been a rough week. I have been discouraged, exhausted, and overwhelmed. I am so blessed to have faith in the one who paid my debt, and carries my sin. I'm so glad I can cast my burdens on him. I don't know what I would do if these things weren't true.

Maybe your having a rough week too.

Maybe some of the verses, songs and quotes that have been encouraging to me this week, will do the same for you.

So here you go...

God is enough
God is enough
He is good
He will take care of us
He will satisfy us
He will get us through this
He is our treasure
Whom have I in heaven but you
And on earth there is nothing I Desire besides you
My flesh and my heart...may fail
But You are the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
-piper


Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ. Col 3:23


For the Lord gives wisdom;
from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;
he stores up sound wisdom for the upright;
he is a shield to those who walk in integrity, guarding the paths of justice
and watching over the way of his saints. Proverbs 2:6-8


He will tend his flock like a shepherd;
he will gather the lambs in his arms;
he will carry them in his bosom,
and gently lead those that are with young.
Isaiah 40:11

Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable. 40:28

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.
40:31


Shall I Take from your hand your blessing yet not welcome any pain
Shall I thank you for days of sunshine yet grumble in days of rain
Shall I love you in times of plenty then leave you in days of drought
Shall I trust when I reap the harvest but when winter winds blows then doubt
Let your will be done in me in your love I will abide oh I long for nothing else as long as you are glorified
Are you good only when I prosper and true only when I'm filled are you king only when I'm carefree and god only when I'm well
You are good when I'm poor and needy you are true when I'm parched and dry You still reign in the deepest valley your still god in the darkest night
So quiet my restless heart. Quiet my restless heart. (sovereign grace music)

fear not, for I am with you;
be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Isaiah 41:10

I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.' Isaiah 42:16

'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by
name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I
will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they
will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned; the flames will not set you
ablaze. For I am the Lord your God... Isaiah 43:1-2

These Sweet little faces help too...













-Nikki

Are you ready for some football??

Abigail is!




Too bad her team won't be playing today!




Maybe next time boys, maybe next time!


-Nikki

Nine.

My dearest Madeline,

Today you are nine months old.




The time has passed so quickly! I have loved watching you grow, and develop a personality all your own! You are very similar to your big sister as a baby in the way you smile at everyone you see. You also jump willingly into anyones arms, as if to give them a little taste of your joy! You are also similar in your independence. You hold your own bottle and put yourself right to sleep, usually without a single tear shed!


However, you are unique from your sister in many ways too! You have an attitude that I didn't know was possible at such a young age! I hope this goes away before the teenage years! You yell at me when you don't get your way, not a cry but a distinct scream! It's not cute. You love soft things and sleep with your soft blanket (only) covering your face! You LOVE to eat! You have the cutest little pot belly!
You are in love with your big sister and try to play with her, she isn't very good at sharing just yet. You love to climb the stairs and you can almost stand up on your own! You cruise around the house like you own it and you love to take long baths! You will probably be walking before you turn 10 months, you are perfectly stable on your feet, yet you always sit down when I let your finger go!

Oh, and you love to eat paper! It's almost impossible to keep you away from it! I catch you at least once a day with some sort of paper in your mouth! Like this just yesterday...









I love you.

I honestly can't believe how fast this time has gone by. My little girl will be a toddler before I know it!




-Nikki

The stuff

I lost my keys....

In the great unknown...

And call me please....

Cause I can't find my phone....

This is the stuff, that drives me crazy,

This is the stuff that's been getting to me lately!


Have you heard it? It's a new song from Franchesca Battistelli. She's a Christian artist and a new mom. Maybe just knowing that she's a young mom makes me relate to her more (not that I know her or anything) but I can absolutely understand this song!

I even have a few things I'd like to add.

So, this is the stuff that's been driving me crazy!


The Stuff.

Abigail asking to go potty as soon as I buckle her into her car seat, after making three trips to get everything and everyone in the car!

Blowouts.

Making a pot of coffee only to realize that I'm out of creamer!

Forgetting the combination to my lock the day after I threw away the package!

Tantrums.

The dog getting into the trash.

And...

Drum roll, please...

Finding an old milk cup under Abigail's crib, solidified!

Just to name a few...this week!

I'm glad to know that the Lord is using all of these (ridiculous) things to refine my character, teach me new things about himself. He is teaching me patience, and perseverance through each one of these mundane things. He is teaching me to love my children deeper, to firgive them often, and to admit when I need to seek forgiveness!

This is the stuff that the Lord uses, like it or not!

What's the stuff that's driving you crazy?

-Nikki

Abigail and Oliviah

Abigail loves church. Which would be a good thing, a great thing really if she cared at all about Jesus. I mean, I know she's two and all. I know that she doesn't get it, but the only reason she steps foot in the door is this little lady...

Oliviah.



I'm sure you have heard me mention her before. Abigail is absolutely smitten.





(They just happened to be wearing the same outfit this past Sunday!)

She adores her. They honestly aren't even in the same Sunday school class but she is really the only other little girl, Abigail's age that is consistently at church!






The beginning of a life long friendship, I'm sure!

The most delicious.

One of the most delicious desserts I know how to make.

Triple Tier Brownies.



Definitely not for the faint of heart.

Thanks a bunch to my mother in law for introducing me to these little treats!

A brownie on the bottom.

Cream cheese frosting,

crushed peanut,

melted chocolate chips,

peanut butter and rice crispy cereal.

Yup, that's right! Pile it all on!

Yumm-O!

Here is the precise recipe, if you like!

Family size fudge brownies
1c peanut butter
1bag (11.5 oz) milk chocolate chips
1 Thingy of cream cheese icing
1c crushed peanuts
3 cups rice crispy cereal

Bake brownies, let em cool.
Frost with frosting
Sprinkle with peanuts

Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together, stir in rice cereal, smear it on thick!

Enjoy!

And be prepared to share! I can only handle a very small piece at a time... Of course I have them several times a day but that's not important!

NOTE: Do not Frost these brownies with cream cheese they will be disgusting! I promise, just ask my sister! Cream cheese frosting!!

-Nikki

Sisters, Sisters...

God help the mister that comes between me and my sister!











































I'm glad they have each other.... My husband will be glad when they have a little brother!

Madeline's Story

I wanted to title this Madeline's Birth Story. I wanted to write a post about the amazing experience of labor and delivery. I wanted that to be the end, unfortunately for my little sweet heart, there's more to the story. But, I still think it's a pretty good story. Yes, I know she's (almost) 9 months old, but when your life is my life you will understand why it takes (almost) 9 months to get around to writing this story!


On May 7th, 2010 at 5am, I checked in to the hospital. I went straight to a room because i had a reservation. I was scheduled to be induced and was happy about it. I was also induced with Abigail and this worked our perfectly for our family visiting from Texas. My Dad and Step-Mom had flown in the day before.




I settled in to my bed in my home made "hospital" gown, with bright floral print made by my Grandma Frenzel. It was such a nice gift, and I hope to wear in for the remainder of my deliveries! Meanwhile my husband settled in to his recliner at my side, and fell fast asleep.

The nurse started my IV and hooked up all the monitors for my blood pressure, and the babies heart rate. We were good as gold. I had some minor blood pressure issues during my pregnancy but no trouble during delivery.

After a couple of hours we were well on our way to baby, every time the nurse came in to check my progress I was much further along then i expected.

When I was 3-4cm I decided to take a walk, the nurses switched my monitors to wireless, and off we went. The only trouble was he monitors didn't work. They tried to fix it a couple times by changing batteries to no avail. I waddled myself back to bed and its probably a good thing.

My water broke as soon as I sat down!

At this point I was about 5cm, and now bed bound. My husband woke up and tried to distract my with a little YouTube. I am forever indebted to the people who filmed there cats doing funny things because they were a great distraction. I specifically remember laughing through my contractions!

With minimal time passing I was 8cm and only 20minutes after that I was complete and ready to push...

Two pushes, and we had another baby girl.

I was shocked! I kept asking my doctor, "that's it?" "It's over?"

Don't get me wrong it was an intense 20 minutes from 8-10 and I was in incredible pain for those two pushes.

I give lots of credit to Abigail, having two children back to back isn't easy but my body knew what to do! An internal memory I guess!

There she was, in all her glory.

Madeline Piper Vedro
Born on May 7th, 2010
8lbs 2oz and 20inches long
perfect.






This is where the story should end, but doesn't.

Madeline was born perfectly healthy, She was full term, and 2 days. She was breathing great, screaming loud, seriously perfect.

Until about an hour or two later.

Stephen was holding Madeline, staring into her sweet newborn face. The nurse came over to do a little checkup, he continued to hold her as she pressed the stethoscope to her little chest. Her faced turned all kinds of awkward, and she announced that Maddie would need to go to the Nursery for observation. Shortly after she was whisked away we got a call that she was being transferred to the NICU.




Her heart was beating too fast. Way to fast.

A newborn babies heart rate is usually around 120-140. Madeline's was about 300.




She was admitted to the NICU and would spend the first three days of her life there. After three doses of adenisone Madeline's heart began to beat at a normal pace. She was also given digoxin. She has continued to take digoxin, twice a day, every day since she was born.

She has regular check ups with a pediatric cardiologist and they have no reason to suspect that she will have any other issues with her heart rate. They also plan to take her off of the digoxin after her first birthday.



Hopefully that will be the end of that story.

I still think she's pretty perfect.

Photo shoot fail.

This afternoon when we got home from BSF the girls were dressed in cute little outfits. They had bows in there hair and I thought "this would be a good time for a picture!"

I was wrong.









Very wrong indeed.






As it turns out there actually isn't a good time to take a picture when your children are 2 and (almost) 9 months!







Then I thought maybe I could one of each of them?







Nope.

Then I had a fabulous thought! I will make a video of myself attempting to get a picture of the girls!

It's pretty hilarious if I do say so myself...and I do!

Unfortunately I can't get the video on my blog for some ridiculous reason so click here to LOL! Haha!

* note: even though my cough sounds seriously fake, Abigail was indeed choking me, and causing me to cough! I have proof!!


Proof.












The joys of mommy-hood.

-Nikki

Hurry Sickness.

While I was attending The Criswell College, for one short year I took a class with a wonderful professor. This guy had 6 children.

One.

Two.

Three.

Four.

Five.

Six.

That's right, SIX!

This isn't common today, I don't know why. I hope to have six children. I hope to be able to stop myself from having more than six children. The scriptures says this about children...

Behold, Children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb, a reward. Like Arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of ones youth. Blessed is the man who's quiver is full with them. He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate. Psalm 127:3-5

It's amazing how our culture obscures that view. God tells us they are precious, and a reward and yet they are so often treated as a burden. I hope and pray that everyday my children will know that they are my joy, my reward. My prize.

During this class, we learned about an illness. Hurry Sickness. Maybe you've heard of it? Maybe you suffer from it. I know I do.

Last night my husband and I sat down to sync up our schedules for the week.

We try to make it to the gym everyday, BSF on Wednesday, I have work on Thursday and Friday,not to mention MOPS in the morning, a birthday party on Saturday...the list goes on and on. Honestly I don't know how we keep it together, and why things don't constantly overlap.

So, I'm here to admit I have a problem, an illness really. Hurry Sickness. I think the first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem. Although, I have no intentions of seeking a cure.

My only hope at this point is that I will continue to communicate proficiently with my husband and be able to keep the ball rolling!

A couple of things that help us out include...

~A written and electronic schedule. I have a day planner and a calendar on our nifty phones.

~ Regular "sync" sessions. We sit down and discuss the week to come, usually on Sunday evening!

~A daily schedule that stays the same regardless of where we are. Like Madeline's Nap time, and Abigail's snack time.

~ When I am asked to do anything my usual reply is not "yes" or "no" but "let me check with Stephen and get back to you". This keeps me from having to back out of commitments, and keeps my husband in the loop!

I hope that these things will help you as you suffer through hurry sickness too. I know that many Americans have been affected by this terrible illness, and I hope to help ease its symptoms!

-Nikki


My Reward.

Write it Down.

Lately I have felt an overwhelming urge to write things down. I have always been a list girl, but thats not what I'm talking about. I want to write things down and remember them. Not things that need to be done, but things that have been done.

Everyday my little ladies do new things, amazing things, wonderful things that I never want to forget. I want to write them down.

I have had this blog for sometime, and I have enjoyed going back through the past entries to see how things have changed! I hope to use it much more frequently.

I realize how fast the days go by. I see Abigail turning into a little girl everyday. She is no longer a baby, and Madeline is quickly following after her. For this reason, I long to write it down. Remember it all. I hope to cherish each memory as if it were my last.

-Nikki

Sweet cheeks

I never get tired of this sweet smiling face!











Don't you just want to eat her up!











My little sweet cheeks!

-Nikki

Two

As we celebrate Abigail turning two, I want to stop and think of all the amazing things she has learned. I want to record some of her milestones, and some of my favorite memories of the past two years with my sweet baby girl!

Abigail is going to make an amazing wife and mother one day. I have the precious opportunity to teach her how to keep a home. I get to model for her godliness, discipline, patience, grace, mercy, diligence, and love. While this can be an overwhelming task some days, I pray that I will always seek her forgiveness when I fail. I know that it's impossible to be a perfect mother, but I hope to point her to a perfect savior.
I say that she will be a great mother not because of what I have taught her, but because of what innately brings her joy. I have never assigned Abigail a chore greater than "can you put your toys away" but she loves to help. She puts all the pillows on my bed while I make it, she unloads all her dishes from the dishwasher and puts them in their drawer. She attempts to empty her potty (which can be comical and disgusting at the same time). She loves to help me cook, and never passes on an opportunity- as soon as she thinks I may cook something she rushes to push her chair over to the counter top so she can help. She also loves to nurture he baby sister, we will talk about that more later!

A few of Abigail's mile stones include:

-being pretty much potty trained (we are still working on #2 for those of you who wondered what "pretty much" means!)

-counting to ten

-she knows her abc's and wxyz's ( those are the only letters she says!)

-she can put her shoes on, and most of the time she gets them on the right feet!

-her vocabulary is enormous!

- she can turn on the tv and DVD player, put in a movie, and press play with the remote. Although, I'm not bragging about that to anyone :)

-she can feed Ginger, and is glad to do it!

She is a pretty impressive little girl.


Abigail is madly in love with Maddie. She loves to be the boss and enforce the rules. Her most frequent comment to her sister is "No, maaaddie!!!" she checks her diaper ever so often proclaiming "shoowee" if its dirty! She enjoys holding her bottle for her, and patting her back when she cries!

Abigail's best friend is Oliviah and she can't get enough of her. She frequently asks to see her picture on facebook, and only gets excited to go to church if "liliah" is going to be there!

She loves our new iPhones, she can unlock the screen, and enjoys the talking Tom! It's pretty hilarious.

We are still working on Abigail's memory book, so far she has completed the first catechism. Who made you? -God made me.

I won't lie, she has her fair share of tantrums, but we can usually diffuse the situation pretty quickly! I have found that consistency is key, and if I slack she pushes the limits to see what she can get away with!

If I had to use a few words to describe my little girl it would be, bubbly, silly, social, pretty, sweet, independent, curious, and nurturing.

She is definitely living up to her name, a true daddy's girl. She is passionate about football, and loves to watch/play with daddy! They frequently and randomly pronounce "DOWN, SET.....HUT!!!"And go charging through the living room, kitchen, bedroom, bathroom, anywhere really and tackle each other.

I could go on and on another my first born, sweet heart.

I love you Abigail Grace!






-Nikki

Abigail's 2nd birthday!

We celebrated Aby's 2nd birthday today with some of her best friends at chick-fil-a! It's hard being so far from family when special occasions roll around, but it helps to have so many great people to love on our little girl! Here are a few photos from the party!

























-Nikki