Last Saturday.

Last Saturday I faced one of my greatest fears. Last Saturday I thought I might lose my best friend, my husband.

To say it was scary would be an understatement. It's no secret that Chance and I have been through our share of 'rough patches,' and I have spent many hours wondering what my life would be like with out Chance. But there was a finality in my fears that night. It was paralyzing.

We were eating dinner on a rare night out. Having a great time- I was thanking God for those moments. Chance told me he wasn't feeling right. We'd been passing a nasty cold around at our house; so at first I thought that maybe he was starting to feel bad again. Then he bit his tongue, hard and started getting really hot. He was instantly drenched in sweat.. He stood up and then he fell.
Words like heart attack, stroke and seizures were swimming in my head. Just moments before I was thanking God for the night we were having and in a heartbeat my prayers switched to begging the Lord to give us more time.

When the paramedics arrived his blood pressure was 76/42. We were transported by ambulance to a local hospital, where we spent the next 2 nights. After a chest x-ray, many panels of blood work, 2 EKG's, a cat scan, a 2D echo of his throat and heart, a full stroke assessment, and an MRI the final diagnosis was that he had what is known as a vagal response. Which caused his blood vessels to open up {making him feel disoriented} and when he stood up from his seat his body was unable to fight the gravitational pull on his blood. All this to say that his brain was deprived of oxygen and he lost consciousness.
Odds are that this was a one time ordeal and it will never happen again. I pray that this is the case.

That night reminded me that nothing is guaranteed. My next breath could very well be my last. I want to know that I have lived not only the length of my life-- but also the width of it.

December, really?

First things first, a very dear family friend is struggling right now in the ICU at a local hospital. They believe he may have had a stroke but has been in pretty much the same condition since early last week. Please pray for his healing, for comfort for his family and wisdom for the doctors and nurses caring for him.

December snuck up on me. Big time!
I was so busy with the bustle of Thanksgiving, I feel like I blinked and November was over! And here we are in December- the happiest month of the year. I love everything about the holiday season; especially all the fun traditions.

Last Firday was Chance's birthday, he's 28 now.

Olivia helped make his birthday cupcakes- carrot cake with cream cheese icing. He's the only one in the house that likes them. (I gag a little just thinking about them)

Saturday was a big day for us too. We took Olivia to see her very first Christmas parade. We were able to meet up with our dear friends the Pooles. You've heard me talk about our awesome play dates before.
Olivia and Adley just have the best time together, and it's so fun to watch them learn to interact.

Adley (Right) & Olivia (Left)

Olivia liked the marching bands and the gymnastics teams... Adley liked the pup-pups (dogs) best.

These girls make my heart smile. I love that Olivia is building friendships even at her young age. She asks for Adley all the time. I sure hope we're able to squeeze in a few playdates before the Christmas craziness starts!



Olivia is at such a fun age right now. She is so articulate, and has no problem telling you exactly what it is she wants!

In other fun news, and adding to the craziness, Olivia and I get to spend the week in Lexington, VA. We fly out on the 14th and won't be back until the 21st!! So the Bendel Christmas has to be planned and prepared for by the 13th! Whew- I feel a list coming on.

Happy Anniversary

Happy 4th anniversary love bug.

Wow- 4 YEARS.

Really?

I'm so glad you listened to me when I told you we should get married.

Just kidding. Kind of.

Truly, I am so blessed to have you. We have made it through some pretty hard times, and we're happier than ever. I'm so thankful to God that he lead my heart to yours. 

I love you Chance Robert. Thank you for loving me back.

2,000 Days.

March 20, 2006.

The day that changed my world.

2,000 days ago this boy asked me on a date.

 

 {This was his facebook picture then- and it still is to this day.}

The date lasted 2 days.

I knew then.

He took a little convincing.

A year later {almost to the day} we were engaged.

And 6 months after that we were married.

God is good.

My sweet Chance..

*Warning: this post has a lot of pictures. A lot.*
Today I'm linking up to Alexandra Rose for her link up party about what we love about our husbands.

Chance is an interesting man. To say the least. There are so many things that I love and admire about him. And they're kind of all over the place, so I'm going to keep it simple and just use bullet points. The type A in me is singing.

He read a "How Do I Love You" to Olivia when she was just 5 hours old. Precious moment.
He works very hard, in less than ideal circumstances for me to stay with Olivia.
He is always available to play with Olivia when he is home.

He is fiercely loyal.
He is a wonderful friend.
He's my best friend.

He loves to play video games "with" Olivia at night. {Her controller is turned off.}
He likes chick flicks. It makes life easy.
He doesn't make fun of me for my ridiculous attachment to Harry Potter and Twilight movies.

He ALWAYS brings me a fountain drink home when he's out.
He loves God.
He's 1/2 of Olivia.

He wanted to marry me, and my flaws.
He makes me laugh like no one else can.

He writes really sweet notes on special occasions.
He reminds me that I'm a good mommy.
He's an awesome father.

I'm so glad that he's the one I got to marry.