Laurie's Life

I am so thankful for the continued improvements with Harper. I feel I can "breath easy" now. She looks so beautiful and healthy. I can't wait to get my hands on her! Sarah Kate is getting ready to crawl. She is doing that "rocking" now and can go from laying down to sitting up by herself. Friday night, we had Josh and Hillary spend the night with us. They went to Tulsa this morning to visit the Stamps. We had a wonderful time with them. Emily sang and danced for them while we ate. It was like a dinner theater. We want them to come back soon! They brought E these darling butterfly wings, skirt, shoes, jewels. and candy. Emily LOVES it! She even napped in the shoes today. This is Emily making her angry face. She is soo very funny. We have not had t.v. for the past couple of days and I have been pretty miserable without it. Emily has told me several times that the t.v needed batteries. I wish it were that easy. Here is a little hello from Sarah Kat...

We continue to be amazed at the miracle of Harper. A friend said tonight. "Harper doesn't realize that she is a missionary!" We laughed and talked about how true that is!!!!!!!!!!!! We spent the day with K and S yesterday. We had a great time together. Here are the missionaries: Kelly and Baby Harper. Doesn't Kelly look great? Our trip to Tulsa was made possible because of my wonderful parents keeping the girls. Here is Snow White and sister ballerina.

This Summer when Kelly had Emily for a sleep over, she bought Emily some Barbie Pop-Tarts. Emily liked them, but I have never bought any since August when she had them at Kelly's house. I was talking to Kelly on the phone last week and Emily said she wanted some Barbie Crackers at Kelly's house. Soooooo...next time I went to Wal-mart I got Emily some Barbie Pop Tarts. She has gone NUTS over them..... eating like five day or more. ( I know that is NOT good.) She asked who the girls were on them. I told her it was Kelly and Laurie. Now, when I give her one she says, "Oh It's Kelly" or "Oh it's Kelly and Waurie" or "it's Kelly playing the guitar." Then she says, "Awwe ya'll so cute!" When I look around our house at things Kelly gave me or I drink from the monogrammed tumblers she gave me for Christmas, it makes me sad because they are a reminder of what Kelly and Scott are going through. I look back at pictures of ...

Harper is still continuing to make improvements. It is going to be a long process. But, we feel she is going to come out a healthy girl in the end. As for Dawson, he is good. Kelly's Dad rescued him from Doggie daycare today. Keep praying just as hard.

Two years ago, I did a Bible Study at our church called, "Disciple's Prayer Life " written by T.W. Hunt and Catherine Walker. It was WONDERFUL and changed my perspective on prayer. PRAYER CHANGES THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got a good report on Harper today from Kelly. The MD talked to them for a while this afternoon and let them know that it is going to be a slow process, but Harper is making improvements. Her vitals are good and the brain test results were GREAT! Praise the LORD! He also seems to think her heart is great too. We can be so thankful for these reports. PRAYER CHANGES THINGS!!!!!!!!!! Let's not slack off on the praying! Please pray that Kelly can get some rest and take good care of herself.

Steve and I traveled to Tulsa today to see our precious friends and gorgeous Harper. We had been there about ten minutes when K and S came out of the NICU with tears of JOY! They reported that Harper was greatly improving. He vitals are VERY VERY good! Another blessing to hear this great news first hand. We are convinced it is the prayers of all these wonderful people. Thank you to the many many people who are praying and being the hands and feet of Christ to our friends. WOW! We are witness to a miracle in many ways! Yes, Harper is still critical ,but we have faith that the Lord is going to continue to heal her. K and S let us go back and see Harper. OHHHHH she is so pretty. I can't wait to hold that darling little miracle.

God is always up to something good, let me share His latest: I went to see Kelly this morning. She is holding up so well and has incredible faith in our good God. I was there when she got the call from Scott that Harper is making improvements. It is because of all the prayers! Keep on praying! Harper is a beautiful baby girl.

Lift up Harper, Kelly and Scott

Saturday morning I went to a couple of stores and when I came in the back door, Steve greeted me with, "You might get mad"........ He said Emily wanted to help feed Sarah Kate. I had to get some pictures of this cute mess!

I have gotten several comments on my new blog look. Thank you! I did not do it! Kelly did it! She is my blog manager. All I do is post pictures and write. Kelly does everything else. I apologize if I don't have you on my favorites list, but I don't know how. I could learn it in a minute, but I have never been taught, sooooo Kelly is the behind the scenes girl for my blog. Thank you Kelly! What would I do without you? As my mother says, "The Lord sent you to me." On a different note........... We tried to go to Shogun tonight with the girls. "Try" is the key word here. Steve had his doubts on what Emily would think of the fire and knives and all that. I kept saying. "oh she will love it!" Ha! We go in and the table beside us had a flame that hit the ceiling and knives clicking and chopping. Emily freaked out and started yelling, " I WANT TO GO HOME!" "LET'S GO!" Of course we had placed our drink order and ...

Emily turned 3 on Dec 29th. That just seems unreal to me! We had her party last Saturday. We invited the church playgroup kids her age and a couple of the neighbors that she plays with most. It was a good little party. The theme was Tinkerbelle. This is Julie, Lauren, Reese and June. We put all the partying kids on the couch for a picture. Aunt Kelly and Uncle Scott gave E this Snow White outfit. She loves it! She had to put it on while the guests were still here. Kelly and Scott. Two of our favorite people in the world!!!!!!!!! We are anxiously awaiting the birth of Harper! Baby sister at the party. She had as good a time as anyone. Steve with Emily's Tinkerbell cake. It was really good. Wal-Mart does good cakes. My Daddy with the party girl. Both sets of parents came for the party. Steve and I went on a date Sat afternoon to see Marley and Me. OHHHHH sooooooo GOOD! It was very real to life! We have the worst cat in the world, so we could relate to Marley. Sara...

I don't think I have ever been more proud of dresses, as I am these. My sister in law got them for the girls. LOVE THEM! The girls with their great grandmother. Emily shared her crown with Sarah Kate. Emily, the Christmas princess. Mimi and one of Emily's favorite gifts: a Barbie cash register. Emily calls it, "playing Wal-Mart."

Today is my best friends Birthday! She is Kelly, of "Kelly's Corner" blog. She will get her best present ever in a couple of weeks when Harper is born. I am so looking forward to us hanging out with our girls. Kelly knows me and makes me laugh like no other friends. I love you! Kelly and I lived together for 7 years after college. She is like my sister, for sure. I would post a picture, but Steve changed something on the computer and I don't know how to find them anymore. We are having lunch today and Emily and I are so excited. We love being around Kelly. Kelly, I hope your day is WONDERFUL!!!!!!!!!!!!

I kept SK's little friend, Wells, today for a little while. We loved having him here. SKwas so excited to have a friend over to play. She screamed with excitement. I think it was a little much and a little loud for Wells. Look at his expression. Notice SK kept her hand on him most of the time. Both their Daddies went to Mississippi State. Come back to visit us any day Wells!

I fed SK some carrots on Sat night. She was not too excited, but I think she also might have been too full to want them. She had just eaten some rice cereal. Thanks to our wonderful neighbors, Santa and Mrs. Claus came to our neighborhood. Emily told Santa that she wanted a Tinker Bell toy. Emily had a wonderful evening!

I told Emily that I wanted to take her and SK's picture since they were dressed alike. Emily went and got this "Nerd" flavored lip gloss and insisted Sarah Kate have some too. Sarah Kate was loving every minute of Emily putting the "lipstick" on her, as Emily calls it. I am sure it probably says..."not recommended for children under three" somewhere on the package. I didn't figure it could hurt them. Ready for the picture! These little shirts were a Christmas gift from my cousin. Emily was thinking she was looking good...... and I have to say, she was! Emily was yelling that Sarah Kate was getting her. Merry Christmas!

Sarah Kate slept all through the night! Went to bed at 8:30 and we did not hear from her till 6:40. Tuesday night I just let her cry when she wanted to be fed. I did not pick her up, but I would pat her and give her back her pacifier. She cried for two hours straight. It made me so sad, but I think it is the key to get her to sleep. Thank you Lord for answering this prayer!

I have not posted in a while and I was just hoping I would be able to report that Sarah Kate is sleeping through the night. NOPE! But....I am very encouraged with her sleeping lately. I tried a combination of just giving her water, rocking her back to sleep and crying for 5 to 15 minute intervals. She has slept 6 hours for 2 nights in the last last couple of weeks. When we went to my folks for Thanksgiving, she woke up every hour the first night. I was so tired. On our travels to South Arkansas, we stopped at my school: Ouachita Baptist University! I love that place! I told Emily that this was mama's school and she said at least 10 times, "I want to go to Mama's school!" I hope she is still saying that 15 years from now! My parents recently returned from Hawaii and they brought Emily this lei. She was proud. Mama, me and Sarah Kate on Thanksgiving night. Emily having fun with cousin Kendall. Sarah Kate in her Christmas dress from my cousin, Denise.

Sarah Kate was 5 months old on Friday. Time is going by too fast! Just before bath time. Our church asked us if we could decorate for Christmas early this year so the church could film it for some videos during December services. I decorated our dining room and then they decided not to do the filming this year and wait till next Christmas. So, my dining room is ready for guests. I enjoyed getting everything ready! This weekend was my best friend's baby shower. It was all really nice and I had a wonderful time seeing all the cute things. These cookies are the cutest in the world! Me and Kelly. Kelly and her sweet mom, Judy. Elizabeth, John Michael, Judy (Scott's Mom) and Mary Avery.