Birthday Party . . .

You are invited to join us for birthday fun and celebrate Matthew turning one. We will be hosting an open house on Saturday, November 8th from 2-5p.m. at Johnny's Coffee House (Banquet Room), 110 E. Mt. Vernon (Rt 116), Metamora, IL 61548.

Matthew officially turns one on November 6th. What a year it has been. On one hand, I can't believe he is going to be year old but on the other hand, it has been the longest year of our lives.

A lot has changed in our lives this past year. Having children is a precious gift from God and having Matthew made it so much more evident. Matthew truly is our miracle baby. We have no idea how long Matthew's heart will keep going but we cherish everyday and wouldn't trade him for anything. This special birthday has caused us to reminisce. We will be posting Top Tens over the next week as his birthday draws closer.

TOP TEN THINGS I HAVE LEARNED:

10. The spotted cow at the hospital has a great mocha.
9. How much we hate to eat ham salad, egg salad, or tuna salad (thanks to the many box lunches we had at the hospital!)
8. I really did enjoy caroling at Christmas time with the lady who drives the trolley that takes you down the long hallway at the hospital entrance.
7. You can't eat in the Intensive Care waiting room. I got in trouble once from the waiting room Nazi. They are not very nice in there.
6. I can function on 3 hours of sleep a day (barely). Between the medications, shots, feedings, monitoring, charting, and Matthew's colic, it left very little time to sleep.
5. We don't worry about the little things or in other words we don't sweat the small stuff. They really don't matter. For example, when our basement flooded this spring and our shed was torn apart and our roof leaked this fall in the grand scheme of things they are just things and we still have our family.
4. What amazing friends and family we have. No matter what we needed somebody was there providing meals, shoveling our driveway, watching Taylor, cleaning our house, sending cards of encouragement and most importantly praying for us. We can never repay you for all you have given but we will ever be grateful.
3. We appreciate the little things. Things we would have ignored before.
2. Everyday of life is a precious gift. Watching Matthew fight for every breath and every heart beat made me realize how much I took life for granted. Life is so so precious and definitely worth the fight.
1. God is always there to carry us when we can't go any further!

I will add some more top tens later this week. We would love to see all of you at the open house! If you think you may be able to make it drop me an email at amyg75@yahoo.com. By the way, isn't he a cutie?!!