pray for baby Preston Banks

Please join me in prayer for my dear friends little boy, Preston Banks. He is scheduled to be born at 12:30 today. He has a diaphragmatic hernia, allowing his intestines into his chest cavity and compromising his lung development. He will need surgery to correct this. Please pray that he is born strong and stable and breathing well on his on. That he will be strong enough to receive treatment and the surgery as soon as possible.

We know our God is big enough and that he can heal him. Praying for that right now!!!

You may follow her here.

Updated -Adri is in surgery - please pray -

Updated: Surgery was postponed due to some technical issues....will hopefully start soon...keep praying...


Thank you for praying. You can follow her caring bridge site here:

http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/adripatterson

Will you pray please?

I have so much to catch up on...life has been good but busy since Christmas. I have Christmas pictures in draft waiting to be posted and had big plans to post Cort's birthday post yesterday during nap time but a busted pipe in the neighbors house and wild attempts to get the water off to keep their bedroom floor from crashing into their garage took precedent!!! I think Cort will understand!! :)

But, before I catch up on any of that, I come to you with several big prayer requests. I have been wanting to get these up too but am getting to it now..

First, for a dear friend of mine from high school and college, Elizabeth. In December, Elizabeth found out during a growth scan, that her sweet little boy, Preston Banks, had a hole in his diaphragm. He was diagnosed with diaphragmatic hernia. This is a very serious condition. Basically, his small intestines have moved into his chest cavity, thus pushing his heart over and therefore also squishing his lungs and keeping them from developing. Even in all the fear, God has been good. we are praising Him that only the intestines have moved up, thus making his chances better than if other organs were also crowding his lungs. His heart has moved over some since then, giving his lungs a little more space. But they still have a long way to go. Preston Banks will be born, next Wednesday, on the 20th. And will then need surgery to repair the hernia. I don't think I have to tell you that they are scared and that there a big hurtles to clear. Please pray for them as they approach his birth...pray that they will be strong and at peace, pray that nothing else moves into his chest cavity, pray that his lungs will be developed well and that he will stabilize quickly for surgery. Pray that he will handle surgery well and recover fully. Pray that God would heal him completely. Elizabeth and Daniel have been suffering well, trusting God, praising and clinging to Him. But do continue to pray for them please. They also have a little girl at home who is just about turn two.

I shake as I type this. It's all too familiar and I have prayed so many times that no one I know would walk through the pain of what we did during Cohen's pregnancy. But I have also seen God's healing hand in all outcomes. I know He is big enough for this.

Another prayer request is for some good friends(from college and church), who's little girl, Adri(almost 3), began to have seizures last week. They proceeded through doctors thinking they were absence seizures and had an EEG scheduled on Monday. While keeping her awake to sleep deprive her for the EEG, she began having very long seizures and vomiting. She was rushed to the hospital and after CT scan and MRI's was diagnosed with a brain tumor. She will have surgery on Friday. We are praising God already for all he has done. It's amazing the way he has orchestrated things and we are thankful that the Doctor's seem very encouraging about being able to get it all surgically. But please pray as they stay in the hospital this week( they also have a young baby at home), that the tumor will shrink this week instead of grow before surgery, that they will get rest, be at peace and can fight fear, that the surgery will go well and that Adri will be protected through it, that the doctor's will be able to get it all, her recovery will be fast, and no tumors will return. Pray for complete healing.

I know this is all a mouthful but so many of you of rallied around us to pray for our family and that support and encouragement has been such a blessing. Will you do the same for my friends?

Christmas Parade

Here's the rest of the Christmas posts I tried to post last night...scroll on down to see lots of new posts if you haven't yet....

This year we decided to try the Greer Christmas Parade instead of heading to the "big" one downtown . We're so glad we did. It was closer to home, earlier in the day, and so easy to get a spot and the kids had a great time. We met up with our old small group and some other friends and enjoyed pizza, hot chocolate, and good fellowship afterwards. The boys adored the parade. They clapped, waved, sang, and danced their little hearts out. Cohen would stare after the things he liked best until he couldn't see them anymore and then quickly turn to see what else was coming. Cort was so excited at all the fun floats. He loved the Marching Band from the Thanksgiving Day parade( he had has marching and playing instruments around our house for days after) and so when he realized we were at a parade he said, "oh, maybe there will be rubber bands here!" I love how little minds will mix things up some times. So cute.

Annual Tree Decorating

We continued with our annual family Christmas tree decorating party. Chris' parents joined us this year. We had lots of yummy food and a good time. This was something my parents did with us when we were little and I've always known I wanted to continue it with my family. It's one of my favorite Christmas traditions we do!

The yummy food...

The boys loved being allowed to eat dinner in the den and enjoyed their strawberry daiquiri's the most!!


I love getting out all the ornaments and talking about all the memories tied to them. I always had a new ornament every year growing up and we do the same in our family now too so it's like a great trip down memory lane. Cort really got into that part of this year and though it was fun to see why we had each ornament.


Cort didn't tire at all of putting ornament son the tree and when we were all done he was walking around the den looking for more things to hang on the tree.



Cohen hung his baby's first ornament from last year and was done with that part. He just wanted to play with this one ball ornament and with Gpop and the Santa hat for the rest of the evening!



Sweet boys...







All decorated...



The train around the Christmas tree has been the big hit this year. I got it at a yard sale this summer for $10. The boys have loved it. Cohen has figured out how to turn it on using the remote for it and loves to derail it. Cort has put everything possible in the cars for a ride. Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus know our tree route well!

Sorry

Well, there were four new posts below that last one but blogger only saved two of them correctly so, hopefully I'll get them up tomorrow!! I'm heading to bed now!

Christmas Around Our house....

We've super sick around here! Cort started last Tuesday with a fever/turned nasty cold virus. Cohen and I caught it Saturday. Chris has it too but he's not had a fever. Both boys have ended up with ear infections from it and Cohen's having a pretty rough go of it. Cort is all better. Chris and I are on the mend but not great and I think we might finally be turning a corner with Cohen but he's so exhausted from not sleeping hardly at all( as are we!), isn't really eating, and he's hoarse from all the coughing - he sounds so pitiful. So far, it has seemed to stay out of his lungs so we're praying it stays that way!

I am super thankful that I had happened to have my shopping done before all this hit and we've just been hunkered down at home! Coming out of the sick fog, I'm trying to get all caught up on my Christmas blog posts. There are several new posts below. Enjoy Christmas around the McGowan household....

Random Christmas Happenings

We joined some friends at a Christmas Tree lighting ceremony in a local park. It was cold and dark and we actually didn't stay very long. But the kids had fun while were there. I didn't get a lot great pictures but wanted to remember how we had to bundle up Cohen, who wears 3-6 mos, in Cort's extra 3T jacket because we some how left his at home!! He could barely move!!

And sweet Gibson because he's just so cute....


We've enjoyed doing some crafty things this christmas too. I haven't taken a bunch of pictures but caught a few...

I love how serious they both look, concentrating on their projects...




We made a gingerbread train this year, Cort really enjoyed it..

New Teaching Technique

Cohen's been clapping and waving for a little while now but we discovered a way that we could have sped that process up...

mittens...



He wasn't sure what to do with them..

But he didn't stop waving or clapping the whole time he had them on...


The boys were "helping" daddy string lights on the house...













Just a cute picture later that night, testing lights for the Christmas tree....

Griswold's Christmas Adventure?

Chris and I both grew up cutting down trees for Christmas. We have continued that tradition every year since we've been married and we love it. We both grew up cutting down Virginia pines and so have continued with that as it's one of the only types you can cut around here locally. With each year the crop hasn't been as good and I have slowly begun to prefer a fir as their needles shed quite a good bit less.

So, this year we did some research and after finding loads of Christmas tree farms with fir trees priced well above our budget( apparently firs are more expensive than pines), Chris found a place, with no website, a home phone number with a man on the other end that said he had a ton of land in the middle of the Pisgah forest and just to come on up and look for a tree at the right price...hmmm, I wasn't to convinced and had visions of a Griswold Christmas tree adventure as we tramped through the forest on the side of the mountain looking for a tree.

Somehow, the idea of possible recreating Christmas Vacation was just what are good friends, The Burns, needed to finally convert to the tree cutting down side. So early one Saturday morning, we bundled up of kiddos and drove "boy and girl" cars up into the windy mountains to see if we could find a tree.

Well, the place was perfect. A simple but well-run, family Christmas tree farm with beautiful trees on the side of the mountain. The kids had a blast running up and down the mountain, picking out trees, and petting their bear of a dog. We both found trees that we loved and after a few hand saw swipes, gave in to their suggestion that we let them cut down the tree( this is the first time we hadn't cut it ourselves but we would have been there all day - those were some hard trees!!!) This turned out to be a great idea as the kiddos got to ride on big four wheelers and haul our tree down to get baled. Even Cohen and I hitched a ride with Cort and the "tree cutter" on the way back down.



the feeble attempt to cut it ourselves...
Cohen found one just his size...

4-wheeling it...
he was nice enough to take a picture of all of us before driving us back down...

We all had a picnic lunch basically in the family's front yard and then made our way back down the mountain in time to catch the not so fun second half of the Clemson game( don't we have great hubbies to chose a fun family outing over the game?)

Kate trying to keep Cohen from eating the grass...he thought it was a fun game...

Silly Girl...

We love our tree, I really think it's the prettiest we've ever had, though, as always, it's way bigger in our house than it seemed on the side of the mountain!!!

So, in the end, no real Griswold adventure but I say the beginning of a new yearly tradition..what do you say, Burns?