happiness and heartache-

since this blog is about our life- I guess I should talk about both the happy moments, as well as the difficult times. to leave out the struggles, would give a wrong impression of what our days are truly like. so, here is an overview of current events:

- 2 special days in a row for me! mother's day- we had a baby dedication for Jason at church with about 5 other little ones. matt's parents and sisters and kids were all there, which was awesome. and my cousin pete came (video camera in hand). we then had a grill-out over at our house- and got to see my other cousins that afternoon, as well! it was a beautiful day spent with lots of people we love! my birthday- my last year in the 20s! I had a wonderful chocolate chip pancake breakfast-in-bed! and jason gave me some gifts, too: a 4:30am wake-up, a 30 minute afternoon nap, and lots of whining during the day. gotta love it! I did get a special cake at Bible study- even made with homemade icing!

- matt's mom has to be in the hospital for 2-3 days to get some antibiotics on IV... due to some abcess she had. yucky and not fun! we are going to go visit this afternoon, I think.

- heart break for our friends who are facing the impending death of their unborn baby girl. she is 5 months pregnant and, due to a cyst on the little girl's skull, the prognosis is that the baby will die in-utero or soon after being born. either way, it looks like she will have to be delivered naturally. if, miraculously, she is alive when she is born- she will have such serious health problems (not able to breathe on her own, not able to suck, etc.), even more difficult decisions will then have to be made. any prayers will help!

- more heartache for matt's family: his cousin jeremy (same age as matt) is married with 2 little girls (the youngest is 7 months old). his wife, who is 26 years old, had a stroke sunday and was paralyzed. they have since found out that she has cancer on her brain stem-- if they do nothing, she will most likely die. if they do surgery, it is very risky due to where the cancer is located. again, either option is horrific!

- things to look forward to: special birthday dinner at Outback tonight!, going to my schools in KY this week to introduce Jason to them, seeing our friend Annie on Friday who lives in California and meeting our friend Will's new baby girl, my friend Sarah from camp coming this weekend to hang out and do some pre-camp preparation!

amidst the good times, there are hard times. amidst the hard times, there are still moments to look forward to.

and- on a lighter note- here's some of matt's official race-day photos:

-- matt is on the far left side crossing the finish line. I love how he is clapping for himself! and the girl behind him is definitely excited about finishing! but the BEST part of this photo is the guy in the flying pig costume cheering for everyone! I wish we had a picture of matt with that guy!

- I think he is looking over at us right when this was taken because we were standing by the photographers.