Our small miracle

You often hear people say, "God is good" or "Praise God" when something goes well or when life is good. Sure....
But the reality is that God is ALWAYS good and we should always praise him. No matter what. Period. There is no condition to his goodness and it's one of those things that gets on my nerves. God is good in all situations, even the tough ones. Even more so in the bad ones, I think, because we have to rely on his goodness and grace to see us through those situations. This is Mateo in his isolette @ the NICU (4 lbs 4 oz. born at 32 weeks and 1 day gestation)

Tomorrow is when Mateo should've turned 18 months...the big 1 1/2. Instead, he is almost 20 months old and a happy, thriving toddler.

From 4 to 24 pounds, we are daily thankful for the little boy that he has become. In the pictures below, he is holding a teddy bear that is wearing one of his preemie outfits....
You don't always know why things happen as they do, or for what purpose, but this much is true: that God uses all things...

^"2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, ³ because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. " James 1:2-3

It is really hard for me to look at NICU pictures of Mateo. But I do it anyways b/c even though it is sad for me to see my baby like that, it also makes me overflow with thankfulness for how far he has come. He was not the "angel" baby that some brag about, nor is he the most independent of toddlers, but we love him. Just like he is. Just how God created him.

He is growing up more every day and I can now honestly say that I enjoy being with him all day (even though 5:30pm often doesn't come soon enough ;) He loves to help me with everything from putting things in the trash or recycling, folding diapers, sweeping the kitchen, organizing toys, etc. He no longer cries for 12 hours a day, he falls asleep on his own, sleeps through the night, has 16 teeth and a new haircut, laughs a lot, loves to watch animals in the back yard, could eat his weight in bread and raisins, does all my couponing with me, is in love with his daddy, and loves to give kisses on the cheek.

Mateo = gift from God.
This we know to be true.

Learning from the kids

So I teach the kids at church. This week I talked Aaron into helping as a "sub" to fill in for some people that couldn't make it. He declared that he wanted the harder group. Really? Sweet! So I gave him the little rowdy boys. "What are you going to do when they start rolling around on the floor?" was my first question for him. I don't think he had an answer.

Anyways, I got to work with the older kids- which is my favorite. And it ended up being an all girls group b/c I did a little rearranging. Very chatty girls, but I soon realized what a heart they had for their friends and family. I was going to pray before we got started with small group stuff- and they all started spouting off these prayer requests for people that they obviously cared deeply for. Simple things to serious things alike. I assured them that God is never too busy to listen to our prayers. We never bother him when we pray. He loves us to pray to him. (This coming right after we read Mark 10:13-16 when the disciples yelled at people for bothering Jesus with their kids.) So we prayed for their friends and their family and I vowed to bring them prayer journals next week so they could use them at home.

When I got home that day, I was wondering who the teacher was that morning. Me...or them?

p.s. Yes, Aaron survived. But with the declaration that, "I'm SO not a teacher" or something of the sorts. I think he did great.