On the 10th when I woke up, every picture in my head was as clear from a year prior as if it were happening all over again. I woke up thinking, “Well, a year ago I was having mild contractions 5 minutes apart…” I called Marie, my sweet friend and doula, and asked her what I should do…she told me to bake something or clean the house…I put a rump roast in the crock pot, did some laundry, and cleaned the house…the contractions remained 5 minutes apart but grew in intensity. I called to tell her that they were getting a little stronger but I could still do plenty. She said to head to the hospital when the contractions were causing me to slow down and concentrate on breathing. I hopped in the shower, shaved, did my hair, a touch of waterproof mascara, and thought it might be about time to pack my overnight bag! Meanwhile, Jason and Em were sitting quietly on the couch watching ‘The Sound of Music’, waiting patiently for my cue. Em kept asking Jason, “When’s my little brother coming? When are we going to get the baby out of mommy’s tummy?” Jason kept responding, “Whenever your mom says so…” At 3pm, we headed to the ER to check in. The contractions were more intense by the time we walked through the doors of the hospital, and I was having to hold onto things to breathe every 5 minutes. At about 3:15 when we headed to the LD floor, there was a group of pregnant women touring the hospital, all smiling and giddy, not knowing what was in store until they saw me trying to walk down the hallway! They grew quiet. I wasn’t being loud or obnoxious, I was just trying to breathe and walk simultaneously, which usually isn’t a problem for me!
I was ready to go for it at 5:45, but the substitute doctor was late, so I wasn’t allowed to push! Finally, Noah was born at 6:57pm with Jason by my side, along with my little sister, Dana, and 3 dear girlfriends, Marie, Becky and Rachel. A worship CD that my sister had made played continually in the background. It was a beautiful day!
Fast forward one year later and we are all together celebrating Noah’s life, once more. Many friends surrounded us physically while everyone else was encouraging us with prayer. Thank you! We had a big ‘bring your own picnic’ at a park near our home and were going to have a bike parade for the kids, but the wind got pretty intense and it started to sprinkle, so we skipped that. Once the wind stopped and the skies cleared, God sent…yep, you guessed it, a beautiful rainbow! How stinkin’ cool is that?! People were starting to head home, so we ended the afternoon with a rainbow balloon send off…I only wish in reality that balloons actually made it to heaven. I know heaven’s full of kids, and what kid doesn’t love balloons?! I’m quite convinced that entertainment in heaven is cooler than here, though, so I’m not that worried about it. He’s not missing out, on anything really, we are…How could you be ‘missing out’ when you are beholding the Glory of God?! Maranatha!
23 Responses
We love you guys!!! Glad it was a glorious “beautiful Day”. PTL Kennedys
What an awesome way to celebrate a very special little boy! I can only imagine the celebration going on in Heaven.
Love you guys!
I am glad the day went so well, and that you guys were surrounded by friends and family. I thought about Noah’s birthday, and wondered what you guys were up to. The balloon send off was pretty. What a beautiful day!
Mary Geeslin
I love your perspective, and I love you JOY. If you have time…the book Heaven by Randy Alcorn is awesome. It might make you have a good “mental picture” of what sweet Noah is doing even now as he waits for you. God is so amazing.
What a wonderful way to Celebrate sweet little Noah. The balloon send off brought tears to my eyes.
You and your family are always in my thoughts and prayers.
Kelly Rich
Fort McMurray AB
Ahhhh How beautiful.
What a wonderful way to celebrate Noah & Noah’s Day & life!!!!
All Balloons DO get to Heaven you know!?!? My daughters are convinced that everyone we sent to our baby son are grabbed by his little hand and shared with all his friends in Jesus’ playground.
Your day was just such a beautiful tribute to your precious son.
love,
Lynda
bishopswife@comcast.net
I thought and prayed for you and your family all day June 10th. I am glad everything went well, pictures are beautiful.
Hailey Morrisett
morrisett5@insightbb.com
So it was truly “A beautiful day”. I am so glad. Much love to you and yours….
another beautiful post. :::tears streaming down face:::
BTW – you have a NY Yankee fan among your group of friends? I noticed a yankee hat on one of the guys! My family and I are avid yankee fans…. 😉
We were so honored to be a part of “Noah’s Day”! We had a great time! We love you guys and thank you for your friendship! Love, Jeremy, Wendy, Andrew and Isaac Coward
Thank you for sharing Noah’s celebration with me. I thought of you often that day. Words can’t express my love for you in your words, strength, and love of life. I’m so glad I met you many years ago at ORU!
Angie
How awesome that you could have that party…and thanks for sharing the pictures with us! I’m sure that Noah loved looking down on you all and seeing the balloons and yummy cupcakes. I sure hope there are cupcakes in Heaven! Prayers continue from MN 🙂
What a Beautiful Day, indeed!
We love you gus are have been thinking about you a lot. Beautiful pictures of the party. Wish we could have been there.
Love, The Luedtke’s
Beautiful! Praise God for your gift of a rainbow! 🙂
Thanks for sharing the beautiful pics! And what a great gift of the rainbow!
God Bless,
Kris
that was hard to watch through the tears in my eyes…but tears of great joy and celebration at the marvelous God we serve. how cool is it that God gave you a rainbow as a seal to His promise to sustain you and give you life..on NOAH’S birthday….AWESOME. that’s what it is. AWESOME.
I found your blog from youtube. I read your whole blog from start to finish and you and your precious family are such an inspiration!! I appreciate your candidness and honesty in all of your posts. I wrote down the books you recommended and plan to get them to read!
Kerry
Chicago, IL
I was very bummed that I wasn’t able to come to the party on Sunday to meet you. As we drove further and further from Hwy 70 I finally gave up hope that I’d be able to borrow my in-laws van and stop by. Then there was the big storm cloud forming nearby and I prayed that you were staying dry. Little did I know!!!!!
Blessings to you from Minnesota,
Carrie Pauly
Thank you for being so willing to share your life! Today I celebrated my son’s 1st birthday; I also celebrated Noah! I know that it is because of you and Noah’s story that I have had such a wonderful year with my son. I have held him tighter, loved him longer, watched him sleep more, and celebrated each day with him. Today I also celebrate our Creator. I stand in awe of what He has done in my life and how He has used Noah. Today my 2 1/2 year old asked if we could send a cupcake to Noah in heaven. I told her he has all the cupcakes he could ever want. I just wanted you to know that you, your example, and your son have changed my life.
Jaime in Georgia
cochran_ja@yahoo.com
I love reading your thoughts and your perspective although I hate the pain and sadness you have to go through. I’m so glad God has allowed His presence to be felt by you throughout this year especially. You give me comfort, hope and inspiration. Love to you!!
What a Beautiful day and what a precious gift to see that rainbow. Noah truley is a special boy and I’m so glad you had such a special day celebrating him. I wish with all my heart he would have been at the park that day with you guys, but I know he is in a better place and it is truly amazing how much peace you have. You are such an amazing woman, I could never express how amazing I think you are and I don’t even know you!!! I also wanted to thank you for your comment that you left on my blog. It meant so very much to me that you would take the time to give me encouragement. I really, really appreciate it and I hope to one day be the example of faith to my son as you are to your children and to the world! God bless you!!!!!
Just beautiful Adrienne. What a wonderful celebration. I am glad you had your family and friends with you. It looks like a beautiful park too. The homes around it are gorgeous!
I can just see Noah giggling as each one of those balloons touched his toes that “beautiful day”. I’m sure your love and balloons reached him.
Those cupcakes look very yummy!
**Hugs**
Mandy