January 31, 2010

The sky was blue,
the sun was warm,
the air was crisp.
The laughter was plenty,
the hugs were good,
the prayers were many.
The tears fell,
the friends were there,
the memories were sweet.
The peace was felt,
the love was shared,
The boy was missed.
The moon is full.


God showed Himself in so many ways to us today,
Thank you for remembering. Thanks for praying.

Family Of Faith

This was a video our church did a couple of months ago when our pastor was doing a sermon on The Family of Faith. I am so thankful for our Family of Faith at our church and especially the "extended" family that God has blessed us with throughout life and this blog.

I feel that we are in a place of being very needy again. Believe me when you have received so many blessings from you sweet people as we have, it is with a little bit of hesitancy that I even ask for more. But, I am always so encouraged by your prayers, that I have come to know I need them. God also reminded me that prayer is one of the ways He involves us in His work. It is a way we get to show His love to others. So if you have some extra time, would you once again include us in your prayer time? Yes, I know many of you have never stopped praying for us. I am humbled and appreciative.


Some specific things we have coming our way: I have prayed that God would show me the right time for me to go through Brock's room. I have not packed away one thing of his since he died. We have all enjoyed his room as all of us spend time in there. I have found each of the boys in there playing with his toys, hugging his teddy bear, lying on his bed or praying in his room. We have all enjoyed having that "place" in our home that reminds us of the years we had with Brock. It is a wierd sort of thing...all the things that I would have easily gotten rid of if Brock were here now have some attachment as each one provokes a precious memory when I see it. Am I afraid that those memories will go if I let go of the things? I guess I need to ask God about that so He can show me.

There have been stages of letting go; I am sure this is another level I must go through. I recall the boys questions, when we found out we were again pregnant, about which room would be the baby's room. I seemed to answer so easily then. Well now that the time is drawing close, it is getting harder for me. I know that my anxious thoughts don't include God walking through each step of the process with me. I know He will be there and will guide me in ways I can't think of. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:8" We have a bassinet that goes in our bedroom for when the boys are tiny, so I know that if preparing the room does not happen before the baby is born, he/she will at least have a place to sleep.

I would like to take Brock's clothes and make a quilt for each of the boys. This complicates the issue of cleaning out the room as I feel I will need to decide which clothes I want to cut up and which ones I want to leave whole, so that when I look at them, I can remember Brock's size. Pray for that process and someone to do the quilting as I wish I could do it myself, but I can't.

We are not very close on the name for this baby. We have many opinions now as all the boys are older and it is not just Drew and me picking the name. Pray we will all come to agreement.

Drew's business continues to do well but needs to grow more. We have been blessed, but the economy is causing a number of his clients to go out of business, which impacts us. Please pray as we trust the Lord to provide.

I had a Dr's appointment yesterday. I learned two weeks ago that I have gestational diabetes. I have never had this before with my other pregnancies. So far it has not been too hard to adjust my diet to keep it in control. At my appointment yesterday, they took another look at the baby. The baby is doing just great. Praise God! Please pray for continued health for the baby and me.

The official due date is November 11, 2009. I will have a C-section. Please pray for Dr. Hirsch and the delivery.

Y'all are wonderful!! Thank you for letting me share here. If I can pray for you, please leave a comment or send me an email. I would be honored to return the blessing.

A Few Details

Wow! Thank you for praying. I wanted to give you a few updates:

First we have been feeling your prayers covering us this week as we approach Saturday. I had two really dark days Monday and Tuesday of this week but am feeling better today. Thanks so much. We need you!

Mason has been sleeping through the night with out nightmares since Friday. Praise God! Thank you for praying and praise God for such tangible results.

Many of you have asked about getting a Brockie-Band of your own. It looks like we will be ordering more so email me at dnmeadows@comcast.net if you would like one. Or, you can also leave a comment on the blog.

I have tried to make it easier for some of you to receive a notice about when I post. Several have asked how to be notified. I think there are several easy ways. You can have it delivered to your email if you sign up over in the side bar where it asks for email. You can also subscribe which means it will show up in your blogger - reader account. You must register your name with blogger, which is totally safe. If I have to explain much more, this is probably not the best for you:) Don't worry I didn't know before a few days ago. Also you can become a follower. This way you are notified on your blogger dashboard when I update. Hope that is clear as mud.

We finalized our plans for Saturday. We want you to know. We hope it will be very informal but with a time of praise and worship around 4pm. If you can drop by, please do. This is the first time I have felt like I wanted to have some sort of gathering. We recognized that since the 31st falls on Saturday, it could get to be a really long day if it was just us. We would love to gather with those of you that have prayed for us for some fellowship. The details are as follows:

• Please accept this informal invitation to gather around 3:30 for a time of worship, singing and prayer starting precisely at 4:00.
• For those that can stay, we will be having a good old fashioned “potluck” dinner afterwards. Please bring a dish to share with others as we “break bread” together.
• There will also be an optional opportunity for a video scrapbook where you can share your favorite memory of our little guy.

Since Saturdays are crazy for everyone, if you cannot come at 3:30, please feel free to drop by anytime during the day; we will be home. And if you cannot come at all, we certainly understand and just ask that you pray for us at 4:00.

Gratefully, in His arms,

Drew, Nita, Asa, Mason & Barrett Meadows

Email me if you need directions at dnmeadows@comcast.net

We are also going to be taking lunch as a family to the Fire Station that responded to the 911 call the afternoon Brock died. Pray for that encounter. Thanks so much. God bless you!

A prayer for you, a prayer for me

Hey y'all! I have been thinking a lot lately about all of you sweet people that take the time to read my blog. I pray for you each time I come to my blog. I don't know what situation you may be in the middle of in your life when you read this, but God knows. I pray for who He has that will come across each post. Thank you so much also for your encouraging comments on the blog. They mean so much. Welcome also to those of you that are new! I am so humbled you want to join us in seeing God weave our hurt into His beauty.

I have been busy lately as I was down at Scottish Rite Children's Hospital three times last week. Thankfully it was with my healthy children visiting friends of theirs. Our neighbor friend, Steven, had some fluid drained off his hip. He found out he has a chrionic condition and will have to give up baseball. Our dear 12 year old friend, Lily, was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes. She is doing ok and has been an example of trust as she has overcome her horrible fear of needles. I am praying both these kids will continue to trust in the Lord when they are afraid. (Psalm 56:3-4)

I was doing okay with all the hospital sights and sounds until we were leaving from our last visit. As we walked out the double doors, a wave of grief washed over me. I have been caught in that why? and what if? cycle for the past couple of days. Please pray for me. The winter smell in the air, the crisp breeze, the events that are so similar to last year have made for such intense feelings of missing Brock. Pray also for our health. With hearing people talk about being sick, as happens this time of year, I have found myself fearing that we will get sick again. Pray that we can all stay healthy over the next week just so we don't have to experience that similarity.

As all our thoughts have begun to turn toward January 31st, the day Brock died, we have all experienced a bit of a sad feeling. Continue to pray for each of us to deal straight on with our emotions. Mason our second son has been waking up at night with nightmares about Brock. As he tries to go back to sleep he can't get the dreams out of his head. Please pray for him as this is completely normal given the trauma of Brock's sudden death. Lack of sleep isn't doing any of us any good.

Please also pray as we try to finialize plans for what we want to do on the 31st. If God lays any ideas on your heart about how to honor that day of Brock's homecoming, feel free to share. I will let you all know when we firm up our ideas. Thank you all so much for getting on your knees for us. We love you. Nita