It's what we are all here striving to do, and sweet Gracie will do it today. She put up such a good fight and blessed the lives of so many. We had hoped that for her family's sake she would be able to stay around awhile longer, but it seems that our Heavenly Father is calling her home. We love you sweet Gracie girl.
Be Still, My Soul
Be still, my soul: The Lord is on they side
With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heavn'ly Friend
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.
Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.
Be still, my soul: The hour is hast'ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.
Whenever there is something difficult for me to deal with, or something I can't understand this hymn always come to my mind. I know there are questions that will never be answered in this life, and when those question and thoughts of "Why?" come to me I just play this hymn and sing the words in my head.
I know our Heavenly Father knows each one of us and loves us. He has a plan for Gracie and that plan has come full circle. I can only imagine that wonderful reunion in Heaven when his sweet Gracie returns home to him.
Yesterday was Gracie's 1st birthday and we sent her some balloons to Heaven. The kids were really excited about the idea and wanted to make sure that Gracie got them and not anyone else. We said a little prayer and told Heavenly Father who they were for and for Him to make sure Gracie got them. This morning when they woke up Jackson said, "Well, they probably made it to Heaven by now. I bet Gracie is playing with them and sharing them with her friends." I hope she is!
Her new green and brown outfit from Nana.
She loved the chance to jump on the couch. That doesn't happen often around here, and certainly not on the front room couch.
On a completely different topic, here are some of my cute new baby boy diapers. You can't really tell from the picture, but there are tiny!!!
Some of his covers (to go over prefolds, for those who know)
With her Daddy
My big girl in her birthday dress!
This time last year I had just gotten to the hospital. I was supposed to be induced 3 weeks early, and I woke up early awaiting a call from the hospital. Well, I waited and waited and waited. They finally called at 1:30 and said to hurry and they would slip me in if I could be there in 20 minutes. Of course we were ready and waiting and headed right over. We got everything started at 2:30 and exactly 3 hours later she was here. All of my labor and deliveries have been quick and easy and this one was no different. She did have to spend some time in the special care nursery b/c she couldn't breathe, but she was fine and they brought her to us a couple hours later. 
Mom got Lila her ball popper for Christmas last year. She loves it. She can do it by herself and has fun chasing the balls. Her favorite thing however is to stick random toys in it. Sometimes they are really hard to get out. Today while Sunny was at school Lila played for 1 1/2 hours all by herself with the ball popper. She was putting this microphone in and out. Seriously, she sat there for that long without looking up and without wanting anything from me. I was amazed and finally tried to sneak some pictures but she saw me and started posing. I guess this is still part of Lila's birthday extravaganza picture posts b/c I think I've put 15 pictures of her on her in less than 24 hours. Oh well, see Uncle B.J. she is freakishly cute!
She carried them around forever. They are too cute!
One more of her playing with the package. I can't believe she'll be 1 on Saturday! It feels like I was just pregnant with her and she was just born, and now here I am doing this all over again.
Lila got her birthday package from Mok and Pok today. She was actually really excited, and seemed to "get it". She loved the whole process and I took a ton of pictures, these are only a few, but I'll probably post the rest later because she is adorable.
She loved the baby puzzle because "belly" is her favorite thing to point at right now.
