Magdalena's Celebration of Life Service

It's Time!!

I have had some problems uploading part 2 of Magdalena's funeral, and I am hoping that all of it works out by the end of the week so that I can share it with you!  Until then, I wanted to show you our March for Babies 2012 shirt design.  You can place an order for a shirt by February 3rd.  All proceeds are donated to the March of Dimes to go help have more healthy babies in memory of Magdalena!  Email me if you have further questions!  Also, you can find our group on Facebook - Magdalena's Feet!

Adult sizes $16

Youth sizes $14 = XS (2-4) - XL (16-18)

If shirt needs to be mailed, please, add $2 for shipping.

Magdalena's Funeral - Part 1

I am waiting on one more part to upload before I can post it all of Magdalena's funeral service, but I thought I would go ahead and post part 1 of it.  Be sure that you push pause on the blog music before you begin watching.  It brings me much happiness to share this with all of those who loved Magdalena while she was here, but could not attend.  After three years I have improved on my computer skills, and I know now how to divide and upload videos.

For me, the entire funeral was an out of body experience, and when I look back at the day there is so much that I don't even remember.  Out of everything that happened and all that was said, one thing I remember best is my sisters taking me to the mall the day she died to find something for the funeral.  We laughed.  I don't remember about what, but I do remember that we laughed.  We went to every store looking for something in the right shade of pink for all of us.  I don't remember anything else that was done or said that day except the fact that we laughed.  I wonder if they remember what it was about...

One of the songs played during the slide show was written for Magdalena by a non-profit organization called Songs of Love.  Her cousins loved this song,  and if you listen closely you might can here as they sung along to it.  Even later when Caroline would come to the house she would want to hear the song, and I just couldn't stand the pain of it.

I hope that you are blessed by the words said, songs sung, and pictures shown.  We wanted it to be a service full of hope.  It was definitely sad, but we wanted it to shed light on what an amazing daughter we had.

I love the end of the video because I bet Grandmom is making those faces at Magdalena in heaven right now.

Missing My Girl

Magdalena and Me Napping Together

Papa's Poem to Sweet Magdalena:

SHE WAS SENT HERE FROM HEAVEN

WITH A MISSION INDEED

SHE WAS CHOSEN ABOVE

OTHER SOULS COULD EASILY LEAD

OTHER SOULS WHO WERE BRIGHT

BOTH HAPPY AND SMART

HE HAD SENT THOSE BEFORE

BUT THEY CHANGED SO FEW HEARTS

SHE WAS SENT IN A PACKAGE

SO FRAGILE TO TOUCH

BOUND WITH WHAT OTHERS

WOULD SAY IS TOO MUCH

A CLOCK THAT WAS TICKING

NO TIME COULD BE LOST

PEOPLE BEGAN PRAYING

NO MATTER THE COST

IT STARTED WITH A FAMILY

ALL DOWN ON THEIR KNEES

SOON THERE WERE FRIENDS

ALL BEGGING GOD PLEASE

A PASTOR AND STAFF

WOULD FALL IN LINE

WITH FRIENDS TELLING FRIENDS

IT'S NOW PRAYING TIME

CHURCH AFTER CHURCH

WOULD ADD THEIR KNEES TOO

PEOPLE WHO DIDN'T KNOW HER

NOT EVEN A CLUE

MAGDALENA BROUGHT US ALL

TOGETHER IN LOVE

BOUND TOGETHER FOREVER

WITH A GOD SENT SOUL FROM ABOVE

THANK YOU LORD FOR

EACH MOMENT SHE IS HERE

MAY GOD KEEP TOUCHING

THOSE HEARTS FAR AND NEAR

LOVE, PAPA

The Day is Coming

I feel it in my throat. The day is drawing near. It's true the days leading up to it are much worse than the actual day because you want to go into a time machine and relive the days that were there. Three years ago yesterday my sweet sisters, nieces, nephew, and mother came together for a movie night. We all watched Horton has a Who while everyone got some good snuggle time in with Magdalena. We just didn't know what was coming.

Some of our favorite Magdalena songs.  I don't mean to make you cry as I am now while I listen to these songs, but may we all praise our sweet God.  He gave us so much more than we ever could have imagined, but for all the days that I am on this earth I will miss her.  Just as Laura Story says in her song "Blessings", "the aching in this life is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can't satisfy".  Even now, my baby girl is teaching me more about God and the purpose for all of our lives. God is our peace.


I was pregnant with Magdalena when I bought Carrie Underwood's c.d.  I would ride to work praying that my little baby would be a girl while listening to this song.  After we got her diagnosis, I would cry to work while listening to this song because the song still rang so true to us.  She stole our hearts the moment she entered this world.  I can't hear this song without thinking of her.



My incredible big sister took off a day of work shortly after we brought Magdalena home and came over to play.  We learned a lot about how blogger worked that day, added a new template, and put a song on it, which was Miley Cyrus' "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun".  We were having fun, so it fit for the day.  Before then, I really didn't realize that people actually read this blog cared.



We had this song playing during a slide show at Magdalena's funeral.  God has healed her to the utmost.  All of her itty bitty parts are working perfectly, and I picture her jumping up and down as she hears this song playing from my laptop right now.



A song of hope for both me and Noah.



When I heard this song on the radio for the first time, I found myself wailing in the car.  Stephen blessed our lives when he expressed in grief and hope in song.

Letters to God

Noah and I finally added a little entertainment to our lives by subscribing to Netflix, and so far, it has been proven to be an incredible value!  I have been wanting to see quite a few of the movies, but we have never wanted to buy them, and one of those was Letters to God.  Since God is incorporated in movies in ways that I don't agree, usually, I only looked at the cover of this particular movie.  I finally put it on my queue, where it didn't remain long before my curiosity had peaked.  I was blown away by this movie!  It is so strong in value and God!  I cried good tears for most of the movie, and, yet, I was still happy at the end of it that I had watched it.  A young boy fighting for his life with a terrible cancer impacts all those who encounter him through his relationship with God.  No one can look at this suffering boy without thinking of Jesus.  It was a boy who chose to live his life by glorifying God in all that he did, and in one way it was to write his prayers out in the form of letters which he mailed!  

Yes, you will cry when watching this movie, but it is definitely a must see movie!  

The Oatmeal I Finally Made

If you have been hanging in there with me and my life over the past few years, you may remember me writing about an expensive vanilla bean.  It was required for a recipe that I was wanting to make, but I decided against it when I went to buy one and it was VERY pricy!  Well, my sweet friend found one at T.J. Maxx, and after many months of having it, I finally made my recipe!  It was delicious, so I thought that I would share it.  However, be aware that vanilla beans are expensive, but there is hope of finding one in the most unexpected places!

Caramel Apple Oatmeal 
by: Southern Living at Home

3 cups of uncooked regular oats
1 cup chopped dried apples
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 vanilla bean, split
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups milk
3 cups apple cider
3 tablespoons butter, divided
1 cup raisins

Combine first 8 ingredients and 2 tablespoons butter in a 3 1/2 quart slow cooker.
Cover and cook on LOW 3 to 4 hours or until thickened.
Remove vanilla bean; scrape seeds from inside of bean, discarding bean.  Stirs vanilla seeds, remaining 1 tablespoon butter, and raisins into oatmeal.  Serve warm.

This oatmeal reheats well in the microwave if you want to prepare it the night before.  It also keeps up to 3 days in the fridge.

Walt's New Friends

Walt's first time holding his new friends!

Walt helped Mimi to take care of Cousin Emma's Christmas present by giving them lots of love!  Although you can't tell by the pictures, Walt continued to squeal with excitement!  He knows who they are, and always looks forward to going and visiting them!  This is the funnest age so far, but it is definitely coming with challenges.  Just as much as Walt knows how to obey, he also disobeys.  It is constantly a challenge to know how to respond in a way that is God centered.  God has some major work for me in this area!  Pray super hard for me, friends!