Sunday, December 30, 2018

Reflecting on 2018

2018 : What a year! 
These days between Christmas and the New Year are some of my favorite to be still and reflect on past year before embarking on the new one.

Reflecting on 2018 and giving thanks to the LORD for the many blessings ~ new life ~ new beginnings!!

Grace and mercy through the peaks and valleys!

"He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Ecclesiastes 3:11

"Because of the LORD's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. I say to myself, "The LORD is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." Lamentations 3:22-24

"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." Isaiah 40:29-31

"See, I am doing a NEW thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." Isaiah 43:19

There have been so many "new" moments and milestones of 2018 that I want to remember and thought sharing "A Year At A Glance" would be helpful even more for my heart to remember on some of the hard days -- the good times! As I went through my pictures from 2018 a few weeks ago to find a "few pics" to be printed to give some family members with their Christmas gifts (since printed pics seem to becoming a lost art), the photo man at Costco gave me my box of 200+ prints and I told him this was me picking out some highlights and he said, "Well it seems that you've had an amazing year!" and that's when it hit me that this year really has been one for the ages. Here is a highlight reel of some of the high moments that I want to remember. There are challenging moments tucked in before and after a lot of these -- don't be fooled that life is without those. I can say that I am thankful for the hi's and the lo's and the growth opportunities from all of the above.

In 10 years of marriage, we have moved 7 times and had 6 pregnancies and given birth to 3 babies and now live in a home that we don't plan on moving from anytime soon (aka: B says he wants to become grandparents here) and it feels that our feet are LANDING to the ground in a way. It's a sweet feeling to stop for a moment and take a deep breath and thank the Lord for where He has brought us and the strength He has given us to get here ... and at the same time, thank Him in advance for giving us our DAILY BREAD and what we need to run the race well in this next season.

Some days we look at each other and wonder how we are going to do it and the truth is we are not going to be able to in our own strength. That's why we are clinging to God's Word and choosing to press in to HIM and each other! Thank you to our community of family and friends to love, pray and encourage us on this lifelong journey!!

2018 At A Glance

January
New baby : Beau Piper Nall born on December 27th
Happy New Year as a family of 5!

February
Disney World as family of 5 (with an 8 week old!!)
New job for Daddy B

March
Nelson got to play on a baseball team for the first time
18th : Celebrated Daddy B's 36th birthday
Beach for Spring Break ~ got to meet my beautiful niece, Raleigh Louise!

April
Easter at the Beach
15 Year GPS Reunion with high school friends
19th: Celebrated Natalie Joy's 4th birthday

May
Nelson graduated from Pre-K
31st: Celebrated Mommy's 33rd birthday

June
Natalie participated in her first ballet camp
Beau and Mommy to Salt Lake City for the Young Living Convention
Camp Suzie and Pops in Chattanooga ~ summer fun!

July
Family of 5 plus Suzie and Pops to CVP Family Camp
Swim lessons for Nelson & Natalie
Beau Piper started crawling
Daddy B managed an epic yard renovation

August
7th: Celebrated Nelson Caleb's 6th birthday
Nelson and Natalie started a new school
Nelson -> Kindergarten
Natalie -> Early Childhood program
26th: Beau's baptism
Daddy B's men's baseball team won 3rd straight league championship

September
Natalie started gymnastics
13th : Celebrated our 10 year anniversary!!
Team Nall hit the SILVER rank with Young Living

October
Beach for Fall Break with the fam

November
10th Annual Thanksgiving at the Nall's dinner with friends

December
25th: Celebrated Jesus' birthday in our home as a family of 5!
27th: Celebrated baby Beau turning ONE!

"I lift up my eyes to the hills --
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip--
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you --
the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm --
he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore."
Psalm 121

What a year! To God be the glory!!

Wednesday, December 26, 2018

Beau's Birth Story

Here we are on the eve of our baby's birthday and this mama is feeling ALL the feels. So reminiscent all day of what we were doing one year ago. We had enjoyed Christmas morning as our family of four (B, Whit, Nelson, Natalie) and then Mom, Dad, and Aunt Abby joined us for the fun in the afternoon. They spent the night and we enjoyed some sweet family time together on the day of Tuesday, December 26th. After lunch at Burger Up, I went to The Factory for one last acai bowl and juice before I had to stop eating at 2:30pm on that day. I knew I better load up on the goodies beforehand because I had strict instructions not to eat before the induction. 

Why was I getting induced you may be wondering? I had an extreme liver condition (Intrahepatic cholestasis of pregnancy (ICP)) at the end of Nelson and Natalie's pregnancies. Your liver enzymes (AST and ALT) should be in the teens and mine went over 600 with Nelson (delivered him at 40 weeks, 1 day) and went over 800 with Natalie (delivered her at 37 weeks)...needless to say, they were watching me like a hawk from start to finish with the pregnancy with Beau. We had Nelson and Natalie 20 months apart and then had three miscarriages so with Beau, I was with a high risk doctor in addition to our midwife and OB. I was going every couple of days in those last weeks of pregnancy with Beau to have blood drawn to make sure all was well with my levels. My pregnancy with him was about EXPECTING MIRACLES from the very beginning and the fact that I did not experience the extreme ICP at the end of pregnancy with Beau was in and of itself another one of the miracles we saw firsthand -- the doctors and midwife had never seen anything like it. 

It was so odd (in the best ways!) to not experience the itching around week 35 (like I did with Natalie) and around week 38 (like I did with Nelson). It was a gift from God that Beau did not flip to the breech position around 36 weeks like Nelson and Natalie both did (both were flipped by via the Webster technique with a chiropractor). Such a blessing to feel normal. To sleep great. To not have ANY issues!! My pregnancies with Nelson and Natalie were smooth and uneventful up until those last two weeks prior to delivery (had the extreme nausea with Nelson, Natalie and Beau) but it felt so bizarre to feel SO well the duration of Beau's pregnancy -- I could certainly feel every single prayer from each of you that were praying! 
So given the history of my liver with Nelson and Natalie's pregnancies, my high risk doctor, OB and midwife were in agreement that they wanted me to deliver Beau before 40 weeks. My due date was December 28th ... so as we entered into that week before his due date ... we had a good chat and decided that if he had not come on his own before then -- I would go in on the night of December 26th to get things rolling with the induction and he would be born on December 27th. Right there at the very end with the last blood draw before the weekend of Christmas, my levels started to rise (but still NO itching...thank the Lord) and we had a peace that this was the right thing to do. Induction had been a curve ball when we had Nelson because we were planning for a home birth (you can read his birth story here) but then when it happened again with Natalie and went as smoothly, we knew I was a good candidate for induction with Beau -- given my personal history. It is not for everyone but in certain situations is a blessing.

OK...so now that you have that background, you can see why we were planning to be induced and that was such a positive thing. Tuesday could not have gone better. Earlier in the day I had written out some of my favorite and most powerful Bible verses on notecards and was reading them and re-reading them like I was getting ready for a test. Giving birth is like a marathon and you have to be ready. I had my "New Beginnings" playlist on Spotify that I had listened to and added songs to for the duration of the nine months of pregnancy. I had my favorite meals that day with Burger Up and Franklin Juice Company!! That night (one year ago to the day) we were watching the new Beauty and the Beast with the family and enjoying priceless time together...that wild feeling where you look around at your family and realize in a matter of hours, the new little person will be joining you!! Who in the world will this baby be? Is this really happening? This is too good to be true! So around this time (8:30pm...I went upstairs to our room to go over my lists again and check them again and again. Adding my essential oils, heating pad, Bible verses, toiletries, and all of the last minute little items) Also enjoyed re-reading my notes from counseling sessions on preparing for this time. It is no joke going into a birth after three losses. It is a full on BATTLE of the mind and I knew I had to be prepared. I had prayed, prepared, and planned for this moment and now was the time to GO birth this baby in the mighty name of JESUS. Then Brandon and I said goodbye to the fam and got in his car and headed downtown Nashville to Centennial Women's Hospital. I vividly remembering listening to a few voicemails from soul sisters on the way there (still saved on my phone to this very day) and read the Jesus Calling devotional and a few others that were ALL about expecting miracles -- chills head to toe. 

I have a screenshot still saved on my phone that night from the part in Jesus Calling that says, "Do not fear your weakness, for it is the stage on which My Power and Glory perform most brilliantly. As you persevere along the path I have prepared for you, depending on My strength to sustain you, expect to see miracles -- and you will. Miracles are not always visible to the naked eye, but those who live by faith can see them clearly. Living by faith, rather than sight, enables you to see My Glory." Psalm 63:2-5, "I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you." 

We met our midwife there at 10pm and started the check in process. God blessed us with amazing nurses that night and each and every detail fell into place. And the fact that this was my first time to be induced WITHOUT the horrific itching was in and of itself such a gift -- I actually was able to catch some winks of sleep which had never happened before when being induced cause the itching with Nelson and Natalie was intense for two weeks and did not stop until the baby came out. Whew, so thankful to not have to go through that again. 

The reason I know the details of this next part is because I have the notes still in the notes section of my phone: 

Tuesday, December 26, 2017
11:45pm
Closed and 60% effaced
Soft cervix
Head is down -2

Wednesday, December 27, 2017
12:00am
Cytotec 25 micro

4:10am
1 cm, 60% effaced
Cytotec 25 micro

8:15am
Started pitocin (at 1) then went to 2 at 8:30am then went to 4 at 9am

8:30am
OB checked me, 1 cm

Pitocin went to 6 at 9:30am and then to 8 at 10am then back to 7 then 6 then 2

11:02am
Water broke

11:03am
8cm

11:23am 
Delivered!!!

Needless to say...that last hour between 10am and 11am was NO JOKE. The lack of breaks in between the waves (contractions) is tough. In the past with Nelson and Natalie's births I would say "Praise God" when a wave started and that's how I started off in Beau's labor but around 10am/10:15am when things were really kicking into gear, all I could muster was "HELP!" ... I had my dear soul sister and friend, Lauren with me at that point and our midwife and fortunately between the two of them they were able to ask the nurse to bump the pitocin down in hopes of giving me a moment to catch my break. The hospital staff was so supportive of our birth wishes (we had given those to them in writing prior to arrival) so they all knew that I did not want any pain meds, including no epidural. I had gone into the bathroom (thinking I needed to use the bathroom) around 10am/10:15am and was in there for a good chunk of time (hard to get up once in that position and now we know that I was in full on active labor and then went into transition in there which seemed hard to believe seeing that just an hour prior I was at 1cm)...but once I got back to the bed and could catch my breath for half a second ... I announced that my water was about to break (I could feel it) and sure enough after that happened I felt SUCH a relief and then that's when the nurse was able to check me and saw that I was 8cm. That was the best moment EVER!! 

I heard my midwife say to call in the doctor and he said to let him know when I am complete and she said, "She is almost complete. Come now!" I remember one of our friends (that gave birth to her third baby four weeks before me) sharing with me how her husband reminded her in delivery that "there is power in the name of Jesus" and I just remember saying "JESUS!!" Sure enough -- the doctor made it just in time -- and at 11:23am, with one arm clenched tight on my midwife (I kept saying "Don't leave me!") with the next wave, I pushed out Beau Piper Nall!!! No words in the world to describe that moment. The relief to have my baby OUT. The relief to hear him CRY! The relief to know that mommy and baby were both healthy!! Oh, JESUS!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! Brandon was in the best kind of shock as well. Our dear friend, Tammy made it in the room about 10 minutes before Beau was born and got some of the most priceless pictures of the entire birth and I could just watch the video and look at the pictures for hours. I love pregnancy, labor and delivery, and babies oh-so-much (so does Brandon) and have a special place in my heart for these moments. 

I like to replay all of the moments each time before each of my baby's birthdays but as you can imagine, especially on this Birthday Eve of Beau turning ONE!!! He is our long awaited "rainbow baby" and we have truly soaked up each and every moment of this entire year and even our kids kissed him extra tonight knowing that he was going to be ONE in the morning. Each day with him is like Christmas morning in our house. We are forever grateful to the Lord for answering our prayers and allowing us to see our HOPE-filled prayers come full circle with you, Beau Piper. December 27th will always be one of my most favorite days in all of the world (also special that it's Brandon's grandfather's birthday) and we cannot wait to shower you with love when you wake up in the morning, baby boy!! 

So much more I could say but gotta go hang some streamers from your door cause...birthday tradition around here!! Had so much fun running around this afternoon with Nelson and Natalie, getting ready for your birthday! They made it very clear (as I do agree) that just because your birthday is so close to Christmas does not mean that it's supposed to run together ... they are two separate occasions!! ;) Our sweet Christmas miracle!! We still can't even believe you are REAL!!! Love you to the moon and back, baby boy! Happy almost FIRST birthday to you! We cannot wait to celebrate you and the Lord's work in and through you!!! 

Beauty and the Beast with the fam
right before B and I headed to the hospital!
(Nelson does not look too thrilled!)  

Some of the verses I was reading out loud all day!

In the waiting room before they sent us up to our room on Tuesday night. 

9:50am on Tuesday morning ... such a gift to have this sister friend by my side!
Here she was applying some Young Living essential oils to my back! 

Our amazing midwife! 

The dream team!! Incredible how the Lord
ordered the steps of these two mamas to be here for this very moment! 

No caption needed
<<Best moment in all the world>>

Births bring us so close together ...
no other person I would want by my side in these moments!!

Beyond thankful! 

Nall party of FIVE! Pure delight!! 

Oh happy day!! 

Thank you, Jesus!!
Gotta love this pic of Mommy & Beau
 (with Daddy trying to catch a little shut eye in the background!) 

Sunday, September 30, 2018

Two Years Later - Please Pray For These Mamas

Heartfelt post coming up ... life is not always happy babies and pumpkin patches (not that anything is wrong with either) but today I feel led to share from the heart.

It was two years ago on this day (September 30, 2016) that I was going through our third back-to-back miscarriage in one year. I remember the heaviness that my body felt unlike any other to feel "labor pains" there in the darkness yet to know that on the other side of the deep breaths and contractions -- there would be no baby in our arms. I remember one day that week laying outside on our deck (cause it literally was uncomfortable to walk) in the sunlight with Nelson and Natalie in my arms as life still marched on -- with the joys and sorrows happening at the same time unlike anything I had ever experienced. My heart broken over the little ones we would not get to meet earth side. Yet my heart was overjoyed to have these blessings with me and not for a moment would I ever want to take them for granted.


At some point I shared some of our story here on our blog and decided that I was going to use the voice God had given me to not stay silent -- in hopes that being real and vulnerable could help someone else out there no that they are NOT alone. That was always such a comfort to me when I met people that came alongside me saying, "I have no words. Just know - I have been there - and it is awful." The bonds that the Lord started during that time go deep in a way (still to this day) that are hard to put into words.

As the months went on, people started contacting me that read this blog ... or had a friend of a friend going through something similar ... and we have been able to encourage one another and share our faith journeys along this road.

Fast forward to where we are today and we have a 9 month old baby in our family!! Praise the Lord we did not lose hope. Just yesterday -- a friend connected me with another friend that is going through a back to back miscarriage on this very day. I had not cried about all of this in a long time but last night when I had the opportunity to pray with this dear mother over the phone, the tears were flooding back. Today as I woke up to new mercies in the morning -- I knew that this was still going to be another hard day for her as she is still in the thick of it.

The point of me even having the desire to share this today is to ask you to join in prayer for two mamas:

1) Please pray for the dear mama that is going through yet another back-to-back miscarriage in this very moment. For strength. For hope. For the ability to grieve. For the encouragement from the Lord to feel His peace no matter what. For stamina to not lose the fight of faith as they pray and believe for another baby to come into their family. "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak" (Isaiah 40:29).

2) Please pray for another friend that has been on a similar journey that is due with their baby this week. She has had so many losses and is quite frankly scared to death of another one but wanting to have faith that all will be well in the end. She is such a fighter and wants to believe God is good. It is such a hard journey. Pray that the "JOY of the Lord will be her strength" (Nehemiah 8:10) as she welcomes a healthy baby boy into their family in just a few short days.

Thank you for taking the time to read this lengthy post that I decided to turn into a blog post! 
This was me trying to keep it "short and sweet"!! I know that details like this can often make some people squirm and feel uncomfortable. I also know that sharing like this can bring LIFE to some people in their darkest moments.


Pictured here is one of my treasured paintings from a college roommate when I was going through the miscarriages. The little picture is an ultrasound image of the baby we got to see (with the heartbeat) in February 2016. After the third miscarriage, I started using these three items from Young Living : Release, Progessence Plus, and Hope. One is what I diffused when I met with our Christian counselor. One helps to balance hormones. One is used for strength and stability of the emotions. These were part of the pieces to the puzzle that the Lord used to restore my body to a place of peace after so many losses. I have told many other mamas about these and they, too, have had positive experiences and a testimony similar to ours of how the Lord has used these amazing products to restore LIFE in the tough times. Don't ever hesitate to reach out if you need a listening ear or know of someone that could use some encouragement. Life is too short to stay silent and believe the lie that you are the only one. You are NOT alone. Thankful to know the LIVING GOD that is with us each step of the way and an army of mamas that would love to join with you in prayer as you walk out your journey.





Wednesday, May 9, 2018

The Power Of Praying Children

I have wanted to update this blog for the past 4 months and since there is never going to be the “perfect” time … I am putting all else to the side tonight and sitting down to this! No time to make sure this all flows just right or anything like that so I am going to share from the heart.


The Lord graciously answered the prayers our children prayed for months and months that went something like this, “Thank you, Lord that baby Beau is going to come out at Christmas!” And just like that, he was born at 39 weeks, 6 days on Tuesday, December 27, 2017. Truly the most merriest of Christmases to date! The whole thing seemed like a dream come true. One of my favorite things is to write out all of the details of the children’s births at some point but that will be for another day!




Tonight I want to share some of the backstory of Spring 2017 that led up to that blessed event in December 2017. I have shared before about the three miscarriages we had in December 2015, March 2016, and October 2016 so you can scroll back through previous posts to read that if you want to get caught up to speed. Knowing that, the other details that I am about to share will make more sense.


While I was experiencing the third miscarriage in October 2016, Brandon found a house that he wanted us to go look at together. We were not even in the middle of a house search anymore (we had been months prior) but that had not been on our radar at the present time. It was all I could do to muster of the physical strength to hop in the car and go see this house that was in our dream neighborhood. The other thought I had was that I did not know if I could get excited about one more thing and get my hopes up about one more thing that was not going to work out how I had envisioned. But God. We met the realtor at the house and did a walk through and did not say a word. Which if you know anything about me, is very uncharacteristic ;) Later that night, we were back at our house and he said, “Well, let’s talk about it. If we like it we need to put an offer in” (Because the Nashville market is HOT!) So we did and the rest is history. So much more I could share about the details here, there and in between but there is more that I want to share on another subject. We closed on the house 4 weeks later on November 7, 2016 and then did some renovations for the next couple of weeks and moved into our new home the first weekend of December. I know this is going to sound odd but there was a PEACE like no other that the LORD gave me at that time and it has not left. When I experienced that third miscarriage and STILL heard from my midwife, doctor, and high risk doctor, “You are young. You are healthy. You have had two healthy babies. There is nothing wrong with you. There is no reason for you to not have another healthy baby” I knew in my heart of hearts that the Lord had me in His grip and that the story I was living was all part of a bigger plan for His glory to be revealed. *I will also add right now that I know there are two sides of the fence to sharing … some people think that it’s too much to share personal stories online and other peoples lives are forever changed by someone speaking openly and this is where I will say that I remember in high school when my public speaking teacher told me loud and clear: “Whitney, God has give you a voice and you are going to use it for good.” So if you’re not one that feels comfortable with the private sharing online, you do not have to read this. But if you are one that is needing to hear that God is a God of PEACE and EVEN WHEN it does not make sense to the world, He can overwhelm your heart with a “peace that surpasses all understanding”...then read on!
So I will say...no more heart racing anxiety after November 2016...we moved into the house and I just felt like I could take a big deep breath.


The page turned into 2017 and something in my bones just felt DIFFERENT. The one word I can use to describe is PEACE. God’s peace.
At that point, I was doing acupuncture once a month. In January 2017, I started Bible Study Fellowship. What a BLESSING that was! We were studying JOHN and I remember the teacher in lecture (Sharon) sharing the story of Lazarus. She was talking about how what looks like a delay to man, is no delay to God. His timing is perfect. And when there is what looks like to be a delay in the natural, God is setting the stage for the miraculous. Amen!! In February 2017, I started a liver cleanse. This is something I had wanted to do after Nelson and Natalie’s births since I developed Intrahepatic Cholestasis of Pregnancy at the end of pregnancy with both of them. Meanwhile, I was still attending The Well (a powerful women’s event at Church of the City in Franklin) that met once a month. You may have read in the November 2017 blog post about the amarrylis … that song was shared by Christy Nockels at The Well. In February 2017, Rebekah Lyons new book “You Are Free” was released and the chapter I started with in that was on being free to grieve. Amen and Amen! All part of the healing. In March, I started having some bizarre face tingling. We did not know what the cause was and one night I was at The Well event at the beginning of April and went forward during the time for prayer and God provided sweet and powerful prayers from Lauren Tomlin. I will never forget after she prayed for healing for my face during “No Longer Slaves” playing in the background, she grabbed my arm and said, “Let me know when you find out you are pregnant.”


So many things to share and trying to remember all the high points here but at some point in February, Nelson and Natalie and I were at Costco. We had just walked through the clothing section and they were starting to put out some spring looking clothes and there was an adorable little outfit size 3 months that had a baseball on the booty and my baseball loving son looked at me with big eyes and said, “Mom, we need to get this for our baby!” Stuff like that would happen all the time where the kids talked about “our baby” like he or she was already part of the family. I will tell you, God used Nelson and Natalie and their powerful and effective prayers each day to encourage me and speak HOPE to my heart to keep the faith and keep believing and asking in prayer for God’s timing for us to have another baby. It was incredible. I also had a friend (Lauren H.) that had asked me if I had ever spoken with our mutual friend (Anne) about her story. She had apparently had two healthy babies and then a number of miscarriages before going on to have more healthy children. I had not seen this mutual friend in years and years (she was a few years older than me and a girl I knew through RUF at Auburn) and I did not even have her phone number. I had just looked up her name on Facebook earlier that morning cause I thought to myself, “I need to send her a message and ask her about this” and lo and behold, soon after Nelson had put the baseball outfit in our cart at Costco, we RAN INTO HER in person on the aisle AT COSTCO!! What in the world?! Only God. I asked her all about it and it was a short and sweet divine appointment that the Lord used to encourage me that yes, in fact, I can have more healthy children. So then, same day...we had just unloaded our groceries from Costco and I was scrolling through Instagram and came across a post by Priscalla Shirer. I had gone through her “Armor of God” Bible Study before and following her encouraging posts. Well this day was one that I will never forget. If you follow her on Instagram (@priscillashirer) you can scroll back to February 17, 2017 and see this very post. It is a picture of tulips on her counter. I love tulips so that caught my eye! Her post said, “Five hours ago these flowers were slumped over. They looked dead and hopeless. I was just about to throw them away when a friend said, “Looks like they drank all the water. Let’s just add more.” I thought it was too late. I was certain there was no possibility of resurrection from this extreme option….that was five hours ago. ///// Don’t throw it away yet - the ministry, the marriage, the dream, the possibility. He is the Living Water. He can change everything. In an instant.” Reading this tonight, even over a year later, still brings tears to my eyes. GOD USED HER INSTAGRAM POST TO SPEAK LIFE OVER ME and I took to heart what she said and believed to not throw away the dream of having another baby and now I here I sit typing this blog post while watching my four month old better than a dream come true baby sleep on the baby monitor. Yall, do not lose hope. I do not know who needs to hear that tonight but this is for you. I have so many other things I could be doing right now like … showering, making chicken salad, washing the dishes, folding clothes, reading … but the Lord is giving me the strength to share these details because someone needs to hear this.


OK, so that was my encouragement in February. Nelson getting the outfit, running into the friend, then reading the tulip posts. Then in March the whacky face tingling stuff happened and I saw that as a curve ball to just bring me to my knees to believe that NOTHING is wrong with me. I am HEALTHY. I am WHOLE. I can still have more healthy children. Then fast forward to the evening of April 20th (day after Natalie turned three) and she looked at me in the eyes before bed that night while we were brushing her teeth in the bathroom and said, “You have a baby in your belly!” Sure enough, I waited until the next morning to get that good ‘ole fresh morning urine and there ya have it, a positive pregnancy test. We held this precious news closely and did not even tell the children. One week later we went on a family trip to the beach and remember how Lauren Tomlin asked me that night she prayed for me (April 10th) to let her know when I found out I was pregnant? Yall. I can’t make this up. I ran into her that first week of May on our beach trip in Seaside. Only God!!! I not only got to tell her the good news, I got to tell her in person. Meanwhile, I had just gotten a call from the sweetest girl at The Well, asking if I would be willing to share our story at the last gathering for the semester at The Well on Monday, May 8th. I said YES! I knew that would be tough but that God would give me the strength and the words.


For starters, the heavy intense pregnancy nausea hit me like a ton of bricks on Friday, May 5th as we enjoyed Cinco de Mayo Seaside Style!! We were there with friends and family and the friends knew the news but the family did not. So there I sat, more thankful than I had ever been to feel nauseous (because I had intense nausea with Nelson and Natalie’s pregnancies week 6-12 but only minimal nausea for the most part with the third, fourth, and fifth pregnancies) … again, so so thankful to feel nauseous this go round. Amazing what a perspective does! God gave me this nausea as a GIFT. It just felt right in my spirit. My body remembered feeling like this with my pregnancies with Nelson and Natalie and it was a way the Lord kept reminding me that ALL IS WELL. So I got to share our story of faith on May 8th at The Well and that was a hard night but a good night. Sweet in all of the ways the Lord met me in each detail. The significance of that day is that May 8th was the due date of the baby that we lost in October 2016. When I shared with my midwife and her assistant that I was getting to share our story on this day, she started crying and asked me if I knew what the number eight means in the Bible. She said: NEW BEGINNINGS. Well then I teared up because I felt like the Lord had given me such a peace that the season of losses was over and this is a season of new beginnings. From start to finish, fear did not reign in this sixth pregnancy. I had a PEACE from the beginning and it carried through to his delivery. I was expecting MIRACLES all nine of those dear months of carrying him from each heartbeat, to each ultrasound, to each blood test, to my liver enzymes, and so forth and so on...all of it, God gave me a supernatural peace. And it was also the product of a lot of work. For those that know me closely, you know that I went through intensive EMDR work with our Christian counselor months prior. That all paid off.


I will never forget one day in May when I felt the debilitating nausea and Brandon was leaving for work and said to Nelson and Natalie, “Be sweet to Mommy. She is not feeling the best” and they looked up at him and said, “Yes sir, we will. We know she has a baby in her belly.” And again, we had not said a word to them. Sweet moments like that throughout the entire pregnancy were such a gift from God of how He was going before and behind us and answering prayers right and left that our kids (especially Nelson) had prayed for years.
When it came time for the 20 week ultrasound and anatomy scan on Thursday, August 10th...we asked the kids at breakfast that morning if they thought the baby was going to be “Insert baby girl name” or “Insert baby boy name” (we said two names) and Nelson blurted, “BABY BEAU”!!! Beau was the name of a friend he had connected with at our church’s summer camp and we smiled at him and didn’t think much of it at the time. Then fast forward a few hours and we took Nelson and Natalie with us for the special ultrasound and this was going to be the first time we had ever found out the gender in person. We waited and bit into a cupcake with blue icing (for Nelson) and pink icing (for Natalie) in previous years.
When we found out in the ultrasound room, “It’s a BOY!” … Nelson said, “I knew it! God answered my prayers!!!” He not only had prayed for a baby… he had prayed specifically for a brother. We said, “Isn’t that amazing how God answers prayers, Nelson?” and he said, “He is so powerful!!!” A few weeks went on and as Brandon and I were praying through our son’s name we thought, how cool would it be for Nelson to get to name his precious brother that he has so fervently prayed for all of these years?! So we went with Beau! And B loved that he would have another BNALL in the family ;) And some of you may know that Nelson is named after Tom Nelson (Denton Bible Church … Brandon learned about him when he went through the “Song of Solomon” series in college and said he would name his firstborn son after him) and so we chose to Beau’s middle name to be “Piper” after one of our favorite pastors, John Piper. Brandon and I met at the Passion 2007 conference in Atlanta and John Piper is one of the pastors that usually speaks at Passion and we have looked up to him and his preaching throughout our marriage and before we even knew each other. So that is how our little Beau Piper got his name!


As I mentioned before, I am sure the Lord will give me more strength to share the details of Beau’s birth at some point for now, must practice what I preach about “sleep while the baby is sleeping”...since he has been asleep already for 3 hours, I must wrap this up and go get some rest! For those of you that made it this far, thank you for reading. I have looked forward to the day I got to put some of these details on paper. It has been an incredibly sweet four months having Beau Piper in our arms and in our home. He is the sweetest baby. Eats well, sleeps well, and is loved more than words by each of his family and those that have met him!! As Nelson says a few times a week, “He is my dream come true!” It was so cute watching Beau “cheer” for Nelson tonight at Nelson’s baseball game and watching Nelson on third base, run his heart out towards Beau in the bleachers. What a special brotherly connection they will always have. And he is Natalie’s real live baby doll. SO much more I could say but eyes are getting tired. To God be the glory! And oh the power of praying children.

**It has been a special spring, getting to introduce Beau to some of the ladies that have poured into me throughout the past year as I waited expectantly to be pregnant and then walked through this pregnancy with Beau. See below for pictures with the women who led The Well : Lauren Tomlin, Rebekah Lyons, and Christy Nockels. Sweet Beau stayed awake long enough to meet them last week at our last gathering of the spring semester. Then there is a picture with the BSF lecture teacher, Sharon at our last BSF gathering of the semester as well. So special getting to share in person with each of these ladies how the Lord used them as in instrument to speak LIFE, JOY, HOPE and PEACE over me in the past year (s)!!