One Year

One year ago today, my life changed in a way that I never thought would happen to me. I felt the most pain, sorrow, anger and shock than I had ever in my life. Soon after, I realized that I was blessed. I was blessed with the knowledge of where she was, I was blessed with four months with a healthy, happy baby, I was blessed with prayers of support and strength, I was blessed with a husband that never once cast blame on me but only supported me and loved me.

During this year, I have had to move past a lot of blame issues. Thankfully, I found a person to talk to and work through the blame and shock with, so I could grieve in a healthy way. I can now look upon this day without feeling like I could have done something to change the outcome. I can look at today and know that my sweet girl is our guardian angel and is enjoying the wonders of Heaven. She was hand picked my God to join him in his kingdom and she is not pining for me, she is waiting for the day that I will join her.

Through Abigayl's passing, I have found friendships that I know will last a lifetime, I have found a church family that I love, I have renewed my faith and have become a stronger christian and I have grown closer to my husband.

I miss Abigayl terribly and I love her with every cell in my body. She is my sweet angel and I can't wait to see her, hold her and kiss her again. The great thing is... I know that I WILL see her, hold her and kiss her again.

JBF... with great friends

My friend Kimberlee sent me these beautiful flowers today. There is nothing like fresh, wonderful flowers to cheer me up. Thank you Kimberlee for being so thoughtful.

I received the flowers one hour before I was headed out the door to meet her and her sister, Kristin, at the "just between friends" sale here in Owasso. I had never heard of this until Kimberlee was telling me about it earlier in the day.

Thanks to Kristin, I was able to get into the sale at 6 pm instead of having to wait until 8 pm. It was a wonderful distraction for the evening and it gave me something very positive to do and focus on.

I was able to get this OU outfit with matching hat for only $4!!! STEAL

This is the rest of the good stuff I bought. I got all of the shoes for only ~$5/pair! They don't even look like they have ever been worn! Not only that, Kimberlee found some Trumpette socks that look like cowboy boots and they were almost half off what we paid for our tennis shoe ones! I recommend the sale to anyone with kids... check out the website to see if they have one in your area.

The Rest....

After our day of walking through Dogwood Canyon, we headed into Branson to do some shopping at the outlet mall.

Let's just say that Rowynn is already pretty spoiled!

After shopping, we decided on some put-put

It was tons of fun and not to crowded

As you can see, I think we all know who was the talented one that night! Two, yes two, holes in one! I know.. I pretty much rock!

Sunday we headed back home, sadly. We both would have really like to have been able to spend just one more day relaxing and enjoying the beauty of Big Cedar.

On our way home, we stopped off in Carthage, MO at the Precious Moments Chapel. I can't believe what an amazing talent Sam Butcher is. I thought that he just made the figurines but he is actually a painter and a sculptor/carver as well.

All of the murals were painted on the actual plaster! He had to stand on scaffolding for hours at a time to paint these pictures.

This is on the ceiling. It is an unfinished angel.

Here are all of the little angles that are painted on the ceiling. It is so beautiful.

These pictures illustrate Genesis 1

This side of the chapel illustrates the old testament

And the other side, illustrated the new testament. His painting were incredible.

Along the side hallways he designed and made beautiful stain glass windows

Behind the chapel, there is a cave with a precious moments statue and a sign that reads, "He is not here, for he has risen"

Beautiful

When we arrived home, we unloaded all of the shopping bags from Saturday night. I don't know if we bought enough... maybe we should go back and get more!

We got these socks for him at a boutique here in Tulsa. But, I thought I would show them off.

Are these not the cutest little socks? He will get to look like he is wearing little shoes!

Eating, Walking, Shopping and Eating!

I am going to do this one in two separate posts. Otherwise, it would be super long and I don't want to make you sit in front of your computer for the next 2 hours reading and looking at my blog!

This weekend we went to Branson, MO to stay at Big Cedar Lodge and have a small getaway. Friday evening we checked into our room (which was amazing as usual) and headed down to Branson Landing to browse the shops. After eating a caramel apple it was time to head back to get some sleep. We are both early to bed and early to rise!

Saturday, we headed to breakfast at the restaurant on property and walked the grounds a little.

It was a cool morning so I was able to wear a sweater... my favorite weather! It was beautiful though and warmed up quite nicely.

One thing we have never done but have always talked about is going to Dogwood Canyon and walking around. We decided to skip Silver Dollar City and browse through nature instead.


We decided to walk instead of rent bikes and later would kick ourselves for not just getting a segway to ride! The walk is 3.2 mi to the end and then you get to turn around and come back! The first 3.2 mi were great! But, I was hurting by the time we got back.

There were lots of small waterfalls through out the park. Rusty stuck his hand in the water and said it was quite cold... darn, I was hoping for some swimming ;)

This bridge was built by hand by a group of Amish men in the 90's.

See, it went from sweater weather to tank top weather! I love the fall.

In areas of the park where you could only fish if you had a guide, the fish were big. Rusty bought some fish food and this guy would practically come out of the water to eat it!

Then we went to the Glory Hole where the fish must be use to being fed. They were the biggest trout I have ever seen. They would swim on top of each other trying to get the piece of food.

Behind us is a waterfall that falls into the Glory Hole. It was neat to look down at the fish and see just how big they were.

You can see a fish in the water from up here!

(you may have to click on the pic)

Rusty spotted this guy with his eagle eyes! I think he was a snapping turtle... I didn't put my finger down there to find out. I just took a picture instead.

We walked clear to Arkansas! And, it only took 3 miles to do it.

Time to turn around and see it all all over again.

Thankfully at the end we were able to eat a VERY yummy buffalo burger (raised at Dogwood Canyon) before making our way back to Big Cedar.

Come back tomorrow for the rest of the trip!

We are having a.....

Can you tell what this picture shows? Look at the right side and I think it will "stick" out to you.

You guessed it, it's a boy!!!

Here we have little Rowynn Russell Stamper and we found out today that we can expect to meet him on February 5, 2010. I'm scheduled for a 7 am surgery so that means I get to show up at 5 am!

And here we have his strong little heartbeat! I was surprised to hear that he was a boy because his heartbeat was so fast... but, he's a boy alright! Dr. G said that we have a hyper boy... oh my, I wonder how that will turn out?!

Less than 24 hours!!

We are on the home stretch... only 18 hours until we get to find out what we are having!! Woo hoo. Tomorrow will be a fantastic day. It will be nice to have breakfast, an ultrasound, some coffee, time with the doctor than I get a much needed hair cut. I think that sounds like a perfect day!

What is super spectacular, we leave for a little weekend getaway to Branson on Friday. It will be great to have a relaxing few days before we hit the stress and emotions of the day that is coming far quicker than I am ready for.

Hot Dogs, Marshmallows and Fire (after the ice)

Last night, Rusty decided that it was time to burn the brush pile. Mind you, this brush pile has been piled up for at last a year (scattered for the year prior to that). So, it was an exciting thing to finally think of being rid of the large pile that made mowing a little more of a chore than it already is.

The brush pile came to be because of an ice storm that hit in 2007. The ice storm not only created a huge mess of tree limbs and dead trees but it also knocked out our power for a full week.

Here are some lovely pictures from our wonderful ice storm.

The ice storm was much fun especially being pregnant! Thankfully Rusty had a generator on his work truck so we were able to have a light, the TV and the refrigerator.

Back to last night, Rusty started the fire at about 6:30 and our friends arrived at 6:45. We loaded up all of our cooking supplies in the truck and drove on back to the back field. After deciding that the fire was a little too big and hot for us women and children to cook on, we took some of the wood to our little fire pit in the back yard.

We roasted some hot dogs, ate some mac and cheese, had a little burn accident (don't worry, his little hand is OK) and then loaded the cooler back up so we could take it back to the back field to make s'mores with Rusty. Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures until I was getting ready to go to bed and I snapped one from the back porch.

So here is our fire at 9pm last night. Poor Rusty ended up being out there until after 11! Sad part is, not all of the wood burned and we still have a couple of pieces that will need some extra time some other night. That's okay though, that just gives us another excuse to have friends over again and have another cook out.

Birds and Baby...

Though we still don't know what we are having, it is a 50/50 right?! So, while at Cracker Barrel this past weekend they were having their sidewalk sale and had onsies for only $3! So, we couldn't resist two little boy onsies by John Deere. Not on sale, were the adorable OU booties and pacifiers. Since those could be used either way, it was a must!

Also, my mom was in town and while we were browsing for her some stuff to take back up to Alaska, she bought the baby some new BPA free bottles and this sleep mat. I helps support the baby and keep them from rolling around. Also, it lays at an incline which helps with digestion and breathing.

While sitting at the desk, typing and searching away, my bird friend came back to the brush pile. This time, he put on a show with his wings. It was pretty neat.

(You may need to click on the picture to enlarge it)

By the way.... ONLY ONE MORE WEEK (and one day)!!!!!

What do YOU think it is?

All right, the top picture is of me now and on the bottom is when I was pregnant with Abigayl. Both pictures are taken at 18 weeks. As for any other info I can give, Abigayl's heartbeat was 160 and this little one was 167 at our 12 week appointment. My morning sickness was REALLY bad with Abigayl and it was pretty mild with this one.

My question to you is, what do YOU think I am having? I will find out in 10 days (September 24) and then I will be able to tell you all. I thought it would just be fun to let everyone take a guess.

Weekend at the Lake

As it is a Stamper tradition to head to Grand Lake for the weekend, we loaded up to meet with all of Rusty's family (both immediate and extended). This time around, we were joined my my mom and also our friends, The Smiths. We had a fantastic time eating, swimming, boating and floating.

On the evening that we arrived, we decided to go down to the boat so Rusty could get some fishing in and we could take a little cruise around the lake. While Rusty was fishing off the boat in the slip, a little baby duck was making his way toward us making a little, distressed duck noise. I was so sad because I didn't see a mommy anywhere.

Thankfully, I had taken some corn chips down to snack on because when he came over toward us I crumbled some chips in the water for him. The only problem was that he didn't know how to eat them. So then, I tried throwing him a dead minnow but poor little guy didn't know how to eat that either. I was getting a little scared for the little guy because I didn't know what baby ducks eat and I didn't see any mom.

Well, Rusty saw a big duck land over across the shore and sure enough she started making her duck noises. That little baby duck practically ran across the water and we was talking up a storm to her. It was such a sweet moment. Yes, I cried a little... don't give me a hard time, I'm pregnant!

So, mom and baby made their way back over to where we were and she ate a bunch of chips and a couple of dead minnows before we headed off on a little boat ride. It was such a sweet ending!

Movement?

I think I may be feeling our little one!! It isn't the distinct kicking yet but I think it is the baby moving around that I feel. It all started on Monday when I thought I felt movement and told Rusty about it. He was pretty sure that's what I felt because he read in one of our books that it would start soon but I was a little skeptical.

Then, Tuesday I continued to feel some flutters through out the day but was still unsure. I didn't feel much yesterday but I was super busy all day and today I have felt a few flutters here and there. I guess since it has happened almost every day this week that it has to be the baby and not just... other stuff.

So, I think my pregnancy may start to feel a little more real over the next few weeks! I'm ready for the big movements, the ones that make my belly morph into some alien looking thing. That was always my favorite with Abigayl. But, it also means I'll probably get woken up a little more often at night.

Aaaahhh!

Yesterday was a little like Christmas for me, I received six boxes... yes, six... from Pampered Chef! Unfortunately, not all of the content in those six boxes are going into my kitchen cabinets.

I had the pleasure of sorting through the mess of stuff and separating it into piles so I could get all of my guests items in order. After it was all said and done, this is what the end product looked like (minus the 6 orders I have already delivered).

And, this was the mess of boxes I was left after unpacking the main six plus all of the packaging for my products. It is times like now that I wish the great state of Oklahoma had a recycling program half as good as California's.

But, I can deal with the mess because I have all of these new toys to play with in my kitchen!! I used the skillet and mandolin (with the cheese grater attachment) to make a quesadilla yesterday. I love the mandolin. I can't wait to use it for all sorts of other things, like slicing onions all the same thickness for hamburgers!