Racing Season has begun!

Okay, I am a little behind in posting as race season really began the last weekend in May down in Wheatland, Missouri. We had a great, albeit long trip, the first one in our motorhome for the year. The kids were wonderful and my mother-in-law likes to mention how they were trapped inside for 18 hours straight! We left home around supper-time and stopped to camp in Springfield IL, which was exactly halfway there. The children were all in bed by that time (except George). The next morning my husband and I wanted to make the most of our time and planned on leaving before the children woke up. That morning everyone was wide awake and ready to go so off we went and the children all waved to Grandma and Grandpa as we pulled out, never having left the motorhome. We arrived at our destination later that day much to everyone's joy.

Our weekend was full of excitement. We had a small family reunion with some of my husband's family and the children were able to go canoing in a nearby lake with their Aunt and Uncle which they were so excited about. Our picnic was interrupted by heavy rains that continued on into the evening when my husband was supposed to race. Unfortunately the race was canceled for the night which made Sunday extremely busy with two muddy races to fit in. John pulled everything together though and came away with two second places! What a great way to begin the season! The next race will be this coming weekend and is always the favorite at a world class track in Crandon WI.

I tried to linking to a few pictures from the race but they aren't showing up so I will just give you the link if you want to see a cool picture of my husband flying through the air. There are also quite a few muddy ones. www.jp3photo.com/p890372048/

Here is the car full of mud after the race with baby boy looking on.

Small footprint, big imprint

The Memorial Service for Owen was last night and was beautiful and God-honoring. We know God created little Owen just as He planned and although we don't understand it he is now in the loving arms of Jesus made perfectly whole waiting to meet his Mommy and Daddy face to face.

Heather is experiencing so many emotions. Just imagine giving birth to a sweet baby boy, holding him in your arms, taking in the scent of a newborn, feeling the peach fuzz on his back, examining each perfect little finger and toe. Then the next day you leave the hospital holding only the empty blanket that just moments ago held your son and those few precious memories. Never to see the first baby smile, see him run and jump with his brothers, hear him call your name, "Mama". Then feeling the pain of your milk coming in reminding you that your little one is not there to nurse and cuddle with. Feeling exhausted from lack of sleep, not from getting up in the night with a newborn but getting up with grief and spending that time in crying out to God.

If you try to put yourself in that place you can maybe glimpse a bit of the pain Heather and Jason are experiencing. Heather emailed a few pictures of their “beautiful boy” that is now made whole in heaven. Owen’s face was completely bruised from the trauma of birth and his eyes bulge because of the anencephaly but he was created by God and is beautiful. Please watch the slide show above.

Thanks for praying. Please continue to do so as after meeting little Owen the pain is so much harder to bear.  "We can cry with hope, we can say goodbye with hope because we know our goodbye is not the end. There's a place where we will see your face again" (Steve Curtis Chapman -- With Hope)

"There is no footprint too small that it cannot leave an imprint on this world."

Psalm 139:13-16 (amplified)

For You did form my inward parts; You did knit me together in my mother's womb.

I will confess and praise You for You are fearful and wonderful and for the awful wonder of my birth! Wonderful are Your works, and that my inner self knows right well.

My frame was not hidden from You when I was being formed in secret [and] intricately and curiously wrought [as if embroidered with various colors] in the depths of the earth [a region of darkness and mystery].

Your eyes saw my unformed substance, and in Your book all the days [of my life] were written before ever they took shape, when as yet there was none of them.

Make video montages at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Update

I left you with a prayer request and then left for the weekend. I am going to give you a quick update and will blog more hopefully later in the week after the Memorial Service.

Heather went to the hospital at midnight on Thursday to be induced. This was a few weeks before her actual due date. Nothing much happened and so the doctor broke her water at 1:30 p.m. on Friday and labor picked up later in the afternoon. Owen Matthew was born at 5:08 p.m on May 30 but unfortunately labor was too much for him and his heart stopped beating before he was born... He weighed 3 lbs 10 oz. and was 17" long. Jason called me late Friday night. He told me that Owen had features similar to their other boys and even had a little hair. Their parents and their two boys were able to spend time holding him and had many pictures taken. They planned on going home the next day but were going to spend the night holding Owen.

My heart breaks when I think of them going home from the hospital with empty arms that ache to hold their baby...