About Me

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Kirkland, Washington, United States
I am a child of God. I am a follower of Jesus. I am a wife, momma, daughter, sister and friend. I love good conversation and hearty laughter. A good cup of coffee is always appreciated. Most of all, I desire to bring others into an experience with Jesus. One that will shape their lives and rock their souls for Him. Geoff is my best friend and amazing husband. Parker is my handsome boy who lives in Heaven. Norah is my bright star and bringer of joy. Tori is my overcomer and peaceful warrior. I live to show Jesus' love to each person He places in my path. I pray this blog strengthens you, comforts you and encourages you and that it MOST OF ALL causes you to want to get to know Jesus in a deeper level.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Hello Strangers :)

So I have realized that I'm averaging about one new post each month. HA! So I haven't completely fallen off the face of the earth.

Here's an update on life in the Harmon house with Norah's near arrival.

September 15th we remembered our Parker's birth. The day started like "normal," just like any other day, but ended up feeling like a mixture of really special and really sad.

Around 3 in the afternoon I received a beautiful bouquet from my parents that was delivered to me at work. Then, I went home, Geoff and I had a nice quiet, easy meal together. After that we went to Costco, bought a beautiful bouquet of autumn colored daisies to take to the grave. This was when I saw my Geoffrey struggle with what this day was all about. I asked him what was wrong and he said that this day made him really focus on what we had gone through. Not to say that we haven't focused on it, but being that it was his birthday, Parker's birthday, was something that we couldn't just shoved to the back and not focus on.

So we went to the cemetery, parked right by his grave, took a deep breath, took the bouquet and walked to his grave. We laid the flowers on his headstone and stood there for a while and talked about Parker. Then we (and I know this is going to sound strange) walked around the baby area of the cemetery and looked at the other headstones there. Then around 7:30, closer to 8 we went to Geoff's parents house to have ice cream sundaes. We ate delicious sundaes, laughed and had a great time. Then Geoff's mom gave us this gift that, evidently she had been holding on to for quite some time. It was a sketch of a hospital picture that was taken of Parker in the bassinet after he was born.

The hospital picture itself is raw. It makes him look horribly pale. You can see the skin on his face and hands that was starting to peel. You can clearly see where his eye was bruised and swollen due to labor. You can also see that he is (and I know this sounds weird) but he looks, I don't know how else to say this, but he looks obviously dead in the picture. It's just an awful AWFUL picture. The first time I saw it was back in July. I pulled it out of the envelope and nearly collapsed in anguish at how bad my precious baby boy looked. It was not how remembered him at all.

SO...back to the gift. When I began to open it, I realized that it was a frame. My heart began to pound out of fear that maybe she had taken the liberty to have the hospital photo framed. I didn't want to open it, but I kept unwrapping. After it was all unwrapped, I turned the frame over to see the picture and my breath was taken away. He looked perfect, perfect, perfect in every way. There is no other way to descibe the sketch.

We all cried over the sketch and were in complete awe of how much it looked just like him and the best part, he looked absolutely peaceful, as if he was sleeping. This sketch hangs in our hallway for all to see. It hangs proudly on our family wall under a photo of Geoff and I on our wedding day. Once Norah arrives, her photo will join his there as well.

At the end of the evening Geoff and I went home, cried a little more for our Parker, who we still miss with every breath, and then relaxed for a bit before bed.

***

These days, these past few weeks, I have officially entered the final countdown stage. We only have 5 1/2 weeks until Norah's arrival and that is thrilling, plus I am started my weekly appointments now at 33 1/2 weeks, which is great as well.

At our 32 week appointment, we had another ultra sound and got to peak into Norah's world. She is absolutely beautiful (we got a 3D picture of her face). We wish that we could just have her now and be enjoying her already, but we know that she needs to grow and get stronger, so we'll be patient.

Dr. Rudeen measured her head, her abdomen, her spine, everything and it all checked out great. She currently weighs 4 lbs and is measuring right on schedule which is great! A few weeks ago she was in the breach position, but that is no longer the case (praise the Lord) she is head down now.

The weekly appointments, that I mentioned earlier, that I'll be starting, will be NSTs (non-stress tests) that women categorized as high risk receive, as well as other basic monitoring that all women receive (such as, heart rate, growth, etc).

Geoff and I are praying that the last few weeks fly with no complications and that before we know it, it will be November 18th and we will be headed to the hospital to get induced. So pray with us that these next 5 weeks just fly fly FLY fast.

I'll try to keep you all posted until then.