Completely humbled....

I TRULEY feel like I could not be more thankful for my boys...ok no REALLY I can't be more thankful...I am as thankful as they come. However there is things in life that happen that make me humble when it comes to being a mom. I think humbling ourselves is something that needs done more often. James 4:10 says "Humble yourselves before The Lord and He will lift you up" 

And here is the definition of humble...

humble[ huhm-buhl, uhm- ]

adjective [hum·bler, hum·blest.]

1. not proud or arrogant; modest: to be humble although successful.

2. having a feeling of insignificance, inferiority, subservience, etc.: In the presence of so many world-famous writers I felt very humble.

3. low in rank, importance, status, quality, etc.; lowly: of humble origin; a humble home.

     Now the definition kind of gets to me...it's basically telling me to think lower of myself....and I KNOW that is not what God wants for me....he wants me to think highly of myself. He wants me to know that I am righteous, and highly favored... IN HIM!!!!!!!!! Not in and of myself!

I look at humbling as a form of gratitude towards Christ. Thanking Him for all I have and all He has done for me and most importantly standing up and saying "without you Lord...I would be nothing"

I think you can individually humble yourself in your own way for your own reasons. But having a humbled heart is something I long for and something I want to be so conscious of in this life. I want to humble myself when terrible things happen such as the tornados in Nebraska recently or when someone you know is going through something traggic. I remember when we were going through everything with Luke I tried to keep myself humble by reminding myself that it could be worse while still allowing myself the pity party I so rightly deserved in that moment. It was a MAJOR, SCARY, and AWFUL thing we had to go through...but what about having a humble heart when all three of my kids don't nap at the same time??? Maybe I need to humble myself by saying...at least I have kids right!?! Well today I am so humbled that I have children and that the good Lord has not just blessed me with one but three healthy and beautiful little boys. I am humbled before Him that He would intrust me to raise them and train them in the godly way He created them to be. I am in awe that He thinks I am good enough and that I messure up enough to care for these three people that in my eyes deserve every single desire they could ever possibly imagine. 

      I know I'll have moments like I have had in the past where I feel frustrated over what I DON'T have or what ISN'T going right but from today on I am going to try to daily COMPLETLEY humble myself before The Lord because I know then HE will lift me up and I will praise him for what I DO have and for what IS!!!! I love looking at my living room wall and counting our 1,2,3 biggest blessings...Today I am so humbled by being a mommy and for these three special boys 

2 year post surgery check up!

Well June 4th marked the 2 year anniversary of Luke's surgery. After his surgery And multiple check ups And wearing a helmet for 3 months we were released at his one year post surgery check up to only be seen once a year until he was five. It seems like it was yesterday we were at his 1 yr post check up and today was already his 2 year check up!! Even though we had a pretty good feeling he would get a great report it is still SO nerve racking to have to go there. Just seeing the phone number show up on my phone when they called to make the appointment made me weak in the knees. Packing our bags for the day, getting lanes stuff ready for my mom, updating Our i pass account, getting up early, sneaking quietly through the house, waking up Luke and getting him dressed and leaving while it's still somewhat dark out, and driving into the city and too that building is down right sickening for us. We have to mind over matter the whole thing every step of the way!! This appointment I have to say was the least of our worries because this year he didn't need a ct scan and didn't need to be put to sleep or have any blood work.(That nightmare is all very fresh in minds.)

   As we pulled in to park at the parking garage I was not surprised to find our same parking spot right there waiting for us.  I am NOT exaggerating...EVERY.SINGLE.APPOINTMENT we have had the same parking spot  (give or take a spot to the right or left) since our very first appointment. This is a 5 story parking garage with hundreds of cars in it. I am not really sure why that is...but I know it is a blessing that God has reserved us a place and we definaly are comfortable parking there and finding our way into the huge place and back to our car so that is a huge blessing in itself! So we went into the building riding the same elevator that we always did to the sky bridge and then...there it was...the hospital across the street and the window to his room from the pediatric intensive care unit room. It is a terrible terrible feeling to look at that building and that window but what's amazing is...in a blink of an eye we changed our focus to Luke in the stroller and all the sudden it is thee best feeling ever! If we hadn't gone through what we did...we wouldn't have what we have! Luke is such an awesome boy! He was the BEST baby and one year old! He slept great all the time! Napped well, rode in his car seat well, took his binky great, rode in his stroller awesome, was so easy going, sat for long periods of time with out fussying, ate anything and everything, and was never ever in a tizzy about anything! We had people comment all the time how good he was! We were even with friends once at a fall festival pumpkin patch thing and our buddy said "is he always like this ?" And Matt and I realized we had been there for hours chasing Lane around etc...and there luke sat in his stroller! We were instantly like "oh um...here ya go Luke...you thirsty buddy?! Should we get him out for a bit?!" Lol!!! Easy going was an understatement! Just such an amazing in every way baby and one year old! Now that he is 2 he is still very passive...at times...but this new "super determined" personality has came about! It may be the age or it may just be a new part of Luke but we are embracing every little fit and loving him for those too!!! He knows what he wants and doesn't want and sticks to it! A natural born leader!!!(equals a sometimes hard to reason with toddler haha!) BUT we didn't have our children to impress anyone else or expect them to be perfect and pleasing to the world all the time(though we do try to discipline them well and teach them to be as pleasing to their surroundings as possible)..we had them for us to love and to raise as God fearing, world changing boys and that is where we keep our focus!! Luke is sooooo much more of a life changing individual to me than I can guarantee I have ever been to anyone else! I am so grateful. 

  The appointment went great!!!! Dr. Reid measured his head and felt it! It was 48.3 centimeters and had no gaps(we didn't even know that could be an issue but we are so glad it isn't) and his head is right under the 50th percentile on the chart!! He asked us developmental an behavior questions and seemed very pleased with him! Then he took Luke to get stickers and kind of made it clear for us to pack our things up and not come with. I didn't really pick up on that but my super smart hubby did. After Doc and Luke got back He applauded Luke for his awesome manners and said he said thank you right away! Then he sent us on our way until June 2015!! As we headed back to the bathrooms and elevator Matt pointed out how Dr Reid took him by himself away for a second and we realized he was checking him out a little. Making sure Luke walked right and talked right etc! I appriciate that they do that! I am sure it is hard to admit something is wrong with your own child! I mean in all honesty I don't we all think our own children are pretty great?!? Luckily in our case...our Doctor saw that Luke is pretty great too!!!

Here is a few pics from today...

On our way reading books

We brought along Luke's(someday) little side kick;) he was a good boy

Here is Luke playing in the waiting room with the new semi daddy bought him and opened and surprised him with once we checked in...

Then out to lunch at mcdonalds to celebrate! We ate right by a truck stop and Luke LOVED IT! Honking his arm, telling us if there was "no trailer on the back" Volvo, peterbilt, etc!

Heading home...

And out like a light...

And little brother too...

Best driver ever 

We are so humble by Gods goodness in our lives! We give Him all the glory!!!!! 

Change...

We'll I feel like there is A LOT to add to update the blog! Ok so where did we leave off...Memorial Day that's right....ok so that night we put Luke in his new bed (a new crib that turns into a toddler bed but we are leaving it as a crib for a while yet😉) in Lanes room!!! Brothers sharing a room!!! It was soooo sooo sweet hearing them talk as best buds that night. They were giggling and so amazing! Look at this cute little boy all excited about his new bed in Big brothers room 

Excited would be an understatement!!!! The first night was a lot of talking but we intervened here and there to set a precident for "bed time" while also enjoying listening to the amazing sound of brothers becoming even closer on the monitor! Our hearts were fluttering to say the least!!! So that night it was late to sleep and as most of you know late to sleep for toddlers does NOT mean late to rise! And actually in this instance it actually meant earlier to rise! Lane was soo soo SO happy to have Lukie in there he was awake at 540am looking in his brothers bed to make sure he was there....sweet...at first! But this continued day after day through out that week...late to sleep...early to rise. (Yes...we put them to bed 30-45 mins early so they'd fall asleep sooner...yes it seemed to help as far as timing goes) but they were still over tired...and when they are over tired they are fussy!!! Hence this new little randition on the bible verse James 1:19 that I taught Lane that week...

The real version..."be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry" Lane's version "be a good listener, wait to talk, don't throw a fit" he has it memorized to a tee(along with 10 plus more verses...I'm so proud of my sweet smart sir!!) anyways...did it help YES!!! BUUTTT he was still tired and still a little "off" and so was Luke! The proof is in the pudding folks😜

So as the week went on the good news is there was no 2am shennanigans PTL!! And they napped every day!!!! Whoo hoo!!! 

Then on the weekend Nate and Danielle and their kids came over for a cook out Friday....here is Mavrick and Lyric! 3 months apart! So cute!!!!!

And on Saturday we finally made it to Morris so great papa goose could meet Lyric! It was such an awesome visit! We loved every minute there and the boys were so good!!! Great in the car and so well behaved at Papas house!!! He of course gave them new cars and a semi to share!! He is such a thoughtful Papa and I'm so blessed he is mine!!! And look at this awesome picture I got of him with me and my boys!!!!!! Melts my heart! 

On Sunday we had a great day at oneighty church and then went to my cousins grad party and then we went to our pastors house. 

After a looonngggg time of praying about it we decided to leave our church home. Now I know lots of you reading this have a church home...however I feel like I can rightfully say this was like a home to us. There was absolutely no other "place" that me and the boys spent as much time each week besides our home than there. We are very blessed that daddy played in the praise and worship band and had practice before service started so we were there at least 3 hours every Sunday! In 2013 we only missed church twice!! Once for a sickness and once because we were visiting our friends and went to their church out of town! So we def spent a good amount of time there through out the year! We were not only happy with the sermons but we had a crazy amazing relationship with the people there...ALL of matts siblings and nephews and niece go there and both set of his parents. Let alone the people of the congregation were great friends that were like family. So why leave right?? EXACTLY! That's what we thought when we started feeling different promptings to leave. However God is relentless in His callings and He didn't give up. For a long time we were feeling called to serve at a church in our community &  to raise our boys in church in the town they will live in and go to school in. It was a hard decision to make but we had multiple signs and reassuring moments that we were making the right decision. God gave us both a peace about this change and once we decided we spent a good week praying for our pastor& his wife to have receptive hearts about this decision along with our entire families hearts too!! It was an answered prayer as they all seemed to take it well and support us! We are SO thankful for that...Lynne and Paul are amazing friends of ours and are as close to us as family and our family is our very best friends. We are so so SO grateful that God prepared their hearts to understand. I know if one of them would have left our church I would have never been mad but my flesh would have probably screamed "say whhhhaaaatttt?? You're breaking up our awesome Sundays?! Don't you want to raise our kids in the same church? What about lunch?! " But nobody said that to us. Everyone was just like "you gotta do what Gods called you to do" (and that's just how good they all are...acting the way a Christian should...can't say I always do that but I try. And we are so Blessed that they did!)

We have felt lead to attend crossroads church in Morrison and did that today. It went really well!!! They boys did so good going right into their class rooms(Luke was a little apprehensive but I can't blame him!...so were we;) Lane jumped right in and said "Hi I'm Lane Decker and I went to a train station yesterday" (post to come on that awesome day we had!) 

Here is a pic of our boys this morning before our first new church experience...they looked SO cute...

And kisses for baby brother

And Lyric wore shoes for the first time! So sweet

We really enjoyed the worship and sermon! The people there were very nice and very welcoming! And we even ended up sitting by very amazing special people that we love so much michele and Alex becker! They don't attend there regularly...they were just visiting for the weekend(coincidence?? I think not!)and they walked in during p&w and were looking for a seat and there were 2 right by us! A comforting feeling for sure! A little extra love that God put there just for us! They are my best friends parents and are like another set of parents in a way yet just very great friends too! Couldn't have asked for a better surprise! Thank you Lord...family that isn't family but feels like family...when we are away from our family the first Sunday! God is good!!

Family fun with the Deckers

Well after a fun Memorial Day weekend I thought I would share some fun stuff we did. On Friday Nate and Danielle had us all over to cook out. It was great to get to see little Maverick! I even got the privilege of getting to bounce, and sway with him for a while until he fell asleep. Love that newborn baby snuggles....and as we all have these little ones it is important to try to get my hands on my nephews and niece when I get a second and my own busy hands are free( because those free handed moments are far and few between;) Nate built an awesome little mini hay rack for the back and the kiddos LOVED riding on it!! (I even heard Luke talking about it on his monitor as he was falling asleep that night) 

Then On Saturday my hubby had to work(thankful for the overtime but we sure missed him). The boys and I had a day like any weekday. We played outside and I did a few things around the house and then we walked up to the bank and the farmers market!! Love our small town market. Then we went to get groceries and to Paul's! We got Cohen's birthday present (a ken worth semi,a John Deere combine, a truck for his sandbox and a yellow train that looks like a Union Pacific train...courtesy of Uncle Matt of course;)

Sunday was a great morning at church followed by my sis and Lyric and I going to visit Grandma Landheer in the hospital. She fell and broke her hip. She is so tough and looked really good for just having hip surgery...and I think little Lyric was the perfect medicine she needed! Then we went out to Donna and Randy's house and cooked out....the boysABSOLUTELY love it out there! Horses,big open fields to run in, barns to play in, pine trees to run through etc... We are so thankful for a fun farm for them(and more importantly for great grandparents!)

Monday-Memorial Day! We went to the parade in our town...it lasts 10 minutes but has a lot of meaning packed into those 10 minutes!! They boys couldn't wait to watch the fire tricks. 

Here we are on our way...

And mommy and Lyric

And my parents went too. We walked by their house on the way and they joined us. Here is their dog Riley's first blog appearance! Lol;-) she is a wonderful 11 years young 

Here is the boys waiting(a patient as they know how...for it to begin) 

It was a great weekend! So thankful that Matt was off work Monday but even more thankful for the past soldier and their sacrifice!! Hope you all had a great weekend too!!

Update in Deckerville

Look at this amazing little face!!!! I thought I'd start this post off with a big smile from good ole' Lukie boy!! As most of you know I originally started this blog when we had him and found out he was going to undergo a major cranial plastic surgery. It was a great place to keep my thoughts and to keep everyone updated as well! Since all of that it has been some what of a spriatic blog...posting here and there with updates over the past 2 BUSY (blessed) years! I would like to post more (I know I know I always say that;) and really think I am going to work hard to keep up at it this summer! I LOVE that I can go back and re-read every detail of what we went through (revisiting that sounds awful right now) and I know someday I will be glad I have all of this to show Luke and our family! So I am going to press forward blogging and try to blog much more on us as a family and not just pertain it to Luke! (Sorry buddy...but it's time to share the blog-light with the other two;) However I will go ahead and give Luke most of this post as we are approaching our 2 year post surgery date! I spoke with the University  of Chicago Medicine yesterday and they scheduled his 2 year check up for June 10th. I have to admit just seeing that name on my phone makes me weak in the knees (ick!) but I am soooo looking forward to this post surgery check up since there will be NO ct scans, blood work, IV's, anesthetic etc... Like last year! They literally will be measuring his head and doing a visual analysis and THAT'S IT FOLKS!!! Best appointment ever needed for him there and even though it sounds like we will only get about 15 mins with his plastic surgeon and we just had his head measured by his regular pediatrician when he was 2(and he was in the 50th percentile Thank you Lord) and it's going to be a 6 hour round trip give or take with traffic...it is still going to be sooo great to have the peace of mind (or should I say peace of flesh?!? Because my heart and soul are so euphoric about Luke. God has granted me an Unstopable peace that I will forever hold onto that he will always remain perfect and healthy and whole just as he is today) anyways it will be a good peace of mind to hear that everything is okay with his head and how it has grown size wise and how his skull has shaped this past year! Luke has been one tough, brave, and courageous little boy his whole life and it continues to carry on each day. We are so grateful for him and love his strong willed personality! He is harder to reason with that what we were use to from Lane but we see such an awesome persistence in Luke and know he will be an amazing leader in life!!! Please join us in praying for an amazing report in June for Luke! God has been so good through EVERYTHING!! I am in such a better place in my life now that I can look back at what He has brought me through to strengthen me for anything I may have to go through in the future. (Take that devil...you tried but God still used it all for my good! Ha!)

      As for the rest of us...we are great! Lane will be going to preschool in the fall! We visited the Christian preschool down the street and loved it! (Luke loved it too!;) I can't believe my little mister is 4 and going to preschool in a few months! This mommy is having some major growing pains!! 

And as for Lyric he is sooo adorable,chunky, and amazing! He just turned 3 months old...he sleeps awesome(in our room still...but we are getting ready to transition the big boys to sharing a room here soon so Lyric can at least nap in the nursery....they all sleep soo soo good now....do we have to do this?! Lol! I'm sure it may take some adjusting but it will work out:) oh and Lyric takes a binky(finally!! After buying NINE different brands) and the one he takes is an old one I found in my husbands nightstand that we must have tried when Lane was little and guess what ITS DISCONTINUED!! Not only is it not sold in stores it's not made any more!! They are going on eBay for 30bucks for two! GAHHHH!!! But hey when you're exclusively breastfeeding and have two other toddlers and a baby that thinks "mommy" is a pacifier you will pay just about anything!(or at least I would;) 

Matt....is...30!!! (Finally now he can stop picking on me about being 30 for the past 3 months!) and I must say he is better looking today than he has ever been!!;)

AND we celebrated our 5 year wedding anniversary this month!!! He is the best decision I have ever made!!

So thankful for my awesome husband and this amazing life he has provided for me and our boys. Looking forward to the future and forever with him!!! And of course I give God ALL the glory from whom all blessings flow!!! Amen!!!!!

(Hope to be back soon...I did just make some amazing Carmel bars...I may have to blog about that so the boys can look back remember how I baked for them! Lol;)

Lyric Matthew

It's time to give credit where credit is due.....Lyric Matthew here is your debut to deckerville.... We are SO in love with you!!!! Born Febuary 18, 2014...7lbs 15 oz and 20 1/2 inches long!! You are incredibly perfect!!!!

You have ALOT of commotion to live with and are adapting great!! Your brother Lane  loves you sooooo much and is a great helper! He asks to hold you all the time and is so sweet when you cry. 

Your big brother Luke loves you too but doesn't show it quite yet....since he just turned two he is more concerned with climbing getting in the fridge and coloring on things he shouldn't than spending time gah gah over you...BUT he did kiss you right away when he met you and he is very sweet to you when he does stop running to notice you!!;)

You have THEE best daddy who adores you and loves to hold you!! He loves his night time in the chair once the other two are in bed to just hold you and love you while you sleep! Your daddy works SO hard to provide for this family and still gives us his all every night!!! 

And as for me....I am so in awe of you. Your personality is already amazing at one week old and you are soooooo beautiful. You love to sleep with me and so far will nap in your swing too! You are breast fed and are eating great and I love bonding with you! I love our time of day when we catch an afternoon catnap and I can just stare at you!!! 

We thank God for blessing is with you and are soooooo grateful you are who you are! Welcome to our family! You make it even more perfect! We love you!

Luke is TWO!!!!

We can not believe our precious little Luke is 2 years old TOMORROW!!!! Love our little valentines day baby!!! Since my last post (wow....a long long time ago I wanted to upload a few pics so you could all see how AMAZING his head looks!!) He has been so healthy, no head problems, and just one or toe colds! He is such a smart boy! Talking up a storm now....knows all his colors (trips up on red now and again and his favorite color of anything seems to be orange and sometimes yellow!!) He loves his abcs and knows them well and is doing awesome at shapes! We are so Proud of him!! 

Here is a picture of him at Christmas with his daddy....ya ya I know you can't see his head lol! But I just love this picture of these two!!:) 

Here he is with me at Christmas....doesn't his head look amazing! Can't hardly see the scar and the shape is perfect(unless you feel it but hey who has a perfect head with out a bump or dip here and there....we are all made differently! Even our skulls!!;)

 



Here is another up close one!!!

And this one below shows the top well! Can't even see that scar even through his white blonde hair!

And here is in further back! Look as his precious little donut face:) Him and his brother and DEFINATLY different in looks but so similar in lots of ways too!!!:) 

Another good top of his head shot below(not sure he will have long hair like his brother!?! Guess it would depend how it would lay through the scar line:) 

And one more close one of his head shape!!

Here is one very up closes from yesterday that Daddy sent me right when he woke up!!;) 

Our sweet little man is so precious and wonderful and we are STILL in awe of God's amazing grace that he showed us through it all !! We talk about it often and NEVER take it for granted that is for sure!!!! I can not promise I will blog more often but I would love too....but since Luke's baby brother is due today and this house is about to have a 3 year old 2 year old and newborn....I am not sure I will get the time....but hey ya never know...those middle of the night nursing sessions just might give me a little more time on my hands!!:-)