Our many firsts!!!

Our First Home

I can't find the pictures of our first home, when I do I will post them. We bought a trailer house that needed some work and placed it on some land by his mom and dad. I had lived in a trailer all my life, so it wasn't anything new to me. I hated everything about that trailer, the location, the things that needed to be done to it to fix it. I completely re-wall papered the house, and put new carpet. We re-tiled all the bathrooms and the kitchen and painted all the bedrooms. It was looking so good and was really beginning to feel like home.

Our first Child

After a year of trying to get pregnant with so many let downs, on August 1st, 1998 (our one year anniversary) I found out I was pregnant. I had cried so many times with so many neg test that I was amazed when I see that test turn positive. The picture above is my dad's mom and myself at my baby shower. I am in labor here and trying to force a smile as I have a contraction.
I was at mom's when full labor started. My contractions were 5 min apart and getting closer and I decided that I had better call Sam from work to get me. We go to the hospital and they tell me that I was dilated to a 3 and they would rather me walk than lay. I have a LOW pain tolerance and told them I was NOT walking. I laid in that bed for 21 1/2 hours in hard labor, when my doctor decided to go and have a steak. My mother screamed at the nurse and told her that she had better get him there NOW, I was telling mom that something was breaking.

Finally, the doctor came and informed me that I was only at a 7 and I was going to have a c-section. Scared as I was, I was ready to have that baby. The pain had lasted way to long and I was ready.

On March 29th at 8:48pm our first daughter was born. She weighed 8lbs 4oz and was 21 1/2 inches long. She had loads of hair as you can tell from the picture above. We had decided on a name months earlier, having heard the name Bethany in the bible. I had always wanted a little girl with the middle name Nichole, so we named her Bethanie Nichole Frost. On this joyous day we could have never known what was in store for us.

As you can tell her daddy was a proud man. This is my favorite picture of them, look at the way Bethanie is looking at him. She had the cutest little chunky face, and her hair was black as coal.

This is Bethanie at 3 weeks with her aunt Jeanne (Sam's baby sister). I was always so particular about her clothes, her hair, and her ribbons. Everything had to match to a tee!!

Our first birthday party!

This is Bethanie's first birthday. We had the party at our house, and was unable to have any children there. Bethanie had spent the night in the ER with RSV, and could be around no little kids. All the parents came and she still had a blast. We could have never known that this would be the last birthday with our little angel.
This is Bethanie in her new birthday outfit, specially bought for her party. Isn't she adorable?

Our first heartbreak~~Test of faith

Our first heartbreak came on the morning of July the 20th 2000. I had a hair appointment so I decided that I would ask my mother n law to watch Bethanie for me. Since my mother n law and me had been at odds the last year I was hesitant to leave her there. After my hair appointment, I decided that it was nap time for her and I was going to try to lay down with her. She had RSV again and we were so tired. I laid her down and laid down with her, and that was the last time I seen her alive. I won't go into detail on what happened that day since I am limited on time and my husband (who won't talk about it) is right here with me.

Bethanie passed away on July 21st, 2000, 12 hours after we found her in the pond. This was our first test of faith, and our first test of our love in our marriage. I was unsure if we could pass this test that we were being put through.

The first thing we did!

The first thing after the funeral was to sell that trailer. I didn't want to go home to that place. Her crackers were still laying on the living room table. Her shoes were still where she had taken them off at. The smell of baby lotion still in the air. Her baby room still the same. I didn't want to call that place home, I wanted to get rid of the house. I went to get her things, and looked out the back window, you could see the pond, and that made up my mind.

So we sold the trailer and moved into an apartment. We both got third shift jobs and spent as much time away from each other as we could. We wanted nothing to do with each other and it was taking it's toll on us and it was not good. Our marriage was suffering and our faith in God failing. That was when we decided to separate, yes separate. It was Sam's decision, and I was okay if he needed time. We were not apart long when we realized we need the Lord and we needed each other. In 2001 we built a new home, together, with our own hands. We laid the foundation cinder block by cinder block. We put each log on it and hammered every nail. This was going to be home and we wanted to do it ourselves. One year later, our home was built. We were on our way to trying to mend things that were broken, and build new lives, always missing the little girl we lost.

Husband and Wife

So Sam and myself had been dating for almost a year and we were both still in high school. Sam was on the electricity team and was going to have to go to a convention out of town. I was going to prom that weekend and he was so upset that he could not take me. He calls me on Thursday night and asks if he can come over first thing Friday morning. Of course I had to be to school by 8am and he was having to leave town by 9 am, so I was worried he would make me late, and I hate to be late any where! So I called my mom who was visiting a friend that night and asked if it was fine if he came by that night. She said it was, and I called him back.

Around 9pm that night the door bell rings, and I wondered why on earth he had rang the door bell. He always just walked in or knocked if he didn't see my car there. So as I go to the door, I pick up the home phone and begin to call a friend of mine. I thought that she would talk to me in case it was someone prowling around. I open the living room door and there through the glass is Sam on his knee. I hung up on my friend and opened the glass door, asking Sam what in the heck he was doing! He said "Stacy, the first night that we had dinner, and we left the restaurant I asked you what you were doing for the rest of your life. I ask you again today what are you doing for the rest of your life? For the rest of mine, I know that I want it to be with you. To wake up to you and go to bed with you, to love you and call you my own." So he pulls out the ring, and I totally panicked and slammed the door shut. I then realized what I had done and opened the door and hugged him while I cried. We were married August 1, 1997 at the First Assembly of God church in Mena. I was 17 years old, he was 18 and I still had a whole year of school to finish (NO, I was not pregnant)!

My colors were white, burgundy and teal. My parents didn't have alot of money, so thank goodness my mom was a florist. I wanted silk flowers so I could keep them. I still have every flower from my wedding stored for the girls. My maid's dress was teal with a train that pinned to the back to make it look like mine. All the men wore black tuxes with teal fixings, except Sam who wore black on white, and the candle lighters who had black on burgundy. As the candles were being lit the song "Butterfly Kisses" was being played. I had worked so hard on this part, and knew that they had to have all the candles lite before the last verses.

On the last verses it says "She'll change her name today, she'll make a promise and I'll give her away, standing in the bride room just staring at her. She asks what I am thinking, and I said I'm not sure. I just feel like I'm loosing my baby girl. She leaned over and gave me butterfly kisses, with her mother there. Sticking little white flowers all up in her hair. Walk me down the isle daddy, it's just about time. Does my wedding gown look pretty daddy...daddy don't cry."

On the beginning of this verse the doors were swung open and my father walked me down the isle. We lit our unity candles to "It's your love", by Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, and walked out to the traditional wedding music.

Okay, my parents could not afford a big photographer so everyone had cameras and a friend took some shots of us. I know, I know, I was wearing a size 1/2 in pants and was pushing a whole 105 pounds. Sicking I know, I will never be that way again. Sam looks so young in this picture wow at how we age lol.

Alicia Finch was my maid of honor and of course she stood out that day with this cute outfit. She was the one that caught my wedding bouquet after the wedding (took her 7 years to get married though).


Okay, this is Josh Hennings, and he was the best man. I knew that Sam was fretting over money, even though we were only going to Ft. Smith for our honeymoon. So I suggested that Josh steal me and call to tell Sam how much money he had to raise to get me back. Josh was all for it and off we went. I was laughing so hard I could barely stand.

Sam had to wait for the phone call. Mom said his face fell when he found out I was gone. "What do I do now?" he asked mom. She tells him that Josh is supposed to call and then he will be required to gather money to pay ransom to get me back. So he waited and Josh called him and let him know the amount and that when he got that amount he could call us back and this number. Sam gets a pen to write it down when he realizes that it is his parents number (which was about 3 blocks from the church) ha ha.
So Sam gathers money from the guest and he ends up gathering over $200.00 for our honeymoon. Guest at the wedding were in hysterical laughs knowing that this poor boy was in for a time trying to get me back. Dad kept telling him that I was his expense now (thanks dad). We went on our honeymoon to Ft. Smith, I mean we couldn't go far, Sam had work in two days and I started school the next week. Tomorrow will be a not so short story of the trials of our first year, the birth of our first daughter, and the death of our first daughter.

12 years and counting

Well, in a little less than 2 weeks Sam and myself will be married 12 years. Doesn't seem that long really. So for the next 8 days I am going to share some stories of how we met, when we married, the trials of the first year, and where we are now. I hope you enjoy each story...as I enjoy remembering the last 12 years.

Today is day one which means we will start with how Sam and myself met. 14 years ago I was dating a guy from Cove, and had been for about 6 months. Tragically he was killed in a car wreck on his way home one night. I was devastated!! Sam was friends with him and had spoken to him the night before his wreck. He asked Sam to check on me if anything should happen to him.

So needless to say that Sam showed up at my house the next night after his death. Wanting to know if I was okay. Around a month later, Sam showed back up wanting to know if I was better and asking if he could possibly take me out for dinner one night. I wasn't attracted to him and was seeing/dating my "first love" again, and was semi-happy. I didn't want to date anyone else at the time.

So Sam called every night and came by work everyday till finally I agreed to dinner one night. We ate and as we were leaving he asked what I was doing for the rest of my life. I told him that was a ways off so he would have to wait to find out. As he leaned over to kiss me, I wanted to turn away but realized that I would probably hurt his feelings. So I allowed him to kiss me and that is when things changed!!

I was in love and didn't know it. I felt the butterflies and that was 12 years ago. We have not spent a night away from each other since.

Tomorrow will be the story of our wedding, from the proposal, to the planning to the event, to the honeymoon!! Watch all week for a new story of how we came to 12 years and counting.

Giveaways....

I love the give aways though I never ever win..but here is one that I hope I have a chance on. I just love the prizes...yea.....
Lady Bug Blessings giveaway......
http://ladybugblessingscrafts.blogspot.com/

Our angels are waiting till our time comes.....

So yesterday was Bethanie's angel-versary. She has been gone 9 years....9 long years. Those 9 years seem like they were so long, but then everytime that I think about her, it seems like yesterday that I laid her down for a nap. You know everyone has told me that things happen for a reason, and I fully believe that. You see many years ago I went to school with a girl who came from such a big family. She kinda sorta dated (if that is what you call it, when your 11 or so), my little brother Jamie. I was never really nice to her, and never really spoke to her. I knew she was nice, but you know how teenagers are, everyone younger than them are children ha ha.

So for years there after, we graduated and our paths would cross on occasion in Walmart, and I worked with her dad at the hospital. Nothing more, nothing less. Then one tragic day my little brother comes home to tell me that her little brother had been killed in an accident. That is where our lives met so many years later. Being a mother who had lost a child, and she was a sister who had lost her dear little brother. My little brother means the world to me and I knew that I would be devastated if I lost him. So I went to her brothers site and I paid tribute to her angel, asking him to watch over my angel. At the beginning of this blog, I told you that things happen for a reason, well they do. I was contacted by her sister, and then her mother and then her, and we are such dear friends now. Things that I can't get through with loosing Bethanie, I can now, because of her and her family. Days like yesterday are easier to manage with her and her family. My own family forgot Bethanie's angel-versary yesterday, but I awoke to a gorgeous bouquet of flowers from her and her family. Just to let me know that they are thinking about me. So has I do every year I let them know that I am thinking about them today on their angel's birthday. To let them know that my family has grown and I am honored that God chose us to walk these paths together, even on days that I wish it was a path that I was not made to walk.

So THANK YOU Jenn, Thank you Brenda, Gary and Amy. You guys are my shoulders when I need to cry and I pray that I can always return the love to you guys that you have shown to me. So on this day I wish Kristofer a very happy birthday, Bethanie a very happy angel-versary and smile to know that I am no longer forced to go at this alone. I love you guys!!!

Vacation here I come........

Well, I did it. I booked our cabin in Branson on the beautiful Table Rock Lake. We will be staying at the Lake Side Resort on Coney Island. I can't wait to get away for a week. My mom and dad and niece Telissa will be going with us. We all had a camping trip planned but decided that we had done that three times this year and it was time to do something different. So we got the cabin below. They were so nice to us at Lake Side Resort and gave us the fourth night for FREE!!! Now that is a word you don't hear very often.The cabin is a 3 bedroom, 1 1/2 bath sitting on 4 acres next to the lake. We have a pool, a hot tub, free WiFi, and a country general store for all our needs. Not to mention Branson at our front door for many days of fun and adventure.
http://www.lakesideresort.net/index.html So I have gotten our tickets to the Titanic. I mean it is over rated, but none the less I think it will be a neat experience for the girls.
http://www.thetitanic.com/

There is a new adventure in Branson this time. It is called the BallKnocker. I think the name speaks for itself. Mom and myself are going to attempt this one. You can do it dry or you can do it wet with 5 gallons of water in there with you. Check out the videos at www.ballknocker.com


Oh, and you can't go to Branson without hitting Silver Dollar City. Last time we went we were unable to ride anything because of our girls. Mom and dad are going this time, so we will share baby sitting times and everyone can ride. I am looking forward to the water log ride. I am a big kid at heart lol. http://www.silverdollarcity.com/

Last but certainly not least I am going to see my bestest friend Alicia. She lives about an hour from Springfield, MO, which is about an hour from Branson. One day while our hubby's all run off to Bass Pro (another can't leave Missouri without being there), mom, myself and the girls will go and see Alicia, Maddie and Macie Jade. Hopefully she will be able to come and spend the day with us in Branson as well. This is our one time a year that we get to have a vacation and get to spend some time with my dear friend and her kiddos.

No more diapers....

Yea!!!! No more pull-ups for Averrie. I have officially got her trained. The night thing always scared me. I hate to put them to bed without protection on the bed and the butt. So I decided to "wing" it and make her sleep with no pull-up on. For the last 5 nights she has been pull-up free and I am loving it!! No more expensive pull ups, but it is also sad to a point. I mean she is my last baby, and she is the cutest little thing running around in a pull-up, but it had to be done right?