Help Us Pray for our Nana!

Every night at 8pm our church family will be praying for my Mom (Elijah & Annalesa's Nana) through January 4th.  Her appt at MD Anderson is 1/4/13 and I'm so appreciative of the people that intercede for Nana.  Please help us pray each night at 8pm.

I believe the Lord wants us to ask......
John 14:13-14 Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it.

to pray in faith.....

James 5:14-16 Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven. Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another,that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.

 

Mark 9:29 And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

 

and, to pray without ceasing and with thanksgiving.....

Philippians 4:6-7 do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

 

Sometimes we just aren't sure what to pray for and are scared we may be praying for the wrong things.  But, God knows our prayers before they are spoken.  I pray that he will give everyone who prays for Nanathe ability to pray them out loud without fear of speaking the wrong thing.  My family is specifically praying for complete healing and for the tumors to be gone.  Yes, that will take a miracle but there are miracles all throughout the bible....even in the New Testament.  I've witnessed modern day miracles here on earth and I believe God is ready to witness to others through our Nana.  We are praying for God to impart wisdom and hope within Nana's medical team at MD Anderson and Vanderbilt....specifically that her tumors may now be operable!!  We pray for the side effects (siezures, vision & speech problems, hair loss, etc.) to cease and for Nana's body to be restored! We believe all of those things will happen in Jesus' name because He has overcome the world....all evil will be cast out when speaking his name. 

 

Last night, we had our prayer and worship time at 8pm and listened to the song, "Healing is Here" by Deluge.  What powerful yet simple lyrics....

 

Healing is here healing is here
Healing is here and I receive it
Healing is here healing is here
Healing is here and I believe it

I reach my hands to the heavens
I lift my eyes where my help comes from
I look to You my rock my healer
I trust in You

Freedom is here freedom is here
Freedom is here and I receive it
Freedom is here freedom is here
Freedom is here and I believe it

Sickness can't stay any longer
Your perfect love is casting out fear
You are the God of all power
And it is Your will that my life is healed

 

Christmas 2012

I wish I could tell you about all of the fun we've had over Christmas......so far it has been anything but fun!

The flu must have been on someone's Christmas list because it got accidentally dropped off at our house! Beginning the Friday night before Christmas, Elijah came down with the flu. That was confirmed by Dr. Owens on Saturday morning. It's now Thursday night and he still had a fever today.......and Santa hasn't visited our home yet!

Poor Elijah. He has felt awful! He is missing nana and papa like crazy and they are missing him too! Tony and I are just exhausted from the sleepless nights. But we are so very thankful that neither of us caught the flu bug from Elijah!

In other news, Annalesa is right on track which is much different than my experience with Elijah. I measured 4 weeks ahead with him the last 20 weeks! I have "storked" at the hospital and have almost finished packing my hospital bag. Packing has been much more complicated this time since we are almost an hour from the hospital and we have a 1 year old to drop off somewhere!

And, mom will be going to MD Anderson in Houston next week. Please help us pray for a miracle. We need those tumors to go bye-bye! Prayers also for a safe trip for her and dad.

Happy New Year to all!

Naming our little girl....

How happy we are to announce the name of our soon to be baby girl.

Annalesa Holley Bonds

We wanted to incorporate my mom's name (Lesa) in there, so we chose Annalesa.  What a special name this little girl will have.  She is named after the most beautiful, amazing, and strongest woman that I know. 

Her middle name was inspired by a wonderful lady that we loved so very dearly in Oxford, MS....Janice Holley.  Mrs. Holley meant so much to Tony and I.

We are so happy to incorporate two beautiful lady's names into our little girl's name. 

With Elijah, I think we were pretty much full term before we finally decided on a name.  I'm happy to have that task out of the way with Annalesa.  Now we can talk to her and pray for her by name! 

Let the monogramming begin!

Baby Girl Bonds Coming February 2012

It's a girl!  We don't have a name yet, but pretty sure it is indeed a girl!  Her original due date was Feb 11th, 2012....but as usual it was moved up by 1 week at our last appointment.  I'm sure she will be here sometime in early January! 

Here's the nursery bedding we've picked out:

We are excited for Baby Bonds #2, even if it was a shocker!!!  We know she will be loved by so many!

Elijah Tate + Grass = Interesting

So Elijah Tate now will eat anything. He has fooled some into thinking we never feed him. Clearly that isn't the case. His appetite is much like that of a giant. So we started taking some pictures of him and his favorite "toy box" (that came from Travis & Holly). It's filled with lots of little toys that he can pull out and play with. This box keeps him busy for over an hour most days. This particular Sunday he was practically crawling into the toy box. Enjoy the pictures below. They are hilarious to us!

A big smile after I sat Elijah Tate up in the basket.

Then we traveled outside, which he wasn't too sure of.

What does he find within arm's reach?? GRASS!!  He's like our mini-lawn mower.

If it goes in his hands, it MUST go in his mouth!

This was his face as he was chewing on the first piece of grass (without a single tooth in his mouth).

And then apparently the grass was so good he had to get out of the basket to get more!

This time he wanted a handful of grass in his mouth!

Elijah wasn't very sure of it, but nonetheless, he kept chewing....

Then comes handful number 2....

And, of course, everything is better with dirty fingers...

This was the face after he got gagged by a piece of grass and Mommy stuck her finger down his throat to get the piece of grass!

Getting scooped up by Mommy.

And, finally a happy Elijah Tate again.....all is well with the world!

By the way, this all happened in the course of about 2 minutes.  I didn't let him a bajillion handfuls of grass.

Elijah's birth announcement

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

Happy 1 Month Birthday Elijah Tate Bonds!

Oh no!  Elijah is growing up too fast!  He's already moved out of the newborn diapers and his newborn clothes.  We didn't even get to wear all of his cute clothes or use his tiny diapers!  Guess we will be donating some things! 

As I sit here typing this entry, it's very hard to believe I'm a mommy.  I've had almost no sleep for over 4 weeks and I'm still alive!  Who would have thought that this girl, the one that must get 8 hours of sleep, can still manage to raise a healthy baby boy with no sleep! 

Did I mention healthy?  Yes, Elijah Tate is very healthy.  In fact, at his 1 month check-up which was about 5 days before his one month birthday, he weighed 10 lbs and 3 oz.  Dr. Tatum, his pediatrician, asked me how often he was eating.  When I told her every hour and a half, she asked me how I was making it.  I just told her the truth, I'm making it.....

He was also almost 22 inches long!  He's a growing boy.  He was in the 70th percentile for both weight and length.  You'll be glad to know that his head is a completely average size....50th percentile. 

This little man never ceases to amaze us.  He make the silliest faces when he's asleep and boy, does he have some gas!  We just can't help but laugh.  He doesn't think it's funny, because those cries he makes are very piercing! 

Just last week, he started smiling at me and copying a few of the faces I'd make at him.  But, he has to be in a really great mood for that to happen.

He absolutely loves to snuggle. We (or really just me) are so torn between letting him snuggle with us during naps or putting him in his bassinet or crib.  If daddy is around, he gets to snuggle on his chest.  That appears to be Elijah's most favorite place to nap.  If it's just me around, I tend to put him in his bed or boppy so I can get things done. 

We did have a few other major milestones this past week.  Elijah traveled a whole 3 hours to Huntingdon, TN to visit Nana and Papa's house.  We stayed for 4 days and he had so much fun.  Of course, he did get spoiled by a few people ( ok, well everyone spoiled him).  He got to meet his great grandmothers, Uncle Travis, Suzanne and her mother.  Oh, boy, he loved the attention.  Our labradoodle, Molly, just really can't handle the lack of attention on her.  Thank goodness Papa knows how to deal with dogs. He's like the dog whisperer! And, thank goodness for Nana and Papa!  They took little Eli in the early mornings and at night so I could get some sleep!

I'm also glad to say we made it 3 whole hours to Tennessee without any major meltdown from Eli, Molly or Mommy!  I did pull over 3 times just to check to make sure he was still alive since he was so quiet.  I changed his diaper in the front seat during one of those stops.  He didn't even wake-up!  Coming back was almost as perfect but around the state line he was ready to be home.  I finally pulled over to change and feed him.   All was perfect after that. 

I'm happy to report that last night Elijah went 3 solid hours in between feedings and soothed himself to sleep in his bassinet after each feeding!  Major success for all of us! 

We also introduced the bottle to him this week (to allow me to get a solid 3-4 hours of sleep).  The first nite was a bit discouraging.   But, the second nite was a total success! 

Mommyhood is fabulous.  Yes, I am tired and a little (or a lot) grumpy at the end of the day.  But, it is worth all of the pains just being able to hold Elijah Tate.  He has been the most unexpected blessing of my entire life!  And, I'm sure that God would not have blessed us with him if He didn't think we were prepared! 

Elijah Tate's favorite thing to do with Papa!

Uncle Travis finally got to meet Elijah Tate!

Elijah Tate meeting Grah Doris, his great grandmother!

The best grandparents ever! 

Resting with Elijah Tate after touring Nana & Papa's new HOUSES!

Elijah Tate meeting Grah Hampton, his great grandmother!

Check out Elijah's shirt: "My Uncle's a Great Catch"....bought this just for Travis!

ET and I with Nana at the Lake House! 

Psalm 139:13-16 For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Wonderful are your works; my soul knows it very well. My frame was not hidden from you, when I was being made in secret, intricately woven in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.