Goin' to the Temple

Alysson and I went to the Draper Temple Open House on Monday! That temple is so beautiful. I loved the colors they used... it felt so calm and peaceful. The colors are a blue and white. And the wood is absolutely beautiful. Apparently the wood was brought in from Africa. I'm so grateful that so much time, love, and care has been put into the Temple. It truly is the House of the Lord.

If you haven't had a chance to attend the open house of the Draper Temple, there is still time! It's open to anyone! You can obtain tickets by clicking HERE It's a good chance to see the beauty that is found in each and every temple.

She Makes Me Melt!

Need I say ANYTHING? Well, I'm gonna... She has the sweetest little cry! She was being so adorable last night! Just talking and making little cries. I loved it! She seriously melts my heart! I would do ANYTHING for this little girl!

So Sorry

To those who had the misfortune of reading my angry blog entry I posted about 25 minutes ago (and just deleted), I apologize. It wasn't the right place to open my feelings to the world. I'm sorry.

However, I do want to share something. I was just reading my scriptures and I found a verse that just struck me. It's exactly what I need. It says:

Behold, I send you out to prove the world, and the laborer is worthy of his hire.
And any man that shall go and preach this gospel of the kingdom, and fail not to continue faithful in all things, shall not be weary in mind, neither darkened, neither in body, limb, nor joint; and a hair of his head shall not fall to the ground unnoticed. And they shall not go hungry, neither athirst.

I just need to remember to do that which I am called to do. I am trying so hard to remember that it isn't about what man thinks, it's about what God thinks. I'm trying to remember.

Again, I am so sorry if you read that entry. It was very therapeutic to write it, but I shouldn't have posted it so quickly. I feel like I'm in that moment where you open your mouth and say something before you think about it, only to realize that if you'd be thinking then you wouldn't have said it at all...

Questions

I don't know why, but I absolutely LOVE these questionnaires! I love reading them on others' blogs and I love to answer them too! This is one that has been circulating on Facebook... but I'm not addicted to Facebook. I'm addicted to Blogging. So, in following Andrea's example... here it goes.

* Was your first pregnancy planned? Yes!

* Were you married at the time? Yes, for two-and-a-half years.

* What were your reactions? I was completely shocked and I couldn’t WAIT to tell Nic. I wanted to do it in some cool, creative way… but my excitement got the best of me. We were driving in our truck, taking a lawn mower to a family-friend’s place and I just said, “so, guess what?” And, jokingly he said, “You’re pregnant.” And I said, “Yup.” He was totally blown away! He lifted his arms up (while driving) and shouted “Wahooooo!” It was great!

* How did you find out you were pregnant? The first time I noticed something weird was when I was helping Nic mow his parent’s backyard. We were each on separate riding lawn mowers. I pulled my lawn mower over, turned it off, and fell asleep. I was sooooo tired during my pregnancy. It didn’t matter how much sleep I had the night before, I was still wasted.

* Who did you tell first? NIC!!!!

* Did you want to find out the sex? Yes, we did! I always knew we’d have a little girl first. It’s tradition in the Haws family to have a girl first.

* What was your due date? January 24th, 2008.

* Did you have morning sickness? Does Maple Syrup have sugar in it??? THEN YES!!! (Sorry, couldn’t resist quoting Elf) Um, yeah. I was really, really, really, REALLY sick. I was starving and literally could not eat anything. And NOTHING worked for me. I truly thought I was going to die. But, I didn’t. Will I do it again? YES!

* What did you crave? Sour Skittles and Salsa.

* What is the sex of that baby? A sweet li’l princess.

* How many pounds did you gain? I actually only gained about 16 lbs. Probably because I couldn’t eat anything. I’m surprised I gained anything. In the beginning, I actually lost weight. It was scary.

* Did you have any complications? Yes. My little sweetie has CHARGE syndrome. This comes with many complications… the most pressing was her heart. She’s our sweet”heart”. I was also extremely sick the whole time. They wanted to hospitalize me, but I disagreed.

* How many hours were you in labor? Zero. She was delivered via C-Section earlier than planned. I never felt any labor pains. Although, I suffered greatly afterward.

* Who was in the delivery room? A few doctors, Peter my anesthesiologist (he was awesome) and of course, my forever prince, Nic. He watched the whole thing and thoroughly enjoyed it.

* When was your baby actually born? January 3rd.

* How much did she weigh? 5 lbs 4 oz

* What did you name her? Mercydez (said like the car, Mercedes… but spelled much cuter… she’s our Mercy)

CHD Awareness WEEK

Today starts CHD Awareness Week. What is CHD, you ask? Let me tell you...
CHD stands for Congenital Heart Disease/Defect. My little girl, Mercydez has been diagnosed with Complex CHD. CHD is heart disease or heart defects that are developed BEFORE birth.

Here are some shocking statistics...
1. ONE IN TEN children diagnosed with CHD will not live to see adulthood.
2. Congenital Heart Defects are America's NUMBER ONE birth defect. Nearly ONE IN EVERY 100 babies is born with a heart defect.
3. There are more than 40 different types of CHD's. Little is known about the cause of most of them. THERE IS NO KNOWN PREVENTION OR CURE FOR ANY OF THEM.
4. In the United States, TWICE AS MANY CHILDREN DIE from congenital heart defects each year than from ALL forms of childhood cancer COMBINED. Yet funding for pediatric cancer research is FIVE TIMES HIGHER than funding for CHD.
5. Only ONE PENNY OF EVERY DOLLAR donated to The American Heart Association goes toward Congenital Heart Defect research.
6. The Children's Heart Foundation is the only organization that was created to exclusively fund Congenital Heart Defect research.
7. You can visit The Children's Heart Foundation by clicking HERE.

Mercydez's diagnosis doesn't stop at Complex CHD. She has what is known as CHARGE Syndrome. This syndrome includes many, many other difficulties.


There are so many other facts that would just blow you away! These few CHD facts are just the beginning. Please spread the word about CHD's. There is so much support and love available to those experiencing life with a CHD, or families who have a member diagnosed with CHD.

We love CHDrs! And even through the heartache and pain of watching these little ones go through surgeries, pokes, pain, and many times even losing them for a time in this life, I personally feel privileged to be blessed with such an amazing sweetie pie. ..Better to have love and lost then to never have loved at all.

Yes, I'm one of THOSE...

Yup, just for the fun of it, me and my brothers and my sister-in-law decided to go to Denny's for the free breakfast on Tuesday. The line was forever long and the wait for the food was even longer. Was it worth it? In terms of the freezing air and mediocre food, not so much. But for the memories and just to say we did it? Heck yeah!

Girls Night!

Last Saturday, January 31st, my best girlfriends in the WHOLE WORLD, and I, got together for a girls afternoon/night! It was so much fun! We went to The Gateway in Salt Lake and saw "New In Town". I absolutely loved it! It was such a funny movie (hope I haven't hyped it up for you)! I want to see it again! Then we wandered around and did some shopping and we finished off with dinner at Flemings and it was FABULOUS! I have decided that Flemings has got to be one of my most favorite places to eat! Mmmmmm! My good friend, Chris, is the Wine Manager there, so we were treated very nicely! Anyway, enjoy the pics...