Happy 5th Birthday Emma Kaye!!

Well, 5 days after Hannah's birthday we are celebrating again with Miss Emma's 5th birthday!! It is so hard for me to believe that our baby is now 5!! I have no idea where our time has went but I do know that we really need to cherish every precious moment with our girls because it is going to be gone before we know it!

The night Emmie came into the world was one of those very AWESOME GOD moments. Our baby girl came into this world at 34 weeks. She was so early and breech so I had my 1st c-section. We had her at a small hospital that did not have a NICU. Emma was not breathing well on her own. So her pediatrician gave her 3 hours to start breathing on her own. If she didn't they were going to fly her to a bigger hospital. That is a horrible feeling not to get to go with your baby... I remember our nurse, which is one of my best friends, came in at the 2 1/2 hour mark and told us that they were calling for the helicopter. We gathered together and prayed for our baby girl that was fighting so hard to breathe on her own. I remember our friend coming back in right before the 3 hour mark and said, "Emma just started breathing on her own." GOD is so good! I fight tears every time I remember that moment and wonder why I have such a hard time trusting God with every aspect in my life.

God thank you for Emmie and thank you for that very special moment that we will never forget!

Happy 12th Birthday Hannah!

12 years ago at 6:25 PM our sweet Hannah entered into our lives! Our lives as we knew them changed for the better the moment they put her in our arms! Jesse and I were parents! She was a blessing then and still is such a blessing to our family! Hannah has always been such a special little girl. She was such a good baby, such a funny toddler, such a great kid, and now she is turning into such a beautiful young lady, inside and out! We love you Hannah Sarah and can't wait to see what God has planned for the rest of your life!

Ups and Downs

Well, our week started out celebrating Allee on her very special day on Sunday! Jesse and I both got to baptize her! It was such a very special and precious moment for all of us! Papa Chuck, Gigi, Angel, Ellianna, Poppie John, Grandma, The Collins' Family, Mr. Bill, Grace, and Annie all came to witness this precious moment and we all went out for lunch together afterwards! I will try to put the video up so you can see it later! Mrs. Tammy and their boys, Sam and Will, left on a Mission Trip on Saturday so the girls, Grace and Annie, got to spend the night at our house Sunday night. Monday was a pretty rough day. We spoke to our family dr. and Miss Allee did test positive for mono. Jesse and I both feel so bad because she had been sick and we just kept making her go on with her normal activites! She is already in phase 2...so she is already through the worst part! Allee will have to miss the next 4 weeks of soccer, which has totally bummed her out! Jesse is the coach of her team so he is trying his best to include her in practices but she can't take any chances of contact because her spleen could be enlarged. Then in the afternoon our sweet dog, Molly, got ran over on the highway. She was a very special part of our family and we all loved her very much. The sweet vanHoornbeek girls were there to help keep our girls focused on things much higher! Annie and Allee had just painted Molly's nails a couple nights before. So Annie says to Allee, "God is really going to love Molly's pink nails. She is going to be the most fashionist dog in heaven." Mr. Bill had made dinner that day so he brought over a pork roast to share with our family that night! We all played a game of Clue DVD and Mr. Bill got to see our girls' competitive sides! Not to much happened on Tuesday! It was a pretty normal day! All the girls got to come into work with me and hang out! Now Wednesday begins! Mrs. Tammy and the boys are on their way home from the Mission Trip so Grace and Annie will be going home this evening to see their Mommy and brothers. I know they are so excited to be all together as a family again! But, I know my girls are going to feel a little lonely without having their best friends with them.

Allee's Big Decision

Miss Allee has made the decision to get baptized and let God rule over her life!!! She is getting baptized this Sunday! We are very excited and proud parents! This is the biggest decision that she will make in her life! Nothing can explain our EXCITEMENT!! Praise God for making his presence visible in our girls lives! Allee hasn't been at school all week. She has been sick so much this winter. Our family Dr is running some blood work on her. We are now just waiting for the results. We are all a little suspicious that she might have mono. She has the classic mono symptoms but she could also just be worn out from being sick so much. Some days are good and some days she is completely exhausted! Hopefully with having Spring Break next week she will get rested up and feel all better!

Well What Can I Say...It is now March!!!

Well all I can say is WHAT...It is March??? Well I started this post thinking I would try to post something fairly often but is has been 3 short months since the last post! LOL!! Hannah is entering her 4th quarter in 6th grade and has continued with a straight A record. Jesse and I are so proud of her for her dedication to her school work! She takes her grades very serious and personal! She is still playing soccer almost every weekend in Springfield and having a great time! We will be celebrating her 12th birthday on the 25th! I can't believe that my precious little Hannah is turning 12!! God is so good and continues to guide her life! I know that I am learning a lot from her and she even helps me keep my character in check! Allee is also entering her 4th quarter in 2nd grade and has continued to learn and grow in her school work. She also takes her school work serious! She has been playing basketball this winter and has started her spring soccer practices! Allee loves running and playing sports! She gets so excited to go to practices and games! Allee has grown a lot this year physically and spiritually! She has been talking to us about baptism! We feel like God is starting to put convictions into her precious little heart! What an AWESOME feeling it is when your kids make this decision! Emma is still in preschool and doing well! Emma has a totally different personality than our other girls! Emma is pretty shy around people she is not familiar with and it takes her a little bit to warm up! I took her to a birthday party for a couple of her friends yesterday (and didn't take the older girls on purpose). An hour into it she still had not got to far away from me. She kept saying "I want to go home. I want my girls." After she said this to me enough times we headed on home! There were so many other kids there that the poor girl felt very overwhelmed! As I buckled her in the van she says, "I don't like Birthday parties." However, it does make me SMILE knowing that she loves her sisters that much! Our baby girl is turning 5 on the 30th and that is another hard one to believe! Jesse and I are doing great! We love our free evenings and weekends from running though they come very few and far in between! We have friends with older kids that tell us to enjoy every minute because they are gone before you know it! We are ready to start building our new house together! As soon as the weather warms up and stays there we should be able to get started! We Thank God for such AWESOME girls and for each other!

CRAZY BUSY and ENJOYING EVERY MINUTE

Well I can't believe it has been over a month since the last time I posted! So sorry about that! Life at the Sheppeck house can seem to get pretty crazy! Since the last post we had Thanksgiving which we shared with my family at my Granny's house and then we headed over to Papa Chuck's house for dinner! We had a wonderful time visiting with all of our family! However, we all missed Uncle Jason at Papa Chuck's! We are hopeful that he will be able to make it back to Missouri around Christmas time for a nice visit! Hannah started her indoor soccer games last weekend! They won both games so that was pretty exciting! Our children's choir at church will have their Christmas Program this coming Sunday! Then Hannah and Allee both have Christmas Concerts for school next week! Emma is also having a Christmas program next Thursday! Allee has started practicing basketball getting ready for games to start in January! Lots of fun events happening around our house! Cute story about Hannah ~ So she went to K-Life a couple weeks ago and comes home telling me that her leaders told their group that they should talk to God like he is their best friend since he is. So we sat down for dinner the next night and she says, "I think I am going to try talking to God like they said that I should." She starts in praying and says, "Hey God! It's me!" I thought it was so cute! I hope that she continues to talk to God often as she grows! Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas Season!