February!

 February was a busy month in our home. Zach was super sweet and got me a lovely bouquet of flowers and some of my favorite candy to celebrate Valentines day.

 This past month Zach underwent surgery to donate a kidney to a friend of ours, Nick, from church. Nick has been on dialysis since October and when Zach found out he felt the nudge to see if he was a match. So he went through a lot of medical testing to find out if he was a match for Nick. We found out in January that he was a match and after a great deal of prayer and thought, we decided to do it. We praise God that both surgeries went beautifully and both Zach and Nick are recovering remarkable well. Below Zach is all ready for surgery.

 Here are Nick and Zach a day after the surgery with their donor and receiver kidney pillows. It was a bit daunting to take this all on with two young children and a third on the way (life is very full these days), but this experience has shown God's provision and grace so faithfully. It has been so awesome to see and feel the body of Christ in action through prayer, cards, meals, childcare, snow plow service...etc. We feel so grateful to have experienced so much evidence of God's hand at work through this experience. We give Him the glory and the praise for this success! He is so good!!

A couple girlfriends of mine surprised me by whisking me away one afternoon (with Zach in cahoots) for a pedicure and dinner! It was such a fun surprise and such a fun night out! This happened before the surgery.

 Unfortunately, while Zach was in the hospital, Lydia came down with a flu bug. We had to get the throw-up bucket, which she wasn't too pumped about. It was a LONG night of washing, cleaning, caring and loving this sweetie. (I did 7 or 8 loads of laundry that night- I lost count in my sleep deprived state.)

 But after a day she was feeling much better and seemed to have forgotten the purpose of the throw-up bucket.

 Lyddi and Carrie having fun in the pack-n-play together.

 Lydia, Carrie and a couple of their cousins felt very tired one afternoon so they took a nap...on the coffee table. :-)

 This picture is a little fuzzy, but too cute not to post.

 Lydia in front of the tower she built.

That's all of February!