Lillian Marie Miklautsch

Wow! I can't believe I haven't posted about this sweet baby yet! Well here she is!
Lillian Marie Miklautsch
Born September 15th, 2012

Guess I have been pretty busy enjoying this sweet baby and her big sister!
Thankful to God for His Miracle!

It's baby time!

After 5 years of praying for another child and after mourning 5 precious babies who are in heaven, we are overjoyed to meet our second little miracle tomorrow morning!

We could never have walked this road without the Lord and all He has given us. We are so thankful for all the people He brought into our lives to pray for us, pray with us, pray over us, encourage us, support us, love on us, cry with us, challenge us, and now to celebrate with us...

Psalm 30: 5b, 11-12
"...Weeping may last through the night, but joy comes with the morning...
You have turned my mourning into joyful dancing.
You have taken away my clothes of mourning and clothed me with joy,
That I might sing praises to you and not be silent.
O Lord my God, I will give You thanks forever."

Some maternity/family photos!

Here are some photos my Very talented sister Nicki took of us right behind our house!
We are grateful to capture our sweet growing family and can't wait for more when there are officially 4 of us!

Lately

Wow, it has been a really long time since i posted anything.  Life has been good, just very fast paced. We had our best friends living with us for the past month. They have moved along to their next destination and the nesting has begun for me! 
I am now 30 weeks pregnant with this precious baby!
Hard to believe I am already this far!  Today I finally filled out my hospital registration paperwork they try to get you to fill out at your first OB appt. I refused several times due to the fact I had a pretty sad collection of these over the years. I also would get those lovely reminder calls right before my baby was supposed to be due reminding me to get registered. I can vividly remember crying after each call I received. So today after hanging up with the registration lady, I sobbed. I am so overwhelmed that after 5 years of waiting, this is my reality.  It is still so surreal to me. Thankful does not even begin to describe how I feel. I think more than anything I am in awe of God's mercy through it all. All along He knew I would get to enjoy pregnancy once again, enjoy preparing for another sweet child, and enjoy His gift of life. I am even more amazed He chose to heal me well before entrusting me with another life.

With all that said, I am truly enjoying being pregnant once again. I am getting a sense of this sweet baby's personality already. Kaylee was a very active baby in utero and little brother or sister is the same. I get reminder kicks every time I lay on my side that baby is being squished! I really have no other options of how to lay so I back off slightly each time I am reminded! There isn't a whole lot of room in there due to the fact I have a small torso.  Whenever music is on, esp worship music at church I can feel a lot of activity! It is so fun! Some evenings when the baby is really active, I rock on my front porch to settle him/her down, so far it seems to work! Looks like I will have a spoiled rocked little baby!

It is amazing all the attention you get when your pregnant. I forgot what it was like. I will get friendly smiles every time I am in public. I have had several strangers come right up and tell me I am having a boy. So funny! No one has said girl yet. Kaylee is absolutely so excited to be a big sister. She kisses my belly all the time and tells me how much she will help with "her" baby!

Thanking God each and every day for His Goodness and Redemption! Thanks for all the prayers for this sweet child and my pregnancy! I will post some pictures soon.

The Story Behind this long Awaited Miracle...

I just wanted to share some of the details on how this miracle came to be. The most exciting part in my opinion is that this sweet child was a complete surprise! We were no where close to going down this road again by our own plans. Amazing how God works! Our December was a crazy month preparing for Mark's surgery and being filled with unwanted anxiety on how things would turn out. Guess I needed a lesson on trust! As January came, we both felt such a peace and relief that after 4 years of thyroid trouble, he would be free of that gland once and for all. The first 2 weeks of January were some of the most peaceful we have had in years. Mark took 18 days off total between the holidays, surgery, and recovery. It was so nice to spend quality time as a family.


It wasn't far into January that I started having some pregnancy symptoms and thought, "Na, couldn't be." But after a few days of wondering, and after 6 previous pregnancies, I thought I may need to buy a test. I didn't tell anyone I was suspecting it or taking a test, not even Mark. So when I read the result, I was in shock. I fell to my knees and cried out to God. I tried to call Mark and could not get through for an hour and a half. Honestly I felt that was from the Lord since He knew I needed to spend some time with just Him. After telling Mark I called a dear friend to take Kaylee for the afternoon so I could process this huge shock.

I don't even know how to explain the last several months in just a few sentences. All I can say is the Lord has been my fortress, more than ever before. I had to trust in His purpose for this pregnancy and remind myself His truths through reading scripture and spending alone time with Him every day. I have never felt more dependent on Him than I have recently and I am certain there has been nothing better to humble me. Overall it has been more peaceful then the last 4 pregnancies. The joy we have felt is unexplainable. There is simply nothing the medical world or I myself have done to keep this precious child alive inside me. God is fully responsible for this miracle!

So I am now 16 weeks along and falling so in love with this sweet baby. To my complete surprise, I have felt this baby's sweet kicks for a few weeks now and it is truly amazing! Kaylee is so excited to be a big sister! We are so excited to welcome a new baby! And this is just the beginning....

1 Samuel 1:27...

1 Samuel 1:27

"For this child I have prayed, and the Lord has granted me my petition which I asked of him."




After 5 years of praying for a sweet child, God has blessed us with this new life. We are beyond words and so amazed at His goodness!

Psalms 30: 11-12
"You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have loosed my sackcloth and clothed me with gladness, that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever!"

We are thankful for all who have been burdened with prayers for our sake! He hears them!
May God get the glory for this Miracle!!

2011...

It has been so long since I have blogged! Not really sure why? Our 2011 has been an interesting year to say the least. God brought us through a whole new world of challenges and blessings!

*For starters we sold the only home our family has had together and moved to a new area for the wonderful neighborhood and schools...
*GI issues for me that after 3 months ended with surgery to remove my Gall Bladder
*After months of misdiagnosed illness, my Mother-in-law was diagnosed with Lymphoma, what a journey that road has been, we are Praising God that after chemo there is no sign of the Lymphoma any more!!! We saw how family can come together and form a bond we didn't know existed until pushed to the limits.
*My sister had her precious baby girl Lacey that we all adore to pieces!!
*We have experienced nightly wake-ups from our 6 year old that after trying everything we can think of will still NOT end which has led to a grouchy mommy, Kaylee, and daddy on numerous occasions
*Got to experience the magic of Disney World through the eyes of my precious little girl!
*Mark underwent a total thyroidectomy after years of problems

So many life changing events took place in one short year. I kinda felt whip-lashed as we came into a new year. Running at full speed was no doubt exhausting. As soon as Mark recovered from his surgery, we both felt such a peace and calmness come over us as we started a new year.

In light of all the past year has brought us I am reminded by humility that I am not the Planner here. I would have forgone "lots" of what happened this past year...it wasn't in my hopes and dreams of "2011". I was reading James 4 recently and was extremely humbled by what it said...

Warning about self confidence
13 Look here you who say, "Today or tomorrow we are going to a certain town and will stay there a year. We will do business there and make a profit." 14 How do you know what your life will be like tomorrow? Your life is like the morning fog-it's here a little while, then it's gone. 15 What you ought to say is, "If the Lord wants us to, we will live and do this or that." 16 Otherwise you are boasting about your own plans, and all such boasting is evil.

Wow, how often do I plan my future with no regard to God? Especially when it came to having children? I planned exactly how many kids I wanted and I did not hold onto those plans loosely. How much harder was this journey for me because of the crushing pain of my plans being thwarted? I am thankful to share that I have been forgiven of this "boasting." I know that it is good to plan ahead and to make goals, even when it comes to family size, but simply adding "If God wills it" to the beginning of each goal is more wise in the end.

I can say with confidence that I am thankful that He is my planner...After all He knows all the details and brings on so many more blessings than I would be able to plan-up on my own!

Our life Lately

It has been forever since I've written. Life has been busy, like everyone else. Lot's of changes going on around here. After 7 long months of cleaning the house for showings, we have finally sold the
house, yippee!! Of course we only have 1 1/2 weeks to be out! We will be living with Mark's parents who so generously opened their home to us for a little over a month until our new house is ready.
Kaylee is sooo excited to get to see her Grammy and Papa so often!
So I am knee deep in packing and organizing all of our stuff. After living here 7 1/2 years, it will
be bittersweet to leave our home. Kaylee is getting a little sad to leave her room full of colorful squares that Mommy painted on 2 different occasions. She even asked if she could have the same paint job in her new room! I'm not that crazy!

We are thanking God for the opportunity He has given us to build a home in a great area of Cincinnati. We have been watching the whole process over the last several months. We had an idea to write scripture in each room of the house on the wooden beams according to what we hope to accomplish for the Lord there....then we prayed over each room in the house. Here are a few pictures...

Disney Pics

Our trip from last month!

Here are some photos from our trip in April to Clearwater...Disney pics still to come.
We had such a nice relaxing time to regroup after a crazy month in Cincinnati!

I have a new niece!!!!

This is my newest niece Lasea Grace Woller...born on March 31, weighing 8 lbs 1 oz!
She is so very precious and we are all Praising God for a healthy addition to our family.
Proud parents are my sister Nicki and her husband Nate! Kaylee is in love and wants to see her all the time. Here are some photos of our little "Lacey Gracey."

Psalm 139

"O Lord, you have searched me and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.
You hem me in-behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn, If I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, "surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,"
even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.

For You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb.
I Praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden form You when I was made in the secret place.
When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body.
All the days ordained for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

How precious to me are Your thoughts , O God!
How vast the sum of them!
Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand.
When I awake, I am still with you." (1-18)

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts." (23)


Life has tossed us a few curve balls this past month. It is so nice to be reminded that God
knows our every anxious thought! And that He alone has each of our days numbered. Through all the hard stuff in life, He is what makes it worth every day!

Thanking God today for good gifts, healing, and vacations! We are headed to the magical place
of Disney World this week with our precious little girl! We will post pictures soon!

Recovering

So surgery was this past Tuesday. Everything went so well. The nurses were wonderful, the doctors too! I had a very good experience overall. And my incision is amazing, no stitches, no steri strips, no dressing...just a slightly goofy looking belly button and some super glue!
Yesterday was a hard day with lots of pain. My wonderful friends and family have been taking Kay, which is a huge blessing. She seems to be more needy when I am down and out. But overall we are doing great! My mom is coming for a few days and I am soooo looking forward to her being here.
Our big prayer is that my sister would keep her baby nestled inside her until I am fully recovered so I can hop in the car and drive to Columbus as soon as she makes her debut!
Thanks for all the prayers and love! I can't wait to eat fats again...

My latest

So for 5 months now I have been dealing with a very unpleasant organ...my gall bladder. Starting around Thanksgiving time I would notice each day I felt nausea come and go. Then I noticed the bloating, painful gas, and belching. On Christmas Eve I was admitted to the hospital for a violent stomach "virus" which later we discovered was most likely a gall bladder attack. After my hospitalization I was noticing each evening I was nauseated after dinner. So I started asking my Doc friends who agreed it was gall bladder trouble. I began a 5 week long journey of a no-fat -low-fat diet. There were days I ate vegetables and chicken broth and felt as if I ate funnel cakes and elephant ears at the fair! After a Dr. visit and a surgeon appointment, I was told the testing would take a few weeks. So in the meantime I decided to try a gall bladder flush to try and salvage this God given organ!

Well, the flush took a lot out of me, both figuratively and literally! I did it on Valentine's night since Mark had a church meeting :( I ended up disoriented in the middle of the night and apparently tried to find my way back to bed after the 38th visit to the toilet that night and leaped onto what I thought was my bed! I landed quite awkwardly onto our space heater and rested there until Mark jumped out of bed to see what happened. I mumbled in a drunken like manner that I was fine just lying there for a while. I was extremely nauseated and was content to snuggle our heater for the time being. Once Mark peeled me up onto the bed we discovered in the "crash" I had gouged my knee open and was bleeding. He got me some phenergan (nausea meds) and put me back to bed for the night. In the morning I wasn't doing much better so he took me to the ER where they gave me some IV nausea meds and fluids.

The next day I had a Hida scan where they inject you with radioactive dye to test the function of the Gall bladder under radiographic images. The results showed I had 8% function left in my GB and needed it out. I just scheduled surgery for March 8th and am incredibly excited to eat fats again. My diet is so limited and I usually have to make separate meals for my family which is not so fun when you are craving every inch of fattening foods! So I have 11 days left until I get my gall bladder out and I am counting down the days!

I have caught myself really grumbling and complaining about all of this; the nausea, the diet, the inconvenience, the medical bills. I was convicted lately that this is really nothing compared to what the rest of the world suffers in hunger, disease, and all sorts of other "discomforts."
Who am I to complain of a modified diet, GI symptoms, and inconvenience. I have lived through far worse events and have seen God's hand lift me from the mire on more than one occasion. So I am patiently waiting for this journey to come to a halt so I can enjoy dates with Mark, friends over for dinner, and a variety of fattening foods once again!

Creative

It has been FOREVER since I have posted on here. We are in a new mode of life right now...attempting to sell our house! It has been a lot of work and I am finally at a place in my life where I am ready and willing to do it! We are prayerful that we may be able to sell the house and find another in time for Kindergarten next fall...but if not I am trying to figure out an back up plan.

Time seems to go so fast when you have young children. Kaylee continues to keep me busy as a bee and as she gets older I am discovering a whole new side of parenting! Which is both fun and challenging. We have been spending our afternoons reading, playing games, having tea party's, and having play dates. Usually she wakes up every morning asking "who do I get to play with today." And usually if I say "me" she gives me a sour face. But all in all we have been having tons of fun!

Some of my challenges as a mom have taken a different turn. For instance, Kaylee has been fighting me every morning on what she will wear to school and I have been struggling to get her to eat breakfast....So, I could either continue a crying screaming battle each morning OR turn it into a game. So I told her we are going to have each day represent a color and we both have to wear that color, eat that color, and read books with that color. It was an instant hit. Kay got busy to work writing each color out on a piece of paper and ordering a day for it. Then she got into her closet and found an outfit for each day to match that color. Mornings have begun happier and with (virtually) no arguments and we are having tons of fun doing it too!

Lately

It has been so long since I've written a post...not really sure why. We have been busy fixing up our home to sell this January. It has taken a little longer than we thought. Just thinking about selling our home brings a bittersweet taste....this is the place where we started our lives together, had a child, and walked through adversity together. There are so many memories in this home. I am reminded what a blessing a home can be to a family. Our main reason for moving on is for school districts for kindergarten next Fall. Hard to believe my little girl is getting so big.

Life for us has been so peaceful. There is not a day that goes by that I am not reminded of God's grace and love for me. It brings tears to my eyes daily to remember where he has brought me from.
This Christmas time is so very different than the last three. Christmas is my favorite time of year and this year has been so much fun. Kaylee is really starting to understand what it is all about.
While at the post office last week she befriended an older man in the long line with her charm and funny disposition. His full attention was toward her and she knew it. So she started asking him if he knew God and Jesus? My heart sunk immediately as I was nervous for him to get scared away. When he said he knew them a little bit she proceeded to ask him if he knew what Jesus did for him? He said no. So she told him Jesus died on the cross for his sins and that He loves him very much. Then she just wouldn't let him off the hook...next was "do you go to church?" He sheepishly said no and she put her hands on her hip and said "why not?" This is where I started freaking out. I gently said "lets not grill the man". But he was not afraid of this little girl and was not scared away either. It really was a sweet conversation and I will never forget hearing my 5 year old witness to a stranger. The funny thing is I would never have done what she did, for obvious reasons. But the innocence and love from this little girl flowed out that day and I am pretty sure she blessed the man who held her attention the short 10 minutes we were in the post office that day.
This is what Christmas is about, not being afraid to focus on the reason it ever began. At church last night we talked about the first few verses from the book of John, how God created Jesus in the beginning, He always existed, not just the first Christmas, but from the beginning of creation. God's plan all along was to bring His only Son into the world as flesh to take our place.
John 1:1-4 "In the beginning was the Word (Jesus), and the Word(Jesus) was with God, and the Word(Jesus) was God. ² He was with God in the beginning. ³ Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. ⁴ In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind."
Merry Christmas!

Redemption

Yesterday was my testimony. Thank you for all the prayers, love, encouragement, and support.
It went so well. I came home from MOPS and fell to the couch. I had no idea how much energy it took out of me. I was so exhausted. For weeks I have been preparing my heart to share what God wanted me to share. I wasn't sure how it was going to look or how it would be perceived. It felt so good to be real and share about the Healing that God worked through my story. As soon as I stood before the room full of women I felt all my fears fall by the waist side and felt a strength from the Lord overcome me.

2 Chronicles 16:9 "The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. "

Today we wrapped up our 1 Samuel study. We have been studying David and his heart for God. He was no where close to perfect and though he was called "A man after God's own heart." David walked in the truth and did not turn form the Lord even in his darkest hours. In the video Kay explains, "When you walk in truth it does not mean you will not encounter difficulty or that your faith will not be challenged or that everything is going to go your way. But, you can know that a sovereign God sits on His throne and He sees your heart and He sees your obedience and He is going to show Himself strong on your behalf. God will work the difficulties together for our good and His Glory."


I have no doubt seen the goodness of the Lord shine through my life, through tragedy and through redemption...

Psalm 27:13-14 "I am still confident of this, I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living, wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord."

Fall Family pictures