Dear Joseph

Dear Joseph,

On Friday my heart swelled in my chest as I spent some very precious minutes with you in front of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. We were able to go to the church where your daddy and I were married and dreamed of the possibility of meeting a little B one day. I held you close and introduced you to St. Therese (whom you admired a great deal) and St. Anthony, and showed you a special Icon of our Blessed Mother (the same one your Daddy and I presented a rose to and prayed for her intercession and to show our great love and devotion on our wedding day) before we made our way to Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. I whispered to you softly how thankful we are to our God for the blessing of you into our family and we prayed together for our family (especially Matthew and Mitchell) and friends and Mommy's Prayer buddy). We said a special prayer our friend, Aunt Cat. I also asked God to bless you in your vocation.

It was the highlight of my day, to pray with you. You were so attentive and we had the Cathedral to ourselves. Once we finished praying, a lady came out ready to lock the doors for the day, but I was satisfied to have had those very special moments with you!

You bring me such joy. I love that we can share those special moments together and I am touched that we were able to pray together on the same kneeler that your Daddy and I knelt on during our wedding and when we received our Nuptial blessing. Your Daddy came home that night and even though we had our moments of loud crying spells, Momma not being able to get any housework done because your were clingy . . . all I could tell him was that you and I got to go to the Cathedral and pray. This brought such a huge grin to your Daddy's face, he was positively glowing! Joy! Joy!

I love you Joseph.

Love all-ways :)

Mommy

P.S. Here are sme pictures of you in our own family 'cathedral'! See, even now Mommy Mary is watching over you!

A New Day

A new day has dawned at the Broussard residence and there is one happy boy who approves!

Today was the first day he realized he could pull up to stand in his crib so that he coud see me better!

This sure beats the 'old way' of screeching to greet me!

Thankfully he is sleeping better which makes for a much happier baby AND mommy!!!

Football & Hope

Many years ago while strolling down the aisles of Targ.et Jessy stumbled onto this football on the clearance shelf. While I would dream of and pray for a child while strolling past the cribs and bouncers, my husband would dream when he was in the sporting goods department. Football is what he knows and there on that shelf that blue and black ball restored my husband's hope that he would have a child to throw the football with one day.

This football was always waiting for Joseph even though we did not know him yet! Our prayers were answered, our longing fulfilled, our hope in the flesh.

So in the spirit of the upcoming football season, Joseph and I played outside trying to capture some special pictures for Daddy!

While the football stills seems so large next to him, I know it will not be this way for long. I know that one day I will treasure these pictures even more than I do today because his hands will grow big enough for him to hold the ball all by himself.

These moments of just letting the blessings from heaven take my breathe away are priceless. My cup runneth over.

A little football represented our hearts filled with BIG hope!

Thank you God for hearing our cry and answering our prayers.

Bathtime Fun

Baths are more for playing than for cleaning :)


Giggles, grins, and slippery fun!

Sweet baby of mine.

I love the joy this picture captures.

Love you, my snuggle bunny!!

Kitchen Fun

Today there was a itty bitty chef in my kitchen!




While I made our supper of steak and gravy, Joseph had fun with his kitchen utensils.

He is the joy of our home!

Joseph is 8 months old!!

Joseph is growing up and I can't stop him!

He is growing up so fast and it seems like he thinks that if he slows things down, he will be missing out on something!

He is my favorite boy in the whole world and I fall in love with him more every single day! I knew that I would love being a mom, that is why I prayed my heart out for so long begging God to bless me with a child to have and to hold, but it seems as though the dream keeps getting better!

I still get amazed that he wants me to be the one he clings to when he is in a new environment or around new people. I am so thankful that he wants me to put him to sleep each and every time he needs to rest. I am very grateful that even though we had our struggle with trying to nurse that I am still the center of his world, as he is for me!

He is pulling up to stand, trying to take steps along furniture, and says "mama" occasionally with the intention of getting my attention but says "dada" consistently and does it every time my husband enters the room and especially when his daddy comes home from work. He still adores reading books and loves to turn the pages and pat the pictures. He is loving peaches and cantaloupe these days and is doing so much better with his reflux. Sleep is a little better and for that I am grateful! He loves to talk and gets very excited when the big boys come home from school! He still HATES diaper changes, mostly when we are somewhere else and it never fails he will make the dirtiest diapers at Mass, every. single. time! It is like clockwork!!! At least today, I got to listen to the homily!

In the last few days we have seen a great deal of suffering and a wonderful man whom loved Joseph very much, Iain Lewis, died tragically. This man was a huge prayer warrior for our family as we waited for Joseph and his wife and beautiful daughter were always such strong supporters of our family and just the most gracious friends a girl could ask for in the world. I just clung to my sweet boy after hugging his parents not able to comprehend the suffering they are enduring losing their precious, generous son. I cried watching my friend bravely celebrate his life while holding their precious daughter and I just knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that by knowing this wonderful man, my life had been changed. In knowing him, you just felt cared for, accepted, and loved in a very simple way. It was just in his presence and I am glad that Joseph knew him and that Joseph brought a smile to his face in the few times the two of them met face to face.

So while we were celebrating Joseph getting older, there was a heaviness in our hearts as we begged God to embrace Iain as he journeyed to Heaven. We just knew that God was lovingly welcoming him but we were not ready to see our friends, Maria and Gianna, lose their ability to grow with him in love over the next years.

My Little Helper

Fun with Matthew

Big Day

The big boys headed off to school this morning!



and the little one slept in, ate yummy bananas and cereal, made a diaper so full that a bath was needed right away, so we celebrated his 8 mo milestone with a warm ducky bath!

Now he is just snoozing away!

Love

I am so in love with my little guy.

I look down at his sweet slumbering face and find myself trying to freeze time and remember the roundness of his fluffy cheeks, the softness of his lips, and those gorgeous long eyelashes.

I love how he loves to touch my skin to settle down at night.

I love how I a the one who sets the world right for him.

Even though I still feel in awe of being his Mommy, I am so grateful.

Despite the craziness of our days lately, my heart overflows in joy, hope, and love.

Something about holding him that reminds me that God is bigger than the biggest storm in our lives.