Public Service Announcement!

I thought since I know so many moms and pregos right now, this would be a great thing to pass on. Hope it helps!

Toys R Us in baby gear exchange program

The retailer will give a 20% discount to shoppers who bring in used cribs carseats and highchairs.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Toys R Us Inc. has launched a trade-in program for potentially unsafe used cribs and other baby gear, the toy giant announced Wednesday.

Between Aug. 28 and Sept. 20, all Babies R Us and Toys R Us locations nationwide will accept returns of any used cribs, car seats, bassinets, strollers, travel systems, play yards and high chairs.

In exchange, shoppers will receive 20% off the purchase of any new item in those product categories, from select manufacturers.

"We are all looking for ways to stretch our dollars, but in doing so, children's safety should not be compromised," said chief executive Jerry Storch. "[It's important to be] vigilant about potentially unsafe children's items that may still be in the marketplace."

The trade-in offer aims to educate consumers that certain baby items should not be reused or resold. The program also seeks to call attention to the fact that only 30% of recalled baby products are ever actually returned, the company said, which means that many dangerous items remain in circulation.

Beyond recalls due to safety hazards, used baby products can pose further dangers, Toys R Us noted. For example, the materials that car seats are made of can break down over time, making the product less effective in a crash.

I felt the baby kick for the first time tonight!

God is so amazing! We've been bummed that our ultrasound was moved from tomorrow to Sept 9th, over three weeks away, because I've been looking for another connection to the baby. So tonight God let both of us (the baby kicked again for Eric too) feel a kick for the first time! It just makes the joy of having a baby that much more real, instead of focusing on the pains and medical limitations I'm under because I'm pregnant. It was so great to feel s/he. I'm just so happy knowing that s/he is doing okay in there and growing as s/he should be. Praise God for his faithfulness! If you haven't read 2 Samuel 22 lately, read it. It is empowering. I keep trying to just pull out a few verses for you all, but I can't narrow it down. So go ahead and read the whole chapter. Go ahead... I'll wait.

Wasn't that amazing! Don't you feel stronger? More confident? Like you can accomplish anything? Quick, while you still feel this way, go do something you've been dreading and draw on his strength to help get you through to the other side. It's beautiful over here.

God and Sean Gafner are amazing!!

So today is our first Monday without a meal being provided to us in two weeks. Who knew food could be SUCH a blessing!! (Thanks to Becky and everyone who provided food for us!) So Eric and I are sitting around trying to wrap our minds around cooking and really don't have a clue what to make. Asides from PB&J's, we didn't have the ingredients for much. So we decided to use some of Eric's birthday to eat out. Eric said he felt like eating pizza and that actually sounded good to me, so we start looking for coupons online and in the phonebook. Suddenly, Eric gets a text from Sean asking if we want dinner! Huh?! Ah, sure! And from Sean - of course! He asked if we had any preferances and Eric just said I didn't like spicy food. About an hour later Sean shows up with two home-made PIZZAs!!!! They are by far the BEST pizza's I've ever eaten.

Isn't God crazy? Not only does he provide for our huge financial, physical, and spiritual needs and everyday meets our daily needs, but he even sees fit to meet our whimsical wants for pizza! Why do we ever worry about anything? So thanks to God for being bigger than anything and thanks to Sean for listening to him. You don't know how God has used you in our life.

It feels like chaos, somehow there's peace

"There's a wave that's crashing over me
All I can do is surrender
Whatever you're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
But I'm giving in to something heavenly...
Whatever you're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but I believe
You're up to something bigger than me
Larger than life something heavenly"
-Sanctus Real, Whatever You're Doing

This seems to sum up what the last two weeks (or really what the last month) has been like for me. The month started with attacks on our marriage, then struggles with family, then finding out about a life-threatening health condition, and now struggles with insurance over the meds so I can literally stay alive. I don't know what God is doing or allowing to happen, but our faith is seriously being rocked. And although we don't have a clue as to "why us", we are daily praising God and trusting in his heavenly process.

I'm pretty sure that any of you reading this know that about two weeks ago doctors discovered a blood clot in the main artery of my left leg that starts somewhere (that's right, they aren't sure where!) above my pelvis and ends at my knee, plus extends halfway down both branches of the artery as well. Doctors said they weren't necessarily impressed by the extent of the clot but more by the fact that I was still alive with this clot. They said with the size of it and with my continued activity, I was "lucky". Praise God that he has a plan for me past today!

The last two weeks have been a roller coaster of emotion for us. One day I will be okay. Mostly upbeat but tired, and wanting to participate in life around me. Other days, like today, I am so overwhelmed with frustration, stress, fear, and grief that I just want to close the doors and windows and cry in a dark room until I fall asleep. Yet I'm clinging to Job 2:10: "Should we accept only good things from the hand of God and never anything bad?"

Our most recent debacle centers over our insurance. First of all, praise God we were accepted to Medi-Cal the end of June at 100%! God knows everything! Now, we've been "working" with our pharmacy to make sure that Medi-Cal will pay for the shots I need to inject myself with twice a day for the next 6 months (yuck). Apparently Medi-Cal usually only pays for about a week and my pharmacy knew that I would need a TAR (Treatment Authorization Request) since my prescription is for longer than the week! They put this together, sent it off to Medi-Cal and we called at the end of the week to check on this b/c I was going to run out of shots today. Yesterday the pharmacist said they should hear back by the end of the day and due to my situation, it shouldn't be a problem. So I took my last shot this morning and we called the pharmacy to see if we could pick up my next six shots (I know, 3 days at a time is all we get, good grief!) and they said Medi-Cal deferred the TAR b/c they were unsure if my due date was 1/09 or 1/10 and since it's deferred, I can't have any shots. Interesting. Don't you think it's common sense to assume my EDD is 1/10 if I'm PREGNANT!!! We called the on-call doctor and they were amazed at the stupid error and told me to make sure I got the shots I need from somewhere because (and this is a quote) "if you miss a shot, you could die." Awesome. Thanks for that. So we spent the morning driving from pharmacy to pharmacy to find someone who would help us and finally landed at Owens. Other pharmacies said we could buy one shot for $60 (that's $240 to get me through Monday morning!) but Owen's said they would give us the 4 shots in good faith expecting that Medi-Cal will start using their brain and approve the TAR for the shots for the rest of my pregnancy. Here's a huge shout-out to Owen's Pharmacy and their workers! I love them!

I love how God works with messy situations. Although each step of this blood clot has been really hard, he's provided every step of the way. Even today, my mom drove by the pharmacy and saw our van and stopped by to trade cars and take Elliot so we didn't have to entertain him while all of this was going on and then told us to go out to lunch together when it was done. Then a friend stopped by with some basic pantry items for us that we were running low on and handed Eric a check (without knowing what happened today) that will cover the cost of the shots we got today if we have to pay for them. God is CRAZY amazing. He knows EVERYTHING!

Anyways, I haven't been on here since all this happened b/c I just didn't know what to write since each day is so different. But I thought since today started with me crying through the morning and is ending with me still loving the Lord, it was a good day to share. Eric and I want to thank EVERYONE who has been praying for us, who has visited, called, emailed, texted, etc, brought food, encouraged and so much more that we will never be able to repay. We are both overwhelmed and humbled by your love. Thank you.