August 2009

Sorry for the lapse in updates. August has been a busy month for us. We spent some time at the lake. I went to Mama Mia last night for the 2nd annual Tomlin girl birthday trip to a musical (my wonderful mother-in-law gets my sister-in-law Brandy and I tickets to a musical for our birthdays and takes us to dinner before hand). It was so much fun!
Starting with Cory- he is good! Playing golf, working and being Mr. Mom. He is an amazing father- Em and I are so blessed to have him. He is a lifesaver- he is what keeps our family afloat these days.
Emma is such a blessing- she starts preschool next week on Tuesdays and Thursdays at a bible church close to our house. There are several families from our church who are in the same preschool so she will have friends there. It is a milestone for us all, a sad one, but an exciting one- she is growing up! She is talking like crazy- enjoys going to the park with daddy during the day and having Mommy paint her toenails. She went to her Big Da's football game this weekend and loved it. She cheered "Go Big Da" all night long! Even when she was laying in bed to go to sleep.
I am doing well- work is going really well. I am really enjoy every part about it. I am so blessed to be working for two amazing people and with a great group of providers and staff. Everyone in the office is so nice and has been so welcoming and helped ease the transition. I am just enjoying life now. It is so nice to be able to have a life again. There's not much time in the week to do much but we are spending more time together as a family. I know have time to do things that I really enjoy like running and reading. The latest book I read was "Same Kind of Different as Me"- awesome book, highly recommend reading it.
I also wanted to leave you with a few scriptures and sayings I have found that have inspired me in the last few weeks ....
- Don't measure the side of the mountain, talk to the ONE who can move it.
- Leave tomorrow's problems until tomorrow.
- Meet today's problems with today's strengths.
- "It is through faith that a righteous person has life." Romans 1:17
- "For I know the plans I have for you" says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope". Jeremiah 29:11
- "Let us run with endurance with the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith". Hebrews 12:1-2
- "Give your entire attention to what God is doing right now, and don't worry about what may or may not happen tomorrow. God will help you deal with whatever hard things come up when the time comes". Matthew 6:34

With so much love,
Tomlins

REVELATION SONG (LIVE) - MEREDITH ANDREWS // HARVEST BIBLE CHAPEL - ELGIN

Revelation Song- Story Behind The Song

Up to Speed

Well- it's been a fast and furious summer, so I will catch you all up to speed. First of all, I left my job at Children's at the beginning of June. It was very bittersweet. Children's is an amazing place to work and I was so blessed to work there for 6 years with an amazing group of people. I took off of work the month of June to recooperate from school and to study for my board exam. I did PASS - yeah- and so now I am officially a Pediatric Nurse Practitioner. I started work the first week of July at my new office for Emma's pediatrician. I am at Pediatric Associates of Wylie working with a great group of people. I absolutely love my job and am so excited about working there. It is 8 miles from my house. It literally takes me 11 minutes to get to work... that to me is unbelievable! So nice, no traffic, no stress! Just the views of the country and Southfork Ranch.. haha!
We did go on vacation at the end of June to Atlanta with Cory's mother, his middle brother Ryan, his wife Brandy and their 3 kiddos. Also some family friends, The Koonce Family went with us as well. We went to "Camp Tomlin". We had so much fun! Such an amazing week of relaxation and good times with family and friends. I am posting some pictures of the week. I also am posting some pictures from my "going-away" dinner from Children's and other random pics over the last few months.
All in all, we are doing well. Sorry for skimming through this.. just wanted to catch you all up. I have not been good about "blogging" lately. Emma is so much fun - still.. she has quite the personality and is a little sassy at times. She got another bout of strep throat this week. So she earned herself an appointment with a Pediatric ENT doctor in September. I am very nervous about this, but she will most likely get her tonsils out. We'll see what he says. She has had strep 4 times since February. We really hate it for her, we are all tired of her getting it.
Hope you are all doing well! Lots of Love! The Tomlins

I thought this daily devotional was amazing and so fitting for my life right now. I have started my new job and it is so amazing, every aspect of it. I am truly grateful for the Lord's provision in my life and for blessing me tremendously!

July 13, 2009
How God Builds Your Faith: Dream
by Rick Warren

"Now glory be to God, who by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes" (Ephesians 3:20 LB).

Faith is like a muscle: it can be strengthened. It can be weak or it can be strong, depending on how much you use it.

How does God build your faith? He uses a very predictable pattern that we will look at this week, and, if you understand it, you can cooperate with Him in developing greater faith. It's like when the father, seeking help from Jesus for his son, said, "Have pity on us and help us, if you possibly can!" (Mark 9:22 TEV)

Jesus replied, "What do you mean, 'If I can?' . . . Anything is possible if a person believes" (Mark 9:23 NLT).

The first thing God does to build your faith is give you a dream. When God wants to work in your life, He'll always gives you a dream—about yourself, about what He wants you to do, about how He's going to use your life to impact the world.

There are many examples in the Bible of this.

• God gave Noah the dream of building an ark.
• God gave Abraham the dream of being the father of a great nation.
• God gave Joseph the dream of being a leader that would save his people.
• God gave Nehemiah the dream of building the wall around Jerusalem.

How do you know when a dream is from God or when it's just something you've thought up yourself? The Bible tells us that God, "by His mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes" (Ephesians 3:20 LB).

In other words, if a dream comes from God, it will be so big in your life that you can't do it on your own. If you could do it on your own, you wouldn't need faith. And if you don't have faith you're not pleasing God, because the Bible says whatever is not of faith is sin (Roman 14:23).

God starts to build your faith by giving you a dream. He may be speaking to you now, but you just don't recognize it for what it is. That dream you have—the idea, the concept, that thing you've been thinking about doing that would be of real benefit to other people—where do you think that idea came from?

God will never tell you to do something that contradicts His truth. In other words, He won't give you a dream of leaving your family and kids and moving to Hollywood to be a movie star. If you've got that dream, then you can know it is not from God.

God starts with a dream as He works within your life to build faith.


Have a great week!

Song on You Tube

Here's a direct link to video on youtube

Jeremy Camp- "Walk by Faith"

Jeremy Camp - Walk by Faith (Unplugged)

This sound has been around for several years and you may have heard it. But just wanted to share this video for several reasons... but such an amazing story and testament of how the song came to be. But the words itself in the song are truly my theme song for life. Anytime I drift off my path, I come back to this song and I am reminded of God's loving words from 2 Corinthians 5:7, "WALK BY FAITH, NOT BY SIGHT".
I hope you enjoy this song as much as I have!
Love, Holly

Look at this link--- another video of same song but with explanation of how he came to write this song.. it's a must see.. but i couldn't get this video to work on the blog. Sorry!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xT9wH8t4Hzw

Living through my child!

Just wanted to share a great revelation I had on the way home from church today. I wish I could say it was from the sermon (sorry Buddy!), but I was working in the nursery, so I missed out on the great sermon. Rather, it was in the car on the way home while I was getting onto my daughter. Emma was riding in her car seat getting frustrated because she couldn't get her shoes off... she may look like her daddy, but I am afraid she has a lot of her mother's personality. She was screaming because she couldn't get her shoe all the way off and after offering to help her she insisted she do it on her own... finally I was tired of the crying so I yelled at her, "What do you expect if you won't let me help you? You can't do it by yourself!" I realized what I said after I said it..
I will back up for a second and share an ongoing stuggle for me is turning over all my worries/stress/concerns over to God. I know twenty different scriptures where God clearly tells me to give it to Him and don't worry about it.. to let him do that.. that is what he is there for. So I feel that I am a fairly intelligent person, but for some reason, this is a difficult concept for me to grasp. For those who don't know me as well as others, I am an independent person who is a bit of a control freak. I like to do everything myself so I know it will get done and done right the first time... in my silly way, I see that by saying I can't do it and by asking for help, I will seem like a failure in God's eyes (which is ridiculous) but that's how I am, I don't like to fail or not be good at anything.. that is just how He wired me.
Right as I said that to Emma I thought to myself, that is exactly what God has been telling me all along and I am not listening to him either. Instead I am crying and screaming about how frustrated I am because I am trying to do it all on my own, and I can't do that. Unfortunately I am a visual learner too, I can read things all day, but I have to see them played out in real life to grasp the concept. Thank you Lord for showing me such an important life lesson through my sweet girl! Wow, what a day! This will always be a struggle for me, but my prayer is that I can remember this sweet analogy and learn to say that I can't do it.. and accept that it is OK to do that.
Loving life!
Holly

Kris Allen - To Make You Feel My Love

VOTE FOR KRIS!!

Danny Gokey - "What Hurts the Most"

Danny... you're my American Idol!

Graduation

Yesterday was a great day, the weather was rainy and gross, but overall it was a blessed day! Graduation went well.. I was very proud and honored to be there. I finally realized what a big deal this all really is. As we were all walking in the processional, I saw Cory holding Emma. Emma was just waiving to me and I got choked up. I felt so proud seeing them, my parents, my sister and my niece Kaila all there to support me. Not only did I sacrifice a lot to get this degree, but so did Cory and Emma. My parents played a huge part in this as well, helping out in so many ways so many times. I was so glad they were all there to share this special day with me. There are so many of you who also helped me get through this time in my life with all your prayers, encouragement and support. You know who you are and I love you dearly for it!
We didn't get many pictures because it was pouring rain, etc.. when it was over so here are the few we did get.. (my grandfather would be so disappointed in me). The group photo is all the girls in my Pediatric Nurse Practitioner class. There was only 5 of us... we made it though! On a side note, I am so proud of my Daddy, he has lost over 40 lbs and is in much better health than 6 months ago. I am so proud of him, he has worked so hard and looks so good! He has taken control of his life finally and working hard to maintain that. I told him he needs to so he can see Emma's babies one day!

Mother's Day

We had a great day Sunday together as a family. We maintained a pretty low-key day. I have to share though that there is nothing more special than being a mother. It is my honor to be Emma's mother. I have no greater joy than being with her, hearing her talk & laugh, telling me she loves me, seeing her smile, watching her play and watching her as she sleeps. I have been blessed with many women in my life who are amazing mothers, most especially my own mother. I only hope I can be half the mother to Emma, as she is to me.
My graduation is this Saturday. Cory and I leave on Tuesday for our vacation to Florida, by ourselves. I have to be honest, I am more sad everyday it gets closer to know I am going to be leaving Emma for that long. It will be the longest I have been away from her. We leave Tuesday and come back Saturday night. I will be fine once I get there, but man, poor Cory, that drive to the airport will be awful! Anyways, sorry for the short post, but thanks for checking on us!
Love,
The Tomlins

Busy Week!!

We had maybe the busiest week we've had in a while this past week... But all in all we are alive and well (FINALLY!!). First of all, Happy Easter to all! We are so blessed to have a wonderful family, but most of all we are blessed to be Christians. We are saved by grace and are worshiping together today celebrating the life that was made available to us by an enormous sacrifice by God. Thank you for sacrificing Your son so that we can be forgiven of our sins and that we can live an eternal life with You Lord! We are so grateful!

The best part of the week! Miss Reagan Reese Tomlin was born Tuesday April 7th at 5:45pm. She weighed 7 lbs 9oz and was 20 inches long. She is absolutely gorgeous. Brandy had a non-eventful, quick delivery and they went home the very next day. I have been blessed enough to be at the hospital with all 5 of my nieces and nephews being born... I actually got to see 2 of them delivered. I love each and every one of them as if they were my own.. I haven't gotten to hold sweet Reagan yet, because I didn't want to expose her to sickness.. I can't wait to get my hands on her.





Our sweet Emma has been sick all week, but she is definitely 100x better. After 2 different antibiotics, a shot of antibiotics, 2 doctor visits and an ER trip she is getting back to herself. She had a bad case of strep throat and a stomach virus on top of it... I didn't ever post pics from her birthday party so here are a few...we had all our family and friends come up for a Dora birthday party at the park by our house.. it was 40mph winds.. it was ridiculous, but it went well!





I had my 28th birthday this Monday... I don't feel any older.. the older you get, it just feels like any other day.. We had dinner with my parents on my birthday and then spent the weekend before with Cory's parents and brother and his family.


I had my last day of class EVER!!!!!!! I only have 8 more clinical days and I am DONE!! Graduation is May 16th.. I can't wait.. here are my classmates and my teacher Dr. Barbara Grey... great group of girls.. we've come a long way!


We hope you're all doing well and have a great Easter. We love you and thanks for checking on us. Here's one last picture.. from when we went to the fire station a few weeks ago for the dedication of the new fire engine.. we're so proud of our daddy...



Love, The Tomlins

Memories with Papaw

Cory's Papaw, Lionel Duncan went to be with Jesus last Thursday. We buried him on Monday. Cory, Ryan and Chris all spoke at his funeral. Papaw must have been so proud. They did such an amazing job... they shared so many stories and sweet memories of Papaw. He truly was an amazing man. There are not many men here on earth who live the way Papaw lived. We are all truly blessed for knowing him. Here's an exerpt from Cory's readings...

" Several years ago my brothers and I went on an overnight fishing trip with him to Richland Chambers. Well I meet papaw at his house to help get the motor home and “old yeller” down to the lake. Chris and Ryan meet us down at the lake that afternoon. Well papaw mentioned to me you need to bring an old pair of pants and old pair of shoes with you just in case. He stated he was going to stop at a “bait shop” on the way to pick up some live bait for our trot lines. Well I was following behind him in his truck when he started to pull the motor home over on side of the road. There was absolutely no civilization around, no stores, no nothing, just a large water-filled ditch to our right. I got out, papaw got out, and he said well Cory you know I told you to wear some old pants and shoes? Well, this is the bait shop I was talking about, so he went and grabbed a net and we got knee deep on both sides of the ditch and we walked this net back and forth, and simply caught hundreds of crawdads. Well for the rest of this story, me, Chris, Ryan, and Papaw had a great day out on the lake. It was getting late that night and we were sitting outside the motor home just listening to papaw, simply learning about life. We all just reaked of fish, sweat, and dirt and Papaw said “I guess it’s time we get cleaned up for bed”. So what I was thinking and I know my brothers were thinking is you have this motor home right here with a shower in it, that works!!! We would clean up that way. Wrong!!! Papaw comes back with a bar of soap, and says if you boys want to get cleaned up, there is a huge bath tub right out there to wash off in. So we all jumped in the lake and “cleaned up”. "

I am thankful to Papaw for teaching my husband how to be a man, how to be a father, and how to be a husband... Papaw truly walked the walk.. I thank him for giving me such an amazing woman to be my second mother (mother-in-law is so impersonal). But most of all, I am thankful to Papaw for be an inspiration to me. He showed me that you can be a simple person, someone that may be considered a "nobody" in the world, but everything to those who know them. He showed me that you can live a simple life yet you live the way God intended and how He has taught us to live and make a huge impact on those who know you.
Thank you Papaw, We all love you and will truly miss you!

MY FAVORITE REALITY SHOWS

DANCING WITH THE STARS




I am so happy Melissa is on DWTS.. she is my pick!!!

THE BIGGEST LOSER


I love the Biggest Loser!! Such an amazing show.. very inspiring and makes me cry 10 times a show every time!!!

AMERICAN IDOL


Danny is the man!! He's my favorite!!

DELIVER ME



My SIL Brandy got me hooked on this show... it's on discovery health.. about 3 women who are OB/GYNs who have been BFFs since med school... it's awesome.. on Tuesday nights at 9pm..

The Rest of the Story

so... life was good with the epidural.. Dr. Smith came in periodically to check me.. I think I actually dilated to 3 or 4 cm. I don't remember, but Emma was actually "sunny side up"- meaning she was facing up towards my belly when when should have been facing towards my back, then she was sideways.. Finally at 1AM on March 10, 2007 Dr. Smith check me and Emma's head was sitting at my pelvis not getting through. So she was great about it.. she explained everything and said that vaginal delivery was never going to happen and there was no point in sitting there for several more hours trying to see if something would happen... so we agreed on the c-section and here we go! The nurse anesthesist came in and numbed me up.. I remember being so anxious that I was going to be able to feel everything.. but I was numb all the way to my chest.






After months of waiting, Miss Emma Claire was born at 2:43 AM on March 10, 2007. I remember hearing her cry for the first time and Cory standing at my side as Dr. Smith held her up for him to see and we both just lost it. It was the most amazing moment of my life.... up until I got to see her for the first time. It was so bitter sweet because I wanted to hold her so bad but I couldn't. Before I got to see Emma, Cory went over to the side where she was and I was by myself listening to Dr. Smith with a concerned voice telling them to turn up my medicine because I was having quite a bit of bleeding... so of course I was laying there thinking I am never going to be able see my child because I am about to bleed to death and no one is talking to me!!! But needless to say, my freaking out went away and I lived! They finished the surgery and took me back to the L & D room where I got to hold Emma for the first time.




It was very brief because they had to take her to the nursery to suction her really well and watch her closely because she wasn't breathing completely normal. I finally got up to a room and I think around 8:30 (after many tortuous hours) I got to finally get Emma from the nursery and really get to spend time with her and feed her! It was priceless!









So many family and friends visited Emma in the hospital... Mimi and Aunt Amy came too.. don't know how I didn't get pics of them











My sweet baby!


Daddy's girl from day 1!


I never realized how special having a child of my own would be until I held her. We are truly blessed with her and treasure her. Every day and night we thank God for her life and constantly tell her how much we love her! She is an amazing little girl who is now 2 years old! She looks so much like Cory.. it's just so weird how she came from us.
Look at her now!!




Memory lane is so much fun!! We love you Emma Claire!!