Heartsong in Sugarland

Last weekend Heartsong (group I sing with at church) went to Sugarland to help lead worship at Fisher's of Men Lutheran Church. It was a wonderful weekend. We were able to see some of the destruction IKE left behind. Some of the families we met still didn't have power that Sunday morning. Fences were down everywhere. Windows were blown out all over town. Every street had an abundance of limbs lying in the middle of yards, roads and sidewalks.In spite of the devastating week we had a very uplifting morning of worship. We sang songs from our CD with Adam's band. They learned the music in under 2 weeks. They sounded awesome.

Alyssa and Adam

Carol and Royce

Mary Beth, Linda and Leslie

The gang at Papasito's

Carol, Linda, Me and Leslie


Mary Beth and Me

Dancing with the Stars

I'm so glad this is "National Stay At Home Week". I think that's what they've been calling it on NBC. So many good shows to watch-so little time! I'm most excited about "The Office" starting tomorrow night. Happy TV watching to everyone!

Jayla Ashlyn Hamann

This morning started off early for Joy and Brad. They had to be at the hospital at 5 am so Joy could be enduced. Her due date was Tuesday. About 8 am I got the call to head over to the hospital. Joy and Brad are both from Iowa and their families still live there. Since you can have 2 people in the L&D room they asked if I would be with them. I was so honored! Joy works with me at church and she's a big picture person. She's very talented with photography, videography and filming. She put together our wedding slideshow. Since pictures are such a big part of her life she asked if I would video tape (what they allow these days) and take pictures of baby's first few moments. I say "baby" b/c they decided to not find out what the sex of the baby was. They wanted to be surprised! I got to the hospital around 8:30. She was in labor and was about 5 cm. She was doing great and felt wonderful. Her contractions weren't too bad. She got her epidural at 6 cm and then was feeling super duper! Here's what the 3 of us were doing once the drugs kicked in.....
She reached 9 cm pretty quickly and started pushing at 3pm. At 3:12 the baby was laying on her chest! Wow, 10 minutes of pushing? Not bad, Joy! Way to go!!! She was 8lbs and almost 21 inches. I was sooooo thinking it was a boy! Joy was too.

She's beautiful and sweet. Really alert and so happy.




This last picture is a little prank that Greg, our boss, wanted to pull. It was my idea but he really saw to it that it was carried out. When we told Greg that the hospital allowed 2 people in the room with you and that I was going to be one of them he jumped right in and said, "YES! I accept. I'll be the 2nd if Nicole is the 1st person." So, we printed off a giant picture of his face so he could 'be in the room with us'. The hospital staff thought it was hilarious!

Congratulations, Brad and Joy!

Friends

Last Saturday we had a girls night with a little shopping and P.F. Chang's. On the left is Shawna, Beverly and me. On the right is Emily, Linda and Brooke. We had a nice time. We all know each other from church. Shawna was in our wedding and her little Ava is our God daughter.

We also all serve on our womens ministry retreat team called STARS. Our retreat is Oct. 9-12 in
Kerrville and we have a team of 40 volunteers who will serve on the team and we have 40 retreatants who will go for the first time. Concordia's STARS retreats are awesome. This will be our 3rd year.

The best "find" for me that night was a really cute pink and brown skirt I found at Ann Taylor. It was on sale for $9! Beverly got one too. The next morning at church I wore my new skirt and saw that my friend, Yvette, also found the great sale at Ann Taylor. We both had the skirt on. At least we had different tops!

Update on Amy

Thanks to everyone for praying for Amy. Her surgery went well today. The biopsy confirmed that it is lymphoma. The doctor said that he's very hopeful for full recovery with radiation. Since her last brain operation she's lost full function of her right hand. I'm glad to report that there was NO new damage! I went to her house today over lunch time to let her dog out and to pick up a "box" of stuff she asked me to get. Get this...she prepared a cute basket for her MOPS group. They're meeting tomorrow morning for their new season and she has the basket full of skittle packets for each of the ladies there. Along with the candy is a color coded poem to match the colors of the skittles and each color has a sweet phrase thanking people for their love, concern and prayers. She also has a gift for one of the moms that just had a new baby and a final gift for a Children's Ministry volunteer. So last night, the night before her surgery, instead of sitting around and doing something like feel overwhelmed or feel sorry for herself or maybe even feeling angry at God, the world and anything else one could think of, she's sitting at home putting tissue paper into cute gift bags thinking of others. That's Amy. She always puts others ahead of herself. Even during difficult and dark times.

She is so strong and I admire her more than words in a blog could ever describe. I am so proud to call her my friend. God bless you, Amy! I love you! I can't wait until our next pedicure and glass of pinot.

Pray for Amy

Hi Everyone,

Please pray for Amy Mucha today. Her brain surgery is at 2:30.

Open House with a Song

On Labor Day I was at my mom's house and all of a sudden my sister looked at her oldest, Lacey, and said, "Well, should we tell Aunt Nickie the big news?"

Lacey says, "I'm in CHOIR!" She was so excited to tell me! She has such a pretty voice and she loves to sing. She's in the 3rd-5th grade choir and I just hope she loves it as much as I did. Being in a choir (or sports team, band, club...whatever) teaches so many valuable lessons. You learn to work as a team. You develop great friendships. You feel good about yourself! I'm such a proud aunt!

Here's Lacey in choir. They sang at PTA's Open House. They sounded wonderful!!!

Lacey's easy to spot...she the tallest. Middle-on the top row. Love that little girl!

Here's Ashley with her new teacher. Yea for Kindergarten!!!
Even thought they bicker like most sisters, Ashley really looks up to her big sister. I bet she'll be in choir when she's in the third grade!

Rusty's birthday

Saturday night, after the shower and a BIG nap I went to Rusty's birthday party. Nathan didn't go because he was in Louisiana on CAT Duty (Catastrophe Duty) for hurricane Gustav. I got to see some friends that we don't get to see very often. Brian came in town from Austin.

Rusty's on the left and our friend Ryan Takao on the right.

Here's me with Cari, Ryan's wife, and their nephew.

Brian's just blinking....he's not drunk. Really.

Happy Birthday, Rusty!!

Another Shower for Joy

Saturday we had a shower for Joy at Gaye's house. It was so nice! We had a great turn out and she got a lot of great gifts. I have a picture from Robyn that's on my work computer that I'll add later. It's a picture of me in front of Joy's (well, Brad's) blazer. The hood is up and the horn was BLARING! She was a tad stressed out. The horn was stuck and would not stop. I'm doubled over with my hands covering my ears. It was unbearable!

Finally the loud noise stopped and we were able to go back in and enjoy the party. Here are some pictures from the shower...




































Joy's family lives in Iowa and her mom couldn't come to the shower since she'll be here after the baby comes. She mailed a gift early and it was so sweet and thoughtful....half of us, including Joy, were in tears. First, Joy pulled out an old red Christmas infant outfit. She looked at it and commented on how it kind of looked familiar. She concluded that it must have been hers. Also in the box were several children's books that belonged to her when she was little. Finally, she pulled out a picture frame that opened like a book. It was hinged. On one side was a picture of Joy's grandma holding baby Joy in that very same outfit. The other side of the picture frame is blank.

Nicole makes a diaper cake

I went over to Kelly's so she could show me how to make a diaper cake. Here's our creation...

Men!

It had to be done. We have some old trees in our yard. In the front are 2 Arizona (tr)ash trees. I don't like them. They do provide great shade but they are cheap trees. This one has made us nervous for quite some time now. It started to split between 2 big branches growing from the trunk. It was time. We have brush collection this week so this is what Nathan and our neighbor Ken did Sunday morning.

Here's what keeps her going

Here is Amy's little girl Addi. She's a little Smithson Valley High School cheerleader. I went to the football game with Amy and her family to watch Amanda, Amy's little sister, perform with the dance team. Isn't she precious?

Please continue to pray for Amy. She's still going through a lot. She's having surgery again a week from today. The tumor in her brain is back. I still believe that she has angels surrounding her and she's such a fighter. I love her so much and I pray for God to perform another miracle.

It'll be easy to remember to pray for her on her operation date....Sept 11th.

Nicole, Joy and Brad visit Adelyn

Last weekend I went to see Adelyn along with Brad and Joy. She sure is cute and teeny!! Here are some 1 week old shots of this little one.

Sundae Sunday

Every new school year as the Sunday school children move up to their new rooms we have Sundae Sunday! Yep, you heard that right. Ice cream sundaes for breakfast. The kids love it and to be honest, so do I! It always brings the crowds back after a relaxing summer...