Closer than a Brother

Reflecting on today how many friendships I've had throughout my life and how some have come and gone, some easier than others. Some truly deep relationships have faded away. How can that be? Business, life, family, miles??? All true, sometimes it happens from a big blow up, pride, selfishness, sometimes it just kind of happens and all you are left with is a memory. Is it my own laziness of not wanting to invest time in the people around me? It does draw up some questions of did they really even care? Was I just a waste of their time? Or are they just waiting for ME to make that move that I want them to do? It all leaves a bit of aloneness in this world.

Jesus plainly stated in Hebrews 13:5 that “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”  In another place, the Bible calls Him “a friend who sticks closer than a brother” (Proverbs 18:24).  If you make Jesus the center of your life, everything can collapse around you, but you will still be standing because He will never leave you nor forsake you.  You can have that one friend who TRULY will always be there. And even more, He will help you through trouble and put right those other parts of your life that are hurting you. 

I know the closeness of my Brother and my friend. I can’t imagine any other relationship that could be closer than that (other than my husband of course). Jesus is right there waiting, finally, for our time and friendship. When we are alone, you hear him say, “I am here. I love you. Come into my arms, sit. Rest in me.” He longs for communion with us. We are his children. Even in our aloneness God is always there just waiting for us, we are never alone. 

HAPPY "BIRTH" DAY!!!!

It’s been a whole decade since your birth – Happy Birthday Boys!

Here’s your story…………

Todd and I had a hard time getting pregnant and really wanted children for a long time. We went thru all the pain of testing and prodding from fertility doctors to make sure we could actually conceive. I felt like Sarah or Hannah in the Bible, barren, alone, watching everyone around me conceive and get pregnant. People would brag about being fertile as if they knew my pain and caused me more and more hurt with every pregnancy they went thru. What was wrong with me God? Why can’t I conceive? Why can’t I have that blessing? I asked God for a miracle because I felt God didn’t do miracles like he did before. Little did I know that prayer would change my life. We went thru fertility drugs but I just didn’t feel like this was what God’s plan was. I stopped taking the fertility drugs and went to a Women’s Convention. Now, I’m sure people knew I was trying to get pregnant, but I stepped out in faith and requested prayer from the women’s group. I was in the center, totally vulnerable to all of their judging and gossip to follow, but also broken and nowhere else to turn. It was a couple of months later I found out I was pregnant, finally. When I found out I was pregnant it was the day of my Uncle Bob’s funeral. One life ended, another began. I couldn’t contain myself from the joy of being pregnant that I didn’t even get to tell Todd first, I told my sister and brother in law just because I couldn’t keep in my joy of being pregnant. I of course told Todd and he just couldn’t believe it and was in shock, I was so happy. At our first ultrasound, the tables have turned. I saw a bubble and then another one, oh that’s weird I thought. Nurse says, “Well, how do you feel about TWINS?” What!?! Followed by Todd laughing hysterically! Me in SHOCK! Would you stop laughing? Urgh I couldn’t believe it, God not only blessed me with a child, but CHILDREN!! It took me awhile to jump on the happy wagon. It was actually fun, tho, to shock people all over again when we showed them the Twin A and Twin B ultrasound picture. Haha! J

Fast forward 6 months to a routine ultrasound on Halloween, of all days, enter my scary nightmare called reality. Mom and I had lunch at TGI-Fridays and then to the hospital. It was weird but for that particular ultrasound, it was scheduled at the hospital not the clinic. God knows what we do not know. Thank you Jesus! It was the ultrasound finding out the sex of the babies. She told me a boy! Yes, a son for Todd, I was so happy J and the 2^nd is a boy too! Great, doubly blessed – 2 sons, Todd will be so glad. They had another doctor come in to tell me about the results and to talk to me. Unfortunately Mrs. Brodie your sac has started to seep down and started labor and a bunch of other medical jargon, blah, blah, blah. WHAT IS HAPPENING GOD? Is this your great blessing? I don’t understand I don’t even feel the contractions, what is going on? I’m only 24 weeks along. They told me they must admit me to the birthing center down the hall. MOM!!! I was so scared. As I lay there from absolute shock I wasn’t even in pain from them sticking me with needles, attaching the catheter, doing whatever they were doing, I was absolutely numb. How did this day go from pure joy to unmistakable fear. Please God do anything, but please you cannot take my babies, please God! The bartering began between me and God that day like I have never before. They are yours God, please just let me be their Mom. They put drugs in me to stop the contractions and made me tilt upside down. I made it thru both shots of the steroids they gave me for their lungs. A group of doctors came in to tell me what was next. They couldn’t believe I made it thru that first 24 hours to do the steroids and were hopeful, now I just stay in the hospital for 3 more months or as long as possible and keep those babies put. J

Well 2 weeks of doing mosaic, puzzles, crafts all in my bed, sponge baths and yes peeing in a pan in my bed laying down and I just about had enough. Todd would come and spend evenings with me until I went to sleep for the night at about 10pm and then go back home. I love my strong husband! He was amazing! I however missed him to death when I was stuck in the hospital. I was 26 weeks and he had just taken a shower in my bathroom, came out and didn’t have his shirt on, I only touched his chest and began contracting. Little did I know my attraction to him would cause me to start heavy labor again, LOL! ;) We were both scared again that this would be it. The doctors came in and told us to get ready - the babies will be delivered tonight! Dylan came out first, regular. I heard one single cry and then nothing else, I didn’t get to even see him because they rushed him away to the NICU. Zach did NOT want to come out, he wasn’t positioned correctly and they tried turning him but did not work. I tell him now it’s cuz he wanted to stay in Mommy’s belly cuz he was so comfy and warm, so, yes, he had to be delivered by C-section. Ok I totally recommend the first way! I had horrible shakes afterwards, Zach did not cry. I think I must have blacked out for an hour in recovery. By the time I went back to my room my parents and Todd were there. At 1am, I was wheeled, in my bed, down to see my babies for the first time in the NICU. I couldn’t believe what I was looking at for the first time were my babies. Yes, I loved them, but how is this happening to me? This was not the plan or promise you gave me God. What now? I can remember my Grandmother telling me to talk to them in their little incubators. I tried, but could not find the words. How can I talk to a lifeless, shiny skinned, baby who will probably die? Because there were 2 of them it seemed like every day if one didn’t have an issue the other did. It was breathing tubes, lung problems, blood on the brain, heart murmers, heart valves, surgeries, caffeine, needles, chest tubes, and the list goes on and on day after day. God give me strength. Trust in God, Be still and know I am God, I have everything in control, lean on me for strength, Trust me… ok God I am willing to trust you. I was pumping to give them breast milk one day but was drying up. The doctors told me it was because I had no real bonding with them to release whatever makes all the milk come because I was not able to hold them at all. So let me get this straight, the only thing I was getting “right” I am failing now. When will this struggle end? We would visit our babies everyday at the hospital and were learning to cope with this thing called our family life. At times we would restrict people from visiting the boys because they were so sick. Some people actually got upset about that fact, like we were doing it to hurt them, I’m sorry, but my children are fighting for their lives and might DIE, but as long as you can see them, I should take the risk that you might make them sicker than they already are? I’m sorry, I don’t think so! This is about them NOT you. Like we are not stressed out enough.  

One day about a month after they were born, the nurses told us we could hold them for the first time! It was the absolute happiest day of my life ever! Why, yes, I would LOVE to hold my baby! J We took Dylan home at 72 days and Zach home at 92 days on portable heart and breathing monitors, it was kind of nice to easy into it that way, one by one. I had to learn how to put in a feeding tube down the nose and check and make sure with a stethoscope to make sure it was in the stomach and not the lungs, ok what? I am not a doctor! Urgh! I did do it once tho J but Zach ripped it out while sleeping one night and then never needed it again. He has a scar on his cute little cheek where the bandaid was. He also has a scar from the chest tube and we have a binder full of their medical records while in the hospital, thank God for insurance! Thru all of this God was faithful and gave us strength. Coming out on the other side, my babies are 100% fine and passed all of their developmental marks with flying colors. They even slept thru the night at 6 months! Doctors are shocked when I tell them what happened and they tell me that there should be something wrong with them or have special needs. Not with God. I enjoy every chance I get to tell their story to anyone and everyone that I can. When I asked God to show me a miracle I had no idea what that would be. Whatever you go thru you need to share your story with others to help them thru their storm too and give them a hope, people want to know they are not alone. Give God glory for what he does in your life. Always be thankful. Our boys have been prayed for a LOT by many people, thank you and I thank God for their lives. I have to think they are such a blessing to everyone around them. I know every baby is a miracle from God but I just know without a doubt that God has something very special in store for them. The joy they have spreads to everyone around them. The way they pray is amazing! I can’t wait to see what God has in store for them and am so humbled and blessed to call myself their Mother. 

HAPPY 10^th BIRTHDAY DYLAN & ZACH!!!

 

Love Always,

Mom

My cute 1st Grader! :)

MY SWEET RIDE

I LOVE MY NEW CAR! I'M A DODGE GIRL AGAIN..........

School Days

WHATEVER!

The last day of school has been postponed a week due to area flooding, a.k.a. right up to the school doors! Anyways so they went today and it consisted of them having a meeting with the principal in the gym for 5 minutes as he told the kids who the teachers were for summer school and then they were supposed to pick up their things in their classrooms, but, oh yeah, their teachers weren't even there!!!!!! What a WASTE OF TIME!!!!!!! But, alas, summer is finally upon us. We survived the first year of their school! The rest of the day consisted of them arguing with each other and bullying their sister...only 77 more days til it's over!

A Mother's Work GLORIFIED!!!!!

DUDE----
My son pee'd in his bed then came into our bed and pee'd in our bed. Meanwhile......when I enter my daughter's room, Emma says, "yuckie" and I see that she has taken her diaper off and pooped in her bed and rubbed it all over her legs, so MOMMY gets to disinfect 3 beds, change sheets and clean the poop off my darling Daughter before we take the boys to school one morning. Is this what God has planned for me? Is this His great Awesome plan for my life? Such is the life of a Stay-at-home Mom.

A Kid's Prayer

A kid's Prayer.......
My kids are so cute when they pray, they are straight and precisely to the point. The other day Dylan was praying and at the end of his prayer he goes, "K, God?" It was the cutest thing ever and it made me think of all of OUR prayers and how sometimes we, as Adults, are not necessarily praying to God, but are trying to impress the people around us with our magnificent ability to say wonderful prayers. Why can't we be more like a kid anyways, God knows our true motives and if we are praying to hear how good we can pray, will that prayer REALLY be answered? i think when we are most sincere, we do not use all of those big words that make up a beautiful prayer. I have to tell you, though, nothing is more beautiful than to hear your son or daughter pray a heart-felt prayer. That is probably how God feels too.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving.........I am thankful for:

My extremely hot, caring, thoughtful, sensual, loving husband
My miracle twin boys
My one and only BEAUTIFUL daughter
My parents
My brothers and sisters
Friends and family and family who are my friends
Naps with my boys
Shopping with my girl
Mom's cooking
Dad's breakfast
Cafe Mocha
Walks in September
Sweaters and Jeans
Sharing a hot tub with my husband
TIVO
Health and the health of my family
Beautiful gardens and tulips
The majesty of clouds and the wonder of sunsets
Life-long friendships
Sledding with my children
The excitement of Christmas Morning
Baking cookies
Scrapbooking
Watching "Friends" every night with my hubby

Ode to Mister Schwans Man

I love Schwans.....what's not to love, they deliver food to your door, many things to choose from including ice cream!! HELLO!!!!! Only 1 problem........my Mister Schwans Man always comes when I am in my pj's. No bra, no underware, no makeup, bed-head hair. The solution: go and hide with your 3 kids in one of their bedrooms while saying shhhhh, shhhhh! (oh, and of course the giggles!) Now, I know today that he KNEW I was home, probably because my sons were waving "hello" to them from their bedroom windows as he drove up to our house, or maybe he just heard me say, no, no get down, come here and hide in baby Emma's room! Who am I fooling? :) But I do love the little orange sticker he leaves us, "Sorry, we missed you" Yeah....it should say, "Sorry you are hiding from me today" I'm sorry Mister Schwans Man, but you should know by now to please come in the afternoons!!!!

Emma's 18 Month Pictures

I Love Deforest!!!!

Ode to my 1st Home....Well my parents are in their new house and all that is left in Deforest are my memories! I'M SO SAD!!!! I swear no one else is!! Doesn't anyone care about my 1st home. 30+ years of memories, that's what they are now just memories. As my parents slowly clear out my home, I have become overwhelmed with memories of my past childhood days. The flooring in the back porch has surfaced as my faded memories of going in and out of the porch on many summer days playing with all my friends has returned. It is such a blessing to be a kid, why did we want to grow up so fast? That home is filled with many good memories of the past and I will always cherish it. It was the PERFECT home!! I will never forget you 3931 Mueller Rd................

Ok, so sorry haven't posted in a while, but have been on my space recently. You can check it out at http://www.myspace.com/twinsplusprincess

Check ya la-der!

Emma Patricia

Killer SMILE :) Look, I finally got a tooth!!!

Check out my big belly......

Easter Time

Easter Time....The boys enjoyed finding their Easter Baskets on Easter morning, we went to church for Easter breakfast and then after church we headed to my parents for dinner. Here are a few pictures to enjoy!

Emma's 1st Birthday

We had Emma's 1st Birthday party at our house. It was so much fun and sentimental all at the same time. My Baby is growing up!!! I cannot believe it has been a year already! She is growing up so fast, as kids tend to do. I can vividly remember her being born and having the nurses put her on my chest and just looking at how amazingly beautiful this little one was! God has TRULY blessed me with such a wonderful, fun-loving, funny, crazy, beautiful daughter......

I LOVE YOU BABY EMMA!!!!!

Monster Trucks

We took the boys to Monster Trucks the end of January. They had an amazing time as boys would. I was surprisingly entertained. I totally want one!!!!!

Ok---I usually delete these when I get them from chain letters, but here goes:

A - Available or taken? Taken for almost 10 years now!!!!
B - Best friend? (s) Todd, Mom and Lou
C- Cake or pie? Cake
D - Drink of choice? Code Red or Mudslide coffee from Gloria Jeans
E - Essential item you use every day? Disinfectant wipes
F - Favorite color? turquoise
G - Gummy bears or worms? Bears
H - Hometown? Fall River, WI
I - Indulgence? after having 3 kids, a NAP!!!!
J - January or February? February, duh (MY Birthday, Emma's Birthday, Todd's Birthday)
K - Kids and names? Dylan, Zach, baby and Emma
L - Life is incomplete without? God, family, friends, laughter and coffee
M - Marriage date? August 15th, 1998 which is the same as Brobergs and Johnsons, funny, huh?
N - Number of siblings? 4-Lorri, Carol, Larry and Louis
O - Oranges or apples? Apples-Granny Smith
P - Phobias or fears? Phobias-BIRDS, snakes, mice; Fears-getting the car crash your husband died phone call or my dad dying or my mom getting alzheimers/dimentia
Q - Favorite quote? Will Hunting: Do you like apples? Clark: Yeah. Will Hunting: Well, I got her number. How do you like them apples?
R - Reason to smile? My 3 kids; my husband in a gotee (ooh baby!)
S - Season? Fall
T - Tag three or four people. Jess, Christine, Carol and Mom
U - Unknown fact about me? I have a castle in Brodie, Scotland. Ok, it's by marriage, you say, but all the other "Brodies" don't like history and Braveheart is like my FAVORITE movie, so I am claiming it to be mine! :) It's actually for real though, check it out http://www.castles.org/Chatelaine/BRODIE.HTM
V - Vegetable you don't like? okra
W - Worst habit? trying to please people
X - X-rays? teeth and lungs
Y - Your favorite food? green jello

P.S. I deteted "Z" for Zodiac.....I DON'T DO ASTROLOGY!!!

The leach has two suckers that cry out “More, more!” There are three other things, -no four!-, that are never satisfied:
The grave,The barren wombThe thirsty desertThe blazing fireProv. 30: 15,16
Just as death and destruction are never satisfied, so human desire is never satisfied. Prov. 27:20
If the leach has two suckers that cry out “More, more!” then we are much like the leach. We are NEVER SATISFIED.
• When will I have enough money?
• Who can satisfy vengeance? I will hurt you like you hurt me. I will make you pay and never let you forget.
• A man is given a porn magazine. He looks at the first page and the animal screams, “More, more!”
• A lady cleans her house, but it is not really clean enough.
• When will I get enough sex?
• Who can satisfy the craving for alcohol, nicotine or drugs?
• I eat one donut and I cry out for MORE.
• I am not satisfied with a 30 mb ipod, I need one that has 80.
• Once I fix my house all up, then what? Then I must buy a shed or a cabin on the lake and fix that up. When that is fixed up then I will sell my house and buy another one so I can work on that. Never satisfied.
• Who is ever satisfied with the way they look? Then why are there fitness centers, diets, makeup and liposuction?
Like a blazing fire we are never satisfied.
Like the grave that swallows a few hundred thousand souls every day. Is it ever satisfied? Tomorrow it consumes more.
What desert is ever satisfied with one rainfall?
HOW CAN I EVER BE SATISFIED???
I CAN NEVER GET FILLED UP!!!
This is when Jesus arrives, stands up in the middle of the party and says…
“Is there anyone here that is not satisfied, that feel empty and feel they can never get enough?”
Then come to me! Come to me and DRINK! And when you do, rivers of water will come gushing from you. Full and overflowing, fully satisfied! Come to me and I will give you the Holy Spirit and you will NEVER THIRST AGAIN.
Can we get what He is saying? But what of the leach, you ask? What of the blazing fire, the thirsty desert, the barren womb and the hungry grave?
Jesus is totally aware of the problem. We drink from all the fountains mentioned above and thirst again. Yet Jesus offers us Someone who will satisfy us to such an extent that we will never thirst again!
Who will believe??
“Who has believed our report? And to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?
The Lord says, “Who will believe me? Who will come and receive the Spirit of God? Why do you run daily to drink water from wells that contaminate? Why do you continue to drink from vessels that are cracked? Wherefore I plead with you, and with your children I will plead. You have exchanged my Spirit for things that do not profit. You forsake me, the fountain of living water, and drink from vessels that hold no water. What iniquity have you found in me, that you would turn to vanity and emptiness? My people have forgot me days without number”
Be astonished, O heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid.
Oh! Blessed is the person that will believe what He has said! Oh, so few Christians come to Christ to be filled with His Spirit. How He longs for His people to come. He waits. He waits for you each morning to come. The table is set, the fountain is running, but you never come. So you are never satisfied.
Oh, Jesus! I come. I eat from the garbage heaps and drink from the puddles. I belly up to the trough with the pigs and roll around in their slop. Is your fountain still running? Is your door still open? Then I want to come home. I need you to forgive me. Forgive me for ignoring you. Forgive me for not believing. Forgive me for trying to be satisfied with the world. I am ashamed.
I want to sit at your table and be filled. Fill me with your Spirit. Baptize me with your fire and with your power. Fill me to overflowing and SATISFY MY THIRSTY SOUL! Teach me to drink from your well day and night. Cause me to hate the worldly fountains. Teach me to be satisfied only in you. Bring me into a new level of intimacy with You. Take away my unbelief and increase my faith.

Christmas Cards SUCK!!!!

Christmas Cards SUCK!!!!

Okay, so this is my vent, I'm not really worried if I offend anyone because no one reads my BLOG anyways, so here goes.....I seriously ponder as to why the heck I send out Christmas Cards. I spend so many hours making homemade beautiful, (my opinion) looking cards, spend hundreds of dollars on pictures that my whole family hates to take and all for what, to get like 2 cards back??? Why do I torture myself? I'm not saying I'm looking for a card because I gave you one, but why have we gotten so lazy in this old time tradition? And to top it off all of my relatives EXPECT a picture and like call my Mom if they don't get one. AAAAHHHHH!!!!!! You say, you're so busy, EXCUSE me but am I just sitting at home, wondering what I can fill my days with, I DON'T THINK SO!!!!! I have a full time job called "mother" and I cook, clean, laundry, meals, pick up after everyone and twin 4 year old boys who have me going every which way, a newborn baby and oh my other job-job, not to mention a husband to please and a household to keep going. There aren't enough hours in the day, I go to Amfam just to relax and sit down. WHATEVER people and I just love the people who send them on like December 23rd, like it's going to get to me by oh, the next day??? Yeah right!!! Well, it is not all in vain, on December 26th I received a card from the person I love the most.....Marcy! I love her cards and no one else got one from her!!!! I will tell you, honestly when I got her card it made all the other non-givers float off into space. So, THANK YOU MARCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S. The only people I exempt from this post are Larry and Louis because I know that they don't send anyone cards :)

Christmastime

So we are trying to do all the holiday traditions for the kids, the fun stuff anyway at Christmastime. we made cut out cookies the other day and we had so much fun decorating them. it is a blast to have kids, because you stop for a moment at being an adult and be crazy, funny like a kid. I just think they enjoy LIFE so much more than us adults. Anyways, so Dylan was constantly, and I mean constantly eating the frosting and then when I would catch him, he would laugh really loud and it was hard not to laugh at him. Zach was pretty much just eating the red and green sugars. Which poses a question, am I contributing to them getting diabetes? Oh well! Well, the WHOLE batch lasted about 2 and a half days, which had something to do with a little thing called "Todd". Well, the Brodie household has Christmas 3 days in a row this year starting Saturday. So that will be fun with family. We will be bringing the Christmas program video from church to our Christmas, it is hysterical!!!!!!!! Let's just say it would have been boring without my 2 little terrors! Hope you all are having fun this week. See most of you on Sunday! I had to post this picture to get us all in the winter wonderland mood, WE HAVE NO SNOW!!!!!!! Last time I checked, this was WISCONSIN. Remember when we used to have inches and inches of snow and have snow days and make forts and igloos? By the time Emma gets into school it will probably by like 60 degees during winter!!! Poor kids......

Love,
Vicki


P.S. Emma update: She says DaDaDaDa now. SHE IS THE CUTEST THING EVER! I bet she is EVEN cuter than I was. So if you ask her, Emma say MaMa, she stops, looks at you and goes, "Uh, Da Da Da" while bouncing up and down, smiling. It's so funny! Oh and if you really want to see her go bananas, put her on your shoulders, she absolutely loves it!