Alex's life!!!

I wanted to put together a slide show for Alex's baptism just as a way to honor him. As I was looking through 8 years of pictures my heart was filled with such gratitude to have had 8 years so far and I know a lot more to come. I remember sitting with him on one of our many overnight trips to the hospital with such fear in my heart. I would pray so hard for a chance to see him be baptized, to receive the priesthood, to serve a mission and to marry in the temple. Well my prayer was answered and Alex is now 8.
As I pieced this together and then put it to his song I was in tears. My baby has grown up. He has defied all the medical odds he had put in front of him. He is a miracle, he is my miracle. I will forever be indebted to my Father in Heaven for allowing me the opportunity to be Alex's mom.

Alex's Baptism!!

This is one of those milestone days that we prayed we would get to see Alex live for. I can't belive it has been 8 years already. Where has the time gone?
Alex has been waiting for this day for quite some time and we are so proud of his willingness to take this step. It was a great day!!! We are proud of you Bugs, thanks for being such a great kid.


Our bugs!!

Alex and his daddy

The fam

The boyz

Alex and his mom

Alex and the Neu Grandma

The Reggie gma and gpa, Ali, Alex and Grammy and grandpa

The Neu cousins

Neu grandpa and Alex

The one thing he wanted: a pinata

A day of memories!!

I know I am a huge blog slacker and to all my "loyal" fans, hehehe, I promise I will catch up. But today is a special day and thus needs to be blogged about.
12 years ago, man that makes me sound old, I entered the MTC as a very scared 21 year old. I was what some would call very worldly and very spoiled. How was I going to spend 18 months of my life away from all of that? That was a huge leap of faith and one that I will never regret taking.
Fast forward to this same day 4 years later. I am a mom for the first time and am facing one of my biggest fears the evil, wicked, vile, horrible (ok I digress) C word, Cancer. Not in me but my 3 week old son. He was diagnosed at 9 days weighing in at under 6 lbs. February 4th was his biopsy. This would determine what stage, how severe and if it has spread. I didn't find it a coincidence that I was dealing with all of this on the same day as the beginning of my mission. This too would be an experience that would forever change my life and define who I truly am. I had the opportunity to choose to either get very mad and very bitter at my Father in Heaven or to turn to Him and put it in His hands. As we drove to the hospital those same fears were in me and I knew that I had at one time on this day conquered my fears by trusting in the Lord. I knew I had to do that once again.
My son is a miracle!! He will always be a witness to me of what faith is and that miracles do happen. I am thankful to my Father in Heaven for giving me some tough stuff because He knew what was best for me. The experiences I had on my mission gave me the strength to get through what I deem HELL day 2002. I am a better person because of the things that I have been asked to do. He honestly knows what is best for us. We just have to be willing to think the same way He does.

Sister Neumann in Hillsboro, Oregon

Alex at 1 month