Funeral Arrangements

Memorial services for Lathem Thomas Oakley will be held at First Presbyterian Church of Jackson on Wednesday, October 1.

Visitation will be from 9:00 - 10:30 a.m. in the greeting courtyard, followed by a memorial service at 11:00 in the sanctuary.

With heavy hearts...

As posted by Nathan on the CaringBridge site...

At about 4:00 this afternoon, Lathem Thomas Oakley passed from the arms of his earthly family that loves him dearly, to the ever-loving arms of his Creator.

We count it as a privilege that God chose to bless us by adding Lathem to our family. Though he was only with us for five days, we have been changed by knowing and loving him. We are so grateful to all of you who have lifted us up in your prayers, today especially.

We have no arrangements right now, but we will post them here when we've finalized those plans.

Isaiah 43:1 - But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: 'Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.'

Please continue to pray for the family.

Going to see the little boy!

Joel and I get to head out today to go see Lathem. We're very excited to finally meet him and get to see Nathan, Deborah, and the other kiddos. Can't wait to give the kids the coloring books and crayons we got them to say "Hey, you're a big brother/sister!"

We'll be sure to give you an update on how little Lathem is doing after we meet him.

Hope you have a great weekend.

CaringBridge page for Lathem!

You can visit the CaringBridge page that has been set up for Lathem to find out more about what is going on with him from day to day.

www.caringbridge.org/visit/oakley

Thank you for all the prayers!

Crazy Election...

Here is a neat web page by ABC News. You go to the page and read quotes by both candidates and you choose which you agree with more. At the end they tell you who you agree with more.

Just try it...

On a side note...

Some of our friends had a little baby last week...His name is Henry. I just wanted to post and say congratulations to them and show the little gift we sent out earlier this week to them. (I made these shoes using this pattern from Stardust Shoes.)













Hope you enjoy your little shoes Henry!

Baby Name!

Baby Oakley now has a name...Lathem Thomas Oakley!

Baby Update

The doctors have determined that he has an aneurism of the Great Vein of Galen. This vein in the brain has become so enlarged that is taking up far more space than it should. It is also causing his heart to work far harder than it should because of the pressure in the area. The doctors have talked about doing surgery to block off some of the flow of blood to that part of the brain. They also mentioned running a tube through a vein in his leg to be able to closely examine the area. Both procedures are dangerous and the prognosis is not good. If he makes it through all of this, there will more than likely be severe developmental problems. The doctors are going to run another echocardiograph today to find out if his heart is strong enough for the procedure. If he is strong enough the doctors want to do the surgery on Thursday so the children and I will be going to Jackson tomorrow.

Please continue to remember the Oakley family, especially this special little boy.

Baby Oakley

Baby Oakley is now in the NICU at UMC. I did find out that he weighed 8 lbs. 4 oz. and is 21 inches long. As of about 3:00 they had done an echocardiogram of his heart and found that it is slightly enlarged and shows signs of distress, but is formed correctly. He is on a ventilator to help him breathe (He was able to breathe on his own but it was hard work for him). The doctors plan to do a CT scan later today, but we do not know when that will be exactly.

That is all I know right now. Please continue to pray for the doctors and the family. Also, remember the little kiddos at home that don’t really understand what is going on. The kids names are Sanders (6 yrs.), Wynn (3 almost 4), and Rebekah (2).

Thank you for the prayers.

Please Pray...

Please be praying for my sister-in-law and brother-in-law. They are expecting their 4th child (to be delivered this week or next), and they went to the doctor today and were told that the baby has some fluid on the brain. I don't know what that means exactly, but they are supposed to meet with another doctor this afternoon.

Please be praying for the family and also the doctors to know what the best course of action is. I will keep you updated as we find out more information.

Thank you!

Positive, Encouraging....K-LOVE

Well, my cold is finally beginning to go away. I'm not coughing nearly as much, and I've only had to blow my nose once so far today! Woo hoo! Can't wait till I'm completely back to normal.

So this new weather that has flown in is SO nice. I'm loving the cool breezes and the need for a very lightweight jacket in the mornings and evenings. I can't get enough of it! It is so nice to push open the door and not have your breath stolen away by the humidity or heat. This weather is however making me anxious for even cooler weather, which brings with it holiday season. I'm a sucker for Christmas, always have been, and I've already started thinking about it! I told Joel this morning that I was ready for Christmas to be here!

So...K-Love. I listen to it just about all day long now. If you haven't checked it out you really should. You can listen to it by going online at www.klove.com and then click on the Listen Online button at the top of the screen. It'll set it up for you and you'll be streaming in no time. The first two things I do every morning when I get to work is check my email and start streaming K-Love. It'll make a difference in your day I promise...if you'll just try it. It's so encouraging and uplifting!

Let me know if you start streaming K-Love!

Cold, Cold go away...

Cold, Cold go away...come again NEVER!

Hah, seriously I'm sick of having a runny nose, stuffy head, and coughing all the time. I know I'm not the only one suffering from this ailment. And I think I speak for everyone that it's time for it to all go away!

Hopefully I'll be cured over the weekend!

Happy Birthday!

Today is Avi Grace's birthday! She turns one. I remember the day she was born. We were all sitting in the little nursery waiting room at the hospital waiting for the good news. Drew came up to the nursery window and held her up for us all to see. We couldn't have been more excited for a beautiful, healthy baby girl.

I look forward to seeing her grow into a young lady, and I hope that I get to spend lots and lots of time with her through these next years of her life.

Happy Birthday Avi Grace! We love you!

(This is one of my favorite pictures of Avi Grace from our trip to the beach. She is enjoying looking out at the water!)

A day late...

Well, it is a day late, but it's better late than never! Yesterday was Ms. Rebekah's birthday. She turned 2...she's getting to be so big. She can say pretty much any word she WANTS to. That is the key, her wanting to say it :) She sure is a cutie. I don't have an updated picture on my computer or I would post one (I'll have to see what I can do about that). So here is a picture from the past (Her 1st birthday party)...just imagine her a year older ;)

We love you Rebekah!

A few projects...

Well, I finally remembered to bring the pictures with me so that I could post about some of the projects I've worked on over the last year.

#1 Christmas Stockings - Last year Joel and I were looking for stockings and we couldn't find anything we liked. So, as I mentioned in an earlier post, that is what started my whole adventure in sewing.

#2 First Purse - For my nieces birthday, I made her a purse...it was my first attempt at a purse, and I think it turned out pretty well. Hope you like it Maddi!



#3 Baby Shoes - I found this project idea here on Stardust Shoes. It was a fun project, my sister and I figured out together. These shoes Kelli and I made for Avi Grace. Since then I have made several more pair for baby gifts!



#4 Baby gift sets - At our church there was a spell where everyone was having babies! Here is one set I made as a gift (Bib, burp cloth, and shoes). The tutorial for the shoes is here, the bib and burp cloth here. (That site is Homemade by Jill...one of my favorite blog's to read)



#5 "Beach" bag - As seen in an earlier post, the girls in my family went to the beach last May. I made my mom a "beach" bag. The reason I put it in quotes is because it really wasn't heavy duty to where it would stand up on it's own like most beach bags, but she liked it! It is a fully reversible bag.



#6 First little girl outfit - I made this little outfit for Avi Grace because I wanted to see if I could! I used bias binding for the first time, and made little bloomers to go with it. I was pretty proud of this outfit.



#7 Pillowcase dress of sorts - I made this little dress for Avi Grace as a birthday gift. I think it's pretty cute, the only thing I'd do differently is to make the bow slightly smaller so it would be more proportional to her small frame. I found the tutorial for this dress here.

So there is a list of my "so far" projects. It has been fun making each of these items...I've learned a LOT and I have gotten really really good at using the seam ripper! :)

Here is one picture from AG's birthday last weekend.

Oops...

Ok, so still I have not taken the time to get the pictures off of my home computer that I want to post! I am adding a reminder in my phone now...so HOPEFULLY I'll remember tonight :)

In the meantime here is a recipe that if you like Reese's cups you must try! I made them on Friday night....I actually doubled the recipe because the original one only makes 12...I mean of course we need more! Haha, we are still enjoying them. They are super easy and fun!

That's all I've got for now...hopefully I'll have pictures tomorrow!

Long weekend...

I LOVE long weekends. It was so great when I got in the bed on Sunday night and realized I didn't have to get up to go to work the next day. It was like an extra Saturday...can't beat that feeling. We had a great weekend with lots going on.

This weekend we had family on the Oakley side and on the McPhail side in town. Friday Joel and I got to spend some alone time together. Then on Saturday we spent a little time with the Oakley family (Deborah, Sanders, Wynn, and Rebekah) in the morning. Saturday afternoon we went to Avi Grace's 1st birthday party! I promise to post pictures soon...but for now you can check out some here at Avi's blog. The party was a lot of fun, and on top of that we got to see more McPhail family there. Mike, Sheri, JM, and Maddi were there too. It was a great time to watch Avi celebrate and visit with the family. On Sunday we got to spend time with both sides of the family.

Sunday night Gustav tried to give us something nice...my brother-in-law found out he wouldn't have school on Tuesday, so my sister was hoping that she'd be that lucky too. Unfortunately, she had to head back home on Monday because they were going to have class today!

So, we had an enjoyable long weekend visiting with family and avoiding the hurricane weather. Hope your Labor Day weekend went well!