a prayer covering

I've recently blogged about my friends, Natalie and Matthew, who were engaged to be married but lost Matt to a hard-fought battle with lung cancer. So many people have been covering Natalie in prayer, many whom she doesn't even know...if that includes you, THANK you so much. To show the extent of all the love and support that's been poured out on Natalie, I thought it would be fitting to post some pictures of the prayer-project we made for her. It was months in the making, and originally designed to be a wedding gift. But the Lord had other plans, and although it is immensely painful, I trust that this gift will be an enormous blessing to her.

The project is a prayer quilt. Simple premise - friends, family, and loved ones each create a hand-drawn square expressing love, support, encouragement, and prayers. Then all the squares are stitched together into a literal prayer-covering, which will wrap up our sweet Natalie in all that love, all that support, and all those prayers. It's a tangible way for her to remember how much everyone cares about her...and also a beautiful memory of her undying love for Matthew.

To all who contributed to making this quilt, thank you from the bottom of my heart. To Natalie - may all the days of your life be covered in not only the love of the Lord, but also the love of all your friends and family. May your quilt be a constant reminder of how much you are loved. I am honored to be your friend, and to have met the love of your life...may Jesus return soon so we can all be reunited again! Until then, cover up in our love and prayers.

~Monique


Brett helps mommy shop for fabric.


Making squares by candlelight...the power went out!


Snacking at the prayer-square making party


All finished!

All covered in prayers

Don't mess with...

All right, I'm finally getting around to posting the pics/videos from our fun in the sun in the Lone Star State! We spent about half our time in Dallas, half our time in San Antonio and driving between the two. Brett was SUCH. A. CHAMPION. He tolerated SO much more driving, fewer naps, irregular schedule, etc...and was a near-perfect angel most of the time. Notice a trend here? ...I said the exact same thing about him on our trip to Redmond in January! I guess we have a natural little traveler on our hands.

So, without further ado, I present to y'all the evidence of our fun trip to TX. By the way, in case you're craving more, the entire set of photos can be found here.


happy camper on the way to San Antonio


Enjoying the Riverwalk by day and by night


Cool Mexican "rattle" we bought on the Riverwalk


Bittersweet - Memorial Day, an evening we spent with good friends Matt and Natalie. That night they had to drive 3 hours to Houston for treatment, after which Matt's health went totally downhill. He passed away on Sunday, June 7th. We are SO thankful to have gotten to meet Matthew, and celebrate such a meaningful day with him. He is truly one of our fallen heroes. Please keep Natalie in your prayers.


Who knew Texas could be so beautiful? - a snapshot of the northern San Antonio hill country.


Our favorite restaurant - Mimi's!


Heehee, all the cousins enjoy a lemon. I love these faces.


Surfer dude :)


Pooltime with Grandma


Brett's learning to drive the golf cart already!


heehee, I love these cute faces.

Playing at a really cool park with cousin Annalise

Hangin' with cousin Alex

hahahaaaa! I love this face. He was actually really happy.

loungin' by aunt Barb's pool

playin' with Brandy

lovin' on Lexi

Brett's unusual fashion statement

Da boyz

Attempting a portrait for Grandma and Grandpa...now I understand how hard it is to get a good picture of 4 kids at the same time!!

prayers appreciated

I thought my next post would be a whole bunch of fun photos and videos from our TX trip. I do promise to post all those soon, but feel compelled to mention something else first. While we were visiting family and friends in TX, we had the opportunity to meet my good friend Natalie's fiance, Matthew. They have been engaged for just a couple weeks, and were planning to get married in October. All the while, Matt has been battling lung cancer, which he contracted while on duty in the US Air Force, because his barracks were infested with black mold. Matt fought the cancer for nearly two years, and passed away early Sunday morning.

Please pray for Natalie, as well as both their families, as this is an unthinkable loss for everyone who knew and loved Matt. He was such a remarkable person, a true hero. And if anyone wants to offer a specific prayer/word of encouragement to Natalie, please let me know and I'll get her the message. We are the body of Christ - let's hold one another up in times of trouble.

Peace-

Monique

such a beautiful couple - probably their last photo together, hours before Matt's health started deteriorating, and days before he passed away.

Swimming Star

Hi from Texas! Brett and Mommy are still here until Saturday, but since Daddy came home on Tuesday, we thought we'd post a little teaser of our fun vacation. Yesterday Brett got his first experience swimming in a BIG pool. He was such a champ!