Celebration of Life

A memorial service will be held
to celebrate the life
of
Nolan Alexander Zuckero

at

Fellowship of The Woodlands-Chapel

One Fellowship Drive

The Woodlands, TX 77384

on

Tuesday, September 2

at 4:00pm

In lieu of flowers we would like to suggest that contributions be made to either:

Fellowship of The Woodlands Children's Ministries or Teach for America

Donate online to Teach for America at TeachForAmerica.org

Checks payable to FOTW

(indicate Children's Ministry in memory of Nolan Zuckero on memo line) may be mailed to:

FOTW

One Fellowship Drive

The Woodlands, TX 77384

One life can make a difference. Please read 'The Heart' below.

The Heart:

'Tomorrow morning,' the surgeon began, 'I'll open up your heart...'

'You'll find Jesus there,' the boy interrupted.

The surgeon looked up, annoyed, 'I'll cut your heart open,' he continued, to see how much damage has been done...'

'but when you open up my heart, you'll find Jesus in there,' said the boy.

The surgeon looked to the parents, who sat quietly. 'When I see how much damage has been done, I'll sew your heart and chest back up, and I'll plan what to do next.'

'But you'll find Jesus in my heart. The Bible says He lives there. The hymns all say He lives there. You'll find Him in my heart.'

The surgeon had had enough. 'I'll tell you what I'll find in your heart. I'll find damaged muscle, low blood supply, and weakened vessels. And I'll find out if I can make you well.'

'You'll find Jesus there too. He lives there.'

The surgeon left. The surgeon sat in his office, recording his notes from the surgery, '...damaged aorta, damaged pulmonary vein, widespread muscle degeneration. No hope for transplant, no hope for cure. Therapy: painkillers and bed rest. Prognosis: here he paused, 'death within one year.' He stopped the recorder, but there was more to be said. 'Why?' he asked aloud. 'Why did You do this? You've put him here; You've put him in this pain; and you've cursed him to an early death. Why?' The Lord answered and said, 'The boy, my lamb, was not meant for your flock for long, for he is a part of My flock, and will forever be. Here, in My flock, he will feel no pain, and will be comforted as you cannot imagine. His parents will one day join him here, and they will know peace, and My flock will continue to grow.' The surgeon's tears were hot, but his anger was hotter. 'You created that boy, and You created that heart. He'll be dead in months. Why?' The Lord answered, 'The boy, My lamb, shall return to My flock, for He has done his duty: I did not put My lamb with your flock to lose him, but to retrieve another lost lamb.' The surgeon wept... The surgeon sat beside the boy' s bed; the boy's parents sat across from him.

The boy awoke and whispered, 'Did you cut open my heart?'

'Yes,' said the surgeon.

'What did you find?' asked the boy.

'I found Jesus there,' said the surgeon.

Author Unknown

Nolan Alexander Zuckero

Nolan Alexander Zuckero was born today at 12:41pm weighing 3 lb 13 oz. Our family and friends were able to spend about an hour with Nolan before he went to be with our heavenly father. Our prayers for a peaceful delivery and birth experience were answered.

Question of the day - Am I nervous?

This is one of those posts that I feel like needs a disclaimer or WARNING: This is not for the faint of heart (it may make you cry) and there will be some whining. You have the option to stop here and not read this:)

Last night my mother-in-law asked if I was nervous about Wednesday. (A special thanks to Nanny and Poppy for having us over for dinner last night.) I truthfully answered, "no". At the time, I was tired and exasperated but not nervous. Who would think the first day of school could be so hard on a parent. I mean, by 9am both girls were in school. I got to go to my annual Mom's first day of school lunch with my friends. We talked and had a great time. Then the after school whirl wind began. Brianna came home to tell me that she didn't get the school supplies that I pre-paid for back in the spring because her name wasn't on the list. Now, I promise you I filled out the form and paid for them. I really really think I did, and i'm usually pretty organized when it comes to things like that. So, I get out my checkbook register because I am going to prove that the school is wrong, and I did pay for them. After going over it three times, looking all the way back to March, I decided maybe I didn't pay for them. Great!! If I had known this, I would have bought the supplies a month ago when they first put them out and they were not all picked over - remember I am very organized:) Of course I already know that when I pick up Brittany (who decided to pretend not to see me waiting to pick her up from school while she talked to her friends for 10 minutes - oddly enough, several of those friends could see me and even waved to me) she will need additional school supplies. Jr High is a little different, there are always a few things that they need that are not on the standard supply list depending on what electives are taken. So, we go back home, get both girls lists and proceed to spend an hour with our family of 4 searching the store for a red folder with pockets and brads, centimeter square graph paper, etc. Of course, they are out of several things. By then I am so tired. I'm hungry and I just don't feel very well. Oh, did I mention that the girls are starting that picking back and forth that siblings like to do? We go back home for a few minutes and I begin to believe that school lunch must have consisted of straight sugar today. We go to Troy's parents for dinner and I am convinced that I must speak with whoever plans the school menu - something is not setting well with my wonderful well-behaved children who are currently aggravating each other as much as possible and bouncing off the walls. Now that is a long explaination, but you can see why I wasn't nervous about Wednesday. I'm not even sure i'm going to make it to Wednesday without going completely crazy!

We finally get home and send the girls off upstairs to shower and get ready for bed. Troy and I have a few things to discuss about the big day and he can see that i'm really tired and suggests that I go to bed. I go to bed, but that's when I start thinking about everything that has been pushed from my mind during the first day of school madness. I pray, please God not again I just really need a few good hours of sleep. Of course I can't sleep, I get up and Troy is watching TV, the girls have gone to bed and no one came to tell me goodnight. They thought I was asleep:( So, I sit down beside Troy, he looks at me and I just start crying. Now i'm nervous - I'm worried about what might be the beginning of the end. I know i'm not supposed to worry. I know what I hope and pray for, and I know what the doctors' prognosis for Nolan is. I know that i'm supposed to give all of this over to God.

Matthew 6:34 says, "Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. "

I was thinking that there is only one more day with this precious life inside of me. He's doing ok in there. He's alive, his heart is beating and he is kicking around. What if his body can't handle our world? Parents aren't supposed to have to worry about how long their children will live. Children are supposed to far out live their parents. If you know me very well you know that i'm not usually a worrier, I have a child and several other people in my family who tend to worry. They know who they are, but I not one of them. However, i'm worrying now. As tomorrow at noon approaches, please continue to pray, first for a miracle and then that I will not be consumed with worry and that no matter the outcome we will feel peace in the delivery room and in the days to come, that God will guard our hearts and our minds.

Karen

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Phillipians 4:6-7

First Day of School

Well, today our girls are off for the first day of a new school year. It's a pretty significant year at our house with Brianna in 5th grade, her last year of elementary school and Brittany in 8th grade, the last year of jr. high! We are excited that Brianna has some great teachers this year and Brittany got all of the classes she wanted (though not all of the classes with her friends like she hoped for). Just wanted to share some pictures with you of our girls that we are so proud of and some pictures with their friends that were taken this morning before school. I pray that God will guide and protect them throughout the school year and lead them to be good influences on their friends and classmates.

Karen

Train a child in the way that he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it. Proverbs 22:6

We have a name

The question we are most often asked over the past 8 months, is "Do you have a name for the baby?" And always the answer has been "not yet". We have had a boy name for 13 years and never the need to use it. However, somehow the name did not seem right anymore. Since our girls are old enough to have strong opinons about names, we solicited their input. It wasn't exactly a democratic process, but after much debate from all four members of our family, we have finally agreed on a name for our new little one! Nolan Alexander Zuckero will arrive into this world on August 27th (unless God has plans for him to come sooner). My doctor's appointment this week went well. Nolan's little heartbeat is still strong and he is expected to weigh around 4 pounds at birth. Only 12 more days until we get to meet him face to face!!!

Karen

But now, thus says the Lord, your God, and he who formed you; I have called you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1

Sweet Relief

God is great and merciful!!! Before yesterday, I didn't know how I was going to make it to August 27th. The procedure went well. They removed about 3 liters of fluid which Troy and the Dr. weighed in at 9 pounds. It was immediate relief!! I was able to eat a normal amount of dinner and sleep laying down - something I haven't done in about a month. I no longer feel as if my ribs are broken, and I can move around without pain! I am still amazed at the difference it makes. I would not recommend it as a weight loss method if anyone is wondering - too painful:)

Now that I feel like I am able to function somewhat normally again, we can move forward with getting ready for the first day of school and finalizing all of the plans for the arrival of our new little one. Thank you for your prayers.

Karen

O Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief. Psalms 143:1

Update

As I mentioned last week, I have a lot of excess amniotic fluid - more than twice the normal levels. We have decided to go ahead and have Dr. Rowe do a decompression tomorrow afternoon which is basically to drain off the excess fluid. This should make me much more comfortable and will hopefully allow for me to carry the baby to almost 37 weeks for the scheduled c-section on 8/27. Besides the fact that I feel like I have broken ribs, or what I imagine that must feel like, the Dr. thinks that my water may break before then if we don't release some of the pressure from the fluid. This is an outpatient procedure in the hospital. So, we should be back home tomorrow evening.

As always, thank you to our many friends and family and those out there whom we don't even know who are praying for us.

Karen

Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

Because He Lives

As I sit here needing to post an update, I didn't really know where to start or exactly what to say. Everything seems so jumbled up in my mind. So, please excuse me if I ramble. I read a response to my previous post from my Aunt Barbara and she said that my Grandmother and Papaw Morgan would be so proud of us. I just started crying, but that is nothing new these days. A lot of things make me cry - thinking about my girls starting school in a few weeks, how proud we are of them and that we will probably never see the baby start school. Just random things can start a gusher! I remember at my Grandmother's funeral we sang the old hymn "Because He Lives" - because he lives I can face tomorrow. Whatever tomorrow may bring, I know that our family will be together in heaven one day. Our youngest daughter, Brianna, accepted Christ and was baptized this summer on June 8. Now I know that even though the timing will vary, the eternal destination of our entire family is the same!

I had two doctors appointments this week. The baby is still growing and his heart beat was good! They were able to see his stomach on the ultra sound yesterday which they had not seen previously. This is good news as it means he is able to swallow!! The not so great news is that I am getting really uncomfortable due to a high level of amnionic fluid (not uncommon with T18 babies). Riding in the car and sitting at my desk can be painful. Dr. G has scheduled my c-section for August 27th at noon. The last week in August will be busy for us - the girls start school on 8/25 and then our new little one will arrive on 8/27. As Brittany said to us recently, "when our family does something, we do it right"! She was refering to our vacation, but we probably tend to be a little over the top most of time:) I guess it's like "go big or go home". Anyway, please keep us in your prayers over the next few weeks and thank you for all of the wonderful comments and prayers. We are so blessed to have such a wonderful family and friends!

Please pray for our friends, the Crady family, today as Julie's Mom is getting a liver transplant this morning! They have been praying for this day for many months now.

Karen

Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. John 14:1-3