A Sequential Event

With bliss and excitement, Hannah relishes in the moment...

Only an ounce of concern as the count down begins...

Actually, that hurt!!!

But it's all better now...

Beautiful pink daisies, beautiful little ears, beautiful girl...

My New Possession

I am so very, very elated to be the new owner of this old stove!!! After hunting, researching, and drooling over a plethora of pictures of various vintage stoves, I found this one on craigslist.My very sweet husband, my amazingly tolerant children and I tumbled out of the house at 5:30 this morning to travel north and scope this thing out! I offered the previous owner $150.00 and did a little jig as as it was loaded up in our truck. SIX, count them, SIX burners, three of which are large!!!!! And two, yes I said TWO ovens!!! Could I be more tickled pink? I sometimes think I was born in the wrong era. Honestly, if someone gave me $5,000.00 to spend on any stove I wanted, I would have chosen one just like this! Sometimes it just doesn't take much to make a girl happy. Know what I mean?

Pee on a Heater Bean Soup

So lately we've had some unpleasant experiences with children and poo-poo. This provides somewhat of a disclaimer for the event I'm about to recant for you. Yesterday, Craig and I and the children ran some errands in the morning. Before we left, I had put a pot of beans on to simmer and soften. Upon returning from our morning errands, Craig opened the front door with his four little ducks trailing right behind him. He suddenly stopped and announced with fear and trembling that something smelled awful and that the children should stay right there while he went and investigated. He said that it either smelled like one of the dogs had pooed in the house or that someone had peed on a heater (I'm not sure where that one came from! How often does someone pee on a heater in YOUR house?!?!). As I entered the house behind him, listening to his proclamations of stinkiness, I realized what it was he was smelling! "Craig,", I announced, "what you are smelling is your dinner! Yes, that smell that smells like dog poop or pee on a heater is your dinner!". What a compliment, huh? Craig laughed so hard I thought he was going to stop breathing and for dinner last night, we had "Pee on a Heater Bean Soup" or if you'd rather, "Dog Poop Soup". I bet you're sad you missed it!
P.S. Craig would like me to add that the soup was very good (I do believe this is his attempt to dig himself out of a hole)!

Busy and Blessed

We've been busy......

Celebrating Birthdays
Snuggling Christmas-clad Beauties...

Drawing Out the Surprise...

Revealing...

And Wiping Thankful Tears...

Noticing Winter's Wonder...

Donning Hats of All Kinds...

Enjoying Warm Baths...

Harassing the Wildlife...

Getting Up Close and Personal with the Pine Siskins...

Seeking Forgiveness for Harassing the Wildlife...

And watching Cinderella Read "Snipp, Snapp and Snurr"...

Falling back into the post-holiday routine, settling into a new shift with Craig's work, and continuing to pray for complete healing for my mother.

Busy and Blessed

A Mother Report

Thank you so very much to each one who prayed for my dear mother. The surgery on Monday morning went really well. However, in preparing her for surgery (which included being intubated) they were required to put her very arthritic neck in positions known to cause her intense headaches. Following surgery, she struggled so very much with an awful headache that, despite the wealth of narcotics available, would not relent. It is NEVER fun nor easy to watch someone you love so much struggle with pain like that. Thankfully, the headache has fallen to a more manageable level now and she is home! My wonderful, wonderful, wonderful husband (have I mentioned how WONDERFUL my husband is?) is tending the home front so that I can be with my mom, serving and tending to her as she has to me so very many times. I would never wish ill for my mom but it's such a gift to get to return just a drop in the bucket of love and care that she has poured out on me.

Craig sent a text message to me yesterday that simply stated: "We are playing Cinderella. I'm the stepmother...". See, he really is wonderful!!!!!!!

Thank you again for your prayers. Such a blessing they are!

My Mother

My sweet mother is going in for surgery tomorrow morning to repair a herniated disc in her back. I would covet your prayers! She especially is anxious about any nausea associated with the anesthetics (and the repercussions of that!) as well as the typical worries that go along with any sort of surgery. Please pray for this lovely momma of mine. Thank you so very much!

Wrinkled Faith

Spiders, snakes, roller coasters, the dark, needles, heights, enclosed places, the dentist, and the list goes on. These are just a few things that people fear. Things that make the adrenal system kick in to gear. Things that nightmares are made of. I've been thinking about one of my fears lately. DEATH. I am afraid of death. I can remember being afraid of death even as a small child, just being terrified that the Lord would take my momma home. Then I grew up. And the Lord allowed me to keep my momma, as well as a my dad. But He added to my stash of potential losses: a man, two sons, and two daughters. More fear. And then He took my Grandma home to her mansion in Heaven. The reality of death stung. It's permanence was as hot as a branding iron and left its mark, too. Oh, I know she went to Heaven, and I know I will be with her, and all other believers, in Gloryland someday. But it still stung. Other people's death-stings made their way to me: husbands losing wives, wives losing husbands, little children losing mommas, mommas losing their babies. And fear's grip gets tighter. When will my shoe drop? When will death sting me, paralyze me, take my breath away? Normally an optimistic personality (Craig and my mother nicknamed me Pollyanna, for Pete's sake!), this fear is a bump in the road that I struggle to get over. I know in my head that God will take care of me, that He will not allow me to walk a road I am unable to walk, that no valley can swallow me from His loving care, that I am not to worry about tomorrow, that all things work together for good. I know that I would breath again. Still, death scares the ever livin' tar out of me!

One of the many wrinkles in my faith. A deficiency in my knowledge of Christ's sufficiency. He presses His mighty thumb on this pressure point. My pulse honestly quickens. I ask Him to help me have faith for that road without having to walk it. I hope He will oblige. For how do you hold losely those very ones who hold your heart?

He promises to finish the good work He has started in me and that's good because this fear is proof that I remain under construction.