How will I EVER survive?!?!?

I have surgery on my throat scheduled for Nov. 20th.

I have scar tissue still on my trachea from when I was little & was intubated for a week.

The ENT I saw last month thought it might be some of what is obstructing my breathing & FEELS like asthma to me.

I almost danced at the thought of being able to BREATHE normally for the first time in my life.

BUT…….there is one TINY drawback.

So simple to solve really (yeah, right!)

I can’t talk following surgery for 48 hours!!!!

(Bet I’ll be blogging up a storm, though, don’t you?!?!)

I am slightly nervous that they will be so close to my vocal chords,

so if you could pray for me regarding that aspect of surgery,

I would appreciate it!

New lessons for 7 year olds….(& even for 37 year olds!)

Lessons in how to graciously accept defeat.

Lessons in “God’s will is best.”

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him,

who have been called according to His purpose.”
Romans 8:28

Lessons on how to “try harder next time.”

& mostly……lessons for her parents.

Lessons on how to encourage your child,

when you just want to cry for them.

Ana raced a car she designed &

built in the AWANA Grand Prix last night.

She got an award for participation. Nothing else.

Oh, it was hard.

She tried so hard & was SOOO excited!

(the tears are welling up just thinking about her disappointment).

BUT……in the midst of this trial for her…..my mama’s heart nearly filled to bursting with pride!

Do you know what she did?

One of her friends came bounding up to me

& said, “Guess what guys??? I won the whole thing!!!”

Ana…..reached out to hug her…..
& said, “XXXXXXX,

I am so happy for you! Congratulations!”

I didn’t even prompt her at all!!

May we all learn that lesson-to rejoice with those who rejoice! (Romans 12:15)

(Do you think I told her how proud of her we were???? YOU BET I DID!!! & so did Dave….)

Oh.....ick

When Mommy is sick.....nothing is right in the world....

PLOT......that critcal part of a story that makes it worth reading.....(edited at the end-laugh out loud funny!)

Have I ever mentioned that Ana loves to write?

But, yeah…..we need some lesson plans on plot, I think.


(She loves anything to do with art,

too……so if anyone has any tips for organizing art supplies

(Andrea-feel free to chime in here!), please fill me in!!!

But……daily, I find her masterpieces

(of both art & stories)

left on my bedroom floor,

the kitchen counter…..

the couch-for the babies to tear apart,

the table.

She has lately taken to writing variations on a story called, “The Soup.”

The other day, I counted at least 3 copies of it strewn about the house!

Dave & I were laughing so hard,

as we read each story.

(please tell me other parents just have this overwhelming desire to LAUGH at their kids!

They are just so funny!)

The stories never vary much

(well, unless you count how much MONEY the “carpinter” made-ha!!! haa!!!)

……so my only conclusion is…….

Soon I better come up with lesson plans that focus on PLOT in story writing!

Click on the picture!

See if it doesn’t make you smile!

(& make you realize some things MIGHT be missing from our lesson plans-

you think?)

Edited: This was one of the comments left in the comments section. Made me LAUGH out loud!!! Didn't want anyone to miss it!

***********said...
You're missing the points of tension! They are there, but YOU, big adult that you are, are missing them! The carpinter makes soup, but we don't know until the end of the story whether or not he will get to EAT the soup. Also, when he goes to work, will he be able to make any money? In today's economy, this is an important consideration. Fortunately, our protagonist makes $105 dollars AND gets to eat his soup. A very fortunate man, all things considered. Also, notice how well she handles the soup theme: she mentions it at the beginning of the story, moves away from it, and returns to the soup. This also, incidentally, shows some understanding of plot, since we start with soupness, move away from soupness, and then thankfully are returned to soupness. It's a cohesive, symmetrical, and satisfying denoument. Perhaps you shouldn't criticize your eldest child so much ;D

What is Bonding???

How do you bond?

I have one idea…….going through trials together.

The girls have been throwing up the past few days.

A BIG trial for 7 & 2 year olds.

(& a BIG trial for their mama,

too-who am I trying to kid?!?!? Ha!! Ha!!!)

This is how they spent 45 minutes-1 hour this morning:

You know, this is not what anyone would consider fun…..but, it is still a special “sister time.”

Before I had more than one child,

I always thought the bonding would come from reading books

& playing together-

But, today,

I saw more sister love &

affection than I have ever seen from either of them!

(& Natty thought he was RULER OF THE HOUSE while the girls were occupied like this! Up & down the steps, laughing & playing with toys & not having them taken away!)

Please pray they feel better soon.
It has been over 24 hours now.
Natty has VERY loose stools, too.
Pobrecitos!

A Little more Lighthearted.....

After yesterday's post, I figured a "lighter" post was good.

Oh, my word......I am in SOOOO much trouble if he looks at me like that when he's a teenager!!!
Happy girl!!!!

Cooking-again.

Please be praying this family-such a sad story from Guatemala.

(& for FFF visitors, sorry I didn't follow the theme,

but we haven't gotten any pumpkins yet-everyone's been sick.)

How very SAD.....warning-not my usual type of post....

I have a prayer request to share with you. This is not my typical post, so be warned-you may need Kleenex. When I read these types of things-my heart breaks.

I opened my e-mail yesterday to the following note. To say that it shook me up would be a HUGE understatement. I know these things happen…..but, well, just read it & see if your heart isn’t breaking. It is from some friends of our who are missionaries in Guatemala City.



"I wonder how you would feel if the oldest of your 4 daughters married a leader of a gang which here in Guatemala means drugs, murders, robberies, rapes and whatever bad you can think of.

Then the daughter's husband gets put in prison so the rival gang take the opportunity to get revenge and kidnap his wife. The police call. They have a body, well sort of.

The father goes to identify what was the body of his daughter and is now chopped up in so many pieces it was not even recognizable except for one birth mark on one of the parts!

She leaves a little boy who the family take in.

Now, a couple of years later, another daughter goes to buy tortillas and she does not return. They learn 4 fellows kidnapped her. Five days later, the same story as the first daughter, but only half of her body was found and in pieces. They could not even tell how she had been murdered.

The poor mother wept in my arms on Sunday at the funeral and just said, "Why, oh why?" I had no answer. I did find out the girl was 3 months pregnant but do not know if this had anything to do with the murder. The mother wants to shift away from her home as she fears for the others girls. Also she apparently knows who did this and has to make police statements which could call for more reprisals.

As the girl's grandfather said, " This just shows us that we need to be right with the Lord as none of us know when the final call will come." This scenario is all too common here in Guatemala unfortunately."



Things like this happen on a daily basis-really the world over.

But, this hits home for us. Our children could have grown up there. And not made it to their 20th birthday. I am not trying to say "Yeah, Kim & Dave." Honestly, we are not heroes that rescued our children. We just followed His leading.

But, sometimes, I just want to say, "Thank-you, Father, for allowing us the privilege of bringing two precious children out of what could have been a childhood of poverty & danger-(& almost certainly would have been a life with out You)-into a life of peace & safety. & a home where they have the opportunity to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ.”

Please pray for the country of Guatemala-& for the people there (both missionaries & natives) who faithfully share Christ's love & His saving grace.

Please pray for this family as well....

Ephesians 2: 8 & 9
8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—

9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Wordless Wednesday (#2) "School Days"

Wordless Wednesday (#1) Snow Day........

Forgive me a little "family" time......

We received the sad news this morning that Dave's grandmother

(fondly reffered to as Sa-Sa) went home to heaven this morning.

You will be sorely missed!

300 posts!!! AMAZING!!! Can't believe it!!!

This has been one of the best ventures of my life!

I have “met” so many wonderful people through sharing our lives!

I have also been able to keep up with old & new friends through the blog world!

(& you know who you are!!!) Thanks, everyone!

Now, today, I am celebrating friends-all friends!

We are blessed to have SOOOOO many good friends!

Some of them you also have “met” through our blog,

but many of them we haven’t even seen for years!!!

I would hate to leave anyone out……..you all are so special in so many ways.

Childhood friends, church friends, homeschool friends, camp friends, friends through adoption……the list goes on & on!

Sooooo, like any good “pleaser,” (ha!! ha!!!),

I will just post pics of family (who we are so GLAD to be able to call “friends.”)

Do you have “family friends” like that?

I sure hope so!

Oh, & I can’t escape this topic without sharing the words to a favorite hymn of mine:

“What a Friend we Have in Jesus”

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!

O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!

Is Jesus your friend?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
This picture was taken in June of 2007

(of my two sisters & me & my three nephews, who now live here!)

Taken one month before Natty was born

& one month before our adventure began……again.

Life never ceases to amaze me!

Thursdays Before the Throne

Thoughts on praying......from the book "Holy Habits," by Mimi Wilson.

"Paul tells us to pray continually. (1 Thessalonians 5:17).

At first glance, this may seem impossible, but because God lives where our thoughts are born, we can train our minds to address all our thoughts as prayers to Him.

He knows our thoughts anyway.

......I choose to pass all my thinking through the filter of His presence.

.....Rather than just wishing for a parking spot, I talk to God about it. That, to me, is what Paul meant by praying continually."

What do you think? This has revolutionized my thinking on prayer.

Wordless Wednesday: Serenity Bay, Disney's Castaway Cay

Grrrr....

I know I told you in my comments that our camera ATE over 300 pictures!

But, it took me this long to face it enough to actually post about it!

SOOOOO frustrating!

It seems the chip has the info on it still, but we can't get to it!

Pictures of the room,

the view from our veranda,

pictures of AMAZING flowers,

the kids beaches,

fun ones of Dave & I,

pictures of "The Black Pearl" (for all you "Pirates" fans),

Nassau,

and much, much more.

Can I say "Grrrr" one more time?!?!?

(But, maybe for you it's good.

At least now you won't have to endure days on end of me posting pics of out trip!

Ha!! Ha!!!)

This was the other Disney ship, the "Magic."

It was unloading passengers as we drove into Port Canavaral.

A few hours later, it was headed out to sea.

Blows my mind that Disney has that much business!

A ship leaves that port at least 3 times a week with at least 2,000 people on it!

While I loved the cruise both times we took it,

I just can't see it as being THAT popular,

but I guess it is!

Yes, this was our mode of transportation on land!

Anybody jealous???

There are no words to decribe how nice this was!

Just me & my hubby!

See the dark cloud hanging over the island?

A few minutes later, rain poured on our heads!

An early return to the ship!

But, after three days of quiet......you know, I REALLY started missing the kids!
(I missed them a bit the whole time, but by then, I was ready to go home!)

Do you ever take a picture of someone & think,

"Wow, that looks NOTHING like the person I know!"

That is this picture of Ana for me!

Ok......I feel a tiny bit better after letting you all know I have almost no pics of our trip. Confession must be good for the soul!

Stop the World's Spinning!!! I Want OFF!!! ;-)

We got back Thursday night.

The cruise was thouroughly delighful, & we enjoyed our time away.....

However, the last night on ship (Wednesday night),

we entered waters the captian reffered to as moderately rough.

Yeah......water was sloshing out of the pools.

I'm sure it was moderate for him, but my world is still spinning!

Thank the Lord, my stomach was never upset,

but I felt like I was going to fall over unless I was flat on the bed with my eyes closed!! Fortunately, the rough water was only basically while we were getting ready for bed.

But, all that to say,

does anyone know how I can speed up the return of my "land legs?"

I can barely function!

Thanks!

"Mi Guatemalteco!"

Can You Figure This One Out???

Hee!!! Hee!!!

One of my FAVORITES....

I like it cause we are all in the pic &

looking at the camera!

I know I sound like a broken record-

But HOW, I ask you,

can we get a pic where everyone is looking at the camera-

& not looking only 1/2 awake?!?!?

Test Update!!!!

I talked with the doctor who ordered Natty’s test.

What she told me came from the kidney doc.

Apparently, the kidney specialist thinks that Natty just has a bit of trouble processing glucose out of his urine. He thinks it is a condition that he should outgrow, but that he may need to be aware of it as he grows older, especially if he ever is at risk for diabetes.

Right now, we are supposed to keep an eye on him,

& let the doc know if he stops gaining weight,

or starts becoming excessively thirsty,

as these can be signs of diabetes.

The test for Renal Tubal Acidosis came back normal,

so that is no longer a concern.

Breathing a big sigh of relief,

Natty's mama is signing off!!!

Wordless Wednesday....