Birthday Pictures!!

I have not disappeared off the face of this earth!! I have been taking a three week course through University of Phoenix that is taking up my every free moment when I'm not busy dealing with the end of the year stuff at school!! BUT... Heather whined (just a little) about the missing birthday pictures so here they are with no elaborate blogging because I desperately need some sleep!!

This is a picture of the biggest surprise!! My mom and dad drove in from California and brought my niece (Abby's twin!!) with her! We kept it a total surprise from Abby so they are looking in the car and seeing her for the first time (she was laying down to hide!!!)

 

It was REALLY cold out but the girls braved the pool anyways!! Good thing, since that's the whole reason we bought the pool!! It will be really nice for the summer, though, to not have to walk down to the community pool to go swimming!!

 

 

 

Tink's New Bike!!

 

Minus the BIG TOE

Sooooo....I told my doctor that my foot hurt when I put weight on it right above my pinkie toe. She ordered an x-ray just to be careful. Turns out I broke my toe.

MY BIG TOE!!

What?!?!? How do you twist your ankle, toward the outside of the foot, and break your big toe????

Only me...I'm such an oddball. I see the doctor tomorrow to see if they fell the necessity to do anything about it.

On Two Feet!!!

Thanks for all the thoughts and prayers!! I'm definitely on the mend. I'm walking on two feet (without crutches!! YAY!!) After an evening of contrast baths, ice, compression, and ibuprofen...the swelling is much better. It's not totally gone by any means but tolerable, and better than the pain of being lopsided on crutches!! I see my ortho guy on Wednesday to get his opinion as far as soft tissue damage...I'll keep you in the loop!!

NOT AGAIN!!

Guess what??

No...I didn't win the lottery for the fourth time in a row.

I sprained my ankle. Or possibly broke it. We won't know until the x-rays are read and that won't be until Friday.

{{sigh}}

So, for now and the forseeable future, I'm on crutches. Again.

Pray for me!!!

**Note: I found out today (Friday) that the blessed thing is not broken. I'm good to go for another week on crutches, elevating, ice-ing, and resting...yes, bless her heart that's what the PA told me to do...go ahead, laugh, I'm laughing because I know what I do for a living and how many children I bring home with me at night and I have no freaking idea how I'm supposed to accomplish this task...I'm going to have to though because when I don't my pain level is rivaling that of giving birth to my 10lb 1oz 15 inch head son with no meds...and I'm not kidding!!!****

Relay for Life!!

 

A lady from our church came and spoke to the youth group about the Relay for Life about a month ago and Bethany came home bouncing off the walls wanting to participate!! Her godmother and my best friend, Heather went through what I can only describe as a horrific treatment for a horrific cancer and has survived to tell the tale!! We are hugely grateful to God that she is still with us and continue to pray without ceasing for her continuing remission (I don't think you can call it remission until she has been cancer free for two years and it's only been one but I don't know what else to call it)...So this past weekend Bethany and I went off to participate in the Relay for Life. She was determined to stay all night, she got close...she decided at 2:30 a.m. that she wanted to go home...which turned out for the best as I was slotted to help with the church play on Sunday. I was a little bleary eyed but made it to church. She, on the other hand, slept in until 11:00!!

Here are our luminaria:

 

In case you are wondering who "King JuJu" is...he was a sweet, beautiful little four year old boy who lost his battle with a brain tumor this past January. I never met him in real life...I only "knew" him through his blog...but he touched my life, and he touched my kids, simply by being him. He is in the arms of Jesus...but no mother should have to endure losing a child, especially to such a horrible disease...so I walked for Mimi, and for all the other mothers of children with cancer that she represents, so that fewer mothers will have to bury their beautiful little babies!! Fly High, King JuJu, Fly High!!

 

 

Random pictures!!

I finally got all my pictures downloaded and forgot I had taken this!! This is a picture of my best friend Heather wearing a viking hat and kissing a troll. (Don't ask!!)

 

Here we are together waiting for the fireworks at Epcot!!

 

At last!!

My computer took a tumble at the birthday party and the screen died!! I had to wait for the parts to come in and my dh and his techie friends at work to fix it but I finally have my laptop back!! Yay!! So here are the promised birthday girl pictures!!

 

Big sister was in charge of the make up station

 

Mrs. D was in charge of manicures!!

 

The glamour gang!!

 

Big brother was in charge of the photo session!! America's next top model in miniature!!

Happy Birthday Littlest One!!

My littlest isn't very little anymore. She turned six yesterday. She's smart as a whip and keeps us in stiches all the time! Happy Birthday, sweetie, you will always be my littlest one!!

She was very excited...from the cupcakes at school to dinner out at Red Robin she was having the time of her life!! Then, when you thought she was just about to pop from all the attention we took her on an "errand" to Walmart and got her a new bike for her birthday. I'll post a picture soon!!

Tomorrow is the "friend" party and it promises to be a thrill...we have bright pink hairpieces, make-up, and nail polish. It's all glamour, all the time!!

Im sure we'll take tons of pictures of the glamour girl party too!!

Just Enough Grace

I got an email the today from a friend needing a title for her upcoming devotional book. It got me thinking. What do I think of, what comes to mind when I think of Heather? The thoughts and memories are numerous but what came to mind today is "Grace." Four children grace to be exact.

Let me explain.

As moms of many (we have eight kids between us) we get lots of comments, especially when we travel together...from the outburst emitted by a dear little old lady, "STOP THE BREEDING" to the sweet comment from the couple sitting next to us at lunch, "Your children are such a blessing, they are so well behaved!"

Far and away, however, the most common comment we get is "I don't know how you do it. I could never ___________." That blank gets filled in with many things. I could never homeschool. I could never teach. I could never get them all to piano and soccer and AWANA. I could never deal with four children.

I once heard Heather respond to that comment in a way that has never quite left me. She said it simply. God doesn't give us "fourth baby" grace until we have that fourth baby. Or fifth. Or sixth. God gives us the grace we need to deal with whatever our situation is at the moment.

God gives us just enough grace to deal with whatever it is we face right now, but yesterday we could never imagine being able to handle. He gives us just enough grace to deal with an alcoholic father, just enough grace to raise a special needs child, just enough grace to look cancer in the face, just enough grace to survive an unexpected job loss. Just enough.

God gives us just enough grace to remind us He is with us, always. He gives us just enough grace to let us never forget He is sovereign. He is good, all the time. He gives us just enough.

And that's enough.


Thanks, Heather, for being like a sister to me and for always being a light that points me in the right direction.