You are currently browsing the archives for the Friends category.
Thursday my house was full of noise … joyful noise. 5 extra kids spent the entire day with us and 3 spent the night. Everyone got along beautifully. I wish I had gotten a picture of all of them together but they were so busy the entire day, I don’t think they would have wanted to stop playing and pose.
The girls always love crafts.
Little Miss K
“Hmmm. Pick a color, any color.” : )
My sweet friend’s baby is recovering remarkably well. Honestly it’s a miracle. If you had seen her two weeks ago, you would have doubted that she’d ever be the same EVER again.
She is still not walking or eating, BUT we know she is back. Her personality is back!!!! Praise GOD!
Just a few short years back the kids were begging for face paint almost everyday. It got packed away but this week it was rediscovered.
I forgot just how happy it made me to face paint the kids. I love seeing them come into character once they are all painted up. I love to hear their ideas of how it should be put on. I love to stare at their sweet faces as I brush it on. It really brings me a lot of joy.
We’ve had my friend’s (the one whose baby had surgery) kids over a few times this week. It’s been fun to see them run around and play outdoors as knights, warriors, cats, butterfly fairies, tigers, and the girls even became princess ninjas. I hope these are memories for them that will never be forgotten.
He’s the cutest tiger I have ever seen!
She’s just about to pout.
#3 is not a member of KISS. She’s a raccoon.
We will also be gardening with our neighbors this summer. I am so super pumped about it. I haven’t had a garden before! The kids and I started a few seeds yesterday to get a head start. Hopefully we’ll be eating homegrown fruits and veggies all summer long.
The baby’s breathing tube was removed this morning and she is breathing fine on her own! She is even making eye contact with her mommy.
This is bringing the family a lot of hope.
Please continue to pray.
In my house right now there is a raging battle. Nestled in one cozy base is a green witch and her two female magical cats. Barricaded in another fort in a ninja warrior and a brave knight. When someone sneaks out of their base swords stab, magical spells fly and then someone gets angry and screams, “NO FAIR!” Next they run to me, the Queen of all that is good and fair, to tattle on the person who chopped off their head or captured their sidekick when they didn’t feel like surrendering. I dish out more rules and try to make peace, but this little scenario keeps repeating over and over.
Finally when I am just fed up with the quarreling – divine wisdom falls from heaven into my little queen head. I pull the oldest and bravest knight aside and ask, ” When you battle with other knights of your kind, do you have these same troubles?” Of course the answer is no. Then I try and explain, this is really a battle of boys vs. girls. The boys are so competitive and cunning that they can trump almost every move the girls make. The girls are just defending and when they get caught they feel it’s unfair. They can’t and won’t think to try and outwit in battle the boys. In the girls “base” they have sleeping quarters and place for their animals. It’s a home. Girls like to set up house. The fort’s exterior is tough and inside you will only find every weapon under the roof scattered across the floor. The boys just want to fight. Mix all these differences together and put them in combat – the result is disaster after disaster.
Solution: Put the witch in the forest. Her cat can be her spies. The knight and the ninja are her guard. When the cats spy evil, they inform the boys. Then the boys battle (trees and vines) to keep the magical witch safe.
Bad guys beware! (Isn’t this little ninja just precious?!)
Everything else seems pointless and stupid when someone you love hurts so much and you know there is nothing you can do to stop the pain.
It’s been a tough day.
The baby’s heart is fine but now there is problems with the brain. She began to look like she was having seizures and just more blank stares. The doctors did a CT scan and they have hooked up an EEG machine to evaluate what is going on in her brain. What they can tell right now is that there is brain damage from when she went into cardiac arrest. The severity is unclear and will be unclear for maybe up to a week.
My friends desperately need your prayers.
Why did God move us back to my home town? We loved our old small town, why point us back to Atlanta? So many mixed emotions have swarmed me since we’ve moved.
I do remember the first week we moved in and one of my bestest friends, who lives directly behind us, called. I could tell she was crying and she exclaimed, “We got our referral! Our agency called and they have matched us to a little girl!” We were able to rush over and be the first to share in their happy tears and hug their necks. As we walked home I recognized the blessing to share in that event. Had we still lived a few hours away I would have missed that exact event. She would have called but there would be no hugs. I would have to wait for a picture by email and our whole family wouldn’t have been able to storm in and congratulate them.
Well now that baby girl is here in America. She came home in December. She turned two in January and last Friday she had heart surgery. They knew from the first moment they got her file this surgery would be necessary, but nothing could have prepared them the reality, dangers and complications of the procedure.
Saturday I received a call. It was my friend … sobbing. She asked that I come to the hospital immediately. Within 5 minutes I was on my way. When I reached her and her husband, they we sitting in an empty conference room. They looked spent. They explained that earlier that morning she was recovering beautifully but just before lunch the baby had aspirated/choked on some juice. That choking triggered her into cardiac arrest. She was with her while it all happened but they had been rushed out so that the doctors could take over. The doctors literally reopened her chest, massaged her heart and it showed some response. They immediately put her on an ECMO machine. This machine acts as your lungs and heart allowing the heart to have complete rest. Things were bad and my friend was obviously devastated. We sat in silence. There were no words for me to utter. Nothing I could say could even begin to relate to their pain and confusion. All I could do was to put my hand on her back and just pray silently as minute after minute ticked by. In those quiet moments it hit me, God moved us back for this. I saw things so clear and could see his hand working and moving so many times over the past several months. This was one of the main events he had been preparing me for. To sit beside my best friend as she faced one of her greatest fears … losing her child.
I am so thrilled to say that the baby is still alive. She came off the ECMO machine yesterday afternoon and her heart is beating beautifully. My friends though are still filled with fear. Fearful that the whole episode may repeat itself again. There are no guarantees. Her left ventricle and left lung are not at 100%. Her doctors are hopeful, but like I said there are no guarantees.
Our circumstances are many times things we would never ever chose. But as I lay down Saturday night, I asked God to speak to me. I opened His word. On that exact page was a verse underlined in purple ink.
For I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord. They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. In those days when you pray, I will listen. You will find me when you seek me, if you look for me in earnest. Jeremiah 29:11-13
We knew the snow was coming but we had NO idea it would be that good!
When it first started coming down the kids bundled up, which took at least 15 minutes, and we went out and played a bit. It was just a thin layer and I really did not expect it to really stick and accumulate. About an hour later, WHOA it was so thick and beautiful. We joined up with some of our best friends that live behind us and played for hours. The snow was perfect! We built several snow men, had snow ball fights and went sledding down the driveway at my grandmothers (she lives right beside us).
The next day only 3 of us ventured out again. My man and #3 stayed in to keep warm and watch movies. The other two kids and I played in the snow again until my feet just could take it anymore. They were soaked through and it was painful to walk.
I didn’t take a ton of pics b/c it was snowing so hard the first day and the little camera kept getting wet. I did get some video and I will piece it together and post it later.
One of my bestest friends just returned from China a few weeks ago with her baby girl. Today she turned 2.
They spent the afternoon with us. The kids just doted on her the whole time they were at our house. We made cupcakes and got lots of kisses from this precious baby girl.
She is a love! Giving kisses even to Macy!
 |
||
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
© 2005-2010
