Thankful

We are thankful for God's protection each. and. every. day. All too often, I take it for granted. In the simple things. Like safely navigating the stairs. Like my children swinging high and returning unharmed.

Like crossing the road to collect the mail
and returning safely to the other side.

It's not that the thought hasn't crossed my mind, and I often pray for safety as I do that because the visiblity from our driveway is poor, and I'm generally collecting the mail after arriving home from school while the kids wait in the van in our driveway. I can hardly imagine the impact it would have on them if something were to happen to Mommy in that process.

But we were vividly reminded on Tuesday that our safety truly is in the Lord's hands as I went to retrieve the mail and found a crumpled mailbox sitting on the ground. Abundant evidence indicates that a vehicle dramatically lost control while rounding the curve and took out our mailbox (along with multiple other things) in the path of its demise.

We are very very thankful that neither of us were there to witness it up close.

So thank you, Lord, for helping us
safely cross the road to collect the mail.
Help us not to take that for granted.

:::

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord:
and He delighteth in his way.
Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down:
for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand.

Psalm 37:23-24

Highlight of our Week

It was the topic of the dinner table and the topic of bedtime discussions. It was the reason we said "I wish it was Saturday," and the constant commentary any time we considered the upcoming days. What was it that consumed our attention?

"Baby!"

We had the delightful privilege of watching "baby" Andrew for our friends this weekend. And it was most definitely the highlight of our week, especially for the kids. :o) As of right now, they are both incredibly excited about Mommy's baby, and that excitement transfers to any other baby in their life--whether at church or in a grocery cart. Peter was Absolutely Ecstatic to have a real baby in his house. (It's good that Andrew's 8-months-old . . . he withstands a 2-1/2-year-olds' attentions slightly better than an infant . . . )

And Hannah was as "mothery" as ever. After an hour or so, Peter decided that whatever Daddy was doing outside was probably worth investigating, so he made his way out. But Hannah stuck around and played cars and balls with Andrew till he went down for his nap.

Of course, each had to have a turn holding him . . . loving ministrations which Andrew accepted very graciously! (And yes, we noticed that Andrew could easily pass for the younger brother of our two!)

And I also had vague notions of considering how much easier it would be if babies arrived as happy, content 8-month-olds . . . :o) Andrew happily played with bowl and spoon while I prepared dinner . . .

Of course, he didn't mind a bit when Hannah came to join the adventure. :o) (And Mommy was quite glad to see that as well.) :o)

On a side note, we have loaded the last of our firewood into the basement. We're praying that winter is about to wisk its way out! :o)

Waiting for Spring . . .

Happy to Comply

We happily complied with Daddy's request to get pictures of his cute little cowgirl after school today . . . :o)

And we all thoroughly enjoyed the beautiful sunshine and 60 degree temps! :o) (Talk about extremes though . . . there's a potential for snow flurries tomorrow evening!)

Getting stronger and more confident . . .

Staking his territory . . .

Smiling pretty . . .

And as goofy as ever!

Have you played peek-a-boo lately? Who said it's just for babies? :o)

Exuberance!

I love the exuberance of a four-year-old!

(And their complete lack of any sense of "fashion-" or self-consciousness!)

Thanks for making me smile, Pumpkin!!

A Snow Party!

Mommy missed a rather rare occurence while galavanting across the country . . . real snow in sunny SC! It made for quite an enjoyable weekend for Daddy and the kiddos though--especially as some friends from church came over to join in the fun of a snow covered hill for sledding! :o)

Note Peter's joyous expression as he embarked on this wonderland . . .

Here's the crew trying out the sledding hill . . .

And later working on a snowman. :o)

The little girls found their own smaller hill to go sledding on. :o)

Peter's not quite sure he's still in to this white stuff.

But he stuck it out for pictures with Frosty! :o)

And Frosty's best friend, constructed especially for Peter. :o) Thanks, Mr. R.!

We're still ticking . . .

Yep. We're still alive. :o)

Yep. We're all in reasonably good health, outside of some snuffly noses.

Yep. Daddy and kids carried on commendably without Mommy.

Yep. We've been very busy catching up from a week without Mommy.

Somehow, life doesn't seem to stop when Mommy goes away for a week. Daddy did a fantastic job holding down the fort--in fact, the house was cleaner when Mommy returned home than when Mommy left! (Mommy was very much scurrying out at the last minute and Daddy took the afternoon off before Mommy came home so that he could clean things up . . . thanks, honey!) However, there was still lots to catch up on, so blogging simply didn't make it up on the top of the priority list. Hope you can all understand. :o)

Here's a few snapshots of ordinary life in these parts over the last few weeks . . .

Legos and trains are still popular . . .

Hmmm. Sometimes Evolution makes just teensy bit of sense--I do wonder occasionally if we're raising children or monkeys!


Scissors are always in style, and Mommy was quite pleased with herself for discovering an extremely useful purpose for her daughter's clipping tendancies! :o)

And on Saturday while Mommy spent much of the day recuperating from the rather sudden onslaught of a winter cold, Daddy commandeered some assistants and replaced the basement door. :o)

2:00ish

7:30ish

Midnight

And such be life! :o)

Grandma's Surgery

Thank you for praying with us for Grandma! Her surgery went smoothly. Other than some soreness (as to be expected), she is doing quite well. We expect that she'll be coming home tomorrow morning. Praise the Lord! :o)

Praying for Grandma (updated)

Update: One final procedure which was scheduled for today has been delayed till Tuesday which has also delayed the gull bladder surgery till Wednesday. Thank you so much for your prayers!

:::

On Saturday evening we learned that Grandma M. was in the Emergency Room due to 15+ hours of violent vomiting with no related symptoms of virus or food poisoning. The Lord is so good! She received swift, excellent care in the ER, and within an hour they had stablized her condition and within four hours they had determined the cause was gull stones and an infected gull bladder.

We praise the Lord that she is coherent and feeling much better today due to medications and good care. Barring complications, she will be having her gull bladder removed on Wednesday. They expect that she will be returning home on Thursday. I will be flying in to help care for things around the house for about a week as she recovers.

We greatly appreciate your prayers for Grandma's swift and complete recovery, safety in traveling, and for Chris and the kids as they hold down the fort without Mommy.

Praise the Lord! We serve an Almighty, Omnipotent God who loves us, care for us, and who was not surprised by any of this. Blessed be His name!

:::
Fear thou not; for I am with thee.

Be not dismayed; for I am thy God.

I will strengthen thee;

Yea, I will help thee;

Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.

Isaiah 41:10

:::

No Scribbles

"Even teachers sometimes color outside the lines,
but God never does!"

Hannah, 4-1/2 years old

:::

Praise the Lord! There are no scribbles on His Picture.
I needed to be reminded of that today.
Thanks, Pumpkin!

A bit of this and that . . .

A number of things have conspired to make this a rather unique week for Chris and me, but here's a few snapshots of the kiddos who continue on unphased. :o)

The kids have enjoyed playing together. A lot. It's hysterical listening to them "talk" with each other--Hannah will be in for a surprise when Peter starts expressing contradictory opinions more clearly. Right now she enjoys pretty free reign with her generally compliant brother. But, she makes life fun for him, too. :o)

(I think Hannah's idea here was that Peter was supposed to start pulling her. Didn't happen.)

Did you know "If you want to catch fish, you have to have one sock on and one sock off"? I learned that this evening as Hannah explained fishing to Peter. She made a paper stuffed fish with a length of yarn attached in Sunday School recently, and they have both been having a blast "fishing" on and off since then.

:::

We enjoyed going to the Grand Opening for the Art Show. :o) Obviously we were there to see Hannah's piece in particular, but it was incredible to see some of the artwork from the older students. Wow. Some of these students have amazing talent.

Peter is very excited about his new puppy! (Thanks Grandma & Grandpa!)

And Hannah had lots of fun for "100 Day" at school.

And those were the "normal" parts of the week. I'm so thankful for cheerful, bubbly children who are excited about little things and love to give us hugs and kisses! :o) (And Mommy's baby has been getting lots of kisses recently, too.) :o)

Tower of Fun

The kids enjoy playing with Legos on their own, but it's much more fun when Daddy engineers something really cool . . .

Like towers that nearly reach the ceiling! (Notice the use of the beam for stability . . .)

Most of Peter's contributions were decorative . . . like people and such. One creative addition particularly pleased him:

Aren't you glad you're not a Lego giraffe??? :o)

And such is what happens when one's truck intersects with one's tower.

But, that just means that you get to reengineer it!

PS - Hannah got cool during the evening and grabbed a sweatshirt. She cracked us up when she came in and excitedly announced, "I look like a banana with blue legs!" :o)