Posted in Life Happenings
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As usual, things are hopping around here. I"m not sure if anyone is still reading my blog,so if you are please leave me a comment and say hi. So many of my friends have stopped blogging, and I'm trying to get back to my diligence of reading blogs again. I love hearing about your families. First of all, if you haven't been by lately, you can hop over to see pictures of Ashley's 4 weeks in Kenya HERE and HERE. And, Briana is in the midst of the production of Camelot, and you can see those pictures HERE. The younger girls are plugging away at learning and loving life.....except when I make them clean up their messes. We have been working on a lapbook on the Fruit of the Spirit, but have taken the last few weeks off. In early October, the 4 of us went to North KY to the Creation Museum. They liked it pretty well, although, we didn't find it to be extremely kid friendly. They are adding a hands-on kids area soon, though. They did enjoy parts of it, though.  We also got to meet a blog friend while we were there!  Jennifer and I had a great time visiting, the kids had a great time together, and the time just flew by. We talked for almost 3 hours. We also visited an old high school friend the day before while we were there. We had not seen her since graduation, but we have become much more acquainted as friends on Facebook. After our visit with Jennifer, we went into Cincinnati, and had a great time walking over the big purple pedestrian bridge in the rain. We crossed the Ohio River, and walked from OH to KY and back again. : )  Let's see, also in this past month, we've celebrated 2 birthdays. Ashley, our oldest~which most seems to surprise most people....that she's the oldest~ turned 23. Seven days later, Briana turned 20. The day after Ashley's birthday, we went over to Briana's to celebrate their birthdays together. We had a fun night of bowling.  (Briana is on the bottom; Ashley on top!)We were supposed to be going camping this past week, but unseasonably cold temps made us have to postpone it. We're hoping to go next week, but are watching the weather. God worked out the timing anyway, because as it turns out Briana had an emergency, and I was back over to her house for 3 nights. Her 6 month old kitten, who is her baby to the core, started having seizures. He was already anemic, which turns out is probably related to this. He was in the hospital for 4 nights, and they thought he was better, but the day after he came home, they started again, and were often and very violent. He was diagnosed with something called FIP, which is basically encephalitis ~ swelling around his brain. Friday, the vet told her she needed to consider putting him to sleep. She was so heartbroken. I went over to help her through the weekend. In the meantime, the vet called and told her to put him back on the steroids. Long story short, it helped, and 11:15 pm Sat. night was his last seizure. The iron is getting into his system, and he is getting his energy and life back. Two problems, still. One, he is not drinking water, and we don't know why. She is having to mix as much water as possible into canned food, and she's giving him some a couple of times a day in a syringe. It is keeping him hydrated. They're still working on what is causing that. Second, the FIP is incurable. He will always have to take steroids, at hopefully a much lower dose eventually, and needs to avoid as much stress as possible. When she comes for a visit, they will have to increase his steroids for the time to try to prevent the seizures. Due to all of this, he may not live a full life expectancy, but he might. God has blessed us with answers to heartfelt prayers so far. Briana and I spent a painful, but sweet time earlier in the evening Sat. night (when things looked grim), sitting in the floor while she held Snickers. We cried together, and she began to think and talk about the funny things he did all the time. Before long, she was laughing so hard. I just thank you Lord for answering those prayers!!! While I was gone, the rest of my family surprised me, and chipped in on the work of buying apples, making applesauce, and canning it. All 3 of the girls helped, and James did the actual canning. Those times of asking him to, "please do this while I run and do this, " paid off! : ) He was paying attention to what he was doing! They did a great job, and got it all finished. Such a HUGE relief to me! So, here I am, back at home, as of last night. I took the day off today, and took a nap, too! I am incredibly thankful to see the sun these last 3 days, after day after day after day of dreary skies and rain. Hope the Lord is blessing your families and days! |
Posted in Life Happenings
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The "Year Of the Whirlwind" continues. : ) I have been absent so much lately, because, well....I've been absent from normal life. I'm really tired, and really ready to just stay at home for a while, without any drama. It has definitely been a month of drama! Other than posting the HAIRSPRAY pictures, the last time I posted, I had been at Briana's opening night on June 25th, left on the 26th and gone home, turned around at midnight on the 27th, and gone back because Marissa, who had stayed there with my parents, was really sick. I had only planned on staying 2 nights to get her well, then come back. The day I was coming home was our 24th wedding anniversary. Well, things just didn't work out quite that way. That afternoon there was a crisis in my extended family, and in an hour's time, Marissa, Briana, and I had to leave. Briana was living with my parents, but we just packed up as much as we could. The three of us went to a hotel to figure out what we were going to do. The next morning, Briana and I decided that since she was planning to move into an apt. anyway, and because there was just too much emotion going on at the time, she would go ahead and find an apartment. I'll spare you all the details, but that day we found her an apt (me being SO thankful that James and I had done some preleminary searching!) Over the next 2 days, we got mattresses, the electric switched, and a WHOLE BUNCH of shopping for dishes, pots & pans, towels, sheets, the works. I ended up being here 6 nights, and it was an extremely stressful and emotional few days, because of the stress of the crisis and having to take care of all of this in a kind of emergency situation. But, the Lord gave me much peace and strength that I needed to get through the week. Troy (Briana's guy) was a big help bringing his dad's truck to pick up the mattress sets and helping us move them upstairs. When I left her that week, the only thing she had here was kitchen stuff, 2 sets of mattresses and box springs lying on the floor, and towels. : ) It was also very difficult to leave her. She went overnight from being with family, even me coming to stay with her when my parents were out of town, to being in an apt. on her own. But, it was another place the Lord gave us peace, and we knew He had walked with us through it. In spite of the stress and busyness of those few days, Briana, Marissa, and I had some fun times together. It was good for the 2 of them to spend time laughing and being silly together in the hotel, and it was just a good time for us in that respect. I think that time with the 3 of us together will always be special to me, because we bonded together, enjoying each other's company and laughs, in the midst of chaos. I went home for a week, then came back alone. I had already had tickets to go with Briana to see Troy in The Foriegner, so we did that, and did a lot more shopping here and the next town over. We were able to get her a dining set and a couch. I'm kind of getting my trips confused now, but I think that was when a few days later, James and the little girls came over for the day, and he brought her a great one year old washer/dryer set that we got for $300! After doing several loads that week at the laudromat, we quickly saw that it would pay for itself in 6 months, especially since water is included in the rent. Briana also bought herself a beautiful real wood sleigh bed at Big Lots for $300! It is queen size, and gorgeous. Okay, let's see. I think I was at Bri's for 4 nights that time. I then went home and spent time with Ashley and helped her get ready for Kenya! She left on July 22nd! Tomorrow she will have been gone 2 weeks. She is having the time of her life, and I will post some pictures soon. Two more weeks to go, and I have a feeling she isn't going to want to leave. : ) When you see the pictures, you can see a pure joy and gleam in her eyes, that I'm not sure I've ever seen before. I was home for almost 2 weeks, and, yep....I'm back at Briana's. With all the chaos of the first 2 weeks of the month here, I had to change my tickets to see her in HAIRSPRAY again, so those were Friday and Sat. I have also have met and had dinner with Troy's parents and had lunch with his mom and some of her friends while I was here. James brought the little girls over Sunday night, and Monday afternoon they went to my parents' house to spend a few nights with them. James and I are headed home this afternoon, and will have a day and a half alone. Well, for your sake, I will stop there. There is more. : ) But, those are the biggest events. There have been major lessons for us all this past month, and a lot of clinging to the Lord. I miss my younger girls, but the Lord has been taking care of that, too. They are learning things, too. I'm hoping to start blogging a little more often. I think I have just gotten out of the habit. I'll be popping around to your blogs catching up, too. |
Posted in Life Happenings
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We are visiting our daughter Briana this week. We came over on Friday, and Friday night James and I had dinner with her and Troy. It was a really nice time. On Sat. afternoon, I went alone to see them in Shenandoah.....which is where they met. On Sunday,.....I went again (sheepish grin) with Ashley. Sunday was their final of 36 shows since it opened mid-March. She was getting pretty tired of it these last few weeks, but was still, in some ways, sad it was over. Of course, she is in full swing of Hairspray rehearsals. She's 10 to 10 tomorrow, with an hour and a half break for lunch, and one for supper. It's like that most of this week. Troy and Briana in their Shenandoah costumes.
Thankfully, she is off today. She's off most Mondays unless it's tech week (next week). Today is my birthday, so we're planning to go for a cookout this afternoon. Unfortunately, there is a 50% chance of scattered storms this afternoon. : ( I hope we don't get rained out! Ashley is still plugging away at her college history course, and she and I have been enjoying some fun times together. It's funny how you can miss one so much, and yet be thankful for the opportunites it's giving you with another one. Confusing emotions. : ) Speaking of which, this letting go thing is just not easy.......learning to share them with others (especially a man! : ) ), and that they are spreading their wings in new, higher, different places, and learning from God what your new place in that is......... I'm getting there....I think..... I had hoped to go home Tues., which became Wed., which I find out now, is Thurs. I enjoy visiting with Briana, but we're going to be seeing very little of her Tues.-Thurs. with her rehearsals. And, we will be coming back 5 days later for James to take pictures at Hairspray dress rehearsals 2 nights, then the 3rd night we will go to the opening. Ashley is getting very excited about her Kenya trip. If you are on Facebook, look up "Ashley's Going to Kenya!", and join her group to join us in prayer for the trip and team. The younger girls are doing good. They are looking forward to coming back over next week again because 2 of their cousins will be here that week. It's kind of a low key week for them this week. Not much of their stuff here, their grandparents are out of town this week, we haven't been able to get swimming passes to the pool yet (hopefully today), and I've been gone a lot of the time we've been here. They played Wii quite a while yesterday with their Daddy. They're watching Animal Planet right now. We watch very little t.v., but I do let them watch some of the shows on there sometimes. I tell you.....that little Daniella can remember every single detail about animals that she hears on that show. Even when she has trouble comprehending and remembering other things, she can tell you word for word details about animals on a show she saw months ago. Off to get pull everything together for our cookout. Troy is joining us, and I'm looking forward to some fun family time.....please don't storm! |
Posted in Life Happenings
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Wow! Where has the time gone? The last couple of weeks have been full of changes, possible changes, discussions of changes, wondering about changes...... you get the picture. Sending adult children off into the world is exciting, difficult, and full of all kinds of emotions. Let's see.....I will start with Ashley, our 22 year old. She is living at home still (YAY!!), and taking her courses in "Religion" online through Liberty Univ. She's really struggling, and not having any peace about college right now. She's praying for the Lord to fill her heart with HIS desires, and to show her whether it is good for her to continue, whether she should continue part time, or keep going like she is now. She's not struggling with her classes. So far, she's blown all of those away. It's a struggle of whether this, at this time, is the right course for her life. Her mental plate (and, therefore, mine!) is full right now. This week she is teaching music at our VBS, and loving it. I don't know if I've said this here before, but she has been blessed this summer to fulfill a 11 or 12 year dream to go to Kenya. The Lord really brought this whole trip together. She had been doing a lot of internet searching on what type of extended trip she wanted to do this summer, and nothing would ever come together or click. Then, just like God, at the exact right moment, came this opportunity, and we knew it was time. She will be going to Orbit, Kenya (20 or 30 min from Nairobi) for 3 weeks beginning July 28ish, with a missionary whom we have supported for about 11 years. If you all remember the story I posted recently about her sponsor child there, who had been raped, had a baby girl whom she named Ashley, and then the baby recently died at one year old.......she will get to finally meet Mokoi this summer! She is so very excited. I think 1/2 the village is excited, too. Because our family was the 2nd ones to ever sponsor a child in the village, the missionary, Cyndy, says that Ashley is literally a celebrity in the village. ; ) So, this week, Ashley has been busy sending out fundraising letters, in between studying a monster U.S. History course (tons and tons and tons of reading) and VBS. Also, in the midst of this, the Lord has led us to check out some camp internships all across the U.S. Ashley has a very strong desire to be a Christian Camp director, with the dream of one day owning her own camp, centered around horses. We have dreamed together of lots of things it could include and expand upon, including church retreats, praise dance camps, hayrides, etc. It has been fun to dream with her. Somehow she stumbled upon an internship program in CA. It is not the right one for her, but got us to thinking, praying, and researching. I have a feeling that if not this winter, then definitely by next, she will be in one of these internships somewhere in the country. The ones we have found are anywhere from 6 weeks to one or 2 years. Six weeks is not near long enough, but she's not sure she's ready to move across country for a year, either. So, we're just looking and praying for the one that is right for her. I think it will be a tremendous opportunity for her, and very good for her. Next....Briana. whew. : ) If you remember I said about 3 or 4 weeks ago, that she and a guy friend of hers were going out as friends and seeing if there was anything stronger there. Yep. They are now officially a couple. The Lord has given James and me great peace about their relationship, and we really like what we know about him so far. Because they live 2 hours away, we had not been able to meet him, even though my parents had. Yes, I've been dying to get back over there!!! But, he has shown himself to be a friend and wonderful gentleman. He's very artsy, which makes us smile. Most of his life has been spent in Seattle, and he has lived in NYC for a while. He is an actor, playwright, wonderful artist, singer, musician, comic...but, most of all a Christian, wants to serve God with his life, knows how to have serious and deep conversations, and did I mention, gentleman. : ) Yesterday he (Troy) and Briana came over for the day to go to Dollywood...I had been able to get them free passes. They had to come by the house to pick the tickets up. Bless his heart! I bet is was awfully overwhelming to be surrounded by the 6 of us!! We only got to see them about 5 min., which was more than a little frustrating for me! However, last night everyone was gone to VBS except me (the resident heathen. LOL) , and Troy and Briana, spur of the moment, came back over for supper before they headed back home. It was so neat. It was just the 3 of us, and they were here for almost 2 hours. I loved getting to spend that quiet time with them. So.....we shall see what the Lord has planned. We are going over to see Briana this Friday. Shenandoah is in it's last week (36 shows total!), and Ashley and I are going to see the closing. James and I are going out to dinner with Troy and Briana this weekend. Are you still with me??? A couple of weeks ago, we found out that Briana made Hairspay for the summer. YAY!!! It's going to be fun, although, she's so tired right now. If you've seen the show, she was cast as one of the 8 Counsel Members. They are the main dancers on the Corny Collins show on the movie. They dance up front and have extra parts, etc. Today she told me that she is one of 5 of them who get to help out in the store during "Welcome to the 60's" when Tracy and Edna(?...the mom) are being all dressed up in their pink sparkly dresses. I *cannot* wait to go see it. Opening is June 25th, and we'll be there!! Are you still with me???? Briana has also made the decision (with our blessing) that she is not coming back home after Hairspray ends Aug. 30, as originally planned. She is going to be looking for a roommate/apt., possibly auditioning for the fall musical, depending on what it is, driving 45 min. to college and going part or full time (depending on the musical) with a major in voice, and hopefully still taking one or 2 dance classes at the Playhouse. And, yes. This has all happened in the last 3 weeks. Would you like to pray for me??!! LOL. One last thing, is that I am so incredibly thankful for my husband. With all that has been going on, he has been such a blessing. He has done most of anything that has been done with the younger girls the last couple of weeks. My plate has been so full, and I am still struggling with not sleeping. My body has become weary, and if he had not been here to pick up the slack, I'm not sure how I would have handled it. Hello???? is anyone still there? |
Posted in Life Happenings
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I'm finally getting time to post Marissa's birthday pictures. The day before her birthday, we went bowling as a family. That is what she chose as her "party". At the bowling alley~
Our beautiful girls~
Never take a ballerina bowling! LOL
She was hillarious, and Ashley and I had a fun laughing at Bri's unique bowling style that she just "discovered" that day. The next day was Marissa's 12th birthday, and my parents joined us for a family party on the back deck. Well, it was a frozen strawberry cake (homemade), so we started out with the cake inside.~
A girl and her books......deliriously happy!
More books~
New American Girl doll~ Kit. She also got the Kit movie, and some Kit clothes.
She had a happy, happy 2 days! Growing up into such a young lady. Would you all pray for me? I keep going to sleep fine, but waking up after 2 or 3 hours, and not able to go back to sleep the rest of the night. I've done this 3 out of the last 5 nights. The 2 nights in between, I've slept wonderfully out of sheer exhaustion. I've been okay the other two days, but this morning I'm completely miserable. There will definitely be a nap before I go out this afternoon! We spent a wonderful day in the mountains yesterday (Briana included), so I will be posting those pictures in a few days! |
Posted in Life Happenings
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One time I said on here that life was swirly. Well swirly has hit again! What a week this has been. Many good things, some nerve wracking things. (is wracking with or without a "w"? Wednesday was Marissa's 12th birthday! Happy Birthday, beautiful daughter! Unfortunately, I don't have time to do pictures today, but I will get them up for her next week. The day before, for her family "party" we went bowling, and had a fun time. Briana was here for 3 days, so she got to go with us, and it was hilarious and fun for us all. On Wed. afternoon (her bday), my parents came, and we had cake and gifts. Briana went back home with them Wed. night. The nerve wracking excitement comes in with Briana. She is ummmm.....getting to know a guy. : ) Since she lives away from home, we are having to do a spin on courtship. Actually, at this point, we don't know if it will progress to anything more than friends. She is not sure how she feels, but is interested. I teasingly call it "not-dating". ; ) They are in the same musical right now, and they talk a lot there. The past 2 weeks, they have been on 2 not-dates. LOL. After one of their shows, they have been out to an early, in the daylight, she takes her own car dinner just as friends. They have both said they just want to get to know each other better and see. James and I have done an awful LOT of praying over this. Despite some obvious obstacles (one of which is that he wants to move back to NYC), we feel like God is in on it, even if they never progress past friends. If this works out, it will be a God-thing. The prayers that were answered to a T, make it obvious that God was involved. Anyway, that's all I can say for now. We are on our way back to see her once again this afternoon. : ) Of course, I love seeing her. I'm excited to be going to see her in Shenandoah again tonight for the 3rd time. Tomorrow night, Briana, Ashley, my mom, and I are going back to the same theater to see Smoke on the Mountain, which is said to be a wonderful show. Her not-date friend is one of the main characters, plus we just want to see it. On Sunday, Briana will get to come back home with us for 5 days. I'd better finish packing! |
Posted in Life Happenings
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We had a really fun Mother's Day weekend around here. On Saturday morning, Marissa went to an American Girl birthday party. They all dressed up in either their best dresses, or period costumes if they had them. A dance instructor came and taught them a minuette, and they all brought home a little tea cup and saucer as their party favor. Marissa won a prize for best costume. : ) (For some reason, HSB is making all of my pictures look mosaic when I resized them today. ugh)
Daniella in front of an old pioneer fireplace~ Lots of purple butterflies~
The trail has quite a few 3D plaques of the different leaves found on the trees on this trail. The girls took their drawing pads and did rubbings of them.~
Crystal clear mountain water~
And to end a great day, Briana came home last night, and will be here until Wed. evening! I hope all of you had a terrific Mother's Day! |
Posted in Life Happenings
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April was a busy month, and an exciting one for Miss Daniella. Most people dread April 15th : ) , but at our house we celebrate! April 15 was Daniella's 7th Adoption Day. We always let them pick out a treat for the day, and she chose a chocolate cake this year. She had an idea to decorate it, and did it herself, with a little help from Marissa.
One week later, we celebrated her 8th birthday.
Briana and my parents joined the party via Skype. Daniella even posed to have her picture made with Briana. : )
Silly String fun~
Afterwards, we went to the Track and rode a few rides.
Then this past Sunday on the 26th, Daniella had her first ballet recital, which is more praise dance than classical ballet.
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Posted in Life Happenings
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Well, actually, the "and not" came first. I'm still struggling health wise, although, I did have a good day on Wednesday. This morning was hectic packing everyone up for an overnight stay at my parents' house. About 2:00, we made the 2 hour drive over. I was stressed, extremely tired, and not feeling so well by the time we got here. But, after getting in and eating some chocolate chip cookies my mom had just made : ) I started feeling more rested and less stressed. Briana had to leave for a class about 45 min. after we came in (she just walked in the door as I'm typing : ) ). So, while Ashley and my dad went for a walk, and James and my mom played Wii with Marissa and Daniella, I spent a good 1/2 hour in wonderful relaxation. I layed out in the lounge chair on the dock on my mom and dad's lake. I sat in the sun, listening to the wind in the trees, mourning doves, other birds singing their little hearts out, bumble bees, and geese honking. The only other sounds were the occasional sound of a lawn mower way off in the distance, and the occasional sounds of the girls' laughter coming through the open window. Tomorrow at 1:00, a couple from our church is driving over, and James and I are meeting them for dessert. At 2:00, the couple and I are meeting Ashley at the theater, and watching Briana in Shenandoah! It was originally supposed to be a day trip for me and 2 other ladies, but one had to cancel. We already had the tickets, so the trip got changed to all of this! After the show is over, all of us but Ashley will be headed back home. Ashley is going to stay here with Briana until Wed. I'm so excited to go see Briana's show again. This will be my 2nd time. You just can't see it all in one show. And, besides, when it's your daughter, you have to see it more than once.....okay.....I've got tickets to see another 2 times after this! Maybe 4 times will be enough. LOL. Wishing everyone as beautiful of a weekend as we are having here! |
Posted in Life Happenings
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Quite honestly, I feel terrible. I have since Friday. I'm not contagious kind of sick. It's a condition with my adrenal glands that I have struggled with for about 4 years now. When it's this bad, I can barely function. When I get this way, it also affects my emotional state. I get really down and tearful. In spite of this, we had a great day on Sunday. We started the day off with a *wonderful* worhip service. Since I had been out of town until Thurs. night and had a children's church picnic on Sat., we didn't dye our eggs until Sunday. We usually try to do our egg events on a different day, but it just didn't happen this year. After we spent a while dying 3 1/2 dozen eggs (!!).....fun.....we hid them from each other.....also fun. The only bad part of the day was that while we were dying the eggs, I really grieved over Briana not being here. The Lord helped me on through it, though. Sunday evening we built a campfire, grilled burgers, ate out on the deck, sat around the fire and made s'mores. Aside from my exhaustion and Bri not being here, it was a perfect day. Saturday's picnic. This is throwing raw eggs at the target.
Good catch~ See the egg flying at the top of the picture?~ racing with a raw egg in a spoon~ Three of my pretty girls~
She has *always* loved dandelions. We have the yard to prove it. : ) That's okay. I'd rather her enjoy simple "childhood" pleasures! Ashley's baby, Kacie~   Many blessings. |
