Yesterday morning, before all the snow melted off, the boys finished work on their snowman. Then they proceeded to bomb him with snowballs!
(This also reminds me that I need to get our wedding pictures into digital format... sorry about the ink spot on Papa's cheek!)There's so much more in my heart for which I'm not finding words..
Ladies, be sure to tell your fathers you love them today.
Papa, I just want to say again how thankful I am for you and how blessed I am to be your daughter. Thank you for teaching, training, and guarding me all those years, for leading me to the Most Important Love of all, and for being such an amazing example. You and Mama, with lots of help from the Lord (of course!!), are blame for most everything good about who I am today. I love you both dearly.
Sorry about the "Ask This Old House" in the background. But I didn't want to cut out his sound - the loud intake of breath is his new "I'm excited" sound. :-)
Whatchoo talkin' 'bout, Willis?
This one's frameable.
Just clowning around.
But such statistics can't tell the whole story, said Dr. Gordon Goldman, the Missouri section chair of American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists."Most of the time, they are going to get away with" a midwife
birth, Goldman said. "But when (a death) happens — even if it's one in 1,000 — it's 100 percent for you and your baby."
Kris gets into the tub, equipped with a heater to keep the water warm. The temperature and buoyancy are soothing. About 15 minutes later, the midwife notices a twinge in Kris' grunting.
"That sounded pushy. Are you feeling like you're wanting to push?" the midwife says.
"Yes," Kris answers, the first word she has spoken in hours.
It was a difficult birth, Jenny recalled. She pushed for nearly an hour.
The midwife felt the umbilical cord wrapped around the baby's neck. She had
Jenny get on her hands and knees and lift one leg. That allowed the baby's
shoulders to come loose and tumble out of its cord. The new mom scooped up her baby girl in the warm water. It was a joyous and peaceful moment, she said. It was exactly what she wanted.
"I felt like the bionic woman," Jenny said. "I was completely exhausted, but I felt a sense of pride I never felt before."
She spends two more hours at the house, cooking scrambled eggs, cleaning and completing her notes. She packs her equipment in a rolling suitcase. She leaves Kris with a list of things to look out for, like excessive bleeding or if Drew catches a fever.
The midwife hugs Kris and tells her how amazing she was. The midwife will be back tomorrow to check on the family.
As always, she has her cell phone in her pocket, waiting for the next call.
I was deeply challenged and encouraged by these thoughts. We all have circumstances which break us and render us unable to walk. Several weeks ago, I sat by myself in my van, sobbing on the phone to my dear friend Sue, struggling with "those circumstances" in my life. Sue told me she had this picture in her mind of me flat on the ground, and the Lord wanting to pick me up. I asked through my tears, "Why would I want Him to pick me up, if it's only to do it all over again??"Just before the service came to an end, we did the same thing that we did in Montana. We had the song "We Will Glorify" by Twila Paris play as the lights went out. In Montana we used candles, but here we used tiny flashlights to shine as the music played. This was something very personal to me. Looking back 15 months to when Ellie was diagnosed with cancer, the first couple of weeks are such a blur in my memory. But I remember that the grace of God covered me like a blanket when I had no strength of my own. And I remember that I didn't pray that Ellie would be healed. I wanted her to be, but somehow I knew without asking that this journey would be about suffering, and that if Ellie was to be healed on this Earth that it would not be soon. I knew that there would be a long road ahead. I don't know why I knew that... I just knew. So in those early days and weeks, the only prayer that would come out of my heart was "please, God, please - take glory for Yourself through this..." It was the only prayer that my heart knew how to form. And so, in both of Ellie's memorial services, I turned around to look at the little lights shining all over the room. That light was, to me, the reflected glory of God Himself - shining from the people who loved my little girl. The people who were touched by Ellie's light, which was not her light at all, but the incredible light of her Maker and Savior. I'm crying as I type this, because God answered my prayer. You see, with all due respect to my precious Ellie, she was just an ordinary little girl - just like every other child in the world. Yes, she was special - but no more and no less than every other child... your children... your grandchildren... We are ordinary parents. We don't love our children any more than you love yours. We did not handle this situation any better than any other parent going through such a horrible situation. We simply have an unbelievably powerful God. That one fact has made all of the difference in our lives, and in Ellie's life most of all. The little lights sparkled around the room as the song played... "... we will glorify the King of kings, we will glorify the Lord. We will glorify the Lord of lords, who is the great I AM."
That is the only purpose this life has for me. It is the only reason that I will get out of bed every day. It is the only reason that I will survive the crushing pain that wants to sit on my chest when I realize that my daughter will never put her arms around my neck again. Contrary to popular opinion, I am not strong. I am the weakest human being that you will ever meet. But I have a God who carries me when I cannot walk. I only appear strong because I haven't been able to walk for a very long time. And the only encouragement that I have for you is to stop trying so hard to walk on your own, when you and God both know that you can't.
And then there's the "catch the adorable baby looking at himself in the mirror" setting...
Okay, so maybe that's not a setting, but isn't he sweet?
An helpful article I found this afternoon gives the following information:
Amblyopia is poor vision in an eye that did not develop normal sight during early childhood. It is sometimes called "lazy eye."If you'd like to learn more, just google "amblyopia" or bilateral amblyopia" and you'll find plenty of reading.
On the mental/emotional end of this news is the fighting off of a load of guilt. It's difficult to avoid focusing on the "what if's." I realize that the past is the past, and we can't go back. So we're moving forward, going to do our best help correct Ellie's vision, and going to get the rest of the Blessings in for exams asap.
It's wonderful to know that God is sovereign and all-wise, isn't it?
Experiences are very powerful. They often feel more powerful than promises. So it's tempting to interpret prosperity and ease as God’s blessing and tribulation as God’s displeasure. And sometimes they are. But often they are not.
“Judge not Christ’s love by providences, but by promises.”and
"Bless God for shaking off false foundations, for any way whereby He keeps the soul awakened and looking after Christ; better sickness and temptations, than security and superficiality."
The older kids were sweet about taking the little girls with them...
Unfortunately, B. was already inside when I got the camera out for pictures, but he had a blast as well.
Thank you, Lord, for the beautiful snow!
This shot gives a bit more perspective... and a reminder to rake those leaves before the snow falls!
Urgent Prayer Needed
Kate is in the post-op recovery room. We just met with Dr. Forget and he said that she is awake and responsive and can follow simple commands (counting on fingers,etc). However, she is very weak on the left side of her body. This is either do to swelling at the surgical site in her brain which is affecting the adjacent area that controls motor function, or it is due to the aggressiveness of the surgery.
Please pray that it is the former and will improve as the swelling subsides.
Dave
Stephen discovered the wonder of making noise by banging today. You can tell the girls thoroughly enjoyed his fun!
Since we only have the required liability on our van and our insurance would not be covering our vehicle, we decided to see if we could limp our way to NC, stopping to let it cool off whenever it got hot. We might have made it ten miles at the most before we overheated the first time. Not the 40 miles or so for which we had hoped! It became obvious that we were not going to limp our way to North Carolina. As a matter of fact, we only managed to limp to the bottom of an exit ramp before the van died for good.
In the meantime, our friend Bob was working all through the day to secure a rental vehicle large enough to transport us all. We're so thankful for cell phones - I'll have to count the calls we made that day once we get our bill. Bob's people were finally able to find a van for us; a policeman came and called a tow truck as well as a "flashing lights truck" to guard our backs and direct traffic around us. And Enterprise really does pick you up!
Here's our van being prepared for towing.
We were told we would not be taking this same van as our rental, but were so grateful when plans changed and we did not have to unload and reload all of our stuff yet again. By 6.30 (central time) that evening, we were finally on the road again, and arrived at my folks house around 3am (eastern time). The drive took some extra time because there was no way we were eating in that rental van. Not after seeing the havoc that the drive from Missouri to Nashville had wrought on our gray van (which had been swept before we left home)!
We are supposed to go by the towing company's office on our way back through Nashville to settle with them. I was suprised they let us go without taking payment first, but that $65 or $75 in gas left in the van probably had something to do with it!
But the place to begin the work is always at the beginning. Where is that? That is here– that this task, this work before me was given by God, and He will enable to do it. He is good. I belong to Him, so all that He gives me is from His mercy. The “how”, the “why”, the “what for” is for later. Settle once and for all Who you belong to and Who you are working for.
The rest comes after that.
My Grandpa Byrd went home to be with Jesus this afternoon. It's amazing how differently I feel about his passing than I feel about Grandma's two days ago. While I'm sad and have shed quite a few tears, there is such peace and joy for him, knowing that he is with his Savior - no more pain, no more tears. Here's one of my favorite pictures of my G'pa and G'ma Byrd. This is on the front porch of their home in the Smoky Mountains.
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