Thanks Be to God

Thank you all for praying for Anna! She did very well with her surgery and is recovering quickly! She had brain surgery and less than 24 hours later was taking a walk with her husband! Truly, all thanks be to God, He has delivered my friend through this fire! I know that there are still many does of recovery to go, but she couldn't be off to a better start!

PUT THE CLOTHES AWAY!!!

Trying to get everyone ready for practice, finishing homework, wondering why I have to tell people to put clothes away, and dealing with a 3 year old at 5:00 PM that has given up her afternoon naps, I may have raised my voice above the normal level...

Sophia softly responded, "Mom, your voice is kind of rude."

Out of the mouths of babes.

Words of Wisdom

Today I emailed a dear friend from college, Sr. Lynn and asked her to pray for another cherished friend Anna. Sr. Lynn has given her life to serve God in whatever way He chooses. For a few years she was caring for children with AIDS on a farm in California and then later felt like God was calling her to move across the country to Missouri. As a Benedictine Sister of Perpetual Adoration, she used her Bio-Chemistry background to help develop a gluten free host for people who wanted to receive Jesus in Holy Communion, but couldn't, due to celiac disease. So I wrote to this amazing, Jesus-loving woman, Sr. Lynn, to ask her to pray for another amazing, Jesus-loving woman, Anna. Anna is also serving God as a Stay At Home Mom to 5 awesome kids (ages 13,11,9,7,3) and is undergoing surgery tomorrow for a brain aneurysm. Anna gives of herself to her family tirelessly.

What Sr. Lynn wrote to me was so encouraging and so inspirational, I wanted to share it with you in hopes that if you are going through a "fiery" time in your life, that her words could also give you comfort.

From Sr. Lynn:

I have been doing a study on the book of Daniel this Lent. The teacher
drew this example about the three men who were thrown in the furnace. She
said that all of us face fiery trials and that there can be three outcomes

1) God can deliver us from the fire - I know this is what you would hope for Anna -
that she goes for surgery and the doctors say the aneurysm has disappeared
completely and she is healed. When we are delivered from the fire our
faith is built. Our trust in God's awesome strength is built up.

2) God can deliver us through the fire. We can pray that Anna will go through surgery and that all goes well or even if recovery is difficult that she will make it
through. When we are delivered through the fire our faith is refined.
We come to know God more intimately through our suffering and our faith is more
refined.

3) And lastly we can be delivered from the fire straight into God's
arms. While we beg God that this not be the outcome for Anna and her
family, through this kind of deliverance our faith is perfected as we come to
see God face to face.

I am praying that God will show Himself mighty and that Anna will come through this fire like the three young men in the book of Daniel of whom it was written: "When the satraps, prefects, governors, and nobles of the king came together, they saw that the fire had had no power over the bodies of these men; not a hair of their heads had been singed, nor were their garments altered; there was not even a smell of fire about them." Daniel 3:94

You can visit her order's website at: http://www.benedictinesisters.org/

Seeing Red

There is a grass roots effort going on right now that we all can be a part of. It is a peaceful, prayerful way to send the White House a message that we are not ok with the spilling of innocent blood. We have the chance to stand up for those who can't speak for themselves. We are being asked to send a red empty standard sized envelope to the White House on March 31 as an act of solidarity with other pro-life Americans. Those who are outraged by abortion are not the minority. The goal is to actually get 50 million red envelopes sent, one for every child that has died (in the US) due to abortion.


http://www.redenvelopeproject.org/

HEB

Did you know that if you take a 3 year old to the grocery store, it may take longer to get your groceries than you had planned? Sometimes a whole bag of unpaid for, colored, goldfish crackers can get turned upside down. You might even hear the sound of something spilling while you are trying to figure out which cheese slices you have to buy to get the free bag of shredded cheese, but you may ignore it KNOWING that it doesn't concern you. Then you will look around to see a rainbow of goldfish under and in your shopping cart and your shopping companion holding a completely empty bag upside down. You may then find yourself apologizing to the people cleaning it up and getting you a fresh bag of goldfish, assuring you that they can get credit for damaged goods and that you don't need to buy the bag. But, did you know that if you drop a tube of crescent rolls from the top of a shopping cart that the end will pop off and crescent rolls will ooze out? You may even be embarrassed handing it to the cashier while you explain, "I'm sorry, we ruined this." Were you also aware, that you need to remember to pay for the donut you ate at the beginning of the adventure? And have you been told that you may forget the medicine you went to the store to buy, but somehow you will have managed to buy a princess sippie cup? Your ears may be ringing and head spinning due to all of the verbal discourse that occurred and you may be praying that your little companion will take a nap once you get home. (Although you know that truly would be a miracle.)

If you're really lucky though, your heart may be open just enough for God to pour in the grace to allow you to soak in the moment and just smile knowing what a lucky girl you are to have such a lovely shopping companion in your life. God may even remind you that there will be a time when your shopping cart will not be overflowing with gallons of milk, boxes of cereal, loaves of bread, juice boxes, and snacks for snack duty at Saturday's game.

Rules and Regulations

I was lying down with Sophia the other night, and I was reminding her of the rules about getting out of bed.

I reminded her that we don't get out of bed unless there is any emergency. If she needs anything else, she should call me.

She said, "Only get out if there is a fire..."

I said, "Yes, of course."

She said, "Or if I'm bored..."

I said, "No."

Always Interesting

This morning while in the restroom, I got a knock on the door. "Please wait," I said.

Luke replied, "Mom, I got bacon in my eye."

A Tasty Treat

Making Dirt Dessert for Luke's Mad Scientist Party with kids from school.

Monkey See, Monkey Do

When I picked Sophia up from preschool the other day, I realized I had dressed us a little bit alike. The funny thing is that Omar says I do this more often than I know.

Everlasting

I've been a little bummed because I haven't been able to blog very much lately. As I've said before, this is my therapy! Between kids and husband needing the computer, my 3 year old not wanting to take naps anymore, and being unable to upload images to the blog page for some unknown reason, my little outlet has suffered. The little pics with captions are so much faster than the "deep thoughts!" ;) Thanks to all of you who keep checking back in.

But here is a cute item sans a pic:

Sophia was drawing on some paper this morning and told me that it was a letter to me. She continued on "writing" and then I overheard what she was composing:

Dear Mama,
I hope you not throw dis away eber, eber.

Nose Talents

This morning Luke was snorting a classical tune as I brushed his hair for school. I said, "Ok, that is enough."

He replied, "I am the best snorter in my whole class."