Trampoline

Since our trampoline died, the girls and I bought a new one last weekend. Then one night Dad put it together. But he hadn't had the time or the day light to put up the enclosure. Our kind BIL, Jason Sutherland, came over this morning and put it up for us. THANK YOU!!!!

Jay was very patient with all of our "help!"

The kids are so happy! Yes, Jay let them pick the color pattern on the poles.

Visiting Arabella

For Jason and I to change positions, the kids had to come up to the hospital (Becca, our babysitter, was camping). Some of the precautions have been lifted from Bella's visitors, so the girls got to see their sister!


When I got home, I was instructed to enter through the front door where I was greeted by this kind sign: It says, Welcome home Mom! It's a girl! :) Cute kids.

Bedtime

Jason reads to Lizzy every night before she goes to bed.  In our current state of affairs,  this is perfect!  Enjoy!

I Liked This Quote

To quote the article to explain who and where:
The public lecture by Archbishop Chaput took place on the campus of the University of Toronto at St. Basil’s Church.

This is one point he made:
"The third point to focus on when the beliefs of Catholics are challenged is that "it doesn’t matter what we claim to believe if we’re unwilling to act on our beliefs," Chaput counseled."

Ahh.....I like that. That's integrity. Living what we believe. Not an easy thing to do, but so important. He talked about American society. One good thing about our country right now is that people are talking about values again. This is good. We need core Truths to guide our lives.

Another quote from the end of the article was interesting to me. He spoke about hope. That word catches my attention at the moment. It is one of Arabella's middle names.

"Winding his talk down, the Archbishop of Denver remarked on the misunderstanding of the word "hope."

"For Christians," he explained, "hope is a virtue, not an emotional crutch or a political slogan. Virtus, the Latin root of virtue, means strength or courage. Real hope is unsentimental. It has nothing to do with the cheesy optimism of election campaigns. Hope assumes and demands a spine in believers. And that’s why – at least for a Christian -- hope sustains us when the real answer to the problems or hard choices in life is ‘no, we can’t,’ instead of ‘yes, we can.’""

Strength, courage, having a spine - good, very good. Things I need right now.

Bella’s View of the Medical Center in Houston

 

here are two panoramas from Bella’s room.

sunrise:

daytime:

You Know You Have Been In Survival Mode Too Long When…

You sit down to dinner and your daughter turns to you and says, “This dinner is really good.  Who brought it?”

You answer that you made the dinner and she is shocked!

Artists

We have quite a few artists in the family.

Jessi and Sammi created a whole soccer match using modeling clay.

It was very cool to see.  Each person stands about 1 to 1 1/2 inches tall.

Joy, Joy, Joy

Least we get caught up too much in the life or death situation down at Texas Children’s Hospital, Jason and I discovered tonight that our bathtub is leaking.  This should be fun to repair since neither of us is home during the day now.

Messages I Have Been Pondering

I have been pondering the message of two hymns of late.  They are “Be Still, My Soul” and “How Firm A Foundation.”  Wonderful promises!

Be Still, My Soul

1. Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side;
With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In ev'ry change he faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav'nly Friend
Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

2. Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake
To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

3. Be still, my soul: The hour is hast'ning on
When we shall be forever with the Lord,
When disappointment, grief, and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love's purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: When change and tears are past,
All safe and blessed we shall meet at last.

Text: Katharina von Schlegel, b. 1697;
trans. by Jane Borthwick, 1813-1897

How Firm A Foundation

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

Author: "Keen",1787, alt
Composer: Bernhard Schumacher, 1931

Happy Birthday Lizzy Beth!

Today is Lizzy’s 6th birthday.  With Arabella in the hospital, it wasn’t exactly the way we had planned on celebrating, but we tried to make it special.

I drove up to the farm where the kids are staying and brought Lizzy her presents.  We were able to spend a little time together. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grandma made Lizzy a strawberry shortcake that her Daddy was able to come up for (Thank you Mama!).  Then Jason took Lizzy out to Chuck E Cheese for dinner.

A crazy day, but I hope a special one for our sweet Lizzy girl.  Happy Birthday sweetheart.  May you always know love.

Getting Our Feet Back Under Us

Adopting Arabella has been a blessing.  The lack of sleep and our new medical reality is stressful and exhausting.  Yesterday afternoon was wonderful!  Bella really can’t leave the house, so Becca, Joy, Bella, and I stayed at home in the late afternoon and watched a movie.  Jason took Sammi, Jessi, and Lizzy up to the farm.  They played.  Jason walked out to the island and then read a book on the porch.  Asia brought us dinner.  It was what we all needed.  What a blessing!

Oh – and in other news, our cats are finally fixed, so they can go outside.  We have had such fun watching them explore the great back yard :)

Emma the cat climbing a tree!

New Appliance

Lizzy got her new appliance today.  It is supposed to help her not suck her thumb.  This will help with her lisp, tongue thrust, and hopefully her permanent teeth will come in nice and straight (I can pray, but I don’t have much hope.)

 

Look who was watching TV without sucking her thumb today!  Way to go baby!