D8 Children's Medical Center, Dallas Day 11 of Stay 4 or the 32nd day this year
Sunday morning was quiet. We listened to some worship songs and read our Jesus Calling (Grace reads JC For Kids) devotions, like every morning. Daddy came bringing fancy siblings and Easter baskets. He hid eggs filled with dollars for the girls to find...didn't take long! :) We had fun visits with staff family while Luke napped on the couch.
We met a great kid down the hall that goes to BHS (see post below) and came to hang out with Grace. He brought more balloons and played cards. They talked casually about their daily lives....picc lines vs IVs, blood draws, which nurses are the coolest, etc.
Sometimes God makes us the blessing and other times he send others to bless us.
Thankful for medicine that heals the heart and cheers the soul.
A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:22 NIV)
I can't go, but this song expresses how I feel about Friendswood High School, Class of 1991. I had to fill out a bio for the reunion, so thought I'd share...
What has been the most unique/exciting experience of your life (outside of marriage and children)?
After 11 years in music ministry around Texas, my husband felt called to start a church in Kansas.We moved back in 2007 and started with 6 people.We now serve and lead a family of 400+ at RiverPoint Church in Newton, Kansas.
I wish I had (but didn’t) while attending FHS:Thanked my teachers more often and appreciated the adults that invested in my life.
My most memorable moment from FHS:The big auditorium fire, The Music Man, The Pajama Game & Showboat, Drill Team dances in the stands (oh was football going on too?), and lifelong friendships made.
Tell us some good deeds that fellow classmates did for you (some random act of kindness or at least not still punishable by law) from the good old days in high school (you can tell more than one story here):
In high school, I was blessed to have great friends that were like family, fun & inspiring teachers, and a wonderful church family.I’d say that little town was aptly named, but I don’t think any of this kindness was given by anything random or because I deserved it but because of the rich heritage of this town, the God served there and His great love for us… Ephesian 2:4-8.
In July I was honored to sing in my friend Amy's wedding. Amy is the beautiful daughter of my dear friend, Molly who founded SPARK Ministry. Her wedding will be a part of a reality show on TLC called Four Weddings. I just found out that this episode is set to air Friday, October 1st. I don't know if I will actually be on or not. If I am it will be quick, so set that DVR! :) I did have to sign a waiver, so there is a good chance. Very exciting! I'm singing 2 songs with Brad's good friend, Garth Smith. Listen for "The Prayer" and a worship song called "One Pure & Holy Passion".
TV Guide talks about it here, and I'm pretty sure that Amy's wedding is the "elaborate sit-down meal festooned with sparkling decor." :)
Our new favorite thing was an anniversary gift from a dear friend in Texas. Cindy is like a 2nd Mom to me. She loves my kids like grandkids. We stayed with her & Craig while in Texas for a wedding. She had this amazing coffee maker....a Keurig. It makes one special little cup of coffee just for you, whatever flavor, even tea or cider or hot cocoa, one right after the other. We loved it! I guess we oooh'd and aaah'd enough over it that she went the next day and bought one for us for our anniversary! To my knowledge, no one has ever given us an anniversary gift except each other. (does that make sense?) We were so very blessed and thankful. Each cup of coffee makes us overflow with thanks to God....and Cindy.
This service that you perform is not only supplying the needs of God's people but is also overflowing in many expressions of thanks to God. 2 Cor. 9:12
Inspired by Betsy's comment below, I went looking to see if I could buy online a delicious bottle of something I found while I visited her there in Oregon. We had lunch at a very healthy, and very hip little place, appropriately named, "CAFE YUMM!" They have a simple philosophy, summed up by the very eloquent ME: put a bunch of heathy foods together in a bowl and put some sauce on it, appropriately named, "YUMM SAUCE!" and there you have it! Yumm bowls come in a few varieties to choose from, fill you up and make you feel like you just had a bowl of vitamins. Almost like a salad, but more filling, with organic beans instead of greens. Sorry Kansas, we're just not health-conscious enough to render getting one here, so you'll just have to go to Oregon to try some! I highly recommend the experience, but my opinion could be a bit off, since it may just be the company that made it so good! ;)
Betsy, have a YUMM bowl for me and I'll have um.....a SPANGLES cheeseburger for you. :( Oh, how very sad. Miss you, my dear friend.
Brad knew I was bummed to not get to go on a SPARK mission trip to Seattle, where I thought I'd get to see Betsy, my best friend from high school. He "secretly" facebooked her and planned to fly me out to see her in Oregon for a few days in November. The quotations are there because the secret lasted an hour....at most. He couldn't wait to tell me, as bummed as I was after having to tell her I wasn't coming. I got teary when he told me & of course he did! I even got teary thinking about it several times later. I've always wanted to visit the place where she went for college after high school and never left. I really don't care if we just sit and talk. We're like soul sisters, still close at heart. I've missed her and this time with her is the best gift I've ever gotten. Betsy said it best when she said...."He's such a sweet man and he saw your heart". Thank you, honey for seeing my heart and blessing me with such an incredible gift. I love you so much.
When I was in the 1st Grade, I met the prettiest little blond-haired girl and she became my BFF. We did everything together. We did each other's hair during 2nd grade story time. We had slumber parties and skated through each other's basements. We bought matching coats in 3rd grade and made everyone believe we were twins. We chased boys. We got into trouble writing notes in 4th grade. We signed every note with LYLAS. {Love ya like a sis} In 6th grade, we even rode the city bus to the mall BY OURSELVES to go shopping! Heather just said it today....."What were our parents THINKING???" We kept in touch when we moved away. We were in each other's weddings. We still get together and reminisce and laugh and talk.
BFF indeed.
Now here are our girls walking the mall (WITH their moms---duh! what in the world?!) and shopping for cell phones/lip gloss at Claire's.
Texting.
Grace with Heather's Hope (8) & Hannah Claire (4)
And the mall princess.
And 2 boys who went to Candyopolis and ingested WAY too much sugar!
Dinner: Mesquite Barbecue Pork loin by Hormel Texas mashed potatoes--my own recipe (Texas: add ranch dressing and Kraft mexican cheese) Yellow Summer Squash--grilled with I Can't Believe It's Not butter and TexJoy on the stove top Kool-aid Blue Bell Ice Cream
Well, that's all I have so far. One day at a time, sweet Jesus. From the looks of this meal, I'm missing Texas. Looking forward to some sweet southern hugs from my girls this weekend!
Grace has a boyfriend! No, not really. Colby is one of Grace's best good friends. Their big brothers are best friends so they play very well together, being the good-natured middle children. Aren't they adorable with their little glasses and brown hair? While the brothers play playstation, they don't mind just sorting out and reading the ZooBooks!
There really should be nothing wrong with arranging marriages.
Last weekend we had some college friends over to cook-out (who aren't old, but whom we've known for years), and seeing our kids play was just, well, surreal. Little versions of ourselves playing together on my front lawn....another time check that yes, we're all grown up now.
Kids not pictured: 2 Luke's- mine & Luke Hoy, my little Moriah and little Audrey (Crystal's)
Painting each other's nails... Bk row LtoR: Lauren Hoy, Crystal's Brooke & Grace Ft row: Rachel's Lizzy, My Grace & Mckenna Osborn
Last night I had a dream that affected me. Have you ever had one of those? I've thought about it all day. Now these days, since I'm not sleeping that hard, I remember my dreams and most are just wacky....like flying, stuffed cows with butterfly wings are falling down all around me and I have to escape in my '86 camaro that talks like Kitt on "Knight Rider". Can anyone interpret this? Should I blame it on my meds, which Brad has so sensitively named my "crazy pills"? What's the deal with dreams? My recurring nightmare is that I'm about to go onstage and I don't know ANY of my lines OR the words to ANY of the songs. This is scary stuff, people. I seriously wake up sweating. So last night I dreamed of a friend (that I don't think of that often, truthfully) and he was saying goodbye and I didn't know why but I was afraid for his life. As it came back to my mind throughout the day, I decided to pray for him. I sometimes think that when God suddenly brings someone to mind, that I should pray, so that what seems like a random moment to me, becomes an ordained moment for eternity. So that even a fleeting thought is productive and purposeful. God is good and He is never the one to make me afraid, but He can use my fears for His glory. So next time flying cows are after you, turn your fears into prayers and duck! Even the cute little car with artificial intelligence can't protect you from your vivid imagination.
Great hug-filled weekend with family and friends in Texas! The kids were ecstatic to see their baby cousin and friends! The wild, jumping group hugs at church brought tears to my eyes. I will post pictures later of the wonderful showers of love. The drive home was easy until we got into Wichita. The windshield started icing over and the defroster didn't seem to do any good. I actually had to stop on the side of the road to de-ice it, so I could see to get home. It's 10 degrees right now, ouch! Thank God for our warm basement. Posting pictures later...
Remember him? I know him. Bruce, our friend from college, is taking this fun presentation all over the country into schools, encouraging kids to take care of their bodies. My kids loved it. They laughed so hard and had a great time! They sang the digestion song all the way home! I was a cool Mom for knowing SLIM GOODBODY.
This is my friend, Rochelle. She was my freshman roommate in college and we think we met at junior high church camp years before that. She is one of those friend's who knows all about me and still loves me. She remembers how little I did laundry, how little I studied, and how much I talked on the phone to whatever boyfriend I was dating at the time. She helped me plan my wedding. She's an organizational genius. She is a servant-hearted woman, who exemplifies that pesky Proverbs 31 woman so many of us find elusive and realistically impossible. I would not consider myself "good wife material". She is the epitome of it. Rochelle wanted to be a wife, and knew God had this in His plan for her. We prayed. A lot.
So here he is....the one we've been praying for all this time....and he is everything she ever wanted and more. Here are her words: "He insists on daily devotionals, takes out the trash everyday, does all the driving, opens EVERY door and yelled at me as I was ahead of him walking to the car that I better not touch the handle!! He is a doctor.... okay, not a medical doc so we won't be rich, but an education doc never-the-less! The list goes on..." He is the director of the Student Center and Student Leadership at West Texas A&M University. They married November 17.
"Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly and abundantly more than we could ever think to ask or imagine, to Him be the glory....forever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20
I made it! So happy to be past that first one. I have a nasty bladder infection, (TMI? Sorry.) but overall I've not been too sick...exhausted, but not really sick. Thankfully the tired stage is over. This past week, I've really "popped", as they say. I don't know if the infection had something to do with it or what, but suddenly I look and feel a lot more pregnant than I was. Time to get some new maternity clothes! (I welcome hand-me-downs.)
My friend, Molly came to visit this weekend. It was her first time to Kansas. She brought gifts and made dinner AND breakfast while she was here! Now THAT's the kind of friend to have come visit! She can come back ANYTIME! She takes good care of me, always has. I'm blessed to call her my friend.
School has been going since August 7th. I started early knowing I might need a few weeks off in March. I'll blog about that another day, but so far 4th and 1st grade are fun. We're a little closer together than before. Our schoolroom is also the kitchen/living room, but I once heard that "Love blooms in small places", so we're well into planting season.
My sweet friend, Laura from Beaumont had a baby boy!!! Samuel Owen was born on August 1st with some breathing troubles and is in NICU. Please pray that his lungs will develop perfectly, and he will breathe on his own, and get to go home soon. Pray for Mom's emotions and well-being, too. You can see pictures of baby Sam and family on Laura's Blog.
I've taken a while to post these pics but I did want to highlight some of the fun parts of our reunion trip.
After 11 years of NOT singing together, it was pretty amazing how easily they came back together and sang as if they'd never stopped. The parents of Kevin, (far left) were retiring from the Salvation Army and loved Kenaniah. They had no idea we were coming. Kevin got up to sing for his parents, "I feel good, good, good...." as an acapella solo, and then as the other parts were to come in, the other 4 guys came in through the side doors singing with him. They were very surprised! For more on Kenaniah, see Kevin's website....
We had fun on the subways and trolley rides. It was like my practice trip for going to NYC for the first time. I kept visualizing scenes from the show ER. Lots of walking, lots of riding and keeping each other's kids in tow, lots of fun and sightseeing, but most of all, LOTS of love.
Once while going down the steps into the subway system, Grace must have caught a whiff of the Hot Dog Vendor and said "I smell Hot Dogs!!!" and then as we descended further....
"and I smell throw-up a little bit, too."
Thanks, Kev, for a great reason to come back together. Let's not wait 10 more years!
Friends, Memories, Reunion, Big City, Salvation Army, Subways, Downtown, Walking, Children's Museum, Deep Dish Pizza, Splashing in the fountains, Kenaniah, Jim (& Little Jim--Ian), Jay, Brad, Mark (& Tom), & Kevin (Kristen, Adorable Devyn & Baby Boy on the way), Lily's Eyes, Up All Night, Laughter, Stories, Good Times.
Joy is not a fruit that comes naturally to me. It's an intriguing thing, the expression of fruits that the Holy Spirit placed in us, like a gift we have to learn to open. Laughter comes rarely, as my peculiar sense of humor allows, but when it does, it's medicinal.... healing in it's purest form.
I spent this last weekend with my little sister. We think the same things are funny and we have the same laugh, which makes me laugh more. Visions of my Grandma and her sister come to mind when I think of how they laughed and laughed in unison and topped it off with my inherited sigh at the end. I'm looking forward to the joy in growing old with my sister.
Today, Joy came in the form of sweet friendship and Popsicles. Two college friends and their little toddler "mini-me"s came to visit. These girls make me laugh, even when they don't mean to. They make it easy to be me. They understand me & my idiosyncrasies. That's what friendship is. It seems like just the other day we were sharing clothes, sleeping over, and dreaming together about the boys we'd marry. What a blessing it is to be able to talk and laugh and watch our kids play ...15 years later.
