Thankful Project

in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. (1 Thessalonians 5:18 NASB)

Thankful we are home.

Very thankful.

Thankful Project

Thankful Moriah had a play date with a preschool friend. Sonshine academy at FBC Colleyville has been amazing to us!

Thankful for duck tape! Ahhhh

Thankful for Kim in the playroom who keeps Grace busy with fun activities.

Thankful for Dr. Semrin who seems so passionate about getting Grace well.

Thankful she gets to eat tomorrow. After 20 days!!! Biggest smile in forever.

Thankful for our pastor from Plano and his youth pastor who came and blessed us today. "Pastor's families need a pastor too." -Pastor Sam

Thankful we met a family from Bedford today. Grace wants to go see their little girl tomorrow.

Blessed to see light at the end of this long tunnel.

Thankful Project Day 17

Thankful God has provided some awesome times for our family to be together.

Thankful He provides many teaching moments. A few have asked about school and I think I laugh inside. She has learned more in here than most adults will ever learn. She could train some of her nurses and does give them "helpful hints" on occasion. Her little duck tape business has given her real-life math problems and retail sales skills they don't teach in school. She's already made $75!!!!

Thankful for friends who've sent her tons of duck tape and I mean tons! (Pics tomorrow!). She's also gotten beautiful handmade gifts and gifts to inspire her creative talents.

Thankful for those ordering from her. You're giving her hands something to work at instead of dwelling on what is not in her hands.

Thankful she has amazing patience but knows how to deal with the times when she's not feeling patient. (She hasn't eaten anything for 18 days...and it will be longer. Don't ask. Because I don't know.)

Thankful for a clean, warm-out-of-the-dryer blanket. Ahhhh

Thankful for my parents who are so good to us.

Thankful for my husband and his hard work, bringing kids up to see us so we can have a little time together.

Thankful for Luke and how sweet he is to Moriah. He can make Grace laugh like no one else can. He's just a great kid.

Thankful for my baby. It's hard to be 5 and have to say goodbye to mommy (and sis) so much.

Thankful for this life and how many ways God shows His great love.

Thankful Project Day 12

I am thankful...
Moriah spent all day with us. She even took a nap.
My friend Rita could come and visit.
Our BHS friend got to go home today. His mom brought me a gift basket that blessed me to tears.
For the sisterhood of moms and the bond and hope we have in Jesus.
For the playroom on D8
For our church family and all of their prayers and provision for our needs.
For donations being sent to find a cure
For military men and women fighting for our freedom
For the rain that's like background music to my thoughts
For the rhythm of life and how perfectly orchestrated each unique part can be, while always clinging to the hope of the end, the cadence that resolves it all
For my husband's kisses
For health and healing God promises in His Word

Thankful Project

CMC Day 12

Thankful for eternity and the ability because of the Holy Spirit in me to keep that as my perspective.
Thankful for my friend Molly.
Thankful for leftovers and sweet tea.
Thankful Moriah is coming tomorrow to spend the day.
Thankful for labs that test for amazing things in 2013
Thankful for the years of study and knowledge and time these doctors put in to care for my girl.
Thankful for all that are praying and trusting my doctors.
Thankful for CCFA
Thankful for Luke and his creativity
Thankful again for Child Life.
Thankful Pastor Sam stopped in to pray.
Always thankful for my husband's love
Thankful for God's promises and the ability because of the Holy Spirit in me to keep that as my foundation.

Thankful Project Day 10

After days of cafeteria meals and lean cuisines, sushi and crackers, my amazing husband brought me serious Texas comfort food!!!! I can't tell you how happy my belly is right now! Chicken fried steak, the best gravy ever, mashed potatoes, corn stuff, green beans and the yummiest biscuits. Oh. My. Gosh. I didn't realize how much I missed home-cooked type food.

Thank you God for BABE'S!!!!

Also thankful Grace got her craft on today and made a ton of duck tape projects. She made a flower pen for our nurse and a necktie for Dad. She decoupaged a little box and I colored a picture of an owl.

Thankful for creativity and duck tape!!

Thankful Project - Easter Edition

Easter 2013 was one we will never forget.

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)

Thankful Project Day 8

D8 Children's MC Dallas Day 9 of Round 4 or Day 30 of 2013

Thankful for this day that tells me even in the darkest times of life, the light is coming....just hang on!
Thankful for my sweet friend Vickie.
Thankful for Grace's smiles.
Thankful for a beautiful prayer during a visit from Grace's 5th grade teacher & her daughter who has had Crohns since 7th grade. She's now a jr in college and still dealing with it but a precious heart for our Lord and such an encourager to Gracie.
Thankful for hope.
Thankful for more movies to choose from and crafts to do!
Thankful for our nurse, Callie.
Thankful that she got Grace an egg crate cushion for her bed since she has been waking up with a backache.
Thankful for our new friend, who is a sophomore at Luke's school and kicker on the Varsity football team. He came to cheer up Grace today and bring her balloons. What a great guy!
Thankful for lean cuisines and Oreos!
Thankful for walks with Moriah.
Thankful Grace gained weight today!
Thankful that for maybe the first holiday ever in 15yrs my husband bought all of our kid's Easter gifts! Way to go honey!
Thankful that a few weeks ago on a whim I decided to go ahead and buy Moriah's Easter outfit. #Godknew
Thankful that today was a better day!
Thankful for tomorrow's hallelujah!
And Moriah would tell you she's thankful for the new big girl Bible Daddy bought her today!

Good Friday

For the JOY set before Him, He endured the cross. Heb12:2

Thankful He endured the cross....for me.
Thankful for the joy set before us.
Thankful for hope and healing.
Thankful for these Gethsemane moments.
Thankful for brokenness & forgiveness.
Thankful my heart is in His hands.

Love so amazing so divine
Demands my soul my life my all

Thankful Day 7

Thankful that in the span of eternity 2 weeks is a very short time and our God Most High is not limited or effected by time.

But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. (2 Peter 3:8 NIV)

Thankful Project Day 6

This post will be thankful til I fall asleep.

1. Thankful for technology again that gives us exact pictures for doctors to make clear goals and steps to healing.
2. Thankful for P.A. Holly again being with Grace during the procedure, giving me peace and clear explanations and answers to my questions. Love love love her!!!
3. Thankful my MIL and Moriah could be here a bit today. Moriah gives the best hugs.
4. Thankful for friends like Laura & Ginger who blessed us with their time visiting and brought such thoughtful gifts too!
5. Thankful for Luke's teachers tonight especially his biology teacher and English teacher who Luke tells me is praying for Grace and they give me peace that he is 1)able to talk to someone about what he is going through during these past few months and 2)that this school is not afraid to tell students or parents that they pray! So blessed.
6. Thankful also for his youth group and youth pastor Michael who took him out last night just to spend time with him.
7. Thankful Moriah will have fun at school tomorrow! Love Sonshine Academy at FBCC!!
8. Praise God for the rest Grace got today!
9. Thankful for little gifts that tell us God is providing!
10. Thankful we can take our concerns to Him and He gives in return peace that passes all understanding.
11. Blessed by our nurse, Maria today....one of the best!
12. Excited about Seacrest studios hosting Mercy Me tomorrow! I'm so hoping Grace feels good enough to go get autographs and I won't be stupid enough to sing "I Can Only Imagine" while blabbering about how great I think they are. :)
13. Grace won bingo today! I will tell you what she won, Bryce! (in my best Ed McMahon voice) A brand new....(drumroll).....coloring book and a butterfly bookmark!!!! Whoohoo!!!! Hmm I hope we don't have to pay taxes on it!
14. Thankful for my husband, the Dean at seminary once named a cross between Superman and the apostle Paul. Ha! Ephesians 3 does remind me of him when I read it and I pray it often over him. #blessed
15. Thankful I can sleep just about anywhere as long as I have my red blanket.
16. Thankful Jeremiah 29:11 promises great hope for a great future He has planned. Think I will go to sleep on that thought.

Amen.

Thankful Project Day 5

1. Thankful this day is over.
2. Thankful for this precious girl.
3. Thankful for rest.

That's all I have for today. Goodnight.

Thankful Project Day 4

D8 Children's Hospital 3/25/13 (yesterday)
Today is harder to think of things but I'm determined. So this might be a random list....
1. Thankful for sushi. I only need food to sustain me for the moment. At this point eating is not social or out of boredom or tradition, it's purely survival. Sushi is all I need. Carbs in rice, a few veggies: avocado and cucumber, protein in the crab and probably some vitamins in the seaweed. 3 will get me by to the next time I can sneak to the kitchen or to the appropriately named, "nourishment room". Amazing how different life is when your child cannot eat.
2. The cleaning ladies. They come every day and mop our room and clean it. I tell them I appreciate them every day. Everyone needs to be appreciated.
3. This verse spoke to me today: I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them. (Isaiah 42:16 NIV)
He is with us, making the rough places smooth.
4. Daily steps that bring us closer to God. If He poured all His wisdom out to us in one infusion, life would not be nearly as exciting and purposeful. He knows how much we can take each day and I'm grateful for that.
5. Thankful for sweet Moriah who loves to draw pictures and give them as gifts. Generous AND cute!
6. Thankful that although people change, God never does and is never surprised.
7. Thankful today my bible study was about prayer and how the Holy Spirit guides us to draw near to God.
8. Thankful for my loving mother inlaw who will do our laundry, clean, and play with Moriah while I'm gone.
9. Thankful for a husband that loves his kids with all his heart and he has a really big heart.
10. Thankful for a loving sister inlaw that gives generously and loves her family and little brother and would be here in a second if we called.
11. Thankful for doctors who have a good plan for Grace to have another colonoscopy Wednesday and get her on the road to remission.
12. Thankful our nurses Jessica & Sally are so caring and came back a 2nd day!
13. Thankful to meet another mom of our neighbor who goes to our former church in Plano. Pray for her daughter Morgan.
14. Thankful to meet a dad wearing a Hawks shirt who has a son here that's a sophomore kicker on the football team. A possible connection for Luke!
15. Thankful for Tylenol, heat packs and long hot baths.
16. Thankful for a new med we are starting today and the pills are small enough she can take them.
17. Blessed and grateful to have health insurance. So. Blessed.
18. Thankful God works on behalf of His children, providing what we need when we need it.
19. Woke up to a note from a new friend, Luke's school friend's mom, who works here as a night flight nurse and came by to say hi but we were asleep. So sweet.
20. Thankful for Child Life and their role in this hospital. They provide fun and crafts to keep kids' minds busy. Grace may want to do this when she grows up, she says.
21. Thankful for the sleep last night since I fell asleep on this number last night and just realized I never finished this. :)
22. Thankful Grace is strong and brave and prepared for today as we PREP for the colonoscopy tomorrow.
23. Praising Him for His sovereignty and the peace He gives me daily that God is in control and I don't have to be.
24. Praising Him for little distractions like TV, iPads and magazines that keep her mind occupied.
25. This is the day The Lord has made. We will rejoice and be thankful in it.
Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 1Thess5:16-18

Thankful Project Day 3

1. I finally got a room where the shower works well and Grace had a bath that helped ease pain.
2. I know where everything is! Not sure that's good but I would rather be familiar to anything in life than new.
3. Grace got to have ice today. That brought a smile!
4. Dr. Chan is very sweet. She calls Grace "spunky"! We also like our new resident Dr. Abby. (She looks 16. I feel so old. But she's adorable.)
5. We slept alot more last night than in the past 3 nights!
6. I met a mom today whose son is 14 and just had his 2nd liver transplant. Thankful for quick conversations God provides that remind us we're not alone and gives us others to pray for to once again take our minds off ourselves.
7. Jessica is our nurse today! (She's our favorite!). She told us that since we left the last time, she bought...
8. Jesus Calling and loves it! He speaks so gently and clearly thru His word as translated in this book.
9. When asked what she is most thankful for today, Grace says: Getting to drink the vanilla milk (formula) and eat ice!
10. Hearing daddy say that moriah asked questions about Jesus and heaven and believing in Him!
11. One on one time with my big boy today.
12. Knowing there is an organization looking for a CURE. www.ccfa.org is a great resource. If you would like to donate to our walk to raise funds, donate to TEAM GRACE, Dallas or search for my name. And thanks. Your support blesses our family and everyone suffering from an IBD.
13. Brad's Mom is going to come stay with the other 2 kids this week! We are blessed!
14. Friends coming with movies to look forward to in our day tomorrow! Namely "Les Mis"!!! I may be the only music major left on the planet that has not seen it. Shameful.
15. Thankful that The Bible is on TV and quite well done!
16. Dr. Chan called me on our room phone on her way home from work just to tell me she talked with our main doctor that "follows us" (Dr. Goyal) and that he is pleased with Grace's progress!! Omg. Is that normal? I think not. I'm so impressed with these GI doctors. Amazing. Thank you, God!! So blessed.
17. I had a migraine for most of the day. Usually migraines take me down and I am out, or sick to my stomach. When this one seemed to be getting worse and I couldn't take any more Excedrin migraine for the day, my praying friends at Whataburger texted and I asked for prayer and seriously, it was gone in 30 minutes. Gone! Hallelujah!
18. Greater is He that is in me, than he that is in the world. Thankful for that!
19. Joy comes in the morning. Thankful for His faithfulness.
20. Thankful for our church family that love us and pray for us and "get" us and encourage us. What a gift!
21. Thankful tomorrow is Monday (I know. Weird.) because this place is eerily quiet on the weekends!
22. Thankful for night nurses who sleep all day and come care for the sick at night, while we sleep. They're so quiet it's amazing. What a calling! Tonight our nurse is Sally! I like her already. 7:30pm-7:30am
23. Thankful for the connections God is giving me during this time that I wouldn't have had otherwise. Giving Him all the glory!
24. Most thankful for the sacrifice Jesus made for me. He died so I could live. And live abundantly!!
By His wounds we are healed. Isaiah 53:5

Thankful Project Day 2

Children's Medical Center, Dallas D8

1. We live in Texas. I love it and I'm grateful we are close to this fabulous hospital for kids.
2. Texts from friends near and far that just share love and prayers and expect nothing in return.
3. Reading glasses that make these tiny little letters on my tiny little phone so much bigger!
4. Grace woke up with a fever that immediately went away on it's own without medicine!
5. Watched the Kids Choice Awards with Grace (she voted!) and our good friend Josh was the host! ;)
6. Got a sweet email from my Aunt about how God takes our broken pieces and uses them for His great plan.
7. Had a visit from a new friend and her sweet husband. Laughter is good medicine!
8. Had a visit from an old friend and her 2 girls. We go back 34 years. God's goodness. I hope my kids have lifelong friendships too.
9. Little moments of seeing how Grace has grown in maturity & faith.
10. Videos from crazy friends on a Spark trip that make me LOL in the middle of the night.
11. I haven't seen an episode of Duck Dynasty in 3 nights! (Not a fan.)
12. Praying for other families going thru trials....takes our minds off ourselves.
13. Luke's friend from school is spending the night at our house. He's a great kid.
14. I'm thankful my husband misses me. And that he texted me so.
15. I'm thankful for technology, more specifically iPhones and FaceTime.
16. I'm thankful it's spring and sunshine, flowers and flip flops are on the horizon.
17. More than anything I look forward to....JESUS is coming back soon!! Hosanna! I can't. wait.
18. Thankful for the church that taught me the stories of Jesus at a young age.
19. My parents, who not only took me to church and showed me it's importance, but they showed me in their daily lives how to love The Lord with all my heart, soul, mind and strength.
20. Thankful for a sister who serves and blesses others, and encounters divine appointments wherever she goes.
21. Thankful for a brother who loves his wife and family deeply and who gives joy to all who know him.
22. Thankful tonight that it is well with my soul.
23. Thankful that Jesus took my broken pieces with Him to the cross and made me new. I shudder to think of who and where I'd be without Him.

Thankful

God has been teaching me to live thankfully. 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says IN EVERYTHING give thanks. I read a quote on twitter a few weeks ago by Nancy Leigh Demoss that said "Ingratitude is our first step away from God..." And I have not been able to put that quote down. The verse that was referenced with that tweet was Romans 1:21: For although they knew God, they neither glorified Him nor gave thanks to Him...

So on this, the 22nd consecutive day at Children's Hospital Dallas in 2013 on this, the 22nd day of March, I begin the Thankful Project.

Today Grace and I will think of 22 things of which we are thankful and give glory to God:

1. Grace & I get to spend time together.
2. We get to watch movies.
3. Child life gave us more new crafts.
4. Moriah can now come up to the room and visit and bring her doctor kit.
5. Grace doesn't have to have a picc line. At this point anyway.
6. The coffee is good!
7. Time with my parents and Willow!
8. Meds are working!
9. Bobby, Michael & Shawna came to visit and Garth picked up Luke from school. Love our staff family!
10. No fever!
11. The best Daddy ever that makes us laugh and comforts us.
12. God's Word always speaks.
13. Worship music that brings lyrics to mind just when we need them.
14. Our favorite blankets that remind us of our own beds.
15. The nurses are caring and kind and our Holly is a gift.
16. Dr. Goyal is a blessing.
17. This recliner is quite comfy.
18. Time with good friends last weekend.
19. Grace's smile and sweet spirit.
20. When people ask about my other 2 kids at home.
21. Prayers we feel and give glory to God that there are those talking to God on our behalf that are drawing near to Him and trusting Him more with each prayer.
22. The light in the morning that comes through the window and says His mercies are new and here's another day to be thankful even when it's your natural tendency to complain. Phil. 2:13-18

Tomorrow God-willing, 23.

Top 20 Tuesday Blessings

20. A new menu ordered for my baby
19. Breakfast: Pancakes and apple juice
18. My dad stopping through
17. Lunch: A hot dog & Pretzel goldfish
16. Being able to eat in the room now that Grace can. (Chicken salad- she's not a fan)
15. Holly (God's hospital delivery)
14. A talk with the nutritionist
13. A package from California
12. Pictures throughout the day of the fun moriah is having with friends.
11. McAlisters sweet tea from my husband
10. Finally getting to see the baby (maybe 18 mos) next door that cries so much. (No one was in the room with him. My heart breaks again but I know God put us next door so we can pray for him.)
9. Mail from home. So many sweet cards from our church family. Thank you!
8. A huge, signed poster for grace from the youth ministry. (She loved!)
7. Meeting and hobnobbing with celebrities. (Grace thought I made that word up. It is a fun one but I only wish I'd made it up.) See pic below. Wow!
6. Texting silly conversations with friends late at night.
5. Dreaming with Grace about her future.
4. Watching girl movies all day long without anyone stealing the remote control. (Can I get an Amen?)
3. Seeing moriah for a bit and hugging her. (Though its getting harder every day to watch her leave.)
2. Seeing my husband and knowing my house is still clean and running because of who he is.
1. Time with Grace that I will never forget.