Praying for Noah

I have all sorts of photos that I want to post. They are of my car's vicious attack on the garage door last week, but something much more serious is on my mind right now.

I have a SEVERE feeling of helplessness and I read updates from a sweet couple in Alabama - John David and Jessica Crowe - as they battle an aggressive form of brain cancer in their son, Noah. John David is the worship leader at Friendship Church in Athens, Alabama. I had the priviledge of singing with him many Sunday mornings during worship and I know he and Jessica both walk very closely with the Lord. However, their faith is being tested at this time as they struggle to put one foot in front of the other to walk down this tough road. The beautiful thing is that they are allowing God to lead them and it is AWESOME and WONDERFUL to see their faith in action -- if only the circumstances weren't sooo challenging. (To see their writing and updates on Noah, as well as photos of this precious little boy, you can go to http://www.prayfornoah.weebly.com/.)

I just want to ask anyone who comes across this blog to pray PERSISTENTLY for Noah. I use the term persistence because it was in KidzVenture just this past week that we talked about praying w/persistence. I joked with the kidz because our Bible verse was 1 Thessalonians 5:17 and our translation (NLT) stated, "Keep on praying." I had the kidz read the verse 3 times with me...one right after the other...and said - "There. Now you have memorized a Bible verse this week." They laughed, but if no one else had it memorized - I did - and I have needed it.

We spoke about praying with persistence being more than whining and asking God for the same things over and over again. Persistence comes in to play when God is saying wait or you feel like he hasn't answered just yet. Persistence means walking with God in an active way while continuing to pray for something that you think God would want. But all the time being willing to accept God's will in the situation. That sounds soooo good on paper (or the computer screen) but to walk it out is a VERY different story. I find myself getting discouraged and giving up when my prayers take a while to be answered. I know now that my focus is all wrong.

Noah has a long road ahead of him - perhaps 2 more months in Birmingham for treatments, etc. His cancer is most likely malignant. It was the size of a grown man's fist. They weren't able to get it all because of the proximity to the brainstem. But every step of the way, God has sent Christ followers to minister to the Crowes...even the team of doctors and nurses that performed Noah's surgery yesterday PRAYED for him and themselves as they began. God is using John David and Jessica at Children's Hospital to minister to other parents who are also hurting...but who see something sooo different in the Crowe family. God's hope.

The Bible verse that they are clinging to at this time is this. "And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to His purpose for them." Romans 8:28 NLT

I am going to purpose to be persistent to pray for them. Will you join me?

Pumpkin Guts are STINKY!!

I am sooo behind on posts!! But I came across this picture again today and I had to put it on the blog and explain! This is what Luke thought of our pumpkin carving this year - "IT'S STINKY!!" He would walk into the kitchen and make the most hilarious face and immediately cover up his nose and announce those words to us. Needless to say, he didn't do very much to help prep the pumpkins for carving -- and it was HIS idea for us to do this.

This year we tried templates for the first time. I just googled 'pumpkin carving templates' and explored a couple of web sites until I came up with a few that I wanted. I wanted a silly pumpkin and Kyla's vote was for a vampire pumpkin -- I think we both got close to what we wanted. It was MUCH easier to use a template than to do the 'free-style' carving that we had always done before. In the past we drew on the pumpkin w/a sharpie marker and attempted to cut along the lines -- it always worked out fine...but was never EXACTLY like we had planned. Next year maybe I'll even try an 'artsy' pumpkin -- but I'll have to convince the kids that is what they want first - ha!

Summer didn't seem to find the pumpkin guts too stinky. Look at how close she is getting to them!

At 10 years of age - Kyla may be the 'expert' in the family when it comes to pumpkin preparation. (She already is on SOOO many other things - ha!)

Trick or Treat!

Trick-or-treating has become a BIG deal for us since we moved back to Texas. To be honest, we NEVER once took the kids trick-or-treating door-to-door in Alabama (the Haneys did once, but we didn't). That sounds soooo terrible...but they ALWAYS had pumpkins FULL of candy before Halloween ever came and went. At our church they had trunk-or-treating at the fall festival...where people would line the parking lot and hand out candy at their automobiles. Talk about covering a lot of square footage QUICKLY...it was VERY efficient! On Halloween night, we never had many trick-or-treaters because our house set sooo far off of the road...you wouldn't drive up to it if you didn't know who lived there...so we were able to let the actual Halloween night sneak right by and the kids were none the wiser. Advance a couple of years and now we live smack dab in the middle of a neighborhood where ALL of the kids head out for candy. No more hiding from it so we have embraced it!

This year - we had a pirate girl (Kyla), a candy corn witch (Summer), and a boxer (Luke) - as well as Princess Jasmine (Caitlin) and Snow White (Taylor). It was WONDERFUL that Halloween was on a Saturday AND that we received a bonus hour!! I'm not sure how many trick-or-treaters came by the house...PopPop stayed to hand out the candy this year...but I know that it was ALOT. We went to more houses this year than ever before...mostly because there ARE more houses in our subdivision than ever before. And more to come - wonder how much candy there will be NEXT year!?! ha!

The Mis-Adventures of DermaBond Boy

Today has been an emotionally draining day. One of those days as a mother when you have had such a RUSH of adrenaline that by mid-afternoon you feel as though it is midnight. It has been waaaay too long...once again....since my last post, but I couldn't resist sitting down at the computer this afternoon and writing about DermaBond Boy.

Dermabond. That sure does have a ring to it, right?? One of those scientific words that just rolls off your tongue. Today, thanks to Luke, I had the opportunity to see Dermabond in action. I don't know precisely how he did it - I found him face down on the bathroom floor...arms straight out in front of him as if he were trying to fly...and collapsable potty stool next to him, collapsed, on the floor. It only took a few seconds to hear the crashing sound and then the wailing of one hurt little boy. And only a few seconds more for me to get to him and see the blood...on his chin.

As soon as I saw the cut, I knew a trip to the doctor was coming. It was just too earily similar to Kyla's laceration from the ice-skating rink last year. However, I didn't know if it would need a stitch or not. Thankfully, it didn't - dermabond should do the job nicely. It sure was faster than stitches...and anything that keeps a shot from being given MUST be good. (at least according to Luke) I hope that Dermabond Boy will stay out of harms way for a long, long time and that there won't be a sequal anytime soon!!!

I figure since he is the topic of this post I should post his 1st day of preschool pictures. I can't believe that I didn't...especially since the girl's pics are on here. I guess the third child really DOES get the left-overs. ha! He is attending Universal City United Methodist Church Preschool (say THAT 3 times fast) on Wednesday and Friday mornings - it would be EVERY day if it was up to him. He LOVES it!! I love having a couple of mornings to myself, and I never have ANY trouble finding things to do!!

First Day of School!

Well, it has officially begun. The rushing pace of life after summer has swept us up and we are now being pulled along by the current. Or maybe I should say the kids are being pulled by the current, because I am sitting in a quiet house...typing on the computer...enjoying a warm cup of coffee.

This morning went flawlessly. Neither girl 'allowed' me to walk them in this year. Summer gave it some serious thought, but decided that she could find the gym all by herself (she was having to enter through a different door at the back of the school this year...so she gave it VERY serious consideration...we're talking a back-and-forth-many-many-times type of consideration). Kyla, on the other hand, quickly made up her mind that her mom was NOT to come in with her. A friend from church was a God-send...she was walking her son in and asked Kyla if she wanted to walk in with them...PERFECT! She walked in w/Cheryl no problem....so apparently it wasn't a no-mom rule...just a no-Mom rule. ha!

It is so quiet here because Luke spent the night with Granny & PopPop. They thought it might really help to ease some of the stress on the first day of school...especially since Luke doesn't really understand that he doesn't start school the 'exact' same day as his girlies. They were sooo right! It was downright peaceful this morning! What a blessing!

It took about 30 minutes to do the round trip driving from the house to the two schools this morning - it isn't a far distance...the elementary school is only about a 3 minute drive from the house...the intermediate school is about 2 miles away...but there are 4 school zones that you have to drive through to get from our house to both schools - CRAZY! And I saw the signs - NO cell phones in the school zones now, too - that's new! I guess I'll be staying off the phone...I'd have to hang up every few minutes - ha! I better get used to all of the driving around - this is only the first of many years when the kids will be at different schools.

Back to School Pedi-s

Well, my girls feel like they are super stars!! As a very sweet back-to-school surprise, their Granny and PopPop treated them to their very first pedicure.

They were sooo funny - Summer spent a lot of time giggling because it tickled when they exfoliated her feet. And the women who performed their pedicures were impressed with their manners and how kindly they talked about their parents, so they painted flowers on their toes for free!! I guess the girls will have to figure out what shoes they have that will show off their toes...and match their first day of school outfits.

School starts on Monday. I don't really care for that...it will make for one very LOOOONG first week back. I'm a firm believer that the first week of school should start on a Wednesday or Thursday. That way by the NEXT Monday, most of the glitches in schedules and classrooms are fixed and the real learnin' can begin! But they don't ask my opinion when figuring out the school calendar around here - imagine that!

Summer had a back-to-school night last night and we found out that she will have Mrs. Maryfield for 3rd grade. I'm very pleased - she was Kyla's 4th grade teacher last year...excellent teacher...sweet but firm.

Kyla won't meet her teachers until Monday - no meet-the-teacher/back-to-school night for her. It is a little odd to me, but I guess that will be the 'norm' for intermediate school. Intermediate school!?! That just doesn't seem possible. Some of my most vivid memories of school start in the 5th grade. I don't know if it is because that was the year that I went from private school to public (talk about a culture SHOCK!)...or just because of the age. They are going to post the teachers up at the school sometime this evening...and we'll drive by the school and see. It won't really do us any good - we don't know but a couple of teachers there anyways...and from what one of them has told me - she isn't in her class. But, at least she'll have names - a name is better than no name, I guess.

And then there is Luke. He is going to "preschool-school" two mornings a week this year. He won't let us just call it school...or preschool...it is only to be called "preschool-school" and he has decided that they will teach him how to drive. Wow! I hope that he won't be too disappointed. He could be talking about the tricycle track they have in the center courtyard -they will ride around it and learn 'traffic laws' - but I'm not so sure. You just don't know with that one - he could be talking about driving a car...a motorcycle...heavy equipment...you just don't know. He will have to wait until after Labor Day to start school. The 2 weeks between the girls going to school and his starting may be the looongest two weeks of his and my life...ha!

WAY! WAY! WAY behind!

WOW! I wonder how home-school mom's do it!?! They manage to run a household...stay up to date with life...all the time having their kids under foot. Don't get me wrong...I LOVE having my kids here...I LOVE the summer schedule - or is it the 'lack there-of'?? - but somewhere along the way the time to keep things current vaporizes!! ha!

I always go into the summer forgetting that. Then, for a few weeks I am frustrated with how hard it is just to run the register for the checkbook...or fill out the bill spreadsheets...or get to the grocery store...or POST TO THE BLOG! :) But then, I remember that in just a few short months...life will be back to the school-schedule-pace...and I'll be wishing for summertime once again. So for now - I am trying to EMBRACE the fact that I am behind! That is what the summer is ALL about - at least for me!

I have pictures on the computer from Kyla's birthday, Luke's birthday, the girl's haircuts (Summer's is HUGE - a donation to Locks of Love!!), and even the trip to the beach we just got home from. But then again...all of that has happened in the past month. NO WONDER I'M BEHIND!!

I had this picture of Summer that I took on Saturday...I had to post it. I think I'm going to get it blown up...and printed in black-in-white. I didn't ask her to stand like this...or hold her hand up like that (she is actually touching her necklace)...it was just one of those moments...it reflects her TRUE self! I want to have it hanging on my wall FOREVER!

My grand plan was to get some great pics of the kids on the beach...however, I knew that the lighting was going to be an issue. My delima - I could get the kids out of bed at the crack of dawn so that we could drive to the beach for the pictures w/GREAT lighting...or I could wait, let them sleep in...so that even with not-so-great lighting I might actually capture a smile! I chose the later...especially since we were going to the aquarium for the rest of the day...and naps were not on the agenda. These were some of my favorites...I'll post the more candid playing in the ocean photos later...who knows when...school may be back in, first! ha!