Intuition

William LOVES to visit my grandfather. Actually, all of my children do. And my grandfather loves for them to visit. At 86 years old, he thoroughly enjoys them. He gets down in the floor and wrestles with them, sits and listens to their stories, tells them stories of his younger days and my grandmother and me as a child, speaks to them in "Donald Duck." In short, the rest of the world does not exist when we are all together. What a wonderful gift.

Though he never shows favoritism, there is a special bond between Pappaw and William. Maybe it is because William was born in his house. Maybe it is because of William's special needs and all the extra time Pappaw has spent praying for him. I don't know, but it's definately there. William loves to romp with Pappaw. He asks about going to visit him every single day. Here is a normal day at Pappaw's house:

Get ready...

Get set...

GO!

Share some laughter together...

And then a kiss!

That's pretty much the routine! Last Monday, however, was quite a different story. When we arrived at Pappaw's, he was in his chair, resting. He had been in the ER the night before with extreme hypertension. William seemed to sense right away that something was different. Without me ever saying a word to him, he remained very quiet the entire time we were there, quite out of character for him. While a couple of the older girls took the two littlest boys out to the playroom, William chose to remain close to his Pappaw, quietly, hardly moving at all.

It really touched my heart to see this little 3 year old boy, sticking so closely to his great-grandfather and seeming to know that he needed quiet. Thank you, Lord, for these special moments.

"The glory of young men is their strength: and the beauty of old men is the gray head." Proverbs 20:29

Peace in the Storms

It has been a strange, melancholy sort of week. William is well, praise be to God. I am home from church today with other sick children, though.
Our week started off with my grandfather at the emergency room due to extremely high blood pressure. I had intended to post last Monday about that, but circumstances did not allow it. I will post some cute pictures in the next post.
We also had two friends in the hospital that same day delivering babies, less than 10 miles apart. The first baby was "born at rest" and we attended the funeral of little Athenasius on Thursday. The second baby practically delivered herself, but ended up in the NICU for awhile. However, sweet Tabitha was able to come home with her parents yesterday, all glory to God!
Another dear friend lies in a hospital bed, fighting for her life. They were able to remove the ventilator earlier this week and the doctors changed her chance of survival from 25% to 75%, I believe. Her 10 children are at home anxiously awaiting their mother's recovery.
I find myself seeking forgiveness for the thousands of tiny, special moments that God so graciously gives to me, yet I take for granted. All those moments that I find myself too busy to enjoy. It's had me reflecting on an old poem that my dear friend, Sonya, and I found at a craft show over 15 years ago called Wet Oatmeal Kisses. If you've never read it, it's certainly a "must read."

Wet Oatmeal Kisses

One of these days you'll explode and shout to all the kids, "Why don't you just grow up and act your age!" And they will...

Or, "You guys get outside and find something to do -- without hurting each other...And don't slam the door!" And they won't.

You'll straighten their bedrooms until it's all neat and tidy, toys displayed on the shelf, hangers in the closet, animals caged. You'll yell, "Now, I want it to STAY this way!" And it will...

You will prepare a perfect dinner with a salad that hasn't had all the olives picked out and a cake with no finger traces in the icing and you'll say, "Now this is a meal for company." And you will eat it alone...

You'll yell, "I want complete privacy on the phone. No screaming, Do you hear me?" And no one will answer.

No more plastic tablecloths stained. No more dandelion bouquets. No more iron-on patches. No more wet, knotted shoelaces, muddy boots or rubber bands for ponytails.

Imagine.... a lipstick with a point, no babysitters for New Years Eve, washing clothes only once a week, no PTA meetings or silly school plays where your child is a tree, no car pools, blaring stereos or forgotten lunch money.

No more presents made of library paste and toothpicks, no wet oatmeal kisses, no more tooth fairy, no more giggles in the dark, scraped knees to kiss or sticky fingers to clean.

Only a voice asking, "Why don't you grow up?" And the silence echoing: "I did."

- author unknown


For those of you who know me well, you know how much I loathe change. So I'll admit that when I heard a new rendition of my old favorite hymn, "It Is Well" at the funeral, my first reaction was...I'll be honest...disgust. But as I listened to the words, I began to appreciate them. Only the chorus changed and I think you, too, might like it...

"It is well, it is well
Through the storm I am held
It is well, it is well
God has won, Christ prevailed."

So, I can go so far as to say, don't replace the old hymn, but a new song is sometimes good, too.

Just some of my random thinking this week...

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof." Psalm 46:1-2

- Posted from my iPhone

Thankful

I realize I haven't been keeping up very well with William's blog and, for those of you who diligently check on his progress, I apologize. Thank you for the calls on his behalf.
As I sit to write this post, I am reflecting on how very much I have to be thankful for. Where do I possibly begin? Of course, there are the usual things...family, my sweet husband, our dear children, a warm house, plenty of food, my salvation, etc. All things that I truly am grateful for. But at this time of year, when everyone is focusing on thankfulness, I wonder, do many stop to think about WHO they are thankful to? Are we thankful to our boss for giving us a job? Are we thankful to ourselves for figuring out how to manage our finances in such a way to buy that great house? Are we thankful to random chance that we have health and happiness?
Let us not forget that it is God who ordains and directs all things and it is to Him alone that we should give our thanks. He gives and He takes away; all for a purpose much higher than ourselves and for His own glory. This year, though I am truly thankful to God for all of the aforementioned items, I am even more thankful for the hard times we've had. While that may sound weird, allow me to explain.
I am thankful for our insurance company, who denied the $15,000 payment of William's life-saving airway clearance vest as "investigational" because he does not have cystic fibrosis. Why? Because I found myself relying too heavily on them and not on God. I was beginning to place my trust in them to meet all of William's needs, forgetting the Creator who made him and loves him and meets every single one of his needs, even when I don't know they exist yet. I know that it is God who provides and trust that He will do so, even when man fails us and we don't see a way.
I am thankful that the School for the Blind refused to help us. Again, I was looking for guidance from a State run institution. The command to "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, but unto God what is God's" could easily have been cast aside here, but for God's restraining hand of protection.
I am thankful, not for the abundance this year, but for the lack thereof; for in it God has increased my contentment and I am more joyful for it. I am thankful that the Holy Spirit has not left me to dwell in my sinful flesh, but moves on my heart with compassion and places within me a longing for Him, a trusting of Him, and a reliance on Him, not my own weak powers and not on what this world has to offer.
And, just so you can join in our thankfulness, here is a recent picture of our little man:






He is standing unassisted whenever he is asked to now AND he can hold it for at least 3 minutes! He is also taking up to 2 steps (while in control of his body). He made it up to 4 one day, but we've yet to repeat it. I know he will, though.
This last week he's been tracking things better with his eyes, his depth perception seems better as we play little games with him and he hits his target on the first try, which he never used to do, and he is using more and more words without prompting. It's a very exciting time in our household! Oh, and the best part of all? He's had 8 months with no hospital, no pneumonias, and no "scary" illness!

"Rejoice in the LORD, ye righteous; and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness." Psalm 97:12

- Posted from my iPhone

Sweet Blessings

Life has been somewhat frustrating lately, to say the least. However, in the midst of these difficult times, God has blessed me with many precious, sweet moments like this:
Wallace has a beloved Teddy. He drags it everywhere and sleeps with it every night. William never really clung to anything that way until last April when the hospital gave him a stuffed "Woody" doll. I really don't know what made him fall in love with that particular item because he knows nothing of the whole "Toy Story" thing, but, nonetheless, it became his particular special item. One day last week, Wallace's special Teddy went missing. We looked everywhere for it. Finally Wallace announced that Ron (our Great Dane) had eaten his Teddy. While I doubted the truth of this (even though Ron eats everything else under the sun and nothing is sacred to him), there was a sufficient lack of evidence to prove the case. However, Wallace seemed convinced. So as bedtime approached, the face grew forlorn. As Michael and I gathered to sing and pray with the boys, Wallace asked again for his Teddy. Not having it, I asked William if he would be willing to let Wallace sleep with something from his bed. You see, William sleeps with a stuffed dog and a stuffed bear at the foot of his bed, but Woody has a special place right beside him. I figured that Wallace would be happy with William's bear for the night and we could continue the search for his the next day. Sounds reasonable, right? Well, as William was crawling over to his bed to get a toy for Wallace, Wallace said, "I want Woody." William didn't miss a beat. He picked up the beloved doll, crawled straight over to Wallace, handed it to him, and patted him on the back, as if to comfort him. Wallace promptly responded with, "Thank you, William," in his tiny, 2-year-old voice. Michael and I both teared up as we cuddled these two precious children, so unselfish, so considerate of the other, so sweet and tender. We often watch special moments where Wallace "takes care" of William, though he is the younger brother. He is very protective and conscientious of William.
Life is precious, life is special. Life is difficult, life is hard. We must take the time to recognize the meaningful things that happen on a daily basis. And this moment was a much needed reminder to Michael and me that "it's all good."

When my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalm 61:2

- Posted from my iPhone

Good Things

This is a typical morning in our home: the boys are almost always the first of the children up and they are most often up within 10 minutes of one another. On this particular day Michael was also home and we got to enjoy the sunrise together. The picture of sweetness:



Does it get any better?

"Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good upon me...". Nehemiah 2:18

- Posted from my iPhone