Where are the shades?

I have to give Betty credit for this post. Regarding my last post (Disney picture), she asked the question, where are Stephen's shades? So I looked through my Disney pictures and would you believe that in almost every picture at least one person has his/her glasses off!









But there is ONE....oh wait, Mickey is missing his shades!

Wordless Wednesday

Elizabeth's Take On Things

We have a 30 minute drive to school every morning and Derek usually studies with the kids...history, math, spelling...whatever needs to be studied.

So on the way to school this morning Derek said to Elizabeth, "You are going to have a speech test this morning."

Elizabeth's response, "But I didn't study for that one."

No, she didn't. She's being assessed by a speech pathologist today to decide if she needs speech therapy. The fact that she's missing six of her front teeth doesn't help.

A Disney Surprise

Here's the video of our Disney Surprise. We picked the boys up at school (Elizabeth was already home because she had a pre-op appointment) and let them open the box from Santa with clues.

I know the poem is cheesy. It's not my gift! :-) Next time I'll have to enlist some of my literary and lyric writing friends.

Christmas Recap

Well, our Christmas vacation is one big blur. First it was the surprise trip to Disney, then several days at Florida Nanny and Papa's, then home on the 22nd to finish Christmas shopping on the 23rd and then wrap, wrap, wrap those presents. We spent the night at Nanny's and Papa's Christmas Eve and the stomach virus began. It hit everyone including Nanny and Papa except for Matthew. Then Elizabeth's surgery on Monday and now a week of recovery. The Christmas decorations are down, but I'm sure this is a Christmas I won't too quickly forget.

Here are some pictures.
Our family with Great Granny. She is 91 years old to which Matthew says, "I've never seen a 91 year old before."

Making a gingerbread tree with Florida Nanny and our cousins. Great fun!
Matthew Christmas Morning
Stephen Christmas Morning Elizabeth Christmas Morning. She is a tough cookie. She smiles even when she has the stomach virus!

The kids' Christmas tree.

One of my favorite Christmas presents from someone very special.

My all time favorite ornament. This is Matthew when he was much younger although he looks pretty much the same when he throws a fit.

The family room Christmas Tree.

The family favorite Christmas gift. It's been a great gift especially since we've been hanging out at home for days.

And here are our three blessings Christmas Eve. They make Christmas all that much more fun even if you have a stomach virus and a tonsillectomy in the mix! Happy New Year Everyone!

Update on Elizabeth

Thank you so much for praying for our sweet Elizabeth today. The surgery went well and she did great. She is such a brave little girl. She teared up a little on the way to the surgery center this morning. She told us she was scared…who wouldn’t be? I would’ve given just about anything for my little girl not to have to endure this. She did great in post-op and we even got to come home earlier than expected because she was doing so great. When we went back to see her in post-op, she said, "Did they take out my tonsils?" She wanted to go in the bathroom and check out her new throat. We opted to eat a popsicle instead!

Now we have 7 days of pain medication ahead and lots of liquids to keep her hydrated. Pray that we can keep the pain tolerable for her so that she will be able to drink plenty of liquids and eat lots of popsicles.

I normally am not someone who worries or who is anxious, but when you’re ready to send your sweet little six year old into surgery, all kinds of thoughts start racing through your head. As I prayed last night, God reminded me that she’s really not mine anyway and that I just needed to trust Him. God can take such better care of our children than we can anyway. I know that the chance of complications are slim, but Derek and I have been in that small statistic category several times. Somebody has to be there. So I continued to remind myself, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” I was also reminded (thanks to the words of Neil Anderson) that I needed to take every though captive to the obedience of Christ and that an anxious person is a double-minded person and a double minded person is unstable. So this morning, my all was on God’s table including my sweet baby girl. And God’s peace which passes all understanding filled me and sustained me as she went into the nurses and doctor’s care.

Thank you again for praying! Our God is good. I praise Him for the children He has given us. It takes times likes these to realize just how very precious our three blessings are.

Blessings to you in the New Year!

One Scared Little Girl

Pray for our sweet Elizabeth. Her tonsillectomy is Monday (tomorrow). She told me today, "It is one scary day for me." She's asking details about how do they take them out, how do they put me to sleep, etc. She just now said, "I'm scared about tomorrow." She's normally very brave, but today "scared" describes her best.

Pray for her Monday morning that all goes well and that she has a very speedy recovery. I love that girl more than life itself and I would do just about anything to avoid this surgery, but it is necessary.