Someone dear to me has been heavy on my heart for the last 12 hours or so. That happens to me sometimes with this person and I don't why, but when it does I always pray extra for them. I kept waking up through the night and thinking about them and saying little prayers until I drifted off to sleep again. I was also praying for the sister of one of
Beth's friends. She is an ICU nurse at another hospital here and is very sick with a bad case of pneumonia. Yesterday they took her to the hospital because even after taking tylenol, her temperature was still 104. Pretty scary.
She's 24 years old and I can't help thinking about the fact that their whole family was in Mexico a few weeks ago for a wedding and wondering if it's more than pneumonia.
A brother and sister (ages 19 and 26) who lived about 20 miles away from us both died of the swine flu last month. They were their parents' only children and it just grieved my heart to see the pictures of their parents and see the pain in the mother's eyes. The thought of losing all of my children is such a horrendous one...

So I will keep praying this day and hope that the heaviness eases but if not, then I will just keep offering that too.

It's a beautiful morning here...it feels like fall....and I am enjoying the sunshine. Even with this heaviness of heart I feel His quiet joy.

A blessed, peaceful Monday to all of you.....

I'm tired tonight but a good kind of tired....the kind that comes when you feel like you really helped someone and made a difference in their life for a day.
Mark, the boys, and I spent the day helping Will's dad move from his house to an apartment. Only Will's youngest brother is still at home, so the house was getting to be too much and an apartment just fits their lifestyle better. Will was actually moving from an apartment to a rented house today also and couldn't help his dad so we volunteered. There were just his dad, his brother, another young man we know and us. The guys carried everything out and packed up the moving van and I packed up the kitchen, which hadn't been finished yet. We drove to the new place and started unloading. Fortunately, a few more friends arrived to help unload...especially since the guys were already tired and everything had to be carried up a flight of stairs. Two of the friends were a couple that Will's dad knows and the wife and I spent the next couple hours setting up the new kitchen. It was made easier by the fact that I had just packed everything up and knew what he had and where it was. We hit it off right away...she and her husband have five children, three of whom are adopted, and we talked about some of our experiences and had fun deciding where to put things. We changed our minds a few times and moved things around and knew perfectly well that Will's dad wouldn't care where we put things...he's so easily pleased!
We also spent time deciding how to arrange the furniture which can be a challenge when you're going from a 5 bedroom house to a 2 bedroom apartment! But we did it and his dad was just so grateful to have so much in order so quickly.
Of course, they still have lots of boxes to unpack but the basics were all in place so the rest can be finished gradually.
All in all, it was a good day....
Tomorrow, we get the pleasure of celebrating my brother's 50th birthday with family and I know I will enjoy that.

I hope that all of you have a blessed, joyful Sunday filled with His peace.....

Life has been crazy and I'm still struggling to blog. I've spent the last week getting things together for school and writing my notification letter to the school district and all that lovely stuff. Throw in a baby shower for my niece, a graduation party for my nephew, hosting a bridal shower for Beth's friend, church home, hosting a birthday party for my Dad's 89th birthday, and all my usual things and all I want to do is sit and do something a bit mindless when I get the chance.
Tomorrow we are having a workday at my parents' house. My dad has really slowed down this summer and it's making us all feel a bit sad to watch. He has been wanting one of my boys to go to the grocery store with him these last few weeks and he rarely comes to the farm to work in the garden any more. That's our clue that it is really getting bad because gardening has always been his favorite pasttime.

The Lord has been doing some pruning in my life these last few months.....He's doing things that make me lean more on Him. He always knows what's best...

A blessed peaceful weekend to you all.....

Changes coming

I feel life changes coming....
This week Mark and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary. Today is the anniversary of when I lost our baby 28 years ago...I cried a few tears thinking about our Anthony today. When we were on vacation, we went to see the movie "Up" and I cried at the beginning when he and his wife are getting ready for a new baby and then you see them in the doctor's office and she is sitting in the chair with her face in her hands crying and instantly, I was back in that doctor's office 28 years ago, reliving those painful moments of grief and sorrow. Tears ran down my face...I couldn't believe how quickly those feelings came back. I could feel her anguish and remember my own.

But today is also the 22nd anniversary of the our final adoption hearing for Beth and the 17th anniversary of when we brought our Michael home. God is good, indeed, to have given me reasons to rejoice on this day.

However, changes are coming. Every night when we sit down to dinner, I think about the fact that in a few short months, I will no longer have all of my children living at home with me. Where did those years go? Last night at dinner, we were talking about all the books I read to the kids over the years. Every night before I put them to bed, I would read a book to the boys and then I would read to Beth. I remembered books they had forgotten and they remembered books I had forgotten. It was funny to listen to all of their reactions now to those stories. I'm so glad that I did that...what wonderful memories.

On Wednesday, Michael passed his driver's test and on Wednesday evening, for the first time, I watched him drive off alone to a friend's house. More changes...

My babies are growing up and I am about to begin a new stage of my life.

A blessed peaceful weekend to you all....