Anna's now 19! April 2

My middle baby girl is now 19 years old! Her celebration started in the morning with the traditional breakfast:

 Chocolate chip pancakes with whip cream, yum, yum!

Sharing some whip cream with her sister

She had requested crab legs and asparagus for her birthday dinner.

Beth came home last weekend for Anna's birthday. She knew she wouldn't be able to get any cheap flights on Easter weekend. The girls spent some time together over the weekend. They had some silly moments:

My Mom and Dad came again this weekend.

  Mom made a cute cake.

It had Peeps around chocolate chips to look like a sunflower. Anna loves Peeps.

John, Jr. wanted to celebrate with his sister. But, when he got here, I took one look at him and knew something wasn't right. He looked really sick. He told me that his throat was killing him. I looked at his throat and felt his lymph nodes. I thought he had strep throat,  and told him to go to the Minute Clinic. He went, but it didn't do any good. The person there told him his throat didn't look that bad and he needed to go to an urgent care for blood work. So, after sitting for 2 hours in an urgent care, he was told he had strep throat!

Obviously, we aren't real pleased with the Minute Clinic. By the time he got done, he just wanted to go to his own bed. So, he drove back to his home. Poor baby. It made me so sad for him.

Before we left we took some pictures of him and the birthday girl:

Notice the weak eyes?

Here are some more pictures of Anna's special day:

We discovered that Elijah absolutely loves chocolate cake and ice cream.

He even picked up his plate and began to lick it!

And we've known that Abbey is a icing freak (she left the cake).

Anna is getting ready to graduate from high school. At this time, she wants to go to cosmetology school to learn to do hair. As I've stated before, she is a very diligent worker. As she gets ready for the next phase in her life, it will be interesting to see where the Lord takes her. On one hand, it's hard for me to see any of my kids grow up and leave me, but on the other hand, it is wonderful to see them become adults. Very bittersweet job, this mama thing. I'm proud of Anna and love to talk with her. (When I get a chance and she isn't working). 

Happy Birthday, my precious Anna, I love you very much!!

Hey, we have friends in high places...

We are related to ....

The Easter Bunny!!

Seriously. The Easter Bunny at our local mall is our own...

Anna

It just proves that this teenager will do just about anything to earn some money. I'm very proud of her work ethic. The suit was very hot and, when she began, she had a horrible cold. Imagine sneezing and you can't get to your nose, no fun at all. 

I took Abbey and Elijah to see her. As you can tell by the picture up at the top, Abbey understood it was Anna. But not Elijah. Even when Anna lifted up the head to show him;

He sees his sister and smiles at her

But, then when she puts the mask back on...

The thumb goes into the mouth, and he backs away as if to say, "Help that Bunny just ate my sister, and I'm next!"

Happy with the ears, but he's on the lookout for that people eating bunny!

Elijah's Dedication- March 28

This past Sunday, John and I stood in front of our church family and promised to do all we can to raise Elijah under the nurture and admonition of the Lord. The congregation then promised to help us in this endeavor. At our church, we call this baby dedication. It is important to us for several reasons:

• First of all we are publically saying that we are going to try to lead lives that will point our kids to the Lord.
• We are saying that we are giving them to the Lord, and trusting in His will for their lives.
•  We are asking and they are promising to give us assistance as we raise our children.
• It gives us a specific time to reference to Elijah when he gets older. We can tell him that on this day we promised to raise him to know the Lord and trusted God to take care of all aspects of his life.

For this occasion we were given the task of picking a life verse for Elijah. We picked:

Psalm 27:1

 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
       whom shall I fear?
       The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
       of whom shall I be afraid?

 On stage, I was holding Abbey in this picture. 

We picked this verse especially for Elijah because he is afraid of so many things. Also, our grandest wish is that he will know the salvation of God that comes from Christ Jesus.

Beth was home this weekend. My parents came for the dedication. This gave us an opportunity for taking pictures. We tried to get a combination of everyone.

I love this little one!

I love this little one also!

I also love these two big ones!

The girls

Just me and my eldest

My Mom and Dad with Elijah

All of the girls (except for Abbey, she was too busy running around)

All of the grandkids except for John

Me and my partner for life

I don't remember what precipitated this, but it's cute anyway!

My Favorite Kind Of Day **

 Today was a fabulous day. The kind of day that makes me want to:

Not once, but over and over again...

Abbey doing handstands. (I told you she was a born-gymnast, imagine what she could do with some training?)

But, I can't! I mean I wouldn't even think of trying, unless I wanted to end up in the hospital!  

But, I can smile like this...

and this...

The day started out great. The kids didn't get up at the crack of dawn. Daniel and Anna were home most of the day to help with the little ones. I didn't have to run any errands. (There were some that I needed to do, but I chose not to; and the world didn't end). I stayed home and played outside. The weather was beautiful. I was able to cook a real dinner that we ate together. Then, John and I took the littles and went for a walk. It felt so wonderful outside. The dogwoods are starting to join the bradford pear trees in blooming. The grass is green. Everywhere you look you see God's gift of beauty to us.  I love, love, love spring!!!

**This statement is one that our family says often. When John, Jr was really little we have him on video during Christmas saying over and over again, "This is my favorite kind of day!" It was so cute that the saying "stuck" with us.

Farm Day, March 27

This past Friday our OAKS Friday playgroup went to Farm Days. NC State sponsors this event every year. The pictures speak for themselves. We had a very nice time.

Holding a week old chick

Elijah trying to decide if he wanted to hold one too

Looking at turkeys

Petting a bunny

and a baby goat

Careful, don't get stuck!

Silly NC State people. Someone should tell them that cows don't wear hats.

The kids also enjoyed being with some of their friends...

Abbey's new friend, Darcy. She has tried to convince me to trade Elijah for Darcy.

With Lily. Lily is from the same orphanage as Abbey.

The whole gang enjoying the free ice cream

With William

After seeing the animals, we went to a park for lunch and playtime. This wore my two out. 

Abbey had to take her jeans off, after mopping one of the wet slides.

Why, yes, I'm a very observant person.....most of the time

You know what they say about pride goes before the fall?  I've always be rather proud of the fact that I notice details and can find things better than anyone in my house. When John looks for something in the pantry and can't find it, I give him the, "Let me look. See it's right here. If it had been a snake, you would have been dead," speech.

Well, I had a little taste humble pie over the past few days.

One day last week, I had to rush out of the house and pick up Daniel from school. Elijah had been playing in the den. I scooped him up and went out the door. On the way to the car, he yelled hello to our neighbor and I talked to her a few minutes. I then put him in his car seat, just like normal.  When Daniel got in the car, he said, "Why is Elijah wearing a single pink tennis shoe?" I meekly had to reply that I didn't know he was wearing one of his sister's shoes.  I looked back and sure enough, this is what I saw....

 Sure enough, there sat Elijah, aka, "the shoe thief", with one of his sister's shoes.

I'd completely not noticed, observant person that I am.

Then, the other day, I went to the hospital to sit with my Mom while my dad had a cardiac catheterization. I reached back to scratch my neck and noticed that I felt the tags on my sweater. I quickly looked and saw the seams. Oh, my! I'd put my sweater on wrong side outward and had worn it that way for most of the day.

Maybe I'm getting old, or maybe just too big for my britches?  Either way I'll think a little bit before I belittle someone for not being able to find something in the pantry!

On a serious note...

My Dad had to have 2 more stents put into his heart., because of blocked arteries.  He had been having chest pain. I'm so thankful that he went to the Dr to check out the source of the pain. He was out of the hospital 24 hours after the procedure and seems to be doing very well.

He even hears my sighs!

"Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my sighing."

These verses stuck with me today. God even hears my sighing. When the drains back up, the shower overflows and leaks downstairs, I sigh; when an angry child stomps upstairs, I sigh; when several major appliances threaten to break down, I sigh; when the kids have a bad night, I sigh, and on and on. In my mind, sighing isn't like crying.

"Listen to my cry for help, my King and my God, for to you I pray." Psalm 5:1-2

 I cry out to the Lord over major things, such as a loved ones deteriorating health, the loss of life or lack of salvation of a loved one, or a major problem to which I have no solution.  I've always known that God hears my cries for help. I praise him that I've had little to cry about in my life!

But I bet several times a week I find myself sighing over life's little blips of problems. Today I found myself thanking God that He loves me so much as to listen and consider my sighs.Some of the things I sigh over really don't matter in the grand scheme of things, but to God, because I sigh, it matters.

Now, I do believe that God is trying to shape and mold me into His likeness, (boy, does He have a long way to go), and in becoming more like Him I will not worry so much about the inconsequential. But, He recognizes my human frailness and meets me where I am.


This thought returns me to thoughts of my parenting. How many times have I listened to one of my kids petty sighing and basically told them to chill out and not stress about things that don't matter? Maybe I should listen and comfort them in their times of sighing? Maybe I should take their human frailness and maturity level into account? That's what God does for me. He has every right to say, "Get a grip, Glenda, in the grand scheme of things, it really isn't important." But He doesn't, in fact, He encourages me to tell Him about everything... without ceasing!  Oh, what manner of love the Father has lavished on us.... even when we sigh!