Room 3202

That's where you'll find my dad for the next day or two. The poor man has suffered way too much the last 3 days. Mom said they are never coming here for a birthday party again. Well, I hope that isn't true.

Sunday morning dad had a seizure in his sleep that was so violent he dislocated his shoulder and part of the ball and neck of the humerus broke completely off. How crazy is it that the ER said nothing was broken. Hmm, maybe they should have taken just a few more pictures. UGH! I can't even go there or I will get ugly. However, it is good to know that the surgeon backed me up on that!

Yesterday dad spent 3 hours in surgery. Today is a fresh start. Hopefully tomorrow will be a day with just a little less pain than before.

I know that in all things there is a silver lining. It is a blessing that dad was here and not in a tiny town when this happened. Dad's surgeon spends all day, every day working on shoulders. You can't find a specialist like that in Smith Center or even near by. I was nervous leaving dad in the hospital by himself the first night. He was in so much pain, talking crazy and just plain confused. As I was leaving I met Nurse Traci. Two blessings here... 1. she had no other patients, only dad. 2. She is a good friend of a friend. That personal touch helped me.

So often God's timing is not ours. Face it, there is never a good time for something like this to happen but God is in control and good can come even from this. Jeremiah 29:11 For I know the plans I have for you. Plans to prosper you and not harm you... That's a paraphrase, I guess I'm too lazy to go look it up. :)

The other verse that I have running through my head is one I learned 2 weeks ago.
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways my ways," says the Lord. "For as the heavens are higher then the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9
I may not know the plan but I know the planner. I have faith and comfort in that!

Reagan's Birthday Weekend

Soccer game on Saturday morning before the big family birthday


Look at all this great family support. Thanks to everyone who came to our party. The girls love it!


So good to have friends visit!


Reagan hanging from the basketball hoop. We told her she had to do something impressive before we'd let her open her gifts. This works!


The soccer cake!
Reagan's friend party was on Sunday afternoon. Since I was busy with family and soccer games I waited to decorate the cake until after church. I didn't count on dad being rushed to the hospital Sunday morning. Reagan was very worried about me getting this cake done...as you can see I got it done. WHEW!


Another fantastic party at the school gym. The girls loved playing on the scooters. I probably didn't even need to plan anything else for the day.


This one cracks me up!

Born to Cheat??

Did you see Night Line tonight? Wow! They are doing a series on the 10 Commandments. Tonight they aired a panel discussion from a church in Dallas TX titled "Born to Cheat?" The panel consisted of the pastor of the large church which seemed to be contemporary and conservative...my favorite kind, a Christian recovering sex addict, a female author who is "happily" married to a man and openly has a girlfriend and a married man who owns an internet site which helps married people cheat. INTERESTING! You've gotta go online to hear more. The full length 90 minute debate in on the ABC site.

copy and paste this
http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline/10Commandments/affairs-cheating-nightline-face-off-debate-adultery-infidelity

Sin is sin so that is only part of the puzzle. The willful behavior that brings on pain in so many ways for so many parties is another. The God-size hole lurking within can not be filled with men, women, parties, wild behavior or whatever your fix may be. Only Jesus Christ can heal...and He DOES heal!

I'm calling out to all who believe in the Lord of Lords to start praying for these lost, hurting people. I have seen broken marriages mended. I have seen lost souls found. I have seen the proud broken. I have felt his healing powers in my own life. This is the time to get on your knees and lift up those you don't even know. God knows their name! The bible tells us to pray without ceasing.

This is not original with me but a great message...
NO Jesus, NO Peace
KNOW Jesus, KNOW Peace

Husker Date

This is my favorite time of year. Nothing says fall like the Sea of Red at Memorial Stadium. Fall and college football...doesn't get much better than that!






















What a fun afternoon away from the family. Chris and I try to make it to at least one football game a year thanks to mom and dad having season tickets. This year I sat UP with my cousin Kelly and Chris sat with his mom. Either side of a blow out can really be ugly, this one was for the other team...I think Kelly and I talked the whole last half. :)


Melanie, Kelly, Jill, Lisa...tailgating

Go HUSKERS! Then this past week's game was full of the stress and anticipation that the 2nd home game missed. The first roadtrip for the Huskers didn't end all that great, hope to see something better this weekend. Mom and Dad will be here to experience a Saturday afternoon in Nebraska. Hope they remember to bring their red shirts and cornhead hats. Ha ha

Another Concert

What's wrong with me> I'm a scrapper and didn't take many pictures...UGH! Bebo Norman opened up the night but didn't sing nearly enough...love that guy! Next Natalie Grant came out with incredible worship and a great message. She's my fav!!!! Finally Jeremy Camp came out and gave us a great show. I don't know what I thought he looked like but I was surprised when he came on stage. He is a lot younger than I expected I guess. And even tho my friend Jason Hinze doesn't like Jeremy Camp I love the message he sings.


April, her daughter & me after the concert















Jeremy Camp on stage

Scrapping My Fingers to the Bone

Whew, I have 36 layouts done and put about 15 on hold while I start a set of 25 layouts...got the first one done today. Woo Hoo wonder how many I can get done tonight. My poor husband is feeling very neglected because my real creative juices don't start to flow until about 10:30pm. I realize having Olivia crawling on my lap or requesting my attention every 10 minutes during the day breaks my attention. Maybe all I need to get my scrapbooking mojo flowing is to open a box of hot tamales...except then Livie will want some too. :)

I have been MIA at my favorite scrappy site...scraplove.com. Ok, the only scrappy site I visit. Tonight I checked in over there and all those girls are doing incredibly creative super cool things. Man, I want to be just like them when I grow up. I did dive into picnik.com today while I was waiting for Reagan at her soccer practice. If you aren't familiar with that site it's a FREE photo editing site. Sure the coolest stuff is on the premium membership which costs $25. So far I'm just playing with the free stuff. For those of you who are not considered a computer tech by profession, this site makes it easy. You'll never want to go back to Photoshope Elements.

For those of you who don't scrap and have no desire to, well then this post was just a bunch of boring words. Better luck next time.

Majesty

One morning does not differ much from the next and yet each day I seem to see a new blessing (yes some days I have to search for it ha). As usual my friend Liz and I walk our children to school and then take the little girls on a walk, often around the lake. Yesterday we lacked the energy to get in our 7 mile walk so we just took the girls down to the park by the lake. As we sat watching the girls climb, squeal and slide, a majestic animal came into view. Perched high above the leafy trees sat a bald eagle. I was in awe. Wouldn't you know it, no one had a camera. What a gift from God!

Do you see a blessing when others see a coincidence? Think about it!

Gotta Have Beth Moore

It's not just the person but rather what she teaches and how she teaches it. For a self-proclaimed insecure, untalented, messed up creation she can really pull out some "good theology"! If you don't know who Beth Moore is google her and then do your best to get involved in one of her bible studies. You can find them all over the country in the women's ministry area of churches. She is for the old, the new and the not yet a christian type of girl. Don't think you are too good or too bad to join one of these studies... she knows your secrets and she loves you anyway.

Here's a thought...
Coincidence = Miracles when God prefers to be anonymous!

Little Bit O Scrappiness

Going Farm Fresh!

I have been wanting to take the plunge into feeding my family an even more healthy diet. For many years we have avoided sugar and most processed foods and yet we still eat out and special desserts from time to time. One thing that has really bothered me is the meat we consume. My friend Paula turned me onto a book about the handling, processing and raising of the store bought meat. Oh My Gosh! Really, what are we thinking? It's no wonder so many people have cancer and all kinds of maladies.

Today our family took a field trip (literally) to an all natural farm. I am so excited about the raw milk, fresh eggs and meat that has not been tainted by soy, hormones or antibiotics. Free range meat...can't wait to get it. The price is higher but really how can you put a price on healthy eating.

I'll have to add more pics when I get them from my friend Liz.
Liv and Kayla checking out the baby calves.


All 5 kids watching the pigs roll in the mud.


The girls were surprised to see the chickens and turkeys walking all over the farm.

Mama's Ramblings

OMGosh, we had an ugly one, a virus I mean...thanks to facebook. I can rejoice that my husband is a wonderful and understanding man. Yes, I opened a stupid video from a friend on FB only it wasn't really a video. Chris' work laptop had to be wiped clean and totally reloaded. The poor guy went several days without a computer at school...no smart board for him or his 7th graders. All is well now and he is even allowing me to use his computer again.

No pictures this time, you know since there's nothing loaded on this computer and all. ha

I do want to appologize for the type-o I had in my Aug 30th post. If you read it you know what I'm talking about. I'm not sure what I was trying to say, I did that late at night. All nasty words are removed. YIKES!

The Nebraska state fair is moving to Grand Island next year so this will be the last year that Chris takes his 7th graders. Today 7b went to Lincoln for one last trip. Chris drove his car so he could make it back to town for softball practice. The fair security directed Chris to pull in next to the buses. It was to his complete surprise to return to the parking lots only to find an empty spot where once his car had been. Yes, it was towed. Apparently there isn't a whole lot of communication between the parking directors and the tow trucks. Luckily, there was no fee and it took only about an hour to track down the car way out in lot 13. Nice, huh?

Have you paid attention to what stores check your id when using your debit or credit cards? I was shocked today to spend over $100 in a local discount store, swipe my own card, sign on the electronic pad and then walk away. REALLY?? No one was interested to know if it was really me or not. I asked customer service about it and they simply don't ask for ID. That's what she told me. OMGosh, anyone with a stolen credit card could have a fun shopping spree there. I even told her that and she looked shocked at my comment. DUH!

Happy long weekend to you all. I plan to have some quality time with my family. We have no softball and no soccer games tomorrow but we do have .....

THE FIRST HUSKER FOOTBALL GAME!!! YAY! Can't wait!

I will leave you with this thought.
If we don't have truth what do we have?
If we don't love our neighbor, who will?
If we don't fill that empty space deep inside us with God, the Lord Almighty we will never be fully content.
The 2 words that come to mind when I think about my Savior are 1) LOVE 2) TRUTH. What are the words that keep you grounded, safe and motivated?