The Best Christmas Present Ever

I had a few minutes of peace here and wanted to write about a very special gift Allie received this year. Anyone who has known Allison for very long at all knows about her "mamie". Her mamie is a very special blanket she's had since she was born. She chose it and named it and that's just the way it is!

Over the past four years or so mamie has become very ragged. After a multitude of washings "she" started falling apart. Allie has had a hard time coping whenever her mamie would break, but she usually recovered quickly and would give the smallest piece to whoever was closest to her. (Sometimes that would be someone at church or the store or the doctor's office.)

Anyhow, my creative mom decided that just wouldn't do. So she set out several months ago in search of a new mamie. She looked all over the internet, contacted Carters, everything . . . but no luck. I think it was in November that she sent me an email with a picture -- someone was auctioning off a mamie on ebay!

She bid on it and of course made sure to win it. Ethan and I were so excited for Allie. And then . . .

The seller accidently mixed up her packages and the mamie went to Florida! So, my mom sent countless emails to the seller and even the gal who received mamie, trying to work something out. After a couple of grueling weeks, she got the mamie back!

Now here is the part I think is really special. My mom wrote and scrapbooked an entire book for Allie called "The Story of Mamie". It detailed several "adventures" Allie has had with her blanket and why mamie is so special. It was so great watching Allie open her gift and freak out. She just giggled and giggled and giggled. :)

When I think of my mom, it reminds me of something I once read in a book. A woman writing about her mom said,

"She has a way of deliberately setting into motion an Occasion. . . which becomes a memory to cherish. Bless my mother, Lord.

And let me learn this, too, from her -- this knack of creating memories. It's a matter of caring. It's a matter of loving. Let me learn this, too, from her."

Year In Review

http://www.onetruemedia.com/my_shared?z=2502b8f618c9fac9637c90&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Not What We Were Hoping For . . .

After three and a half hours of testing and looking at images we finally got some answers. First, the lump is not fluid-filled, but solid. (Solid could be a malignant or benign tumor, so it still doesn't tell us a lot.) The second thing we found out was that the radiologists found another area of concern that they wouldn't have even found if I had never gone in. So I have a biopsy scheduled in a couple of weeks for the lump and then they want to moniter the other area. I guess it's in a really difficult place to biopsy or they would just do that too at the same time.

The good news is all of yesterday's stuff was covered by a grant because we don't have insurance. The bad news is the biopsy won't be covered and they estimated it would be two or three thousand dollars. Yikes.

I am so grateful that God is in control. It seems that a lot of things are difficult right now but I know He is our refuge and strength. I read something great yesterday at breakfast that was just a good reminder. It was something about how when we have all sunshine we're living in a desert. So true. Sometimes there's gotta be a little rain.

All I Want For Christmas . . .

. . . is peace, I guess. A little less than a month ago I went in for a yearly check-up and my doctor found a lump. She said it might go away but it hasn't, so I get to go in for more tests the day after Christmas. I have been able to ignore it for a while but it has been on my mind a lot more the last couple of days. We have breast cancer on both sides of my family, but I'm not going to think about that.

This has been a difficult time for our family. We welcome your prayers.

Jury Duty

I just put eight children down for quiet time here at my house. Yes, eight. It has been one heck of a day so far.

Why are there eight kids here? I have my three and Leah, and then my sweet neighbor Theresa ended up getting jury duty. So . . . she was in a bind, because she has four little ones.

So I have eight kids today.

It actually hasn't been too bad. There are six girls ages 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, and 6 and two boys; ages 17 months and 1 year.

As I'm typing this I'm realizing how crazy it is. I don't know how big families with lots of small kids do it!

I got jury duty about four years ago. When I got to the courthouse I (and all the other people called) was shocked to find out that if we were picked, we would be serving on a grand jury. I wouldn't have known why that was a significant difference then, but I soon learned it was a six-month committment! The good part was the grand jury met only once a week. And luckily for me, we didn't have kids yet, so I didn't have to search for childcare.

The hardest part about being on a grand jury is the the proceedings are secret, and often the cases we heard involved crimes against children. I still think about some of those cases now, years later. The most interesting case involved a prostitution ring. We got to see testimonies of actual "clients" (who were like normal businessmen) and also there was a huge board with all the pictures of the prostitutes posted on it. All I can say about that is . . . we're not talking "Pretty Woman" here.

I better go get some cleaning or reading or something done while I have the chance. :)

Fun . . . Fun . . . Fun

Big Huge Labs has this tool I like to play with sometimes. You can pick a picture and they let you do all kinds of frames on it. To try it, here's the link:

www.bighugelabs.com

p.s. That's not our Taylor, but she sure looked like that as a puppy!

We Elfed Ourselves

http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1188150716