Six Hours One Friday

This is the book I picked up when I was tagged by Shawna. It is written by Max Lucado about the last hours before Christ was crucified. The quote comes from a chapter called the Eleventh hour gift. I chose to include the whole paragraph or else it would have made no sense.

"The educated. The powerful. The rejected. The sick. The
lonely. The wealthy. Who would have ever assembled such a
crew? All they had in common were their empty hope chests, long left
vacant by the charlatans and profiteers. Though they had nothing to offer,
they asked for everything: a new birth, a second chance, a fresh start, a clean
conscience. And without exeption, their requests were honored."

The chapter goes on to discuss how a beggar on the cross next to Jesus, minutes from death sees Jesus and realizes just who He is. He was a beggar and a thief, someone who was also being crucified, but he had done the crimes for which he as accused. In the midst of pain and ridicule when others are mocking Jesus he defends the Lord. He saw Jesus for who He was and realized that what was happening and the man next to him was innocent. He saw himself for who he was and Jesus for who He was. In that instant, he aksed for mercy and in that instant mercy was granted.

I think that is the point Jesus came in love for everyone, no one was turned away. Christians today often, sadly reject people of diffrent faiths, beliefs, etc instead of loving them like Jesus would. Jesus turned no one away. What a sad world where people are turned away, riduculed, beaten up, bombed, rejected, and so much more all in the name of God. Just because we may disagree with someone on an issue is not a reason to reject them are ban them from common human decency. If I say that I am a Christian and have no love and compassion for my fellow man then what am I? I am a hypocrit. A thief on the cross saw Jesus after he had been utterly beaten, disfigured and mocked. He saw a man at his lowest point but he recognized Him for who He really was. He looked beyond the swollen, beaten face and into the eyes of a Savior. He saw not hatred, not revulsion but love and accpetance. It is time our world, in 2008, we look beyond the outer packaging of those around us into the hearts and souls of people and love them like Jesus did that day for the thief on the cross. Jesus rose above all His pain, all His suffering and saw a truly accepting, repentant heart who was sorry for having been a thief and Jesus gave him a promise. He is still giving that promise with no prerequisites, just and open, loving, accepting heart.

1. Pick up the nearest book of at least 123 pages.

2. Open the book to page 123.

I dont have 5 people to tag at the moment but will come back and edit this post when I get them.....LOL

3. Find the 5th sentence.

4. Post the next 3 sentences.

5. Tag 5 people.

Society Today

Society today changes the way we view things or even the things we fear. For example, posting pictures of your children in a public forum can strike fear deep in your soul. You desire to share the beauty of your most priceless treasures, but at the same time you fear it. You wonder if someone couuld view that picture and take it wrong or steal it and use it inappropriately. I have a picture of my baby daugther that is so funny and cute but am hesitant to post it here. I have no idea why I fear posting it. I did post it in some private message board forums, but not here. That makes no sense to me. In the picture she is clad only in pull-ups. Society today does not embrace innocence. Society today devours innocence, chews it up and spits it out. As a mother, I view my children, no matter what stage of dress, as innocent and pure. Yet out there on the world wide web, there are people who corrupt innocence and purity. So I toss in my mind why I hestiate posting the picture here but not in a more private, smaller setting. I am sure no matter where I post pictures they aren't "completely safe". The only safety is in not posting them at all. Yet, my children are beautiful creations, fearfully and wonderfully made by God. I would not post them in their birthday suit for personal reasons but to have to question whether to post a pull up clad baby astounds me. She is the epitomy of innocence, purity, in full bloom. A tiny bud blossoming into possiblity and promise. My children are my treasures, given to me by God. I may eventually post them, but for now I still ponder what I should do. I may post the photo at a later time but for now I will enjoy its silliness and innocence for a bit longer.

Thankful Thursday Thirteen

I have so much to be Thankful for, so very much. Last Thursday my son was so very ill, this Thursday, he is home from the hospital, going to school and his normal happy, chipper self.

Things I am Thankful for:

1. My son is alive and breathing more normally.
2. My daughters are healthy and strong.
3. I have a caring, loving, supportive husband.
4. We have a supportive, helpful family.
5. We have a loving, caring, praying church.
6. We did not get hit by those horrid tornadoes and so we can pray for the victims.
7. We have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and clothes on our backs.
8. Our son has a great doctor and recieved good medical care at the hospital.
9. We do have insurance, may not be the best, but we have it.
10. Our home is filled with love.
11. I have a Lord who sustains me even through the hard times.
12. God is faithful and fulfills all His promises.
13. I live in a country where I can worship my Lord in freedom.

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My Latest Project

My latest project is to take my son's favorite bear and take pictures of him throughout the day involved in different activities or situations. I plan on making it into a book for him. I will do the same with my dd's favorite animal/cuddle toy once I finish my son's. So far, I have taken pictures of the bear "combing" his hair, brushing his teeth, watching out the window, playing on the computer, sitting in the time out chair, riding the rocking horse and will add to it later. It is a surprise for my son. I think I will do a shot of cuddles taking a "treatment" as well. I have all kinds of ideas. There are several places online I can upload pictures and pay for a book to be sent to me with those pitcures. I think I will entitle it either A Teddy Bear Day or The Life of Cuddles (which is the bear's name). This bear has been with Christopher since he was born.

I think for Hannah it will either be her doll she got for Christmas or her Mermaid doll. For Jennifer her "puppy". Each will be doing activities each child does. Like for Jennifer I can have it sit on the potty. For Hannah, the doll can "color". I hope it turns out as cute as I think it will. Regardless, I know one day, my kids will treasure it. I also plan to sneak in at night and take a picture of them asleep with their lovey as THE END shot.

I think this will be a great way to preserve part of their childhood for all of time. I am also thinking of doing books for Christmas for the grandparents "A day in the life of your grandchildren". Let's hope I can make these books happen. Life passes by far to fast and one day my children will outgrow their loveys and I want to preserve the beauty of childhood innocene for them.

Literature Week at school

The last week of February my son's school is having literature week. Each day they have a different activity or theme. Monday is Cat in the Hat Day, so I have to come up with a cat in the hat, hat for him, bow tie etc. Tuesday will be Dress up as your favorite character. Now I know there is no way I can do Larry the Cucumber or Bob the Tomato so I am going to do Thing 1, unless of course my dh can help me transform Christopher into a Veggie Talke character. I can do Thing 1 pretty easily and maybe my sister could do my niece as Thing 2 even though they are in different classes. Wednesday they dress up for Spring pictures, Thursday is Wear Silly Socks days for Fox in Socks and Friday they wear lots of pockets with "wockets" in their pockets which are stuffed animals. So, now I have to come up with all this stuff. I do not want him to miss out, but stuff adds up. I think most of it I can do on a shoestring budget, hence the Thing 1 costume. I think I can do it for less than 20$. Silly socks, maybe I can get a pair of his daddy's socks and attach silly things are draw silly things on them. The biggest thing for us will be Cat in the Hat day. He is supposed to dress like cat in the hat. I need to come up with a hat, a bowtie and I guess a black outfit(jogging suit?).

The good thing is they are collecting gently used stuffed animals and books or new ones to give away. All our kids books are WELL used but I had a BUNCH of stuffed animals in a plastic bin in storage the kids never look at our use. WAHOO, I geat to give them to someone who can use them. I filled a huge bag full, came out to 60! WOW, and they still have all their favorites, well loved and a couple of new ones they got for Christmas.

I still hope I can come up with an easy story book character that would involve stuff we have at home. I can't do prince charming cause he doesnt have tightgs and a tunic.....although the superman cape he as would have sufficed for the cape Prince Charming wears. If I had blue tight fitting pajamas I could do superman. I will figure this out, but in the mean time any ideas would be appreciated. Keep in mind I have NO sewing machine and can't sew well by hand.

Wordless Wednesday

No More "potatoes" please

Last night across Tennesse and much of the south there were bad storms and deadly tornadoes. In our area we did not have as bad a weather but the sirens kept going off so we spent some time sitting in our downstairs bathroom listening to the news. Anyway, Hannah gets up this morning and says"Mommy are there any more potatoes outside? I dont want no more potatoes, please".......LOL......tornadoes, potatoes.........it was so cute! LOL

The Eye of the Hurricane

The day he went in for the follow up...struggling to breathe but trying to be brave
You can see it in his eyes I think....and his color is so off here
Telling me he loves me....
Sleeping at the hospital
His favorite visitors

Looking Better

oh and my dates are off on my camera I have the time set wrong or something we went home on the 3rd.....LOL not the second.....LOL

That must have been what we were experincing when Christopher rallied a bit the other day. Because, the storm really hit later. I did not like his color or his cough before we went to his follow up appointment and he just wasn't as better as I would have liked after so much antiobiotics, steroids and treatments. He was slowly slipping in a downward spiral and I thought maybe I was imagining it and worrying to worry. But Mommy Instinct is a gift from God! I took him to his follow up appointment on Thursday, his color was greyish and his breathing was horrid. The doctor listened to him and stated I don't know if you are going home tonight. He gave him a treatment in the office and measured his oxygen level. It was 90-91. He sent us straight to the ER. I had taken some pictures of him that day and thought "OMG.......he looks like a SICK SICK kid"........but really didnt examine the pictures that closely. The doctor said the only way I am not calling the ambulance is if you go there NOW. So off we went and he called ahead. We get there at 5 pm and I check him. I tell them the dr called ahead and we are expected by one of the pediatric drs. The do a quick check of his vitals and at that moment his oxygen levels were higher than at the dr office......cold air sometimes does that with asthma , boosts it for a bit. He listened to him and said "he isn't wheezing".........and sent us to wait...we were triaged and his oxygen level was 90 - 92. They sen tus to wait.........4 HOURS later....we get an er bed, granted they were SWAMPED. They put him on the monitors he oxygen level was 89. then an er dr (a lady) came in and said I hear some wheezing and lots of rattling but I think he is TOO TIGHT to wheeze (remember the two male medical professionals saying he wasn't wheezing). I said he is not a wheezer but a cougher which I told the others as well. To top if off Christopher, now you all know Christopher, was NOT TALKING! Or SOCIALZING at ALL! He was NOT smiling or happy or chipper! So she orderd a treatment BANG......wheezing like an old car trying to start! They left him on the neb for 2 hours and then had to leave him on oxygen because he could not maintain a good level without it. ON oxygen he was dipping to 90 and 89......not good. cause if he had not been on oxygen it would have been lower! The alarms on the monitor ding at 93........he kept setting off the alarms........by the way.....I hate that sound and it still is ringing in my head. cause he was setting the dinger off most of the weekend. we did not get a real room until noon on Friday and he still needed oxygen support....too make a long story short he was finally able to come off supplemental oxygen saturday mornign with occasional dips. AT one point on Thursday night they discussed puttin him in the intensive care unit and starting conitinous nebs......this is where prayer comes in BECAUSE people were praying it did NOT get as bad as it could have been. He has been a very sick little boy. I was sitting by his bedside at one point scrolling through my pictures and I noticed that in one his lips were tinged slightly blue............something I had not noticed in natural light but because of the flash on the camera you can tell. Anyway........he is on the mend.......finally for real this time. He is NOT well. He still has some recovery to do. They think he started off with regular pnuemonia which kicked off his asthma which went on into viral pnuemonia...(least that is what the intern said on Sunday morning).........so he has a whole bunch of stuff going on. His lungs still sound icky but they are better........and he LOOKS better in his color....how to get him to gain some weight.........he is very frail looking and very very thin. So that is the scoop......sorry so long. But Praise God my little boy is home and not in intensive care and I think the worst is over..........God is faithful..........I am so thankful for my son. He is really, really really crabby thanks to the oral steroids....but I would rather have a crabby boy than have to worry about where his next breath is coming from! Sometimes it is darkest just before dawn and waiting is the hardest on the brink of a miracle. The Eye of the hurricane is sometimes where we get comfy and settle in, but even then we should be praying. It isn't time to let down our guard. And fear is greatest in those darkest hours before dawn when you wonder which way your child's life will go. Those hours seem like days. I have much to be thankful for, but my faith has been tested a lot this week. Christopher is okay and I praise God for that and I anxiously await the day God heals him completely.