Gobble Gobble

Good morning fellow bloggin' buds,

I am happy to report that Thanksgiving at the H house went off without a hitch! This was our fifth year to be in our own home with just the four of us. Since my mom passed away 5 years ago, we lost our central meeting place in east Texas. It was a great location for all of us (mainly because she was a Proverbs 31 woman to the nth degree) since our family consists of my two older brothers who have seven kids between them and their spouses and my kids and family friends, etc. etc...we were fortunate enough to have a house large enough to hold about 20 folks!

Those were great Thanksgivings filled with lots of great memories (except for the time my twin nieces showered us with head lice... but that is another story for another time) but the time has come for us to build our own traditions and memories.

Bill's girlfriend was with us on Thanksgiving day and throughout most of the weekend. (she is precious by the way) So, there were two, count them TWO, women in the house! I cooked all day Wednesday--which meant that all I had to do was throw the bird in the oven on Thursday and heat things up. Joe was as happy as a pig in a poke because he got to veg with his brother and play video games all day and night. Life is good!

I settled in for a weekend full of SEC football. And can I just get an AMEN to the ARKANSAS game?! Hellooooooooo LSU fans! I was so stinkin' nervous throughout the zillion overtimes that I had to relocate to the kitchen and clean out cabinets while listening to the game on my midget tv in the kitchen!

And how about that TENNESSEE game? Patty, my Siesta buddy from somewhere in TN probably stroked out during their game! I haven't ventured over to her blog yet, but I just imagine it is solid orange today.

Finally, I thought alot about being thankful this weekend. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the day to day things of life that I forget what is truly important to me. So, I shall list a few things that came to my mind this last weekend:

1. A husband who loves me unconditionally after 23 years and 342 days.
2. Two teenage sons who know Christ and love their momma.
3. Two older brothers who still seem 15 and 18 to their kid sister.
4. A life full of godly girlfriends.
5. Two new bloggin buds.
6. A new friend at HomeLife magazine who gets my warped sense of humor.
7. Second chances.

And finally, a Savior who never gives up on me!

I hope y'all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are ready to dive into the holiday madness. Until tomorrow!

Jan

Thank You for your Prayers

Hi there my five faithful readers! I have returned from the big city with incredible news! As you know, I was in Houston for 7 days and 7 long, long (did I mention long?) nights. I got to play aunt/nanny/ babysitter to three incredible kiddos while my friend had major surgery. The story is long. So here are the highlights:

• "A" left for the hospital at 4:00 a.m. on Monday morning. Little (5 pound) baby G and I spent our first night together getting to know each other. Very well, I might add.

• Each morning at 8 a.m. I fed a 2 year old, a 1 year old and got them ready for daycare while their daddy showered. They all left and baby G and I got to spend the day together.

• Each afternoon I loaded baby G in the Suburban and drove through TRAFFIC to the daycare to retrieve the two girls. And yes, I had THREE CAR SEATS in a row. Which, BTW, all buckled differently. FOR THIS PART I SHOULD RECEIVE AN HONORARY ENGINEERING DEGREE FROM SOME PRESTIGIOUS UNIVERSITY...

• Each afternoon we played games, changed numerous diapers, snacked and sang songs.

• Dinner, bath time, and bed followed with the usual 20 questions about when Mommy was coming home. Is her boo boo better? And where is my purple bunny?

That is the daily rundown. Which, to you young siestas out there, is about what every day is like for you. But for this 47 year old, it isn't anything close to what my every day is like at this stage in the game. PTL

Now on to the important stuff. Here is a list of how our sweet, sweet LORD answered your prayers:

1. I remained pain free for an entire week.
2. I didn't catch any daycare germs, although there was an abundance of green snot for everyone and their cousins.
3. Toward the end of the week, I actually got 4 hours straight sleep instead of 2.
4. A's surgery took 1 hour and 45 minutes instead of the predicted 4 hours.
5. They did not have to remove any part of her lung, ribs or diaphragm.
6. She came home in a record 5 days--not 10 to 15 days as predicted.
7. I drove from the suburb to downtown Houston without swearing, crying or hitting another car. (actually, I did begin to cry one time when I drove under Highway 59 four times and still couldn't figure out how to get up on the silly thing...)
8. No lab results are back, but the pulmonary doctor is 99.9% sure that it was not cancer.

I felt your prayers like I have never felt prayers before! Even when I was caring for my terminally ill mother. I thank you from the bottom of my tired heart! I have so much more to write, but will do it tomorrow. There are many funny stories to tell on myself...oh, so many...

Give God glory! He is faithful and merciful!

Until tomorrow,

Jan

Autumn in the Ozarks and Prayer Request

Hello there! I have been on a picture-taking binge this week. Probably because the leaves are spectacular this year. I posted two pictures I took with my phone. They do not do the trees justice, however. But if you zoom in and put on red glasses you'll get the effect...

This morning I was lucky enough to drink coffee with my oldest and dearest bff, Elizabeth, (the traitor who moved to Kansas). She was in town for a girls' weekend since hubbies are off in the woods shooting at BAMBI and all his friends. Five of us were able to meet at Panera's and talk about our oldest children who all started college this fall. Except Alice, who has about 20 kids scattered here and there. NO...seriously, she only has four and three are in college.

Anyway...Miss Kansas brought us all a little gift of packaged chocolate covered sunflower seeds--coated in purple and white: Kansas State colors. They are soooooooooo good! I'd never seen them--much less tasted them.

All of which has absolutely NOTHING to do with anything except--well--that was the highlight of my morning. Which brings me to my main reason for posting today. I have a very serious prayer request that hope my fellow Siesta Bloggity Buddies will take to heart.

Sunday afternoon, I will fly to HOUSTON for seven days leaving my hubby and Joe at home.

My good friend, A, is having a softball sized tumor removed from a lung. The doctor's will remove the tumor, part of a lung and two ribs.

This is the young woman (36) who used to babysit my boys when they were babies. She has a 2 year old, a 1 year old and now a 3 week old baby. The baby was born prematurely (5 weeks) but was able to go home last week, praise God! without an apnea monitor or oxygen etc. I am taking care of the baby 24/7 by myself for 7 days. The little girls will be at daycare until Ipick them up in the afternoons. A nanny will come in from 6 pm to 9 pm each evening to help me with dinner, bath time, bed time etc. so her hubby can go from work to the hospital to be with her.

I covet your prayers, ladies! With my RA and fibromyalgia this is no small feat. I am asking that you all pray for the following:

• complete recovery for A after the surgery
• strength for her hubby
• NO GERMS FROM THE DAYCARE
• complete rest and calm for me
• complete calm and health in my home
• mostly: for God to be glorified in all of this

This young woman is like my daughter/little sister. She is precious to me and my family. It's funny because both of my boys were preemies (2 pounds and 5 pounds) and she took care of them as a young college girl looking for some extra spending money. And here I am--taking care of her baby who isn't even due yet.

What I love most about this story is that they found the tumor when A was in the early stages of pregancy. She and her hubby chose to carry this baby as long as she could which was life threatening for her. I am so proud of her for choosing life.

So............if you girls would please pray I would appreciate it. I have plenty of quilting and sewing and writing to take with me, but it's never the same when you're away from home.

I will send pictures if I can. Until then,

Jan

Beauty and the Beast

For three nights, I have covered my beloved hydrangea bush because Dan the Weather Man has promised a hard freeze. And for three mornings, I have retrieved king sized sheets from my back yard. Ozzie had fetched, chewed and EATEN every chip clip, clothespin and hairchip I own. We are in for some stale Tostitos, gals...

What can I say? I gave in to the beastly coldfront, cut 30+ blooms and have taken on the role of candystriper in my community. No kiddin'--our house looks like a flower shop. But I am not complaining because, after all, that would be stinky.

And I am not stinky...I smell rather nice.

I have posted about my hydrangea bush before. So, if you have already read about it, you may want to go on over to another siesta's blog because I'm gonna write about it again. Yes ma'am I am.

Someone sent this lovely plant to me when I was recovering from childbirth with son #1. I planted it in the backyard 18 years ago. I gotta tell ya girls, this bush brings me almost as much pleasure as a Dairy Queen ice cream cake. And that is sayin' a lot, because here in Northwest Arkansas, we don't have DQ.

Which, by the way is just wrong. W R O N G. I grew up on Dilly Bars, DQ Dudes and praise the LORD---the Texas toast and steakfinger basket. Can I get a umhum?

But, I digress.

So...Dan the Man says we are in for a hard freeze tonight. Low 20's. It was 72 degrees on Monday and 33 degrees when Ozzie awakened me with a kiss this morning. (it just occurred to me why his breath smelled like chips...) Tonight I shall send the dog to sleep with his personal chewtoy, Joe, and will cross my fingers that Dan the Man is wrong once again.

I snickered to myself as I cut those huge, gorgeous blossoms. Darwin, my foot. Boy was he wrong.

I just know that God continues to grow my flowers for me because, well, He is just sweet that way.

And creative. And kind. And His mercies are new every morning.

Unlike me, when I have to munch on stale chips because of Ozzie.

Until tomorrow my bloggity buddies,

Jan

JOE GOT SAVED

Hello there my fellow bloggers!

I know it's been a while since I posted, but what a busy week! And what GREAT NEWS! Joe, our 15 year old sophomore, made a profession of faith on October 25 at his school. It was Spiritual Emphasis week and Jamie Ragle was the keynote speaker. He was amazing! The Holy Spirit really convicted Joe during the first part of the week. Mid-week he went to one of his teachers and talked with him, and it was then that Joe prayed to receive Christ. Hallelujah!!!

The first picture is Joe, Isaac (a friend since kindergarten) and Jonesy, waiting in line to be baptized. Our church is rather large (12,000 members) so we have a double baptistery. It's really neat because families stand behind their loved ones as they are being baptized. I love it! We were right there with him! Talk about a bird's eye view (as you can see from the pics). This was one of he happiest days of my life...

I am a little under the weather today, so I shall post more tomorrow. But I did want my siestas to rejoice with me and hubby and Bill and Joe on a most remarkable day!

Blessings,

Jan