Thursday, February 28, 2008

Finally Posting Again

This is a favorite picture of mine. Caleb is enjoying sledding down the driveway and he is laying in the sled and our two dogs see him laying and come running to check on him. The dogs are so protective of all of us but especially Caleb. If he is laying down they will stay by him until he gets up, I think he milks it just a bit because he loves having the dogs close by.

This is the snow view out of the front door. Across the street where the snow laden trees are is where we spotted the deer this week. Read further down the blog for details. I loved how the ice stayed on the trees and makes everything so beautiful at least when you get to stay home and not be driving.



This picture was taken on a recent snow day that we had. Caleb was having a blast with the our neighbor children sliding down the hill. They made a ramp to jump off of and spent hours playing in the cold. We've been blessed with some wonderful neighbors.


These are the beautiful flowers that Caleb gave me for Valentine's Day. He picked them out all by himself, his daddy was just the driver to the store. Wayne got me 3 of my favorite Lip Glosses. I hate lipstick because it dries my lips out too bad but Estee Lauder makes wonderful lip gloss so I got pink, pink and more pink lipgloss.

My dear wonderful mother reminded me yesterday morning on the telephone that it had been a very long time since posting. Aren't mothers wonderful to give you those gentle nudgings. I love you mom, thanks for the reminder. In all actuality I've been having computer issues, hopefully to be resolved very soon. I've had to visit the library to get computer access which is not always convienent.
To bring you up to date with what has been going on in our neck of the woods. Caleb has been a busy little boy these past few weeks. He has had Baseball Academy which basically means that he has been in training for the upcoming baseball season. He was able to attend the pitching and hitting sessions which are pretty intense. We will see how he does in the upcoming weeks with baseball season getting ready to kick off. He is supposed to be the primary pitcher for his baseball team, which is a great honor but such a responsibility. I think I get more nervous than he does because of all the pressure that is on him. Caleb has also been attending a hunter safety course at the Bass Pro Shops. Bass Pro puts on this course along with the local DNR and 4 H Club. He had his 100 questions test this past Tuesday evening and passed with flying colors, I was so proud of him. He passed with a 93%. This weekend he gets to attend a Field Day where DNR sponsors all ammunition for a 4 hour shooting session. There will be all types of guns that the kids will get to shoot, he is very excited about the shoot. Caleb received a gun for Christmas that he had been wanting for a long time but a requirement of ours was that he had to attend a hunter safety course before shooting. Voila! Hunter Safety Course is completed and many safe hunting days ahead. Yesterday, Caleb and I looked out our front windows and there were 6-7 deer all grazing in the yard across from ours. Caleb being the very typical little boy, says to me, "Mom, I need to get dad's 12 gauge and shoot those deer". My response was I don't think so, lets just watch and enjoy the deer. He didn't like my response one bit.

On a different note, I'd like for you'll to check out my friend Amy's blog, it is listed under Crosswalk. Amy and her family are going through a very difficult trial at this time and desperately need our prayers, the doctors also need wisdom in treating Amy's condition. I'd also like to mention a prayer request for a family of a patient that I took care of in just the past couple of weeks. This patient was a fellow employee that was 38 years old and was hospitalized for approximately 3 weeks, with a very unsure diagnosis. He ended up dying on my unit and his family has taken his death very hard. He and his wife had only been married for 5 years and did not have any children but were in the process of adopting a child.
Our problems in life seem so big in our little world, but when you look outside your windows there are always people that are hurting and have needs that are so much bigger than ours. I pray that God will make me sensitive to other's needs and help me not to be so self focused on my own problems. Please say a prayer for Amy and her family as well as this other family that I will simply call by the name "KM".

Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Love is in the Air

Caleb got in the car this morning and says to me, "Mom, I want to get you a bouquet of flowers but they are too expensive, they wanted $29.99 for the flowers I wanted to buy you". I told Caleb, honey you don't have to buy mommy flowers but if you really want to, how about a single flower. A single flower means just as much too me. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love flowers, but I hate to see my husband and son go out and spend a bunch of money on something that will fade so quickly. I treasure the memory of Caleb's sweet voice telling me about the flowers and his desire to give something to me. I'll have to see what Valentine's Day brings.

Last week while I was having devotions, I got so much out of this particular devotional I decided to share it with you. It's taken from "Walk Thru The Bible Tapestry", February 2008 issue.
" When you love someone, you can't help thinking about that person. God says, He can't get us off of Hi s mind: "Can a woman forget her nursing child, or lack compassion for the child of her womb? Even if these forget, yet I will not forget you" ( Isaiah 49:15). When you love someone you invest in them. God gave us the Spirit as a down payment (2 Corinthians 5:5). He placed His Spirit inside of us. You don't invest in something you don't really want or desire. When you love someone, you care when they're going through hard times, and you walk through those times with them. The Holy Spirit helps us in our distress. "For we don't even know what we should pray for, nor how we should pray. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words (Romans 8:26 NLT). God specifically put His Spirit in us to act as our advocate and to pray for exactly what we need when we don't know what to pray. It's one thing to tell someone you love them. It's another to listen to them when they want to talk, to empower them, to encourage them, and to stand by them. You are deeply, passionately, and completely loved by the God of the universe. Soak that up for a second. The One who created the universe, hundreds of billions of stars, countless planets, and space as far as the eye can see is captivated by you. Soak up God's love. You are chosen. You are dearly loved. You are His.

Wow! I absolutely loved this devotion. God in all of His greatness and vastness is captivated by me through all of my shortcomings and faults and is willing to listen to me grumble and whine. God still loves me anyway and then helps me through my problems and issues. This is not something that I didn't know before but it came at a time when I needed it. Just thought I'd share it with you'll. I'm wishing you'll a love filled Valentines Day.