Missed you...

I'm not sure that anyone besides my mom noticed that I missed posting on the blog last week, but in the event that you did, I apologize for the momentary interruption...  my body chose sleep over a blog post by accident (I sat down to write a post and found myself asleep instead :-).  A lot has happened since my last post, so here you go in rapid fire mode...

1)  Grace is cruising and walking with push toys! 

2) Grace has trained us to keep all bathroom doors closed because otherwise she will recreate a splash pad experience using the toilet water :-/

3) Everyone in the family besides myself (knock on wood... even though I don't really believe in jinxing) has had some sort of illness over the past 2 weeks.  Grace, of course, always wants to set the bar really high by adding a level of drama to her illnesses... THE DOTS (after two blood tests we can rest easier that it isn't the feared leukemia).  The blessing through these illnesses is that, with the use of my new found love of essential oils (we can't give Grace most supplements and we have to try to avoid Tylenol because she is on aspirin everyday so having some sort of alternative to those types of things is exciting), the course of each persons illness was very short lived (a day or less).  We continue to praise the Lord that nobody's illness kept us from being able to enjoy our previously scheduled plans, to include...

     *4th of July with our good friends, where God so beautifully reminded us that earthly fireworks have nothing on Him!  We witnessed the most stunning lightning storm that we've ever seen.  Forgive me, I'm from California so I haven't seen near as many lightning storms that many of you Southerners have, but I never knew that lightening could go horizontally, from the ground up, and light up the sky with more than five huge bolts at a time.  Our kids are not fans of how loud fireworks can be, but fortunately they have sweet friends that love them through their fears :-).

     *Abby started an ice skating class (that's what she chose for her summer activity)

We are cheering Abby on and loving that we get to bundle up in the ice rink during this sticky and hot Texas summer :-)

     *Andrew is doing gymnastics again for his Summer activity (oops, event not pictured)

     *When Abigail started Kindergarten, she got her ears pierced (and the day that she started Kinder she got a little sister).  To celebrate Andrew starting Kindergarten, he isn't getting a new sibling (unless David adopts a Downsy Doo behind my back :-), but we surprised him by redecorating his room in a safari theme (since he loves all things animals) complete with a tepee (that even Grace gets a lot of use out of).

     *Both big kids did a Frozen theater camp this past week and at the end of the week they put on a play for family and friends.  The kids had a ton of fun (Abby taking everyone of her parts very seriously and Andrew not so much, however, he somehow knew all of his parts and dances during the performance, we couldn't believe it) and we loved getting to watch their hard work.  We brought Abby flowers and Andrew a Spider Man mask for a job well done!

     *My Mom is in town this weekend, so you know what that means...  time to get our nails done!  How cute is Abby's little french manicure?

Grace and Nana Lu Lu...

     On a side note, if only we could bottle up an ounce of this kids joy...  here is what I've been looking at since trying to type this blog post!

Village, will you please pray for health for our family (especially Grace)?  Will you please pray specifically that when we have Grace's labs redrawn to check her liver function (later this week or early next week) that all of her numbers are within normal range (they should be in the 0-60 range and hers were about 400 :-/ )?

Thank you, sweet Village!  PLEASE let me know how I can be specifically praying for y'all (text, call, email, facebook, etc).

"If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me." - Jeremiah 29:13

even if it's in the form of a much needed hug from God when you are feeling overwhelmed (a heart in the sky :-)