Please pray

Many of you have met my friend Linette. Her daughter Hannah was adopted from China and they are in the process of adopting a second child. Here is the e-mail she sent out:

It with a heavy heart, I write this email. I have tears rolling down my face because I'm not sure where to begin. My mind is going in a million different directions, so please bear with me.
Yesterday Scott took me to the emergency room with severe abdominal pain and lower back pain. After a long day and many tests, the doctor told us they found a large mass in my uterus and several other small tumors on the female organs. He said - We're 'fairly certain' this is cancer. Even though this is all very hard to swallow, we believe God can give us a miracle. We don't serve a God that is "fairly certain" about anything. He is an awesome God and we're putting all of our trust and faith in Him at this time. The plan is I will be admitted to St John's Hospital in Springfield tomorrow with surgery on Tuesday so they can take the mass out and determine whether it's benign or malignant. We're very scared but like I said- we're putting all our trust and hope in Jesus Christ. I have a beautiful family I love more than anything and I'm asking all of you to be there for them this week. For those of you close to Scott, he's going to need your support in the days ahead. For those of you with a special place in your heart for our sweet Hannah, we need you to be there for her this week. We're going to try to keep things as normal as possible for her. That's so much easier said than done but we're going to try. Please ask everyone you know to pray for healing and for the doctors this week. We believe in the power of prayer. So, after you read this email get on your knees and PRAY!

Straight Pride

We were driving by the church on Battlefield today that flys a gay flag on their flagpole and the thought occured to me....why don't we have a straight flag? Really, I'm sure there are people who attend that church who are straight but they are not equally represented on the flagpole. Oh, the injustice.

My addiction

I go through a box every 2 days. It is wonderful!!!!

Matt slayed our Goliath

Before

After

My husband has never been one to spend money on frivolous things like professional tree removal. He got a quote then decided to attempt to conquer the massive bush/tree/scary thing himself. Most of the shrapnel is now on the Cates' land awaiting the next bonfire.

I love this....

...it's so true.

Our week of firsts....

Maggie had her first soccer practice, which was great.

All the kids had their first day at co-op yesterday. Maggie is learning Bible, manners, history, science, music, and art. Lucy has lessons in about half of those subjects and Oliver learned how to manipulate his teachers into walking the halls with him. I love it and I still am amazed we got in at the last minute.

Lucy got her first birthday party invitation just addressed to her. She has not let Maggie forget for a minute that she gets to go to the teddy bear place and eat cake without her. We are working on kindness!

We got our first dehumidifier which I'm sure is not blog worthy to most of you but I have been very impressed with it. It takes like a gallon of water out of our basement air a day and the whole place smells better. Definately worth the money.

my one and only area of expertise

I've been getting a few calls from people wanting to know how to manage the pukey part of pregnancy. Seems after 3 go rounds, I've become something of an expert at this. We all need something that we can talk intelligently about, I guess mine is throw-up. What exactly does that say about me? Hmmmm... Anyway, I thought I'd go ahead and write it all down so that anyone can reference this if need be in the future. Here are my tips compiled from my experience, the advice of my former Dr. and my very wise midwife, and tidbits I've gathered from those that have walked this road before me.

1. Perspective- You do not have cancer. You will not die. There is an end in sight. It is all worth it. Keep this in mind.

2. Throw up when you need to. I would much rather do this than feel nauseous constantly. Become an expert at it. If you flush while you do it, no one can hear you. Learn from the bulimics. :)

3. If you are sick only first thing in the morning, it is a low blood sugar problem. Your blood sugar plummets during the night because of lack of food. Set an alarm for once or twice a night so you can awaken and eat a snack. This will keep a steadier blood sugar level and you will wake up in the morning feeling much better.

4. Always keep something in your stomach. Eat a snack every 2 hours. An empty tummy is a sick tummy.

5. Dandelion leaf tea. Gingerroot capsules. Liquid vitamin B6. Warm lemon water. Sea-Bands. Try it all. It won't hurt you and you never know what might give you some relief.

6. One day it will end. I am 13 weeks and today is the first day I've felt great in weeks. I think I'm near the end of it. I am even cooking dinner tonight which is quite the feat.

That's that.

Backlog of stuff

We had a great garage sale at the new house last Friday. It was the best one I've ever had. We almost sold out of stuff, we had a steady stream of customers, and only one was rude. Perfect weather, too.
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High Street night out at the Cardinal's. Lots of fun.

my baby is one

What a wonderful night. Perfect weather and company. The only flaw in the slaw being the hideous cookies from a bakery whose "good decorator" recently quit. Oh, well. I'm so thankful that God brought us this happy, sweet, son from the other side of the world. Adoption is amazing. Thank you so much to everyone who shared this day with us.