give thanks

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; his love endures forever." - 1 Chron. 16:34

so thankful today for my family...my husband, whose love overwhelms me; my kids, the sweetest kind of lovelies; wonderful parents, sisters, sisters-and-brothers-in-laws, nephews, and my dear mommom. (she is improving slowly and gaining strength...so thankful)

"Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name; make known among the nations what he has done." - Psalm 105:1

God has blessed my family in such enormous ways this year. he spared us in many ways, protected, held us close through fierce storms. He continues to love and change us. thanks and praise, quite honestly.

"We give thanks to you, Lord God Almighty, the One who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and have begun to reign." - Rev. 11:17

thankful for the kingdom...on earth as it is in heaven.

thankful for my friends, this little blogland here, who have shared with me and prayed for me and inspired me so often. may you have a blessed day, and know how much i love you all!

update

mommom had more surgery to clean the infected area. upon closer look, the surgeon noticed that during the previous surgery, he had snipped a part of her spine and she was leaking spinal fluid! that is now closed, cleaned and supposedly o.k. the staph infection IS MRSA. she is on the proper antibiotics, and the doctor seems hopeful. i have trust issues with docs, so...i'm praying. i finally was able to talk to her, briefly. she sounded very good. big sigh.

cheryl, lura's mother-in-law, had a very hard morning. internal bleeding - but not sure from where, heart rate dropping too low, not waking up after being taken off sedation, respirators. and then...she woke up! praise God - SERIOUSLY!!! she was to have a cat scan to see where this bleeding is happening and to figure out what caused this. i'm so thankful that chris and lura were able to see her. she wasn't able to speak yet, but i'm hoping to hear more positive news later tonight. she is still very serious (icu), but truthfully...she woke up. that's what we needed to hear.

thank you for praying.

i realized today that while this feels intense, it is just regular life. thinking a certain way about ann krestene's post about christmas...and human nature...and our brokenness. this is what it is. sickness, hurting, finances, trust...and then God. redemption. he provides a way out so that we can stand up under it.

hopefully we'll have lots (more) to be thankful for this time next week. amen.

the times...

are tough...

i was telling rachel how it has been hard for me to post, because things seem too negative and rough to share. funny thing is, they haven't been awful. in fact, i'd say things are going well and getting better.

and then we have bumps in the road. or head on collisions.

i am hoping for some prayer from my blogging friends.
my grandmother had back surgery last week to free some tangled nerves that were debilitating her. after a successful surgery and pain free week in physical therapy, she woke up monday morning with a high fever and a diagnosed staph infection, which, the doctor's say, could be MRSA. she's been transferred to the hospital, of course, and is undergoing lots of tests to find out where the infection is (MRI, blood cultures, etc). please pray for her recovery...healing. she's 86. a widow.

then this morning my mom called me early. mommom is ok, mom is on the way to the hospital to see her and talk to her docs. but my sister, lura, called my mom in tears. her sister-in-law called her to say they found her mother-in-law in bed, unconscious. when the paramedics came, her heart stopped. she's at the hospital now, and i don't have any updates. chris, my brother-in-law, lost his father about 4-5 years ago. he was very young (55?). chris is very sweet and loving. please pray for chris, lura and jonas (their baby boy). please pray for cheryl, his mom, lura's mother-in-law. please pray for chris' brother and sister, his niece and nephews.

sometimes, you just don't know where to begin.

ok...i'll try...

so i talked briefly with rachel on the phone the other day, then read this post, and said to myself, c'mon...write!

so, it may only be a sentence or two, and it may be mundane and not very inspiring, but i will try my hardest to post more. chris has the camera on tour, so there won't be any new photos, but maybe i'll pull out some old ones.

like this...our october consisted of a very special birthday...stella turning 6...


don't you love the red tutu over the t-shirt and jeans!?! she insisted...and i was thrilled! she wanted a "rainbow-cake-tea-party"...so i made up a rainbow cake!...very fun to mix and bake and play with all that color! all hidden under a real chocolate buttercream...mmmmmm.

then, of course, halloween. we thought we were having a princess leia and luke skywalker, but stella changed her mind the day before (yep) and i whipped up this costume thursday night before friday's trick-or-treat. again, she was SO happy...it is well worth it.
we were accompanied by lilly - the old fashioned lady, and ida - the girl beaver. good times!

so...maybe next time, i'll hit a bit of november...voting, tour, getting ready for the holiday season. see, there are always things to think on, right?