The Day She Got Broken

I have always dreaded the phone calls from school.  Really, ANY phone call from school in the middle of the day is never a good thing.

Hi Mrs B, this is Ms C - Hattie is sick. Come and get her.

Hey there, Hattie is having a rough day.

Hi ... ummm, did you forget Hattie's lunch today?  (yes, sad to say I HAVE gotten that one!)

I hate to tell you this but Hattie missed the bus.  (do not even get me started on this one!!!)

But the one I have dreaded the most is the "Hi Mrs. B ... Hattie is OK, but............"

Cause, really, she is either OK or there is a "but".  Ya just cannot have it both ways.  It don't work!

And, the weirdest part of the day it happened is that I didn't even GET the phone call.  Because everyone thought she was fine.  At least until the bus hit that bump.

But I digress, let's start at the beginning:

Hattie was at school and the day was normal.  She had actually had a very good day.  So, when time to leave approached and it was time to get ready for the bus, Hattie did so without issue.  Now, in her program, not all of the children CAN get ready on their own.  So, this day they put on a little video to make the process run a little smoother.  Hattie was among the first ready so she sat on a chair to watch TV.  But Hattie has a bad habit of tipping in her chair.  And on this day, every warning she had ever been given about falling out of her chair, came to pass.

Her teachers ran to her aid, got her some ice and moved her to the bean bag (her usual cool down spot). But Hattie couldn't see the TV from the bean bag so she declared herself all better and moved back to the TV area with no other complaints.

But, somewhere between the classroom and our front door something went awry.  She cried a little when they put her belt over her shoulder (the special needs bus comes with carseat like 5 point harness things - which they had been looking into moving her out of anyway because it was too tight).  And she REALLY started crying when the bus hit a particularly big bump.

I watched the bus pull up outside and, as I opened the front door, I heard her crying.  I knew immediately that it was an "I'm in pain" cry. When I got to the bus and saw her pale face and the fact that she refused to move her left arm, I knew we were in trouble.  So, off we headed to the emergency room.

As it happens (by the Grace of God), the girls had watched a show just that morning in which a character had to be taken to the hospital and given an x-ray.  By this point she was calm and had started to mover her arm slightly, but I could SEE a bump and knew that it was either broken or dislocated.  After I all but BEGGED them to check it out, a nice young man came to escort us to the big machines.  And Hattie happily marched down the hall declaring "I'm gonna get an x-ray!  I'm gonna get an x-ray!" And, because they had portrayed it rather well on TV, she was not at all afraid of the machines and things went as smooth as silk! PRAISE HIM!

Once the break was confirmed and I managed to refrain myself from telling everyone in the place I TOLD YA SO!, we were given a sling and sent on our merry way.  And now, two and a half weeks later, I can hardly keep her IN that sling and she seems stronger every day.  The first week or so was rough - trying to keep her from certain activities, hugs gone wrong, forgetfully pushing herself up, etc ..., but we got through it all and seem to be well on our way to recovery.

Have I ever mentioned that the resiliency that this child is Blessed with amazes me every single day?  She is incredible and I am so proud to be her mama and to witness the beauty that is her strength!  I know that strength will serve her well ... because I KNOW that God has big plans for her.

I cannot wait to see her become who He created her to be.

Home

The word "home" ... I think it may mean something a little bit different to every one of us.  But, no matter what visions that it conjures up in your head, I can only imagine they are powerful.  I mean, really, just think of the phrases that come to mind ...

Sweet Home Alabama (OK, fess up, who else just had Reese Witherspoon's face pop into your head? Yeah, me too.)

A man's home is his castle

Home is where the heart is

Home sweet home

Home for Christmas...

And, maybe that one, combined with our current circumstances as a family and the season that has begun to come around again, is why I am so desperate for "home" lately.  Maybe I feel the need to put the Christmas tree in the same spot we do every year, hang the stockings in the same way (maybe even put up some PERMANENT hooks to hang them on EVERY year!), put up the nativity in the usual spot and be sure that the village is just the way it always is (until I convince Hubby to buy me just a few more pieces again this year).  But here, in this house we rent - although we have done all we can to make it a home, we still strive for the tradition that comes with "home".

And, as anyone in my family can attest to, I am a girl bent on tradition.

Traditions ... they're just a natural consequence of home.

That last Christmas in the last place we called HOME was perfection.  Sure, we had to dig out old forgotten toys and wrap them up for gifts (the kids had no idea - Sophie had never seen them and Hattie had only known them for a few weeks before the LAST time we had moved). Yes, we were in the midst of sorting through and packing up to move. And, no, we did not have ANY money for anything extra for mom & dad.  But it was sweet - sweet, because the tree was decorated just the way I liked it, the village upon the mantle sparkled, the nativity outside lit up just right and the house - as always - still smelled of the birthday cake we had just baked for Baby Jesus.

Yes, it was HOME.

And this will be our third Christmas spent without a true sense of home.

But, this year we can see a light at the end of the tunnel.  We have built our financial status back up, put our ducks back in their proverbial row and have learned that - at last - we can begin to make a home for ourselves again.  And so the search is on for a house to make into a "home". There is a little bit more time left on our lease here so we have just been "feeling the market out" ... at least that was the plan.  But, when you are desperate for a "home", that's easier said than done.  And, every time we see one we like, only to watch it be filed under that label of "pending", home feels just a bit further away.

This unknown is not for the faint of heart.

But then, I suppose, that is where faith comes in.  Because FAITH tells me that this world - this "unknown" - is not my home.  FAITH teaches me that this world is just a vapor when placed against the promise of eternity.  Just a blink of an eye - gone in a moment.

And, then, in that moment, we will truly be HOME.  And that HOME - that place in eternity that we were created for - that HOME will never end.

So, I guess I could choose to let the lost feeling in the unknown pull me down and drag me under.

Or, I could cling to the safety that comes with the Promise of my true HOME.

So, as long as I am here in this unknown, I will cling to the glimpses of the promise that He has given to see me through...

My husband - as long as I have him I can make a home anywhere.

My children - oh, the promise that I see in them.

His provision - we DO have a house to live in, even if it is not ours to create a "home" in.

Hope - hope that we will have a house to call "home" someday soon.

HIM - and the True Promise of our True HOME.

And, in that Promise, there is rest and peace and comfort and love ... all the things that "home" should mean.

HE is my HOME.

Thankful

I have noticed friends on facebook and twitter playing a game (not really a game, but you get me...) every November celebrating 30 Days of Thanks. I have always wanted to play along, but seeing as how I lack (sorely) in the follow through department, I never have actually, ya know, followed through.

But this year I AM going to play.

I've already started on the other social media obsessions sites, so now I shall start here on the ol blog!

Now, this is the 5th, so I have some catching up to do....

1. I am thankful for my husband.  Lord only knows what that man sees in me, or why the Lord saw fit to Bless my life with someone so wonderfulm but I am NOT complaining!  Blessed is what I am.  Extremely Blessed!

2. I am thankful for my children.  My boys (and sweet daughter in love) - brought to me through the gift of my marriage. And my girls - brought to me through the gift of adoption. All brought to US through the gift of Grace ... so Blessed!

3. I am thankful for my fRamily (yes, that IS how you spell it!!) - friends you love like family and family you would choose for friends.  So many people have seen us through this life so well.  We are Blessed indeed.

4. I am thankful for food to eat - yesterday I was watching Beth Moore on Life Today and, of course, taking notes (TOTAL note taker here!). As her portion of the show was ending and I was finishing writing stuff down, Sophie came into the room.  They had moved on to show some of the children that their ministry strives to save - children literally dying of hunger and the diseases they are too weak to fight off, due to their hunger.  I looked at my daughter - the one who loves food ... cooking, preparing, serving and eating it, LOVES food! - and saw that she was STARING at the television in awe and wonder at what she was seeing.  She asked me what was wrong with those babies, so I told her that they do not have enough food to eat, they are very hungry and it is making them VERY sick.  We talked about it for a few minutes - no honey, they don't HAVE grocery stores or McDonald's or even a wal mart. Nope.  They just don't have food like we do.  She looked up at me and told me that it made her heart want to cry. Later, when we were praying at breakfast she asked if she could pray for the sick babies on the tebelision.  So we did.  And I begged God in that moment to NEVER let her know that hunger ... but to PLEASE give her a heart that WANTS to understand.  A heart that loves and wants to serve others.  The hands and feet of Jesus. I pray she never forgets what she learned in our king sized bed in the warm, dry house where cabinets overflow with all that we need to survive.

5. Today I am thankful for my camera and the little bit of financial assistance that it affords our family.  Those children of ours - Steven, Chris & Mindy, will NEVER know the dream that the Christmas gift sparked in me and how it is NOW a tool to help us all out while I am able to capture memories for OTHER families. As well as our own.  BLESSED.

So ... what are YOU thankful for?

One of THOSE Days

You know the one.  The one that beats you down and attempts to leave you twistin in the wind.

(note: I have always wanted to use the expression "twistin in the wind" ... one slightly twisted advantage to THOSE days.)

I wish I could pin point where the day started heading south. I wish I could make that connection and pop something up in the bulletin board of my mind in big red letters:

WARNING:  AVOID ______ AT ALL COSTS!!

Then I would know how to keep from having THOSE days.

But I don't know when it started. I can't tell you why it happens. And, I am not able to pin point and thus avoid the trigger.  And that stinks.

But maybe I am not supposed to know.

MAYBE, I am not supposed to avoid those trigger points.

Because maybe, if I did know and could avoid and were able to stay happy all the time, maybe that would not be really living.

Maybe we are supposed to have THOSE days.

Maybe we are meant to be reminded that this is not what it is all about.

Reminded that I am not supposed to float through my day in some 50's sitcom bubble in which my house is clean, my hair is done, pearls adorn my neck and my legs look rockin between the perfect puffy skirt and the 4inch heels.

Reminded that SOME days the junk is supposed to pile high on the kitchen table. I am supposed to barely make it through my 4:20a.m. workout. I am meant to stay in the workout clothes all day long, thus smelling my not so fresh self all.day.long. And maybe I'm supposed to run my tongue across my teeth at 4:58pm and realize that I never even brushed my teeth today.

(note: you may now feel free to pray for my husband)

Maybe THOSE days exsist to remind us that this thing called life is NOT about us.  We are not here to be comfy and cute and safe and ... well, SELFISH.

Maybe, just maybe, I am meant to be reminded that I need Him.  That His mercies - the new every morning ones that we sing about on Sunday morning - are needed MORE than just every morning.  Sometimes we need them every five minutes.  Sometimes we find ourselves on our knees, calling out for those mercies from the depths of our souls all.day.long.  Maybe that is just where He wants us and we just need to be reminded sometimes.

Yeah ... it's been one of THOSE days.

Thank You Lord.  Let me use THIS day ... and all of THOSE days ... to Your great fame!

A Whole Lotta Random

So, it's been a while since we chatted.  How are ya internet?

(silence)

OK, I'll start...  Let's talk about what we've been up to, shall we?

The girls are all settled in at school - Hattie is mainstreaming in the 1st grade!  FIRST GRADE PEOPLE!  What?!  Yeah!  She a couple hours at one school and is then transported to another school where she spends the rest of her day in her AI classroom.  She is doing SO well and making us so proud!  It is truly a miracle watching the way she just grows and grows.  God is so good!

Sophie is in preschool and LOVING it.  The only things she doesn't seem to like about it are the facts that she  only goes twice a week and there is no bus to take her there.  In fact, the preschool is housed in our church and I actually considered asking them if someone could just drive the church van on over to pick her up for school!  She gets ornery when that bus takes Hattie away and she has to get in the car with her mama!  Other than that, she is in bliss and thinks she is hot stuff!

Hubby is a busy man - busier that he has ever been.  He has been working overtime and is still running the sound ministry at church. And, now, on top of all that he is now a Deacon.  Given the fact that he has SUCH an amazing work ethic, he is really dedicating himself to all of these areas - as well as to his family.  I am so proud of who he is. I have NO idea why in the world God ever decided I was worthy of a man like him, but I am NOT complaining!  Boy howdy, I do love that feller!

As for me, I am just trying to keep schedules organized, people where they need to be and makin sure they have clean clothes on when they get there.  I have also managed to get a wee little photography gig off and running too.  This fall has been BUSY so far.  The house is a MESS and things are crazy, but I wouldn't change a thing!  I am having a ball and doing what I love!

I do have some stories to tell ... but that can wait.

See ya tomorrow!

A Princess, a Cat and Two Things ... Oh MY!

For MONTHS Hattie has told me she wanted to be the Cat in The Hat.  MOTNTHS - 11.5 months to be precise.  If not 12.  She may have even started telling me as we were removing that Tigger costume LAST Halloween.  She was pretty set on it.

Sophie, on the other hand, has changed HER mind no less than 12 times, but always came back to a pirate (which is what she was last year).  I searched high and low for a "acceptable" outfit.  We had squeezed her into a toddler outfit last year and it was sweet.  But, this year she was going to need a child's size.

And, y'all, let me tell you that child size girl pirate costumes are NOT for children.

I'm sorry, I wanted a pirate outfit ... not a pirate's HO! (sorry, it is what it is!)

I looked EVERYWHERE!  And, aside from the Jack Black/Official Disney/Sorry Kid, But Ya Might Wanna Go To College Someday/Ridonculously Expensive costumes, there was just not much acceptable for an actual CHILD to wear!  But I persevered people, I was one determined mama.  

And then, there in the Christmas Tree Shoppe ... on the last picked through costume rack standing ... there it was.  There was a boy in the costume on the package, but it could work for a girl and it was less than $10.

And the angels sang.

But as we made our way to the cashier, Soph dropped a bomb shell.  

"Mama, I don't wanna be a pirate.  I wanna be a princess. I think we need to find a REEEEAAALLLY pretty, sparkly dress.  OK?!"

Ummmm, sweetie, we have eleventy seven pretty dresses at home, what's say we wear one of them?

(here is where my future years as a mother of teenage girls flashed before my eyes and I, once again, begged Jesus to return before that happens)

"UGH! Moooooooom! (eyes rolling, arms folding, attitude flinging) .... **long drawn out pause** ... welllll, OK, but it BETTER be sparkly!"

And on the way home she informed me that she did not want to be just ANY princess.  NO, she wanted to be Rapunzel.  Blonde hair and all.

My olive skinned, brunette, curly headed baby wanted to be the chic with the long, straight, blonde hair.

Well, allrighty then...

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you 

A Princess, A Cat and Two Things!!!

 Seriously, how different does she look as a blonde?!

 Rapunzel dance - complete with singing at the top of her lungs in the front yard!

 Cat dance ... notice arm in the sling ... yeah, she is broken!)

 (Soph cracks herself up!  LOL)

 Snow White, in our story, will be played by the lovely Cassie Marie!

 Jumping out of her skin as the hand in the bowl both moved and spoke as she reached in for her goodies!

 No Cat would be complete without her Thing 1 & Thing 2 companions, would she?!

 They are OFF!!!!!

This pic was taken on the way to trick or treating ... kinda spooky and totally appropriate for Halloween, is it not?!

See ya tomorrow!!!

It's a BLOG FEST Y'all!

OK, gotta tell ya that I am just a wee bit (i.e. a hole bunch) ashamed of how long it's been since I last blogged ... but not anymore.

I am joining sweet Hollie and lovely Lindsee Lou and participating in the November Blog Fest!!

This means that I will vow to blog once a day for the month of November.

Ummm, that is a LOT of bloggin y'all.

Like, a LOT, a lot.

Mercy.

OK ... I already am a day short since I didn't know about this thang til today.  oops!  So, today I will post twice.

Stay tuned for some fun Halloween pics.

I know, you are on the edge of your seats ... all 2 of ya.

(i crack me up)

See ya soon!