25 Days of CHRISTMAS Awesome!

Day 1

My niece, Tawnya wrote a blog series called "30 Days of Awesome" where she shared something interesting that she experienced for 30 days.  She is an adventuresome young woman and is doing what she loves.  She is one of the editors of Snowboard magazine and gets to live out her life writing about it, experiencing it throughout the world and she looks for fun all the time!!  She decided to write about her 25 days of Christmas Awesome and I am stealing her idea.  So here goes!


I, like Tawnya love Christmas!  I like the lights, the food, the decorations, the presents (just NOT shopping for them~it stresses me out to HAVE to find the right gift), times with family, our church Christmas program, the Mission Inn at Christmas, pictures of snow and the music!  Especially the LIGHTS!!  

My first Awesome find is this little book called Christmas Classics, The Story Behind 40 Favorite Carols.  We all know the carol, Joy to the World but did you know that it was written in 1719 by Isaac Watts who is known as the father of English hymnody.  He was the first prolific hymn writer.  He wrote over 750 hymns.  Watts was punished for speaking in verse as a child.  He loved to write songs of "Christian Experience" and this is what Joy to the World was to him.  It tells of the experience that Christians everywhere eagerly anticipate.  This song is about the second coming of Christ NOT his birth like most of us think it is.  


The world should be a joyful place at Christmas, but it isn't always so.  When Jesus comes back, though, as Isaac Watts points out, the joy of the whole world will be unrestrained.  Even the rocks will sing!  Something for all of us to think about this Christmas when we sing this beautiful song!  Now isn't that Awesome??


  
Thanks to Tawnya for a great idea!  24 more days to go!!

So confused!

The tree's leaves are trying to change...

however, just when we have a few cool fall days,

the next day is again a warm 80 degrees.

The leaves are trying to change but the trees are so confused!

Much like I am at what to wear each day!

Looking out my upstairs window

 it seems like a warm sunny day 

but then I step outside to a chill.

One day I may be able to put on my jeans and a sweater 

for more than a day here and there!

Until then I'm going to enjoy my 80 degree sunny day!!

Mason is TWO!!!

2 years ago I waited over night at the hospital to see you for the first time!

You were such an answer to prayer!

You are very LOVED!!

You have a contagious smile!

You get so excited when I come to see you!

Grandma loves your blue eyes and your precious hands and feet!

 I just love your sweet kisses!

I love how you call me Nama!

I love how you like to sleep with your Bible!

I pray you grow to love the God of your Bible!

We have so much fun each week as we go to the park, shopping or 

jumping off the speed bumps in the parking lot!  

You light up my life each week and I love every minute of it~

HAPPY 2nd BIRTHDAY MASON!!

Promise Grandma that you will be little forever!!

An Update on my Dad!

This was my dad last year with Danielle & Mason and me.

Last week we almost lost my dad.

He saw the bright shining light twice.

He was on a ventilator for 11 days.

He had many people praying for him.

Many have never met him.

And I thank you all for that!

He is a fighter.

My brother, my sisters & I have rallied around him.

He is very sick.

He moved in a Nursing Home today.

He still has fluid on his lungs.

He cannot drink or eat anything yet thru his mouth.

He has a feeding tube in his stomach in temporarily.

They say after being on a ventilator for so long that you have to relearn to swallow.

He has abused himself with alcohol and cigarettes for many years.

Through this we have found out that he has prayed to accept Jesus as His Savior a couple times.

Thank you Jesus!!

I saw my dad cry for the first time in my life last week.

He knows all of us kids love him so much!

We've said it more these last two weeks than in years.

My dad is a tough one to get to know.

I've always loved my dad.

I am his favorite!

I know I am!

Just hoping and praying he gets well soon.

I'm not ready to let go of him yet.

Love you dad!

Mama and her piano!

My mom is battling Parkinson's.  

She is my hero as she lives with this each day. 

 She also drives me crazy as she lives with this each day.  

She has found that playing the piano is soothing to her soul 

It helps keep her mind and body strong.  

Last weekend I was over to visit my dad(who is no longer married to my mom).

 He is very sick and is in the hospital. 

We almost lost him last week. 

I stopped in at her house for a visit.

I had her play for me.  

It was wonderful!  

She was happy!  

It brought a smile to her face. 

And to mine!

 So many things are hard right now and this made her happy.

She says she will practice.  

She used to have a piano and would play for her grandchildren when they were little.  

It was sweet!  

I can't wait to see her play for them again at Thanksgiving when we will all be together.  

She will also have 5 great grandchildren to play for then.  

My mom had a surgery in July called Deep Brain stimulation.  

They had to shave half of her hair off.  

She is letting her hair grow out in it's natural color and keeping it short.  

She will have another surgery in January 2011.  

She is brave! 

 She is beautiful!  

She is my crazy bionic mama! 

I love her with all my heart!

The piano makes her happy!

It makes me happy to see her happy!

Miracles and Answered Prayer!!

Yes...God does hear our prayers and still shows us miracles today! 

Today my family received a miracle and I know that it was because of the many prayers said on behalf of my dad and our family that my dad is awake and off the ventilator for the first time in 10 days!!!  We are over the moon!!  My sister talked with him and he is glad to be awake although he doesn't remember how he got there and was amazed to find out he had been in the hospital for 13 days.  For now...we are so happy that he is once again among the living and wants to get better.  He was thirsty!!!!

Thank you to my heavenly father for answering our prayers for a sign or a miracle.  We(my brother, sisters and my dad's wife) meet with the cardiologist and pulmonologist about dad tomorrow.  I am heading to Arizona in the morning!  I'm like a little girl running to her daddy once again.  I can't wait to see him!! 

Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs!

It's cloudy and cool today and I'm okay with that!  I'm glad to be home after a quick trip to Arizona to visit my dad who is very sick and in ICU at this time.  He is a bit better and breathed on his own for a couple hours yesterday.  He has been on a ventilator since last Monday and they need to get him breathing on his own.  Small steps and lots of prayer are getting him through each day.  My brother said he opened his eyes the widest and was the most responsive when I was there.

I am his FAVORITE child!!  I really am!  But aren't we all our parent's favorites??  We've always had a wonderful bond.  I was his first child and followed him around everywhere.  I loved watching sports with him, working on things in the garage with him and just hanging out with him.  He was my softball coach, my biggest cheerleader and a loving dad.  He was a man of few words and is very private at times.  He is however, the life of the party when he gets a drink in him!!  Everyone loves him and he's in his prime!   However, his drinking and smoking have taken a toll on his body and that's a major part of what's keeping him from healing faster.

Thanks for praying and keeping us in your thoughts.  We all love our dads no matter what and that's the way it should be!  Love ya Dad!  Praying that you will be better soon!