L1, R3, L2, R1......

The right combination has to be here somewhere! It feels like my families lives are going in circles right now.
In my last (very short) post, I said that my Grandma was facing surgery this week. However, in the few hours since that post, the circumstances have changed. Her arm was still to weak from that surgery she had on Friday, and her blood pressure wasn't right to do surgery. So the doctors decided it was in the best interest of all involved to send her home for a few weeks to get her strength back. Please continue to remember her in your prayers as she will have several more weeks to think about this. And also remember my mom...its only been a year since her heart surgery (which was done at the same hospital and by the same doctor that is doing grandmas) and its difficult for her to be back in that hospital.....too many memories.

Prayers

Please remember my Grandma in your prayers. She faces major open heart surgery this week....

1 Ice storm, 200 cookies, and 1 nervous little sister

Wray and I had an 'ice storm' adventure on Friday. Our area had freezing rain all thursday night, and by the time morning came around everything, including the road, was covered in a nice sheet of ice. When I pulled myself out of bed I called and cancelled hand therapy and then found Wray in the driveway chipping about an inch of ice off my car. If you could have lifted the ice off you would have had a perfect ice sculpture of my car :-)

Then, we watched a movie in the kitchen while I baked a double batch of chocolate chip cookies.....we have enough cookies to feed an army :-P We then decided to 'live on the wild side', as Wray put it, and take some cookies to Joel and Jaime on the snow covered roads. He went out to warm up the car and I discovered when I went out a few minutes later that when he said 'live on the wild side' he meant taking my car! Funny how that worked out, huh?

He drove so it also included taking the back way home, "to test your car in the snow." I was perfectly happy with never finding out how my car did on the back roads with snow, but we had fun :-P Or rather, he had fun laughing at me everytime I would cringe or cover my eyes. We took the back way with the agreement that he would pay for any damages that occured when we slid into a ditch and I would drive his Sunfire until my car was fixed.....he laughed at that too, so I'm not sure if he realized I was serious :-)
Wray is a pretty good driver though, and he parked my car safely back in the driveway at which point he turned to me and said, "See, no reason to worry." I then pryed my fingers off my dashboard and exited the car silently
:-)

So that is the story of our ice storm adventure

Late night reading

Hi Mom! I thought you might like some late night entertainment while you're staying with Grandma. Hope the night goes quick for you and that Grandma is feeling better by morning.

Wray and I took cookies up to Joel and Jaime this afternoon ( since we had around 120 cookies, we thought we could spare a few :-) ) We stayed for about an hour I have a cute Cosette story to tell you.....
We all sat for about 10 minutes and watched Joel and Cosette play 'football' in the middle of the living room. Cosette would get in her football position, (one hand on her back, backside up in the air, and the other hand resting on the floor), then she would say, "One, Two, Three, HUT!" And then they would tackle each other :-) She was doing all this in the dress she calls her 'beautiful wedding dress." Maybe you had to be there, but it was pretty cute.

The electicity was off for about 5 1/2 hours today. Wray and I played cards for 3 1/2 hours of that. And of course, I creamed him :-) The power came back on around 7:30 and now we're eating hotdogs with leftover sloppy joe sauce ( I made sloppy joes for supper wednesday night )
Cosette called tonight and told us that we could, "borrow our electricity until yours comes back" :-)

Everybody told me at hand therapy on thursday that my hands are looking great. I found out that I'm the first person with raynauds that they've tried this on. Bethany told me I'll probably end up being their 'spokes person' for anodyne. :-P I didn't get to talk to Laura about AC because it was a little crazy back there, but hopefully it won't be as busy when I go on Monday.

I wish I could come down with dad tomorrow, but I'm supposed to work at 3. Baylee said she will work for me but I need the hours. I'll be sending something for Grandma though. Think hard enough and you will figure it out
:-) I'm sure it will make her smile

I guess thats all thats been happening around here since wednesday. Well, one more thing, but thats a surprise and you have to wait to you get home to see it :-)
I'll keep my phone under my pillow tonight....text if you need someone to talk to.

Goodnight, hopefully I will see you tomorrow night. Love you........

Guys 'n Gals

I was at Jaime's house for a few hours today for the simple fact that I needed some 'sister, niece and nephew time'. In the few hours that I was there, I learned several lessons about 'Guys 'n Gals'......

Lesson 1: Girls Delight in art projects........Guys Devour their art projects
When I got there Cosette was sitting at the table painting a picture and Eli was getting ready to color a picture.
I watched Cosette for a while; she was doing a good job at staying in the lines and rinsing out her brush. Eli was being very quite so looked across the table to check on him and found him having a great time eating his crayons. :-)

Lesson 2: Girls think of an Aunt as someone who makes great Peanut Butter balls. Guys think of an Aunt as someone who makes a great tissue
Cosette and I had fun making peanut butter balls today. I'll admit, by the time we were finished we were a bit sticky...but we had fun none the less.
I noticed Eli rubbing his eyes and I asked if he was sleepy. He said he was and laid his head down on my arm. He didn't leave it there for long, and before he pulled his head up he took his nose and ran it all the way up my sleeve; that wouldn't have been bad except for the fact that he has a rather snotty nose at the moment. Yeah, you get the picture :-)

Lesson 3: Girls eat snacks slowly.....Guys eat them all at once :-)
Cosette and Eli each had a small cup of peanuts for a snack. Cosette was eating hers relatively slow (about one peanut every 45 seconds, which considering the size of one peanut is really slow) Eli took his cup and dumped every last peanut into his mouth in about 5 seconds :-)

Lesson 4: Aunt Kristin wouldn't have it any other way
I love it! The fact that Cosette wants sit on the couch and read a book and Eli want to do somersaults off it just shows how awesome our God is. He took the time to create each of their little minds and give them their own little personalities. We can't make Eli like dolls, and we can't make Cosette eat her crayons :-) So just look to the little ones to see the amazing work of our God!

The Bubble Wrap Dance

At home on a Saturday night with nothing to do, I decided to watch some old 'home videos' on the computer. I'm glad I did because I found a video that was thought to be lost forever :-) I thought it had been accidentally deleted a while ago......but that obviously was not the case because it suddenly appeared on my computer....who knows. Anyway.....this very cute moment was captured Christmas Day 2006.

Ladies and Gentlemen, I now introduce the dancing skills of Miss Cosette Elise. Prepare to be amazed........

(Cosette was almost two when this video was taken)

The Bubble Wrap Dance....

Memories

One year ago today, I was sitting in a waiting room at Johns Hopkins University. Wray was sitting to my right, Grandma Rosina was to my left. Pappy John was pacing the hallway and dad had found another 'waiting room guest' to talk to. Pappy Babe and Grandma Carol were also in the waiting room, I believe sitting against a wall to my left. The waiting room was full that day, not many seats were empty. I was keeping my mind occupied with sudoku puzzles and Wray had found an activity book. The walls were painted yellow, as if trying to say, "Smile! Everything will be ok!" I remember seeing Grandma Carol with her eyes closed and head bowed, obviously in prayer. I remember watching snowflakes hit the window, stick for just a moment and then melt away. I even had a little rhythm going in my head...." hit, stick, and melt. hit stick and melt." :-) ( it was a long morning :-P )

I can still remember the feeling I had as I woke up that morning in a town house in Baltimore.....walking to the hospital....and riding the elevator to the 5th floor. It was a feeling of dread and peace all mixed together. Dread because this day had finally come.....and peace because I knew God was going to work it all out.

......why do I remember this day so well? Why the recalling of every little detail?
January 23rd 2007 was the day Mom had her Open Heart Surgery. Its been a whole year already! To see the change in moms health from one January to the next puts me at a loss for words.....

God is amazing, isn't He!?

Remember to give your mom a hug today!