rice bag

Greg is at a conference right now, and I had a long day. I did make it through the weekend due to a wonderful invention my dear friend Vonnie clued me in on:

THE RICE BAG!

I sewed it myself.

For those of you who are not "in the know" on the hot rice bag, I must fill you in because it is pretty much amazing. You sew a little cotton rectangle and fill it with rice and VIOLA! you have the perfect heat retaining thingie for a throbbing face. You then stick it in the microwave for 30 -45 seconds (as hot as you can bear without burning your face) and put it right across that screaming sinus cavity.

The night before Greg left for his conference, I was laying in bed with hot rice on my face, waiting for ibuprofen to kick in and Monday morning to come complete with a doctor's appointment and subsequent antibiotics. Greg leaned over and said, "Tell me the truth, were you sticking peas up your nose?"

I wasn't.

Anyway, NOW I have antibiotics, a low grade temp, mucinex D, steroid nasal spray, saline spray, ibuprofen, and rice. Things will be getting better soon.

I also have to share pictures of my excellent husband planting trees after he tilled up new garden areas in our yard. I'll keep you posted on our progress. We are SO EXCITED for spring!

This will be a vegetable and herb garden (something the girls have been asking for ever since we moved in).

french fries

The weirdest thing is going on with my face. I am in terrible pain at the moment from the right side of my nose across my cheek and all the way to my mastoid bone behind my right ear. The weird part is that I have been perfectly healthy lately, not a sniffle to be had, and then WHAMMO! out of the blue, the whole right half of my head is throbbing. The bummer is that it became unbearable after office hours today, so if I am indeed dealing with a sinus infection, drugs are a weekend away. O well, that's what ibuprofen is for.

On a brighter note, we just had the most delightful company come and stay with us over Easter. Our dear friends the Larsons arrived on Good Friday and stayed until Monday morning. We feel as though they are family coming to visit, and indeed thanks to Christ, they qualify. We shopped, walked around the Hesston arboretum, swam at the indoor pool, played tennis, played games, talked, ate and ate, had an Easter egg hunt, worshipped together twice, cooked together, watched Enchanted, and stayed up way too late.

Grace kept us laughing, imagine that. Some of our favorite moments...

Grace in the front yard with Rosie, the bad dog whom I love:

"O, I love this dog. She is soooo cute; I wish I had a dog like this."

Alyssa Larson: "Grace, that is your dog."

Grace: "O YEA, I LOVE MY DOG!"

Monday morning as we are all wondering where Emma's solid chocolate bunny mysteriously went...

(refrain)

Grace went running back to her room where we all hear a little cabinet open and close and then the pitter patter of little feet rapidly running toward us.

"HERE, EMMA! HERE IS YOUR CHOCOLATE BUNNY THAT I BORROWED!"

Emma: "Um thanks, Grace. What else did you borrow from my Easter basket?"

Grace: "O, nothing, just some french fries."

Emma: "Could you show me the french fries?"

Grace: "O sure! (Repeat above refrain) Here, Emma! Here are the french fries." She tossed two mini starburst packs at Emma which both happened to be little yellow rectangles.

Good Friday

Good Friday...
It is a conundrum for me every year. I cannot call it "good" without cringing.

I say "Good Friday" while images from this day burn in my mind and break my heart. I cannot call it "Good" without seeing Christ's agony as He pleads with His Father knowing what is to come and asking if there is another way. I imagine the face of MY Savior set resolutely toward Jerusalem, having glimpsed the agony in His heart that is yet at peace in the will of His Father. The innocent Lamb of God led to slaughter willingly, so MY guilt is erased. And ME in the midst of my guilt turning toward the face of my Crucified and Risen Savior, receiving the scarred Hand that pulls me into His reward.

It is good, so good I have to weep.

What wondrous love is this, O my soul, O my soul,
What wondrous love is this, O my soul!
What wondrous love is this that caused the Lord of bliss
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul, for my soul,
To bear the dreadful curse for my soul!

To God and to the Lamb I will sing, I will sing.
To God and to the Lamb I will sing;
To God and to the Lamb, who is the great "I Am,"
While millions join the theme, I will sing, I will sing,
While millions join the theme, I will sing!

And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on, I'll sing on,
And when from death I'm free, I'll sing on;
And when from death I'm free, I'll sing and joyful be,
And through eternity I'll sing on, I'll sing on,
And through eternity I'll sing on!

Baby Lucy!

WOW! It's been awhile. I THINK all respiratory and stomach invaders are now gone. I'll share photo updates from the last two weeks.

My BIGGEST news that I was waiting to share until my sister had done so is that I have a precious new niece! Lucy Kiera Stevenson was 6 lbs. 12 oz. at birth and already up to 8 lbs. at her two week appointment. She is a healthy, beautiful blessing adopted into our family by Erika and Darin. Here's Lucy having her very first phone conversation with Aunt Kelly in the hospital (okay, it was a little one-sided).

Now I can share a picture of the quilt Abby, Emma, and I made for Lucy...

We had a wonderful time with my parents on their way back home to Texas after visiting their new granddaughter in Iowa. We packed a lot into our short time and started a variety of stomach illnesses on the day they left. Really sorry about that, Mom and Daddy. I hope you still haven't gotten it.

As soon as we thought we were ALL BETTER, we packed up the car, and the girls and I headed to Iowa to meet Lucy. We spent a night with Erika, Darin, and Lucy before going on to Cedar Rapids (two hours away) where Abby and Emma spent a few nights with dear friends of ours. The idea was to keep the chaos level down a little while I was "helping" Erika with Lucy. Well, the worst possible variety of stomach illness that had left twice already from the same child (for periods of 48 hours or so) came back to visit while at our dear friends' house. I donned rubber gloves and went to work on the bathroom fighting tears the whole way.

I write about this, because this is one remarkable friend. She has three girls also, is putting her house up for sale on April 1st, AND wouldn't hear of me going all the way back home without time with Lucy. She is a nurturer extraordinaire' and sent me off once we felt confident my affected child was doing better, with promises of rest and a BRAT diet.

Abby and Emma had a ball with their friends, and I held that sweet baby as much as I could. Grace kept things interesting and made sure there was an ample amount of chaos going on even without her sisters there. Erika and I had a wonderful time being Mommies together for the first time. We took baby Lucy and Grace on an outing to the mall. A few quotes from my small town child...

"Mommy, what means 'a mall'?"

"OOOOOOOOhhhh, I want to ride that!!" (pointing to an escalator)

"Now I want to ride that!!!" (pointing to a glass elevator)

She did get to ride on both AND the little Easter bunny choo choo train for $1. She got to sit in the bell ringing seat. We had fabulous cupcakes from a local cupcake bakery there and watched a little video in Gymboree; it was a BIG TIME! And she's certainly easier to impress than her two older sisters for the same amount of money.

It turned out to be a wonderful trip. On to the pictures...

And here's Lucy Kiera enjoying her quilt...



Hope you're enjoying a little less chaos, Erika and Darin. Congratulations, we love you so much!

Waiting up

I'm feeling a little strange, because for the first time Greg and I are waiting up for Abby, our oldest daughter. She had the opportunity to sort of pseudo-attend a youth group activity tonight (although she's not officially "youth group age", she's awfully close). She went along to some concerts in Wichita; I can't believe we're entering the "waiting up for our children" stage. Yes, it makes me feel like Abby is getting older, but more disturbing is how old it makes me feel. Why am I the one at home waiting up and not the one at the concerts? It's all happened so quickly...

That's why I just spent a little too much money ordering skin care items online. I'm not a "buy expensive make-up" type. I normally throw together what I need at Target, but I'm noticing more challenging skin care issues recently, and due to my recent aging comprehension and a Christmas gift card that got the whole thing started, I bought several promising skin miracles.

Today, Greg and I had a daytime date. It was a bit windy, but warm and sunny and beautiful. We definitely had a spring day, and we were inspired. We drove around Wichita between stops with our windows down. The wind blew our hair while we listened to loud "running" music, windows down, feeling extremely cool in our... MINIVAN. I got the giggles so bad imagining what we looked like to passersby.

O well, Abby's home now. She had a great time; I'm ready for bed.