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These are the weeks of my life…

Sunday, May 27

The Princess woke up croupy. No church for us today. By the end of the day, it was obvious she was only getting worse, so off to urgent care we went. We pulled in just in the nick of time. As soon as the doors opened, the parking lot was covered in regurgitated food. Yuk! Not long after, armed with steroids and an inhaler, we headed  home.

Monday, May 28

Memorial Day 2012 – Spend six hours at an appointment with the two younger ones for an evaluation. All a necessary part of the adoption as we move forward, but none the less, emotionally exhausting as well. We made it home to grilled salmon and grilled zucchini…awesome meal! The Good Looking One came over for a visit later, which always makes my day!

Tuesday, May 29

It was the Princesses birthday…ten years old. My how the time flies! I remember the day she was born and the first time we ever brought her home with us. She was just a few months old and I didn’t have any real idea of what her needs were. Several back and forth trips and now, hopefully, the adoption will be final before the summer is over! She requested grilled cheeese sandwiches and tomatoe soup. Home made tomatoe soup. (There are three foods I really don’t care to ever eat…lima beans, black eyed peas and tomato soup), but I made the soup and dipped the sandwich in it and smiled the whole time, because she was so happy that we had made her special request for her birthday! (Bboo shares my sentiment and forced the liquid down, too!)

Wednesday, May 30

Happy 20th anniversary to hubby and I! I spent some time this week sitting and remembering…I honestly can’t believe twenty years have gone by so fast! I also never would have imagined this wonderful, amazing life that we have spent together. And it’s a good thing we celebrated on the weekend, because there would be no celebrating on the actual day! Between work, court and dance, all he got was a text message. He, on the other hand, sent me a beautiful note, so he won the most romantic award for the day.

Thursday, May 31

I honestly don’t remember it. I think it was because I slept through it.

Friday, June 1

Another busy day of work, appointments, various sport events for the kids, etc. A quiet moment with the Talented One while we watched a movie ended the day nicely! It’s not often we get to spend one on one time together!

Saturday, June 2

Errands, cleaning, grooming dogs, etc! Finally, a houseful of people and a game of Hearts and Mexican train with good friends, because after all…there will ALWAYS be time for a game of Hearts!

But the best part of the week?

The Drama Queen found out last minute she is singing tonight. She is usually pretty confident, but was completely unsure of herself last night. The Talented One called her downstairs to the piano to work with her.

Sometimes, certain memories just stick…you know it’s going to be one you won’t ever forget. As I sat there playing the game, I was able to completely keep my composure. But inside, I was choked up and melting as I listened to him playing the piano and encouraging her while she sang, “Lead Me to the Cross.”

It was beautiful.

My family. My life.

God is good.

 

Cool Mom Award

I am pretty sure I should get the “Cool Mom Award.”

Bb00 wanted to get her nose pierced. For those of you who don’t know me well; let me share one thing.

I

HATE

NEEDLES

With a passion.

I avoided epidurals and had my babies natural just to AVOID that GIANT NEEDLE in my back.

I do NOT like needles.

Yuk.

So, her two older brother’s took her so I wouldn’t have to go.

Nope.

Because her older brother had to have proof of guardianship.

On the one hand, I’m glad to know kids can’t just walk in and get their bodies pierced without a parent’s consent.

On the other hand….that meant I had to go in.

Where there are NEEDLES!

Her brother’s conned me into going one night. And so, she got her nose pierced.

Cool Mom Award, right?

But wait…it get’s better!

The ring fell out when she was showering.

So, we had to purchase another one or let it close up.

Did I mention I hate needles? And that the needle they put through her nose was BIG?

She tried for two hours to get the ring back in her nose.

I finally admitted it…the only way it was going back in was if I did it.

So, the Smart One shined his flashlight in her nose while I pushed it back through.

She now has a pretty little blue jewel glittering her nose.

And me?

Just waiting for that cool mom award!

What is Family Anyway?

Today has been an interesting day. Twenty years ago my hubby asked me to marry him. This morning I dragged my family outside in the cold at the crack of dawn to take family pictures. We haven’t done family pictures in seven years. They’ve been threatened, coerced, and then threatened some more; no matter what, they would not mess up my family pictures in any way, shape or form!

And it was fun; cold, but fun!

This afternoon, hubby and I took some of the youth from our church, as well as our own kids, and went on a mission. Earlier this fall, the girls Bible study had come up with the idea of collecting blankets and then taking them this weekend to pass them out to the homeless, along with the Lovewell bags. (You can read more about that here.) We piled the kids, blankets and bags into our van and went off in search of someone to give them to.

As we drove downtown into the heart of the homeless, we were saddened to realize we did not have near enough blankets; or bags for that matter. We had to choose where to pass them out because we realized there were certain areas where there were so many homeless, we’d never be able to provide enough for them.

And yet, we prayed and asked God to direct us where to go. At one point we stopped and the boys got out to pass out the blankets and bags. The people were so grateful; it is so cold out tonight. One of the men took a blanket and said,

“I don’t need this, but thank you, I’m giving it to someone who does.”

They were sleeping in boxes, make-shift tents, and on the dirt ground in a lot next to the road.

Over and over we pulled to the side of the road, passed out blankets until we ran out, and then continued to pass out the bags. They’d see our van pull over and come running when they realized we were handing out something special for them. Having no home, they still smiled and said “Thank you” or “God Bless You” as we presented them with a small token: socks, snacks, water, and hygiene items.

And they’d tell their “family” to come over and get a bag; or they’d ask for an extra to hand to their friend.

They took care of one another. Family.

As I sit here thinking over the day, I am grateful for the home that I have. For my family and friends.

For God giving me a daughter who has such a heart for those who have so little.

We’re already talking about continuing. Next time we’ll bring more blankets. Next time we’ll add sandwiches to the bags that we pass out.

This week we celebrate Thanksgiving. I miss my family who is so far away and I don’t talk to nearly enough. I hope they know how much I love them and miss them.

And I thank Him, for reminding me of all that I have. Twenty years ago I never dreamed of a day like this. A good day. And a wonderful twenty years of blessings.

Hope Lives

It’s funny how sometimes it only takes a child to remind you of the greater things in life.

Lately things haven’t been going great; we’ve been reminded time and again how God is in control…and we’re not. We feel like life is in a sort of limbo while we wait for Him to move that mountain.

And then we have a conversation with a child.

I was visiting with some first graders when one of them came up to me. He noticed my ID and asked,

“Is your name really Hope?”

I responded, “Yes, my name really is Hope.”

He thought for a moment, then in all seriousness replied, “That’s a great name. It means that there is always hope. You’ll always have Hope. Hope is good.”

I smiled and told him that my family and friends will often remark that there is always hope when I am around.

He smiled, but remained very serious.

And then he said something else. I paused, taken by surprise, and asked,

“What did you say?”

He said, “Hope Lives. Your name means Hope Lives.”

Startled, I asked this bright SIX year old, “Do you speak spanish?”

He replied that he spoke a little bit; that he’d read my ID and saw that my last name was Vivas, which means to Live.

“You have a good name. Hope is good. Hope Lives.”

I let him know I was so glad to have met him and let him know I have a nephew with his name. He liked that.

As I left the room, I couldn’t help but smile. It was a really tough week. An even tougher day. But I reminded myself that Hope lives within me. As I’ve pondered this weekend, I’ve looked for the Hope that lives within me. He’s there, sometimes we just forget to look.

Until a child is sent to remind us.

Jeremiah 17:7
“ Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD, And whose hope is the LORD.

Romans 5:3-5

3More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

And my favorite…

Romans 12:12

12 rejoice in hope; be patient in tribulation; continue stedfastly in prayer;

 

 

Obstacles

My daughter mentioned obstacles this week and it’s been playing on my mind ever since. When something plays on my mind for too long, I tend to just want to write it out.

Obstacle:

One that opposes, stands in the way of, or holds up progress.

Any obstruction designed or employed to disrupt, fix, turn, or block the movement of an opposing force

Interesting definition, yes?

I believe there are two kinds of obstacles; good or bad. What’s hard is trying to figure out which is which!

Some obstacles are there to make us work harder; like a hurdle in a race. It’s meant to be jumped over and it takes training to be able to do it! The harder we work, the stronger we get…and in the end, we can rejoice in the fact that because we worked hard and didn’t let anything stand in our way, we accomplished something great!

But then, there are the hurdles that are meant to *stand in the way* or *turn*…us away from danger. Those are the ones i think so often we want to ignore. We are a stubborn people.

With this type of obstacle, I think of a road block. Here’s a good example:

Two years ago I was having some health issues. They were pretty serious and I was done dealing with them. I’d finally given up and decided to have the issues taken care of. I had to go through some pretty …er…invasive testing before they’d perform the surgery.  Everything was set up and ready to go.

The week before my surgery, I had a bad result on a completely different health issue, so my surgery was cancelled. To be honest, I am not sure at that point, what I was more upset about; the bad result or the fact that my surgery was canceled. It took another week for me to finish further testing in regards to the second issue; and I was cleared for surgery. BUT, by that time, my insurance had been switched and I was no longer allowed to have my surgeon perform my surgery.

See, now THAT is an obstacle!

Not one to let anything stand in the way of what I knew I needed, I went to battle. I fought and fought the system, got outside approval, and had the surgeon I wanted perform my surgery.

And it nearly killed me.

After the fight of my life, I spent the next SEVERAL months undergoing the most painful, humiliating procedures ever known to man. (or at least, me.) I will never be the same again. There are certain things I’ve just learned to accept. But I praise God that I have my life and I appreciate it more. He took this difficult time in my life and showed me just what HE could do when I let Him be in control instead of me.

But I also learned something else. When God puts an OBVIOUS or not so obvious obstacle in my way, next time I’m going to ask His advice before I just push my way through. (Later the same surgeon had his license taken away for some stuff…only to get it back, but it showed me that I shouldn’t work so hard to hurdle every obstacle that comes my way!)

We currently have some new obstacles going on…I’m sure we will always have them, it’s how we grow; but I’ve also learned to stand back, be patient, and say, “Ok, God, what do you want me to do with this one?” before I run full speed ahead to push my way through them, around them, or over them!