Everything

I know that most of us have been experiencing some really hard times..this video always puts it into perspective for me. No matter where you're at or what you're going through, Jesus is there drawing you back into his arms, ready to fight for you.

John 14:27

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give as the world gives. Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.

But a breath

This morning we got the bills for Jim's ER visits (yes visits!) I have to admit that I've been secretly stressing over this. It seems like lately things have really hit the fan. I keep asking God "haven't we been through enough, yet?" Oh, what a patient and loving Father he is! While I am sitting here stewing over our problems I have forgotten to Believe and Trust in him!

Yesterday afternoon I was able to sneak in some one on one time with God. I turned to Isaiah 40 : Here are the verses that stuck out to me.

He tends his flock like a shepherd
He gathers the lambs in his arms
and carries them close to his heart;
he gently leads those that have young.

Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand,
or with the breadth of his hand marked off the heavens?
Who has held the dust of the earth in a basket,
or weighed the mountains on the scales, and the hills on a balance?...

Do you not know,
have you not heard?
The LORD is the everlasting God,
the creator of the ends of the earth.
He will not grow weary or tired,
and his understanding no one can fathom.

He gives strength to the weary
and increases the power of the weak.
Even youths grow tired and weary,
and young men stumble and fall;
but those who put their hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles.
They will run and not grow weary.
They will walk and not grow faint.

So through all of these trials I am coming to understand that God has it all under control (he is gracious enough to keep reminding my stubborn heart!!!!). My Father, who created all the universe, who can hold the oceans in the palm of his hand, can certainly handle my minuscule problems!

Psalms 62 tells us that we are but a breath, our lives are so short....too short to spend it worrying over things that in the grand plan don't add up to dust!

Trust in him at all times, O people;
pour out your hearts to him,
for God is our refuge.

Sooo, back to the ER bills: I was expecting the worst. He had x-rays, stitches, two ER visits....and both bills add up to less then $2000! To some people that may sound like a lot (don't get me wrong, that is a ton of money for us to spend, but I was thinking something with maybe another 0). I truly believe that God kept Jim's hand from being damaged far worse then what really happened (he basically cut down to the bone of his first finger, but he still has a finger and he didn't damage the tendon!). In my mind those bills could have been so much worse and for some reason we are still financially surviving even though he hasn't worked in over 2 weeks!

GOD IS A GOOD SHEPHERD!!!!

busy bee

bumble bee
Originally uploaded by princess and the purl

I just love watching the bees buzz around my neighbor's flowers. She is so gifted with her gardens...I on the other hand am destined to have rock gardens!!! (Jim bought me a pond for my birthday a couple of years ago. It's been pretty easy because I don't have to remember to water or weed it!!)

I have been on a total crochet kick lately. If you would have told me a month ago that I would be crocheting instead of knitting I would have said your NUTS!!!! I hated crochet! I hadn't done much of anything craftwise in quite awhile...now I've got 6 FO's and a blanket for J in the works, plus a few things in my head that I want to try!!!! I started the blanket for Jamie while on vacation. The first picture that I saw was typical spiderman colors (red and blue), but J saw one that was Spiderman 3 themed and he had to have it..too obsessed!!!! I have a couple more sections of black and white to do and then add the white through the vertical points to make the "web". So far it has been really easy..good car project! The other two want their fav super hero's now! Thank God for Ravelry and the geniuses who can graft out the logos!!!!

Road trip!

....well, maybe 10 hours is a bit of a stretch for a road trip! This picture is us just before we left, everyone is all set up with lots of colored pencils and paper. We almost didn't go because Jim decided to try and cut off his finger with a table saw on Monday....not my most favorite phone call. On Thursday morning he went to see an orthopod, who told him at least one more week off of work (in a half cast....hot and sweaty!!!) so we decided it would be easier to spend it away from home and all of its temptations to do things that he really shouldn't!

We traveled down to Springfield, MO to see our little Eddie get married off to a great girl! On the way down we made a pit stop at Jim's brother's house near St. Louis...Corey wanted us to leave him there..I think that they had every Nerf gun ever made!!!! We finally made it to Springfield Friday night, were able to eat out and the kids got some pool time in before bed. Saturday we swam them hard so that they could sit through the ceremony. The wedding was beautiful and we got to hang out with some of our Northern Il friends (Bethany it was so fun to see you !!!!)
We also made a stop at the Bass Pro Shop. I thought it was just ok, but the boys (jim included) liked to look at the boats and atvs...bonus was that there was a Starbucks inside!!!! Other then that we just kind of hung out at the hotel pool for the rest of our stay, since Jim was one handed.

The best part of the trip was being able to see my Great Grandma J. We haven't seen here in at least 2 years. The boys were so excited! How often can kids say that they have a great-great Grandma! She will turn 91 this year. She is suffering from some dementia, but we were lucky enough to see her on a good day so it was a lot like old times.
Needless to say, we've made it back alive and well. We decided to make the entire trip back up in one day..thank you God for the video player in the Yukon!!! After a ton of laundry and a lot of unpacking, I think we are finally back to normal (hahaha..until the next crisis that is!!!!)

Stented, Plugged and Ready To GO!

Just a quickie post:

My dad had his stent put in yesterday in Madison. Everything went pretty good. Dr said that his leg was clogged so much that the catheter almost didn't fit! (figure it's about the size of a wire...now his artery is 8mm!!!!)

Before, you would have to lay flat for 6 hours after having an angiogram. They did some new plug type thing that basically anchors into the artery and then plugs the hole made by the angio cath....you're pretty much ready to sit up and almost be normal right after!
(well, as normal as dad can be that is!!!!)

He made sure to give his nurses a hard time from the moment they took him back! It was soooo cold in the angio room. The nurse came in and dad asked if this was a new thing to almost cryogenically freeze you before the procedure so that then if they messed up they would just finish the job and keep you on ice until they figured out how to fix you! (ha ha ha smarty pants)

Wheeeeew!

Psalm 91: 9-11

If you make the Most High your dwelling-
even the Lord, who is my refuge-
then no harm will befall you,
no disaster will come near your tent.
For he will command his angels concerning you
to guard you in all your ways;
they will lift you up in their hands,
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.


This incident slipped my mind until last night when I came across this verse: The week of the 4th we were hanging out at my parents' when I heard this blood curdling scream come up from the basement. Jim was down in the family room with the boys (he was on the computer and they were playing with Kinex). Their latest thing to make with Kinex is this little gun thing that shoots out a little Kinex. My mom had rigged these targets (pool diving rings strung to the Christmas stocking hooks on their fake fireplace). Anyway...back to the scream....I don't think my feet even touched the stairs. I came down to find Riley crying, holding his nose....shot in the nose with the toy? No...worse! He had decided that the rings, hanging from the fireplace...remember the fake fireplace with the huge wooden mantle?..anyway..he decided to use those lovely rings, hooked to that huge mantle with bits of string (is your heart pumping yet?!?!?)....he used the rings like the ones on our swing set to do a flip!!!!!!!

So, just picture this: little 4 year old, 45 lb boy flipping on rings hooked to the mantle of a fake fireplace. Oh did I remember to tell you that the mantle just sits on the fireplace? There has never been a problem with that...my sister and I both survived living in the same house with the mantle...the other two boys have never bothered the mantle...but N...OOO...not dear sweet little Riley! I turned the corner from the steps to find my little boy screaming, mantle on the floor, big huge glass candle holder shattered.

Immediately I'm thinking broken nose, facial fracture, concussion, any other bodily injury that's imaginable.....nothing but a skinned up nose. Really skinned up is stretching it...it was more like a floor burn that just scratched the end of his nose! There is no way of explaining it! The mantle, which probably weighs twice as much as my little munchkin, landed on top of him. Jim literally had to lift the thing off of his HEAD!!!!!

My only explanation is this: God's angels had to have not only gently laid Riley down so that he wouldn't hurt himself on the brick flooring around the fireplace, but also like a feather rested this huge mantle on his face so that only the slightest of an injury took place! That deserves a huge THANK YOU JESUS!!!!

Just writing this makes my heart beat faster! Riley is going to be my child that makes me grey!!! Last year we were playing at the local park. There is this u shaped ladder that makes a bid arch before a giant, hugongus step on to the landing, which is about 7 feet up . Riley was 3 and decided to try and climb it. I could only hold my breath when I saw him stand completely up on the last rung, pump his arms backward....and then jump over to the landing! Seriously..I cried! He did it no problem, but all I could see was his little head hitting the bar on top of the landing, falling backwards only to hit the top rung of the ladder and then falling down to the lovely chopped tire bits below! God must have him marked for something special because that boy is going to be the death of me!!!!

100 hits!

frieworks
Originally uploaded by princess and the purl

I just saw that I've had 102 visits since June 8! This may not be a huge number to some of you, but it seems pretty cool to me! I'll have to be thinking about doing something for my 300th.....keep watching!

Is it an eel? Is it a fish? No it's super swimmer!

We took the floaties out of Riley's suit and he just took off...not so hot swimming with his head above the water, but watch out he's like a fish under the water! The first picture is Riley showing grandma his new trick and then he was swimming back to the ladder. He can also swim down and touch the bottom of the pool to pick up diving rings! Not bad for his 1st try at swimming! My little baby is getting so big!

Speaking of babies....I made these crochet animals for our friends Beth and Jeremy's baby shower. This was my first real crochet project. I am pretty satisfied with how they turned out....they are so much cuter in person!

I took this picture last night after we had a pretty big storm. The first line came down from the north then right on it's heels came one from the west. The result was this crazy colored sky and a beautiful rainbow....unfortunately my camera was not very helpful in catching it!

Just Believe

For the past few years Jim and I have felt this strong pull, like God is moving us some place, somewhere. It started out with Jim and this huge passion for the fire department and ems. Things seemed to be working their way to a paid position on a fire department. We saw God's hand in so many ways and then all of a sudden....nothing. Where was He? It was like being on the top of a mountain and then getting pushed off only to fall head over heels all the way back down. What happened? Had we not really seen God at work? Were we completely nuts? During that time of complete devastation I kept turning to passages in my Bible that said "Do not be afraid." I would reply back "ok...but I am afraid, I don't know what the future holds and it scares me!"

We are still on this journey of waiting, trusting in God and letting go of the need to be in control. The other day I turned to Mark 5. At the end of this chapter a man named Jarius was waiting for Jesus when some men came from his house to tell him that his daughter had died. "Your daughter is dead," they said. "Why bother the teacher anymore?"

This got me thinking. I can't tell you how many times it has felt like our dream (vision, if you will) has died....all the while standing in line to bring our plea to the feet of Jesus. Devastated, reality settles in..."why bother the teacher anymore?" Why do we stay, why do we keep on dreaming? Because God is the author of our vision. He planted this seed and in his time it will become the exact thing that he had purposed for us.

Ignoring what they said, Jesus told Jarius, "Don't be afraid, just believe."

I have been struggling to hold on to the "Don't be afraid" aspect of all of this, but this was the first time that JUST BELIEVE stuck out to me. This weekend service was on thirsting after God (Psalm 63: my soul longs for you in this dry and weary land). It's not just about seeking God, but about longing for Him and His glory, trusting in what we know about his character. Sometimes life doesn't go as we think it should, but we can trust in the fact that God is always there. Our Heavenly Father is on our side, whom shall we fear!

In the closing of chapter 5, Jarius takes Jesus to his home. Jesus asked them, "Why all of this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead, but asleep."

Jesus knew what he was about to do. How often do we get so caught up in our circumstances, wailing and carrying on that we miss the miracle that is about to happen. It would be like one of our boys throwing a fit because we passed McDonald's, but he didn't know that we were on our way to Chuckie Cheese's (that is the equivalent to a 5 star restaurant in our house..hahaha).

Then, just picture this, Jesus kneels beside the little girl's bed. He gently takes her hand. "Talitha Koum." (Little girl, Get up!). The girl gets up and starts walking around!

Whatever you're going through right now, whatever your struggle or your hurt...Jesus is there. He is right there gently taking your hand, telling you to get up. Your dream is not dead, it was just sleeping. If we were just given every dream and didn't have to work at anything, we wouldn't have a God, but some giant genie that could just POOF all of our desires. Trials build faith. They are God's way of drawing us close to him.

Sometimes we have to go through a dessert to get thirsty enough to long after Him--the water of life is like none other!