betsy.

Thank you so much to all of you who have been praying for little Betsy today!
Her mommy sent me good news from the hospital!


When they took her in for surgery this morning they told us that there was a good chance that they would have to remove her eyeball at that time. Then a miracle happened, they got her into surgery and found that the eye had remained intact and that they would not have to remove it. Praise God! They do not know about her vision in the damaged eye at this time. We will go back Wednesday and next Monday to check for infection, then schedule a time in the next 2 weeks to do another surgery to remove the stiches.


I can't imagine what a relief this news is to Sara and Zack. I know the thought of tiny little Betsy having to lose her eye was a huge worry for them. Please continue to keep this sweet family in your prayers.
Thank you all!

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think,

according to the power that works within us."

Ephesians 3:20

please pray.

Remember when I asked for prayers for Britton? She still hasn't had her surgery. Soon. 

Tonight I'm asking for prayers for Britton's sweet little neighbor... Betsy Kate. 

Betsy's mommy, Sara, grew up 2 blocks from me. (She's Sarajane now, but she'll always be Sara to me.) :) Now she lives across the street from my sweet friend, Danielle. Sara and I spent hours playing together when we were growing up. And we really played. No TV, video games or board games for us. We were a couple creative little girls, let me tell you. 

Sara is now an amazing mommy to 3 sweet, sweet little ones. She is a hilarious story teller. I'm not sure if her life is just crazy funny, or if she can just make everyday things funny. Either way, she's so much fun to be around. I think Ella Kate takes after her mommy. She's a pretty creative little devil. 

Max is just crazy cute. 

And this is Miss Betsy... 

Miss Betsy needs some serious prayers. On Friday an object fell and crushed her eyeball. Surgeons performed a 4 hour surgery Fri night/Sat morning at Children's Mercy and were able to reconstruct the eyeball, using 31 stiches and reattaching numerous muscles. They are not sure about vision in the damaged eye, but reports are not good. Her parents are guessing at this point that only God can restore her vision in her left eye, but they are so, so thankful that He was protecting their baby girl. Betsy could have easily been killed or had serious skull or brain damage.

Sara said that today the swelling went down and she opened both eyes. The injured eye was moving in unison with the other eye... which is nothing short of a miracle. It was a very encouraging day for them. Betsy also started to eat better and her pain control was finally managed.

Tomorrow morning at 7:30 they will do an exploratory surgery to make sure that the eyeball has stayed together and is not losing fluid. They will do additonal stiches or repairs if needed. Zack and Sara's main prayer request right now is that her eyeball is still intact and they will not have to remove it completely. There are several more surgeries in the future. She will have another surgery in 2 weeks to remove the stiches. Also after tomorrow they will be able to asses the full extent of the damage and figure out where to go from there.

Will you pray for Betsy? And her mommy and daddy?
Pray for the surgeons, doctors and nurses?
Pray for Max and Ella Kate as they are away from home and away from their mommy and daddy?
(Maybe pray for Aunt Katie, too, since she's now in charge of 5 kids under the age of 6.)

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." 

Philippians 4:6-7

Thinking of you so often, Sara! 

Much love and prayers headed your way... 

crown uptown.

On Friday, our school took all of our K-1 students on a field trip to see "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie" at a nearby dinner theatre. (We usually take the entire school, but this year our 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders went to the high school production of "Annie" in the fall.) Over 70% of our students are living at the poverty level, so it is such a neat experience to be able to take them here... 

Our cute little 1st grade team... (I am seriously the old lady of the group.) Funny story... Abby has joked all year that she will be getting her tubes tied at the end of this school year. (She's 23, I think? But she has quite a crew in her class this year.) She said Friday that Lawson is what is making her rethink her decision. She loves him. He's only recently started talking to her... but he cracks her up. I told her she could borrow him anytime. :) 

Our dinner theatre consists of a high class meal of hotdogs, chicken nuggets, fish sticks, french fries, mac & cheese, applesauce and a cookie. Perfect for a theatre full of 500 kids. 

This fox wanders around giving hugs and high fives before the show starts. 

I was able to sneak away from my class to steal a hug from this cute little guy... 

How cute are he and his best friend? Love, love this little guy and his family. We have such a diverse student population at our school. I love that my kids get the opportunity to become friends with such a wide range of kids. They have both made such strong friendships this year and I could not ask for better friends for them. (Lawson spent quite a bit of time trying to spike his hair up like Ezzie's Friday night. It just doesn't work quite the same with all that curl, buddy.)

These last two pictures just make me smile. My twins. Love them to pieces, but they are just pure ornery. Quite possibly the loudest, most active (in a non-ADHD kind of way) kids I have ever had. Times two. You have no idea how many times I see this look each day...

Pure, pure orneriness... 

happy places.

This Mommy/Daughter date night could not have been any happier.

Olive Garden... (I'm not sure why I even ordered a meal. I should have just eaten salad and breadsticks. Lots and lots of salad and breadsticks.)

Do you see the matching outfits? These two had been planning this evening for weeks. Hair, jewelry, clothing, shoes... they had it all planned out. 

After we stuffed ourselves at Olive Garden, we went to two more of my favorite places... Hobby Lobby and Target. (Abi wasn't too sure about Hobby Lobby at first, but then we realized she was confusing it with Home Depot.) 

And then... I was introduced to a new happy place... 

Cute orange shovel spoons in a happy flower basket. Love.

Love the sweet friendship these two have...

Love this little miss...

Thank you, Danielle, for introducing me to my newest happy place! You're the best! (Click on Danielle's name to read her cute post about our evening!) 

puddles.

Playing in creeks... splashing in puddles... cute rainboots are a necessity in this house...

picture day.

Today was picture day at school. The posed, full body shot ones. 

I had a cute green dress picked out for Sophie to wear. 

Last night I saw the little line on the bottom of the picture note that said, "Avoid wearing green." 

So we came up with a Plan B for Sophie. (purple) 

But somehow that little tidbit (avoid wearing green) slipped my mind 20 minutes later when we were picking out Lawson's shirt. He chose a bright green button up shirt that he looks adorable in. 

But it happened to be the exact same shade of green as the background. 

Awesome. 

I'm thinking that you'll see jeans and a little floating head in his picture. 

He wasn't crazy about the thought of wearing a button up shirt all day, so I told him he could take the green shirt off after pictures and just wear the t-shirt. When I saw him later at recess, this is what he looked like... (minus the gum stretched across his face...)

I have no idea what happened to this kid at lunch or how he managed to end up looking like this.
I guess I should be thankful they took pictures before lunch.

a new day.

"Finish every day and be done with it. 

You have done what you could. 

Some blunders and absurdities no doubt have crept in; 

forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; 

begin it well and serenely and with too high 

a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. 

This day is all that is good and fair.

 It is too dear, with its hopes and invitations

 to waste a moment on yesterdays." 

Ralph Waldo Emerson 

Even though this day isn't over... I'm already looking forward to tomorrow.

Tomorrow has to be better.

Right?