kansas symbols.

According to Sophie's paper she wrote on Kansas Day, these are some important Kansas symbols...

buffalo
wheat
meadowlark
sunflower
salamander
turtle
chottonwood tree
foneybee


Chottonwood tree is cute, but foneybee is my favorite.

i'm not sure what to do.

I'm sitting here listening to my 6 year old, out in the dining room, playing with her little animals and singing,

Bow chicka wow wow... that's what my baby says.
Bow chicka wow wow... that's what my baby says.


When Corey and I stop laughing long enough, we'll ask her where she heard this little song.

chemo.

Chemo and baby should never have to be used in the same sentence.
Pray for this little one extra hard right now.
She's at a very critical time.
Her first course of chemo started yesterday and will continue through Saturday night.



Pray for her mommy and daddy... that they would feel His hands holding them up during those moments they just feel like collapsing.
Pray that the horrible side effects that are possible will not harm their precious girl.
Pray that this little girl has the strength to continue to fight.

There are no words to describe this.
Someone said this morning, we need to CHOOSE to believe that God is in control of Cora’s life.

kindergarten.

Phonetic spelling in kindergarten and first grade is one of my favorite things.

I sorted through some of Sophie's school papers the other day.

I just want to remember these...

What did you get for Christmas?

My little kiddo on the Wall of Responsibility...

Tuesday was our 100th Day of School.

Only 70 some days left of kindergarten for this little miss.

It's going fast.

time.

I was feeling the need for a little family time this weekend.

Laundry and cleaning were neglected.

Lawson was pretty crabby from an ear infection and both kids have croupy coughs.

When we were getting a little frustrated during one meltdown, we just had to remind ourselves... we have two sets of friends right now that would give anything to be dealing with a child that is fussy from an ear infection.

So we did lots of snuggling. Read lots of books. Watched a few movies. And made a few messes...

Then, while I made supper these oh-so-helpful children "washed" the dishes.

Did they get water all over the counter? Yes.

Did they get water all over themselves? Absolutely.

Did I have to wash everything again later than evening? Of course.

But did they have fun? Most definitely.

And in the long run, is a little water all over that big of a deal? Not really.

Lots of extra hugs.

Lots of extra kisses.

Lots of love this weekend.

quiet.

It is 7:13.
Both kids are in bed.
We had a few too many meltdowns this evening.
I'm not sure if Lawson even ate anything at supper.
No Sparks.
No Cubbies.
Just bed.

And quiet.

yours.

I was pretty emotional at church on Sunday.
I cried three different times during the 80 minute service.

First they show this picture and share the news about Konley.
I love this picture of Russ and Konley.



Then they show these pictures and share the news about Cora.

She was diagnosed as Stage 4 cancer.
Stage 4.
They found 100 spots on her liver.
How is her liver even big enough to have 100 spots on it?

How can a face this sweet and a body that is so tiny, be so full of cancer?

Seriously... the sweetest family.

I taught with Jess for a few years.
Truly one of the nicest people I know.
Joel's a pretty good guy, too. We refer to him as "The Green Mr. Joel." (long story... but it came from Lawson)

I'm looking at these pictures... thinking about these friends... trying to imagine how they are feeling... and remembering this song:

Steven Curtis Chapman added the last verse not long ago... after the tragic death of his 5 year old daughter. I listen to this song and try to imagine being that parent. That parent that can say,
"I know, Lord, that this child is Yours."
He has given them to us to love and to care for, but truly, they are His.
He loves them even more than we do.

Then for our closing song, we sing this:

So I'll stand with arms high and heart abandoned

In awe of the One who gave it all.

So I'll stand, my soul Lord to You surrendered,

All I am is Yours.

All I am is Yours.

I am a mommy.

I am a mommy to two beautiful and precious children.

And the thought of losing either one of them is paralyzing to me.

(This would be where the third crying spell hit me.)

Jess, I am so sorry that you are having to go through this with your sweet little girl.

You and Joel are so strong. Your faith and your trust in God has already been an inspiration to so many people.

You can read more about their story at Jess's blog or at a new one just set up for Cora.

Praying for this sweet baby.

Praying for my friends.

Praying for all the parents who are facing the reality our children are not ours,

they are Yours.

because i need something simple to blog about.

Rules: type only one word and if you are reading this, consider yourself "tagged"...

1. Where is your cell phone? purse
2. Your significant other? Corey
3. Your hair? ponytail
4. Your mother? clone :)
5. Your father? veternarian
6. Your favorite thing? girlfriends
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your favorite drink? Diet Dr. Pepper (couldn't figure out how to make it 1 word)
9. Your dream/goal? happiness
10. The room you're in? computer
11. Your fear? unhappiness
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? together
13. Where were you last night? home
14. What you're not? skinny
15. Muffins? blueberry
16. One of your wish list items? laptop
17. Where you grew up? Abilene
18. The last thing you did? emailed
19. What are you wearing? pajamas
20. Your TV? news
21. Your computer? Dell
22.Your life? blessed
23. Your mood? tired
24. Missing someone? yes
25. Your car? silver
26. Something you're not wearing? makeup
27. Favorite Store? Target
28. Your summer? home!
29. Your favorite color? blue
30. When is the last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? yesterday

families.

Konley's family...


Russ, Jenn, Kassade, Keyton and baby London
(Russ and Jenn are our neighbors)



Jess, Joel and baby Cora...
who starts chemo on Monday.
Still waiting on test results, but praying for the "good cancer" that is easily treated with chemo.

Seriously, two of the nicest families I know.
Families that love their children more than life itself.
Families that trust in God and believe that He is in control.
Families that I admire so much.

Praying for you all.

cancer.

Cancer sucks.
Totally.
No other word for it.

Early this morning this sweet little guy lost his fight with cancer...

and this sweet little girl was diagnosed.

We trust in Him.

We trust in His plan.

But we don't understand.

Pray for our friends.

new testament.

Sophie's been learning the books in the New Testament for Awanas.
Are you familiar with these?

Galossians?
Ephillippians?
1-2 Fethalonians?
1-2 Flippers? (she was just getting silly at this point)

She's made it to Titus.
We're working on the 3rd section for this Wednesday.

We'll see what names she comes up with this week. :)

exhausted.

I am exhausted.
Totally.
I thought Friday would never get here.

I usually do all my catch up blogging on the weekends.
This week will be easy.
I haven't taken a single picture. Not one. All week.
I took hundreds of pictures last Thursday night, when we shaved our heads.
Three pictures of Sophie in Marley's kennel on Saturday.
That's it.
If you know me well, you know how odd that is.
I told you I was tired.

playing house...

inside Marley's kennel.

more shaved heads.

Jana's surgery started at 9:15 Thursday morning.

By 10:15, this plan was in action.

It was all Dianna's idea...

so we made her go first.

Although our little bald spots are not quite the same as Jana's, it was a show of love, of support, a reminder to pray. When we talked to her today and she said that her hair was already starting to grow out a little bit, we could all say, "Yes! Ours is, too!"

Poor Craig. He's thinking,

All I wanted to do was watch the football game... Now all these women are at my house. Being loud. And silly. And standing on my kitchen counter taking pictures.

Shana and Merressa had the tiniest little pony tails.

Pam had the longest.

Kristi as Cousin It.

Between Megan and I, (and GB and Claire who were using our cameras) we had almost 500 photos to document the evening.

Amy D. was one of the bravest. We all had her, a professional, to do our cutting and shaving. But she jumped right on board, saying that there as no way she could do this to all of us without doing it herself. Does she look a little nervous?

Kristi has a bit of an addictive personality. She decided this little patch wasn't quite big enough...

so she went for this, instead... (which really, if we used our Sharpies to draw a line with staples, wouldn't look that much different from Jana's)

I'm not sure Amy really wants us advertising for her salon.

Can you tell which one is mine?







We do love her a lot.

Obviously.

We wish you could have had McDreamy for your surgeon,

but it sounds like your guy did a good job.

She was out of ICU in a day.

She will hopefully be discharged from the hospital tomorrow!

Home to her kids, family and friends on Tuesday.

I can't wait to hug you, Jana.

It was so good to talk to you today.

My Eddie Bauer gift cards are just waiting. I won't spend them with anyone but you!

Love you!

how many girls are lucky enough...

to have friends...
8 friends...
who would shave their heads for you?



Jana is that lucky.

Jana is that loved.

More to come...

the trip.

The incredibly fun group of girls I went with...

Most of us were scrapbooking... Pam was quilting (amazing quilts!) and Meg was sewing all kinds of things.

I organized my ribbon...

We wore comfy, cozy jammies. Pretty much all the time...

Some jammies were more interesting than others...

We ate a few snacks... (sadly, this was only the selection in the downstairs kitchen...)

We had cranberry martinis...

Pam and Kristi played Macgyver and took apart the sink to rescue my earring...

I won't show you the "after" picture... but I did soak my earring in Germ-X for awhile.

We had pillow fights... (this was at the suggestion of a certain husband... you know who you are!)

We watched a dozen movies. Or more.

We talked.

We laughed. A lot.

spider monkeys...

a 6 inch whole wheat...
the bun on the lady's head who came for our towels...

Meg's interpretation of that bun...
Kristi sleeping standing up in the kitchen...

business time...

$50 fine for this...

$10 fine for that...

failure of the system will be IMMEDIATE...

driving the b.a.v...

My projects...

a mini-scrapbook of Corey and I's trip this summer...

and a new bucket for all Sophie's hair stuff.

The birthday girl... looking fabulous at 40!

Seriously... Megan made lampshades. She's awesome. We love her.

So much fun.
Such good friends.

And one more special project that we made for a friend who had brain surgery today...

If you like this... just wait til you see what we all did in honor of her tonight...