2009-A Year to be Held in the Palm of His Hand

I've tried to write this post all day...but every time I try to write it the tears just flow. So, instead I have baked and cleaned, and done laundry, and visited so many of your amazing blogs. But, it is time to write....time to somehow recap all that God has done for us this year...and I am so afraid that I will fail at my futile attempts to write His story.

You see, I want to tell you about His great faithfulness to our family...but I hope you have already seen that in most of my posts for this year.

I want to tell you that there is no way I could have survived this last year without Him...but I hope that you have seen that too!

I want you to know that in the deepest, darkest, most awful place of my heart and in Rachel's pain this year...that I found Him to be all-sufficient...but I hope that you have seen that in my posts already too.

I want you to know....I need you to know....that I am so grateful for how He has intervened and gone before us...He could have chosen a different path, a different outcome, but in all of His marvelous mercy and grace....He chose to heal our daughter completely...and as I sob through that last sentence, my voice shouts praise and thanksgiving to the One who did what only He could have done! And I will never stop thanking Him....for His unmerited favor, for His mercy, for His grace, and for this amazing journey of faith. It certainly wasn't deserved; it was all Him!

I want you to know that your love and support for our family has been so gratefully appreciated. There were many days that I felt like I was holding on by a small string...and you were there. God has heard my many prayers of thanksgiving for all of you....I hope that you have heard them too.

I also want you to know that even during our dark, uncertain days, even during the impending days of brain surgery, there were days filled with joy and laughter....I hope that you have seen that too.

Tomorrow will mark the one year anniversary to our trip to the ER with Rachel and the journey that seemed to begin on that very day. I'll never forget the agony of hearing the diagnosis last January 4th, and trying to figure out all that Arnold Chiari would mean for our family. I remember so vividly pleading with the Lord in the night, "What am I going to do?" And He lovingly replied, "What is I Am going to do?"

Oh, the Great I Am, how I love Him. My love for the Lord is almost inexpressible; it is hard to put into words all that He means to me. What a year 2009 has been. It has definitely been a year to be held in the palm of His mighty hands....and even though it was one of the most difficult years our family has ever known, we are so thankful for this marvelous journey with the Lord.

Last year, I posted this video from Sermonspice.com , and it meant so much to me then, but oh how much more it means to me now, so I thought I would post it again.




None of us knows what 2010 will hold but we can be certain that we know Who holds 2010 in His mighty hands, and if we are in His hands, we are in the best place ever.

If you are still reading this, I want to bless one of you with a book that has become so dear to my heart. I have talked about this devotion book most of this year. The book is Streams in the Desert by L.B. Cowman. I have written all over mine, but I picked up a brand new copy last week. If you would like an opportunity to win a new copy of Streams in the Desert, please leave me a comment telling me what God has done for you this last year. We will draw the winning name on Monday, January 4th, the anniversary of the Rachel's confirmed diagnosis.

Thanks for being such a blessing to me this past year! May the Faithful One continue to bless you and keep you and to cause His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you.

Feed the Birds

Good morning! I'm just dropping in to say, "It's snowing outside!!!!!!" Yippee. I know my version of "snow"is different from yours, thank you Kim @ Seasons of My Heart, who giggled at our last snow day because she gets the big snow (not that I am jealous or anything-okay, I'll be honest, I totally am). We are hoping for the big snow here too!

Anyway, with the wetter, colder weather coming back to town, the girls and I have been concerned about the birds....the fat, excuse me I should say plump or fluffy doves (I much prefer that term myself after everything that I ate over the last week....and it makes me think of my precious Aunt Faye who had a magnet in the shape of a sheep on her refrigerator that read, "Ewes not fat, Ewes just fluffy"). They were the smart ones who went into hiding during dove season. I think it is funny that they like to hang around our home after dove season is over....the one where 2 mighty hunters reside (no-not me...Mr. Incredible and Hannah).

I had a little left over cornbread from making PW's stuffing, which is delicious by the way. So, I sprinkled a little on the driveway on Christmas Eve morning, and then accidentally drove over it as we left for Christmas Eve dinner at Mom and Dad's....yes I know they live next door, but it was like 15 degrees outside and we had a lot to carry, so we did what any smart one would do and drove next door, it was a fine little house on the prairie moment. Ha!

When we got back home, those plump little dove had licked off every little morsel that was mashed into our driveway. On Sunday morning, the girls resolved to feed the birds a little better than their momma, so they carefully made cute little piles of crumbled cornbread all along the front sidewalk...far away from my suburban. And...no birds came. Apparently, they like the taste of rubber with their cornbread.

A few minutes later, they arrived in sweet little family groups to eat Sunday cornbread together. We had fun watching them eat until their fluffy little bodies became even more fluffier and then we headed for church. This is what we saw when we drove up to our house after church:

Word travels fast in Dove land and those pictures don't even begin to do the scene justice (did you notice the chimney?). Every eave along the house was lined with dove. We counted over 300 and then Mr. Incredible looked at me, a bit sarcastically, and said, "Want me to get my gun now?" and then mumbled something about the mess they would make all over the house.

Apparently, we were blessed with very conscientious birds, because they did not mess up our house....but I bet they found his truck after hearing his gun comment. Ya'll have a blessed day. I'm off to watch the falling snow.

All is Calm...All is Bright...How About Exhausted?!

Our Christmas was the best one ever....we received our gift on Rachel's surgery day, November 24th! It has been a wonderful, month long celebration! I hope that your Christmas was merry and bright and filled with Christ too!

But, this girl is a little exhausted...how about you? I don't even know where to begin with our Christmas 2009 recap, so I'll just dive in with some pictures:


A few family shots before the Christmas celebrations began.

On Tuesday, Rachel invited several of her high school buddies over for dinner and a movie and Hannah had 3 of her closest Bff's over to spend the night:

They included a fun "White elephant" gift exchange:

Early Wednesday morning my Uncle from Oklahoma surprised us a day early...I think he was the one that was surprised though...I still had a house full of pre-teen girls and all of my baking and cooking to do. My kitchen was a mess and I was a vision in my pink bath robe!

I had 14 pans ready to fill with Pioneer Woman cinnamon rolls. While the rolls were rising I made my Granny's Brown Sugar Pound cake....look how beautifully it turned out (just keeping it real). Thankfully, it tasted delicious....I hope my cinnamon rolls turn out better!

It wasn't long before the delicious, cinnamon rolls were ready. Rachel called one of her buddies to come over and have a fresh from the oven cinnamon roll....he is a friend and also one of my students...and yes, I was still in my pink bath robe (oiy-vay!). The rolls cooled and then I carefully packaged them for the neighbors (sorry Darci-ya'll were already gone).

I finished all of my baking and cooking and finally showered. We went out to lunch with my Uncle and Mr. Incredible, ran a few errands, ran home to cook dinner, and finally fell into bed at about 11:00. I still didn't have one present wrapped!

The next morning I set my alarm extra early. To our surprise, there was snow on the ground. Yippee! Mr. Incredible went to work, the girls were sleeping soundly and I finally had my moment to wrap the presents. I was so thankful that the gifts all came out even (my girls still count...didn't you?). Christmas Eve at last! We always celebrate with my parents on Christmas Eve.

My mom & dad and my 3 favorite girls in the whole world!

Mom's table was set so beautifully. I love the bows on the chairs!

Here is Uncle Tony and my brother(who traveled 11 hours to get here-it should have only taken 4 1/2 but he ran into a lot of ice).

On Christmas morning the girls woke up early to find their gifts:

Hannah wanted her first hunting gun (Mr. Incredible could not have been more proud) and Rachel wanted boots. After our celebration at home, we headed to Mr. Incredible's parents house for Christmas with his parents, his sister and brother-in-law and their 2 boys.

Look what I saw in the kitchen:

Here is the culprit-Nonnie! The girls with their cousins:

...tired of taking pictures:

We feasted-lobster and steaks-yum!
My mother-in-law is a caterer. Have you ever had asparagus wrapped in prosciutto? It is delicious!

It wasn't long before my youngest nephew looked at me with those beautiful eyes and said, "Aunt Kiki, is it time to open presents yet?" How could anyone say "no" to this face?

It was a wonderful Christmas week....and this Momma treasured it all in her heart!

Happy Birthday Jesus!

Jesus, we love you!

May you and your family have the absolute best, Christ-filled, Christmas ever!

Oh, King of kings, and Lord of lords, Happy birthday! Thank you for your incredible gift of salvation and the joy we share in being called your children! There is none like you.

O come, let us adore Him!

It's Me Again, Margaret!

Yep,still waiting! I thought I would share a few things
I have learned while stranded in the waiting room. I'll be
gracious and share the top 3:

1. Baptists don't wear makeup- it's not allowed. At least that's
what the lady next to me said. I didn't have the heart to tell her
that I have been a Baptist all my life and I enjoy makeup. Wait til I tell
Mom-she is a baptist preachers wife! ;-)

2. You are never too old to need soap for your mouth

3. What other people think of you is none of your business. I
rather like that one.

I think I have aged 10 years in this waiting room

yay they just called my name. Woo hoo!!! Thanks for
keeping me company.

On the 3rd day of Christmas I'm still in the Waiting Room!!

Christmas is 3 days away!!!!! Three days! Are you ready?
Am I? Spiritually, I am ready to celebrate Jesus but physically...that's another story
I normally do all of my Christmas shopping in July and then
wrap my gifts the first week of December. This year I have turned a new leaf; I don't
have one present wrapped and I bought my last gift yesterday with all of the happy, peppy
people yesterday (I'm using the term happy very loosely).

The girls and I had one more gift to buy for my Dad and Mr. Incredible. We found exactly what
we were looking for but it was high above us on the very top shelf at Academy. We were in the
manly man's section....just us...three girls in a sea of ammo and men with no help to be found.
What's a girl to do? I told Rachel to take a cheerleader stand-we would put our legs together and
have Hannah do a pyramid stance on our legs (my iPhone just typed kegs-glad I caught that before
posting-yikes I need to turn off auto correct). Anyway, you should have seen the looks my girls gave me.

Clearly I had lost my mind, if you ask my girls. They are no fun! So I did what any normal, level headed
person would do and found then nearest clerk. He was more than happy to help us and seemed thrilled to
see 3 girls in the ammo section of the store.

It was mother-daughter bonding time at it's finest.

This morning I should be wrapping presents but instead I find myself waiting to see the dermatologist for my
annual appointment surrounded by more happy, peppy people. If I have to hear another dirty joke from the mouth
if thus 80 something year old woman who feels she needs to entertain the waiting room, I am going to plug in my
ear buds and turn up the praise music. Oh, gracious here I go! Y'all have a blessed day!!!! (it's amazing what praising
can do...)

Filled to Overflowing with Gratitude!

My heart is so full of gratitude and praise to the Lord. I just have to blog about it before I burst! Last Thursday night, Mr. Incredible, Rachel, and I made the drive back to Ft. Worth for Rachel's post-op check with her pediatric neurosurgeon. Hannah stayed home with her grandparents because of the much anticipated junior high dance that was finally rescheduled (finally is her word, not mine)and a fun sleep over with her friends after the dance. Even the promise of shopping after the doctor's appointment could not persuade her to go with us. Her feet were set to dancing and nothing would change her mind.

So, the three of us made the drive together. I plugged in my ipod and the three of us sang praises to the Lord at the top of our lungs during most of the drive. We checked into the hotel around 10:00 only to find that the Lord had blessed us with the same room that we had stayed in only 3 weeks ago. It was bitter sweet to stay in the same hotel room, the very room where Mr. Incredible and I had a very sleepless night while our precious daughter slept so soundly the night before her surgery (we would later learn of so many that God would awaken during the night to pray for Rachel on that night too-isn't that incredible-what a mighty God we serve).

Our minds were already flooded with memories of the surgery as we made our trip to Ft. Worth but how cool to be physically reminded too. The three of us looked at each other in amazement that we were given the exact same room but it made us miss our other family members that had made the journey of faith with us too. The conversation was so sweet as we all recalled memories of how we felt in that very room the day and the night before Rachel's surgery.

Mr. Incredible and I slept much more soundly last Thursday night. I woke up early Friday morning to get ready for Rachel's appointment. As I put on my makeup and fixed my hair and looked into the same mirror that I had looked in only hours before Rachel's surgery, I was overwhelmed with gratitude once again. I remember saying, "You are an awesome God! What a journey this has been. You did what only You could do. How can we ever thank You enough?!"

Mr. Incredible told me later that he was just as emotional that morning as he got ready for the day. I'm certainly not doing this moment justice with my words. I can only explain it this way: the Lord ordained every step of this journey of faith...even blessing us to stay in the same hotel room....and we marveled at His amazing attention to every single detail.

We were so happy to see Dr. Roberts. I think he was just as glad to see Rachel. He seemed so pleased to see how well she was moving her neck and overjoyed when she told him that she, "has not had one headache since her surgery!" Glory to God!

He chuckled and said, "This may be the shortest visit ever!" We talked some more, he watched her carefully, and then joyfully announced that she was free to be Rachel again and that he would see us in June! June???? I think we asked in astonishment, "June?" and he smiled and said, yes! She is doing so well that we don't need to do a follow up MRI scan until then. And then the tears that I had been holding back began to flow.

I saw a few tears in his eyes too. I think he was just as overjoyed as we are! And he was so humble about it all. Oh, yes, the glory for it all belongs to God! But, I am so grateful that he chose to use Dr. Roberts.

We hardly said a word until we got into the elevator to leave his office and then Rachel began to sob! Our precious, courageous, daughter, had hoped and dreamed that this day would come and here it was. She was free to be Rachel again...free to dream big dreams for her life again....free to be all the God created her to be~it was a moment like no other....a moment where the King of kings and Lord of lords seemed to fill every corner of that elevator and showed His great glory and favor towards her...and we marveled in the moment!

A few minutes later we arrived on our floor and the texting and phone calls began. We couldn't wait to share the good news. The three of us decided to walk over to the hospital and see all of the glorious Christmas decorations and have a celebratory cup of Starbucks coffee (Mr. Incredible doesn't drink coffee-so he just asked for an Eggnog Latte, minus the coffee-you should have seen the looks). The Lord timed our visit just perfectly because David, Dr. Robert's surgical assistant, the one who actually closed the surgery, was in Starbucks and we were able to thank him and tell him the great news.

We had lunch with our good friend Scott and then he and Mr. Incredible headed to Cabellas while Rachel and I did some shopping. It's funny, we were in one of my favorite places to shop, we even went to Sam Moon, but we hardly bought anything. Our Christmas had already come and there were no gifts to be bought that could even compare.

Are you still with me? I have to giggle at the length of my posts. Maybe I should stick to writing them on my i-phone. Ha! On the way home, we stopped and ate at a fabulous place in Abilene. I have some funny pictures to share-maybe tomorrow.

It's the week of Christmas! The week of Christmas! I better get moving.

P.S. I made a new blog button. Thank you for your prayers for Rachel and for so graciously joining us on this journey of faith. Yes, God still performs miracles today. Rachel is living proof. Please help yourself to the new button.