Floor Signing

Have you ever been to a floor signing party? I know, sounds strange, right? Well, that's why I love our church- because we do strange things all the time! Like buy a huge beer distributorship only to turn it into a huge recreational facility for our community. It's set to open November 1st and we can't wait. Our services are now being held at a local high school, so being together in the new space will be great.

After service today, we headed over to the new building (the nzone) to sign the floor in one of the rooms before it gets covered with the materials used for the indoor fields. I was inspired to write some lyrics of songs that really speak to me lately. Libby and Drew wrote their entire names!! Drew drew (say that 10 times fast) a picture of the whale from the story of Jonah. Libby drew a cute picture of herself (in purple, of course).

Here are some photos - do you like my cool app I'm using on my phone?? I feel so artsy!

Perspective

As I tread through this tough journey of getting off SOME of my medication for anxiety, I've been hit like a ton of bricks with perspective. Perspective that what I am feeling physically and emotionally could never ever EVER compare to what Anna is feeling right now.

Please take a minute today and every day thereafter to pray for Anna and lift her up. She needs it more than ever and it's the least of what we could ever be able to do for her. We've never met - in person or in the blog-o-sphere - but when I heard her story and found out she lives only a few miles away, I wanted to reach out as best I could. Instead of sending over a casserole, I thought I could do something more powerful... pray.

Read her story here:

Mary Payton's Miracle

If you read my blog, you know that I believe in miracles. With God, anything is possible. Anything. I wondered if we would ever be able to have children, but now have 2 miracles, Libby and Drew. Plus a wonderful husband to complete the entire package! ;) I'm blessed, truly blessed.


In my spiritual journey, I have asked God for all kinds of things - guidance, clarity, healing, calming. The hardest thing for me in my walk is to be able to put my complete trust in Him. Why is that? I mean, He did create the world and everything in it, so why do I doubt that He can handle things? For me, I need to be "in the know" and have the plan all mapped out for me. But God doesn't work that way. I am reading a wonderful book by Beth Moore called Believing God. She is an excellent writer and a few friends and I got together a few times this summer to talk about how we can not only believe in God, but to believe the God we believe in. Confused? Take a look at some notes I jotted down from Chapters 1 and 2. 


I need to keep remembering one of my favorite (and most pertinent verses of my life right now) to let go and trust Him:


Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.  Matthew 11:28-30 (NIV-1984)


So now I'm going to ask for another favor, God... one only YOU can provide... a miracle. My good friend from high school, Joe, still lives in Mandeville where I grew up. He has an adorable family with a beautiful wife and 2 daughters. His older daughter, Mary Payton, is fighting an extremely rare disease known as Late-Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (LINCL) or Batten's Disease. It is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder with onset usually between age 2 and 4 years. Mary Payton started having seizures near her 3rd birthday and has since developed irregular muscular jerks (myoclonic jerks), cognitive deficits, motor deficits, and vision problems with occular atrophy. 

Maison, Joe, Mary Payton, and Nikki Vigil

Fortunately, progress has been made and researchers at Cornell University in NY have worked diligently for a cure. There is hope since the FDA has approved a treatment called Gene Therapy to cure Mary Payton and other children with the disease. This treatment has proven to stop the progression of the disease and in some cases has shown children regaining function they have lost. The team at Cornell has been approved for funding through the NINDS (National Institute for Neurology Disease and Strokes). The funding will take up to 1 year to receive. However, Mary Payton and other children like her do not have 1 year - the disease progresses too quickly! Once a child reaches a certain point of regression, they no longer qualify for treatment. The researchers have agreed to provide treatment for these children when private funds can be raised. This is wonderful news, but a down payment of $500,000 must be made in the next few months. The clock is ticking and there is simply no time to waste to help Mary Payton. 


On September 23, the 3rd Annual Benefit "Miracles Can Happen" (Black & White Night) for Mary Payton's Miracle is being held in my hometown of Mandeville to raise money for treatment. There will be a silent auction, live music, delicious food, and to top it all off... the Lombardi Trophy from the Saints' Super Bowl win will be on display! If you are in town, I hope you will attend this wonderful event to help cure Mary Payton. If you are out of town or cannot attend, please join me in donating to this wonderful cause to save a beautiful little girl and her family. She needs you! If you are unable to donate, I hope you will join me in prayer for Mary Payton and her family. I know what the power of prayer can do and am making a promise to put my trust in God to provide for Mary Payton and her family.

I Can't Take It!

As Libby and Drew grow into the "big kid" size of clothes, I'm not sure how I can go from this:

to THIS:

Earthquake

A couple of weeks ago (8/23) as I was doing laundry on a regular summer day, we had an earthquake... in Virginia! This is very unusual for our area, so even though it didn't do much damage, it was still pretty freaky. The kids wewr in the finished area and when they said, "Mama... Daddy's sports guys are all dancin'," I knew what I was feeling under me wasn't my imagination. The sound of it (a really low roar) was the scariest part and I just thank God daily that 2 additional stories of house didn't crush us! I certainly have more sympathy for people living in California, Japan, Haiti, and other areas that have been devastated by earthquakes.

Here's a survey of our "damage"! ;)

New Year, New Preschool

Libby and Drew are starting a new preschool this year! It was too difficult for us to transport them from their half-day preschool (only 3 days a week) to their babysitter, Brenda's, so we needed a change. We enrolled them in a non-profit child development center in the area and they are so excited. It is a really nice place and they are excited to be in the Rainbows class together!

Here they are ready to go:

Drew trying to see the photos I took with my phone

Libby ready for the drive and all set with her carefully selected "sweetie" for the day

Coloring Time

This summer Libby and Drew enjoyed coloring almost every day. They could spend at least an hour sitting down and coloring at least 3 or 4 pages. I'm really impressed to see how well they are coloring within the lines at only 4 years of age.

Here are some of Libby's creations:

And here are Drew's (notice how he mostly chooses "work" pages, which is exactly his personality):

Look at this dot-to-dot page he did all by himself:

And then, he tried to do this page, which was a color-by-number page, thinking it was a dot-to-dot one:

I would have been so confused, too!

Drew isn't as willing to practice writing his name and that's certainly okay. He's still young. But one day he practiced a lot and did great!

Libby is trying so hard and is getting better at writing her name every day!

Oh, and both of them are really into having birthday parties and other special outings for their stuffed animals and "sweeties". One day they spent a lot of time creating this... it's the invitation to the birthday party. I guess they have my genes. :-)

Stain-MORE Steel

Reason #1 NOT to have Stainless MORE Steel appliances again:

Reason #2:

Reason #3 - #300

Seriously, I am wiping down these surfaces at least 3 times daily and they never seem to stay clean. Plus, no magnets can attach to them so although that's good for preventing clutter, it makes it difficult to remember appointments and other important things.

So, next time around it's definitely black or white appliances!!

Thoughts from Libby...

Best conversation of the weekend...

Libby: "Mama, are there beds in Heaven?"
Me: "I'm not sure. Do you want to have a bed in Heaven?"
Libby: "Yeah." [pause] "I just hope God has good sheets."
Me: "Like what kind?"
Libby: "Sheets with ponies on them. Those are the bestest kinds."
[must be true b/c she doesn't even have sheets with ponies]
Libby: "Let's pray...God, thank you for the world and everything and please have sheets with ponies on them when I get there. Amen."
Me: {smiling inside}

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Summer Updates

Um, yeah, so I've basically abandoned the blog this spring and summer. It seems that as Libby and Drew get older, our lives get busier exponentially. Now, our weekends are booked with birthday parties, shopping for clothes since they are growing like WEEDS, and just trying to keep cool in this heat.

So, to bring you up to speed, we have had a "no commitment" summer meaning no travel plans or anything major planned. Libby and Drew had a few swim lessons with a sweet college student/swim coach at our neighborhood pool. They did GREAT with her. Drew was putting his face in the water during his first lesson. Libby was after a couple of tries. They were so ready for lessons this summer compared to last summer. They walk around the shallow end pretending to "swim" and kept telling me they wanted to be like the big kids in the big pool (we started out in the baby pool). I have to admit that seeing how tall they were in the baby pool compared to last summer made me tear up a little. My babies aren't babies anymore!

Libby and Drew went to a week of Vacation Bible School at a church down the street (not our regular church) and had so much fun. I actually had a great time having my morning coffee all to myself and even hitting a few thrift stores in that 3 hour "break time". It was great and they came home every day singing songs and showing me the 10,000 craft projects they did. I will definitely sign them up again next summer because they loved it.

So, we got into the new full-day preschool we applied for a few months ago! We are so excited because it is a fantastic place plus we won't have to juggle getting Libby and Drew transported between preschool and daycare like we did last year. The new program is a non-profit center which receives funding from businesses and the county, so there are lots of supplies, materials, and events for them. For example, the local nursery planted a flower and vegetable garden with the children. We got to see it and Libby and Drew were excited since we have a garden few pots on our deck, too! They are going to be in the same class, The Rainbows and we just can't wait for them to start. We found out that Pull-Ups are not allowed, even during naps (when Libby and Drew wore them), so we went home that day and had nap from then on in underwear. And only 1 or 2 accidents in about 6 weeks isn't too bad at all! I just bought an extra waterproof mattress pad as back up and it's been easy. So, we are ready to go!

The saddest part about their new preschool is leaving their babysitter, Ms. Brenda, that they have gone to every day since they were 4 months old! I dreaded the day I made the phone call to tell her. She has always been there for us and helped me so much as a new mom myself. She is one of those special people we won't ever forget. It's hard because her mother, Nela, whom her grandchildren (and daycare children) call "Mita" passed away very suddenly last November. Mita took care of the children along with Brenda and was such an amazing person. So helpful, caring, thoughtful, and a sweet woman. Brenda has really, really missed her for obvious reasons, so now that we're leaving Brenda, it almost feels like another loss all over again for me. So, it just means we need to keep in touch and visit every once in a while.