A few pics from Thunder's fireworks

Our friends, Abbi & J.R., playing with Raegan

Korissa found a new friend in Elaine
(Elaine shared her food! :-p)

Aunt Heather, Korissa, and Uncle Chris

Elaine & Larry Harold (Chris' college friend)

Uncle Chris, Korissa, Kim, Aunt Heather, & Raegan

"I can't HEAR you!"

Korissa & Uncle Chris watching the fireworks
(I LOVE this pic!)

Waterfall of fireworks off the 2nd St. Bridge

Of course, if you know me at all, you know I took WAY more pics than this. Again, you can check them out if you're a friend of mine on Facebook. All 200 of them are posted there! LOL

Pics of Kim, Korissa, & Raegan's visit

Just a couple of pics from the girls' visit

Kisses from Aunt Heather

Sisters, Korissa & Raegan. We bought them these matching shirts for Christmas

Korissa & Raegan
(Raegan had JUST pulled the paci out of her mouth...)

Aunt Heather, Uncle Chris, Korissa, Kim and Raegan

Lightening

Yet another post today... here are some pics that I caught (or partially caught) of lightening the other night. You can see the forks of lightening if you look closely, so apparently my camera does fine photographing lightening. I used the fireworks setting (rather appropriate for trying to catch God's fireworks on camera, I think!) and it worked pretty well. Now, if I just had a tripod and a quicker trigger finger...

Top left, you can see part of the lightening:

Flash after lightening:

If you click on this picture and enlarge it, you will see
some forks of lightening at the top in the very center:

Drama, drama, drama...

Here's a little update on my life...

This past week has been something else. Chris started to get sick on Wed. night. That is never fun, because I always feel so bad that there's nothing I can do to make him feel better. :-(

Last Thurs. morning, I'm putting my stuff in my car to go to work, and I get a phone call from Maxim (my work) saying I don't have to work that day. Jake (from work) says that it's nothing against me, that the parents and doctors decided that they only want 2 nurses working the case to cut down on risk of infection. Fine, I understand that (if that's REALLY the case)... but you can't tell me that they called you at 0600 this morning to tell you that! Work should have called me the night before when they found out about it so that I didn't have to get up and get ready! Besides, they called me a 5 min. til 0800... if I would have actually left on time for work, I would have actually been at the house when they called and that would have been extremely awkward for the other nurse and the family. So (if you couldn't tell) I was pretty mad, and in tears. I'm SO sick of dealing with this stuff from work. Chris tells me not to worry about it, that God will take care of everything, but that I have to call Nick (the office manager) so that he will get work for me (otherwise nothing gets done.) The guys always tell me that I'm one of their best nurses (blah, blah, blah) so they're doing what they can to get work for me... yeah, right! ANYWAY, Nick calls me back and tells me that the parents don't WANT ME there anymore (which is totally different than just saying they only want 2 nurses in the house!) Apparently Mom said that I "discipline" the other child and they didn't like it. The Thurs. prior to that, she told me that I was her favorite nurse, and that she only felt safe with me. How does that work? I was really hurt by that, and mad that she didn't say anything to me (about the "discipline" thing, if that was a concern. If she would have just told me that she didn't like it, I would have stopped. (Not that I disciplined the other child, I just told her a couple of times not to touch something.) Although, if a 2 year old is touching my stuff, I'm going to tell her not to touch it! (By the way, that mom told me she is bipolar, so I'm wondering if I just said something on the wrong day and set her off.) So - now I'm mad that Jake didn't tell me the truth when he called me that morning, too... then Nick proceeds to tell me that he's frustrated with me that there is now THREE families that don't want me to work for them. Two I knew about, but THREE?!?!?

Well, there was another mom that I oriented on her case, and she was mad the minute I got there b/c Maxim was trying to switch nurses on her, and she didn't like it (I don't blame her.) She totally ignored me the whole time I was there until she left for work, and only talked to the other nurse. (This was back in November). They called her (Thurs.) and asked if she wanted me to work there, and she said, "I just don't think that I would get along with her." She didn't even give me a chance! (Not that I really wanted to work for her, anyway, but still!) Then Nick tells me that the mom that "fired" me back in November told him that all I did was sit around all day, and that I didn't take care of her daughter. That is absolutely NOT true, and anybody that knows me knows that I work hard at my job! (The occupational therapist that works with J also works with that little girl, and says the mom is just trying to get a nurse in that will watch both of her kids - not just the one - while she runs around, which we are NOT supposed to do. She'll say whatever she wants to get rid of them if she can.) By this point, I was VERY hurt and angry, but didn't even try to defend myself b/c it's just not even worth it. Obviously, anyone who knows me knows that I don't just sit around and not do my job! I was also upset, too, b/c I kind of feel if they think that about me, that now I have a bad testimony of what a Christian is supposed to be. I don't want them to think - "Well, that nurse claims to be a Christian, and she was a horrible nurse!" - which makes God look bad! As a Christian, I feel that I should be the best nurse they ever have!

Well, that was all on Thursday. I was still pretty torn up about it, but J's mom (the other mom I work for now) assured me that she trusts me and that she's not going to fire me! :-)

Chris continued to get more and more sick over the weekend... lots of drainage down the back of his throat that would gag him and make him throw up. Not so bad during the day, but keeping him up coughing, gagging, throwing up all night. On Friday he started getting dizzy anytime he changed positions from lying down to sitting, sitting to standing, etc, and I KNOW he was running a fever, even though he wouldn't let me check his temp. Finally, Saturday morning, he tried to call in to work, he was feeling so awful. Well, they told him that they needed him, but he didn't have to come in til 4pm, since Todd (the other finance manager) was leaving for Indy that night. I told Chris to go to the urgent care, which he ended up doing. When he was on the way there, his boss called and asked him to come to work as soon as possible; Todd was really backed up. Chris was really feeling dizzy, so I was really concerned about him driving, but macho man thought he could do it himself, and I couldn't do anything about it, since I was at work! He did manage to get to urgent care, and (as we diagnosed before he went) he had a sinus/ear infection. The doc said his sinus cavities were so swollen it was amazing that he could even breathe through his nose! Chris got some good drugs... antibiotic, strong decongestant, and narcotic cough syrup! :-) He then went to work, but was so dizzy that he couldn't hold his head up without supporting his head with his hand! They had him do the paperwork side of things, since he was looking so bad they didn't want him having to deal with customers! He stayed home from church all day Sunday, which was our 86th Anniversary Sunday, and is feeling much better, but is still getting dizzy at times (mostly from meds, I think, and the fact that he didn't really have ANY real food for a week, since every time he ate he would gag and throw it all back up.) He was pretty lightheaded and sick to his stomach for a while yesterday, too. So - I'm praying that he gets back to his old self SOON! I feel so bad since I can't really do anything for him, and he hasn't been much fun to be around! :-( Some of you would be surprised that he hasn't hardly talked to me in a week b/c he's felt so bad (not b/c he's mad at me!) That's pretty amazing considering his affinity to talking! :-)

I mentioned our Anniversary Sunday... we had over 200 kids in teen church, 12 saved and 8 baptized! I think they said that we had over 100 people saved overall that week (they did outreaches in the community and had people saved there, so they are included in the count). We also had our 20/20 Vision service... the plan for our church to be COMPLETELY debt free by the year 2020. We had a special one-time offering, and then commitment cards for giving. The one-time offering was over $22,000, and the total with offering and commitments was over $118,000 - almost $119,000, and they are extending the time for 30 days to give people that were on vacation, etc, the chance to participate. Pretty awesome! Praise the LORD!

Lil D's mom, Tonya, called me on Monday night, and I think God knew that I needed that phone call. I was still really discouraged over the whole work thing, and thinking that maybe those people were right and I'm not a good nurse. Tonya called to ask me if I would be willing to babysit Lil D this weekend (I don't work for her anymore b/c Lil D doesn't need nursing care anymore!) She hasn't been able to go out for a long time now, and just needed to get away for a night. She wanted me to keep Lil D Saturday night and until she gets off work Sunday afternoon. She told me I was her #1 choice for babysitter (even over family) b/c she knows that I love Lil D, that he'll be safe with me, and that she won't have to worry if I take care of him. I told her what had happened at work the week before, and she told me that those moms will be wishing they had kept me when they get the horrible nurses that don't care and don't know what they are doing! That made me feel much better! :-) Tonya even said that her dad, who is an alcoholic and don't know squat about people (in her words, not mine!), told her that he could tell I was a good nurse. (I saw them at Lil D's b-day party back in Nov.) So - God knew that I needed that encouragement AND I am babysitting Lil D this weekend... overnight... here at my house... should be interesting! :-) Chris asked me if D will actually go to sleep, and I told him that D will do anything I MAKE him do! Then Chris reminded me that I'll have to get up early to get both of us ready in time... and I told him I know! I'm a little leary, but at the same time, rather excited to spend time with D again. I MISS HIM!

So - now I have a case that I'm going to be working for this month ONLY, since it is in Palmyra (which is 26 miles away). It's a job, I guess. I'm really not looking forward to the commute again, but like I said, it's work. Please pray that they can find something closer for me to do starting in May. Since my car is leased, we really can't afford to put tons of miles on it right now.

I have been consistently working out 4 times a week for almost 6 months now! That is a major accomplishment for me! I met a girl, Stacey at the gym, and we've worked out together a couple of times now. It's really hard to get our schedules together! I have been really discouraged at the whole thing, though, since I've only lost 15 lbs. I KNOW that muscle weighs more than fat, and when you gain muscle you don't necessarily lose weight right away. However, it's really nice to see the numbers going DOWN on the scale! Well, I wore a dress on Sunday that I wore a few weeks ago. It fit fine last time, but was still a little tighter across my stomach than I would have liked. Well, I noticed on Sunday that it fit more loosely than the last time I wore it. I have 2 more identical dresses in a size smaller that I bought at the same time (different patterns, of course!) They didn't fit then (the zippers wouldn't zip all the way up), but Chris told me to keep them as incentive to lose weight! Well, I dared to try them on Sunday afternoon... and would you believe it?!?!? THEY FIT! OK... they didn't exactly FIT well, but I could actually zip the zipper, and I could wear them. They are still a little tight across my stomach, but I would wear a sweater with them anyway, so maybe I could pull it off. I was so excited, though... now I have TWO new dresses to wear, and they are really cute! We're getting church directory pics done on Sunday, so maybe I'll be brave enough to wear one for that!

My workout partner, Stacey, referred me to her chiropractor (I've been looking for a new one - a GOOD one!), so I went this week. I LOVE him! I think it will really help my back. Found out that my lower spine has a curvature in it because my hips were not level, and that my neck does not have the curvature that it is supposed to have in it (it's off by 22 mm!) With the adjustments, my muscles have been really sore, but I know that it will be better soon! No pain, no gain, right?!?! Also, there is massage therapy/acupuncture available through this clinic, and my chiro suggested acupuncture to treat infertility. He said the acupuncture doc is 6 for 6 with women who were infertile having babies since they've been treated. Hmmm... another MUCH less expensive option to consider! We'll see what happens! I don't know if we'll do it or not, but it's another option.

Other than that, not too much is going on here (isn't that enough?!??!) Drama, drama, drama! :-) Thanks to all of you who are still reading! :-) I know I haven't been very consistent with my blogging, but I've really been struggling with some things over the past couple of months... not having a baby mostly... and I try to not always be complaining! :-) Actually, life is pretty good for the most part, but I have a tendency to focus on the negative, so I seem to complain much more than I should! (Anyone else have that problem?!?) I'm enjoying the time with Chris, and we've just been keeping busy with church, work, working out, and trying to get some sleep. We're also enjoying the warmer weather... would you believe that we actually laid out in the sun 3 weeks ago?!?! Yeah, for those of you who live up north, we laid out in the middle of March! Makes me SO thankful to live further south than we used to! :-) We've also been enjoying Wednesdays off together, and our dinner dates on Wed. night before church! Life is good, and God is good! I'll end this with a few more of my fav pictures from the last month!

Spring is here!

I'm so thankful that we live further south than we used to... spring comes a little earlier here. :-) About 2 weeks ago, I got off work a little early. I'd been wanting to stop and take pictures around the area. Many things catch my eye as I drive by, but I'm usually running late or having to be somewhere. That Thursday, I had time on my hands. I took my camera and just started taking pictures, and walking, and taking more pictures, and walking, and taking more pictures...

5 hours and 301 pictures later... here are some of my favorites:

More pics to come when I have a bit more time to upload them here. Don't worry... I won't share all 300 of them! :-) If you have me as a friend of Facebook, though, you can see all of them... the good, the bad, and the ugly! :-) For now, it's bedtime! Enjoy!

Wedding Photography Give-away

Do you know anyone who is engaged to be married in the year 2010? If so, you HAVE to check out my friend, Christi's, {SMASHING FABULOUS} Wedding Photography Give-away! You can nominate your couple, and they can be eligible to win a photography package worth $5,000!!! Just click on the link above for all the details and rules! Also, Christi does just AWESOME photography... or in her words, "Rawsii: {Smashing Fabulous} art." You'll have to check out her work... Ammmaaaaaazing! :-)

Still Alive...

Hi, everyone! Yes, I'm still alive! I can't believe how lax I've been about posting lately. I was just looking at the "count" of blog posts... 201 in 2007, as compared to this being the 32nd post of 2008! I've been busy reading EVERYONE ELSE's blogs... and I'm addicted to Facebook! So, there you have it!

Well, August was very busy for us, as has this first week of September!

The first week of August (3-7) was our Youth Conference at our church, Shawnee Baptist, here in Louisville. We had 961 teens from (I think) 34 different states and 4 different countries that attended the conference. Our Youth Conference is different in that the kids come to hear the preaching of God's Word... 6 times a day for 3 days straight, then on Thursday they get to go to Kentucky Kingdom. It was absolutely AWESOME! You can check out the pics that I posted on Facebook here:

Youth Conference pics #1 Youth Conference pics #2

The following weekend, the 15th, Chris had free tickets given to him for a Cincinnati Reds baseball game. We called our friends, Steve & Joy Francis, and met them at the game. We enjoyed their company, the game, and the fireworks after the game that we watched as we were walking back over the bridge from Cincinnati to Florence, KY. I had to work EARLY the next morning, so I was VERY tired, but it was fun anyway. More pics here

The next day after work, Chris and I headed to Lexington, KY. Chris had mandatory training for his work that Sun/Mon, and we have friends that live in Lexington. Since Monday was my birthday (happy birthday to me! :-P), I didn't want to spend it by myself or working while Chris was out of town. We called Kevin & Beth Busch, and we spent the weekend with them (and their son, Silas,) instead... well, I spent time with Beth while Chris was in training. I also got to visit some friends... the Valentine's... that we hadn't seen for a LONG time! Their kids are adorable! Beth made me a cake for my birthday, and we celebrated Sunday night. See more pics here

On the 23rd, we had free tickets to a Bats game, so invited our friends, Scott & April Mohler to join us at the game. We enjoyed the fellowship with them, and were greatly entertained at the game by the presence of the San Diego Chicken mascot. It was fun! Click here to see more pics

I left on Aug. 29th to drive (all by myself) to Watertown, WI, to see my whole family together (except Chris couldn't go... SOMEBODY has to work around here!) :-) It was Maranatha Baptist Bible College's Alumni "scrimmage," and my older brother, Steve, and middle brother, Greg, were playing on the alumni team against my baby brother, Nathan, who was playing on the Crusaders college team (for the last year.) It was so fun to watch them play again, and also to see my family together. I got to meet my newest nephew, Colt... who is absolutely ADORABLE! (of course). I really wish Chris could have come with me, but he is saving his time off for another very special occasion later this fall that we are praying God provides the time off/money for us to go. It was a good time with my family though, and it's rare for them to all be together at the same time. I tried to upload pictures to Facebook, but I couldn't get it to upload the other night, so I'll have to post a link when I get them up there.

This weekend, our church had their Ladies' Retreat. I had to work, since I was gone last weekend. Fortunately, I work only 30 minutes from the camp where our Retreat was held, so I went there from work, spent the night, and drove back to work this morning. It was a shorter distance to drive to the camp than to drive home, so it worked out well, and I enjoyed the short time I was able to spend there. It was a blessing!

So - that's the major run-down of things going on here. In other news, I FINALLY went to the doctor to get a sleep study done. Chris thinks that it's very possible that I have sleep apnea. My sleep study is scheduled for Sept 23, so please pray that they can figure out what is wrong with me so that I can get it fixed (hopefully without medicine!) I have been SO incredibly tired lately (more-so than usual!) I've been dozing off when driving to/from work a lot lately, which is very scary and dangerous! So - please pray for all of that.

That's it for now... see you next month! :-) Just kidding -I'm hoping to blog a little more frequently now.

Bat's Game

OK - I'm a little behind in my blogging again, so I'll post each event separately (so you don't have to read FOREVER!) Fri, May 16, Chris got us tickets to the Louisville Bats Game. This is the minor league team for the Cincinatti Reds, and the mascot is Bats - like the animal - not like the Louisville Slugger bats (which is what I originally thought!) :-) Just wanted to clarify that for you! The game ended up being a double header that night, due to another game being rained out earlier in the week. The Bats played the Scranton Yankees (NY Yankees minor league team.) Chris' boss has season tickets, and we can just sign up for them and get them free. It's a cheap weekend date for us! (You may be seeing a few posts about games in July... we have tickets for 4 games!)

Anyway, our friend (and bus captain) J.R. came with us, bringing his girlfriend, Abby (now fiancee as of Sunday May 25th!) We are enjoying getting to know this couple better, and are super excited about their engagement and upcoming marriage. Here's some pics:

Louisville Slugger Field
Chris&I and the field
Chris, Heather, Abby & JR Chris and I
Chris and I in the cool glove chairs in the lobby!

By the way, the Bats won the first game, and then they had fireworks between the games. Abby was still living in our college dorm, so she had a curfew, so we left before the second game ended. :-) It was a good night of fun with good friends!

So, here's what's been happening...

ST. LOUIS TRIP


On Saturday, May 3, Chris and I, along with Curt Nicholson and Justin Lockhart, headed out for a day trip to St. Louis, Missouri. Curt kept us entertained the whole time with stories and discussion. :-) We stopped at a Waffle House for breakfast about an hour into the trip. Chris got me a Waffle House coffee mug there. (We collect coffee mugs from the places we travel, since my kitchen is decorated with a coffee/gingerbread man theme). When we arrived in St. Louis, we went to the St. Louis Gateway Arch. We watched a film on the Lewis and Clark Expedition. In watching that, we learned something that we hadn't known before. Did you know that Sacogowea - the Shoshone Indian woman that helped Lewis and Clark - was actually a captured slave? And did you know that when Lewis and Clark's expedition met up with the Shoshone Indians, Sacogowea learned that the chief of the Shoshone tribe was her BROTHER? I didn't know that, but I thought it was really cool that God had that all worked out for them!


ANYWAY, we also went to the top of the arch this time... not something you want to do if you are claustrophobic or scared of heights! (But really cool if you AREN'T!) Here are some pics:

Chris and I at the top of the arch - 630 feet in the air!
The windows that you can look out of... we were actually LYING down to look out the windows

Chris is now a CONEHEAD (and I think he's CRAZY!) :-P
Our second annual self-portrait (timed) at the Arch

From the Arch, we walked over to Busch Stadium, home of the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cards were playing the Chicago Cubs that day, and Curt is a Cards fan; Justin is a Cubs fan... good times! The weather was a little chilly at 60 degrees with a cool wind blowing through. Eventually the sun came out, and it was a much nicer day!

Here we are at the Stadium

UNWANTED GUEST
Sunday night, May 4, we came home from church and saw this big black spider dangling on it's web between some boxes/bags of tools in the front of the garage. When we pulled my car in, the headlights spotlighted the nasty thing. As we were walking in, I stopped to look more closely at the spider. The spider was hanging upside down on its web, and much to my dismay, I noticed a VERY VIVID red hourglass marking on its abdomen! YIKES! It's a black widow spider! I told Chris to come and look, but by the time I moved out of the way, and he got to where he could see it, the spider had crawled under the bag, and we couldn't find it. (That makes for a GREAT night's sleep for one who has crazy nightmares anyway!)

The next night, I decided to clean and spray the garage with a pesticide before we left at midnight for our trip to FL. Chris was catching a little shut-eye before driving the almost 9 hours. I proceeded to pull out all of the tools, and saw the spider on the floor with its legs all curled up like it was dead. I was relieved to know that it had not adventured into my house, and that it was already dead. I took a broom and swept all the dead bugs, spiders and dirt into a pile in the center of the floor, and then sprayed the area with bug spray. When I went to sweep the pile outside, I touched the what-I-thought-was-dead spider with the broom, and the spider's legs flew out to the sides! YIKES again... It was NOT DEAD! I ran inside and grabbed a glass jar and captured the spider. Now, I'm sure many of you are wondering WHY IN THE WORLD I DIDN'T JUST KILL THE THING! Well, I wanted to see for sure if it was a Black Widow spider, and I wanted Chris to see it. When I got it in the jar, I discovered that I was right the first time... it definitely is a Black Widow!:

I didn't know that we had Black Widow Spiders around here, but apparently we do! I think that I've sucked up two more of them (before this) in the vacuum cleaner in the house, but I didn't see their bellies because they were up against the ceiling in our living room. (** shudder**) Time to call TERMINEX!

PENSACOLA TRIP
At midnight on Mon night/Tues morning, Chris and I left for Pensacola, FL, for PCC's graduation. Chris' youngest sister, Tiffany, graduated with her Master's Degree in Bible Exposition from Pensacola Theological Seminary... with a 4.0 GPA! She is SO smart, but so humble about it... she's amazing! Chris' youngest brother, Jon, graduated from PCC with his Bachelor's in Business Management. He actually graduated in December, but walked in May. My youngest brother's wife, Caroline, also graduated with her Bachelor's Degree in Mathmatics. Caroline also graduated with honors! We are so proud of all of them.

On Tuesday morning, we met my bro&SIL, Nathan & Caroline at IHOP for breakfast. We spent almost 2 hours catching up with them.From there, we headed over to Chris' brother's house, and hung out with his family for the rest of the day. 8 family members weren't able to make it, but we enjoyed the time with the other 13! We also got to meet our newest niece, Jacquline, who is 9 months old. I know that we're biased, but our nieces and nephews are ADORABLE! Here are some pics of the day:

Jacquline with me
Chris & Jacquline

Nathan, Kailey, & Kimberly

The gang at Logan's Steakhouse for dinner

That night we stayed at the home of our friends, Rob & Emily Hazewinkel. No pics of them, since they were so tired and dressed for bed, but here are their kiddos, Stephen & Katie. They are expecting #3.

The next morning we got up and make a VERY quick, 15 minute visit with our friends, BJ and Adrian Escamilla and their brand new baby girl, Peyton. The visit was so quick, I didn't get a pic of them, either.

From there we headed to graduation. Here are some pics of the graduates. Congratulations, you guys! :-)

My bro&SIL, Nathan & Caroline
Nathan, Caroline, me & Chris
(Nathan, Chris and I are slouching down so that Caroline looks taller!)

Tiffany & Jon
Chris' family that was at graduation
(his SIL stayed home with the younger kids)

MY FIRST MOTHER'S DAY
I was not looking forward to my first Mother's Day. In spite of the fact that we, as Christians, believe that life begins at conception, unfortunately we often do not recognize ladies that have been pregnant and miscarried, or even expecting moms as "MOTHERS" on Mother's Day. However, as soon as a lady is pregnant, she truly is a mother, whether or not she gets to hold that baby in her arms!

That said, I was struggling with that thought some the week prior to Mother's Day. On Monday, the 5th, I was at work. The little boy I work with was really sick, and very cuddly. As I was holding him on my shoulder, all of the sudden it hit me and I had an emotional meltdown! I started sobbing uncontrollably, and cried out, "God, I want a baby to hold SO BAD!" Poor D raised his head and looked at me like I had two heads! I only cried for a few minutes, and I was over it, but it was kind of crazy! I just kept thinking that I know that I'm a mom, but who else is actually going to recognize that?

Well, I have some very thoughtful friends/family members... and THEY recognized it! First of all, I got a Mother's Day card in the mail from my best friend on Thurs. Then, on Sunday morning, we were getting ready to walk out the door to go to church, and there is a card sitting on my purse. Chris told me I had to open it right away, so I did. It was a SUPER sweet (and funny) card, and inside he included a gift... he bought me plane tickets to go see my best friend over Memorial Day weekend! Not only that, but he had already called the guys at my work to rearrange my work schedule so that I didn't have to worry about it! Of course, I cried! :-) But I also couldn't stop smiling at the card... it was perfect for us! Here are the cards:

Then, I was scheduled to be in the nursery for the AM service (for which I was kind of glad - I don't know that I could have sat through a sermon about mothers without crying!) Anyway, as soon as I walked in, one of my closest friends here walked up to me and gave me a huge hug and told me "Happy Mother's Day." She told me that she had been thinking of me and praying for me all morning. It's so great to have compassionate friends! Several other women said, "Happy Mother's Day" to me as well, including both my mom & MIL. It just soothed my heart to know that even though all of my babies are in Heaven, I still am a mom... whether I get to hold my own babies here on earth or not! They definitely have it made, being in Heaven with Jesus!

I also got this rose on our bus route... all the moms riding the buses received roses.

Monday, I received this card that my mom made for me.
All in all, it was a wonderful Mother's Day, in spite of the circumstances! God is SO GOOD, and I have an AWESOME husband!

Well, that's about it for now! Thanks for bearing with me through this LOOOOONG post! Have a GREAT weekend!