Rise and Shine

I have many friends who are concerned about what their family eats. They are careful to select foods that don't have a lot of additives or sugar, etc. I'm not one of those kinds of people. My favorite breakfast growing up for many years (seriously, ask my mom) was the chocolate Pop Tarts with the vanilla frosting- washed down with grape juice containing almost zero real juice. It was great. It started my day with a wild sugar high that made me feel good. I got excellent grades and was never overweight (you can ask my mom about that too, although she made have forgotten about the excellent grades). Now as a mom I provide much of the same breakfasts to my own children. Here's the current cereal pick at our house.

Friends who send their kids here to spend the night (or week) probably know what we serve for breakfast. I've had kids from families with real healthy eating habits open the cereal cabinet and feel guilty just for looking at it. I do make some of my kids use skim milk...unless they really hate it.
Breakfast of champions!!

Who Doesn't Love a Baby?

One of my favorite blogs to read is My Life In Bits & Pieces. She has a picture of her beautiful granddaughter on it almost every day cuz she knows that grand kids are the greatest!!
Check out my daughter Kara's blog to see my youngest grandchild, Scarlett Claire. Being a mom is wonderful and the sweet reward is watching our kids nurture the next generation.

Look Out France!

Today my parents, both in their early 80's, are leaving for France. My daughter and her husband are making a survey trip into Africa where they will be doing missionary work and my parents will be watching their kids while they're gone for 3 weeks.
This is not a babysitting job for the faint of heart. My daughter has five children under the age of 8 and my parents speak no French at all. The first two weeks the kids are on holiday from school. Some people have questioned their decision to take this on, after all, this would be hard for anyone, let alone a couple their age. But they are sure of their decision. If you knew my parents, you wouldn't be surprised and if you know their God, you can pray for His continued blessing on them as He gives them all they need to do the job.
Au revoir Mom and Dad.

Signs and Wonders

Yesterday, every time I turned around, I was running into God. He must have decided Himself to do this, as I don't remember asking for anything out of the ordinary. He wasn't just here, but He was doing all these crazy, unbelievable things that startled you into saying, "miracle!".
*A friend who recently gave up a 50 year, self indulgent, out of control, sin life to follow God, was doing the "right thing" and money was running low. He was being hit by so many temptations I was worried he would cave in and take some wrong easy route. In the mail came an unexpected check that more than covered his needs. It was from the I.R.S. which definitely falls in the miracle category.
*We have a missionary house next door that seemed to be idle. We have been asking God what He wanted to happen over there. Our pastor has been praying with us. Yesterday I got a call from missionaries from India who need to stay in our house next week. They just need to rest awhile and walk and play with their boys in the woods. So cool.
*My daughter and her husband who live in France are ready to go on a survey trip into Northern Africa as missionaries but have been held up by visa problems. We have been praying and fasting for a break through. Yesterday she waltzed up to an agent in Paris and he issued the visa like she was asking for a pencil...no problem.

Of course, where God is showing up, Satan gets annoyed. Things that have been running smoothly for years were feeling bumpy yesterday. We have been memorizing Ephesians 6:10-18 and I DO know who we are wrestling, even when he pretends to be my marriage.

I love living life just this shy of heaven....so less boring.

Who'd Have Ever Guessed

Two of my daughters and I are in beautiful Lynchburg, Virginia at Liberty University (Jerry Falwell's college) for a basketball tournament. The girls cheer with a homeschool cheer squad for the JV Team. I'm not exactly a "cheer kinda mom" so I find this all rather interesting. I actually had to do a little sewing on my coach jacket...sewing and cheering....I would have bet you odds that I would never do either of those things, ever. My jacket used to say Phoebe and I was supposed to pick the name off with a seam ripper. I worked on it for hours and settled on my new name being Heobee. It has a ring to it. Like Heobe-Gebes. The girls are tired but happy and I can add Cheer Coach to my list of "How did I get myself into this?" things.

You're Never Fully Dressed Without a Smile

Grace has had so many medical problems and handi-caps over the years that she takes them all in stride. Nothing physical much bothers her. The chemo that splashed through her veins as a baby did lots of secondary damage, including affecting the growth of her teeth. She has eight missing and four or five that look like stalactites. She's had lots of dental work (why does it have to be so expensive?) and braces over the last few years and we've all gotten used to her "jack-o-lantern" smile. Recently we switched orthodontists and on the first visit he explained that any permanent teeth implants would have to wait till she was an adult because of continued mouth growth. He did say however that there was no reason they couldn't hook two little teeth on her retainer for now so she would look better. Let me tell you, that girl was excited! She told everyone she met that she was "getting teeth." Her older brothers do their best to humiliate her over her false teeth but even that does not dampen her joy. Here are her before and after pictures. A little up close but beautiful.

Day Pass

One of our daughters is not able to live with us at home. She's struggled through the years with different emotional issues and although not in our house, she's always in our heart. She was able to come for a day visit and God turned up the sunshine for her. We walked to the river and played and it felt good to have Molly catch the ball when it was thrown and write her name in chalk in the driveway.
It rained last night and this morning her name is erased and she's not here. We miss the daughter/sister that we enjoyed yesterday and continue to pray for healing for all those hurts and scars from the past.