Thinking on things

For as a person thinks in his heart, so he is..Proverbs 23:7
 How am I thinking here lately.....
Be careful how you think, your life is shaped by your thoughts,
Keep your heart pure for out of it are the important things of life,
Carefully guard your thoughts because they are the source of true life...
These three are the same verse Proverbs 4:23, just from different versions of the Bible.
This new book Soul Detox in the first couple chapters it is talking about what we put in our mind comes out in our lives.  How we think on things, positive or negative, godly or ungodly comes out in who we are.....

What we will pay for

I am going to start a new book for the summer to help teach the college class with.  I have read this authors books before.  What struck me was the picture he put in my mind that made me call our pastor and the other guy who teaches this class and say, I will help if you if  want to teach from this book.
Have you ever thought about what you watch on TV or read.  We have become very desensitized on many levels.  His scenerio was a movie that alot of people have seen, I have not, mainly because both my children told me that it had to much cussing in it for me.  What this author brought up was that in the Hangover movie there are 91 f-bombs, 41 taking the Lord's name in vain in different particular ways, and another 30 or so other cuss words.  His next thing was alot of us will see movies and just say I tried to ignore this and that, but what if our pastor got up and dropped a few f- bombs, we would ask him to step down immediately but we will pay good money to hear 91 in a 120 minute movie.  It got me thinking..... This book is called Soul Detox, I will let you know as I read.....

Pool time

I have had this little cutie everyday since Monday.  She spent the night last night and did pretty good.
We bought her a little pool so I put warm water in it Monday and she loved it.  She played for about 30 min. and we poured water on her and she never seemed to be frightened of the water.  I am happy because we are water people here and I plan on taking her to my sisters pool once a week.  I told Joey I am finally getting tired after 4 days, can you imagine having a baby in your nineties, I would have laughed a lot too.  Poor Abraham and his lovely wife Sarah needed to laugh or they would surely cry. I am glad I had my kids when I was young.

My oldest

In his element

Josh will be 27 years old Sunday and I can hardly believe how the time has flown.
He has become a father this year and it has changed him in many ways.  Growing up he always wanted a lot of brothers and sisters and all he got was Audrey ( whom he loves) .  He thinks he and Abby will have 3 kids, that was before this first one came.  What you think sometimes changes when you experience it in real life.  He is a very sharp minded man.  He is more business thinking than his dad and me put together. He loves politics. YUCK!!!! He thinks he wants to run for something in the county soon. He is very A.D.D. his mind is going in different directions all the time. This is good and bad.  He is a great Dad to Harper,  he did get good lessons from Joey.   He spends alot of time with her and she lights up when he walks in the room. She gets very upset if he doesn't come and pick up her immediately and acknowledge her first.  He has a faith in knowing that God is always in control, even if we don't see it at the time.  I think that is why he is not a big worrier. He is funny, demanding at times, can be self-oriented (not a great quality but who he is) loves his family and doesn't care for a lot of friends but loves the ones he has. Loves to hunt, loves to video hunting, loves to plan hunting trips, I don't think I have ever met anyone who is constantly thinking about the hunting experience like he does. I hope that one day his dream of being a professional hunter comes true, even if I don't get it at all.......
I am proud to have Josh as a son, even though  I can't live with him and Abby when I get old and feeble. He said yesterday, I am glad you had a daughter to take care of you later on in life

Post surgery

I have to say some babies are very easy to deal with and some are not.  Harper did so well after the surgery you would have never known she had any stress (HA!!!) in her life.  She never was clingy or whiny after the surgery, it was same as the day before. Praise the Lord.  We have laughed at how this child does not slow down for anything.  She is on the go all day, she is not really wanting to take much of a nap anymore, her little mind is in such a speed that she doesn't want to slow down and drink a bottle during the day.  So at night, she wants 3 bottle to make up for what she is missing during the day.  I even watched her nap a little the other day and her eyes never slow down in her head.  They were switching back and forth the whole time.  I told Josh, they will have to keep her busy as she gets older.  The one thing that does calm her is the outside.  You can take her outside and she looks at everything, she loves the trees, I have her fussing at the geese (Which I can't stand, they poop everywhere). She laughs when I fuss at the ducks about being in the front yard.  We have a lot of stray cats and I tell them to "Get" and she cracks up over that.  I forgot how busy babies can be, I looked up Audrey's baby book to compare when Audrey walk and now Harper.  Audrey was 10 1/2 months old, Harper is now 10 months and starting to try, she lets go and forget she can't walk yet.  I believe within the next month she will be on the go, then I will have to get quicker than I am now...I have bought a little pool and some sand toys for her sandbox she is getting built at the house.  That is probably where we will be staying all summer long...

Ammendment 1

Last week as we voted on Amendment 1 I found out that there are people who didn't vote like me and think that I really do not have a right to vote my beliefs.  This whole open-minded loving everyone really is just talk because they really feel that I am a idiot for voting my way. My cousin from Virginia wrote on her face book the day after the election.  The title ( Dear NC White Proper Christians) should give you an idea of the rest of  the rant.  My sister was so angry she told me about it, I printed it off and let Joey read it.  The more we read the more realized what evil and hate came from her pen.  First you need to realize that she teaches children's Sunday school in the Baptist church  in Roanoke. So in her mind she is a Christian. Second she compared anyone in NC who voted for the amendment are not any different than Hitler, the  KKK, and slave loving uneducated ignorant narrow minded Christians.   Now I asked Joey where is the openness for all to be able to express their thoughts and opinions in this vote.  Why is it that I am closed-minded, and she is open minded but she  does not allow me to have a differentt thought than her. As long as I agree with everything she thinks I am open and loving, but don't agree and you are a bigot. I will be writing her a well thought out and prayed  over letter.  I wondered how my college Sunday school class would feel about this rant on face book so I let them read it.  Praise the Lord, they all thought this was completely unacceptable.
Colleges today like to push free thinking, do what makes you feel good, don't really worry about the consequences. You would think this comes from a young person who has no wisdom from the years of learning, however rmy cousin is 40 years old, who in high school decided she was gay (mainly to tick her parents off), changed her mind about the gay lifestyle after college she married a guy and had two children that she is exposing this type of hate to. I know there are extremist on both sides of the spectrum and we cannot put everyone in the same category. However she has, so I think it is time loving ,God fearing , total Bible believing people stand up for what they believe.  God doesn't need us to stand up for him, but I think he likes us to know what we believe and not waiver, I know the Bible says that in the end times, people will call bad good and good bad. I just want to make sure that I am on the side of the Word and not my own agenda....

Storage Wars

Today we had our first auction at the storage facility.  I  kept Harper instead of going to the auction.  It was very sad for me to sell someone else's things without them being there or having some say in the matter.  We sold 10 units, I am not very business minded in this area.  After 3 months you are to start the process in selling units, I waited up to a year on some, just hoping they would return and pay for their unit and take their stuff back.  Like I have said before, I don't store stuff at home, once a year I go through things in the house, and throw out.  I would not need a storage facility unless I was moving, or something happened at my house and I needed to use one for a brief time.  I don't get storing things for years at a time.  Why keep old furniture and not use it in your house, sell it, give it away but do something more than pay $100 or more a month to keep it and never look at it. Getting back to the auction, why would people not claim their belongings? I guess if you died, or went to prison could be good reasons.  However of the 10 units, I know this to be the case in only 1 unit.  Personal belongings, pictures of family, perfectly good furniture, clothes, lawnmowers etc.  When you figure it out could someone let me know the purpose of all this.....

More Pictures

Happy Harper

Cutie Pie



She looks like a baby doll



Funny

Those eyes again



Could just kiss

New Pictures

I love her expression

Little Gypsy Girl

Innocence

Colorful that's who she is

Can't say no to those eyes


Abby went and had her pictures made before her surgery and I will say she is a cutie, I will post more tomorrow.

ALL IS WELL

Harper's surgery went really well, it took exactly 1 1/2 hrs like they said.  A friend of mine from church was one of her nurses so that put Josh and Abby at ease a little more. She kept us updated. Harper today as a little round face and as Josh puts it "she looks like she has eye make-up on" because of the bruising on both sides of her face.  She sleep well last night and was up playing this morning. I lead small groups
last night and I told our nurse friend, I didn't know how she does her job everyday. There were so many little children being operated on yesterday, she says that is the norm. What is not the norm is a 3 month old whose mothers boyfriend crushed his little ribs, and the mother can't choose whether to stay with him or not (The boyfriend) to me this a absolute no brain er. Or the child with cancer up his left side.  Abby said yesterday, I feel a little guilty, Harper looks so healthy compared to alot of these children.
We talked about doubting or questioning God last night. As I drove to the hospital yesterday morning I was thinking how blessed she is to have all of this family support, I saw little children wandering through the neighbor in a drug section of town with no adults with them, I saw a mom with no support at the peds surgery waiting room. This is a very fallen world, there are children everyday all around the world neglected, alone, sad with no one to hug them or love them, and I don't get it.  Why have a child when you don't want to love it, spend time with them, teach them, it is a question I have for God.
My children and probably most of you who read this who have children know how blessed we are to have support and love from family.  I guess what lays heavy on my mind is do I reach out enough to the lonely and sad, the ones who need a little hug. 

Miss Harper

Yesterday Audrey was 25, today we visited Brenners with Harper to schedule her surgery. Tomorrow morning she will have about 1 1/2 hr surgery to remove two cyst one on her right eye and one on the back of the head, the plastic surgeon said it would take about 30 minutes to do both and that the scar would be very small and they would probably not have to shave her hair. The one on the left temple is the more complicated procedure.  She will probably have a little larger scar near the left temple area, the neuro surgeon  seemed to think it would go pretty smoothly, they have to remove  part of a bone to get to this place and then I believe put it back.  She will probably have to wear a little helmet to protect this area for a little while.  They say when she sleeps she doesn't have to wear it just up moving around in case she would fall.  If this little area is not a cyst they will probably have to schedule a time to check her whole body for more.  Abby was concerned that her job as a nurse dealing with chemo's on a daily basis might have caused this, the doctor told her this type of bone tumor has the doctors stumped to what and why they produce. There seems to be no rhythm or reason for them, they say they are not genetic either. Just pray for skilled hands and for God to lead them.  On a lighter note, I have told not many people  of feelings I believe come from God about Harper.  I know we all think that our children and grandchildren are special.  But this little girl has charisma about her that I can't explain. She hums alot, anytime she hears music. At church she zeros in on Christian songs and knows the name Jesus and smiles when she hears it. She also notices people like no other baby I have seen.  While at the hospital, a little boy in a electric wheelchair came to the window near where we were sitting.  Harper saw him and started laughing and waving like she knew him.   When he went to sit in the lobby near us she went crazy trying to see him. There was this other baby that you could tell his eyes were messed up and he might of had some downs syndrome symptoms she smiled and clapped for him and just wanted to touch him. She did not do that with the other healthy children there. Her mother is a true nurses heart and I am just wondering if that compassion is already instilled in Harper from her creator. Josh and I had some work to do in the office after the hospital, he sat down in the chair and fell asleep, he is pretty stressed and does even know it or want to admit it.  Men and their feelings, Joey has made himself sick with concern.  I think the bronchitis has hit him. No matter how you try not to be concerned or worry, the unknown can be a little scary.  Trust in the almighty is there, I can't imagine living life without it and I don't know how people function without the caring arms surrounding you of your creator. This is a learning experience for all of us and one day we will say, look what God did