Our Savior's love, shines like the sun with perfect light. As from above, it breaks through clouds of strife.

May 27, 2011

Beach trip/ Five on Friday

Topsail Island, May 2011

5 photos from a great week!








May 20, 2011

5 on Friday (catching up)

1.  Strawberry picking... we brought home 15 lbs.  I think SJ ate 5 1/2 lbs before we even left the field.


 2.  A picture of me and my girls on Mother's Day
3.  SJ's funny book:  Greg was trying to teach her how to say "excuse me" when she is finished with dinner. 
G:  What do you say?
SJ:  (listing all of the good manners words she knows) Pweez? (please) Sawwy (sorry)? 
G:  Haha, Good try!

4.  Went to the Science Museum with the girls.  We saw lots of fun, hands-on science exhibits and C and SJ got to hold a turtle.  (SJ got scared and THREW the turtle... it survived).  One of the many exhibits is a music room, with lots of drums/found sounds and a giant keyboard on the floor that you step on to make it play. 

5.  Afterwards, I asked Clara what her favorite part was, and she said it was the music room.  I beamed with pride!

May 8, 2011

Tender Mercies

A few years ago, and apostle of the Lord gave this message in General Conference. Since then, the phrase "tender mercies" has become so commonly used (might I say overused) in our church that it is a running joke between Greg and I. However, yesterday I was the recipient of some very real and very needed tender mercies from a loving Father in Heaven.

We had just finished visiting the temple and had picked up the girls from the sitter (their sweet older cousin, Anna). We stopped to have lunch at a restaurant in Cary. We sat down to eat. I had taken one bite and then noticed Sarah Jane do a strange jerk. She didn't respond when I called her name or even when I touched her. We thought maybe she was choking, because she was struggling to breathe. We tried swiping out her mouth and doing the baby version of the Heimlich, but it wasn't helping. She was completely unresponsive and seemed to be having a seizure. We called 911. The paramedics were there in about 45 seconds. By the time they got there she was unconscious. They stripped her down and hooked her up to all kinds of monitoring equipment and gave her oxygen. At first they thought she was having an allergic reaction, but soon changed their diagnosis to a febrile seizure. Her fever was 101 degrees. We rode to the hospital in the ambulance. The seizure lasted about 5 minutes and then she was in a "post febrile state" (dilated pupils, unresponsive) for about an hour and a half. At the hospital, once she was responsive enough to take it, they gave her some Motrin to bring the fever down. They kept an eye on her and let her rest for a little while, but no other treatment was necessary and they classified her episode as a benign febrile seizure... something they see quite often. Very scary for the parents, but not harmful to the child.

So... about those tender mercies. Had the seizure happened 30 minutes earlier, SJ would have been with the babysitter. 30 minutes later, and we would have been on the highway in the middle of nowhere on our way home. We happened to be at a restaurant that was just seconds away from the fire/ambulance station. Although NOW I know that this was a condition that didn't require medical intervention, I certainly didn't know that while it was happening and was very reassured by the super fast response of the paramedics. Knowing she was getting help comforted me in this very scary situation. Not having medical help or not having been there when it happened would have been terrifying.

We live in a mortal world, where we must face health challenges and scary situations. I am grateful for a loving Heavenly Father who offers a helping hand when we most need it and Who was most certainly watching over our family, yesterday.

Happy Mothers Day

For mother's day, I thought I'd share a couple of memories about my Mom from my childhood.

Here is a photo of my 5th b-day party, with a Hello Kitty cake, made by Mom.

When I was 6 years old, I broke my arm and had to have surgery. It happened on the last week of 1st grade, and I missed a whole week's worth of fun "end-of-the-year" field trips and events. To make me feel better, my Mom rented movies and bought me treats and gave me lots of TLC.

Thanks, Mom. Love you!

May 6, 2011

5 on Friday

1. Mischief: no amount of supervision can keep this girl out of trouble. I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by her zest for life, these days.
2. Trail Half Marathon: Greg did a great job on this race... running the entire distance on some harrowing trails. Way to go, hon! Clara helped me make these signs and was a super-race-supporter.(We wrote, "Don't Stop Dad" on the stop sign. Clara asked if we could hold the "stop" side up to the other racers, so they would have to stop and Daddy would win. HA!)

3. Celebrated my birthday, this week: someone asked me how old I was turning and I said, 31... no, wait! I mean 32. It's getting hard to keep track. Had a concert that night... a wonderful friend from church watched the girls so Greg could come to the concert and then take me out to dinner at my favorite Greensboro restaurant- Green Valley Grill. Had lamb chops and chocolate cake and LOVED them.

4. Spinach smoothie: I have heard about these for a long time, but always just assumed they were yucky and only for super health nuts. I was wrong! Had some extra spinach in the fridge and threw it in to a smoothie and it was GOOD! I am especially excited because the girls loved it... Clara had 3 cups and I think that is more Vitamin A than she has eaten in her entire life.
5. I love hearing Clara learn new vocabulary. Recently, she called bacon "bakon soda" (because she had heard the word "baking soda" and didn't know what it was). Also, she called marinara sauce "sausage," when meaning just "sauce."