Sometimes I see the fruit

After yesterday, I wasn't sure what today would bring. Ellis came home from art camp throwing up and then Elizabeth threw up last night. John had just called and said he was going to run get a bite to eat (he was working on his paper in Mobile) and his phone was not working. Andrew was crawling around...literally in vomit (GROSS!) as I was trying to get all of it up. Anna Hartsel was being her normal "motherly" self and on her own accord getting wash cloths for the sick ones.

After a night like that you wonder what you will wake up to. I prayed "Be merciful to me O God" this morning as I thought about the day. I do not do vomit well. Anyway, everyone kept breakfast down and played nicely this morning. We even gathered fruit from the garden. Elizabeth sure did enjoy the watermelon. (Thank you, Lord for days like today. You have blessed me and prepared my heart once again!) He reminds me in John 15, "you did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide." Sometimes seeing fruit as moms is literal like watching my children enjoy the food from the garden and not throw up!

Another trip to the ER!

Some of you know by now that we have appropriately named Elizabeth Rose (initials ER). We have taken her to the Emergency Room at least 4 times in her 2 years of life. She is accident prone and is always trying to be like her 6 year old brother. Anna Hartsel on the other hand is a different story. She is very...what's the word...dainty. She does not like to be dirty, always likes to wear dresses and loves all the girly things. She is also petite for her age so delicacy is natural. She has never seriously been hurt....until Monday night. We were playing at a dear friend's house and she walked out in front of a "swinger". I was standing right there and saw the whole thing. She "caught wind" and landed hard on her head. Of course I ran right over and picked her little 30 lb. body up only to find her stiffen. I then looked at her face...tongue out, eyes briskly moving and she tee-teed all over me. The doctor's said it was basically like a boxing match...she got knocked out and seized. You can not imagine the thoughts that went through my head. After an exciting ride in an ambulance, lots of love from the doctors and nurses, we went home. My heart bleeds for Hope as I type this. God is in control, even when we think we are. What a hard concept to grasp.
Our dear Elizabeth, on the other hand, has yet another black eye. How she got it....I have not a clue!

What is life about anyway?

I have been asking myself this question a lot lately. Why this question?....is it because I have four small children who trust me for everything right now? or is it because yet another summer is almost over? or maybe just because I am a "deep thinker"? No, these are not the reasons I am asking this question. One of my dear friends lost her little four year old precious girl to menengitis on July 2. She was here one day and gone the next...Hope just thought it was the normal stomach bug that kids get. Little Alaina's days were numbered by God, we just didn't know the number..."in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me." Life is not ours. We are here to glorify God. My dear sweet Hope, I love you and I pray for you and Billy constantly.

With their lives and many other friends' lives on my mind, I will begin to blog and share my life. I want to be real....What is life about anyway.....It's all about You, Jesus!