Monday, December 5, 2011

beautiful things...

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way




I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth




Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all


You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us




All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You






You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us






You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust




You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us




You make me new, You are making me new
You make me new, You are making me new
You are making me new




You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us




You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us




You make me new, You are making me new
You make me new, You are making me new


~ Gungor

november...

The month has come and gone and not one single post from me...so here's the bullet point list of the month:

* Celebrated our niece Makenna's 17th birthday...we had fun celebrating a very special girl in our lives. Hard to believe Makenna is 17, but it is amazing to see the awesome young lady she is. We ate good food, but I think the highlight of the day was that the kids got to spend the afternoon with Caleb, Josh, and Makenna. One of the greatest gifts of my life are those kids...I love them and I am so proud of them and watching them with my kids just makes my heart happy! Love you three!!!

* Colds of 2011...we all got sick in November. Wyatt started it off, he thankfully got through it relatively quickly only missing 1 day of school. I got it next and I was not nearly as lucky as Wyatt...I was sick for 3 weeks and those of you that know me well might be shocked that I missed a day of work for myself. Camryn was next and of course this was the most alarming for us. We carefully watched her temperature and how she was doing...thankfully she did okay, missed 2 days of school but overall did okay. We were very grateful that she made it through a cold without a trip to the ER...grateful! Jason got sick and like he normally does fought it off and wasn't sick too badly...but all in all November was a month of coughing, sleeplessness, aches and pains, and of course lots of medicines.

* Conferences...at the beginning of the month the kids got 2 days of school off for the first quarter parent teacher conferences. Jason and I both were a bit nervous, we knew the kids were doing well, but since this was all so new we were anxious to hear how our little ones were doing. Camryn's conference was first...Mrs.B was so sweet in describing our precious girl. She is blossoming into a bright flower. Camryn is doing well with her reading, phonograms, math, science and just about everything else. She had been going to a special tutoring for new kids on their phonograms and we were told that she had caught up and she did not need to go anymore. WooHoo! We got her report card and to say we are proud would be an understatement...it's not just about her grades, but rather watching her enjoy, savor, and thrive at school brings healing. Wyatt's conference was amazing. Mrs.L is just awesome, she is one amazingly gifted teacher. Wyatt is doing super well in kindergarten...we were so happy to hear such neat things about our boy. We were a bit anxious, especially since we opted to put Wyatt in kindergarten and not hold him back. And true to our thought he is excelling academically and doing amazing! We are so proud of him...he truly is a gift, a most precious gift.

* Thanksgiving...we had a fun day on Thanksgiving hanging out at my parents' house. It was just us and my parents so it was a quiet day spent eating, watching football, movies, playing games, and of course just enjoying time together. I am so incredibly thankful for my parents, they have filled the gap for me more than once and just have been amazing helps in my life. The relationship they have with my kids is completely priceless, one of the biggest blessings in my life.

* Thanksgiving Part Two...on Friday we spent the day with Jason's family. What a wonderful day we spent together...one of the biggest blessings of Jason's family are the cousins. Camryn & Wyatt love spending time with Riley & Peighton...and we of course just so enjoy spending time with our siblings and parents. One of the joys of this year was having Jason's grandma here with us...although we missed Grandpa immensely, but the Lord has been good, allowing Grandma to be here with us to celebrate all that we have to be thankful for.

* UCLA trip...on the last day of November I spotted Camryn walking to the nurse's office at school (I was out on lunch supervision duty). I walked over and met her and tears began streaming down her face. She wasn't feeling good, her ear was hurting, and she looked like she had a fever. I walked with her to the nurse and they took her temp...sure enough low grade fever, but I was most concerned as she was really in pain because of her ear. I quickly began going into my mommy of a childhood cancer survivor mode. I called Camryn's nurse practioner and she told me to call her primary doctor or get her to Urgent Care. Can I tell you how excited I was that the ER was not mentioned?! I called UCLA and got an appointment for 3:40...we headed down and it was determined that she had massive wax build up in her ear and it needed to be flushed in order for the doctor to see if in fact she had an ear infection (that's what her nurse practioner thought it was). After flushing her ear, Camryn felt better and of course she had an ear infection. We got a prescription and headed home...thankful for UCLA, but could have done without the 3 hours at UCLA and the hour and a half drive home.

* Pictures...I had asked my friend Kelly to take some pictures of the kids and the 4 of us for possible use for a Christmas card. Camryn wasn't feeling great, so we had to cancel. Kelly ended up coming over and playing with the kids and hanging out...gosh, we love Kelly! Later that week Camryn felt better so we headed to the park and I snapped a few pictures...I'll share them in another post, but let me say I cried when I saw them. How in the world did my kids get so big?!

Well, that's a month in a nutshell...sorry, I was missing in action. I will try to do better this month, I have missed my blog...

Thanks to our faithful readers for not giving up on us...shout out to my cousin Kristi! :)

Thursday, November 10, 2011

rapunzel & flynn...

Any of you who know us well, know that Camryn is a planner extraordinare...she plans holidays, parties, and everything in between well in advance. So the moment she saw Tangled she knew, she knew she had to be Rapunzel.

And if you know Wyatt well, you know that he hates all things connected with costumes...he is not one to dress up at all.

As we were planning for Halloween, Camryn was set and Wyatt well I was waiting for his final decision. He decided to be Flynn Rider from Tangled...yep, we had a pair of cuties...







We headed to church to enjoy Trunk or Treat...and of course have fun with cousins Riley & Peighton! The kids enjoyed getting lots of candy, eating lots of popcorn, playing games, and just having a fun, safe Halloween!



Although I will say that a holiday on a week night makes for some cranky kids the next day...but, we had lots of lots of fun creating memories and enjoying time together!

Monday, October 24, 2011

dance clinic...

A Village tradition is Elementary Night at a home football game...Camryn & Wyatt were excited as now they are "officially" part of the elementary!

Sneaking a picture with Wyatt's very favorite cheerleader...Megan and her "George"



And of course Camryn had to see Megan too...



Camryn performing the "Color Shout" for Grandma & Papa...dare I say it that she LOVES to cheer?! :)



Eisley joined in and I'm pretty sure they were on the "white, white, white, white" part...



The best of friends...Crusaders through and through.



Camryn and Sophia...they quickly have become best of friends. These girls were too cute!!!



Performing with the Dance Team. A very cool tradition is the Dance Team hosts a clinic were they teach the little girls a dance on Saturday morning. Then that evening the girls get to perform...it is so cute, and so fun!! In fact it could be that I was once in the Dance clinic too. :)



With her team...


Cute Wy Guy...


Wyatt hanging out with his good buddy Kevin...



Love this pic...potential a Senior page picture??


Go VCS...it is awesome this year to share all the Village fun as a family!

a little, okay a lot behind...

So, I am behind...way behind. I am learning that working full-time and having both kids in school is proving that my blogging time has become a lot less. And really, that's okay...I really would not have it any other way.

But, I am in the process of getting caught up...so please be patient with me!

Posts coming...I promise!

Saturday, October 15, 2011

student of the month...

We are quite proud of our boy...

Wyatt was selected as the Student of the Month for September. First month of school...he is student of the month. Mrs. L described him as such a well behaved little boy, sitting with his hands folded nicely at his desk or on the rug, never running up the slides, being kind...



I won't lie, my eyes teared up as Wyatt was standing up on the stage. He is such a little guy, but he has such a big heart. What a gift, Jesus blessed our family with!

Grandma & Papa were there...



Grandma & Wy...Papa was in Pennsylvania, but he sent his congratulations!



Of course Camryn was more than proud!



Of course Jason and I were proud...incredibly proud. Wyatt is just blossoming at school. He is doing SO well, better than I think either of us even imagined. He is amazing us with his daily list of what he did at school. And quite honestly, is shocking us with his desire to learn, grow, and do!



We love you Wy! We are so proud of you!!!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

incredible blessings...

Sometime during the summer this song was sung by a dear friend of mine in church...as she sang these words tears rolled down my cheeks. It was as if her words were being sung straight to my heart, by my heart...

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise


We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

~ Blessings by Laura Story

There are times when the struggle of my heart creeps in...oh there are many sunny days now, many days when rain drops don't fall; but there are days when my heart stops suddenly and memories, moments come flooding back.

I have grown to realize that at no time is our journey truly over. The journey changes, becomes about different things, but never over. Someone asked me the other day when Camryn will be cleared from leukemia...the question stopped me. I had not heard the "l" word spoken about Camryn in a long time...and quite honestly the answer is never. Never, which is a very long time.

Our counter is still filled with medicine. Camryn still talks about what made her sick, her juice. Wyatt vaguely remembers a night in the hospital. We still see the doctor once a month. UCLA is still a very real reality.

But, the Lord's incredible blessings come...in the midst of the moments when my heart stops in its tracks. When I'm not sure how we came to be here, but here is where we are and I will forever thank my Lord.

I will never pretend to understand the journey, or the blessings that have come...

I only know that I am humbled, amazed, grateful; and yet, confused, hurt, and doubtful...

And my Lord loves me just the same.