Susan and Karen guessed correctly! We're in South Carolina visiting Brittany! Woohoo! And we're having so much fun!

Yesterday Brittany took us to the South Carolina Aquarium.

It was a great place! They boys loved it!

Elijah became our photographer and took a picture of the three of us with a flute playing frog. That's how we met and became friends, we all played flute in band way back when.

The penguins were the only animals in the aquarium that weren't native to South Carolina.

Looking at the turtles.

  

  

There was a great place where the kids could touch and hold starfish, sting rays, sea urchins and crabs.

Here's Elijah holding a starfish.

Elijah what was your favorite part?
"Looking at the alligator and the snakes!"

  

We're taking the boys to see Toy Story 3 today.

Enjoy your week everybody!

Where's Waldo?

I didn't tell you where I was going this week.

Want to guess where we are?

 

  

Bear Hugs!

Wait what? It's time for the LENS Photo challenge again? Where did the week go?

Was it a busy week for you?

This weeks theme is "our animal friends".

Here Elijah is giving bear hugs to a stuffed bear at the Bass Pro Shops in Springfield, MO.

May 2010

http://www.homeiswhereyoustartfrom.com/2010/06/lens-photo-challenge-our-animal-friends.html

Grab your shades!

We're off to the park!

Enjoy your weekend!

Mom wrote

"God is answering your prayers! I just got home from the hospital last night (Thurs) - a week after my surgery. It's wonderful to be home!

Although the ordeal was much more painful than I had dreaded, the Everlasting Arms held me; and my husband, family and hospital staff took wonderful care of me.

The pathology report showed that the cancerous tumor was stage one and contained - praise God!! The lymph nodes are clear and the biopsies of the surrounding area are clear. It is rare for ovarian cancer to be discovered at stage one. We have much to be grateful for!

Have been experiencing severe nausea the past couple of days, but that should pass. Recovery will take some time.

This is the devotional that God used to encourage my heart with while waiting for the report.

And your love and prayers are always an encouragement. THANKS SO MUCH!

Esther

6-23. LOVE'S LEGACY
"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known unto God" (Philippians 4:6).

Ignorance insures insecurity; scriptural knowledge secures strength. "For God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind" (2 Timothy 1:7).

"In mechanics, wobbling is weakness. Power issues from God's restfulness. Are we resting in the Lord? Can we wait patiently for Him to act? Anxiety reduces spiritual energy. Lack of rest of heart is one of the most serious hindrances to Christians.

"Fret of soul when wronged, or fuss over financial or other concerns, is a depletion of power, a dissipation of energy. From the rock basis of rest in Him we can put forth the whole of our energies. Perfect peace is our promised portion."

"Martha gets instruction; we all get that, for our Lord neglects none of us; but she did not get His company; company is what gives rest to the heart."

"Nothing can separate the believer from the love of God, and under no circumstances whatever can he come under the infliction of wrath from God. He may have to correct His saints for their sins, and where there has been no failure He may chasten (child train) them for their profit, that they may become partakers of His holiness; but all this is in love, not in wrath. Every action of God toward His saints is in grace and blessing; it is ever the outcome of His love."

"And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7).

She's Home

"What a big helper you've got!" said one of the nurses as Elijah and I passed her in the hall. I sure did!Elijah was being a "super hero" and pulling his grandma's suitcase down to the car for me. My super hero and I were there at the hospital this afternoon to bring mom home! They were finally letting her go. Yippee!

My other super hero, a.k.a. hubby Geoff, was home with Ethan while I was at the hospital today, made a nice dinner this evening and filled mom's prescription tonight. Have i mentioned that I'm so thankful he's here? Cuz i am! He's awesome!

Now that mom's home and we won't be running down to Orlando everyday I'll hopefully pick up my lonely camera again and give it some attention. We've missed each other. =) 

Since I haven't gotten many pictures recently (aside from the ones on my phone that i can't figure out how to get off!) this one of Ethan and I at the beach a couple weeks ago is going to have to do for this weeks edition of Embrace the Camera stared by Emily at The Anderson Crew. Check it out and join in!

My Work

My Work

~Mary Lou Burkholder

I have the greatest work in the world;

The job of rocking a baby to sleep,

That of guiding his tottering feet,

A baby's clothes to launder and fold,

A precious life to shape and mold,

A drink to give from a little cup,

At night his toys to gather up,

Hurts to heal and fears to quell,

A baby to keep clean and well,

A stack of diapers to put away,

Oh, what a happy worthwhile day!

I am a "Mother."

You can read the whole poem at Beautiful Calling.

Happy Fathers Day!

My husband and his boys.

 When Geoff canceled his trip to Northern Ireland to stay with us I felt like a weight had lifted off my shoulders. He has been such a huge help and blessing to me. Since mom's surgery i've been spending a lot of time in the hospital and last night I spent the night in the hospital with her. I wouldn't have been able to do that if Geoff wasn't here. I'm so thankful for him. Happy Father's Day. And Happy Father's Day to my dad.

 

L.E.N.S Photo Challenge- Summer!

 Summer means plenty of time to enjoy your favorite things. For Elijah it's his legos.

He could spend hours playing with his legos.

The boys and I are going to make cookies and then heading to the hospital to stay with mom.

Go to http://www.homeiswhereyoustartfrom.com/ and enter your favorite summer picture!

what depths of peace

IN CHRIST ALONE

In Christ alone my hope is found;

He is my light, my strength, my song;

This cornerstone, this solid ground,

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My comforter, my all in all—

Here in the love of Christ I stand.

We're home at mom and dad's Ethan is in bed. Elijah is sleeping next to me on the couch. Geoff is driving back from taking my brother Andrew back to Word of Life and Dad is with mom at the hospital. So for the moment all is quiet and since people have been asking I thought I'd write an update. I must be getting tired because my spelling is worse than normal and my words are getting switched around. I'll probably read this tomorrow and wonder what in the world I was talking about!

The last post mom was going into surgery with cancer as a possibility. Yesterday that possibility became reality.

This is one of those things that you think happens to other people but will never happen to your family.

The surgery went well enough. They think they got it all. They took biopsies to check the surrounding areas and Monday we should find out what stage it was/is at.

Andrew needed to see his mama so Geoff drove down to pick him up and bring him to the hospital to see mom. It was a surprise as mom didn't think he'd be back until the end of summer. It was a really short, couple hour, visit and Geoff is on his way home now from taking him back.

When the boys and I left the hospital tonight she was sitting in the chair next to the bed and doing a bit better. But her blood pressure was low and she gets really dizzy and nauseous if she moves. Even drinking too much water makes her nauseous.

Dad is staying with her at the hospital again tonight.
 
Love you all!
 
Over and out.

How Can I Fear

By Ron Hamilton

When shadows fall and the night covers all

There are things that my eyes cannot see.

I never fear, for the Saviour is near.

My LORD abides with me!

 

How can I fear? Jesus is near!

He ever watches over me!

Worries all cease; He gives me peace.

How can I fear with Jesus?

When I'm alone and I face the unknown

And I fear what the future may be,

I can depend on the strength of my Friend!

He walks along with me.

 

How can I fear? Jesus is near!

He ever watches over me!

Worries all cease; He gives me peace.

How can I fear with Jesus?

Jesus is King! He controls everything!

He is with me each night and each day.

I trust my soul to the Saviour's control;

He drives all fear away!

Lots of catching up to do.

I've been a bad blogger lately haven't I? Big things are happening and I haven't been keeping up. I can make excuses and tell you why I've been so busy and you'll probably forgive me. Thank you muchly! =) But I also want to make sure I document this time so that one day my family and I can look back and see all that God has brought us through. His plan is for our good and one day we be able to see that clearly.

I wasn't even going to mention this next part but it is part of my story and so I'm going to go ahead. We have to jump back a few weeks though. Mother's Day of this year ended up being similar to our Mother's Day two years ago in that we found out we were expecting a baby! The baby from two years ago of course is our precious, cranky, lovable Ethan. It felt like perfect timing, as the Lords timing always is. We were excited and the thoughts started flowing, "maybe it's a girl!" Elijah's reaction when we told him was "But we already have Ethan!" =)
For some reason that we don't know i miscarried the baby in May. Hence that week long absence from the blog. We feel blessed to have been the mommy and daddy on this earth if only for a few weeks. Since we've decided to let the Lord plan our family size and He gave us this baby in His timing it's easy to trust Him. I think if we'd been working, planning and trying to have a baby then it would have felt like God took something from us that we earned, deserved or belonged to us. Each of our children, born or unborn, was given to us from and belongs to the Lord and He can do with them what He knows is best.

Then we came to FL for part of our summer break. Geoff was planning on being here for a week and then spending some time in Northern Ireland visiting our family and sending church over there. They boys and I were to stay here at mom an dads. I was not looking forward to saying goodbye for four weeks! The closer the time came the greater the dread grew.

My dear mom was still having trouble with blood clots and we were glad to be able to be here and be a help around the house. A cyst was found on an ovary during testing for the clots. They are  concerned it is cancer and the only way to know for sure if it is or not is to do surgery and take it out.

When we found out mom was having surgery and both Geoff and I didn't feel right about him leaving we decided to cancel his trip to N.Ireland and stay the summer with us. Phew! A weight seemed to lift right off my shoulders! A praise is that we were able to get a full refund on his ticket too!

Monday she was admitted to the hospital. Today is the day my mom is having her surgery. A few hours from now we will know better what we are dealing with.

Mom is tired. She wasn't able to get a good nights sleep last night.

We so appreciate your prayers. Whether it is good or bad news we hear today doesn't change who God is. He is still good. In fact He already knows the outcome of today's surgery. We can trust Him.

Well, thanks for listening to me ramble on here.

Love you all and thank you for your support!

Psalm 100

For a new blog friend Sheila, The Quintessential Magpie

Psalm 86:12

L.E.N.S Photo Challenge- Nature is my classroom- and Blue Monday

http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

I love watching my little Ethan exploring the world around him.

No need to just sit in a classroom and study. There are so many things we can learn just by being out side and playing! For instance take our day at the beach last weekend. We saw 13 turtles, a snake, baby armadillo (it was tiny and so cute!), fish, crabs, birds, and clams. Then there was the different weather patterns we experienced, cloudy, thunderstorm and sunny! All in one afternoon!

Nature can be a classroom!

Share your "nature is my classroom" photo with us by entering it at the site below. Come on, join the fun!

http://www.homeiswhereyoustartfrom.com/