2008 Backyard Roses

"One of the most tragic things I know about human nature is that all of us tend to put off living. We are all dreaming of some magical rose garden over the horizon-instead of enjoying the roses blooming outside our windows today." - Dale Carnegie

We have a tremendous crop of roses in our backyard this year. These roses have the most incredible scent and when you stand next to the bushes in the backyard I swear it carries you away.

Lunch With An Angel

I'd like you to meet Baby J. His grandma works with me and today at lunch 3 of us went up to the hospital with her to visit him. Baby J is 4 months old now and has lived all his precious little life in the hospital. But wonderful blessings - he recently had a heart transplant! I wish this picture showed his big, beautiful smile, but when we got to the room he was sleeping and just woke up in this photo.

He has a ways to go before he's released from the hospital, but he has already amazed his doctors with how well he's responded to the transplant.

Glory Be! :)

Amazing Bible Truths

Today was one of those days at work where a person runs around in circles so much and so fast that I swear I could see the back of my heels while running! It was really not a bad day, just so very busy and a lot of different irons in the fire.

In the midst of the busy I had to stop and work out the best course of action on a problem. I looked up and saw this book sitting on my desk and immediately the word "Peace" came to mind.

This book was given to me by an incredibly special person in my life shortly after one of my surgeries. It is filled with Bible verses and vignettes and I never fail to find one that speaks to me right at that moment. I dearly love to just open it and see what is there. Today, in the midst of my busy and starting to get frustrated with myself, this is what I saw:

"Jesus can turn water into wine, but He can't turn your whining into anything." Do all things without murmurings and disputings. Philippians 2:14

Thumped me right between the eyes I tell you! Bible readings never cease to amaze me as to how relevant they are. And the naysayers that say the Bible doesn't apply to current times have apparently not read much of it. When you stop and think about how long ago the Bible was written and how it speaks so vividly to us today it can truly send you to your knees in thankful prayer.

Brooklyn Spends the Night

We are such lucky grandparents - J&L wanted to go to the movies Saturday night with another couple, so they asked us to babysit. Unfortunately I had to work, so Grandpa kept Brooklyn and they had a great bonding time. When I got home from work the little angel was asleep in her pack n play.

The next morning I got out of the shower to see this scene - Grandpa feeding Brooklyn her breakfast! I want you to pay close attention to the bib that he chose, which he claims was totally random. I don't think so, but it sure is cute that he put that one on her!

This is the new highchair that we bought for her. I know I'll sound old when I say this, but I am constantly amazed when in the baby section of stores at how much has changed. This chair is perfect for a grandparent's house and will even pull up to the table without the tray when she gets a little older. You can tell by the picture that she gets distracted by the dog a LOT!

Shortly after she finished eating it was time for a bath. Of course I don't have a baby tub, so I put a hand towel in the bottom of my kitchen sink and she took a bath that way. One of our favorite family stories is when Lynne' was a baby and we were up at the lake cabin. The cabin only has a shower, no tub, so we bathed Lynne' in the kitchen sink. Mom always told Lynne' that she was going to be dishes, so of course that's what I told Miss Brooklyn. She just happily splashed around in the sink and was perfectly happy carrying on the dishes tradition of her Aunt Lynne'. :)

Not Enough Sleep and an Extra Helping of Caffeine

Put these two things together and you get one goofy girl! I have been teased quite a bit the last couple of days at work because when I'm tired and wired I get very giggly. There is no end in site for the immediate future, so coffee has become my new BFF. ;)

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We picked up the truck on Wednesday from its visit to the plastic surgeon. Hard to believe with all the hail damage it had that now it looks absolutely perfect! And do you know that last night we had storms roll through the dfw area again? Keith just chuckled and wondered if our insurance rates would go up if we have two hail damage claims in a two week period. Luckily we were spared in this storm.

However, the kids spent a good little bit in their closet last night when the sirens went off in their area! We did chat about how much your perception of danger in a storm changes once you have a baby to take care of.

And while watching the storm coverage (pick a channel, any channel - they all had excited weathermen covering the storm!) we heard that the sirens were going off in the 'burb that Lynne' lives in, so I called to be sure she was safe. No answer, so I assumed they were hunkered down. Nope, got a call a few minutes later that she'd seen my call on her caller id. I asked what the sound was and she was in a car with her friend, having just left a restaurant. A big hailstorm erupted, so they stopped under a bridge on the highway....except that the nose of the car was hanging out and they were getting pelted with pea size hail!

Aye Caramba - spring in Texas is HERE!

April Stamp Night

I am just constantly amazed at the cool projects we do on stamp night. Denise just got back from a Stampin Up cruise and was filled with excitement for us. Can you imagine how fun that cruise probably was - a ship full of girlfriends playing with a craft that they love?

The first card we made uses the set Live Your Dream from the current mini catalog. We used the Carousel Notes for a non-fold card and I really like it! The piercing around the circle is a brass template and we used a punch for the holes on the edge. Love that lacey look. You can't tell in the picture, but the flower centers and the butterfly has glitter for a bling sparkle.

This next card I have played with and demonstrated to Keith so many times I think he just rolls his eyes now when he sees me coming! The stamp set is Pun Fun and we added some blue glitter to the little spaceship.

AND....it's a spinner card! Tilt the card from side to side and the little spaceship spins back and forth - how cool is that?!?!?

Cool enough that I did a video to demonstrate the amazing spinning abilities. I did learn while doing the video that it's not easy to hold a camera in your left hand to record and hold the card in your right hand and make the little ship spin. So I apologize for the poor video quality, but at least you can see how it works. :)