Memorial Day....

So, I made a post earlier today regarding today as a day to sit by the pool, relax, and enjoy a backyard bbq. I just spent some time reading online about Memorial Day and now feel somewhat ashamed...Memorial Day is a day to reflect on those that lost their lives fighting for our country. I always think of "veterans" and "war heroes" as old men, but it's not that way anymore. These men have left behind wives. babies. siblings. parents. Check out this link:

http://www.digitaljournalist.org/issue0604/temple.html

So although it's fun to be all "American" and go to the lake, hang out by the pool, and have a bbq, I encourage you all to reflect and be grateful for our troops, and those that have lost their lives.

On a quick note, I think Edil and Carlos enjoyed our "American" evening of a backyard bbq--and now they're hooked on washers :).

patio

The last of the "big" house projects is in the works! Edil and his friend Carlos are up here working on building us a patio. Picked out the flagstone on Saturday :). I have taken pictures to chronicle this project (including Caleb with the jackhammer and "Steve" from the stone shop riding down the alley in his forklift carrying our 4 tons (yes, 8000 lbs!) of stone). You know me though....have yet to post those pics, so they will come eventually. Today Caleb is doing a little work then has ultimate practice. I've spent the morning calling gravel places--and they also, like the rest of America, are taking Memorial Day off. So, I've now donned the swimsuit for the first time this season and am going to do some chillaxing poolside for the day! We plan on grilling burgers, eating baked beans, potato chips, and watermelon tonight. Yum!

Perspective

I love my job. I love learning something new every single day. I love to sit and hold babies that have tubes and monitors and everything else on them so it takes 5 minutes to position in my lap, but as soon as we are both still that heartrate starts to calm. I love to pray for my patients, and it's amazing how the Lord prompts very specific prayers for each child. I love getting to see kids talk for the first time after they've been in a coma and see not only the faces of the parents, but the light in the child's eye when they realized they just spoke with meaning. I love getting to help a new Mom feed their baby for the first time and the cameras come out and it's such a special, "normal" moment--even though the baby is 2 or 3 or 6 months old. I love getting to work so closely with brilliant people who teach me so much, yet listen to what I have to say and even ask my opinion. I love all these things, but most of all, I love getting to know the families. The stories. It's so so so hard to have your baby in the hospital, but I think at this time the families are most vulnerable and just share their hearts. It's such a blessing to me to just listen and see the way the Lord weaves in and out of each and every story and each story gives me such perspective. His creation. His sovereignty. Even in the sick, very sad cases of abuse, neglect, drug/alcohol use, etc He is SOVEREIGN. Autism. Cancer. Inoperable brain tumor. Coma. Rare genetic syndrome affecting ability to eat by mouth. Heart transplant. Nonaccidental Trauma (abuse). Trach/vent baby whose family has abandoned him after 5+ months of hospital stay. Those were the diagnoses in the order that I saw my patients today.

Tonight I was looking at the blog of one of my patient's families and a Mom shared this. It's so true, so I'll leave it with my blogger buds :):


Holland:

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip-to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."
"Holland?!?!" you say. "What do you mean, Holland? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy!".

But ther's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay. The important thing is they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine, and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would have never met. It's just a different place. It's slower-paced that Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for awhile and catch your breath, you look around...and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills...and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy...and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned".

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever go away....because the loss of that dream is a very, very significant loss.

But, if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things....about Holland.

-Emily Perl Kingsley, 1987

Swine Flu Special Please!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was talking to my brother on the phone last night, and the one thing that I really envy about Stephen is the fact that he goes on vacation. A lot. And I LOVE vacation :). Now don't get me wrong, he definitely works hard....but then he plays hard :). I'm not about the working so much, but I can definitely do the playing!

Anyway, he said that he got a "swine flu special" and he's going to Mexico for memorial day weekend at an incredible deal. So, as I'm sitting in outpatient today awaiting my patient to arrive for her evaluation, I just happen to check out these "swine flu specials" (not a technical term) online and WOA! I'm ready for Mexico! I'm not sure if Caleb is on board with it, but I'm in the beach mood now, just blogging in my bikini (haha, just kidding on that one!). I mean, no kids...no responsibilities at work (well, atleast for me).....what a perfect time to be spontaneous and just hop to Mexico for the weekend?! Who's in?!

Adios for now....the dryer buzz just brought me back to reality :)

Lots 'o pics!

These pics are in reverse order from May-Feb :). Sorry if that's confusing, I just wanted to get these posted and that's the way it formatted!

Camping this past weekend at Lake Mineral Wells with our community group. We had a great time....and for those of you that know me, it was really great company for me to have a great time camping :)

We went to a Rough Riders game as a volunteer celebration with our church. Here's Caleb with Joel ....he will be 1 on the best birthday of all, June 23 :).

Joel with cousin Noah at the baseball game. Noah's Mommy is in my Bible study (Joel's parents are in our community group). We love watching these sweet boys grow up!

And another precious little one who's growing up way too fast, Mr. Hudson, our nephew (17 months)
Here are all the boys (Caleb with Hudson, Harrison in green, Hayden shirtless) in the backyard! Caleb and I had a great time keeping our nephews for the night while Emily and Jeff celebrated her birthday downtown!

While we're on the subject of precious little ones growing up, here's 'lil miss Abby sporting her "I heart cupcake" shirt just for Steph who didn't make it to Bible study that night. This is for you, Steph....sorry I'm just now getting it to you :). Abby is almost 15 months.

The Arkansas Derby contestants (hmm...is that what they're called? probably not)....

Us at the horseraces for our getaway weekend :).

My wonderful friend Kate (in the middle of this pic) is going overseas to serve as a missionary in Marseillles, France. Chelsea and I hosted a going away party for her....we love you and miss you Katya!

My cousin Amanda came in with her 2 precious gals, Kylie and Payten, and spent the weekend with us back in March. Here's Miss Kylie at the Children's Mueseum

Caleb's Mom bough us the Ticket to Ride expansion set.....which has filled many of our nights these past few months. I guess Caleb won this night, but that's not always the case, as I can hold my own :). Thanks, Ava for the wonderful surprise!
Caleb's winter league team, "The Handlers" finished up in March. No worries, friends, club season just started this past Saturday, and spring league ends in about a month.....Caleb still gets his ultimate on a weekly basis :). Here's the winter league team:

We celebrated Connie's 50th birthday in Waco over rollerskating and fajitas at La Fiesta. Here's Jenny, me, Ali, and Stephen (and when one of the "5" grandkids isn't there, we always hold up a plate for the one missing....in this case, Lindsey (who has red hair, hence, the red plate). Haha, what a quirky, but fun family tradition :).


My Mom, Ali, and me with the birthday girl :)

Last but not least, a sneak peak of the remodeling Edil did upstairs in January. He did the gameroom, both bedrooms, and office in January and came back up a couple of weeks ago and did the bathroom upstairs. The patio in a few weeks, and then we're done ;). Still got to do the decorating....