Date Day!

Well,  yesterday we decided to just sleep in and then get up and go to Mount Vernon and LaConner for the day!

We started out at a store that sells old doors and windows ( and anything else you can imagine ). We were
looking for a door to make a couple of things for Lauren and Nik's wedding reception. Trust me, it will look
neat especially since Jeff is going to make it.

We found just the ones we wanted with the doorknobs on them...great deal!

Then we decided to eat our lunch and just check out the town of Mount Vernon. Not a very big town but a lot of fun stores. The first thing we saw as we were walking down a side street was a huge black board painted on the side of a building with this on it...

It had all kinds of answers on it, some very thoughtful, some sad, many happy ones and some just down right weird! Since there was chalk on there also...we decided we should right our own wish on there. You can't read it probably but it was...before I die, I want to finish all my quilts for my family! :) I know you can stop laughing now!

Jeff's wish was of course... something he wanted to do on his motorcycle, ride back to the East Coast!

Then we hit some antique shops...always fun and entertaining!

I even found the perfect gift for my sister in law Shirley! Never been opened :)

Then we headed over to LaConner for dinner and just a stroll around town, fun to see the sights, so many things bring back memories of our childhood. ( Good ones )

Then we tried one last selfie through a store window and a mirror...ok, I am new at this.. I realize that! All in all, it was the perfect Date day.  I have been so sick for so long that we have missed many of our Date Nights, and definitely the chance to go too many places.
 How grateful I am, to be feeling better. I felt blessed to spend the day with my best friend!

Heading to celebrate the 4th with the girls. Have a wonderful 4th. We are so blessed to live in this beautiful and wonderful USA!

Waiting! Wondering! and Wishing!

 Waiting!  ( 9:00 a.m.)
Today I went with Lee to get a brain MRI. We have already seen 2 other Doctors ( Specialists ) since he has been home in the last 5 days. Still have no answers ...only suggestions for medications or injections that we could give him...not knowing if what is exactly wrong with him, we decided to hold until we feel right about something. One thing that we kept feeling like we needed to do was to have an MRI on his brain. So that is why we went ahead and scheduled that for today. As I sat there in the waiting room, I silently prayed for two very different things...one that we would find something that would help us figure out what the cause is for these attacks, that he has been having for over 3 years. Then in the very same prayer, I prayed that nothing would be terribly wrong with him...hoping it would be something that we could fix, and not some life long disease or problem. Then I realized that the prayer I had to say next was... to bless him and us, to be able to handle whatever the results are, and that we would know the next direction to go. I also prayed  that Lee would be able to feel some peace if we do get bad news. So I am still waiting, they told us that the DR should be reading the MRI and getting the results to us by 4:00 pm today. 
Need to stay busy and yet continue to pray that as his MOM, I will know what to say and do. I love this boy, it hurts me to see him go through all these tests with no answers. I want so bad to help him in some way and I know I can't. But I can be a strength to him and one who continues to remind him where to get his hope and faith from. My heart still hurts...I need to pray harder!
Wondering! ( 3:45 p.m. )
The nurse called and told us that she had the results back. I know from previous experience IF the nurse can tell you the information ...then it is good news or no news.  If she tells you that your results are in and to hold so she can put the Doctor on the line... then things are bad. She didn't say wait for the Doctor and then proceeded to tell us that everything on the MRI done on his brain looked good and nothing abnormal. I was relieved because there were a few big things that they were looking for, and they weren't there. Still I am worried how Lee is going to take it, when yet another test didn't make us any closer to getting an answer.
Wishing! ( 10:45 p.m. ) Now all I can do is wish and pray that we will get an impression or some thing to let us know what avenue to take next. Until then, I am going to count this as a blessing, his brain looks good...that is no small thing!
Need to go to bed and relax, kind of a stressful day!
Good night dear friends!  

 

 “I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.”  ~Abraham Lincoln

 “Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind.”  ~Howard W. Hunter

What I wished I had known when I was sixteen!

I have shared with many of you my one of my favorite authors….Jason F. Wright. Today I read his weekly article and it struck a cord in me. You might ask why? Because when I was sixteen years old, I was engaged to be married, it wasn’t a prearranged marriage but….close.  I know I was in the wrong culture for that, but still the pressure was on. I had known this guy for a couple of years and he was a very nice person.  He was 5 years older than me and had a good family. The problem was…I was too young! I still had a year of High School left. My Mom and his Mom already had their dresses made, the Women’s Club had already been rented and the material was bought for my dress to be made. However one night when a friend of ours was starting to measure me to make my dress,  she began to ask me some really important questions. Ones that I really didn’t have the answer for, like where we were going to live, or what he was going to do for a living. She also reminded me that IF we didn’t completely get along now…chances are it won’t get any better. So after that conversation and staying up all night crying and praying, I broke off the engagement the next morning. It was actually easier to tell him than it was my Mom. She actually struggled hard for years about my decision. Still I knew that it was right and how grateful I am, that I had the courage to do that.

So when I read this article that Jason Wright wrote for his daughter who was turning 16 today… I was both happy and sad. I was happy to hear the love that he had for his daughter, and yet a bit sad because I never had much of a relationship at all with my Dad. Plus, it reminded me once again the importance of a Father in a girl’s life. How happy I am that my girls and granddaughters have that, it truly is a blessing!

As for what I wished I had known when I was 16, was almost everything that Jason said in his article. I might have added for me these things…

That sixteen years old, is way too young to get married.

That just because someone is family, doesn’t automatically mean they can be trusted (they have to earn that trust ).

That my opinion was important and that I deserved to be treated well.

That I could trust my gut feelings.

That I was an important person,  and that I had much to share with the world.

And most of all that if I would wait a few more years, I would find the man of my dreams, and that he would literally be my best friend, be trustworthy, be a great Dad for our kids and a man that served the Lord.

Had I known that at 16…I probably would have broken off the engagement sooner!

A good reminder of this is, the silver band that this young man  gave me as an engagement ring, is still in our family. I asked my girls to wear it as a daily reminder to…marry the right person, at the right time, for the right reason and at the right place! So if I could go back and thank that young man for not marring me…I would. I actually think he would feel the same way
How glad I am that my Heavenly Father and so many friends were watching over me as a 16 year (who was not in a good place in her life ).

If you get a minute…read his article, he is a great writer! (He wrote one of our favorite Christmas books called… THE CHRISTMAS JAR)

http://jasonfwright.com/column/what-I-wish-Id-known-when-I-turned-16.html

Good night dear friends!

'The best birthdays of all are those that haven’t arrived yet."   ~ Robert Orben

"You were born an original. Don't die a copy."    ~ John Mason

“Blessed indeed is the man who hears many gentle voices call him father!”     ~Lydia M. Child

“Any man can be a father.  It takes someone special to be a dad.”     ~Author Unknown