Blessings by Laura Story

I was golfing with my sister and friend, Tab, last night at golf league. During our round, Tab mentioned a song she recently heard called "Blessings". I'd not heard it before. However, while reading one of my favorite christian blogs tonight, this song happened to be at the end of one of her posts. I love it and thought it was appropriate for my blog. It's a great song.

James 1:12
Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.

Blessing: Surving surgery #9

Alexis went "under" for at least the 9th time today..could be more but this is all I could come up with. So far in her 6 short years of life the poor child has had:

1) Heart surgery
2) G-tube surgery and phundoplication
3) Fix G-tube surgery
4) J-tube surgery
5) Remove J-tube surgery
6) Ear tubes and adenoids
7) Ear tubes again
8) Ear tubes again
9) Ear tubes and adenoids AGAIN!

She did great. Besides the 2 hour wait in the "waiting cell" before the surgery and the hour of crying and being confused from the anesthesia after the surgery, she did great!



Poor child has been through so much. She is SO brave. She is the reason I started this blog and much of the reason I put a smile on my face each day. She's such a blessing in the lives of so many. She's my HERO.



My brave girl waiting patiently for her surgery.

The Blessing of "Mean" Parents

When I was growing up, I used to think my parents were SO mean. I mean, really. We couldn't bring sack lunches to school. If we wanted to go shopping at the Buckle for $100 jeans, we had to work for them. If we were whiny and didn't feel like going to school, they made us suck it up and go anyway. We had bedtimes. The list goes on and on. After almost concluding my first year of teaching in a district with "less involved parents" (different clientele than I was used to in WDM) I've come to appreciate my "mean" parents more and more.

My parents stood for hard work. They stood for making us four kids earn an education and...if wanted $100 jeans, earning money to buy them. They stood for teaching us right from wrong and giving us consequences too. Yes, they spanked us and I thought I had it SO bad. They were SO mean. Why did they care SO much??

I appreciate my parents for so many things. One of the biggest things that I've overlooked all of these years, though, is the simple fact that they made me do things that I didn't always necessarily want to do. They taught me perseverance and hard work. At the age of 30 and having taught Special Ed. for 8 years now, those qualities have certainly come in handy. They're also coming in handy when I am trying to instill values into the lives of young people on a daily basis.

Mom and dad, thanks for everything you did for us growing up. Especially, thank you for teaching us 4 kids the value of hard work and perseverance. We're blessed.



My parents loving the life of grandparenthood. My kids are lucky to have them close.

Another Blessing: God's protection!

On April 9, 2011 we had my 84 year old grandpa, Cy, over for dinner. He loves pork burgers and know he lives alone and doesn't like to cook so we try to invite him fairly often. He's also a really funny man and I love the fact that even as a 30 year old woman, I get to spend time with my grandpa. Anyway--that night right as we were finishing up dinner (around 7 p.m.) it started raining pretty hard with the threat of hail. Grandpa said "Man, I got to get Jazzy home so she doesn't get hail damage". Our family has named his Buick Terazza Jazzy because he's so proud of it. He's proud of it but he's cheap...er...frugal. He didn't have full coverage on Jazzy...liability only. Didn't want hail damage on her. So, he ate and left.

About 9:30 that night, it started getting really bad. So bad that our (cheaply built) house was shaking. After putting off waking the kids up from their slumber, we woke them and took them out in the pouring rain, wind, and hail. We drove over a few blocks Grandma Donna and Papa Ike's who have a basement. After almost tripping on the 35' evergreen that had uprooted and landed across their front porch, blocking their front door, ran around to the back of the house and got in. Not fun carrying 2 little kids, but we made it...Praise God.

While waiting out the storm, my aunt Brenda called me. "We can't get ahold of Grandpa...can someone go out and check on him?" I knew my parents were out of town (they live a mile away) so I said as soon as the storm passed, we'd go. No sooner than we got off of the phone with her, my brother Adam called. He's a BV county deputy who got called into work. He had stopped over to check on grandpa quick before he went to work. Adam reported that grandpa was ok but that a tornado had ripped through the entire house and was GONE. Praise God for his protection. There was SO much debris and clatter that he could have easily gotten hurt badly if not killed. God must have been there with him that night. He's not ready for him yet and for that, we're thankful!

This is just one of the many abundant blessings that occur in my life and the reason for starting this blog. I'm so very thankful for so many things....one of the things I'm most thankful for is my Grandfather, Cyril. I love you "Papa Cy"!

Here are some photos from the wreckage on April 9th:



My Grandparents house...days before Grandma Barb passed away





Front of the house after the tornado



"The Miracle Room"...Grandma's room was left untouched



1744 Sierra Ave. is destroyed but Grandpa is OK!!! Praise God!

Kids say the darndest things...

It hit me today that Alexis has said SO many funny things in her life and I can't remember what 99% of them are because I never write them down. I'm going to blog tonight about a few of the funny things she's said this past week and then continue to add to it so someday I can make some scrapbook pages out of her funnies! Here are a few to start...

Funny #1: Grandparents day...3/24/11. Alexis brought my parents to my classroom to see me and I had stepped out for a minute. She asked one of the students in there where I was and the student said "I don't know" in which Alexis replied in her dramatic voice. "UGHT OH...THIS ISN"T GOOD!"

Funny #2: Papa Cy's Birthday 4/1/11 Alexis asks how old papa is going to be. Grandma Robin replies, 84. Alexis goes..."80, 90, WHOA..that's almost 100"

Funny #3: In the car 4/2/11 Alexis..."What does Italian mean".
Mommy~ "Being Italian would mean that someone from your family would have been from Italy." (followed by some explanation about family heritage"
Alexis~ "What language do the Italian speak"
Mommy~ "Italian".
Alexis~"What's Italian."
Mommy~ "It's a different language that I don't know."
Alexis~ "hahahaha(lots of giggling) You don't know the Italian language???"
Mommy~ "Nope"
Alexis~"Are we Italian".
Mommy~ "No, we're German...Papa's grandpa came from Germany"
Alexis~ "Oh, what language do Germaneese speak?"
Mommy~ "German...Guten Morgan....then I start reciting the German alphabet and told her I learned that in 7th grade"
Alexis~ "BAWAHAHAHAHA. 7th Grade?? You're supposed to learn the alphabet in KINDERGARTEN!!!"

Funny #4: In the car 4/2/11 After having a conversation about whether Uncle Mud would give her a ticket or take her to jail for not wearing a seatbelt she says "No, he would never do that because he knows us but MOM, Let's face it.... just follow the rules so we don't have to DEAL (in her dramatic voice again) with that."

How blessed am I?

There are an abundance of reasons why I am blessed but here are a few that are on my heart tonight..

1. My kids. They are so cute and so well behaved. We are SO blessed.



2. Alexis' health. We almost have lost her several times. Doctors told us she may never walk or talk. They were certain she'd have learning disabilities. I listened to them but knew God answered prayer. He is so good and we are SO blessed!



3. Alexis' ability and desire to learn. She's obsessed with her teacher. She's obsessed with school. She's obsessed with reading and writing. She may not be the valedictorian someday but I have to admit that I was one proud mama last week at conference time. It was more than difficult to hold back the tears as her teacher showed us her perfect (kindergarten) report card. I know, it's just kindergarten and a lot can happen in the amount of time she has left in school. However...those 130 days in the hospital were LONG and I wish I had a nickle for how many times they tried to prepare us for the fact that her problems would interfere with her learning someday. God is SO faithful and we are SO blessed!


Alexis with Mrs. Wells...her kindergarten teacher.


Proof that she loves her teacher....and loves to write! I find these notes all over the house on a daily basis!

That is all for now. I am thankful for SO many things but these are just a few of the things on my heart for tonight.

10 Months Old!

Wow....WHERE does the time go? It seems like yesterday I was kissing and holding my little bundle for the first time...and now he's babbling, cruising furniture, and getting SO big. Happy 10 months, "Bubba". We love you more than I can put into words. :)