Thank you for your prayers.

Thank you all for praying for my Nana. She has moved from the hospital to a transitional care facility for Physical Therapy. The funniest thing happened when we moved her there. She arrived by ambulance from the hospital and my mother was off in an office somewhere in the building getting her checked in. Once she got there, they wheeled her into her room, just passed a bunch of old folks wandering around the halls. When she got there, she realized she was by herself and my mom had her cell phone and all of her belongings from the hospital. She rang the bell for the nurse and asked her where they had put her. SHE THOUGHT WE HAD PUT HER IN A NURSING HOME! It was so funny. She thought we had put her there and just took all of her things and left her. If you knew my Nana and my family you would know that is just the funniest thing ever because we would never put her in a nursing home. Afterall, she is the next thing to Jesus and God. Needless to say, she didn't think it was too funny. Anyway, she will be going home on Monday! She's in a good deal of pain and won't be able to stand on her leg for at least a month. Her shoulder is in a sling and is the cause of most of her pain. Continue to pray for complete healing in her arm and leg. I guess it is just God telling her to get out of that garden this summer! If you like to pick beans let me know! Thanks again.

Nana

As I sit in this very cramped, small, dark room, I watch her breathe. The air is dry and quite cold in here. The faces all familiar. They come and go just as you get into that wonderful REM sleep to poke and prod you in all the wrong ways. The attitude while somber, still joyful in some folks. The phone just keeps ringing. The sound of rolling casters going up? Oh, no, down the hallways only to annoy the still quietness as I sit in this uncomfortable chair. I look over just to see one of the most precious faces God has ever created...My Nana! As she lay in her hospital bed~she sleeps, sometimes sighing~I am sure from the constant pain in her shoulder and leg from the fall that she took last week. As she wakes, we just talk about nothing sometimes, but about everything, if you know what I mean. She broke her hip and her shoulder on the left side causing her to have surgery this weekend. As I grow older, God lets me see a little more of how very special this woman really is. He created this woman who has given such love for all people, has taken care of many including me, while never thinking of herself in return. She is a mother/grandmother to the motherless, a sister, a friend. A woman I know that God is very proud of. A true VIRTUOUS woman. I thank God He let me be here this very night with her, to give her one night in return for many that she has given me. Afterall, she took care of me during chickenpox, flu viruses, food poisoning (boiled peanuts-Amanda YUCK!). As I soak it all in I am reminded of how precious life is and how I hope to give God, my family, my friends, my world at least half of what this woman has given in her eighty something years. I am convinced that when God made her, He made perfection and for any of you who know her, you'll agree.

God, thank you for choosing me to have this woman as my Nana! Thank you for the life that she has lead and for the many years you still have for her. She is truly an angel in human skin. Feel better Nana! There's still beans to pick and string next year!

HOOORAY!!!

HOOORAY!!! She said "Mama"! Okay Okay, It sounds more like "BABA", but I know it! I just know it is "Mama"!!! How do I know, You say? Because when she says it, she looks directly in my eyes and with the sweetest of voices and love in her eyes, she says "BaBa"! (No Aunt Bee and Mimi! It is not "bottle" or "bye bye", it is definitely "MAMA"! =) How sweet! I should YouTube it. It is just that great!

~You'll never guess what she is saying just as I post this while lying in her bed awaiting my retrieval! See ya! Got to go get the precious baby!

I appologize for the goofy posting, but I just had to let you all in on this very special moment! I know I'll probably post again once she REALLY says Mama!

Happy 4th of JULY

I have to admit that I never really stopped to think about WHY I was celebrating the 4th of July until I read a friend's blog today (one whole day later). Yesterday, the REAL 4th of July, was a fuzzy day filled with housework, dinner in the mountains, and ended with watching illegal fireworks that my brother and his father-in-law thought would be COOL until 10pm. Way passed Emma Grace's bed time. Today, was filled with even more housework, dinner with friends, and ended with another display of an illegal fireworks show given, once again, by my crazy brother until 10pm. YES, again I kept Emma Grace out that late. (BAD MOTHER)! But, as I lay in bed, yes in bed, laptop in hand, reading my favorite blogs, I came across one of my favorites, whose husband is going for a year in Iraq, and like a slap on the face I remembered that while yesterday may have been the 4th of July, it was really Independence Day! The day that many men and women fought for just so I would be able to live freely in a country that I love, in the way that I want to live, what a gift! Yes, it's a day late, but to those of you who fight for our country, no matter how you fight, THANK YOU! Thank you for the sacrifice you make from your own FREE lives, from your family, from your homes, from all of the things you love. THANK YOU and may God bless you for your sacrifice.