Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Waiting For Gracie


Since today is Gracie’s birthday, I wanted to share my memories of the day of her birth, but I will have to start a few days before. Sometime on a Monday morning in November, Will called me and said "Ashley’s water just broke, and we are headed to the hospital." All I could think is, "it is just too soon." I offered the hopeful suggestion that perhaps the baby had just pressed really hard against her bladder and her water really hadn’t broken, but they were pretty sure it had. I immediately started to pray. Even though I’m the step-mother and a grandmother by default, I still love them like they were my own and was worried. Things rocked along for several days and most of you already know the story. The day that Will called to say that Ashley was actually in labor, we started getting things ready to go to Little Rock. I wanted to get my Mom to pick up Hannah from school, because I felt like she would get bored at the hospital and she just hates hospitals. She hates the bells and whistles of the machines, the needles, and the thoughts that somebody is hurting. Terry finally convinced me that she needed to be there. We arrived at UAMS about noon on November 28th. We ate lunch with Bro. Kelvin and Will and then we all commenced to wait. We popped in and out to see Ashley (who was pretty miserable) we walked the hallways, watched television, made friends with the other patient’s families, and grazed in the cafeteria. Sometime just before midnight, Gracie was born. We were standing in the hallway and saw them whip her out of the room and into another room. We waited and waited. They kept telling us she was doing as well as could be expected. I didn’t really know what that meant being that I wasn’t a doctor. Finally around 2:00 a.m. on November 29, we got to see little Gracie for the first time. She was little and tubes poked into her, and she was in a glass box, but she was alive and looked beautiful. Her aunt Hannah stayed awake for the entire thing, and she was in awe the first time she saw her. I had to print out pictures for her to take to school the next day, Yes, she did go to school that day despite the fact that we didn’t get home until 3:30 a.m. We were tired, but we were excited; Gracie was here. At age one, Gracie is so beautiful and perfect. She doesn’t have any physical defects as she could have had. In the process of this whole ordeal, Will got the job he now has today. God is so good and has such great plans. I’m so grateful for His grace on little Gracie.

Monday, November 26, 2007

I'm Still Here

I know I haven't been very studious in blogging, but I have been busy. We had a great Thanksgiving. On Thursday, I went to my Mom's house and both of my brothers were there. Daren is currently living in Scottsbluff, Nebraska so we don't get to seem him as much anymore. He won't be here for Christmas either. On Friday, I got up at 5:00 a.m. and left the house by 5:30 a.m. to head out shopping. I did well this year--I paid cash for everything and finished my Christmas shopping for Hannah. On Saturday, we headed up to Searcy to visit with Will, Ashley, Gracie, Andy, and their Grandparents, Dot and Grady Arthur. They are getting older and the boys are their only family so we try to visit with them when possible. Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving and please watch for the special blog I will have on Wednesday.

Monday, November 19, 2007

Prayer

I have decided to start studying prayer. Recently, in my study of Matthew, I studied the scriptures in chapter 6 about prayer. I got to thinking that having people pray in church for all to hear may not be appropriate or even biblical. Matthew 6:5 states, "And when you pray, do not be like the hypocrites, for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men." I know that it also has something to do with the attitiude, and most people I know are not hoping that they will be called on to pray in front of the church. For me, prayer is a very personal matter. When I am called on to pray at church, I always feel that I have to say things just right, not stutter, and have beautiful words. I feel very uncomfortable, and am usually trying to not be called on. I really think prayer is me communicating with God and that it should be between me and him only. Although, I'm not completely set in this opinion, I am willing to be pursuaded. I may do some further blogs, as I decide just what I think the bible says about prayer.

Thursday, November 8, 2007

Jesus Use Us

Hannah really does seem to have made some changes. This week she keeps talking about her "prayer list" and how there are certian kids she has put on her prayer list. Last night, I put her to bed and afterwards I heard her talking and asked what she needed. She said, "nothing, mom, I'm just praying." In the past, she always wants me to "pray for her". She says she just doesn't know what to say. I just makes me so happy to see her depending on Jesus. I was much older before I really learned to depend on Him, and it really does ease your worries.

In other news, I have signed up to volunteer at Gardner Elementary and was assigned to a Kindergarten teacher. I am going today on my lunch hour to meet the kids and help out a little. I plan to help every other Friday afternoon from 12:30 until 3:00, and every other Thursday from 12:00 to 1:00. I really enjoy getting to know the kids and working with them one on one. There are some kids that really just need a hug and some encouragement. There are studies that show the grades of children improve after having regular, positive contact with an adult. I am praying God will use me to love these needy kids.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Sunday Was Hannah's New Day

In my last post, I talked about Hannah and our conversations about Jesus dying for our sins. I know she's been thinking lots about it. We've had conversations in the past about her giving her life to Jesus and asking Him into her heart, and she has said that she would wait until she was older. A time or two she also got "worried" about remembering to do it when she got older, she said she really didn't want to go to hell. Sunday night, we talked about it and she told me that she wanted to ask Jesus to be her Savior. After she prayed, she said "whew, now I don't have to worry about doing it when I'm older." She had apparently been worried about it. Tonight after Bible Study, we were asking her what she learned and she started crying. She said, "Mom, they said that worrying is a sin, and I worry all the time." She cried for several minutes because she didn't realize she had been sinning so much. In Matthew 5, it says, Blessed are those that mourn. I've come to understand that this is referring to mourning over one's sin. Sometimes, people have a flippant attitude about sin, and say, "well, I'll just repent about that and do it anyway." We fail to realize that our sin put Jesus on the cross and He endured a horrible, tortuous death because of our sin. We should mourn over the sin we commit, and try our best to change. I'm so happy that Hannah has given her life to God, and that she started a new day in her life.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Tomorrow Is A New Day

Last night, Hannah and I had a long heart-to-heart talk. I discovered a fairly large hole in her shirt and it was a new shirt that she has only worn twice. She had a problem a while back cutting inappropriate things such as her clothes, the cat’s whiskers etc., and so I immediately suspected her, but didn’t accuse. I asked what happened and she had that "deer in the headlights" look and immediately said, "my friend did it." I asked, "which friend?" She then said "I’m sorry Mom." This brought on a whole other discussion about lying to me. I also discovered that it was not an accident, but that she cut her shirt on purpose. She doesn’t know why she did it, because it’s her favorite shirt, and I certainly don’t understand. We cried lots of tears, and she prayed and asked God to forgive her. She was also very distraught and questioning whether or not I still loved her. I had been saying I loved her through this whole tirade and I hadn’t screamed and hollered and locked her in the dungeon. I did tell her she would have to pay for the shirt and I took her only $5.00 bill. I thought about it, and realized that she just felt that she had been so horrible that nobody could love her. I have felt that same way at times. We then talked about Jesus love for us and how he died so that our sins could be forgiven. I also used one of my favorite quotes to encourage her, "Tomorrow is a new day with no mistakes in it." When God forgives he gives us a new day–a new life–with no mistakes in it. He wipes the slate clean and he cast our sins as far as the East is from the West. I’m so glad Jesus died for me.

Verse of the Day