WOW! WHAT A RIDE!

This may become one of my favorite quotes: "Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well-preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, throughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming WOW! What a ride!

Every season of life has its own challenges and joys, and we are to savor them with faith and enthusiasm.

You are as young as your faith, as old as your doubt; as young as your self-confidence, as old as your fear; as young as your hope, as old as you despair... Douglas Macarthur

This was from a devotion this am titled, Aging with Grace....Walk into any bookstore, pick up any popular magazine off a news rack, and you will quickly be reminded of how significant an issue aging is to millions of people. Questions abound:

Am I making enough money to secure a comfortable future? What will I do after I retired?Am I in the right career now? How are my kids doing? What kind of world awaits them? How am I doing health- wise? Will I be active and strong after retirement? How do I keep my mind active and strong. How do I keep my mind sharp and alert?

Improved healthcare, diet and other medical and sociological factors mean people are living longer than before ( except for early Old Testament records of pre-flood characters like Methuselah). Questions of aging aren't just asked by the "old"- and "old" is a very hard concept to define and not just matters of health and money.

The good news is that God has given us everything we need to enjoy life now. Yes, we should plan for and look to the future- the Apostle Paul describes with great emotion how he yearns to be present with Jesus in Heaven ( 2 Corinthians 5:1-10) , but the real secret to aging with grace is how you live today!

The question of how to age gracefully is no different than the question of how to live each day gracefully. Seize the day and enjoy it and live it fully.

God gave us life, so make the most of the time we are given . That is how I want to live my life. I want to experience the thrill of every moment. I want to know I have completed my life using all that I have, enjoying the journey that God has given me....

How about you?

I don't make this too often but it was a great day for cabbage rolls and sitting by the fire

We think the snow has stopped...

It looks like the snow has stopped and the kids are getting ready to go outside and begin the shoveling out... we will have a measure of how much but it is well over 2 feet with drifts over 4 feet. This is a shot of some snow on the roof...we heard that snow on the roof was a problem for some.....

This morning's pictures of the snow

This was last nite before going to bed... here are 2 pics taken this am and it is still snowing hard.....

We are getting walloped with snow... they are saying it is the biggest storm in 90 yrs here...

It started to snow about 10 am ... we have about 9 inches at 9 pm. They say after midnite to expect 3 inches in an hour...now they are saying in the 30's for accumulation. While we were in Bulgaria on Dec. 19 it snowed 24 inches . We have had snow almost every week since Thanksgiving... it has been a very snowy winter for us... the kids are loving it. Honestly I like too.

Gracie's hearing test and both of their opthamologist appt.

I am happy to share that Gracie has normal hearing and so her not talking is not related to her ability to hear. She tested very well which was exactly what we thought they would tell us but it is always good to have the proffessionals reasure us.

Gracie does have exotropia- her left eye goes out to the side sometimes... ( which was not on her medical but I diagnosed when we picked her up) but she has good central focusing abilities so we are just watching it for now. She does have an astigmatism that will be helped with glasses so she will be getting glasses soon and they should also help some with her exotropia.

Andrew's diagnosis of congenitial glaucoma was accurate... she feels his eye pressure is normal and she recommends nothing else for now... unless we were to suspect he was in pain ( which we do not) and of course this is a permanant blindess which is exactly what we thought as well.

Both of them did very well even with the long drive to Baltimore... Andrew has been a very happy little guy this week... the melatonin relaxes him and he goes right to to sleep peacefully and stays asleep... he is showing a preference for his food... even though it is eaten thru his bottles... he does not seem to like baby formula ( which I used today since we were going to be gone all day)... he ate only the bottles we fixed this am and waited until we were home and would not eat the formula ones in the car at all. We fixed the bottles with milk at home and he ate them... before he would eat anything I put in them... this is a good thing actually but he can be picky sometimes.

Andrew update at 5 and a half weeks home

Do you see where he likes to keep his hands... inside his clothes... he will drawl his hands into his shirts and you can just see his comfort level raise when he does. We also see less auto agressive behavoirs when he puts the arms inside. He is starting to get some muscles in his legs from all the activity. He will also walk with us holding onto him.

He has had a rough 2 and a half weeks coming off of his medicine. We have seen slapping return and he will take his fist and hit his chin hard... he has been frustrated with his body and the changes it is feeling as he does not have the medicine in him anymore... at first we wondered what happened and it hit us what was going on. He also started to refuse to eat... some days he would not eat his first bottle until 2 pm... I was not happy but we can not force him... I called our pediatrician and spoke with them and today I took him for just a check up and because I had strep I wanted to rule out that he was not sick... well even with his not eating as much he has gained another pound :) this momma was very happy about that. Dr. Weaver encouraged me that we were doing great and just to ignore for now the behaviors which is what we are doing. His ears and chest are clear but he decided to put him on an antibiotic because his throat looked red and his exposure to my strep and Ava's... We also talked about melatonin and decided to try it at nite. Tonite I gave him his dose and these pics are of him in my arms and we were singing and rocking in the kitchen for 20 minutes... I laid him down and he did not move and fell right to sleep. So I am hoping his nites will be more restful and peaceful... since he is so loud and active at nite he has been sleeping in the guest room so he would not bother anyone.. but hopefully now if this works well for him we can move him into the little boys room. There have been many positives like I hear him repeat da da da and he loves for me to pat the bed or his back or table to a beat and will repeat it some... he loves being with all the kids and his favorite toy to be in is the jumping swing with praise music on :) So far he is having a much better week ... maybe we have rounded a corner with the withdrawl symptoms that have heightened the behavior they gave him the medicine to sedate him for. We have also been praying alot for him to heal from this and to be honest I think that is what is helping the most.... especially the prayers of our little ones for Andrew... they are so sweet about him and will try to soothe and comfort him .
Are my eyes tricking me or does it look like he is getting a bit chubby ? :)