It's like this...

I saw it today, in the face of my eight year old. I felt it in my heart and it made me cry. Our youngest daughter was born nearly two months premature and suffered a stroke in the womb. She has right sided hemiplegia (cerebral palsy) and we were initially told she probably wouldn't walk. Well, she does walk. It took her a little longer than a typical child, but she not only walks, she runs! She has a brace that gives her more stability, but this girl doesn't let anything stop her. My father showed up unexpectedly today and shared lunch with myself and a friend. After my friend left, hubby came home and we all visited for a bit before hubby and the girl's disappeared outside. A bit later, Lance came running in and said I needed to come outside, hurry, quick, you have to see this, c'mon! So I went outside and saw the most amazing thing. My baby angel was, for the very first time in her life, riding a two wheel bike. Her weak side was not velcroed to the pedal, li...

How many days till Christmas? Just ask my ten year old. She's been responsible, with no encouragement from anyone, for keeping us current on the countdown. She put this up on our kitchen wall and she changes it every morning. As you can see, we are 19 days out. Have I done any shopping? Heck no. Have I begun my baking? Heck no. I did get one Christmas column out to my editor, but I don't believe that counts for anything with the kids. So, 19 days and counting. I've gotten several Christmas cards already from over achievers out to ruin my self esteem. It's working. So, here's my question to you all. How much have you gotten done? How much more do you have to do? And who would like to adopt my children and be responsible for buying them their Christmas gifts? If there are a lot of you out there offering, I'll have to draw names out of a hat, so don't be upset if you're not picked. I only have four children. Good luck!

Mmmmmm. I found a great recipe for cookies that are brownie like. I made them this evening for the children's lunches and hubby's as well. Really odd to make in that you cover them with powdered sugar before you bake them. Ashley helped for a few minutes and then didn't enjoy the sticky fingers she got so she quit. I've been thinking about how much more time we're spending without the televison on all the time. It's been fun to sit and listen to hubby and son jam on their guitars. While dinner was simmering this evening, Lance and I sat and talked about how grateful we are for our children. I told him that I watched young mothers carrying their babies, dragging their toddlers all into the gym this morning and I heaved a sigh of relief that I'm beyond that stage of motherhood. Lance and I agreed that we wouldn't have traded any of it for one second. We had some difficult times, some heartwrenching times and had some severely ill little ones but we...

I love Mondays. I believe I've said this before, but I do. It's the start of a new week. There is once again a schedule, a rhythm to life. It involves getting up early, seeing the two eldest ones off by 6:15, after I've unloaded the dishwasher from the night before, loaded it with their breakfast dishes and put on the pork roast to cook in the slow cooker all day. Later this afternoon I'll be shredding it and making my mom's barbecue sauce to simmer it in for an hour or so for dinner. I managed to mke it to the pool for my morning work out, after getting my two youngest off on their bus. Well, not so much on their bus as waiting for it with the other half dozen kiddies in the neighborhood and various mothers. Then I stopped at the store as we were out of milk (I swear these children could drain an entire herd of cows) and my cell phone rang. Poor Number One Son is again suffering from that eye thingy he had before and it hurts . So I picked him and he told...

Twitchy came home, half frozen and hungry as a a horse. I am relieved.... It was a bittersweet day as we lost (gave away) two precious kittens to their new homes. Our white one and the one of his siblings, the only girl of the bunch. We are down to five cats now. Two kittens must go, but I'm secretly wishing to hold on to one of them as he is SO incredibly cute. Can you tell from this picture which one it is?

She's laying in bed next to me, this child of mine. Ten years old and light years from the chubby baby that we nicknamed Pudget. She lost that name so long ago, we can't quite remember exactly when she shed that round baby body and emerged so tall and lean and beautiful. We must have blinked at some point along the way. The genesis of the woman she is to become in a few short years, silently sleeping beside me. Her hair is so thick, it lays like a dark honeyed curtain across her face, wisps of it lifting as she exhales out....laying down as she breathes in. Her skin is pale, creamy milk, soft as an angel's wings, spilling out from under her clothes. Eschewing a nightgown for the simple chocolate colored shirt she wore to school today, she lays on her side facing away from me, dreaming her dreams. I love her. My heart is filled to bursting with the joy of feeling her warmth beside me. I love her. She will see things that I never will, experience places I've not se...

I found this column and thought I'd post it. Would you abort a puppy? Link to article December 01, 2006 The Elephant and the Embryo By Kathleen Parker When does an elephant become an elephant? That is the question. At least it's the one that popped into my mind as I viewed images from an upcoming National Geographic documentary: "In the Womb: Animals.'' The film, scheduled to air Dec. 10, may be the best weapon yet for the pro-life movement. That wasn't the purpose of the documentary -- the first ever to record animals in the womb -- but these images of gestating life pack a powerful wallop. The mind makes a natural leap to questions of how we consider and treat the pre-born. Let's just say that the thought of aborting a baby elephant, even in the earliest gestational stages, is repugnant in a way that transcends intellectual arguments about constitutional rights to privacy. The images were captured with 4-D ultrasound scans and enhanced with computer grap...