Prayers and rejoicings

I've been so interested in reading everyone else's news, I've been forgetting to write.  Everything's fine here, just very windy outside.

Tonight I'm praying for my niece Lori who is experiencing a lot of nausea after her chemo this week.  I am also praying for my friend Cheryl who is having a lot of pain and is having an MRI to investigate a mass on her adrenal gland.  

I am rejoicing with my sister Doris's family.  Her son Corey and his wife Christy had a baby girl today, Zoe Rose.  They also have a little boy, so now they have one of each.

I am also rejoicing with my late sister Janet's son Scott and his wife Sheri in California.  They informed us today that they are expecting twins in September!!  They were married twelve years before they finally had their first little boy a few years ago.  Oh, how I wish my sister were here to experience this.  

I am also rejoicing with our daughter Lisa, that she and Sophie were uninjured today when her car was rear ended by another.  The other car looks pretty bad.

If it were not so late, I would post pictures to go with each of my prayers and rejoicings, but I want to go to bed.  Good night!

Amazing video

Check this out.  This video was on Seth Barnes's blog.  

Praying for Lori

This evening my heart is drawn to a very special person in Michigan, whom many of you have prayed for before.  I am asking you to pray for her again.  She is my precious niece Lori, daughter of my late sister Janet.  Lori will begin chemo treatments tomorrow morning in her third battle against colon cancer.  Here is a picture of Lori and her family, taken this past summer when they came to PA to visit her dad and also to see my dad one last time.  

Lori is a truly beautiful person inside and out.  In addition to the ravages of colon cancer, she also experienced a heart-breaking divorce as well as the sudden death of her mother.  I will never forget seeing her at my sister's casket, declaring over and over through her tears,  "I will NOT give up my faith, I will NOT give up my faith!"  

And she didn't.  She learned and lived forgiveness.  She moved ahead in her walk with the Lord and her music ministry.  Eventually God brought her a friend and husband, Jim.  There was great rejoicing !  Within the first year of their marriage, the second battle against colon cancer had to be fought.  She fought through incredible odds and was declared cancer-free.  Again, there was great rejoicing. 

And now the third battle needs to be fought.  Here, in her own words today, is how she's fighting it:

I am doing alright.  It was very hard news to get, but God is helping me through.  He is really teaching me to rely on Him and to keep my focus on Him. I'm learning that trust means being confident that He will provide for me and my family emotionally, whatever comes.  I don't need to focus on the future just because I want to be trusting.  He hasn't provided me with what I need today for tomorrow.  So, my job is to enjoy today and be thankful for it.  I know that He can heal me, and I may not need to climb that mountain.   And if I do need to climb that mountain, He will give me what I need.  So worrying about it is not being realistic.  It is instead the exact opposite of what He wants me to do.  Whenever my mind wants to wander I focus on Him instead and quote scriptures and rely on His promises. 

I am in awe of her total trust in the Lord.  I want that kind of trust.   Pray for her as she comes to your mind tomorrow.

Here are a couple of shots from my day.  The giggles just rolled out of Austin's belly today as he spun this toy around.  I was howling laughing right along with him, not because the toy was so funny, but because his laughter was contagious!

Austin loves to open the pull-out pantry shelves.  Here Anthony was playing peek-a-boo with him.

Here Lori was acting like she was going to "get" Austin, and he would cling to Anthony for all he was worth.  Anthony didn't mind his tight bear hugs one little bit!

He's such a cuddle bunny.  I think I probably kiss him at least a hundred times a day!

Februaries Past

I didn't take any pictures or do anything interesting today, so I'm going to do a post of pictures from past Februaries.  It's so much fun to reminisce, don't you think?  

First of all, here's Destiny in February 2004 in her new pajamas.  This picture just makes me want her to still be little and chubby. (You really should click on this picture to get a good look at her adorable, chubby little face.)

In February 2005 we made our first trip to see Sophie at 3 weeks of age.  Ah, the sweetness of a sleeping baby!   Looks like she was putting me to sleep!

In February 2006 I participated in Destiny's preschool Grandparent's Day activities.

I carried out my annual tradition of making homemade donuts on a snow day in February 2007.  (Haven't done it since.)

On the Sunday evening of President's Day weekend 2008 we had both sets of parents and my sister Mary Ellen at our house to play dominoes.  It was such a fun evening - the last time we ever had both sets of our parents together.

And in February 2009 we were finding our hearts pulled toward State College for some reason!

My goodness, how time flies, and how quickly children grow up, and what a void is left when loved ones leave this life.  We really must cherish every moment.

Fruit - it does a body good!

Do you love fruit?  WE DO!!  We go through a bowl of fresh fruit salad every. single. day.  Apples, oranges, clementines, kiwi, plums, nectarines, pears, strawberries, blueberries, grapes, bananas.  It's especially yummy mixed with yogurt or Kefir and my homemade granola.  And very nutritious too.   

We had a beautiful day in State College today.  Still very chilly and a bit windy, but the sun was bright.  I bundled Austin and me up, and we went for a walk for the first time in weeks.  I was actually sweating by the time we returned. 

Here's a picture of him being silly.  When he gets tired of eating he starts doing raspberries, and he just cracks himself up.  We are just loving his curls!

Still learning

I guess you're never too old to learn new things.  I've always thought I was fairly health conscious in my cooking, but as a "team" here in our multi-generational family, we are purposing to be even more health conscious.  So I've been trying out new recipes for the first time in years.  Some get a thumbs up, but others, like the turkey meat balls seasoned with cinnamon, I probably won't be making again.  Today I had a hit - Middle Eastern Chickpea and Rice Stew.  If anyone is interested in the recipe, let me know. 

I also learned something else this week.  I had one of those pre-recorded messages from our pharmacy, saying that a prescription for me was ready to be picked up.  I had just gotten a three-month supply of my regular prescriptions, so I dismissed the message as a mistake.  The next day I got a message from the pharmacist himself.   When I called back I was told that my Omeprazole (generic for Prilosec) is ready to be picked up.  I said,  "I don't have a prescription for that.  That's an over-the-counter drug."  She said,  "But you can get it for a $5.00 co-pay if you get it as a prescription."  I discovered that my new doctor had called it in!   I have been taking this drug every day for probably the past two years for my acid reflux issues.  The cheapest I've ever found it for is $19.99 for a six-week supply at Walmart.  Other places I've paid up to $28.00 for that many.  And now, just like that, I have a 30-day supply for $5.00!  Isn't that cool?

And here are a few pictures from my day.  Austin is so fascinated by the steam that pours out the top of the dishwasher door when it's at its drying cycle.  Today he was trying to catch it!

Of course, he much prefers to be going about the house unconfined, but there are times when I must put him in the pack and play.  Like when I need to empty the dishwasher without him crawling into it!  So in order to keep him from protesting about being confined, I first of all line up a few of his favorite snacks on the cabinet right next to the pack and play.  

By the time he has finished them, he has forgotten that he doesn't want to be in there, and he entertains himself looking out the sliding glass door (probably remembering the good old days when he could be out on the deck swinging) or playing with some toys.  For a while, anyway!

Little boy on the move, God on the move

Life with Austin is just plain fun!!  In the last week he has suddenly begun to "dance" and he has discovered that books are for looking at instead of eating.  He spends long amounts of time just turning the pages of his books and making "reading" sounds.  It is so much fun to watch. 

Here's a video Anthony took of him one of the first times he started dancing.

Whole Lotta Shakin Goin On from Lori & Anthony on Vimeo.

And here he is reading his book at lunch time today.

He also loves to push things around, especially the chairs.  They glide on the wood floor so easily, and it looks like he's using a walker, hahaha!

On another subject completely - Haiti.  I know there has been lots of news everywhere about Haiti this past month.  There are so many desperate needs, and they are all over the media, as they should be.  But there's something else going on down there.  I have been following the blogs of a team who is there, and my heart is deeply stirred by what I am reading.  I am going to copy and paste bits and pieces of some of the things Seth Barnes has written.  If you want to read more,  go to sethbarnes.com. 

We arrived in time to witness something I've never seen before - the pastors of Haiti called for three days of prayer and fasting and the people responded.

 

Everywhere we went this morning, under tents, under trees, in the squares, in the rubble, were gatherings of people praying and singing. We drove to a gathering our translator estimated to be 6000 people.

 

A man was at the front talking. As he stopped and as the people began to sing and to wave their hands, we could feel the Spirit of God blow over the crowd and through our hearts. You talk to any one of them and they have lost someone. Maybe a wife, maybe a father or a sister. But here they were, worshipping. 

 

Something spiritually historic is underway. The cry of a desperate people is rising up to the heavens - calling out for mercy, crying out for God, shouting out for the arrival of the soon-coming king. And, today at least, God responded. His Spirit blew through the tents in ways that sent you to your knees in response. In 30 years of missions, I've never seen anything like it. It's the thing you read about it books. It's the thing you hope for but sometimes grow cynical about ever seeing. And it's happening here, now.  

 

And I'm wondering, "Is this in the news? It should be. Do people out there see what's going on here?" I've heard it referred to by Americans as a "national day of mourning." But that's not what's happening. On the heels of the greatest natural disaster of our time comes the greatest outpouring of God's Spirit that I've ever seen. I'm still trying to absorb it.
All you intercessors out there crying out for God's presence, all you seminary students learning how how to put people in touch with him, all you desperate people who feel abandoned by God, I have a suggestion: You need to get on a plane and come to Haiti.

You can go a lifetime and never see anything like this. We can sing "Rend the heavens and come down," but God already did - it's happening here in Port-au-Prince.

 

Don't let worries about security disuade you. We've not seen or heard of any threats. All we've seen is a massive outpouring of joy and praises.

 

So many people traveled to Lakeland, FL, Toronto, or Brownsville, seeking God. If God is what you want, get on a plane and come here. The kingdom is coming here in Haiti. You can go your whole lifetime and not see this. What's happening is the stuff of dreams.

 

Happy Birthday, Jeremy!

Thirty years ago today our little family was ecstatic at the arrival of baby number three, Jeremy Scott.   He was born at home in our family room, with the help of my doctor and a nurse, because that's the way I wanted to do it.  Six-year-old Lisa and three-year-old Anthony were sleeping in the next room, cared for by my good friend Elta.  We woke them up after Jeremy was born so they could help to welcome him to the family.  It was a wonderful night.  

Jeremy was a people person from the very start, just as he is today. Here are some favorite pictures I've posted before.  

I love this picture of him talking with my mother.  Unfortunately, he doesn't remember either of our mothers.  He was only one year old when Dick's mother passed away, and two years old when my mother passed away.  But our wonderful step mothers became the grandmas he knew and loved.

Two  years old and a head full of curls.

A year ago I was in warm, sunny Florida to celebrate his birthday with him. (Sigh)

And here's a favorite picture of him as Joseph in the musical this summer.  I was so proud of him that night I would have popped my buttons if I'd have had any, hahahahaha!

And now you're thirty, Jeremy.  Older than we were when you were born.  Wow.  That's a crazy thought.  We thought we were pretty old already at that point!!  We look forward to what this next year holds for you as you get to work with your God-given gifts of creativity. 

Our Valentines Day

This morning Dick and I finally, for the first time since we moved to State College last summer, went to Anthony and Lori's church together.  As I said yesterday, Dick always works on the weekends that we're up here.  I was so glad for him to have the opportunity to hear Pastor Mackenzie preach.  He's been preaching such a powerful series on being a follower of Christ, as opposed to just being a convert.  It's been very, very convicting and challenging.

After church Anthony and Lori went out to eat for Valentines Day.  Dick and Destiny entertained Austin while I took a short nap.

Destiny is so good with him.  They watched a Baby Einstein video together, and he just sat like this on her lap for the longest time. 

Early this evening we drove to Harrisburg to meet our son Frank.  He'll take Destiny home to her mommy's house  tomorrow evening.  (She has off school tomorrow for Presidents Day.)   We met at a McDonalds, and Destiny ordered a cone with M&M sprinkles.  They had never done that, but did it for her!  (I think she had eaten all the M&M's off by the time I took this picture.)

And here we are on Valentines Day.  After we left Destiny with Frank, we stopped at a Pizza Hut for our Valentines treat.

We're tired of driving now and are glad to be back home in our comfy basement apartment with no early Monday morning drive ahead of us.   This was a good weekend though.

Our day in the Land of the Big Snow

On Friday, after Lori got home from work, Dick and I ventured into the Land of the Big Snow!  The roads were completely dry, and there were not noticeably huge amounts of snow until we got off the PA turnpike north of Manheim.   (Thankfully, we did not need to drive to Reading for Destiny, because her mother was coming to Lancaster that evening and we were able to meet her there.)  The closer we got to our Lititz house, the bigger the snow banks became.  What a wonderful sight to behold, when we arrived at our house, to see a completely cleared driveway.  

 

We knew we have some very wonderful nephews to thank for that, Dick's brother Jim's sons.  Dick told them we'll see that they get rewarded for it, more than just praying for them, hahahahahaha!

So of course, I had to have a look around, even though it was dark.  I opened the sliding glass doors to see....

the deck,

and the ramp.

I went to look out the sun room door to see the birdbath.

Dick plodded his way to the shed to get the ladder.  He needed to clear snow away from our furnace vent on the roof.

First thing Saturday morning I was taking pictures again.  Dick got up on the roof to push the snow off at the deepest parts.  I decided I wanted a picture of him up there, but oh, my!!  It was no easy task, walking in snow almost up to my behind!  He's up there on the roof, if you look hard.  He kind of blends in with the trees!

Those are my tracks up there!  Here's our oil tank - looks like there's another one riding piggy back!!

Here's the view of the deck from my sink window after Dick piled it full of snow from the roof!

Later in the morning we had a visit with the realtor that we will be listing our house with next month.  She's the same person we bought the house through.  We laughed when we realized that the first time she showed us the house was on a February weekend five years ago, and there was a question whether we could keep that appointment because of snow!!

At 12:00 I had an appointment with my very favorite hairdresser.  He was finally open on a Saturday that we were in Lancaster County.  He's so good, and believe me, I did not have a bouncy rooster tail when he was finished with me, hahahahaha!  I told him that since I've been having all these hair stories since I moved, I had to have a picture of him doing it right!

Afterward we did a little shopping at CVS and Dollar General, then went home and packed up.  I am not leading worship at our church this morning because of a schedule change from last week's cancellation, so we decided to come back to State College so Dick and I could go to church together up here for the first time since we moved.  (Dick always works on the weekends that we're up here.)   Here's a picture of some high snow banks along the road near our house.

Before we hit the road last evening, we stopped in to visit Dick's parents.  Here they are with Destiny.  Sorry Dad has his eyes closed.  And I wish I had used my camera instead of my cell phone to take the picture.

From there we went to visit my step mother.  

Here's the quilt she's working on.  It's a shadow box pattern.  It really looks 3-D.

It was hard to leave.  She spends so much time alone and is just longing for warm weather when she and the neighbors can be outside.  Again, say a prayer for her when you read this post.

We got back here around 10:30 last evening.  And now I need to get myself ready for church. 

No big blizzard up here

I'm sure most of you have either heard about or experienced the blizzard of 2010.  Here in State College we were spared the brunt of it.  As I said before, we got about a foot of snow on Saturday, but maybe only 6 inches yesterday.  Lancaster County, on the other hand, was hit HARD.  I've been reading email and Facebook updates from friends and family all day.  Our next door neighbor at our Lititz house said that they got 18" on Saturday and 22" yesterday.  Much of yesterday afternoon was white-out conditions and roads could not be kept open at all.  

We are planning to go down tomorrow evening in the Explorer (4 wheel drive).  I guess I'll be taking plenty of pictures.  I most certainly will not be driving!

I have not even ventured outside since Tuesday evening, so I have no outdoor pictures.  But here are some from indoors the past few days.  As usual, taken with my ever-handy cell phone.

Dick installed a door at the top of the steps.  We used to block off that corner of the kitchen with the shoe rack, but Austin has gotten strong enough to push it over.

Anthony installed a new thermosdat.

Austin stood in the pack and play wishing he could help.

Lori, looking so beautiful after a day at work, loves her evenings with Austin.

Hmmmmm.  What could I do with a microwave cover?

Maybe flick my wrist and spin it.....

...again and again and again and again?

Is this pre-Ultimate Frisbee?  He seriously was turning his wrist when he spun that thing!  Cracked me up!