The good, bad and the rain....

As we all know it has been raining an incredible amount. For us there has been some fun moments then not so fun moments...

Just this past week before it got really bad, I thought I would let Eli play in the rain. (This is the fun moment) Why not, all kids should get a chance to do that - right? He LOVED it. He would run out, laugh, run back...this continued for 10 minutes or more. He thought it was the greatest thing. When I finally brought him inside, soaking wet...he wanted to go back out for more. I love the innocence and freedom of a child. Little things are so fun and the highlight of the day and in the midst of it all, nothing else matters.






Here comes the not so fun part...by the weekend we noticed water in our basement, lots of it. So we quickly started finding buckets, shop vacs, towels and anything we could to stop the water. Bryan and I had a little "rigged" system going that seemed to help us keep up with the water a little bit, but by Sunday afternoon it was too much. It had been a long weekend...pulling all-nighters, running up and down to the basement to make sure it was not overflowing our "system". Some friends came over to help us and came up with an even more clever idea to by us more time in between pumping gallons upon gallons of water out of the basement. There were two rooms in the basement that flooded, our back storage room and one of the bedrooms. Thankfully, nothing got ruined just a few minor damages and repairs. At least out of all of this we found were the leaks are so we know what needs to be fixed and our thankful it was not worse.

Mallory Smith

I just received a text message from a student in our ministry. Her name is Mallory Smith. Mallory just turned 21 this past week and for the past couple of years she has been in and out of the hospital. Today she got admitted again. Mallory has gone through many many surgeries and two liver transplants. She is a fighter. Please keep her in your prayers as she again goes into the trusting hands of the doctors. She has an incredible story. If you want to read about her check out her website at http://www.teammal.org/djournal.asp

We love you Mallory and are praying for you!

This is Mallory with Eli the last time she was in the hospital. :) So sweet!

RAIN

This morning has been a bit wild. I get the honor of keeping my niece twice a week and the kids were all over this morning. Right now they are down for a little nap and I am soaking in the sound of the rain falling outside and the stillness in the house.

There is something about rain that I have begun to enjoy... it makes me slow down, it's a chance for new growth, and there is something about the smell of rain; it's fresh....to top it all off I am enjoying a cup of coffee to go with it.

There are times in life when rain comes and it's a chance for a new start and a fresh beginning. We should learn to embrace the rain storms and use it as a chance to slow down in life, at least this is true for me.

so cuddly

I just wanted to post this picture. Eli had just had a bath and loved running around in his robe. Too cute!

Update on Elijah

Well, we have been home a couple weeks recuperating...the doctors did not really have an answer for us except that Elijah mush have had some soft of allergic reaction but to what we don't know. He just finished up his meds/steroids and we are praying it does not come back. IF it does, then we go back to a specialist and try and figure out what is going on.

After returning home from the hospital, the following Thursday he was up all night throwing up. He must have had some sort of stomach bug. He is doing much better now. We have had a long two weeks.

I have attached some pictures of him from the hospital below.