Friday, October 31, 2014

Please Pray for Our Great Nephew

Here's a prayer request we shared on Facebook.

"Our family needs prayers. This season has been difficult for Gherkin men. Most urgently - early this a.m. our 18 yo great nephew was celebrating the end of mid-terms with friends. He fell off a balcony and landed 2 stories down on concrete. He is currently in ICU and we're praying for a miracle. Earlier in the past month or two his grandfather - Michael's brother Earl - began battling Stage 3 colon cancer. A few weeks ago Michael's eldest brother - Mike - was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer. Michael (you know - my Mike) sees the surgeon on Tuesday. Please pray for Dominic, Earl, Michael and Mike....and if you are a Gherkin male - be careful. I bought these guys a couple of weeks ago - you know - weebles wobble but they don't fall down."

As I sit here hours later - babies in bed, dog in kennel, doorbell silent - I'm sad. Just sad...and weary....and reaching for what I know to be true. God doesn't waste a minute of suffering...God has a plan....He does. God is good.  But I'm human. I'm still sad. It feels surreal that Dom could be in the ICU....so we pray. We ask God for a miracle and we believe His will will be done...in all these situations and the other situations we all face.

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Double Snuggles and Laughs

We've been waiting for Friday. The day dawned cloudy and rainy. Arielle is exhausted because Stacia coughed all night....but we got up, got school done and waited.......what could this mean?
 


Elise and Clara are here!!! These little ones are a blast and we get them all day and overnight. Brenner, Stephanie and Cole are off on an over-night birthday trip for Cole (4).  Brenner is one of our Protestant chaplains and Stephanie is our PWOC Spiritual Life Ministry Team Leader.
Elise, Me and Clara Beth

There's Clara's face!

We began with snuggles.....moved on to playing
 
LUNCH TIME....Yuuki is sure if she stays between the girls she'll get treats.

 
Next on the agenda was nap time. The girls went right down. We left Arielle to secure the house and ran to buy MILK (a terrible thing to run out of - especially with young kids in the house) and a few groceries.
 
The afternoon was spent with more play time....
 

I found it fun to watch the girls play with  play dough....the difference in their personalities was fascinating. Elise made round little balls, all the colors separate.....

Clara had a lovely mash of variegated colors....she looks sad here as she's just noted all of Elise's lovely balls and she' trying to figure out how to make hers similar. 

After dinner Stacia asked Michael to play the piano so the kids could dance. Zander opted to help me with clean up. LOL
 
We planned to settle down and watch a bit of Mickey before bed...but oy vey - the Elsa's and Olafs at our door!  We DID watch some Mickey in between racing our howling Beagle to the door. It was great fun to hear all the comments as we passed out candy. My favorite was, "Oh, Daddy look, they dressed up as twins!" ::snort::
 
Arielle read stories to the girls and they went right down at bedtime.  I've given Stacia cough syrup and she may sleep down stairs to help the girls sleep a bit better in their room.  She's a bit sad about it - we don't do sleep overs so she's been looking forward to having the girls over....
 
It's been a fun day with the little gals in our home.  I can't help thinking  if I'd carried the twins to term we'd have 7 year old twins in the house.  It's been a fun day.
 

Choosing Joy!
©2014 D.R.G.
~Coram Deo~
Living all of life before the face of God...