my perspective has changed...

i am still alive. my town is reeling from the tornado that ravaged it 2 weeks ago tonight. i'm one of the 1500 plus volunteers here trying to clean up. been forever changed. i'm so thankful for my life. for the lives of those in my family. i'm thankful for my home for my car. i'm thankful for the "stuff" that fills my home. (although right now, that "stuff"...primarily laundry is about to take over my home. will i ever get it all done?) i am so grateful to be a part of this community. sure...we are a little country here. sure, we don't have the most up to the minute news sources or technology. sure, walmart is like "it" here.... but after all of this there is not another place i would want to be right now. i have seen these precious people love on one another, and work their tails off. they haven't waited around for the gov't (although we are still hoping they might show up), they haven't looted or rioted. they have gotten to work and they/we still are. mena will never be the same. there is just no way. BUT, i do believe that it will be better. i know i will. i will always be proud of my home town. i will always love the people and i will always serve the God Who has redeemed us and Who is working in this situation and bringing good things out of it.

well, now i broke the ice. hopefully i can get caught up here eventually.

right now, i am doing most of my "blogging" on the Mena Disaster Relief Information Blog here. hopefully we will have some word from FEMA soon so that we will know which direction to go.

the girls are doing good. grace moves very quickly! sophie cracks me up daily. we got a pretty good report from the dr. this week on grace's ears... she still has some fluid, but it is no longer infected. Thank YOU, Lord! we were SO over taking antibiotics and all the yucky side effects of those. her dr. does have some concerns about some bumps on her chest/arm (that have been there since birth/we came home from Childrens). Grace has an appt with a Pediatric Dermatologist at ACH this summer. we aren't worried, but we do want it to be seen.

dan is good too. he is officially a "red neck" since he got some major sun last week working on clearing debis/chainsaw/tarp work. he has helped me a lot with the girls since i have have lots to work on. he also preached last sunday at a little church in wickes. he did a great job (what i heard at least). i spent most of my time wrangling a 15 month old who really wanted to be on stage with daddy or behind the piano with the pianist. :)

we're looking forward to celebrating "easter on six mile" this weekend. easter was really different this year. but worshipping amongst the rubble and then delivering about 1300 meals in our community was awesome.

He is the GOD of this city. He is the hope of these people and yes, better things are yet to come....

Dan's 31st!

{Dan & Mom}

Daniel's sweet Mom & Step-Dad blessed him with a great birthday party to celebrate his 31st year! They served smoked pulled pork sandwiches and served all the fixins. YUMMY!

{click on the collage to enlarge}

our little family... sun glistened faces and all. :)

Thanks Mom & Don for a sweet party!

ten on tuesday

1- today was sophie's day to go to mimi & papa don's (daniel's mom and step-dad). she loves going over there to play. today she called me from the car to tell me that mimi had bought her a thomas the train umbrella. she was so excited!



2- grace & i enjoy these days. they are usually pretty laid back... especially on rainy days like today. can you believe this crazy weather??? 60 degrees in august!


3- i started making birthday lists today. i'm trying to stay a little ahead of the game with soph's birthday. we are having a "bug/flower/garden" theme. (inspired by the incredibly cheap paperware that i found at "oops" in springdale. you can't beat $.40-$.80 stuff!) i'm ok with food and decorations... i'm just struggling to come up with age-appropriate party games. any ideas would be appreciated. :)


4- we are looking into getting gymnastics/tumbling lessons for sophie as part of her gift. she is a sumersault girl! our chaise & love seat have become her flipping ground!


5- i worked on putting together an "all about today" poster for the playroom. it is loosely based on something like this that i found in a childrens' catalog for $35. i am trying to make it for a lot less. i think sophie will enjoy changing the dates/day/weather, ect. she often tells people "i see you see 'tomorreo'" or "i see you see 'saturday'!" :)


6- i have also been doing a little research on some scripture memory for her. i have been wanting to do this for a while and was inspired by this post/comments. i know that "hiding His Word in our hearts" is so important for the young and the old. i want my girls to love the Word! :) i'm also going to look into awana's cubbies for sophie this fall. any ideas for this??


7- my grandma ninkie (soph calls her "ma ma ma") brought by some more yummy garden veggies today. she is such a great gardener and has blessed us with her bounty many times this summer. thank you, grandma! the fresh, summer stuff sure beats our old standby- canned green beans!



8-grace & i made a quick trip to cruizzers (our local drive-in) for some fresh squeezed lemonade. goofy me missed " 1/2 price happy hour" by 3 minutes! oh well...

9-*update*- it's thursday...i just skimmed this and realized that i had left out number nine. oops! i must have been super tired!

10- i love my hubby SO much. he has been sending me sweet text messages all week. he is such a hard worker and a great friend and daddy! he worked on the fence again this afternoon and he is getting close to getting done. yippee!!


ps- i added music today. i hope it isn't annoying. the diverse group of artists is funny to me. 'night!