Valorie

We have all been praying for Valorie. She has been in the hospital 5 days and her situation hasn't changed.. From what I understand, the doctors  have been trying things but to no avail and her intestines are still not functioning. Tonight, the hospital in Kansas City is sending a helicopter to pick up Valorie and her dad and fly them in where she can see her doctor and be in the hospital there. He is a specialist with Cystic Fibrosis kids and we all feel a lot more peace about that. Infections can escalate so quickly and life with CF is a whole new ballgame. Her doctors keep putting her on new antibiotics as she grows immune to the ones she takes. She is exhausting the researchers. Please remember her in your prayers. I talked to her on the phone and she was cheery but a bit nervous about all the tests and probing and her little tummy is big and hard. Prayers changes things!

I blinked

It was an all nighter last night. I  put on a movie last night (lawyer- my favorite) I always like to see the little guy win. Anyway, I was keeping an eye on Lexi but dozed off a short time. About 5am or so, I finally started my cleanup process and disinfecting the whelping box, changing bedding etc. It takes about an hour. When I started to move the pups, I took a head count and noticed 2 too many. Oops, I must have nodded off just a tad too long. So, that makes 9...right?

So, I finish my cleanup, made a strong pot of coffee and hauled in some logs to start a roaring fire in the fireplace. The morning was a bit slow from then on. I had to comfort the  new dad as he had rushed in about 2am, right in the middle of No. 5's entry into the world. It was a huge oversight as someone was just moving him into his crate in the house and he just had to zip off in the opposite direction to check out all the excitement in my room. Maybe it was because he had frost bite on his tail. He was supposed to be getting some zzzzzzz but created a big stir instead. So, I had a bit of explaining to do. He always looks like he understands.
Anyway, after the morning buzz. I went to check out Lexi and just happened to see another little boy falling down to the blanket, head first. What a dramatic entry. I couldn't see if it was a boy but knew it had to be. Woah....that makes 10. We decided to name him TenTen. He was born, five hours later than anyone else- at ten minutes after ten. And, he was #10.

For all you Goldendoodle Lovers....

My unofficial guardian when I was a little curious kid, was a shaggy dog named Sadie. I remember using her as a pillow more days than not. I practically lived under the willow tree in our front yard and never tired of making willow crowns and napping of course. She faithfully stood guard between me and the street and I am sure kept me out of all kinds of trouble.
As a result, I have always wanted an Old English Sheepdog. A Goldendoodle just has to be the closest thing to one. In spite of appearance, I just can't imagine them really taking the sheep herding business serious however. They are just really great pets and now I have PLENTY!
Well, it is 3am Jan.6th and we now have a beautiful litter of 7 Goldendoodles- all white. Deliveries take all night! They are all white but a  few have chocolate tips on the ears, The Dad is from White English  Golden Retriever stock and Lexi is from the Majestic Poodle line of show Standards. I think they will be great pups.I will post pics ASAP. First they will all get weighed. They are so tiny (at least for the first few days).

AND JUST 'WHO "GETS A CHANCE TO BE PRESIDENT??

While listening to all the discussion about our current president's actual birthplace and what it means to be "natural born", we began to wonder just what it means to be a "natural born American".

Teresa piped up in dismay "So, that means I don't have a chance at running for President after all.?"

Granted, she is a citizen of American parents but not born on " natural" American soil. She might secretly owe allegiance to Italy and harbor Renaissance thought patterns. Maybe there was "something in the water".

Just what did our forefathers mean by putting this in writing? Can she actually run or no? She's been studying pretty hard and has a lot of interesting new ideas.

 And, we used to listen to "talk radio!".

Christmas Cheer in our little corner

A birthday squeezed in....just 24 candles!A bit of a wild tree...Visiting a local rest home....

What next???

Around 2 yesterday, we were just thinking about  starting to make our Christmas dinner. We had finished all the shopping and we feeling quite pleased with ourselves and had plans...yes, we had so many plans to make the evening so nice. All of our resident cooks had all the fixings to make their "special" dish. We were prepared!
Boom! My first thought was a small plane had crashed. We live under the path for Bush Intl.. Airport. We all ran outside to see blue flashes of light and then there was another loud BOOM and more flashes of  very blue lights.  My second thought was we were having an Alien Invasion! Needless to say, all electricity was out  by then. We had all the neighbors join us in the cul du sac in all sorts of strange garb. We looked like scruffians of some sort. The wind had come in from the North and we had all grabbed whatever we could to stay warm and check out the Alien ship landing or whatever it was.
We all felt like Professionals after surviving Hurricane Ike last year so we were all actually quite brave. Neighbors all get together in the Cul du sac when strange things happen. It usually seems to be at the young couple's house across the block however. This time it was also. A tree had fallen on the lines and taken out the transformers for our whole sub division- minus a house or two. We saw some lights but maybe it was just a generator powered Christmas tree.
Well, Plan B.
Mark and Mercy went out to scrounge around  FM1960 for firewood for sale so we could survive the night. The temperature was dropping even more and it was going to freeze. Then we rounded up our candles and had to think about Christmas dinner- hoping some place would still be open to buy  dinner. Mark went into a big discourse on Pine trees and how useless they are and how they should all be cut down within 4oo feet of any houses and power lines. HELP! After Carbon Dioxide being declared a toxic poison (pathogen) in the news the other day, we could almost hear the local trees gasping for breath. I might turn into an unofficial tree hugger just to comfort the local trees. It was all a Scrooge ski by Mark..
Anyway, after the excitement of a street full of fire trucks and strange looking men (definitely not aliens)  in colored and very weird  suits, we did have a fun evening. We had  Domino's pizza around the fire and played Taboo. Selena (8 yrs.) surprised us all with an answer we older and more educated (chuckle chuckle) all couldn't get. WHIZ kid that she is, she is also   homeschooled ( I wanted to mention).  Then everyone suddenly wanted Selena on their team.
Just as we finished having our party, opening up a few gifts, and enjoying eggnog, the lights finally came on. A roar went up around the neighborhood. Lights came on, just in time to turn them off and head to bed.
We didn't however. Missionaries that we are, we stuck a DVD into the player and took a visual trip to Ecuador and watched End of the Spear.......a beautiful movie with a powerful message about love and forgiveness at the end.
After all this, we had such a memorable evening,

Later,Mercy let us in on her  morning prayer. She had prayed for something special to happen so we would all be a lot closer for Christmas. Well, I guess I better keep her home today so she can't share that little tidbit of info with all of our neighbors. Ho ho ho.. Being world traveling missionaries, we have had so much experience in adapting. To us, we just refigure and still have fun. Isn't it a beautiful strength to be able to just see God's hand in everything? We may be poor in the eyes of the world.....but oh so rich in so many ways that really count! Merry Christmas!

recommended

Has anyone seen the End of the Spear. I watched it last night and the ending was incredible. It's a beautiful movie.