Good Friends Well Loved

On Thursday the gals and I busted out of the four walls and headed over to see the W girls! I walked in and sweet Lil ran me right into this surprise waiting for me... I mean do they know me or do they know me? I am WELL-LOVED for sure!

Tamarah promised time to paint my nails while she wrangled the little people...

and set them up with crafts (making cards for NICU babies and families) at the kitchen table

Hard workers!

Such a special treat and fun times with friends. Thank you W gals! :)

Did someone say snow?

Earlier this week we were hit with a BLIZZARD!!!! We got about 2 FEET of snow and Husband had no school for two days! Two more storms are on the horizon but I prefer to think back to just this past Sunday... when we pretended it was AUGUST and went SWIMMING!

The CountryRents rented a room at their fav. hotel and because I was the event coordinator (i.e. made the reservations for CountryDad ;) I begged to crash their party and use the pool! I knew two gals who would LOVE it!

and one guy who didn't get to swim AT ALL last summer!

We had the place to ourselves for about an hour and 1/2...

and it was JUST what we needed to keep our heads up and remember to enjoy every season... indoor pools or snowstorms :) We got fresh blueberries on the way home and thought back to lazy days in Uncle L and TiTi's pool eating delicious berries :)

Thanks CountryRents! :)

What's LOVE Got To Do With It?

In the past few months, DIVORCE has been all over the news (celebrities) and the option thrown around in my circle of friend's marriages. One of my favorite authors, a couple of my favorite celebrity chefs, and most recently an actor that I always admired for his not-in-the-limelight spouse and the way he portrayed himself as a family-man.

Can't ANYONE just STAY MARRIED anymore? I know this is nothing new under the sun but as thoughts of anniversaries and commitments and vows have spun around in my head...

These two...

41 years today...

 

that's a lot of FORGIVENESS, grace, mercy, therapy, understanding, patience, wisdom, persistence, grit, adoration, selflessness, sacrifice and then... love.

 

A legacy like this doesn't happen without the Lord, without hard-work, and without SELFLESS-SACRIFCE. This family has not had it "easy" but we have had amazing examples of what it is to put God first.

Happy 41st Anniversary CountryRents. Thank you.

 

 

Marriage IS work but I LOVE it. I want it. I want to push through. 

It is selfless... but isn't He? (John 3:16) It is forgiveness... but didn't He? (Matt 6:14, 15)

A "Geeky" Date

On Saturday afternoon sweet MIL braved a snowstorm to come and watch the babies so that Husband and I could attend a conference in the big city. All about the up and coming bionic pancreas. I had heard a little bit here and there that this was in the pipeline but this was the first chance I really had to hear straight from the Dr.'s mouth. It was AMAZING!!!!

Course I would have said that about anything that involved 4 hours with this guy! :)

 

This guy... could have done without :) This is the doctor that I HAD to go to when I was newly diagnosed....and I'm not his biggest fan... sitting next to Loretta (my diabetic NP) in the conference she gave me the hairy eyeball to behave :) giggle giggle.

This is the doctor with his team who could change the lives of MILLIONS of people... he has a son with T1D (Type 1 Diabetic) who is a Jr. in high school. His goal is to send his son to college with a bionic pancreas. That's two years away.

 

When I was diagnosed they told the CountryRents and I a cure would be found for SURE within 5 years... that was 24 years ago. The information he presented, the data, the clinical trials was THE BEST NEWS I have heard in a LONG time. No checking sugar, no thinking about delivering insulin, no worrying about lows, highs, when to eat, when I can't eat... say WHAT? Such COOL stuff! Such cool stuff! Click HERE for a quick video. They also had someone speak who was part of the clinical trial back in 2013. The guy wore the bionic pancreas for 5 days and 5 nights and told his story. When he got to the end of the trial he said the worst part of the whole experience..."was giving it back." I choked up a little bit. I can't imagine not having to think about this everyday, every hour, every meal time, every time I'm sick, every time I get in a vehicle to drive my babies somewhere.

I came out of the conference with a new ambition to see what ELSE is out there. AM I missing the latest and greatest that could get me in even better health? I know I do love my Minimed but I'm going to poke around and see what Loretta thinks about THIS. Maybe it is time for a change... maybe not? :)

There was also a NASCAR driver there chatting up how you can really do ANYTHING with this disease. Making the kiddos in the room feel confident and excited. So SO worth the time and definitely makes me excited for my future health-wise!

 

This crew could use some good health for a while :)

 

Family, Friends and Football

My kinda weekend last weekend! :) Especially because Husband had Monday off so it JUST.KEPT.GOING. So fun!

Toddy-Hot brought his grandparent's kitchen table down. I'm going to do my best to bring it back to it's original beauty.

These two were just psyched to play go-fish and hang out with the celebrity.

 

On Sunday we had sweet Adele over (with her parents and baby sister too) and two outta three of these girls were PUMPED to watch a Veggietale movie in the big bed!

Stink faces :)

"baby" sister snuggles!

I LOVE HAVING GIRLS!!!!

Miss B hightailed it out of the room when the movie started... for some reason she was not interested in hangin' upstairs while the Mommas and Daddy's were down on the couch... :)

A fun weekend for SURE!

Co-Op

Just another day at "school"... learning about the letter 'K'

and KISSES!

and experiencing SNOWFLAKES! :)

warm sunshine and squeezes... yes please!

sledding...

and a free ride?

smah-t boy! :)