3:16 - the numbers of hope

We just got home from church, our choir presented the musical "3:16 - the numbers of hope" it was great! Max Lucado wrote the program after his staff were talking about 911 - and how those numbers were tragic and sad, they said we need numbers of hope. He said we do have numbers of hope and the idea started! Many people came, I saw a dear old friend who has cancer, one of our deacons who has a serious lung problem, a grandmother whose young grandson drowned in the bathtub a few months ago, a young mother who is struggling with the possibility of a diagnosis of autism for one of her young children, an older lady that I have just come to know in the past few months who is going through chemo for breast cancer, and I am sure in a church filled to the brim with over 400 people there were many more with serious problems, however they were all smiling, filled with hope, knowing the message of the musical was truth! Jesus was born, lived, died on the cross and was resurrected, and all because "God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes on Him will have eternal life" John 3:16. That is hope, no matter what we are going through, He knows He loves us and He gives hope!

Flat Stanley

Flat Stanley has arrived! He came from Boca Raton Florida for vacation, Uncle Dan, Aunt April and cousins Isaiah and Micah were here too so they got to meet. His first day the boys took him outside to play, and then we went to the new Walmart Supercenter! He really enjoyed himself!

Flat Stanley is a story about a little boy that was flattened when something fell on him - he wanted to go on vacation to California, but could not afford it, so they mailed him. Cassies class has read the book and colored their Flat Stanley and she choose to send him to us to visit us! Stay tuned for future adventures!

The boys and their binkies

The boys are supposed to leave their binkies in their beds, but Nana and Grandpa forgot - they loved that! They were sitting on the bench looking at some whirlygig flowers in the window box. Isaiah has taken to walking around with his hands behind his back - he looks very thoughtful! Mom and Dad are headed back today - the boys will be so excited to see them, but I think Mom and Dad are more excited, they have missed their boys! Next week the rest of the family is headed home, I am just as excited to see my kids and grandkids as they are!! As we draw close to Easter Sunday and we celebrate the resurrection of our Lord - let us not forget His example. He washed the disciples feet and told them to do the same for each other - be servants! He gave His life and told them to love one another as He loves us - that is how the world will know we are His disciples. Phil. 2:1-8 -tells us of His love for us, that it was so great He was obedient to death - Lord help us to be obedient and to love as You love - sacrificially - putting others first - always acting out of love, without prejudice - openly, lavishly , obediently. Love is a choice - He compels us to love as He loves. Hallelujah we serve a risen Savior!

Toothless

Caylee is anxious to have a loose tooth removed and after begging Daddy -- they get the task completed! She is very brave! and beautiful - see you next week Miss Caylee Lynn DeWitt and your toothless smile!

My 3 little kids

Ok that was a trip backwards in time! I could not be anymore proud of my kids - my daughter who is deaf and legally blind, who is a wonderful wife and mom of 3 - I don't know how she does it all, but she does and does it well. My Sons - Christopher a very talented photo journalist in the Air Force with a photography business of his own, a wonderful husband and dad of a son and daughter- Daniel - the Professor, talented artist, wonderful husband and dad of twin boys - The lists are endless if I was to brag on each of them, but the reward of all those years of sweat and tears are demonstrated in Chris's blog entry today - check it out at http://dewittphotos.blogspot.com/ - grab a kleenex.

Boys and toys

Toys all over the place and where do we find the twins???? In the kitchen sink!! Only grandpa would do that, the boys were curious so he just let them get in and play!! Today we have our Missions Fair at church, we have been working on it for several months, and I am looking forward to it. We have 17 different areas of mission ministry that will be represented - it will be a wonderful opportunity to see how God is working all over the world. I better get moving! Hope you have a great weekend!

The Underground Railroad Quilt Book

In Toni's comment yesterday she asked about the pattern book I am using. It is from "quilt in a day" by Eleanor Burns & Sue Bouchard. The book is full of information about the Underground Railroad and the path to Canada. We live in Jacksonville, Il which is very connected to the Railroad. There are several places here in town that were a part of the railroad, if you go to http://www.laddcenter.com/ugrr/index.html - you will find more information, pictures and general info on this town and how it was a part of it. It is very interesting, particularly if you are a history buff, which I am not, but I do enjoy this. We all have a history, our family, our ancestors, they are our history. The most important "link" we can make is to our Lord - His is the only family that will remain eternally! Hope you have a great Thursday!

Underground railroad quilt blocks

Remember the new book I showed you last week? It is the pattern for the Undergroud Railroad quilt - which is so cool - because it tells a story, they hung quilts out to tell messages to the slaves, to let them know what to do next. I have all the blocks cut out and have 4 put together as you can see. I will tell you more about the story when I put it together. I went to Hancock fabrics on Saturday and bought the fabric for the rails and borders, it was $7.99 a yard, but when I got to the check out they said it was 60% off, how cool is that!! Well, I probably will not have time to sew for about a month, the twins and their parents will be here on Thursday night - so the fun begins - yeaaah! Hope you are having a good week - mine is about to get better!

Oh what joy!

Oh what joy - my Savior lives! There is so much sadness around, which in turn always provides opportunity for praise, knowing God loves us and wants only the best for us. I ran into a friend today whose husband killed himself just before Christmas, he had been injured and disabled for years, he finally ended his life, his mother found him. Everytime I see her I cry, my heart is so broken for her - I have no words of comfort, "I'm so broken hearted for you, I am praying for you" I say. A good friend is fighting for his life, he has been here before, a different cancer - he survived and now there is a new cancer - "I am praying for you" I say. Another friend has a precious little boy diagnosed with a life changing and sometimes life threatening syndrome - "I am praying for you - I love you" I say. Just a couple of days ago my cousin sent me a link to a website: my cousins grandaughter was diagnosed with cancer 3 years ago and died within months, she was 1 year and a few days old. During that time my cousins wife (the babys grandmother) was fighting for her life with breast cancer, she lost that fight 1 year ago last week. My cousin himself has developed a dibilitating rare disease that he has been fighting for about 5 years now. After Kylie Janes death her parents started a foundation to support parents of children with life threatening or serious disease, the link was to a fundraiser that was phenomenal - here is the link - http://www.bmbw.com/events-and-activities/hope-slopes-2008 or their homepage to see what they are doing and to learn Kylie Janes story. http://www.kyliejanelong.org/kylieshomepage.htm. There are no words to comfort a grieving widow, a broken hearted mom, a struggling cancer patient, or my cousin who lost his first grandchild, his wife and is struggling with his own disease, but there is hope! Jesus cares for you, and He seeks to be glorified in your most difficult moments, and hours and days and years. He is not watching to see if you follow the checklist of appropriate behaviors, He is standing with open arms to catch you when you fall...... into Him, completely exhausted and worn out from trying to do the "right thing", to "be the good witness", to meet everyone elses expectations. He only wants to comfort and give peace. Press into Him, sob, scream, complain, He can take it. You will find only comfort and love . I think of when my children were small, and they were going through a hard time, I only wanted to comfort them, hold them, stroke their hair, speak words of comfort and dry their tears. Our heavenly Father wants to do the same. I have no words to help, only words of encouragement, RUN TO HIM, PRESS INTO HIM, only He can give you peace. We all have problems, maybe not all as difficult as these, but they are real none the less, the words are the same to us. Psalm 121 1-3: I look to the mountains, where does my help come from, my help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not allow your foot to slip; He who keeps you will not slumber." He is always there, arms open.....Run...run...run...into Him. He gives peace. John 14:27 - "Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives, do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful." Run ....run....what joy - He is always there waiting ...fall into Him!

Tulips - see note in previous post -

I am afraid their going to get a shock tomorrow, but they will survive. Its a promise of what is to come - I'm ready!

Spring?!!

It is more than 70 degrees outside, I have the heat turned off and the windows open!! Wendell and I walked around the yard and I am so tempted to start clearing off my flower beds, but believe it or not it is supposed to SNOW tomorrow!! Welcome to Illinois weather. We were sitting on the front porch and I looked down...it can't be, oh yeah ---- those are tulips sticking up about 1 1/2 inches!! I am so ready to get my hands dirty, but I'll wait. Hope you are having a good weekend.

Toddlers on the way

Isn't that the cutest table and chairs! Within 2 weeks we will have 3 toddlers in the house, Tania's daughter Daphne is 17 mo old and Dan and April twin boys are 16 mo old, can't you see them sitting there? We are anxious to see them all including Chris and Jens kids , Jordan (who will celebrate his 12th birthday when they are here on Easter day!) and Caylee, also Tania's oldest daughter Cassie. We will have a house full, what fun!

Please continue to pray for Dr Fox, he is hopefully in his last round of antibiotics, another MRI next Friday, and then hopefully the following week he will have the bone marrow transplant. Keep him and his family in your prayers!

Lunar Eclipse

Isn't that a great picture of the eclipse, I did not take it, I took it from one of my favorite websites http://www.pasty.com/cam/ it is a website in the Keewenaw peninsula, that is just wonderful, they share pictures everyday and this month is their 10th anniversary, so if you click on the "Cameo" that is next to each picture there is a video with historical facts relating to the U.P. Hope you are having a good week, I am off to get my hair cut and buy groceries. My sister Micki commented on my blog yesterday that it looks like all I do is quilt, I wish!!! But I do try to get downstairs to my sewing room at least for a little while each day if I am not working. Happy Thursday - remember God is good, all the time!!

A mess again?!

I was not kidding - I get working on stuff and just end up with piles and piles! I can only stand it for so long and then one day I will stop and clean it all up. You thought I was kidding until you looked at the pictures, right!!

It might be fair to say I am having a little trouble staying focused. I have a couple different projects going, I am just playing with some colors of fabric and then I went and bought a new book! Never know what I will be doing next. This mess reminded me of a verse in the Bible, "God is not a God of confusion." ok - so I am not confused, just very distracted, or maybe just not focused - ok it's a mess - what can I say!!

Dreary Day!

It is a very dreary gray day here in central Illinois - not too cold, just gray. Nick is at work, Wendell has been laying down all afternoon, he is not feeling too well - hopefully not the flu that has been going around. The hospital has been full - everytime I have to travel through the ER for paperwork I hold my breath, I really don't want to catch it! On the brighter side - the forsythia branches have dropped most of their flowers and now are growing and developing leaves!!! If they grow roots I will plant them! I had also cut some Red twig dogwood branches and brought them in at the same time, only for the color of the stems (red), however they also are flowering and developing leaves. I am going to wait and see what they do - verrry interesting! God is so good - when things look the darkest, in the middle of winter and all appears dead, we get bright yellow flowers and green leaves, He is here, He is the creator of all and in Him we all have life. "I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me shall live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me shall never die..."John 11 25 and 26. Hallelujah!

Happy Birthday to my first born!

11 days old Elementary School Senior Picture

Beautiful at birth and everyday since. I am so proud of you! Despite many challenges, you just keep smiling. You are a wonderful mother, Nick is such a great kid - only a year of school to go - you have done a great job raising him! Cassie and Daphne are beautiful and way too smart! I remember when you were in school, you were so meticulous, always studying and always getting good grades - I would almost bet you still have all your notebooks from school and in order! (unless Johnny made you throw them away) Tania you are beautiful inside and out and I am proud of you and proud to be your mother!! I remember the night you were born, my labor started about 5:00 in the morning, I stayed home until 5:00 that night, and I was dialated to 6 when I got to the hospital, the nurses could not believe I walked in. At 1 minute after midnight you were born - screaming at the top of your lungs! I loved the name Tania, and of course your middle name, Theresa, is my moms first name and my middle name. I love that you named Cassie with Theresa as her middle name too. Grandma would have loved that! You look alot like my mom, in fact when some people look at Grandma's wedding picture, they ask if it is you!!! You nursed well, but within a few weeks you developed colic - I remember walking the floors with you night after night, I just felt terrible, there was nothing I could do to make you feel better. As you know that is hard for a mom, but you finally grew out of it - thank the Lord! Learning you were deaf and then trying to learn sign language was another challenge for all of us, but when you finally decided you wanted to learn to sign you just took off!! You were like Helen Keller, walking around and pointing to things for us to teach you the sign for it. You started school full days when you were 3 1/2 years old - Mrs File was your first teacher - she is 92 years old now! Kathy Stansfield was your next teacher, she is retired now and married (Kathy Cook), we go to church together and are in the same Small Group on Sunday mornings. You were always an excellent student - sooo smart! You trusted Christ when you were in grade school and we have seen the evidence of Him in your life, as well as how you have brought your children to church so they will come to know Christ as well. In all the hard times in your life I have seen you turn to God, and He has always been faithful. Well the years have flown by - you will be 35 tomorrow, February 20th - but you will always be my baby! I am so proud of the woman you have become!

Happy Birthday - I love you!

Happy Valentines Day!

The doorbell rang last night and when I opened it there was Nick standing there holding the giant stuffed heart with the heart box of candy "Happy Valentines Day!!". what a surprise, he says I always complain about not being remembered, so he did that - how sweet - I kissed him all over his face. He is 16, has a car, and supposes himself to be a pretty cool guy so... he was not too impressed about the kisses, but oh well - I am his grandma - so he should be used to it. I made the little striped card for him and gave him a large bag of skittles (his favorite, like his mother chocolate is not his preferred sweet - hard to believe that huh?!) Wendell got me the "Hot lips" box of candy, filled with fudge truffles, yumm! and the very sweet card with the red heart on it. I made the black and pink card for him and gave him a large York mint - he does not like to eat alot of candy so I don't get too carried away.

I decided to hang the large stuffed heart on the door in honor of the day, I am sure Nick will get a kick out of it when he gets home.

I got the most beautiful picture of Caylee in my email this morning also, but for some reason I can't upload it, I think it is because Dewitt photos owns it. So you will have to go to http://www.dewitt-photos.com/ to see it. Chris is in Baltimore for 2 weeks and Caylee is having a hard time being away from dad - please say a prayer for her.

Hope you are having a great day - Love to all!

Forsythias in winter

2 weeks ago today I went and trimmed some forsythia branches and brought them in and put them in water. When I came home from Kentucky today they were in full bloom. A reminder that spring is coming! I was just catching up on two of my friends blogs, Dr Fox, who has leukemia who has found a speed bump in his treatment, he has infection in his organs and will have to take treatment that will make him sick and can cause kidney damage, and then in the same breath he is praising God for GREAT NEWS - they have a donor who is a 10 point match, a 26 year old male. Plans are for the bone marrow transplant the first week or so of March. Please pray for him as he goes through all this treatment to prepare him for the transplant and that he will be healthy by then. My other friend has a 5 month old son who has been diagnosed with a disease that will affect his life and thiers. What a difficult time for them as they learn all about it and how to deal with it. On her blog she has the song "I will praise Him in the storm" playing, a reminder to all of us where her strength comes from as she lifts her hands and heart toward heaven. Psalm 121:1 says "I look to the mountains, where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."

Dear Father, bless these families, strengthen and guide them, give them wisdom and give them peace. Show us how we can be a help, in prayer or in action, lead us to know what to do and what not to do! We love you Lord and know You are in control of all, we need only trust You. Spring is coming, there will be sunshine and flowers and green grass. Thank you for these bright yellow forsythia blooms that are a reminder of Your faithfulness.

Off to Louisville to play!

The boys are giving each other "high fives" The weather was very warm - they were taking a peak outside. As you may have seen on the weather, there were many tornadoes in this area and south of here, at midnight the tornadoe alarms went off, and we spent some time in the closet under the stairs, there was not loss of life in Kentucky, but as you know there were 55 lives lost in Tennessee and Arkansas - lets all remember to pray for these families and those who were injured. Have a great day!!!

Snow!

Snow! Snow! Snow! And more snow! Notice our poor tree damaged by the ice, we had it trimmed, hopefully it will sprout new branches and live! As you can see, the rabbit that lives under our little barn was out and about this morning and left his tracks in the snow. I know this is not much to you yoopers, but this is major for Jacksonville, Illinois! We have about 10 inches on the ground, school is called off. It is very windy and out of town there is nothing but empty corn and bean fields for miles and miles and miles, nothing to stop the wind, so the visibility is poor. I got called into work because one of the girls from out of town can't get in. So I better go. Have a great day!