First Flight

My office sits on the city line between Forney and Terrell (8 miles either way) in Kaufman county. It sounds like a crazy location but it's there because it's in the center of the area we service in home health care. The office itself is a house that was once someone's home and it sits off the road in an area of green fields and sparse homes. My office view across the road is a pasture of cows.



This spring a pair of barn swallows returned to a nest on our front porch that they had built the previous year and made it home once again. The family grew from 2 to 6 with the 4 new babies. Two weeks ago we saw the parents trying to fill 4 little mouths that were always open and then this week the babies moved out of the nest to the edge.



There were 4 pretty little babies sitting on the nest looking at me on Monday, but I didn't have my camera. When I brought it Tuesday there were three. One had already flown from the nest. The next 3 were contemplating flight and deciding who would go next. Because I actually have to work, I did not get to stand there and see the actual take offs, but from my office window I saw them in flight and heard them "singing shouts of exhilaration".

Now there were two.

I rushed to get my camera but I still missed the first flights. Now there was only one left to make the daring flight, and he too soon left the nest that day. They came back on Wednesday for a brief respite but since have been out flying in the fields nearby. I miss the birds being on the porch every day while I am at work, but I am already looking forward to next year's family.

Kyah's Nursery

Kyah is Hawaiian and means ocean. Here you can see that theme carried out in the bedding.
It's still weeks off from Kyah's birth, but it's time to get ready. This past weekend, Keegan, Bryce, Erin and her parents Holly and Danny Stone spent Saturday creating a beautiful room for Kyah's homecoming in August. I was ill and could not participate, but they seemed to do a great job without me.

Erin has had to close her blog to the public due to abuse from strangers, but we wanted you to be able to see the nursery.
Erin and Bryce have mentioned there are a few more details they want to add, but from these pictures you can see how creative Erin is and how her decorating skills are so abundant.


Please continue to pray for little Kyah's development and safe arrival in August. If you want to see Erin's blog, you can email her and she can give you permission to see her blog.

Wow, a John Deere!

Greg took Connor and Alyssa out to his friend's farm near Lubbock.

Needless to say, Connor was a little more enthusiastic about going than Alyssa.

Like any young woman, put her behind the wheel of a good looking vehicle and her day brightens .

Looking at the inside of the cab, I must say tractors have come a long way since I last was on a tractor (there was no inside)!

The Twins are Growing.

Posing for pictures is always such hard work.

Ashlynn thinks eating cupcakes with blue icing is much more fun!

The girls are always planning something, even when posing for pictures.

Kylee agrees with Ashlynn that cupcakes are yummy.

A Reason to Walk

This week I received an email from a friend of mine telling me about a friend of hers battling breast cancer. Reading her email just confirmed my reason to walk in November in the 3 Day Walk and to raise money to battle this killer of women of all ages. Please read:

We just heard from our dear friend, re: Her 2nd Mastectomy! She is Cancer free and won't need anymore treatments etc. She can start living a normal life after she heals. She had a 2nd Grandbaby this past week and her oldest Son graduates this Fri. night with a Master's from Texas Tech! Praise God! Praise God! Praise God! This is 1 year and 4 months later from her diagnosis of her stage 4 Breast Cancer.

If you have a story of someone battling breast cancer and wouldn't mind sharing it, I would love to hear it.

The Clear Vision

_I love to read and there are always new authors and new great books. A book store is far more temptation for me than any candy store (and I LOVE candy)! Lately though, I have found myself going back and reading some of the great writers of yesteryear (even some I was FORCED to read in high school). One new, old area for me is poetry. I have never really enjoyed much poetry, but I am trying to develop a love for it. Below is a new favorite poem for me by one of my old favorite poets. I think it really ministers to me because I want to finish well and because he so captures where I am at in my own life. I just wanted to share the vision of Mr. Whittier with you tonight and see what you think.

The Clear Vision
John Greenleaf Whittier

I did but dream. I never knew
What charms our sternest season wore.
Was never yet the sky so blue,
Was never earth so white before.
Till now I never saw the glow
Of sunset on yon hills of snow,
And never learned the bough's designs
Of beauty in its leafless lines.

Did ever such a morning break
As that my eastern windows see?
Did ever such a moonlight take
Weird photographs of shrub and tree?
Rang ever bells so wild and fleet
The music of the winter street?
Was ever yet a sound by half
So merry as you school-boy's laugh?

O Earth! with gladness overfraught,
No added charm thy face hath found;
Within my heart the change is wrought,
My footsteps make enchanted ground.
From couch of pain and curtained room
Forth to thy light and air I come,
To find in all that meets my eyes
The freshness of a glad surprise.

Fair seem these winter days, and soon
Shall blow the warm west-winds of spring,
To set the unbound rills in tune
And hither urge the bluebird's wing.
The vales shall laugh in flowers, the woods
Grow misty green with leafing buds,
And violets and wind-flowers sway
Against the throbbing heart of May.

Break forth, my lips, in praise, and own
The wiser love severely kind;
Since, richer for its chastening grown,
I see, whereas I once was blind.
The world, O Father! hath not wronged
With loss the life by Thee prolonged;
But still, with every added year,
More beautiful Thy works appear!

As Thou hast made thy world without,
Make Thou more fair my world within;
Shine through its lingering clouds of doubt;
Rebuke its haunting shapes of sin;
Fill, brief or long, my granted span
Of life with love to thee and man;
Strike when thou wilt the hour of rest,
But let my last days be my best!

I've italicized the last line because of it's personal message to me.

The Year is Passing Too Swiftly

Here we are in May already and it only seems yesterday that it was the beginning of 2009. God continues to bless us and provide for us in every way possible.
Change continues to be the word we seem to live by. It's time for Bethany and Phillip to move to Louisiana for him to complete his second internship. They will be living with his parents there and Bethany already has a job working in a bank close to the house. Phillip will be working in an orthopedic outpatient clinic. At the end of August they will move to Lubbock for his last internship. Here's where they need some help. Bethany will be 7 months pregnant when they arrive and really won't be able to work full time. They also will not have any housing provided. It looks like we will get to see God provide again as He always does. Please do pray for them in all these transitions and for the child Bethany is carrying. It's too early to know the gender of the baby, but all tests are showing a healthy baby.
Bryce and Erin are having so much fun watching their little Kyah Everett continue developing. According to his sonograms he's going to be a long baby (and who would wonder why with his momma and daddy!). They are in the beginning stages of getting the room ready for his arrival in August.
Keegan goes to Guatemala tomorrow with one of the elders, Mark Hardy, from our sending church in Lubbock. It should be a fun trip for them as they look for partnering opportunities for Melonie Park Church. Mark and Keegan always manage to have fun together.
I am still loving my job for so many reasons. I am blessed with wonderful coworkers who all know and love the Lord. Since this is a start up business we are getting to spend some time waiting on God to provide and then celebrate each admission. What joy to have such a working evironment and sisters in Christ with whom to spend each day at work.

Why Am I Walking 60 Miles in November?

November 6-8, 2009 will be the 3Day Walk for Breast Cancer here in Dallas/Ft. Worth.
The Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex offers walkers the best of both worlds. “Live Large. Think Big.” is their slogan and it describes the essence and vitality of this city which is built on big dreams, freshly blazed trails and the spirit of the Wild West.

No, I do not have breast cancer, and no, neither does anyone in my close family. You may wonder why or for whom am I doing this. I have two daughters, one daughter in law and now 3 granddaughters. I am walking for them. I don't want them to ever have to fight the disease! Already so many of my dear friends are battling for their very own lives against this terrible cancer, and many may not win because there is no cure. I am walking for them. I do have family members who too are fighting breast cancer. I walk for them. With research, there is hope. I walk for hope.

Please support me in my desire to help cure breast cancer. Please support me as I take an amazing journey in the fight against breast cancer! The Breast Cancer 3-Day is a 60-mile walk over the course of three days. Net proceeds benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure and National Philanthropic Trust, funding important breast cancer research, education, screening, and treatment.

More Than Tulips in the Garden

Dallas Arboretum

We wish we could say our yard looked this good, but alas, we have to admit that we made a recent visit to the Dallas Arboretum.


The tulips were in full bloom everywhere and in every color.

The day was beautiful and there were so many people there. Walking the pathways were people from all over the world.



English was the least spoken language I overheard. Many of the visitors were in their cultural dress and the colors and styles were in competition with the variety of tulips we saw.

The day gave proof to the statistics about how international Dallas has become as a city.

This picture is my absolute favorite. They were every bit this bright!
Now if only I could get my yard looking this good!