Jessie

Our little Jess-meister. Is. A. Ham. A quick to giggle, grab her sisters by the waist to physically remove the obstacle, disliker-of-sleep little girl. Her grin is infectious. A mere 9 lbs lighter than her older sisters, she keeps up with them more and more by the day. And they love her, calling her "Jessa", "Jess", "Jessie-Lynn" and "Jessie-Jessie". This little tornado has more nick-names than I could have thought possible when naming her, but her personality is big enough to handle the multiple names. And we love her to bits! She currently loves animals and babies, and going for walks. She loves fairy wings, and is a sugar-jukie. She begs to sleep with her sisters, but often is awake long after they our. She is the feeder of Jack, the instigator of trouble and a perpetual joy.

These little girls are so full of joy. We decided to take the kids around the cul-de-sac for trick-or-treating, and then have them help us hand out candy. This was something I wrestled with, for I know the many arguments against it. After wrestling with it, I was so glad we did it. We got to meet so many of the neighbors, and spent time talking with them. Our neighborhood is known to be a good place to go, so we got lots of visitors, and ended up talking with many of the parents as we sat on the front porch. The girls did a great job of handing out candy, and only handed it to us to hand out when the really scary people came around :) Most of our guests were little kids and parents, and we saw many fairies, princesses and super heros. And the girls loved it, and did a great job of being generous. What an opportunity we would have missed, and we look forward to seeing these neighbors again. What a unique community God has placed us in! Many people who have no family around and are desperate for community. What an opportunity! Now just to get to work!

Done and done

.. and my fingerprinting is done, my background check to the board, the license verification and my dues are paid.... my application to the Maryland board of nursing is officially done. When I began the process, it was looking like a nightmare. Michigan was one of the only states that wouldn't verify licenses through the national "Nursys" online verification program, Maryland didn't like Michigan nurses and I would have needed to get my transcripts from McMaster, my volunteer hours needed to be verified and I needed to wait 4 hours at a police station to get manually fingerprinted...

BUT!!

Praise God, he supplied in a million ways. In the last 4 weeks

*Michigan came online so a simple click-click and my verification was done

*Maryland application came online so a simple click-click and my application was done

*Maryland allowed for independent defense contractors to do live-fingerprinting, meaning a visit to Baltimore to get fingerprinted and as we did it, my prints were sent to the FBI and police databases, and the results sent to Maryland board within 72 hours.

*Maryland allowed a verbal, "Did you work 1000 hours in the last 5 years" with no paper documentation required.

Praise God for all these little but not so little blessings.

SOOO!!! The excitement of job-searching begins!

-s

Sisters

32 years

Happy Anniversary, Mom and Dad! Praising God for 32 years of marriage for you both. We are all so thankful for the rich legacy you have taught your children and grandchildren through words and action. Your faith is evident to all. Thank you for giving us a front row seat to what a godly marriage looks like!

Thanksgiving

I have so many reasons to give thanks. My believing family, both immediate and extended are constantly amazing to me, as well as three little girls who love to sing and giggle and a husband who loves us all and serves his family with joy. We have been blessed with another wonderful church family who seeks to bless us over and over again -far more than we could ever imagine. The girls have been sick for the last two weeks and someone dropped off some soup, salad, bread AND an apple pie, just because. The session loved the pie, which was a true blessing because the pumpkin roll I had attempted earlier was less than lovely :)

On the plus side, the "Croup Chair" set up on the porch wasn't used last night, and we slept from 1-7! Emma's mostly recovered, Sammi is in the thick of it and Jessie is just starting. She's been sleeping in our room so we can keep an eye on her and it is heartbreaking to hear her cough, then whimper and they moan, "owie". We're thankful that we've managed to avoid ER again, thankful for beautiful nights and shifts of cuddling on the porch. For the last week, Sammi has had the first shift around 9 (porch light on, sit on bench). Emma comes around 11 (porch light off, camp chair). Jessie's fever and cough spike around 3 (porch light off, camp chair) and then Sammi wakes up again around 5:30 (porch light on, special blanket, camp chair). Sammi gets very, very particular when she's sick, and has nightmares. Emma gets very quiet and cuddly, just wanting to be held. Jessie whimpers constantly and wants to be held. She loves to be cuddled but finds it impossible to fall asleep in our bed. It was kind of hilarious to watch her try to snap her fingers, clap her hands and tickle Francis at 2:30 am.

Thankfully, we're on the mend, and hopefully by Sunday we'll be able to get out and worship. The kids have been going a little stir crazy, so we've been reading a lot of books, going for walks around the neighborhood, sitting on the porch, and lots of Dora.

Thankfully our girls have immune systems that fight infection. Thankfully a temporary virus is the worst of our health concerns. Thankfully we've got nutritious food to help them heal. Thankfully we have a home, good health care and a great cuddling couch. Thankfully we've got a Father who loves our kids, and has answered prayers for extra patience and healing. Thankfully our girls are healing. Thankfully we are His, and have been adopted through Christ. Thankful.

Croup stinks

So, we had our first ER visit last night. Not bad for 9 cumulative kid years. And yes, I panicked. Something about your little girl not being able to breath kind of kills whatever rational thought is in your head. Poor little Emma woke up honking like a goose, completely unable to catch her breath. A few minutes of steam didn't work, but the cold van-ride to the ER did. Of course by the time we got there, she was doing much better, but I'm still glad we went in. I'd rather leave the assessments to the professionals, particularly when I'm the frazzled parent. That frees me up to be the parent -to cuddle and comfort, and just be mom.

Emma was very brave. We had a med student practice assessments on her (at 1 am), and Emma let her poke and listen and look in her ears 3x. Of course, motrin and corticosteroids did help her mood. "I like to breathe, mom!" "Breathing is important, isn't it?" Lots of little nuggets of wisdom in a hospital from our little imp who is always asking, "Canwe take a picture of this?"

So today will be full of baths, motrin and Dora, as all three are running fevers and coughing. Cuddle time on the couch with books will be enjoyed by all. And maybe tomorrow we'll resume our normal programming. But for today, we'll enjoy the quiet.