God is LOVE...and SO loves us!

It has been a COLD week in East Texas and we are looking for a warm up!

This picture was of our beautiful Camalia bush- in full bloom- BEFORE the big freeze. Dave covered it but the cover blew off in the night and MUCH to his dismay- all the blooms are now history. Next year we'll do a better job! We hit a low of 17 here which is absolutely FRIGID for East Tx. We are READY for spring.

Amy and family hosted a wondeful Valentine's party for the cousins- Henry and Jonah were there earlier in the day and Ash, Jay and Cole at night. Jordan opted to be home that day! Later Brian, Amy and Dave and I enjoyed a pizza by the fireside in their bedroom retreat area....very nice!

We enjoyed dinner with our cousins Larry and Sue last night and then had the Smith's spend the night with us due to their well pump being out. WE didn't see much of them as they went to bed as soon as they got here and left as soon as we got up this morning.

Dave is busy working in his "well house" getting his workbench all completed so we can move the things from the garage out there.

It is a bit crowded in the garage!

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But..he has been working hard and I am so proud of ALL the things he accomplishes! With a minimum of bandaids too! What a guy! How blessed I am!

Kelly is doing better..her mom is here now to care for her and Jordan and Jon. I'm sure they are all taking full advantage of all her skills...and she is there all night to take care of Jordan if she awakens...like she did this week with the flu! Poor Jon and Kelly...Kelly scrubbing carpet with her back brace and all! She has to wear the brace for 6 weeks- 5 now- and is learning to do things to care for Jordan in spite of the brace! Thank the Lord for the brace- the tech. that fitted Kelly said this used to be a body CAST.... Kelly is looking much better these days but thought you might want to see her the day after...I'm sure Kelly will appreciate this!

We love you Kelly and we are SOooooooooo very glad that GOD spared your life and you are still here with us! To GOD be the glory!

What a difference several days makes!

It has been almost 2 weeks since I last sat down to blog and even check e-mails very much! We've been busy- visiting and caring for kids and grandkids!

Last week, Dave and I were up early, ready to go to Quitman- Dave for an annual check up- me to work out at Curves and then head down to Lindale later in the day for Jonah's second birthday- he is Sam's youngest. About 8- just as we were ready to head out the door- we got a call from Jon saying he had a call from the police that Kelly was in a wreck and the ambulance was on the way- he was on the way to the scene- just down the road on the way to Teen Mania. HE had Jordan with HIM!...and arrived on the scene while on the phone. He said, "Oh my gosh- what did she do??? I have to go!" Here is what he drove up on.

We didn't get another call for about an hour- and Sam called to say that Kelly was on the way to

ER. He said- she is alive but I don't know the extent of her injuries. We were about an hour away from Tyler- so we headed there immediately. We were met in the ER waiting room by David, Beth, Brian, Amy, Jon and Jordan. Kelly was being xrayed, MRI'ed, etc...and was later admitted with lacerated spleen, a boken vertebrae and multiple lacerations and bruises...but ALIVE! We are so very grateful to God for His mercy. She was there just a little over 24 hours- enough time to be fitted for a body brace (which now takes the place of a body cast) and to check out her spleen to make sure she didn't need surgery. She is home and mending and we are helping out with Jordan and doing what we can to be here and support them.

We DID get to Jonah's party- late- and it we were all exhausted...but Jonah turned 2 and is such a sweetheart!

On Saturday, I came down to help Kelly but she had lined up some other help for the day so I was able to go back to our original plan of babysitting for the youngest 5 of the Smith kids for the day. I drove their van back home and we had a great day.

The kids played outside in the sand, ran and jumped and swang on the swing (is swang a word???) and later each had a puzzel to put together and then we all watched "Mary Poppins- can you believe that Dave and I have NEVER seen it????) It was a great day!

On Sunday, after church, we headed to Tyler again, this time for the Smith girls' violin orchestra concert. The twins are in the younger orchestra- which sounded fantastic- and Caitlin is in the high-school; Jr. college orchestra- which sounded like the Denver Philharmomic to me! It was such a blessing to see and hear them play! AFter the concerts we went to a banquet (which they had totally paid for by fund raising- thanks girls!) and enjoyed a wonderful dinner and fellowship with the 7 members of Amy's family who were there. (Sam and Lisa kept the 3 little ones) We had a wonderful day. God is so good and we are so grateful to Him for our children and grandchildren and especially for sparing Kelly's life this week. Thank you Lord!

(YOu can see Kelly's link on my side bar for more info from her!)