what's an ig?

An Eskimo's home without a "loo"!  Baa-dum-bump.

June update -- her oxygen levels finally got to where they needed to be by doctor rounds yesterday evening and she'd had two good nursing sessions by then, too.  What she was still having trouble doing was sleeping in the hospital (who doesn't?!), so when the doctor gave them the option to go home, they decided to go ahead and go.  A lot of times with RSV, especially with infants under two months, exhaustion becomes as big a problem as anything.  Kim and James felt that she'd get the sleep she needed in her own home/bed.  She had a good night's sleep last night and so did Kim.   They'll have to keep a close eye on June for the next two weeks or so.  Again, thank you *so* much for your thoughts, prayers and well-wishes!

I wanted to share a couple of wins . . .

Farmhouse Retreat by Renee Nanneman, from Jane's Quilting, and Thimbleberries' Woodland Stars, from Cindy over at Hooked On Quilting!  Both have some really cute things inside them, but this one inside Farmhouse Retreat really caught my eye:

Isn't that darling?!

When Todd and I were out and about the other day, I convinced him--since we were so close and all--to stop by my favorite Fayetteville LQS.  While I was there I picked up one of these . . .

I've held out for so long, but there it was and there I was and next thing I knew, it was mine!  Yes, other *fabric-y* things were mine, too, but I'm saving that!  *wink*

When I mentioned the addition of the Dark Chocolate Raspberry M&M's to the giveaway the other day, one of my friends mentioned that she gets Cordial Cherry M&M's.  WHAT?!?  

Sure enough!  All the cherry cordial goodness without the wet, sticky centers.  LOL!  

Speaking of the giveaway, today is the LAST DAY to sign up!  I'll leave it open until midnight -- and I'll announce a winner tomorrow, sometime.  Haven't signed up yet?  Head over HERE!

In light of yesterday's tragedy in Newtown, Connecticut, I was *so* especially grateful to have Ellie and Sawyer around to hug and love on.  Ellie gave me a first hand demonstration of her new phone abilities . . .

Although when I said, "Hello!", she still put the empty hand to her ear!  So precious.

Neesey?  What is that thing?

Are you taking my picture *again*??!

Sawyer's headed out this way to spend some fun time at the camp with us today.  We're going to take the golf cart out and go down and feed the fish at the pond.  Tonight, Todd and I have his Station's Christmas party ... another busy day!

:)

pictures and words . . .

This afternoon and evening I'm spending with Ellie.  Joc emailed this picture of her the other day . . .

It *so* made me laugh!  Joc says when you say "bye bye", Ellie opens and closes her fingers.  And when you say "hello", she puts her hand to her ear. Bahahaa!!  It so reminds me of those days with Sawyer when he was that age. In particular, it reminds me of the video of Sawyer in this post!

If I'm spending time with Ellie, I'm also spending time with Leia.  Leia, the Queen of Cold.  The Ice Princess.  The cat with the 'frosty' personality.

Uhhhhh . . . Leia ... the cat that curls up with a snowman wreath?!?!   This is a case of a picture negating a thousand words.  LOL!

Happy Feline Friday!  Be sure to join in the link-up fun at Sarah Did It!

And *thank* you so much for your prayers and well-wishes for Baby June ... I'll update here when I know something new (and good)!

:)

my littlest love . . .

Sweet little June . . .

James called late yesterday afternoon to say they were taking her in for an unplanned visit to the pediatrician.

From there the doctor admitted her to the hospital for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), a highly contagious (and very common) virus.  

Most children get it before they're two ... and in most children and adults it presents as a common cold and no one ever knows the difference.

But in babies (particularly six months and younger) it can be very dangerous. Hence the hospital stay.

My poor, sweet little six-week-old baby girl was put on oxygen and IV fluids.  The doctors feel like it was caught in time and they'll have her fixed up in no time.

That doesn't necessarily make it easier on her sweet mommy and daddy.  Or her Neesey.

As of this morning, Kim reports it was a rough night but it's gotten better. June is sleeping now and her breathing is less laborious, but her oxygen levels are still low.

I guess it was no accident that I gleaned this phrase during a trip to my LQS (more on *that* later) yesterday morning . . .

If I'm worrying, I'm not taking time to pray;

if I'm praying, I don't have time for worry!

Needless to say, I've been doing a lot of praying.  If you're inclined, I'd sure appreciate your prayers and happy thoughts for June, too!

:)

degrees of separation . . .

I thought about this a lot during the night. In fact, I wrote this in my head, over and over, in between snatches of sleep. The degrees of separation between me (any of us) and the things that happen all over this world. Most specifically, in this case, the terrorist bombings that happened in Uganda on Sunday.

Since we've been staying at Hunter Road, we really haven't watched television, mainly because we don't have a working antenna television (we do have a tv and dvd player that work) and we don't have cable or a satellite dish, and there really wasn't any need for just the 12 weeks we'd be here. And besides, mainly what our television gets turned on for is news. Todd gets tv at the fire station, and that's been enough for him.

I preface with that to say that I'm a little out of the loop. I'm not seeing daily world news like I used to, and though I do check out my local WHNT station online, it tends to list mostly local news, which is typically fine with me. But I didn't hear about the terrorist bombings in Uganda on Sunday. Not until later, when my sister sent me a text about it.

So you're thinking okay, you missed news about a pair of bombings. Why is this a big deal? I mean, other than the fact that it's a terrible injustice and a tragedy to those innocents on whom it was inflicted -- why is this bombing different?

Degrees of separation.

I have a niece -- a darling young lady, who just graduated from high school in Maryland -- who has a younger classmate named Emily Kerstetter, who went with her grandmother's Pennsylvania church on a mission trip to Uganda. They stayed an extra week, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer:

. . . to finish a wall protecting their sister congregation's church and school in Kampala - in particular, one missionary said, to shield children from a scourge that haunts Uganda: ritual child sacrifice.

And Emily, along with the others on her team, were sitting in the same restaurant that terrorists chose to plant and detonate a bomb under a random table. And Emily was seriously injured in that bombing, as were others of her group.

Two degrees separated me and the Uganda bombings. That's all, two. My niece and Emily. And it occurred to me last night as I prayed for Emily and her family and the rest of the mission team, that this really is a small world. That in essence, that bombing didn't happen over there, but it happened to people with whom I have a connection.

Five minutes before that bomb blast, Emily is reported to have said that she was going to cry so hard because she didn't want to leave [Kampala]. She wanted to stay the rest of the summer there.

Along with prayers for healing and comfort, the Lord prompted me to pray for Emily's tender spirit. To pray that when the question, "Why God?" comes (and most likely, it will come), that the enemy wouldn't find a foothold in that question and use it to push her away from God. But instead, that she would draw strength and comfort from the Lord, and would seek to be ever closer to Him. That this trauma would strengthen her resolve to be about the Lord's work, and that through this, she would come to have absolute faith that He truly does cause all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.

In Jesus' name.

:)