Wednesday, February 27, 2008








It Snowed!!!!!


Of course they didn't cancel school. My kids went late so they could play in the snow. I can't wait to see their reactions when we live where there is more than a 1/4 inch of snow!!!! Mya loved the snow and didn't want to come in.




Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Lost: Septic System Reward if Found. Please call with information!

So here is the latest in the Stockwell drama...

The first appraiser used 9 month old comps and delivered an inaccurate appraisal delaying the process on our house selling one more week.
We had a rush appraisal done on Thursday last week.

Yesterday was an inspection ordered by my husband's employer for the buyout figure. We think that went well.

Last night a friend of my neighbor's called me and said her son was in the process of buying a house and would really like to see our house. So I showed it to them last night and they were interested. I had to smile as I could see God's encouragment and care in that detail... he knows my anxiety over not being able to keep things in top showing condition all the time. And it helped to show us that there is a market for our house. So no matter the outcome I was really blessed and encouraged by the events of last night.

Even more so today I appreciate God's sense of timing. This morning a septic service came out to locate and pump our septic. They were unable to find it. This is my husbands worse fear...that we would for some weird reason not have a septic. When we bought the house our closing was delayed because the lender required a septic letter to show there was a septic. We have never had any problems so we kind of put it out of our mind. So now the expense is going up and may even include a whole new septic. Please pray that this is not the case...pray that we will just be lead to the right place and it will all work out.

My poor husband needs to be encouraged. I know it will work out according to God's plan. It will be ok.

Friday, February 22, 2008

Kindred Spirits...

I have this very precious friend. We have actually spent very little physical time together but God has knit our hearts together. She is the reflection of so many things I want to be. What I have dreamed of she has already done. Her life is so simple and full of joy. Her blog identifies her and her family as a "homesteading" family... this is so cool to me. I would love to know how to can foods, presuure cook and can, make my cheese, have a wood burning stove, etc. She even grinds her own flour and makes bread. She homeschools.

And on top of all this she is the mother of five beautiful children. My friend says she was jealous of me when she first met me. She had three children at the time and I had four. Now I am jealous of her... her last two children joined their family this past summer. This incredible mama went all the way to Liberia for over two weeks by herself to get these children. I was so proud of her. Of course had I not had a nursing baby I would have been right there beside her on that plane... ( don't tell my husband....I would have probably brought home an african baby for me too!!!!) Her love and devotion to her children inspires me and convicts me. I just love being around her and learning from her.

This friend is one of the reasons that I have sadness about moving... I want more time with her. I have many regrets lately in the relationship area. For whatever reason I have wasted too much time not building relationships. I can't cram everything into the next six weeks. Thankfully there is this wonderful things called email, blogging, and the phone. Which allows so friendships to continue to grow.

My friend has been very heavy on my heart lately. I have been praying for her often... mainly about church. They were going to come with us to our new church (which I absolutely love!!!) this Sunday. Everytime they plan to come something happens. I think the enemy doesn't want them there... It would be such a great place for them to grow, connect, and thrive spiritually. So on Wednesday she was very heavily on my heart... I didn't know why until around 2:30 Thursday morning. I checked my email and there was an email from her husband.

My friend had just gone through a potentially life threatening emergency. God in his great sovereignty had her at the doctors office when an unknown ectopic pregnacy ruptured. She was in a desperate state- her blood pressure dropped extremely low. She was loosing a lot of blood. They took her by ambulance to the hospital where they did emergency surgery to stop the bleeding. She required 6 units of blood. If this had happened at home my friend would have died.

Of course the questions of why go through your head. But for this moment I am glad to know that God is truly greater than the enemy. Nothing brought against us will stand... God knew it was not time for this friend to go be with him. He knew how desperately her children needed their mama. He knew how husband needed her. He knew that I needed her. And so he fought for her and he saved her.

I am going to go down this morning and donate blood so it will help offset her expense of the blood transfusions and then I am going to go the hospital and spend some time with her. Will you pray for my friend this morning? Pray for a quick recovery. Pray for encouragement. Pray for comfort. Pray that God will take care of all the details. Thank you!!!!

Wednesday, February 13, 2008



Sorry if you are squeamish....thought I would give a visual picture of Jon's newest accessory. This is our new best friend!!!! In about 4 weeks the long tube will be replaced with a small button. That is when it will be less of a problem and more of a blessing.

This week has been very crazy. Jon woke up Monday morning at 5 and proceeded to throw up 8 times in 3 hours. I took him to oncology clinic where they gave him two courses of IV zofran through his port and two bags of fluid. He is feeling much better. I think he may have gotten overheated in his sleep and it set off a chain reaction. I have been putting him to sleep with a heating blanket because he has been waking up hypothermic very often. But the blanket may have been a little too hot. Whatever the cause though he is doing great now. We go today to see the ENT about his nose which continues to give us a horrible time. Then we go to the endocrinologist for our last visit before we move.

Its hard to believe that we are actually doing "last" appointments with people who have been weekly/monthly parts of our lives for the past 6 years. I can't believe moving is becoming a reality. I guess that is why we are all in denial and can not muster up the energy to finish the cleaning, packing, and painting that needs to be done. Of course we will be in panic mode when the call finally comes and we have to rush to finish! Friday will be the 21 days from the appraisal so we should here all the details by Friday! We really need to hear something.

THe waiting is getting so hard. It is hard for the kids too. Please pray for Brittney. She cried for an hour last night about moving. She is having a hard time with leaving and staying. We are kind of stuck in limbo waiting and not knowing what is going to happen so it limits what you can do. Things will be much better once we have a plan.

Mya is being crabby so I better run.

Thursday, February 07, 2008


She lights up my day!!!
I just have to share how God reminded me today that he will draw our children to him and will be faithful to accomplish his will inspite of our shortcomings. Brittney wrote the following essay today for a TAG project/writing contest. Maybe it will inspire us to gain a little character as well!
Character Essay
By Brittney


“Character is doing the right thing even when it costs more then you want to pay.” This quote by Michael Josephson means a lot to me. This really means to do the right thing when other people are being bad.
Jesus is my example of character. He always does every thing right when every one is doing bad. Jesus is always a good example. Like the time Jesus paid the price for our sins. This is how I look at it. Jesus risked his life by dying on the cross for us and he saved our lives because he did the right thing. Since Jesus did this I want to be more like him no matter what it costs me. For example at school if I had a friend and she did the wrong thing and I didn’t want to do that thing she might get mad and not want to be my friend any more. But did I do the right thing? Yes I did and did I lose something? Yes, I lost my friend.
If everyone would choose to do the right thing even if its hard, the world would be a better place to live. It takes courage to have character. This is one value I want in my life. Maybe my example will make someone else want to have character too!



Thank you for your prayers this morning. My sweet baby is sound asleep in her crib (this is a post surgery pic) and resting. We got to the surgery center at 6:45 and we left at 8:30 so she did very well. She was an unhappy little one for about 45 minutes and cried and cried. But after she threw up all over me at Target she finally felt better and went to sleep.
I think I could write a book about all of our experiences at Target. I am surprised people don't cringe when we walk in the door!
Anyway, I am going to go get things cleaned up while she is asleep. Thanks friends for covering us in your prayers this morning.

Wednesday, February 06, 2008



You would think after all the surgeries we have been through I wouldn't be so nervous...but this is my baby. She is having a very simple, very quick procedure being done to put ear tubes in tomorrow morning. All of my children have had tubes. So really this is no big deal.

Maybe it is because I just hoped she would be different. I tried hard but somethings are just genetically that way. I think she will feel so much better though. Poor thing... she has been sick for so long.

After tomorrow, the only major thing left to do is hear about our house and get things moving. Of course, that means I have to get back to cleaning. But for tonight there are matters of the heart that need to be answered. My heart is breaking over things I have no control over. I don't know what is right. I don't know what to do. I don't know how to proceed. I hate feeling torn between so many people that I love. I hate how horrible people can be to other people. I hate how complicated things can become. I hate that we can't just all live life simply the way God (not the world, not other christians, but God) tells us to. Seems things would just be better that way. Anyway, I am not sure where that all came from...just where I am tonight. Trying to focus on truth in the midst of sadness.

Friday, February 01, 2008

This morning things seem much better. Jon slept through the night. This morning he seems to have only slight pain. He was very happy to have his tube this morning... it is so lovely just to pour in a mixture of meds and watch in go right in. Reality has not yet hit Jon- he doesn't have to take his pills anymore!!! He keeps asking me if he has to take them by mouth.

Well, I have a birthday party to get ready for so I better get to work. Jason is finally having his party tonight. Only a month late! Then I am taking Brittney and two of her friends to the Hannah Montana Movie/Concert tonight. It should be a crazy day!