Thank you for your prayers!

Thank you so much for praying for Christian. We just got home from the hospital.  Christian did well and everyone there was wonderful to him.  He is super out of it still from the anesthesia.  He walked in the house laid down on the couch and went back to sleep. The surgeon who repaired his ear is also a ear, nose and throat specialist.  He did a great job on his ear and also did a complete exam on his ears, nose, and throat while he was asleep.  That was nice because it  is impossible for doctors to do much when he is awake.  He is concerned about one of his eardrums so he is going to put him under again in a couple of months and check that again.  It looks might he might have some scarring although we don't know from what. He isn't one to poke anything in his ears. His ear looks really good where they did the stitches today.  He doesn't seem interested in it either which is great.  The put in stitches that will dissolve so they won't have to take them back out.  I am real happy about that.  They also put him on antibiotics to speed up the healing and Tylenol with codeine for any pain he might have.  I don't think he is much pain but it is nice if he needs it.  I am so tired from 9 hours at the hospital today after 3 hours there last night.  I really hope this makes sense. 
I just wanted to let everyone know how much we appreciated your prayers today.  It went a lot better than I thought I would and I know that was definitely a God thing! 

Please Pray for Christian

This is going to be very brief as I am exhausted.  Christian fell tonight in the bathroom and cut his ear pretty bad.  We spent three hours in the ER.  It has stopped bleeding now but because it is cut straight through the cartlidge they want to put in stitches in the morning.  Because of his autism they are going to have to put him under to put in the stitches.  We have to be back at the hospital at 6:30 am and he is all wound up still from the experience.  If you read this yet tonight or tomorrow morning could you please pray for us.  I know he will be fine but it is still going to be very hard on him. Thank you!

A Wedding!

We had a very special wedding in our family last week!   It was a wedding that symbolized forgiveness and lasting love.  It symbolizes the kind of love that looks beyond past hurts.  It is the kind of love that binds two people together even when things get really tough.
The special couple  that got married last week have known each other since they were children which in this case is a very long time.  The bride is 79 years old and the groom is 83.  This wedding represents a second chance for them as they were married once before.  In 1949 this twosome ran off to elope. She was Lutheran and he was Catholic and they could not be married in church.  So they drove to another state to be wed and he sang to her along the way.
This young couple raised up a family of seven children.  They worked hard and sacrificed to give their family the best.  However as happens to so many couples along the way they  made mistakes and there was a lot of hurt.  Long after their children had grown and they had many grandchildren this couple was left with each other.  Sometimes in the midst of past hurts people feel as though there can be no healing and no future.  In 1993, the once young and hopeful bride felt she had come to that place and they were divorced.
God works in mysterious ways however and sometimes he works through great pain to bring us to a place where we realize that our love for someone is stronger than our hurt and our anger.  About three and a half years ago our groom was in serious condition.  He had a clogged artery which was causing him to have strokes.  His doctor had tried several operations but was unable to complete them because the patient wasn't strong enough.  Our groom is the type of man who has been young and strong and struggles greatly with being old and weak.  His once young bride looked upon him with love and knew he needed someone to help him and care for him.  God graciously granted this couple a second chance when he finally allowed the surgery to succeed.  He has been given another opportunity to love a women who through her forgiveness has come back to unselfishly devote herself to his care.
I learned of this wedding to be only shortly before it happened and I was unable to attend because I must be here with my boys and they live faraway.  I am no less blessed by it however as these are two people I love very much.  I am grateful for this renewal of their devotion to one another.  I know it is something they almost didn't have.  I am thrilled they have each other to love until they pass from this earth.  I thank God for their story and for his wonderful gift to me- my grandparents!

 These are the pictures from last week as they were rewed in their home.

All Glory, Laud, and Honor- Our First Hymn Study

We have started hymn studies in our homeschool.  My boys both have a big appreciation for music.  Last year Tyler's Bible curriculum had a hymn component included but this year we were really missing that.  I had read this post over at Jimmie's Collage and thought that something similar would work really well for us.
Since we had just celebrated Easter I thought we would start with the book Passion Hymns for a Kid's Heart.  All the books in the Hymns for Kid's books are great and include the CDs with them too.
 We have been using these great notebooking pages from Jimmie of Jimmie's Collage to explore the vocabulary and verses that go along with our hymn.  I made our own notebooking pages also to explore the biography of the hymn author and for Tyler to write the lyrics out for copywork.  We are using the books Then Sings My Soul and Then Sings My Soul Book 2 for the stories of the hymn writers.  These are fascinating books and the stories of the hymn writers are truly inspiring.  We are storing all of our hymn sheets in a three ring binder.

The first hymn in the book is All Glory, Laud, and Honor.  It is a beautiful hymn about Palm Sunday. It was written by Theodulph, bishop of Orleans.  He wrote this text around 820 while he was imprisoned at Angers, France, for conspiring against King Louis the Pious. Based on Matthew 21:1-11 (and similar passages in Mark 11, Luke 19, and John 12), the text was originally written for a Palm Sunday procession.  We love this hymn and look forward to studying another hymn next week.

Mini Lime Cheesecakes

I originally made these for St. Patrick's Day because they are so cute and green.  We called them little Leprechaun Pies. :)  They are wonderful anytime however and would be great for a spring or summer treat.  They are super easy to make!

Mini Lime Cheesecakes

Ingrediants:

2 packages of 6 Mini Graham Crackers Ready Crusts

2 beaten egg whites

1- eight ounce package of cream cheese softened

14 ounce can of sweetened condensed milk

green food coloring

1- six ounce can Minute Maid frozen limeade concentrate

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Brush the crusts with the beaten egg white and place on a cookie sheet.  Bake crusts for 5 minutes.

3. Beat the cream cheese until soft in a medium bowl.

4. Add the condensed milk and beat until light and fluffy.

5. Add the limeade and beat until smooth. Stir in the food color until you have a nice shade of green.

6. Evenly fill the pie shells.

7. Place the pies on the cookie sheet into the freezer for about 1 hour.  Serve chilled. 

These are one of my husbands faves.  Hope you enjoy them!