Laurie's Life

Just a little update! We are HOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Daddy is doing well, but has a little fever that we are praying leaves SOON! THANK THANK THANK YOU for the prayers that have carried us through a VERY STRESSFUL time!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don't know if it was from riding in elevators many times a day or just stress, but I felt like I was going up and down in an elevator even when I wasn't. Thank you for so many prayers and kind comments. Steve's parents are taking care of our girls at our house. They have been a tremendous blessing. And....for thre three people that may care. Kristen the cat has plucked herself bald. Please continue to pray for us as we help daddy to get well.

This is Kelly Again........... Laurie's dad had his bypass this morning and came through great. The big issue now is getting his broken ankle to heal and not getting a blood clot. Also - please pray for his recovery. He should be in the hospital until at least Monday. Please remember and pray for Laurie and her mother. I know they appreciate your prayers.

Hey! This is Kelly and Laurie asked me to update her blog. Her dad had a heart attack Saturday night and this is what she wanted to share: He had a heart attack saturday night around 10. He just thought it was heart burn. Mama insisted he go to hospital. The doctor on call was great! Told him he was having heart attack. They gave him a clot busted and morphine. They got him stabalized enough to air lift him to Little Rock. The helicopter could not take off due to stormy weather. He went by ambulence. My mom called me at 11:50. Steve was out of town. The Lord worked it out because I had good friends from Little Rock staying with me. He has a broken ankle on top of everything else. He broke his ankle on tuesday morning on a walk with my mom. He would not go to the dr. He did not realize it was broken until Sunday morning. He will probably have bypass surgery on wednesday morning. He needs several bypasses and has a 95% blockage. The doctors are waiting on...

Sarah Kate started preschool this past week. Her teacher said that she was real sweet. I pray it will continue. She LOVES school and being with other children. Here she is with her friend, Charlotte. These girls were in class together last year and loved each other. We are trying dance again this year. The girls are in the same class. SK has two of her good friends in the class. Emily was worried that she would not have a friend in the class. The Lord worked it out for her! One of her close friends from preschool and kindergarten is in her class. We did not know until she got there that she was taking Emily's same class. Yay! We may be buying the dance studio a new bar. Sarah Kate enjoyed swinging around on it like a monkey.

Today we went to Sarah Kate's preschool to meet her teacher. Sarah Kate and Harper did lots of hugging in the hall way. We have known Ms. Kim for a while now and Sarah Kate LOVES her!!!! I will be praying that Sarah Kate will act good for her! I told Sarah Kate NOT to smile in this picture. Here is what I got! SK is so excited about starting school. I hope she will have a good year and learn lots of new things.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also the Greek. Romans 1:16 In mid July, Emily asked Jesus into her heart in the car as we were driving home from a friend's house. She is only five years old. We KNOW that she does not understand everything about salvation, but we know that this a BIG step toward God for her. We have been talking to her about it and are planning to speak with one of our pastors very soon. Jesus, Heaven and Hell are on her mind a lot. She has LOTS and LOTS of questions. Fast forward to last week at school. She got in the car and said, "MOM, a boy at my table said, butt!" You would have thought this were the worst word in the world. Her eyes were big as saucers as she told me. "He cussed," I just said, "hummmm, well............" Emily said, " I told him that was a cuss word and that he would go to hell."...

Thank you for all the advice about the dress! I tried many of your tricks. It is STILL there. I really feel like we have found the reservoir for the ink of Sharpie pens. Whatever she got in looks just like Sharpie ink. Emily's friend Sarah Grace came over yesterday. When Sarah Grace comes over they like to play "storm." They pretend they are seeking shelter from a storm. Playing storm involves getting out every toy they own. This must have been a mild storm because the mess was not too bad yesterday.

Yesterday was a very fun day for me and Sarah Kate! We went with a few friends from church to ride a train. I loved it because I felt like I was living in Little House on the Prairie days!!! Right up my alley. Here is Alex going to catch the train. Sarah Kate and Neely Erin, Kamryn and Kinley. Kade, Alex and Kinley. I was in pure bliss.......holding Kamryn, riding a train and being with friends I love! It was impossible to get 6 children to look at a camera while a training was passing. Sarah Kate's boy, Wells. Leaving the train. I wish it had been an all day ride, but I was about to partake of chips and salsa, so I could not complain. Neely, Amanda and Lela Lela Amber and Ginger I want to ride the train again very soon. I know it would be sooo beautiful in the Fall as all the leaves are changing. Sarah Kate ruined her dress at the train station. She sat on a railroad tie (not on the track) and got tar or oil or something horrid on it. I have tried Goo Gone, ...

I have a Kindergartener. She is sooooooooo happy! I hope it will continue.

I hear people say all the time,"just follow you heart!" Or, " I am just trusting my heart." Can we really follow our hearts???? The Bible says in Jeremiah 17:9: "The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? The commentary explains that this is an important verse describing the natural condition of man. I heard one of my favorite pastors on the radio this week, Dr. Tony Evans. He was talking about emotions and how emotions are REAL, but they are ignorant. We FEEL a certain way because of how the mind thinks about a situation. When Jesus lives in us HE is renewing our minds. Our standard of measure in ANY situation should come from reading the Bible-God's holy word. I heard Beth Moore say years ago that "everything we need to know about life is found in the Bible either in concrete or concept." The Holy Spirit is in us to guide us and show us things we would not be able to figure out on our own. 1 John 4:20 ...

I returned my Euro shams to our local Pottery Barn. One of you told me I could do that to save on the shipping fee. THANK YOU!!!! I am so into tracking my order again!!!! I can't wait till the UPS man pulls up! Some of you suggested that I keep the Euro shames and get some standards also. I LOVE the idea. I know it would look so good, but I am too tight and too lazy to put all those pillows on the bed every morning. We already have pillow overload, because I have to have a pillow under my head and one on each side to sleep. Also, thank you for sharing your favorite songs! I loved reading them and listening to them. Some of the ones you named I LOVE also......Need to Breathe, Natalie Grant and Dave Barnes. You can't go wrong with them. We are constantly reminding Sarah Kate to walk flat on her feet. Her response...." I just trying to be tall." She IS tall, she is in the 90th percentile in height. I was thinking about something a bit interesting this past w...

Emily had her last playgroup yesterday! Soooo sad! These three started playgroup together when they were just infants. Emily, Alex and Jackson. We are also so sad that Jackson will be moving this weekend. More time with the goats!!!! The highlight of Silver Dollar City last weekend. Sarah Kate always walks on her toes. She had her three year check-up this week. I discussed the toe walking with her Dr. He suggested we give it 6 months and then see a pediatric orthopedist. He told me to remind her to walk on her heels. He said that her muscles were tight, but not super tight. He said it was good that she WAS ABLE TO put her feet flat. He told me that the only real fix was to do surgery. Have you had experience with a child walking on their toes?

I am just curious........what is your favorite song right now? I always learn so much from readers who leave me comments. You have introduced me to some great musicians and bands through my blog. THANK YOU! I have several songs that I LOVE right now. In fact, when I hear them in the car, they make me speed. I just get so excited. (Well, when I say speed, I just mean go the speed limit. I am usually driving slower than the speed limit). Sidewalk Prophets: You Love Me Anyway Selah: You Deliver Me Taylor Swift: Mean The Band Perry: If I Die Young Zac Brown Band: Colder Weather Tell me what great songs am I missing out on.

We spent the past few days in Branson. My parents met us there. We had a fabulous, but HOT time! Friday we spent the day at Silver Dollar City. I saw something there that I will NEVER forget! The park has a show right now featuring the Wallenda Family. I had never heard of them, but they are a family of tight rope walkers. My Dad knew all about them and he got me excited about them. The show was in SDC 's Opera House theater. We got in line fifty minutes early for this show. I thought we were nuts, but I stayed there in the blazing heat to get a good seat at the Wallenda's show. We DID get good seats, but I realized that we were so close to the stage that if one of them fell the bars that they held would go right trough us. I was a nervous wreck at the show. I just can't imagine walking on a rope so high in the air that if you fell, it would kill you. But not only that, they ride bikes and stack up on top of each other. I LOVED the show, but I was actually misera...

I finally broke down on Saturday and ordered two pillow shams to go with our duvet cover my parents got us for Christmas. I hardly ever order anything from a catalog or online. I think I got scarred in the fourth grade when my mom ordered me a ventriloquist dummy that I thought would be really big and nice. When we got the package it was about 10 inches tall and the body had to be stuffed with newspaper. What a disappointment! It was just a piece of junk. I like to see and feel and look at what I am buying. But, the particular duvet set is only sold through the catalog. One drawback on mail ordering is paying the shipping. I am way too tight for that. I really needed two King size sham covers. All they had was standard and Euro. The standard was $25 and the Euro was $35. I had no clue what Euro meant, but I knew it sounded big and it must be bigger since it was ten dollars more than the standard. I placed my order on-line and payed the $17 for shipping. YUCK! I LOVED track...

I always say that VBS is my favorite week of the Summer. I have been sad this week not to be there. Thought I would post some more pictures of the sweet babies. Plus some pictures of my own babies. I always work in the VBS nursery with Shelly and Sally. I love working with them. They are really FUN! The top picture is Shelly with Eden. Shelly is a SUPER talented singer. I always tell her that she needs to make a c.d. She is professional quality. Darling Nicole and her mom, Lindsey. Caroline Wonderful Hollis with Sally. Sally shared some great recipes with us last week, yet she says she hates to cook. Emily during playtime at VBS. She said her favorite part of the week was playing outside. Emily with her crew and crew leaders, Melissa and Delaney. I was so thankful for her great leaders. Sarah Kate playing outside.

When I was a little girl, our close family friends, the Jordan's introduced us to" Lemon Cooler" cookies. Does anyone remember them? It was in the mid seventies that I used to eat them. I LOVED them. I have wondered about them from time to time. Yesterday I happened to find something VERY similar at Walmart. They are wonderful! They are very crispy with little bits of very tart little lemony chips. I also remember eating cookies in the 70's that were shaped like flowers and were butter cookies. They had a hole in the center. I would put my pointer finger through that hole and eat them off my finger. Ha! I am going to have to stay away from these cookies when I shop. They could make me as round as the cookie. For the past few months Emily has been earning jewels in a glass when she makes good choices. A jewel comes out of the cup when she makes bad choices. She gets three jewels for sleeping through the night/staying in her room at night. She reached the top...

I have had the best week! The highlight of every Summer is getting to work in the baby room at VBS. I LOVE THAT ROOM!!!!!! We have it made this Summer....we have three workers and four babies. They are all girls. The best part......they are all under 6 months. I like newborn babies, so I am in bliss!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This first baby is Nicole. They have named her my baby for the week. She is a mama's girl but likes me too. She reminds me lot of Emily at that age. She is a petite little miss. She is almost 3 months old. This is Eden. She is so funny. She was putting on a show for the camera. I love spying on my girls while they are with their groups. Emily is loving VBS!!!!! I got to have a baby at my house this afternoon. This is Lena Kate. She is the best little thing! Her sister is Sarah Grace, Emily's "bef" friend. Sweet Hollis. She is just the dream baby!!!!!! We have had some good bonding this week. Nicole Eden Caroline is all smiles. This is ...