Quick, Pictureless up-date!!!

I put all my pictures on a disc and now am having trouble getting them off! You may just have to see the finished project instead of the series of pics that I wanted to give you! We are in our house as of night before last! The last two nights of sleeping in our own bed has been so restful! I just laid in bed Saturday night and thanked God that I was there! Moving back in has been extremely difficult, to say the least. I thought the worst was over! Now the new house is full of boxes, which have to be unpacked and put in their new places or thrown away, or put in the rummage. Many of our things are damaged from the fire and I am having to sort and write down all those details! I told Manuel this morning that I don't think I will ever get done any time soon! We love our house, or we will when we get situated! We did have lunch together yesterday: smoked briskit (Manuel's smoker and his great cooking!), potatoe salad (Wal-Mart), baked beans (canned) and yummy bread (Wal-Mart). It was great to be around a dining table again together, well mostly together! Mandie came in from Arizona about 1:30, so she ate later. Please pray that things will fall in to place quickly for us. I have a wonderful boss who let me come and go as needed last week on company time, for which I am very thankful, but I am back to work this week and I only have so much time in the evenings to tackle the many, many boxes surrounding me!!! Help!!!! Just kidding! It will work out and we will finish some day! Hopefully I will post pictures soon.

Mandie's Bridal Shower in Florida

My sister, Bev, and her daughter, Robyn, hosted a beautiful surprise bridal shower for Mandie while we were in Florida. She was so happy to see some of her special friends and everything was very nice! Thank you, Bev and Robyn for doing this! The picture of Wyatt and Payton was a documentary of Wyatt suddenly deciding to chase Payton around the room and try to bite her hair bow! Go figure!!! Who knows what kids are thinking! He is usually pretty quiet!

Happy Birthday, Binky!

This picture is from last July, but it's what I have on hand, so it will serve the purpose! Happy Birthday, Bianca! This is a day late, but we enjoyed having you "home" so much on your birthday yesterday! That's a first in I don't know how many years! You are a wonderful daughter, a great sister, an organized and loving wife and a precious mommy to our little grandson! You have been a blessing in our lives for 26 years, from the moment that we saw you first and Daddy said, "That's my little Bianquita, isn't it!" He especially remembers the colic filled nights that followed, but through it all, you have been our special blessing, occupying the sometimes great and sometimes unpleasant place as the "oldest"! I always know you will tell me the truth when I need your advise and we love you so much! Thank you for everything you have done for us and for shouldering the load many times, when your little shoulders weren't very big, but you saw something that needed doing! We're proud of you!

Love and prayers,

Mom

Well, as things go. . . . . . I did remember to take my memory card to WalMart, but of course, their instant kiosk was out of ribbon (whatever that is for) and so I am still waiting to get pictures to download on here. I have lots! But while we are waiting for that, I decided to share a few things with you that I thought of last night.

It was late, probably 11:30 p.m. Dafne had just gotten back from a deputation service and was seeing Scott, Binky and Wyatt for the first time in 7 months! It had been a busy day~~~~we were all tired and winding down for the night, to be ready for work and school today. Yesterday was Binky's birthday (more on that later) and we had celebrated that, also, gone to our new house and peeked around inside (not done yet~~more on that later!) and were tired. After devotions Manuel and I headed to bed and as I lay there, not feeling sleepy particularly, I just listened to the sounds of the apartment, the soft breathing of my husband as he was falling asleep, the murmer of our girls' voices and occassional laughter as they continued to "catch up", silence from Noel (he plays hard and sleeps hard! Once he's out, he's out!), and by this time, silence from our adorable grandson and Scott! I thought, as I lay there, how very blessed I am! My family was all under one roof for the first time in seven months, and even though it isn't our own roof, it is a roof! I realized that even though I don't even know at this point what of our material possessions have survived, it is not important in the light of what we do have, which is God and our family! My love for God and my family swelled in my heart at that moment and I fell asleep with that thought! I am so blessed!

Some have told me that they are unable to comment on my blog due to not having a yahoo account and I didn't have an option for anonymous comments. I didn't realize that, and have gone in and fixed it, I hope, so comment all you like! I love hearing that people are reading my blog! Makes me feel connected! I have a bunch of pics and stuff to say about our recent trip to Florida as well as our house situation, so keep watching!

Happy Birthday to my Daddy!

Today would have been my daddy's 78th birthday, and so I want to say, "Happy Birthday, Daddy! I miss you so very much! It's been almost 16 1/2 years since you left to live in Heaven, and I still miss you! There are times that I am almost overwhelmed with life and think, 'Oh, if I could just talk to Daddy and Mother about this, or Daddy would know what to do about this, or I just need one of Daddy's big, big hugs!' Well, you're in Heaven, happy and safe with Mother and a lot of other family, and most of all with Jesus. I'm glad! Things are getting crazy here, but you won't have to deal with that. I know that your prayers and Mother's prayers have seen us through some hard times! I love you, Daddy! I wish you could see your two grandchildren that you never met, see our oldest two whom you loved and meet Scott and Bruce~~~~and then there's little Wyatt! You would have loved him so much! I think he has your beautiful eyes! And Noel, he is so much like you, I think! You would have enjoyed working with him and doing things together. Dafne is one of our pride and joys! You would have been proud of all of your grandchildren and now your great grandchildren. I expect to meet you some day! I love you, Daddy! I wish you could read this! I'll never forget the last hug you gave me. Sometimes I pull it out and try it on again, in my memories, because I need to feel you close! Have a wonderful birthday in Heaven! Tell Mother and all the rest that I love them, too!"

Update on our House!

Our floor for our new house is finally poured! We are so anxious to get through all of this! God is helping us every step of the way and we are so thankful! As you can see in one picture, all we have left is our porch! It was kind of funny to see just a porch and no house, after the old one got moved out! Hopefully that spot will be occupied again on Friday with our new house. We are so excited about that! We are also excited to be going to Florida to help our kids drive back to Oklahoma! We were in a crunch to get the floor poured because the buyer of our "burned house" didn't get it moved until last Friday and our new house was scheduled for delivery today. By pushing that back, finding some great help and praying a lot, the job is done! One evening it was a real family affair: Manuel was laying brick, Dafne, Mandie and I were hauling rebar and assembling grids for the concrete, Noel was tying them together, hauling bricks and whatever. By the time we were done, Becky and Jerry were out there, Jerry with his big outside lights was cutting rebar and everyone was tying the rebar together, handing Manuel bricks, hauling more, and on and on! We made it, though! Thank you to all who helped! Hopefully the insurance money helped to bless others, too!