God provides, right?

Lately we have had a rough time with things needing our attention. Appliances, cars, bills, household repairs, etc, etc. It seems like it is all piling up, and we don't have the extra cash to fix or attend to them all. My mama told me not to talk about financial hardships on the internet. But I bet there are a LOT of people having financial issues right now! And I bet those people are not judging me because we struggle like MANY, right? Lets face it, we are a one income family with five children.

Right now I can think of nine big household issues that keep me awake at night. Really it shouldn't, people can live without these things and do fine. I am reminded of this book I checked out from the library once. Talk about eye opening!

But boy would my life be easier if we had a working dryer and dishwasher.

I keep praying for God to provide for us and bless us with the means to replace or repair some of these nagging things. But I am not sure if He will. Honestly, I wonder if I really have enough faith that He will. I somehow feel like these are things I should be able to control or help myself. I also wonder if maybe He is trying to teach us something by going without. However, Matthew 6:25-27 says:

Do Not Worry

²⁵ “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? ²⁷ Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life^[a]?

But these things we think are needs are really not in the big picture of life.

I am not sure where I am going with this and need to stop rambling and get some things done before bed. Thoughts are welcome!

Sigh

Busy getting ready for an impromptu garage sale. I don't enjoy it, but we really need the extra cash to pay some nagging medical bills. Plus it will be a huge plus to have less clutter around! Hoping it's successful and sunny tomorrow and Saturday.

The Make a Wish project has become a HUGE stressor for me. I know it is not supposed to be. I think because it involves our property, some big prep work projects going on before the big day, and finding friends to help, it's been difficult. I am getting very discouraged trying to find volunteers to help for the day of May 11. It should be a lot of fun. I hope it is kind of like a big party with lots of friends, food and celebration of a wonderful kid.

Spring has yet to find it's way to our area. It was actually snowing the other day! I know I am super tired of rain, cold and muck.

Baseball has been fun for L. And J. has been putting in a lot of time helping coach when he is able. And soccer for E. was quite entertaining last night. He was more concerned about his (girl)friend A.J. than listening to the college students running the practice! Too funny.

Confirmed

We got a confirmed date for the playground! May 11 it is. If you are local and would like to help, volunteers are needed.

Not Much

Some little updates, but nothing much is going on here. I feel like there is a lot of stuff just hanging, waiting...hoping and praying.

• The Make A Wish project is slowly coming together. People are trying to make it happen May 11th. S. is ready!
• Our home visit for foster care is scheduled for May 2. There are just a few things we need to do to get ready. We recently ripped apart our old deck, and rebuilt a platform/steps to the ground. We need rails put up before then. And I need to find a one way CPR mask. Our house is most of the time cluttered and/or dirty thanks to five kids, so that is a never ending project.
• L. has his first Pony League baseball game today, actually a double header. He is catcher for his team, first time. Pray for safety!
• I am signing E. up for soccer. It starts next week. That should be interesting!

S.'s cranium

S. had a big day at the children's hospital last week. I was all set to go, and when I woke up at 4:30 am, it was pouring rain. I was exhausted. I was dreading the two hour drive and long appointments. My sweet husband stepped in and volunteered to go instead. I was a bit nervous about having him go, just because I have always been the one there. I didn't want to be left out of the discussions or plans for S! But it was all ok. S. did great with the anesthesia. He slept a long time after the MRI, but was not fussy when waking.

The craniofacial team (two surgeons) saw S. and were running on time! The plastic surgeon came in first, and answered some questions and concerns we had about S. He will wait until next year to do the big reconstructive surgery on S's eye sockets and nose. This will also include a bone graft. Ouch.

Next the neurosurgeon came in, who said S's brain looks great. His shunt is working well, and his chiari has not changed. We are supposed to continue looking for symptoms from the chiari malformation. He will be present at the big surgery since it will be involving brain tissue.

There was some concern about S's eye. One doesn't drain due to his deformity and there is always eye crust and tears running down his checks. (even when he hasn't been crying) They are referring him to ophthalmology to do some tests and see if there is anything they can do to help.

Epcot

Garden Show Characters

CHINA

Contest

I just entered the ECOMOM contest to win a healthy home makeover. If you enter and mention my blog, www.berriesnhoney.blogspot.com, then you will enter me to win a $1000 drawing. Please help me out, and enter yourself to win too! You can vote for me to win here.

spaceman

S. in radiology

Please pray for S. right now. He is under anesthesia getting his MRI. J. took him to his appointments instead of me, so I am enjoying being home getting caught up on things.

Magic Kingdom

When I arrived in Orlando on Monday afternoon, it was pouring rain. I was disappointed and hoped it would stop before we hit the parks. On Tuesday, we started the day somewhat early and it was overcast but not raining. It turned out to be a beautiful day! We went on all the rides we planned for, skipping the little kid stuff. I loved Space Mountain the most. We went to dinner at Portobello in Downtown Disney and returned to the park for the fireworks (I actually got teary eyed!) and another ride on Space Mountain (over an hour wait, the wait time was deceiving). I wished there was more hours in the day, but was glad to get into that lumpy hide a bed by the time we got to the condo!