Birthday Twins!

Well, our little twin grandson's, Andrew and Aiden, turned one year old this week. I think of them as our family's little miracles. Although all babies are miracles, they had a pretty hard beginning to their life and tested the strength of their mom and dad, Adam and Trish. Poppy and I worried and prayed for them a lot too and the Lord has answered our prayers because they are now healthy and strong and growing bigger every day. You can tell by their picture that was taken at their birthday party on Sunday afternoon. The whole family showed up to celebrate and they were so cute as they partook of the twin birthday cakes that their cousin Angela made for them. (She works at Food Lion bakery). Thank you Heavenly Father, for family and for Aiden and Andrew turning 1!

Joy, Joy, Joy!

I was reading an article by Anne Perry in the Meridian Magazine, early this morning. My writing today is a quote from that article.

" Life itself is one endless blessing that I have not really earned yet. I have one opportunity after another to do something good, make something, taste of what is beautiful, delicious, funny, wise, in all ways precious. I have simply to look out of the window to see the light on the water, countless flowers in the garden. I can listen to music, I can hear the wind in the grass, I can taste raspberries, crusty bread, I can smell clean linen, fresh rain, cut grass. Best of all, I can wake up tomorrow and start again, try harder, use this gift of time to do something good. I can be kinder, I can forgive and seek to be forgiven. I can manage pain or disappointment with more faith, and less self-centeredness.
Altogether I have another chance to make myself into what I really want to be, and that is to include helping others make themselves into what they want to be.
God holds a hand out to help us – not a foot out to trip us up. I think sometimes we forget that. There are no tricks in the fine print. Man is that he might have joy."

If I could only keep this in mind each and every day of my life. How much more happy and joyful would I be and how much more joyful would my family be. I have a decoration above my bathroom sink. It is really a Christmas decoration I bought at Christmastime. When I redecorated my bathroom I put it above the mirror because it does reflect what I want to be and what I want my home to be. "Joy, Joy, Joy". I need to look at it more often and remember this

quote by Anne Perry.

Oh My Stars!

I am still here in Arizona and just decided to eat my nightly treat (a Bryers low carb ice cream bar) out on the front porch, so I could enjoy the beauty of the Arizona night sky-actually, North Carolina has the most beautiful night sky. But I have been known to be prejudiced toward North Carolina. Anyway, when I gazed up into the sky and saw the beauty of all the stars, I felt an overwhelming need to thank my Heavenly Father for all the blessings he has blessed me with lately. I also prayed that He would let our little Emma be born before I have to leave next Wednesday-according to his will and healthy and stong of course. I am so anxious to see her! Seeing that big expanse of sky and all the beautiful stars is evidence that God is truly in the Heavens and even better, right down here with us, blessing us each day. After enjoying my ice cream and taking in the night sky, I went into the house and checked my email. I had gotten a picture of my son Adam holding his two beautiful miracle babies, Aiden and Andrew. Born at 26 weeks, struggling to live, ups and downs and worries and scares, both of them have come home now. First came Andrew and now Aiden and they weigh 6 plus and 7 plus pounds each, a whole 5 and 6 pounds more than at birth. From now on when I look into the sky and see God's creations in the Heavens, ONE of the miracles I will give praise and thanks for will be Aiden and Andrew. "Please come to see me before I leave, little EMMA. Grammy Carol is very thankful for you too"!

Aiden Finally Comes Home

God is good! You hear that said so often, but when a miracle happens in your family, you come to know the real meaning of that phrase. You beleive it all your life, but when you have your prayers answered for the preserving of a life (or two lives in this case), your understanding of God's great love and ability to bless his children becomes reinforced. Our twin grandsons were born on November 10 at 26 weeks and weighing 1 pound plus each. The three months since then has been wrought with worry, cares and prayer. Andrew came home a few weeks ago and left his little brother in the hospital.

But this week the second twin Aiden came home too! Aiden had a little harder time than Andrew with his growing and developing and learning how to breathe on his own. He had several health issues that called for a priesthood blessing from his grandpa. Finally, the doctors said he could go home. His mom and dad spent 24 hours in the hospital, learning how to care for him at home, as he has to have a monitor for a time. Since coming home he is cozy and happy with his brother Andrew, and I, as their "grammy" rejoice in the goodness and great healing power of Heavenly Father. I have nothing but praise also for Adam and Trish, the parents of the "boys".

It has been a long hard journey, which is still not over, but through this extremely hard hospital phase they have been lovingly diligent in caring for their babies.

God is loving. God is kind. God is Good! Thank you God!

Spiders and Spiritual Help

Our church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has a magazine called The Ensign. I was reading the latest issue today and was struck by an article called Spriders and Spiritual Help. You can access it from the LDS.Org link to the right of this blog. Then go to Church Library to Church Magazines then to February Ensign. It was the story of a little grandson who saw a shadow of a toy on the wall and was scared because he thought it was a big spider. The writer likened the experience to our having a fear of something in life when in reality the Lord can take that fear way and give us peace. I know for myself, I tend to get carried away in worry over a problem that faces me or one of my family members. Instead of letting the Lord give me the peace and help I need, I continue to worry about it. I seem to never learn that if I just give my cares to the Lord as they come along, He will take care of it. Later, I see how I made the problem a "big spider" and should have displayed more faith by leaving it in the hands of the Lord. I am sure that when life is over and I look back on my life and the lives of my children, I will see that He, indeed, did take care of it and all things "worked together for my good".
This is a picture I took close to Myrtle Beach, SC, Merrills Inlet, in December of 2007.