hold on just a little bit longer.

life lately...

gardening and smiles again.

needing to remind myself of this...

 (and loving this song right now)
 stronger by Mandesa (click on the link to hear the song)
lyrics....

Hey, heard you were up all night
Thinking about how your world ain't right
And you wonder if things will ever get better
And you're asking why is it always raining on you
When all you want is just a little good news
Instead of standing there stuck out in the weather

Oh, don't hang your head
It's gonna end
God's right there
Even if it's hard to see Him
I promise you that He still cares

When the waves are taking you under
Hold on just a little bit longer
He knows that this is gonna make you stronger, stronger
The pain ain't gonna last forever
And things can only get better
Believe me
This is gonna make you stronger
Gonna make you stronger, stronger, stronger
Believe me, this is gonna make you ...

Try and do the best you can
Hold on and let Him hold your hand
And go on and fall into the arms of Jesus
Oh, lift your head it's gonna end
God's right there
Even when you just can't feel Him
I promise you that He still cares

'Cause if He started this work in your life
He will be faithful to complete it
If only you believe it
He knows how much it hurts
And I'm sure that He's gonna help you get through this

When the waves are taking you under
Hold on just a little bit longer
He knows that this is gonna make you stronger, stronger
The pain ain't gonna last forever
In time it's gonna get better
Believe me
This is gonna make you stronger

life lately hasn't been blissful, that's for sure, but webbed into our daily moments of hard there are many joyful ones. lucas is saying so many words! "bye daddy!" "tractor" "truck" "mommmmaaa" "brurdur and clubb" for caleb. "apple" "mine" hand him a toy phone and he'll carry on a conversation with elmo. he loves trucks and tractors and trains. he even gets all amped up and says "chug chug chooo choo!"

 

caleb is singing again. i love how we'll be driving and a song on klove comes on and he belts out the words like he's known them all along. "where you go i'll go...i will follow you" and it seems he knows all my favorites, so we both belt them out, smile at each other in the rear view mirror and then bust out laughing. i love that he's laughing and smiling again.

 

i'm holding tight to these good moments.

 

the harder ones i try and push aside, like the fact that we're on day 10 of recovery for caleb and he's already having an allergy flare up and will most likely go on another breathing treatment. he's still waking up in pain in the night but we've found chewable children's advil and he doesn't spit or throw that in our face :) he loves his 'purple vitamin" and now he's down to just once or twice a day on children's advil. no more high dose pain medicine that throws his moods into a tailspin (that was so hard/sad)

 

lucas is sick/allergies again. it's hard to tell, but either way, he doesn't sleep so well when he doesn't feel good. i'm counting my blessings that at least we made it 10 days out of surgery before they are under the weather again. i'm even more grateful that they stayed healthy before the surgery and during most of the recovery, especially that they slept well and caleb was able to heal.

 

besides being tired, and looking at dave every now and then wondering if the two little boys going at it with sticks are really our children? and not wolves or hooligans who like to hit  each other every 5 minutes or so and then hug and kiss like they have never fought ever>>>besides depending a lot on prayer, long runs, hot showers, and chocolate chip cookies...through the days post surgery...we're doing just fine.

 

Hope whispers good things...like a sister's college graduation in two weeks, and a camping trip at the beach in two months with our oregon family...and other things that always prevail with good. much good, over the hard. we're being stretched and pulled. but no matter how hard that may be at times, i can look back and know...the hardest walks i've been on have always turned into the greatest blessings.