Monday, August 23, 2010

My husband says I thrive on Chaos. IF this was chaos, I am UBER THRIVING!!!

What  a whirlwind of  a week and weekend! Doctor visits and eye doctor appointments, catch up on all that I missed last week with wedding busyness, start wedding work for Esther's November 6 wedding, carve out big  nich for BIG DATE with my husband, and plan for big BBQ get-together on Sunday with my dear bloggy, but now   -face-to-face friend,  Laurel  and her family who are on a multi-thousand mile road trip with a 15 passenger van towing a pop-up camper. 
So, four children still have perfect vision, four still need correction, two of those are happily outiftted with contact lenses, Charlie got really nice looking new frames to go with his new stronger prescription and we'll see what my exam shows this Friday! Naomi's standard bloodwork all came back looking great, but the Hep B stuff won't be back till today or tomorrow sometime. Those are the numbers over which we pray and continually commit her life to the Lord . She will have a liver  ultrasound the same day that Daniel sees the pedi-gastro doc  about his Mickey button surgery. THAT  too will be very telling. Hep B can hide out very well for a long time seeming to do no damage and then WHAM. We trust that  God is preserving Naomi's liver until she is healed completely and the virus is cleared from her body.
For Christmas  I bought Charlie  a pair of tickets to Sean Hannity's FREEDOM CONCERT at the  Tulsa  BOK  Center. We've been looking forward to this event  all year. The concert is primarily a fund raiser for THE FREEDOM ALLIANCE  Scholarship Fund, a program started by Lt Col. Oliver North to provide college funds for children who have  lost a parent in the war or whose parent is 100 % disabled. GREAT CAUSE!!!! Musical artists and celebrities donate much of their time and  ticket money to this Fund as well.We were treated to,  of course the host  Sean Hannity,  of TV and radio talk  fame,  the Charlie Daniels Band, Michael W. Smith, Lt Col. North, former OK  Congressman J.C.  Watts, former OK (and Dallas Cowboys)   football  star Barry Switzer, and  rock band  Lynyrd Skynyrd. WHAT a cross section of folks!
I have to say those old guys in both Charlie Daniel's  Band and L. Skynyrd  were amazing!!!!!!!!!!!! Like their music or not ( and I don't like most of Skynyrd -type music) some of these guys are easily in their  late 60's and  their 70's  and still going STRONG!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The drummer for C. Daniels band played a solo ,  a long  solo, that was I believe the most talented drum solo I have ever heard.  Charlie Daniels himself is no spring chicken but he really puts on an incredible show!!!  What a talented man!   Micheal W. Smith did a super set of his older songs, a new one scheduled to be released this fall which was a tribute to his wife, and of course "There She Stands" which he wrote at Pres. Bush's request  after 9-11. He also led the whole crowd in singing GOD BLESS AMERICA and that was simply WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  The tributes, recognition and appreciation for all of our troops, past, present, future and their  families of all was so moving!! Each of the artists had the service members stand to be recognized and thanked, and the crowd of many thousands was as enthusiastic the last time the cheered and applauded  as they were the first.  It was a very special night! We took Daniel with us and he had a blast! Loud music  and rhythm really "move "  him. He roared  his little talk, and smiled  and laughed, shared my Diet Dr. Pepper with a straw as a pippet,  and in general, impressed all those in the seats around him with how good he was.
One of my favorite Daniel moments was when Charlie was holding him  and Daniel picked up his head for the very first time! I don't know if he suddenly realized his head was 5# lighter, or if he'd been workin' on this accomplishment for a while in secret, but Charlie just broke out in tears of excitement!!!!! Daniel only did it twice, but it was  unmistakable that he DID IT!   The other special Daniel moment was when I was sitting outside the Center waiting for Charlie to bring the truck around for Daniel and me (my hip was about done for the night after a lot of walking to get to the concert, and all that dancing. I was not up to a three block walk to the truck) A cab driver had pulled up and was waiitng for a fare. He was an older Black man, he looked over at Daniel and me, got a strange look on his face and then came over to speak to us. He asked if Daniel had "water on the brain" and we talked about that a bit. He told me that he had a nephew years ago who was also born that way  but who didn't live very long. We talked about the adoption, and Liberia. He smiled so tenderly at Daniel and told him how wonderful l it was that he was home safe and sound now with a mommy and daddy to love him and care for him. He thanked me for adopting Daniel. That was really special. Several people asked us vague things about Daniel during the night.I'm sure we made quite an unusal site: Charlie carried Daniel in the front pack a good part of the time, I danced with him the rest. I know it probably looks like we are the grandparents who got "stuck "  babysitting for the night every  time  we take Daniel  out, so every little chance we get,  we talk about being blessed to have been able to adopt him! Nobody is STUCK  here except maybe  "stuck on blessing!!!!!"
Esther's wedding is coming together nicely. She has been planning and day dreaming of this event for a VERY long time. We are just now getting in on the  details.  She is our cowgirl so its fitting that she wants  an outdoor wedding with the open barn doors as her "arch" under which  to say her vows. It is SO Esther that she wants to ride in to the pasture on her beloved horse, Sugar. Charlie and Casey are designing a dismount platform for her now. She asked me  if I'd sing at her wedding  but told me to choose the song; she was not going to tell me what to do. I listened to a lot  of music last week and "thought" that I'd found my song...UNTIL...we were driving to OKC for Naomi's doctor appointment on Thursday. A song came on The House FM, my favorite Christian radio station and I was sure I'd never heard it before. It jumped out at me and I KNEW that I KNEW . This WAS the song for Esther and Casey!  Saturday at my beloved Mardel  bookstore after buying the last of our new school year's curriculum, I went CD soundrack searching. I knew the song had "Love" in the title, it had to, but that was all I had to go off of.  THERE IT WAS: "Love is Not  a Fight" by Warren Barfield.  I played it for Charlie as we drove home, and he agreed it was THE SONG.
So at home I decided to Youtube  it and lo and behold, this song is from FIRE PRROF  the movie which I have seen about 4 or 5 times. HOW  did   I,     who loves music like  I do,  
miss that  song????????????????
Naomi and Rachel said   later  they knew  when they heard it on the radio where it came from.
Anyhow that will be my musical offering to my daughter and her new husband.If you have not heard it  or have not caught all the words, please listen as you are reading. Its is powerful for the start of a marriage!!!!
And, if you are still reading, our Sunday was SO FUN!!!!  There were 32 of us in and out for the after noon between my kiddos, their spouses and kiddos, their friends, my mom, and Laurel and her bunch!! Wanna see 8# of hamburgers and 5# of hot dogs disappear  with tabouli, baked beans, saurkraut , brownies and ice cream,  along with gallons of various beverages?  You should have  seen how lovingly and  enthusiastically we did it!! And the clean -up?  Great team effort there too!! The kids thoroughly enjoyed the comforts of our wonderful pool as the temps for the day were well over 100 degrees and the house was not much cooler.
Last fall when Laurel and family came it was later in October and we celebrated our new freindship with a bonfire. We got some great photos that time.  While she and I were both so busy chatting and having fun, we both forgot to take any photos whatsoever yesterday. Lots of laughs, hugs and grat conversation between the 9 of them (one was a friend they were taking to YWAM  school in Texas) and the big bunch of us, but no photos. As Laurel's  tail lights diappeared to the east of our drive way that realization hit me. TOO late! Laurel have a great time today with Michelle and the rest of the Riggs bunch and later with Amy and the Block bunch!!!
I am hopefully taking my kiddos bowling this afternoon, taking Daniel and Jael to  the chiropractor and  then adding to my  last Saturday night's white chili, replacing  the chicken which got snitched out of the pot, leaving us with "too many beans Mommy".
Jael started her first day as a high school senior, Malachi, Esther and Hannah started back at OSU and I hold out starting our Lakeview Christian Academy until AFTER  Labor Day thank you!

3 comments:

Unknown said...

I don't know if I call that chaos - sure sounds like a lot of fun and praise worthy news!

Love you!
Jill

Bonky's Mom said...

Whew! You were busy! Sounds like the best way ever to be busy! And for the record, I'd have bawled like a baby seeing Daniel lift his head for the first time. WOW!

Love you!

Laurel said...

Linda,

We sure had a GREAT time visiting your family again. Thanks so much for including us in your very busy week, and making time for our friendship.

Be BLESSED,

Laurel :)