Pardon My Absence.....

We are going out of town for the weekend and we will not have internet access where we are headed. I hope you will forgive me for a few days without a post. We are really looking forward to a weekend away from everything. Just us, good friends, and nature. Ahhh.... That sound just right.

Have a great weekend!

Open Skies

"Praise Him under open skies, everything breathing praising God!"

--David Crowder Band

I took this pic on my phone today while I was coming home from running a bunch of errands. Sometimes I look up at the big, beautiful sky and can't help but feel a sense of peace. A sense that God is so big and I am so small. But yet, He still cares for me and knows my name. I love when God reveals Himself through nature.

I think He knew I needed some reassurance that "He's got the whole world in His hands." Today there was good news and bad news about about my mom's condition. The good news is that she will likely go home on Saturday! This is huge. She has wanted to be at home now for weeks and is just craving the comforts of her own bed, her comfortable chair, and the familiar sights and smells of her own home. It will be so nice for us to visit her there instead of the hospital room. We've learned that cramming three busy children into a small hospital room is not the best idea. Also, she is breathing better. Her oxygen saturation today stayed at 100% and she is down to using three liters of oxygen as opposed to six last week. Tomorrow they will try two liters and hopefully she can even wean herself down to 1.5 before she goes home. Also, she is having a minor surgery tomorrow to insert a permanent drain tube into her lungs so that she can empty the fluid off as needed. This will be good because now she won't have to struggle to breathe as much as the fluid builds up. She was being "tapped" (and by that we mean a needle inserted into her back) to drain off fluid every 7-10 days. And her infectious disease doctor has changed her to a more powerful antibiotic to try to completely get rid of any trace of infection from her incision site. All of this is good news and I completely celebrate it!

On the other hand, my mom's incision has begun to open up again. So today they took the remaining stitches out and are using the wound vacuum again. More than anything else, we need for her incision to heal completely. If not, she will be constantly open to infection and we don't want that! We are praying that the wound vacuum will work this time. Please join with me in that specific request. It is our top priority in restoring my mom's health. Her surgeon said he is not going to open her up again, so if the wound vacuum doesn't work, he is simply out of options. In the mean time, she will wear it indefinitely and continue to pray for healing.

This whole thing has been such a test of my faith. My friend shared with me tonight about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego (Daniel chapters 1-3). She mentioned how God could have spared them from the firey furnace if he had chosen to. But instead he chose to walk through the fire with them so that they would have an even greater testimony of what God did. We are walking through a "fire" right now, and I am so grateful that in the end (no matter the outcome) we will have a testimony of how God walked right next to us the whole way through.

No Oven, No Bake

Our oven is broken. We didn't realize just how often we use our oven until we can't use it at all. No muffins. No cookies. No dinner rolls. Each time I walk over to turn it on I reminded of this fact. Thankfully, we have wonderful neighbors who have been letting us use their ovens until ours is fixed (repair guy comes tomorrow!). I baked a cake at our next door neighbor's house yesterday and I took a casserole to my across-the-street neighbor's house tonight.

TANGENT: I have a great story about my across-the-street neighbor, Kristine. You see, we've been neighbors for ten years, but we've only lived our current neighborhood for four years. Huh? How is that possible? Well, shortly after Mike and I moved into our cute little 1950's house back in 2001, Kristine moved into the house next door. We were next door neighbors (and friends!) for the next six years until we both decided to build houses across the street from each other in our current neighborhood. We liked being neighbors so much that we've lived by each other in two different neighborhoods! Kristine says she stalked us, but really it was a mutual decision.

Continuing on....So tonight I was really craving something chocolate-y and sweet, but I had resigned myself to the fact that I couldn't have anything because I couldn't bake. But then! An epiphany! No Bake Cookies! Yes, that would work. I found my recipe and discovered that I had all the ingredients on hand. And before you knew it, I had these little guys dropped onto some wax paper ready to cool.

I've had three so far. Some nights just need to end in chocolate.

Oh and here's the recipe if you "need" to make these too:

No Bake Cookies

1 3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup margarine

4 Tbsp. cocoa powder

1/2 cup peanut butter

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1 tsp. vanilla

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, margarine, and cocoa. Bring to a boil, and cook for

1.5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter, oats and vanilla. Drop by teaspoonful onto wax paper. Let cool until hardened.

No! Mine!

Lucas enjoying his breakfast

Take a look at my precious 21 month old son's face. So sweet. So wonderful. I bet you think he behaves like a perfect angel all of the time, right? As much as I'd like to say yes, the answer is a resounding no. As my boy nears his second birthday, he is starting to display some defiant behavior that is once again reminding me that being a parent is tough. It is wonderful and rewarding beyond measure, but it is a challenge sometimes!

You might recall a few months ago, I mentioned that Lucas was taking his time in developing his vocabulary. He only spoke a handful of words and relied mostly on grunting and pointing. But over these last few months, I am happy to say his vocabulary has exploded! He is saying so many new words, and I love hearing his little voice and personality shine through. But two words have made it into that new vocabulary, and they are being said both often and with much enthusiasm. What are those words, you ask? They are none other than NO! and MINE!

Lucas loves to use both of those words all throughout the day. He has also discovered that if he purses his lips and makes a mean scowl, it makes saying them more fun. Last night he was even calling out Nooooo! and Mine! in his sleep. If anyone is not sure whether we, as humans, are born with a selfish sin nature, you need not look further than a nearly two year old to see that those characteristics come ingrained into our souls.

Thankfully, though, it is my job as a parent to try to teach my son (and my daughters) how to deal with those selfish, human emotions. And most importantly help him learn that these emotions only point out our great need for a Savior. We simply can't make it without Him. I hope he learns to let God invade his heart, and that his life will be known for his good fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control.

Because you know what is worse than a two year old saying No and Mine? A grown up who still says NO! and MINE!

So as wonderful as Lucas is (and I do think he is simply the most amazing little boy in the world, but I am biased), I know that he is not perfect. He needs discipline. He needs teaching. He needs for Mike and me to set a good example for him. He needs parents who pray for him and love him unconditionally. And I think with those things, the kid just might turn out okay. :)

Might Be My Favorite Ever

Galloway Family

Easter 2011

This just might be my favorite family photo ever. It has been a long time since we've managed to get all five of us in a photo. Love my little crew!

Easter Sunday

Oh death! Where is your sting?

Oh hell! Where is your victory?

Oh Church! Come stand in the light!

Our God is not dead. He's Alive! He's Alive!

Lyrics from the song "Christ is Risen" by Matt Maher

He is Risen!

Happy Easter!

Go here to listen to the full song. Believe me, it's good! :)

Coffee and Fried Chicken

Today started and ended with a meal shared with special people. This morning I got to go have breakfast with my sweet friend/ former college roomie Jennifer. She and her husband and three cute little boys live in Milwaukee, and it has been six years since we last saw each other! I was so excited to get to spend time with her this morning. We headed over to Panera Bread and chatted for nearly three hours while sipping coffee (actually I had a chai tea latte to be specific). We picked up right where we left off six years ago, and it reminded me just how much I miss all my friends that live out of state. The four of us girls who shared an apartment together are all living all over the country now, and I am thinking it is time to start planning a reunion! (LeAnn? Heather? You all in?)

Later in the day, we met up with my cousin Steve and his wife Sadie and their little boy Edward. Eddie was born just four months before Lucas, and it was fun to go through that pregnancy with Sadie. My cousin chose well when he married! Sadie has such a kind heart and is a wonderful mom to her little guy. Steve is a pilot in the Air Force and they are stationed at Vance Air Force Base just a little over an hour away. We had been wanting to meet in the middle at Eischen's, the oldest bar in the state of Oklahoma, and tonight we finally got to do it!

Eischen's specializes in one thing: fried chicken. You order it by the whole bird, and it is served with a loaf of white bread, pickles, onions and a stack of wax paper. I don't eat fried chicken that often, so it is a once or twice a year treat for us.

Eddie and Lucas post-meal. Lucas was in meltdown mode.

He calmed right down when his sisters got into the photo.

By the way, isn't Eddie adorable?

I told the girls to strike their best model pose.

The sky on the drive home was pretty spectacular. Skies like this reminds me that God is one amazing artist. :)

We got home in time to put Lucas out of his misery (poor little guy was so tired). While Mike was tucking him in, I ran up to the hospital to tuck my mom in. I was so glad to see her and chat with her for awhile. Then I ran back home in time to dye Easter eggs with the girls. My dad joined us for the egg dyeing and ended up staying to watch game three of the NBA playoffs between the OKC Thunder and the Denver Nuggets. Thunder won! Wa-hoo! I like watching games with my dad; he is pretty animated!

Looking forward to Easter Sunday tomorrow!