Elsey's Final Appearances for 2008

Elsey made her final appearances for 2008. She left us on Christmas Eve to go spend the year in the North Pole. Kate misses her. She misses her so much, I am thinking Elsey MIGHT stop in for a "check in" in a couple of months... Who knows. Here is Elsey on Will's sculpture.


Here she is hanging from his University of Alabama medallion from graduation.
Thanks, Tina, Gino, Corbin, and Caroline for sending Elsey to us! We love her and we miss her!

GET DOWN FROM THAT LIGHT, YOU'LL BURN UP!

The scurrying around our house upon awakening is quite entertaining! When Kate found Elsey hanging from the light in the foyer I heard, "Elsey, get down from that light, you'll burn up! MOM!!! Don't turn the light on! We can't let anyone turn the light on, Elsey might burn." (Maybe I should have thought of that before I let Elsey get on the light!)

Elsey has had so much fun playing at our house the past couple of weeks. I have not uploaded all of the pics, but when I do, I'll share some of her temporary hiding/relocation spots.

This Lipscomb family has had its share of illness this past week (Please, God, continue to protect Cali as You heal the rest of us.). Kate's stomach bug resolved quickly. She never really felt the effects of it. She moved in to Cali's bedroom. We now have an official play room. Will and I contracted Kate's stomach bug on Friday evening. Will suffered for a shorter time than I did. I was not finished eliminating the "bug" from my body until about 530am on Satuday. (Kate promised me she did not eat a bug and she did not give me or her dad any bugs to eat, but she did apologize for making us sick). We missed my work Christmas party Friday night. We missed my family Christmas party on Saturday. Will's grand dad is in the hospital with pneumonia. Will's mom is in the hospital because she choked on a gummy bear and had to call 9-1-1. Will's family Christmas is cancelled. And the week has just begun. . .

Some new pics of the girls in front of the tree (no one wants to pose for a picture, they both just want to look at them).

I will give thanks to the Lord because of his righteousness ~Psalm 6:17

This week has been full of exciting things! Tuesday was my appointment at the surgeon's office.

My friend Marion gave me this scripture before the appointment, "The king asked, 'Why does your face look so sad even though you are not sick?'". (Nehemiah 2:2).

It did not help as much as I wished it would have. I was nervous when he said yea, there's definitely a swollen axillary node there. . . yes, I feel the lump. . . the part that really caught me off guard was when he said, "nah, it's nothing to worry about." Huh? What!? Seriously? PRAISE GOD! Psalm 16:9 "Therefore, my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure!"

Apparently, among my many other unique features (some people insert the word anomaly here), I have bony deformities of my ribs that cause my breast tissue to feel abnormally hard on the edges. SWEET! I'm glad God made me special. . . in more way than one.

Sorry it took me so long to get back. We have had an eventful past three days. I'll try to sum it up beginning with Tuesday: to the surgeon, received good news, picked up the girls from MDO, don't really know until last night when Kate puked in her sleep and it did not wake her up. Will just heard her coughing (she has not been sick), went in and she had thrown up. So, we cleaned her up, pulled off the sheets and I put her in our bed. About an hour later our sheets needed to be changed. Cleaned her up again. Today she feels better. I feel better.

I want to leave you with a story. A story found in Luke 17: 11-19. Ten men suffering from leprosy. Ten men healed by Jesus. One man praised God in a loud voice. Nine men did not acknowledge their healer. Why? Who knows. I just know that I NEVER want to be those nine men. EVER. Maybe I was not in need of a healing today, but I believe that God sent me what we needed: a reason for my abnormality. I do not expect God's blessings, but I am extremely grateful. God knows my heart. He knows it better than I do. My responsibility is to not only praise Him, but to tell others of His power, His mercy, and His grace. God is awesome. He does wonderful things. Sometimes, He does things and we do not even acknowledge what could have been.
Thank you, Lord, for allowing everything to check out abnormally normal at the doctor's office. Thank you for loving me. Thank you for protecting me.

Oreo Truffles

We should have been reading books, doing bed time prayers, and cuddling, but no, we were making OREO Truffles... or as Bro. Bo calls them "balls of sin" [THANKS, Marion!]. YUM! Here's the recipe (did I mention I bought a CHEAP food processor JUST to chop the oreos to a fine grit):

• 1 package of Oreo cookies (I do not like Chocolate mint anything, but I bet the mint oreos would do well for those of you that do... just not me).


• 1 8 ounce package of soft cream cheese


• chocolate for dipping

Puree the Oreo cookies until they look like you should be planting a tree instead of eating them. Then, use a mixer to mix the cream cheese and the oreo dirt until it turns to mud. Roll into small balls, put in the fridge for about 15 minutes, then dip in the chocolate (whatever your favorite is). Cool and enjoy!

I have a doctor appointment bright and early at 9:15 in the morning; hopefully, all is well and I will discover what everyone else already knows... I am an overreactive, compulsive, obsessed creature when it comes to the fear of dying and leaving my children motherless. I pray that I find God's purpose in this situation and that I handle it how He would have me to handle it. Thanks for the prayers!

TEN?! more days!?

Christmas happenings... WHAT!? Christmas?! Already? I think I have been saying this for weeks. The tree is up, the ornaments have been placed...



The tree has almost taken a tumble once or twice (the kids think the ornaments are to play with and then put back. They are not real good with the putting the ornaments back GENTLY, yet.) I probably will not put up a picture of the Christmas tree. We took the duct tape off this year, so it leans quite a bit (maybe that is why it has almost tumbled a couple of times). But, I will post a picture of ELSEY in our tree . . .

ELSEY is our Elf on the shelf. One of my best friends, Tina, sent ELSEY in the mail to us (Thanks, T ;). Kate is really enjoying Christmas this year. I stayed in Sunday School with the girls this morning and Miss Lisa and Mr. Brian brought in their toy manger scene (which is just like ours at home... except baby Jesus has been misplaced...). Kate did such a good job answering the questions about the "Christmas story". Thank you, Lord, for a child who listens to your word. I pray that my children will always desire you and seek you with all of their heart, soul, mind, and strength. I pray that their desire for you burns so strong that Satan himself cannot snuff it out.

I pray that my children have a heart to know God, to have faith in the birth, death, resurrection , and second coming (which is coming!) of Jesus Christ. I cannot express my desire for this enough. I pray that God will use me to teach my children of His love. Paul's prayer in Phillipians comes to mind often for not only me, but for my children...


Dear God,
I pray that your love abounds more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that we may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless until the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ.
In Christ's name, Amen.




*** The Lord is faithful, and he will strengthen and protect us from the evil one. (2 Thessalonians 3:3)

"I love you, Mommy" in sign language

Kate has learned how to sign "I love you in sign language". Sometimes she will call my name to get my attention, then she will hold up her "I love you" and smile. I ADORE THESE TWO KIDS! Even as one of them wakes crying at 113am, right now...

I did nothing to deserve these two wonderful girls. I did nothing to deserve the wonderful husband that I have. Nothing. If anything, I have completely and utterly ruined so many things. But instead of punishment I get this? Thank you, LORD for coming to this earth. Thank you for the birth of Jesus Christ. Thank you for hope. Thank you for joy. Thank you for the cross. Thank you for the empty tomb. Thank you for faith. Thank you for words of encouragement.

***Matthew 6:27 "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"

***Matthew 6:33-34 "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."

November 04, 2008- Happy Birthday, Kate!

Okay, so I did not go back to the beginning of the year with my posts... But, I did want to tell about some things in the recent past. Kate's birthday. She turned FOUR. My baby girl is FOUR years old. It is so hard to believe that she was so little and so helpless just FOUR years ago. WOW. She is completely in to Hello Kitty these days. Thanks for the Hello Kitty doll, Tina, Gino, Corbin, and Caroline! She loves it. Now, she sleeps with blankie and Hello Kitty (both of which were given to her by Tina...hmmm...).

Giggly Cali & Dad watches SpongeBob with Kate

Cali can be such a giggle box. I love it when she is is a good mood! This are pics from last month that I thought I would share. The bottom picture is where I caught Will and Kate watching Spongebob together while Cali napped.

I love my family!

Actually Starting to Blog

Well, I guess the time has come. I said that I would start a blog of my own (and actually update it) at the first of the year. So, it’s a little early. I am finally out of school for this semester. I am out until January 12, 2009. Then, it gets hard. I have one year left, 3 semesters total, 560 more clinical hours (unpaid). I cannot wait to be finished. I cannot wait to not have school obligations. I cannot wait to spend more quality time with my family.

So, my plan is to update as sporadic (but frequent) as possible. We’ll see.

I am starting my new blog a little early. Consider it therapy.

***Psalm 5:3 "In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."***

Go back with me to four years ago. Four years ago, Kate was about five weeks old (doing math in my head… who needs a calendar?). I was breastfeeding, so my breasts were HUGE. But, I had three small nodules in my right breast. Dr. Lyle assessed them and sent me to see a surgeon. The surgeon sent me for ultrasounds and last I heard from the office (4 years ago), it was nothing to worry about it, probably just a plugged duct that would not unplug itself. Now, fast forward to about 7 weeks ago. Breast self exam (no need to mentally picture me doing a breast self exam, there are plenty of others to watch online). Hmmm, another nodule in my right breast. Maybe it is the same one from four years ago, I just have not felt it in a while. Literature says to watch it through a few cycles and see what happens. Well, obviously a few cycles have not happened in 7 weeks, but I think it’s bigger. But more nervously, I have swollen axillary lymph nodes (they are actually swollen below my clavicle on the right, but these are considered axillary). So, today, my friend Caryn comes over (She’s a nurse). She feels the lymph nodes and the nodule (maybe I should say mass… that just sounds so bad… ). Not knowing who to go to (Do I go see my primary doctor or my GYN or a surgeon???), she recommended a surgeon she used to work for, Dr. Rader. My appointment is Tuesday. 9:15a.m. Please, PRAY.

I do not want to talk about it. At least I do not think I want to talk about it. At least not until after Tuesday. I think I would worry more and stress more if I had to talk about it. So, if I get stressed, I’ll go to God. Then, if I feel the need to share, I’ll share. I am so grateful to all of you I call friend and to all of you who call me friend. But, I think I need to focus on what God wants. I’ll update as soon as I know something on Tuesday about the breast thing. Until then, I’ll post about the happenings around here. Consider it therapy.