Snap-EZ Blog

Today is THE day! Time to get the paint for the new house…list of colors and number of gallons, check, list of supplies needed, check, dressed warmly since it snowed 4 inches last night….hmmm maybe I should wait until this afternoon…no, definitely need to get an early start…better wear rubber boots so my feet don’t get wet…OK, “kids…I’ll be back in about an hour, I’m off to go get the paint!”

“Phew, these steps are slippery, I’d better be careful…I have to remember to stop by the pharmacy first to get…whoa! What in the world..this is not good, there must have been a frozen puddle under the snow, my knee should not make that kind of popping noise…doing the hurdler stretch suddenly is not good for the knees, I am sure of that and maybe the rubber boots were not a good idea after all…I have to carefully get up….this is NOT good….” Carefully I get vertical again and stand there, my left leg dangling, wondering if I should try to put weight on it. I test it out and it’s working OK…I grab the side of the car to stabilize myself and work my way to the door, kind of hopping, kind of limping…WHAT should I do!? Should I head back inside, or get in the car and go ahead with my errands??? I only have 2 weeks while the contractor is on vacation to get the entire interior of the house painted…I really want to get to the pharmacy this morning, running errands with a possibly injured knee doesn’t sound like a good idea either…but hey, I’m tough and my knee isn’t hurting, it just feels strange…I’m climbing into the car and heading out anyway…here goes nothing!

Slowly I head down the driveway…down our road…so far so good. No one else is on the road, everything seems to be fine. Right turn…that went fine…a 4 way stop, no problem…left turn ahead – Wait! That truck just did a 360, “…what an idiot, doesn’t he know how to drive in the snow?” Careful now, slow down and start to turn left…ack! This is not good…no not the telephone pole….my heart is in my throat, I can NOT trash Daryl’s car! Phew, missed the telephone pole…no! not the fire hydrant…phew….no! not the car on the side of the road…phew….I’ve finally stopped…a complete 360! Man, this is a wicked intersection! Careful now, slowly turn around and get out of here…phew, made it! Now just 4 more turns until I get to the pharmacy…oh man, the car behind me just did a 360 also, what a bad intersection or what!
Time to get out of this car…I’ve made it to the pharmacy and parked without any further mayhem.
OK, my knee feels like it’s buzzing, but it doesn’t hurt. I carefully get out (not easy in a Camaro normally, let alone with a weird knee and huge rubber boots on), and I stand..seems to be OK…so I head in. Man these tests are getting more expensive all the time..oh well, still cheaper that driving all the way to Bellingham.
OK, time to go get the paint. Thankfully, the trip is uneventful, and soon I’m ordering my paint. But, as I stand there, my knee starts feeling really strange, like it’s all loose, and it’s starting to throb. An hour later, I finally have all the paint ordered and enough mixed for a good start (you can’t get much paint in the Camaro!), and we’ll pick up the rest in a day or two. I get someone else to carry it to the car, as by now I am having a lot of difficulty walking, and carrying 5 gallon buckets of paint is completely out of the question!
Back in the car, and my knee is really starting to hurt – how in the world am I going to operate the clutch! Oh well, at least these stupid rubber boots are heavy…off we go, bracing my self and gritting my teeth with every gear shift, waiting as long as possible to shift, or not shifting at all if I can help it. Twenty minutes later I am finally at home, and attempting to get into the house. “Please, God, don’t let me fall again!”
I make it in the house, and head for the bathroom, in tears now as my knee is really hurting. Wait one minute…man – I knew it! This is really bad timing…I’m going to BED!
OK, I have never cried over a positive pregnancy test in my life, and I’ve had a few of them – 12 in fact – but combine severe knee pain, a 2 weeks deadline for painting the new house and surviving a move during my first trimester and you get uncontrollable crying!
Man, did I ever have a pity party right then and there – “God this is NOT fair – I can not do this! How could you throw my plans out the window just like that!” OK – Daryl’s break is in just 20 minutes, I have to wait until I tell him before I do anything else…time can sure crawl when you life is suddenly in shambles….
I finally get to call Daryl and try hard to control my voice when the secretary answers, but I’m sure she will know I’ve been crying, oh well. Daryl picks up the phone and all I can say, through my sobs is “I’m pregnant”………”Are you sure”…..”Yes…”….”Why are you crying”….”Because…….(I can’t talk because I’m crying too hard)…”Do you want me to come home?”……”no, just pray for me, I can’t do this, not now”…..”alright, call your mom, OK?”….”OK….bye”…..”Bye…”
Now, it’s time to call my mom…followed by my friends…after talking with my mom and then two of my dearest friends in the world, who mostly just listened, I finally was able to stop crying and just laid there, quietly…then I began to remind me of what I believe about God.
God loves me, nothing happens in my life without a purpose, everything that comes my way is filtered through the hands of my loving heavenly Father, “All things work together for the good of those who love Him”, God will supply all my needs, His grace is sufficient for today’s trials (I was SOOOO taking tomorrows troubles on without the grace for them!).
Peace began to fill my soul. Everything will turn out exactly as my Father had planned. I laid my life back into His hands and took a deep breath. Time to take one minute at a time, not 9 months at a time. Step one – get out of bed, step two – find my knee brace, step three – call my doctor to see if it is OK to paint while pregnant, step four – get out of my bedroom and mother my blessings…one step at a time, one minute at a time, resting in the knowledge that God is leading me and will supply all my needs, every step of the way.

What do you think???? Do you want to hear more???? I’m thinking about writing a book about what God has taught me through His gift of Esther – I’m praying about this and trying to discern if this is something God wants me to do right now….please tell me what you think, and if you think of it, pray for me, that I will clearly hear His voice and know His will in this!

God has put some very special babies in my path lately – Verity is a 2 weeks old who has Down syndrome and a heart defect. She was able to come home, but is really struggling with eating/gaining the weight she needs to be big enough for her surgery. Her mom is battling a uterine infection and mastitis, and some of her other 9 children have another illness. Needless to say, this mom is tired and discouraged at times. Please pray that she will get the sleep she needs, that her body will fight off the infections, and that little Verity can continue to get what she needs each and every feeding.

Little Emily was born last week, and she also has Down Syndrome and a minor heart defect. She is doing pretty well except for regulating her body temperature and feeding. Her mother did not know that Emily had Downs before her birth, but she’s got a great outlook, seeing this as a blessing and that God put this special baby in her arms for a purpose…Praise The Lord! Pray that Emily will be able to go home soon and be with her family.

Also, there are over 200 babies in the world with Down Syndrome who are living in orphanages, waiting to be adopted, and many families wanting to adopt them…the only thing keeping these babies from joining the families who love them is funding…visit Reece’s Rainbow and see how you can help these precious little ones!

Thanks in advance for praying for these little ones!

I was editing my blog entries, so you can now find all of Esther’s Story with just one click, but I noticed that there aren’t many posts recently about our family! So here’s one overdue quick update on us, and a few recent photos!

We have had a very busy spring – painting the trim inside the house (window, door, and floor trim) and actually got that finished, painting the outside trim – almost done!, putting in new yard, front and back…not even close to being done but got a great start, new flower gardens and making last year’s even better:,

spring cleaning inside the house, and planning a camping trip with some friends!

Updates on our family –

Daryl is working many hours, as well as working on car projects, a bike making project and perfecting his bowling game.

I am busy as ever and never seem to have enough energy/hours in a day to accomplish all I think I should in a day. I am doing great overall, but was socked with a couple of colds this spring that slowed me down. I am also enjoying bowling, and I am continuing to work on my guitar playing.

Jeremy will be out of the Marines in under 3 months, and we are so looking forward to having the entire family under one roof again! Five years is a long time! This spring he put a new engine in his car, and also started bowling in a league for the first time.

Jason is still working full time+ and busy as ever with his sports (bowling, extreme Frisbee, volleyball) and hobbies (cars, video games, RC cars and airplanes to name a few)
Jessica is working for Snap-EZ, planted a HUGE vegetable garden this year, reading books, loving on Esther and the other children, volunteering at various events and caring for her dog (she’s down to one now, but planning to get a new puppy once she saves enough money) and is on her first bowling league!
Jonathan is now working almost full time – 4 8 hours days and has already paid for a car and is now shopping for a good bicycle, and is also in a league with us
Rebekah has started working a little for Snap-EZ (cutting), and she still loves to draw. She’s been dabbling in gardening too, and has made some nice garden art as well! She’s also gotten her first pet, a little black and white kitten named Sweet Tea (she looks like our first kitten who was named Sweety). Rebekah is also planning to be baptized in August and we are so thrilled that she has chosen to follow Christ and make this statement of her faith!
Rachel has really gotten the green thumb and has been buying plants, making gardens around her play house, and learning to do starts, as well as gathering seeds for next year – she hopes to do some selling at the Lynden Gardeners Market soon! Rachel is also planning to be baptized in August, and is very excited about this as she has wanted to for several years, but we wanted her to wait until she really understood what she was doing. We are so thankful that she has chosen to give her life to Christ at such an early age!
Reuben LOVES to bowl! We are doing the Kids Bowl Free thing with the kids and he lives to bowl! He’s in softball camp this week and is really enjoying that too. He also has a soft spot in his heart for Esther and takes a lot of time to love on her and play with her!
Daniel seems to like to stay home, he’s our quiet boy, but he LOVES to read…he learned to read over the last year and has taken to it like fish to water. Daniel has finally gotten the knack of holding Esther and dotes on her much of the time.
Dayton is so smart, loves to work with his Dad of projects, and is so sweet with Esther – he also loves our new kitten and loves to ride his bike!
Elizabeth has recently learned to ride her bike without training wheels, and loves to play house and other things with Dayton (she bosses him around most of the time, but he loves it). She loves sleeping in Rachel’s play house with her big sisters, and even slept in the big girls tent our entire camping trip! She has perfect pitch and rhythm, and loves to sing with me when I play my guitar. She also is known to play the piano and sing in perfect pitch to her playing…a future virtuoso!
Esther is doing a perfect crawl now, and also “walks” on her hands and feet. She can stand up against almost any surface, and will also try to climb onto any surface, and will walk along the couches. She can walk if you hold her hands and can now stand for a second or two without support! She is so close to walking! She is our joy and such a delight, her laughter is contagious and she loves to make others smile and laugh! She can do “Itsy Bitsy Spider” now as well as sign for milk, more, bye bye and Hi! She loves to clap and cheer for others, so she loves going to watch daddy play church softball.

Our highlight so far this summer has been our camping trip to Gold Basin with two of our close friends and their children. We even went on a 2 mile hike to Heather Lake (it sounded so innocent) – man was that ever hair-brained, but we did it and we all got to the top. The kids did great, it was poor old mom who carried Esther over halfway up, and then had trouble finishing the hike (”just” 2 miles, but it climbs over 1000 feet!!!!) – now I found a site about trails, and should have read it first – it says the hike is 4 hours (took us 5 1/2), and is “more difficult” skill level…not for beginners like me! They say the you bond closely with people you share a life threatening experience with…I am now well bonded to my family! Here’s photo from another website (we didn’t have our camera and haven’t gotten the ones the Thames took up there):

It was beautiful up there – peaks reaching another 1000 feet into the sky on all sides, waterfalls in several places, smooth as glass water, fish jumping, old growth forest all around, and more mosquitoes that we could handle, so after a short break for eating/drinking, we headed back down – 3 hours up, 1 1/2 hours down! Today I am finally not sore anymore (we did the hike last Saturday!)

So you can see, things are going along smoothly, for the most part, around here, but everyone is busy and growing and there always seems to be something new and exciting just around the corner!

Next week the kids are participating in our church’s Extreme Vacation Bible school and I’ll have the house to myself and the two little girls every morning…how weird will that be????
Here’s a few more “Esther” photos I thought you’d like to check out:

“Can’t I just read in peace?????”