We met the surgeon that will be completing Phebe's heart surgery, three weeks ago, on May 3rd.
He walked us through every step of the surgery. Every little detail. The pros. The cons. The reasons. He made us feel so confident, so sure, so at peace. We know this is the right thing.
And yet as the day draws closer, emotionally, it gets harder. We need more than the surgeons words for peace of mind. We need our Heavenly Father's comforting words and to feel His arms around us, bringing us the peace that only He can. We know she is in great hands, and yet it is such a human thing to fall back on our own emotions. The Lord has kept her healthy and well in these weeks running up to her surgery, which is a miracle in itself. Lilah and I have both had horrible colds, sickness is going around and yet Phebe has been preserved from it all.
Tomorrow is the big day. Her surgery starts at around 9am and lasts approximately 5 hours. Your prayers mean so much to us, thank you.
her mischevious grin + her (after nap) bedhead = pure cuteness!
Looking through a new book one morning, there was a girl on her knees praying and I said "Oh look, she's praying"... to which Phebe exclaimed: "Thank you God!"
When she's looking through a book if the picture shows a child with his Mama, she will ask "Where's Baba?". And vise versa, if the picture shows a child with his Baba, she will ask "Where's Mama?" She is very aware that a child should have a Baba & Mama now, which warms my heart... because of course, that's what we've been reinforcing since she came home from China.
She sometimes calls a receipt, a recycle!
Sometimes she says belly sore, and then sometimes she gets confused and says dinosaur!
She can put on a fabulous show of "Shake Your Booty" - learned from her sister Lilah, of course!
She sings Jesus loves me... well, as well as a two year old, 7 months home from China can! Which I personally think is awesome!
I was teaching her how to pedal her trike one day and I may have been labouring on the point of her pushing her feet, over and over again! After a while she exclaimed: "No say it Mama!"
I walked into the bathroom one day where she was perched on the 'throne', doing whatever! She raised her voice and said: "GET OUT Mama!" (snort!)
She sings 'Twinkle Twinkle little star' just beautifully... when she's not being silly and trying to put on a silly voice!
She sings at Church... even when she doesn't know the song, she's still singing away as loud as she can!
For something, she says "somepink". Someone came to our door one day and she came running in to me and said "Somepink at the door!"
For very, she says "verdy".
She is afraid of getting lost. She says "No get lost" in a very serious/worried tone.
The moment we get into the car she'll demand "Music on Mama?"
She calls all Lilah's school friends "The Guys!"
She takes picture sof me with her pretend camera... it goes like this: "Stand up Mama" - "Smiiiiiiillle!" - "So Cute!"
On several occasions, during a 'preaching' session from Lilah about something Phebe shouldn't be doing, Phebe has looked at Lilah in the eye, put her finger to her lips and made a loud "SHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
Wow, I've been offline for a while now, but all for a good reason, because Pa and Na came for a 10 day visit, the whole way from N.Ireland! Pa & Na are my husbands parents... mind you, I imagine that is stating the obvious, since they are so alike, in so many ways!
We had such a nice time together. It's been 12 years since they last came here to visit us. 12 years?! They prefer not to travel so far and coming from a dairy farm, they are definitely home birds. We were thankful that they decided to come over and hopefully it won't be so long until they come back!
They wanted a relaxing trip, and I think we pretty much gave them that. We visited the local Tulip Festival and a little village outside Ottawa: Wakefield, where we walked to the beautiful covered bridge and had a delicious supper in the Mill Restaurant. We also took a walk in the Gatineau Park, a little lake known as Pink Lake and we spent a morning at the Agriculture Museum, because a farmer can't spend 10 days in a city without seeing a cow! I joke. I think that trip was more for the girls! And that doesn't include our little walks to the Glebe, to coffee shops, to the park, for ice-cream, shopping, Baba's birthday at the Baton Rouge, etc. We have so many beautiful memories together.
And the best part, because of course, the Grandparents were REALLY here to visit their grandchildren! Of course! It was their first time meeting Phebe and although we had reservations on how Phebe would react to these new people coming into our home, we shouldn't have worried. Phebe really enjoyed her time with them and pulled out all sorts of silly funnies, as she does! From giving them a full show of 'shake your booty!', to singing 'Jesus Loves Me' - our Phebe girl sure knows how to put on a show! And Lilah, well, she is at such a nice age to enjoy her grandparents and she sure loves them, especially when they bring her lots of treats! She has told me almost daily, since they left how much she loves and misses them.
Needless to say, I have plenty of photos. I'll try to scale them down to just my favourites! In other words, this post is going to be loaded with pictures! Oh and even though it's taken me forever and a day to figure out what's going on with the newly refurbished Flickr, I do love how you can view the sets now!
Here they are...
Tulip Festival are here.
Wakefield Covered Bridge are here.
Pink Lake, Gatineau Park are here.
Agriculture Museum are here.
So thankful God made me a Mama to these two sweet little girls.
Children are a gift from the Lord.
This is what we call 'The Kiss Sandwich'.
The girls are usually on the receiving end of this one!
The best feeling in the world, is to love and be loved.
