Pray for Bryson

Hello blogger friends. I am writing you all with an urgent prayer request. Some of you know the Hummel and Osbourne families. Jason's parents are best friends with Charlie and Sue Osbourne and Jay grew up like a brother to all the Osbourne kids. Last night Jay's mom called crying asking us to pray for Bryson. Bryson is Nicole(Osbourne) and Beau Hummel's oldest child. He was badly injured last night in an accident with a lawn mower. Without going into too many details, he lost his leg above the knee. He is just a little 4 year old boy and he desperately needs our prayers, as do his parents, grandparents and younger siblings. He is currently at Columbus Children's Hospital in Ohio and I'm sure will be there for some time to come. JoEllen Hummel (Bryson's aunt) has current updates on her blog- hummelnest.blogspot.com. Please check them and encourage all you know to PRAY!!!!!! Thank you all.

Daddy Update

Thanks so much for your prayers! My dad is home and feeling good. He had a stress test yesterday and there wasn't anymore damage to his heart; it just showed the damage from the heart attack in January. They gave him the option of having a heart cath to see if he needed a stint and decided not to. The doctor said there was more risk in the surgery than not. So he is at home with strict instructions to figure out some good stress management! We all feel blessed to have him with us and pray for MANY more healthy years! Thanks again!

Prayer for Dad

Hey y'all. Just a quick post to ask for prayer. While Jason and I were in Chicago yesterday for Carrie Lindberg's wedding, I called my parent's house to check on my kiddos. My dad answered the phone and said he was having chest pains. He was home alone with my 3 kids while my mom was at Daybreak Church with Josh and Shelly. Of course, Mom's cell phone was broken and Shelly was running some errands during the second service. I finally got a hold of Shelly who did some quick thinking and sent a girlfriend of our over to Mom and Dad's. Dad drove himself to the hospital (after MUCH stubborn argument!!!) and my Mom met him there. Right now it looks like he's had another minor heart attack. (The first being when we were in Miami with Josh.) He is having a stress test right now which will tell the doctors what kinds of surgery he will need, if any. Please pray the doctors will know what to do and the solution will keep him healthy for many years to come!!!

Trip to April's

I count myself privileged to have two best friends. My mom always has fun teasing me when I say "my best friend...."; like I'm still in junior high! But it really is true. Amanda Aspenson and April Abbonizio have been my closest friends since I was 11. I met them both at Hastings camp- I met April when I was 11 and Amanda when I was 12. Here I am 32 years old and they are as close today as they were 20 years ago. I thank God everyday (well....almost!) for blessing me with such women as these.
So....this trip was to April's. She is married to a great man (Mike) and they have two girls, Audrey and Avery. Audrey and Emmy were born only days apart and even have the same haircut. They live in St. Louis, so Emmy and I took a road trip and spent the week at their house. We spent lots of time in their pool and even took the girls to Six Flags where Emmy had her first roller coaster ride. What an experience! April and I took an evening for just the mom's and went to the Cheesecake Factory and by 9:30 were out of things to do (I know, pathetic!!). We came home to find Mike and the girls STILL splashing in the pool so we decided to get in with them! It was so great to watch our girls bond and become friends just like their moms. They played horse and owner for longer than we thought humanly possible. Too cute. I realized there aren't any pictures of baby Avery, but trust me, she's a beauty! P.S THERE ARE MULTIPLE POSTS!!!! I couldn't get them to load backwards- so today starts from the post "Back in action" and ends with "trip to April's". Hope that makes sense!!!

Hilton Head July 2007

Our biggest trip this summer was to Hilton Head, SC with Jason's whole family. It really couldn't have gone any better. The kids were angelic the whole trip there and back (even WITHOUT Benadryl!) The house Marsha rented for the week was a mansion-really, no exaggeration. We spent many hours on the beach and in the pool. We took a day trip to Savannah, GA that was unforgettable. We took a trolley ride all around Savannah and then ate at Paula Dean's restaurant Lady and Sons. On July 4th we took the kids to the Hilton Head fireworks and Zeke entertained us with his adorable dancing-he can be such a little clown. We also took a day to explore the island and even saw a baby alligator. My favorite memory of the trip was of Jay and Elijah. We woke up one morning to something akin to a monsoon. Jason got it in his head to take a run with Elijah in the middle of it. They had a blast! There are a couple pictures of them coming back to the house totally soaked!!! It was an all around fun, relaxing, and memorable trip. Thanks Mom and Dad!!

Emmy graduates!

I know I'm seriously behind the 8 ball with this one, but I wanted to add some pictures of Emmy's kindergarten graduation. She looked absolutely beautiful this day and I was so proud to be her mom. The ceremony was awesome and I felt privileged have my kids at the Potter's House-it's our little utopia. So Emmy will be a big 1st grader next year and gone all day every day. It'll be just Zeke and me... WEIRD!!

Back in action!

Hello bloggers! Where have I been you ask? Well, for the better part of July I was traveling around the good ol' US of A. It's great to be back home and settled into our normal routine...well, as normal as it gets here in the Grate house. I'll be posting a few separate posts about our summer so don't forget to scroll down to see it all! More importantly, though, for those of you don't check my sister's blog (I know you're few and far between!), I have a good friend you needs prayer. Jason, Tiffany, and Hannah are a family who've been with us since the start of Greenhouse and have close friends through it all. They recently adopted a little boy named Isaac who was born at 24 weeks. Strangely enough, he is in the same NICU as our friends Burke and JoEllen's triplets! They will be staying in Canton, OH until Isaac is stable enough to transport back here to GR. JoEllen also has a link to their blog on her site (thanks Jo!) Their blog address is tiffanyandjason.blogspot.com and I have a link on my sidebar since I'm too computer illiterate to add it here! Don't forget to see the posts below!