More Pictures

I finally received all of the missing pictures from Scott' phone.

Here are more pictures from last weekend at Holiday Valley.

Can you tell how steep this is?

This lake was at the top of the hill.  We stopped here for lunch.

It was a bit too cold to be wading!

My two cuties!

Here is what you do when there is no one around to take a family pic.

Now I am really backtracking.  These are the rest of the Ocean City Pictures.

Could your feet be any dirtier?

Our bathing beauty!

Hannah somehow talked me into getting matching bikinis.  I may never wear it again, but it made her happy!

We had a caricature of Hannah done on the boardwalk.

What great memories!

The BEST time of the year!

Fall is, by far, my favorite time of the year!  I am always blown away by the breathtaking beauty of the colors here in September and October.

I love fall decorating.  Hannah and I went out to the Pumpkin Patch in our front field and it was like being a child in a candy store.  I could have picked truck loads of pumpkins, but had I, I think I would have been in BIG trouble with Mr. Matthews who hates cleaning up rotten pumpkin at the end of the season.

We picked enough to line our front entry, though, and got a couple of nice big ones for carving!

Inside, on a cool Fall day, there is nothing like a little cheer from a friendly scarecrow!

Since I can't have real cut flowers in a vase, I have found some great artificial ones.  Add some candy corn instead of water, and you have a great Fall decoration!

You can never have too many scarecrows!

To celebrate the Fall season, we went on a lovely hike this weekend at our local ski resort, Holiday Valley.

I have to admit, the climb up the mountain almost killed me.  I exerted myself so much, that my blood sugar dropped into the 50's and I had to stop for a sugar break.

But, it was so worth it.  The colors were amazing and the view was incredible.  Hopefully Scott will send me the rest of the pictures to share.

Hannah always wants to get the golden 50 chair during ski season, but we rarely do, so when we saw this golden 50 sitting right at the bottom, we had to get on and take a picture.

What a glorious season to drink in the beauty and wonder that is God's creation.  What a miracle this world is and we are so blessed to be able to enjoy it!  Get out and enjoy Fall in your area!

All my love!  Nancy

Happy Early Birthday to Me!

Everyone wants a new car for their 16th Birthday, well, 20 years later, for my 36th Birthday I got my new car.  My sweet Liberty has gotten to the age where if we waited any longer to trade it in it wouldn't be worth anything, so we made the decision to get a car, we needed a more fuel efficient vehicle.

I really loved my Liberty, so making this decision was a difficult one for me.

I knew, however, that I needed to say goodbye.  Boy will I miss her!  Just writing this makes me want to cry, isn't that crazy?  I kept reminding myself, it is only a car, so why did I feel like I was giving away a dear friend?

Here is my new car.  I absolutely love it!  It is a Mazda6 and now I can drive around saying Zoom Zoom, haven't you always wanted to do that?

I Survived my Bonaventure Presentation

This week has been exciting, stressful, terrifying, and is finally over!  Last night I gave my transplant presentation at St. Bonaventure.  Although I know I could have done better, it still felt like a victory because I overcame my nerves and actually did it!

It has been interesting, because my Bible Study for this week has been about God pushing us beyond our comfort zone and giving us opportunities to do things we normally wouldn't think we could possibly do.  I know telling my story to an audience is one of those things for me.  You all know I can write about just about anything, but speaking causes me anxiety and stress.  Despite this, I know that is what God is currently calling me to do.  So, I prayed all week that if He wanted me to do this, He would help me get my nerves under control.

I was nervous most of the day yesterday, but by the time I got to St. Bonaventure I felt a real sense of peace and confidence.  Everything went well, praise the Lord!!  I know the next time I speak it will be that much easier and, by placing my trust in God to help me get through it, my anxiety was replaced with joy and a true sense of accomplishment.

Enough about me, though, I think the message touched several of the students who came last night and that they will seriously consider signing up to be donors.  It is incredible to think that this one presentation may one day save several lives; what a truly humbling experience!

May God bless you all!  Have a wonderful weekend!  Nancy

Extreme Mountain Biking... At Least for Me!

Hannah has been wanting me to ride bikes with her in the woods by our house for weeks now.  I have been a total CHICKEN!  On Saturday, she finally convinced me to try.

What I didn't realize is that she wanted to ride around her father's motocross track which has jumps, hills, and just plain terrifying stuff.  I started to hedge and she gave me the weepy look that she knows melts my heart and causes me to do anything, even if it is totally INSANE!

We started off on the trail and I was doing okay.  I will admit, my ability to pedal uphill is not particularly well developed, so I walked my bike up several hills.  Finally, we got to the highest point on the track.  This is the hill we sled on and when it is covered with snow, it doesn't look quite as daunting as it did on Saturday.  

Hannah invited me to go first.  Now, I had been following the whole time, so I should have known something was up, but, not wanting my child to think I am a total scaredy pants, I started down.

I almost flew over the handlebars at least three different times.  My hands hurt from the death grip I had on the brakes, but I finally made it to the bottom.  I shakily got off the bike to turn and watch Hannah.  What do I see? Hannah walking her bike down the hill.  When she finally reached me she exclaimed, "Wow, Mom, even Dad doesn't ride down that hill, I didn't think you'd be stupid enough to try it!"

Need I say any more?

Eye has not seen...

I have spent a lot of time reflecting recently on the amazing things God can do with my life if I just let Him.  Things I never imagined myself doing have suddenly become my passion.  It is so obvious that God has an incredible plan for each and every one of us, but I think, too frequently, we are afraid to let Him guide us because the path He wants us to take might lead us into unknown territories.

Over the last 5 years, so many things have happened in my life, both good and bad, but I can honestly say, "God was always there".  He was the whisper in the night that gave me the courage to keep fighting for my life.  He was the ideas that flowed freely when I was writing.  He was the muse who helped me to express my experience and my feelings here on this blog.  And, most recently, He was the search engine that guided me to UNYTS.

There are times in our lives that we feel useless, like we have nothing to offer ourselves or others.  Trust me, I know and understand that feeling only too well.  But, we are never useless.  Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 2: 7, 9-10

No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.  It is written: "No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love Him" but God has revealed it to us by His Spirit.

What an amazing revelation.  God has always known our purpose, since before the beginning of time.  If we put our faith in Him, He will reveal it to us through the Holy Spirit who lives within us.  Why do we worry about what will come next for us when God already knows and is guiding us?

How lucky we are to be children of God and to know that He has a calling for each and every one of us; we just have to open our hearts and get ready for an amazing journey!

Have a wonderful weekend my friends!  Nancy

First Day of School

Today is Hannah's first day of 6th grade.  It is hard to believe another school year has begun.

I always feel sad on the first day of school.  I miss not having Hannah around during the day, but even more, I feel sad to know she is another year older.  Watching our children grow up is one of the hardest parts of being a parent.  You are so proud and so in love with them and you want them to be with you forever.  Their childhood flies by and suddenly they seem so grown up.

What a true blessing our children are!  God bless all the children this school year.  Keep them safe, bring them friendships and acceptance, give them success both inside the classroom and out, and help them to grow into caring and compassionate people.

Happy First Day of School!

Ocean City, 2010

Hello friends!

I am finally back online.  We just returned yesterday afternoon from a wonderful end of the summer trip to the beach.  It was a perfect time to go.  The weather was beautiful!  There were a lot fewer people than we are used to.  And, we got off season hotel rates, hooray!  The ocean was a little out of sorts thanks to Hurricane Danielle.  There were severe rip tides and the waves were breaking close to the shore and were extreme.  They were too powerful to boogie board in, but we enjoyed getting out beyond the break and riding the waves up as they came in.

We witnessed several beach rescues.  I give those young life guards so much credit.  That is a very stressful job and they handle it very well!

I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to go to the ocean for a second summer with my family.  What an incredible miracle my life is!

Here is a first set of pictures, there will be more to come.

This was the closest thing to boogie boarding Hannah was able to do, pushing herself along in the beach water at high tide.

Scott tried to ride the waves in, but got tumbled several times.  He was one sore guy!

Praying that the waves will be kinder to him...

The wave riders

Where did they go?

We can't take a trip to the beach without some sand burying.  It always seems to be Scott who gets the spa treatment.

It might kill Scott, but it sure does give Hannah a lot of pleasure!

We made sure to keep the sunscreen on, you can't be too careful in that beach sun!

To be continued...