Women of Faith

Who wants to join me?

Happy Birthday!

He's the funniest, smartest person I know. It doesn't mean he doesn't bug me and I'm sure I bug him sometimes.

-- Sarah Jessica Parker

Happy Birthday to my best friend! Love you.

And a "just because"...

From Holland to Italy... in His time...

Welcome to Holland

(this has always made me think of my mom)

I am often asked to describe the experience of raising a child with a disabilty- to try to help people who have not shared that unique experience to understand it, to imagine how it would feel.

It's like this...

When you're going to have a baby, it's like planning a fabulous vacation trip - to Italy. You buy a bunch of guide books and make your wonderful plans. The Coliseum. The Michelangelo David. The gondolas in Venice. You may learn some handy phrases in Italian. It's all very exciting.

After months of eager anticipation, the day finally arrives. You pack your bags and off you go. Several hours later, the plane lands. The stewardess comes in and says, "Welcome to Holland."

"Holland?!?" you say. "What do you mean Holland?? I signed up for Italy! I'm supposed to be in Italy. All my life I've dreamed of going to Italy."

But there's been a change in the flight plan. They've landed in Holland and there you must stay.

The important thing is that they haven't taken you to a horrible, disgusting, filthy place, full of pestilence, famine and disease. It's just a different place.

So you must go out and buy new guide books. And you must learn a whole new language. And you will meet a whole new group of people you would never have met.

It's just a different place. It's slower-paced than Italy, less flashy than Italy. But after you've been there for a while and you catch your breath, you look around.... and you begin to notice that Holland has windmills....and Holland has tulips. Holland even has Rembrandts.

But everyone you know is busy coming and going from Italy... and they're all bragging about what a wonderful time they had there. And for the rest of your life, you will say "Yes, that's where I was supposed to go. That's what I had planned."

And the pain of that will never, ever, ever, ever go away... because the loss of that dream is a very very significant loss.

But... if you spend your life mourning the fact that you didn't get to Italy, you may never be free to enjoy the very special, the very lovely things ... about Holland.

Emily Pearl Kingsley

My mother had a 'lay-over' in Holland for many, many years...but 4 1/2 years ago, she finally got her ticket to, yes, you guessed it... Italy...

The best part about it all is... we are exploring Italy... together.

I must say, it is absolutely breathtaking!

My Brightest Gem

Guard well your spare moments. They are like uncut diamonds. Discard them and their value will never be known. Improve them and they will become the brightest gems in a useful life.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

This past week both our girls and boys basketball teams made it to the playoffs and both had out of town games scheduled and of course...Mr. and Mrs. Hough NEEDED to be there ;=)! How can I let my kids down? NOT me! So off we went... first stop Corpus Christi... and then we thought... let's stay the weekend! Why not? So luggage in tow... our drama queen included in all of this too. And I must say, what an amazing weekend we had! Our girls lost... but it's ok... it was a great effort. We spent Saturday just "hanging" out. We started our day at Barnes & Noble where Jayda enjoyed storytime, then Chuck E. Cheese for lunch and then BEACH time! I'll let you decide by her look in the following pictures if you think she enjoyed herself?













I'd say she did...

I love this little girl more than words can say. She is my world and I love that we have our 'spare moments' to just 'hangout', I love to see the smiles and hear the giggles. I love how blessed we are. She is 'my brightest gem' and I will continue to let her shine!

Next stop... Laredo... my boys need me too! GOOOO WILDCATS!