Meet Sophia. Is she too cute or what?
Many of you probably recognize the name Kelly Orr from the comments here on Femina . . . and Sophia is one of her seven gorgeous children (and a twin to boot)!
Sophia was born with only one lung. I’m sure you can all imagine what that has meant in her life – and in the lives of her parents. All the doctors, all the hospitals, all the procedures. When she was a baby, the doctors put in an implant to fill the space in her tiny body that usually would be filled by a second lung – to hold everything in place. It’s worked brilliantly, and Sophia is a sweet, cheerful, active, spunky, normal little girl. But as she’s grown, everything is beginning to shift around again and now her airway is twisted . . . meaning that she’s struggling to get air into the one lung that she does have. The opening to her lung, instead of being round, is now just a slit, and it has become incredibly urgent to get the situation remedied immediately.
This is a very unusual condition, and as you can imagine, it requires seeing the top specialists. Sophia and her parents are traveling tomorrow to Cincinnati, and just the fact that they can get in to see the surgeon there is a huge answer to prayer. He will see her on Friday, and they will then decide how to proceed in this obviously urgent situation.
Please pray for little Sophia, for her parents, and for the all the team of doctors and nurses who will be handling Sophia’s case. If you leave any comments here, Kelly will see them – and I’m sure she will appreciate knowing that there are people praying. And we’ll keep you updated!
Howdy all! So, I’ve been moving the last week, and thus have been out of the loop on all this bikini hoopla that’s been occurring. I’ve just gotten up to speed, and I have something to say. Something that originally came from my husband.
Think of a gorgeous, sleek, expensive, sports car. As it drives past, people notice. And they know that that’s a fast car. Everyone knows it’s a fast car. You can tell a mile away that it’s a fast car. You’d have to be a complete idiot to not know what kind of car it is.
Now picture a jacked up muscle car with the hood off to expose the wildly chromed-out engine. This is the car owner who is so desperate for everyone to notice the size of the engine that he’s going to make an ostentatious show of it. There you have the woman in a bikini. The woman who’s loudly screaming at everyone in this and adjoining counties that she’d like everyone to notice the size of the engine.
Seriously ladies. Which car would you rather be? People seem to think that if they’re not the muscle car then everyone will think they’re slow. But it’s not like we are only given a choice between being a low-class muscle car or a rusted-out Volkswagen Rabbit Pickup. There are more options out there. A Lamborghini doesn’t have to take the hood off. Everyone knows it’s fast.
Be the Lamborghini. (Not the Goat.)
Upon reflection . . . that goat remark may be a little ambiguous. So for anyone who didn’t get it, I have found a helpful visual aid. Here is a goat. (As in, a GTO.)
Now that I’ve officially sailed out and gotten involved in a discussion about taking the Lord’s name in vain, I feel that I am rather obligated to say something else . . . lest anyone infer things about what I meant. As I cruised through the comment section I began to be a bit afraid that perhaps I had misjudged my audience.
Quite honestly, I read the comments all in a lump so I hope I’m not being too pointed about any one particular person. I don’t actually have any one person in mind. But the vibe I was getting was that actually this is a crowd comprised of a lot of people who perhaps need to loosen up a smidgeon. Yes, as I said before, I know for a fact that there are people out there who need to tighten it up. But then again . . . as my father is so fond of saying . . . there’s a ditch on both sides of the road. And at the risk of now appearing to be obnoxiously contrarian, I am now about to turn and say a word to the other ditch.
There’s a very real danger of getting downright pharisaical about this. The impulse to fence the law is as old as dirt – and Christ was always rather pointed in His rebukes of this practice. God gave us the law, and that was good enough. We don’t need to embellish it, add to it, fancy it up, or make it too complicated. Continue reading ‘Two More of My Cents’
Over on my blog I asked for some good breakfast ideas for hungry kids . . . and let me tell you! There are some fantastic ideas coming in over there! So if you’re in need of some new recipes give it a look – and if you have any great recipes of your own to share then I’m totally eager to hear them! (And you’ll get a shot at a Tintin book to boot!)
I’m about to get rebukeful.
Yes, I am. I know that I don’t usually launch into scriptural exhortations . . . but I just have a little something to say.
For a good number of years now I’ve been periodically hearing very sweet Christian women take the Lord’s name in vain. It surprises me every time – and I always stand there doing a mental double-take . . . replaying it again and wondering to myself if she just said what I thought she said or if I misheard. But no – I’ve heard it enough times now that I’m certain I’m not making this up. Quite honestly, I’m at a bit of a loss. I’m not really sure what the rationale is. (And, by way of making the situation weirder . . . I’ve never once heard a Christian guy do it. Not to say it doesn’t happen, but I’ve never been around when it did.)
Is it because it never occurred to them that it’s a problem to take the Lord’s name in vain? I doubt it . . . these are very established Christian ladies, and it’s not like they’ve never heard of this concept. Is it a total accidental slip up which is Continue reading ‘Stand Back!’
Big doings are afoot at Nana’s house today, calling for some gourmet food prep. The Janks clan is leaving for Chicago tomorrow, and the Merkle gang is headed out tomorrow for Granny’s house in Boise, from which point Ben and I will be continuing on to England for a week. Neither Rachel nor I are suitably packed yet, so Nana has all the kids careening about her house for the day. Note that I am not packing during this golden moment, I am posting pictures about it. But I’ll get to the packing soon. Promise.
Also, while I’m at the computer posting pictures, I might as well go for the gold and post some more pictures. I have a fabulous friend in England who invited me one year to “come for lunch and admire my rose.” That sounded like the sort of invitation you don’t receive everyday, so of course I came prepared to admire the rose to the fullest extent of my ability. She fed me lamb and broad bean salad, and then we went out to admire the rose. I’m not sure what I was expecting – but I’ve never before seen anything like it. It had climbed up two of her trees, and completely covered the entirety of the foliage. It looked like a thirty foot rose tree, and so my admiration for her rose was entirely genuine.
What I’m getting around to is that this blog post is a sort of internet version of her invitation. “Stop on by for a PBJ and admire the roses.” Maybe lamb will be on the menu another day, but in the meantime let me take you out into Nana’s yard and show you around. Continue reading ‘Nana’s House’
Recent Comments