"Little Em"

Our dear little Emma arrived home about twenty minutes ago. She was carried in sleeping, and since her head is hurting, we are trying to contain ourselves and not wake her. :) From what I hear, she did magnificently well beforehand, but was not too thrilled when she woke up with a sore throat from the tube they put down it during the surgery, an IV and other things attached to her. Thankfully, she came through just fine and was allowed to return home to her anxious and doting family.

I just snapped the picture above of our "Little Em" sleeping with her baby, who also went to the hospital, and her dog, Josh. Thank you all for bringing her before the throne of grace. We appreciate it more than you know.

You will never guess what happened. Out of ideas? Well, since you will never guess, I suppose I'll have to tell you! :) My Mother Dear joined the land of Blogdom! Click here to see how very technically advanced my darling mother is. ;-)

Also, Emma's surgery is tomorrow. She will arrive at the hospital at nine in the morning, but the surgery will not begin until noon. She is not going to be allowed to eat anything beforehand, so we are trying to make her eat way beyond her fill tonight. She was given a little dog with a hospital bracelet from the doctors, and I'm making her doll a hospital gown for tomorrow. I'll be sure to get pictures to show y'all. Please continue to keep us in your prayers. I'll keep you posted.

The Six Dancing Princesses (and of course, the two Prince Charmings and the King and Queen) arrived safely home in their handsome coach (a.k.a. our magnificent white E350 fifteen passenger van) after braving the dangers of falling ice and the snow covered roads. We spent our glorious Saturday in Arlington Heights where we had the pleasure of attending the Liberty Day Event. Departing the McDonald palace around six thirty Saturday morning, we arrived at the Christian Liberty Academy shortly before ten o'clock. We had a delightful time learning from the lectures presented by Doug Phillips and Bill Potter. It was splendid to visit with old and new friends alike, allow ourselves to get wrapped up in the reenactment of the 2nd Virginia Convention, and we almost keeled over dead laughing when the Erberauntey Singers performed their rendition of the song Revolutionary Tea. Clothed in the Colonial era, we had a fabulous evening joining in the festivities of our nations liberty. For those of you who were not able to attend, you have our most sincere pity, and we do earnestly hope to see y'all next year.

Thank you, Erber Family, and also to everybody else involved, to make this possible.

Caleb does not appear in this family portrait, due to the fact that there was an urgent call to arms to fight the Lobsterbacks. So, without hesitating, our dear brother kissed us all and bade us farewell and joined the militia.

The Erberauntey Singers performing The Young Volunteer.

This picture might give you a clue as to why we almost died laughing. This other picture I have of the Island Queen's daughter is rather blurry, but hey, I was laughing so hard, it was kind of difficult to hold the camera still...



Prince Charming...his name explains it all. ;-)

"Caleb had gone for a solider..." Our other Prince Charming...marching away to certain death...we were so proud *wipes tears from eyes* He came back due to a war wound...a rip in his stockings.

The determined look on the face of this fierce warrior would have made the enemy shake in their boots and then they would realize..."there ain't room in this country for the both of us..."

We hope that by visiting the Liberty Day Foundation website, you will be encouraged just as we were to remember our founding fathers, carry the torch they have passed on, and stand firm for the truth as we ponder the words so well said by Patrick Henry...

"We are not weak if we make a proper use of those means which the God of Nature has placed in our power... the battle, sir, is not to the strong alone it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave."

On our way out of our dearest, most beloved state of Texas, we saw all of the home improvement kind of stores and garden stores putting out all of their gardening items. Fresh flowers, spades, shovels, hoses, etc... After leaving that wonderful sight of color, we pulled up to our home in Illinois to see...can anybody guess...okay, I'll give you the answer...snow. We missed the snow falling, which is the best part, and now we are watching it slowly melt, turning into a lovely view of white marbleized with chocolate brown from the mud, creating a most exquisite slush. :)

But!!!! Yesterday, I (yes, Miss Allergic to the cold, and always wearing sweaters, and "Oh! It's soooo cold!!!) opened the window because it was almost 70 degrees outside!!! On the sunny side of the house of course, but still! Oh, the fresh country air, gentle breeze, glorious sun, slush and a frozen lake! It was fabulous.

Emma had her appointment with the pediatric surgeon yesterday. Thankfully, he doesn't believe that her bump is cancerous. Her surgery is scheduled for Wednesday of next week, so please continue to keep her, the surgeon, and medical staff (and us!) in prayer as I am sure we will be needing it. :) She still thinks this whole thing is rather funny which is great. She is such a brave little thing.

Well, I had best be running. With a sun-shinny day like this, who would want to sit inside on a computer...

Late last week a strange lump appeared on Emma's right hand. She visited the doctor today and he suggested that we take her to a pediatric surgeon right away. It looks like whatever is underneath the skin will need to be removed. He wasn't sure what caused it, and thought that it was so strange, he called a colleague in to take a look at it as well.

Thankfully, Emma thinks this whole thing is rather humorous. :) Last week, she came up to me and told me she had a bump on her hand. Later, she told my parents, "my bone is too big!" ;-) She has been good natured so far, and doesn't seem to mind that the doctors will make her go to sleep so they can remove the lump from her hand.

We would be very grateful if you could keep Emma in your prayers as she has doctor visits and most likely surgery. If you could also remember our family, especially our Mom, during this time, we would really appreciate it. I'll keep you posted as things progress.

Well, I suppose that if I blogged more frequently, I wouldn't be trying to update you on what has been going on out here. :) So, just the highlights.

James arrived safely on Tuesday, (or was it Wednesday?) driving a U-Haul and towing his bumperless vehicle, (the bumper he left in Texas for the state to remember him by). He told me that he was bringing a surprise, but I didn't have any idea of what it could be. So, as the Evans' young men were helping unload the trailer, he picked up a cooler and ran inside for us to see. First of all, the cooler had a picture of Texas on the front and back and then in bold red letters we read, "H-E-B." For those of you who don't know, it is not pronounced "Heb," it is pronounced, "eich-ee-bee." H-E-B is our very favorite grocery store and something that we have been greatly missing since we moved.

Inside this beautiful box, we found to our complete and utter delight, three half-gallons of Blue Bell's Homemade Vanilla, and one half-gallon of their Mint Chocolate Chip!!!! Talk about a surprise! I took pictures of the whole thing, but I don't have them downloaded, so that will have to come later. We figured that we would never actually eat the ice cream because we don't want it to be gone. So, it just might spend it's days growing old with frost-bite instead of allowing us to indulge in our favorite ice cream.

Liberty Day is soon approaching, so costume making has been keeping me busy. Jessica and I have been keeping very unhealthy hours staying up until really late and getting up really early, just to sew! But, it is the only time that we are able to sew for a few hours straight. We might run downstairs and sew a bit during the day, but it doesn't always work out. So working by the light of the stars, and the sewing machine light, has been our main focus of late, which would be my excuse for not posting...one of these days, I will get better about this...just watch...