A Rough Night

Now, Imagine me finding a place to sleep......

Musings....

A friend reminded me the other day of a poem.....

One night a man had a dream.


He dreamed he was walking along the beach with the LORD.
Across the sky flashed scenes from his life.


For each scene, he noticed two sets of footprints in the sand:
one belonging to him, and the other to the LORD.


When the last scene of his life flashed before him
he looked back, at the footprints in the sand.
He noticed that many times along the path of his life
there was only one set of footprints.


He also noticed that it happened at the very lowest and saddest times of his life.


This really bothered him and he questioned the LORD about it: "LORD, you said that once I decided to follow you,
you'd walk with me all the way.


But I have noticed that during the most troublesome times in my life there is only one set of footprints. I don't understand why when I needed you most you would leave me."


The LORD replied:


"My son, My precious child, I love you and I would never leave you, During your times of trial and suffering,
when you see only one set of footprints, it was then that I carried you."

The last phrase has really hit home for me, especially when I think of last winter with Ethan and even now as I am going through some difficult things again.

I am so blessed to have such a wonderful God. He never leaves me, and even when I feel alone He is always there.

God has also shown his love for me by bringing people into my life when I needed it the most. You know who you are, and I love you all. Thanks for letting God use you to love me.

Birthday Parties Galore!

We were very busy this weekend going to four different birthday parties. I think I might be partied out ;) My nephew Shane turned six years old, and here are some pictures that I took at his party. The kids had a great time playing with their cousins. There are 13 kids total now. Crazy huh? I didn't get everyone's picture, but I got a good amount of them...

Halloween Party

We were invited to a Halloween Party last night... It was fun, and we had to come dressed up. The girls and I were pirates. Ethan did NOT want to be a pirate. I had gotten him a pirate costume.... it is still in the package.... He DID want to be Thomas the Train, and thankfully my very good friend Michelle stumbled upon a Thomas costume at the goodwill. Yeah! Our little pumkin, Ben, was a pumkin!

The Loves of my life.....

Before I was a Mom.....

I never tripped over toys or forgot words to a lullaby.

I didn't worry whether or not my plants were poisonous.

I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom...

I had never been puked on...
Pooped on...
Chewed on...
Peed on.

I had complete control of my mind and my thoughts.

I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom...

I never held down a screaming child so doctors could do tests.

Or give shots.

I never looked into teary eyes and cried.

I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.

I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom...
I ne ver held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put him/her down.

I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.

I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.

I never knew that I could love someone so much.

I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Befor e I wa s a Mom...

I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body.

I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby. < B>
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.

I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom...

I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.

I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.

I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom.

We're off to see the Wizard....

We have a tradition here at the Cone house, and this year we included Jamie and Mady in it. It is.... drumroll please... to be in the annual Mohnton Halloween parade. Jamie is very into the Wizard of Oz, and because of this Mady wanted to be Dorothy this year for Halloween. (She makes a very very cute Dorothy)

After hearing about this, I asked Jamie if she would want to have the kids all dress up as characters in the Wizard of Oz. Of course, we had to dress up too.... And thus the idea of being in the Halloween Parade came up. Jamie was one awsome Tinman. Alicia made a great Wicked Witch. Emily, well, she just had to be Glenda, the good witch (fairy, as she likes to tell us)and Ethan, well, he was supposed to be the cowardly lion. (He wore the costume for about 2 minutes before he refused to put it on again. I was the scarecrow. Ben was going to be Toto, but we decided it was better to leave him at home with Grandma so he didn't catch cold.

I have to say it was fun!

Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!!!

Jamie and I took the kids to the Philadelphia Zoo on Monday. We had been planning on going for a while and Alicia and Jamie didn't have to go to school so we thought it would be a perfect day. Of course when we planned it we had this idea of going to the zoo on a cool comfertable Autumn day, and let me just say it was not cool or comfertable, it was HOT! Hot and crowded! Apparently, a lot of other people had the same idea as us, but we still had fun!

Emily saw her elephant, which was very important! We saw our Lions and Tiger and Bears! Alicia saw her snakes... Yuck! Ethan saw his turtles.. Mady saw her poor sick giraffe, which she makes sure to pray for every night. That a girl, Mady. And... (drumroll please) Ben enjoyed his First trip to the Zoo. He slept through alot, but he did peek around a bit..

It was a good time!

Fall is Here!

Let me just start by saying I am a SUMMMER Girl. I love summertime. As soon as it starts every year I am already saddened at the thought that it is going to end in a few months. However, I do like Fall. (Winter I could do without) Since I have had my kids I have enjoyed fall so much more too. I love all the fall activites, decorating, and enjoying the cool days at the park.

Saturdy was a very busy day for us. Alicia had a soccer game bright and early and the day seemed to fly from there. My dad came over to help me with some things around the house. Thanks Dad! He took the kids and I out for lunch and by the time we got everything done it was going on 5pm, and I decided the kids needed a treat for being so good all day. Emily's preschool had a fall festival going on so off we went. Jamie and Mady met us there. We always have a good time with them, and we did! It was fun!

We finished the day by going to see fireworks! Mohnton turned 100 years old so they had fireworks to celebrate. Let me tell you I know slept well that night. Well, as well as mother of a three week old can sleep. :)