Please Pray for Hannah-NEW UPDATE

April 29

Here is the latest update on little Hannah.
Hannah is hanging in there! She has such a peaceful angelic appearance about her. There is an important medical team and family meeting planned for tomorrow at 2:00 p.m. We hopefully will have more news to report from them. Until then the family is so thankful and supported by all of your wonderful thoughts, prayers and messages of hope. KEEP THEM COMING!
If you would like to send this family a message and keep up with Hannah's progress all you have to do is go to http://www.carepages.com. You will need to sign in and look for Hannah's carepage. Type in "hannahgracehower" (all lowercase and one word). I know that this family would really appreciate your prayers.

April 28

Hannah Update: The MRI did not show the results that the family had been longing for. They HAVE NOT given up hope and ask for your continued prayer for Hannah and her parents.

A blogger friend of mine (who has a 5 yr old daughter from China) recently sent me a prayer request. I believe strongly in the power of prayer, so I would like to share this with you and ask you to pray too.

A little girl named Hannah (approximately 5 yrs. old) and a neighborhood friend were playing on Hannah’s swing set. Hannah was standing on her swing twisting around when her feet slipped off. She basically had her neck caught in the swing rope and it was strangling her. The other little girl ran to get Hannah's mom who was just around the corner in the front part of the yard. Luckily Hannah's mom knew CPR. She dialed 911 and started doing CPR. At the time, Hannah was not breathing and she had no pulse. A neighbor lady came over and began to pray over Hannah. The firemen were able to get a pulse again and she began to breathe. She's been in the ICU since Wed. in a medicated coma. This weekend they began to bring her out of the coma and they are taking her off the blood pressure medication. They did an MRI on Hannah tonight and are waiting to hear the results.
This family needs your prayers. Please pray for Hannah’s complete healing. Please pray that God will make Himself known to this family and that they will realize how much He loves them. God is already doing some amazing things. May He be glorified in this situation and continue to work as only He can.

Go-Gurt and Giggles Galore!

Snow Bunny celebrated her birthday this week at Chic-Fil-A. We first met her when she was about 11 months old. It just doesn’t seem possible that she could already be 4 yrs old. Wow, how times flies! The girls really had a great time, but they still haven’t learned that it only takes ONE person to open a gift. LOL

The girls obviously enjoy birthday parties with cake and ice cream…but they would do almost anything for Go-Gurt Yogurt! They LOVE it…especially when I freeze it.Since DB doesn’t really like milk, the yogurt provides some of the calcium she needs each day. And besides... it makes them giggle!

The girls have also shared a few giggles through a little art work and exercise this week.In a time when gas prices are outrageous, food is being rationed, faith in God is being challenged, and the stock market is taking a daily plunge…wouldn’t it be nice to just Giggle with some Go-Gurt and enjoy life?…Oh, to be a kid again!

Another Crown for the Princess

Unfortunately, Desheng Darling had to have more dental work Thursday…a new crown. We put it off as long as we could, but when we noticed that she was only chewing on one side and eating very little, we knew we had to have the problem fixed. Now she has matching crowns on each side. How nice :) (Doodlebug played patiently in the waiting room with her kittens and Barney while waiting for DD to return.)
DD was such a big girl. DB and I had to stay in the waiting room while she went back for the procedure ALL BY HERSELF! (It seems that siblings can be very distracting to the patient/doctor. Imagine that.) What a big girl! They must have used some pretty good giggle gas to keep her back there. They came out a couple times to tell me that she was doing fine...but chattering a lot! (Not a surprise to me but I bet it made the dentist's job a little more difficult-lol)
A little ice cream from Chic-fil-a was needed to polish the new crown. I know what you are thinking: Ice cream has sugar and sugar causes cavities; therefore, DD will soon have enough crowns for an entire royal family...hopefully this one time won’t result in that.

The girls even managed to get a little play time in before the feeling began to return to DD’s mouth...not such a bad morning after all.

A Simple "Yes" Would Do

It didn’t take Desheng Darling long to gain control of the English language after arriving here from China. As I mentioned earlier, she LOVES to talk! Sometimes it’s hard to get a word in edge-wise. LOL We never know what she is going to say next!

Here are a few examples:
Before we left for t-ball practice yesterday, I fixed the girls a sandwich to eat on the way to the field. Since DB was seated directly behind me I couldn’t really see what she was doing, so I asked DD if Doodlebug was eating her sandwich. Her reply: “Yes. I noticed her chomping down on that scrumptious treat.” LOL A simple, “Yes” would have been sufficient.
The dental assistant asked DD if she would like to have a balloon today. Her reply: “I suppose.” The lady was just expecting a simple “Yes or No.” She also told DD that she looked pretty today. Her reply: “I know.”
Lastly, Brother Darling asked her if she knew the difference between a learned behavior and an instinct. Her reply: “You have to learn how to behave to keep from being a stinker! Too funny!

Bluebonnet Beauties 2008

We went to a beautiful field of bluebonnets for pictures with our play group Monday. This is something I look forward to each year. With 3 different moms snapping pictures, the girls don't always know where to look. They are really good sports about having their pictures made.
After trying hard to smile in the BRIGHT sun, we took the girls to a park to play. The white shirts were probably not a good idea for either setting. Oh well, next year we'll know.

Preach It Sister!

A few days ago we were headed to a t-ball game about 25 minutes from home. As usual Doodlebug was pretty quiet in the car and Desheng Darling was talking non-stop. Sometimes, we just try to tune her out, but this time…I’m glad we didn’t. Her conversation went something like this: “ Mama, Jesus loves us, you know. He loves us more than anything. He’s God’s son. He’s the savior. He died on the cross for our sins and rose on the third day which was Easter. He really loves us! He lives in our hearts. He’s the Lord!” She was really preaching this…in true Rev.T.D. Jakes’ fashion! lol
She shares this information with us quite often. I've even heard her telling her princess dolls about Jesus. Today when I was blowing drying her hair, she made up a song about Christ Jesus being our Lord and sang it loudly enough for me to hear it over the noise of the dryer.
My eyes fill with tears as I write this. Not only because Christ unselfishly gave his life for us, but also because Desheng Darling has had the opportunity to hear about God’s love for us and his plan for our salvation. I doubt that DD would have ever known this truth in her birth country. I am so thankful that she is beginning to understand God’s love in her own simple child-like way. And to top it off…she loves to share it! Who knows? Maybe there’s mission work in her future…
As for Doodlebug…She definitely has a future in Fashion Design!

DD Scores Some Points

Desheng Darling scored quite a few points last night…with the Umpire at least! The game was about to start and Daddy D and I were trying to find DD in the outfield. Since the coach changes their positions each time, we never know where she is going to be. I finally spotted her playing hind catcher! She probably volunteered so that she could wear the cool mask and pads. If you look closely at the picture, you can see the circle that the umpire drew for her to stand in. She kept trying to get him to stand in it with her. She kept quite a conversation going with the umpire throughout the whole inning. She even took his broom from him to sweep the plate, and he had a hard time convincing her to give it back. (Oh my!) I’m surprised that he was able to monitor the game at all! On one occasion, he bent over to help the batter and Desheng Darling swatted him right across his bottom!!! What was she thinking???? It was so funny!! When it was her time to bat, she got in position, raised her bat and loudly said to the coach and umpire, “Stand back!” (Like she was going to hit the ball REALLY hard. Too funny.) It’s not a game that the umpire will soon forget. He even made a special effort to find her at the end of the game to tell her “good-bye.”

Not Much

Not much to blog about this week, but here are a few cute pictures I took. This picture was made Sunday after church. Santa Sandra bought these dresses for the girls. They came with matching dresses for their dolls. Too cute. DB’s doll also attended services.

After church we took the girls to the park .

They played on the playground equipment for a little while, then took a short walk down the nature trail where they learned a little about spring weeds and hard sidewalks. Poor DB fell and scraped both of her knees. Of course, a trip to McDonald’s for ice cream made them feel much better.

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I took this picture before taking the girls to meet with their play group Monday. Don’t they look cute in their new capri outfits?

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Desheng Darling had another t-ball game on Tuesday. It was very similar to her last game. The only difference was that instead of just drawing circles in the sand, she decided to draw a circle and STAY in it. She refused to leave the circle regardless of how close the ball came to her. Needless to say, she was of very little benefit to her team unless, of course, the ball rolled into her circle. Now batting was another story. She immediately put on her helmet, picked up a bat, and headed for the batter’s box…Never mind that it wasn’t actually her turn. She was 6th on the list to bat!!!!

DD’s presence was well known at practice Wed. night. I’ll bet the coach called her name 100 times! If he said to stand behind him, she stood in front of him. If he said to go to the front of the line, she went to the back. If he said to go in to bat, she went out to the field…Get the picture? This child lives in her own little world:) She has another game tomorrow morning…It should be quite interesting.