Reagan is our Joy

This is the first time that I have called on all you wonderful prayer warriors out there. Tonight, I am asking each of you to join me in praying for the Glavach family. Our dearest friends Manya and Landy Glavach with their family welcomed their niece Reagan Joy Glavach to this world yesterday. Reagan had been diagnosed with Trisomy 18, several months ago.
Reagan's parents Dan and Marceline have spent the last few months celebrating Reagan's life and preparing for her time here with them. I encourage you to visit their blog- Reagan Is Our Joy - to read about their journey and see their beautiful family pictures. You can also leave Dan and Marceline a message of encouragement.
Today, shortly after her one day birthday, Reagan returned to her heavenly home. Will you join me in praying for this family tonight and in the coming days as they face celebrating the all too brief life of their precious daughter, grand daughter, niece, cousin and little sister.
In talking with Manya about this over the last few months, and reading Dan and Marceline's blog, I am just blown away by their strength, their honesty and their unwavering faith in God's love.
This was posted on thier website this evening.

If just for a day
If for just today we got to hold her, and love on her with all our might and strength and soul, then we did, and it was wonderful. She was perfect, a treasure, a little tiny joy from heaven that was ours. Thank you Reagan for spending this day with us.

36 hours of quiet

This weekend did not turn out as planned. Pete and I had plans to spend the weekend in Breckenridge to celebrate Pete’s birthday with friends from Florida. Well Thursday night (right on cue) Emily woke up throwing up. Friday morning both girls and I had high fevers, sore throats, and hacking coughs. We spent Friday on the couch watching lots of Noggin and High School Musical 3. By that afternoon, the girls had bounced back, but I was still sick. Saturday, the girls were fine. Me? Not so much.
Pete and I talked about it, and decided he should go ahead with our plans and head up to the mountains. My parents offered to still take the girls so I could get some rest. So Saturday afternoon everyone left, I looked around the house and realized that for the first time, maybe ever, I was looking at 36 hours in my house alone. Yes, I was still sick, but part of me was also pretty excited. Saturday I watched 2 girly movies that Pete would never watch. I headed to bed early. Sunday morning, I woke up with a whole empty quiet day in front of me. It was such a huge gift. I feel like my schedule has been pretty crazy lately. Between the girls, the house, Pete, and work – my normal life is full, fast paced and really really loud. It is the loud part that really gets to me. A friend once told me that she only has a certain amount of words she can say each day – then she is done. I can add to that, that there are only a certain about of words I can listen to each day, then my brain just overflows. One of my fantasy vacations is going to a monastery and taking a vow of silence for a week. Since I don’t think a monastery would take a 3 or 6 year old, I decided to grab my opportunity today.
So all day there was no TV, no radio, no talking… just quiet, lots and lots of quiet. I sat in the sun in my living room and read (a lot). I drank a whole pot of coffee (while it was still hot). I took a really long shower. I made two loafs of bread. I sewed some flower brooches. I soaked in a lot of silence. It was beautiful.
Thanks mom and dad – have I told you lately how much I appreciate you!

Crafts for Lent

Each year I pick a craft that the girls can make during Lent. They add a part each week when we do our devotion, until it is finished during Holy Week. I am trying to replace our family's secular Easter decorations of bunnies and eggs with decorations that remind us of the reason for Easter. Last year, the girls made decoupaged crosses. I intended them to be decorations that I brought out each spring, but I noticed last night that they are still hanging in the kitchen. They turned out beautiful, so they have just stayed.

This year, I wanted to create something that could hang somewhere in the house and would be a visual reminder of the stories we read. I was flipping through Oriental Trading (I would like to state that I really normally do not care for the stuff they sell) and I found these banners. I also found these bracelet kits. Happily there are 7 icons or charms to add - this will work out great as there are 7 devotions for Lent. So I have a dozen of each of these kits on their way to me.

I have 10 extra sets of each craft. Would your family like to join ours in making these during Lent? If you live near me, leave me a comment and I will happily get one to you. Please let me know which set you want - the banner or bracelet and how many you want. I think it would be so fun to have many of our kids making these same things - and wearing their new bracelets to church on Easter Sunday. I should have them next week.