Miracle Monday for July 26

God is good ALL the time!

I just have to write a quick note about how God has blessed us today.

We are moving essentially two households this weekend. Moving stuff out of and around in my mom's house to make room for our stuff. Yesterday two good friends contacted us out of the blue to ask if we needed help moving this weekend. At that point it was going to have been Oscar, my mom and myself moving. THEN, one of my best friends shot me a message this morning that she, her kids, her sister and a mutual friend were available to help around 1:30-2ish. Talk about a real blessing they all are!

We needed to have a moving truck from Thursday to Sunday and, wouldn't you know it? ALL the trucks are sold out for anything longer than a 6-8 hours period, unless we wanted to pay upwards of $60/day after all is said and done for a truck from a different company. Something about this being the busiest weekend of the year for moving, blah, blah, blah. I guess it has something to do with the college kids, since Austin is SUCH a college town. It was a definite Kevin Fowler "# (Pound) Sign" song kind of moment – for those of you who don't know the song, the main point of it is this:

Just in case there might be
Little ears around
I won't say it
I'll just spell it out

I feel like pound-sign, question mark
Star, exclamation point
Don't give a blank
And a whole lot of other

Choice words I can't say
Today I feel like
Pound-sign, question mark
Star, exclamation point

So I posted a little vent about it on my FB status and within 10 minutes the wife of Oscar's very first foreman emailed me to say that they had a horse trailer that we were welcome to use! BONUS! So, now we have one horse trailer and 6 trucks to move and do storage in on Saturday, plus the help of 7 other people aside from me, my mom and Oscar.

God works in mysterious ways, so we're using the money we saved in not renting a moving truck to buy BBQ and drinks for all of those who are helping us, including the friends who gave us use of the trailer

A true miracle that we needed! My friends are the absolute best ever and I am thankful every day they are in my life! ♥

God is so good
God is so good
God is so good
He's so good to me!

Miracle Monday with Layla Grace on March 8

The life of any child is a miracle. How each child is formed in the womb is, in fact, a miracle. No evolutionary process could put together something so wonderful and complex. Only the hand of God could knit together and form DNA, bones, muscles, brains, organs, little fingers, toes and noses.

Sometimes there are children who are miracles in what they do in life, with their life, for however short a time they are here on this mortal coil called earth.

Many of you have been following the updates I've had for a sweet little girl called Layla Grace who has outlived the doctor's expectations of her by at more than 3 weeks. As I mentioned before in another post, medical science has called her an anomaly, but we who know better call her a miracle. She is the miracle in my Miracle Monday today.

Sadly, it appears that the end of little Layla Grace's life here in earth is almost done. It appears that God will be calling her home soon to where there is no sorrow or pain, to where she can run free and laugh often and wait for her family to join her. Soon she will be flying to the arms of Jesus.

Here is the latest from Shanna, Layla Grace's mother. Layla hasn't really woken up in a few days. She slept yesterday through diaper and clothes changes, books, and Shanna reading sweet cards that have been sent to her. She is still sleeping today. Occasionally she makes noises that indicate she's in pain, but she isn't waking up. They put out a new blog post yesterday that, when notification was sent out via Twitter, their server crashed due to the number of people that tried to access it. It crashed several times and they had to upgrade it just to handle the traffic. They have gathered strength in knowing that so many people care for and love Layla Grace, this precious child who is not even theirs.

Many are asking Shanna and Ryan how to send Layla a card - the address to send cards to Layla can be found here http://laylagrace.org/about.

They are asking for prayers now for Jenna and Claire. Jenna is their 9 year old daughter and Claire is their 3 year old daughter. Claire doesn't really know or understand what is going on, but Jenna does and is struggling with it a great deal. They have not been able to be with their daughters the past couple of weeks as they are staying with one of the grandmothers during this sad ordeal so this has been doubly hard on the entire family. While you hold Layla Grace in your prayers today, please include her sisters Jenna and Claire, as well as Shanna and Ryan.

Shanna closed this last blog post from yesterday with a Bible verse that I would like to put down here.

2 Corinthians 4:7-12, 16-18
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

**UPDATE @ 1:15: Shanna is rocking Layla. She has only opened her eyes once today. Her feet are getting cold now.

**UPDATE @ 7:39:Please continue 2 pray for peace for Layla. Her dad is in her room right now talking to her & comforting her. She is not doing well at all.

The one thing her parents wish for her passing is that it is peaceful and so far it is not going that way. She is struggling and scared. Lord, take her pain and her fear and give her peace. Be with her family and give them peace as well.

You can add prayers for sweet Layla Grace and her family at the Lighthouse of Prayer. To add yours, click on the words "Prayers Uplifted to The Throne".

To read more about little Layla Grace from her parents, please visit laylagrace.org

To read more about her from previous posts of mine, you can click on the tag "Layla Grace" and all of them will be pulled up for you.

In closing, I would like to dedicate the song "Fly" by Celine Dion to sweet little Layla Grace. I am trying to put together a slideshow with the song, but it's a work in progress. I hope to have it completed this week.

This is not it, but it is a good one:



Fly, fly little wing
Fly beyond imagining
The softest cloud, the whitest dove
Upon the wind of heaven's love
Past the planets and the stars
Leave this lonely world of ours
Escape the sorrow and the pain
And fly again

Fly, fly precious one
Your endless journey has begun
Take your gentle happiness
Far too beautiful for this
Cross over to the other shore
There is peace forevermore
But hold this mem'ry bittersweet
Until we meet

Fly, fly do not fear
Don't waste a breath, don't shed a tear
Your heart is pure, your soul is free
Be on your way, don't wait for me
Above the universe you'll climb
On beyond the hands of time
The moon will rise, the sun will set
But I won't forget

Fly, fly little wing
Fly where only angels sing
Fly away, the time is right
Go now, find the light

This is Miracle Monday, hosted by Beth @ A Mom's Life

It's easy to participate. Just write about a miracle that you have witnessed, heard about or been a part of and link back to it here. You can copy and paste the Miracle Monday badge into your post if you would like. That's it!

Miracle Monday for February 22

Well, I'm going to try this out today. This is Miracle Monday, hosted by Beth @ A Mom's Life

It's easy to participate. Just write about a miracle that you have witnessed, heard about or been a part of and link back to it here. You can copy and paste the Miracle Monday badge into your post if you would like. That's it!

I would like to say that my Miracle this week has to do with yesterday's weather. Talk about the PERFECT day! Upper 70's, low humidity, completely clear, topaz blue skies, minus a few teeny spider web wisps of white cloud way high up, warm, sunny atmosphere (but not too warm) and a gentle cool breeze. That's the perfect weather EVERY day! After the rain, rain, rain we've had this past month, to experience weather so perfect yesterday is nothing short of a miracle!

I will carry that memory of yesterday with me through this week of clouds, cold and even – dare I say it? – SNOW. 1"-3" of the white stuff WITH accumulation is possible, nay, probable tomorrow...all day. Then, once winter has had its "last hurrah" for the season here, we can go back to the perfect days for a while, that is until the 90+ degree temps make their appearance as early as March or April.

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And, now I am going to implement something that I used to do back in my earlier blogging days before I stopped for a couple of years to take a break. I will be posting the HDQ answers again on Wednesday. What is the HDQ, you ask? The HDQ is the Hump Day Question. Basically, I answer YOUR questions that you pose to me. Anything you want to know about me, my life, my family, beliefs, opinions, humor, hobbies, etc. Please submit your questions in the comments and I'll have them answered on Wednesday.