Praying for Grandma Max

Last week Grandma Max took a tumble. She broke her right wrist, her left shoulder and being a saxophone player this was pretty devastating. She had a rough time during surgery yesterday, I don't know exactly what happened but everyone was called to come to the hospital as Maxine's heart was only working at 20% and her other organs weren't doing so well. I'm not a medical person, but I know that the ICU doctors were doing everything they could.

We first struggled with whether or not to take Adi to the hospital but in the end we just brought her along. Sweet Lavender Leaf (Adi's alter-ego) seems to be really great and lightening the mood in a room full of anxious people. Not that we expect that from her, she's just good at turning frowns upside down. She chose not to go into the room to see Grandma and we didn't press the issue.

Cam and I went in and were just quiet after announcing our presence. And then we prayed. It was difficult at first, we were so emotional. But God's spirit was present with us and we prayed for more. Max hadn't been very responsive before but she did respond to prayer. We told her we loved her and saw her moving her lips in a way that looked like, "I love you too". We prayed more. We lifted her up to God. We assured her that she was never alone, that Jesus was with her. Her eyes were wide open by the time we had to go, there were so many family members there to see her. We don't have a medical update yet. We don't know if God is going to keep her here on earth with us or if He's going to take her home. Either way it is well with our souls. We celebrate Maxine and all that she has done for us. And we continue to pray.

Busy Spring

Spring has proven to be pretty busy in the Driscoll household. Cam got back from his truly amazing trip to Georgia and our whole family is reaping the rewards of moving in the direction of a God centered life. So much is being opened up to us and we're really excited to see how we grow and hopefully multiply as a result.
We continue with seed starting every couple of weeks to be sure that the harvest times are a bit spread out. Keeping up with all of the plants is pretty demanding but it's so cool to walk into my kitchen every morning and see big beautiful tomato plants, herbs and other veggies getting an early start in our home. Wow.
While the adults are planting seeds, kids are playing dress up and whatever else strikes their fancy. Above, Zoe and Logan (Scout) are beautiful princesses and Sweet Lavender Leaf Super Hero is all set to save them when they wind up in distress ;)
We're super busy getting ready for planting season and other fun projects so if you haven't stopped by the homestead blog for a while give it a peek.

Lenten Fasting and More

My original Lenten fast had to be modified and I'm now managing a fast that is proving to be challenging and rewarding. I've given up breakfast - so liquids only until lunch. The last hour or so before lunch is understandably the biggest challenge. But it's also my daily hour in which I lean in a bit deeper toward Christ. I draw from His strength and I talk to Him a bit more, because I need to. As a result, I'm seeing prayers answered. I asked for God to provide a way for Cam to attend a conference in GA, and God provided. I'm praying for other financial provisions and it appears that God is answering those prayers and I trust that He will continue to do so.

Now, as I pray for Cam and his encounter with God at this conference I feel prompted to take my fasting a step further, on Cam's behalf. I'm giving up the internet until the conference is over. This is pretty significant for me, a pretty huge sacrifice. I'm not even really sure I can do it, but there again, I will be forced to lean into God and spend more time with Him because I won't be able to do it on my own. Cam always kids me about being addicted to the internet. He doesn't even know that I'm giving it up for him ;)

So if you feel so moved, please pray with me that God will speak into Cameron's heart in a way that he never knew was possible. Pray that God will bring Cam healing, mercy, power and grace, in Jesus' name. And that God will all the while, hold Adi and I in His sovereign hands with love and strength, and that our family will be blessed.

Thanks friends.

Good-Bye Great-Grandma Costello

In this photo I had just found out that I was pregnant with Adi when we attended a birthday party for Great Grandma Costello and the news was on the down-low, but we were sure to let her know that she had a Great-Great-Grandchild on the way. Blanche was always such a bright and shining woman. Her amazing health always fooled me into believing that she was much younger than her years. Cam says she would have turned 100 this summer. This morning, she went home to be with the Lord.

Blanche gave us a beautiful Christmas cactus when she moved from her house in Williamsburg to "the castle" - the assisted living center where she had an apartment, if you've been to Williamsburg, IA you know what I'm talking about. My understanding was that the plant was about 30 years old, this could have been an exaggeration but it really is huge, just for the record. She said it hadn't bloomed for many years but that didn't stop us from giving it a new home. The first year we had the cactus it bloomed prolifically. It was stunning. We were shocked and were sure to take plenty of photos for Blanche to see. I think it made her happy to see her old plant decided to show off for its new caretakers. Now, more than ever I feel completely honored to be the owners of this plant and I'm grateful that I've managed to care for it this long and it has bloomed every year since we've had it (about 6 or 7 years).

We'll miss Blanche and her sweetness. Her kind smile and warm eyes. Adi is trying to understand what it all means and we're trying to tread lightly while answering her questions honestly. It's hard, I know. As an adult, I don't really understand death so to explain it to my little girl is quite a challenge. But it's a tender thing and we're treating it as such. We're choosing to mourn, but celebrate as well. Just as we trust the angels in heaven are celebrating the arrival of beloved Blanche Costello.

Good-bye, Great-Grandma Costello

Lent - Or 40 Days of Faith

Last year Lent snuck up on me. Before I knew it, Lent was upon us and I hadn't thought even for a moment about it. I was pretty irritated about that, you can read all of my ranting about last years Lent here.

But this year, I'm in a very different place. I'm very much ready to engage in something special if it means that in the process I will be engaging with Jesus. My walk with Jesus has been changing dramatically over the last couple of months (in a very good way) and I'll write more about that later once I manage to get my brain wrapped around it a bit more. For now, I want to talk about this year's Lenten season and 40 Days of Faith.

So as Cam and I started considering how we would participate this year, we heard a short talk at church about a couple different categories of participation. In my words, the first is abstention and the other is engagement. You can either chose to abstain from something that is "important" to you or something that occupies a lot of your time or thought and replace that thing with prayer or meditation with Jesus. Or, you can chose to add something to your routine that would also enhance your walk with Jesus - add a devotional, read a particular book, a Bible study or engage in a specifically planned prayer time regularly.

We're chosing to do both. Cam isn't comfortable with me writing about how we have chosen to observe this year through both abstaining (fasting) and engaging (worship). So, we'll just kick off Lent tomorrow and see what God has in store.

Playdate Fun

I love Adi's weekly play dates with Caedon. They've literally grown up together and he's the closest thing she has to a brother. Caed is always so sweet and excited to come over and play. The instant we walk in the door I hear, "Stacey, I'm hungry" which is most likely code for, "Stacey, I'm not really hungry but I know you have different snacks at your house than I have at mine and I like to try whatever you have here" and I love the predictability of that. Since Adi doesn't have any siblings, Cam and I are her play mates. This is great fun most of the time, but it is so rewarding to see her interact with children her own age.After several months of attending preschool we opted to take Adi out and keep her home. There were many reasons, financial, separation issues Adi was having and problems with one of the other students that had Adi pretty upset about going to school were just some. I know she'll have to deal with that stuff at some point in her life, but she's three years old and I don't believe it's beneficial for her to have to cope with it right now. So she's been home with Cam for the last several weeks and the number of tantrums have reduced pretty dramatically. She's happier and sweeter than she's been in a while. I know we made the right choice.

A Fun Weekend

My new hairdresser, Miss Adilyn Rose, gave me this rockin' new do. Colorful, funky, sparkly, wild and creative. Just the way I like it.

Cameron, the romantic husband with excellent taste in flowers adorned us once again with gorgeous roses (twice in one month! I'm a lucky lady.) Adi can't resist inhaling the amazing aroma which is her namesake. Only after checking for fairies, of course!

On Saturday we went ice skating at Coral Ridge Mall. Here we are lacing up.

Here you witness the face of desperation. Can you see the pain in my expression? Cam only made it around twice before he had to quit. Something about those skates squished our feet and the pain was horrible! What I won't endure for my daughter! She was really bummed when we had to leave but my feet felt like they were in mini coffins and I was on the brink of freaking out if I didn't get those skates off!

Here is a pic of Adi and her friend Avra. Ad is being silly and sticking her tongue out which makes her mouth look like it takes up half her face!

We then enjoyed a wonderful dinner with our friends, the Lauer's. It was fun and refreshing to talk about the environmental ministry we are working on together and brainstorming ways that we can expand the current ministry and turn it into active service. We have a lot of ideas and can't wait to see what develops.