Under His Wings

It was one of those anything could go wrong kind of days.  It started out realizing I didn't do enough laundry for today and one of my kids needed underwear.   I was freaking out about it when Elijah made a mad dash for the bathroom. He didn't need the underwear afterall.  He had fallen victim to the tummy bug going through our house.  Nate had been sick on Saturday, but this morning he started to complain about an ear ache.  Last night Anna started feeling sick. So far she's escaped the tummy yuckies, but she's had a headache. I ended up taking Nate to the doctor and he was diagnosed with an ear infection.  When I went to leave the parking lot, my van would not start.  The van has not done that since June.  Thankfully, Tim could get away to come help me.  While we were waiting for him.  I told Nate that we should pray one of the 2 cars next to me would move before Tim arrived as it was, Tim would have had to block the...

We've been without a dryer for a while now.  In cold weather like today, we take our clothes to the laundromat.  In nicer days, I love to hang up our clothes. I usually take the half hour drying time to go get some shopping done, but I really didn't want to travel around after dark.  I chose to take a seat in front of the dryers.  I found it actually quite relaxing watching all the clothes representing my family spinning around.  There were Nate's jeans, Anna's sky blue shirt, Elijah's black checkered church shirt, and Tim's work clothes among the needed clothes to be dried today. Honestly, sometimes it's hard to when the kids fight or my sinuses act up like they did today, it's easy to lose sight of my blessings.  However, the moments like when the kids sing together or I see my daughter's silly faces bring me indescribable joy.   I can't believe Anna is going to be 8 on Sunday.  I'll write more about her story then.

As part of our anniversary celebration, my husband and I decided to take a local river trail.  We sat on the shore and I was amazed at the beauty I found!  It reminded me of some of the state parks I've been too....many miles away.  The sun was glistening down on the water.  The birds were gathering and chirping away.  I think I might have even seen a deer crossing the path from afar. We only saw a few town workers and a couple of people walking around. It was quiet and peaceful. West Elmira is only a couple of miles away.  I travel the parallel street to the trail at least 1-2 times a week at times.  What a beautiful hidden treasure.  We will definitely return. Another park we visited was Miller Pond. It's a city park about a mile from our house.  We had been there a few times, just basically on the left corner of the park.  What we realized that the pond is probably about a quarter of a mile long surrounded by shady trees....

September is a month of celebrating and remembering for our family.  It is full of birthdays and anniversaries in the Cone family.  The coming week is personally special for me. 15 years ago today -----my family and best friends arrived in town for our rehearsal/dinner.   I proved my lack of skill of giving directions.  My out of town wedding party got lost on the way to the church( except for one who came in the next day).  I remembered we even practiced crying during the candle song (Cherish the Treasure). Tim and I at our reception 9/13/97 September 13, 1997---- the day we married :)  The ceremony went smoothly except I forgot my bobby pins for my veil on Tim's couch the night before.  My veil kept falling off during my vows.   Our honeymoon got off to an interesting start.  In the process of moving, my diabetes medicine got misplaced and we didn't get to Niagara Falls until 11 PM.  The hotel owner rented out our...

When I saw a link on Facebook this afternoon from my hometown (Binghamton NY) newspaper that there would be a live video of the Spiedie* Fest balloon launch , I was very excited.  I used to attend the festival with my family and some years by myself for many years before I moved to Elmira nearly 16 years ago.   I was able to watch most of the launch live.  I was awestruck at the beauty of the balloons being blown up then take flight. I called my mom, who lives about 5 miles from where the balloons took off, and told her about the video.  She found it and we watched together.  What a neat experience as we could not be physically together.  After a while, my mom decided to go outside to see if the balloons would come her way as they used to on a regular basis when the festival first started nearly 30 years ago.  Sure enough at least 3 balloons came in sight.  I really really got homesick. It brought back a lot of special memories, ...

Recently, my garden was overcome by weeds. I have to say that they were pretty weeds with beautiful white flowers. I hated to pull them out. However, they were covering up my rhubarb! There was also a wild blackberry vine growing right in the middle of my rhubarb with prickly thorns.  I carefully pulled them out too. What a difference a weeding made! Now my garden is just about bare as I was able to share the rhubarb once I could find it.   The area looks so much better! Lately, I’ve been trying to weed out some unwanted areas of my life that have crept in. I’ve been trying to take control of my health by watching my diet closer and exercise more. I’ve tried to find creative ways to exercise like taking walks with my husband during his break while the little ones have been at Vacation Bible School. One day I walked with Anna and her class down to their class picnic at the park. I’ve also tried to get rid of the not so obvious pesk...

Anna jumping rope on Daytona Beach 4/7/12 I took Anna to her cardiologist today to check on the status of her Mitral Valve Stenosis.   She is doing absolutely wonderful.  The dr. told me that if he hadn't been watching her since she was an infant (she's been under this dr's care since she was a day old), he wouldn't pay as close attention to the murmur in her valve.  He reminded me how he thought she would need treatment a long time ago, but her valve continues to work well despite the mild stenosis.  Her EKG and blood pressure was fine.  She's been having annual echocardiogram (more when she was little).  The dr. said this year's was not necessary.  She'll have one in a year.  I am so excited!!!   Just another example of my miracle girl!!!   She's been playing 8 under softball this year vs. the t ball she originally planned to play. It didn't bother her a bit.  Her teacher said he didn't notice any pro...

 Nate's art exhibit picture 5/29/12  A fancy looking invitation came in the mail a few weeks ago.  It was to an open house highlighting artwork from my kids' schools at a neighborhood doctor office.   My son Nate's artwork that was chosen by his art teacher as part of this art display which will be up for a year. "What an honor!"  I kept on reminding Nate when he told me he didn't want to go to the presentation.  It was the fact he was just nervous about it.  Today he was very excited, especially after he found where his picture was hanging.  His art teacher described the picture as peaceful.  I agree.  I found the picture of a woman on the right hand side of the picture.  Nate didn't mean it to be that way.  Nate has always loved to draw and make up stories.  His kindergarten teacher gave him a blank book to write his "Zippy the Zebra" story.  He takes after his mo...

Mom, Dad and I 5/26/12 I had the opportunity to go home to visit my parents yesterday.   What a wonderful time we had!  We had a nice picnic with yummy hot dogs, cabbage salad, pickles and olives and cupcakes for dessert.  It was my Dad's birthday the day before.  After lunch, my mom, Tim, my 3 kids and I played a game of croquet.  What fun memories that brought back.  We used to play a game of croquet at many of our family picnics when I was growing up. It was so neat to see Nate's reaction to the game.   "This is my new favorite sport,"  he kept on saying.   Guess what I'm going to purchase soon!!!!   I'm glad that my kids have shown the desire to continue the family tradition. Then we attempted a Chinese Checkers game.  Trying to play with 6 people was a big challenge.  All our pieces got stuck in the middle.  It was fun trying.  Chinese Checkers was a game I used to play with my G...

                                                   Mom and Dad 40th anniversary 8/06  I've been thinking about my parents a lot lately.  Friday is my dad's birthday.  I'm hoping to get over to see him and mom this weekend to help celebrate. I also was reminded of them when I read a friend's blog about his parents celebrating their 50th anniversary.  When I read Matt's description of his dad's love for his mom, I thought of my dad too.  His love for my mom is very evident and vice versa.   My mom wrote a blog of her own just last night, which made me so proud describing her love for my dad still strong after 46 years.         http://disciplesnook.blogspot.com/201...

I'm back!!!   This laptop crashed about 6 weeks ago.  Thankfully it was just the case of Windows needing to be recovered.  A recovery disk did the trick. Our other computer, an older desktop that was given to us over a year ago, crashed a few weeks later.  We ended up replacing that one last week. Being 2 weeks without a home computer was quite interesting.  I realized how much time I was spending on the computer and how much I relied on it.   Now that I have it back, I struggle with the temptation of being on it more than I should.  I'll keep working on that! I missed chatting with my friends and finding out what's going on.  I missed writing this blog.  I wanted to download pictures of our recent FL vacation. I'll take this opportunity to tell you how much fun it was!!!  My husband drove, which I am thankful for.  We ran into some heavy traffic in some strange places.  We stayed in a hotel half way to FL We star...

I went back to the allergy doctor yesterday.  This time the test was on my arm, so I was able to sit up in the back of the room while I waited for my test to be done. This time I took the time to observe nature.  There were multiple trees that had turned into beautiful white blooms since my visit two weeks ago.  I also saw a little pond by the parking lot where I had parked my car.   When I returned to my car, I saw ducks playing with each other.  That was a picture moment, but I didn't have my camera with me. As I was looking out the window, I also found myself wondering what life was like in the days back in the 1800-1900's when my Dad's Great Grandfather, Alonzo, was a young railroad worker.  As I mentioned previously, he was the first patient at Robert Packer Hospital where my doctor office is located.  Here's an article mentioning the history. http://thedailyreview.com/celebrating-125-years-a-history-of-robert-packer-hospita...

This morning I had some allergy testing done.  For probably about an hour, I was stuck lying on a bed on my stomach as the test was done on my back.  The test itself was not bad except when I moved while the nurse was pricking my back with needles. I was trying to answer the doctor's questions. As I was waiting for the time to be up to check the results, I had the chance to look out the window facing the parking lot.  I saw all kinds of vehicles including multiple types of buses, cars, trucks even motorcycles. I saw a bunch of people talking in one lot.  I observed people walking.  I wondered what they were there for.  The hospital I was at is a very respected hospital in this region of NY/PA.  It's actually part of my family history.  My dad's great grandfather, Alonzo was the first patient there in 1885. As far as my testing goes, nothing showed up this time.  Which was a bit of a relief.  I was hoping I was not allergic to my...

I had a friend tell me years ago if you wake up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason it's God's way of telling you there's someone who needs prayer. I have a lot of sick and hurting friends right now.  I don't know who specifically needs prayer at this moment. Here it is 2:15 in the morning on a Friday and I'm wide awake.  Today it's for a reason.  I've been sick for the past 2 days with flu like symptoms.  Achy fever ick!  I just took some pain reliever.  I was hoping to be better so I wouldn't have to make 2nd trip to my dr. in little over a week and I have my regular appt. coming up with him on Thursday, but for the sake of my family I want to get better. I'm tempted to complain as I've been sick with sinus stuff since the beginning of January.  Light is at the end of the tunnel for that.  I have been feeling a lot less congested and my appointment to see the allergist is finally coming.   Honestly it's been frustr...

moonlight 3/6/12 I was taking down some clothes last night after dark.  I noticed that there was bright light to see the clothes by.  It was like a street light was lighting my way.  What a beautiful, peaceful night! I loved just standing in the cold crisp air.  I found myself singing the old song "By the Light of the Silvery Moon."  How fun!  I could have sang "Moon River" I suppose.  Today was one of the most beautiful days ever!  It was 20 degrees above normal according to our local meteorologist.  I love sitting in the warm air watching my 2 little ones play after school.  After we got home from our parent/teacher conferences (they both got a great report), they played with our neighbor kids for a while.  When my husband Tim got home from work, he played outside with the kids.  As I was making supper and doing dishes, I could hear the basketball bouncing on the driveway. I'm looking forward to the time in a f...

Kenyon family July 4 picnic 1976 with Great Grandma Etta Kenyon. All the great grandchildren are pictured except for Kyle who was born about 2 years later.  I'm in the bottom right hand corner behind the bush.  Al's children Mark (oldest boy in back row) and daughter Robbie (girl with red pants next to my then baby brother Jason) were there too. Not only has my home church lost a dear friend, our family has lost a dear cousin.  Alan died on 2/22.  He had been sick with heart problems the past few months and was getting tested for another possible illness last Wednesday when he had complications. As I remember Al, I think of the many special family times we had as I was growing up.   Memories of him of course date back a lot farther back for my mom.  For many many years into my young childhood, my mom's family got together many times a year for picnics and holiday dinners.  Alan and his family attended many of these special even...

This post I've been pondering for a few weeks.   It's been a very emotional few weeks for our family.  As mentioned in this post, my family and I our former longtime pastor died on 1/22 due to a longtime illness.  Last week my mom's cousin Alan died somewhat unexpectedly a week ago.  My son lost a friend in a tragic fire about a week ago.   It's been hard to put into words what I've been thinking, but I did want to honor my dear friends who had such a big influence on my life.  My prayers go out to their families. Also, please be in prayer for Sheli's dad, Don, who has been very ill the past few months.  Four years ago to day I got a phone call from my mom that I never thought I would get.  My dear childhood friend,  Sheli, had died.  It was of a pulminary embolism due to recent surgery.   Honestly thoughts of regret went through my mind.  Just a few months earlier I was standing talking to Shel...

Finally Home by Don Wyrtzen When alarmed by the fury of the restless sea, Towering waves before you roll, At the end of doubt and peril is eternity, Though fear and conflict seize your soul But just think of stepping on shore, and finding it heaven, Of touching a hand, and finding it God's, Of breathing new air, and finding it celestial, Of waking up in Glory, and finding it "Home."   When surrounded by the blackness of the darkest night, Oh how lonely death can be! At the end of this long tunnel is a shinning light, For death is swallowed-up in Victory! Just think of stepping on shore, and finding it heaven, Of touching a hand, and finding it God's, Of breathing new air, and finding it celestial, Of waking up in Glory, and finding it "Home Do you have a day in your mind that sticks with you as a day that has changed the course of your life forever?  January 26, 1997, was one of those days in my life that I've been recalling many times r...

Recently I came across a tangled ball of ribbon and yarn.  What a mess!!!!  One night I worked for over 2 hours trying to unravel the mess to no avail.  It's still a big multicolored blob.   I got to thinking about how tangled life can be sometimes.  I've got in some big binds at times that I didn't know if it would ever get out of.  God was there to untangle the mess I got myself into.  As I am about to start another year (#42),  I am reflecting on my life.   Overall it's been a great life!  I have 2 wonderful parents and 2 brothers.   I've been blessed with a loving husband who this year we'll be celebrating 15 years together.  I've had so many special friends throughout the years and continue to make new ones.  When things have got tough in life, I've had all these people and more to get me through it. I've had the opportunity to write this blog.  It's been fun.   I've found it...

A new waffle iron was one of my Christmas presents from my son, Elijah.  It's a neat little thing.  It was a Thanksgiving night buy.  There's a Multigrain waffle at my Aldi store that I really love, so I decided to see if I could find a recipe to make my own.  I found a yummy one.  They turned out pretty well I thought.  I used white wheat flour and white cornmeal for my version. For the buttermilk, I used 2% milk and a bit of melted margarine.   Here's the recipe copied from www.eatingwell.com/recipes/multi_grain_waffles.html Multi-Grain Waffles http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/multi_grain_waffles.html From EatingWell: Spring 2003, The Essential EatingWell Cookbook (2004) Traditional waffles are a butter-laden, high-carb indulgence, but they make the transition to good fats and smart carbs beautifully, yielding crisp, nutty-tasting waffles with all the sweet pleasure of the original. The batter can also be used for pa...