Under His Wings

Fall is my favorite season.  I love the cool air, the colorful leaves and the crunch of the dried leaves on the ground.  My allergies don't like that part though. On Wednesday, as I was sitting at my daughter's softball game.  I was staring at the puffy white clouds.  As the game went on the clouds turned darker as the sun set.  It was so beautiful! This afternoon, Tim and I were honored to be part of the Senior Day ceremony that included our son Elijah. After the ceremony, I told Eljiah I am so proud of him.  He's a talented musician, athlete and student.  He's in the process of finding a college that will help him become a doctor someday.  I was emotional because this is Elijah's last regular season home game to play. After a yummy supper prepared by Tim, Tim and I went for a walk to our favorite park, Miller Pond, about a mile from our house.  I took in the sights and sensations of a cool fall evening.  The pond was beautiful with ...

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.

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...

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...

I've been having some technical difficulties posting my blog entries in the past week. I wrote a tribute to my mom on Sunday, but it wouldn't publish. It's ok. This morning my appreciation for my Mom was renewed greatly as I had the opportunity to see her caring spirit in action. Mom is a cancer survivor and a survivor in so many other ways. She's had a very tough life, yet she uses those hurts to help others. She did that again this morning when we were in a chat room for a wonderful online radio program called The Imperfect Wives on www.blogtalkradio.com/cwa-radio Mom is a great listener, not only to me, but to many other who have been in great distress through the years. I have always admired her willingness to be a friend and counselor. Mom has been through SO MUCH! It breaks my heart to know how much health problems she has or has dealt with. The scariest ordeal was her thyroid cancer 3 years ago. I shared my thoughts about that at the beginning o...

This past week I've had my eyes open to how much I have taken my family for granted. I have basically been limited to my couch or bed except for a few exceptions. I'm feeling much better, but moving around still hurts. I have missed watching my kids play after school. I've even doing the simple things like doing dishes and laundry. My wonderful husband has taken over my motherly duties this week. I'm forever grateful. We also had the chance to go on some nice quiet dates this week, something we don't take the time to do too often because of the kids. I've enjoyed having Tim home this week. I'm going to miss having him home! I've been spoiled. I'm so thankful for the responsibility and fun of being a mom. I love watching the kids getting awards and pitching at baseball games. As I celebrate Mother's Day this year, I am in awe of how wonderful it is to see my children growing up. They are special in their own unique way. Elijah is a smart, athl...

There's no place like home! I guess that phrase has gone through my mind a lot watching the Wizard of Oz the past few days, but it really means to me that there's no place like the house I spent nearly 24 years living in..the place where my parents have lived since 1972. Looking out the back door I remember sitting under the big Maple tree and writing in my journal. I also spent hours back there playing baseball and kickball with my neighbors and sledding down our next door neighbor's hill. One year I hit my face against a tree. Going up to what is now my mom's craft/computer room I reminised formulating many hopes and dreams for my life. In the living room, I remembered all the Christmas dinners that we had with my mom's parents, my dad's mom, my great grandma and grandma's aunt Emma. Looking out the front door while waiting for Jason to show up, I became sad looking at my grandparents' house. Memories there could fill another blog entry. I rea...

It has been a while since I have blogged, but now that I have some quiet time to think, I will start writing again. Yes, quiet time! It is hitting me pretty hard today that I am the mom of a KINDERGARTENER, 1st grader and 6th grader. Yes, my oldest child is in Middle School! I know I shouldn't be, but I'm really emotional today. I guess it's just the fact that my last child is in school. I guess from the birth of my daughter nearly 5 years ago until now the reality of no more children really hit me this morning for the first time. No more buddies to keep me company during the day. Sigh! To be honest here, I've been struggling with some very strong emotional stuff the past few weeks and I've been at my wits end literally. I lost perspective on my blessings. See my beautiful family below? They are truly gifts from God (as our middle son Nate's name means) I was fed up with the kids fighting, my house always being a mess and many other things. I was to...

I had a wonderful day celebrating my husband's birthday today. Tim and I went to our boys' "Special Person Day" at school. Then we met Tim at work at 2:45 and went to a playground with the kids. We took a nice walk, ate beef stew and watched a video for a while. Yesterday was the 12th anniversary of our first date. Tim walked up to me after the morning service and told me he wanted to get to know me better. Hmmm! Sometimes I wonder if regretted that statement LOL! I read the journal of our first month together. It is still amazing to me how long I waited for Tim (I was 27 when we met) and then how quickly things happened after we started dating. It only took about 2 1/2 weeks to know we wanted to get married. We were married about 5 months later. Tim was the man I had been looking for. I'm more convinced of that now more than ever. He's a loving, caring, patient husband. He's a wonderful daddy too! I'm so thankful God sent him to me.

10 years ago today...2:29 PM to be exact...my biggest dream came true (other than getting married, which had happened a year and 5 days before). My baby boy Elijah Michael was born. He was a whopping 10 lbs. 3 oz. bundle of joy. We had not found out what we were having, so when I found out we had a boy I cried as I said Elijah's name over and over. His first few days were rough. He ended up in the NICU for 12 days. He suffered from severe low blood sugar. That was scary, but we got through it. Today he's a healthy active boy! In the 10 years Elijah (or Lijey as I still call him sometimes to his chagrin) has been on this earth, I have seen him grow up to be a very smart, talented, athletic, sweet boy. He does have a temper, probably he's doomed to that due to an Italian mom and Irish dad LOL. He likes being a big brother most of the time. He steps in and tries to keep his brother and sister in order...sometimes he tries too hard, but it's nice that he tries....

My daughter Anna was born with a heart condition called Mitral Valve Stenosis. Her valve is thick and narrow. From day 1 (literally), Anna has baffled her cardiologist. Except for a bad cough during her first month or so, she has shown no symptoms of having a heart problem. Anna went to her cardiologist today for her annual echocardiogram. I could actually see the blood struggling to flow through the thick, narrow valve. I told the technician, Patty, that it was neat to watch, but I wished she didn't have to have the echo done. The dr. described to me again today what her problem is. I can see how he is so surprised how she is doing. People have been praying for her since she was born. I know those prayers are part of what has kept her well. Today's dr. visit was another reminder of God's goodness and mercy! Thank you, Lord, for keeping my sweet girl healthy and strong!