Blessings

So, I am the world's worst blogger this year.  I have thought about "shutting this blog down" but I love seeing what other people have going on and, if we ever get a camera or a phone from this century, I will post pictures.  :)

I have just felt extra blessed this week with something that happened and wanted to share our blessings with others.  (If anyone even looks at this page anymore...ha!)

On Monday night around 6:00, Olivia was laying on her belly in the living room doing her math homework.  She called me in for help.  When I leaned down to show her something on her paper, she put her head down and eye straight into the pencil sticking straight up from her hand.  The pencil got stuck in her eyeball!  She screamed and jerked her head back so quickly while still holding the pencil, that the pencil came out.  I hadn't know it before, but, yes, eyeballs can bleed.  I called our eye doctor and he and I decided she could wait til morning to come in.  Where are the blessings, you may wonder?  BLESSING #1, the pencil poked the white part of her eye.  One centimeter closer and there would have been permanent vision loss.  BLESSING #2, the eye doctor gave us his cell phone and told us to call at anytime if we needed to that night.

Olivia calmed down and slept well.  We got up Tuesday morning to a very bloody (in the eye) spot.  The eye doctor dilated her eye, took pictures of the retina and said that besides a scratch and some graphite dust, things looked okay.  BLESSING #3, no permanent damage!  BLESSING #4, the eye doctor has a third grade son and related so well with Olivia.  He gave her drops, cleaned up the eye a bit and sent us on our way.  Liv returned to school with 2 different sized pupils due to the dilation but feeling fine.

All was well until Wednesday night.  We were in the van on the way to church and Liv said, "Mom, I can't see well.  Things are blurry.  My eye feels big again.  Can I have the mirror?"  Sure enough, her pupil was huge again!  We got into church and started to set up for the night but it just didn't change.  I tried with a flashlight to see if her pupil would respond to light - nope.  BLESSING #5, the kids' pediatrician goes to our church.  Dr. Hayes tried again with the light in Liv's eye and called the ER to let them know we would be coming.  BLESSING #6, Dr. Hayes called 3 ERs to find out which one had an opthamologist available and told them to expect us.  They did!  When we arrive at Children's Medical ER (the biggest children's hospital in Dallas) they knew just who we were.  BLESSING #7, we waited for less than 30 minutes before we were in our own ER room watching a movie.  BLESSING #8, every single person that dealt with Liv was so dear to her.  The nurse was even a Steeler's fan!  BLESSING #9, since we had been at church, we were with friends.  Boston was able to stay with a friend at church and then go home with him to sleep.  He felt happy to be with a friend and went easily to sleep there.  BLESSING #10, two sweet girls from our small group showed up (after they took over my church responsibilities that night) to hang out with Liv and I for the last hour and make sure we got to our car safely.  They came just as my phone died.  Donny was out of town during all this so their being there allowed me to use their phone so I could keep Donny updated.  BLESSING 11, I had the cell phone number of our eye dr so the ER docs just called him and they worked together to help Liv.  After about 4 hours, Liv's eye began to react to light and her pupil shrunk a bit.  It was decided that the hole in her eye, caused by the pencil, had acted like a well and collected some of the dilation medicine from the day before.  Something made it come out of the "well" and therefore her eye dilated.  BLESSING #12, nothing was seriously wrong with her eye.

I could go on and on counting all the ways that God worked things out that night in His perfect timing and ways.  In the scheme of life, the past 3 days will just be a little smudge on our family's life canvas, but they seemed big while going through them.  I wanted to glorify God by sharing all the ways He chose to care for us.  It was with great thanksgiving that the 4 of us prayed before we left the ER knowing that things could've turned out so differently.

Olivia will be fine and within a month her eye will be all healed up.  Praise the Lord!

Hungry Swimmers

Bos and Liv swim about 5+ hours each day.  No joke!  Therefore, they are hungry all day long.  I need some new healthy snack ideas!  The are getting tired of being told they can have fruit or string cheese.  :)  What ideas do you all have???

What a GREAT Week!!

We had the privilege of having bit of our "Old Kentucky Home" here at our new Texas home last week.  Andi and Palmer got to come for a visit.  Watching my girl hug her friend as she got off the plane made this mommy's heart swell with joy. 

It makes me teary to tell you how it blesses us to have family and friends sacrifice their time, activities, and finances to come see us.  Thank you to all of you who have been able to do that!

The kids and I used this week as our "stay-cation" doing many things here in town that we have wanted to do.



Having fun at Bounce U!




Tight friends Dylan and Boston




Such pure sweetness.  Heading to Hawaiian Ice.




Roller skating!  She's so brave!




Bos FLIES around the rink!  The only problem is...he doesn't know how to stop!  :)




Bos adores Jonah and we couldn't be happier with his choice of who to look up to!




Soaking up sun at the splash park.




Working as a team to create a book of Toy Story characters. 
Notice their matching dresses.  It was so fun to watch them try to wear similar outfits and hairstyles for the week.



Kit, Palmer, Liv, and Kit at the Dallas American Girl Store.
This was such a fun day! 
We all traveled from KY to Atlanta a few years back to the AGD store there.  This brought back great memories.



Bos was so excited to get his own flippers, snorkel, and mask...just like his hero Jonah.




Saying goodbye (for now) at DFW.
 I'm so proud of these girls.  Neither thought they would "survive" without the other at school with them.  However, they both had successful 2nd grade years.  And, even 1,000 miles apart, they maintained a sweet, lasting friendship



There are No Words...

I finally got our pictures onto the computer so this is my 3rd post of the evening.  Hey, I have to make up for lost time!! Be sure to click on the other 2 since they have great updates on our sweet kiddos.

June 3-5 I had the absolute privilege of going on a Service Trip with our church to Joplin, Missouri.  I'm sure you have seen pictures and heard stories of the tragic tornado that hit Joplin a month ago.  I had too.  However, no words can describe what I saw and experienced while we visited with the victims of the deadly tornado.  I was overcome with tears several times during our weekend but more often than not, I was speechless, dry-eyed, and in awe of the power that God created in nature.  To see the utter devastation of a tornado that was 1 mile wide and 14 miles long is something I will never forget.

After praying with my family and a few friends, I decided that I would join our church's team and head to Joplin.  Our kids were so supportive even though it meant having to change plans or give up some activities.  Donny encouraged me to go even though it meant he had to miss his Friday Bible study and parent "alone" for a few days.  So on a Thursday afternoon, I met the rest of our team, 28 in all, and we drove to Joplin.  I knew only a handful of people going on the trip.  God planned it that way.  He has given me so many opportunities in the past year to have no one but Him to lean on and to have to "step out".

The trip took about 7 hours and gave our team time to get to know each other and share some of our lives.  When we arrived in Joplin, Joe (who has family there), drove us through the center of town, explaining what used to be where.  It was dark and after the newly set curfew. The National Guard was everywhere.  I thought that the damage we saw looked bad and was overcome with what the families had gone through.  I hadn't experienced anything yet.

We stayed the night at Ozark Bible College and were up and ready to begin our day at 7.  We dressed in jeans, boots, and new work gloves, got our tetanus shots, and signed the FEMA paperwork...our attitudes were positive and I think most of us felt as though we were going to make a big difference in someone's life that day.  Little did we know that our lives would forever be changed.

We started off with the direction of helping at a home on Arizona Street.  The drive there was quieting as we saw the damage in daylight.  Second stories were missing, cars were crushed, mattresses were in trees.  I think the image that stands out most in my mind are the spray painted X on each house and car.  You all, teams had to search EVERY home and vehicle for bodies.  Can you imagine that job?  139 people were killed that week.  Others are still dying due to injury.  The quadrants of the X were for different things - name of the team that checked, # of bodies found, etc.  It was just humbling and horrifying to see that.  Also spray painted somewhere on the house, car, tree, or ground - whatever was standing - was a house number.  That is how destroyed things were...

Anyhow, we began on Arizona Street moving debris from the back of a home to the sidewalk.  It was tough to see a dollhouse and toddler bed in the front yard.  70% of the children in Joplin were affected by the tornado.  Almost 7,000 places of dwelling were destroyed.  Do you get how many people that is???  About half of those people didn't have homeowners insurance.

As we worked, we were told that there were people a few streets over that needed help.  We worked a bit more and headed to the next street.  That street was just an utter loss.  I can't even describe it.  We broke up into teams - cutting trees up, picking up insulation, cleaning rotten food from open refrigerators, carrying debris, etc. The smell was rotten and the temperature hit about 100 degrees.

 At one home, outside of a window, I found an empty jewelry box.  I spent a while picking up earrings, bracelets, and necklaces and then set them in a broken window.  Who knows if that family will ever return to find their jewelry but I'll tell you, scratching through the dirt to find someone's personal jewelry sure made me move from seeing devastation to praying for the people.



Joplin's Home Depot.  Every person  in here was killed.  There was a dad, newly home from Afghanistan shopping with his 2 young children.  He called his wife to tell her a storm was coming and they were going to wait it out in Home Depot.  His wife never heard from him again.  He was found, with his body covering his children.  All 3 died. 




Reminds me of pictures of wildfires.  Nothing standing but a few trees.  You all, this was a neighborhood.  Homes are supposed to be standing here.




I was amazed at how few "recognizable" items there were.  Everything was just splintered to pieces, covered in glass, dirt, and mold.  Very little was salvageable.  But you know what, most people didn't want their things.  They learned what most of us don't fully live out.  Material things don't matter.  At all.  Period.  I hope that I live my life that way but I'm not sure I can really say I 100% do.





This is what is left of Pastor Robert's home.  He was a Navy chaplain for 20 years.  He and his wife have adopted their 3 grandchildren and have another daughter and her 2 year old living with them as well.  Pastor Robert put his 6 family members in this tub, placed a mattress on top of them, and laid his body on the mattress.  This tub and wall were all that were left of his home.  All 7 of them survived.  I had to privilege of meeting Robert and his daughter.  You know what they spoke most of as I worked alongside them for several hours?  Helping others.  They needed to leave by 6 so they could go help others a few streets down.  What an example.





Riley and his wife, laid in the hallway with pillows on them.  The entire roof was peeled off except for the small bit above them.  Their neighbors losr everything as well and will be living in a fire station - all 4 sharing a twin mattress - indefinitely.



I spent some time sitting with Kelly's family as they watched some Amish volunteers bulldoze their home.  That house was her husband's parents home.  The memories there were inumerable.  The memories stayed, the house was flattened.  The family was together, they had nothing left but each other.



Ruthann, Me, and Jenny. 

I don't have the words to describe what we saw or what I still feel.  However, I ask you to pray for those we met - Robert and his family, Kelly and her family, Riley and his wife, and Vicki.  Vicki was in the Pizza Hut during the storm.  22 people, including her husband, went with her into the restaurant's cooler.  Only Vicki (with 2 broken wrists, 2 broken ankles, a severed ear, a 7 inch head wound, and a 5 inch x 8 inch leg wound that will probably lead to amputation) and 2 others survived.  The other 19, including her husband, were sucked out by the 250 mile/hr winds.  The last words her husband said to her were, "I'm not going to make it.  I love you.  Remember Psalm 91."  So, I ask you, and I ask myself, what words would you have to say in the last minute?  Would you, would I, leave a lasting impact?  A few men on our team built a ramp for Vicki.  She was thankful but do you know what the only thing she asked for was?  A Bible.

Beautiful Inside and Out...

Liv is already calling herself a 3rd grader.  She had a better school year than Donny and I could have ever hoped for.  She made friends galore, worked so very hard at her schoolwork, and settled into Texas in a way that only could be God's handiwork.



She was thrilled to attend her first Daddy-Daughter Dance in February.  She and Donny danced, made a craft, and enjoyed being together.




EVERY quarter, Olivia was on the A Honor Roll and received recognition for getting homework done. 




Liv still loves her American Girl Doll, Kit.  She takes such good care of her and has made Kit a part of our family.  For a year now, Liv has saved money from lost teeth, chores, and holidays to buy Julie, another American Girl Doll.  Tonight, however, on her own, she chose to give a substancial amount of her "Julie Money" to an offering for an orphanage in India.  What a blessing to a Mommy's and Daddy's hearts.  I can't imagine how big her Heavenly Father is smiling.



The school awards keep coming...



Olivia is the one out of the four of us who has the most "pool endurance."  She would sleep in there if we let her!  She, too, is snorkeling, swimming under water, doing handstands, and creating water games for us to play.




Morgan, Olivia, and Victoria at our church Easter Eggstravaganza. 
Olivia adores going to church and seeing her small group friends there.




Liv and I went on a field trip to Dallas World Aquarium with her class.  What a special day!
Olivia, Gilly, Avery, and Teri.




More aquarium smiles...
Lilly, Gilly, Alana, and Liv




The night before Olivia was to start  2nd grade, Donny and I spent a long time praying for her new teacher, Mrs. Petros.  God answered our prayers above and beyond...




The last day of 2nd grade at Rosemeade Elementary.




Liv is the best big sister that has ever been.  She teaches Boston, helps him build things, answers his endless questions, and makes him sweet little crafts on a daily basis.

If you were here in Dallas with us just for a day, you would first notice Olivia's beautiful blue eyes, her tanned skin, and missing front teeth.  However, if you were able to stay a few more hours, your attention would quickly leave the outer beauty and be captivated by her inner beauty.  She spent time this year telling her friends about Jesus, making us laugh with her jokes, learning about fractions and friction, memorizing Scripture, perfecting her jump roping, learning Origami, writing love-filled acrostic poems, and growing into a girl that makes us so proud.  We are so thankful that God is sharing His girl with us!



Wish You Could Watch Him Grow...

Boston has had an absolutely amazing year!  He is eagerly awaiting kindergarten but fully enjoying his summer - usually falling asleep the minute his head hits the pillow.



Mrs. Seaton was an answer to our prayers.  Boston loved every minute of preschool and is one smart boy!!



Bos LOVES to swim and does so HOURS a day!  He dives, snorkels, does handstands & flips, and is currently working on swimming on his back.



Boston's sense of humor can be seen and heard all day long.  He keeps us in stitches!!




What could be better for a boy...turning 5 and having a Valentine's Day Party at school!!!




The A's were a fun t-ball team to watch!  Boston is a great player and worked so hard at every practice and game.





The last day of preschool.




Coach Vince, Boston, and the treasured trophy.
As parents, we were so proud of Boston when Coach said he would like to have 12 Bostons on his team. 



Both kids are hard workers at school work but Bos is still in the "I love homework" phase.  Liv has smartened up a bit.  Ha!

It is a pleasure to be Boston's Momma.  He is working hard to be a gentleman - running to hold open doors for people, carrying in groceries without being asked, and getting out Liv's breakfast things before she wakes up.  He has an extremely developed vocabulary saying things like, "I didn't mean literally," "at one point," and "as a matter of fact".  We love to watch him play sports as he tries so hard to learn and get better.  One of his new favorite activities is doing his devotion book.  It is his first "write in" devotion book for boys and he feels so grown up filling in the blanks.  He eats more fruit snacks than anyone I know and burns them off 5 minutes after throwing the package away.  He really likes to sing and did an amazing job learning all the songs and motions for his school program.  I wish all of you could watch him grow on a daily basis like we have the privilege of doing.  God has a divine plan for Boston's life and it is amazing to see it beginning to play out - even at age 5!

In Sweet Memory

4 generations

Olivia, Jamie, Mom, Grandma

(taken at my brother's wedding)

On Tuesday, our family had the sweet, sweet chance to honor my Grandma Nevison.  Just over a year ago, Grandma passed away.  As we have found such purpose in being here in Dallas to care for and love on my Grandpa Nevison we have wanted to keep the memories of Grandma "alive."  My grandma had such a green thumb.  I remember visiting her in TX when I was young and playing in her garden, eating veggies that she had grown, and hearing her tell others what they needed to do to make their gardens grow.

We planted a "Belle of Georgia" peach tree in our yard on Tuesday.  This tree will bloom each March and produce white peaches each August.  What a special way to remember Grandma. 

Grandpa Nevison in front of Grandma's tree. 

Here is the story of Grandma Nevison as I shared at her funeral last March...
"Good morning, I am Jamie Loughry, Doris Nevison's only granddaughter.  Thank you for being here to honor my grandma.  When my friends in Kentucky found out that Grandma had passed away, they sadly asked, "Was this the grandma that is in all your stories?"  You see, my grandma will forever be the most famous grandma around.  How could she not be?  What other grandma sends her granddaughter silverware as a gift for making the college dean's list?  What other grandma sews faster than famous designers and creates vests that literally light up?  What other grandma gives her teenage granddaughter a red, felt, pleated skirt "because every girl needs one" or makes Little House on the Prairie bonnets?  What other grandma could make elephants out of folded sea stars and dogs from clam shells?  What other grandma wraps Christmas presents in tube socks and has so much joy for life that she calls everything 'fabulous'?  I could go on, but I'm sure that by now you understand why people in so many states and countries, who have never even met my grandma, are saddened by our loss.  Matt and I were blessed with a one-of-a-kind grandma.  A grandma who honored God by growing lucious gardens and caring for His creation.  A grandma who stayed true to her husband for over 66 years.  A grandma that stood out not because she tried to but because she used the gifts she was given to make a difference.  Grandma was the perfect match for grandpa.  She was the teacher who passed on so many talents and strengths to my mom.  She was the traveler and go-getter that often caused my brother and I to smile and declare, " that's how we want to grow old."  She was the eclectic dresser that now inspires her great-granddaughter to dress in purple from head-to-toe.  She was the amazing gardener whose love for dirt lives on as her great-grandson is continiously covered in mud while digging holes in the backyard.  Grandma will be sorely missed but you can be guaranteed that the story she wrote with the life God gave her will never be forgotten."

Take A Look!

I just cleaned off my camera and realized I had never shared these pictures.  Enjoy!!

Christmas at Nana & Poppy's House with the cousins!

Liv on the 4-wheeler with Poppy and Bos on the inner tube having the time of his life!

Bos would have done this for HOURS if we let him!

The first year she didn't cry while talking with Santa!  Isn't she beautiful?!!

Christmas Eve jammies

Look what Nana made Liv and Kit!  Adorable!

Boston's present from Daddy

Daddy Daughter Dance

Absolutely gorgeous!  (Her daddy looked good too but I didn't get that picture...)

"I'm FIVE!"

Boston's party with us at home.

Friend party at Chuck-E-Cheese's

Bos ADORES skee-ball...however, sometimes the ball goes a bit wild!

Cake for party with friends...It's out of this world!

I LOVE this picture!  His little tongue sticking out and that mischievous look on his face!  That's Boston, through and through!

God has blessed our kiddos with sweet friends here in TX.  We are blessed!  Truly.