Irises in full bloom '08!

The picture on the blog today is our house showing the irises that you can see from the street. The blue and white ones are in full bloom and will continue for about a week. Then they’re done. The others in front of the house are mostly rebloomers and I have some more rebloomers in the back yard. They will bloom more and off and on until Thanksgiving. They bring me so much pleasure! Remember, you can click on the picture and you'll get a larger version for closer inspection if you like.

Today is the day that Don is going through Davy’s business with him and I’m going to see the cleft team with Trish and Raynie to learn of the plan for Raynie’s surgery. We expect them to want to do it around her birthday in July. We’ll see. She’s doing great. Due to her cleft palate, she has never been able to nurse, the only one of Tricia’s children who hasn’t. However, Trish has been committed to her having mother’s milk, so she has diligently pumped and fed her from a special bottle. She has pumped all she could, for fear that if she didn’t her milk would dry and she wouldn’t have enough to get Raynie through her surgery at least. So, she has ended up with a freezer running over with mother’s milk! She found a couple in another town who needed mother’s milk for their son who wasn’t doing well on formula and his mother couldn’t make enough milk for him. So, she has given them a cooler full of milk twice and he has gained 3 pounds; she said, “Maybe that’s why Raynie was born unable to nurse, so we could feed him, too.” Besides all the grandkids, we’re still proud of our kids because they think like that!

Trish sent me a quote today: “Things turn out best for the people who make the best out of the way things turn out.” - Art Linkletter Somehow I see that fits HER to a T; she has sure made a wonderful thing out of Raynie being born with a cleft palate! I am so proud of her! I know that today will be a good day with our visit to the cleft team. Raynie is a darling and Trish is prepared to get all the information and work the plan.

We are also so proud of Davy. He’s an amazing father and husband and he’s just unbelievable in his business. I hate that I can’t go tour the business, but it would all be over my head anyway. Don will explain it to me, but the bottom line is he deals with electrical equipment. Not appliances, but big huge stuff that I don’t even know exists, let alone know how it works. He does, though. I’m amazed. We’re pleased to get to spend a night visiting with him before he goes home for the weekend. It’s nice to have a place to hang our hats while we’re gone to Don’s reunion, too. I’ll catch you up on all the details when we get home.

We thank God for precious family and for these two who live close enough to us that we can see 8 of our grandkids pretty often. We thank God for the opportunity to catch up with the other three kids and 7 grandchildren throughout the year. This year we’re making up for lost time last year! Woo Hoo!