Sunday Delight

"Hope" is the thing with feathers

That perches in the soul-

And sings the tune without words

And never stops- at all.

-Emily Dickinson

It's Rodeo Time!!!

In April {yes- I'm running a little bit behind!} Granny and Grandpa came and we went to the rodeo in Bryan! We were pretty excited because Sam and Lili were signed up for Muttin' Bustin'. I honestly didn't even know what muttin' bustin' was, so I was pretty excited! {We are easily amused!}

Here is my little cowboy. Thanks so much to Sam for passing along his beautiful boots! Bryson LOVES them and wears them every chance he gets- including trying to wear them to bed.

All dressed for the rodeo and ready to go!

There was a petting zoo! Bryson loves animals so he was in Heaven!

Three generations of Ruple men.

Riding the ponies...

Maddie, Lili, and Bryson

Feeding the cow. It actually said MOO while Bryson was feeding it- he was so excited!

Matt, Alina, Barbara, and Kristin

Bryson with his arm around Maddie. Jared wasn't too happy about this- of course all the moms were loving it!

Annabel, Lili, Reagan, Maddie, and Bryson

Bryson loved watching the rodeo events. I was amazed at how still he sat and how focused he was- I have NEVER seen him like that! He clapped after every event. So cute!

And then they were holding hands...  :)

Bryson and Maddie went out into the arena to participate in the calf scramble. Bryson mainly just ran around- but I think he had a blast! One time a calf came so close to him {running full speed} we all thought he was going to be trampled! After I recovered from my near heart attack, we all laughed. I guess he is a true cowboy now! :)

Sam Muttin' Bustin'! He did great!

Scott, Sam, Eric, and Lili waiting for the results...

And of course we had to ride the pony one more time...

Already looking forward to the rodeo next year!

Sunday Delight

Sunday is definitely my favorite day of the week. It means church, family, friends, and relaxing at home. Today it meant singing in church with my boy, a church picnic, visiting with a sweet family, discovering baby watermelons in the garden, and a slip-and-slide.

I'm going to try to start having a "Sunday Delight" post every Sunday. Each week I will post one picture of something that makes me happy. God has done so much for us and I want to make sure that I'm documenting at least a few of these blessings along the way...

My picture this week is one of my favorites of all time. When my Grandma Shirley passed away I ended up with her Bible. I love that Bible so much. It has all of her hand-written notes in the margins, as well as a complete record of every birth, baptism, marriage, and death in our family since 1948 when she received it. It shows how much her faith really meant to her {and I can't help but wonder what story my Bible will tell after I'm gone??}.

I have had Grandma's Bible for four years now. Not long ago I was flipping through the pages when I came across this picture. It is weird that I never noticed it before. It is the one and only picture that was tucked away in the pages of the book she treasured so dearly.

When I was little we went to the beach every year, and every year as far back as I can remember my grandma came with us. Each morning she would wake me up before anyone else and we would go for a long walk. We would talk and laugh and look for treasures on the uncombed beach- just me and her. It was my one of my very favorite things about our trips. I will always be thankful for those early mornings with that sweet lady I loved so much. I miss her more than words can express, but I know that she is probably walking on the beaches in Heaven with my sweet Caroline at this very moment. Thankful for my Grandma's faith and for mine; and for the certainty I have in knowing that I will be with two of my favorite girls again one day.

Happy Sunday!

Changes All Around

Wow. It has been almost a month since I have blogged! I think that is the longest I have ever gone between posts. But with good reason- we have been BUSY. Summer is in full swing and with two {basically} new jobs I have not had much time to sit, let alone sit down at the computer.
I have been working for a home health company on a prn basis for a couple of months now. I LOVE it, as I always have loved home health, but it is too up and down with the amount of hours they can provide. I decided to sort-of look for something else. Once again God was so faithful in providing another job opportunity. A friend {that I actually hired to work at Choice Home Care when I was the Director there} had a wonderful job, but was moving and needed someone to take over. Long story short-- I took in my resume and was hired! I am officially the Wellness Director at an Assisted Living Facility and am loving it so much. We have 23 sweet little residents, each with their own little apartments. They eat in the dining room three times a day, and participate in all different activities throughout the day. They are so precious and are always up for visiting. There is music playing constantly, and we even have a dog and a cat that live there with their owners. I cannot say enough about this job. It is 22 hours/week {which has also worked out perfectly!}. I am responsible for overseeing the aides and medication aides, communicating with the doctors, and the general wellness of our residents.
It has also been a blessing to be able to refer a few of our patients to Compassionate Care Hospice. This week I have seen several of my old employees {many of whom I have not gotten to see since the day I left Compassionate Care after I got the phone call about Caroline's diagnosis from Dr. Bertsch}. It has been so refreshing to see these amazing people. They have been my safety net- just supporting me from close enough so that I know they are there, but far enough to allow us time to grieve and return to our new normal. I have been so happy to see each of them.
I have also really gotten to know one of the families of one of the patients I referred to hospice. The patient's daughter and her husband attend her church, and they are just great people. Today the dying man's wife told me that he told her not to be sad for him when he dies. He said "that will be his greatest promotion yet." What an amazing way to view this life and the next. Talk about perspective. I couldn't get those words out of my head this afternoon, and also kept thinking about my Caroline and the verse in the Bible that talks about the stillborn baby being better off than all of us.
I am again in awe of God's overwhelming presence in my life and the comfort that He provides daily.
In my Hope devotional book, it says this:

"On the day we are born, we enter a pain-saturated, sin-scarred, darkness-loving soul-depriving existence for a determined number of years. On the day of our death, if we are believers, we enter a pain-free, perfect place that is ablaze with the glory of Christ, where our deepest longings and joys are fulfilled, not for a number of years, but forever. Think about it. Don't dismiss it because of how much you miss someone who is there or because of your fears of the unknown. Allow this truth to ruminate in your heart and illumine your mind. For you, and for the one you love who knows Christ, won't your deathday be your true birthday?"

And the Bible says it like this:

"The day you die is better than the day you are born."
Ecclesiastes 7:1

This is something I have known, something that I have heard preached from the pulpit over and over again. Even though I knew it, it was a different thing entirely to see this man's faith being lived out through his wife today. I am so thankful for this gift and so thankful that I got to be there to witness it. God is so good.

*****

On another note of change, Erin will no longer be keeping Bryson. She is expecting a sweet baby boy in October and has had a few health complications that made her decide to take a break {at least I am telling myself that she will be doing this again by the time we have future children! haha!}. We completely understand and are just sad that our time with her has come to an end. Bryson was not even six months old when she first started keeping him. She let him stay late on several days when we had long trips to Texas Children's Hospital. He also spent the night with her the night before my surgery- she said that he would be most comfortable with them and that she would not take "no" for an answer. Erin has provided a loving Christian environment that was safe and so nurturing. We will be forever grateful for the amazing care she provided.

Bryson was so fortunate to also have Mimi and Mr. David there. I don't  think Mimi has a bigger fan {other than maybe Mykah and Karsyn :) }.

Longmire Learning Center had an opening in Bryson's age group for June 1st. Perfect timing once again! I am nervous and excited for this change. I'm sure it will be much harder on me than it will be on Bryson. Isn't that how it usually works?

*****

Yesterday my sweet Caroline would have been five months old. I miss her so much and think about her every single day. A lot of times I ask God to tell her how much I love her and that I can't wait to be with her. I ask him to just squeeze her for me, and I can't wait for the day that I can do it myself. I am so thankful that she is healthy and whole, and not suffering in any way. His promises are seeing me through.

As a family we are healing a little bit more each day as we try to make our way through this dance of grief and joy. Please continue to pray for us as we have some big decisions to make regarding our family and future children. We know that God already knows what our family will look like in ten years. That is comforting but sometimes the planner in me wants to know now! I am definitely working on patience at this point...

*****

We have a few more weeks of craziness and then hopefully things will level out around here. I am actually loving the craziness, just wish I had a few more hours in my day. I will be trying to catch up on the blog... someday... maybe soon...

Good night!





Give thanks to the Lord...

Bryson's bedroom is still a little bit bare. Tonight we worked on fixing that. I put stickers on a canvas and then Bryson painted it.

 It ended up looking like this!

 Of course we had to play while waiting for the paint to dry...

 Thanks to the breezy weather, it dried pretty quickly. We were even able to hang it up on the wall before bedtime tonight. Jason was standing behind me with Bryson's pacifier trying to get him to smile. I got this shot of the paci in mid air--- at least B is smiling!

Every night when we say our prayers, we start off with "Thank you Jesus for this day." Then we list other things we are thankful for. I thought this verse was perfect to hang above his bed.

"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His love endures forever."

Psalm 136:1

Quick Visit

Last Friday night the Smiths came for a visit! A&M was having their annual Vet School open house, so it was the perfect excuse for them to head to Aggieland.

 Tahrea brought this sweet little stone for my garden.

 Somehow Jake got into the garden and managed to break and snap off several of my plants. Since it was already broken, Tahrea decided to eat some of the lettuce. This was our first official harvest of the season!

 Tahrea and Charis

 Bryson and Kale

 Tahrea and Tyler both celebrated birthdays that week, so we made miniature chocolate chip cheesecakes to celebrate. Charis made the chocolate chips spell out "Happy Birthday!" It was so cute {and amazingly delicious- thank you pinterest!}.

The Whole Gang

 So thankful for these sweet friends!



Garden Progression

April 5th:

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April 8th:

 Squash in bloom!

 Lettuce!

 More asparagus sprouting!

 Towering asparagus...

 Cantaloupe bloom!

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April 12th:

Zucchini!

Squash!

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April 16th:

 Our first cucumber!

 Jason's first jalapeno!

Broccoli!

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We are spending lots of time in our garden. God has provided lots of rain and sunshine, and it has literally exploded right before our very eyes! It is so much fun to explorer the garden every day when we get home. Literally every plant has fruit/veggies except for our cantaloupe {which should produce later in the summer}. We are loving it and just hoping it will survive the bugs and heat this summer!

Bryson loves it, too. We have seen lots of bugs and he has played in the dirt, moving it from place to place, playing the role of helper. It is something to do outside and it definitely keeps B entertained.

Next year I will try not to be this obsessed into it- so I shouldn't be posting pictures of produce so often!

It is looking like we will have lots of fresh veggies this summer! :)