Life on Dandelion Drive

While Scott and I were in Virginia getting our first born all settled in at college, her two little sisters were in the care of Grandma, Papa and some of the most fun staff kids from camp!

They had fun going to the mall, eating who knows what and having a camp staff slumber party at our house! Grandma and Papa handled the first two days of school while we were gone. I have *never* missed the first day of school...ever.

But, we needed to be with Shae! Lindsay and Anna had a small gift to open each day that we were gone. Anna called each day to report which gifts were opened that day, she never said she missed us!!!

and they did fine without me. {what self-respecting "helicopter mom" wants to hear that?!}

So far 6th and 7th graders are doing great! I am so glad my girls LOVE going to school.

On Tuesday I was running some errands (and I forgot my cell phone, of course!) I stopped by Dottie's house and while I was there Scott called. Dottie got a nervous look on her face and handed me the phone.

Scott was calling from inside an ambulance!! My heart sunk. He reassured me that everything was okay, but that Lindsay had fainted on the playground at school and had turned blue!

All I could think of was we have been down that road before Lord, PLEASE don't take her NOW!!

I raced to the hospital and went in the same familiar ER door that I had followed the paramedics through 11 years ago with my precious perfect 8 month old baby. She would never be the same again after that visit.

Here we were again. I walked past the very room where she lay in the little crib and I saw the x-rays of her enlarged heart and heard the possible treatment plan of a heart transplant.

This time was different. Praise the Lord!

Lindsay was a little afraid and uneasy about what was happening to her. She did NOT like the IV needle. not.one.bit. She did not like the blood pressure cuff. not.one.bit.

She did not like Shae being so far away...

The IV did the trick! We watched Lindsay "come back to life" {uh, like talking endlessly} with each drop of fluid going into her little body. They ran lots of tests and did a chest x-ray and ran an EKG. Everything was fine!

She was very dehydrated, which makes sense since it was 110 that day!

She loved the fact that she was in room 12 because she is 12. It was adorable when they asked her how old she was, "Twelve...almost thirteen" was her reply! Sounds like "normal" kid's response, doesn't it?? She was ready to get out of there too.

Lindsay took the next day off from school but this morning she was ready to go. She told me, "I bet all my friends were worried about me!" I know she's right about that!

What a precious, gentle reminder from Our Heavenly Father to cherish the gifts he gives us.

"A man's heart plans his way but The Lord directs his steps."

Proverbs 16:9

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Liberty Girl

Well, we did it. We took our daughter to Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, moved her in...and came home without her.

She is unbelievably, ecstatically happy there!!!

Liberty has grown so much since Scott and I were students! It's hard to believe there are 10,000 students on campus!!! What an exciting place!

Shae and Devyn Horsley (we went to LU with her parents!!) by the Liberty sign, the must have picture!

We went to the Lynchburg Target 759 times I think...

Shae is in dorm 21, it is the building on the right. She has already tripped on those stairs too (she says "tripped" but her knee has a nasty wound, so I think she FELL!! haha).

We were walking around campus the day after we arrived in town and when we went to see if the dorm was open...it WAS! We were able to get her key that day and start getting moved in!!!

Her room is next door to the RA's room and across from the bathroom!

Shae and Devyn with their RAs~ Hillary and Andrea. Looks to be a fun year!!

We could NOT believe that Devyn's room was right next door to Shae's! They have been talking via Facebook and Skype since we found out that both were headed to Liberty but they actually met in REAL LIFE when they moved into the dorm. Instant friendship. Seems like they have known each other forever!

Scott and I enjoyed hanging out with Devyn's parents all week too! Those boys were put to work running errands, moving furniture and hanging curtains while we "helicopter Moms" got to work organizing and micro-managing.

{Scott only had to tell me to land my helicopter a few times...} For the most part, Shae and Scott let me do my thing. They knew that the room was my coping mechanism.

Shae and Devyn with the Dorm 21-1 SLDs (Spiritual Life Directors-Devyn's mom, Shannon was one of these when she was at LU!) Shae kept saying that the one on the left looked familiar...we later found out that she has been to our camp as a counselor with Word Of Life for a couple summers!!

Here is the happily moved-in girl. Her roommate was out of town until our last day there so I didn't get to {hover} help her move in. So far there are only 2 instead of 3 in Shae's room which makes it VERY roomy!

The view out of the window.....the steps to the dining hall where lots of boys pass on the way to their dorms! hahaha

Desk area

So far Shae has been super neat and clean!!

This bed is usually lofted with a dresser and desk under it, but since there are only 2 in this room so far, we lowered the bed and put the extra desk under it so they keep the drawer space and have move floor space.

The closets are much bigger than I remember (but we had 4 in a room and shared this closet! They have also added the nice shelves which are very deep and hold a lot!!!

Curtains hide a multitude of "closet" sins...

I was NOT leaving Lynchburg without eating at Amanda (Miller) Pate's restaurant! We went to City Place Food & Co. in Wyndhurst for breakfast the day before we left. I had the most scrumptious fresh fruit and yogurt with homemade (unbelievably good) granola!

While we were there, Scott gave Shae a precious gift. The card was as much a gift with the words he wrote. *tears*

He got Shae a diamond solitaire necklace. It is beautiful! In the card he said how glad he was that he could be the first guy to give her a diamond and how he prays she will be careful who she choses to accept the next one from.

{the bar has been set pretty high for any boy that comes into my daughters' lives}

We finally had the pleasure of meeting precious Kara, Shae's roommate (Kara's dad is Shae's Evangelism prof.!!)! She is 4'11" to Shae's 5'10". What a blessing to have such a godly, sweet girl to live with for Shae's Freshman year at Liberty! These girls will have a lot of fun this year...and study a lot I am sure!

"So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live in Him, rooted and built up in Him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with Thankfulness."

Col. 2:6-7

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Best.Group.Of.The.Summer.

Last weekend was our staff's most favorite group of the summer...Special Ed Camp!

It is the most rewarding weekend of the whole summer. Several "Group Homes" of special needs adults get together and organize the weekend for their clients. They eat candy bar after candy bar and drink sodas galore all weekend. They ride go karts, swim, go down the water slide, tie dye t- shirts, have {the most precious} talent show and the last night they have a dance!

Our staff takes this dance VERY seriously! Most of the girls dress up and they all have a ball!

This year Tyler asked Shae to go!! Hahahahahaha

He even brought her flowers! He was planning to pick her up in the golf cart, but it wasn't working, so he tried the mower...but it was broken too!

Here they are doing the "awkward first date pose."

At the last minute Leanne came out of the dorm so she joined in on the "date".

Off they went to the "Rec Hall" for the big event.

Tyler has endless energy and he whirled Shae around a few times, at one point he was in the middle of a circle of ALL the dancers busting a move!

Bill danced with every single one of our staff girls I think! He is a real ladies' man! Crystal is so adorable with that sweet smile, no wonder he came to ask her to dance!

Corbyn, our Texas boy, got into the action even though it wasn't his taste in music!!

My mom and dad were there for the whole dance, and they even danced!! Hahaha. This is their little friend, Lynette. Every day at breakfast she asked, "Where's John and that other lady?" "Can you call them?"

Jack Doney surprised us with his moves (all 6'7" of him!) He took Anna for a dance! He was our wonderful worship leader all summer. He is headed back to Liberty University this year.

Sweet Gavin said, "Hey baby girl" to Shae every time he saw her and zoomed in on her right when she arrived at the dance. His brother was also a camper (my heart goes out to their parents having two special needs kids, but what precious boys!)

The LP Staff had a blast!!

This is Shae with (Gavin's brother) Josh and her favorite camper, Adam!

Two years ago, Adam came up to camp for the day time, he was so shy! Now he lives in what we call, "The Cool House" with all the cool special needs guys! The staff at that house are the coolest guys, that's why the clients are such ladies' men!

My little "special" girl had a fantastic time too! She danced with Micah and her Daddy and Grandpa even got a dance with her!

I am so amazed how God prepared me for the path that my life would take.

He knew that Lassen Pines would provide the unconditional love Lindsay (and all of us as her family) would need to feel from all of our sweet staff each summer. They step in to help her to the bathroom, get her food and get her back to me when she wanders off. He knew that the worries about what life would be like as Lindsay gets older would be extinguished by my experiences with these campers. The gap between Lindsay and other kids her age is getting bigger with each passing year but it's comforting to know that she has a bright future and a lot of fun experiences ahead of her, and she will have her own peer group!

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A Ladies Luncheon

My Mother-in-law, Dottie, has been wanting to have Shae and her friends over for lunch since the beginning of their senior year. Something always came up and made it impossible!

Since my sister-in-law, Laurie, is in town from Dallas, Dottie thought it would be fun to do it this week. The girls, except Alyssa (we missed you!) were all able to make it yesterday. Shae drove down from camp after breakfast~we have 600 campers this week!

The table was beautifully decorated (my SIL is amazingly talented at tablescapes, so is Dottie)

Each girl had a gift tied with a name card hand written with a verse chosen especially for them!

Shae's place had a precious zebra picture frame with a picture of her with her Grandma in it. (and it will match her dorm room decor!)

We had Shae's favorite meal that Dottie makes~it's called "Japanese Dinner". (Wish I had taken pictures of the food!) It is rice with chicken and many toppings that you pass around and then you pour hot chicken gravy over all of it and it is DE-lish! She also made Shae's very most favorite thing~German Chocolate Cake, her recipe is THE BEST!

Next year Shae will be in VA, Laura will be in TN, but Rachel and Maeghan will be at Simpson University here in town. Oh how I will miss being a part of these girls' lives every day!

Thank you Dottie and Laurie for making everything so beautiful and so special for the girls!! Everything was delicious and it was fun to get away from camp and enjoy a quiet meal this summer!

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