Spinal Tap and Clark Griswold

Yup....that's us, the only 2 cars in the parking lot of the TREE farm. This lot is usually jam packed full with a skinny car trail down the center. Were it, us and the owners car.

SUCCESS!

My brother John and his family.

Do you see the glowing light around the "perfect" tree?

My 4 Blessings

The Ferrick Fam...

What a great weekend! Bella is feeling great and very much her little self again. Still not standing or walking, but very happy and content. Tomorrow she has another Bone Marrow draw and Spinal Tap for chemo. As a reminder, the first place these inactive Leukemia cells try to hide in is the spinal fluid. So last month Bella received chemo in her spine every two weeks, this month, she will have weekly spinal taps. I know all this sounds awful, but be rest assured, she feels nothing. We spend 1/2 a day at the hospital, but they "knock her out" for both the bone marrow and spinal tap". She goes to sleep in her Mama's arms and wakes up in her Mama's arm's. She has no residual pain from the procedure, only from the chemo. In the big picture, its all good and the hospital staff is incredibly wonderful. I just praise God all the time for His provision in getting our sweet girl home before this attack on her body took place. She could not be in better place for medical care.

On Saturday, my brother John and I and our families decided we would "beat the crowds" and cut down the annual family Christmas Tree. Every year, we head out on "Black Friday" after the girls are done shopping to tromp through the tree farm and find the perfect "Clark Griswold" Christmas Tree. Most years, we buy it off the lot as the best tree's have already been cut down. As you read this story, keep in mind this little venture was my idea, and because my brothers "heart is bigger than his brain", he agreed.

We got a late start, John was ahead of us on the road by about 5 minutes. I got a phone call from John "Sue, I just punched Marty Moose in the face". I laughed and kept talking and again I heard "No Sus, I really punched Marty Moose in the face, their closed, Opening Day is Friday". Between the two of us, we have 8 kids bundled up in their winter gear in the hopes and dreams of getting "The Tree". We have driven 40 minutes out of town and my sister and brother-in-law are on their way out to meet us for dinner after wards. John said there were workers outside, so I encouraged him to wait for us and Dave would talk to the workers and see if they would at least let us tag our tree to be cut on Friday. We pulled up to John's car at the tree farm and I yelled out the window "FIRST IN LINE"! Of course, my adorable smooth talking husband got the owner to let us cut down our trees. Not only that, we got to drive our vans all the way out to the Frazier Fur area. We avoided the crowds and didn't have to wait for the hay ride out to the trees and the dragging of the tree back to the front of the farm....we just drove on back. They even bailed the trees for us. Only my family. In case you do not know who Clark Griswold is or Marty Moose, its from the movie "Christmas Vacation" with Chevy Chase. This is an all time favorite of my family, if you have never seen it, I highly suggest you rent it this Christmas Season.

I heard a great quote today on our Christian Radio Station. "When God is seen small, problems seem big." We tend to focus on the problem and take our eye's off Christ. We underestimate the power of a Holy and Almighty God, we forget that if He created the heavens and the earth, He can certainly fix our problems. We turn to our flesh and how we can fix things instead of turning to His Word and confessing His promise for our life and believing Him for it. I am guilty of this as well, but with every big and little problem that comes my way, I lean closer and closer to Him as I know the success of His Word. It was a good reminder to me to turn that quote around and say "With every little problem, God's glory is shown bigger"!