Saturday, May 28, 2011

The Ward Family



Melody Ward, mother of 5 and pregnant with number 6, has recently been through something more traumatic than I could ever imagine. It must have felt like a bitter end on May 22nd when she and her young family huddled together in their basement in Joplin Missouri while the sirens blasted and the merciless, deadly tornado buried them in what was once their home. I cannot imagine being a pregnant mom, trying to comfort your frightened children in the midst of that.


They were luckier than some in that they were all rescued, and whilst they are all injured, they are all alive.



They've lost their home and all their possessions.







They are traumatized and shaken.




But they refuse to be defeated. This is an inspirational family, full of faith and hope. I'm not the only person to have been reduced to tears, inspired and amazed by observing their resilience and incredibly positive attitude through this disaster.

If you are also moved by their story, there is a relief effort which has been very touching to see the generosity of people in supporting this beautiful family. You can get involved here
http://wardfamilyrelief.com/
You can even donate via paypal, starting at $5

There is also an address for donating items like kids clothes, toys, homeschooling curriculum, walmart cards etc.

And you can also help by praying for them. Pray that God will meet their physical needs and also pray that He will help heal their emotional wounds. I can't imagine the nightmares those kids must be having, while their mom recovers in hospital. Please support this family in prayer.

Sorry for my poor writing tonight. It's late, I'm tired and the laptop is misbehaving, but I wanted to make sure and share this family with you all.



Tuesday, May 3, 2011

a mom's lego table. I made it.

I'm finally getting round to posting pics of this moms lego table that I made in March. I've been super busy lately, with the building stuff. I have a bunch of things to show you. I've just been lazy with getting photos uploaded.

I found this plan on anawhite.com and I needed to build it. It's a great design, a sophisticated coffee table with hidden storage for kids legos or other toys. I needed decent storage for blocks and legos, because I was constantly finding them strewn all over my house, upstairs and downstairs. They weren't able to play with them because they were never together in a set.  This project instantly moved up to top place on my todo list and I got it done.

I must admit, I'm quite pleased with it, and with myself. Here's the finished product.





This is how it began its life - as a pile of wood.




I drilled and glued and screwed.








And then I had myself a table.





March was an awkward month, on cold days I stained in the garage.



On warm ones I was able to do it out in the sunshine.



And then it was complete.





















The kids all love it. We take out blocks from time to time, then...put them all back when we're done. What a novel idea!




Monday, May 2, 2011

Highlights

I had a long, eloquent post written out last night, but I deleted it in a rash decision which I now sort of regret.

I don't really have the umption to write it out again, so I'll spare all the decorative bits tying it all together and I'll give you the highlights:

- I'm almost 30. I only have a couple days left. I'm not happy about it in the slightest.

- Rene shouted out "wedgie" in the middle of church simply because he had one, and didn't seem to understand the reason for the look of horror on my face.

Yeah, I think that was pretty much all that was noteworthy. The rest was boring rambling.

Oh, I'll throw in a pic of my boys, cause they look so cute just now. Here's what they're doing this very minute.