So much to be thankful for!!!....

Isn't this the most amazing picture. The twins are doing so well and growing, almost 1 more pound each. They are about 2 lbs 13 oz each. I am told they will be taken off the IVS end of this week. We are truly blessed and so excited. They are also 5 weeks old. We appreciate all the prayers in their behalf. What a wonderful Thanksgiving we will have!!

LOVE THOSE FEET

AVA MCKEL

EMMA LYNNE

TWINS ARE EARLY

What a crazy past month. My son and daughter in law's twins decided to come early..... 3 months early. The twins were born October 14th at 1:30 pm and 1:33 pm in the afternoon. I couldn't believe the excitement they caused. They had to call in extra nurses and 2 Paediatricians to assist in the delivery. They also had to find air flight transportation to fly them to Spokane Sacred Heart to receive special preemie care. I thought they would only need one helicopter for both of them, no they needed two. One isn't big enough. They could only find one helicopter and finally found a jet from Seattle to come and take the other one. It has been a scary 3 week journey, but they are both beginning to do well.

It is so amazing the wonderful care they are getting at Scared Heart Hospital Spokane WA!!!They are so tiny. Ava was 1LB 13 oz and Emma was 1lb and 10 oz. Each about 13 to 14 inches long. They have had so many complication going on. In fact they have their own website you can visit at caringbridges.org/visit/avaandemmabarnes. They are such fighters....Ava has had heart surgery, both have had abdomen surgery and just many concerns to doctors and nurses not to mention their parents and family. There was a couple of times we were told they wouldn't make it!! But they are now doing wonderful now!!

I truly believe in the power of prayers!!! I am so thankful this day to know their is a God who is with us to assist in comforting us in our hours of need and help. So many prayers have been said in their behalf I am ever grateful. Thanks to so many who care and love our families.

Grandma is so proud....now we have 8 beautiful grandchildren!!! It can't get any better than that!!!

This is our new yard....next Spring we will add lawn around the fire pit, raised garden box and trampoline...isn't it just wonderful. No more weeds to pull.

We will paint the swing set and add other fun things to it as well..

SUMMERS PROJECT A REALITY

Summer is at a close and my favorite time of year is here .....Fall. I am so proud to say we have accomplished our goals we set in the Spring for the Summer.



This is very excited to me. You see my husband never does yard work, in fact for 30 years I have done all the yard work. But this year he has totally amazed me! Ralph, my husband, in the spring, had talked about some summer projects out side he wanted to do. As he went on talking I thought ( 'sounds great but wouldn't happen) . We are always taking and dreaming and never accomplishing very fast. We were definitely going to put in the sprinkler system and I felt I was lucky to get that and never expected any more. To my amazement and with the help of our son who lives at home still and my other son who lives not far from us, this became a reality!



My husband had a vision of a great yard for our children and grandchildren to play in and it became a reality. Everyday I look out side at our yard and am so proud of what we accomplished...it is just beautiful. We now have a wonderful out door fire pit. A raised garden bed. A trampoline safe in the ground. We have put in a lawn under our huge swingset (that use to be dirt and weeds) and had sprinklers put in all round the yard. Our yard is a wonderful place to play. ( We do want to put in more lawn around all these new things next Spring.) This is a major accomplishment for us! It took from May to September a few early morning hours each Saturday because our old bodies couldn't do more than that. It was back breaking work, in fact I never shoveled so much dirt in my life but it was so worth it.



It was funny Ralph also thought we could paint our large swing set and the house as well but later made the comment: "maybe I am expecting too much from us!" (Maybe this Fall we can do those things.) The wonder thing about all this, my husband is really trying to improve our home. You see he has diabetes and his legs haven't the circulation they once had. And for him to work outside and help create this wonder backyard is amazing to me. I believe it has brought us even closer together! Our children will really enjoy it when they come to visit. He has now carried that energy back into the house to work on the bathroom downstairs (a long on going project). And it looks like that reality will come true, hopefully by Christmas. I truly love him for his vision and effort! What a man!! ( I will include a picture of our yard)