Miracles happen every day...

So the subject speaks for itself. We all know it is true but it doesn't hurt to have real life examples remind us from time to time... here's the story:

Cleo and John - John has cancer. I don't know all the details but he has been in and out of Mayo for awhile now... He needed a liver. So Cleo and John are from South Dakota and whenever they come to Mayo for treatment they stay with my in-laws at their home in Rochester. John and Cleo came into town last week for some routine tests at Mayo and they were planning to stay a few days. This is when the miracle occurs...

Those of you that know about organ donation, know that getting an organ is often a long, grueling process and some people wait on lists for years... John and Cleo were actually at Mayo Clinic for tests when they got a call on their cell phone. There was a liver in the Midwest from a man who had just died. He was in his 30's and the liver was a match. NOTE: When receiving an organ, the recipient can be no more than 6 hours away from the hospital where the transplant would occur. John and Cleo were actually in the hospital when they got the call!!! This sort of thing doesn't JUST HAPPEN!

The transplant went well and John is healing. Please pray that his body accepts the liver and his condition improves...

Don't you just love miracles?!?

It's a bird... It's a plane... NO! It's a water spout!

Have you ever seen one? Well imagine a tornado on water... it was pretty intense. I was sitting on the beach with the girls - ALONE - Adam had gone back to the house to collect Grandma and sure enough while he was gone, this water spout phenomenon occurred right there on the beaches of South Haven, MI (Lake Michigan folks - no need to grab a map.)



Other than the exciting waterspout experience, the weekend at the Blueberry Festival consisted of Emma competing in a HUGGIES race entitled the "Happy Baby Race." The rules require all participants to be crawlers and since Emma hasn't taken a step yet - she was a definite shoe-in! I was hoping she would take the GOLD but half way through the race, she was distracted by a bystander who yelled her name. Poor girl lost her focus and then just stared at the person who hollered at her... Regardless of missing out on the HUGGIES prize, we got an incredible bag full of little baby gifts, snacks, bibs and even some grown up stuff too - all that just for registering for the race! I must say the parents were more entertaining that the tikes themselves. One mom sat at the end of the finish line with a blackberry and laptop and tried to get her little guy to crawl to it - he did and won a place in the finals... Well here's the pics of my sweetie crawling it up...


And she's off...


the moment of distraction...


here are some other highlights of the weekend including time at the beach, hanging out with "aunt jenn" and family... and more!





Can you count the many "roles" of Emma?