Ask and you will receive...

There are things we will do when it is for our children that we would not do for anyone else in the world. Right? My kids can ask/require anything of me -- anything -- and if it is within my power, and in their best interests, I will do my best to accomplish it.

Lifting Benjamin in his leg splints and abductor pillow (picture legs spread out and unable to bend), with multiple incisions on each was daunting for me. Daunting is probably putting it mildly. I was scared to death the first time we got him up in the hospital. And fear and strength are complete opposites. Complete. I couldn't do it. I had to have help the first two times. I was furious with myself. And (did I say it already?) scared to death. Because I knew I had to be able to lift him. The third time was much better -- first of all, his epidural was gone, so I knew I wasn't hurting THAT, and I had prayed for stubborn strength. I picked up this boy I love so and gently put him in his wheelchair all by myself! I knew I could (I knew I could, I knew I could...)

Of course, Grammie (my mom) is the same way with her grands. So when Claire called and requested some White Lily flour, Grammie was determined to oblige! Now this request might seem strange to some -- but my girl loves to cook. She loves it. At her age, I was not interested in the kitchen at all. I think I was convinced that to be anything I wanted to be (the mantra for girls growing up in the 1970s.) meant I shouldn't be in the kitchen. Thank goodness for a new era -- an era where my daughters KNOW they can do anything they want to do BUT realize one of life's greatest gifts is getting to be wife and mommy.

OK, I digress. Claire loves to try new recipes. She reads cookbooks for pleasure. She adapts and changes and adds to recipes to try new things -- to amazing success! So when she read in one of her cookbooks that White Lily Flour is THE choice of southern cooks, she was determined to try it. However, we are living in the Southwest....not the SOUTH...and we have yet to find any White Lily Flour at any of our local stores. So what did this girl do? She called her Grams.

And Grammie...well, she packed two bags of White Lily Flour in her suitcase (between the boxes of grits...) and headed to the airport! I am certain that it takes a southern-speaking grandmother who also has grits packed in her suitcase to get away with carrying flour on an airplane. But she did it. And my girls could not have been any happier with a gift!

So, Claire (with Cate's help, of course) has made cookies, banana bread, lemon squares and some of the most amazing brownies you have ever tasted! I'm not sure how much longer this shipment of White Lily will last -- but we may have to diet afterward!

Girls cooking special treats for Benjamin's final meal before his surgery!

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil know how to give good gifts to our children, how much more will our Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" Luke 7: 7-11

Aren't we blessed to have a Father even more willing to meet our needs than a mommy caring for her son, or a grandmother for her grandchildren? Thank you for asking our heavenly Father to make Benjamin's surgery and recovery go so smoothly! I know his daily improvement is a direct result of loved ones asking -- and a Father who answers!!