Edward and Elisha are 13 today!!! Wow!!

Thought I'd give you a "real-time" experience here on my blog! Edward and Elisha our beloved twins are 13 today! Here's a peek into how their morning has gone.

On the menu for their birthday breakfast:

homemade chocolate chip Belgian waffles
maple sausage links
orange juice
coffee

After breakfast we enjoyed our family present opening time!

Presenting one of our newest teenagers---Elisha Marie!

Presenting our other newest teenager---Edward Joseph!

Enjoy your breakfast!!!

Rosie says...."Happy birthday and I'd love a bite of your waffle!!"

Edward got a leatherman!

Elisha enjoys some playmobil!

Elisha also enjoys a new vision forum doll....Fidelia!

Edward got some playmobil, too!

 I'll post more as the day goes on! Enjoy your glimpse!

Here is a glimpse of our afternoon!

Our beloved birthday twins!

One of Elisha's favorite gifts today was a Vision Forum character doll named Fidelia! She's beautiful!

On the menu for lunch....Edward's pick...Loaded nachos! Yum!

 I'll post more in the evening!

Okay...so the evening is here...and what a wonderful day we had! On the menu for supper:
Broccoli and Cheese Soup in a Bread Bowl, and then off to the Bubble in Wolfeboro to meet up with family and friends for icecream!

Martha joined us for dinner and the Bubble!

We were soooo excited to have Brittany and Marlie join us at the Bubble. Chris had to work late.

Aunt Pat joined us, too along with Grampa! It was so hard not to have Grammie with us, but wonderful to continue the tradition!

This is one of the many reasons we LOVE the Bubble. They make a huge deal out of birthdays!

Edward and Elisha's icecreams both had candles in them and they sang to them.

Then we headed across the street to the park.

Our beautiful Brittany and our grand baby Marlena!

See the backpacks? When my Mom was in the hospital, she whispered to me..."Mary, in my closet are some presents for Edward and Elisha. I'm so sorry that I don't have a backpack to put them in, can you take care of that?"..."Yes, Mom, I'll take care of that!". And so...my Dad and Mike bought these back packs and we filled them with the gifts she got, and so she was totally there in spirit. It was wonderful!

There was a concert in the park tonight, and we enjoyed some of the music before it was time to go!

Marlena Joy Thorn!

My Dad had a hat on that said...#1 Grampa...and here he is with most of his beloved grandchildren and his great granddaughter!

Aunt Pat and Rosie!

Happy 13th birthday Edward and Elisha...hope you had a wonderful day! We love you soooo much and we are so glad you are a part of our family!

xoxoxoxo

Love 
Mom

It's a Wrap!

I love my Moby wrap and I totally LOVE wearing my baby! It's such a precious and short time in her life, and I LOVE having her close to me!

I "slung her up" yesterday and together we mowed the lawn! Wow...talk about activity points! It was quite a workout! I don't have a self propelled mower, and then with an extra 13 pounds on the front of me...well...you could say that I sweated a bit! The best part...Rosie LOVED it! She even fell asleep for a short while!

 

Alas...parting is such sweet sorrow!

We love spending time with Uncle Michael! This time was bittersweet, as he was here for the end of our Mom's life journey, and then to celebrate her life at her Memorial service. He spent his last night in NH with us at Grace Abounding Farm, and then we took him to the airport yesterday. He flew to North Carolina and will spend a week there, and then fly back to Hawaii on Friday and stay the weekend and then hop back on a plane and head to Washington DC for three straight weeks. On one of his weekends off from DC, he may come back up our way and visit. We sure hope so!

Thank you all for your prayers for my Mom's Memorial service. It was amazing! Every detail was just perfect, and we could truly tell that God was in control and that folks had bathed it all in prayer. The day went off without a hitch, and God was truly glorified!

Here are a few photos with who the kids call lovingly their B.U.E. (BEST UNCLE EVER)

Story time at Grampa's house on Saturday after the memorial service!

Fun with cards at our house!

Time to say goodbye to Uncle Mike! Sigh.....

We love you so much Uncle Mike! Don't be gone too long! Remember that you are always welcome and we'll even leave the light on for you!

Love,
M

Oh dear God, how in the world am I going to handle this?

 Mom went to heaven on Thursday at 5:03 p.m., coming to the end of her 12 year battle with cancer.

By her side until the end, I would give anything to hold her hand one more time, now.

 She is with you now, God, and I must rejoice and be so glad for her. It's hard, though.

She's one of the most beautiful people I've ever met in my life. Her whole being exuded beauty, even up to the very end. I'm so thankful for the time I had with her.

God's word says in Genesis 49:24
"But his bow remained strong and steady and rested in the Strength that does not fail him, for the arms of his hands were made strong and active by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel"

And so I pray that God will strengthen us and that we will remain strong and rested in the strength that does not fail, and that God will make our hands strong and active.

This is the only way that we can "hand"le our loss and the hole left in our lives.

 Thank you dear Lord for the time we had with my Mom, the precious years. We will treasure them always! We are so thankful that she is now:

SAFELY HOME IN THE ARMS OF HER SAVIOR!

I love you Mom!

As my Mom draws to the end of her life here on earth, and the beginning of her eternal life, I continue to stand amazed! I'm sitting in bed with her in the hospital right now, and working on my blog. She is sleeping peacefully and that is such a blessing. I think she'd had one of the best night's sleep yet. Her morphine levels are increased and I think she's glad we are all here with her. My brother Mike is asleep in the recliner in Mom's room with us, and Matt and his wife are asleep in the family room down the hall.

Yesterday we were all visiting with her, and she whispered to my Dad , "David, get me my purse, please", and so my Dad got her purse. Then she asked me to take all of the money out of her wallet. She said to me softly through her oxygen mask..."Mary...your brother Matthew and his family have not had a "bubble" experience, and I want you to take them there now, and I'll get some rest while you are gone. "Even in the last days of her life, she's thinking of others. It's amazing to me. So we went to the Bubble, which is our favorite ice cream place in Wolfeboro, and it's been the scene of many celebrations with my Mom over the past years!

It was hard to be there without her for sure, but she was definitely there in spirit!

 Genesis 2:18 says:

"The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."
 This has been so true of my Dad and Mom and the last 50 years of their time together. I was reflecting on that yesterday as my Dad and Mom were visiting here at the hospital together and I asked them if I could take this precious picture which truly is worth 1,000 words!

 I love you Mom. I will miss you sooooo much, but I'm sooooo excited that you are going to be in heaven soon!

M

My 30th High School Reunion! Yikes!

Last Saturday, Glenn and I attended my 30th High School reunion. I graduated from Spaulding High School in Rochester, NH in 1982. I hadn't been to any of the reunions up until now, and decided it was time to go to one and be a testimony for the Lord, and that we did! It was actually a very enjoyable evening for the first few hours!

Here is the whole gang! I think maybe about 50 people came or so.

 My whole thought was to share my testimony with as many of my classmates as I could. I started by putting a profile on the reunion website. That was really neat! Many of my classmates commented on my profile and our family! It was fun to put it together!

         Then                       

                                       

and

Now     


State/Prov.:  NH
Occupation:  Home school stay at home Mom!!
Website:  www.winslowsix.blogspot.com
Marital Status:  Married
No. of Children:  8
Grandchildren? How many?:  1 grandaughter age 18 months with another granddaughter on the way in September 2012
What's the furthest you have traveled?:  Papua New Guinea, Hungary, Haiti, Australia
Have anything else would like to share? Please do so here:  I have been married to my wonderful husband Glenn for the last 24 years. We have 2 biological children, Brittany age 22,(she's been married for 3 years and has our 1 granddaughter and the other one on the way!) and Madelyn age 17. Our other 6 children are adopted. Grace age 16 and Jon age 9 from Haiti,(My now photo is a picture of me with Grace when I first met her for the first time in Haiti)We are licensed foster parents and so we have: Edward and Elisha age 12 year old twins from foster care, (they've been with us since they were 10) Nicole age 7 from foster care,(she was 5 when she came) and now our precious Rosalinda age 6 months as a private adoption. We brought her home from the hospital! We live on a small farm we have named Grace Abounding Farm, and truly here, God's grace does abound! We just completed our 12th year of homeschooling and that's been a wonderful thing! Our family Bible verse is: "For I know the plans I have for you says the Lord, plans to prosper you and NOT to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11-13. God truly has known the plans He had for us, and He truly has prospered us and grown our family, and given us a wonderful hope and a wonderful future! We praise Him daily for it! I'm looking forward to seeing you all again!


At the end of the night, Glenn and I drove home and I reflected on how much I had to pray for regarding a lot of the folks that were there. It truly was a mission field, and I'm glad we went.