sarah beth, scrapbooks, and stupid tumors. i hate cancer.

one reason i'm blogging is to avoid actual scrapbooking. i know it's an addictive hobby and i'm easily addicted to all things crafty so i like to keep away from it. but sarah beth has been wanting to put together a scrapbook for keith of his 70th birthday celebration weekend and she wanted us to help. so i'm supposed to say no? right... i don't often say no to her. she called yesterday morning and asked if we could come help her so she could get it done. of course we could! at the bus stop, i asked my friend renee' a simple question about gluesticks and away she went into her house. out she came with a huge container of scrapbooking stuff plus a little magic machine that makes stickers out of whatever you send through it. jackpot! she said it was a way she could hug sarah beth even without seeing her. so when greg got home from work and all the boys were home from school, we were on our way. she was waiting for us and was ready to get started! she was totally prepared - had all kinds of paper and stickers and letters to use. plus a ton of pictures from that weekend and ideas for which ones to put on what pages. she's quite a foreman and supervisor! we chose pictures and trimmed them up and made stickers and glued and then did it all over again. it was pretty fun. the process of it was fun, but the best part was how happy it was making sarah beth. as she says, it made her heart happy. what cracked me up was how into the whole thing greg was. i guess since there weren't any guitars to play or sermons to write he was able to channel all those creative energies into cutting and gluing and page layouting. actually, all my men seemed to enjoy themselves. maybe i'm not the one who should keep away from the craft store. (just kidding- i'm quite sure this was a one-time event for them. one of those things you do because you love someone like crazy.) we got it all done, including a page from the grandkids with notes for their poppaw telling him how much they love him. (he popped in earlier to see sarah beth and she made him leave so the surprise wouldn't be spoiled. he was okay with that. sort of.) later on he came back and she got to hand him the completed work. he liked it very much and i'm sure he'll like it more and more with each time he looks at it. she was thrilled to pieces to be able to work on it together with her family and to be able to give it to him. see the look on her face while she is looking at him looking at it?

arts and crafts time also gave us plenty to do to keep minds occupied while waiting for the neurosurgeon to come with test results and an action plan. he came after we were already home. the tumor in sarah beth's brain has been increasing in size for some time now. the swelling and pressure cause her many painful and debilitating symptoms. tomorrow is surgery day. at the very least there will be a biopsy. hopefully he will be able to remove the tumor entirely. please please please continue to pray for her. lifting her up to the Lord and bringing her before Him continually is giving her strength and peace. if you haven't prayed for her before, now's the perfect time to start.

sarah beth, i'm sure you're reading this. so i'll just mention one more time that i love you, girlie.