The Pack Place — life in the wolf pack

When upon life's billows you are tempest tossed, When you are discouraged thinking all is lost, Count your many blessings, name them one by one, And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done. Are you ever burdened with a load of care? Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear? Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly, And you will be singing as the days go by. So, amid the conflicts, whether great or small, Do not be discouraged, God is over all; Count your many blessings, angels will attend, Help and comfort give you to your journey's end. Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your blessings, see what God hath done; Count your blessings, name them one by one; Count your many blessings, see what God hath done.

I've been thanking God since 9:10 last night when I received the following text from my husband: wreck. call me. If he could text, he was alive.  Thank you, God. I dialed his number. He was clearly disoriented and in pain. But if he could talk, he was alive. Thank you, God. Panicked, I thought: what about the kids? Wake them? Drive them to what could be a traumatic scene? I called Amy, whose husband Rusty arrived approximately 6 seconds later, no questions asked. Thank you, God. At the scene, I discovered two mangled heaps of truck, seven police cars, and two ambulances, lights blazing. My heart stopped. A kind officer gently directed me to the hospital. On the way, I called Michelle, whose husband Chris met me in the ER 6 minutes later, no questions asked. Thank you, God. When I finally saw Seth, he was on a stretcher, neck braced and body tightly strapped. The love of my life- my strong, capable, helicopter-flying, hardworking, furniture making, cigar smoking, Iraq-veteran of a husband was there in front of me, immobile and confused. I've never loved him more. Thank you, God. CT scans, x-rays, Cecil and Amy offering to spend the night with the kids... Thank you, God. Broken ribs? Serious brain injury? Fractured ribs. Mild concussion... Thank you, God. Chaos... then clarity... 8:50 PM: prayer time with Lily- 20 minutes before the text that started it all. Her usual prayer: Thanks for our family, our home, our life. Watch over Ryan in Afghanistan. Watch over Pop Pop and let him come home soon. Protect us from evil and help us be more aware of the things we do...and  then-almost an afterthought (and certainly not part of her typical routine) please protect Daddy on his drive home tonight. Thank you, thank you, thank you, God. He works late most nights. He drives the same route each time. He's cautious at intersections. My daughter prays the same basic prayer time and time again, often urged to hurry so I can put the other children to sleep. But in one night everything was different. If that car had struck 1 millisecond earlier, Seth would have surely been killed, crushing into the driver's door instead of the front tire. And what if my daughter never called out to Christ on his behalf? What if I had rushed her through that part? Prayers aren't always answered the way we want them to be, but what if we never even ask? As it stands, life goes on... Seth is sleeping like a baby in our bed on what would otherwise be another very busy work day... and all I can do is thank God.

[caption id="attachment_485" align="alignnone" width="404" caption="The Maddie Dress and Donald Shorts from the Daydream Collection- use your wolf bucks on lovely W.D. Wolf items like these!"][/caption] Congrats to NUMBER 73! You've won a $50 gift certificate to Well Dressed Wolf! So, who is number 73 and how did we choose a winner? Similar to our last giveaway, here's how we did it... We used a facebook app called Easy Promos that kept track of each entry. The generated information was exported into an Excel file where entrants were organized into a neat, numbered list. We took that list and entered it into a more random "list generator" on random.org. This re-organized the entries for us and gave each entry a unique number. Next, we entered the total number of entrants into the random number generator  and "rolled the dice" so to speak. Out popped number 73 which corresponds with: ELIZABETH DOYLE TIERNEY!! Congrats, Elizabeth!! We'll email you with the details this afternoon. Later today we'll post the dollar amounts that each of you earned for your referrals. This amount can be used toward a purchase during any of our facebook sales. We'll email you with details using the email addresses listed on the promotion entry form. Thank you all so much for playing and referring your friends to Well Dressed Wolf. You're going to be so thrilled with the quality of your W.D. Wolf clothes. [caption id="attachment_486" align="alignnone" width="404" caption="So sweet with the Grace Bubble- the lovely Lily dress from the Daydream line."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_487" align="alignnone" width="400" caption="The Bill Shirt is perfect for your little man."][/caption] [caption id="attachment_490" align="alignnone" width="404" caption="The perfect complement to the Maddie Dress, Donald shirt and Grace bubble in pink/blue/tan..."][/caption]

Sometimes I forget that the kids are always there- always listening and watching and paying careful attention. They know what is going on in our lives even when we don't specifically tell them about it. We had our first facebook pre-order sale the other night, and this is the note I found on the countertop the next morning... from my seven year old. I actually cried- and I don't consider myself to be an overly emotional person. How sweet that she doesn't resent the extra time I spend working at my computer. What a blessing that she notices and acknowledges my hard work- that she's proud of me. Praise God for children. And just because I cannot stop myself, I'll give you a peak at something else kinda sweet... the Grace bubble on my Alice... to die for! You have to wait to get a clear picture but you'll get the idea... XOXO, Sarah P.S. See the thousands of dollars flying in the air?? She appears to have a lot of confidence in us!

Here are some shots from our "picnic" photo shoot! Simple, sweet & all-American- this line is super kid-friendly and darling, too. We hope you'll think it's as sweet as we do... :) Enjoy! XOXO

Did I mention that Shannon is a great baker? She's the best... So, I'm more than pleased to say she actually got the recipe for these Salted Oatmeal Cookies from me... Of course I didn't actually come up with the recipe, but I was the first to discover them here- and they are pretty darn awesome (I won the neighborhood cookie contest with these babies). 

But then Shannon can't let me bask in the glory of my delicious find, can she? No, she has to take something good to the next level. And she certainly succeeded with these! Salted Oatmeal Cookies with homemade marshmallow fluff filling (thank you, Catherine, for sharing that awesome recipe!). Really? Yes, really!

Good luck with not eating all of these in one sitting.

Salted Oatmeal Cookies

slightly adapted from this.

Supplies

Ingredients

1 cup all purpose flour

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

14 tbsp unsalted butter

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

1 tsp vanilla

Sea salt

1/4 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

Directions

Marshmallow Frosting / Filling

Directions

Enjoy!