Top 10

Here are the top ten things I've learned from Natalie today:

1. Someone can both torture and love our dog, Mocha. Mocha will continue to return to you either way.

2. You can either brush your teeth the traditional way, moving the brush back and forth in your mouth, or to spice things up, you can hold the brush in your mouth and move your head back and forth. Both will equally clean your teeth. One leaves you a bit dizzy.

3. I am shocked at how many times she can ask, "was daaat?" I am more shocked when she repeats whatever answer I just said.

4. Miss Hazel at day care is an angel who probably answers "was daat?" more often and more patiently then I ever will.



5. Everything is new, every morning, every hour, every minute. Just because you get an answer to, "was daat?" does not mean you should stop pointing at the same object and asking again.

6. I am not the Mom I thought I would be. She does scream in restaurants, Target, the parking lot, and at church.

7. Polite comments from onlookers explaining to me what she wants are not helpful. I know she wants to eat the mac and cheese with her hands. Your right that is why she is upset. My job is to teach her to use her spoon. Yes, she does know how. Yes, she eats with it at home. Yes, if you leave me alone I can continue ignoring this tantrum.

8. If you don't feel like using your spoon, just wear Minnie Mouse Ears, no one will notice your eating with your hands.




9. Natalie is her father's daughter. A flashlight can double as a microphone, and when she starts singing into it, you had better dance.

10. Two tiny little fist grabbing onto mine, with her head bowed to say bedtime prayers followed by a slobbery wet kiss, makes me think, for just a second, that I might, just might, survive this.

some recent pictures

I prayed that God would allow me to upload some pictures tonight. I've been having a hard time doing this lately, and He answered my prayer. I know in the grand scheme of all that God is thinking about and doing this was a small request, but He answered. I think sometimes He answers small prayers of mine to remind me that He is always working and listening.
The Halloween costume is one my Aunt got for Natalie. It is already too small so we put it on her for pictures. It's an interesting unicorn outfit. For Halloween, Natalie will be a bumblebee like her older cousins, Mollie and Xander. Fortunately, this outfit still fits. Earlier this week she was wearing a 24 month outfit. I'm not sure where her height comes from, but I hope she keeps it. I'm not so secretly hoping she'll love basketball as much as I do. Anyways, today has been a good day. Thursday's are Chris' days off. I try to not work on Thursdays either. This has quickly become my favorite day of the week. We get to hang out with Natalie together. We get to swap stories from the week and just be. I love it. Today none of us got out of our pajamas until after 2 this afternoon. To me, that's a perfect sort of day. Have a great one and ask God to show you something today. He is good.

a week

This past week is all blurry. It's one of those weeks where you have to stop and really try to remember what you did yesterday, much less Monday. It's been a good week, a sad week, and a hard week. It's a week when I learned how Megan became so accustomed to death because I am as well. I don't think hospice makes you cold. I think it makes you aware. Working with people who know they are dying makes me keenly aware of what is and is not important. It's a constant reminder that nothing in this life is constant. Lives are turned upside down by one lump, one cough, one different heartbeat. I met a 38 year old dying of breast cancer. We are told to get yearly mamagrams after 40. I meet smokers who wish they never started, and smokers who are still enveloped in the cloud. I meet people with dementia and end stage alzheimers. Their families tell their stories. Their eyes tell me they are still alive inside. I always use to think I didn't want to die this way. I didn't want to be sick. And really, I don't want to die at all. But in a way, these people have a gift. As one patient told me this week, "I know this is the last birthday party I'll be a part of for my granddaughter." This one will be big. He told me he is blessed to know, so he can really live. Imagine if we all knew. I'm not sure I could handle it, but it would make each of us really live. Since working here, I'm more intentional with those around me. I pay attention better and say "I love you" more. I'm finding myself craving time with Chris more then ever, and not fighting bedtime so much with Natalie. Is it really that big a deal that I snuggle her a little longer? Will it really mess up her sleep habits for the rest of her life? I don't think so. So that's the sad, the good, and the hard for the week. It's life. Funny that I have to be face to face with people who are dying to remind me to live. Try it this week. Live like you know you are mortal. I dare you.

Natalie's BFF

These pics are from Liza...who graciously always has her camera ready when we forget ours. Thanks Liza for taking good care of us...we love you!



Avery lives just down the street...we are thinking they are already planning many adventures together...

I am having trouble getting any other pics uploaded to blogger lately. I'll keep trying. Have a great week!

what if?

What if nothing we are thinking right now is new? What if we are having the exact same arguments in the church today that they had a generation ago? What if people came to America because they wanted the right to worship as they chose? What if ancient philosphers wrote on paper because blogger was not yet available? What if the disciples caused a shake up everywhere they went? What if the early church fought about eating, songs, and money? Have we seriously in 2000 plus years not gotten anywhere? I would dare say that no generation set out to be fake. They probably didn't start out to judge and exclude. Yet, each new generation seeks to break out of the mold of the church and start something new. My question is then, is it...new? I talk to people now who are as opposed to hymns as some people are to choruses. Isn't that just as bad? Others who cannot fathom why someone would not like something they love. Do they have to? I mean where in the world do we come up with the idea that we should all believe the same and like the same and anyone who opposes us is wrong? One of my favorite quotes from women of faith says, "I should think that if we agree on everything, one of us is unnecessary." Unity by it's necissity would imply we don't agree on everything. Jesus prayed we would be one...I believe he meant one body. All important. All working toward the goal. All doing it differently because the eye and the ear will never do things the same. They always filter information differently. They will respond differently. Our goal is to love God, love others, and make disciples. The eye can worship through color and the written word, and the vastness of the world. The ear can not do any of these things. The ear can worship through the spoken word, music, and the vastness of noise and silence. Both can be and are connected to the head but are not the same. What if we acted like one body? What if for the first time in 2,000 years we really were unified? What if we celebrated our differneces and walked in unity? What if stopped being shocked by non christians acting like non christians? What if our big unified body grabbed them by the hand and walked with those people for while...just walking them towards God? What would God allow us to be a part of then? You know, then, when we are actually loving Him because we are loving others because we are walking them to Him. What if then?