blessed beyond measure

The last five days have been amazing. Exhausting. Overwhelming. Praise the Lord, He has done it again. The body of Christ, over 200 people using talents we otherwise would never have known about, brought together in Him to share the Gospel with our community. Five days, seven shows, around 2200 people, most of whom were not from our church. What can be said? Praise the Lord. There are so many stories of things we have witnessed, and if my eyes weren't being held open by toothpicks right now I'd share them all. But if I don't get a few of them out my heart may explode. - Nothing like last minute. The drama started Wednesday night. On Tuesday night, it occurred to me that I was supposed to make a prelude CD to play while people were being seated. Music brings me into the presence of God, and I cannot tell you how precious that time was, searching through my memory for songs about Jesus' death and resurrection, listening to each lyric and being reminded of His lov...

Fork update: The fork pieces came out of Trey on Tuesday, in somewhat dramatic fashion. Poor thing, his bowels were messed up all weekend. But it's over now. Just in case you needed to know. We live in the middle of nowhere, but there happens to be a locally renowned preschool about 15 minutes from our house. It has great teachers, a faith-based curriculum, and has been around forever. In October I called to put Trey's name on the waiting list for this coming fall. I talked with the lead teacher about Trey's food allergies, which she said they dealt with all the time, and would pose no problems. On rare occasions I may need to send a dairy-free version of whatever theme-based treat the kids might have on a special day. That was great to hear, and very comforting that it wouldn't be a new type of situation for the teachers. Well, amid all that has happened since October, preschool sort of got buried under a bunch of other stuff in my mind. Every once in a while...

This of course refers to the two small pieces of plastic fork that Trey ate this weekend. He was chowing down on some chicken nuggets and apparently bit too hard. He may not even have noticed, except that I heard the fork snap in his mouth and immediately reached a finger in to retrieve the pieces. That didn't work, and after the parental panic wore off and we got Trey to drink some juice, Brandon cracked up and then so did Trey. Nice. Kids do these things, I know. Trey has eaten organics before - bugs, dirt, etc. But always biodegradable things. He may not have noticed the plastic going down, but I cringe to imagine what it will feel like coming out. What is the strangest thing your kids have eaten?

Easter is coming. This was a revelation to me about a week ago. The ironic part about it is that we are (and have been since January) chin-deep in preparations for our church's second annual showing of The Cry of Christ , our Easter passion play. One year's experience has helped, but it is no less monumental this year, as to keep things fresh we have changed some characters, added scenes, changed songs, and made our set at least partially movable. Exciting. Juuuuust a bit stressful. Somewhere along the way, I got busy enough to forget that Easter itself would immediately follow the Easter drama. Surprise! The Lord is again working through the play to keep His story at the front of our minds, and to draw us together as a church. One slightly inconvenient but very neat thing is that, since Brandon and I, the grandparents, and our backup babysitters are all involved in the drama, Trey has had to come and sit through some practices. Though he won't focus on the action th...

When life gives you a citronella candle lid, make a frisbee. Trey found the lid in our yard while he and I were playing outside the other day. He immediately dubbed it his "frisbee", and made a game out of throwing it into a large bush. The goal was, of course, to get the frisbee stuck in the bush (what else would you do with a frisbee?). And when that happened, he cracked up, pulled it out, and threw it again. Did this for half an hour solid. I wasn't about to interrupt. Of course, later in the day when Daddy was in charge of outdoor play, Trey learned the proper way to throw a frisbee. And he was pretty good at it too. Except there is absolutely no such thing as aim. Distance, not location, is the only safety for onlookers. Trey had a blast with his makeshift frisbee. I'm hoping a certain very forgetful bunny can remember to pick up a real one for Trey's Easter basket. Though if it's like other things, he would probably rather play with the candle ...

While pregnant with Trey, I read all the time. Pregnancy, labor and delivery, nursing, caring for the baby, you name it. Every book and website I could find. Took all the classes. Motherhood was my sure calling from God, and buddy, I was going to be prepared. And by the book, I was. Could have aced any written test. The problem is, there is no education for childbirth except childbirth itself. In my mind, even to this day, I failed the road test. Don't get me wrong, I know Trey is fine now, normal (maybe), spoiled, healthy, happy. But if I could go back and redo the first three months of his life, knowing what I know now, I would do it in a heartbeat. I went through postpartum depression after Trey's birth, and I don't know whether the situation being so different from what I expected caused the depression, or if the depression just came and made everything worse than it already was. I look back fondly on my labor with Trey. This may sound funny, but other than the...

Our world was white for two months of the winter. Yesterday was sixty degrees and beautiful. In the words of Trey, "It's soooooo much fun to play outside!!"

Brandon and I have a lot to learn. He grew up as an only child, so two children in the same house will be new to him. And I grew up with one sister (love you Nene!!), and poor Dad was the only guy in the house (love you too Silly!!). So together we face the new and slightly daunting task of raising two boys. And we are already learning... Trey is not, shall we say, a tough guy. And it's not his fault. He has been coddled and spoiled by me and the grandparents. Which is something that has come back to bite us a little. Brandon is the only person Trey has any respect for right now. But anyway, the kid is a little whiny. He doesn't like to wrestle AT ALL and cries when he doesn't get his way. He's got a lot to learn too. We're starting to think that Baby Dolphin will be different. From what little we know of him right now, we believe he's not going to take any crap off anybody. Least of all Trey. Whenever I hold Trey, my belly starts to move as Dolphin p...

This morning was our 24-week checkup, even though I'm almost 26 weeks along. The doctor had called for another ultrasound to follow up on an issue they noticed at our last appointment. My placenta was low-lying, and while they said this is supposed to correct itself 90% of the time, it was still low today. Which means...at least for now, don't exert myself too much (ha!!) and be happy about all the extra ultrasounds we get to have! Baby Dolphin is ahead of the curve in his growth (shocker!) , super-duper active, and most definitely still a boy. He is breech right now, which I could have told you since he has been riverdancing on my bladder lately. And he has no hair at this point. This is odd to me. The other three of us have very thick hair, and tons of it. Oh well, guess that could still change. Will someone please tell me why I don't remember being this big with Trey, and still with three months to go?? I am huge. I feel like an overstuffed marshmallow peep. I...