Back in the Saddle Again

If you know me very well you know that a big part of me is music. I got my degree in music education with an emphasis in voice and went on to teach elementary music for six years. I also sang in the church choir and on the praise team until I got too sick during my pregnancy with Rebekah to sing. One Sunday morning I even had to get off the stage in the middle of a praise chorus because I was about to get sick. I'll never forget that experience. I'm sure the congregation was worried because many were probably unaware I was expecting at the time. So I took a leave of absence while I was pregnant (I was sick nearly the entire pregnancy) and rejoined when Rebekah was 14 months and had weaned from nursing. Six months later we found out we were pregnant with Joshua, and it wasn't long before the "morning" sickness had returned, so I resigned from the choir yet again. Two and a half years later I'm finally getting back into the choir. I've teased Darrin that the last time I rejoined the choir we got pregnant again. He just rolled his eyes at me.

For a while I didn't have a burning desire to sing in our church choir again, but lately I've really missed singing, and it will be good to get my voice back into shape. Last night was my first time rehearsing with the choir again. Our choir is like a family, and I was welcomed back with open arms. It was a blessing to be there, and it was wonderful to be singing again.

Todd Gaither is now serving as our interim music director and praise/worship leader since we are without a minister of music. He has the whole package! He has the training from a choral perspective which our church choir has needed for a long time. Now, I have loved the men who have served in the past, and our most recent music pastor had such a pastor's heart and a music degree, but it took a man with a choral background to pull out the choir's full potential. I have not heard the choir sound so good since Todd came to direct.

In addition to singing in the choir again I will be helping out with "Kids of the Kingdom" at our church. I will be leading the preschoolers in praise and worship on Sunday mornings one week each month. It should be a lot of fun, and it will be a great opportunity to teach the children about singing to the Lord.

One day I may get back to singing on the praise team, but for now this is a time for me to wean back into the music field, use my talents for the Lord, and help lead in praise and worship while my voice gets back into shape. I'm looking forward to what the Lord has in store!

A Teachable Moment

When Darrin brought home a DVD copy of "Ariel's Beginnings" I wasn't too sure about it. I didn't push the issue, though, and Rebekah loves Disney princess. Lately, Rebekah's favorite princess has changed from Cinderella to Ariel, and in the most recent days Rebekah has either not wanted to get dressed after taking off her pajamas or she has stripped down to her panties once we arrived home after being out that day. Just last night Rebekah fought putting on her pajamas for bed, and it was COLD last night!

Darrin and I knew this acting out had to do with the way Ariel is dressed (or not dressed), so we decided the movie as well as the images of the character, such as coloring pages and clothing, would need to be removed from our home. I spent time in prayer last night and this morning as to how I would approach the subject with Rebekah and that she would be receptive to what I had to share.

So, first thing this morning I told Rebekah I had something really important to share with her. She was in a bit of a sour mood, but she enjoys our devotionals and agreed to do one from her book. Yesterday's devotional was about learning to read God's Word, so we reviewed it, and I asked Rebekah who wrote the Bible? Rebekah told me God did, and I read to her what God says in I Timothy 2:9a.

"Likewise, I want women (and I added that this meant girls, too, and made it personal to include Rebekah, all the while Rebekah named a few of her friends) to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly..."

We discussed what this meant and how we are to dress, and I asked Rebekah if she knew of anybody who does not dress how God would have them to dress. She immediately mentioned Ariel. We talked about how that does not please the Lord. We also discussed Jasmine's attire because Rebekah thought that she was okay since she wears clothes, but because her belly button shows she does not dress appropriately either. I talked to Rebekah about how she needs to keep her clothes on at home as well as that we need to get rid of the two princesses who are not dressed modestly. Rebekah had a hard time at first accepting this. She didn't want to get rid of her Ariel DVD especially, and it hurt me a lot to see her heartbroken. I cried with her. But as the day has gone on Rebekah has helped me to discard the images of Ariel as a mermaid (I've allowed the pictures of Ariel dressed modestly to stay) and of Jasmine. I am extremely proud of the way she has handled it, and I think still having some princesses who wear more appropriate clothing to still enjoy has helped a lot.

It seems like parenting is changing all the time as our children grow, but I wouldn't trade these opportunities to share about the Lord for anything. I want Rebekah to desire to please the Lord in her behavior, attitude, and her life, and I hope and pray that these teachable moments will one day draw her to the Lord and give her life over to Him.

An Eventful Day

For the last several weeks Rebekah and I had been trying to work out a time to go shopping for her ballet and tap shoes. Something always seemed to interfere, the kids would be tired while we were out before we got to shoe shop, we had scheduling conflicts, or Rebekah would lose the privilege to go shopping. We finally got to make that shopping trip to Payless on Wednesday. Payless is on the same road as the pediatrician’s office, and as we approached our destination Rebekah asked about Dr. Rodgers and if we would see her today since we had just seen her on Monday for Joshua’s ears. She asked if Dr. Rodgers was there today and a number of other questions about her. Little would I know how prophetic this would be.

So, onto Payless we went. Joshua also needed some new white shoes since he had already outgrown his. I was going to buy some cheap ones at Payless as well, but they don’t come in the toddler sizes. So, after we found the right sizes for Rebekah’s dance shoes and made our purchases we headed over to Stride Rite to buy some shoes for Joshua. It was already 12:30 by this point, so I asked Rebekah if she would rather eat lunch first or get Joshua’s shoes. She wanted to finish shoe shopping, so we headed straight to Stride Rite. My plans were to hit the food court for lunch afterwards then let the kids play in the Play Area if it wasn’t too crowded. (A number of roads had flooded the night before due to all the rain and many schools were out of session.)

My plans changed drastically! No, they were destroyed…

No one was in Stride Rite while we were there, so the kids had fun playing around exploring, and Joshua would even run to the exit and stop where the carpet ended. I just knew he was going to run out into the mall, but he didn’t. He stopped and looked at a nice young woman sitting in the mall across from him who smiled back. I brought Joshua back in to try his new shoes on. As soon as they were securely on his feet he was off running again; this time he went out into the mall. Rebekah ran over to him to help me guide him back into the store. As soon as I picked him up Rebekah turned and ran back in and kept running. She had her new tennis shoes on that most likely were not quite broken into and she tripped over her feet. Her face was right near the edge of the bench. She got up crying, but she ran off like she normally does when she is hurt. I usually let her have her space then she will come to me. So, as I let her run off to a corner of the store the sales clerk told me Rebekah was bleeding. At this point I ran over to find blood coming out of Rebekah’s forehead. She had hit it on the corner of the bench leg which was wooden and had a sharp 90-degree corner. It had left a pretty good sized gash above her left eye in the middle of her forehead.

The sales clerk brought out some paper towels for the bleeding, and as I put them on her head I guided her over to sit down. I had Rebekah sit there while I got Joshua strapped in the stroller. The nice lady that was sitting out in the mall saw what happened and came in to offer her assistance. Her husband was getting a massage in the mall, and she was just waiting on him. Let me tell you, this woman was a Godsend! She was so calm, unlike myself because I was just in “task mode” trying to get done what needed to be done, and she spoke really softly to Rebekah and calmed her down while I got Joshua strapped down and called the pediatrician’s office.

At this point I knew that I wouldn’t have time to change Joshua’s shoes back, so I handed over my credit card while the sales clerk rung me up and I talked with the doctor’s office staff. Oh, how I hate when they go through all the necessary questions: patient’s name?, how old is she?, what’s wrong? (which she didn’t seem to listen to anyway), any siblings?, date of birth?. Then she asks, “So, was this the eye?” “No, it is her forehead, and I think she’s going to need stitches!” “Oh, my! OK, hold on…” Dr. Rodgers’ nurse is out of the office due to knee surgery, so I talked to the substitute for the day. After getting the details she told me to bring Rebekah on in to see Dr. Rodgers.

By this time, the sales clerk had brought out a first aid kit and the nice lady had taped a gauze over Rebekah’s gash. The bleeding had stopped by now. I noticed that the lady’s shirt said “Physical Therapy” on the front, so I asked her if she was a physical therapist. No, it turns out she is a former ICU nurse! God was so good to bring her along to help me. I HATED that I was not the one to comfort Rebekah and to tend to her, but this lady was an amazing help so that I could tend to the other things I had to do. I look back on that and think how much Rebekah wanted and needed me to just console her, and I had to be on the phone and couldn’t tend to Rebekah. Sometimes I feel really bad about that, but I know that I did what I had to in order to take care of Rebekah too, and that is why this former nurse was there to help me.

After Rebekah was bandaged and ready we headed out, Joshua with his new white shoes on because I didn’t have time to change them. It felt like it took FOREVER for us to get loaded, coats on, back out to the car, strapped in, and to the pediatrician’s office. Thankfully, her office is within viewing distance from the mall, literally, just around the corner, so it’s not far at all, but it took time to get there. On our way I called Darrin to let him know what happened and he immediately got off work to help me since I had Joshua with me.

Once we signed in and I put our bags down in the waiting room they called Rebekah’s name. We settled in the room and Dr. Rodgers joined us pretty quickly. She assessed the wound and told me that Rebekah would definitely need stitches. She said she would be glad to do it, but she also gave me the option of taking Rebekah to the ER since she wasn’t sure what kind of scar she might leave. It was a pretty straight stitch, so she felt better about that, but she was also more concerned since Rebekah is a girl and will be more self conscious about a scar than a boy would. So, I asked her if she was saying that Rebekah would not have a scar if we were to go to the ER. Well, it would be luck of the draw. We could get someone with lots of experience or someone with little experience, like an intern. After consulting another pediatrician in the office Dr. Rodgers agreed that since it was a straight stitch she should do fine. In hindsight, Darrin and I both are really glad she did the stitching. They may have rushed at the ER, and the wait there is HORRIBLE! We really hate the ER! I also asked her how often she does stitches, and after finding out that she generally does them once over two weeks I felt confident that she would do a good job.

So, Dr. Rodgers put some numbing solution on a thick pad and taped it to Rebekah’s wound to prepare for the stitches. While it was soaking Darrin arrived. All the while Joshua was really good and played quietly in the room. We weren’t sure if one of us would have to take him out of the room, so we asked Rebekah who she would like to stay with her. I was really heartbroken when she chose her Daddy, but Darrin assured me that she just wanted protection. She was probably just scared. Joshua continued to be really good, so I was able to stay in the room with him while Dr. Rodgers stitched Rebekah’s forehead. At one point I picked up Joshua and he noticed a picture of koala bears with “KOALA BEAR” at the bottom. He kept saying, “…dot, dot, dot, dot, dot, dot…” I finally noticed that there were a number of dots inside the letters, and he was touching all the little dots while he said that. Too cute!

After Dr. Rodgers got several of the stitches in place Darrin took Joshua so that I could stand with Rebekah. She was so brave the whole time! She cried some, but she handled everything so well and did exactly what Dr. Rodgers told her to do. I was so proud of her!

After all of this Rebekah, Joshua, and I were very hungry and tired. We got home at 2:30 and ate lunch, and Joshua and I took a nap. This event had wiped me out completely! Rebekah, though, that afternoon was playing as if nothing ever happened. She was dancing in the living room and went on and on about her new ballet and “chap” (tap) shoes.

I changed her bandage for the first time yesterday and took pictures. She had a bruise developing that first evening, but it was nearly gone yesterday, and any swelling that showed on Wednesday was gone by yesterday as well. I’m adding links for the pictures because some of you may have a really weak stomach. It is not super bloody, especially like it was at Stride Rite, but it is a wound. If you are interested in seeing it you can click on the links below.

Stitches Photo #1

Stitches Photo #2

I just received a call from Dr. Rodgers this morning as well. She first asked me how Rebekah was doing and then proceeded to give me the results on a RAST blood test Joshua had on Monday. I'm not sure if I posted about this earlier, but Joshua had allergy testing done to see if he might be allergic to gluten (the protein found in wheat, barley, etc.) or casein (the protein found in dairy). It turns out he is not allergic to gluten (although he may be sensitive to it if we were to try a urine test that Dr. Rodgers was not aware of), but he is allergic to casein and will most likely outgrow it. So, now it appears that we know what has been causing Joshua's chronic ear infections. For now I'm going to pursue a casein-free diet and do some more research on this. I'm thankful I had some testing done so that we know what to eliminate from Joshua's diet immediately. But do you know how hard it is going to be on Joshua? He LOVES dairy products - milk, cheese, and yogurt are among his favorites. This is going to be difficult, but hopefully we'll rid him of these ear infections.

Gymnastics Show

Rebekah had her show at The Little Gym on Tuesday night, and guess who missed it? Me! Darrin and I both got the dates mixed up and thought Show Week was next week. It was a bad night for it too. It had been raining all day long, and there was flooding throughout the city. It took Darrin almost 50 minutes to get Rebekah there, and it normally is only about a 30-minute drive, but she was only about 5 minutes late. We were not the only parents who got the dates confused according to the director, and even the number of parents who showed up were not much more than a normal class, but I still felt horrible for missing it. Even if Joshua had not been napping and I had been prepared to leave by the time Darrin realized it was Show Week I still would have missed it due to traffic and weather.

Darrin also was not prepared to take pictures. All he had was his cell phone, so he got what he could. I was so disappointed when I realized that I missed Rebekah's show because this was her first solo performance. I know there will be other opportunities, but as her mommy I hate to miss any of her "firsts".

Here are the best pics Darrin got on his cell phone. He got a few nice shots, but unfortunately they turned out really blurry.




After Rebekah got home I apologized for missing her performance, but she didn't seem to mind. She was so proud of her medal she earned!


I must say, though, that Rebekah is so ecstatic about starting dance next week! She will be taking a class that offers tap and ballet for 30 minutes and gymnastics for another 30 minutes. We picked up her ballet and tap shoes yesterday and she has been wearing them a lot. In fact, she has on her complete ballet outfit right now and is summoning me to go dance with her.

A Visit with Family

My Grandma has not been doing very well lately. She has something related to Parkinson's, and she appears to be going downhill fairly quickly. I had wanted us to go down to see her and Grandpa right before Christmas, but it worked out really well for us to visit on Saturday instead. My parents have been rotating with my aunt and uncle (Daddy's sister and brother) going every three weeks to help Grandpa take care of Grandma as well as to help out with other household and outdoor chores. Since we went this past Saturday we got to visit while my parents were there, and everyone enjoyed the kids especially.

Darrin had planned to go with us, but he had a lot of work that had to be done before Monday, his first day back from vacation, so he stayed home to get it done while the kids and I were out of the house. I had not driven to Huntsville in a number of years, and although I knew the way I took a couple of detours by mistake. The first was just because I went into "la-la land" and zoned out. I totally missed the MAJOR intersection where I was to turn off the interstate to take the highway. As I began driving up the mountain I started to question myself, "Am I supposed to go over the mountain on the way to Huntsville?" Instead of calling Darrin I kept driving. Once I got over the mountain and to the next city I pulled off realizing that I had gone too far. I checked the map to be sure, and sure enough, I had driven 30 minutes out of the way, so we tacked on an extra hour to our road trip. By this time it was lunchtime. I had a cooler of food for the kids since I knew they wouldn't eat the meal that my mom had prepared for us, so the kids ate while I drove. Joshua fell asleep 30 minutes before our arrival, which was just enough to keep him happy during our visit.

The other detours, going to Huntsville and leaving Huntsville, were very minor and were just because I could't remember exactly where to turn off. At least we got there in time to enjoy the family, and they weren't ready to eat until about the time we got there anyway.

Grandma is not very responsive and she is unable to talk, but she is coherent and tries to express herself in other ways, such as through pointing. I wasn't sure if she remembered Rebekah and Joshua, so I took the time to explain who they were. She seemed to enjoy watching them play.

Prior to our visit I had told Rebekah that Grandma's mind isn't working very well and that she is not able to walk and talk and do many things that Rebekah can do. She told me that she would give her a hug and make her feel better. And that she did. She hugged her several times, and although Grandma was unable to hug her back I know that meant a lot to her.

Once the kids discovered the wheelchair (of course, Joshua did first because it has wheels!) they took turns taking a ride around the house and then a couple laps together.





Joshua and Grandpa really enjoyed each other for a few moments.





Once Joshua got the phone Grandpa told Joshua just not to call France!



Grandma and Grandpa used to go square dancing all the time. Grandma even made their dance outfits. I remember as a kid staying a week with them during the summer and going with them to watch them dance. Although this isn't square dancing here Grandpa is teaching Rebekah the "Jitterbug".





I didn't take any pictures of Grandma because I don't want to remember her in this state. She reminds me a lot of what Mama Bea (my other grandmother) looked like the months before she died. Instead I want to remember Grandma how she was before she was diagnosed with Parkinson's.

Grandma surprised me with two wonderful responses that I was not expecting. After we finished our lunch Grandma was still working on her food. (It takes her about an hour to eat.) Rebekah walked up to Grandma and told her, "Grandma, you need to eat!" Grandma didn't hear her, but when someone repeated it to her she laughed. It was good to see her laugh.

Also, when we left to go home I gave Grandma a hug and kiss and then Rebekah came over and hugged her. Grandma wrapped her arm around Rebekah and held her tight for a long time. Rebekah just hugged her back. It was the sweetest thing!

I know it meant the world to both Grandma and Grandpa that we visited them. I just know I need to make a point to visit them more often.

Holiday Playdates

Over the holidays I had planned to get together with some of Rebekah's friends and their moms whom we don't see all that often due to scheduling conflicts. We only got to schedule a couple of playdates since Rebekah has been really tired lately. I figured it was important to let her have some extra downtime at home, particularly after all the Christmas activities and excitement.

However, we did get to meet up with LeeAnne and Maggie as well as Jennifer and Emmy. New Year's Eve we went to LeeAnne's house. Maggie was very eager to have a friend play with her in her new Rose Petal Cottage she got for Christmas, and I am not sure how much the girls played with it, but by the time LeeAnne and I headed upstairs they had moved on to other toys and activities. The girls had a great time dressing up, Rebekah as Tinkerbell and Maggie as a princess. They proceded to go downstairs to put on a show for us, complete with flying and singing.

Rebekah began by singing, "Gloria!" (the chorus to "Angels, We Have Heard On High")


A funny little story and background to this song: One day I was wearing one of my Christmas sweaters with children angels singing on the bottom of the sweater, complete with a dog angel and a cat angel joining the children. Rebekah asked what they were singing. I told her that maybe they were singing...and then I broke out in "GLO-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-RIA!" Ever since then Rebekah would sing it and would ask me to sing it as well. If I sang the verse she would tell me no that it wasn't the same song. Funny, even with explanation and trying to sing the entire song she only liked the refrain. It is so funny to hear her sing the latin, "In exelcis Deo" as well. You can imagine...


Maggie sings one of her songs from her church Christmas program.



Singing "Jingle Bells" together


Rebekah loved fluttering as Tinkerbell, and the girls had such a blast performing in their costumes.


The next day Emmy came over to play with Rebekah. They had not seen each other in over 3 months, so their playdate was long overdue. Rebekah was still in the mood to dress up while Emmy had other interests. Joshua particularly liked having Emmy over as well. I didn't take many pictures, but they seemed to have a good time.

Early Birthday Party

My niece Taylor's birthday is only a couple of weeks after Christmas, so instead of trying to get all our family down to visit her for her birthday 4 1/2 hours away Carrie decided to give her a party while they were here for Christmas. Joshua's birthday is only six weeks after Taylor's, so we combined it, although Joshua could really care less. We decided to hold off on giving him any gifts until his birthday since it's actually two more months away.

Originally the party was going to be our family only, but Carrie wanted to invite two good friends of hers who she doesn't get to see much but tries to when she is in town. Tina was unable to come since she and Caleb were sick, but Jenny came with her children.

The theme was Raggedy Ann and Andy, a very cute theme for a girl and a boy, but hard to find anything locally. We had to order the products online, and I found a picture on the internet to scan onto the cake. Unfortunately, the picture took up the entire cake, so they had to write over Raggedy Andy's face, but it still turned out pretty cute.

The cake


The table decorated


Happy Early Birthday, Taylor and Joshua!


Rebekah wanted to blow out the candles, too. Actually, she happened to be out of the room when we sang "Happy Birthday" and she got really upset. Once we relit the candles and let her blow them out she seemed to be fine.


Most of the kids


Piano time!




Giving Rebekah a mini piano lesson


One of our little guests


Taylor opening her gifts...We gave Taylor this doll that she took up to immediately.


While Rebekah and Taylor chomped away on Taylor's new food set...


...Joshua pushed around Taylor's new doll stroller we had given her for Christmas. Seriously, he loved playing with it! Just give Joshua something with wheels and he's happy.


Taylor enjoys her party.


Taylor snuggles in her Daddy's lap, and Joshua snuggles with Taylor


Cousins!