OK. So my sweet children...all 3 of them... 3, 23 months, and 5 months are asleep before 8:15 tonight. I should be asleep too but I wanted to say hello since I have 2 people that have actually stopped by and made a comment! It's so neat!
Today, I got to tell my friend Dana how I came to the blogging world through her and all of the blogs I read...which were all the same for her. Here they are in backwards order all leading back to Dana...
MckMama, Angie, Adrienne, and Dana. If I knew how to link to them I would but if you are interested in my backwards progression feel free to ask me.
Something neat about talking to Dana today was that I was able to talk about some things I have been reading on these blogs and connect with an actual person about it! It makes the people a little more real when someone else that you know also prays for Stellan and aches for Audrey and Luke and hopes for Adrienne and loves to read about Russian adoptions. These are real people, with real life stories and I love blogging because it helps (for me anyway) to realize just how small the world really is these days and just how big God's love is for all of His children!
Now this sleepy mommy must sleep before the middle-of-the-night dance begins when at any given time, someone wakes up and calls me! Got any ideas?
Saturday, September 20, 2008
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Cha Cha Changes
Well...here I am again...but it's a year later. This blog in a sense has become like all of the journals I have ever started...go strong in the beginning and then slower until it's just another unfinished pretty book I own on a shelf or worse in a drawer somewhere just waiting...
...I started this blog with many thoughts of orphans, adoption, and the very nature of motherhood. Instead of nesting cardinals, I am now looking over a nest of 5 baby robins. Instead of adoption, I now am keeping an ear out for my 12 week old baby Andrew to wake up from his long nap this afternoon. A week or two after my last entry in 2007, I discovered I was pregnant with my third little miracle. My thoughts and heart had to shift to the new life inside me instead of the orphaned children halfway across the world.
I don't feel much like being poetic today as I am exhausted beyond words just from my daily life with 3 little ones 3 and under. I just felt like jumping back in to this whole blog thing...seeing where it takes me. And since no one really reads this thing, anything goes!
...I started this blog with many thoughts of orphans, adoption, and the very nature of motherhood. Instead of nesting cardinals, I am now looking over a nest of 5 baby robins. Instead of adoption, I now am keeping an ear out for my 12 week old baby Andrew to wake up from his long nap this afternoon. A week or two after my last entry in 2007, I discovered I was pregnant with my third little miracle. My thoughts and heart had to shift to the new life inside me instead of the orphaned children halfway across the world.
I don't feel much like being poetic today as I am exhausted beyond words just from my daily life with 3 little ones 3 and under. I just felt like jumping back in to this whole blog thing...seeing where it takes me. And since no one really reads this thing, anything goes!
Thursday, July 26, 2007
Lubb dupp Lubb dupp
When I was in college, I had several science courses to take as part of my prerequisites. I did well in most of them, especially geology and my geology lab. The course that gave me the most difficulty was Human Physiology. The professor was extremely knowledgeable. The problem was that I could not for the life of me pass his tests. Chapter after chapter about the skeletal system, DNA, RNA, messenger RNA, the heart, the skin, the eyes, the ears, cells, muscles...it just went on and on. I am sure I was surrounded by students who were on their way to medical school or nursing school or somewhere scientific, but I was on my way to the College of Education. As each test would come, I would pull all nighters, create mnemonic phrases, draw pictures, memorize, study and do whatever I could to get through the material in the countless chapters and notes I read and took. I would never pass with a grade of higher than a C at best and it was quite defeating. As a child, I dreamed of becoming a fantastic dentist. I think I would have been great at it...coming from an artistic standpoint. I would have been able to sculpt out decay and hand-drill with those tiny needles the pulp and root during a root canal. Human Physiology pretty much made it so that science was just not in my future.
I needed a C in the class to pass. I needed a C in the lab. In the lab I got an A....ironic later on because that was a different professor. In Dr. Maurer's class, I got a D the first time and had to take it over again. Guess who taught Human Physiology...yup Dr. Maurer. That class we used the same text, the same lectures. You would have thought I would have done better. Nope. I got a D again. They say that the 3rd time is the charm. They are right but it wasn't a pretty gold charm...or a nice silver charm for a bracelet. It was just an expression. The last time I took that class...it was Maurer again...and I only got a C.
Now, years later, I am glad I had that class. I have more knowledge of the body than I would have ever had if I hadn't taken that class 3 times. The most fascinating part of the body for me is the heart. How is grows inutero. How it functions in our bodies. How it needs to be healthy. How it pumps blood. How it can be transplanted. How it can stop and be restarted again. Most importantly, how it can feel. My sister once asked me after having my first child if I felt like my heart was beating out of my chest. At the moment of her asking, I chuckled and said no but I love the baby very much. But now as she runs around the house, plays with her little brother, and breathes in and out fast...my heart is out there.
Now why would I write about Dr. Maurer's class? Well, nowhere did I ever learn about a variety of congenital heart defects. But the other day I was doing some orphan and adoption research. I discovered that Children's Hope International has a place on their website where you can sponsor a child "for as little as 32.00 a month". It conjured up thoughts about those "Save the Children" commercials from the early 80's with Suzanne Summers and for some of you who remember Bonnie Hunt (Anne Romano) from that show with Valerie Bertinelli. Anyway, I of course searched the children one by one learning about them. Their names. Their ages. Their circumstances and then came Daniil. He is blessed enough to have his parents and I am assuming CHI is helping him through schooling, medicines, etc but he isn't blessed enough to have what I knew nothing about...Daniil is suffering from total anomalous pulmonary veins drainage and stenosis of superior vena cava (these are life-threatening heart defects). He needs medical treatment. His parents are poor. So, here I am. Wondering what to do. Is this charity CHI one that the money actually goes to the kids? What can 32.00 a month do for a life threatening illness?
AllI know is that for my birthday and for Christmas and for any holiday in between, I have asked for Daniil. To sponsor him. To figure out what I can do to help him. Someone with a small working knowledge of the human body thanks to Dr. Maurer. Someone with a huge working knowledge of what the heart feels like to live thanks to my children. And also, someone who feels like her heart is beating a little for a boy named Daniil somewhere far away as his heart struggles to beat...lubb..dupp...lubb..dupp.
I needed a C in the class to pass. I needed a C in the lab. In the lab I got an A....ironic later on because that was a different professor. In Dr. Maurer's class, I got a D the first time and had to take it over again. Guess who taught Human Physiology...yup Dr. Maurer. That class we used the same text, the same lectures. You would have thought I would have done better. Nope. I got a D again. They say that the 3rd time is the charm. They are right but it wasn't a pretty gold charm...or a nice silver charm for a bracelet. It was just an expression. The last time I took that class...it was Maurer again...and I only got a C.
Now, years later, I am glad I had that class. I have more knowledge of the body than I would have ever had if I hadn't taken that class 3 times. The most fascinating part of the body for me is the heart. How is grows inutero. How it functions in our bodies. How it needs to be healthy. How it pumps blood. How it can be transplanted. How it can stop and be restarted again. Most importantly, how it can feel. My sister once asked me after having my first child if I felt like my heart was beating out of my chest. At the moment of her asking, I chuckled and said no but I love the baby very much. But now as she runs around the house, plays with her little brother, and breathes in and out fast...my heart is out there.
Now why would I write about Dr. Maurer's class? Well, nowhere did I ever learn about a variety of congenital heart defects. But the other day I was doing some orphan and adoption research. I discovered that Children's Hope International has a place on their website where you can sponsor a child "for as little as 32.00 a month". It conjured up thoughts about those "Save the Children" commercials from the early 80's with Suzanne Summers and for some of you who remember Bonnie Hunt (Anne Romano) from that show with Valerie Bertinelli. Anyway, I of course searched the children one by one learning about them. Their names. Their ages. Their circumstances and then came Daniil. He is blessed enough to have his parents and I am assuming CHI is helping him through schooling, medicines, etc but he isn't blessed enough to have what I knew nothing about...Daniil is suffering from total anomalous pulmonary veins drainage and stenosis of superior vena cava (these are life-threatening heart defects). He needs medical treatment. His parents are poor. So, here I am. Wondering what to do. Is this charity CHI one that the money actually goes to the kids? What can 32.00 a month do for a life threatening illness?
AllI know is that for my birthday and for Christmas and for any holiday in between, I have asked for Daniil. To sponsor him. To figure out what I can do to help him. Someone with a small working knowledge of the human body thanks to Dr. Maurer. Someone with a huge working knowledge of what the heart feels like to live thanks to my children. And also, someone who feels like her heart is beating a little for a boy named Daniil somewhere far away as his heart struggles to beat...lubb..dupp...lubb..dupp.
Thursday, July 19, 2007
Nesting Cardinals
A pair of cardinals have had it set in their minds to nest and raise their babies in a dogwood tree outside of my window. They attempted this feat last year at the same time. I watched them build their nest in what seemed to be record time. It amazes me each nest I see built how they can do this without any tools or fingers for that matter! Each day I watched as that momma cardinal sat on her eggs. One night the wind blew and the rain poured on her. The dogwood...virtually a baby itself bowed in the wind and I watched worried that their work would be in vain. The storm ended after many hours of trying times and the nest made it. Days later, the baby hatched. I left for Florida to celebrate my mom's birthday July 16th. While I was gone, my husband sadly reported that the lone surviving baby fell from the nest and although he tried everything he could to help that baby bird, it didn't make it. I was so sad for the cardinal pair. They never returned to the nest and through the 4 seasons, the nest slowly disappeared from the dogwoog one stick at a time until there was no trace that a family had tried to grow there.
Until this July. As I sat at the computer one day I saw the cardinal pair. They were back and once again, stick by stick they began building their nest. The same spot. The same branches. The same time. I was so eager to watch them build, lay, and hatch the babies. Once again, I traveled to celebrate a birthday but this time it was Grammy's 90th in Kansas. Although this may sound strange, part of me was worried about leaving again because of that bird's nest! We were gone for 5 days and once we arrived home, I went back to the window to see what was in the nest. There they were. Tiny and delicate. 3 baby birds and the 2 doting parents. So far so good. It has been almost a week and a half since the babies hatched. They are much bigger. They seem to be developing well. I keep a watchful eye on them making sure I see the parents giving all 3 of them food. I have concerns that one or more will be pushed out or fall out of the nest but of course nature is its own authority.
I can't help but be in awe of this cardinal couple. After what would seem to me as a devastating mating season last year, they were at it again. Yes, this is instinct but it made me think about the human instinct to mother and love. I have lately been comparing many things to orphaned children as well as adoption. I imagine that some of those mothers who leave their newborns at the hospitals in Russia and the Ukraine (and everywhere else for that matter) may be like cardinals. They may have the instincts to parent but through no fault of their own, finances, addictions, or heavy winds and rain, their babies fall from the nest. It is up to us, the onlookers, the ones with strengths they don't have to pick up these babies and help. Sure, we may not succeed with all of them, but what is the harm in trying? Perhaps we have the ability to help in ways we don't even know.
Just maybe, that cardinal knew to build its nest in the dogwood outside my window. Maybe it knew somehow I would be able to once again watch over it. To intervene in the face of danger or trouble. And just perhaps, it is God that has shined a light in my eyes. Has built a nest in a window that I can now see full of children in a far away place that need nothing more than to be swooped up and cared for. The question I have is where do I begin. Where is my dogwood tree? And when will the child who falls from his nest need me to scoop him up and love him forever?
Until this July. As I sat at the computer one day I saw the cardinal pair. They were back and once again, stick by stick they began building their nest. The same spot. The same branches. The same time. I was so eager to watch them build, lay, and hatch the babies. Once again, I traveled to celebrate a birthday but this time it was Grammy's 90th in Kansas. Although this may sound strange, part of me was worried about leaving again because of that bird's nest! We were gone for 5 days and once we arrived home, I went back to the window to see what was in the nest. There they were. Tiny and delicate. 3 baby birds and the 2 doting parents. So far so good. It has been almost a week and a half since the babies hatched. They are much bigger. They seem to be developing well. I keep a watchful eye on them making sure I see the parents giving all 3 of them food. I have concerns that one or more will be pushed out or fall out of the nest but of course nature is its own authority.
I can't help but be in awe of this cardinal couple. After what would seem to me as a devastating mating season last year, they were at it again. Yes, this is instinct but it made me think about the human instinct to mother and love. I have lately been comparing many things to orphaned children as well as adoption. I imagine that some of those mothers who leave their newborns at the hospitals in Russia and the Ukraine (and everywhere else for that matter) may be like cardinals. They may have the instincts to parent but through no fault of their own, finances, addictions, or heavy winds and rain, their babies fall from the nest. It is up to us, the onlookers, the ones with strengths they don't have to pick up these babies and help. Sure, we may not succeed with all of them, but what is the harm in trying? Perhaps we have the ability to help in ways we don't even know.
Just maybe, that cardinal knew to build its nest in the dogwood outside my window. Maybe it knew somehow I would be able to once again watch over it. To intervene in the face of danger or trouble. And just perhaps, it is God that has shined a light in my eyes. Has built a nest in a window that I can now see full of children in a far away place that need nothing more than to be swooped up and cared for. The question I have is where do I begin. Where is my dogwood tree? And when will the child who falls from his nest need me to scoop him up and love him forever?
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Sleeping Babes
It is nothing short of a small, incredible miracle when you can get both of your babies to nap at the same time. L went down shortly after 2 and M is in his crib working on going to sleep. He has always been so much easier than she ever dreamed of being in terms of going to sleep. For this I am grateful. Not much going on around here today. Have a play date with a neighbor/co-worker/friend at 4. We plan on the girls playing, the boys hanging out and we will enjoy a glass of wine. July is going by too fast in my opinion. I haven't done nearly enough relaxing. Summer will officially be over for teachers August 21st when we return to work. Ah the new school year. I had hoped I wouldn't be returning and that I could stay home with my children however that isn't the way it worked out this year. Maybe next year. We shall see.....
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
So begins....
Here I am...only 1 "user" on this blog so far...welcoming myself to this world of writing and discovering. It should be interesting to see where it takes me I suppose. Thoughts today are on my own children and those orphaned around the world who aren't napping in mommy's bed or crawling on the kitchen floor under a loving watchful eye.
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