Snot, Full Diapers, & A Slight Walk on The Wild Side

My wife is awesome, and if you don't think so, you need a lesson in awesomeness. Here's her version of this past week, it has been a tough one, but as always, God has given us the strength to endure.

Well, it started with another virus. Tuesday morning things started to go south. Puddin' was not herself. By that evening she had a runny nose and diarrhea. This is a great toddler combination and the diaper rash that accompanies it all is so fun. Howard had to work late Tuesday and Wednesday night. Tuesday night I got up out of bed about 86 times to check if Puddin' had messed her pants. Sleep deprivation is a common side effect of one's toddler's virus. Toddlers love baby saline drops and snot sucking bulbs. This is quite fun and should become a national competition. I have now read Garden Buddies, Pooh, Roo and Tigger Too, and Raggedy Ann and Andy Sharing & Caring 542 times. Thursday, I thought to myself, "Self you can get some things done in between snot wipes and all the rest. I had done a load of laundry and was giving Lucy a bath (I had already scrubbed Ebenezer) when I heard Puddin' awaken from her nap. Upon entering her room I knew that she had had a significant BM. Upon taking my child out of her crib and placing her on the changing table, I knew this would be no ordinary diaper change. To leave out all the horrifying details, let's just say that Huggies should invent a body suit. Anyway, I thought out loud, "I've got to carefully plan this one. I grabbed a plastic bag and placed the said diaper in it. I put on another one just to buy time. I took the changing pad cover and all with me as I picked up Puddin', swaddled by the changing pad cover. I had to keep the dogs away while I squatted beside the bathtub with Jorja on my knee. I began filling her bathtub with water while she was squirming to get down. I grab another plastic sack, place the toddler on a huge postpartum diaper I still had, took her onesy off over her hips so that I would not smear anything any worse than I already had. I then collected onesy, old diaper and changing pad cover into the postpartum diaper and placed all in plastic sack. I was not going to save any of it. Not this time. I put Jorja in the bath and hosed her down. I then used a hairdryer to dry her poor little diaper rash area. I put thick lanolin ointment on the rash, diapered her and redressed her. At this point I knew she would want her formula. I put her on one hip and with my left hand made the bottle. Just as I was about to sit down to let her take it, Howard came through the door!!! My hero!! My knight in shining armor!! He fed her and I held back tears. He said, "you can cry if you need to." I said, "No, I'm not going to cry. I'm getting what Puddin' has and crying will only add to my congestion." I then got her dinner ready and then I went to Wal-Mart to get some much needed grocery items and time ALONE. I felt like a rebel in my '98 Caddie. I was free of poop and snot for a couple of hours and was making my way down the highway. I needed some rebel music to be my soundtrack for this moment of reverie. As I shuffled through my CD selections in my 6 CD changer, I stopped on Billy Squier's Christmas Is the Time to Say I Love You. I listened to it 3 times. It was the best I could do. And because I was alone in my car, I actually drove up to the speed limit--my cruise was set on a firm 65. I now have more overnight diapers, formula and chocolate. I have a sore throat too, but I'm still reliving my wild evening with a twinkle in my eye. Here's to you Billy!!!

A New Commitment...

This blog is like my commitment to Christ in my junior college years. Starting anew every few months or so...but I was convicted this week when visiting a friends site (who updates more regular on me) and in the "blogs I read" menu, there was facing the giants. I thought poor friend, they've probably memorized the last blog. But, Puddin' is a about 45 days shy of her first birthday and there's more to blog about. She's developing her own personality and makes us laugh everyday. This picture was taken when my mom came to visit us. As I tell people, Puddin' is my third child.

A long overdue update....

Our family is still here. Mom sends out her own e-mail pictures to her list and dad doesn't blog as often as he likes, but keeps being inspired by other blogs to persevere until it becomes habit (He does have about a million blog ideas, just not the time to sit down and type as often as he would like).

God is blessing our family. Puddin' is growing like crazy and this morning when mom walked in and checked on her after her morning nap, she was sitting up in her crib. So, now we must drop the mattress down a level. She is such a blessing and manages to get her dad to stop working on the computer in the evenings to play her. Right now, her favorite is the being rolled over and over across the bed. We are definitely blessed.

Things are going well at work, although moving up to management has been a tough transition. It's hard to find people who want to work on commission now days. I still lack finding one more person to hire before I can officially be a manager (right now I'm acting as a manager, but not reaping the benefits of the manager). I've struggled over the last few years about being in a "secular" job, after all I trained for the ministry...and often asked is this where I'm suppose to be Lord? Shouldn't I be preaching. But through some close friends and very intimate worship times God has made it evident this is where I'm suppose to be at this time in my life. And he has given me a passion for my job and a vision how to run my district in a way that hopefully will best glorify him. I'll probably share that in the next blog, it's too detail to go in here. But, this blog will be my outlet to share what God is showing me in Scripture. Last night, as Amber and I talked and I shared how I think God is showing me to run my district, it excited me and I have a desire to allow him to shine through me whether it be in the church or the boardroom.

But just as awesome as God is, he has given us a ministry. We will be stateside prayer coordinators for a missionary from our church (I'm sure you will be hearing more about Dr. T in upcoming blogs). Briefly, he is a national from a southeast asian country that is closed and has come and received training and is going back to his home country knowing persecution may follow but willing to share the gospel. We had a chance to hear him share his testimony a few weeks ago and it was the most passionate I had heard in a long time, in fact it drove me to my knees asking for that passion in my life. It will be exciting to be a small part of this man's ministry.

Baby Aerobics

Now take your left foot and cross it to your body.

Then lift your feet and do some crunches.

First reach out and touch your toes.

A Late Father's Day Blog...

I meant to post this blog on Father's Day, but the weekend was busy and I disappeared for the week to study for a test I had to pass for a promotion. After many hours of study, and a passing grade I can get back to life. Anyways...here's a picture of puddin' and I on Father's Day. All I can say is I love being a dad. I have often felt overwhelmed, but at the same time extremely thankful for the blessings God has put in my life through my wife and daughter.

For all of our regular readers (all five of you), I'm fully taken over the blog and will start blogging more on what God has been teaching me and not just family updates. Don't worry, there will still be more and enough pictures of our puddin' because I know that's why four of the five of you visit the blog.

Our Family Picture

We have had an exciting week. First, Granny and Grandpa Steve (iamnots mom and step-dad) came up to visit for Mother's Day weekend. This was there second time to see puddin' and she was more active and responsive (the last time they saw her she was barely three weeks old). So, Granny and puddin' had some good bonding time. Although, dad has tried to train puddin' to cry anytime she sees any of her grandparents she hasn't done it yet...they are always met with a big smile. Then, it was baby dedication and sheeps "first official" mother's day being a mother. Puddin' bought her some books they could read together, and iamnot bought her a Starbuck's gift card, so she could get some alone time on the weekends and he will stay home and play with puddin'. Then, puddin' turned six months on Monday which was greeted by some more shots from the doctor, but she did much better this time than she did at the three month appointment (she didn't throw anything back up) and then on Wednesday her first two bottom teeth started showing. So, we are blessed and enjoying God's grace that's working in our lives at this moment. He is so good and gives us so much than we deserve.

Win or lose....

One of my favorite lines in the moving facing the giants (which if you haven't seen I highly recommend) is when the coach tells the players from now on we are going to have fun, play our hardest, and win or lose still praise God.

This weekend I got to practice that piece of advice. One of my goals is to win the International Toastmasters speech competition and I made it to the third round and didn't even place. At first I thought I had went over the time limit, but after checking with the timekeeper I found out I had stayed within the time limits. Then, my mind went directly towards thinking how stupid the judges were, okay maybe not stupid just had it out against me and didn't like all the humor I slipped into a serious inspirational speech. On the way home God reminded me of th quote from the movie and I prayed about it and began praising him. When I got home I was able to tell my wife I was beat because on that day there were three people who did a better job speaking. And then I thought about how lucky I am to have the wife I have (she told me if I really needed a trophy her and puddin' could make one) and how we have been so blessed this past year. And I started thinking how so many times if I'm not careful I can pursue goals that don't matter and not be content at where God has me. And I started thinking about the times when I just sit back and enjoy all that God has done (and is doing) and invest in those relationships around me...that is true success. So, win or lose I will praise God and start working on my speech for next year.