Merry Christmas!!

O Israel, wait and watch for God—
with God's arrival comes love,
with God's arrival comes generous redemption.
No doubt about it—he'll redeem Israel,
buy back Israel from captivity to sin.
Psalm 130:7-8 (The Message)

Having A Baby Changes Everything

Have you seen that tag line used by Johnson & Johnson?

I'm not a pet person. I'm definitely not a dog person. My kids love dogs and I love my kids, but that's as close as I get. So when I found myself walking our new dog, carrying a bag of doggy "waste", I had to laugh.

Yup, having a baby kids changes everything!

ETA: the kids were at their play practice otherwise they would have been taking care of the dog.

Fear

Sam was sick before Thanksgiving. Eventually I took him to the doctor because he was complaining his ears hurt and was running a fever. The doctor didn't think his ears looked too bad and the strep test was negative. The doctor suggested possible pneumonia, though that could not be determined without x-rays. Antibiotics were prescribed. Sam was feeling himself in just a day or 2.

Fast forward to last Wednesday. That night was his last dose of antibiotics. Thursday morning Sam sounded funny. Friday I could tell he definitely had a cold. Sunday morning, with very little thought, we all went to church. Because of Sunday school and other after-church activities, it was about 6 hours before I saw him again. I was shocked by how sick he had gotten. He was coughing so much and by evening he was complaining about his ear again. Sunday night he woke up coughing (and coughing and coughing). It wasn't the croup-y cough we typically hear, but it was tight and uncomfortable sounding. He and I moved to the living room so he could sleep sitting up in the recliner.

As I laid on the couch listening to him cough in the dark, my thoughts became more worried and panicked. What if it was really pneumonia? What if it was some bacteria resistant to antibiotics? What if he couldn't breathe? When he was finally sleeping again, his breathing was raspy and I wondered if it was "labored breathing". Did he need to go to the emergency room right then? Eventually I too fell asleep.

In the morning Sam's ear no longer hurt. His coughing sounded looser. I laughed to myself that he has always been a noisy sleeper and snores often. All those worries disappeared with morning light. What is it about the night time which makes all those worries seem insurmountable? It reminded me of a verse John shared with me recently.

do good and do not fear anything that is frightening.
1 Peter 3:6 (ESV)

Easier said than done, I say. God will help me... and you.

Christmas Parade

This past Saturday we celebrated Christmas in traditional, Southern-small-town fashion. We inhaled our share of diesel exhaust and lost a little hearing from sirens and horns.... and had lots of fun.

There were all the requisite entrants.
The grand marshal wearing blue jeans and ball cap:


Tractors:


Cloggers:


Santa riding in his sleigh firetruck:


Sam saw something he liked. The only thing which even elicited a response from him:


Yup, a garbage truck:



And because it's a little railroad town (Central, SC), it was only fitting that a train should come right by main street during the parade. The engineer had his window open and was waving:


We also saw this really cute girl:



Tina's dance studio was in the parade and Tina decided she would like to participate and because I am a committed dance parent it was a nice day and I wanted to take the kids to a parade anyway, we rounded up and went. And we're glad we did.

Christmas Wishes

The kids' biggest Christmas wish has already been granted. Welcome to the family Odie.