The Other Way

My heart has been so heavy lately as I have been fervently praying for God to work a miracle in the life of Baby Samuel. I am still earnestly calling out to God to intervene for this precious baby boy, and am waiting with eager anticipation to hear a good report soon. In the mean time, I guess God knew I needed some good laughs. Of course, He used my Coralyn to lighten the mood and bring smiles to my face and fill my heart with joy.

"Read it the other way." When Lawrence reads to Coralyn, he likes to use expression and emotion, like any good teacher would when modeling what great readers do. He tries out his different voices: cowboy, squeaky, hick, deep bass, and so on. For some reason, Coralyn does not find this amusing at all. Every time he tries to do something fun, she stops him and reprimands, "No, read it the other way." So he teases her a bit more and tries out a few more voices. Nope, she won't have any of it. "NO! Read it normal!" And so Lawrence gives in and reads in his plain, old regular boring voice. Coralyn has caught on to the fact that he will always start with the silly voices, and so now before she ever hands him the book she wants him to read, she starts out with, "Read it the other way. Read it normal."

"This pickle died." The other day for lunch, I didn't feel like making anything and so I just gave Coralyn her plate of leftovers from the evening before. Her pickle had kind of shriveled up, but I figured it was still good. I wasn't about to waste food! However, Coralyn didn't seem to agree with my opinion of the pickle's condition. She looked at it, crinkled up her face, and handed me the apparently uneatable pickle. In all seriousness, she explains, "Mommy, this pickle died."

"It's on backwards." Coralyn wanted to watch her afternoon episode of Go! Diego, Go! and so I got the TV on and started the show. I forgot, however, to turn up the volume. I didn't realize my mistake and went into the kitchen to finish up supper. Coralyn promptly called me back into the living room. "It's on backwards, Mommy," she complained and handed me the remote to remedy the problem. Once I adjusted the volume, she was good to go!

"I wanna wake up." As we are eating lunch and I remind Coralyn that when we are done, she and Kellah are both going to take naps, Coralyn informs me, "No, I wanna wake up." Well, my precious child, you haven't even gone to sleep yet, so you might have a hard time waking up. She didn't seem to appreciate my explanation that in order to wake up she first had to go to sleep.

"Big hug." This is my absolute favorite. The other day Coralyn was not interested in taking a nap and came up with multiple reasons to come out of her room: she needed to go potty, she was thirsty, she heard something, her back itched, her head itched, she needed a wet towel (a baby wipe to use to wipe her nose), she needed to take her bow out of her hair, she wanted me to read a story, she wanted me to sing a song, she wanted to give me a big hug. After an hour of excuses, I was getting pretty frustrated, especially since every time she came out of her room, she walked past Kellah's room and made enough noise that Kellah woke up from her nap before she was ready (at least in my opinion). But, how could I get mad at my sweet little girl when she came to the top of the stairs and says with her arms open as wide as she could get them, "Mommy, I want to give you a big hug." I wrapped her up tight, kissed her on the head, and took in the precious kairos moment. Then, I promptly escorted her back to her room and explained that I loved her dearly and she needed to take a nap now. The moment was over. My sweet little girl turned into a mad woman and began screaming and shouting, which of course woke up Kellah, who had just gone back to sleep.

I am so thankful for these memories, even if at the time I wasn't treasuring the moment. I am glad that God has a sense of humor and uses my little girl to make me laugh. I am blessed beyond words to be Coralyn's mommy (and Kellah's too). I am praying for many more smiles and giggles in the future.

How can you not smile at these lovely ladies?

Praying Like Elijah

Ah, I have so many thoughts running through my head right now, so forgive me in advance if this post seems jumbled and mumbled and bumbled and tumbled. I think that is all the umbled words I can come up with off the top of my head. See, I am already talking nonsense.

My life changed (yet again) on Wednesday morning when I ran into a friend from church at Target. Stacey informed me that she had just gotten word that our friend Grace had some complications during labor and both her and the baby had been rushed to the hospital. Immediately, my heart was torn to pieces. Between our tears, we prayed right there in the middle of the aisle. Stacey didn't have much information, but she promised to keep me posted. As I pulled out of the parking lot, I continued to pray for Grace and her baby boy. I had no idea how bad the situation was, but I had faith that God would make everything all better.

A week later, I am still holding on to that hope. I am still praying fervently for Baby Samuel. I now realize the gravity of the situation and how completely dependent we are on God to make everything all better. In fact, without Him there is no way that things will change or improve. We need a miracle, and so I keep on praying. Day and night. Night and day. I have run out of words to say, and so I just keep praying the same thing over and over and over again, "God, please heal Baby Samuel."

As my days have become consumed with praying for this precious baby boy, I can't help but think that time should freeze. Everyone in the world should stop whatever they are doing and pray for Baby Samuel. Don't they realize that his parents have spent the entire last week in a hospital room watching their newborn son get hooked up to wires and undergo medical treatment? Don't they understand how tired and worn out they are, how desperate they are for their son to be healed? Can't they sense the heaviness that is in the air? Why then are people shopping for shoes? How dare people yell and scream at the top of their lungs with giddy excitement as they watch a live performance by the newest boy band? How rude that people take advantage of a sunny day and play at the park or visit the zoo? Wipe that smile off your face! Stop laughing! Don't you know that you should be crying for this little boy and his family, pouring your heart out to God, begging Him to do a miracle?

I have been so torn and confused with my emotions. As I look at Coralyn and Kellah, I am overwhelmed with gratitude, so thankful for two healthy, beautiful girls. When I play with them and read to them, I am blown away with how blessed I am. When we have gone to the park and the zoo this week, I have certainly enjoyed myself. But, at the same time, I can't help but feeling guilty. When Kellah coos at me or gives me one of her priceless smiles, I can't help but think of Baby Samuel. I can't imagine being in Grace's shoes, having waited nine long months to meet your precious baby, to hold and kiss him and cuddle with him and have him look back up at you with those sweet eyes and smile because he knows he is safe in his mama's arms. And then this happens. When Kellah wakes up in the middle of the night to eat, I may be tired and wish that she had given me another hour of sleep, but there is no way I can complain. I am sure that Grace would love to feed her Baby Samuel at 3 am, and 4 am, and 5 am... When Coralyn cries and whines and fights going to bed (or taking a nap), it is so easy for me to get frustrated and annoyed. But I am catching myself. I bet Grace would love to hear her Baby Samuel cry. And so I am left wondering how in the world I am supposed to feel, how I am supposed to act, knowing that my friend is hurting so much and I can't do anything for her or her baby (except to keep on praying!).

Sunday the weather was perfect for my mood. Rainy, dreary, overcast. The past three days have been absolutely gorgeous, in the 70's and 80's, sun shining, birds chirping, etc., etc. This doesn't seem right. On the other hand, it is fitting. It gives us hope that God will shine His light on this dark situation, that He will turn this mourning into laughter, this weeping into dancing.

I read in Psalm 75 this morning,

"We thank You, O God! We give thanks because You are near. People everywhere tell of Your wonderful deeds!"

God is near. He is right here in the midst of us as we pray for Baby Samuel. He knows our pain, our grief, our desperate desire for miraculous healing. Psalm 34:18 says, "God is close to the brokenhearted." Psalm 147:3 is even better, "God heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds."

I don't know who all is praying for Baby Samuel, but I am sure with facebook and twitter and blogs and such that people all around the world have heard his story and joined together to cry out for God to work on this little boy's behalf. And when God does, you better believe that "people everywhere will tell of His wonderful deeds!" It's going to be a global celebration when we get word that Baby Samuel is all better.

This kind of faith is a hard thing for me. Maybe it's because I don't understand how prayer works exactly. I know that God is totally and completely capable of healing Baby Samuel. He wouldn't even break a sweat. I know that countless people are fasting and praying on his behalf. Many, many of these people I regard as prayer warriors who are overflowing with the power and presence of the Holy Spirit. I consider them to have giant-sized faith. And so I wonder why God hasn't answered our prayers yet? Why hasn't He seemed to respond to our cries for help, our desperate pleas for His mercy? I don't know. I have no answers. And I don't like that, not at all.

But I can't give up. So I will keep on doing the only thing I know to do: pray, pray, and then pray some more. More than that though, I have to keep on believing that God truly can work a miracle here. I can't let doubt creep its way into my heart and mind. I have to read the words of Scripture and trust God to stay true to His promises. I don't know how that will all play out, as I don't know God's timing or fully understand what He is doing in the grand scheme of life. "His ways are not my ways, and His thoughts are not my thoughts."

Well, Kellah is waking up from her nap, and so I must finish with these thoughts on prayer:

James wrote, "the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well." He says, "the prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective."

He goes on to encourage us, "Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops."

Elijah prayed, and fire came down.

Moses prayed, and the people walked across on dry ground.

Peter prayed, and a lame man walked for the first time in his entire life.

Paul prayed, and a woman was raised from the dead.

Hannah prayed, and she had a son. She named him Samuel. She dedicated him to the Lord. His whole life was spent serving God and making His Word known.

Grace, too, had a son and named him Samuel. Grace and her family and friends and complete strangers prayed for Samuel. I have to believe that this boy too will do awesome things for our God, bringing massive amounts of glory to His name.

Calling All Prayer Warriors

I had wanted to write out a sequel to my previous blog post, "Save It for Later." I realized after I finished it, I had more thoughts swimming in my head. Also, Coralyn did a classic "save it for later" move and I wanted to share about that.

However, more pressing things are happening. So, I will just have to save my additional comments for later.

If you are part of the Desperation Community, then you probably know everything I am about to write. You very well might know more than I do about the present situation. This is mainly for those of you know me from high school or college or wherever else and have seen my facebook posts asking for prayer Baby Samuel but don't know exactly who he is or why prayer for him is so urgent and necessary. I thought I would fill you in, and beg you to keep praying for this precious baby boy and his family.

A little background on the Allen family:

Brian and Grace Allen attend my church, and they are special, special people. Brain's nickname is Wolverine, and if you ever met him, you would immediately know why. His looks shouldn't scare you though; he is one of the most amazing men I know. Which is fitting because his wife Grace is one of the most amazing women you will ever meet. When we sing, I love hearing Grace's voice in the back of the room. She is so enthralled with Jesus and that comes out beautifully when she sings. Brian and Grace help in the children's ministry, and if you ask any kid at Desperation they would tell you that they absolutely love Miss Grace!

Two of their boys, Caleb and Joshua, have come to Ponca Bible Camp with us. Caleb is one of the sweetest kiddos, and his brother Joshua is too (although Joshy-poo, as I like to call him, can be a little honery at times). Caleb's dark black hair and Josh's rat-tail are unforgettable, as are their kind hearts and precious smiles. Their little brother Micah is pretty cool too. He just turned 2.

Now for the reason why I am urging, begging, you to join me in prayer:

Grace had Baby Samuel last Wednesday. At some point during the labor, Grace knew something was wrong. I like to say that Grace and the Holy Spirit are pretty tight. In fact, I think Grace has the gift of faith. She is a prayer warrior if there ever was one. So, I truly believe the Holy Spirit told Grace that she needed to have the midwife call 911. Amber, who just so happens to be the wonderful woman who helped us bring Kellah into this world, immediately called 911. By the time Samuel was born, the ambulance was there. During labor, Grace's uterus ruptured. I don't know all the other details, but I do know that Baby Samuel was without oxygen for some time. When the ambulance arrived, the EMT's or firemen or whoever immediately bagged him. Both Grace and Baby Samuel were rushed to the North Kansas City Hospital. Grace had to have surgery for her ruptured uterus, but Baby Samuel needed more help and had to be transferred to Children's Mercy Hospital. He has been there since.

Grace meeting Baby Samuel for the first time

Baby Samuel didn't show signs of brain activity, so the doctors put him on a cooling blanket. This makes his body extremely cold, almost hypothermic.

Yesterday, they began the process of warming him back up to a normal temperature, in hopes that this would activate his brain waves. As of last night, I hadn't heard if the treatment was successful or not.

On facebook today, Brain posted a picture of Grace holding Baby Samuel.

I am not certain what exactly that means for him. Brain did mention that they are not out of the woods and still need a miracle on behalf of their son. That Samuel is still alive is an act of God. Our church family is praying earnestly for God to work again and heal Baby Samuel completely. This would certainly be a miracle, something that God alone can do! Yes, the doctors can try their best, but really it's up to God. We desperately need Him to come through for Baby Samuel and the Allen family.

I pray that like the Samuel of the Bible, this little boy will grow up to love God, hear His voice, and serve Him wholeheartedly all of his days. I pray that Baby Samuel will bring massive amounts of glory to God's name, that his life will showcase the glory and power of God in supernatural ways. When people ask Samuel his life story, there will be no denying that God's mighty hand was at work from beginning to end.

Please join me in praying for this precious baby boy. Spread the word. Tell as many people as possible to pray for Baby Samuel. And then, when he is healed, we can all rejoice together! What a celebration that will be!

Save It for Later

One of Coralyn's infamous sayings lately is, "I want to save it for later" or some variation.

If she doesn't finish all of her food at a meal or snack time, "I'll save it for later."

If she doesn't want to take a bath when I suggest we do so, "No, I want to save it for later."

"Not right now, Mommy. Let's go later," she says when I explain that we need to run an errand.

"I will save my Diego for later. After we get back from Hy-Vee." she states, wanting to be sure that she gets in her daily allotted two episodes of Go, Diego, Go!

If I ask her to put away her toys, "Let's wait and do it later. I want to keep playing."

"Do you need to go potty?" I ask, checking to make sure she doesn't wait to the last minute. "No, I'll go later."

Needless to say, "Save it for later," can be used in multiple situations in our household. Of course, Coralyn doesn't always get her way and can't "save it for later," whatever it may be at the time.

What strikes me as funny is that when she says that she wants to save her food for later, this really means she is done with it all together. I always put her plate or bowl or whatever back in the fridge to save it for later, and when she does ask for a snack or something else to eat, I pull it back out. "No, I'm saving that for later," she rationalizes and requests something totally new and different.

I almost don't even ask anymore when she is done eating part of a snack or meal. I automatically tell myself, "No, let's save it for later." And sure enough, Coralyn comes through and assures me that she wants to save her raisins or peanut butter sandwich or apple or pear or cheese or yogurt or crackers for later. But more often than not, I am the one who finishes eating the food, later, of course. I can't let the food go to waste, you see. I appreciate Coralyn's good intentions of wanting to save it for later, but given that she doesn't typically follow through on that promise, I go ahead and do the job for her.

I wonder how often God feels the same way. He asks me to do something: read my Bible, pray, sit and be still for just a few minutes, tell someone about Him, write a note to a friend who is hurting, or give a friend a call to encourage them. Instead of obeying, I respond, "Not right now. I'll do it later." When it's more convenient for me. When I'm not busy with whatever it is I am doing right that is obviously more important than whatever God has asked me to do. Somehow, later never comes. It always gets pushed back more and more. There's always later, never now. Now is full of folding laundry and unloading the dishwasher and making supper and changing diapers and buying groceries and going to storytime or playgroup. Now is taken, overbooked even. Now is not a good time. Later works better for me.

I'm not telling God, "No." I'm not disobeying or anything like that. I'm not outright defying Him. I'm just going to "do it later." I have good intentions. But in reality those good intentions really mean that I am ignoring God, pushing Him aside, not taking Him seriously, giving Him the shaft, telling Him He's not all that important. And honestly, how often do I actually follow through on my promise and get around to doing what He asked me to do? Sadly, not very often. Just like I typically end up eating Coralyn's food that she has saved for later but never gets around to wanting again, God has to do the job for me.

True, He didn't really need me in the first place, anyway. He can get the job done perfectly well all on His own, but the fact that He invited me to be a part of the work is quite a big deal. I should take it seriously. I should jump at the opportunity to do something for God, no matter how small or ridiculous or scary it may seem at the time. When God asks me to join Him in His kingdom work, why in the world would I respond with a "not right now, maybe later" type of answer?! And yet, I do. All.the.time.

I can laugh at Coralyn's many, "I'll save it for later, Mommy" remarks throughout the day. I highly doubt God does the same with mine.

Obedience, Yes, BUT...

Sometimes you can't help but laugh at your children. In some situations laughing will keep you from screaming or yelling at them. In other instances, you may have to laugh so you won't cry. And other times, your kids are just straight out hilarious and deserving of a good, hearty laugh.

I'm not sure which of three options was most appropriate the other day. All I know is I couldn't help but smile and laugh. Although, I did my best to maintain a stern face at the time, trying not to let Coralyn know I thought she was being cute and somewhat funny. After all, this wasn't time for fun and games; it was time to obey!

I don't even remember what the exact situation was, but I do know that I asked Coralyn to do something. We were either getting ready to take a bath, go to bed, or leave on an errand. Whatever the case, I needed Coralyn to follow me into another room. I asked her to "come here, please," which she did, but in a very unique way. She got on the kitchen floor and started scooting, backwards, toward the living room, dragging her little purple blanket with her the whole way. Once she reached the carpeted living room and couldn't exactly slide any further, she simply changed methods and began to crawl on all fours, still going backwards mind you. She traveled all the way down the hall and to her room in this ridiculous fashion. I wasn't sure what to say or do. She was obeying. I had asked her to follow me to her room, and she was doing exactly that, just not in the way I had anticipated: the good old-fashioned and extremely boring "put one foot in front of you walking forwards method."

And so I was left trying to hide my smile and hold my laughter inside so as not to let on that I thought this was even remotely cute. I also told myself that maybe next time I need to be more explicit in my directions when I want Coralyn to do something, especially if I want it done quickly. Perhaps I should use this approach, "Coralyn, will you please follow me to your room. I want you to get off your chair, stand up straight, and walk down the hall. I need you to walk forwards so that you can see where you are going. I want you to keep your hands by your side (or else she will try grabbing some random toy she sees along the way or drag her hand along the wall the whole way). I want you to walk the whole way (or else she might start jumping like a kangaroo or spinning in circles or try doing somersaults to get there)." Did I leave anything out? Is there anything else I should mention?

As I was waiting, oh so patiently, for Coralyn to make her way to her room, I of course thought of my parent-child relationship with God. How many times must I look absolutely ridiculous to Him?! He asks me to do something, and I do obey, but in the most awkward, unorthodox way imaginable. He could tell me to do the simplest thing, and I turn it into something strange and weird or just plain hard. I make the task as difficult as possible, taking fifty times as long as necessary. Does He smile at my antics and try to contain His laughter, or does He get extremely frustrated and impatient? Does He want to scream or yell at me? Do I make Him want to cry? Probably. Thankfully, He is patient, very patient.

And I should be too.

She is obeying, after all. And a little laughter doesn't hurt. In fact, I probably needed a good laugh. God most likely knew that and used my precious toddler to remind me to lighten up and enjoy the moment, to relax and have some fun. After all, she's only going to be two once. I highly doubt she will scoot and slide on the kitchen floor, dragging her little purple blanket the whole way, when she is in high school. By then, I don't think she will crawl backwards, jump like a frog, slither like a snake, spin in circles until she is dizzy, or attempt somersaults that end up looking more like side flops. No, I am quite sure she will have figured out numerous different ways to obey as ridiculously as possible, using much more "grown-up" and "mature" methods. I can't even begin to imagine what all those may be, but I am sure I will soon find out.

For now, I will just keep chuckling to myself and enjoying these kairos moments while I can.

There's Got to Be a Better Way

Yesterday, I obeyed Missouri law and had Kellah's hearing tested. I knew it was going to be a nightmare, or at least a bad dream, based on our previous experience with Coralyn's hearing test.

She had to wear these things on her ears that made her look like an elf. The room had to be completely quiet, Coralyn had to be totally still, and the machine had to work...all at the same time! I think we were there for over two hours! Coralyn passed the "test," as I knew she would since she was responding just fine to us at home.

I had this memory in the back of my head and was dreading repeating it with Kellah. Only this time I would add an active toddler to the mix. So, I put the test off for as long as I could. I would have skipped it all together, but I got a letter in the mail from the State of Missouri saying I was a delinquent parent since my child had not had her hearing tested. Not wanting to be viewed as a terrible mother, I called that day and set up the appointment. The earliest one available was a month later. Fine with me.

The day finally came though, and I couldn't put the hearing test off any longer. Of course they had to schedule it at 2 pm, right in the middle of nap time....meaning neither one of the girls got a nap! When we arrived and I checked us in, Kellah was sleeping away in her carseat. Fifteen minutes later when they called us to the registration desk, she was screaming at the top of her lungs. And of course, they had entered the information in wrong, so I had to give them all the basics over again: name, address, phone number, date of birth...for me, Lawrence, and Kellah!

After they got all that squared away, we were sent back to the chairs to wait some more. Kellah falls back asleep. Coralyn is busy crawling all over the chairs and watching cartoons on the TV across the room and playing with the toys in the waiting area. Thankfully, we didn't have to wait long before our name was called and we were lead back to the hearing test booth.

I was relieved to see that it was somewhat a soundproof room so that there wouldn't need to be absolute silence outside the room during the test. However, Coralyn would be in the room with me, and need to be both still and quiet. Right! :) Did I mention the room was just big enough for a chair for me to sit in while I held Kellah and the computer equipment needed to do the testing. That left about 2 square feet for Coralyn! The "doctor" was nice enough to bring Coralyn some coloring pages (about 15 of them!) and a box of crayons (a super size box with 48 crayons!). In about three seconds, Coralyn had dumped the entire box of crayons on the floor and finished coloring all the pages :) She's not much for detail when she colors yet. And so I gave her the 4 library books I had brought with me. She finished reading those in another 37 seconds. The "doctor" hadn't even finished putting the wires on Kellah yet.

Ah yes, the wires. This is where it gets really good! She had to put a tab on Kellah's forehead which was connected to a long wire that ran all the way to the computer. Then, she had to put an earbud thingy in each of Kellah's ears, plus these things that looked like clip-on earrings, and attachment clips on both of her shoulders. Every time she shifted, a wire would move or an earbud would come out. So the "doctor" had to reinsert the earbud, adjust the wires, and so on.

And Kellah's supposed to be asleep during all of this? Yeah right! How would YOU like it if someone was jamming and rejamming and rejamming something into your ear? I'm sure you would just peacefully snooze away. Um, NO!

To try to calm Kellah down, I tried to nurse her. But with all the wires and what not, there was no way I could cover her up. So hopefully the "doctor" lady wasn't too embarrassed by my breastfeeding in public. Kellah didn't seem to enjoy eating with all those wires attached to her anyway, or the fact that every time the earbud fell out the "doctor" put it back in. So I gave up trying to nurse her to sleep and switched to the "hold her facing outward and rock back and forth" method. After about 10 or so minutes, she was calm once again. And so we tried to start the test once again. Did I mention she had to be asleep for that?

And don't forget about Coralyn and her crayons and bazillion coloring sheets which were strewn about the floor.

Finally, I was able to get Kellah to nurse and fall asleep. The test could officially begin. Coralyn actually did a pretty good job during the test. She pretended to sleep on the floor, which involved making snoring noises and rolling back and forth as much as humanly possible. At least she wasn't screaming or pulling on the cords. She did attempt to take some stickers off the wall and then started peeling the paper off the crayons. After several nasty looks, as that was all I could do seeing as how I was holding a wire-wrapped Kellah and couldn't move lest the earbud fall out again and couldn't make any noise lest I wake up the sleeping baby, meaning the test would have to be stopped. And we certainly didn't want that!

After what seemed like an eternity, the test was finished and Kellah passed. I could have told you that...without all the hassle of the wires and earbuds! But, my saying that she turns her head when I talk to her or startles when she hears a sudden, loud noise wouldn't have been quite scientific enough. And so we went through all the medical necessities.

I was ready to pack up and be done, never to come back again (until our next child has his/her hearing tested). However, the test indicated that Kellah had some fluid in her left ear. They wanted to do more testing right then to find out more about this situation. That required Kellah being awake, sitting still on my lap, and being quiet...while they put a earbud thing in her ear and wiggled it around! Yeah, like she's going to be quiet and not fuss at all while they do that! Needless to say, we have to go back when she is 6 months old for another hearing test to check on that fluid. I am so looking forward to that! NOT!

Seriously, there's got to be a better way!

Maybe I can work on that...invent a new, hassle free way of testing a baby's hearing. Or, if any of you moms (or dads) have any tips for next time, let me know.

Because there really does have to be a better way! And let's hope it's been invented before the next Youngin' arrives! :)

In the Blink of an Eye...

Jesus will come back. But, in the meantime. In the blink of an eye...

gas prices can go up 17 cents! The other day Lawrence was on his way to donate plasma and gas was $3.42. He was going to fill up his car after giving plasma and more money was put on the Visa card. When he was finished, an hour later, gas cost $3.59!!!

the weather can change from 75 degrees and sunny to 34 degrees and snowing. At least here in the Midwest. Apparently, I blinked when I went into Aldi this morning. When I walked in the store, it was cold, yes, but certainly not snowing. About twenty minutes later when I go to pay the cashier for our groceries huge snowflakes are falling. Wasn't I just at the zoo yesterday sweating in my short-sleeve t-shirt?!

Speaking of the zoo...in the blink of an eye, your two-year old daughter can disappear without warning! I was with our play group, so I was probably a bit distracted, but still! The four of us moms took our troops (9 kiddos) into the snake house. We had just finished feeding the deer, and Coralyn had mentioned wanting to ride the carousel. However, I didn't know if that was an option for everyone in our group, so I told her we would have to wait until later. Thinking the issue was settled, we made our way to the snakes. We saw the huge boa constrictor lying lazily in his cage and then we were amazed by another snake who was trying to crawl up the glass wall of his. Between marveling at the snake and trying to explain how to French braid a little girl's hair (Coralyn's hair was semi-French braided and one of the moms had commented that she would like to learn how to do that), Coralyn "escaped." I turned around and she was gone! I ran out of the snake house to see if she was waiting outside. Nope! Thankfully, some people saw me and pointed me in the direction they had seen a little girl running. Then, I knew right where to go. The carousel was just around the corner, so I raced as quickly as I could over there. Granted, I was carrying Kellah in my sling at the time, so I wasn't moving very fast or very gracefully. But, frankly, I didn't really care. As long as Kellah didn't fall out of the sling... So, here I am shouting Coralyn's name and frantically praying no crazy person has taken advantage of her running off by herself to snatch her up. And there's Coralyn, cool as a cucumber, at the entrance to the carousel trying to climb up the gate to get in. Two moms were right there, making sure she didn't get any further, as was the carousel attendant. I ran over to her, picked her up as best as I could, and carried her to a quiet corner where we could have a nice little chat about the dangers of running off by herself, no matter how badly she wanted to ride the carousel instead of looking at snakes!

I was scared to death! Needless to say, Coralyn rode in the stroller for the remainder of our time at the zoo that day! And we did go back and ride the carousel, together.

On a much more positive, and less terrifying, note...

In the blink of an eye, your 10-week old daughter can roll over for the very first time, while you are in the kitchen getting a glass of water!

Kellah didn't take a very long nap this afternoon, so I was having some good one-on-one play time with her today since Coralyn is actually sleeping! I put her on her tummy and let her know I would be right back. I go fill up my glass with water and come back to the living room to find Kellah on her back. When I left, she was laying her head down on the blanket, so there was no "cheating" involved. I hadn't positioned her so that she could easily roll from her tummy to her back. She did this all on her own! That little stinker. :) She knows how badly I have been wanting her to roll over, and get the accomplishment on camera of course! Then she goes and rolls over, not only when I don't have the camera on and ready, but when I am completely out of the room and miss the event all together! A stubborn one, this Kellah is! :)

Thankfully, Kellah obliged and rolled over several more times with me watching her. I was even able to capture the milestone on camera for your (or more the grandparents, really) viewing pleasure!

Ah yes, in the blink of an eye your babies grow up! I am sure my parents see Coralyn and Kellah and think to themselves, "It was just yesterday that Sarah was in diapers!" :)