Free Cone Day!

Waiting in the very long line. It looked intimidating when we arrived, but didn't take long at all. It's amazing how much more quickly they can move a crowd through a store if they don't waste time ringing people up!


Cherry Garcia and Yellow Cake Batter - Well worth the wait.


Sucking out all the yummy goodness


Good to the very last bite

Thanks, Ben and Jerry! And thanks, Eddie, for the heads up on this fun event!

Favorite J quotes for today

1. Mommy, your glasses don't work. When I put them on, all I see is blurry stuff!

2. Mommy, after my magic school bus story and after we pray (parts of our usual bedtime routine), would you snuggle me in the chair and sing to me?

Aww. Anytime, buddy. Anytime.

Keeps Me Singing

H is our little music lover. This is one of her favorite pastimes - sitting on the bed looking through the hymnbook. She calls it her Bible. She not only likes looking at it, but she has a few favorite hymns she likes to sing and hear. When I'm putting her to bed I usually rock her and sing to her for a while. For a long time, she's been in the habit of calling out favorites and then singing along. It's very cute.

A few months ago she called out a request and I started singing what I thought she had said: Rock a bye baby. She got quite irritated and repeated her request. I tried again and got the same response. The third time I realized she was asking for "Rock of Ages" not "Rock a baby." (They sound a lot alike when you're talking to a one year old).

Tonight she made a new request - Power in the Blood. I'm not sure where that came from, because I really can't remember ever singing it to her. (Nor could Grandma, the other major musical influence in her life.) I'm pretty sure it's been a few years since I've sung it at all, but I made up for it tonight! It was a big hit with her.

A few years ago I made a list of hymns I'd like my children to learn. Some are on the list because I think they're great, others because I think knowing them is part of being a culturally literate Christian. I thought about typing the list here, but it's about 60 songs long, and I don't really want to take the time. So without biasing anyone with my opinion, let me ask - what hymns would be on your must-learn list? Maybe I'll publish my list another time after I hear your ideas.

Do what I mean, not what I say

This morning while loading up the car in front of the hotel:

Me: Don't get in your seat yet, you need to go potty one more time before we leave.

J: Ok

Me, hearing a funny sound behind me and turning to see my son with his pants around his ankles, watering the flowers right in front of the windows where the other guests were eating breakfast: Uh, that's not quite what I meant.

Home again

We're back from our trip south - at least most of us are. B went immediately over to IL for a conference. My dad met us in Toledo with the car to save him some driving time.

Our trip was wonderful. There are few places as beautiful as the Carolinas in the springtime! The new masthead is a picture of my brother's backyard. Not a bad view, eh?

Not counting quick trips, I spent about 29 hours in the car this week. The last 10 and a half were in the back of the car between two carseats. Thank the Lord, I didn't have any motion sickness. That's usually a big issue for me - especially in the back seat.

I've discovered that uploading pictures to facebook is much easier than putting them on the blog. So, for those of you who are interested in seeing them, mosey on over there and check them out. If you don't have an account, get one. There's really nothing to it. Then become my friend and view away. Chances are, you'll find a lot more of your friends over there and be glad you did it.

Spring?

I've been thinking that I really should change my picture sometime soon, now that spring has been here for more than 3 weeks and all. However, they're calling for snow tonight, so I'm not all that out of date after all.

We are heading to the Carolinas tomorrow, so it can snow it's heart out here for all we care! (Sorry, to the locals we're leaving behind!)

I'll work on an update when I get back .

It all depends how you look at it

This was a pretty rough day. I was grumbling to myself about it this morning when I felt convicted about my attitude. There's always a reason to rejoice in the Lord, regardless of the circumstances.

I ran home from work last night about 6:30. I had about an hour to eat dinner and help get the kids off to bed before running back out to go to a funeral visitation. I went right back to the hospital from there and, after doing a completely hideous operation on a 15 year old girl, got home again about 1:30 this morning. When I arrived, H was crying so I went in and rocked her for a while before finally getting to bed about 2am. I was rudely awakened by my pager a little before 4am. I spent the next hour talking to the ER and making calls to reassemble the OR team. I got about 15 minutes more sleep before heading back in to operate again. Needless to say, I wasn't feeling my freshest.

After finishing up in the OR I had a little time to make some rounds. The first patient I saw had taken a turn for the worse overnight. His family had decided they didn't want to continue with any aggressive treatment and instead give him "comfort care" only. I think it was the right decision, but letting someone go is always a sad thing to do.

From there I headed to the office for the first item on my schedule for the day - a very unpleasant meeting at which we had to tell one of our office staff she was being let go. By the end of that I was thinking about going somewhere to cry or throw up. Or maybe both.

It was only 8:15 and I realized that rejoicing was going to have to be a choice today. It certainly wasn't going to come naturally.

Here are a few of the reasons I found to be thankful:
1. God is good, all the time.
2. That half hour rocking H in the night was the most time I got to spend with her in the past 2 days. I'd have rather had that than a few more minutes of sleep. I'm thankful my little girl loves to snuggle.
3. I was able to be used by God to help save 2 young lives. That's better than sleep too.
4. It wasn't my child having emergency surgery in the middle of the night. My children were healthy and whole at home in their beds. Thank you, God!
5. It's not ever pleasant, but it is quite a privilege to be involved in an intimate way when a family says good bye to someone they love. Pure religion and undefiled before God is to visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction. Holding the hand of the about-to-be fatherless and widowed must count for something.
6. As for that last meeting, I can't quite find something to rejoice in that yet. It was just plain awful. I'll have to fall back on "God is good, all the time" - even when the circumstances aren't.

Brainwashed

As we were driving today, J asked (quite out of the blue), "Mommy, do you know why your computer is so slow?"

"No, why?"

"Because it wasn't made by Apple. Daddy told me so."

The kid has not only joined the Cult of Mac, but he's out preaching the good news to others.

J's eye view

I never know what I'm going to find when I download the pictures from my memory card. They often include some of my son's photography work. He likes to take the camera and capture our home from his perspective. Sometimes it's video. Usually it's stills.

So here, I give you a tour of our home from J's point of view:

The front entrance

Daddy's trumpet and one of daddy's favorite pastimes

Doggy stuff

The living room

Favorite toys, favorite book

Unidentified drink concoction. What's that red drink doing on the carpet?!

Beloved (sometimes) sister

This one I really like. It's the shadow from our front window.

Sleepy time George. There were 21 pictures of him on the card the day I downloaded this!

Sunbathing kitty

Kitchen gadgets

I left out the grown-up people pictures. Let me assure you that being photographed from hip level is no one's best angle. It accentuates all the wrong parts!