Just some fun things about our baby girl.  She is an official walker now (she did pretty good before her birthday, but still crawled a bit.)  Now she prefers walking and she looks like a little chunky marionette. Picture a soft-brown head of hair wisping while her body sways unsteadily, knees being pulled up and out and hands high in the air.

She has about a six word vocabulary, thus requiring her own category of “isms.”  Uh-oh is Aa-ooh. Thank you, is Ah-goo. Ball is Bah. Baby is ba-bah. Up is puh-puh. And of course Mama is Mama.  Oh yes, she just started saying Da-Da for Daddy, but she just keeps saying da-da-da-da-da and gives a coy smile in his direction.

She laughs whenever anybody else laughs which sounds more like a steady caw deep in her throat.  She loves to play with her brothers and sisters, patting them and nuzzling them frequently.  She loves going for their hair which is often pulled too hard (she is the only one who can get away with that!), they usually laugh it off, except for the time she had a nice good hold on Chloe’s hair and I suddenly got up when holding her, big chunk of hair still in her fist, big tears from Chloe. Ouch.

The children all adore her (even after she has inflicted pain on them).  Gabe is very protective and cautious of whatever she is doing.  I believe I remember him saying one time, “Mom, Hazel is not safe up there,” when I put her on the counter to sit.  He was right and I probably handed her off to him where he might have played happily with her for a good while.  Chloe speaks chipmunk to her and although really endearing it tends to drive me kind of batty, especially when she sings in chipmunk.  Sophie is her entertainer.  Hazel has gotten more laughs from that girl than from any of us, hands down.  Sophie just has a knack for knowing what will tickle her, she is often the one I call when I am changing Hazel and need some distraction.  Caleb is so sweet and so patient with her, I am continually amazed that he is only three.  Just this morning he had his cars all set up neatly.  I was following Hazel who was headed straight for them.  Caleb was not in the room at the moment and I called out, “Caleb, Hazel is headed for your cars.”  He yells back as he comes into the room,  ”It’s okay, Hazel can play with my cars. Here Hazel, you like this car, you can have it, oh you want that one, okay baby.”   One of my favorite things he says to her is, “Hi Hazlll, hi Hazll, hi Hazlll.”  Usually he does this in a tender high-pitched voice after she has woken from her nap.  She always smiles.

It’s not always smiles though.  When she was first making her acquaintance into our lives we often chanted, “Heil Hazel!” This was because she was naturally the smallest tyrant in the house being the one that put a stop to anything fun if she needed tending to.  This morphed into ”Happy Hazel.”  She has always been a very happy baby.  She has been known as ”Horrid Hazel” on occasion, but not very much.   ”Hair-do Hazel” is a good one since she has the characteristic ”do” that her sisters had at her age.  But most recently she has been referred to as ”Hurricane Hazel.”  She loves crashing down on anything neatly set up by anybody.  Chunky-monkey-marrionette style.

A pocket handkerchief to hem—

Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!

How many stitches it will take

Before it’s done, I fear.

Yet set a stitch and then a stitch,

And stitch and stitch away,

Till stitch by stitch the hem is done—

And after work is play!

I referred the stitches to being each problem on his math.  Just get started and do the next one and before you know it you’ll be done.  This is useful to me too, laundry for instance!  Except for some reason it doesn’t seem like I get to play as much as I’d like to.  Sometimes it seems like I’m always stitching.

On to the next hem…

Monday,  we try to disinfect the house before John’s parents and three year-old-son, Chris arrive.  Hazel’s surgery is on Wednesday.

Tuesday evening, in-laws here, John leaves for work, I pack for hospital. (So far no one else sick, yay!)

Wednesday, alarm at 4:15am, shower, last-minute packing stuff, wake John (who got home at 2ish am), wake Hazel, on our way to the hospital.

Arrive and Hazel is prepped for surgery. (Praise the Lord, they are not going to put in the IV until AFTER they put her to sleep, that was one of my anxieties about this surgery, watching them poke her and try to find a vein, God is good!). Pastor arrives and prays with us, stays while we try to entertain Hazel and keep her happy, she is getting very hungry by now.  Around 8am they are ready to take her back.  It was God’s grace that she didn’t cry or get upset when they took her because it would have been very hard for me to see.  She sweetly went to the nurse looked back at us and then looked forward to see where she was going.  Whew!

We were joined by our dear friends Mr. and Mrs. V to wait and pray for her.  A little over two hours later we go to the consult room. Everything went smoothly and she is in recovery!  Doctor says Hazel had, not one, but two ureters to aid in the function of her left kidney.  I think he referred to it as a dual functioning kidney. One ureter works the lower half, the other works the upper half.  The ureter working the lower half was absolutely normal, the one working the upper half was very enlarged and filled with a green, smelly, mucousy fluid. It was not connected to the bladder as it was supposed to be, it was connected to the water flow. (I’m assuming the urethra was what he meant by the water flow?)  He fixed all this by tapering the tubing and connecting it to the bladder where it needs to be, he also had to use two stents that will be removed in 4-6 weeks. This won’t magically fix the upper kidney function, but it will prevent infection from occurring and now the tube is the right size and entering into the right place.  I’m continually amazed at how doctors can work on such small people and their teeny little parts and get it all right.

We were then able to go to her in recovery.  It is the saddest and most pitiful sight to see an 11 month-old-baby just out of surgery.  She was limp and her cry was hoarse and weak.  She looked at me with her swollen little eyes and seemed even more upset when she saw me.  She half-heartedly reached for me and promptly fell asleep on my shoulder as soon as I took her.  John and I took turns holding her and Mrs. V got to visit her as well.  Poor baby was red, swollen, weak, and groggy.  We had to stay in recovery for about 3-4 hours because the hospital beds were all taken.  John and I got very silly with fatigue during this time and spent a good amount of time giggling and laughing.  The nurse called us cute, but we were afraid we were being inconsiderate and insensitive to the other children and parents who were trying to comfort their kids coming out of surgery.  Mind you, we weren’t being loud, just good quiet belly laughs.  And for the record, we were absolutely NOT laughing at the poor children making painful, uncomfortable cries.  I promise.

We get to our room and Hazel was in and out laying sweetly in her crib for the evening.  She did not like being touched by anyone and would get upset and clamor for John or I at the slightest touch from a doctor or nurse.  She has a four-inch incision scar right above her pubic bone.

John goes back home to be with the kids and in-laws and decides to stay home since Hazel seems so calm and sleepy.  Good thing.  He wakes in the night to a crying Caleb who has soiled his whole bed with vomit.  (I cannot recommend bed pads enough for any child’s bed, makes clean-up like this a snap, just put them on the bed and make as usual, I ordered mine for cheap online, you never know when an accident will happen.)

Thursday, thank the Lord, that was all this little bug got out of Caleb, he was good as gold for the rest of the night and throughout the day.  Meanwhile, I am with Hazel and have gotten nary a shut-eye and am very eager for John to join me because Hazel is acting like she could run a marathon.  Anyone who saw her the day after her surgery would have been shocked to learn that she just had surgery.  She was a mess.  All over the place and getting wrapped up in her cords and just wanting to go everywhere.  John couldn’t join me till later because he wanted to be sure that Granny and Grandaddy didn’t have to deal with a vomiting child.  He waits till Caleb goes down and brings Gabe and Chloe to the hospital to visit.  We are also visited by the V’s again, what a blessing.

Hazel was so happy to see her siblings!  Gabe at one point said, “I wish I could just get up in her crib and play with her.”  When they got ready to go I gave each of them two hugs.  One for them and one to give to Sophie and Caleb.  I said, “Don’t forget to give Caleb his hug Gabe.”  He said, “I hope I do forget, because I want to keep it for myself.”

John stays with us at the hospital.  Hazel is disconnected from everything, but I know she would get much better rest at home.  We are only there at this point to hear back from the lab on the results of her urine samples taken at the time of surgery.

Friday, we learn in the morning that both cultures were normal, which is surprising for all with the fluid that came out of that upper ureter.  Yay!  We start discharge papers and are eager to be home.  However, we get word from the in-laws that Gabe is now on the couch with the sick bucket!

We arrive home around 2pm, the in-laws leave within the hour (they don’t want to chance being sick on the road if Chris got the bug).  Gabe begins throwing up around 4pm and doesn’t stop till about 9pm.  We wake Hazel for her meds around 8pm (she slept for five straight hours after getting home). We settle the kids in for bed, Chloe comes out with a stomach ache.  Her vomiting lasts till about 4am.  No nice comfy bed for me, we are on the couch with Gabe and Daddy in our room.

Saturday, two older kids are feeling better in the morning, Hubby and I begin frantically disinfecting the house AGAIN.  Sophie and Caleb seem recovered although have minor complaints of stomach pain. (We get a call from the in-laws, Chris began vomiting in the morning.)

Everything seems to be settling and we are hopeful for a nice relaxing sabbath with family worship in the morning.  Until….

Sunday, hubby wakes around 5am with a sour belly.  He rushes off to throw up about 15 minutes later.  Meanwhile, Caleb comes in complaining of belly pain.  He commences to literally have the squirts for about three hours, the poor guy, it just keeps sneaking out of there. Hubby is confined to the sick room and we try to enjoy the beautiful sunny day without him.

So far Hazel and I are still well, although I can’t tell if the knot in my stomach is from the stress of the last week or this little belly bug. Praying, praying, praying for a miracle that Hazel does not get this.  It could be very bad.

We have homemade chicken noodle soup from our dear friends waiting for us for dinner.  And a church friend called to check on us today and will be bringing something by tomorrow.  What provision!

Just now learned that Chloe has visited the bathroom two times since I’ve been writing and is off to make a third visit. :(

“For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake, but my lovingkindness will not be removed from you, and my covenant of peace will not be shaken.” says the Lord who has compassion on you.  Isaiah 54:10

Hmm, feeling a little more of a rumbling in my tummy that doesn’t feel like stress….

As I was thinking about what to write and reflecting on her baptism I remembered that shortly after Caleb’s baptism I read this book. ”The Presbyterian Doctrine of Children in the Covenant” by Lewis Bevens Schenck.  Before reading this book I thought of infant baptism as a mere dedicating of my child to the Lord, a visible vow, so to speak, to raise him or her up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. While I believe that in some ways that is what baptism is, I was drastically challenged in my thinking when reading this book about how we should raise our covenant children, but it also gave me incredible peace of mind.

It’s been a few years since reading it so I couldn’t give it a proper review, but what I do remember is the emphasis on treating our children as if they are believers from the moment they are born.  The author might call a child of the covenant “presumably regenerate.”  Meaning that we don’t know if Hazel, or any of our children are believers or if they will be, but being that they have been born in a covenant family we must presume that they are or will be one day and be careful and diligent to treat them as such.  I think the book gave me such peace of mind because I learned that I don’t have to try to make my child a Christian, we need only to teach them as Deuteronomy 6:4-7 says, ““Hear, O Israel:  The Lord our God, the Lord is one.You  shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And  these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.”   We pray that we will be diligent as believing parents to our covenant children, moreover, despite our feeble efforts, we pray that our children will experience God’s grace and salvation through the Holy Spirit.

One of the things I find so meaningful about baptizing a child is that we are welcoming them into a covenant family.  I just read recently about Jesus’ second coming and I remember as a child someone telling me briefly about it.  I was intrigued and very curious, but really didn’t know who to ask or how to talk to anybody about my questions, fears or doubts about this man who would come to earth again and judge the living and the dead.  My children are in a family of people who swore to help them in their knowledge of this world and the God who is Lord over it.  I pray that they will always have a sense of belonging and great hope in this family of God.

It is important to note that we certainly don’t believe that baptizing our children saves them or marks them in some way for salvation.

Our pastor did a superb job in using the scripture we chose for Hazel’s baptism to speak about the covenants God establishes us with throughout the Old and New Testaments. Ephesians 2:19-22 says, ”So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.”   Click the link below for the full message. SO GOOD!

HazelBaptismMessage

I wanted to include the prayer that our shepherding elder prayed for her and us concluding her baptism.  Powerful.

“We gather to lift thankful hearts to you.

You are the God who has created us and even when we loved ourselves and your creation more than you, and we hardened our hearts and rebelled against your perfect authority, you did not leave us alone and without hope.  Though our hearts were, as your word says, of stone, you worked a miracle of new creation and gave us again living hearts that beat with spiritual life and long for you.  Through the costly sacrifice of your son we are brought back into your heavenly family and for that we rejoice and praise you.

We celebrate also this occasion to bring Hazel Marie before you.  Thank you for blessing John and Tamara with this daughter; for the added blessing and joy of another life made in your image.  They have confessed and their lives attest to the work of grace you have accomplished in them ,and in obedience to you they have come today to baptise her.

We know that of itself, this water does not remove sin and nothing done by the hands of men will do so.  But as you have ever marked your covenant promises with a sign or seal, so it remains in our lives with you.  Just as Israel was marked by circumcision to set them apart, so we have baptism as a sign for us of the New Covenant in your sons blood.  With this sign we look in expectation to the work you will do in Hazel’s heart; we place the water from the font on her head but anticipate the water of your Holy Spirit to burst forth in her heart; we look for your effectual call that powerfully accomplishes your purpose in her life.

To that end John and Tamara have taken vows again this morning.  We ask your grace and wisdom be theirs in abundance as they strive to teach and train Hazel to love your person, to know and honor your word, and to render to you the sacrifice of a grateful and joyful heart.  Lord, help them to set before her and all their children, an humble and thankful example, modeling complete devotion to you, each eager to serve the other as unto Christ.

We also pray for Gabe, Sophie, Chloe, and Caleb, that they would be used of you to guide and shepherd their little sister.  Let them be mindful of their role in showing Jesus to her.  Grant them the joy in teaching her the wonders of your love, even as they are learning and being taught.

We also have taken vows to assist John and Tamara in this calling from you.  Grant us willing hearts to do as we have said.  Whether as nursery helpers or Sunday school teachers; as those who offer friendly encouragement or bear their burdens in prayer, we each have a part in showing forth and being the body of Christ. Give us, we pray,your power to fulfill what we have vowed.

Our Father, we desire to see Hazel Marie learn to walk in your truth, to eat the solid spiritual food that is your Word, to grow up into the abundant goodness of the gifts of your Spirit, that we might present her perfect in you.  Our hope is completely in you, that you will accomplish this work, and from it gain the great glory that is yours, and yours alone.

In the matchless name of Christ we pray, Amen.

And of course, PICTURES!

After this post I’m going to have to include a Hazelism category.  The girl is already saying words, or trying to anyway.  And she has taken a few steps on her own, but is still more comfortable with crawling.  She loves her big brothers and sisters and they all adore her.  Welcome to our family baby girl, we love you!

And rave and shriek,

And snarl and snow

Till your breath grows weak–

While here in my room

I’m as snugly shut

As a glad little worm

In the heart of a nut!

This is the last part of a poem, Winter Fancies, by James Whitcomb Riley.  I am a little afraid to admit this because I fear we still have some cold weather here yet to come, but I kind of miss that “snugly shut in” feeling this year.  There is something to be said for hearing and seeing the world outside all in a blur of snow and cold and wind only to be warm and snug inside.  After we read this poem I sent the kids out to play, two were bare foot with no jackets (the girls, of course) and Gabe donned a light jacket.  Just a little glimpse of what the weather is like right now and has been for the majority of this winter. Very mild.

It has taken me about a year and a half to finally get used to reading AND enjoying poetry with the kids.  I wasn’t exposed to it much growing up and I always thought it a chore to figure out what the author was trying to express.  Children’s poetry is a little bit easier than say, Emily Dickenson, but if we still don’t know what is being said, I am glad for the exposure to both of us and am, at the very least, pleased if I get the rhythm and intonations right.

Currently we are reading the works of the aforementioned author and Eugene Field.  The one we read today by Eugene Field was Our Whippings.   We all giggled when we read how the boys faked it when Mother gave the whippings. I’ll leave you to your imagination to what the rest was about or you could just go ahead and look it up.

Happy poetry reading!

“I keep hearing the phrase, ‘common grace.’  What exactly is it?”

“What does it mean to pray, ‘And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil?’”

“Why was the bible written? What does it say about itself?  How should we come to it?”

“What about people of other faiths who have never heard of Jesus?  Will they go to hell?”

“How can we conscientiously do what Romans 13 tells us to do, when those in authority over us in the government are corrupt?”

While  I would love to tackle every one of these questions and study them again and write the answers here, time just does not permit.  I do, however, want to share the one bit of information I gleaned on last Sunday’s lesson. (For the record, I gleaned a lot, but this is something that just stuck, for more reasons than one.)  The little message our pastor wanted us to write on cards was part of what the apostle Paul had written to the church at Philippi.  We were asked to fill in the blank to “For me to live is ________.”  Now if you know the verse, you know what Paul said, but it was interesting to note that not all people would know that verse and many people would put many different words in there.  If I were not a believer, I think I would probably fill in the blank with such things as happiness, joy, love or peace.  It is also interesting to note that every one of those can only be fulfilled by the One whose name fills that blank, Christ.  Even so, He does not always give us those things, but when we have them we can know they come from Him.  For Christ IS all things good, and all good things come from him.

This I culled from class on the heels of Friday nights Valentine’s Banquet at our church.  Ed Hartman was the speaker and two of the seven points I found very meaningful from his talk were ”God is good, and everything He does is good.” And, “We should always be preparing our children for eternity.”  (There was so much more I found remarkable in his talk, but these two points were solidified in Sunday School.)  I share the same prayer for my children as does Mr. Hartman for his.  I pray that when my children are grown that one of the things they will always remember about me is that I really loved Jesus.  I was very convicted in this that night because I too often scowl at my children or scold them or become frustrated with them.  It certainly is not the picture of me loving Jesus.  The truth is, I cannot love Jesus completely and perfectly, how can I even dare to hope that I can love my children that way.  I do know that loving Jesus will only help me to love them better. So…..

I decided that I would go home and put “For me to live is Christ.” all over the house.  I was going to do it myself and explain to the kids that it was for me to love Jesus better, but decided to include them.  Philippians 1:21 says, “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”  I explained to the children the context of this passage.  Paul was writing to the Philippians and he was in chains and longed to die to be with Christ, but it would be much better for others and him, at the time, to be devoted to Christ and live for Him.  I told my children that I don’t love them well sometimes and I know that if I always think about loving Jesus that it will help me to love them better.  I also pointed out that it could improve their love and obedience to us as well.  They all agreed.  We now have about twelve 3×5 cards of “For me to live is Christ.” scattered all around the house, including the two non-worded ones scribbled by Caleb.

It has been immeasurably helpful for me.  I feel like 1 Thessalonians 5:17  ”pray without ceasing.” has come alive in my life.  Seriously everything I do is for Christ and for God’s glory.  I know that I cannot continue living in this little high forever, how then shall He continue to sanctify me, but it is so wonderful to love and be loved by an amazing God.  One who is good and all that He does is good.

Sophie shares my enthusiasm.  She said later that night after I was humbled many times by them pointing to one of the cards if I began to scowl or scold, “Mama, I’m so glad for these cards, because now you’ll never be angry with us again!”

Gabe:  Mama, do you think you would ever get married again if Daddy ever died?

Me:  That’s a tough question, because I can’t imagine ever being married to anyone but Daddy.  I would like to think that I would put all my efforts in to raising and loving you before I thought about getting remarried.  What do you think, would you want Mama to get married to another man?

Chloe:  No way!

Sophie:  I would just push him away and never let him hug me or talk to me.

Me:  Well, I suppose if lots of time had passed and there was a man who was good and kind and wanted to marry me I might think about it, but it just seems really strange to me to think about having any other husband than Daddy.

Chloe:  Yeah, and if you ever did remarry, you would never kiss him.

Me:  Well, kissing is what married people do, but you’re right, I can’t think about kissing any other person than Daddy.  You know what’s crazy is that many people think that it’s okay to marry and get remarried and have lot’s of different spouses.  So they kiss a lot of people.

Chloe:  That just sounds gross.

That is what I have on my list to post about tonight.  Let’s see what I can get done.

I recently made a granola recipe that my friend Laura gave to me years ago.  Really it has taken me YEARS to finally try this recipe and I’m so sad that I have been missing out all this time.  I think I always put it off because I either was shy one or two ingredients or we were working on the last of the store-bought granola we had.  If I only knew!  This is so good and so easy and, just like my homemade tortillas, you’ll never want to buy store-bought again.

This is the recipe as far as I know it.  I remember Laura giving it to me over the phone and I was writing fast.  It’s a mess, but hopefully I can make it clearer.  (If you have comments Laura, please don’t hesitate to add anything!)

Homemade Granola

8 Cups Oats

3 Cups Wheat Germ

1/2 Cup Oil

1/2 Cup Honey, Maple Syrup, or Molasses

1-2 Cups Nuts or Seeds (I used slivered almonds, mmmm)

1-1 1/2 Teaspoons Vanilla

Optional 1 Cup Peanut Butter (I used)

Combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Heat all wet ingredients till warm.  Mix together and spread on 2 cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes stirring occasionally.

That’s it for the recipe.  I keep mine stored in a big plastic storage bag in the fridge.  It’s perfect for our fruit and yogurt breakfasts.  It’s not break your teeth crunchy and it’s super tasty.

CrossFit.

I cannot even begin to say how much our family loves CrossFit.  If you are remotely interested and want something to boost your motivation on the fitness front here is an inspirational video.  It’s not all that informational, but their site is where you find the goods.  They also have what they call CrossFit Kids which is a site with information on getting kids involved in the same type movements and exercises.  Most of the time our kids follow whatever we are doing, but sometimes they like to do what’s listed for CrossFit Kids.  Chloe loves practicing hand stands, which is one Work Out of the Day (WOD) on CrossFit Kids.  The work outs are usually under 30 minutes, including the warm-up.  I love this little article that sums up fitness in 100 words:

World-Class Fitness in 100 Words:

Eat meat and vegetables, nuts and seeds, some fruit, little starch and no sugar. Keep intake to levels that will support exercise but not body fat. Practice and train major lifts: Deadlift, clean, squat, presses, C&J, and snatch. Similarly, master the basics of gymnastics: pull-ups, dips, rope climb, push-ups, sit-ups, presses to handstand, pirouettes, flips,  splits, and holds. Bike, run, swim, row, etc, hard and fast. Five or six days per week mix these elements in as many combinations and patterns as creativity will allow. Routine is the enemy. Keep workouts short and intense. Regularly learn and play new sports. ~Greg Glassman  

With CrossFit I can say that I am doing the above things regularly WITH my whole family, which is the best part. Second to best parts are “routine is the enemy” and ”keep workouts short and intense.”  I’m still working on the “no sugar” part though.  Grrr, it’s so hard to give up.  For the record, I ran my first 5K in over 10 years last week.  I made it in 27 and a half minutes.  I really had a great time and I’ve never really said that about running before.  I have a feeling that Chloe will be our fitness guru as she grows.  Just saying it now to see if this statement comes true, that girl is true grit.

Well, I’ve still got budget, garden and Burgess to talk about, but I’m out of time.  Just thought I’d mention that I’m feeling a little out of control these days.  It could be the fact that John was on a week-long leave from work.  We just hung around here and you’d think it would have been easier with him around, but I think there is more pressure for me.  I generally go with whatever he has a need to do, with pleasure (most of the time), but I think my schedule and time management goes out the window.  So he has started back to work, it’s time to get back to my tight running ship!

I can tell when things feel like they are snapping at the seams when a small pile of toys out of their place completely drives me batty and I am two seconds away from packing every toy in the house in a box to Goodwill.  Or when the lists of things I have to do are so spread about that I can’t keep track of the lists that have the things I have to do on them.

Well, I know that I can mark off “Blog” on my list, wherever it is.

About three years ago Chloe had a few questions to ask and I don’t recall how they were ever answered, but she asked them and I thought they were worthy of writing down.  I didn’t find the questions until cleaning out a shelf a couple of weeks ago when I stumbled across an old notebook.

“How was God made when Jesus wasn’t even born?”

“If God doesn’t want us to sin, why does sin exist?” (mind you, she was only 4 around the time this was asked, ha, even us adults want to ask this one sometimes!)

Last one, “How did Satan ever become bad?”

We received a fun little game from our neighbors called Gabbit where it asks semi-thought provoking questions like, “If you could change your name what would it be?” And, “Who is one of your funniest friends?” The girls and I were playing one night and the question was, “If you could trade places with anyone in your family who would you trade with.”  Sophie’s answer was, “It would be Mama, because then I would be the oldest and I would get to heaven sooner.”

Another question was, “What is your favorite day of the week?”  Chloe answered, “Sunday, the Lord’s day, we get to relax together and play games and worship God together.”  Sophie chimed in and said, “Yeah, if I didn’t believe in God I would be workin’ on Sunday and not resting. I’d just be diggin’ all day.”

Caleb loved the Christmas tree this year.  He did great with the “no playing with the ornaments” rule.  However, he never seemed quite satisfied that there were enough ornaments on the tree so he often added his own. Among them, Daddy’s cell phone, a clip brush, a flashlight (yes, he turned it one before hanging it), Daddy’s watch, Mama’s socks, Sophia’s hair band and a few others that are slipping my mind.  In the end, we decided to join him and right now (yes, I still have my tree up, we are winter long Christmas people, and yes, we still listen to Christmas music, why does it have to stop after Christmas day?  It all started when we were in NY, we left our tree up till mid-February one year because it was so dreary outside that it was nice to see a brightly lit tree upon walking in the door)…anyway…STILL hanging on the tree is a pot-holder, a pin wheel and a pipe cleaner.

Tonight we had leftover ravioli for dinner and I helped cut Caleb’s into neat little squares.  He mentioned that it looked like pancakes and a little later during one of his Caleb chatter moments he said….”sometimes da girls will say dese are like pancakes, but I say dey are wav-li-oli.”

Little Hazel is scheduled for what I understand is called ureteral reimplantation in March.  Her doctor confirmed suspicions of an ectopic ureter and she will need surgery to fix it.  She now has 37% function in her left kidney and 63% in her right.  Thankfully the bad kidney will be preserved, but it may never regain full function.

We are praising God that she is so healthy despite this little issue. And that we caught this so early.  She will never even know what caused the little scar above her pubic bone until we tell her.  We would appreciate prayer now and as the surgery date approaches.  She has to continue her prescription of a low dose antibiotic to help prevent infection until after all is well with her newly functioning system.  Pray that she stays well till March!