Through the Blurry Eyes of a Child

It's a pretty safe bet that anytime we're in the car going anywhere Sarah will say something along the lines of "Look at the beautiful word (translate: world) God made!"

She just loves the beauty of the trees, sky, even the local Kroger. I'm not kidding. It's just so stinkin' cute.

Well, today we found out that her vision is absolutely terrible. I mean terrible. It's worse than mine (and I am blind as a bat without my contacts or glasses!) I didn't see what the final prescription was, but it was somewhere around -7.00 in each eye! In the words of the doctor, "This is not normal. Nearsightedness normally starts in early elementary kids and progressively worsens." He did assure me, though, that she looks healthy and it appears to just be nearsightedness, and nothing more serious. We have a follow-up appointment scheduled in about two months and then we'll determine whether or not she needs to see a specialist.

Okay, so on to finding the bright spots in all of this....I have two.

First, Sarah reminds me how important it is just to celebrate with our imperfect bodies our perfect Creator God. How amazing is it that despite her apparent inability to see much of anything, she still sees His beauty in this world, and with such ease! I am reminded that we need to continually seek out the bright spots from the blur and mess of the world we see. Truly inspiring.

And second, I am so grateful for good medical care. I'm saddened to know that her vision is so poor, especially at such a young age, but I'm so grateful that it's been caught and that we can get her the help she needs.

Along those lines, though, could you just pray for her? Pray for her vision to not get progressively worse. (Our fear is that if it's this bad now, what will it be like as an adult?) Also, pray that there is nothing more serious causing these vision troubles. And can I just be real with you? I'm struggling with what she'll look like. I'm afraid the glasses will be quite thick and she is just such a cutie pie. I know it's silly, but I'm just bein' real...

(While you're praying for Sarah, please lift up a few for Megan, too. We're a little concerned about her development. I'll post more on that later to fill you in, but she just doesn't like to roll, sit up, or bear weight on her legs.)

As a parent, you just want the very best for your kids! Thanks for caring about ours, and for your prayers!

It's Happening!

I am totally turning into my mom.

Josh just ran outside to play with his buddies and I yelled to him, "Have fun...and be good!" Do you know how many times I have heard that in my life? : )

Isn't it funny how the little things our parents do slowly turn into the little things we do?

Why Are Babies Immune?

It's one of the most contagious things ever. Yet babies don't seem to catch it. At least my baby doesn't.

What am I talking about?

A yawn.

I've noticed on several occasions that if I yawn at Megan, she just looks at me and grins. Not even a slight yawn back.

How can this be?

Is it because babies sleep so much, they just don't have any sleepies left in them? Or is it just my baby and not other ones. I'm going to have to do an experiment and see if I can find a baby who will yawn back.

What about you? Have you ever noticed this, too, or do the babies in your life yawn back at you?

Adoption Changes

Some really great friends of ours have been waiting for almost two years now to adopt their daughter from China. They just got news on Friday that could greatly affect their ability to successfully complete the adoption process.

I don't really understand it all, but there's been some governmental changes on the US side and there's been a change in the form that's required for your background check. They're making everyone switch to the new one, even though Congress stated that anyone already involved in the adoption process should be grandfathered in. The new one costs significantly more and takes up to 6 months to process. Bottom line is this will require more money, a longer wait, and worst case scenario...if our friends' referral comes up before the new paperwork has been processed, they could lose their little girl and would have to start the entire process over (could take 4 YEARS or more!!!)

This is incredibly unfair and breaks my heart to think that beurocracy over paperwork could harm my friends' (and others like them) chance of becoming parents to the beautiful children around the world who need their mommies and daddies.

Here's where you come in. Could you please take just a moment to sign this petition? I guess they're trying to get as many signatures as possible before the 16th of October...

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/adoption-for-all.html

If you want to forward it on to others who support adoption, that'd be great, too. And most importantly, would you please say a prayer for our friends? God IS still in control, and He can and will be there with them through all this.

Thanks so much.

A Much Better Day

Whew. I'm feeling much better today. I tell you what - getting the flu is the pits!

We've had a really fun day today and boy was I glad to be back with my family! I missed them so much yesterday and I was only upstairs sick in my bed!

So anyways...our fun day...

First, we toured the new airport with our neighbors. It was really cool because we got to see the behind the scenes stuff, too, like what happens to your bags after you check them. Oddly enough, I think my favorite part was actually the art in the parking garage. There were these giant red floaty things that expanded and collapsed. They're hard to explain and I unfortunately left my camera at home today. I just searched online for a picture of them, but couldn't find one. You'll just have to take my word for it. Pretty cool.

After the airport, we decided to head to the apple orchard. That was our first trip there as a whole family! We had lots of fun picking raspberries, pumpkins, and apples. I think we have enough apples for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for a couple of weeks! If you have any great apple recipes and/or storage tips, please send them my way!!!

It was a great day, and can I just say one more time that I'm so happy to not be stuck in bed with the flu!!!

Sick Day

I'm home sick today.

The flu bug totally bit me.

And normally when a stay-at-home-mom gets sick, absolutely nothing changes. She still goes about her day just as normal. Maybe just a little bit slower.

But today, my wonderful husband ran to work early this morning, got his computer and some files, and came back home to work here today so that I could lay in bed all day.

I love him so much. And I'm so incredibly thankful for a job that's flexible! I don't think I've had an actual sick day like today in over six years!

So even though I feel so incredibly yucky today, I still found a bright spot.

Hopefully tomorrow, I'll feel much, much better and there will be many more bright spots to celebrate...

A Little Laugh to Lighten the Mood

Let's face it. The mood around the country isn't the greatest. The crashing economy and the stressful election can leave you with a general feeling of what in the world is going on here?

So to lighten the mood a little (I am, after all, writing about bright spots), I wanted to share what just happened around my lunch table.

Our neighbor (Josh's "best bud") is over to play today, and while we were all sitting around the lunch table enjoying our peanut butter and jelly bagels (we got a bunch of free bagels today from a friend...thanks, Carrie!) we were enjoying some fun conversation. First it was what kind of candy they would have if they ate a good lunch. They decided on a tootsie roll. But a few moments later, the conversation headed to five-year-old boy territory.

Toots.

I never even heard "it" or recognized "it" otherwise, but the accusations flew, the laughs abounded, and everybody was soon blaming the cat. Poor thing.

Well, I politely asked that they not talk about toots while we're eating.

So instead, they shifted their conversation back to the previous one, only altering it slightly as to still get away with what they really wanted to talk about.

They made jokes about "toot"sie rolls. They were laughing hysterically. Even baby Megan in her highchair with sweet potatoes and corn oozing out her mouth was laughing. I'm pretty sure she had no idea what they were talking about, but she thought it was fun anyways. : )

You know, the world troubles may abound, but a good-ole "toot" joke can make you remember there's more important things in life.

Like laughing with those you love.

Love and Marriage

Don't you just love love? I truly think marriage is the greatest.

Not that it's always easy, because there are times when you want to shake your dear love, but having a best friend to share life with is such a blessing. (And a hot hubby like mine is a nice little bonus, too!) : )

Well, on the subject of love, I just wanted to wish my brother and his new bride congratulations. They got married last Saturday. A beautiful couple on a beautiful day. We couldn't be happier for them!!!

Their wedding was so much fun! We loved seeing all our family and dancing all night long! Josh was definitely the king of the dance floor! Too cute. He told me that he might want to marry the other flower girl, Rylee, but that he wasn't sure yet and he still had time. Seriously, where do they get this stuff?

Anyways...Matt and Jessica, we're so excited for you guys! Congratulations!!! We love you!!!