The one about the ENT

Well, back from the ENT today, and we have decided that tubes are the best option now. She was experiencing reduced hearing accuity, and she was also infected in both ears once again. Good news is, we got in before we go to Puerto Rico, which is great! No worries about flying with her now! The whole experience was actually really comfortable (though Kennedy didn't really seem to think so). It was a couple looks in her ears, then a test where they made sounds and if she looked toward them, she was rewarded by a toy that 'danced' and lit up all pretty for her. Kind of a neat little experience. At this point, the decision is we either wait and see what happens with her ears and risk some permanent hearing loss--been there, done that--or we have the tubes put in. The risks associated with the surgery are virtually none and she'll feel better, hear better, and be healthier because of them. We're actually kind of excited to have it done. Then maybe she can be the really healthy little girl that we know is in there!The surgery itself should take 5-10 minutes, recovery from the general anesthesia should take about a half hour, then we can take her home, and by that afternoon, she is supposed to be back to her old self. And what I hear from other parents who had kids who had tubes put in, it's like their children are a whole new human being--happier and better sleepers and etc. And, if Kennedy gets happier and to be a better sleeper, and etc....well, then she'll be about perfect, I think!!!=0 )

In the meantime, here are a few photo's of my girlie.....

Oh, and if you haven't looked, my husbands blog is connected on the bar to the right. Have a look! It's called "Pushing Back the Darkness"

Outside of Babes in Sanger. What you don't know is that she got SO angry earlier in the day about wearing a dress that was keeping her from crawling well that she threw up all over it in the car on the way to church, and she's wearing a random jacket and jeans that were so small they don't even button up. She sure doesn't look like a baby who was just that angry, does she? She has worn that dress since, BTW, now that she can walk...it's a gorgeous little orange number that Grandma got her with a big orange flower on the front that poofs out super cutely and sways around as she wobbles about.

First day in her new 'big girl' carseat. I think that a little bit of carsickness from the sudden switch to forward facing is actually what caused the vomit episode spoken of earlier.

Makin' faces at Babes in Sanger...she's so cute!!!

Many evenings, we let her feed herself, as we feel it's important she have opportunities to do things for herself. I even let her pick her outfits for daycare already. I think some days she actually understands what she's doing. In any event, here is our little Blee (her nickname) COVERED in dinner....and what a great look on her face...."What have I done?!?"


All clean after her bath that same day.....this is how we really know it's bedtime...she tells us in no uncertain terms that she's done being awake. At this point, we change her diaper, put her in her pyjama's, give her a bottle of milk (the only time she gets a bottle anymore...usually she gets a sippy, but at night, we give her one bottle) lay her down, and within five minutes, she's gone for the night. I LOVE that our daughter goes to bed so well!! It wasn't for lack of work, either....there were many nights of sitting in there, talking to her, singing, telling her it was okay, etc....but, she's finally got it!!
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The one about the napless girl....

So, our little blee is not typically a big cuddler. She tends to be quite independent and likes to hug/cuddle for a moment here, or a couple short moments there.
She just isn't into being held...turns into squirmy blee and wants down down down!
But, today daycare informed me that she didn't nap, nor did she eat weel (she has four teeth breaking skin!) and I brough her home...she actually sat in my lap and even cuddled a little bit for over an hour!!
It was rather sweet!
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So, I've decided that I will keep her home tomorrow--not take her to daycare. We do, after all, need our quality time together!!!
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I think I will even take her to just a few garage sells tomorrow!!
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Bethany

The one about The Comfort of Sovereignty

I am so glad that I am a Christian. It is the most amazing feeling to wake up every morning, and know that today is not a day that I need to get through on my own power. I recently had a 'final straw' type experience that left me about as stressed out as I've been in months. This stress and anxiety was me attempting to control my own life, when the bible is clear that it is God who controls all:

"Also we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to His purpose who works all things after the counsel of His will" Ephesians 1:11

And I do mean, ALL. As I have come to realize--my difficult week was simply God teaching me a little something. A lesson that I needed to learn about my own sins. In addition, He was using it to teach me to lean in to Him. To breathe Him in, and to make Him the center of my being and of my life.

All things are ordained and made by God--for what? For His own glorification. He is an amazing God who has given us life and breath. He gives us all--everyone on this earth--some form of 'common grace' that is--all good things come from God, and He gives us all good things, even those of us who do not deserve them (aka all of us) or those who have received our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We are all His children, and He loves us all--even those who have not been called to His service and glorification.

But my words do no justification to the reality of God's sovereignty, and the peace and comfort that this brings into my life. There was a famous pastor in the history of the Christian church named Charles Spurgeon who words it so much more beautifully......

"There is no attribute more comforting to His children than that of God's sovereignty. Under the most adverse circumstances, in the most severe trials, they believe that Sovereignty has ordained afflictions, that Sovereignty overrules them, and that Sovereignty will sanctify them all. On the other hand there is no doctrine more hated by worldlings, no truth of which they have made such a football, as the great, stupendous, but yet most certain doctrine of the Sovereignty of God. Men will allow God to be everywhere except on His throne. They will allow Him to be in His almonry to dispense alms and bestow blessings. They will allow Him to be in His workshop to fashion worlds and make stars. They will allow Him to sustain the earth and bear up the pillars thereof, or light the lamps of heaven, or rule the waves of the ever-moving ocean; but when God ascends His throne, His creatures gnash their teeth, and when we proclaim an enthroned God, and His right to do as He wills with His own, to dispose of His creatures as He thinks well, without consulting them in the matter, then it is that men turn a deaf ear to us, for God on the throne is not the God they love. But it is God upon the throne we love to preach. It is the God upon the throne Whom we trust."

The one about the first steps...

OK, photo's are coming quickly, but, most exciting news yet (more or less!!), little Miss Kennedy took her first steps last night! Super adorable!
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At 8:26 on Tuesday, April 8th, Kennedy took two little bitty steps! How wonderful! Best birthday present a gal could ask for!!
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Anyway, as I said, photo's are coming....just not quite yet! She wanted to go to bed, not walk for the camera tonight!
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Bethany