Randomness

One thing you'd learn if you got to know me (or sat near me when I talk to mostly anyone) is that I LOVE my son. And I really, REALLY want to have another child. I want Malachi to have a sibling (it will be a boy because that's what's in our family and we're confident the only girl we'll ever have is the one we adopt from China) and I want to expand our family. There's one thing we want to happen before we try for another one, but it's not a very easy thing. Please pray that my desire for one thing will lessen so my goal will be easily met. That's all I'm going to write about it - when you pray God will know.

Malachi's upper molars seem to be affecting him much more than the lower ones and taking much longer. He's very sensitive right now, so I'm trying to not make him angry. It's not easy to do that with a two year old.

OMG he'll be two in less than a month. I'm very excited about his birthday party! We're doing an airplane theme - gonna be fun!

Saw the White

One of the things about your child teething is that before the tooth cuts (the act of coming through the gums) you can see the tooth right under the gums. I was told this by someone when his third or fourth tooth was coming in over a year ago. Last night I tried to get a look into the top of his mouth - which is a lot harder than getting a look into the bottom of his mouth - and I saw white under his gums on his upper left side. That made me very excited! I didn't get a look on the right side, not enough time :(

Malachi is very excited this morning because he gets to see Grandma!! Grandma hasn't seen him since they brought him down after our trip, so she also is very excited to see him. She called a couple of weeks ago to ask if she could come down and then immediately proceeded to offer to babysit. Free babysitter = awesome! It didn't take long for me to accept this offer.

There was a couple living at Courts of Praise (my apartment complex on campus) a while back that used to do free babysitting and us for them also. It was a great arrangement and she was available a lot. Since they've moved away finding babysitters hasn't been the easiest.

John and I tend to plan things last minute so we're usually looking for babysitters for that night, or even in a couple of hours, or couple of minutes. Most people aren't like us and don't wait to make plans, so they're busy. We're usually pretty excited to find one when we're in that kind of situation.

Any who...John's getting ready for work, Malachi is using his corn popper to "vacuum" the apartment and I'm writing to y'all hoping that you'll get some great insight into our lives.

I'm so happy that it's Friday! Oh! Speaking of Friday's I'm starting to volunteer for my worship Pastor today. I'll go to the church on Fridays and put the musician's music books together. Should be a pretty easy job. Today I'm happy to have Grandma with us so she can keep Malachi occupied so he doesn't play his wonderful songs on the piano for an hour or two.

Ok, I think that's it for now.

Love to all!

Watch this video and watch the awesome Chinese woman do this exercise. I say in the video that it's not attached, and I mean it. This is awesome.

Malachi's sick?

**Disclaimer there are a couple of references to a normal human function that is quite icky.**

I don't know anymore if he really is sick, or if he has symptoms that make him seem and look sick because he's going through a normal two year old process. Which process, you ask? The horrible (for him and us) process of teething.

Last week I noticed that Malachi had two more teeth on his bottom jaw. I wondered to myself how long they'd been there and why I didn't notice them before they were almost completely in (brushing his teeth doesn't happen as much as it should and his mouth doesn't stay open all the way for long before he notices that his toothbrush tastes like bubble gum and it's a lot of fun to chew on the bristles). I noticed Monday while he was crying that he didn't have his upper two year molars yet - so I realized at that point that we had more teething coming up.

This morning when I was feeding Malachi breakfast he cried really hard after getting a spoonful of oatmeal and cried pretty hard after getting a second one. Then he didn't really want to chew much especially after it hurt real bad to chew the raisin he put in his mouth. After the raisin incident I realized why he was crying this morning. It wasn't that his tummy hurt or he had nausea it was because his upper gums hurt when he chewed. I sighed in relief that I figured out what was wrong and decided that at the store we'd get some Popsicles for the gums and some Pedialite because his nutrition level hasn't been that great the last couple of days, and I didn't expect him to eat much today either.

As I was driving to the grocery store (yay Wal-Mart!)I called my mom to let her know he was teething and she pointed out that the symptoms he had yesterday and Monday night could have been caused by teething. I told her that it had already crossed my mind yesterday but I quickly put it out of my head because he'd never had symptoms this bad from teething. Sure he'd get a cold and a fever, but he has never vomited because of it before.

So at the grocery store (yay Wal-Mart!) I got the Pedialite but passed on the Popsicles because the box was sticky when I got to the register and I really didn't feel like walking all the way back to the frozen section (in the back at this Wal-Wart) after I spent a ton of time just trying to find a fruit bar that wasn't sweetened with Splenda - I was finally relieved after I had found the only box - and so saddened that I couldn't get it at the end. I might have also picked us up a treat in the bakery. Something that I knew he wouldn't have a problem eating.

When we did get home he did quite enjoy that treat and some grape flavored Pedialite. And he's now sleeping soundly, hopefully he'll sleep well.

My rug in the living room is still drying out and the scent of the week's events aren't all the way out, but we're working on it (and by we are I mean I am). It really is great to be a mother, I wouldn't give it up for the world but I could do with out this part. God bless single parents who don't have a loved one to snuggle with at the end of the day to help you forget all the icky trouble.

Malachi's sick.

I wont get into too much detail. Just please pray for him and mommy who's alone at home taking care of him (daddy's at work and goes straight to school after).

The long awaited update

A couple of people have asked for updates, so here goes:

Not much has really gone on in the last couple of weeks. My girlfriend had her second baby so last Wednesday her first son (Simeon, 2) came over at 6:00am and was with us until 5:15 pm. Thank God my father-in-law was in town that day. He basically took care of Malachi while I took care of Simeon. Even with all that help I still was exhausted by the time he left. That same night we saw our friends Raul and Valerie after they got back from their wedding (Boston) and honeymoon (Jamaica). We got to see pictures from their honeymoon and their table cameras from their wedding. It looked like they had a great time. I'm so happy for them (and so sad that we couldn't make it to the wedding).

Malachi's progressing greatly as he always does. He astounds us with something new almost every day. He can now carry on half of a phone conversation all by himself, it goes something like this:

(phone ring noise here, optional)

"Hello?"
"Hi!"
"I'm fine"
"Bye"
laugh

All of this takes place without someone on the other line. When you do put someone on the other line, he may ask how you're doing, or he may reply to you asking him how he's doing. Otherwise, he probably wont do any of the other cute stuff.

I'm still working for my Pastor. He has an assignment due next Monday that is killing me with worry. He needs to have it in Turabian format and I'm so scared that I'm going to screw something up and screw up his grade. Lucky for me John can bring home a packet from school that's all about Turabian.

My women's retreat went really well. I had a ton of fun and was really blessed by many women. Funny retreat story: I put on makeup before I went and when I got there realized that I had forgotten my makeup remover. I asked around and couldn't find any from anyone. The next day when they were handing out prizes, my name got called. I was actually praying that my girlfriend's (Diana - who's not from my church but came with me, we had a great time together) name would be called, but it wasn't :( When I opened my prize I noticed that it was a Mary Kay sample bag with two different moisturizers, a lipstick case, and guess what else...that's right...makeup remover! I looked at Diana and said something to the effect of "now that's irony." It's a good thing they included tissues in our check in gift bag because the second day was full of testimonies from women and it was a teary eyed time.

I'm looking forward to the next couple of months. We have a lot going on:

Oct.
a date on Friday

Nov.
our anniversary on the 10th
Malachi's party on the 17
Thanksgiving the 22nd
Malachi's bday the 23rd

Dec.
Christmas the 25th
our friends Josh and Bethany come to visit on the 28th or 29th

I don't think we have anything before Christmas in December yet, but maybe I'm forgetting something.

We're already preparing for Christmas in the choir. It's been fun to sing Christmas songs (although we're not doing the traditional ones at practice yet). I get to learn a new but old Christmas song. One song that I never really learned was It Came Upon a Midnight Clear and we're doing that one. I think it will sound really nice with the choir.

The weather is finally cooling down here - yay! We've got rain and 60's for the next three days but after that it's going to be sunny and in the 70's that sounds perfect!

Well, when I start to talk about weather, I know it's time for me to be done.

Love to all!

writing, church, Malachi, retreat - not in that order

Yesterday's church service was awesome! The Holy Spirit really spoke to and through people. He certainly spoke to me and I’m excited to see the effects of it over the next few months. I’ll wait until later to post about it so that I can make sure it all comes true and so I don’t have to eat my own words later.

God’s really been speaking to me through his written word lately and today wasn’t any different. Since we have the women’s retreat on Friday and Saturday I veered off my normal reading and did some reading that the Women’s Pastor suggested to me. I’m glad I did because the Lord not only spoke to me but gave me some words that could be very encouraging for the ladies at the retreat if I get the chance to say something.

Speaking of the retreat, I’m very excited to go on it! Our Senior Pastor’s wife and I along with three other women make up the worship team and I’m excited and scared at the same time. I just pray that I remember the words and the notes. I want to glorify God with my solo and the rest of the singing I do. I know that any skill I show will only be because of him working through me. On this past Saturday I went to a woman’s house and a bunch of women worked to put stuff together for the retreat. Every woman will get a gift bag when they check in with some great stuff and each woman will get gifts and there are prizes galore. I had a great time with the women putting those things together.

After we put Malachi down for a nap yesterday we rearranged our living and dining rooms. I love doing that, I love changing up the place where I live. I’m so very happy that John did it (he really didn’t want to) and I’m so happy he did such a great job with all the video and sound equipment. Our living room looks homier and our dining room looks bigger. He had an awesome idea for a decoration in our dining room and we’re going to do it (another thing I’ll post about after it’s done) and I can’t wait.

Today I’ve been cleaning up the mess we made while rearranging so the rooms are really coming together – I’m just so excited about it! Since we’re probably going to be in this apartment for another three years (if the school lets us (there’s supposed to be a two year limit, but they’ve never enforced it)) so the homier it is the better. For Christmas I may be asking for gift cards from places like Home Depot and Michaels and such so we can make our visions for the apartment come alive.

Malachi’s been doing great lately. He’s showing how smart he is and how much independence he wants. I seem to see him as a follower, but at the same time he’s a follower that wants to do his own thing. It has been a little challenging but I think we have it easy compared to a lot of other parents.

I’ve started doing some work for my Senior Pastor with the stuff he writes for his Masters Degree at SAGU (Southwestern Assemblies of God University). I’m so glad that I’m privileged enough to read the stuff that he writes because he’s such a smart man with great insight into God’s Word.

Ok, I think that about sums me up right now :) I hope everyone had a great weekend and has a great week!

Christian Halloween?

From a friend that graduated at Christ for the Nations with me. Her father wrote this:


We Christians have an uneasy relationship with Halloween. Most of us have fond memories of Trick or Treating as children. Then about 30 years ago, many pastors and parents began to back away from the observance of the holiday.

That reaction against Halloween came as Satanism and Wicca became more popular. Rock groups in the 70’s and 80’s began openly worshipping Satan and the demonic element of Halloween suddenly seemed too much for Christians to participate in.

This same period gave rise to Rock and Roll seminars as evangelists traveled from church to church playing records backwards and warning against the subliminal demonic messages in the songs. (By way of personal observation, contemporary rap music played forward is far more destructive than anything Zed Zeppelin ever produced backward or forward.)

For Christian parents, the retreat from Halloween was a Catch 22 guilt trip. If we allowed our children to Trick or Treat, we feared we were desensitizing them to evil ideas and entities. If we didn’t allow them to participate, we felt we were depriving them of fun that all of their friends were enjoying and they would thus develop a complex and rebel.

While most Christian parents are aware of their ambivalent guilt feelings, most are not aware of the true history of Halloween. Here’s a short version: The early days of Christianity saw thousands of believers martyred for their faith. They were thrown to the lions in the Roman Coliseum. They were burned at the stake, tortured, crucified, and even forced to freeze to death on frozen lakes.

In 610 A.D., the church designated a holiday to honor these brave Christians. It was called All Saints Day. All Saint’s Day was also called All Hallows Day. The night before was supposed to be a time of cleansing, prayer, and preparation for the holiday. All Hallows Eve eventually was pronounced Halloween.

Originally the day was May 13, but in the eighth century it was moved to November 1 to compete with a pagan ceremony of the Druids and Celts called Samhain. Samhain was the celebration of the dead.

In the succeeding 12 centuries, the holy and pagan roots of Halloween have been alternately emphasized. At times it seemed the pagans had taken it over, at other times, it seemed the church had stamped out the demonic element of the celebration.

My point is that Christians do not need to be the least bit apologetic about celebrating Halloween. Certainly we should refrain from dark costumes and symbols that celebrate the dead, but there are countless ways to make the holiday fun for children and adults alike.

One such example is Cornerstone Church’s Hallelujah Party at the Grove Civic Center. For 20 years, Cornerstone has offered a safe and fun alternative for children of all ages. Pastor Bill Lay and his congregation have done a wonderful job serving our community in this way.

If you’d like more information on this topic, I recommend a Focus On The Family book entitled Redeeming Halloween, Celebrating Without Selling Out.


Pastor Steven G. Dyer

Some things I'm thinking about

-training for a 5K run or something of the sort that isn't too big for my first run
-Christmas presents for my son and I and making lists for family
-my anniversary in 5 1/2 weeks (six years!)
-my son's two year birthday just two weeks after that
-my next China blog - deciding what to do since the two most important are already done