A is for Apple, and so is B and C and D...

I'm a nerd. I can't help it. We talk about letter sounds while we eat lunch. But today Little Buddy wanted to join in, and he was cracking me up. Lucky for you, I didn't record the whole alphabet.

The Hospital John

If you remember my post about The John in My Backyard you might be interested in hearing that this same uncle had a horrible accident about a week and a half ago. He fell from a balcony at his home, lay unconscious until he was found in the morning, and then remained unconscious until 2 days later. It REALLY didn't look good, and prayers were going up everywhere for him. He is well known in his community, and he had lots of people who wanted to visit (too many, actually) and know how he was doing. I last saw him on Tuesday. He was awake and was starting to recognize some people, but he didn't recognize me. His wife told him to turn to look at me, and one eye focused on me--sort of--but the other eye didn't really follow along. He kept rubbing his temple on the opposite side of where the knot on his head is. I really don't think he was using the other hand much at that point, and I think he was in lots of pain but couldn't really pinpoint the source of it. They were still keeping him pretty sedated, too. I know this has been painfully slow progress for those who are with him minute by minute, but I was able to go see him tonight, and he has made so much progress I had to fight not to tear up in front of him. All I can say is that God is doing miracle after miracle in him.

Tonight he was giving fist bumps to my kids, he didn't say my name but he talked about my dad and called him by name, so I know that he knew who I was. He was definitely confused and struggling to find the right words, but just hearing words out of his mouth brought so much joy to my heart. Even in his struggle he is still funny. The words he can think of are just funny. Like he said he was going to "oompa loompa" the idea of...(talking about staying in bed all day). He still needs prayer. No doubt about that. But God has already answered so many, and they anticipate a full recovery--eventually.

Tonight was the first night my kids have been able to see him. I think it puts a new perspective on "be careful or you might fall and hit your head." Probably not many preschoolers follow that up with terms like "brain injury." We've gotten some new books on how the body works, which has been helpful. We have one on the brain, and we have one on the heart since we also have an uncle who recently had a heart attack. I never wanted to have field trips to the hospital to visit people we love, but it is good for them to understand WHY it is important to pray for people. I've prayed from the day they were born that we would be a family who ministers together, so praying together for loved ones has been one way we can do that.

For those who know my family, thanks so much for your prayers. They have meant so much!

One World?

OK. I'm not saying Facebook is the anti-Christ. I'm just saying that it is creepy how it is uniting the whole world. And how so much of my personal information is out there even though I try to make my settings as private as possible. Someone in cyberspace has more information about me than I would share with a total stranger. But still I don't want to close my account. That's even weirder.

Since I've been on FB, here are some things that I've learned:

1. My ex-boyfriend is friends with a girl I knew when I was a teenager, who is also friends with said ex-boyfriend's ex-fiancee. (Doesn't that sound like a legal document?)

2. My husband's cousin knows my next-door neighbor. Turns out they were in choir and toured together in college.

3. A family friend of ours is married to a man who used to coach on a team who played the team my husband used to help coach.

4. My friend from church has a friend in Arkansas who is a mutual friend of my friend I met in Springfield.

I know that none of that is meaningful to you. But I am simultaneously awed and creeped out.

Poopy Day

Today was a little poopy because 2 people cancelled their parties for this weekend. It was a little poopy because I got paid and it's already spent. And it was a little poopy because I was incredibly busy and didn't accomplish much. But mostly it was poopy because both of my younger children have had diarrhea all day. You probably didn't really want to know that, but I do have one kind of amusing story to brighten up the poopy day. I went to bed last night after taking the girls to swim lessons (where I played in the baby pool with Little Buddy), then immediately heading to dinner and to the hospital to visit my uncle. I was feeling like I really needed a shower. In the middle of the night Little Buddy climbed into our bed. I could tell that he had a fever so I let him stay there. When I woke up this morning the first thing I thought was, "GROSS. I have to take a shower right now. I can't believe how bad I smell." Turns out that Little Buddy had made the mess and the smell. Which is really gross, but not as gross as if that smell were me. I can make anything be all about me. :) Now I must go and wash some more sheets.

Mommy Guilt

After all of those posts about trying to decide what to do about Big Sissy and her schooling, I was hoping that once I made a decision I could just rest in knowing that it was the right one. I felt really good about so many things, but we've hit a bump in the road. First, a big boy on the school bus told her that she couldn't sit in her seat because he was saving it for his friends. Since that's where she thought she was supposed to sit, she was really confused and anxious. She hasn't really been around mean kids much. Then she was sick and missed the 2nd full week of school. So while the other kids were getting to know each other and the routine, she was laying home in bed hanging out at home with us. She keeps telling me she enjoyed it once she gets home, but every morning she doesn't want to go and has to run to the bathroom every time I tell her the bus will be here soon. She missed the bus for that reason yesterday. She was hating naptime too, since she is used to reading books during rest time, but now the teacher gives them the option of resting, reading, or writing. So today this is what she did during rest time:

This is a picture of her looking out of the window of her classroom. It says, "I want to be home." Yikes. I feel so bad. I just want her to be loving it.

But then the other side seems better. It says,
"I hope You Had fuN
Love caRoliNe
I HaD a Good
time at shool I Like
MY classRooM I
doNt No If You KNeW
this but We WeNt
to pe (gym?) I had fuN todaY
DiD You? We aRe still
haviNG to LeaVe the
NaP baGs at sHool
DiD You haVe fuN?

I'm gathering that she doesn't want us to have fun without her? On the bright side, we figured out how to buy lunches in the cafeteria. That was big for both of us because I had to figure out how to get money into her account, then she had to memorize a pin number so that she could access the money. That's pretty high tech for these girls. The pancakes on Tuesday were worth the effort, though, so we did it. It's a good thing, too, because today we slept so late I didn't have time to make a lunch. Then we ran out the door to get Little Sissy to preschool and forgot Little Buddy's shoes. Is it summer yet???

Our Toy Story 2

Almost 3 years ago, I posted a blog about Our Toy Story, the story of how Brown Lamby came to be part of our family. http://brimmsblogs.blogspot.com/2007/11/our-toy-story.html Now, we have our Toy Story 2. Little Sissy has loved Brown Lamby all this time, never forsaking him for any cheap imitations like Pink Lamby, or even a slightly brown lamby that had previous loved by another child. Over time she has created a voice for him, a personality for him, and a sort of parental love for him. Four weeks ago I went to a Beth Moore Conference on a Friday night. Hubby said she had him at the dinner table, he made her take him somewhere else since he's not allowed at the dinner table, and that's the last they saw of him. She cried a little at bedtime but knew that they would find him the next day. The next day was Saturday, and we stayed in Illinois until bedtime, so she fell asleep in the van before we got home. Sunday night was the first time I even heard of his disappearance. In her bedtime prayer, she thanked God for all the family and added, "And for Brown Lamby, even though he's missing." Then she bravely went to sleep while I scoured the house. Nothing.

I looked in all the "normal" places where we usually lose things--behind beds, in the laundry, under the couch. Still nothing. When she would get sad, we would look at pictures of him; and she started sleeping with his picture.

I certainly never would have picked the timing even if I were ready to start weaning her from Brown Lamby. We were getting ready to go on a trip to Indiana, where she would sleep in an unfamiliar room; then I left for 4 days to go to the 31 National Conference. She was without me, plus she spent 2 nights with Aunt Elissa, also an unfamiliar room. Then right when I got back she started preschool. No, I would have waited until she got through all of those transitions, at least.

We kept telling her how brave she was. And she was. The first week she thought she heard him saying something Brown-Lamby'ish and she just knew we were on the verge of finding him. The second week she had a nightmare that he fell over a cliff and all of us jumped in to save him but none of us could.

The third week she had a nightmare that a monster came and ate Brown Lamby, and she couldn't stop him. I decided I would make her a scrapbook of her and Brown Lamby so she could look at him whenever she missed him.

By the fourth week she was saying things like, "I may never find him, huh? Maybe he's gone forever." I was starting to agree with her, although I figured we would find him eventually--like if we ever moved.

Last night, exactly 4 weeks after his disappearance, I went to get a Redbox movie and the kids were trying to watch their bedtime movie. The DVD player wasn't working, so Hubby moved the entertainment center away from the wall, and guess what was underneath all the wires back there? You guessed it. Little Sissy's BFF, Brown Lamby himself. Hubby texted me and asked what he should do since no one else had seen it. I told him to do nothing and hide all evidence until I got home. Now we're trying to figure out what to do. I know she would be SO happy to see him, and I really don't mind if she gets him back as long as he stays in her room just for sleeping. But she's doing so well without him and I've already started her scrapbook, which she is excited about. I'm comforted just to know that she can survive without him. She's tried and tried to turn Pink Lamby into Brown Lamby, but his tail just doesn't taste the same, she says. :) I know that's true! So the saga continues. We may have Toy Story 3 in another few years.

Piggy Plum Pie Dance

Because you will likely never get to see this in real life...