Cute stuff my kid says. Part 1.

12-22-10: I was attempting to figure out what my child wanted for lunch. I suggested several of her favorites: pasta, noodles (she thinks they are different), fruit, cheese. Some part of me finally said, "Hamburgers?" My adorable two year old responded with, "Hamburgers are awesome." I love this kid!

12-23-10: Michaela picked up a book that had a drawing of Jesus with some children on the front. She got super excited, and shouted out, "Daddy!" Yes baby girl, that's our Daddy in heaven who loves us so much. You're absolutely right.

Flu Shot

So my baby had to go to the doctor last Friday because she's had a cold for a few weeks. He checked her out, gave her a prescription, and asked if I wanted her to get a flu shot. Sure, why not? She'll need one anyway, and this way I avoid a second co-pay, I say. So the nurse comes in, does her thing, gives Michaela her shot. Michaela doesn't cry, but after the nurse pulls the needle out and lays it on the tray, she looked up at the nurse with a scowl and said, "OW!" I couldn't help myself - I had to giggle at her, it was so cute!

Now I lay you down to sleep - what about ME?

Wow. What a long day. Before I ramble about my failures and triumphs, let me just say it is half-nice, half-annoying that I am the only creature awake in my household right now. Toby is snoring away on the floor (thanks to a cold + Nyquil), my child is happily ensconced in blankets in the middle of MY bed thanks to her dislike for her own, the cats ... well, they're cats, so they're asleep on the conveniently placed blankets on the floor. And I, I am awake and in the mood to post a little.

How is it that I only have six days left of student teaching? It's seemed an almost impossible ride sometimes. I've adored my time at Tierra Vista (been there, done that, bought the T-shirt - literally) and I'm going to hate seeing it come to an end. Except, of course, for the fact that I need to get $PAID$ for a change. Kim's let me sub for her a couple of days which has been G-R-E-A-T, but I just need regular, steady, paying work if we're going to make it much further down this road God has for us.

Did a great math lesson today though! Fourth grade is working on the concept of multiplying 3 digit numbers times a 1 digit number. So we hauled out the base-1o blocks and settled ourselves on the floor. It was fun - I made a math problem on a paper + clipboard like "461 X 6", and the kids had to help me solve it using only the base-10 blocks. Even my autistic kiddo got into it! It was pretty awesome. I promised them I'd leave the materials out for them to use in upcoming lessons (especially once we get to 4 digits x 1 digit) and I hope now that they've had a few days' exposure to how fun it can be, they'll make use of the materials!

Alright, time for beddy-bye for me. (Coming soon: "Weird stuff my kid did / said")

Bethel Brought It!

I started to title this post "Bethel's Bringin' It!" and then I realized ... Bethel already brought it! Or more to the point, Parkview already HAD it, and Bethel (with the amazing Chris Overstreet) intensified it.

For those of you looking at this post like Wow, Melissa, you've really lost it, let me explain. The Church @ Parkview has been going through some pretty radical stuff these last few years. Our leaders get to go to Bethel Church up in Redding, CA, a few times a year for life changing stuff that they bring back to us (thanks guys!). Today, we had the amazing pleasure of hearing Chris Overstreet come to our little bitty church and bring God's word. He also brought a dozen students from Bethel's Supernatural School of Ministry, who brought testimonies, words of knowledge, prayer, listening ears, loving hearts, and loads of compassion, and leaked out that love to all who got close. It was an amazing, awesome experience, and if it weren't for the fact that my poor little monkey needed to sleep (she was trying to fall asleep on me in church), I could have stayed all afternoon. I LOVE getting drunk in God's spirit - especially with there are such amazing people around to get drunk with!

Be back later,
Melissa

FINALLY! I remembered!

So I'd lost my password for my blog site, and in between ... well, being a mommy, a full-time student and substitute teaching, and now full-time student teaching, I'd basically forgotten about this thing. But a friend said something today that reminded me of something I posted when Michaela was 5 months old, and I decided to seek out said-post. In so doing, I realized how easy it was to have my password reset (duh!) and so ... here I am again! Random thoughts on the Douglas family, student teaching, my frustrating and adorable daughter, and musings on life and living. Yay blog world - I'm baaack!

January 21, 2009

To my darling daughter (and anyone else who might be listening),

This is your mother speaking. I am very tired. 5 months ago, I gave birth in a very long, shall we say, uncomfortable process. In addition to taking care of your every wish and whim, I go to school full-time and work as often as possible to make sure your closet of clothes remains larger than mine.

However, waking mommy up at 5:15 AM with a cute little smile and a full load in your diaper is not mommy's idea of a good time. However, I always get up to take care of your needs, and so it was today too. You, dear one, need to remember mommy's needs as well, namely mommy's need to sleep. This now makes two mornings in a row that you have gotten your signals crossed and woken up at an unhappy hour. Mommy isn't used to functioning like this and mommy is going to go to her happy place real soon, the place with special jackets that make you give yourself a hug, if you don't promise to start sleeping better.

It would be ever so appreciated if you could learn the meaning of "8:00AM". Or, if that is unacceptable to you, perhaps "7:30AM" might be more amenable to you? This way, mommy can keep all her hair without pulling anymore out by the handful.

Your cooperation is fully appreciated. If you should have any questions, feel free to drool them my direction.

Signed,
Your exhausted mother

Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers.

Say that three times fast. Can't do it? Cat got your tongue? Well then ... imagine how MOSES must have felt.

The poor guy. Sure, we may "diss" him for whining about all that God asked him to do, but you've got to admit ... God asked him to do a lot! First he has to go back to the Israelites, his true family, after having grown up in the Egyptian royal family. Then (after an accident involving the death of an Egyptian official) he has to wander the desert and live there for ... oh, 40 years or so. Then, when he thinks he's had enough and God might be done with him ... God sends him BACK to Egypt, to rescue his people! And let's not get into all the stuff involved AFTER the rescue of the Egyptians. For today, I'm just focusing on poor Moses, trying to figure out what he's going to say.

Now I've got to admit, when I taught 4th grade last year, I fully supported the idea of the "children of Israel" being the Bible's biggest complainers, and Moses being the Bible's biggest whiner. The children of Israel just couldn't be happy with anything, and complained to Moses if their blankie wasn't folded just so and their teddy bear wasn't perfectly clean. Well ... not in so many words, but that's the general idea of it. Moses, on the other hand, decided that a good way out of what God had asked him to do was just whine about it. Maybe if he whined, he wouldn't have to do it! "But Goooood ... I CAN'T talk to Pharaoh. I have this s-s-s-stutter!"

Okay, stop right there. I started thinking about Moses today for a good reason. I have recently found myself with a similar speech impediment. Not that I actually stutter. But when I get talking, sometimes I find that my brain runs like the hare but my tongue is slow as the tortoise. In short, I'll either forget a word I want to say, or blurt out so much that I actually end up mixing my words all up like cookie dough, so nothing makes sense. Moses had something similar. He was TERRIFIED of public speaking. Downright gave him the cold chills, the heebie jeebies, or what have you. And he thought God might let him get out of his assignment for this reason! But as our pastors are so fond of reminding us, "God doesn't call the equipped; He equips the called."

Well in Moses' case ... he still had a stutter. A bad one, from what I understand. But God did provide another mouthpiece in the form of his brother Aaron, and together they went before the Pharaoh. Through a series of trials and horrible plagues, the Pharaoh finally relented, and the children of Israel were freed.

God can use a man with a debilitating stutter to free a nation. He can use the lame and the blind to show miracles to entire towns. He even uses children to show His love for all of us. So what is there about YOU that YOU think holds you back from being used by God? I bet He can find a way!