Day 80: Place Your Wager Now, Folks. Time's Almost Up!

Alrighty folks, here is the current official schedule of guesses as to when Jade will be born. I am missing some of you (STEPH!!!!!) so let me know what your guess is before it's too late!! You can also guess after this chart in December, if you're really cruel. I'll just add on to the chart.

18	19 Grandpa	20	21 Jacob	22 Jess	23 Jess	24 Steph
25 Josh	26 Grandma	27 Jeremy	28 Becky	29	30	1

In Other News...

Jeremy has a Knowing God desk calendar with daily bits of the book, and today's strikes me because it is basically what my wise sister was writing about the other day. She said that she had realized that it was ok to admit that her life was hard, because, in a way, life is meant to be difficult. Otherwise why would we look forward to Heaven so much? Anyway, today's quote is this:

Normal Christian living is not a bed of roses, a state of affairs in which everything in the garden is lovely all the time, and problems no longer exist - or, if they come, they have only to be taken to the throne of grace, and they will melt away at once. This is to suggest that the world, the flesh and the devil will give us no serious trouble once we are Christians; nor will our circumstances and personal relationships ever be a problem to ourselves. Such suggestions are troublesome, because they are false.

It seems as though most devout Born Again Christians try to claim that they have no problems or that the problems they have don't really bother them because they have "given them to God." Anyone who dares to admit that they are struggling with something are given the trite advice of "Oh, you need to give that to God and He will help you through it." While it is true that we should bring our needs and concerns to Him and that He can help us through them, this advice, especially when repeated for every concern, tends to belittle said concerns and make it seem as though the problem is really a lack of faith. However, when God tells us to bring our concerns to Him, He never claims that He will instantaneously fix them and that we will not have any more problems. While it is not healthy or good to spend our time worrying about things, especially things we have no control over, we are not lacking faith and sinning when we do so. This world is not a fun or pretty place much of the time. When we face that as a reality and understand that Christians are not ordered by God to be happy all the time, we allow ourselves to really understand the fallen nature of the place in which we dwell and fully look forward to a time when we are no longer stuck here. Jesus desires to weep with us, not scold us for weeping in the first place.

Maybe next time someone says, "gee, I'm really worried about .....", rather than just saying "Oh, give that to God and He'll help you through!", it might be more helpful to simply weep with the person and give them a good strong hug. I know that's what I prefer!

Madame Justice Strikes Again

I would like to give a shout out to my eldest sister today. She had her first solo trial on Friday, and I'm sure she rocked it. Of course, if you didn't rock it, Steph, it's still totally cool that you're putting yourself out there in the interest of justice and winning the battle of good vs. evil etc. I would gladly weep with you and give you a big hug (from afar)! Either way, I'm totally proud of you. Just think how proud that little babooski will be when she grows up and finds that her mom is a superhero!

One last headline for today:
Baby Girl Saved By Superfast Shot

My sweet little angel became suddenly overwhelmed with pain and misery yesterday, waking up from her nap crying uncontrollably at about 3:45. She was warm and feverish and reacting like the slightest touch was a knife blade. Since the doctor's office closes at, like, 4:30, and it was a Friday (no weekend hours at the dr.'s office!), I felt a bit like a kayaker who lost her paddle at the same moment she recognized that strange sound as an approaching waterfall. Bless them, every one, the wonderful folks at my doctor's office actually fit me in, and I was talking to her doctor within an hour. It turns out she has an ear-infection that was so bad, it had probably been bothering her for, like, a week or more without her giving us a peep of feedback about it. She's too tough for her own good, it seems (Redmond women...).

Anyway, the doctor was prescribing us the usual liquid medication when my husband, my hero!, brought up the fact that she is completely stubborn about not taking any medicine. The last time we tried to give her medicine for strep throat, she soundly rejected every attempt, from mixing it with applesauce to forcing it down her (she has an amazing gag reflex. Basically everything in the room becomes coated with pink, except her own throat). Thank God the office called with results that she didn't actually have strep and we could stop the daily torture rituals (I still have post-traumatic flashes from time to time). Well, I wasn't even thinking about this at yesterday's appointment, but Jeremy did, and our wonderful doctor actually took it seriously instead of giving us one of those "Oh, just try this...." that never ever works out but makes you feel like a complete failure and nincompoop. Rather, she asked a few questions and then asked, "Well, would you be willing for us to just give her a shot?" "That would be wonderful!!!" I practically shouted with excitement. I had heard about this before, and I knew it was just what we needed. Instead of struggling to get your stubborn little sweety to drink something she wants nothing to do with for ten days straight, the doctor gives her one (yes ONE!!!) shot, and then you're done!! No going and filling a prescription, no remembering to give it, no torture. Just one admittedly painful but quick shot, and, bammo! you're on your way to perfectly healthy ears again. It's supposed to work much quicker, too, and I can attest that she was acting like herself again within about two hours. It would normally take days for the medicine to really make an impact! I am now a firm believer in the power of medicinal shots. I know, I know, she'll probably grow up to have some kind of fear of needles, but, seriously, don't we all anyway?

Well, Jeremy just made a snide comment about writing a book, so I'll take that as my cue to close for today. May your Saturday be filled with peace and tranquility! Peace out!