Babies, Brownies and Blessings

In our kitchen hangs a chalkboard. We put it up with the intent of writing daily or weekly Scripture verses on it so the kids could get familiar with the Word of God, or to write down the house rules...whichever is needed the most at the time! ;) As I was erasing the chalkboard today I noticed something: The words didn't completely erase. The color had wiped off but the words were still noticeable in the right light. The Scripture I had erased were the following verses: Everyone will have to give account of the day of judgement for every careless and unkind word they have spoken. For by your words you will be found innocent and by your words you will be found guilty. Matt. 12:36-37 For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. Matt. 12:34b   The irony of the shadow of those words wasn't lost on me and it felt like God was showing me the impact of the words we speak. Once a word leaves our mouths, we can't ta...

Admittedly, I avoid hard plenty in my life. From spending more time in the drive-thru to avoid taking 3 wild ones in for a bagel, to skipping elective school or sporting activities, there are things in life that just "aren't worth it". But raising kids requires me to reframe the idea of "too hard" and remember that I'm growing young adults who will eventually be part of the work force and God-willing, parents themselves! So at times it's important to see the good in the hard and push into those growth opportunities. I can think of many times in the last 15-20 years that myself or my husband have felt like it's not worth the hard. Sometimes we were right, and sometimes the hard found us anyway. The reward at the end of a hard experience is unlike those that are achieved with ease. The sweat of your brow really does reinforce the value of an experience and turns that hard-earned lesson into wisdom. From marriage to parenting, difficulty has...

When you walk into an NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit), there are a few things that beg your attention. Ding ding ding, ding ding , coming from any number of rooms at a given time. The numerous bell-like sounds echoing down the hallway, each one a little different. The drum of intentional footsteps of NICU personnel heading briskly to their destination. Phones ringing, the occasional baby's cry, the white noise-like sound of a nasal cannula, the hum of a ventilator, the sound that resembles a steam engine coming from a room where a special ventilator giving 600 breaths a minute is chugging away. Beeping of feeding pumps and IV pumps. To the trained ear, each of these noises means something. You can tell a lot by how quickly the footsteps are coming down the hallway or how frequently the monitor alarms are going off in the room next door. The IV pump that intermittently beeps registers in the back of your mind that the nurse has been administering multiple ...

A good friend is famous for making the statement "Ain't Nobody Got Time for That." You can find it on t-shirts and coffee mugs and memes. The truth of that was evident when the stomach flu hit our house with a vengeance. One by one the kids all succumbed, a couple days apart. The house was cleaned, sheets laundered, Lysol and bleach fumes filled the air. Never before have all three taken turns at this particular illness but it seemed it was going to stop there. Until this mama got up on Monday morning and realized that it was going to be a no-good, very bad day. Off to school they went, back to bed for me. To work went my man for his afternoon shift and shortly after the bus arrived with our 3 delightful children. Had they already been gone for 8 hours?? In the first 2 minutes of trying to parent from my sick bed I realized, ain't nobody got time for this! Why the empathetic sides of these now school-aged children have not developed well as of yet is b...

I don't really know how to dance, at all. I mean, I can manage a slow dance with my man and really enjoy it but, I don't follow well. All the step forward, back, quick and slow, ugh. I'm not so graceful. But THIS morning? I felt like I was fumbling to learn the tango as I was getting the three kids up and out the door! Slow slow quick quick slow... Wake up the middle SLOW Open the door of the little SLOW Get the Big in the shower QUICK Make a favorite breakfast QUICK Urge the little out of bed SLOW Remind Big to be nice to middle SLOW Move middle into the shower SLOW Pick out little's clothes QUICK Grab the burning French toast of the stove QUICK Help little get her clothes on SLOW Continue to quickly move the middle along without prompting an eruption of emotion. Wrap them in hugs (Big turns around in the embrace). And for the grand finale- they made it out the door with smiles on their faces and I stand here applauding! Now where's my m...

Ok, don't hate me but I've already started nearly finished my Christmas shopping. I LOVE buying gifts (and getting them, too, if I'm honest ;) ), and since we've budgeted for them all year, it's fun to start spending that money! If you're like me, you're so grateful to the wonderful men and women who nurture, teach and direct your kids for 40+ hours a week that ANY gift seems inadequately small. So if I can scratch the itch that makes teachers feel loved and appreciated, I'll be tickled pink! Every year I'm stumped on teacher gifts so this year I got a little help from my friends who are teachers (thanks, Facebook!). *Teachers, we know you appreciate anything/everything so don't worry, we don't think you're being picky or ungrateful! :) 1. Gift cards, gift cards and more gift cards Overwhelmingly, this was the most appreciated gift! Whether for practical items like groceries and gas, or pampering items like pedicures and massa...

Dear Nursing Graduate, As you are wrapping up several years of intense schooling, 100s of hours of clinicals, countless sleepless nights and frayed nerves, let me assure you of this: You already are a Nurse. It's your heart, your care for others and your ability to assess and act that makes you a nurse. You've already got that. While it may seem like there's an endless number of things you don't know, that will take years to learn (and that's true!), you are a Nurse. I'm almost 15 years into the world of hospital nursing and here are a few things I have learned and wish I would have known starting out. You aren't supposed to know everything. As you walk into your first job, new (cute) scrubs on, stethoscope, black and red pen, highlighter, calculator and flashlight, ID clipped to your top, you're going to be nervous. Watching your mentors/preceptors as they artistically dance through an assessment with ease and finesse, you're going to be t...