Hello Summer... Bye Bye Diapers!

Soon after Lily turned 2 we began with potty training. This was something I had been dreading but was urged on by Blake who insisted that she was ready. Turns out he was right. After just a few days of going commando around the house, Lily was ready to take on the outside world in her Minnie Mouse panties. After that, we just kept to a pretty strict bathroom schedule and I carried her "potty duck" (a seat that goes on the big potty) around in a bag for about two weeks until she got more comfortable. We thought we were home free... until now.

The last few days has been like we're back at square one. I blame her setbacks on my potty pride - that must be what I get for bragging so much. I am sure we will get back on track soon, but in the meantime, I will just reflect on some of the funnier moments this stage has provided.

1. Day one of going commando: Lily is playing outside in her playhouse and says "I potty right here." She walks off and sure enough, has left a present on the patio. The worst part about this is that while I was inside cleaning her up, Cooper made her accident his afternoon snack.
2. A few weeks in she insisted that she had to go while we were driving home from church. I stopped at the nearest (and only) gas station which was absolutely disgusting. She must have sensed my hesitation and fear as I was wiping everything down and wishing for a hazmat suit and said reassuringly, "Mommy, you have my potty duck?" Sadly, I did not.
3. Lily had only been in panties a few days when Blake and Nana took her to pick strawberries. They were out in the middle of the field when Lily announced that she had to go. Blake, being the resourceful Dad that he is, took her in in the woods, and with her back against his chest, he held her legs in the air and let her water the brush like a fountain. I was REALLY impressed and sure that if it had been me, we both would've ended up needing a change of clothes.
4. Lily was in the bath and I was sitting next to the tub working on the computer. Out of no where she says, "Here Mommy, put this in the potty." I look up confused to find her holding a #2.

Happy Birthday Lily!

Sweet Lily turned 2 a few weeks ago and a few weeks before that (Easter weekend) we celebrated with an outdoor party at the park (see pics below). It was so much fun to just hang out with family and friends and celebrate her while letting all the kids go nuts and have a good time running around. I was expecting at least a small amount of stress and a few meltdowns before the day was over, but was pleasantly surprised. My wonderful husband and family pitched in to help with whatever we needed to pull off the logistics and Lily played, ate and opened presents without shedding a single tear. She even looked up at me a few times throughout the afternoon and said "this is so cool" - which of course made it all more than worthwhile. After everyone was gone and we were finished cleaning up, Lily was still having a blast running over the small bridges and swinging. She was such a trooper and I was so happy she had such a great time.

As Blake and I sat watching Lily play in her room yesterday, I made the comment that I couldn't believe we used to think she was so much fun BEFORE she began walking and talking. This of course was no shot to the sweet baby we once had, but rather amazement at the hilarious and amazing little woman she is becoming.

I am am in awe of my 2-year-old daily and cannot wait to see what will come out of her mouth next. Cannot tell you how many times I have said "How does she know that?" or "Do we even say that word?" No doubt Grana and Nana have taught her things when Mom and Dad were not around, but even so, the rate at which she remembers and comprehends things is pretty remarkable to me.

Of course I am not intending to brag on her for being so "advanced" - ha (I'll do that later in a potty training post). I am really just remarking on the wonder and immeasurable joy that our Creator has not only provided in the world, but specifically entrusted to Blake and me - just two insignificant people who try our best, but are in no means moving mountains and in no way deserve such a wonderful blessing. We are humbled and thankful.

When Lily was a newborn, I used to almost dread time passing because I didn't want my tiny, sweet, little baby slipping away - like somehow she would be less cute when she grew up or something. Now, I find the opposite to be true. I do treasure every new stage she is in, but also cannot wait for what tomorrow will bring as we learn more about her and she learns more about the world around her.

She LOVES caterpillars and ladybugs. I decided a big caterpillar was easier to make than a bunch of little lady bugs, so that is what we went with.

Emily & Gracie

Nana & Eden

Like mother, like daughter...

Blake always tells me when I make a "Rita face" meaning I look just like my mom. This is a prime example.

I think Lily's husband will be able to say the same thing one day!

Grandmother & Enid

Tucker & Cooper

Griffin thought this was a swimming party.

Lily, Eden, Noah, Uncle Brian & Nana

Easter 2010

Lily and Griffin had more fun painting their tummies than the eggs!




Post-egg dying bath.


Playing with Griffin after church.


Bossing Tucker with the blocks.




Lily and Griffin had a "roaring" match.


Lily needed Grana's help to get in the egg hunting spirit.


The whole gang hanging out on the Camp's porch.


What is Easter at HU Searcy without Spring Sing? Lily and I went for the first couple of acts and she LOVED it. This pic is terrible, but I had to include it. She was completely star struck to see the Kojie bees in person.

Haiti

A few weeks ago, Blake went to Haiti with the Haiti Christian Development Project (www.hcdp.net). We missed him terribly, but are so proud of the work he and his teammates accomplished by showing the love of Christ. Here is a summary of their trip from Blake...

"Our group of fifty volunteers included a wide variety of professionals any where from farmers and irrigation specialists to doctors and everything in between. During our short stay we accomplished an amazing number of things. At least 2,500 patients were seen in our medical clinic. The clinic included several wonderful physicians and nurse practitioners that gave these people the extremely rare chance to have a medic exam by a true professional. Along with the patients seen by physicians there were also 270 people seen by the dentists (resulting in 727 pulled teeth) and 629 people seen by the optometrist. Altogether we saw well over 3000 patients. Praise God!

"As a pharmacist, I spent my time dispensing medications from the vast number of meds that were either donated or purchased for this trip. Throughout the week those 2,500 patients resulted in at least 5,000 prescriptions. To put that in perspective, even some of the busiest pharmacies in Little Rock rarely do more than 3,000 prescriptions in the same amount of time. This was the first time that a pharmacist went on this trip, and I was blessed to have the opportunity to serve in this way. With a pharmacist on board, the physicians were able to leave some of the things such as medication dosing and medication substitutions up to me. This greatly cut down on the amount of time the people in the pharmacy spent running back and forth to the doctors when there was an issue. This also provided an ideal situation for pharmacists and physicians to work together to make the best out of the situation we were in.

pharmacy at one of the clinics

"On the non-medical side of the trip, the farm that the Haiti Christian Development Project (HCDP) uses to teach the locals had a complete irrigation system installed, water was run to the farmhouse (which brought immense joy to the local ladies), and a front end loader was installed on their tractor (which is one of the few working tractors in all of Haiti). Also, a solar powered water purifier was installed at the compound of our local developer, Gueston Pacius, who had recently given up sleeping in is own home for a tent in his back yard so that over 50 refugees from Port au Prince would have a comfortable place to stay.

"Another amazing experience that we were able to witness was the installment of the local congregation’s first elders. The Haitian men of the church have been waking up at four in the morning for months to pray about the possibility of electing members of their own congregation to be shepherds. Our trip provided the perfect opportunity for the prayers to be answered and on the Sunday of our trip, the men of our group that had or were currently serving as elders prayed over the church, the elders wives and the elders, installing them as not only the first shepherds of that congregation and possibly the first elders of any church in that region.

"On this trip we landed in Port au Prince and headed due north to a town called Gonaives. Since most of the damage of the earthquake took place south of the airport we saw very little of the destruction that occurred due to the quake. What we did see though was what it means to be the poorest nation in the western hemisphere. The poverty there is very hard to put in words and very hard to experience on a first hand basis. These people have little to absolutely nothing and if they do have something it is usually short lived due to either natural destruction, such as the earthquake or the two hurricanes that battered the area a few years back, or political unrest that plagues the country year after year.

"The work being done by the HCDP has been going on since 1990 and has been doing amazing things in Haiti ever since. The group works with the local Haitians in a variety of ways to not only help them spiritually but to also help the locals improve their standard of living and provide for their families. A few things HCDP is constantly working on are providing microloans to the Haitians for business development, running the local farm to teach them better farming techniques, and providing spiritual and leadership support to the local church congregations. For more information on the Haiti Christian Development Project, visit, www.hcdp.net.

"Many of the things that we witnessed are nearly impossible to put into words. The trip was one of the most amazing experiences of my life and I can only hope to be a part of it in the future. I know that God’s work was done in Haiti through us, and I also know that, spiritually, my life was also renewed."

March 2010 Catch Up

It has been a while and I am having trouble remembering all that has been going on with us. I'll start by recording some of the funny things Lily has come up with lately, add some pics, and see where I go from there.

Funny & Sweet Things...
1. Lily LOVES her color-form paper dolls from the Tribbles and plays with them almost daily. A few weeks ago while she was playing, she pointed to the doll's freckles and said "yook mama... pickles." Later that same day we got some gummy bears at Kroger and she continued to call them "yummy bears," which I think is even more fitting.

2. One afternoon when I was especially tired and sitting on the floor with Lily, I looked at her and said, "Lily, I need a hug." She opened her arms wide and said, "Come here girl." and gave me a great and sweet hug. That has been our saying ever since.

3. One day while we were shopping in Hobby Lobby, I handed her some fake flowers and asked her if they smelled good. She said they smelled like "boo boo" - which is what Blake says when something smells bad. I just cracked up over it, making somewhat of a scene to fellow shoppers.

4. We've been trying to teach Lily to say that she's 2 in hopes that by the time she turns 2, she'll have it down. Regardless of our efforts, she almost always says 16 when asked.

5. Today we got a little more serious with the potty training. Lily has been wanting to paint her fingernails, so we bought some pink sparkle fingernail polish and princess pull-ups. I told her that when she sat on the potty she could get one nail painted and when she did her business she would get another nail. She figured this out after the first time and was treating the bathroom like going in for a manicure. I quickly had to change the rules to be only results-driven. Today, we ended up with 3 nails painted and 1 poop in the pull-up. I am hoping for a full set of 10 nails for Easter this Sunday.

Zoo trip with the Hovaters and Colliers. We had a great time, but Lily had a bit of an attitude. She was up late the night before, so we'll just blame it on that.

Carson pointing out some animals to Katie.

Three little monkeys... Lily, Micah and Izzy (or Izzy and Micah - I can't tell from behind!)

This pretty much sums up her mode for the day.

Even though we've taken Lily camping since she was about 5 or 6 months old, now that she is old enough to know what's going on and really experience everything it was a whole new ballgame. She LOVED the campfire, putting up and taking down the tent and hiking. She also had a great time collecting sticks with Daddy and would say, "here ya go fire" as they tossed them in. She wasn't too keen on sleeping in the tent, but after a little while she pooped out and was fine.

Hiking with Daddy. She rode in the hiker backpack for a little while, but then had to do it by herself.

She wore her headlamp almost the whole night - so cute.

Reading "bout Jesus" before church.

Checking out the ducks and chicks at Tractor Supply.

Teaching Baby Lucy to slide.

My Little Shopper

Checking out a new dress we got last week.

Lily was getting anxious after being cooped up in the house for so many cold and snow days and after listening to her whine "go, go, go" over and over I finally asked her where she wanted to go. She quickly dried up the tears, firmed her lower lip and said "shopping?!" with her head cocked to one side as if to partially ask a question. This was cute of course, but not enough to get me motivated to get ready and hit the town in the slush, so we put it off until today and hit up the Old Navy kids sale and some home stores for my basement office / forever a work in progress. She could not wait to try on her new clothes and pranced around the house saying "I cuuuute!"

In other Lily news... she has started an interest in using the potty. So far we have only had success with #2, but hey, if you have to choose one or the other... that's the one I'd pick. The funniest thing she's done in this area is when she has already gone, but she does not want to get off yet (she plays with bath toys while she's in there), she'll say, "I poopoo again, one minute" to buy herself some more play time. She is usually true to her word though, so we don't mind being patient!

Remembering Mema

My amazing Mema, Ethel Fant, passed away last week after struggling for several months with a body crippled by a series of strokes. Seeing her in that physically weakened state and not being able to communicate with her was especially hard given the nature of her life and knowing how full she lived it.

I truly do not know of anyone else personally who lived the kind of life she did. She did it all, and all with a servant's heart and a fearless and exuberant spirit. She came from a humble background and had more than a couple of tragedies strike her and her family, but she never seemed to loose sight of what was important ... to love the Lord her God with all her heart, soul and mind, and to love her neighbor as herself. This made all the difference.

To me, she has always embodied the kind of life you can live if you simply follow those words and don't let the fears, inadequacies and insecurities of the world get in your way. Not only did she lead a life of service, but I know she had a great time doing it; and this attitude put her in some amazing situations and left us all with an incredible legacy.

The following is something I wrote for the funeral service. I borrowed heavily from an idea I got from an email forward (of all places) and it does not even begin to sum up her story, but it was my way to honor her and spend some time remembering the life she led.

Mema's Hands

Looking at our hands, we can recall how they’ve served us through the years.
They represent how we’ve embraced life and how we’ve spent our time on this earth.
Though now at rest, Mema’s hands tell the story of a life spent
reaching out to others and folded in prayer.

They were scratched picking cotton on a Mississippi farm,
held her pencil at school, and tucked a basketball under her arm.

As a young nurse, they bandaged the injured and cared for the sick.
Then signed the enlistment papers that sent her to Ft. Bliss.

They held another soldier’s hand, as she began to realize,
that he was the one, she was to love for a lifetime.

They waved goodbye, as he went to war overseas,
then shook with excitement when he mailed her his ring.

Holding her new babies, they were clumsy and unsure,
but in teaching them to serve, they were strong and secure.

When Robert grew sick, they held the family together.
They cared for him, fought for him,
and wiped her tears, as he went to the Father.

They nurtured three children and then saw them off,
to become the adults, who she was so proud of.

They held a plane ticket, as she answered God’s call,
spending a year in Africa, to show Christ’s love to all.

They cared for countless others, when she returned;
patients, friends, neighbors and so many kids...

Children who had no other place to go,
found shelter with Mema and were loved as her own.

They brought many smiles during her stint as a clown.
And this, especially, made her grandkids proud.

They were kind and playful with her grandkids and their kids,
and helped her become “Mema” to ALL Glasgow’s kids.


Mema’s hands show the marks of where she’s been and a life well lived.
Most importantly though, they have now reached out,
touched the Father, and been led home.