My Beach Girlie

Ahhh. . .

Just returned from 4 great days at the beach.  So thankful for that time of relaxation!  Here is one of my favorite pictures of Susie playing in the sand.

A friend of mine sent me this link, saying the pictures of Susie playing in the sand reminded her of this Mary Cassatt painting.  I just love it!

When children are sick

Everywhere I turn I am hearing about friends whose kiddos have come down with this, that and the other.  One family at my church had a child with chicken pox.  Another had scarlet fever!  Additionally, I know of multiple families whose children have had the flu or a virus more than once, or strep or ear infections, etc.

Every mom (and probably dad) knows how pitiful it is when their children are sick, especially when they are up at night, and just appear to be plain miserable.  Our hearts break for them, wishing we could take away the sickies with a magic wand.

I realized today that I am so thankful that when Susie is sick (as she was through the night last night), I care for her without any sort of TRUE FEAR that she won't recover.  I may let myself worry a little, and certainly feel distressed in the middle of things, but I do expect her to get better, even if it takes time.  I remember reading once about a mother who had adopted several children with AIDS and other horrible diseases.  She spoke about the horror of holding your child while she was ill, and not knowing if it would truly be all right.  She called on western mothers with generally healthy children to pray for the faith of the parents of these severely sick children, that they would trust in God's sovereignty and give them the grace they needed to walk down that terrible road.  

Let our children's sicknesses (and our own) be a reminder to pray for those who suffer continually, sometimes without hope of recovery. 

Dancing with Susie

I chose this picture as a glimpse into motherhood this week because I loved so much this sweet time I had with Susie.  We were dancing to the Blue Grass "moo-kiss" (as she calls it) at a Maple Sugar Festival this weekend.  One reason I loved it was that I actually had the energy to hold her and dance around and twirl and sing along to the songs, even though I've been starting to get rather tired with this pregnancy.  We hit the wet, muddy dance floor 3 separate times during our visit to the festival, and she loved it as much as I did -- if not more!  Love it that we still have Mommy and Susie times that are just for the two of us.

Love my little lumberjack girlie in her ziplock-baggie-under-Robeez shoes.