My Funny Girl

This is mostly for all the grandparents out there who just can't get enough!

Baby laughter is always contagious, though!

(Sorry its so dark!)

Mystery Monday

I'm no fairy princess!

I understand that when it gets cold, you sometimes get little furry visitors that like to come in to get warm and eat all your chocolate chips in the back of the pantry. We had a few last year that met a quick end with the mouse trap and some peanut butter.

Today, however, all I wanted was a bottle of water! I casually reached into the box to grab one when my hand touched something warm and fuzzy! I nearly peed my pants! I quickly withdrew said hand only to find this:





Thank God!

Apparently the giraffe was thirsty, too!

Your neurology lesson for the day

Do you ever get sentimental?

You know how certain smells remind you of certain things? Let me tell you why that is. Two brain structures, the amygdala and the hippocampus, play an important role for the storing of memories, and the olfactory ("smelling") nerve has very direct connections to both structures (Randy is waiting on a "medulla oblongata" comment here). I feel a diagram is in order:

This is why the smell of cinnamon, cloves, or vanilla may remind you of Christmas at Grandma's when you were a kid. (For some reason, when I smell glue sticks, I also think of Christmastime--my mom is crafty!) That's it in a nutshell!

Well, the smell that got me this week was Tide and Downy--not just 1 independent of the other--it has to be both together.

I was taking my laundry out of the dryer--while it was still hot, mind you (I usually don't get to it until its cold). I piled the towels onto my bed and breathed them in deeply. I then wrapped one around my shoulders and breathed it in again. That smell is my Mama.

When I was little and would spend the night, she would put my blanket in the dryer to get it warm and then wrap me up in it on the couch. The warm embrace of that blanket felt so good to my little body. It, too, smelled like Tide and Downy.

Today, my laundry became more than a chore; it became a hug from my Mama.

I love you, Mama!

Fall

Fall is my favorite season!

Here are my 2 cuties enjoying the warm weather--while it lasts!

Garrett's Take on Politics

God made most of it....

We were playing outside yesterday when Garrett noticed the beautiful yellow leaves in one of our tall trees. Looking up as far as he could, he proclaimed, "Wow!" in his most pure childlike tone. Recently inspired by my friend H. H., I asked Garrett, "Do you know who made that beautiful tree?" He immediately responded with, "Nana!" As if it were obvious. I corrected him and told him that God made it and He made everything. Later, as we were preparing for bed, I brought up the conversation again. I told him that God made him, and that God made Mommy and Daddy. Hoping that this concept stuck, I asked him, "Do you know who made Charlotte?" He confidently replied, "Daddy!"

No arguments there, Garrett!

That's one dedicated baby!

Sunday, we had Charlotte's baby dedication. She looked so beautiful in her long white gown. I couldn't help but get a little misty-eyed to think of her in a long white wedding gown one day. We had family in town, clothes to iron, snacks for little ones going out the door--it was a crazy afternoon! Before we left the house to go to the service, my Charlotte needed to nurse, so we tucked away in her room for a few moments. In the quiet of our glider, God spoke to me. He reminded me that the day was not about how beautiful my sweet baby looked in her dress, or that our family's outfits were so well-coordinated for our picture, or even that the camera batteries were charged. God reminded me that we were publicly making the committment to give our baby girl back to God--whatever He wanted for her life--to commit that to Him because she was His to begin with.

I was reminded of Hannah who also prayed for a child, Samuel. She told God in I Samuel 1:11--"O Lord of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a son, then will I give him to the Lord all the days of his life." After Samuel was born, Hannah said in I Samuel 1:27-28--"For this boy I prayed, and the Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him. So I have also dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord."

As long as you live, Charlotte, you are dedicated to the Lord.