Dad-doh

Rachel's vocabulary has exploded lately!!! Its so fun to hear her say something and try to figure out what that something means!! I'll tell you about some of her newest sayings ~ its so cute and fun to see her learning!!!

One of the new words that is said around here lately is dad-doh. It took us a while to realize what that meant. Then we heard her say it from her bed at night right after Ema (our new puppy) had barked. We paid attention for a few days and discovered that dad-doh seems to mean "bad dog" and she seems to think that when a dog barks, they are being bad. Probably because her big dog, Sadie, almost NEVER barks!!

Another one is boo-boo which really means boo-boo. She has this boo-boo on her forehead from a fall long ago that we recently started putting vitamin E oil on it every night before bed. Last week at bedtime, we were reading a book with pictures of animals. There was a picture of an owl with its head turned so all you could see was one eye. She pointed to the eye and said boo-boo and then pointed to the boo-boo on her forehead. When i told her it was the owl's eye she pointed to her eye and said eye!! Then she pointed out all the eyes of the animals on the pages we were looking at!!!! I was very proud of her for that!!!

She likes to hold the phone up to her ear and say hewwo too!!! The other day, she was missing her Daddy (Rachel has become a HUGE Daddy's girl and I love it!!!!) So I called Jere at work for her to talk to him. Rachel got sooooooo excited and kept holding the phone to her ear and saying hewwo!!

She says bye-bye too and often!! She likes to go places and play at other people's houses!!! When we go on walks with the dogs she waves and says hi to people who pass us!! Its great when we are all in our kitchen and she sees our neighbors in their kitchen and waves and says hi to them!!!! Or when she says hi to the people on the golf course from inside the house!!!

There seems to be some confusion about who Jere and I are to her and its hilarious!!! For a long time, Rachel called for her Daddy by patting her chest and saying Mama ~ seriously for months that always meant Daddy. Recently, she started saying Dada again but its not consistant for Daddy. Sometimes, if she can't get my attention or what she is requesting by calling me Mama, she says Dada!!!! Its the same with Jere too!!!

Earlier this week we were playing with markers and i told her one was blue so now she thinks that all markers are buuu!!!

She can sign please and does it consistantly to get what she is requesting! Signing eat and drink are the same thing to her so we have to ask which she wants!! I taught her to point to her ear as how she asks for music. She LOVES Misti Edwards music and until just a few days ago thought that the CD for the car HAD to be "Always on His Mind." If I had a different CD in or she was in Jere's car she would keep pointing to the radio and ask for HER CD!!! Just over the past few days, she has started
accepting the other Misti Edwards CD we have in the car as acceptable music!!!!

She is learning to drink from a regular cup too!!! On Monday, we were taking pictures with Crystal Diaz and Rachel drank from our water bottles like a champ!!! So then we gave her little cups to drink from at home and she did okay with them ~ except when she decided the dog needed her drink and dumped it into the dog dish!!! So we are back to sippy cups with a regular cup every once in a while!!!

She loves to play on the computer on Starfall.com!! There is a section for phonics and it has songs for each different vowel sound ~ her favorite is the short a song!!! Every time we come to the computer, she tilts her head and says "a a" ~ this is her way of asking to play on the computer!!!!

Rachel LOVES chocolate, ice cream, rice, cookies, french style green beans, cheese, bananas, apples (another new word!!!!), chips, and fruit snacks!!! There was one night this week that i asked her what she wanted for dessert between cookies or ice cream and she got so excited about the ice cream it just made me laugh out loud!!!! Of course, we make her eat other stuff but these are her favorites!!!! I have decided to make her a chocolate cake for her birthday this year!!!

Rachel is really growing up as you can see!!!! I keep looking at her and thinking how much she is starting to look like a little girl and not so much like a baby!!! She is starting to look like Jere to me these days and her hair is growing some!! In the sun, her hair looks strawberry blonde!!!!

I am in love with my little girl and delight in each day with her!!!! Thank You Jesus for this little treasure in earthen vessel that You have entrusted to me and Jere!!!!

Trying to process . . .

Bubba called last night and said that Dad moved into the nursing home on Tuesday afternoon around 4:30ish. He said that Arlene did well and didn't break down. Bubba called the Heritage during the day yesterday to check on Dad and they said that he woke up during the night and asked "Why am I here?" to which the nurse tried to explain that this was where he was going to be staying now. Then during the day Dad had just basically followed the nurse around all day. I plan to call the Heritage later today and check on Dad if they will give me information about how he's doing.

Whenever I try to process all this, I just can't. My mind wants to escape to something else. I don't want to face it. It hurts so bad. A few weeks ago at church the message from Denise was about God's mother heart and His desire to comfort us. I went up for prayer to be comforted about Daddy. And God did comfort me about what was going on at the time. But it seems like each day that something else comes up about how bad he's doing and i feel cut all over again.

I trust my Father with my dad and I know that Dad is in a good place where he will finally be safe and he can't get hurt or lost or mugged or etc. . . . So I just look to Daddy God about my dad. I know that He is able to comfort me no matter what may happen with my life or my dad. Is it okay for it to be this hard to handle??? if it isn't, i'm sunk!!!

I know a family who's son is 2 weeks younger that my little girl and their little boy was just diagonsed with CANCER. Whenever i think of them or the whole situation with my dad i realize that I would lose my mind without Christ in my life. I'm so grateful for who God has been in my life and who He will continue to be.

and so finally, i have been clinging onto this promise: "Be anxious for nothing . . ." Phil 4:6 Nothing is the combined words "no" and "thing" and i know that my Daddy God means what He says.

I love Him, therefore, i trust Him wholly! Please Lord help me to process all this new information about my earthly dad. Its hard so please make it easier for me to understand. Daddy, I cling to You always and especially now more than ever!!!

update on my Dad

***Beth ~ you have already read this ~ sorry******

Yesterday was the day Dad was to go live in the nursing home. But last night I got this email from my biggest brother about Dad's status. PLEASE CONTINUE TO PRAY FOR HIM AND MY STEPMOM, ARLENE. Thanks!!!

Well, just prior to our 10am appt to bring Dad to Heritage Manor, they called with the news that his roomate (all rooms in this unit are semi-private) was on his deathbed and had his family gathered. Obviously, we opted not to admit him today. So I will keep you updated.

On another note, the progression is so unbelievable, I now believe he may be in a wheelchair by the end of the month. His balance has been off and tonight, he fell at the house and neither he nor Arlene could get him back to his feet. I drove over and picked him up but his balance is still way out of whack. He is shuffling instead of walking and because of his condition, he has a tendency to lean backward (his neurologist had prepared us for this) which makes a walker ineffective. Ultimately, he will not be able to stand. His speech continues to decline to the point where it is unintelligible now. The most I get out of him is a couple of words at a time. It is truly disheartening.

If there is one silver lining, it is that I think in his current mental state, he may not be resistant to moving to the nursing home. Previously, he had moments of lucidity where he was coherent and his neurons were firing on point. I don't see any of this anymore, which is a blessing to me. I hate to think that he would "come to" and find himself in a strange place surrounded by strangers.

I want him to be with us as long as possible but if its in a vegatative state with no quality of life and no recollection of loved ones or his surroundings, I hope God takes him. That is a hard thing to type, much less think.

Not lagging in diligence

So we now have 2 dogs and a daddy who has allergy issues with the dogs. But Jere allows the dogs because he loves me ~ i asked for them. Rachel really loves the dogs but she can't yet ask daddy for a puppy so mommy helped. Jere has been having a difficult time since Ema joined our family and its a bad allergy time of the year.

So Daddy God convicted me of being lazy and not taking care of my beloved and my home. Therefore, i have a new aim ~ each day before bed i will clean the kitchen (that drives ME crazy to have a messy kitchen) and sweep my house for my beloved. I also want to vacuum each day.

I have good news! Today was a success!!!!! Earlier as I vacuumed I was cursing the allergens in my home in the Name of Jesus and telling them to GET OUT OF HERE! I can't wait to see how doing this stuff blesses my hubby and my home and my God!!!

I know that i can't do this stuff without the Lord so I also hope to get up earlier than every one else and spend time with Him! On that note ~ its very late and I need to go to bed now!!!

Ema and Sadie

Until this morning, Sadie just tolerated Ema. But this morning they were playing together and everything! I threw them both outside and when Ema barked i let just her in. Sadie had to stay outside to calm down before i would let her in! That was different!!!

Ema and Rachel

My Dad and other stuff

Here's the skinny on Dad ~ he is going to move into a nursing home next week some time. That hurts so bad to even type. The facility is amazing and i know he will be well cared for there but it still is a very hard reality to look at. I know its for the best for both of Dad and Arlene and that Dad will be safe there. Arlene is having an exetremely difficult time dealing with it. Please pray for them!!!! I can't begin to fathom what Arlene is going through but I know my Daddy God knows and will help make the transition as smooth as He can. I keep begging Him to help them both. The place is called the Heritage Manor ~ check out their website if you want ~ its http://www.heritagemanormandeville.com/default.htm and Dad will be in their Secured Care Unit (SCU) for Alzheimer’s/Dementia residents. So he will be safe and Arlene and all of us can breathe a sigh of relief that Dad will be safe.

In other news: we got a puppy!!!! She is a mini schnauzer and Rachel is in love with her. We named her Ema after her mommy (Emily) who was hit by the mailman when Ema was 5 weeks old. She is incredibly sweet and cute and suprisingly easy to train so far. Rachel is learning to pick her up and loves to carry her to us. Its awesome that Rachel will grow up with both of her dogs: Sadie and Ema.

Jeremy says "No more pets!" I agree!!!! But i love my dogs!!! Thank You Daddy!!!