Because I know that I have friends who occasionally read this(right?!)...I am asking you to pray a special prayer tonight. Matt and I do not know this family from New York, but have been reading their blog for several months now...their baby is to be born tomorrow morning, and he has a congential diaphragmatic hernia-this basically means his diaphragm did not fully form, allowing organs to crowd the chest cavity, preventing lung growth. You can go back and read further on their blogs to understand all that they have already had to endure over the past months at http://www.brooklynchurchplant.blogspot.com
It is an amazing thing to know that Christians from all over the country, and the world, can come to the same table to present our requests to the Lord. Although we do not know each other, and though we may never meet in this lifetime, our prayers lifted up from thousands of miles away are spoken to the same God. I don't know why, maybe because I am a mother now, but I have had a special ache in my heart for this family who I have never even met, for months now. Isn't it amazing that the internet can actually do something for good?! Please, wherever you are, tonight and especially tomorrow morning at 7 am when they induce Laura Hays, stop and say a prayer that their precious son Ira will be the vessel for a miracle...that the doctors will have no explanation but the Lord's mighty power.
Join the Hays family...Joe, Laura, and 2 year-old Sophia in praying this prayer:
Healing power of Jesus Christ, fall afresh on Ira,
Healing power of Jesus Christ, fall afresh on Ira,
Touch him, Stir him, Unfold him, Love him,
Healing power of Jesus Christ, fall afresh on Ira.
(prayer from Howard Booth)
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
thanks, baby einstein, i'll take it from here...
I was reading another blog the other day that talked about the amazing amount of commercialism associated with children's programming...it got me to thinking about some of the birthday parties that i have been to for younger cousins in past years...they all seem to have to have some major theme, that is usually associated with a children's show and every piece of decoration, food, etc. is covered with their favorite character...now, i don't mean to criticize...i don't think that television is evil...i mean, we all had our favorite cartoon characters, and yes, jack does watch the occasional baby einstein, sesame street, and ball games with his daddy...but i agree with this other blogger that i don't want jack's room in a few years to be covered from floor to ceiling with tv show paraphanalia...
and more importantly...it reminded me once again that my mom threw the BEST birthday parties in the world!
i could go on and on, but just to name a few of my favorites...
my 5th birthday was a tea party...everyone came in their dress up clothes and brought their baby dolls-except for one girl who chose to come dressed as a dad...my mom made tiny sandwiches and set up card tables in our living room, and she and some of her friends were the waitresses...then after we ate, she had baked little individual cakes for all of us and we got to decorate them...it was such a simple idea, but it still is one of my favorite memories...
on my 8th birthday, i got to have the infamous sleepover...i do believe that was also the year i got the hot pink leather skirt...wow, gotta love the 80s...i have a summer birthday, so we had the olympics in our back yard...my mom set up an obstacle course, consisting of my brother's fisher price car, a swingset, a hula hoop, a picnic bench, a baton, a wading pool and, of course, a slip-n-slide...it was so fun...we all went through and cheered for each other, and then at the end got medals and sang the national anthem in the silly way that you can imagine a bunch of 8 year old girls doing! then after we got inside and cleaned up and opened presents, had cake, etc...we had another game where we paired off...i believe we were given notecards with animal names on them and we had to close our eyes and make that animals sound until we found the other person doing the same sound, and that was our partner! then we were given a roll of toilet paper and sent to various places in the house and told that we would have a toilet paper fashion show in 20 minutes...it was so fun...we had cheerleaders...brides...football players...and to this day, i still cannot figure out how in the world my friend shara made such a beautiful wedding gown, veil, and boquet out of one roll of toilet paper! surely she is a fashion designer now!
my little sister's 3rd birthday was in the backyard, a hamburger cookout and a pony that all of the kids got to ride in a circle around the backyard...my brother's 4th birthday was a jungle party where we all wore safari hats and my mom had decorated the living room with plants and sheets, and made it into a rainforest...it also helped that the living room had bright green carpet...it was also always fun that at a siblings party, we were allowed to invite one friend also...
oh, i could go on and on...but mainly i just wanted to talk about how blessed i feel to have grown up in a house where creativity and imaginative play were encouraged and modeled-i hope that even in this age of severe overmarketing and, to quote that other blogger, merchandising frenzy, that i can teach jack to appreciate creativity...i hope he will have campouts in the family room under a tent of sheets and pillows, i hope he will put on shows for matt and me on saturday nights, i hope that our home will be filled with stories and music and not just the hum of a television in the background...and i hope that my son will never lose the God-given ability to dream beyond what common sense tells you is possible...
i believe i have one of the most creative mothers in the world, and i feel so lucky that she was the one throwing my birthday parties, making stories from the Bible and other books come alive, and teaching me to embrace my imagination...she has always had a natural ability to engage children, and they can't help but fall in love with her...i got an extra bonus...i get to call her mom
and more importantly...it reminded me once again that my mom threw the BEST birthday parties in the world!
i could go on and on, but just to name a few of my favorites...
my 5th birthday was a tea party...everyone came in their dress up clothes and brought their baby dolls-except for one girl who chose to come dressed as a dad...my mom made tiny sandwiches and set up card tables in our living room, and she and some of her friends were the waitresses...then after we ate, she had baked little individual cakes for all of us and we got to decorate them...it was such a simple idea, but it still is one of my favorite memories...
on my 8th birthday, i got to have the infamous sleepover...i do believe that was also the year i got the hot pink leather skirt...wow, gotta love the 80s...i have a summer birthday, so we had the olympics in our back yard...my mom set up an obstacle course, consisting of my brother's fisher price car, a swingset, a hula hoop, a picnic bench, a baton, a wading pool and, of course, a slip-n-slide...it was so fun...we all went through and cheered for each other, and then at the end got medals and sang the national anthem in the silly way that you can imagine a bunch of 8 year old girls doing! then after we got inside and cleaned up and opened presents, had cake, etc...we had another game where we paired off...i believe we were given notecards with animal names on them and we had to close our eyes and make that animals sound until we found the other person doing the same sound, and that was our partner! then we were given a roll of toilet paper and sent to various places in the house and told that we would have a toilet paper fashion show in 20 minutes...it was so fun...we had cheerleaders...brides...football players...and to this day, i still cannot figure out how in the world my friend shara made such a beautiful wedding gown, veil, and boquet out of one roll of toilet paper! surely she is a fashion designer now!
my little sister's 3rd birthday was in the backyard, a hamburger cookout and a pony that all of the kids got to ride in a circle around the backyard...my brother's 4th birthday was a jungle party where we all wore safari hats and my mom had decorated the living room with plants and sheets, and made it into a rainforest...it also helped that the living room had bright green carpet...it was also always fun that at a siblings party, we were allowed to invite one friend also...
oh, i could go on and on...but mainly i just wanted to talk about how blessed i feel to have grown up in a house where creativity and imaginative play were encouraged and modeled-i hope that even in this age of severe overmarketing and, to quote that other blogger, merchandising frenzy, that i can teach jack to appreciate creativity...i hope he will have campouts in the family room under a tent of sheets and pillows, i hope he will put on shows for matt and me on saturday nights, i hope that our home will be filled with stories and music and not just the hum of a television in the background...and i hope that my son will never lose the God-given ability to dream beyond what common sense tells you is possible...
i believe i have one of the most creative mothers in the world, and i feel so lucky that she was the one throwing my birthday parties, making stories from the Bible and other books come alive, and teaching me to embrace my imagination...she has always had a natural ability to engage children, and they can't help but fall in love with her...i got an extra bonus...i get to call her mom
Monday, April 04, 2005
Just for Dad
I'm Tarheel born and Tarheel bred
And when I die, I'm Tarheel dead!
Go Carolina-lina
Go Carolina-lina
Go Carolina-lina
(inappropriate words for Duke, tonight Illinois, go here)
GO TARHEELS!!!!
And when I die, I'm Tarheel dead!
Go Carolina-lina
Go Carolina-lina
Go Carolina-lina
(inappropriate words for Duke, tonight Illinois, go here)
GO TARHEELS!!!!
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