A Prayer for Discomfort, Anger, Tears, and Foolishness

My friend, Caroline, posted this Franciscan Benediction on Facebook the other day. I have not been able to get it out of my head:

"May God bless us with discomfort

At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships
So that we may live from deep within our hearts.

May God bless us with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of God's creations
So that we may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless us with tears
To shed for those who suffer pain, rejection, hunger, and war,
So that we may reach out our hands to comfort them and to turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless us with just enough foolishness
To believe that we can make a difference in the world,
So that we can do what others claim cannot be done to bring justice and kindness to all our children and all our neighbors who are poor."

Amen.

Little Happenings

I celebrated my first Mother's Day on Sunday. I got another ounce of selfishness squeezed out of me as I realized that the day that is for celebrating mothers is still full of sacrifice for the kiddo. I was really looking forward to the day, but woke up especially tired, and then Grace struggled with napping all day eliciting more exhaustion and tears from me. But, boy was she precious in the evening when I made her smile, giggle, laugh, and coo! I am so grateful for my little daughter, bad days and all.

A picture of Grace because I know that's
what you really want to see!

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Did you catch that above? Grace is laughing! I have never seen anything more precious in all my life! 

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My dear friend, Marie, was in town for a wedding last week. She carved out time from the wedding festivities to hang out with me. We met our freshman year of college, lived together for a year in college, lived together for a year after college, and were bridesmaids in each others' weddings. She moved to Chicago in 2009 for grad school, and we haven't seen each other since then. It was so fun to catch up in person rather than via our infrequent phone dates.

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I have been using the Baby Connect app to track Grace's feeding, diapers, sleeping/napping, and her weight & height. Baby Connect takes the numbers I enter and turns them into all sorts of nifty charts and stats. For instance, I know that she's had 427 poopy diapers since she was born. Nasty. It's the only cell phone app I've ever paid for, which says something about how good it is. If you're a parent or hope to someday be one, check it out!

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We recently had a couple days where the temperature hovered around 100 degrees. I am not ready for another So Cal desert summer. In fact, I'm never ready for this type of weather.

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Grace and I are flying to Colorado on Monday! We're going to chill at my parents' house for a few days while Michael is at his students' summer conference. Then, Michael will be joining us for a full week after that. I am looking forward to cooler weather, mountain fun, lots of baby help, not being on point for meal planning and cooking, introducing extended family members to Grace, and spending hours and hours with family!

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In garden news, our brussels sprouts plan is sprouting its brussels! (You know what I mean.) We also have a number of green tomatoes that have appeared and numerous other seeds have sprouted. We'll hopefully start harvesting new veggies in just a few weeks!

My Refuge, Strength, and Ever Present Help

I almost always have a small portion of Scripture that I am ruminating on. Like a cow, I chew it up and swallow it, and within a few hours, days, or weeks, I chew on the same words again to digest them yet another time. Disgusting, but that's where the word ruminate comes from, and that is how my soul connects with God. The majority of my ruminating is on the poetry of the Bible.

Right now, I am learning from Psalm 46 that...

When I am overwhelmed by motherhood, and I worry that my plans to start working part time in a few weeks will fall flat on their face, God is my refuge.

When my sweet baby girl reverts to waking up every three or four hours for several nights this week, God is my strength.

And when I feel more overwhelmed than joyful over being a mom, God is an ever present help in times of trouble.

Therefore, I have nothing to fear! Rather, I will be still and know that He is God.

Grace - Two Months Old

Grace has progressed from the largely unresponsive newborn stage to the adorable, interactive baby stage. I swear she is getting cuter by the minute!

When she's sitting or lying in the same room as me and I'm distracted with something else, she begins cooing and smiling to get my attention. It works every time! When Michael comes home from a work meeting or comes downstairs from our home office, she fixates on his face, beaming and "talking" with him. Michael does the same with her. :-) 

Grace takes no interest in toys at this point, but if we had to choose her favorite "toys" they would be lamps and lights. She once had an in depth conversation with a desk lamp. Grace loves taking baths, though she cries from the cold when she comes out if it's anywhere below 80 degrees in the house!

Grace has started sleeping 5+ hour chunks at night. For this, I am a very grateful mama. She has also recently discovered her hands, and I sometimes wake up at night to the sound of her cute little vocalizations and her attempts to suck on her fist.

We can't wait to see the further adorableness that awaits us! We love you, baby girl!