Please pray for Kayleigh

I have been following this blog for a few months now - Kayleigh's Story.  This little angel has been fighting for her life from the time she was born.  She just had surgery last week and has taken a turn for the worse.  Please pray for her and her family.  I have just read their latest posts and am just overwhelmed with despair and am crying.  But I know that only God can help this little girl and she needs our prayers for him to hear.  Please, if you are the praying kind, please add her to your prayer list.  She is so precious.

Overheard pearls

Sometimes when you're out and about, you can overhear some pretty amazing things.  Most of the time what you overhear is gossip or trash talking or confrontations.  But this weekend I got to listen in on an unique conversation between a Dad and his two daughters.  I was really touched by these words and I hope you are, too.

Little Girl:  Daddy, is Jesus alive or is he dead?

Daddy:  [After a pondering second or two.]  Well, he's both.  He's alive and he's dead.

Little Girl:  That's kinda cool.

Daddy:  Yes, it really is.

Then later on, I heard this man telling someone that his girls had gotten a puppy a few months back but it recently died.  So they had been asking all types of questions about Jesus, heaven and dying.  He said that he had decided to take them to church on Easter Sunday so that maybe they could start to understand a little more about Jesus.  I hope they enjoyed it and they were able to learn about Jesus.

On a side note, we also took Bean to church on Easter Sunday but I'm afraid the only thing she learned about were the new yogurt treats I shoved in her diaper bag on the way out the door.  Thank goodness that Jesus is patient.

You gotta fight for your (undeserved) rights!

I am in a great discussion group where we chat about all types of things.  We have recently been discussing Passover and Easter and this post is taken from those discussions.

I was actually thinking this afternoon about religious holidays and I wondered well if I am an honorary Jew now, why don't I get Jewish holidays along with the Christian holidays off?

So I presented this thought to one of my bosses who is Jewish.  Here's how that conversation went:

PEON: I would like to present something to you about these Jewish holidays.  You know I am a Christian and you give me off all of the Christian holidays, even the ones that fall on Sundays.  (*snicker, snort*)  I believe I should be entitled to have off on the Jewish holidays, too.

THE MAN:  Why are you entitled to the Jewish ones, too?.

PEON:  Well I am a believer in God and I have accepted Jesus as my savior so in doing all of that, you become part of the tribe and you become an honorary Jew.

THE MAN:  You lost me at Jesus.

PEON:  Listen, this is what the Book says.

THE MAN:  What book?

PEON:  Duh, the Bible! I mean, I know you people only read up to a certain page in that one but really it says it in there.

THE MAN:  I have no knowledge of what part you're referring to.  Can you send me a PDF of what chapter you're talking about and I'll be happy to listen to your argument here?

So now I have to find the section in the Bible that adopts me into the faith, and I might have a shot.

If I spent as much time actually working as I do trying to aggravate this man, I might be a very productive worker.

All the bad moms raise your hands. *hand raised*

Okay, Bean is only 14 months old and I feel as though I've already ruined her.  Well, maybe not ruined her...yet.  But I do know that I've made my share of mistakes.  And this really surprises me.  I thought making mistakes would come later, that you had maybe the first two years to get used to being a Mommy before the guilt kicked in.  I was wrong.

I know, or at least I hope, that the mistakes that I've made aren't the world's worst ones.  I know that.  But still I sit here and think about these things and realizing what I should have done instead and it makes me feel bad.  I mean, why didn't I take people's advice?  I don't get any do-overs in Mommyhood.

You might wonder what are these horrible mistakes I've made.  Well, the first is Bean will not go to sleep or stay asleep without her bottle.  And yes, a bottle.  She won't consider making friends with any sippy cup I've introduced her to.  She smiles at them, plays with them and then WHAM, right on the floor and she's walking away.  But back to the bottle...she has to have a bottle to go to sleep.  If you try and take it from her, she wakes up and whines and whines.  She won't take a pacifier at all.  This bottle is her best friend and she LOVES her best friend.  She shouldn't sleep with a bottle because it can mess up her teeth and she needs to learn to self soothe herself without it.  And as long as she has this bottle, she will never fall in love with any sippy cup she meets.

The other huge mistake that I've made is that she still sleeps with us.  I hear this all the time from people..."you need to get her out of your bed".  I know!  I know I need to do that but I have to admit that I think she's there just as much for me as she is for herself.  I love cuddling up with her.  I know she's safe.  But I know she can't sleep there forever.  I know it's not fair to her or us.  I know all these things.  But that doesn't make changing them any better or easier.

Now that I've told you my major mistakes, I'm sure you're rolling your eyes and thinking I haven't seen anything yet.  I know that, too!  But these things still make me feel bad about my first shortcomings as a Mommy and make me wonder what I'm gonna mess up in the future.