Multi-purpose words

Kids have a great way of using one word to mean lots of things. When Matthias was very small, "ha" could be house, horse, help, hard.... you get the idea. "Piteh" was computer and printer at the same time. Well, Carrie Ann has her own version. "A-body" (short A sound) means somebody, anybody, nobody, everybody -- you can usually tell by context which one she means! Another nice "a" word she has is "A-deng" for "again" -- she knows there's a g in there somewhere, just not quite sure where! Adeng, adeng, adeng!!! Do it adeng!!

Prayer Works

I had a rough month last month -- first the concussion when my toe was being worked on, then the toe itself got infected. I was asking God why, what he wanted me to learn from all this (I don't think he caused it, but he must have allowed it for a reason). Well, after two weeks of nausea and dizziness, the concussion finally got quickly better when Frank and Charlie promised to pray for it. The infected toe continued to respond to nothing very well for another week -- until Jacqui and Candace prayed for it, then it quickly healed as well. A week later, to my frustration, I came down with a very bad, sick-in-bed kind of cold. I just couldn't shake it -- usually one day in bed will do it, but this time, I needed a second day, and still felt bad. Then on the third day, Carrie Ann got tired of napping with me all the time and said, "Mommy, wake up!" I explained that I couldn't "wake up" until I was feeling better. So she knelt on the bed, folded her hands and closed her eyes and said, "Jesus up away, mumble, mumble, Mommy all better, mumble, mumble, Amen!" (She knew it needed more words but wasn't sure what they were, so she just put in some random noises.) I thanked her, and said Jesus is very happy when his children pray to him! And after that, I no longer needed to stay in bed all the time!!! So what have I learned from all this? God didn't answer my prayers for myself -- he waited until I asked for help, and let my friends pray for me. I learned that we need to pray for each other, and let others pray for us. Not a new lesson, just one that needed to be reinforced, I guess. So if there's anything I can pray for you about, let me know!

9 hours!

Carrie Ann slept nine hours last night! Wow, wow, Wow! That's the longest she's slept yet, all the way from 9:30 pm to 6:30 am. I told her no more nursing until the sun came up, but I had 6 am in my mind. Then, when she woke at 6:30 and I nursed her, she paused to ask, "Mommy, why sun not up?" I told her it would be up soon, and it was getting light by the time she finished ("fish-ished, Mommy"). Now if only I could have slept. I woke up at 2 am and 4 am, according to our normal nursing schedule -- and at 2 had a hard time getting back to sleep! I resisted the urge to wake her up, though, because if I can train her to sleep through, surely I will get back in the habit too! Days are hard when you spend so much of the night wishing you could sleep. Oh, well, this too will pass.

Other favourite phrases: "Mommy, where you is?" "What Tysis/Betadane doing?" "Off we go" (Off-a-doe!)-- used anytime we are going anywhere, as in, "Mommy, in car, Daddy, off we go?" for "Mommy, can I go with Daddy when he leaves in the car?" "Tank-oo" has joined "pees", and she has a version of "you're welcome" which she throws in right after she says thank you sometimes. When she needs help, "Mommy, I needing howp!" or sometimes, "Umbey it!" (Open it.) And of course, "Why?" -- sometimes a dozen times in a row. I thought you didn't get that until 3!

In other news, my toe seems to be not infected anymore, though it still bleeds/hurts a little. My head is mostly better, I am only dizzy when I exercise or otherwise overdo it.

After this long break, I've been re-thinking school work, and we may not go back to all the book work we were doing -- it makes it easier to have something to hand in, but I'm not convinced it was helpful in actually teaching the kids. When they are free to explore, they learn new things and grow all the time. With all the book work, either it was covering old ground, or they weren't ready for it yet! Frustrating. Needs a bit more thought.