An Unpleasant Adventure: Micah's First Hospital Stay

It seems that every time I vow to do better about blogging regularly, life comes along and shoves me right off track. This time, it's taken a little while to pick myself, and my baby, up and recover my footing, but I'm back, and I hope to actually entertain you with some of the upcoming posts I mentioned a few weeks ago. But before I do that, I wanted to share the unpleasant adventure we survived last week. Baby girl endured her first trip to the hospital. It was not pleasant, nor was it fun, and I do not wish it upon anyone. Did you know that hospital cribs look like tiny little baby jail cells?

Twas awful.

Micah caught a nasty little stomach bug (as did I) that threw her little system (and my grown up one) for a major loop last week. She threw up once on Friday and once on Saturday, but Sunday morning the floodgates opened and she couldn't keep anything down. We stopped in at the hospital when she was so lethargic she couldn't lift her head if she wanted.

If you know my baby, you know that she's a bundle of energy. She does not like to be cuddled. She wants to be crawling around exploring her world and playing all. the. time. She hates being held like this:

But she was so out of it that she voluntarily laid her head down on her daddy's chest while we were in the ER. If you ever go to the emergency room and they usher you to a room immediately, you know that it's serious. My poor pitiful baby was very, very sick. She was severely dehydrated, and her blood sugar had dropped to 50. Once they got an IV in, she perked up a bit.

But she was still pretty puny. Monday she was able to keep down a bit of Gatorade, so they let us go home, but it soon became obvious that the virus was still ravaging her little tummy. Tuesday morning she couldn't even keep down a teaspoon of Gatorade. A teaspoon! Do you know how minuscule a teaspoon is?

It was scary. Very, very scary, but thankfully, we finally got the vomiting under control and she's back to normal now. And let me just say that she's hungry. Very, very hungry. Which is good, since she lost a whole pound while she was sick. That's a lot for such a tiny little girl.

Anyway, many of you knew all of this already, but I wanted to write and thank you for all of the prayers and kindness you showed us last week. We needed your help, and you provided in a very real way. We're more grateful for your love and support than you'll ever know.

Until next time, grace and peace.

Just Popping In

Hi! Remember me? I'm the girl who used to write here. Life has been very busy lately, and I have been so busy living it that I haven't had the time to sit down and write, but I have big plans for the future. I've had lots of post ideas rolling around in my head over the past few weeks, and I plan on rolling them out over the next several days. Actually putting that in writing obligates me to follow through.

At least, that's the plan.

But for now, I just wanted to pop in and say hi and let you know that I'm thinking about you. As the summer days wind down and fall approaches, life should slow down a bit, but things rarely happen as they should, do they?

Anyway, I'll be back soon. I just wanted to say hi.

Until next time, grace and peace.

Confessions of a Former Reader

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I used to be an avid reader. I devoured books. Inhaled them. I would stay up all hours of the night to finish just one more chapter, which, in actuality turned into reading the entire book in one sitting. I loved books. When I was a little girl, my mom would take me to the library, and I'd max out my library card on Nancy Drew mysteries and Sweet Valley Twins volumes. In high school, my obsession with Mary Higgins Clark novels led me to read every single book she ever wrote. In college, I read anything and everything I could get my hands on.

Then I went to seminary, and my days of reading for pleasure ended abruptly. I had no time to read for pleasure after I finished reading for class. And let me tell you: there was lots of reading for class. We read books and wrote reviews to sharpen our critical thinking skills, and apparently those skills needed lots of sharpening, because I read hundreds of books and thousands of pages for my classes.

During each semester, I compiled a list of books that I would like to read, if only I had the time. But I never had the time. I always imagined that after graduation I would pick up where I left off in my love affair with books.

But it seems that books and I are still taking a break in our relationship. I honestly do not remember the last book I read from cover to cover, and that's a shame, because we really did have a good thing going back in the day.

I'm trying to repair our broken relationship, but it's not easy. My attention span just isn't what it used to be, and sometimes taking a nap is a lot more appealing than opening a book. But I'm trying. I started by purchasing one of the books on my wish list: The God I Don't Understand, by Christopher Wright. And I'm making progress. Just last night I turned the page on chapter five.

In addition to actually purchasing a book, I have also signed up as a reviewer for Book Sneeze, a book review program offered by Thomas Nelson. Basically, I receive free books in exchange for blogging book reviews. I like free books. Don't you? I should be receiving my first book soon. Don't worry, I'll tell you all about it later.

Reading is a discipline that I have neglected lately, but it's a discipline that's absolutely necessary for any writer. All good writers are voracious readers. That's just how it is. You cannot be a good writer unless you are first a good reader. I'm afraid that the drought in my writing life is directly tied to the drought in my reading life. Reading introduces me to fresh ideas and even sharpens my critical thinking skills.

I guess the professors knew what they were doing when they forced us to read.

But I will never forgive a certain church history professor for making me read all 736 pages of Creeds of the Churches. Never. I'm just saying.

All of this thought about books has made me wonder what everyone else is reading these days. What's on your nightstand? What should I add to my reading list? Go on and tell me. I want to know!

Until next time, grace and peace.