Happy birthday to me!

It was my birthday today, and my birthday present was that I got to go see my sweeties! If I could have any wish for my birthday, it would be to be in the middle of fetching my missing children. Wish granted!

Littlest girl was a little snuffly today, and had a lower activity level. She was still plenty good natured, but sat in that tiny chair for most of our visit, snacking on crackers, smiling at us, and babbling occasionally. She might be doing more than babbling, but we wouldn't understand it if she was.  She is certainly photogenic, when I can get her to not scrunch up her face in anticipation of the flash!

"It was about yea-high!" 

"your stories are pretty funny, too!"

"There'a a tickle monster after me!"

Our little boy tried to ignore us, but Daddy made him wrestle, and roughed him up quite a bit. He tries to act like he doesn't care, but he's always more interested in the toys when Daddy puts him down, and glances at us out of the sides of his eyes. He's not sure what to think of us, and Daddy won't leave him alone, so I'm pretty sure he's starting to form some opinions. He came in today looking a little more lively, and he didn't cry, so we consider that an improvement. He doesn't sound snuffly today, so that's also an improvement.

"You guys are sooo boring...."

"Wait a minute!  Who threw that ball?"

Well, our big girl keeps surprising us. We went into the play room to get her today, and although she didn't react with the same excitement as before, she did get up immediately and come to us. She hugged my legs, and I leaned over a gave her a huge, long hug. We had asked for and gotten permission the other day to play with her in the play room instead of the visitor's room, and as we tried to explain to the care worker what we wanted, we didn't notice that our girl had melted to the floor, until she began crying loudly with heartbroken sobs. I suddenly realized that she thought we were going to stay in the playroom, and not take her out for her special time with us, and it is obviously very important to her. I quickly reached down and scooped her up, carried her out to the visitor's room,and reassured her that everything was okay. She clung to me tightly and allowed herself to be comforted. David shook his head, because he thinks I'm a softie, and allow myself to be manipulated by all our kids. Temper tantrum crying has always made me really irritable, but heartbroken crying gets me everytime. She sat with me for a few minutes with a big smile, tears still glistening on her cheeks, while we murmured sweet nothings to each other. She stroked my hair, and I stroked hers.

I know you're all envisioning this miracle, but it only lasted a little while, and then she started to jump all over me, and pull my hair. We had to work on "nice, nice..." some more, and Daddy held her for a while in a strong grip and rocked her, and sang to her, which she loves. She even sang a little herself when he stopped. She has a sweet little singing voice. Makes me wonder if she can carry a tune! Then he put the ear buds for the ipod in her ears, and she listened to the music for awhile. Her eyes would be looking into the distance, and I just know she has a lot going on in that head!

What's that saying about the soothing power of music?



Look at that intense concentration!  She thinks we have good taste.

 Since it was Sunday, and we found a church with an afternoon worship service in english, we decided to attend.  We didn't know for sure what we were getting, but it turned out to be an episcopalian service, and we got to sing some old hyms accompanied by a pipe organ, take communion, and we heard a beautiful sermon, about caring for the most vulnerable-- the orphan, the widow and the stranger.  The priest also stated that the unborn are the most vulnerable of the vulnerable, and that the church will always stand for them.  I always say, "That sermon was for me!"  My family gets tired of hearing it, but it's true.  I go to Eastern Europe, and the sermon is for me!  You-know-who knows where we are, and he knows where I'm going to be, so I know the sermon is for me.

We were invited to the potluck after the service, and tried some cool foods.  Even though it was an english service, there were very few native english speakers.  There were many nationalities represented.  I met several professors, one a german woman who is a professor of linguistics.  For some reason after we chatted for awhile, and I mentioned that I was a nurse, she jumped to the assumption that I was a professor of nursing.  Hmmm... I think I disappointed her when I told her I was just the kind that takes care of patients :)

And because God cares about David also, he allowed him to enjoy a spirited theological debate.  The archdeacon of a particular european diocese was visiting here to preside over the service and administer communion, because this church has not been able to find a priest, and has not had communion for 4 months.  He and several other men sat with us at the potluck, and asked us lots of questions about ourselves.  We complimented him on his sermon, especially the part about the church's responsibility to the unborn.  Since we're americans, the archdeacon must have been curious about our views on the death penalty, because, I swear, he's the one who brought it up!  Since I believe that God is always directing our steps, I have to believe that someone needed to hear a different viewpoint from the one that floats around europe.  I'm just saying!