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A Light Dawns

After visiting a friend with two new babies, we drove home. On the way, Gannon asked me this question:

"Does it kinda feel bad when the mommy tries to get the baby out of her tummy?"

Uh yeah, Gannon. It kinda does.

To Brian: #13 - #10

#13
You are cute. ;)

#12
You aren't taking it personally that the list I started out to do daily ended up not-so-very daily.

#11
You love to teach Gannon stuff.

#10
You snowblow my mom's driveway.

Number Fourteen

# 14

I love you because you handle things.
You know; you take care of things for us.

Story Time

At a trip to the library today Acadia found a book for us to check out. I knew she wouldn't want to listen to it, since it is what is known as a chapter book, but I got it anyway, being too weak to put up with any fussing over the matter.

I am glad I took it home. It is the best book I have read out loud to Gannon in a long time! The title, My Father's Dragon, is the first book in a trilogy (yay!) by Ruth Stiles Gannett. It was published in the 1940's. Gannon loves the adventure of it, and the outlandishness of talking animals, the snoring whale, the boy stowing away on a ship, and the whole idea of a kid running away from home to rescue a dragon.

You can't find this stuff in a "modern" children's book. It's simply not accepted these days to put certain things in literature for kids: keeping secrets from parents, animals that will talk to you and then eat you, mothers who wear aprons. Not that these things are always good, but this book is just so innocently adventurous that it makes Gannon plead for more. And I love that!

The book reminds me of Baby Island,* another junior adventure tale about two girls who are stranded on an island, this time with a few babies they have to care for. In this novel by Carol Ryrie Brink, things always work out for the girls and their time on the island is actually pretty fun. It's a captivating story. I think Gannon would get a kick out of it even though it is geared toward an older audience than he would make. Baby Island's been around since 1937.



*Not to be confused with Baby Foo Island, an imaginary land created by Gannon and his friend Ryan. The two islands are nothing alike, as far as I know, and neither Ryan nor Gannon has heard the story of Baby Island.

Two More Reasons

# 16
I love you because you are a wonderful father.


#15
I love you because you and I laugh at the same things.


(these are obviously in no particular order...)

Dangerous Words

Coming off my antidepressant has left me feeling vulnerable to those little lies that pop up in one's mind now and then...the ones that I can usually laugh at, shake off or stick out my tongue at. In particular I feel myself in danger of discontentedly living in the past and having a case of the regrets.

"If only..." is what I hear myself saying. If only we'd been able to stay in our other house. If only I didn't have this predisposition to depression. If only...and this is the big one...if only I had gone on bedrest when my pregnancy was in danger that January in 2003.

You can imagine where all that could lead. Yeah. I told you it was dangerous.

I'm countering this ugly background hum with things like this:

Psalm 73

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you; you hold my right hand. 24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will receive me to glory.
25 Whom have I in heaven but you?
And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.
26 My flesh and my heart may fail,
but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.
27 For behold, those who are far from you shall perish;
you put an end to everyone who is unfaithful to you.
28 But for me it is good to be near God;
I have made the Lord God my refuge,
that I may tell of all your works.

Psalm 42
5 Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation 6 and my God.

Ephesians 1

3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, 4 even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love 5 he predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, 6 to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. 7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

11 In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will, 12 so that we who were the first to hope in Christ might be to the praise of his glory. 13 In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, 14 who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.

The "If Only"s are an insidious bunch. If you're not vigilant, they can creep up on you without you really noticing. Before you know it, you'll be wallowing in these imaginary alternatives instead of being content, happy, and obedient in the great life you have right now. That's what I preach to myself, and I will do the same toward anyone who shows signs of the syndrome because I know how hard it can be. Call it regret, call it guilt, call it living in the past. For me it all boils down to not living like I believe the gospel of Jesus Christ, which you can read about in Colossians 2.

13 And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, 14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross.

And so I should live, because I have been made alive to God in Christ...when I go along in my "If Only"s, I ignore that life that I've been delivered to.

Catching Up: Countdown to 2/14

# 19 I love you because you worry about me.

#18 I love you because you like my cooking.

#17 I love you because you call me from work.