Enjoying My Labor....

" There is nothing better for a man, than that he should eat and drink, and that he should make his soul enjoy good in his labour. This also I saw, that it was from the hand of God." Ecclesiastes 2:24-25


Mothering is, at times, very laborious. There have been many days where I can honestly say my soul did not "enjoy my labor". However, joy in my daily grind these days is easy to come by, and I am continually reminded it is "from the hand of God". Even the most mundane errands take on new light with a curious toddler in tow. 


Julianne has become my car conversationalist, my grocery shopping pupil, dry cleaning pick up partner, my laundry assistant. She finds such excitement and delight in "helping" mommy. Her joy is contagious as she finds even the smallest things wonderful and new. It has been so fun seeing the world through her eyes. There are endless opportunities to point her to the great God of the universe who created it all for his glory and our joy! Here are some of the other things we are filling our days doing:

Swimming!

I bought this pool for $7 on the clearance isle at Walmart. It has resulted in hours of fun.

Fountain Gazing:

Our girl loves water and isn't partial to its source. Dropping coins in is now a favorite pastime....

 

 Gardening:

I have successfully grown my very first tomato! I have visions of a proper vegetable garden one day with all of our kids planting and harvesting our "crops". If they are all as interested as their biggest sister Julianne, we should have quite the veggie loot. I also am trying to get Andrew to agree to building and sustaining a chicken coop, but that is a different post...

Ball Tossing:

Perhaps we have an athlete in the family?

Reading:
Julianne has finally shown some interest in her books and can sit through a story if she's in the mood. We are spending some time at the library this summer and she is loving it. (please excuse the sweaty, pre-showered mommy)













Pretty sure I am going to miss this age....


Nathalie

The Cupcake Kids Bake Sale This Sunday: Helping the Unwanted Children in Uganda

 Andrew and I recently started leading a Bible Study Group at our church. I should really write a whole post about this experience as it has been amazing to see the Lord at work.We typically meet on Sunday evenings but since this month has an extra Sunday, our group wanted to use that time to serve together! Seriously, we continue to be amazed at how awesome the people are the Lord put in our group. Serving together as families....how beautiful! Since we have 12 kids in the group we wanted to think of a project that would involve our children and The Cupcake Kids benefiting Sixty Feet came to mind.

The Cupcake Kids is a children's outreach impacting unwanted orphans in Uganda. There are more details on the organization below, but basically they minister to imprisoned children in the name of Christ. Our kids are going to be baking cupcakes and accepting donations for their efforts. I am not sure how much Julianne will get it, although the girl loves her some cake! I do think serving together as a family is incredibly valuable though even at her age. What an amazing opportunity to live out the Gospel for her and explain (if only practicing) that God calls us to help and serve others as he served us with His life. That we were also orphans but because Christ died the death we deserved, we are adopted as sons and daughters of the King! I am over the moon excited about it.

All this to say, our group is setting up shop THIS Sunday 4/29 from 5-6:30PM to raise funds for this cause. We will be at the Campbell Green Park at Parkhill and Campbell (one block west of Hillcrest) in North Dallas. If you love cupcakes, live in the area, or know anyone who does we’d love to see you and have help passing the word!

Nathalie


What is Sixty Feet?
SixtyFeet has been working specifically in Uganda for the past two years providing relief to hundreds of orphaned and abandoned children who reside in government run Remand Centers, what we in the States commonly call juvenile detention centers. The only difference is that the vast majority of these children have not committed any crime. Mostly, they are children under the age of 12 who are simply unwanted. They are street beggars who have been rounded up by the police, unwanted children who have been dropped off by a stepparent, handicapped and mentally disabled children, and orphaned refugees fleeing war torn countries in Africa. These Remand Centers are grossly overcrowded and terribly under funded.
SixtyFeet was created in April of 2010 to bring hope and healing to these children through the love of Jesus Christ.
By making a donation and buying a cupcake from The Cupcake Kids, you are helping to bring hope and a future to wrongly imprisoned children of Africa! 100% of the funds raised by The Cupcake Kids are used for the support of those helping the children in Uganda and resources necessary to provide for their needs.
www.SixtyFeet.org
www.TheCupcakeKids.org

I Used to Be a Dog Person

I'm not sure anyone else has gone/is going through this, but I am finding I have a love/loathe relationship with our family dog Wesson. I've compiled a list to get some of this off my chest maybe re-gain my "dog person" status.

#1. LOVE: Wesson makes me exercise. Studies have shown exercise has many positive benefits. Some include: heart disease prevention, muscle building/toning, and weight management. People who exercise also often find they are happier due to endorphins. For these I am most grateful. I have also found dog walking is a ministry tool, as most of the neighbors I meet as a result of a dog walking encounter.

#1. LOATHE: Wesson makes me exercise. Sometimes I just don't feel like walking or running our neighborhood for 30 plus minutes. The time and energy it takes to load Julianne into the proper clothing, put her in in the stroller with a snack then harness up the dog, is at times a daunting task in itself. Not to mention, it is not always nice outside! If the weather is questionable, the pack and load time increases substantially. Why not just skip the walk? Our dog has ENERGY people. Google "English Pointer" after you're done reading this and you'll discover pointers are built to run all day chasing birds and such. If we don't go he is bouncing off the walls all over the house taking out all in his path. In other words, HE DRIVES ME CRAZY! In my naiveté, I thought this was the perfect dog for marathon runners like Andrew and I. Fast forward 2 years: Andrew has all together given up the sport, we have a child, and I am struggling to meet Wesson's need for speed.

#2. LOVE: I vacuum everyday. Having a freshly vacuumed space is very warm and inviting. It looks nice when your carpet has those lines in the floor. I also would bet my carpet and floor tiles lack many of those microscopic organisms I learned about in Biology. Though my floors would not appear to be the cleanest, I'd bet germ-wise they are quite pristine. This chore is also a good way to exercise and burn some extra calories (see above for those benefits).

#2. LOATHE: I vacuum everyday. OK if I am honest, it is 5 times a week or so, but still I do this activity A LOT! Most of the time Julianne is on one hip too since I am trying to remove hair from wherever she is at any given time. This task is an endless losing battle. I could vacuum all day long and 10 minutes later, pick up my baby covered in tiny white hairs. He sheds CONSTANTLY. I had no idea this breed would be such a mess, but unfortunately I was wrong. AND IT'S NOT JUST HAIR. Anytime there is any sort of precipitation, Wesson comes in with muddy paws. Despite my best efforts to remove the mud clots, I inevitably miss some, and end up with brown paw prints all over the house. The dirt clots then dry into small pebble like choking hazards our daughter makes every effort to find and swallow. All this to say, floor cleaning occupies more of my time and energy than I'd like most days.

#3. LOVE: Wesson accompanies Julianne at mealtimes. This is very helpful in the cleanup department. She drops food here and there and he is quick to make it disappear. This saves me some time at the end of our eating experience and I appreciate that.



#3. LOATHE: Wesson accompanies Julianne at mealtimes. We have found this to be problematic for a couple of reasons. The first being her desire to feed Wesson. If I am not watching her take every bite, I will soon see she is handing Wesson a bite of her food. Sometimes he will lick on it some then she will decide she indeed would like that bite and eats it! Gross.... Secondly, she purposely throws food for him, for which we have had to end meals prematurely to avoid. No fun for any of us.

#4: LOVE: Wesson and Julianne are best buds. This is probably the only reason he is still around. That, and I have issues with giving up a dog I made a commitment to give a good life. I signed my name on the doggie adoption paper so I am in. Seriously though, they love each other. She will crawl over to him and give him kisses which he happily returns. She points and waves at him all day and he is very patient with her. Wesson could care less when Julianne gouges out his eyeballs or bites his ears. He lets her pull his tongue and toenails. They have a bond.

I'm not sure this post has converted me back to a "dog person" but it has made me feel better. Maybe slowly Wesson will grow back on me. Perhaps when all our kids are born and grown and they can take over some of the chores. Until then, I will try to keep in mind the reasons I love Wesson.

Nathalie

The February Plagues

It deserves to be documented that the McClish family lived through and survived the never ending plague that hit our house in February. The 3 of us were completely blindsided, when after the birthday festivities concluded, we unknowingly entered a season of catching every know childhood illness.

It began with the dreaded ear infection. Oh how I despise ear infections! If I could go back to The Fall and just explain to Eve about ear infections I don't think she would have been as tempted. Our daughter had a runny nose one day and the next thing I know she has a 102 fever and crying non stop day and night. Thankfully I keyed into the symptoms right away and took her to the pediatrician who confirmed my suspicions with not one, but 2 (or double) ear infections. After an inconvenient trip and wait (remember constant crying) at the pharmacy we started amoxicillin and thought we seeing light at the end of the tunnel.

Unfortunately the double ear infection was just the beginning of our journey. While we were seeing the doctor he also found Julianne had the dreaded RSV virus. I noticed she was sort of wheezing in the sort of way you'd think she was suffering from emphysema but shrugged it off as congestion. The next afternoon though she seemed to be struggling to breath so I took her back to the doctor. A 30 minute wait (they were fitting us in), brief examination, and co-pay later, we were told it was not that serious and if she got to where she was taking 60 breaths per minute to bring her back or take her to the ER. Great....just what you want to hear on a Friday afternoon when the office is closing. Thankfully, it didn't escalate that far and truly looking back it was the most minor of our issues.

This pic has nothing to do with this post...just thought it was funny...

Enter: Hand Foot and Mouth Virus. Literally days after the RSV incident I noticed Julianne was starting to break out in pox like sores all over her mouth. Her diaper area had them too and it was quite alarming. She was MISERABLE. It was like she was having an ear infection times 3! Even worse we had no idea what the heck was going on! Was she allergic to the antibiotic? Was it something she ate? Hives? Chicken Pox? So once again, I called Dr. Porter and made an appointment during nap time so we could find out what the heck was wrong. He took one look at her and explained our girl was suffering from Hand Foot and Mouth disease. These pox pus sores were developing on her hands and feet and throat at this point too. Unfortunately it is also a virus so we had to wait it out. Two sleepless nights later (she could not get comfortable) she began to take a turn for the better. I asked if Andrew and I could contract this terrible mess and Porter said it was very unlikely since most adults have some sort of immunity to the disease.

Famous. last. words. Valentines day was coming and we had plans! We had reservations and babysitters lined up and couldn't wait for a night away. However, Andrew woke up with a fever and couldn't leave bed all that day. I encouraged him to get a throat swab just in case he was getting strep so he did. Strep it was! We cancelled our date and spent the evening on separate sofas watching rented MoneyBall. Then I made a bed on that same sofa since I was terrified of contracting strep! One of us had to stay well! The next day I disinfected the whole house, washed the sheets on hot water, and opened all the windows. Our baby was not going to get strep! Thankfully she didn't....

You'd think this saga would be over, but remember how we weren't supposed to be able to get Hand, Foot, and Mouth? Well, unfortunately it is possible. Especially when your immune system is down from something like strep. So you guessed it, Andrew got the Hand Foot and Mouth. He described it as the most miserable thing he has ever experienced and said he would rather have the stomach flue 3 times. He said it itched, then hurt. He couldn't walk since his feet were covered in the sores. Couldn't eat since his mouth and throat had them, and couldn't sleep since they itched and hurt constantly! Four vacation days (his office doesn't have sick time...joy) later he was back to his old self but not before much suffering.



Somehow I managed to escape it all. I don't think it was my killer immune system or vitamin supplement, but only the grace of God! I suppose we are better for it, and truly I am so thankful for a healthy baby who can fight this stuff. Still, I appreciate days when we all feel good around here.



Nathalie

Julianne is 12 Months Old!

Dear Julianne-

Sorry I missed writing your month 11 post. We were on the go visiting the various grand-parentals and it just didn't get done. I am sure you know by now that Mommy has good creative intentions but sometimes her busy pace puts creative time on the back burner. So here is my attempt at the final installment of "Dear Julianne" at least on a monthly basis.

Now that you are 12 months old you practically don't need me anymore! That may be an exaggeration, but when I think back to this:

A season when you cried and pooed and nursed 24-7, I can't believe we are here:

A season where you go where you please (in the house), feed yourself, and say "Da-Da" constantly. You are pretty much all grown up! There's another exaggeration, and if we're honest, most people think you are 9 months old. Still, it blows my mind how far we've come in such a brief time. I say we because the Lord knows I have learned right along with you and may have changed more than you have over the past year.

Even though I am grieving a bit over the fact that infancy is over, I am finding so much joy in raising a 12 month old! You are a delight and have really come into your personality over that last month or two. Everywhere we go you seem to make friends or try to. This is usually accomplished by waving continuously toward an unsuspecting, oblivious person and saying "Ha" until you get their attention. It brings delight to these individuals once they notice you. I find it so kind that you have a heart for other people even though they might not know you exist at first.

You are also becoming quite mobile. A couple of months ago you were barely pulling up and now you cruise all over the house. Some older and wiser people have made predictions you'll take your first steps soon, but we'll see. I love that you are still crawling and we are delaying the bumps and bruises I am sure will ensue as soon as you begin toddling. Plus we have a Wesson and tile floors to contend with....you just take your time.

I predicted in my last post (10 months) that you would be saying Ma-Ma by now. Unfortunately I have to report that I have not really heard it yet. Sometimes when you are in a whinny mood I'll here "MMMM", but most of the time when I ask you to say "Ma-Ma" you say, "Da-Da". Daddy thinks it is really funny, but seriously it would be great if you could try to work on that. I would LOVE to hear you say my name! Your vocabulary is growing though especially through sign language. You have mastered "more please", "hungry", "hi" and "bye", and we are working on some others.

It's been a big year. It has been incredible getting to know you and watching you grow and learn. We thank God all the time for blessing us with you. We are overwhelmed and humbled that He would ask us to be parents of a beautiful, healthy, smart baby girl.

Love,
Mommy