be-musings

I watched a fascinating show about a 1-year-old girl, who had been deaf since birth. Never heard a sound. At the point that I tuned in, was during a surgery. I love that part. The doctors cut her behind the ear, and implanted a cochlear device and watched the toddler/baby and family through the healing process. The mom was visibly shaken as the child recovered from surgery, head bandaged on the side of the incision. The dad was uncomfortable with emotion, and the child was brave yet shaken. She progressed so quickly through recovery.
The parents brought her back to the hospital after her skin had healed, and tested the device that you see on the child in the photo. It was like attaching a magnet to a fridge. Weird to see. They had tested the child's hearing, with the unit turned off. The girl heard nothing, and kept playing with the toy that was occupying her. The physician turned the receptor on a little, and gently called her name. An exciting thing happened. The girl paused in play, looked up from the toy with contemplation on her face and smiled. It was the first sound she had ever heard. Then she began to play again. The sounds were still barely audible to her, but they knew the device was working. On the next phase, the receptor was turned up to a more normal range. Immediately the girl dropped the toy, shocked and seemingly in pain. She began to cry because of the noise. She wasn't used to it, and it barraged her senses.
I'm going to pause here. This image tugged at me a bit. For the first year of her life she missed out on the joy of sound, without knowing it. She endured the pain of the operation, which was not of her choice. She was too young to know what she was missing or decide to chase after its attainment. That choice was made for her, as the best thing to do for the beloved daughter. When she was tested, that which was to benefit her initially caused pain and confusion, even perhaps terror. It hurt too much.
I don't always know what is best. I don't necessarily know that something has been missing from my life or that something has been "not quite right". I don't know that I haven't been whole. Maybe that's it more exactly. But my Father does. And sometimes He arranges things for my benefit that really hurt bad. Sometimes I'm disoriented and screaming because it hurts.
A month after the first implant testing, the family returned for follow up. The device was working beautifully, and the girl was enjoying her hearing. She was revelling in what it brought to her, that she had never experienced, therefore knew she missed. She was able to interact more fully with her parents and brothers. The family was ecstatic at the change. The surgery paid off.
When I get through those parts that my Father has arranged for me (and the dissecting, in some cases) I can look back and see why it was necessary and how my life is more complete or full because of it. If only I can remember that the next time that the dial is turned up and I'm scared, looking for consolation.
But then, daddy will be there to hold me.

You might recal that a few months ago Matthew took to putting liquid soap on my toothbrush. Yuck! He quit that, thank goodness. But then...since he is a child that thinks nothing of hashing a joke to death surprised me with it's return a couple weeks ago. I think he outdid himself with how much he put on, as even after rinsing and drying overnight, the taste was still there! Fortunately he hasn't repeated it since then. But maybe in the summer he will again. And I still won't be wise to it.
Well, yesterday he filled a plastic cup with water and placed it on the top of the slightly open bathroom door. I didn't know it was there as I partially opened the door and saw him inside, looking up. He didn't get me that time, as I stopped opening the door when I clued in. That didn't help me later though, as I rushed into the vacant bathroom to change into church clothes and a plastic cup of water came crashing down on my head!

Proverbs 4:20-23

Dear friend, listen well to my words; tune your ears to my voice.
Keep my message in plain view at all times. Concentrate! Learn it by heart!
Those who discover these words live, really live;
body and soul, they're bursting with health.
Keep vigilant watch over your heart; that's where life starts.

My mom forwarded this joke to me. She is getting more "flamboyant" as she matures. Just don't talk to me about it. How did my innocent mother turn into this?

*Martha's Way*
*Maxine's Way *


Stuff a miniature marshmallow in the bottom of a sugar cone to prevent ice cream drips.
Just suck the ice cream out of the bottom of the cone, for Pete's sake! You are probably lying on the couch with your feet up eating it, anyway!
To keep potatoes from budding, place an apple in the bag with the potatoes.
Buy Hungry Jack mashed potato mix, keep it in the pantry for up to a year.
When a cake recipe calls for flouring the baking pan, use a bit of the dry cake mix instead and there won't be any white mess on the outside of the cake.
Go to the bakery! They'll even decorate it for you.
If you accidentally oversalt a dish while it's still cooking, drop in a peeled potato and it will absorb the excess salt for an instant "fix-me-up."
If you oversalt a dish while you are cooking, that's too bad. Please recite with me the real woman's motto: "I made it and you will eat it and I don't care how bad it tastes!"
Wrap celery in aluminum foil when putting in the refrigerator and it will keep for weeks.
Celery? Never heard of it!
Brush some beaten egg white over pie crust before baking to yield a beautiful glossy finish.
The Mrs. Smith frozen pie directions do not include brushing egg whites over the crust so I don't.
Cure for headaches: take a lime, cut it in half and rub it on your forehead. The throbbing will go away.
Take a lime, mix it with tequila, chill and drink!
If you have a problem opening jars, try using latex dishwashing gloves. They give a non-slip grip that makes opening jars easy.
Go ask that very cute neighbor if he can open it for you.
Don't throw out all that leftover wine. Freeze into ice cubes for future use in casseroles and sauces.
Leftover wine??????????? HELLO !!!!!!!

I just finished reading through the Psalms. It was tough slogging for a while, for Psalms holds as much complaining and desperation as it does hope and praise. The book bears the intimate prayer relationship of a person and a nation. It's the guts of the entire realm of faith and emotion.
I came across Psalm 121, which is a familiar passage. I don't think I've read it in the Message before, and as I did I liked as I have whenever reading. Here it is.

I look up to the mountains; does my strength come from mountains?
No, my strength comes from GOD, who made heaven, and earth, and mountains.
He won't let you stumble, your Guardian God won't fall asleep.
Not on your life! Israel's Guardian will never doze or sleep.
GOD's your Guardian, right at your side to protect you--
Shielding you from sunstroke, sheltering you from moonstroke.
GOD guards you from every evil, he guards your very life.
He guards you when you leave and when you return, he guards you now, he guards you always.

Saturday was a weird day of accidents. Matthew was almost determined to hurt himself, just narrowly avoiding it. While biking at the park, he became enmeshed with another kid while I tried not to panic. I couldn't believe there were no injuries. Then while walking by a stream he tripped on a log and almost took a full header onto the rocks, but caught his balance in time. He fell against the car trying to get his backpack in the back seat. Got a bruise on his leg. Playing in the parking lot after church, he skidded on his elbow and got some scrapes. But the story doesn't end with Matthew.
I bumped my head on a cupboard corner and got a little red mark on the forehead. No big deal. Rose fell down her stairs and bruised her wrist. Scott had to beat everyone (of course) by fighting with a piano and ending up with 5 stitches on his chin, right before church. Wait...I mean 5 ninjas came into the club threatening to rob it, and Scott got cut with a knife during his fierce defense of Ben's life.
I think it all this started on Friday with Lori. Let's blame her.

Once Matthew was adopted, I became quickly accustomed to the thought of a "complete" family meaning two children. The Adoption section of the government came to visit after Matthew had been home for a couple weeks, and I was told that they would solicit another application as soon as 6 months. I hadn't even entertained the idea of adopting again so soon, and it scared me a bit, because I was getting used to a brand new child.
I found Matthew so easy when he was tiny. Compliant, fun, energetic (of course), loving. Plus, at the age of 1 he napped every 3 hours, for 2 hours each time. He also slept 12 hours at night. In other words, he slept a lot. At that point in time, a couple friends asked me if parenting him was tough. I told them that it was really easy, and that I wanted more of a challenge. Crazy me.
Much later the second adoption application was filled out. It was difficult to find a "healthy" child the second time around, and there were big disappointments. There were notifications of a couple available children, but the potential complications were more than we deemed manageable for the current family. Ending up with only one child was a good thing, but while working through the emotions of the "close calls" it was very hard.
At one point I talked with my pastor, and spoke of shaky faith. I've referred that that period of time in previous posts. I kept telling myself that I was being selfish and letting something bother me that shouldn't. In times like that I reminded myself how fortunate I am here in Canada. My family hasn't been killed by a bomb and took my leg off. I don't live with rickets and life threatening disease. I haven't been prostituted to make an income for the family. Compared to these things, my complaints were petty. When discouraged it's tough to keep that perspective, and I didn't always win the course. But I kept trying.
What do people in those other situations have to be thankful for? I'm sure if asked, some of them would have an answer. I cannot fathom. But I know for my small part, that what you believe or how you feel is derived by a choice. Some is environment, but a huge factor is what you do with the emotional part of it. Sometimes you too might wonder what there is to be thankful for.

I found this responsive Psalm. I don't know if it was a song or a reading. I can picture it being sung back and forth.

Thank GOD! He deserves your thanks. His love never quits.
Thank the God of all gods, His love never quits.
Thank the Lord of all lords. His love never quits.
Thank the miracle-working God, His love never quits.
The God whose skill formed the cosmos, His love never quits.
The God who laid out earth on ocean foundations, His love never quits.
The God who filled the skies with light, His love never quits.
The sun to watch over the day, His love never quits.
Moon and stars as guardians of the night, His love never quits.
(Psalm 136:1-9)

When the weather turned nice last week, I remembered the adage "In like a lion, out like a lamb". Then I recalled the same thing for last year. Today is April 1st and it's raining. "April showers bring May flowers." Do all sayings prove to be true?

On to something else. My links have been out of date for a while, as not everyone on it has been blogging anymore, and some people have moved site locations. I'll just leave them off until I have time to figure out the new ones. It sucks, because people view the links like a popularity contest. "I didn't get picked for the team." Of course, I'm certainly not talking about myself when I say that (choke choke). So, in the meantime I will leave Scott's link up because he has lots of people on his. Besides, who hasn't used his site to navigate to someone else's?

On to sampling the cookies I made for church tonight! Isn't peanut butter, flour, and egg considered good breakfast food?