Memories and Images

I was up late with the baby last night. I was trying to convince him that he really didn't want to eat 2-3 times a night. In the interim (read - while he was crying in his crib and I watched the timer slowly click down until I could go in and comfort him) I sat in the living room, which was pretty cold.

After all was said and done (Alistair won, I was too sick and tired to go more than about an hour) I headed back up to my room to get some sleep. I laid in my bed and I was absolutely freezing, no matter what position I was in, how closely I cuddled up to Brad, I couldn't warm up. I finally went to the closet and got out a few blankets to pile on to keep me warm. As I laid in bed trying to go to sleep, a few memories came to my mind:

The first was of laying in bed in my Grandpa Gerbsch's house. It was awfully cold there in the winter at night, but grandpa had lots of (scratchy) blankets that he would pile on. So, my nose and face were a little cold as I drifted off to sleep, but there was a heavy pile of blankets on top to keep me warm.

The second was yet another from my grandparents, this time Grandma and Grandpa Lipa. I was often sick as a child and had a really nasty sounding cough (my mom says that I bark like a seal). When I would spend the night with my grandparents, my grandpa would give me a shot of Nyquil (the green kind), slather Vicks on my chest, and send me to his very warm and cozy bed with blankets piled on top. I would settle down and quickly fall asleep, waking in the morning feeling much better.

These aren't big memories, but these grandparents have been gone for over a decade, my Grandpa Lipa almost 20 years. I will often get a fleeting thought of them, but I am thankful for moments (even freezing ones in the middle of the night) that bring back to me vivid pictures of the grandparents that I love so much, reminders of the people that they were, and the way that they loved and cared for me.

I miss you Grandma and Grandpa Lipa and Grandpa Gerbsch!

Life Really Does Go on!

It's hard to believe that it's been since January that I've posted. Certainly much has changed in life with the arrival of Alistair Joseph in June. Since I'm waiting for him to fall back asleep in hopes of weaning him off of one of his two nighttime feedings, what a better time to post!

Ella turns five on Monday. It's hard to believe that we have had her in our lives for that long. She is such a blessing. Daily, she is a reminder to us of the goodness of God, the beauty and laughter of children, and the ways in which our children can delight us with even the small things that they do. I appreciate her sense of humor, her amazing intelligence, and her kindness and generosity towards others.

Alistair is just over 5 months old, and is one of the happiest babies I have ever seen. When he makes eye contact with you, his face lights up in an amazing smile that will melt your heart. He is a stubborn boy (I say he gets it from his daddy), and likes to get his own way. And, he's certainly making life interesting. Over the past few weeks, he's started eating real food and loves avocados and sweet potatoes. He's turned over a few times, but working on doing it more. I can't to hear his first word and get a sense of his little voice. What joy he brings to our lives.

And, they love each other! The joy that I see in their eyes as Ella goes in to greet Alistair in the morning, or reaches down to show him a new toy, or holds him in her arms is awe inspiring. We couldn't be more blessed than to have these two wonderful children as a part of our lives. We look forward to watching them grow and become the people that God is calling them to be in our world.

Merry Christmas from the Daugherty Family

Hello! We hope that these Advent days are treating you well. Just last week, I commented to a friend that I had chosen not to send out a Christmas card and letter this year because nothing new was happening in our household (not to mention that the life of a PhD student and a college administrator can get pretty busy). And then, a big surprise came our way, so I thought that I would post a last minute holiday greeting.

So, I'll begin with our most exciting news: today, I accepted a job as the Director of the Center for Worship Arts at Trevecca. The center is brand new at Trevecca, and I will be in charge of creating both a major and minor as well as to provide continuing education and conference opportunities for worship pastors. The job will give me the opportunity to help to train and encourage the next generation of worship leaders. The job is a little overwhelming, but also very exciting. I will still keep my current job as the Director of Church Services, which will be about 60% of my job, and the other 40% will be dedicated to the Center for Worship Arts. I am loving my job at Trevecca, and look forward to the new challenges that lie ahead in the new year. I also started running this summer. I ran my first 5K in September, and dad and I ran another 5K on Thanksgiving Day. I'm still not sure that I want to be a runner, but I'm considering running the Country Music Half-Marathon in April.

Brad is keeping quite busy with his work at Vanderbilt. He has two semesters left of classes, and is very much looking forward to being done with his formal class work. He is enjoying his program, and knows that he is doing exactly what he was meant to do. This spring, he will be presenting a paper at the Wesleyan Theological Society meeting, and we're all looking forward to a trip to Anderson, IN in March. Brad will spend this coming summer doing some traveling with me (including a trip to Poland with a group of Trevecca students) and studying Greek to prepare for classes in the fall.

Ella continues to be the absolute joy of our life. She turned 3 in November, and certainly keeps us on our toes. She finally found a daycare home at the Vanderbilt Child and Family Center which is just a few blocks from Brad's school. She loves school and can't wait to go each day. She and several of her girlfriends call themselves the "Lava Girls." She is learning all of her letters and loves to sing and read books. Her favorite thing to do is play pretend in the kitchen and with dress up clothes. When she grows up she wants to "be a mommy or a daddy so that I can make breakfast and dinner and have a baby in my belly." She also has become quite the sports fan, loving the Red Sox and Colts, although she tells us that basketball is her favorite sport. She is very much looking forward to visiting our family in Illinois and Indiana this Christmas.

This year, we have been reminded again and again of the goodness of God. When we have least expected it, God has provided for our every need, and some even before we knew we had them. We are astonished at the paths that we continue to be led on, and look forward to what lies ahead in the year to come. We pray that the grace of God would be evident in your lives in the coming year.

An Answer to Prayer

For those of you who keep on the saga of the Daugherty life, I am happy to say that as of today, we have found a daycare for Ella! She will finish out this week, and two days next week at Outlook, and then move to City Road Chapel United Methodist Church. I had called every place in the city (that wasn't completely out of the way) that we would be willing to take her to, and everyone had a waiting list. We had heard back from our "last hope" yesterday that they wouldn't be able to take Ella until late spring or early summer, and so we were back to square one.

Someone had mentioned City Road to us, but it is a little out of the way. On a whim, I called yesterday, and they said that they might have a spot. I set up an appointment for today, and when we arrived for our tour, they told us that they had officially opened the spot this morning. After our tour, we asked for a day or so to think about it, and if we liked it, we would return later in the week to put down a deposit. As we walked to the car, we realized that we both liked it, felt comfortable with it, and were ready to sign Ella up. We read over the paperwork, then walked back in and put down the deposit.

There are definitely things that we will miss about Outlook, and Ella has loved her friends and teachers, but we are excited about City Road. One thing that we are most excited about is that she will have a Bible story and song each day as well as prayer before all of her meals. It's nice to have her at a place that reinforces our faith.

Just when it looked like we were down and out, God answered our prayers, and isn't that just like God? Thanks for your prayers.

The angst of Parenthood

Ella has been in daycare now for almost 3 weeks, and she loves it. Unfortunately, she's only attended one day this week, because the center was closed on Labor Day (but Trevecca and Vanderbilt were not) and then she has been sick this week (now she has a recurrence of her hand, foot and mouth disease and can't go). Well, 1) we pay for her to go whether she's there or not and 2) we need her to go because we're working, taking class, doing homework, etc. A person only has so much sick time that they can take! I'm a little concerned about it all, and wonder if we're going to make it through. Part of me wants to find a way to stay at home, but if I stay home, we don't eat or have a roof over our heads. This is the reason that families stick close together, Ella has a grandma who stays at home everyday (and soon a grandpa, too) that would love to spend time with her. If only we lived in Indiana.......

Times They are a Changin'

Next week is a big week in our house. For the first time in her life, our 21 month old is going to daycare. In order to make ourselves feel better about taking our child to be cared for by someone else for 40 hours a week, we call it school. Ella got a backpack for school, and she picked one with Elmo on it. Pretty cute.

The next week, Brad will begin school and take his first language exam for his PhD program. We are excited about this fall, but also a little nervous about all that we have to get done. Lots of families have two parents who work full time and make it okay. So will we, right?

Cute Ella story: This evening, Brad and I were in the kitchen talking about the slumping Red Sox and the soaring Yankees. All of a sudden, Ella, who was sitting in her booster seat in the dining room began to say, "Boo, Yankees" and make a thumbs down sign. We had taught her this months before, but we hadn't tried to get it out of her in a while. It was pretty cute, and pretty smart!

Vacation!!!

The Daugherty's are leaving for a short vacation tomorrow :) We are heading to Minneapolis to see some of our closest friends, Jeff & Richelle and their new baby George. Ella is most excited about the baby, of course :) Then, we are heading down to Iowa (I've never been to Iowa before) for my brother Steve's wedding. I am singing, Brad is ushering, and Ella will be the flower girl. We are excited to see our friends and family, and for Steve to marry such a wonderful girl (We think that he's "Marrying up"). I love weddings!!

I'm looking forward to a few days away from work, and with friends and family. Ella is also looking forward to seeing her family, particularly my mom. She walks around the house saying, "Mamaw, plane, me". It's pretty cute!

Mother's Day & Baby Day

Today was my second Mother's Day. It began with Brad letting me sleep in an extra hour, even though Ella woke up at 6:30. We had a wonderful pancake breakfast and I got some beautiful roses and two nice cards.

Today was Baby Day at TCC (our church), and since Ella wasn't here last year for Baby Day, she got to be a part. This consists of going up on the platform and telling little things about her. She was by far the oldest one there, and loved being around the other babies. She just kept pointing, "Baby, baby, baby". Perhaps one of the best things is that she loves to carry purses, and so she took her purse from Guatemala to the stage with her.

The day continued with a long nap, and a wonderful dinner with salmon, sweet potatoes and corn on the cob. We went to the park, gave Ella a bath, and in a few minutes Brad is going to make me a Mother's Day peanut butter shake. Yum. I guess if I'm going to indulge, today's a good day.

I love the weekends, but they go by so quickly. I love being there when Ella wakes up, to put her down for naps, and just to experience the day with her. It's hard being a working mom (but I know that being a stay-at-home parent comes with challenges all its own.)

Last night, we taught Ella how to play Ring around the Rosy. She LOVES it! Even when we quit playing it, she kept playing it herself by singing a song that had some "R" words in it, and spinning in circles. Too cute.

A New Car for our Family

With Brad going into a PhD program in the Fall, we decided that for the first time in our marriage, we needed a second car. It makes me a little sad that we have succumbed to having a second car, but I like our new car. We got a 1998 Volvo V70. It's a good "family car" and has plenty of room to carry around Ella's junk. It will be good for our trip to the Heartland this weekend as we visit Brad's parents in Indiana. It's kind of nice to not have to worry about carpooling all of the time.

I Love Parenting

I am truly amazed each day at how much I love being a parent, and especially how much I love my Ella. She is amazing. What I also find amazing is how much I love her. I never knew that I could feel so much love and devotion to a single person.

Some odd things about parenting: Parenting a toddler is exhausting. She is always on the move, always into everything, always doing something new. When I put her to bed, I am super excited to have some time to myself. But, not long after she goes down, I miss her. I want to go in and look at her sleeping. When I get into bed, I want to bring her into our bed to cuddle. How can you want to have a break from someone, and want to be with them all of the time?

I also am amazed about how utterly dependent children are on their parents. Ella depends on us for her every need. Not only that, but she trusts us implicitly. If I hand her something to eat, she puts it in her mouth without thinking that I might be giving her something bad, whether it would just taste bad, or be harmful to her. It makes me think of how easily people can (and unfortunately, sometimes do) take advantage of that and harm their children. Scary. It is a reminder to me of what a monumental task parenting is.

Let me end my post, dear reader, with a cute Ella story:
We often have Ella in the kitchen with us while we are cooking. One night last week, she was apparently very hungry (she continually made the baby sign for eat), so we turned the oven light on and showed her our casserole that was cooking in the oven. She promptly went across the room to the drawer where we keep the oven mits, got them out, put them on her hands and walked over to the oven to get the food out. What a genius!

A Funny Little Story

Tonight, I thought that I would share a little story that shows the difference between when I was growing up (perhaps you, too) and today's generation.

Over Thanksgiving, we visited my dad and his family in Savannah, Georgia. Because we had Ella with us, we often had to take our car so that we didn't have to keep moving around the car seat. Well, my sister, Anna (who is turning 10 next week), climbed into the backseat with Ella. She was in the car for a few minutes and then asked, "Heather, what is this bar below the car handle?"

I wasn't sure what she was talking about, so I asked for more information, and she answered, "You know, this lever, maybe it moves something."

And that's when I realized that Anna was talking about the lever to roll the window up and down (we don't have electric windows). When I told her this, she said that she had not seen that in her whole life. The rest of the time that we were there, Anna would ride in our car and exclaim over the lever. She even told us that when she got a car, she was going to "pay extra" to be able to roll the window up and down herself. We didn't have the heart to tell her that people paid extra not to roll up their own windows.

Amazing how much life changes as time goes on, isn't it?