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.

Well, Sometimes Life Sucks

There are definitely days when I wish that life would just go away....and today is one of them. Yesterday, we received a note in Ella's mailbox at school that there was a meeting for parents this afternoon. I thought that it was a little odd, but didn't think much of it. This afternoon, there was a note that they will be closing Ella's daycare on November 30, sorry for the inconvenience. Good luck finding somewhere to send your child.

We love Ella's daycare, Ella loves Ella's daycare, and there is a year to a year and a half waiting list to get into the good places. I'm a little at a loss about what to do. And, they told us at like 5:00 on a Friday night, so there's nothing that we can do until Monday morning but think about it. My problem is that I internalize things, so I get sick to my stomach, constantly think about it, can't sleep, etc. Uuuugh. I'm sure that it will all work out, but for now, all I want to do is cry.

Does it really start this early?

This morning, Ella slept in. She has been a little cranky lately, and so I wanted to let her sleep as long as possible. I went into her room at the last possible moment and told her that it was time to get up, no response. I told her that we needed to get ready for the day, no response. I told her that it was time to go to school, and I hear from the crib, "No school, night-night.", and then she rolled over to go back to sleep. I know that kids like sleeping (heck, I like sleeping, a lot!), but isn't 23 months a little young to be wanting to skip school and sleep in?

Yum-Yum?

Today, Hardee's unveiled it's newest fast food offering, the Country Breakfast Burrito. This burrito stuffed with eggs, bacon, sausage, ham, cheddar cheese, hash browns and sausage gravy. This bad boy of breakfast will earn you 920 calories and 60 grams of fat. Who eats these things? I can't remember the last time I had 60 grams of fat in one day, let alone for one meal. No wonder America keeps getting bigger and bigger! Yuck.

He Pushed the Water Back

I guess that sending our kids to Sunday School does something. Ella and I were hanging out this afternoon, and she saw thepaper that she had done in Sunday School this morning. She looked at the drawing the she made and said, "He pushed the water back." When I asked her who, she said "Noah", but then changed it to God. Today in Sunday School, she learned about the Hebrews passing through the Red Sea. It's probably true, "Everybody oughta go to Sunday School."

You can never know

I went this week to a Minister & Mates retreat in Baton Rouge, LA. The speaker was one of my favorite preachers in the Church of the Nazarene (he's a long preacher, but a good one), Dr. Jesse Middendorf. He has incredible theology and his sermons are so thoughtful. As I was on the District Assembly circuit this summer, I think that I listened to over 20 hours of his sermons!

Last night, Dr. Middendorf spoke of the storms and shipwrecks that come into the lives of pastors (it was a pastor's retreat after all). And one of his points was that "Good people have children who rebel." He shared the story and heartache that he and his wife have experienced with their youngest son, Jim. Jim has been involved with alcohol, drugs and things that they don't even know about. For two years, they didn't even know where he was! And as he spoke about Jim, all that I could think about was Ella.

Every night, before we head upstairs to bed, I go into Ella's room where she is peacefully resting (and oh so cute!) and pray for her. I pray that God would put a hedge of protection around her, that God would help her to grow up to love God, that God would care for her in the midst of all that is happening in her life. The thing that hit me last night was that the Middendorfs probably prayed the same thing for Jim. The more Dr. Middendorf spoke about Jim, the harder I began to pray for Ella. But I realized that you can never know what will happen. You never know what choices your children will make. You can't make their decisions for them.

It breaks my heart to even think about not knowing where Ella is for two years, to think about drugs and alcohol destroying her life. You can never know what will happen, but I rest in the fact that no matter where she is, she will be in the palm of God's hand, and I am thankful for that.

Nobody Likes to Wait, Including Me

I'm going on a short business trip this week to Baton Rouge, LA. I arrived at the airport at 8:30 for my 10:15 departure time, and was able to get right through ticketing and security. I soon learned that our plane was delayed, and delayed and delayed. I now sit at the Nashville airport waiting for the plane to get here in hopes of a 1:45 departure. I know that there's little that can be done about these kinds of things (it's all weather related), but I when I think of all of the things that need to be done at home, and how much I could have used these extra three hours of time, it makes me sad. Our lives have been absolutely crazy this fall, and these three hours could have made a big difference for me and the chores that await me at home.

But, maybe this delay can teach me a lesson. Sometimes I just need to stop and slow down. And it really is okay not to be doing something every single minute of the day. I'm off to get some lunch, and enjoy reading the magazine that has been sitting unopened at my house for 3 weeks.