Our Little "Mama"

For anyone who knows her, it is no secret that Ella loves babies. She loves playing with her dolls, is always within arm's reach of any baby in the same room as her, and talks a lot about having a baby brother or sister (well, really she just wants a sister, we tell her that you get what God gives you.).

On Sunday night, Ella's class at church talked about Abraham and Sarah and the special plan that God had for them. The class ate birthday cake and ice cream to celebrate Abraham and Sarah's 100th birthday. I came in right as cake was being served, and stayed for a few moments. The preschool director asked the children while they were eating to think about what God's special plan for their lives might be. Ella thought for a moment, then looked at my with big eyes and huge smile on her face. "Mommy," she said, "I think that God's special plan for me is to have a baby when I get big."

I've heard many women say that all they've wanted since childhood is to be a mom and raise their families, perhaps we're raising one in our house.

Learning Together

I like to listen to the radio in the car. As I have grown older, I have stopped listening to music as much (kind of funny for the Director of the Center for Worship Arts, huh?). I like to listen to talk radio. For a few years, I have been addicted to sports talk radio. When we were in Boston I loved to listen to Dale & Holly and the Big Show with the Big "O" on WEEI. Since we moved, I started listening to ESPN radio in Nashville, and fell in love with Mike & Mike, and could tolerate some of the others. About a month ago, 106.7 the fan unexplicably left, and I was suddenly listening to hip hop/top 40. Definitely not for me. So, I turned to trusty NPR, and listen as I drive to and from work (it's amazing how much more I know about what's happening in the world!).

In the evenings and in the middle of the day, they don't have talk programming but instead play classical music. I've never been much of a classical fan, but I have found it relaxing when I get into the car and listen to the sounds of soothing music. On our way home from church tonight, Ella hasked what kind of music that was and why there wasn't any words. I told her that sometimes Mommy liked to listen to this kind of music, and imagine what it is about. She began imagining with me: "This part is really scary, Mommy." "Now it's not scary, it's like a big, giant parade." "I can't hear the violins anymore, where did they go." And on it went for the 10 minute ride. I found that I, too, began to imagine what the music was describing, and it was wonderful. What a fun time to share together on an ordinary Wednesday night.

I LOVE my job!

So have I mentioned that I LOVE my job? Well, I loved it already, but adding the Worship Arts component has some good perks. Today, I got to sit in on a video shoot with Michael W. Smith while he talked about the Nashville Predators, and then did a spot about the Center for Worship Arts. After the shoot, he introduced himself to me, and we spent a few minutes talking about the center, and about how he would like to be involved with something that "has been needed for such a long time." Just in case you can't imagine it, here's what it looked like:



Tomorrow, I'm going to call Michael Card to talk with him about the event that he'll be doing with us in May. It's exciting!!

The Prayers of a Child

I haven't blogged in forever. Not because of a lack of things to blog about, only for the time to do it :) Over the last few days, we have begun to witness something in our household that I thought was definitely blog-worthy.

Last night, we were eating dinner quickly getting ready to go to the big 4th of July block party at our church when it began to rain. It wasn't a light rain, but it was pouring sheets of rain. Ella, obviously, was very interested in going to see the fireworks and was distraught because of the rain. Suddenly, she bowed her head and began to mumble. After a few moments she said, "I was just talking with God, and God told me that it wasn't going to rain anymore tonight." No matter what we said about the rain she was assured that God would stop the rain to allow her to watch fireworks. We had never seen her do this before, so we were quite surprised.

Then this morning, while getting ready for breakfast, the subject of a sibling came up (it often does as Ella really, really wants a sibling). Again, she bowed her head and mumbled for a few moments. She then looked up and announced, "I asked God for a sister, God will give me one."

So, it seems, we have entered into a new phase of Ella's communication with God. It is amazing to watch her internalize what we, and the church, have been seeking to teach her for 3 1/2 years. She is sincere and earnest in her faith, and I can only pray that this will be a pattern that will continue as she grows older.

A Pastor in the Making?

I'm never really quite sure what to do when I arrive to pick Ella up from school and her teacher immediately gets up to come over to see me. My heart leaps up into my throat as I wait to hear whether she is sharing good news about Ella's day or bad.

Today, I arrived at Vanderbilt to get Ella, and Ms. Allison jumps up from her place with the kids on the floor and comes over to see me. "You'll never believe what Ella did today," she exclaims. It seems that before their afternoon group time, the children had a little free time. Ms. Allison turned around to see Ella and a friend, Jerry talking with one another. Jerry was lying on the floor completely straight and Ella was saying to him, "That's how you get baptized Jerry, you're a Christian now." It seems that Ella was baptizing her classmates! I asked her later if Jerry wanted to be baptized, and she said, "No, I just baptized him."

For a while now, Ella has had a slight obsession with baptism. She often baptizes herself and her dolls during bathtime and sometimes even asks me to baptize her (I'm not sure what to do with that request since I am ordained, and she has already been baptized). This coupled with a strong tendency that she has for making up songs about God, church and Jesus, her love for reciting the Apostles Creed, and her recent practice of preaching from any one of daddy's many "Jesus Books" found in his office makes me wonder if we are seeing Ella's vocation in action.

And, did I mention that she told us today that our neighbors weren't Christians because they weren't keeping the same Lenten fast that we are? What are we going to do with this girl??

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.

The Things We Teach Our Children

I'm pretty sure that part of the point of parenting is to teach your children things about life, and how to navigate through it. But sometimes, even the good things that we teach us come back to get us.

For the past 5 months, Ella and I (sometimes Brad) have gone to East Nashville Cooperative Ministry on Sunday evenings to help with a meal for the homeless and working poor. Each week we help to set tables, serve food, and spend time eating and talking with our new friends. Ella loves Soulfeast, and know that on Sundays we go to church and Soulfeast. On Sunday night, a local youth group was helping out, and one of our very best friends invited us over for dinner. We made the decision to forgo Soulfeast this week, and come back next week. When Ella learned of this, she was not going for it. She said that she wanted to go to Soulfeast, they needed us. So, Brad went over to our friend's house alone while Ella and I went to Soulfeast to set things up and get the meal started. After we had done that she was "so excited" to go for dinner. I guess that she is our little humanitarian.

Then, this morning, I had given Ella her waffles and dried cranberries for breakfast, and came to the table with my own breakfast of toast with butter and a banana. Ella looked at my breakfast and said, "You have two pieces of toast?" I told her that I did and then she said, "God likes it when we share, Mommy," while greedily eyeing my piece of toast. I asked her if she would like a bite of my toast and she said, "Yes Mommy, God likes it when we share." And with a sly smile, she ate my toast!

She's obviously learning some of the things that we're trying to teach her, which is wonderful. Perhaps I should be thankful for the times when she reminds me of ways to act in our world.