Brance, Lauren & Haddie

I was observing Haddie this afternoon after she had woke up from her nap and realized that what had started out as a matching outfit this morning had morphed into this… one yellow sock and one pink; pink, brown and white striped pants; and a yellow butterfly print top.  Pretty funny looking, but really cute .

I’m always amazed by all the new things Haddie learns.  Haddie found the dog tag necklace she is wearing in the spare bedroom and put it around her own neck.  I’ve never put a necklace on her before.  It’s funny what these little ones pick up on their own.

My Aunt Alesia’s little girl Morgan sent Haddie some toys and things that she outgrew.  A toy hamster was one of the toys in the batch of things.  It’s so cute.  It is battery operated and has little wheels so that it will move when placed on the ground.  But Haddie loves the little hamster best when it is in the hamster ball.  It will roll in circles when placed on the ground, but Haddie likes to just stand there and hold it.  Here are some pictures we took of her playing with her “hamster”.

I’m incredibly sensitive to caffeine.  I’m not kidding; just ask anybody who knows me well (and you can’t reach Brance right now, as he likes to spend his nights sleeping).  It really is ridiculous just how sensitive my body is to caffeine.  I like to blame my parents for this problem as a result of their shielding me from this drug as a child, but the only connection they have to my insanely hyperadrenal reaction to caffeine can be summed up in one word… genetics.  Let me tell you, if someone could come up with a way to harness the energy my body produces while under the influence of even the smallest amount of caffeine… energy crises would become a thing of the past.

And to think I had thought that I had made good choices tonight while spending time with friends.  I decided not to drink, even though everybody around me had a drink and even offered me a drink too.  Looking back I wish I would have given into peer pressure and had had a drink of coffee with them.  I might as well since I’m going to be up most of the night anyways and the only thing that is better than delectably gooey moist chocolate cake is delectably gooey moist chocolate cake with a cup of coffee…

Okay, since I’m bored out of my gourd at 2 a.m. and all attempts at productive activity have failed, I thought I might waste some of your time with a picture I found of Brance and I while we were dating.   I think I love looking at pictures because I’m always amazed at how much things can change in a few years time… the way people look, a person’s relationships and their direction in life,  where people live and and all the places they’ve been…the list could go on.

Looking at the picture of Brance and I taken a little over four years ago, I think about the many changes that have taken place for us (outside of the obvious one that my hair is now longer than Brance’s )… our marriage, the relationships we’ve built, the birth of our first child, the wonderful opportunities we’ve had to serve in our local church – to name a few good ones .  I also think about all the changes that the future might bring.  And though I don’t know what all those changes will be, I know that I serve a God who “causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose”.  So even though I know the future will certainly bring both good and bad changes, I rest confident that God’s plans will go forth and his plans are always for good.

For fun…

2005

2009

Nearly a month has lapsed since I posted the story about the missing shoe and I have yet to post the ending. I guess I could make excuses for why I haven’t completed it yet (or posted more frequently for that matter), but they would be just that – excuses. So instead I humbly offer my sincerest apology and the ending of the story.

When I left off last time I was running up a busy sidewalk in Cambridge trying to catch a runner who had in her possession my little girl’s shoe. I was completely befuddled as to what she wanted with a single leather child’s sandal. If I had had the time to sit back and rationally analyze the situation, I’m sure it would have all made sense to me. But in midst of a blood pumping, adrenaline rushing sprint – I can’t say that I was all that clear of thought. I did notice one thing, though… my efforts to verbally get her attention went unnoticed. Regardless of how loudly I yelled “excuse me, mam that’s my little girl’s sandal”, the runner continued to run away from me in the opposite direction and boy was she fast. It wasn’t until she came to a screeching halt that it all began to make sense. She wasn’t running away from me as I had felt in the moment, she hadn’t even noticed me. She was running TO a a young couple pushing a young child in a stroller. She had noticed the sandal on the ground and kindly was trying to return it. It all made sense now! When I had first noticed her she was looking around trying to figure out to whom it might belong. At that point we were standing completely across the intersection and she hadn’t even noticed us. Because she stopped running I was FINALLY able to catch up with her and when I did, I realized she wasn’t ignoring my calls… she was wearing earbuds and couldn’t hear my calls. As I caught up with her, she finally took notice of me. I explained to her that we had looked everywhere for my little girls sandal and I thanked her profusely as she handed it to me with a smile.

Brance and I had a good laugh more than once because of the ridiculousness of the whole situation, but it also resulted in us pondering something a little deeper. It might seem a bit odd, but this comedic situation reassured us of the complete providence of God. If the shoe had been picked up earlier, certainly the kind individual would have taken it into one of the many, many shops or cafes that lined the busy street and we would have never found it. If we had arrived later, the runner would have done the same. The time we realized that Haddie had lost her shoe and retraced our steps put us at the intersection at the exact moment for Brance to see it be retrieved by the runner. Certainly it was just a shoe and could have been replaced, but the incredible reminder of the providence of God was irreplaceable. And it will be a funny story to share with Haddie someday down the road.