Big Crazy day

Well its 10am and already this day has had its moments. 4am Leah decided it was play time. She was kicking and pushing and flailing her arms in mommy and daddy’s bed protesting her right to be awake. After trying to feed her and soothe her to sleep, Sara finally put the child back in the cradle. This action was promptly followed by more kicking and crying by Leah.Thankfully I realized that she probably wants a new diaper, so off to the changing table I went. By now, it was 4:45am. Along the way to change the diaper, Leah head butted Daddy’s collarbone setting off more 4:45am crying which was eventually ended at the relief of a dry bottom. So we headed back to bed, Leah now making joyful sounds of triumph while it still being before 5. Rather than trying to force her to sleep, I let her sit up in mommy and daddy’s bed and play by her self before she eventually got tired at 5:30am.

then the sun came up.

Sara woke Leah up to feed before she left for school. After a few minutes of enjoying a full belly, Leah once again became irritable so Daddy got out of bed to change a diaper again. This time Daddy had quite the wake up call… all those carrots and green beans Leah gobbled down yesterday had successfully found their way out. Leah has this habit when it comes to changing diapers, as soon as the diaper is unlatched, her hands dive straight down to scratch herself. Well, not instantly realizing the extent of Leah’s diaper, her hands dove down and grabbed hand fulls of poop.

To make a messy story short. I maneuvered to hold her feet/hands, wipe her hands(before they go in her mouth), wipe her bottom, legs, and chest(where she had already spread the poop), and then start the bath water for an emergency cleaning. Presently, our little angel is sleeping.

Speaking of sleeping, Leah fell asleep on the changing table a couple days ago…

So far this day has reinforced God’s desire that we fully lean on him, ridding our self of our own sufficiency. I’m off to my first class in about an hour and I’ll need Him all the more.

There’s something exciting going on in the Praise and Worship area of Covenant. I’m excited that God is using me in that. Lately I’ve come to some realizations about leading worship and have been lead to some great resources on Aaron Keyes website. Aaron Keyes is a worship leader in Atlanta, GA. His approach to worship is completely inspired by God’s Word and Spirit. It’s been so eye opening to read and listen to all that God has taught him. Hopefully I’ll take the time to post some of the things I’ve been learning. Otherwise, come join me on Sunday mornings at Covenant Fellowship that meets at the Carmichael Community Center at 9am to experience worship with us:)

So a couple weeks ago I got an email from a Professor at Harding saying there were two teaching spots that just opened up and I was invited to teach them. I had heard that I might be able to teach next Spring, but an opening this fall was totally unexpected(especially three weeks before school started). Needless to say I jumped at the opportunity. The class is IT 260, Data Management The biggest hurdle being finding someone to watch Leah for 3 hours on Tuesday/Thursday.
Today I go in for a couple meetings to help me prepare for the class. I’ve got the books and all the online material but still I’m not quite certain whats going to happen come Tuesday morning. I’m hoping that it will all become very clear in due time. Until then, back to playing with Leah!

Leah and I have had a pretty full week. Tuesday, I tried to take her to get two shots she needs, but they told me to come back Wednesday. I also had to do a computer job for a guy in town, so I called my sister Melissa to come watch Leah for 45 minutes. Well the job ended up taking close to 2 hours. I was grateful that Melissa was available but I also realized that there needs to be limitations to what kind of jobs I do during the day time. From now on, if I can’t take Leah with me I’ll just have to wait to do the job after Sara gets home.
Yesterday we got to go to the doc in the morning and get Leah’s shots. She does better and better each time! She didn’t even scream yesterday, just cried really hard for about 45 seconds and that was it.
Sara and I are currently praying for wisdom on putting Leah to sleep at night and before naps. She screams her head off even when we are holding her. We think about just letting her go and scream, even done that once. However, it occurred to me last night that our Holy Father would never let our cries go unattended and I don’t think that’s how He wants us to treat our daughter. I also read in a book that letting a child cry it out is different than letting her cry in your arms. Whether she is hurting or just wants attention, let God give us the wisdom to know.

Today I begin my full-time stint at being Dad. Sara took off this morning at 7am for her first day school preparedness leaving Leah and I to fend for ourselves at home. This already feels a bit different than how it was a few months ago when I stayed at home with Leah. She’s changed so much in her eating habits, sleeping habits, and ability to entertain herself. The day has started off a little shaky, mostly just the nap part. Before, when she got sleepy i could lay her down in her cradle and she’d konk out. Now, she screams and fusses and fights for her life. I fed her, walked her, fed her, laid her down, fed her, and she just cried and screamed. Finally I just decided she wasn’t in the mood for a nap so I picked her up out of her cradle. As soon as I hoisted her up to my chest, her head dropped to my shoulder and she was out…well almost. She does this thing where she’ll close her eyes, then all of a sudden jump up and look around, then she’ll fall out again. After a couple rounds of that, I was finally able to get her in her cradle.
My question is this, Is her fighting to go to sleep, a battle against me or against sleep?

It is so good to finally be back home. Spending almost 3 weeks sleeping on an air mattress makes me appreciate my bed so much more. We also learned a lot about living in community. We shared our living space, not necessarily our bedrooms, but our living space with different people throughout those three weeks. We had a lot of fun meeting and living with others, but we’re also glad to be back in our own space again. God has blessed us so much over the past 4 weeks, for that we are grateful. We’re also thankful He has brought us back to our abode.

Today marks the last full day of Camp Wamava for the summer of 2008. But that’s not what I’m going to blog about today. This morning a long time friend of my families rolled into camp for a visit. Since I’ve been living in Arkansas, I’ve not seen Joe Palma in about 4 or 5 years. He lives in New Jersey, but recently has been working in Antarctica with a company that contracts with the Federal Government. Joe’s visit was good because he got to meet Sara and Leah for the first time. We also had a good time playing Canasta and jumpin in the pool.

To my surprise my father, director of Camp Wamava, conducted an impromptu graduation ceremony to recognize my accomplishment of finishing my Master’s. My father set up a podium at one end of the Mess Hall, towards the end of lunch and directed everyone’s attention to his end.

He then told all the campers and staff that Sara and I sacrificed my graduation ceremony to help them move to Arkansas. He then asked all the campers staff to sing or hum with him the Processional song they play at graduation. I eventually responded and accepted my Wamava Diploma. Afterward, all the campers were yellin at me to toss my hat in the air. It was all in good fun and appreciation.

There were two favorite parts of this day. First was our visit with Barbara and Gail, two good family friends of the Matheny clan. They live in a wooded neighborhood right next to Duke University. Gail and Barbara are incredibly kinda and gracious people. We had a great time visiting with them and catching up on where God has taken each of our lives the past couple years. Barbara is recovering from breast cancer and lymphodema, but throughout our entire visit kept a wonderful smile on her face. She’s acctually doing a lot better than all the bandages would indicate and the cancer is in remission. Gail has been Barbara’s full time side kick in this battle. It was a very encouraging time for Sara and me.

The next part of our trip took us to my friend Casey Rice’s house. Casey is an old time friend from my growin up days. We hadn’t seen each other in a long time and our time of sharing each others family was great. Casey’s husband Jason is the chef of the house and he treated us with stuffed pepper’s, homemade salsa, rice. After a walk around the neighborhood, we said our goodbyes and ended a full day of really good visits.