Baby Doll

I bought a little baby doll at Target today. It's just a $3 one that's barely bigger than my hand, but she's got brown eyes and a cute pink sleeper on.

While other people may buy gifts for their child's grave, I just can't fathom putting anything like that on Felicity's grave when it will be destroyed by the elements. It would just be another reminder of death, seeing it become dirty and worn, without ever having been played with. So this baby doll will hopefully make a little girl somewhere very happy when she finds it in her Operation Christmas Child box.

I will admit though, that it will be hard to pack her away. As much as I chastise the boys for all their toys lying around all over, I'd give just about anything for a bunch of dolls and little girl toys to be part of the mess.

Tidbits

• We have been busy at VBS this week! The big boys are having a blast, though Elijah won't talk to his teachers or classmates. I find it humorous and very much his m.o. I've been hanging out in the un-air conditioned nursery cleaning and preparing it for a remodel. Today we are home because Ethan woke up with a fever.
• The humidity levels here have been hovering around 100% which makes it feel like Charleston, S.C. I visited there about 10 years ago and it was unbelievable. The ocean water was like bath water and the minute you walked outside you were dripping. I could never imagine living in a place like that.
• Caleb is sitting like a pro. He can pivot on his tummy and move pretty much anywhere. We have re-installed the gate at the top of the stairs and are bracing ourselves for the stage to come. You know, the one where you have to watch the baby like a hawk and train them well. We're of the camp that believes in "houseproofing the baby" rather than babyproofing the house.
• The plan is to start school next week. Should be interesting....
• My laptop screen died so I'm using Paul's which is uber-small, has certain keys in the wrong location, but is much faster than mine. Mine is now tethered to our office (read: room where Paul keeps all of his toys and stuff) where we have a spare monitor. Thus I have not completed all the record keeping things I had hoped to do before school starts.
• I'm feeling very disorganized these days. It always seems like I'm working on multiple projects at once and thus I feel like I'm running around like a chicken with my head cut off minus the blood.
• Elijah can't seem to stop falling and hurting himself. I've never used our emergency first aid kit until the past couple weeks. Here's to hoping some of his current scabs heal before he falls and breaks them open again.
• Still thinking a lot about Felicity and in disbelief that it's almost been two years. Wonder when it won't feel so surreal.
• So happy about all my blogging friends and the new babies that have entered their lives healthy! Praise God!
• And lastly, I have 50+ tomatoes sitting on my counter all at various stages of ripening. The ground squirrels are eating them off the plants as soon as they are the slightest bit red, so I'm having to pick them daily. I'm thrilled about making pasta and pizza sauce soon and lots of it!

A Man Named John

I went to my first funeral today since Felicity's. It was a beautiful service for a man who lived his life to the glory of his creator. He was a close friend of my parents who died unexpectedly. He leaves behind his wife of 28 years.

One amazing thing about this man is that he wore a flashdrive around his neck every day. He did so because when his body was raptured, he hoped someone would find the flashdrive and read the files on it. The files explained about about salvation and the rapture and the tribulation. Pretty amazing. While he has gone on to glory before the rapture, it is very obvious that his life has been an unbelievable testimony.

I hope I can be used of God the way John was.