Ramblings on Day 59

What a complete pleasure to babysit for this little princess of ours.  Becca and Adam try to get a date night in when they can, and I was the lucky one to get to take care of Nora this time.  Bill doesn't get home until 10:00 so I was flying solo tonight.

Nora is coming down with a cold so she was feeling a bit out of sorts, but what a trooper she is!

Usually you just have to go through her bedtime routine and she goes right to sleep. A clean diaper, jammies, sippy cup of milk, teeth brushed, then into the crib with her bear and her binky.  Turn on the music, say good night, close the door, and the little angel goes right to sleep.  Amazing really.  I make sure to remind her mom and dad how lucky they are! 

Tonight because she wasn't feeling well, she started crying as soon as I put her down. I didn't want to let her cry because it was just making her more congested.  So I picked her up and sat in the rocking chair with her. She cried for a little while more but then her eyes got heavy and she cuddled with her bear and laid her head on my shoulder. She whimpered a little bit more, then her breathing became regular, and soon she was out like a light.

I wanted to make sure she was settled before I tried to put her in the crib, so it gave me the opportunity to do some thinking and praying.

First I thought that this cold was really a blessing in disguise...at least for me.  It's been a long time since my children and grandsons were this young, and it was so wonderful to hold this little bit of perfection in my arms.  Like I said, Nora's normally pretty independent and she is usually able to soothe herself to sleep.  But the cold meant that I got to share this moment with her and I loved it.

I also thought about next summer, and the fact that she'll probably be riding her little bike, and running to and fro.  Just a couple of months ago that thought would have exhausted me, but now I can't wait! Just let her try to get away...this grammi is going to be able to keep up!

Then I started thinking about some of Allan's posts earlier today.  He really lays it out there, doesn't he? No mamby-pamby stuff from Allan. Colorful, definitely.  Irreverent, absolutely. Challenging, clearly. So if you want feel-good stuff and excuses, his is not the blog for you.  But if you want someone to kick you in the butt when you need it because he cares about you, I recommend you follow him.

Today he spoke truth to my heart. How can we afford not to be serious about losing weight and getting healthy? How can we make excuses and try to rationalize away those times when we know what's best for us and we choose not to do it.  And for those of us who believe in a holy God who created us and knows every single hair on our heads, how dare we treat ourselves this way? 

None of us are perfect, and we're not going to be able to do this perfectly. It took us a long time to end up in the shape we're in, and it's not going to be fixed overnight.  We are going to have moments of weakness and laziness, but those have to be the exception rather than the rule. And when we mess up and treat ourselves badly, there can be no excuses, no blame, and no rationalizations. We have to admit we screwed up and work hard to prevent it from happening again.

The people in my life who love me, and the God who gave His Son for me, don't deserve anything less than my best. And that's what I'm going to give them.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend! Good night and God bless...