Out of the mouths’ of babes: All Ryan

So Ryan says some rather off-the-wall stuff, more so than Zach. So, this version of out of the mouths’ of babes is ALL RYAN.

Ryan to me RE: Zach "He's not MY brother. You can have him."

Me to Ryan "Who said 'Let the little children come to me'?" Ryan "Um, me." Me "No Ryan it was someone in the Bible." Ryan "Mommy, I AM in the Bible."

Ryan: "I don't want a shower. I want to be stinky and gross."

Ryan "I can't color in this anymore throw it away." Me "Well why can't you?" Ryan "This page is TORN." (last page in coloring book) Me "Are any others torn?" Ryan "No, but it doesn't matter, throw it away."

Me "Ryan pull your undies up, your crack is showing." Ryan "OK Mommy." (minute later) Ryan "Mommy!" Me "What?" Ryan "Look!" (turns around and shows me he has pulled the back of his underwear down so his whole butt is showing) Ryan "Is my crack still showing?" (giggles and runs away)

Ain’t having a four-year old grand?

Sunday Sayings (6/27)

And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count.  It's the life in your years.

- Abraham Lincoln

Saturday Snapshots (6/26)

How does God answer prayers?

Zach asked me this recently, and I had trouble explaining it to him so that he’d understand.

Well, let me tell you how God just answered one of mine.

I was sitting here at my computer crying, there’s just so much going on in my life right now and I’ve been so stressed and worried and it all has just built up to a breaking point this afternoon. While I was crying Belly was sitting on the floor across the room drinking her bottle and watching Dora. I must have made some noticeable sound because she gave up her bottle and crawled over to me. She pulled herself up and was patting my leg, her way to say up, so I picked her up and put her in my lap. She turns around to face me, wraps her little arms around my neck, and presses her cheek to mine in a long sweet hug. (She just started giving them last week.) Not long after she starts hugging me Dora ends and Nick Jr. plays Bob Marley’s “Three Little Birds.” Odd choice for Nick Jr. I know. Belly sits in my laps and hugs me through the entire song, and at the end she wants down.

And I no longer felt like crying.

Right before I started crying I’d been praying asking God how I was going to get through all this when all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry.

I know there’s no guarantee that everything is going to be all right, but I feel like today it. I can make it through the rest of today. So see, God does answer prayers.

A sad yet pleasant surprise.

Saturday in the mail I got a check for $100 from my grandmother.

In her note she included she said it was to buy Zach and Belly something for their birthdays and to help us out a little since I refuse to ask for any money or to take it when she calls or I visit and she offers.

This grandmother would be my father’s mother. She is in the mid-stages of dementia, something she has lived in fear of getting since not only did she care for her mother, who had it, she also watched her mother care for her mother when she had it. And yes in case you’re wondering, I live with the fear that one day I too will have it. I know the genetic link is a low percent, but if you look at my family history its too common to not worry. They all started showing signs of it before the age of 65, which also shows a greater predisposition to it being hereditary in this case. I remember, since I was in my early teens when my great grandmother died, how scary and sad it was for our family to watch her deteriorate. She spent her last few years hallucinating and living in a fog that never let up. In her last year of life my grandmother had to place her in a nursing home since she had also become paranoid and violent. It broke my grandmother’s heart. Now, even though my grandmother has been taking medicines to try to treat and prevent it, to the point of using experimental medicines, she has it too.

That is why I refuse to take her money when its offered. I’d hate for anyone to think I was taking advantage of her, and yes a few in my family would. The sadder part is that those few have no hesitation doing so themselves. She’s not too bad as yet, but it’s becoming more and more noticeable. So while its nice to get the check, it just makes me sad. When I call to tell her I got it will she remember even sending it?

Sunday Sayings (6/20)

"The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing."

- Albert Einstein

Saturday Snapshots (6/19)