Nana

So my sweet Nana (mom's mom) had a heart attack Monday! That was the last thing any of us ever expected.... I've waited for a few years now for a call like that from my mom about my Pop (mom's dad), but didn't ever expect it about Nana. Sweet thing! She had to have a triple bypass, and is still in ICU. I was with mom & dad until last night, but needed to get back today to try to finish up the year at preschool... Am going back out Sunday afternoon, unless things get bad between now & then, which I don't anticipate, but you never know. (BTW, it's amazing to watch your parents care for their parents. I'm in awe of how great my folks are with nana & pop...hope I'm raising my girls to be as amazing as my parents are! Anyhow...)

It was sweet, when mom talked with her Monday morning before the surgery, she said, "Just think, if I wake up in heaven, I'll have nothing to do but sit and adore my precious Jesus!" Made me cry, of course. It was comforting to know that Nana was ready to go, but I don't think any of us are ready for her to go... seems like she might get to stay for a while longer, but I hate that she has to go through the pain of recovery and rehab from open heart surgery.

So if you still have a Nana around, go give her a big hug if you're able to. If you can't give her a hug, send her a card (my Nana loves cards, and I just kinda assume all Nanas out there love cards, too). And if you think of my sweet Nana, pray for her.

everything orange!

OK, so sorry for my delay in posting....I went to a conference in Atlanta last Saturday, and returned in the wee small hours of the morning Thursday, so have been playing catch up since then!

So I went to the Orange Conference, which is put on by the reThink Group, an organization that "encourages churches to reThink the way they minister to families" (from their website). Our church uses the curriculum that they publish for preschoolers and children, so off to the conference I went with 6 others from the preschool/children's area. Can't say enough great stuff about this conference...the basic premise behind Orange is that 2 influences working together make a greater impact upon a child's life than 2 influences working alone, so RED (the home, love from the family) works with YELLOW (the church, light from the gospel) to make ORANGE... So it's the goal of an "orange" church to partner with parents and train parents to be spiritual leaders in their homes, to impact their children for the cause of Christ.... Way more to it than that, but that's it in a nutshell.

So I wanted to share this resource with you all - it's the best preschool CD I've heard (it's called With Me Every Day), ever, I think. The music is thoughtful, and quality-wise, super. Not another inane Christian children's CD (the girls have a few that make me want to pull my hair out!). One example: the song "You're Amazing," says "You're amazing, and I lift my hands to worship, and I sing and dance to praise you, how wonderful you are!" It's joyful, and it's a wonderful introduction to biblical truths musically. It's the CD that goes along with our preschool curriculum, First Look, and helps teach the 3 basic truths we hope that our kiddos learn by the time they leave our preschool program: God Made Me, God Loves Me, and Jesus Wants to be My Friend Forever. To hear samples of the songs, go here, and find With Me Every Day.

Also got to hear Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz Don Miller) speak at the conference, so here's just a note, if you haven't read Blue Like Jazz yet, by all means try to do it soon... I'll have more to say about that later, I'm sure, but for now, just a recommendation.