What a Great Day!

Church this morning was absolutely wonderful! Praise and worship turned into an intense altar time, and Pastor only preached about 1o min. Now, that's not what made it wonderful. The Lord was there in such a sweeping way, and we had one get saved, several pray for problems and illnesses or recommittment. People just really entered into seeking His face. And He met us!

This evening we kind of walked in the overflow of the AM service, and Pastor did get to preach. One little girl had a headache and nausea when she got to church, so we prayed for her and the Lord touched her. One little girl got a small piece of kleenex stuck up her nose, and I got to go fishing with a pair of hemostats. (Never leave home without one!)

We truly acted like a Pentecostal church today. Even with folks there who had not attended before. WooHoo! I want it to be like this all the time! (Except for Pastor not getting to preach!)

Nearly Done (In)

We had a computer program change-over this week and it was every bit the bear we thought it would be. Fortunately, this was spring break, and the patient load wasn't too bad until today. Actually, even today wasn't too bad, but I was the late nurse this afternoon, and checked charts for tomorrow--we have 32 patients tomorrow. And a completely new way of charting. And a completely new way to look things up and enter orders. And a brain that is on the downhill side of the 5th decade. My brain hurts. I will do one screen and in the process forget how to do the screen I did just before it. I know, I know...this too, shall pass. But at this point, it could pass right on out of existence, and I would be first in line cheering! Because we have a couple of nurses out sick, I worked a double shift today as well. Guess that's why I am so grumpy tonight. 14 hours of chaos will do that to you. I think it's time to find my bed. Maybe things will look better in the morning.

Looking from the other side

They are gone. All but 5. The lofts look so empty. So closes a chapter in my life. The man who bought them came yesterday at noon, we loaded them up and by 12:45 they were on the way to their new home. Am I sad? A little. Am I glad? Yes, they will have a good home with the care they need and deserve. But mostly, I am just relieved. L says he is looking for a place to keep the remaining birds, so I will eventually be completely devoid of critters. I won't have to worry about being gone too long, or something happening while I am not around. So, it is a good thing all around. And I didn't cry.

I received the following in an email today from someone who doesn't know the birds would be leaving soon: "Accept that some days you're the pigeon, and some days you're the statue." I can't begin to count the number of times I have literally been the statue! But it all washes off, in both contexts.

It's Finally Happening

Tomorrow at about 1 pm, I will officially be (almost) birdless. L put them on the auction 2 weeks ago, and they sold last Sunday. The buyer is coming to pick them up in person. He lives about 5 hours from here just over the OK border. So I am sitting in my chair, pouring over pedigrees and copying the ones belonging to the birds we sold so we have a record of their lineage, and proof of one-time ownership. Fortunately, there aren't too many to do that with. The rest are birds we raised and all I have to do is print them from the database program.

I am not sure yet how I really feel about this. I am at present very glad to know I don't have to feed, water, watch for illness/injury, etc., on an ongoing basis. I will still have 4 birds after tomorrow, ones that L just didn't want to part with. He is supposedly making arrangements to place them somewhere else so I will be completely free of them at some point in the future. Still, 4 birds is even better than a cake-walk considering that at the height of our business, when we were raising and racing in earnest, we had about 350 birds. That was just 3+ years ago. I am SO glad we don't have that many now!

Knowing the rather unexpected reaction I had the last time I mailed birds out, I'm thinking maybe having an otherwise also kinda busy day planned may be a good thing. No time to dwell on things. Just have to wait and see, I guess.

And for all of you who have heard the tale...

...I really wasn't exaggerating!

As Promised

Very tired, very proud parents. They are still trying to figure out what to do with her now that she's here. A said he couldn't take his eyes off her for the first 3-4 hours after she was born.

Grandma and Grandpa had to have their turns as well.

Miss Rylee gave Mama a rough night last night, then curled up on the couch and slept for 4 hours.

Oh My...

I feel stretched in a hundred different directions. It was a long trip there, and a long trip back, and worth every inch of it! She is beautiful. She is peacful. Mama is really tired. So is Daddy. They are so cute to watch as they take in this new little life. I had to keep telling myself, "This one is ours." I have worked in L&D and nursery for so long, holding so many other newborns that it was kind of surreal, especially while they were still in the hospital room. It was just like I've done hundreds of times before. But this time, I could kiss her. I could cuddle her just because I wanted to and not because I was trying to get her to be quiet so she wouldn't wake the other babies in the nursery.

When I began to handle her after we got home, it finally snapped into place. I got to give the first at-home bath. Having Suzanne (Cliff's wife-3rd grandma) watch me and help hold her was pretty neat. It's been a couple of years since I have bathed a newborn, but it is still so ingrained that I had her done in about 6-7 minutes, hair and all. And like every other newborn I've ever bathed, she was NOT appreciatve! At least not until I reswaddled her and snuggled her up close. Then she went to sleep.

I will post pics later tonight, hopefully. I am going to try to make evening service, so have to get moving. See you all in a bit!