To Heck with the Doula

So ... what can I say other than thank you all very much. JB and I got a good kick out of your personal responses to what YOU would say to the almighty Doula. (If you don't know what I am talking about, scroll down to a few posts ago.) From my Italian sister-in-law taking her down, to Amy training my dog to "sic infertility pricklers" (I did take that to mean you would do the training, right Amy?) The dog biting, Starbucks coffee, and late night calls. Thanks everyone. I feel so blessed to be encouraged by so many.

One of the best things that could pick up my spirits is having my best friend home to spend Sunday with me. Actually JB got home early on Saturday morning. However, he had been up for nearly 30 hours and was running on fumes. They admitted 11 patients and had 31 total on their service. I don't know much about this stuff, but JB informs me that this is a lot, nearly a record at the hospital.

Last night we went to a Japanese restaurant near the base for dinner. We really enjoyed it. We didn't sit at one of the tables where they cook your food in front of you, mainly because we wanted a little privacy and just to sit and talk ourselves. Instead, we sat at a quieter table, by ourselves. This place was perfect because JB could get Sushi (gag me with a fork folks!) and I could get good ol' Japanese steak and lobster. We planned on going home and watching a movie, but sleep took over instead.

We tried a new church this morning which we really enjoyed. This could be the church for us! We still want to go back to try another that we liked, one more time, but this was a nice place. Very comfortable. What I especially liked was the diversity in the church body. Having people of different races (and three different families in a fairly small congregation that appeared to have adopted other races) is important to us. We don't know that we are going to bring our daughter home before we leave Eglin, but finding a community of different races that embraces different culture is extremely important to us. We really feel that this will be important to us in all churches we choose from this point out. Our children have to feel that they belong.

I wanted to end today but sharing a song that JB heard online and downloaded for us. It's very powerful. I'm including the lyrics below it. If you have trouble viewing it on my blog, here's the direct link: NATALIE GRANT. This song teaches us that God doesn't promise a pain free life. But he does promise to hold us in the midst of the pain. Can we not, as he asked his disciples, wait just one hour in the garden? Is that too much to ask?




Two months is too little.
They let him go.
They had no sudden healing.
To think that providence would
Take a child from his mother while she prays Is appalling.

Who told us we'd be rescued?
What has changed and why should we be saved from nightmares?
We're asking why this happens
To us who have died to live?
It's unfair.

This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we?d be held.

This hand is bitterness.
We want to taste it, let the hatred numb our sorrow.
The wise hands opens slowly to lilies of the valley and tomorrow.

This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we'd be held.

If hope is born of suffering.
If this is only the beginning.
Can we not wait for one hour watching for our Savior?

This is what it means to be held.
How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life And you survive.
This is what it is to be loved.
And to know that the promise was
When everything fell we'd be held.