Things my Nephew Says

My oldest nephew is three and he keeps me laughing. I've often posted things on my personal Facebook page, but I thought all of you could use a laugh also.

Some things he's said recently are:

"I love this wed(red) pillow.

I don't like the purple one."

This was news to me because he usually requests the purple pi-yo (pillow) anytime he climbs up to watch movies on the computer with me.

I said, "You do?"

He said, "Uh huh. It's soft." He then lays back on the pillow, puts his hands behind his head, and says, "Ah." So precious!

Today, I told him I had been walking some. He said, "Du(You) get bigger and bigger."

I said, "Really?"

"Yeah. Du are a giant in Gram's big house!"

Okay, then. I guess I am a giant. Haha!

One night, I was playing with Mason and all of a sudden, he said, "Du(You) busted du face!"

Curious as to what he meant, I asked him where. Right dere (there), he said. My mom was standing nearby, and we both just started laughing. He was talking about some acne on my face! I guess it did look like I had gotten hit. 

Kids have such a unique perspective!

You Don't Understand

Man with a megaphone 2 Bartek Ambrozik via freeimages.com

I understand. It's a phrase that I hear quite often. As someone who has to take it day by day, you don't understand. You don't understand what I go through.

You don't understand what it's like to be fine in the morning and be zapped of all energy by mid-afternoon.

You don't understand what it's like to be woken up out of a somewhat good night's sleep by waves of nausea that come and go.

You don't understand what it's like to feel tingling and aches sometimes all throughout the day.

You don't understand what it's like to say you're coming to an event and then have to postpone it indefinitely because you just can't go.

You don't understand what it's like not being able to play certain things with my nephews.

You don't understand what it's like to not be able to pick up my nephews.

Now, some people DO understand. Those who have helped care for someone with a chronic illness know what I am talking about to a certain extent. The majority of people don't understand, and it is incredibly frustrating to try and explain things to them.  

I am not a negative person, and I never have been. In spite of all of life's curveballs, I have made a choice to be positive. I choose joy regardless of what my body does. I don't talk about how I feel. I praise God and sing songs even when my body is screaming in protest of whatever I am trying to do. It's called fighting the good fight of faith. No one ever said life would be easy, but I do have control over how I react to things.

This is not a pity party. I just need to vent.  Unless you are in my body, you have no clue what I go through on a daily basis. Maybe instead of saying, "I understand," please think before you say this because you never will. And the thing is, I don't expect anyone to. I just expect people to be respectful and not just say things to be saying it. If you want to say something, be encouraging. I can always use that. And if you can't be encouraging, just don't say anything.

More Journals and Lip Balms for CHOA

Today, I took a second donation to CHOA - Scottish Rite. In all, I took 238 journals and 60 lip balms! The beige and pink journals in the bottom right of the box came courtesy of Hammerpress Letter Press & Design Studio. They were so kind to send 50 journals.

The lip balms were donated by EcoLips, an organic and natural lip balm company.

 NightOwl Paper Goods located in Birmingham, Alabama donated ten of these cute journals. I love the animals!

 Ex Libris Anonymous donated fifteen of their super cool journals made from old textbooks and books. What a great way to reuse books!

 In Blue Handmade was gracious enough to donate five of their small, handmade leather journals. I got to pick out the stamps for each one, so that was a lot of fun!

 Sitara Collections sent six of their exquisite handmade leather journals made by women in India. These were stunning! They are not lined.

Thistle Farms totally floored me with their response to my email. Penny Hall and Tonya Sneed took time out of their busy schedules to make 90 - yes, 90 journals for this donation. How awesome is that?! Thank you from the bottom of my heart, ladies!

Lastly, my friends Tanya Hudson, Chanel Cobb, and Sarah Parker's MCG Bible Study group sent these journals. I cannot thank everyone enough! It is my hope that the teens at CHOA have a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!

You might be wondering what my next stop is. The next donation will be going to Greenville Memorial Hospital. I spent several months in the NICU there as premature twin and two major hip surgeries as a teen.