7 Quick Takes — Starting Preschool, Rescue Panthers, and Preeclampsia Studies

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7 Quick Takes

I missed having Quick Takes last week. I didn’t necessarily need more writing to do (still continued my Lenten discipline) but I missed the community and being able to empty my brain this way.

— 1 —

Daniel started preschool on Wednesday. The preschools in our elementary school district are housed at the school a block away from the parsonage and they have an ABA class which is where Daniel was put. (The IEP was 2 1/2 weeks ago.) Putting it mildly, Daniel did not approve and spent most of the day crying. It wasn’t a crying jag about being separated from Jon and I — it was all about people not letting him do what he wanted to do. My words to his teacher: he can like it or lump it. She laughed and her aides laughed when she told them my response. Here’s hoping that next week goes better.

— 2 —

Things not to say to me: “What are you going to do with yourself now that Daniel is in preschool? Seriously, I now have 4 1/2 hours free in my day. I have decluttering projects up the freaking wazoo on my plate as well as some posts I promised for people. Yeah… I think I have things to do. I will admit that Wednesday morning, I just sat in my recliner with my laptop and enjoyed the quiet. Today, I collapsed in the recliner and took a nap until UPS and the home health care people pounded on the door to wake me up.

— 3 —

Daniel seems to have no ill effects from his seizure on Friday. This confirms the ER doctors and residents’ suspicions that it was a simple febrile seizure. I also learned that he flips out less on the gurney in the ER bay if I lie down with him and hold him. He slept in my lap there for most of Friday evening after we got to the ER and I got some reading done during that time. Thank God (and the family friend who bought it for me) for Popadija (my NOOK)!

— 4 —

Yes, I do name my electronic items. My current laptop is “Presbytera”, my former laptops were “Khouria” and “Pristina” (a spelling error for “Prifteresha” so I might use that name again), my NOOK is “Popadija”, and my iPod is “Panimatushka”. What are these names, you ask? They are Orthodox Christian titles for the priest’s wife. While I’m not Orthodox, I am a pastor’s wife and I decided that I needed a title which is why “khouria” figures into my Twitter ID because people usually have no idea how to refer to me. (My pat answer: “I go by Jen.”)

— 5 —

I finished my latest murder mystery (Burried in Buttercream by G.A. McKevett — go read it) and am now reading Sex, Style, and Substance. I got through the introduction and am about to read Jennifer Fulwiler’s chapter. Even having read as little of the book as I have, I can honestly say that it is seriously made of win. I might be reading it on Friday morning while Daniel is in preschool. (I’d read it sooner but I have some writing projects to plan out if not finish.)

— 6 —

My “rescue panther” would like me to post this video. She has vowed to sit on my lap and block my access to the keyboard of my laptop unless I post the Geico video involving the couple who adopted a “rescue panther” to take care of their home security needs.

— 7 —

There is a study out on the effects of preeclampsia on the brain. Wow… so I’m not just at a loss for words because I’m so sleep-deprived? Huh. In all seriousness, it’s something that frustrates me because I write so much and it’s maddening to have a word or idea in my brain but not to be able to express it. Let’s fund some more studies on preeclampsia and its long term effects. Sponsor me in the Promise Walk to help fund studies like this.

For more Quick Takes, visit Jen at ConversionDiary.Com.

How to Get Ready for Preschool

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Daniel starts preschool tomorrow (OK… technically today because it’s 1:30 a.m.) and at 12:50 a.m., it occurred to me that I should probably get some things ready so that I’m not in a huge rush tomorrow. So… here’s my process for getting Daniel ready for preschool:

12:50 – Decide that you should probably prep some things ahead of time. Remove the comforter and peel yourself out of the recliner. Walk across the living room that is covered with Cheerios. (I didn’t get a chance to vacuum today. Stop judging me!) Step over the baby gate into the kitchen and switch on the light. Catch a picture of yourself in the microwave and realize that your eyes are mostly closed. Realize that you are also hungry so get Lean Cuisine meal out of the fridge.

12:55 – Wash out sippy cup using zip ties to poke the congealed formula out of the crevices. Make sure that sucker is CLEAN. Dry sippy cup and latex plug for it. Fill with properly-sourced apple juice from Trader Joe’s. Take a swig of juice while you’re at it.

12:57 – Remove a tortilla and pub cheese (think spreadable cheese that is two steps up from Velveeta) from the fridge. Use butter knife to spread cheese over tortilla. Roll as tightly as possible and cut into thin slices. Eat reject slices and put majority of roll-up in snack bag. Take a handful of Cheerios and put in another snack bag. Ponder investing in another kind of Cheerios for variety’s sake. Obsess about the fact that your kid probably will not sit down for any period of time to eat. Freak out about this. Remind yourself that these teachers are used to this and getting paid for it.

1:02 – Realize that you have not microwaved your midnight snack (which is actually dinner). Remove meal from box and stick in microwave for some ungodly amount of time. Remember that you need to supply diapers and wipes.

1:10 – Find alternate clothes that are not too holey (thank you broken dryer!) and label with initials. Label lunchbox, diapers, and wipes with name.

1:15 – Finally get dinner out of the microwave. Be thankful that it has cooled sufficiently so that it can rest on laptop while eating. Climb back over baby gate and settle in recliner. Remind the pair of glowing eyes nuzzling your left hand that rescue panthers don’t eat Lean Cuisine meals.

1:20 – Take plastic dish back to kitchen and toss it. Feel pangs of guilt for not recycling it. Decide that it’s too late to really care about the environment and that we’re all screwed anyway. Settle back into recliner. See a figure moving toward you. Point your laptop toward it and discover that it is the sissy tabby. Watch Mr. Tabbykins shrink away to cower on the couch. Feel guilty that the big orange lump is spooked.

1:24 – Type this entry with your eyes closed. Proofread later.

He has already seen his classroom and met his teacher today while I was trying to drop off paperwork at the school. I’m glad he got to meet his teacher — it might make things easier tomorrow. She is made of awesomeness and wasn’t fazed at all by Daniel running around and opening/closing things. She also has promised to call several times a day with updates on him during this week. I am blessed.

Mind Blown and The Book of Eli

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During our last Bible study, one of the women brought up the movie The Book of Eli in the context of how much Scripture we could remember. It was decided that we would watch the movie at the next Bible study. I went home and read the wiki on it, deciding to skip the movie. Well, the movie plans got made and I decided to just bring crocheting with me so I could look down if necessary.

I should probably insert here that C and M (our Bible study leaders) are freaking geniuses when it comes to creating interesting environments. We had a haunted hallway for Halloween that was awesome, a Valentine’s Day dinner in the fellowship hall which they decorated to look like a 5-star restaurant (and pulled it off!), and they didn’t disappoint for tonight. They took all the couches from the Fireside Room and the narthex and arranged them in a semi-circle around the projection screen. On the coffee table (also from the Fireside Room, I think), there were individual movie buckets of popcorn, caramel corn, bowls, bottles of green tea, and brownies that someone else had made. (I donated cupcakes from Daniel’s birthday.) C had dared me to wear my penguin pajama bottoms and she came in her jammies too.

(I seriously believe that there has to exist a picture of the two of them holding the Marauder’s Map from Harry Potter that says, “I do solemnly swear that I am up to no good.)

The movie was awesome. It was less bloody than I thought it would be and they did a great job with the plot twist at the end. (I can’t say much more because I don’t want to give away the ending.) I got a few rows crocheted on the baby blanket I’m working on intermittently and I’m glad I went.

Mostly, I’m blown away at how quickly the set-up was able to be taken down. When I came back from taking a couple people home, they had the couches removed and everything looking like it did before. It furthered strengthened my conviction that these are the two people I’d want to be stranded with on a deserted island because the two of them could hatch a plan to get OFF the island while making it into a five-star resort in the meantime.

An Easter Hymn

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A story regarding this hymn: we were at someone’s house for Christmas 2004 and we were having a jam session with their son. During said session, we discovered that you can actually sing “Jingle Bells” to the tune used for this hymn (“Noel Nouvelet”, a 15th century French carol). We had a parishioner who HATED this particular hymn so we were only allowed to sing it ONCE at Easter and the three of us couldn’t look at each other as we sang it because we knew we’d laugh.

Now the green blade rises from the buried grain,
Wheat that in the dark earth many years has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

In the grave they laid Him, Love Whom we had slain,
Thinking that He??d never wake to life again,
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

Up He sprang at Easter, like the risen grain,
He that for three days in the grave had lain;
Up from the dead my risen Lord is seen:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.

When our hearts are saddened, grieving or in pain,
By Your touch You call us back to life again;
Fields of our hearts that dead and bare have been:
Love is come again, like wheat that springs up green.
(HT: NetHymnal)

The hymn sung by choristers at Ely Cathedral:

What I’ve Learned This Lent

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This would have been up sooner but I spent much of yesterday evening in the Pediatric ER at UCD Medical Center with Daniel after he suffered a febrile seizure. (Translation: he spiked a fever really quickly and it triggered a seizure.) I was telling the paramedics that it was ironic that I was in an ambulance because I’d been in one three years earlier when they were having to transfer me to Great Falls to have my emergency c-section.

So… this is what I’ve learned this Lent:

[+] My taste in worship music is not strictly Protestant. It might be that I have more Catholic readers than Protestant these days but a lot of my Catholic friends liked my favorite hymns and worship songs or had some interesting commentary on them. I shouldn’t be surprised because some of those hymns are pretty universal but some of it did surprise me in a good way.

[+] I really need to get a subscription to Sojourners magazine. I could seriously write pages of commentary on every article that appears on my Facebook wall or in my email. It’s wonderful to find like-minded people and a like-minded publication because I seem to defy all labels as to what kind of Christian I am.

[+] I get by with a little help from my friends. It’s been a Lent full of humbling myself and asking people to pray for me when I knew I was going to be dealing with some really hard things. In exchange, I’ve prayed for other friends when they’ve expressed the need for prayer. It’s been a blessing to pray for others and to receive their prayers which isn’t surprising but still an awesome thing.

[+] I am seriously a broken person. I struggle with jealousy, anger, pride, and trust issues when it comes to my relationship with God. Some of this was blogged out and other things were dealt with over Twitter or on Facebook. None of this is surprising — I wouldn’t be utterly dependent on the Cross if I had the capacity to be perfect.

[+] There is more worship music out there on YouTube than I thought. I had no idea that my favorite Communion hymn was out there or that a lot of my other favorite songs had multiple videos. Such an awesome discovery.

[+] I learned a lot about my faith and how far I’ve come. I don’t think I could have dealt with Daniel’s seizure yesterday if I hadn’t dealt with his traumatic birth and the hospital stay last year. Yes, I was sobbing when the paramedics arrived and when they were loading us into the ambulance. However, I persevered and Daniel is OK.

[+] I learned how completely awesome Tim Hawkins is. Christians need to learn how to laugh at each other and how to laugh at ourselves. Tim does a great job with that.

I’ll post something for Easter Sunday tomorrow but I wanted to do kind of a review here on Holy Saturday.

Good Friday

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I love Good Friday because all the music is 16th and 17th century stuff and I love Baroque. These are my favorite Good Friday hymns. The first one is “Stricken, Smitten, and Afflicted” which isn’t old but I love the Spanish-influenced guitar and the way Fernando Ortega does it. The second one is “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” (also known as “O Sacred Head Surrounded”) done by Fernando Ortega, chosen because I love the way he sets it. The last one is “Ah Holy Jesus” and I love the way they set it (no idea who is recording it) as well as the harmonies.