Devotions of a High Heeled Warrior

As most may know, Megan and I have been week-long guests of Arkansas Children's Hospital per brain surgery #1.  Her neurosurgeon placed a grid of probes on her brain in order to capture the exact location of where her seizures are originating.  After her first surgery, the waiting began.  Now, all we needed was the seizures.  During this time, I learned not to put your hairbrush on the little shelf over the toilet with her urine catch in it.  Don't ask me why.  After a couple of days, we had everyone pray for seizures.  Sounds odd, right? After prayers, she had a really big seizure.  For the first time ever, she was aware of what was going on around her.  It terrified her wondering if she would ever be able to speak again.  After about 30 minutes, she was able to speak clearly and began to calm.  This is when she really realized the power of prayer.   She told me to be more specific in asking for prayer.  "Mom, I want yo...

Some may ask why anyone would give a father a cobra on Father's Day.  Yes, it was a real cobra.  For years, my husband has been willing to do the craziest things in the name of fatherhood.  During my pregnancy, he rushed out at midnight to retrieve the can of sloppy joe that the baby desperately needed (according to my cravings).  There was the time he had to brush my baby boy's mouth after he had confused our little Rat Terrier's doggy doo with a candy bar.  In his defense, they looked similar, and he was only 18 months old.  In my defense, it was doggy poo in my kid's mouth!  I couldn't handle it.  There were the times that he came up with last minute Halloween costumes or created school projects from his creative mind.  I remember one particular night that he had gone to school all day for his master's degree, worked a full shift at J.P. Morgan Chase, and then came home to do homework.  We had four children under the age of 5 yea...

As the day approaches for my daughter's brain surgery, I'm trying to get all of my ducks in a row.  Clean house, clutter gone.  That means only one thing- garage sale.  I thought I would not only remove clutter, but also raise money for church camp.  This meant I had to conquer a big obstacle- getting my husband to clean his garage and get rid of clothes that no longer fit.  This is when I became aware of an interesting aspect to men.  Why do men act like wizards?   I found my husband standing in the middle of our kitchen.  I asked what he was doing, to which he replied he was looking for something.  This is usually where the spouse comes in and moves a box to find the missing item.  So next came the million dollar question.  "Did you actually look?"  It is like he is Gandalf  waiting for the item he is looking for to fly out of hiding and into his outstretched hand.   "My car keys- come!"  Later that morning, ...

My husband owns the equivalent of a small zoo.  As a science teacher, over the years, he has compiled an assortment of animals that he uses to demonstrate animal life systems and life cycles.  Every summer, that zoo joins our happy, little family.  This year, I have the joy of experiencing a musky weasel (It's actually a ferret, but I like to call it a weasel.), a parrot with a smart mouth (she keeps calling me brat), and thankfully no snakes this year.  My husband made plans to bring them home after cleaning and making room for them.  Unfortunately, his plans changed.  He received a call telling him the floors would be cleaned, so they needed to go right away.  We loaded in our car and started moving animal cages and aquariums.  We squeezed a massive weasel cage into the back seat of our car.  Meanwhile his little pirate parrot proceeded to poop all over his dress shirt.  I may have laughed just a little.  When we finally moved t...

If anyone has dared to venture to Walmart, they can easily recognize the signs of an upcoming holiday.  The parking lot is full all the way out to the road.  People of all ages are pushing carts very slowly down aisles loaded with sodas, chips, and hot dog buns.  And gas prices are sky-rocketing to ridiculous highs to accommodate for all of one's travel needs.  Stores have begun to advertise special holiday sales, so it must be a holiday, right?  Does any of this ever make you tired of what our country's holidays have become?  We are preparing to celebrate Memorial Day.  It's not just a holiday that gives the bank's a right to be closed and stores a right to have a sale.  So what do we memorialize in this day and age?   If we were to go on the streets and ask your average teenager what is Memorial Day about, could they answer correctly?  Could we answer correctly?  This morning, my husband preached a sermon about the poppy flower ...

Ever seen the show "Nailed It" on Netflix?  Bad bakers try to copy professionals and fail in a large way.  This show inspired me to create a ladies "Nailed It" competition at my church.  The night before the competition, I discovered that I might have bit off more than I could chew.  I cooked lunch for 20-25 ladies, made cakes for the cake pop competition, and gathered all the cooking materials needed.  At midnight, I still hadn't started decorating the cake pops planned for the next day.  I had chosen pictures for the women to look at for their model, but I still wanted to make a copy myself to allow myself ideas to help the women if they struggled.  Midnight is not the best time to do anything important.   1.You get cranky.  2. You get sloppy.  3. Things go wrong because of #1 and #2.  My first cake ball was a little gum ball machine.  I added shortening to the melted candy wafers to allow the mix to be smoother.  You ...

How many ladies would say that if you look in a woman’s purse, you get a glimpse of whom she is.  As young guys, no one wants to carry “the purse” it holds all kinds of secrets.  Mysteries no man should know.  As the guy becomes husband, he carries the purse with a protective instinct.  His money is there, and he will guard it with his life.  As a child, I would see the purse like a happy meal I never knew what great treasures were in it, but I wanted to see.  It changes as your child grows. Babies… It doubles as diaper bag.  Baby bottles, wipes,diapers.  If you forget one of those important things, you will have to get really creative with improvising.  A t-shirt, a roll of toilet paper wrapped around the baby’s bottom. Toddler… Still a bottle, wipes, and diapers, but we have progressed to snacks.  Cheerios, cookies, or anything else we can shove into their mouths to get them...