Alright, it's about time Matt and I get our butt's into gear and start actually SCHEDULING our day instead of waking up and just Holding On for dear life until it's bedtime again! I think we are comfortable enough with Asher's care now that we can "attempt" to regain some of our pre-hospital era lives...mainly Matt's prayer room schedule, or a revised version of it. I have needed him here with me to take care of Joel during the times when I'm busy pumping mainly, because as soon as I sit down in that chair, it's as if mischief whispers into Joel's ear some sneaky fun plan to color the couch with white out or permanant markers...

So, we have decided to try a 6-hour block schedule (feels like I'm back in highschool again) with rotating shifts to give focused care to either Asher or Joel, while trying to opimize sleep for both of us. After 6 hours, we switch kids. It sounds good on paper, but the real trial will start on Monday. We were looking for a way to get the family back into the house of prayer and this might work. Matt thinks he can take Asher along with him for at least a few hours and just bring his feeding pump and milk along in their handy travel backpack, while I focus on Joel at home. Then when 3pm comes and we switch, I can try to take a round in the house of prayer before making dinner. It's an idea that may or may not work, but at least we are working towards a goal here and in the words of my momma, "It's easier to stear a moving car". So schedule revisions can always happen as we go, the point is that at least we are moving towards something!

In other Bond news...Joel blessed us so much today in the kitchen. We have been wanting to find ways of bringing Jesus into his daily life and recently had begun watching "The Gospel of John" on DVD. If you are unfamiliar with it, check it out! It is a word for word video narrative of the book of John and it is really well done. I liked it because it gets the Word into the atmosphere of my house, but also into us as we go about our daily business. Well, the other day, when Matt was taking Joel back for a nap, Joel looked at the movie on his way by and said "night night Jesus!". We thought it was cute and were happy that he actually knew who Jesus was, if only as a character in a story. Well, today, as he sat eating lunch in his highchair, he started singing quietly to himself "Jesus loves me...." clear as day! I know I've only sung that song to him a couple of times and I'm guess my mom has sung it to him before nap time, but here he was just singing it to himself while that movie played in our living room. Matt was on the verge of tears...it was a special moment ;)

Well, I have to get back to bed... Asher's next feeding starts in an hour.
Blessings!
~Erika~