babies are not RED, unless there is something wrong

I just woke up after having some very vivid dreams. A mix of homes. A slew of new friends from Chicago were in the dream and we were playing some intricate card game where there were only two colors and you traded things and played in pairs... anyway. We started off in one apartment where two guys and a girl lived. And then when we went outside, we were in Chattanooga. Chicago friends... in Chattanooga. Very odd.

So this is Labor day and I am so thankful that at least some of the country has a break. I enjoy long weekends because that means I get to go visit family. It is still odd, of course, because I don't have my mother here. Maybe that's what is so odd about moving. You have certain pieces of your life that are familiar but then gaping holes in other places. Some of the STUFF is the same. Maybe even some of the PEOPLE are the same. But that's it. You go on with what you've got and make the unfamiliar the newly familiar.

I'll have to share with you the little piece about home that I wrote for the school journal thingy. I haven't submitted it yet. But I wrote it about the idea of home that we all have. So I guess that the theme is still on my heart. That and my cousins just got to bring their new baby boy home Saturday. And I cannot help but celebrate the fact that the baby does get to come home. My cousin gets to come home.

I have just been surrounded with stories about babies that stay in the hospital for weeks or months or who simply never get to come home. My friend L and I were talking about how we didn't fully realize the blessing that Abi is. She's healthy and happy. L was telling me about two babies she knew that were still sick in the hospital (one with brain damage). My Aunt was telling me about a little girl at her church that was born in January and has all kinds of heart trouble. And Songs From The High Chair linked me to a very sad blog about a baby boy names James who died last week after battling diabetes (and other things). I'm just so completely grateful that I get to be around these wonderful healthy babies that have been born this year. First beautiful Ila, then my cousin's little boy Declan, then my Abi girl, and finally sweet baby Tyce is here. Thank you God because they are all healthy.