Izzy and the Love that holds us.

Once a week I spend the day nannying for a most wonderful family. I watch their little girl, Isabella most of the day.


Because of Izzy, I have found Wednesdays to be filled with love and life. She is the sweetest little baby who is filled with wonder at the smallest happiness, such as her swing or her bottle. She is restless and fights sleep, but goes out like a light when I hold her. Her little face glows when I walk into the room once a week.

And she, much like the children I serve at church, has certainly been a means of grace to me. She has taught me the meaning of this verse:

The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing."
Zephaniah 3:17

Izzy can just look at me and I grin. How God must feel the same about us. We look at Him and he grins too.

Izzy and I love to turn on worship music in the house and sing and dance. It makes me so happy when Izzy will coo like she's trying to sing. And when she is going to sleep, I sing to her. And I smile at how my God sings to me, when I am restless and confused and exhausted.


What a beautiful thing it is to be quieted by the love of the Creator of the Universe.

The Gospel According to Fisher-Price

Once a month I spend time with the best preachers I know.

They don't say a whole lot, and if they do talk, sometimes I can't understand it. Here's the thing: sometimes I have to wipe their noses or help them use the restroom.

Often I dry their tears and reassure them that mommy's coming after Pastor Maury gets finished teaching her.

Yes, I am a proud nursery worker.

And yes, the sticky fingers of three-year-olds point me to Jesus. How? There are many ways.

For example, Isaac, a delightful two-year-old, came bounding up to me, smiled, and said "Wet's Pway!" That was a means of grace to me. No one else gave me a 50-watt smile when I walked into the building my church meets in. (I am not saying that my church isn't friendly. They are. Isaac was just the friendliest today.)

Then there is Ava. She is fiercely independent (reminds me of myself...) and loves her blankie. Ava is always the first to blaze a new trail and try something new. She isn't afraid of anything. That's how I long to live.

I could tell story after story about different instances about God teaching me things through these beautiful children. Lessons I've learned about selfishness, self-control (Ava snuck a doughnut that was bigger than her and little did she know, she was going to Mi Pueblo after church...sad day), faithfulness (Ethan let me read a whole book to him today even though i sure he was past his attention span), and how to really love people.

So even when they get out the tambourine and the pretend piano and it's [loudly, hello--kids are loud, deal with it] beautiful, I smile because their offering of praise is sometimes FAR more than what I give.