This blog is not quite 2 years old - September 23 2009 was my first post. The very next day, I posted about bedtime routines and wanting to bring more Pagan influences into Acorn's life...and here we are, 2 years later, and I'm still thinking about the same things, and not making a lot of progress
Bedtime has always been a bit chaotic. We've got something of a routine down, but the past few months everything's been in turmoil, and it's gotten a bit more chaotic. I'm hoping now that we don't have nurses to make it a little more standardized and to include prayers.
Acorn likes sitting outside and just watching things. When he and I are out, we talk (well, I talk, he listens) about thanking the trees for having so many nice leaves to give us shade, and thanking the sun for its warm light, and the clouds for rain, and the grass for being soft under our feet. He's interested in trees, and pats them gently, which is terribly cute, given his limited "pretend play" skills and his issues with textures.
The texture thing must be getting better though - he went barefoot in the grass this week, all the way from the front of the house, and around to his swingset in the back.
There are no Pagan parenting groups here locally. Few people to bounce ideas off of in person, few other kids for him to hang out with who even come close to sharing our faith - most of the Pagan parents I know are online. It's one of the few situations where I really wish there was a community here that we were comfortable being a part of.
Showing posts with label prayers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label prayers. Show all posts
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Counting our Blessings
Acorn's cardiologist is an interesting guy. Every time we've met with him, starting at only a couple weeks old, he's told us what a blessing Acorn is, and that "God willing" he will grow up to be a healthy, strong young man. The interesting thing about that statement is that he's a devout Jew, and the Jewish folk I've known over the years usually aren't so sharing about faith, nor are they so quick to use their Lord's name. I love the fact that he's genuinely excited when things go well and when he sees improvement, and genuinely sorrowful when things aren't so promising - so many of our doctors are detached and seem not to care. I love the fact that when Acorn is scared or crying, the cardiologist sings to him in Yiddish, which usually results in Acorn quieting up, with a confused look on his face, like "OMG, I have no idea what he's saying - what's up with that?"
This sort of openness about faith bothers my husband, but I'm actually really comfortable with it - this doctor lives his faith in a caring, genuine way. And that's the kind of faith I've always tried to grow within myself. Several people over the years have shown me that there are ways to live as a part of a religious community that alienate others, and ways to live and conduct yourself that speak to what faith is all about. I'm not always where I'd like to be on that front, but I'm working on it.
Back to that bit on blessings though - Acorn's cardiologist was very happy this week when it was revealed that even as we're reducing the dosage of his heart medication, the signs of pulmonary hypertension are still staying away. Less than a year ago, he was still having nearly daily pulmonary hypertensive crises, including one this time last year, where we called the ambulance because we couldn't get his oxygen saturation up out of the low 80's with all the tricks and equipment at our disposal - they decided just to throw him and I in the ambulance and go, full lights and sirens, because they didn't know what to do either.
The cardiologist again repeated at the end of our visit what a blessing Acorn is, and what a blessing this improvement is.
The same day, a document was posted on the tracheostomy message board I frequent. The poster's child had a fairly rare condition, and an even rarer "experimental" procedure to save his life before birth (the child is a preschooler now, or thereabouts, as I recall). The document posted showed a literature review for children with this condition, and found only seven cases, one of them being this particular child. Of the seven, only this child survived more than a few weeks (though the parent comments that they know a couple of others about the same age who survived as well).
Kinda puts it all in perspective, doesn't it?
20 years ago, not only would Acorn likely have died, I probably would have too. Instead, we're happy, mostly healthy, and moving forward into the future.
We are blessed, by every definition of the word.
This sort of openness about faith bothers my husband, but I'm actually really comfortable with it - this doctor lives his faith in a caring, genuine way. And that's the kind of faith I've always tried to grow within myself. Several people over the years have shown me that there are ways to live as a part of a religious community that alienate others, and ways to live and conduct yourself that speak to what faith is all about. I'm not always where I'd like to be on that front, but I'm working on it.
Back to that bit on blessings though - Acorn's cardiologist was very happy this week when it was revealed that even as we're reducing the dosage of his heart medication, the signs of pulmonary hypertension are still staying away. Less than a year ago, he was still having nearly daily pulmonary hypertensive crises, including one this time last year, where we called the ambulance because we couldn't get his oxygen saturation up out of the low 80's with all the tricks and equipment at our disposal - they decided just to throw him and I in the ambulance and go, full lights and sirens, because they didn't know what to do either.
The cardiologist again repeated at the end of our visit what a blessing Acorn is, and what a blessing this improvement is.
The same day, a document was posted on the tracheostomy message board I frequent. The poster's child had a fairly rare condition, and an even rarer "experimental" procedure to save his life before birth (the child is a preschooler now, or thereabouts, as I recall). The document posted showed a literature review for children with this condition, and found only seven cases, one of them being this particular child. Of the seven, only this child survived more than a few weeks (though the parent comments that they know a couple of others about the same age who survived as well).
Kinda puts it all in perspective, doesn't it?
20 years ago, not only would Acorn likely have died, I probably would have too. Instead, we're happy, mostly healthy, and moving forward into the future.
We are blessed, by every definition of the word.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
A new project
I have a new little writing project, the Pagan Mother's Prayer Book. It's an online prayer book geared towards Pagan moms (as if you couldn't figure that out by the title), with audience participation encouraged.
Feel free to stop by over there and check it out.
We're travelling to my brother's wedding this weekend; I'll either post a lot more about the crazy family, or a lot less.
Feel free to stop by over there and check it out.
We're travelling to my brother's wedding this weekend; I'll either post a lot more about the crazy family, or a lot less.
Sunday, October 4, 2009
more thoughts on prayers
I wrote these two verses tonight - one for morning, and one for evening. I'm not sure I'm done with them, but they're a good start.
Father Sun has ended his day
and Mother Moon is on her way
to watch me while I sleep and dream
she peeks through my window with her moonbeam.
Mother Moon has ended her night
and Father Sun has brought his light
to keep me safe while I play
and brighten up this brand new day.
Father Sun has ended his day
and Mother Moon is on her way
to watch me while I sleep and dream
she peeks through my window with her moonbeam.
Mother Moon has ended her night
and Father Sun has brought his light
to keep me safe while I play
and brighten up this brand new day.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Bed time
I think Acorn needs a bedtime routine.
He's at that age where he doesn't just fall asleep anywhere. And now that he's been out of the hospital long enough that we've abandoned their routines, he needs a bit more stability in his life (which is probably why weekends are so hard, because we're still learning to balance his schedule with ours, and generally doing a bad job - during the week, his nurses keep his schedule going quite swimmingly).
We've never done the nightly bath thing. It's hard on my skin, and his is even more sensitive, so it's not worth upsetting the apple cart, you know? But I'm thinking 9 pm, jammies (now that it'll soon be PJ weather here in the great white north again), g-tube and trach cleaning and new ties (we've found his nurses to be inconsistent on this front), a book or two, and then to bed. He puts himself to sleep really well, which is good news for us.
I think I'd like to add a prayer in there. Something appropriately Pagan - and I'm actually pretty flexible on that, having done everything from ceremonial magick to Wicca to hard-core polytheist to Dianic. Right now, I just want something that works for us, and something that is easy for little ones to say and remember - it's not like Acorn will be talking anytime soon, but it needs to be something that will be easy for him when he does.
Google gives lots of options, and like most things meant for kids these days (and like a surprising number of Pagan-y things these days), they mostly seem kinda hokey. So far, the best I've found (which comes with an "author unknown" attribution, so if it's yours, please let me know so I can give appropriate credit):
Day is done, it's time for bed
Goddess bless my sleepy head
Earth and Water, Air and Fire
Bring gentle dreams as I retire
When the morning sun does rise
The God will bless my open eyes
Anyways. I think we'll start with that, and see if we can make progress. The one stumbling block I see is that some nights our nurses come at 9, and most of them are obviously Christian - several wear crosses, one sends her kids to Catholic school - so I doubt they'd do prayers with him. But it'd be a start.
He's at that age where he doesn't just fall asleep anywhere. And now that he's been out of the hospital long enough that we've abandoned their routines, he needs a bit more stability in his life (which is probably why weekends are so hard, because we're still learning to balance his schedule with ours, and generally doing a bad job - during the week, his nurses keep his schedule going quite swimmingly).
We've never done the nightly bath thing. It's hard on my skin, and his is even more sensitive, so it's not worth upsetting the apple cart, you know? But I'm thinking 9 pm, jammies (now that it'll soon be PJ weather here in the great white north again), g-tube and trach cleaning and new ties (we've found his nurses to be inconsistent on this front), a book or two, and then to bed. He puts himself to sleep really well, which is good news for us.
I think I'd like to add a prayer in there. Something appropriately Pagan - and I'm actually pretty flexible on that, having done everything from ceremonial magick to Wicca to hard-core polytheist to Dianic. Right now, I just want something that works for us, and something that is easy for little ones to say and remember - it's not like Acorn will be talking anytime soon, but it needs to be something that will be easy for him when he does.
Google gives lots of options, and like most things meant for kids these days (and like a surprising number of Pagan-y things these days), they mostly seem kinda hokey. So far, the best I've found (which comes with an "author unknown" attribution, so if it's yours, please let me know so I can give appropriate credit):
Day is done, it's time for bed
Goddess bless my sleepy head
Earth and Water, Air and Fire
Bring gentle dreams as I retire
When the morning sun does rise
The God will bless my open eyes
Anyways. I think we'll start with that, and see if we can make progress. The one stumbling block I see is that some nights our nurses come at 9, and most of them are obviously Christian - several wear crosses, one sends her kids to Catholic school - so I doubt they'd do prayers with him. But it'd be a start.
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