April 21, 2011 - David "Dampa" Burr is 90 today

I love Spring! It is my favorite time of year! And Easter is my favorite holiday. Everything has a new beginning.

Today is Dampa's 90th birthday...I can't believe he's 90!  He is a big part of the reason I feel so connected to Spring time.  Growing up Dampa took Chrissy and I on walks around the WFU campus, and every time we passed a vine of morning glories he would say, "Morning, Glory!" and mean it!  Every one of God's creations deserves a heartfelt greeting in the morning, and that is just what they got.  To this day, when I see a morning glory, I tell her hello, and I think she smiles back at me. 

Dampa is a retired Presbyterian minister.  He never pushed us to do more at church, but he always made sure we knew our bible stories and that we took time to think about God.  I am a Christian, I believe in God, Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, but on a day-to-day basis I find myself to be more faithful than religious.  I find more inspiration from God's earthly creations than I do from a church pew.  What better time of year to be Faithful than Easter...it's easy to believe in God, and to believe in the birth of Jesus...but to believe he was crucified to death and 3 days later was Risen from the dead...that, my friends, takes FAITH! 

Every day I wake up and have Faith that God watched over my son during the night so that I could sleep.  (believe you me, without faith, no parent would ever sleep...we would hover over a crib all night watching to make sure our child took one breath right after the next) Every day I have Faith that God will see me safely to work and home again.  Every day I have Faith that God will help me be the best parent I can be. Every day I have Faith.

Our parents, grandparents, siblings and friends all shape us into the people we become.  Dampa played the biggest role in shaping my life as a Christian.  Today is his 90th birthday.  Today I will celebrate Dampa, this weekend I will celebrate the Rise of Jesus Christ from the dead.  All the while, I have Faith that my son will have some of these same influences in his life and grow up to be a strong and Faithful Christian with amazing people to look up to just as I have.

Frustration-my short but deep thought for the day

I am a talker, and I sense that my child will be too.  Logan loves to babble.  When he wakes up from a nap, and before we go get him from his crib, he will lay in there forever just talking to his bunny or pointing at things in the room and discussing them with himself...it's so great to listen to!

Lately, he has taken to sudden and seemingly unexplainable meltdowns...a lot of them happen with Rob, who I know is easily discouraged and thinks his son hates him.  As a high anxiety person myself, I try to stay calm during these episodes, though internally that doesn't always happen.  And then one day it dawned on me...he's frustrated.  Try as he might to tell us something, we just aren't getting his message.  Ball, banana, baby, balloon...all items he is familiar with and all words that currently sound the same coming out of his mouth.  He wants something, he tells us, and we do nothing...or it seems like nothing to him...and then the screaming begins.  I am not talking about a loud cry, I am talking about a scream that affords me a better look inside of his mouth than any Dr is ever going to get during a routine exam.  I think I can see China in there!  And his tongue just quivers as hard as it possibly can.  I feel so bad for the little booger!

So here I am, in a house with two frustrated boys.  One frustrated because I can't understand him and the other frustrated because he takes the meltdown personally.  Who ever said men aren't sensitive?