Did you cry?

Brooklyn was on her way to Art Camp for the last day this morning. She got her first burn on the glue gun. I asked her if she cried. She said no, but it hurt. I said, I know, I've burnt myself on one before. She said, did you cry? I said, no, but I've been burnt where I did cry before.

One day our talks won't be about a burn on the skin (iron, stove, etc.) but of the heart. She's still young and hasn't really experienced being burnt by a friend, boyfriend, boss, co-worker, etc. She's got some tears ahead to cry. I hope she will be strong, but sometimes I hope she will cry.

Camp

Brooklyn is at Art Day Camp this week. I dropped her off yesterday morning and she just went right in. Didn't hug me bye or anything. She went with strangers. Now she did know that I had checked the place out, but she found the college student in charge and went over and was ready to get started. I was sad. She's growing up.

As much as I hated the camps with the tears and the "oh, I don't want to go" when she was younger, it was sad to see the flippant "go away mom, I'm fine." for the first time. There are less and less times of her grabbing my hand as she goes into those "butterfly stomach moments". She's becoming more and more sure of herself. I want her to be a strong young woman and I guess that does mean she can't always rely on me.

I just pray that she is always still going to hold onto the hand of God and trust him and not rely just on her own understanding as she grows up.

I think God allowed me to have that job at Covenant and to love on those sixth graders to prepare me for this stage in parenting. What a challenge.

Guess we can't have our cake and eat it too. At some point they do have to grow up.

Brothers

For the past five summers Brooklyn has attended camp at Covenant. With my job being cut to 1/2 time and me basically being laid off from Covenant it would have been too awkward for her to attend camp there. I just didn't feel it was best for our family. So Brooklyn has some wonderful opportunities to branch out this summer. She's attending Art Camp, Pottery Camp, Day Camp at her school and she's having some Friends & Family weeks.

One of the things I really wanted for her this summer was for Jan to teach her some basic sewing skills (something I wish I knew more about) and for her to spend time with the Kwiatkowski boys. I want her to know she can have relationships with boys that aren't romantic. I want her to have guy friends. What better way to learn about that than in a friendly environment with another mom I trust.

Brooklyn doesn't have brothers. I never had brothers. I always thought all my relationships with guys had to be romantic. I don't want Brooklyn to grow up with that mindset.

So Jan, thanks for teaching Brooklyn how to sew and thanks for letting her have some "brothers" for the summer.

Sisters

So many of you know that Mike has been very sick, and was in the hospital for four days. Thanks for all your prayers. He is back at work and doing much better.

During this time I was trying to help Brooklyn start a new camp, take care of my husband, work, etc. I called on my girlfriends to help me. To pray for me. To give me advice. To be there if I needed them. One of them wrote to me via email and said, "Your sisters have your back." I only have half-sisters as biological sisters. I have never met Reca. Cindy lives in Tennessee with Reca. I didn't even know about them until I was in my early 20's. Needless to say we aren't very close.

Having sisters that have my back means so much to me. I didn't have sisters growing up (or brothers either). It was just me.

Thank you Jan, Stephanie, Denise, LaRue, Annette, Angela, Melissa, Kim, Mary, Glenda, Sharon, Robin, Dawn, Stephanie, Carol, Danelle, Doris, Kate, Tracy, Netty, Donna & Bettina. You "guys" are awesome. Thanks for the meal, the emails, the phone calls, the time, and the advice. I pray that you receive the same when you have a need.

Proverbs 11:14 - Without good direction, people lose their way; the more wise counsel you follow, the better your chances.

This verse really stuck out to me this week. I saw it on Mark Beeson's blog and I thought wow, what a week. Thankfully I had much wise counsel surrounding me.

Pray for your Pastor

So tonight, Brooklyn and I were saying prayers and I prayed for Pastor Kevin & Angela. For their marriage, for their ministry, for their children.

After we were finished Brooklyn asked me what was going on with Pastor Kevin. I said nothing honey, after reading another Pastor's blog I just promised to pray for Kevin & Angela for 30 days. Then it hit me. Does she think something has to be wrong for us to pray for someone? Or do they have to do something for us (we also thanked God for our friends that brought us dinner tonight) for us to remember to pray for them?

So when you pray with your children, remember to randomly pray for people. And yes, pray for your Pastor. I'm sure he will appreciate it.

Customer Service Part 2

1. Hillary was great in the ER (she was an excellent nurse)
2. Blanket warmers in the ER are awesome.
3. The guy guarding the backdoor of the ER (security) has a great personality.
4. Offering pj bottoms to a guy to protect his dignity is a great way to lend a hand of genuine customer service.
5. Offering the patient's wife something to drink while the patient is in the bathroom is a great gesture (especially when patient is NPO)
6. The new paint and artwork and flooring in the hospital looks so much warmer than the white sterile walls. Thanks for making the hospital seem more inviting.
7. When Transport is backed up it does so much for the soul when someone from ultrasound takes the patient back to the floor. In fact Ultrasound was a very pleasant experience.
8. Having security at the front door at night checking people in with name tags is a great idea.

Customer Service DOES matter in the Hospital

Many of you know that my husband, Mike is in the hospital. He went in on Saturday afternoon to the ER. There are some things that I would love to tell the local hospital administration. They have some things right and some things wrong. One thing I wish leaders could get across to business is that the problem isn't with people it's with systems. Our local hospital (Mission) has some systems problems.

1. You have to go to the front desk to get your bracelet and register and then four stations before you are seen in the ER.
2. Four stations is ridiculous (weights & measures, triage, insurance, specials (if you need an EEG or something).
3. I can understand 2 (triage & insurance)
4. You should educate the public on conditions that don't necessitate an ER visit. Many people will wait until they are dying because they don't want to sit in the ER in line behind people that should have gone to the urgent care. (Sounds like a great publicity campaign to me)
5. Your staff should support their doctors.
6. Your doctors should support your staff.
7. Your nurse should not tell you she can't move you to a room because the doctor is at Wild Wings (how much beer has he had and he is ordering what for me?)
8. Your nurse should communicate the delay, apologize and repage said physician.
9. Your nurse should not have to tell you what is wrong with you because their has been no communication and then not be able to tell you what it means. (i.e. you have ________, but I'm not sure how they plan to treat it. You're fine the doctor will be in later.)
10. Your nurse should tell you that the doctor did try to see you while you were in Ultrasound having a procedure.
11. Your doctor should tell the nurse that he did try to see you while you were away and will be back, but it might take hours.
12. When a patient is obviously worried about his situation the nurse should not tell the patient what is wrong and leave it for the doctor to explain four - five hours later.
13. A patient should not be left without food for hours and not be told why he can't have food (or water for that matter).
14. A doctor should not call the patient's wife hun. And if he does he should be prepared for her to go off on him.