A Baby's Hug

Today's Top Ten will be replaced by a very touching story. I usually despise forwards, but I got this story e-mailed to me sometime in the recent past, and it was very touching. Read on... and I apologize for the thousands of >'s. I'm too lazy and tired to take them out. Besides, it adds character.

A Baby's Hug
> >
> >
> >
> > We were the only family with children in the restaurant.
> > I sat Erik in a highchair and noticed everyone was
> quietly
> > sitting and talking.
> >
> > Suddenly, Erik squealed with glee and said, "Hi." He
> pounded
> > his fat baby hands on the high chair tray. His eyes were
> > crinkled in laughter and his mouth was bared in a
> toothless
> > grin, as he wriggled and giggled with merriment.
> >
> > I looked around and saw the source of his merriment. It
> > was a
> > man whose pants were baggy with a zipper at half-mast and
>
> > his
> > toes poked out of would-be shoes. His shirt was dirty
> > and his
> > hair was uncombed and unwashed. His whiskers were too
> > short to
> > be called a beard and his nose was so varicose it looked
>
> > like
> > a road map. We were too far from him to smell, but I was
>
> > sure
> > he smelled. His hands waved and flapped on loose wrists.
> >
> > "Hi there, baby. Hi there, big boy. I see ya, buster,"
> > the man
> > said to Erik.
> >
> > My husband and I exchanged looks, "What do we do?"
> >
> > Erik continued to laugh and answer, "Hi."
> >
> > Everyone in the restaurant noticed and looked at us and
> then
> > at the man. The old geezer was creating a nuisance with
> my
> > beautiful baby.
> >
> > Our meal came and the man began shouting from across the
>
> > room,
> > "Do ya patty cake? Do you know peek-a-boo? Hey, look,
> he
> > knows peek-a-boo."
> >
> > Nobody thought the old man was cute. He was obviously
> drunk.
> >
> > My husband and I were embarrassed. We ate in silence; all
> > except for Erik, who was running through his repertoire
> > for the
> > admiring skid row bum, who in turn, reciprocated with
> > his cute
> > comments.
> >
> > We finally got through the meal and headed for the door.
> My
> > husband went to pay the check and told me to meet him
> > in
>
> > the
> > parking lot.
> >
> > The old man sat poised between me and the door.
> > "Lord, just let me out of here before he speaks to me or
> > Erik,"
> > I prayed.
> >
> > As I drew closer to the man, I turned my back trying to
> > sidestep
> > him and avoid any air he might be breathing. As I did,
> > Erik leaned
> > over my arm, reaching with both arms in a baby's
> > "pick-me-
>
> > up"
> > position.
> >
> > Before I could stop him, Erik had propelled himself from
> > my arms
> > to the man's. Suddenly a very old smelly man and a very
> > young baby
> > consummated their love and kinship. Erik in an act of
> > total trust,
> > love, and submission laid his tiny head upon the man's
> ragged
> > shoulder. The man's eyes closed, and I saw tears hover
> > beneath his
> > lashes. His aged hands full of grime, pain, and hard
> > labor,
>
> > cradled
> > my baby's bottom and stroked his back. No two beings have
> > ever loved
> > so deeply for so short a time. I stood awestruck.
> >
> > The old man rocked and cradled Erik in his arms and his
> > eyes opened
> > and set squarely on mine. He said in a firm commanding
> > voice, "You
> > take care of this baby." Somehow I managed, "I will,"
> > from
>
> > a throat
> > that contained a stone.
> >
> > He pried Erik from his chest, lovingly and longingly, as
> > though he
> > were in pain. I received my baby, and the man said, "God
> > bless you,
> > ma'am, you've given me my Christmas gift." I said nothing
>
> > more than
> > a muttered thanks.
> >
> > With Erik in my arms, I ran for the car. My husband was
> > wondering
> > why I was crying and holding Erik so tightly, and why I
> > was
>
> > saying,
> > "My God, my God, forgive me."
> >
> > I had just witnessed Christ's love shown through the
> > innocence of
> > a tiny child who saw no sin, who made no judgment; a
> > child
>
> > who saw
> > a soul, and a mother who saw a suit of clothes. I was a
> > Christian
> > who was blind, holding a child who was not.
> >
> > I felt it was God asking, "Are you willing to share your
> > son for a
> > moment?" when He shared His for all eternity.
> >
> > The ragged old man, unwittingly, had reminded me, "To
> > enter the
> > Kingdom of God, we must become as little children."

Love you all. >T

Top Ten Tuesday 16

I am really busy these days, and just about the only creative thing I can come up with for today's Top Ten is more picture stuff.

Actually, Kristi and I were going to do something really cool for it last night, but then we got distracted by 5-way Euchre with my mom and Kris & Emma Taufer (which was a lot of laughing fun), so I'm sorry, but yes, Euchre does come before Top Ten Tuesday. Sometimes.

Ok. Here it is... some "Photoshopped" pictures of mine that you get to vote on. :) Pick your favorite.

1. Belle


2. Dr. Pepper


3. Painted Daisies


4. Rain Fresh


5. Lola & Sophie


6. Nature


7. Les Fleurs


8. Sophie


9. Purple Wonder


10. Pumpkin


Quote of the Week:

"What are you doing for dinner, dorkfish?"

a. Kristi Daniel
b. Tate Kaiser
c. Edmund Opal Green
d. My Uncle Jeff

So you now have two things to vote on. Good luck! I love you all, and I sincerely hope those of you who can are enjoying this beautiful weather!

T

24 Hours Late

At 5:45 a.m. this morning, I was awakended by a familiar sound.

A familiar, yet annoying sound. The sound of my phone, ringing, and ringing, and ringing, and....

"Hello," I stated groggily, forgetting that this specific salutation usually came in question form.

"Taryn. Taryn... I can't believe it."

"Can't believe what?" I asked, slightly confused about my location.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU FORGOT."

Squinting around my dark room and rubbing my eyes, the blurry red numerical digits on my clock finally came into view; yep, it was definitely too early for a normal thought process to be taking place in my mind, but nonetheless, I became aware enough to notice the extreme drama seeping through my cell phone speaker. I then tried to think of what I could have possibly forgotten to attend at 5:30 in the morning.

"What did I forget?" I asked, still baffled.

"Top Ten Tuesday. You never posted. I stayed up all night, waiting for you to e-mail me your post, and you never did. I can't believe it."

It was then that I recognized the voice as my blog editor specialist. "Ohhh... oh, oh my. I am so sorry," I apologized, rubbing my eyes again. "It totally slipped by me," I murmured, sliding out of bed and slipping into my desk chair, powering up my mac. "Let me see what the damage is."

Upon checking my e-mail, I had 55 outrageous, unread messages from people who were wondering why I had not posted a Top Ten.

_____


Ok, so that was just a fictional story, and none of that really happened. But I figured I owed you all something for not posting a Top Ten yesterday, so there you have it: a silly story. It's what I do best.

Although I did not have 55 messages or people calling me during early hours of the morning (if I did, I would be quite scared), I did have a few comments in the form of verbal and e-mail communication.

What I really wanted to to do was this: Have any of you seen those credit card ads where it says "My name: My favorite childhood memory: My first car: My... etc:, and then at the end: My card: and then it has the name of the credit card it's advertising (I think it's American Express?) and famous people fill them out? I wanted to do a take off of that, but since I could not find out in any magazine that I have searched over the past 2 days, I will make up my own. Coincidently, I will formulate 10 questions and you get to pick your favorite (Top Ten Tuesday Make-up!) and if you so choose, you may fill out the survey yourself. Here it goes...

1. My Scariest Childhood Dream: I was being chased around our old navy minivan by the scary old lady on Snow White (who had the poisonous apple), and when I turned the corner around the van, she was there right in front of me... and when I tried to scream, nothing came out

2.Favorite Warm Drink: Hot chocolate with plenty of marshmallows

3. Biggest Life's Ambition: To write and publish a book

4. Laughing: Must be real. My favorite quote is, "Laughing is the shortest distance between two people." I love to laugh, and I love to laugh with others, and when it is a real, appreciative type of laughter that lasts so long that my stomach hurts and there are tears in my eyes, there is nothing comparable.

5. Random Fact: I despise watermelon, peanuts, and mushrooms.

6. Coffee: Like the smell, it does well in a frappucinno, but without sugar, it's a no-go.

7. Most comfortable spot: Surrounded by pillows and under the covers in the center of my bed

8. Worst feeling: The moment you register your alarm going off very early in the morning, and the feeling slightly elevates in annoyance until you hit the snooze

9. My 5th birthday: My family and I went to Chuck E Cheese, and my friend, Abi, came along. I opened presents at my house and I got a bike with training wheels, an Ernie puppet, and a pack of Reese's Peanutbutter Cups from my sister.

10. My Saviour, Redeemer, and Friend: Jesus Christ

I love you all! Have fun. T

Brief Update & Who Said It 3

Hi everyone. Happy Mother's Day to all for whom which it applies.

It looks as though many of you would love nothing more than to look up into a navy blue sky with lightning bugs flying about and white twinkling stars starting to appear... because that was the winner of Tuesday's Top Ten. Actually, that notion sounds nice right about now. As I shiver thinking about the gray, cloudy gloominess that has set itself over Central Illinois the past week or so, I become slightly depressed. Usually, weather has a huge effect on my mood, but lately, I haven't had time to care.

Times have changed, though. I now have time to notice such things. I finished up with my finals this past week, and the word "freedom" (from school) has never felt so nice. The nice thing about my major, Arts Technology, is that "finals" don't really consists of tests and studying. It moreso consists of an extreme overload of many projects, performances, and creativity that needs to be carried out by the end of the semester. But hear this: I would rather have it that way. In no way does "studying" appeal to me.

For those of you who do not know, I will be keeping busy this summer with a Communications internship at Cat in Mossville. I have been training the past few weeks, and am working there currently. In another week, I will be completely full time, and luckily enough, my dad also works at Cat in Mossville, so we will drive together! It's a nice way to save on gas money. Anyway, I am excited to gain experience through this opportunity, and it will also keep my disciplined and busy.

I was listening for a quote of the week all weekend, and I finally heard it last night. Who Said It? #3:

"I thought I told you to stop eating the water trampoline."

a.) Tate, my brother
b.) Tom, my brother-in-law
c.) David Thames
d.) Luke Knapp
e.) Kristi Daniel

*Notice, the level of difficulty went up since I added 5 choices. Now you only have a 20% chance of guessing correctly.

Have fun voting! I'll talk to you all later. Love you all. T

Top Ten Tuesday 14

I almost forgot again. Wow. Anyway, this one is going to be short and sweet, because my agenda for tonight was:

1. Eat a bowl of cereal
2. Take a shower
3. Go to bed

And nowhere in that schedule did writing a creatively long Top Ten fit into the mix. So. Oh yes. It looks like from "Who Sait it," half of you thought my 5 year old nephew, and half of you thought the lady from Ruby Tuesday's. Well, it was Noah, my 5 year old nephew. He's a funny character.

Anyway, the Top Ten is: Pick your favorite random color item:

1. Pink, orange, and yellow swirls
2. The lime green grass that is only available to look at right when Spring hits
3. A navy blue sky with lightning bugs flying about and white twinkling stars starting to appear
4. A gray and black swirl of tornado
5. Red hot chili pepper
6. Fresh, sparkling snow on a bright sunny morning
7. Lavendar lilacs and yellow daisies
8. The indigo in a rainbow
9. Black and red twists of licorice
10. A bright blue sky full of white fluffy clouds

Which one speaks to you? :) Have fun. Love you all. T

Who Said It? 2

The official name of this quote business is called "Who Said it?" The correct answer to last weekend's Who Said It? is Ted Witzig, Jr. There was a request for an explanation, and it was a good analogy, so I will share the meaning of the quote. If you will remember, the quote went something like this:

"If you don't want to think about a white bear, then think about last summer's canoe trip... unless you saw white bears there."

Basically, Ted was talking about how we often struggle in our thought life by dwelling on something, which makes it even more stressful. We often use the tactic to tell ourselves to not think about it, like "Don't think about that, don't think about that, I mean it, DON'T THINK ABOUT THAT," but by doing that, we just reinforce the thought every time we say it! So instead of helping ourselves, we are only reinforcing what we shouldn't be thinking about, which is working against our favor. So what we should really do is divert our whole train of thought altogether by thinking about something new. Very good advice. A good verse to keep in mind for times like this, so that we can successfully divert our attention to something of worth is this:

Philippians 4:8
"Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things."

This week's Who Said It:

"This chocolate pudding is good, but it could use some salt."



A. my 5-year-old nephew, Noah
B. my Dad
C. Kristi (Pea #2)
D. a random lady at Ruby Tuesday's that I overheard (ironically, she got the salad bar, a recent topic of discussion in my last post)

Top Ten Tuesday 13

Well guys, it's the end of the semester and needless to say, I am running out of steam. Not to worry, I will be back on my feet once finals are done and over with, and the summer has begun. However, today we're going to take it light n'easy and go with a topic that is, of course, dear to my heart:

My Top Ten Favorite meals to order from Various Restaurants. Pick your favorite.

1. Basta's- Angel hair with meat sauce with their delicious bread smeared with garlic butter and a side salad doused with House dressing (a raspberry vinegarette)


2. Buffalo Wild Wings- 6 honey mustard barbeque wings and a bacon cheese burger with a side of buffalo chips

3. Fazzoli's- The 3-way sampler with lasagna, fettucini, and spaghetti, and about 3 of their amazing bread sticks

4. Chile's- an appetizer of chips and salsa with an order of the mushroom jack fajitas (hold the mushroom, please, unless I am splitting with someone who must have them)



5. Ruby Tuesday's- the chicken tenders dinner with fries, plus the salad bar (if I'm really hungry) which includes lettuce salad, spinach, carrots, eggs, peas, cheese, and ranch dressing with croutons

6. Uno's- the deep dish pepperoni pizza (you can't go wrong here)

For you fast food lovers...

7. Arby's- the Market Fresh chicken salad sandwich and some curly friends

8. Subway- 6" club on Monterey Cheddar with bacon, a line of mayo, 3 dots of mustard, some South West sauce, a little lettuce, and pickle, with a bag of Sun Harvest Cheddar chips, and maybe a cookie



9. China Dragon- a pint of chicken and broccoli with rice, or the garlic chicken (to split)



10. Taco Bell- anywhere other than Morton (because for some in sane reason, Morton doens't do this anymore), a Kid's Meal, which includes 2 hard shell tacos, nachos and cheese, and a granola bar, with an order of cinnamon twists

In Morton: 2 tacos, and an order of nachos and cheese, hold everything except the beans and salsa on the side

What are your taste buds saying? Let me know! I love you all!

T