Are You A Pirate?

Well, it's time for our first 'story' to be published on the blog... leave it to Emily to be the main character!

We went to a grocery store today that is not our usual since it was on our way to a friends house that we were to drop off dinner for. We've been there several times, but as Emily gets older, her awareness of people and circumstances changes. As we steered our cart through the produce section, an employee walked by us and said 'Good morning, girls.' Emily took one look at him and the patch he wore over his eye, and said 'Arrgghh... it's a Pirate,' in her most 'piratey-like' voice. I gave her one of those looks that is supposed to communicate 'hush, right NOW' without words spoken, but she didn't seem to get it. She continued to make a few pirate comments which were all quite loud enough for the man to hear. I realized my looks weren't going to cut it, so I then said to her 'Emily, that's enough... That man is not wearing his eye patch as part of a costume or because he's trying to be silly.' I was embarrassed that he had heard that she called him a pirate and knew that I had to take the opportunity to teach her a life lesson. I prayed for wisdom and grace as I addressed her comments with her. It went something along the lines of this; "God has given you a healthy body that has 2 arms, 2 legs, 2 ears, 2 eyes, but sometimes babies are born different than you and their bodies don't work as well as yours does. Sometimes there are accidents that happen after we're born that hurt parts of our bodies and then they don't work the same as before." I explained to her that the man's eye was different than hers and that it didn't work the same as her eyes. When she asked me what happened to his eye, I responded that I didn't know. I remembered having a conversation with a friend of mine; her son has cerebral palsy and is in a wheelchair. She told me that she would much rather have children come up to her and ask her why her son was in a wheelchair than to have parents cause things to be more awkward by hushing their children with shame and emarrassment. So, I asked Emily if she would like to know why he needed to wear an eyepatch, and she said she would. We made an extra loop around the produce aisles and approached the 'pirate man'. I first apologized to him for Emily's comments and then told him that I wanted to use this as an opportunity to teach her that some people are different than her and that God made each of us special even if our bodies don't work the same way. He told us that he was not offended by the comments (he hears them a lot since he works in a grocery store in a community jam-packed full of kids!), but he also said that he REALLY appreciated that I was taking the opportunity to explain things to her rather than just ignoring it like most folks do. He told Emily that she was very lucky to have 2 eyes... he used to as well, but about 15 years ago, he was in a situation where someone was very jealous of him and pulled a gun out and shot him in the face. He said that even though he didn't have his one eye anymore, he was very lucky to be alive. I could tell that Emily was really thinking that through. I thanked him for his willingness to share with us and told him the next time we see him at the grocery store, we would call him Mr. Andrew instead of the 'Pirate-Man'. He smiled and said, 'I'll see you soon'.

I have a feeling there will be many more opportunities for life lessons as Emily grows older and her awareness of people and their differences from herself becomes more astute. I pray that everyone who finds themselves at the expense of my child's learning process will be as gracious as Mr. Andrew was today.

Here's a picture of Emily in a real fire truck. She took a trip to the hardware store with Daddy and was so curious about the fire truck that the firemen invited her to sit inside and try on their hats.

Grady Update

Grady hit the two month mark this past weekend and had his check up on Thursday. Dr. Irene says he is doing well... growing just as he should be. After our struggles to get Emily to gain weight at this age, that is always music to my ears. He is now over 11 pounds and has grown an inch since his 2 week check up. He is right around the 50% for height, weight, and head circumference. He did great- didn't fuss the entire time he was examined until the nurse gave him the shots. I think they should add a class to the pediatric nursing programs on how to give shots to infants QUICKLY. I have never seen someone move so slow while giving an immunization. One needle would go in and come out, the band-aid goes on and by the time he finally stopped crying about the first one, then she would start the second one....same thing with the third. It breaks my heart to see his little face get so red. He was very sweet with the doctor until she forced his mouth open to 'take a peek'. Then Doctor Irene got to see the pout that gets Grady his way every time with Mama. I'll have to get a picture of that one some day: then you'll see what I mean!

Here are a couple of pictures of Grady. If I can post them in the right order, you'll get a pretty clear picture of what we see between each feeding: Smiling Grady, Yawning Grady, and Cranky Grady. I haven't snuck into his room yet to get a picture while he's sleeping... you'll just have to imagine that one!

Smiling...

Yawning...

Crying...

And this one, just because it's so cute!

And the last one because it can't ALL be about Grady!

Smallest Stettler Stalk

Braelyn holding Grady

Emily and Braelyn sharing a rare hug that wasn't followed by 'I'm sorry'

Emily's castle

Displaying our fingernail polish and makeup all done with markers!

Grady Leaman Stettler became our newest 'stalk' on January 22, 2009. He is now 6 weeks old and is growing 'like a weed.' It's hard to believe that he's been with us a month and a half already! Emily and Braelyn are wonderful big sisters to their new brother. Emily loves to hold Grady and entertain him, while Braelyn (our snuggle-girl) loves to rub her cheek on the top of his head while saying "soft hair" and "I love him, Mama." It melts my heart to see their expressions of love for him because I don't as often get to see those loving sentiments expressed between the two of them.

Emily's creative mind is growing and expanding by the hour, it seems. From 'painting' fingernails with markers to building castles with her blocks, she is constantly pretending and creating. Her artistry tends to leave a path of destruction behind her which, like a typical creative-mind, gets her in trouble when it doesn't get cleaned up. Her most recent accomplishment is learning to ride her bike without the training wheels. That was Daddy's idea, and now he's paying for it as he has to run along side of her bike as she cruises the neighborhood.

Braelyn is busy trying to keep up with 'na-na' (her nick-name for Emily-not sure where that one came from!). We often say that Braelyn went from 2 to 5 years of age, skipping the years in between. As soon as she could keep up with Emily, she became her shadow...doing all the things that 4/5 year olds do. That can make Mama a little nervous at times; especially when she gets the scissors a little too close to her hair while cutting things out, or asks to take the training wheels off of her bike too! I don't think we're quite ready for that!

I've posted a few recent pictures..... enjoy!

Blogging Fog

What in the world is a blog?... was my response when I first heard about blogs a couple of years ago (I know, I'm a late bloomer in the techno world). However, as our family continues to become more dispersed across the world (yes, world...my parents just moved to Guatemala to begin a 2 year missions term. You can follow their journey through their myspace link on this page) I am making my first attempt to join the blogging society in an effort to keep everyone up to date on our family happenings. We are excited about the wonderful things God is doing in our lives and in the lives of our three children: Emily, Braelyn, and Grady. Stay tuned for pictures, stories, and updates as our three little 'stalks' grow.