New president!!!

Asbury Seminary announced this morning that Dr. Timothy Tennent will be inaugurated as our new president! This is great news, as we have been lacking presidential leadership since the Fall of 2006. I don't know much about Dr. Tennent, but I have read his book, Theology in the Context of World Christianity which, if you remember, was on my Best Of 2008 list as a book you MUST read.

Welcome, Dr. Tennent, and may the Lord be with you as you take on the task of leading Asbury!

Why my kid's mouth is purple

I've gotten a curious reaction from a few other moms when I've mentioned that Karis has thrush: their eyes bug out, they gasp and/or groan, and then give me a pitiable look before saying, "Oh, I'm SO sorry! Thrush is SO HARD to get rid of!" Hmm. Well, during an impromptu trip to the UTC last Saturday when I brought Karis in for what I thought might be pink eye but was actually just a plugged tear duct, I asked the doctor to swab Karis' tounge and, sure enough, a little bit of yeast turned up on the culture. Her tounge has had a thick white coating since she was about 3 weeks old, but because it wasn't spreading in her mouth, she wasn't passing it to me, and she wasn't complaining, I figured I'd wait it out. But the white stuff hasn't gone away, so I've decided to tackle the problem with gentian violet. This stuff is EXTREMELY MESSY and will basically dye anything it touches, even after it's dry. Since Karis has had a diaper rash also for a few weeks, I've decided to let her go diaper-free for a few hours a day and expose the rash to sunlight (yeast hates sunlight, apparently) as well as using yogurt to treat the rash. Yummy. Hopefully, all these magic remedies will work and my baby will finally have a normal pink tonge. Until then, she'll look like this:

She...really likes her cell phone.

Superbowl countdown!

http://steelerladies.com/

...and...



GO STEELERS!!!!!!!

WIND AND SNOWWW!!

My town has been completely encapsulated in ice for two days now. We haven't had an ice storm like this since 2003, and a lot of people are saying this storm is worse. But while most of the county has shut down (including the seminary, which is extremely rare), Matt still had to drive into Lexington for work yesterday and today. Grrr. It took him a half hour to chip out his car yesterday morning! I appreciate that he works for such a dedicated company, but c'mon...

In other news, Candace and I had our last postpartum appointment on Monday! The end of an era! Karis weighed in at 11 lbs., 14 oz! which I am super proud about. And we're still uncertain of whether or not she has thrush; there is still a thick white coating on her tounge and she has a persistant diaper rash, but I'm not having any thrush symptoms which seems strange (she should have spread it to me by now). I'm just praising the Lord that we've gotten through 6 weeks with no colic and relatively restful nights--it's such a pleasant change!

My experience today

Like most Americans, I was watching the Presidential Innaguration this afternoon. But unlike many, I was watching the president's swearing-in and acceptance speech in a roomful of seminary students. I wasn't sure what to expect at this event, but it was immediatey evident that almost everyone there voted for the other guy; the crowd was silent and solemn. Well, all except one woman--an African American woman who at first was crying and then silently cheering Obama on as he spoke. It was an experience I will not soon forget. What I will remember most was the strong impression in my spirit to begin praying in ernest for our president.

Karis update

Karis and I had our third postpartum appointment today. Although it was kind of rushed (Candace had just come from two back-to-back births!), there was nothing but good news. Karis has gained a solid TWO POUNDS since birth--she is now 10 lbs. 10 oz! I could hardly believe that Candace was reading the scale correctly :-) Wahoo for breastmilk!