oh how He loves us

The Darlings have had their first successful road trip! :) The last one didn’t end so well, but this time we made it to and from our destination safely. It was neat driving yesterday and getting to be with Cale. There’s such a difference being with him at the hospital and then being with him in “normal” life. I love both, because it’s me getting to be with him, but I must say, outside of these hospital walls waits a wonderful bright future!

While we were still in Palo Alto, Marion (the lady that has been a huge blessing in encouraging me and I only just met her a couple weeks ago!) had purchased tickets for us to go to a Beth Moore conference together since she knew we were going to be coming to Seattle. I wasn’t sure how it was going to work out with me going once we moved into the apartment so quickly, but the Lord provided! Cale stayed and hung out with her two sons and had some much needed guy time. At first he wasn’t too happy about me leaving yesterday. When I said (with much enthusiasm), that he was going to get some guy time, he replied, “I like you better.” He did end up understanding that he would be ok when I left.

Not only did I get to spend time with Marion, but also was so blessed to meet some other ladies that have been praying for us! I can’t even describe clearly how much it blesses my heart when I hear of someone that has been reading this blog and praying for us. It’s like a double blessing if I haven’t met them and then get to!

Here are a few clips from the weekend...




Cale was awake and waiting when we got in late last night. While I was gone, he had talked with his mom on the phone and she had a great story to share with me. I don’t remember all of it correctly, but one part was especially cute to me. They were singing Old MacDonald had a Farm; both of them coming up with animals. At one point, Cale said, “A girl” Kathy questioned that and asked, what does a girl say? Cale said, “Laugh, Laugh” Then next he said, “A boy” when she asked about that one, he said that the girl needed a boy. When she asked what the boy says, Cale responded with, “Hi girl!” I didn’t tell this nearly as good as Kathy last night, but try using the boy and girl with that song…pretty cute! :)

This morning came really early. Cale has a rough time sleeping every night, but last night was the worse. I’m not sure that we slept more than two hours! We were almost late to the event, but right as I walked into the arena, the worship started. So good. The last two sessions had a lot of good stuff, I’m not sure there were any big things that were spoken to me, but that’s ok! Last night was so powerful for me.

One of the songs we sang was How He Loves Us. I was flooded with all of these thoughts about how much God really loves each of us. He’s kind of an important guy…and He’s got a lot of children-but He’s never too busy for me. It was great to see Beth speak, but never would she have enough time to walk around and talk with every woman that was there this weekend. God doesn’t work like that. He loves us. Really. He doesn’t just hire people to help take care of us. We never need an appointment or a special occasion to be in contact with Him. He’s always waiting for us to talk with Him. He’s always looking forward to hearing our hearts even though He already knows what we’re going to say. He delights in us…wow. I just get so crazy excited every time I start to think about it!

After the conference was over, we drove back to Marion’s house and had lunch and then pretty quickly after, Cale and I hit the road. The drive back was even more fun then the drive there. Cale is starting to talk so much more. It’s little stuff, but it’s so much fun! When we had first merged onto I5, I was complaining about a SUV that wouldn’t let me in. Cale cracked me up because he said to me, “Where’s the green hippie?” Haha! What?! I was laughing so hard I had tears running down my cheeks. Cale was laughing too, but very confused as to why I was laughing so hard. Finally we came to an understanding that I was not talking about a green hippie!

We also passed a large building when we were close to the hospital. Cale asked if it was a hospital. I told him that the building was actually apartments. Cale shrugged his shoulders and said, “Eh, they’re the same.” He’s been saying things are the same when he gets things mixed up or wrong. This time he actually had a good point when I questioned them being the same. He said, “You have to pay to stay there.” Uh…yeah, hmm…you sure do! Good point!

He’s been asking so many questions about everything! I love it, but man, I don’t feel so smart all of a sudden! Haha! What’s even more awesome is that when I explain something to him, I’ll ask him if he understands and he’ll tell me if he doesn’t get it.

I feel like this is such a big deal that he’s asking questions. The wheels in his brain are turning and by golly, I’m going to grease them up and help them turn!

Here’s a really good video. It’s long, but still good. I just love this song!