Book Review: Stand By Me

I just finished a great book by one of my favorite fiction authors, Neta Jackson. Called Stand By Me, the story centers around many of the characters that I grew to love in Jackson's popular Yada Yada Sisterhood series. I couldn't wait to dig in to this story since Jackson's stories are absorbing and this one was no different--not to mention that it was an easy read on my iPad while feeding a baby!

Stand by Me follows the overlapping stories of two women: Avis Douglass, a seasoned woman of God, and graduate student and new Christian Katherine ("Kat") Davies. As she and her husband contemplate a potential move overseas, Avis' life is complicated by estrangement from her daughter, a leadership shake-up at church, and new neighbors. Similar to Avis, Kat struggles with strained family relationships, but as a brand new Christian and new attendee at Souled Out Church, her unbridled enthusiasm for social issues makes a few waves and rubs Avis the wrong way.

I enjoyed the way Jackson intertwined the stories of these two characters. Since I was already familiar with Avis' character and her portrayal as a strong Christian leader, it was interesting to see her, in this story, portrayed as more falliable--as a woman of God who can also be selfish and stubborn at times, as we all can be. I found Kat's character a wee bit annoying since she was idealistic to a fault and oblivious to social cues, but her compassion made up for this somewhat.

I particularly enjoyed the last few chapters of Stand By Me, where is becomes clear why Avis and Kat's lives intersect. Although there are no real surprises here, a beautiful story of redemption and true friendship unfolds as both women allow God to work in their lives. My only complaint about the story is that is ends rather abruptly and leaves a few loose ends. But perhaps that's the sign of a good book--it left me wanting more.

Thomas Nelson Publishers provided me with a free copy of this book in exchange for my review.

Kids Are Hard

My stream of consciousness:

Constant whining, brain fried. Mama just wants to sit on the couch with a big glass of wine and a juicy episode of The Good Wife, so I will. Perhaps I would be in better spirits if I could get more than five hours of sleep. Now I'm whining. Thank the Lord that tomorrow is a new day.

Just keeping it real, ladies. Keeping it real.

Therapy, therapy, and more therapy

It's been a while since I've mentioned Gavin's physical therapy and his tip toe walking, but after months of PT and evaluation, we're finally connecting the dots on some of his behaviours. The PT didn't seem to help with the tip toe walking and as we noticed that Gavin's gross and fine motor skills seemed delayed (he couldn't dress himself, draw, or cut with scissors) and that he has trouble "connecting" with other kids, we decided to have him evaluated by a pediatric neurosurgeon. Her recommendation was to start him in occupational therapy for sensory integration issues.

And so we recently began the journey of additional therapy for Gavs. He is going to OT twice weekly and I can say that after six weeks or so that it is beginning to make a difference. We also work with him at home each day to keep him on a sensory diet, and this is also helping. It's been a rough few weeks, though. We've had--and still have--many questions about where this is all going. Do we need to change schools so he gets daily therapy next year? How can we best help him? How do we handle the frequent temper tantrums? How can we distinguish between typical four-year-old behavior and sensory issues? This has all felt overwhelming to me lately.

This past Tuesday morning I was at my breaking point after Gavin has a meltdown when I tried to put a shirt on him for school. A big meltdown, complete with yelling and hitting and scratching me. I found myself near tears most of the morning, asking God to change something, to provide some encouragement to our family and to make things better. He poured out encouragement the very same day in the form of friends visiting from out-of-town. These friends have been going through the exact same situation with their young son, and the details they shared with us are so similar to our situation with Gavin, that we were amazed. We walked away from our dinner with them feeling so very encouraged. The next steps don't seem as daunting today.

And speaking of next steps, Gavin will be joining a supervised play group at his OT's office next week and we are super excited about it! The group will consist of three little boys and they will learn, well, how to play!

Six Month Stats

Our sweet Avie Baby (yes, she now has a family nickname!) recently turned six months old and she is, by all accounts, very healthy. Dr. Shana was impressed with her strength and predicted that she'll be crawling by nine months. However, in the week that has passed since that prediction, the girl has managed to roll over and army crawl backwards across the room, so I'm thinking she might be crawling in the next month. We shall see. All I know is that I was spoiled with Gavin. He didn't crawl until 14 months and was quite content to sit and play with toys. I have to keep my eye on Avery.

Six month stats for the girl: 16 lbs. 4 oz., 25 3/4 inches tall. Of course her head is in the 90th percentile, as is typical with all McGowan littles. Lots of brains.

Avery is beyond delightful in personality and always has a smile on her face and a giggle on her lips. I call her Sunshine Baby since she brings so much joy to our family. We all love her beyond measure!

Happy Birthday, My Big Boy!

In just a matter of hours my baby boy will officially leave toddlerhood for boyhood. Gavin will celebrate his fourth birthday tomorrow, and I can scarcely believe it!

Gavin, you are an amazing boy. Adorable, charming, quirky, curious, disarming, silly, and full of laughter. You ask intelligent questions, count to infinity, love music and have every song on each one of your CD's memorized. You love gardening and digging in the dirt, dancing, and macaroni and cheese.

You're learning to love your baby sister, and it melts my heart when I listen to you talk to her in a baby voice that you think she'll understand and sing the Itsy Bitsy Spider to her. Avery smiles and laughs at you more than anyone else and seems fascinated by your every word.

Gavs, you love your daddy more than anyone else on earth, but you still give me attention and hugs that I love--particularly when you're really excited about something. I love how you hop up and down in glee and say, "I'm so excited, Mommy! Oh, Mommy, thank you!" It's my favorite thing you do.

You also love your stuffed animal friends, Blue Puppy (BP) and Brown Puppy, although I'm not sure why they are going to be sick for your birthday party.

So, happy birthday, sweet pea. I love you, my big boy. May four-years-old be wonderful!