What I Learned {February 2014}

At the end of every month, Emily Freeman shares what she’s learned, and she hosts a link-up on her blog where everyone can meet and share what they’ve learned too. So today, I’m joining Emily, to share what I learned in February. And I’m looking forward to hearing what you learned too!

1. My online friend, Natalie Snapp, was on a cruise with me. At the beginning of February, we had the joy of traveling on the Celebrity Silhouette to the Western Caribbean for seven days. We went with our children, and my parents, celebrating both our birthdays and anniversary while onboard.

While we were waiting to depart Ft. Lauderdale, the craziest thing happened! I checked Facebook on my phone, one last time, before being forced to turn it off for seven days to avoid astronomical fees. And when I did, I randomly saw a post from my She-Speaks friend, and fellow MOB Society writer, Natalie Snapp. She had just posted a picture of the door to her cruise-ship cabin, announcing how excited they were to be departing on the Celebrity Silhouette in a just few minutes.

As my jaw practically dropped to the floor, I showed my husband the picture to be certain I was getting this right. Natalie was on THIS ship. RIGHT now. I couldn’t believe it! I’m from California. She’s from Indiana. And to think we were on the SAME ship at the SAME time. It was just crazy! I texted her at the speed of lightning, and she replied. And what a gift it was to spend a week with Natalie and her husband Jason, relaxing and eating and chatting late into the night. What are the chances?? So. Fun.

2. “Shake the girls”, and random other breastfeeding facts. As most of you know, I have worked part-time as a labor and delivery nurse for the past 16 years. And as a nurses we do continuing education every year. Well, this month I attended 16 hours of mandatory breastfeeding education. And I’ll admit, I was pessimistic about even needing this class, and sixteen hours is a long time. Between my years of experience working, and over 5 years of my life personally breastfeeding, I found it hard to believe I’d learn anything new. But, boy, was I wrong! To my surprise, not only did we have THE best teacher EVER, but there were several new facts I learned:

Breastmilk is live medicine. It is antiviral, antibacterial, antifungal, and full of antibodies. And while I knew all that, I learned it has been used around the world to help prevent infection and disease in third world countries–used for things like eye infections, minor cuts, and scrapes, and skin infections. And breastmilk helps children in those places literally survive the first five years of life.

Mastitis never occurs in the first two weeks of breastfeeding. Ever.

Breastfeeding does not cause physiologic jaundice in the first few weeks of life. And most often, feeding the baby more volume is the answer, even more so than light therapy, since the excessive bilirubin needs to bind to protein to be metabolized.

If a baby is in a sleep state with it’s mouth open in the first 28 days of life, it is an indication of dehydration.

“Shake the girls”. If you are pumping, Dr. Jane Morton, from Stanford, has found that if you bend at the waist and “shake the girls” before pumping, it increases the volume pumped by forty percent. And it can work even if you’re not pumping. So you breastfeeding ladies, get shakin!

3. There’s a difference between guilt and regret. Guilt is what you get when you know the decision at the time was incorrect, and regret is when we find out later. Healing happens when we realize the truth. Most of us do the best we can with the information we have at the time. And so, as we process guilt or regret it is helpful to make a decision. Do the best you can until you know better. And then, do better.

4. In the Everglades of Florida, birds can straddle blades of grass. I suppose this comes in handy as they’re hunting in the Everglades, and keeps them safe from impending doom, as alligators roam across the water. Who knew they were balancing, claw-holding ninjas?

5. If you enter a contest, you just might win. This deserves it’s own post, and perhaps I’ll work on that, but suffice it to say, I rarely win anything, and therefore I rarely enter anything. But Angie Smith’s new book, Chasing God, was SO good, and the prize for sharing her words was so incredible, I couldn’t help sharing. And can you believe it? I won. Me! That fact still overwhelms me, so much. Many, many thanks to B & H Publishing for a life-changing experience. What a gift it was to win an all-expense paid trip to the IF : Gathering in Austin, Texas. Life. Changing. {sigh}. Only God.

6. Ice dancing twizzles delight my heart. I’ve always loved to watch ice skating, and always wished I could dance. So during this season of the Winter Olympics, I learned of the twizzles of ice dancing, and they took me to happy joyful places. So pretty.

8. Amidst my chaos, giving thanks continues to change me in the most marvelous ways. Our days are a matter of seeing. And being a noticer of all the good God gives continues to make a practical difference in my daily life.

7. Christy Nockels is lovely, and the song I learned from her moved me so. I’d never heard Christy before, but she has an incredible voice, worships with passion, and on a superficial sidenote, she has BEAUTIFUL hair. What a blessing it was to be led in worship by her, and the Austin Stone band, all weekend at the IF : Gathering in Austin. I’m still reveling in our time of worship there–a time to surrender our hands and our hearts to our God. To look to Him. To not be overwhelmed. And to remember He loves us, and He reigns forever all our days. Hallelujah indeed.

God I Look to You

by Brian & Jenn Johnson

What have you learned lately?

 *Linking with Ann, Laura, Emily, and Denise and their lovely communities.

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