My friend Karen ia Jess's god-mother.

This might be a somewhat lopsided honor from a household that doesn't believe in God.

Actually, that's part of the point. I don't believe in God and Kevin doesn't believe in God, but freedom of religion (which also means freedom from religion) is something we both believe in with great fervor.

Which means we think Jess should be able to make her own decisions about religion later in life.

The problem, as I see it, is that Jess isn't going to have any practical knowledge. I seriously doubt that Kevin's going to give up part of his weekend to take the baby to church (assuming, of course, that he eventually gets the promotion he's looking for because if he doesn't, he's going to start working Sunday through Tuesday and every other Wednesday starting in about a month).

Also, Kevin and I aren't exactly the best people to go to with Bible questions. We're both cynical and somewhat snarky about Christianity and the bible. But Karen is rather devout and not the least bit bothered about the fact that we aren't. And I seriously doubt she'd ever criticize our lack of faith to our daughter. Therefore, in the original meaning of the word, we "hired" Karen to look after our daughter's spiritual development. Should she decide she wants to develope that way.

But that's not why I'm grateful to Karen today....

Karen's been one of the most generous contributers towards our daughter's upkeep. Whenever she decides to go baby-shopping, Jess ends up with quite a few outfits and cute toys. And since our budget is pretty tight, we're very grateful for her support.

Last time she came down, Karen brought a big bag of clothes, including about 2 dozen socks. I had mentioned before she came down that Jess's socks were all too small. Not that I'd had any luck keeping the bebe in socks and I was debating about getting any more socks that Jess wouldn't wear.

Two of the packets of socks Karen bought were booty-socks, the same kind that I can't keep on Jess's feet for more than three minutes (if that.)

However, the other two packages were bobby-socks.

The other day, Jess had managed to scratch the excema on her ankle up to the point where it was really inflamed-looking and I opened the package of socks thinking maybe I could keep them on her feet long enough for the anti-bacterial cream to soak in.

She wore them all day.

YAY!