Showing posts with label erica. Show all posts
Showing posts with label erica. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Walker
Some of you might remember an earlier post of mine about a sweet little boy named Walker Rainey who was diagnosed with a very aggressive type of cancer when he was 6 1/2 months old. Jesus called Walker home this morning, though he and his family and his doctors spent the last 11 months doing everything they could to beat the disease. Missy and Chad, Walker's mommy and daddy, are strong Christians who stand firm in the promise that God's will is perfect, but there's no doubt that they need as much support as they can get right now. Please take a moment to lift them up in whatever way works for you, whether that be through prayer or silence or song, etc.
Thursday, August 5, 2010
Word from the Wise (ha!)
I know my post is a few days late, but I didn't want to miss out on this week's topic!
Dear 16-year-old me (SYOM):
Haven't seen you in a while! Boy, do I have some stories to tell you... So look, I know you're not really into taking advice from an old lady at this point (since you're so smart and grown-up and all), but I'm going to give you some pointers anyway.
Your parents are smarter than you think, especially your mom. Their rules aren't as ridiculous as they seem, and they're not trying to cramp your style. They just want you to be safe. Spend some more quality time with them; they miss you.
Don't drive so fast through your neighborhood. It's rude and scary to people who have little kids. In fact, just don't drive so fast, period.
Those crazy friends you've made, they're forever. Well done, SYOM, well done.
Over the next few years, especially when you're in college, don't spend your summers working really hard at not working too hard. Does that make sense? That restaurant hostess job isn't going anywhere. Instead, look for interesting internships and learning experiences that might help you figure out what kind of career you might really enjoy, even if it means you can't spend as much time with __________ (insert name of guy here).
About that guy, and the others, you don't have to get so serious! It's OK to have some space! When the right one comes along, you won't have to force it.
Moving to Mississippi next year is going to seem exciting, then scary, then a little lonely. Do it anyway; it's the right thing and it will be great!
Keep up with those journals! Write more! You will love reading them and reminiscing.
Overall, SYOM, you're doing OK. You've got some tough times ahead, but some super-terrific times also. The important thing is, you'll learn from them all. Roll with the punches. Remember who you are and Whose you are. Your hair looks great, by the way.
Your future self,
Me
Dear 16-year-old me (SYOM):
Haven't seen you in a while! Boy, do I have some stories to tell you... So look, I know you're not really into taking advice from an old lady at this point (since you're so smart and grown-up and all), but I'm going to give you some pointers anyway.
Your parents are smarter than you think, especially your mom. Their rules aren't as ridiculous as they seem, and they're not trying to cramp your style. They just want you to be safe. Spend some more quality time with them; they miss you.
Don't drive so fast through your neighborhood. It's rude and scary to people who have little kids. In fact, just don't drive so fast, period.
Those crazy friends you've made, they're forever. Well done, SYOM, well done.
Over the next few years, especially when you're in college, don't spend your summers working really hard at not working too hard. Does that make sense? That restaurant hostess job isn't going anywhere. Instead, look for interesting internships and learning experiences that might help you figure out what kind of career you might really enjoy, even if it means you can't spend as much time with __________ (insert name of guy here).
About that guy, and the others, you don't have to get so serious! It's OK to have some space! When the right one comes along, you won't have to force it.
Moving to Mississippi next year is going to seem exciting, then scary, then a little lonely. Do it anyway; it's the right thing and it will be great!
Keep up with those journals! Write more! You will love reading them and reminiscing.
Overall, SYOM, you're doing OK. You've got some tough times ahead, but some super-terrific times also. The important thing is, you'll learn from them all. Roll with the punches. Remember who you are and Whose you are. Your hair looks great, by the way.
Your future self,
Me
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Amazing Grace
My testimony, much like Beth's, starts long before I was born. I have the great fortune of coming from many generations of God-fearing, churchgoing folks. I'm not sure I was attending church with my parents when I was 2 days old, but I will say that I was born on December 13 and played the role of Baby Jesus in the nativity play at our church that year. Not too shabby :) My dad was the music minister at our church, so I grew up in Sunday school and choir and Vacation Bible School and GAs (Girls in Action) and the whole works.
On my first day of school, in 1984, my mom gave me a red Zondervan NIV Bible. My first big-girl Bible. While the pages have long since separated from the binding, I still have that cover, because written on the inside, in my 6-year-old hand, is the following:
APRiL 7, 1985
EasTeR Sunday
I ask'ed JeSuS into my heaRT
Like I said, I was 6, so my memory isn't crystal clear, but I'm pretty sure I was sitting on a bean bag in one of the back bedrooms at my Mema's house after church; my mom answered some questions and made sure I understood, then prayed with me. Even now, I remember knowing that something big and wonderful had happened, that I was changed.
Due to my apparent need to document these types of things, I have another Bible (navy blue this time) with the following written inside (in my 11-year-old very round cursive handwriting):
I was baptised on:
mo./dy./yr./
5/13/90/ Mother's Day
My brother and I were baptised together. I love the words I always heard said during baptisms - "Buried with Christ in baptism, raised to walk in a new way of life." If you dissect that phrase and really think about it, it's deep. It's awesome. Your old life, your past mistakes, your shame, your guilt is GONE. It DIED WITH CHRIST ON THE CROSS and your life is new. Praise God!
I think one of the great things about a testimony is that it keeps changing and growing. Those pivotal moments of salvation and baptism are obviously constants, but the rest is an ever-evolving story. I have had dark times in my life, times when I strayed far, far, FAR away from God. Times that I was too ashamed to tell people I was a Christian because I knew my actions were not an accurate reflection of the Christian life. Even darker times when I stopped worrying about that.
God is merciful. God extends grace. God forgives. Thank you, God. He never let me go; He never turned his back on me. He kept showing up, and waiting, and drawing me home. I am not perfect, and neither is my life. I have a list of faults and foibles a mile (or two) long, but I have learned that a life without God is meaningless. I have learned that I can't do life without Him and I don't want to try.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.
Amen!
On my first day of school, in 1984, my mom gave me a red Zondervan NIV Bible. My first big-girl Bible. While the pages have long since separated from the binding, I still have that cover, because written on the inside, in my 6-year-old hand, is the following:
APRiL 7, 1985
EasTeR Sunday
I ask'ed JeSuS into my heaRT
Like I said, I was 6, so my memory isn't crystal clear, but I'm pretty sure I was sitting on a bean bag in one of the back bedrooms at my Mema's house after church; my mom answered some questions and made sure I understood, then prayed with me. Even now, I remember knowing that something big and wonderful had happened, that I was changed.
Due to my apparent need to document these types of things, I have another Bible (navy blue this time) with the following written inside (in my 11-year-old very round cursive handwriting):
I was baptised on:
mo./dy./yr./
5/13/90/ Mother's Day
My brother and I were baptised together. I love the words I always heard said during baptisms - "Buried with Christ in baptism, raised to walk in a new way of life." If you dissect that phrase and really think about it, it's deep. It's awesome. Your old life, your past mistakes, your shame, your guilt is GONE. It DIED WITH CHRIST ON THE CROSS and your life is new. Praise God!
I think one of the great things about a testimony is that it keeps changing and growing. Those pivotal moments of salvation and baptism are obviously constants, but the rest is an ever-evolving story. I have had dark times in my life, times when I strayed far, far, FAR away from God. Times that I was too ashamed to tell people I was a Christian because I knew my actions were not an accurate reflection of the Christian life. Even darker times when I stopped worrying about that.
God is merciful. God extends grace. God forgives. Thank you, God. He never let me go; He never turned his back on me. He kept showing up, and waiting, and drawing me home. I am not perfect, and neither is my life. I have a list of faults and foibles a mile (or two) long, but I have learned that a life without God is meaningless. I have learned that I can't do life without Him and I don't want to try.
Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.
T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.
Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me.
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be,
As long as life endures.
Yea, when this flesh and heart shall fail,
And mortal life shall cease,
I shall possess within the veil,
A life of joy and peace.
When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.
Amen!
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Vacay!
I am blessed to have been given the opportunity to do a lot of traveling in my life thus far. I've been to Europe (4 times), Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean, Tibet, Nepal, and various places in the good ole U.S. of A. Scuba diving, sight-seeing, trekking...so many fun things! And there are so many more places I hope to see! I've never really taken a trip I didn't enjoy, and I peruse my photos and journals often, remembering the little stories and funny things that happened. 
Out of all the awesome trips, though, my all-time favorite destination so far has been Kauai. I have a hard time writing this (remember my earlier post about how difficult it is for me to decide on favorites?) because, like I said, I've been to some really incredible places, but the trip to Kauai with Adam was different and neat in so many ways. First, we found this outstanding cottage to stay in (click the link and definitely give this place some serious consideration if you're ever planning a trip to Kauai!) - staying there almost made it feel like we lived on the island, not just visiting. Second, we planned only a few scheduled activities (zipline, massages on the beach, the requisite luau), but really left most days completely open and relaxed. Usually our trips are scheduled down to the minute! Third, the weather was awesome and the island is so incredibly beautiful! We did some amazing hikes, snorkeled in the crystal-clear ocean, and relaxed on pristine beaches. We saw rainbows every day! We also bought fresh fruit at a local farmer's market - I still can't eat a mango without being transported right back to the Aloha state.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that there were a few low points. I got SO INCREDIBLY CARSICK driving up to the Waimea Canyon lookout and on to the Alakai Swamp. Getting back down was just as bad, if not worse. It took several hours for me to recover. Yuck. Also, Adam got really sick with some kind of viral throat infection a few days into the trip and we had to make an appointment with a doctor. So, Adam might not call this his favorite trip of all time (I'm pretty sure Disney World would walk away with that title), but we both agree it was a blissfully magical trip. We can't wait to go back, maybe with our little guy in tow!!
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
Time flies
Hard to believe, but my little Asher turned ONE last Saturday!! Wow!! We threw a "Splash with Ash" pool-themed party at my mom's house (thanks, Mom and Greg!) and had soooo much fun celebrating our baby boy's first year of life. We were so blessed by the people that drove in from out of town (and drove waaaay across town (my parents live pretty far out)). I realized as we were doing all the planning and executing that it's been a long time since I put something like that together without the help of a handful of others. Whew! Thankfully, once it was all set up we could just party it up and enjoy ourselves - and we did!
A few months ago, my mom and I came across a book called What's New, Cupcake? at Bed Bath & Beyond. The ideas in there are so cute! One in particular was perfect for our theme, so we stayed up kinda late the night before the party making these:
Talk about fun! Quite a bit of work, but definitely worth it in the end.
Last but not least, a shot of the birthday boy. He bring us such joy - we thank God for him every day!
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
Keep Austin Weird
There are so many things to love about Austin. In fact, the entertainment options can be downright overwhelming sometimes. Here are some of our tried and true faves:
1) Alamo Drafthouse Cinema - it's like "duh", why hasn't this caught on in more cities? Eat good food, drink good beer (or soda, or whatever), watch a great movie. Genius! An added bonus is that they are super-serious about people being considerate moviegoers. If someone is talking and disturbing those around them, they get a warning; if they continue to be annoying, they're outta there. This is made clear before the movie begins. Again, genius. I've never seen anyone get kicked out - people go to the Drafthouse because they want to watch the movie, not talk and goof off. Plus, you have to be 18 or older to go (anyone under 18 has to be accompanied by a parent or guardian). It's hard for us to see movies anywhere else. In addition to regular movies, they also do special stuff like: Sing-A-Longs (Grease, Ladies of the '80s, etc.); Feasts (the menu is specifically designed to correlate with the movie); Master Pancake (comedians John Erler and Joe Parsons sit on the front row and make fun of movies, very similar to Mystery Science Theater 3000) and dozens of other cool, different things. They also do Baby Days where people can bring their little ones and not get the stink-eye if said little ones get fussy or cranky. AND you always want to get there as early as possible because they show the funniest, most random stuff before the movie starts. Like if you go see Ironman, they'll show old Ironman cartoons and clips of Robert Downey, Jr. interviews and footage from his early days as an actor - stuff like that. I could go on and on. The place is just THE BEST. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT.
2) Did you know that Austin is home to North America's largest urban bat colony? Over 1 million Mexican Freetail bats live under the Congress Avenue bridge, and every night between March and November you can gather at the bridge to watch them fly out to spend the evening eating bugs. It's usually quite spectacular (sometimes, though, they come out so late that it's too dark to really see them - a definite bummer).
3) I've talked about BookPeople before, but it's worth mentioning again. It is simply one of the best book stores ever. The employees really know their stuff and they're friendly. The store is laid out in such a way that you will find what you're looking for and also stuff you didn't even know you were looking for. There are lots of comfy, out-of-the-way places to sit and chill and it's also an awesome place to people-watch.
I haven't even touched on the subject of fantastic eateries and music venues - they are legion. My suggestion - come check out Austin for yourself!
1) Alamo Drafthouse Cinema - it's like "duh", why hasn't this caught on in more cities? Eat good food, drink good beer (or soda, or whatever), watch a great movie. Genius! An added bonus is that they are super-serious about people being considerate moviegoers. If someone is talking and disturbing those around them, they get a warning; if they continue to be annoying, they're outta there. This is made clear before the movie begins. Again, genius. I've never seen anyone get kicked out - people go to the Drafthouse because they want to watch the movie, not talk and goof off. Plus, you have to be 18 or older to go (anyone under 18 has to be accompanied by a parent or guardian). It's hard for us to see movies anywhere else. In addition to regular movies, they also do special stuff like: Sing-A-Longs (Grease, Ladies of the '80s, etc.); Feasts (the menu is specifically designed to correlate with the movie); Master Pancake (comedians John Erler and Joe Parsons sit on the front row and make fun of movies, very similar to Mystery Science Theater 3000) and dozens of other cool, different things. They also do Baby Days where people can bring their little ones and not get the stink-eye if said little ones get fussy or cranky. AND you always want to get there as early as possible because they show the funniest, most random stuff before the movie starts. Like if you go see Ironman, they'll show old Ironman cartoons and clips of Robert Downey, Jr. interviews and footage from his early days as an actor - stuff like that. I could go on and on. The place is just THE BEST. LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT.
2) Did you know that Austin is home to North America's largest urban bat colony? Over 1 million Mexican Freetail bats live under the Congress Avenue bridge, and every night between March and November you can gather at the bridge to watch them fly out to spend the evening eating bugs. It's usually quite spectacular (sometimes, though, they come out so late that it's too dark to really see them - a definite bummer).
3) I've talked about BookPeople before, but it's worth mentioning again. It is simply one of the best book stores ever. The employees really know their stuff and they're friendly. The store is laid out in such a way that you will find what you're looking for and also stuff you didn't even know you were looking for. There are lots of comfy, out-of-the-way places to sit and chill and it's also an awesome place to people-watch.
I haven't even touched on the subject of fantastic eateries and music venues - they are legion. My suggestion - come check out Austin for yourself!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Old posts, revisited
Several of my recent (and not-so-recent) posts either promised or suggested the promise of some type of follow-up, and now seems like a good time to do just that!
1. In my first post I instructed readers to "stay tuned" for "a discussion of work." Good job, all of you. Continue as you were. I haven’t forgotten, I just can’t seem to get started on what is sure to be a pretty in-depth post.
2. Little crafty critters and such: I have made exactly…zero. Zilch. Nada. NONE. Don’t give up on me. I’ll get around to it, eventually. Maybe I should write a post about how work (see number 1) keeps me from having sufficient time to do things like make little crafty critters and such. Food for thought.
3. Housework schedule: *sigh*. Such a good idea in theory, so hard to carry out in real life. Strangely, just having the list on the fridge comforts me. You might think it would be a constant reminder of my housekeeping shortcomings, but no – instead it’s like a beacon of hope and encouragement. It’s nice to know that if/when I happen upon a few spare moments, I can look at the list and start somewhere. I do think Adam takes care of certain items when he’s home during the day, so I’d say it’s helpful for us overall. Definitely a continuing work in progress.
4. Mental clutter: After taking care of 2 of the clutter-ing items this weekend, I went back and re-read the original list and, lo and behold, 4 out of the 6 are done! SCORE!!! The framing one was more long-term so that pretty much just leaves one – hanging that picture in the guest room. With my decorator mom-in-law visiting this week, maybe we can get that one knocked out, too! With that exception, my mind is rather clutter-free at the moment. I do need to go to Toys R Us to try to get a price adjustment on something we bought over the weekend, but I’m fairly certain I’m going to do that on my lunch break tomorrow, so it doesn’t count (at least not yet!). Ok, I did just think of one – for Christmas I got a gift certificate to a spa here in town and I really need to schedule my massage! I need one sooooo bad!!!
5. Cloth diapering: so much easier than I expected! Yes, we do more laundry, but it’s not like that’s cutting into some super-busy social schedule we’ve got or something. Even Adam has been surprised at how simple it is. The cloth wipes haven’t really been put into regular rotation yet, but we’re easing into it. I’m sure it will be second nature soon.
So now you’re all updated, kinda, for the most part. Let me know if I left something out that you’re just DYING to know the status of. I aim to please :)
1. In my first post I instructed readers to "stay tuned" for "a discussion of work." Good job, all of you. Continue as you were. I haven’t forgotten, I just can’t seem to get started on what is sure to be a pretty in-depth post.
2. Little crafty critters and such: I have made exactly…zero. Zilch. Nada. NONE. Don’t give up on me. I’ll get around to it, eventually. Maybe I should write a post about how work (see number 1) keeps me from having sufficient time to do things like make little crafty critters and such. Food for thought.
3. Housework schedule: *sigh*. Such a good idea in theory, so hard to carry out in real life. Strangely, just having the list on the fridge comforts me. You might think it would be a constant reminder of my housekeeping shortcomings, but no – instead it’s like a beacon of hope and encouragement. It’s nice to know that if/when I happen upon a few spare moments, I can look at the list and start somewhere. I do think Adam takes care of certain items when he’s home during the day, so I’d say it’s helpful for us overall. Definitely a continuing work in progress.
4. Mental clutter: After taking care of 2 of the clutter-ing items this weekend, I went back and re-read the original list and, lo and behold, 4 out of the 6 are done! SCORE!!! The framing one was more long-term so that pretty much just leaves one – hanging that picture in the guest room. With my decorator mom-in-law visiting this week, maybe we can get that one knocked out, too! With that exception, my mind is rather clutter-free at the moment. I do need to go to Toys R Us to try to get a price adjustment on something we bought over the weekend, but I’m fairly certain I’m going to do that on my lunch break tomorrow, so it doesn’t count (at least not yet!). Ok, I did just think of one – for Christmas I got a gift certificate to a spa here in town and I really need to schedule my massage! I need one sooooo bad!!!
5. Cloth diapering: so much easier than I expected! Yes, we do more laundry, but it’s not like that’s cutting into some super-busy social schedule we’ve got or something. Even Adam has been surprised at how simple it is. The cloth wipes haven’t really been put into regular rotation yet, but we’re easing into it. I’m sure it will be second nature soon.
So now you’re all updated, kinda, for the most part. Let me know if I left something out that you’re just DYING to know the status of. I aim to please :)
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Quickie
Okay, get your minds out of the gutter people; this post isn't about what you're thinking! :)
I just don't have a lot to say today, so this post will be shorter than usual.
Since baby Chase arrived on Friday (welcome, welcome!!!), ADKOS is officially pregnancy-free! Believe it or not, that hasn't been true since July of 2007. In fact, there were several months in 2008 when three of us were pregnant at the same time.
We have welcomed six precious "pumpkins" into our collective "pumpkin patch" (as Mary put it) in the last three years (in addition to the two pumpkins who were born before that!). And let's not forget the furbabies! There are nine of those, if I'm counting correctly, four of which are also new additions in the last three years.
So that brings the grand total to 17! Whoa! We're definitely outnumbered, ladies, but oh - what a joy it is!
I just don't have a lot to say today, so this post will be shorter than usual.
Since baby Chase arrived on Friday (welcome, welcome!!!), ADKOS is officially pregnancy-free! Believe it or not, that hasn't been true since July of 2007. In fact, there were several months in 2008 when three of us were pregnant at the same time.
We have welcomed six precious "pumpkins" into our collective "pumpkin patch" (as Mary put it) in the last three years (in addition to the two pumpkins who were born before that!). And let's not forget the furbabies! There are nine of those, if I'm counting correctly, four of which are also new additions in the last three years.
So that brings the grand total to 17! Whoa! We're definitely outnumbered, ladies, but oh - what a joy it is!
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
Use it or lose it
I recently got an e-mail from Millsaps’ volleyball coach; she’s organizing a reunion-type thing and wanted to see if I and my fellow volleyball alumni would be interested in trying to put together a game against the current team. I’m glad I didn’t have a mouthful of food or beverage at the time because it surely would have gone spraying out of my mouth and/or nose as I laughed hysterically. I don’t even remember the last time I picked up a volleyball. So to get out on the court with a bunch of other ladies who probably haven’t picked up a volleyball in close to a decade and try to play a game against the young’uns would be interesting, to say the least. Ultimately, I guess I’d be willing to go for it…maybe I’d surprise myself.
Which got me thinking (things get me thinking a lot, it seems) about all the things I used to be pretty good at…and now I’m not.
1. Volleyball
2. Algebra. Or calculus. Or really any type of math beyond the basics. Math was never really my "thing", but I could hold my own. Those days are no longer.
3. Piano (and music theory). 12 years of lessons – 12 YEARS?!?!?!? I used to have a nice catalog of music committed to memory, along with all those musical terms and whatnot. Maybe some of it’s just hidden in some dusty file cabinet in an unused closet of my brain. I have a feeling it would take a while to find.
4. Spanish. I was a Spanish minor, for goodness sake! I even started to get decent at conversational Spanish. And then I graduated. And it’s gone. This one I really regret.
On the other hand, I guess there are some skills I’ve acquired or gotten better at, like cooking and crocheting (not at the same time, of course!). I’m better at crossword puzzles than I used to be. I’m a little more organized (always a work in progress). Sometimes it’s just hard to swallow the fact that a certain skill or understanding or cluster of knowledge is just…lost! Use it or lose it - so true!!
Which got me thinking (things get me thinking a lot, it seems) about all the things I used to be pretty good at…and now I’m not.
1. Volleyball
2. Algebra. Or calculus. Or really any type of math beyond the basics. Math was never really my "thing", but I could hold my own. Those days are no longer.
3. Piano (and music theory). 12 years of lessons – 12 YEARS?!?!?!? I used to have a nice catalog of music committed to memory, along with all those musical terms and whatnot. Maybe some of it’s just hidden in some dusty file cabinet in an unused closet of my brain. I have a feeling it would take a while to find.
4. Spanish. I was a Spanish minor, for goodness sake! I even started to get decent at conversational Spanish. And then I graduated. And it’s gone. This one I really regret.
On the other hand, I guess there are some skills I’ve acquired or gotten better at, like cooking and crocheting (not at the same time, of course!). I’m better at crossword puzzles than I used to be. I’m a little more organized (always a work in progress). Sometimes it’s just hard to swallow the fact that a certain skill or understanding or cluster of knowledge is just…lost! Use it or lose it - so true!!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Dipes 'n Wipes
Some of you may know that Pampers recently changed some things about their diapers, and it hasn’t been a smooth transition, to say the least. Just search for “Pampers” with Google News and you’ll find hundreds of articles about the situation. We are a Pampers family here at Casa Sweeney and, personally, we haven’t noticed anything problematic with the new diapers. I have a friend at work, though, whose two-year-old son got a very strange-looking blistery burn on his little hiney while wearing one of the new Pampers diapers, and he’s not the only one. Weird rashes and sores that resemble chemical burns are chief complaints about the new “Dry Max” technology. Coincidence? Who knows.
What I do know is that all this focus on disposable diapers was the final push I needed to act on a concept I’ve been considering since before I was even pregnant – CLOTH DIAPERS. Unlike my fellow blogger, Staci (a veteran CDer), I’m no expert and I don’t claim to be. However, I’ve done a lot of research and I’m really excited to make the switch! It’s weird for me to use the word “excited” about something related to diapers, but there you have it. I may be wrong, but I have a feeling I’ll wish we had been doing this since the beginning. We’ve settled on the Bumgenius one-size pocket diaper system, and our 24-pack supply shipped from clothdiapersnmore.com this morning! I’m somewhat glad I ordered those diapers before I stumbled on greenmountaindiapers.com because I’m afraid I would have decided to go super-retro with Indian prefolds and pins and gotten in over my head. Maybe that will be my fallback if for some reason the Bumgenius thing doesn’t work out!
Very soon, I’ll be making a trip to one of the cloth diaper resources in town to scope out additional gear we may (or may not) need to cloth diaper successfully. Call me crazy, but I’m even considering using reusable/washable wipes. (I mentioned this to Adam and he could barely contain his excitement…NOT!).
What I do know is that all this focus on disposable diapers was the final push I needed to act on a concept I’ve been considering since before I was even pregnant – CLOTH DIAPERS. Unlike my fellow blogger, Staci (a veteran CDer), I’m no expert and I don’t claim to be. However, I’ve done a lot of research and I’m really excited to make the switch! It’s weird for me to use the word “excited” about something related to diapers, but there you have it. I may be wrong, but I have a feeling I’ll wish we had been doing this since the beginning. We’ve settled on the Bumgenius one-size pocket diaper system, and our 24-pack supply shipped from clothdiapersnmore.com this morning! I’m somewhat glad I ordered those diapers before I stumbled on greenmountaindiapers.com because I’m afraid I would have decided to go super-retro with Indian prefolds and pins and gotten in over my head. Maybe that will be my fallback if for some reason the Bumgenius thing doesn’t work out!
Very soon, I’ll be making a trip to one of the cloth diaper resources in town to scope out additional gear we may (or may not) need to cloth diaper successfully. Call me crazy, but I’m even considering using reusable/washable wipes. (I mentioned this to Adam and he could barely contain his excitement…NOT!).
Tuesday, May 4, 2010
To do already
Does anybody else ever experience mental clutter? For me it’s usually caused by stuff I’ve been meaning to do, or get to, or take care of for a while. Not necessarily super-important stuff, just stuff that needs to get done. Stuff that takes time to do. Ah, my old friend time - where have you gone? :)
Anyway, I have quite a bit of mental clutter going on right now. It’s getting ridiculous. Here are some of the things I need or want to get done, and have been needing or wanting to get done for toooooo long:
1) Hang picture in guest room. Seriously. This picture has been leaning against the wall of the guest room for almost a year. It’s time.
2) Get some art framed. We were going to use part of our tax refund to get some pieces framed (sidenote: why is good framing so crazy expensive!?!?!?). This particular mental clutter has been around for YEARS. This time around I got as far as looking up framing places in town. The next steps in the process haven’t happened. And probably won’t for a while yet. I guess this one’s been around so long it doesn’t bother me quite so much. Still, it’s there.
3) Wash cars. I’m not a clean-car freak by any means, but our cars are filthy right now. And dirt is one thing, but my car apparently got pooped on by an entire flock of birds like three weeks ago. I hate bird poop on my car. For some reason it just says "I really don’t care about my car" to drive around with bird poop all over it. That’s just me.
4) Pick up charm at James Avery. 5 or 6 weeks ago I dropped off an adorable little charm to have Asher’s name and birth date engraved. They said it would take 2 weeks. So at around 2 weeks when I hadn’t heard from them I thought about calling to see what was up. I didn’t. I got a call about a week later that it was ready. I have to laugh at myself now, that I was so antsy about not hearing from them; it obviously wasn’t that big a deal if I’ve left it there for another 2 weeks! Part of the problem is that it’s at the mall, so it would take some time to park, get inside, etc. Also, the mall isn’t very close to home, but it’s very close to work. Practically every day since they called (they’ve called twice now) it has crossed my mind that I need to just go up there on my lunch break. So far, no dice. This week I will make it happen. If I were putting these in order of priority, this would probably be #1.
5) Deposit check. Considering how uptight I can be about money, it’s amazing even to me that this check is still in my wallet. The bank is like 2 blocks from where I work. I gotta get this done – it’s driving me crazy. I’m going to put this at #2 priority.
6) Get oil changed. The maintenance minder icon on the Honda popped up a while ago, reminding me that I had 15% oil life, then 10%, then 5%, and now I’m like 250 miles over the recommended change mileage. This is another task best taken care of on my lunch break (or – GASP! – before work) since weekends at the Express Change at the Honda dealership can be somewhat circus-like.
Those are the biggies right now. I will say, though, that I have recently taken care of some mental clutter items: I returned something to Babies R Us that has been sitting in Asher’s nursery since before he was born (I have something else like that to take back, too, but it’s from Wal-Mart and we NEVER go there). I also straightened up and organized my night table, Adam’s night table, and a big shelf in our bedroom! It always feels so nice to clear some things off the list. I’m looking forward to more of that in the next few days!!!
Anyway, I have quite a bit of mental clutter going on right now. It’s getting ridiculous. Here are some of the things I need or want to get done, and have been needing or wanting to get done for toooooo long:
1) Hang picture in guest room. Seriously. This picture has been leaning against the wall of the guest room for almost a year. It’s time.
2) Get some art framed. We were going to use part of our tax refund to get some pieces framed (sidenote: why is good framing so crazy expensive!?!?!?). This particular mental clutter has been around for YEARS. This time around I got as far as looking up framing places in town. The next steps in the process haven’t happened. And probably won’t for a while yet. I guess this one’s been around so long it doesn’t bother me quite so much. Still, it’s there.
3) Wash cars. I’m not a clean-car freak by any means, but our cars are filthy right now. And dirt is one thing, but my car apparently got pooped on by an entire flock of birds like three weeks ago. I hate bird poop on my car. For some reason it just says "I really don’t care about my car" to drive around with bird poop all over it. That’s just me.
4) Pick up charm at James Avery. 5 or 6 weeks ago I dropped off an adorable little charm to have Asher’s name and birth date engraved. They said it would take 2 weeks. So at around 2 weeks when I hadn’t heard from them I thought about calling to see what was up. I didn’t. I got a call about a week later that it was ready. I have to laugh at myself now, that I was so antsy about not hearing from them; it obviously wasn’t that big a deal if I’ve left it there for another 2 weeks! Part of the problem is that it’s at the mall, so it would take some time to park, get inside, etc. Also, the mall isn’t very close to home, but it’s very close to work. Practically every day since they called (they’ve called twice now) it has crossed my mind that I need to just go up there on my lunch break. So far, no dice. This week I will make it happen. If I were putting these in order of priority, this would probably be #1.
5) Deposit check. Considering how uptight I can be about money, it’s amazing even to me that this check is still in my wallet. The bank is like 2 blocks from where I work. I gotta get this done – it’s driving me crazy. I’m going to put this at #2 priority.
6) Get oil changed. The maintenance minder icon on the Honda popped up a while ago, reminding me that I had 15% oil life, then 10%, then 5%, and now I’m like 250 miles over the recommended change mileage. This is another task best taken care of on my lunch break (or – GASP! – before work) since weekends at the Express Change at the Honda dealership can be somewhat circus-like.
Those are the biggies right now. I will say, though, that I have recently taken care of some mental clutter items: I returned something to Babies R Us that has been sitting in Asher’s nursery since before he was born (I have something else like that to take back, too, but it’s from Wal-Mart and we NEVER go there). I also straightened up and organized my night table, Adam’s night table, and a big shelf in our bedroom! It always feels so nice to clear some things off the list. I’m looking forward to more of that in the next few days!!!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Short
It’s late, so this will be a quick one…
When Adam and I moved into our first (and only) house, it was sparkly clean and spotless. The sellers had actually hired cleaners to come in and give the place a good once-over. It was lovely. And, as is typical with any new, special thing, we promised to try to keep it that way. Now, Adam and I aren’t total slobs, but we’re not exactly winning any housekeeping contests, either. Our homes look lived in (because they are), sometimes a little too much so, but never outrageously, alarmingly filthy or anything like that. You know, average. In hopes of staying a little bit more on top of things, especially those things that tend to go unnoticed or neglected until it’s a MAJOR ordeal, I proposed the idea of a housekeeping schedule. I’ll let you guess how that went over with my hubby. He felt more confident than I did that we would just naturally be more conscientious with the house than we had with our apartments. Without him on board, I knew the schedule was pretty pointless, and the subject was dropped.
Fast forward three years and one baby later, and boy, if I thought getting housework done was hard before, I had another think coming! OF COURSE, we fell back into old habits, letting things slide a little at a time and then having to work doubly hard to fix everything up. And now that Asher is crawling all over the place, he’s showing us all kinds of areas that are in need of a little extra attention! Realizing that our current system (or lack thereof) wasn't working, and being the list-making scheduler that I am, my mind went back to the housekeeping schedule as a solution to solve the issue of what needs to get done vs. time available to do it. Ever so carefully and cautiously, I re-introduced the idea to my other half. This time, I think he’s seen the light. A cheerfully color-coded schedule is now stuck to the fridge; we’re still working out some kinks, but I think it’s going to be a good thing. If only we could still get an allowance for this stuff, right?!
When Adam and I moved into our first (and only) house, it was sparkly clean and spotless. The sellers had actually hired cleaners to come in and give the place a good once-over. It was lovely. And, as is typical with any new, special thing, we promised to try to keep it that way. Now, Adam and I aren’t total slobs, but we’re not exactly winning any housekeeping contests, either. Our homes look lived in (because they are), sometimes a little too much so, but never outrageously, alarmingly filthy or anything like that. You know, average. In hopes of staying a little bit more on top of things, especially those things that tend to go unnoticed or neglected until it’s a MAJOR ordeal, I proposed the idea of a housekeeping schedule. I’ll let you guess how that went over with my hubby. He felt more confident than I did that we would just naturally be more conscientious with the house than we had with our apartments. Without him on board, I knew the schedule was pretty pointless, and the subject was dropped.
Fast forward three years and one baby later, and boy, if I thought getting housework done was hard before, I had another think coming! OF COURSE, we fell back into old habits, letting things slide a little at a time and then having to work doubly hard to fix everything up. And now that Asher is crawling all over the place, he’s showing us all kinds of areas that are in need of a little extra attention! Realizing that our current system (or lack thereof) wasn't working, and being the list-making scheduler that I am, my mind went back to the housekeeping schedule as a solution to solve the issue of what needs to get done vs. time available to do it. Ever so carefully and cautiously, I re-introduced the idea to my other half. This time, I think he’s seen the light. A cheerfully color-coded schedule is now stuck to the fridge; we’re still working out some kinks, but I think it’s going to be a good thing. If only we could still get an allowance for this stuff, right?!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Copycat
After starting the “how I met my mate” blog-fest a few weeks ago, I figure it’s only fair for me to follow Amelia’s lead and share my engagement story.
Adam and I started discussing the possibility of marriage fairly early in our relationship, like within the first 6 months or so. As you may remember from my previous post, Adam was a junior in college when we met and still had a year to go after I graduated, so even though we talked occasionally about getting married, we both knew that it would be a while before the time was right. We dated for about two years. It seemed much longer because I knew Adam was “the one”, but in hindsight I see that God used that time to help us both mature and grow in many ways, not the least of which was spiritually. God’s timing was, as usual, just perfect.
Like Amelia, I had always envisioned a surprise proposal, so when Adam started bringing up rings, I tried to make it very clear that I didn’t think my input was necessary. I told him I had complete faith in his taste and judgment and promised that I was sure I’d be 100% thrilled with whatever he chose. That didn’t work. He told me he wouldn’t settle for less than “perfect” and he couldn’t (and wouldn’t) choose it without me. I agreed to help him on one condition – after I picked it everything else would be a surprise and there would be no further discussion with me about the proposal. He accepted my terms. Adam’s maternal grandmother generously provided us with a beautiful diamond from some of her family jewelry, so we started searching for a setting, but nothing caught my eye at the jewelry stores. We eventually decided to design a custom piece, which was a little stressful for a perfectionist like me, but also really fun. After all the decisions were made, I handed the reigns over to Adam and reminded him that I was now out of the loop. There was one minor snafu with that part of the plan when the jeweler called me to confirm the design (meaning that I knew it was being made and approximately when it would be completed), but I continued to try to put the whole thing out of my mind. I didn’t want to be anticipating a proposal every time we hung out!
On Tuesday, February 11, 2002, Adam called me at work and asked if I wanted to go the park later to throw the frisbee. I said yes. After work I went home and threw on some grubby clothes; Adam picked me up and we headed to the park. To get to the park from my apartment we had to traverse a two-lane bridge over the lake, and for some reason on that night there was a lot of traffic, so by the time we actually got to the park it was already getting really dark and REALLY COLD. We threw the frisbee for a little while, but before long I couldn’t really see it anymore and, quite frankly, I was freezing. Adam suggested we walk down to the water’s edge to sit for a while, but I said I was too cold and asked if he would mind if we just went back to the car. He started insisting, even going so far as to offer me his sweatshirt, saying that he wasn’t cold and would be fine in just his t-shirt. I, being stubborn (and a wuss about cold weather), insisted even more strongly that I would still be uncomfortably cold even with an extra sweatshirt and could we please just go back to the car? He finally agreed and, because I guess I had too successfully put any thoughts of proposals out of my mind, I couldn’t figure out why he was so exasperated about the whole thing. He knows I'm not a fan of the cold! We got into the car and I put on my seatbelt, but Adam didn’t start the engine. He just sat there. Totally silent. I think I asked him why we weren’t leaving and he made up some excuse that didn’t really make sense. More silence. So I started making small talk about what we should eat for dinner. I got a few monosyllabic responses, but mostly silence. So I asked if he had thought about making any plans for Valentine’s Day. “I don’t know,” he said. Silence. I was getting perplexed. Something was very weird and off. Was he about to dump me or something? My mind was racing. I now know that his mind was racing too, trying to come up with a Plan B after I had trampled all over Plan A. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of tense, uncomfortable silence, Adam got out of the car, walked around, and opened the passenger door. I said something like, “What are you doing? I already told you it’s too cold out there!” He asked me very nicely and politely to PLEASE just get out of the car for a minute. I was still so confused and clueless. I stepped out of the car and Adam gave me a big hug, then he started saying some wonderfully sweet things about me and our relationship, and BAM! FINALLY I got it! DUH! He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, and I said yes! Later, I had to apologize for being so difficult. Adam had a special proposal planned on the bench where we had officially become a couple two years before, and instead he had to get down on one knee in the parking lot next to his dad’s car. Geez. But you know what? It’s still perfect to me, though I admit I never expected to get engaged smelling all sweaty and outdoorsy and wearing a pullover with macaroni & cheese stains on it.
We went back to my apartment, ordered a pizza, and spent the next hour or so calling friends and family to share our exciting news. My dad later told me that when we spoke on the phone, I was "ebullient." Definitely one of the best and happiest nights of my life!
Adam and I started discussing the possibility of marriage fairly early in our relationship, like within the first 6 months or so. As you may remember from my previous post, Adam was a junior in college when we met and still had a year to go after I graduated, so even though we talked occasionally about getting married, we both knew that it would be a while before the time was right. We dated for about two years. It seemed much longer because I knew Adam was “the one”, but in hindsight I see that God used that time to help us both mature and grow in many ways, not the least of which was spiritually. God’s timing was, as usual, just perfect.
Like Amelia, I had always envisioned a surprise proposal, so when Adam started bringing up rings, I tried to make it very clear that I didn’t think my input was necessary. I told him I had complete faith in his taste and judgment and promised that I was sure I’d be 100% thrilled with whatever he chose. That didn’t work. He told me he wouldn’t settle for less than “perfect” and he couldn’t (and wouldn’t) choose it without me. I agreed to help him on one condition – after I picked it everything else would be a surprise and there would be no further discussion with me about the proposal. He accepted my terms. Adam’s maternal grandmother generously provided us with a beautiful diamond from some of her family jewelry, so we started searching for a setting, but nothing caught my eye at the jewelry stores. We eventually decided to design a custom piece, which was a little stressful for a perfectionist like me, but also really fun. After all the decisions were made, I handed the reigns over to Adam and reminded him that I was now out of the loop. There was one minor snafu with that part of the plan when the jeweler called me to confirm the design (meaning that I knew it was being made and approximately when it would be completed), but I continued to try to put the whole thing out of my mind. I didn’t want to be anticipating a proposal every time we hung out!
On Tuesday, February 11, 2002, Adam called me at work and asked if I wanted to go the park later to throw the frisbee. I said yes. After work I went home and threw on some grubby clothes; Adam picked me up and we headed to the park. To get to the park from my apartment we had to traverse a two-lane bridge over the lake, and for some reason on that night there was a lot of traffic, so by the time we actually got to the park it was already getting really dark and REALLY COLD. We threw the frisbee for a little while, but before long I couldn’t really see it anymore and, quite frankly, I was freezing. Adam suggested we walk down to the water’s edge to sit for a while, but I said I was too cold and asked if he would mind if we just went back to the car. He started insisting, even going so far as to offer me his sweatshirt, saying that he wasn’t cold and would be fine in just his t-shirt. I, being stubborn (and a wuss about cold weather), insisted even more strongly that I would still be uncomfortably cold even with an extra sweatshirt and could we please just go back to the car? He finally agreed and, because I guess I had too successfully put any thoughts of proposals out of my mind, I couldn’t figure out why he was so exasperated about the whole thing. He knows I'm not a fan of the cold! We got into the car and I put on my seatbelt, but Adam didn’t start the engine. He just sat there. Totally silent. I think I asked him why we weren’t leaving and he made up some excuse that didn’t really make sense. More silence. So I started making small talk about what we should eat for dinner. I got a few monosyllabic responses, but mostly silence. So I asked if he had thought about making any plans for Valentine’s Day. “I don’t know,” he said. Silence. I was getting perplexed. Something was very weird and off. Was he about to dump me or something? My mind was racing. I now know that his mind was racing too, trying to come up with a Plan B after I had trampled all over Plan A. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of tense, uncomfortable silence, Adam got out of the car, walked around, and opened the passenger door. I said something like, “What are you doing? I already told you it’s too cold out there!” He asked me very nicely and politely to PLEASE just get out of the car for a minute. I was still so confused and clueless. I stepped out of the car and Adam gave me a big hug, then he started saying some wonderfully sweet things about me and our relationship, and BAM! FINALLY I got it! DUH! He got down on one knee and asked me to marry him, and I said yes! Later, I had to apologize for being so difficult. Adam had a special proposal planned on the bench where we had officially become a couple two years before, and instead he had to get down on one knee in the parking lot next to his dad’s car. Geez. But you know what? It’s still perfect to me, though I admit I never expected to get engaged smelling all sweaty and outdoorsy and wearing a pullover with macaroni & cheese stains on it.
We went back to my apartment, ordered a pizza, and spent the next hour or so calling friends and family to share our exciting news. My dad later told me that when we spoke on the phone, I was "ebullient." Definitely one of the best and happiest nights of my life!
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
The Distractible Baby
From kellymom.com: "Latch on, suck a moment, pull off...latch on, suck a moment, pull off. Nurse a minute, pull away to smile at mom. Nurse a minute, pull away to see who just walked in the room. Nurse a minute, pull away to listen to the TV. Nurse a moment, pull away because the dog wagged his tail. When baby first becomes aware of the rest of the world, he will have a hard time concentrating on nursing. In effect, he will be unable to ‘walk and chew gum at the same time.’ Distractibility is common around 8-10 months, and can lead mom to think that her baby is trying to wean. If your baby is younger than a year, it's highly unlikely that this temporary disinterest is self-weaning."
What you have just read has been the story of my nursing life for a while now. Asher is almost 9½ months old (?!?!?! I’ve attached a recent picture!) and since about month 7 I’ve had to get increasingly more creative to facilitate effective nursing for my busy little guy. 
At first it just meant muting the TV and asking Adam to be quiet until Ash got settled in, but it wasn’t long before we had to go to a different room, and soon we had to shut the door; even then sometimes the smallest noise from outside the room would be enough to lure Asher’s interest away from the task at hand. Basically we had to make the setting as un-stimulating as possible! It’s been somewhat inconvenient at times, not to mention painful (he often forgets to let go before turning his head – ouch! He also enjoyed testing out his new teeth on me for a while).
Things really reached a critical point about 2 weeks ago when I went to nurse Asher before bed, as usual, and he started crying and pushing away from me, absolutely refusing to have any part of it. I figured he just wasn’t hungry yet and didn’t push the issue. After his bath I tried again and there was no problem. But then I got the same reaction the next day when I got home from work, and again several more times throughout the week. I always look forward to the weekends because I get to take a break from pumping (pumping is NOT my favorite), but that weekend, not so much. Half the time he would nurse as usual, and the other half he would flat out REFUSE. Lack of hunger certainly wasn’t the issue, as he would suck down an 8 ounce bottle of expressed milk in record time. I couldn’t understand it! I became increasingly disconcerted and upset, even battling feelings of rejection. I confided in my mom, my closest friends, and Asher’s pediatrician, and of course got many varying opinions about what might be going on. I also turned to my trusted resources, The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding, the La Leche League website and kellymom.com for any insight or advice I could get. After reading extensively about nursing strikes, self-weaning, and distractibility, and deciding that I was definitely not ready to stop nursing, I determined to press on. I prayerfully started utilizing some of the tips and suggestions I had read and have been absolutely OVERJOYED and thankful at the outcome. Within just a few days, the crying and resisting stopped almost entirely. In fact, he seems almost eager to nurse again – it’s great! I think we just needed to hit the "reset button" on our process. I also think his recent milestone (crawling was achieved just this past Saturday!) was throwing things off. Of course, I know the day will come when he will truly be ready to stop for good; after this unexpected hitch I can see that I really need to start mentally and emotionally preparing for that day! In the meantime, this experience has given me a renewed sense of gratitude and appreciation for the special, quiet moments I get to spend with my sweet boy; I won’t take them for granted anymore!
I did want to mention that in my search for solutions and suggestions, I ran across a really great website called mommynecklaces.com. This is an independent company run by a busy mom, and I was really impressed by what I saw. She uses extra-strong cording with a breakaway closure (so if baby pulls on it too hard, it will pop apart, not break and cause little beads to scatter everywhere), the acrylic beads are tested for both lead and phthalates to meet (and exceed) the CPSIA regulations (because the necklace will of course end up in baby’s mouth at some point), and the beads are sourced from within the USA! I had been considering making my own nursing necklace, but when I read about these I realized I definitely couldn’t do it better. 
The really cool thing is that these aren’t just nursing necklaces – yes, they help keep baby occupied and interested while nursing, but they look like regular, cute jewelry. Regular, cute jewelry that your kids can mess with and you don’t have to worry about breakage or toxicity. I bought the Simply Snazzy design (pic attached), which is definitely the least "stylish"; however, it’s the most colorful and seemed like the best choice to keep Asher’s interest. So far, so good! He likes to twiddle with it – it’s even staved off a few diaper-change-related meltdowns. I’m all about supporting fellow moms in their creative endeavors, so there’s my plug for a cool, useful product!!
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
What I Wore
Nora Epron, the author, screenwriter (she wrote the screenplays for "When Harry Met Sally", "Sleepless in Seattle", and "You’ve Got Mail", among others), and playwright, recently wrote a play called Love, Loss, and What I Wore. According to the official website, the play "uses clothing and accessories and the memories they trigger to tell funny and often poignant stories that all women can relate to." Ephron was the guest editor of the October 2009 issue of Elle, and she recruited several of her friends, like Meg Ryan and Rosie O’Donnell, to contribute stories about an item of clothing or accessory that was meaningful and/or memorable in their life. The stories were quite entertaining and touching, and I think the concept is an interesting one. Just like hearing certain songs or smelling certain scents, the sight (or sometimes just the thought) of certain items in my closet or jewelry box can really take me back to key moments in my life.
My wedding dress is an obvious example, but there are many others. Like the birthstone ring my Mama B bought me as a reward for not biting my nails. Or the hot pink mini duffle bag with the logo of my old dance school that I used to schlep around my tap and ballet shoes – I remember how it made me feel so grown up to have my very own bag!
Probably the most enduring and memorable items, however, are my vintage mens Wrangler jeans and my Army boots. Both of these items were purchased, as you might guess, during that wonderful early ‘90’s era of grunge. In those days I would pore over the pages of magazines, wishing I could wear the fabulous clothes I saw inside and then, suddenly, I could!! Plaid shirts, baggy pants, huge shoes, layers upon layers – I could afford bags full of clothes like this from Thrift Town with my weekly allowance and still have money left over for a Cookie Monster from Cheddars and a Sonic Route 44! :)
Those big hole-y jeans and steel-toed boots made me feel tough and brave and kinda cutting-edge. Yeah, I looked a little like one of the guys, but in a cute way (or so I thought). There’s no doubt they were comfy, AND they just got cooler the more dirty and beat-up they became!
I still wear them every once in a while, though usually not together. The last time I wore the boots (to a super-rainy LSU football game) I ended up with blisters the size of silver dollars. Ouch. And yuck. And the jeans were last worn as part of my "biker chick" Halloween costume, I think. Still comfy. Still tough. Good memories!!
I’d love to hear your "What I Wore" stories!!
My wedding dress is an obvious example, but there are many others. Like the birthstone ring my Mama B bought me as a reward for not biting my nails. Or the hot pink mini duffle bag with the logo of my old dance school that I used to schlep around my tap and ballet shoes – I remember how it made me feel so grown up to have my very own bag!
Probably the most enduring and memorable items, however, are my vintage mens Wrangler jeans and my Army boots. Both of these items were purchased, as you might guess, during that wonderful early ‘90’s era of grunge. In those days I would pore over the pages of magazines, wishing I could wear the fabulous clothes I saw inside and then, suddenly, I could!! Plaid shirts, baggy pants, huge shoes, layers upon layers – I could afford bags full of clothes like this from Thrift Town with my weekly allowance and still have money left over for a Cookie Monster from Cheddars and a Sonic Route 44! :)
Those big hole-y jeans and steel-toed boots made me feel tough and brave and kinda cutting-edge. Yeah, I looked a little like one of the guys, but in a cute way (or so I thought). There’s no doubt they were comfy, AND they just got cooler the more dirty and beat-up they became!
I still wear them every once in a while, though usually not together. The last time I wore the boots (to a super-rainy LSU football game) I ended up with blisters the size of silver dollars. Ouch. And yuck. And the jeans were last worn as part of my "biker chick" Halloween costume, I think. Still comfy. Still tough. Good memories!!
I’d love to hear your "What I Wore" stories!!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
JAWS
So, last week’s post happened a little bit on accident. I started out writing the post I am about to write now, but got sidetracked with explaining how I ended up in Mississippi for 10 years and decided to just run with it. It was a good sidetrack, though – and I’m glad it was inspiring to my fellow ADKOS bloggers! It’s been fun to re-hear the stories of how my besties met their hubbies!
After Adam and I got married, we lived in an apartment in Ridgeland, MS. Our building backed up to a little creek and some woods. This may sound charming, but don’t be misled. 1) The creek was either dry or full of icky brown water and 2) the woods were full, obviously, of bugs that wanted nothing more than to enter and overtake our home. I do not miss Mississippi roaches. At all.
Anywho, at some point a developer bought the land with the woods and, of course, cleared out all the trees to start building this neighborhood of duplexes. Because that’s what developers like to do – cut down perfectly good trees. But that’s not the point of this post. And I am getting to the point. I promise!
One lovely late afternoon, just for fun, Adam and I decided to go walk around in the newly-cleared-out dirt. As we walked, I began to pick up rocks and sticks and tell Adam that they were fossils or ancient artifacts – dinosaur tibias and pieces of prehistoric pottery, that sort of thing. I was trying to get a laugh out of Adam, and it worked. He looked at me like I was a weird-o and asked if I was feeling OK. After a few minutes of this I went to pick up what looked to be a small white rock, about the size of a grape. Except when I picked it up, there was more to the rock beneath the surface, buried in the dirt. So instead of getting a grape-sized rock, I ended up with more of a baseball-sized rock. As I brushed clumps of dirt off, the rock started to look…different. So I brushed some more dirt off and looked at it more closely. Then I asked Adam to look at it. It came to a point on one end, and had these weird serrated edges. And suddenly I knew that I had just found something. Something cool. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but it was SOMETHING. And Adam just kept saying, incredulously – I can’t believe you did that. I can’t believe you were joking around about fossils and actually found a freakin’ fossil.
Because, folks, I found a freakin’ fossil! I took it to work the next day and showed it to this older gentleman who worked as a runner at my office. He told me he knew someone at the Mississippi Geological Society who could probably tell me exactly what it was, so on my lunch break we went to their offices. They were pretty impressed and gave me lots of information on my find. Which, by the way, is a left upper tooth of the Giant Shark Carcharodon Auriculatus from the Eocene and Oligocene of Mississippi. I was given a copy of “Mississippi Geology”, Volume 7, Number 1 from September of 1986 which says:
“Teeth from many shark species can be found in [Mississippi’s] upper Cretaceous and Paleogene marine sequence. Generally, these teeth are less than two and a half centimeters (an inch) in length. Some can barely be seen without magnification. Exceptionally large teeth are rare in Mississippi…The impressive large shark teeth of the Jackson and Vicksburg groups are those of the primitive great white shark Carcharodon auriculatus. This must have been a huge and fearsome shark. Its teeth are often twice the size of the largest modern carnivorous shark, Carcharodon carcharias, the great white shark.”
The article also says that the tooth is anywhere from 35 to 42 million (MILLION!?!?!) years old. I wondered if maybe an entire fossilized shark was buried near where I found the tooth, but the geologists told me that was unlikely – the teeth of sharks are embedded in the gums rather than directly fixed to the jaw, and are constantly replaced throughout the shark's life. Multiple rows of replacement teeth are grown in a groove on the inside of the jaw and moved forward in a "conveyor belt"; some sharks lose 30,000 or more teeth in their lifetime. The rate of tooth replacement varies from once every 8–10 days to several months.
The whole experience is probably one of the more fun, exciting, interesting, and random things that has ever happened to me. I like to imagine that God was sitting in Heaven, listening to me joke about artifacts and fossils, smiling as he anticipated and orchestrated the moment I would, in fact, unearth a relic from one of his much earlier creations. It reminds me that God is so much more than just rules and judgment. He plans out special moments and interesting "coincidences" for us because he loves us and enjoys seeing us enjoy ourselves. He certainly knows how to make a memory!
After Adam and I got married, we lived in an apartment in Ridgeland, MS. Our building backed up to a little creek and some woods. This may sound charming, but don’t be misled. 1) The creek was either dry or full of icky brown water and 2) the woods were full, obviously, of bugs that wanted nothing more than to enter and overtake our home. I do not miss Mississippi roaches. At all.
Anywho, at some point a developer bought the land with the woods and, of course, cleared out all the trees to start building this neighborhood of duplexes. Because that’s what developers like to do – cut down perfectly good trees. But that’s not the point of this post. And I am getting to the point. I promise!
One lovely late afternoon, just for fun, Adam and I decided to go walk around in the newly-cleared-out dirt. As we walked, I began to pick up rocks and sticks and tell Adam that they were fossils or ancient artifacts – dinosaur tibias and pieces of prehistoric pottery, that sort of thing. I was trying to get a laugh out of Adam, and it worked. He looked at me like I was a weird-o and asked if I was feeling OK. After a few minutes of this I went to pick up what looked to be a small white rock, about the size of a grape. Except when I picked it up, there was more to the rock beneath the surface, buried in the dirt. So instead of getting a grape-sized rock, I ended up with more of a baseball-sized rock. As I brushed clumps of dirt off, the rock started to look…different. So I brushed some more dirt off and looked at it more closely. Then I asked Adam to look at it. It came to a point on one end, and had these weird serrated edges. And suddenly I knew that I had just found something. Something cool. I didn’t know exactly what it was, but it was SOMETHING. And Adam just kept saying, incredulously – I can’t believe you did that. I can’t believe you were joking around about fossils and actually found a freakin’ fossil.
Because, folks, I found a freakin’ fossil! I took it to work the next day and showed it to this older gentleman who worked as a runner at my office. He told me he knew someone at the Mississippi Geological Society who could probably tell me exactly what it was, so on my lunch break we went to their offices. They were pretty impressed and gave me lots of information on my find. Which, by the way, is a left upper tooth of the Giant Shark Carcharodon Auriculatus from the Eocene and Oligocene of Mississippi. I was given a copy of “Mississippi Geology”, Volume 7, Number 1 from September of 1986 which says:
“Teeth from many shark species can be found in [Mississippi’s] upper Cretaceous and Paleogene marine sequence. Generally, these teeth are less than two and a half centimeters (an inch) in length. Some can barely be seen without magnification. Exceptionally large teeth are rare in Mississippi…The impressive large shark teeth of the Jackson and Vicksburg groups are those of the primitive great white shark Carcharodon auriculatus. This must have been a huge and fearsome shark. Its teeth are often twice the size of the largest modern carnivorous shark, Carcharodon carcharias, the great white shark.”
The article also says that the tooth is anywhere from 35 to 42 million (MILLION!?!?!) years old. I wondered if maybe an entire fossilized shark was buried near where I found the tooth, but the geologists told me that was unlikely – the teeth of sharks are embedded in the gums rather than directly fixed to the jaw, and are constantly replaced throughout the shark's life. Multiple rows of replacement teeth are grown in a groove on the inside of the jaw and moved forward in a "conveyor belt"; some sharks lose 30,000 or more teeth in their lifetime. The rate of tooth replacement varies from once every 8–10 days to several months.
The whole experience is probably one of the more fun, exciting, interesting, and random things that has ever happened to me. I like to imagine that God was sitting in Heaven, listening to me joke about artifacts and fossils, smiling as he anticipated and orchestrated the moment I would, in fact, unearth a relic from one of his much earlier creations. It reminds me that God is so much more than just rules and judgment. He plans out special moments and interesting "coincidences" for us because he loves us and enjoys seeing us enjoy ourselves. He certainly knows how to make a memory!
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
How We Met
In August of 1996 I moved to Jackson, Mississippi, to attend Millsaps College. In August of 1997, my now-husband Adam moved to Jackson from Monroe, Louisiana, for the same reason. Jackson is pretty small-town after growing up in D/FW. Millsaps was great and I had no problem with Jackson while I was in school, but I definitey had absolutely no intention of staying there after I graduated. However, as He so often does, God had other plans. Millsaps is a small college (less than 1500 undegrads), so Adam and I knew each other, had a lot of mutual friends, and maybe even chatted occasionally, but there were a few key moments that really mark the beginning of our story:
1) On move-in day at the beginning of my senior year (Adam's junior year), we were parked near each other in the parking lot unloading our cars at the same time (we lived on different floors of the same dorm). After dozens of trips back and forth up two flights of stairs, I was literally taking the last load of stuff out of my car, and it was then that Adam swooped in and asked if I needed any help…great timing, huh? Anyway, we talked briefly, then he apparently went back to his dorm and told his roommate that he intended to go out with me. He then proceeded to start dating a good friend of mine (we’ll call her "N"). Not that it bothered me – I thought he was nice and cute, but he wasn’t on my radar as date material at the time.
2) I was not in a sorority, but my roommate and most of my close friends were, so I was invited to attend one of their date parties. My roommate had a "pre-party" in our dorm room, so I was there with my date (we’ll call him "B"), and Adam was there with N. At one point Adam and I ended up sitting on the couch next to each other and, somehow, even though the setting was not AT ALL conducive to this type of discussion, we started talking about church and discovered that we had both been brought up in the Baptist church. Millsaps is a Methodist-affiliated school and, quite frankly, Baptists were few and far between, so we both felt like it was something of a coincidence. The conversation didn’t last long, and then we were both back to our dates. I ended up seeing B for several months after that. Adam and N stopped seeing each other not too long after the party (for unrelated reasons, my friendship with her later ran its course, lest anyone worry that I broke some cardinal rule of friendship by dating and later marrying Adam!).
Fast forward to March: 3) Over Spring Break, B and I broke up. I was sad at first, but the sadness was quickly overshadowed by a feeling of relief as I realized that I was 100% free to do whatever I wanted, wherever I wanted, with no ties to anyone or anything anywhere! Since B was from Mississippi, there had been some question about what I would do after graduation – stay in Mississippi? Try a long-distance relationship? Well, our break-up took care of that problem quite handily! So I planned to move back home and look into the buyer’s training program at Macy’s or Saks. One night during the first week back to school after Spring Break I went to the cafeteria for dinner, where I bumped into Adam. And that’s when it happened – he told me I looked pregnant (yeah, he's smooth like that). Just what every girl (who isn’t pregnant) wants to hear, right? :) By way of explanation, I should tell you that I had just been to the gym, so I was tired and walked up to him rather dramatically with my hands pressed into my lower back. In Adam’s mind this apparently conjured images of the pregnant waddle and the words left his mouth before his better judgment could stop him. I laughed, then walked away, pretending to be hurt and appalled. He tells me that his friends gave him a lot of grief about the comment, and he sent me an e-mail later to explain and apologize. We started e-mailing and talking more and more after that. Several nights we sat up in the lobby of our dorm and just talked for hours and hours. From the beginning I told him we should keep things casual and just enjoy getting to know one another. I was graduating in a month and moving back to Texas; he still had a year to go. This was just not the right time to be getting into anything serious!
4) Easter rolled around and Adam invited me to spend the weekend with him and his family in Monroe. As soon as I met his parents and his brothers, I knew my "keep things casual" plan was in trouble. They were, and are, AWESOME. They just folded me right in to the mix. I felt and saw a level of love and friendship and care that was really familiar to me…it reminded me of my own family.
5) Needless to say, my "plan" disintegrated. On graduation day, before I drove back to Texas with my car loaded down with all of my stuff, Adam and I sat on a bench at a park and had "the talk" – you know, the DTR (Defining The Relationship). We decided to give it a shot and do the long-distance thing. That lasted for about, oh, three months, maybe four. I spent the summer in Fort Worth, we ran up some impressive long distance bills talking on the phone (this was before everyone and their dog had cell phones), e-mailed, and both made the 8-hour drive to visit a few times. By September, I was back in Jackson. I knew this relationship felt different, and I wanted to give it the best chance I could. Some people thought rearranging my life like that was a mistake, and even I had a hard time swallowing the idea that I was moving BACK to Mississippi, but my instincts (and God's leading) were right!
A year and a half later, on February 11, 2002, Adam proposed to me at that same park where we sat and talked after I graduated. And five months after that, on July 13, we were married in a beautiful ceremony in front our cherished family and friends. Our marriage isn’t always sunshine and rainbows and cute cuddly kittens (is anyone’s?), but we know that God brought us together and He will bless our union as long as we keep Him at the center. I thank God for my husband every day and I could go on and on about how great he is, but I’ve probably rambled enough for one blog post! If you’ve made it this far, I'll end by saying thanks for letting me share our "how we met" story!!!
1) On move-in day at the beginning of my senior year (Adam's junior year), we were parked near each other in the parking lot unloading our cars at the same time (we lived on different floors of the same dorm). After dozens of trips back and forth up two flights of stairs, I was literally taking the last load of stuff out of my car, and it was then that Adam swooped in and asked if I needed any help…great timing, huh? Anyway, we talked briefly, then he apparently went back to his dorm and told his roommate that he intended to go out with me. He then proceeded to start dating a good friend of mine (we’ll call her "N"). Not that it bothered me – I thought he was nice and cute, but he wasn’t on my radar as date material at the time.
2) I was not in a sorority, but my roommate and most of my close friends were, so I was invited to attend one of their date parties. My roommate had a "pre-party" in our dorm room, so I was there with my date (we’ll call him "B"), and Adam was there with N. At one point Adam and I ended up sitting on the couch next to each other and, somehow, even though the setting was not AT ALL conducive to this type of discussion, we started talking about church and discovered that we had both been brought up in the Baptist church. Millsaps is a Methodist-affiliated school and, quite frankly, Baptists were few and far between, so we both felt like it was something of a coincidence. The conversation didn’t last long, and then we were both back to our dates. I ended up seeing B for several months after that. Adam and N stopped seeing each other not too long after the party (for unrelated reasons, my friendship with her later ran its course, lest anyone worry that I broke some cardinal rule of friendship by dating and later marrying Adam!).
Fast forward to March: 3) Over Spring Break, B and I broke up. I was sad at first, but the sadness was quickly overshadowed by a feeling of relief as I realized that I was 100% free to do whatever I wanted, wherever I wanted, with no ties to anyone or anything anywhere! Since B was from Mississippi, there had been some question about what I would do after graduation – stay in Mississippi? Try a long-distance relationship? Well, our break-up took care of that problem quite handily! So I planned to move back home and look into the buyer’s training program at Macy’s or Saks. One night during the first week back to school after Spring Break I went to the cafeteria for dinner, where I bumped into Adam. And that’s when it happened – he told me I looked pregnant (yeah, he's smooth like that). Just what every girl (who isn’t pregnant) wants to hear, right? :) By way of explanation, I should tell you that I had just been to the gym, so I was tired and walked up to him rather dramatically with my hands pressed into my lower back. In Adam’s mind this apparently conjured images of the pregnant waddle and the words left his mouth before his better judgment could stop him. I laughed, then walked away, pretending to be hurt and appalled. He tells me that his friends gave him a lot of grief about the comment, and he sent me an e-mail later to explain and apologize. We started e-mailing and talking more and more after that. Several nights we sat up in the lobby of our dorm and just talked for hours and hours. From the beginning I told him we should keep things casual and just enjoy getting to know one another. I was graduating in a month and moving back to Texas; he still had a year to go. This was just not the right time to be getting into anything serious!
4) Easter rolled around and Adam invited me to spend the weekend with him and his family in Monroe. As soon as I met his parents and his brothers, I knew my "keep things casual" plan was in trouble. They were, and are, AWESOME. They just folded me right in to the mix. I felt and saw a level of love and friendship and care that was really familiar to me…it reminded me of my own family.
5) Needless to say, my "plan" disintegrated. On graduation day, before I drove back to Texas with my car loaded down with all of my stuff, Adam and I sat on a bench at a park and had "the talk" – you know, the DTR (Defining The Relationship). We decided to give it a shot and do the long-distance thing. That lasted for about, oh, three months, maybe four. I spent the summer in Fort Worth, we ran up some impressive long distance bills talking on the phone (this was before everyone and their dog had cell phones), e-mailed, and both made the 8-hour drive to visit a few times. By September, I was back in Jackson. I knew this relationship felt different, and I wanted to give it the best chance I could. Some people thought rearranging my life like that was a mistake, and even I had a hard time swallowing the idea that I was moving BACK to Mississippi, but my instincts (and God's leading) were right!
A year and a half later, on February 11, 2002, Adam proposed to me at that same park where we sat and talked after I graduated. And five months after that, on July 13, we were married in a beautiful ceremony in front our cherished family and friends. Our marriage isn’t always sunshine and rainbows and cute cuddly kittens (is anyone’s?), but we know that God brought us together and He will bless our union as long as we keep Him at the center. I thank God for my husband every day and I could go on and on about how great he is, but I’ve probably rambled enough for one blog post! If you’ve made it this far, I'll end by saying thanks for letting me share our "how we met" story!!!
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
I have a Facebook page that I seldom use. They block it at work, and I don't get on the computer much at home. Overall, I find Facebook interesting but overwhelming. I have to stay away lest it suck me in to its black hole-ness :)
Anyway, it's late and I've slacked on my blogging duties. I'm basically stealing the following post from other blogs. I hope they don't mind! It's a list of funny Facebook statuses. Some of them really made me laugh...
Anyway, it's late and I've slacked on my blogging duties. I'm basically stealing the following post from other blogs. I hope they don't mind! It's a list of funny Facebook statuses. Some of them really made me laugh...
- Emery scratch here ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒ to reveal today’s status.
- Theresa C. is OCD and gathering her thoughts in alphabetical order…
- Zoey Joy – Today, I saw a commercial for the Snuggie. I thought it was stupid idea, but I couldn’t change the channel because I was under a blanket and I didn’t want my arms to get cold…
- Julia I am so ecstatic but why is nothing sticking to me?
- Matthew C. thinks finding a job is like playing "Where’s Waldo?"… except Waldo is looking for a job too.
- Ernie says to never play leapfrog with a unicorn
- Matthew L. A good pun is its own reword.
- Ernie wonders why the frisbee is getting bigger and then it hits me
- Brittany F. was complimented on my driving today. Someone left a note on my windshield that said "Parking Fine"
- Alan B. Tomorrow I’m gonna write a blog post about procrastination.
- Ted C. became a fan of not becoming a fan of everything on facebook.
- Alex R. Can mute people burp?
- Ernie to err is human, to arr is pirate.
- Alex R. Shin: a device for finding furniture in the dark.
- Alex R. couldn’t find a decaf coffee table at IKEA
- Tim H. Weed smoking and turkey pulling today. Oops…reverse those verbs. Sorry.
- Ernie says don’t you wish there were a knob on the TV to turn up the intelligence? There’s one marked ‘Brightness,’ but it doesn’t work.
- Dave feels like getting some work done...and so he is sitting down until the feeling passes.
- Katie used to play sports. Then she realized you can buy trophies. Now she's good at everything.
- Dave says my computer just beat me at chess...but it was no match for me at kick boxing.
- Katie is cle'a]ni.ng he'r ke]yb29oa;rd
- Dave is wondering why his daughter's diaper holds no where near the 22-37 pounds it promises.
- Dave is wondering where noah kept woodpeckers on his ark
And for those of you looking to up the ante on your own Facebook status-ing, here’s a short tutorial: http://www.ehow.com/how_4614110_write-funny-facebook-status-message.html.
Erica Sweeney hopes the last five minutes of your Tuesday are rad.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Lent
Blogger just lost a really long post I was almost done with. That makes me sad. I’ll try to re-create it, but I’m really annoyed right now!!!
Okay, so last Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent, which is the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Growing up in the Baptist church, I was never really exposed to the Liturgical calendar. I’m sure some Baptist churches follow it, but I was never aware of it in any of the churches I attended (perhaps I just wasn’t paying attention). The point is that the church Adam and I attend now follows the Liturgical calendar throughout the year, and it’s been neat learning about the different seasons and their meanings.
I guess I’ll digress for a moment and talk a little bit about our church. Since Adam and I moved to Austin in 2005, we have been part of a startup church or "church plant" called Immanuel. Immanuel is a non-denominational church, but it has its roots in the Church of Christ. It started with three couples, our pastors (Kester and Rachel), the Jerkins (Nathan and Melissa), and us. Now we have approximately 30 members. Smaller groups meet in peoples’ homes on Sundays for "house church" - which is basically Bible study, dinner, and Communion - then we all come together to worship on Wednesdays. The idea is that the house churches will stay pretty small to encourage participation and fellowship, so any time a house church regularly has 15-20 people attending from week to week, that group will "birth" (weird term, I know, but it’s better than "split") another house church. So, what started out as one house church is now three, and that number will hopefully just keep growing, Lord willing! Being a part of this church has been quite illuminating for Adam and me. Neither of us ever felt a particular "calling" to the ministry, but we knew when we moved here that we wanted to be more involved in our next church – we wanted to be more than weekly attendees. So we started visiting the larger, more traditional congregations in the area. Meanwhile, Adam got hired at BookPeople and soon befriended Kester - another (if not the only other) employee who was a believer. As we got to know Kester and Rachel better, they told us that they had moved to Austin from North Carolina to start a church. We basically told them we admired their goal and wished them luck! Sure, we wanted to be MORE involved in church, but helping START a church seemed like too big a leap. Eventually, though, we recognized that God was asking us to do this, so we committed to one year on the "core team" to help get things started. It was an amazing time of growth and learning that we are so thankful for. We have since stepped down from any leadership role, but this church continues to be a wonderfully meaningful part of our lives!
As I mentioned at the beginning, until a few years ago I didn’t really know anything about Lent, or Advent, or Epiphany, etc. Honestly, I’m still learning, and I don’t profess to be any kind of Biblical scholar or expert. As our pastor put it, Lent is a time when you give something up, something that you will miss and will be difficult to go without (i.e. TV, meat, caffeine, Facebook, etc.); the absence of this something creates a void, which leaves more room to be filled with God's Spirit and to bring some fulfillment and blessing into the lives of others. I also like how this website puts it: "It is done as a discipline for learning self-control, to free our minds from the chase after material things, to tell ourselves 'no' and make it stick; to identify with Christ's sufferings, and remember what the true pleasures are for followers of Christ; as an act of sorrow over our wrongdoings and our state of sin. Sometimes we don't notice how certain things we do have gained power over us and dictate our actions. In Lent fasts, we discover these things and give them up so that God can be in charge." In the act of giving something up, we open up opportunities for God to bless us and for us to bless others, so by taking something away from your life, you are actually adding something to it.
I admit that my past participation in this season has been lukewarm; I guess I'm still working on allowing it to resonate in my own life. Two years ago I gave up checking perezhilton.com at work every morning and I fasted for the three days before Easter; last year I couldn’t even think of anything to give up…Perez’s site was blocked by our IT department, and I was pregnant so I couldn’t fast. This year I’m determined to put forth more of an effort. I'm starting with something relatively simple – sweets (that I can’t seem to get enough of lately!) - and praying that God will illuminate additional possibilities as Lent continues. I ask for your prayers in that and will pray that all of our blog followers will be blessed during this season!!
Okay, so last Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent, which is the 40 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter. Growing up in the Baptist church, I was never really exposed to the Liturgical calendar. I’m sure some Baptist churches follow it, but I was never aware of it in any of the churches I attended (perhaps I just wasn’t paying attention). The point is that the church Adam and I attend now follows the Liturgical calendar throughout the year, and it’s been neat learning about the different seasons and their meanings.
I guess I’ll digress for a moment and talk a little bit about our church. Since Adam and I moved to Austin in 2005, we have been part of a startup church or "church plant" called Immanuel. Immanuel is a non-denominational church, but it has its roots in the Church of Christ. It started with three couples, our pastors (Kester and Rachel), the Jerkins (Nathan and Melissa), and us. Now we have approximately 30 members. Smaller groups meet in peoples’ homes on Sundays for "house church" - which is basically Bible study, dinner, and Communion - then we all come together to worship on Wednesdays. The idea is that the house churches will stay pretty small to encourage participation and fellowship, so any time a house church regularly has 15-20 people attending from week to week, that group will "birth" (weird term, I know, but it’s better than "split") another house church. So, what started out as one house church is now three, and that number will hopefully just keep growing, Lord willing! Being a part of this church has been quite illuminating for Adam and me. Neither of us ever felt a particular "calling" to the ministry, but we knew when we moved here that we wanted to be more involved in our next church – we wanted to be more than weekly attendees. So we started visiting the larger, more traditional congregations in the area. Meanwhile, Adam got hired at BookPeople and soon befriended Kester - another (if not the only other) employee who was a believer. As we got to know Kester and Rachel better, they told us that they had moved to Austin from North Carolina to start a church. We basically told them we admired their goal and wished them luck! Sure, we wanted to be MORE involved in church, but helping START a church seemed like too big a leap. Eventually, though, we recognized that God was asking us to do this, so we committed to one year on the "core team" to help get things started. It was an amazing time of growth and learning that we are so thankful for. We have since stepped down from any leadership role, but this church continues to be a wonderfully meaningful part of our lives!
As I mentioned at the beginning, until a few years ago I didn’t really know anything about Lent, or Advent, or Epiphany, etc. Honestly, I’m still learning, and I don’t profess to be any kind of Biblical scholar or expert. As our pastor put it, Lent is a time when you give something up, something that you will miss and will be difficult to go without (i.e. TV, meat, caffeine, Facebook, etc.); the absence of this something creates a void, which leaves more room to be filled with God's Spirit and to bring some fulfillment and blessing into the lives of others. I also like how this website puts it: "It is done as a discipline for learning self-control, to free our minds from the chase after material things, to tell ourselves 'no' and make it stick; to identify with Christ's sufferings, and remember what the true pleasures are for followers of Christ; as an act of sorrow over our wrongdoings and our state of sin. Sometimes we don't notice how certain things we do have gained power over us and dictate our actions. In Lent fasts, we discover these things and give them up so that God can be in charge." In the act of giving something up, we open up opportunities for God to bless us and for us to bless others, so by taking something away from your life, you are actually adding something to it.
I admit that my past participation in this season has been lukewarm; I guess I'm still working on allowing it to resonate in my own life. Two years ago I gave up checking perezhilton.com at work every morning and I fasted for the three days before Easter; last year I couldn’t even think of anything to give up…Perez’s site was blocked by our IT department, and I was pregnant so I couldn’t fast. This year I’m determined to put forth more of an effort. I'm starting with something relatively simple – sweets (that I can’t seem to get enough of lately!) - and praying that God will illuminate additional possibilities as Lent continues. I ask for your prayers in that and will pray that all of our blog followers will be blessed during this season!!
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
As you look at this picture, be sure to hum the Olympics theme song - I really wanted to add it to my post, but I couldn't figure out how. Bummer.
Aren't the Olympics great? I'm a big fan. The patriotism! The athleticism! The joy and the agony! Such emotion at every turn. I love the back-stories, too - those profiles of the various athletes/teams that make you so much more invested in their success or failure. Being something of a perfectionist myself (and often struggling with somewhat crippling stage fright/performance anxiety), I can't help but sympathize with the men and women who mess up. They've been practicing and preparing for four years (if not longer), and you know they've done that skate routine or ski run perfectly a hundred times and they couldn't be more ready, yet when it really matters and the pressure is on, it doesn't come together. How frustrating that must be!!! Like the story of the snowboarder, Lindsey Jacobellis, who had the gold medal in her pocket 4 years ago and then fell trying to do a simple board grab on the last jump and ended up in 2nd place. Not the end of the world, to be sure, and she handled her disappointment gracefully, but man oh man, it still had to hurt.
Now that I'm a mom, I tend to look at things through this new filter - my mom filter. Obviously, all of these athletes are somebody's child, and at some point all of these kids decided to pursue a sport and follow a dream. Some of the sports are dangerous and require the athletes to push their bodies to the absolute limit. I know Ash isn't going to literally wake up tomorrow and want to be a downhill skier, but I can't help but think how nervous I would be if he chose something like that as his life dream! Or, more accurately, if God put that desire and leading in his heart. And I guess I just answered my own question. I pray each day that as Asher grows up he will devote his life to God, discover the unique gifts and talents that God gives him, and use them to His glory, so if God leads Asher to be a downhill skier, or a dirtbike racer, or a UFC octagon cagefighter, I'll have the peace of mind that I've placed my child's welfare in God's hands. I can tell already that's easier said than done!
In the meantime, I can enjoy watching all the talented participants in the 2010 Olympiad and revel in the way this friendly competition unites so many countries and nations. Such a cool thing!!!
Aren't the Olympics great? I'm a big fan. The patriotism! The athleticism! The joy and the agony! Such emotion at every turn. I love the back-stories, too - those profiles of the various athletes/teams that make you so much more invested in their success or failure. Being something of a perfectionist myself (and often struggling with somewhat crippling stage fright/performance anxiety), I can't help but sympathize with the men and women who mess up. They've been practicing and preparing for four years (if not longer), and you know they've done that skate routine or ski run perfectly a hundred times and they couldn't be more ready, yet when it really matters and the pressure is on, it doesn't come together. How frustrating that must be!!! Like the story of the snowboarder, Lindsey Jacobellis, who had the gold medal in her pocket 4 years ago and then fell trying to do a simple board grab on the last jump and ended up in 2nd place. Not the end of the world, to be sure, and she handled her disappointment gracefully, but man oh man, it still had to hurt.
Now that I'm a mom, I tend to look at things through this new filter - my mom filter. Obviously, all of these athletes are somebody's child, and at some point all of these kids decided to pursue a sport and follow a dream. Some of the sports are dangerous and require the athletes to push their bodies to the absolute limit. I know Ash isn't going to literally wake up tomorrow and want to be a downhill skier, but I can't help but think how nervous I would be if he chose something like that as his life dream! Or, more accurately, if God put that desire and leading in his heart. And I guess I just answered my own question. I pray each day that as Asher grows up he will devote his life to God, discover the unique gifts and talents that God gives him, and use them to His glory, so if God leads Asher to be a downhill skier, or a dirtbike racer, or a UFC octagon cagefighter, I'll have the peace of mind that I've placed my child's welfare in God's hands. I can tell already that's easier said than done!
In the meantime, I can enjoy watching all the talented participants in the 2010 Olympiad and revel in the way this friendly competition unites so many countries and nations. Such a cool thing!!!
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