Thankful Tuesday

Aloha!  Welcome to Tuesday!  I've been up since 4:30 a.m. this morning, so my brain is wide awake and supercharged on caffeine.  From my bed, I was looking forward to coming to the computer to do this.

Today I am thankful for:
1.  Big toes.
My feet aren't very pretty.  They're large I run around the house barefoot, so they're not exactly smooth.  However, today (and yesterday I was thinking about this) I am thankful for big toes.  Not only do they hold me up, they provide a giant canvas for my kids' painting abilities.  Where would I be without my big toes?  Probably sitting down.

2.  Snuggling.
I am blessed to live in a house full of snugglers.  Whether it's a kid that got in bed in the middle of the night, a dog who wants to get close, or my husband, I love it when I'm lying in bed half asleep with someone against me.  This morning I woke up to find Capt. Midnight Sugar Dot Express curled up on my belly.  Snuggling makes me happy.

3.  Birds in the city.
We live in a city, so we've got concrete all around, but we still have tiny sparrows that hop on our driveway and cheep at me.  This morning I was walking Sugar Dot and I saw a male cardinal.  I love that in the midst of the city, there is still wildlife.

4.  Adam's brain.
While I have been eagerly working on teaching the kids to read and write, Adam has recently bought several tools to teach the kids about evolution.  That's something I don't know much about and I'm grateful that his brain can handle all that left-brained stuff.  I'm great at imparting curiousity about the world, and I'm thankful that I can often defer to him for the answers. 

5.  Children's prayers
Of their own accord, the kids stopped saying "God is great" and started making up their own prayers.  There's nothing sweeter than hearing Claire say, "Thank you God for the wonderful world and all our friends and all the food on our table."  or Paul saying, "Thank you God for all my friends that brought me birthday presents."  Yesterday Claire's table blessing included gratitude for her scrapbook kit, which she explained.  "Thank you God, thank you Spirit, for my scrapbook kit that we can stick letters on and order prints from Costco to put in my book with other decorations and bind the entire thing together in a book." 

6.  A healthy body
While I'm not winning any beauty contests, I am grateful that my body is fully functional and I've never had any major health problems. 

7.  Stickers
Last week I took both kids to the doctor for their wellness exams.  Claire had to have four shots and both children had blood drawn for lead testing.  Both kids screamed, but once they had fancy band-aids and a reward sticker, the pain seemed to be over.  Stickers are magic, just as magic as fancy band-aids.

8.  Beating the alarm clock
I can think of few sounds more annoying and dissonant than an alarm clock.  Today I woke up before I had to listen to mine.  It makes for a much more peaceful wakeup time.

9. Success in imparting wonder and appreciation in my kids
When I was growing up, my parents, in particular, my mother, loved to make fun of others.  I don't know how it started or why, but I was a participant for a long time.  As I grew older, though, I realized that I didn't want to be critical of others.  So even though, to this day, I can still hear her in my head laughing at those who are different, the voice stays in my head and doesn't come out my mouth.  What does come out of my mouth, for the most part, is intentional appreciation for those who are different.  For example, at church on Sunday, a lady wore an elaborate bright silver headwrap.  Claire said, "Look at that lady's head."  So instead of laughing about it, I intentionally directed the conversation in another direction.  "That's pretty cool," I said.  "I wish I had a silver headwrap to wear to church."  Claire said, "Yeah, that would be neat, like a princess crown."
Although Claire doesn't recognize that as a victory, I do.

10.  Perfect timing
This week I am thankful for all the times in the past seven days that we have made it on time to an event.  It takes a lot to get the whole family clean, dressed, and fed, and I breathe a sigh of relief and gratitude when we succeed.

Seeing a miracle

I saw a miracle yesterday and it lead to all sorts of theological thoughts and debates.
I was driving to church to take the kids to VBS.  We were about to turn onto Hulen street when I noticed there was a giant tanker truck in the middle of the road, stopped.  The truck looked fine, and I know there is not any road construction at that intersection, so I started paying attention to what was going on.  Then I noticed there was a Grand Prix underneath the tanker truck.  There was a car completely under the wheel well of this giant truck.  We all hear about tragic wrecks like this which usually end in death. 
But as I was looking at the car the miracle happened.  The driver's side door opened and the driver got out of her car and walked safely to the side of the road unharmed.
My mouth hung open and the kids were shouting, "What's going on?"  The Grand Prix was obviously undrivable and the roof had been partly crushed down.  But the lady walked out of the wreck unscathed.  It was a miracle.
So while the kids, in particular Claire, was saying, "Thank God she was okay," I thought about God's role in that drama.
I do believe that the lady should thank God that she is alive.  I'm sure she was.  However, I don't actually believe she is alive because she might have prayed in the accident or was favored by God.  I don't think it works like that.
I believe God has infinite power that he doesn't always use.  I don't believe that he looked at the lady and said, "Oh she's a Jesus lover.  She should live."  I also don't believe that in the same situation God would think, "Oh, she's a hellion.  Death upon her."
I believe that God stays out of the details but comes in with love at every turn.
My thoughts led to a theological discussion with one of my ministers, who told me he is mulling over the phrase "self-limiting."  God has infinite power but values human freedom so much that he chooses to self-limit.  Jesus is the ultimate example of God self-limiting.  The divine came down in human form, self-limiting himself (or herself or itself).
So if God created humans to fellowship with him, it's not really fair if he keeps swooping down to fix the bad stuff.  Instead, I believe he provides healing and love in all situations.  I believe that every time you feel love, you are experiencing God.
I do believe in miracles, and I also believe that in the grand scheme of things, my little brain will never be able to understand all of God's power.  However, humans are always asking why bad things happen to good people and this is one answer.

Thankful Tuesday

It's Tuesday again and it's time to be thankful!

Today I'm thankful for:
1.  Random statements of faith
As a person who is often caught saying, "Because I love Jesus" as a motivation, it makes me smile and often laugh to see other wackos who randomly spout their faith.  This weekend I saw a handwritten sign scrawled on notebook paper and scotch-taped to someone's bedroom window that said, "Smile.  God loves you."  I did.  I also giggled at the hotel marquee with the scrolling letters, "Cable TV.  Free continental breakfast.  Pool.  Jesus loves you."

2.  Naptime/downtime
Although we don't get to take a nap daily any more, I cherish the moments when the house is still and calm and everyone is at peace with the world.

3.  Vacation Bible School teachers
This week is Vacation Bible School at our church, which also means that it's the week that our niece Morgan comes to visit.  I've been hiding out in my office working on other things, but outside my door, I can hear the teachers patiently asking each child, "Do you need to go potty?"  One teacher is even working with a leg brace and I heard her shout today, "Slow down!  My runner's broke!"  That's pretty awesome when you can't even walk well and you are devoting your week to teaching children for free.

4.  Accountability friends
Recently I said complained to my friend Stacy about something petty and she said, "Really Sarah?  That's about the third time I heard you talk about that in three days."  Oops.  I am grateful for being surrounded by people that love me and also call me to task when I need it.  Adam is great at doing that.

5.  Mail
I never know what the mailman will bring.  It's always exciting when it's a card from a friend or a coupon to Kohl's.

6.  The easy-going nature of Paul's basketball team
It's Paul's first season in basketball, and I am grateful that every parent and the coach for his team is not competitive.  Obviously at three years old he's not going to be a superstar on the court, but every action on the court is supported with a high five or a "Go Paul!"  None of the parents on our team yell at their kids for not getting the ball or make otherwise negative remarks.  We wanted this to just be a fun time for Paul without any stress and it certainly is.

7.  Lightening
I woke up last night in the middle of the night to let the dogs out and saw a fantastic lightshow in the sky.  It was beautiful and worth losing sleep over.

8.  Hotdogs
They're portable.  They're easy to cook.  They can be eaten outside.  I like the carefree nature of the hotdog.  (I've been grilling a lot lately for all the birthdays we've had around here.)

9.  The end of birthday season
This past weekend was Father's Day and Paul and Adam's birthdays.  A few weeks before that was Claire's, and a few weeks before that was mine.  I am glad that our spring birthday season is over and we don't have any parties to plan for the foreseeable future.

10.  flickr
I'm in charge of maintaining our church's website.  The problem is, when I'm uploading photos, I have to create a new webpage for each image.  It takes FOREVER!  This weekend I noted that our new senior pastor used flickr for her former church.  Now I have created a flickr account for us and can upload all the pictures at once and simply put a link on our website.  It's fantastic!

Going Green with Grandparents

It's now hip to bring your own bags to the grocery store, to recycle, and to repurpose items.  "Going Green" is much in style.  This is not a new concept, however.  I believe that throughout human history, people have been "going green."  I know both sets of my grandparents did as they grew up during the Great Depression.
My maternal grandma has always been a saver and reuser.  She fills up her ketchup bottles with packets from restaurants.  She collects napkins and cuts them in half when she has company for dinner.  She freezes everything, including candy bars and bread.  I have witnessed her more than once dig through her kitchen trash to rescue a piece of plasticware that a careless family member threw away.
My paternal grandfather is also a person who has always been "green."  Recently at his house I saw him spraying nose spray on his eyeglasses.  I asked him about that and he informed me that when he ran out of nosespray he refilled the bottle with windex to clean his eyeglasses.
He doesn't cut napkins in half, but he uses them meal after meal until I sneak and throw them away.  He buys his mops at the dollar store, but still removes the mop heads and washes them rather than buy a new mop.
Everything is repurposed at my granddad's house.  An Ensure can doubles as a spittoon.  An empty juice bottle is refilled with water in case of emergency water cut off.  My deceased grandmother's glasses fit his face just fine.  Expired milk is drank up to a week later.  Frozen dinner trays are washed and kept like fine china.  Clothes are mended again and again rather than buying new ones.  He's always working on a handyman project around the house like using a hairdryer to melt PVC to mold it so it fits on the shelves in the bathroom.
I must say that both sets of my grandparents have rubbed off on me.  At our home, we sometimes have two 60 gallon bins full of recycling.  We repurpose unique packaging for crafts.  If bananas turn brown, I freeze them for muffins.  I have my own chest freezer full of oddities like bread and chocolate chips.  Rather than throw out leftovers, I freeze them before they go bad.
While I must admit I have giggled at my grandparents' ways more than once, it seems that the more things change, the more they stay the same.  The apple doesn't fall far from the freezer.

Thankful Tuesday

It's Tuesday again, which means it's time to list what I'm thankful for.  What's great about doing this every week is that I start to be more concious of gratitude during the week.  I'll be in the midst of doing something and think, "Man, I have got to put this on my list!"

Today I am thankful for:

1.  Funerals
Yesterday we went to a funeral to say goodbye to Adam's distant aunt, Oma Greer.  This was our third funeral to attend in the last two months.  We love old people, and one of the downsides to being friends with lots of old people is that you have many funerals to attend.  We always make an effort to attend the funeral so we can see friends we haven't seen in a while and offer condolences to the family in person.  While it's great to send a sympathy card, in my opinion, it's better to give a hug in person.  We always take the kids with us, too.  While it is stressful to keep your kid quiet during a funeral, the mourning family always thanks us for bringing them.  It's comforting to them to see cute kids that care about their loved one.  It's good for the kids, too, to learn that death is a fact of life and that we should be grateful for each other while we can.

2.  Good books
This weekend I finished the latest Outlander novel, An Echo in the Bone.  Each book in this series is gigantic--about 600 pages each.  However, the author sucks you in and makes the characters so real that you feel like you know them.  I highly recommend Diana Gabaldon.

3.  Google Calendar
This year Adam and I put all our events on Google Calendar.  This solved many marital disputes about scheduling.  Adam puts his events on there and I put the family events on and we can check it from anywhere.  The paper calendar in the kitchen is now obselete, but we also don't argue about "When were you going to tell me about this party?"

4.  Small wonders
We got Capt. Midnight Sugar Dot Express Boyette his first tag the other day.  Petsmart has a machine at the front of the store that uses a laser to engrave.  All four of us were huddled in front of it, fascinated at the technology.  What I love about kids is that they bring a sense of wonder to everyday activities.  Sometimes we have to make a U-turn just to see road construction.  Other times we have to huddle over a small machine to watch it work. 

5.  Chick-fil-A
If you haven't had a Chick-fil-A Chicken Biscuit, you are missing out.

6.  Dallas Mavericks
What a fantastic series between the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat.  Adam and I watched each game with excitement.  Yes, he had to wake me up when I fell asleep, but I was still excited.  We love watching sports where both teams are equally good.

7.  Adam's copy-editing skills
Adam reads the paper every day and gets frustrated at errors that the Dallas Morning News copy editors missed.  When he sees enough of them, he writes a letter to the appropriate editor and usually gets an acknowledgement of his correctness.  I am grateful that I have a copy editor that lives with me who can proofread everything I put to print.  (Except this blog, so if you see errors, they are mine.)

8.  Words with Friends
Yes, I'm probably addicted to this game, but it's pretty awesome when you put down two letters and get 30+ points.  Plus, it makes me feel smarter.

9.  Air-conditioning
We replaced our AC last Labor Day weekend, and we are so grateful.  I can't imagine living in a time when there wasn't air-conditioning.  I truly thank God every time I walk in the house and am hit by a burst of cool air.

10.  Cool Band-Aids
Nothing heals an injury as quick as a character band-aid.  Maybe a kiss from Mom, but it might be a tie.  I love giving the kids a band-aid and having them, instead of cry about their injury, start saying, "Awesome!  Lightning McQueen!"

Two "Aha!" moments this week

Twice this week I was upset with myself and figured out I was the problem.  I had an "aha!" moment twice.  Here's what hit me on the head this week:

1. The need for community, again.
One of my personal soapboxes, and something I've blogged about a few times, is what I believe is an intrinsic need for community.  I think everyone has this need.  What happens is that when a person separates themselves from a support network, they start looking inward.  Then they only see themselves and their problems become the only problems in the world and they magnify.  If one disconnects with society, small issues become great big ones.  I see this again and again in my world and see people reaching out less and less because they can write on one another's "wall" or text each other. 

The problem is that I can easily see this issue in others, but recently failed to see it in myself.  Because it's now summer, I'm less involved at church and socially.  I decided to take some time off various groups that I'm in.  But Wednesday night, I made myself go see a movie with some friends I hadn't hung out with in a while.  I was overwhelmed with a sense of love and friendship and had to remind myself that just because it's summer, I still need to be engaged.  It's humbling to hear about a friend's sick baby or ill grandparent and be reminded that I am not the only one in the world with problems.  I love it when I get bonked on the head and realize, it's not all about me.

2.  The need to advocate for myself
Yesterday I was in a hurry at Costco.  We were having company last night and I had to buy some last minute supplies.  When I got up to the register, one of the front end managers was leaning on the check-writing stand talking to the cashier's assistant/bagger/boxer/whatever you want to call him.  Instead of asking her to move, I politely and quietly waited while she finished her conversation and got out of the way.  Then I stepped up to the stand and wrote my check.  Once I was finished checking out, I realized that my items were not boxed and that the guy hadn't even asked me if I wanted boxes.  I was mad because I had a lot of items.  But then I was mad at myself because if I had spoken up at the beginning and called the manager to task, the helper would have been paying attention to me instead of her and I would have been happy with the end result.  So again I got bonked in the head and had an "aha" moment.

This week I will pay attention and advocate for myself.

The Last Seven Days

Today's blog is a run-down of what we've been doing the last week.  Above you see a picture of Lyndale the Literary Lion. We met him last week at the library. Apparently Lyndale is a full-time librarian in Dallas. He's an excellent presenter for kids. He had all the kids rapping along with him. It was pretty awesome. We've been rocking out to his CD, which was only $5. And guess what? He's on i-tunes!

Later on that night, Adam was riding  his bike around the neighborhood and then found this awesome sight.  At the church by our house, they had Christian gangsta rap blasting out their doors and fires in the parking lot.  I believe the name of the band was the John 8 Crew, but I couldn't find them on Google.

So yeah, what these people had going on at their church actually made us come from blocks away.  We heard about what was happening and immediately got in our car and headed to the church.  We toured the church and picked up all their literature.  Unfortunately not one person spoke to us.  I found that disappointing because we were trying to figure out what the occasion was, etc.  And, if I have something cool at my church, I want to make sure everyone feels at home and knows the program.  If the purpose of having gangsta rap blasting out your church is to draw people to church, that worked, but we were kind of disappointed after that.  We left after hearing the hit "Feel the Holy Spirit Drop" and having a hot dog weiner thrown at our windshield by a little kid.

Here's a picture of Paul at basketball practice.  Unfortunately I keep rotating this darn pic and it won't take.  So my apologies for the crick in your neck.

We also attended a goodbye party for our friends the Leonard family.  Here's Blake and Paul hanging out in the backyard.  The Leonards were friends from church who are now friends from Baltimore.

Yesterday was Paul's first basketball game.  He did well for a near three year old.  I think all the kids at one time running for one ball intimidated him and he wasn't as aggressive as some, but he did shoot for a goal one time (missed) and said he had fun.  His next game is tomorrow, so maybe he'll do better now that he knows what to expect.

Today is library day again, so who knows what the next seven days will hold?  Excitement for sure.

Thankful Tuesday

Today I am thankful for:

1.  The Leonards
Bill, Leigh, Blake, and Ross are driving to their new home in Baltimore.  Each family member is friends with us and a blessing in a different way, and they will be missed.  Today I give thanks both for the family and the new roadtrip destination to go visit the Leonards.

2.  Jo
One of my dearest friends is ill.  We used to live next door to Jo Throckmorton and though we moved, we kept coming back to see her.  She is hands down, the most grateful person I have had the pleasure of knowing.  She's also the most gracious at dodging questions about her age.  Jo is elderly, blind, and widowed, but thanks God for everything she has daily.  Yesterday it was both humbling and eye-opening to me to see her at a rehabilitation hospital, frail in a wheelchair expressing gratitude.  I think we often think of elderly people are eternal because they've been around all our lives.  They aren't, though, and I'm going to conciously try to soak up all the Jo I can while I can.

3.  Cuteness
Today is Paul's first basketball game.  I believe that sums it up.

4.  Listening friends
Yesterday our friend Alli invited us over for a pool playdate.  The kids splashed on one end of the pool and Alli and I talked on the other.  Due to schedule, it's been a long time since I've done that with anyone.  I was grateful to go blah blah blah blah blah.  And she listened!

5.  Empathetic readers
My dear friend Stacy, who's put up with me for more than half my life now, is also one I'm thankful for.  I can e-mail her a long list of stuff at 5 a.m. and she will read it all and respond.  It's nice to have someone to send whatever's on my mind and have her reply in the same fashion, and not through a forward.

6.  Captain Midnight Sugar Dot Express
We still haven't found his original owner after a week of actively looking for them.  However, he's fun to play with and tolerates the kids quite well.  Adam's not really grateful for getting bitten the other night, but I'm pretty sure they've made up.  We'll put up new flyers this week, but we might just have a new family member.

7.  Costco coffee
You can get a 32 oz bag for $10, and it's just as good as Starbucks beans.  I love Costco!

8.  Easy-going kids
Paul is currently asleep on the floor.  Since we put him to bed last night, he's slept in his bed for a few hours, our bed for a few hours, the couch for a while, and now the floor.  He's sleeping soundly.  I love that the kids aren't picky. 

9. Mama Joy and Papa Charles
They'll be over here soon to watch the kids while I go to church to work for a few hours.  This young couple is our babysitters on call.  We don't have family members that are able to babysit like that, so we are blessed with wonderful friends.  Mama Joy always brings crafts to make with Claire and Papa Charles plays with Paul's trainset.  We are all grateful for their friendship.

10.  A Crystal-Clear Pool
I know I've mentioned the pool before, but today I am thankful for Adam's engineering of the perfect balance of chemicals.  Our water is beautiful and crystal clear.  From where I am sitting indoors, I can look out the window and see the bottom of the deep end.  It is gorgeous.  Besides being an ace at balancing a checkbook, my husband is awesome at balancing chemicals in the pool.  He puts the ph in phool.  (My apologies for the bad joke.)

Captain Midnight Sugar Dot Express Boyette?

Yesterday I was driving the kids and Kaa and Big Paul (Adam's godparents) home from basketball practice when we saw an elderly lady standing on Granbury Rd. crying.  That's a major road in Fort Worth, so we were trying to figure out what was wrong.  Then we saw a tiny black Chihuahua dodging cars.
The dog was running fast, and we followed him with the car, but when he crossed the street, I pulled over and started chasing him.  Kaa said it looked like I was a track star.
Traffic stopped and I chased the dog across Granbury and down the railroad tracks.  I finally cornered him under a bush and then Big Paul appeared to help.  With the help of a leash from a neighbor, and a few bites, we got a hold of the dog.  I was so happy to help a little old lady get her precious baby back.
Panting as if it was our last breath, we walked the dog back toward the elderly woman.  Turns out, she was gone.  Apparently it wasn't her dog at all, but she was the first one to nearly hit the dog with her car and she was upset.
So now we're hunting for the owners of a precious black Chihuahua, whom the kids have named Captain Midnight Sugar Dot Express Boyette.  We've been to Petsmart and verified he does not have an ID chip.  We've been to the local vet who doesn't recognize him.  We've posted signs around the neighborhood.  I can't say that we are looking forward to finding his owners, because we've grown attached.  If there's a family looking for him, we'd be glad to return him, but if there's not, he's got a home here.