Saturday, October 30, 2010

Friday, October 29, 2010

Mind spa day

Transition takes a lot of mental and emotional energy. Meeting new people, establishing relationships, and continuing budding friendships takes a lot of brain power.  I love it, but even for this self-declared extrovert, it can feel tiring at points.  That's why Shawn and I were so excited when Chet and Mary were close by! We met our lovely North Carolina friends in Staunton, at a favorite grad school restaurant of choice.  

It was so refreshing to have someone from our 'past' to connect with.  Conversation flowed freely, ribs dominated the meal, and Shawn and I didn't have to worry about spilled milk, dropped silverware, or cutting plates of bite-sized pieces.  

A mental spa day, for sure.
I feel cleansed and rejuvenated...
Love, love, love you guys!






Thursday, October 28, 2010

Apple of my eye

Carter's Mountain Orchard is literally a hop, skip, and jump from our house.  It is so beautiful there.  Set on top of the mountain, there are panoramic views of Charlottesville.  We spent the morning, a few weekends ago, doing the traditional apple-picking, cider-drinking, donut-wolfing day.  The boys loved it.  They were so excited about finding the apples on the tree.  I think they each ate no less than 2 whole apples.  Go fiber!

This day made my heart glad.





Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Just sayin'

I think the people that make door knob covers should lose their jobs.

They don't work, people. They don't work.

And how do I know that?

Babes are tucked into their beds, lights off, door shut. No less than 30 seconds later, door opens, little feet pitter-patter downstairs, and scurry around like mice. Take back to bed.

Repeat, with inclusion of stern words.
Repeat, with inclusion of further threats.
Repeat...repeat, repeat.
(And why does this happen when the husband is gone for the evening?)

The last time, I let them go downstairs a bit longer partially out of frustration, and partially out of surrender. When I finally take them up, they are no longer resentful, but proud.

"Come see, Mommy, come see."
Uh oh.

Upon entering their room, to my surprise there was a picnic. Complete with the 9x13 egg casserole for tomorrow's breakfast, yogurt, hot dogs, leftovers from supper.

Seriously, these children are fed throughout the day.
Quite well, in fact.

Tomorrow, installation of refrigerator lock will commence. Hopefully this product will work.

Don't let me down, people. Please, don't let me down.

Be still my heart

What could be better than 1 incredibly, good-looking guy?


All three of mine together!

Monday, October 25, 2010

Tears tonight

This evening, I opened my email and saw a message from First Mennonite Church of Denver regarding the tragic death of Chloe Weaver, daughter of Herm and Cindy of Boulder, CO.  She was struck riding her bike on Sunday.

I am just so, so sad.  This is the second sudden death I've heard of this week (last week, a friend of a friend passed away a week after having her second child due to a pulmonary embolism).  Hearing things like this remind me again of the fragility of life.  My blog is titled, "Everything Belongs," and at the deepest part of my core, I do trust that God truly, deeply, and completely holds all things together.

But tonight it is harder to believe.


Yet, believe I must.
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. ~Romans 8:38-9

To the Weaver family:  the Spirit groans on your behalf tonight, for I cannot find the words.  You are held in a deep place.

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Fleece diapers?

Self-sufficiency.  It's our culture's most admired trait.
It's my faith's worst nightmare.

While running on the treadmill on Tuesday, I was feeling so distant.  Distant from peace, from joy, from love, from God...as I thought about why this was, the word "self-sufficiency" kept coming to the surface. The more I thought about it, the clearer it became.  My desire to be self-sufficient, to handle it all, to hold it all together on my own accord, was distancing me from relationship.  Because I refuse to allow spaces of need in my life, was this preventing grace to enter?  To see God at work?

I'm not sure why I tend to revert into this mode time and time again.  Do I feel a need to earn/prove my worth?  That who I am, and what I offer is somehow not enough?

So as I'm running, feeling convicted of these things, I confess to God that I desire a closer, more reliant relationship.

And then I threw it out there.

Now, normally, I'm not a fleece thrower or anything (i.e. "God if you are really there, make it stop raining."), but I guess I wanted to test my own ability to trust God's provision, so I said,

"I really need some diapers today. Now, I"m not expecting you to throw a box out of the sky or anything, but, even if you could open the space in my incredibly busy day for me to get to Target, along with the mental/emotional capacity to cart the boys with me, that would be great."

There.  I said it.  And I finished my run.

Tuesdays are busy days.  I have to drop off Owen at preschool at 9:00am and then come half-way back to town by 9:20am to be at a bible study that I signed up for at a local congregation.  I bring Connor to the study, as childcare is provided.

As I unbuckled Connor out of his car seat in the church parking lot, it hit me.  In the rush of leaving the house, I had forgotten to pick up the diaper bag.  I scoured the car, because often we leave one in the car, or at least a lone diaper somewhere.

Not this time.
Nada.
Nothing.

Then it hit me again.  God will provide the diapers, right?  I had to giggle.

Sure enough, as I dropped off Con at his class and told his teacher that I had no diaper bag with me she said, "That's fine, we can provide diapers for you."


Not exactly how I was expecting God to answer, but answer God did.

Fleece or no fleece, my prayer is that I might allow spaces of openness in my life.  For by living permeable, I recognize God all around me, in those I meet, in the situations I encounter.  For God is here, already acting and working, providing what I need, recognized or not.

God help me to see.



Wednesday, October 13, 2010

Men and Meat

Shawn's favorite restaurant in the whole, entire world is Rodizio Grill.  Hunks of skewered meat are brought to your table until your gut splits.  I like meat, don't get me wrong, but with my family history of high cholesterol, I try to limit the animal protein.

Coming home tonight from a local Mexican restaurant, we are stopped behind a specialty meat truck.  A fillet as big as a horse stares back at Shawn, who is practically drooling. Here's our conversation:

"What is it with men and meat?  I could probably go vegetarian, if I had to."
    "It's men's primal instinct to hunt and eat meat.  It would kill me to give up meat."
"Well, it can kill me if I eat too much meat."
    "If I am going to die either way, I want to die with meat in my gut. Bury me with a T-Bone, baby."

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Lament to a hotdog

Hot dogs, you never saw it coming.

It was the middle of the night when the bright light awakened you from your slumber, fingers rummaging, looking for a drink. You never had a chance.  Hot dogs are his favorite.  I'm sorry he didn't just take one.  Or two.  But three of you...gone.  Well, okay, really two and a half.  I found the disfigured third, half-way gnawed off under his bed.  The bed he should have been sleeping in.  All night.  But no, new-found freedom of a bed without rails could not contain his midnight excitement from you.

I'm just so sorry.