Benjamin says...

...to tell everybody "Happy Memorial Day!"

We hope you have lots of fun and find some tasty stuff to drool over!  :)

The View From Here

From where I sit ...

life is pretty good!

Life Lately, Part 2

Remember last night when I was mentioning the mischievousness that is surely coming?  My suspicion stems from moments like this ...

This is the "figuring it out face" and whatever new thing Little Bit sees has GOT to be figured out - camera, Scrabble tiles, earrings, Daddy's security card for work, Mommy's cell phone, etc.  The funny thing is, Daddy's "figuring it out face" involves a strikingly similar crinkling of the brow.

On an unrelated note, I think I'm going to have to face the music and admit that my child does not like green beans.  I was in denial for quite some time - "He just doesn't care for the texture"  "He fussed because I was singing off key" - but I can't run from the truth any longer.  He thinks they're nasty and that my feeding them to him is some kind of cruel joke.  Oh well, we'll have to find another green vegetable for him to eat I suppose.

And on my last unrelated note, I've finally updated the Book Nook sidebar.  I hadn't stopped reading for the past two months, just got too busy to upload new cover images.  I've enjoyed some Agatha Christy, some Mindy Starns Clark, and an excellent read in Sacred Influence by Gary Thomas. 

You'll notice that its time again for "Summers with Dickens" a tradition I started back in college of reading ... wait for it ... Dickens in the summer.  There's something about the long evenings of summertime that just beg for a long classic with rich characters who feel like your friends by the time the days start getting shorter again.  One year, I tried to branch out with Tolstoy's Anna Karenina, but, well, lets just say that I like happy endings and poor Anna doesn't end very well.  But I digress. This year's "Summers with Dickens" pick is Great Expectations.  I know I've read it one other summer, but its been long enough for me to forget that Pip is called such because his name is Phillip Pirrip (poor kid!) but all he could say as a toddler was "Pip" and other such endearing details.

So, I think I'll curl up with a book for a few minutes while Benjamin finishes his nap.  What are you reading this summer?

Life Lately

So, it's 10:30 at night and the last two evenings have been filled with series finales ... first Lost, then 24, which means I only have brain power left for a list...

- It's finally getting warm here.  I wore flip-flops this weekend for the first time since the end of last summer, and may I just say that flip flops are much more comfortable when you're not pregnant.  To New Yorkers, it seems that temperatures in the mid-80's are absolutely scorching, but this Southern girl is just now thawing out!

- Benjamin is trying his hardest to learn to crawl ... poor thing gets so frustrated when he can't quite get his arms and legs to coordinate with each other.  I know he'll get it any day, increasing exponentially the amount of mischief he can get into at any given moment.  While still being relatively immobile, in the last two days he has managed to ... 1. get ahold of my cell phone and slobber all over it before I noticed  2. pulled an untold number of earrings out of my ears  3. knock my little plastic Lords Supper cup on the floor during church (thankfully it was empty but it still made that uncannily loud plastic bouncing noise when it hit the floor) 4. learned to splash water all over my kitchen during his bath.  As much work as it will be though, I'm really looking forward to the adventurous, mischievous Benjamin who will surely emerge in the next few months (and years) (and please feel free to remind me I said that)

- As previously mentioned, we've been engrossed in the series finales of Lost and 24 the last couple of days.  As much as its hard to believe that these story lines are really over for good (after all, we already know they're making a 24 movie), we're really glad in a way to say goodbye to these shows that have been with us for the past few years.  It seems like we can move on now, to more important and exciting things, like ... playing Scrabble.  Anyway, the finales were both mildly dissatisfying which led Will and I to discuss something dear ole Clive Staples and J.R.R. would have heartily amen-ed ... the way in which the more a story reflects the realities of the Gospel, the more it will resonate with us, whether we realize what's going on or not.  The less a story reflects those realities, the more we leave it with a sense of dissonance or emptiness, even if we don't know why...  For truly, the Gospel is the only TRUE story.

Amen.  With that admittedly incomplete and ill-developed thought line, I'm going to bed.  Will is already there and I hate it when he's asleep before I am.  So, on the topic of enjoying a good story, I leave you with this and I'll continue my list of "Life Lately" tomorrow.

Yes, Will was really reading (Dostoevsky I believe) and Benjamin was really sitting there beside Daddy happily chewing on his plastic book

Sabbatical

For the last two weeks, Benjamin and I have intentionally taken a break from all things crazy or exciting. There was that one week where everything that could be possibility be exciting all happened in one week - found a new place to rent, found someone to rent our house, farmers market, parties, new vacuum (sweet gift from dear mom), new bread machine (yay for Craigs List), and even a new Kitchen Aid stand mixer (we really love Craigs List). And I was running and going and doing all week long and after that week was over, I knew I had gone 'round the bend ... it was tooooooooo much. What was I thinking???

So, for the last two weeks, Little Bit and I have been on sabbatical. Sure, we've gone to grocery store, or the library, or the post office. But mostly we've stayed at home ... we've had consistent naps (and I do mean we). We've done laundry, we've read our favorite books, and Mommy has gotten a chance to finally use her new stuff - woo-hoo!

We've enjoyed playing in the bathwater, instead of Mommy whisking poor thing out as soon as could be...

(Please excuse the dirty dishes in the background of this picture ... I'm on sabbatical - haha)

And it has reminded me again that my primary role is that of wife and mommy ... yes, I can be lots of other things - friend, volunteer, avid goer-to-the-park, reader, blogger, etc. - but if those things start to take away from my primary calling, I have to "just say no."

And I was encouraged in this train of thought by this post and the example of Nehemiah's doing a "great work." For, truly, this raising of a child is a Great Work, entrusted to me by God, and all the diaper changes, feedings, readings of "B is for Bear," and the other daily minutiae are adding up to something truly monumental.

So, today, "I am doing a great work and I cannot come down."

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day! What a truly wonderful day it was - I felt truly cherished and I'm still basking in the glow of it (as well as basking in the glow of my gorgeous red gerber daisies!)

But first, I must say "Happy Mothers Day" to my mom ... I don't think you can adequately appreciate what is required of a mother until you are one... on-call 24-7, with no sick days, no vacation, no i'm-just-too-tired-why-don't-you-change-your-own-diaper days.

So, thanks to my mom, who was the first to nurture and cherish me, as a wee babe in her womb ... and now continues to nurture and cherish me through prayer, encouragement, listening to me ramble on when I just need someone to talk to, helping us move, and making us food ... wait, what was that last thing? sorry, I would never ask my mom to make Chicken Sauterne just cuz I'm coming to town ... ahem ...

Anyway, I had a wonderful first Mothers Day as a mom ... first, we woke up to snow ... then flowers, a sweet card from Daddy and Little Bit, steak for lunch and shrimp for dinner, and finished the day with "Josie Comes Home" with the Duggars from 19 Kids & Counting ... i love that family! I was planning to take some good pictures of me and Benjamin in our nice nice clothes for Mothers Day, but before we had a chance to do that, his clothes got dirty (in the diaper kind of way :) and I got all rumpled and flat-haired... ah, motherhood :)

In contemplation of motherhood, all its joys and responsibilities, I was especially challenged by this post I read today on "joyful mothering" ... I'm going to post these ten points above the kitchen sink ... or the changing table :)

Me and Moses

Another thing that made last week so crazy yet so exciting was that God, in his infinite mercy, has provided renters for our house in Jackson!  After being on the market for a year, we are just so grateful for this development.  And, as only God can do, the situation has worked to everyone's benefit to meet each party's needs.

So last week, we were not only handling the details of finding a new rental for us, but also the details of renting the house we own to others.  And it was in all those emails, phone calls, and details, that I was reminded yet again of my life's overarching sin pattern ... freaking out!  Yes, this comes as no surprise for those who know me, I am just one big ball of freak-out just waiting to happen.  You would think, looking back over the past year at the countless ways God has been faithful to us, and then seeing Him work in His sovereignty to provide for us through renting the house, that I would have been able to relax about all those details and say, "God, You've brought us this far and done so much, I know You can work out all these pesky details like insurance, deposits, and etc."

But no, I was one big ball of freak-out.

One particularly stressful afternoon found me running around the house, on the phone with one of those awesomely helpful customer service reps from a huge corporation (can you read the sarcasm there?) while toting around my poor child who was wearing only his diaper and drying remnants of poo and sneezed-everywhere-baby-food.  Why was I running around the house?  I have no idea!  Why couldn't I just sit down, breathe, bathe my child, and then talk on the phone like a sane person?  I have only one answer - I am big ball of freak-out and it exploded everywhere that afternoon.

However, this morning in my Bible reading, I came across a passage that made me think.  Moses was trying to lead that complaining bunch of Israelites across the desert from slavery to freedom and they decided they needed some MEAT!  So, what his reaction?  God had released them from slavery, parted the Red Sea, provided water from a rock and manna from thin air.  Did Moses come to God in trust and rest, knowing He would provide?

"Moses said to the LORD, "Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,' to the land that you swore to give their fathers? Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, 'Give us meat, that we may eat.' I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me.  If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness." (Numbers 11:11-15)


In other words, "God!  WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?! I cannot handle this!  JUST KILL ME NOW!"

I just had to laugh.  I feel like I come to God with same attitude all the time - "Lord, this is craziness!  I can't do this!"  Just one big ball of freak-out when I should be trusting His goodness to me.


All this reminded me of a Bible study I led once on John 10, the Good Shepherd passage.  In verse 3, Jesus says, "The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out."  I remember studying that shepherds from that time really did have names for their sheep, and the names corresponded to some defining characteristic about them, like Black-Eared One, Spotted One, or Slow Poke.  I remember telling the ladies in that Bible study that my "sheep name" would be Freaked-Out One.


The glory in this is two-fold.  We are His sheep and He knows us through and through.  Therefore, I don't have to come to Him pretending that I have it all together.  I can come to Him, big ball of freak-out exploding all over the place or whatever.  But also, God sees who He created me to be - who I will be when I get to eternity, who, by His grace, He is making me into now.  In fact, Revelation says that when we get to Heaven, at the end of all our earthly battles, He will give us a new name (Rev. 2:17)  

Could it be that He will change my name from Freaked-Out One to Serenity?  Could it be that He is seeking to do that now, through whatever crazy, overwhelming circumstances I am faced with?  Could it be that this whole journey over the past year of moving, leaving, having a baby in "a new and foreign land," trying to sell a house, facing a round of lay-offs at Will's company, and everything else, could be Him teaching me to rest, to be content, to cast all my cares on Him, to "do all things through Him who strengthens me"? (Phil 4:13)


Yes, my soul says "Amen!" and I want to live today in the serenity of His presence and provision!

Avacado

Emboldened by our experience with sweet potatoes, this morning we forged deeper into the Land of Solid Foods with avacado ... it wasn't such a big hit - just watch and see...

(Caution: should be viewed only by the the brave and strong-stomached as it involves lots of oozing green goo)

Notice two things ... 1. I am trying very hard to follow the advice I've read in books to "stay positive and upbeat no matter what happens" I didn't realize how much easier that is said than done when your baby is spitting green ooze at you 2. The look on his face between bites cracks me up. I didn't notice it so much at the time, but watching this video make me laugh so much. "Really Mom? I have to eat more of that stuff???"

Update: We tried avacados again at dinner, and I'm happy to report it went much better - hardly any oozing or gagging!

So crazy, so exciting (alternately titled, "We love Craig's List")

I've drafted like six blog posts in my head over the last week, but before I could ever sit down to type one out, something else would happen, and I couldn't figure out how to tie the new happening into the old draft, so I'd have to start over again.

This past week was definitely the busiest, craziest week we've had since Benjamin was born.  I know I've talked about being busy several times over the last few weeks, but this seriously topped them all.  I can't even remember everything in order, so we're just gonna go with stream-of-consciousness...

Benjamin ate his first vegetable - sweet potatoes.  Which means, I also made my first baby food... go me! :)

 I would post pictures and/or video of Benjamin eating said sweet potatoes, except that the child just sat there and ate them with very little reaction at all.  Typical boy, I suppose... "Com'on, Momma!  What are you so excited about?  Just feed me already!  I'm hungry!"

On Saturday morning, I enjoyed the beautiful weather while getting an inside tour of our Farmers' Market with a friend.  I scored the awesome locally grown/made whole foods you see below, plus some great Mothers' Day gifts (not pictured for obvious reasons :)

Saturday afternoon, we took Benjamin for a walk at an area state park and enjoyed all the spring greens.  Such a welcome relief after so many months of snow and ice.  This Southern girl needed some foliage, yall!

Not to mention the fact that we all were outside that whole time with ... wait for it ... our arms exposed!  Nope, I'm not kidding, we wore short sleeves!  I think Will and I even perspired a little!  yahoo!

So, why is this post alternately titled "We love Craigs List"?  Because last week, we completely scored on the good ole CL!  We got a breadmaker and a Kitchenaid stand mixer at huge bargains!  It was like Christmas! (I would post pictures, but I feel that would be the ultimate standard of dorkiness, and I'm not willing to stoop that low quite yet).

But wait, you ask, where are you going to put those in your tiny kitchen?  Well, we also found an awesome new apartment on Craigs List last week, and put down the security deposit on Tuesday!  Now, we're not exactly excited about the whole moving process - though it has to be better than our last move (1,000 miles + six-months-pregnant + 100-degree fever = miserable) - but we are super excited to be in our place, which is bigger, cheaper, and much closer to our church and friends!  God is so good!

There were other exciting things that happened last week, but that'll have to wait for another post.  You see, its 10:30 and another new development around here is Benjamin's cool new trick - waking up at 4:00 am ready to start a new day.  So g'night everybody!