My Favorite Things April 29, 2009

Cookies and cupcakes and sweet things of all sorts
Clean clothes, a clean house, clean glasses, and clean forks
The princess-cut diamonds in my wedding rings
These are a few of my favorite things

 

Kisses and snuggles and backrubs and huggies
A husband that comes to kill all of my buggies
It’s a big bonus the way that man sings
These are a few of my favorite things

 

Old friends and new friends and laughter and smiles
Walking with my pup and sometimes for miles
Springtime with showers, the flowers it brings
These are a few of my favorite things

 

When there’s a pig flu
When life’s a big mess
When I’m feeling sad
I simply remember my favorite things
And then I don’t feel so bad!

 

Zoo pictures coming soon!  Have a great day!

According to Newsweek, it’s an epidemic! April 22, 2009

I read a fascinating article about the epidemic of narcissism that seems to be overtaking our country.  At first, I found the article to be a bit off-putting, and I wasn’t sure that I necessarily agreed.  However, the further I read and the more I thought about it, the more I have to agree with many of its claims.

 

There is this tremendous sense of entitlement that people seem to have for some reason.  They feel that they deserve good things.  They feel that they deserve to have their opinion heard.  They feel that they deserve to be taken care of regardless of their effort.

What does this lead to?

 

It leads to a country full of people who want to be understood, embraced, listened to, coddled, cared for, catered to, complimented, allowed to succeed, taken care of, freed from punishment, and somehow still allowed independence.  That, in my estimation, is a dangerous concoction… and a recipe for a vicious cycle.  The more people want to be listened to, the less they listen to others.  The more they want to be taken care of, the less they are willing to take care of others.

 

There is one microcosm of society in which this worries me the most:  the church.

 

Every element of narcissism flies in the face of what Jesus taught and lived.  “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.  Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus, who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped but made himself nothing.”

 

If we are a church full of whining, complaining, selfish people, how will anyone in the world know what Jesus looks like?  If we’re too caught up rating songs we sing in church or going on strike so that others will see our utter disdain for decisions made, how can anyone see the love the Father has lavished on us as his kids?

 

In the interest of full disclosure, I feel the need to admit my own struggle with my own selfish desires.  Oh yes, they exist.  It is a constant, ongoing, sometimes painful battle to rein them in… but I am working to make my desires subject to the desires of my King.  He desires that all may know him.  He desires that I seek him with all my heart so that he may be found.  He desires that I be the aroma of Christ in this world.  Nowhere in that list does scripture tell me that he desires that I choose which songs we sing on Sundays or the manner in which we worship or who attends or doesn’t.  Far from it.  He desires that I lay my wants down… that I participate as an active member of the body of Christ… that I love him so intensely and my neighbor so intensely that my own narcissistic tendencies disappear in a constant stream of love.

 

Every time I think that laying my own desires down sounds hard (and it is), I remember the incredible depth of the love my Father has for me.  He has absolutely treated me like his little princess.  He rescued (and rescues!  Praise the Lord!) me.  My only possible response is to show those around me what an infinitely loving Father I have and do my best to introduce them to him.

 

Falling more in love with Jesus necessitates a falling out of of love with oneself.  I pray that we, as Christians—that I, as a Christian—may fall out of love with ourselves and more in love with our Creator.  In doing so, I pray that we may come to truly, deeply love our fellow creations and treat them like Jesus would treat them.  And maybe—just maybe—they truly will know we are Christians by our love.

Life in the Tension April 16, 2009

My dad says I’m slacking at blogging, and Chris says I use too many words.  Dad, you win.  Chris, come up with another website that rivals icanhascheezburger and cakewrecks, and maybe we’ll talk.

 

We started back up with small groups again, and that has been pretty fabulous so far.  I’m really excited about our group, and it’s already been a blessing, so I’m really excited to see what this experience will be like.

 

Our coffee tables came in on Friday the 3^rd, so they were all set up in time for Bunko at my house after all!  I was very excited about that.  At some point, I swear I will take pictures and post them… but I’m in the process of moving everything from one computer to another (more on that later), so I haven’t gotten around to doing so yet.

 

Last Tuesday night, my friend Jocelyn and I went to Rosa’s (for Taco Tuesday, obvi) and sat and talked until 10:02 and then realized what time it was and RAN out of the restaurant.  Ha.  The boys were having a dinner up at Snuffer’s in Southlake, so we thought we’d go have some girl time, and we so did.  We talked all about… well… girl things.  I will not elaborate. J

 

After I found a doctor I liked (which would be my last post), Lance got sick and went to him too.  I hope it’s not my turn again.  Not that I don’t like the doctor, but I’d rather not go…  Oh, that same day, Lance got called and asked to lead singing Sunday morning because the songleader was sick.  Good thing Lance got two shots too!

 

LTC is over!  That is happy news.  I coached a girls’ chorus, and Lance coached a mixed chorus, and between the two, we clocked a lot of hours at the church.  The only unfortunate thing was that my chorus was scheduled to sing at like 4:30 on Friday afternoon, and I don’t get off work until 5:30, so Lance stepped in and led them for me.  They did great (I got to watch a recording of it) and got a gold, and now I think I’m going to get to lead them at the Legacy 50^th anniversary extravaganza.  It’s not really an extravaganza.  I have no idea what to call it.  Extravaganza it is.  LTC itself was fun.  Lance’s chorus did great too. They were all nervie, but they sounded great.  One funny story:  so Cori and Jason were there with their two girlies, and they were a little nervous about taking their baby into the puppet room (where you have to sit for like 3 or 4 puppet groups at a time and they won’t let anyone come or go), so I offered to keep her with me until we went downstairs for Lance’s chorus to meet.  We had fun (I always like borrowing other people’s babies.  It’s far less stress than having one from what I hear. J), and then we stood and waited for an elevator.  And waited and waited and waited.  Seriously… LTC elevators are nothing more than a test of patient endurance.  Anyway, so an elevator came, and we got on, and immediately Reagan tensed up, straightened her arms and legs, and just started bawling.  She cried the whole way down (and we stopped on pretty much every floor… and we were on the 13^th floor), and as soon as we stepped out of the elevator, she relaxed and stopped crying.  It’s possible I made her claustrophobic.  It was an accident.

 

Saturday afternoon after Lance’s chorus performed, we met my mom, dad, sister, and sister’s boyfriend for lunch, which was great.  We always enjoy time with the fam.  And then after that, Lance and I went to Fry’s and bought me a new laptop!  HOORAY!  The one I have (or had) is from 2004 (which would be okay…) and has somehow developed a short or a messed up connection between the compy brain and the screen.  If the screen isn’t at just the right angle, there’s like a seizure of colors on the screen.  Basically, we can’t close that laptop at all, so we just keep it at its 90 degree angle and use it and carry it around like that.  Classy, I know.  We’ve been hunting for a new computer so that we could everything off of the 90-degree laptop before it dies, and my dad found the one we’d been looking at for $50 cheaper, so we went and bought it!  Hooray!  A laptop that CLOSES!  What a revolutionary idea!

 

Sunday was Easter, and my two-year-olds were all hyped up on pre-church sugar and toys.  It was not a pretty picture.  I had ten of them, and I had to fight for each inch of ground we gained in the class.  I think I will try to restrict my future children’s pre-church sugar consumption solely based upon this experience.  Someone remind me of that in like 3 years.  Kthanks.  Lance led singing in service and did a great job as always.  He got to handle one of the single most awkward moments I remember in my entire church life… and he did so with great panache.  And I really like that word.  Anyway, we had two baptisms in church (hooray!), which is such a wonderful thing on a day focused on my Lord’s resurrection.  Then we went and ate with Lance’s family for Easter, which was great (and delicious… the women on his side of the family majored in home economics.  Intimidating for me?  I think so…) and then came home and got ready for small group. 

 

Small group was really great (as I mentioned before) except I don’t think I made enough meat.  Lance says it was fine… I am a perfectionist.  I say… un-fine.  The dessert was a smashing success though.  I do love dessert…  Oh, and I pulled some of the mini-trees out of our yard and gave them to my friend who’s a kindergarten teacher.  It’s pretty crazy, actually – the acorns fall from the oak next door and into our yard and actually grow into tiny trees.  You can pull them up from the ground with the acorn still attached.  Anyway, I gave her trees.  Kindergartners in Saginaw, you owe me BIG for allowing you to witness this coolness…

 

Monday was another basketball game for Lance, which was fun for me… not as much fun for him.  I had adults to hang out with this time, so I enjoyed it… but let’s just say this:  The other team was dunking during warm-ups.  Yes, WARM-UPS.  I took that as a bad sign.  I was right.  Team Dynegacy (only because I don’t know how to spell Josh’s actual last name…) did not win… but another wife and I decided that they probably need post-game snacks, so we’ll be starting that up soon. J  After the basketball game, Lance and I went to Lowe’s (after a trip to Sonic in an attempt to bribe Lance into a better mood) to use a coupon that was about to expire and bought most of the things we’ll need to finish up our flower bed work in the backyard.  Hopefully that will be a successful endeavor this weekend.

 

Tuesday was a rough day driving-wise.  There was a big wreck on 121 in the morning, which actually shut the highway down entirely.  I was 15 minutes late to work… and pretty cranky.  On the way home?  Another wreck.  121 wasn’t shut down this time, but it was enough to make me cranky again (shocking, I know).  Anyway, I spent like an hour and half or more of my day just being stuck in the car.  Lame.  We ate dinner and then Lance left for Bible study, and Buddy and I went running and did some exercising.  It was great… but my legs are still sore.  Apparently I don’t exercise enough!

 

Church Wednesday; elders meeting for Lance tonight, so I’m having dinner with a friend; just got done walking around at the Main Street Arts Festival; going to the Rangers game Saturday night; hostessing another baby shower Sunday afternoon… basically a constant 90-to-nothing life, as always.  I’m done with Audacity of Hope, as mentioned previously, and am currently almost halfway through Mere Christianity.  I have so many things to write about both of those, but for some reason I never get around to it.  I’ve also been thinking a lot about church things… so maybe I will have a very opinionated blog post coming soon.  Maybe.  Or maybe I’ll get distracted by another shiny object and it will be two weeks before I blog again…

Success! April 2, 2009

I found a doctor I like!  Hooray!  (Well, I already liked my obgyn, but I can’t very well call him when I have a cough.  That’s just weird.  I’m excited to find a normal doctor.  You know.)  I went on Friday and got a shot and a Z-pack and am now well on my way.  I still have a little bit of a tickle in my throat, but it’s TONS better than it was (read: I no longer sound like a smoker/asthmatic)… PLUS I’m having to contend with random weather changes (it dropped to the 30s on Saturday, was in the 60s Sunday, the 70s yesterday, then it rained/hailed Monday night, then it was in the 50s on my way to work Tuesday, then in the 70s yesterday, etc.), so I should expect at least a little tickle in my throat.  Let’s be honest.  I am realizing how very much my health affects my moods, so I am thrilled to feel better.  (I’m sure Lance is thrilled too… I’m much less of a cranky pants now.)

 

We had a pretty relaxed weekend as I worked on recovering… ran some errands, had a 3-hour small groups meeting, cleaned house – you know, the usual.  Ha.  Saturday night, we went shopping for a coffee table/end table set, and we found one we really liked!  Hooray!  They aren’t in yet (it takes like 10 to 14 days), but I will have to post pictures once they’re in.  I’m kind of sad that it will be awhile – Bunko is at my house next Monday, and I’d love to have them by then!  Oh well.  Not that big of a deal.  Of course, once these tables enter our lives, there will be much work to be done.  The current end table must be demoted to office table and painted black to match the chairs… that also need to be painted black… and set in front of the curtains… that need to be hemmed.  See how that works?  I’m excited though.  I like doing/buying stuff for our house.  I wish I had an unlimited budget (both of time and of money), but hey…

 

Sunday was another big church day.  I’m still in there teaching the 2s, and this Sunday was our last one (fifth one!) to study Noah’s ark.  I love that they are getting old enough to learn things about the story.  Precious.  So after Bible class, their parents didn’t come pick them up; instead each Bible class walked into the auditorium together to give the money they’d raised for Missions Sunday.  Whoever came up with the idea never tried to wrangle 20 two-year-olds from one end of the building to the other – literally.  The two-year-old classes are at one end of the building… auditorium?  Other end.  Anyway, the kids did great, but by the time I made it to my seat, I was sweating.  We made it through with no tears and no major catastrophes though.  And they sure were cute. J  So our church had set a goal of $200,000 in cash + pledges for Missions Sunday to fund all of our mission stuff for this year.  Last year, the goal was like $150,000 or something, and our church raised $230,000something, which was just awesome… but this year has been really different than last year.  People have lost their jobs or are in fear of losing their jobs… people are scrambling to make ends meet… people are figuring out how to pay their own bills, much less donate.  Anyway, I was fearful.  Silently fearful, but fearful nonetheless.  I had lost my job since last Missions Sunday, and I know Lance and I look at our money pretty differently now.  I like to call myself a realist, but I fear that I often tread the line between realist and pessimist.  Anyway, in this case, I was squarely on the pessimist side – our church raised over $250,000 for missions this year.  When they put the number on the screen, my eyes just welled up with tears.  What a mighty God… and I’m so glad to be a part of His family.

 

On a side note of happiness, we had a potluck at church Sunday night, and I baked cookies for it on Sunday afternoon.  They were just basic sugar cookies that I iced with basic icing… and somehow they were, like, the favorite ever.  I had people coming up and telling me how good they were, and it just made my heart smile.  I know that’s a small thing… but it feels good to be a favorite.  Not even THE favorite – just A favorite will do just fine!

 

Monday night, I went to Lance’s rec-league basketball game and watched some kiddos while their dads played.  It was an adventure.  Oh my.  That probably sounds more negative than it really was.  I had fun… and I left the game sore from picking kids up.  Turns out I have no mommy muscles.  THEN a hailstorm moved in, and we were both very thankful for our garage that was clean enough to fit both vehicles inside.  Poor Budster though.  He was terrified of the noise.  I don’t blame him – it was loud!  Anyway, we were both safe, our house was safe, our cars were safe… we were very thankful.  Then the storm moved through, and Lance made a sad face and goes, “Aw, man.  I was going to fall asleep to the sound of the rain.  How disappointing.”  That funny husband of mine.

 

Tuesday was Bible study for Lance, so I finished eating dinner by myself and then took the dog out for awhile…  Then last night was church with a bonus LTC practice afterwards… and there’s an elder’s meeting tonight…  Friday, here I come!  First night without going up to the church this entire week!