Tuesdays

Finley and I live for Tuesdays. 'Why?' you ask.

I'll tell you: Storytime.

Many of you have heard me rave about Storytime, and I know you think I'm crazy. So I got an idea. Since most of you can't make it to Storytime with us, I thought I'd bring a little Storytime to you.

I packed up our little digital camera this week in hopes to bring you a little slice of the good life. Unfortunately, I forgot how horrible photos with an inexpensive camera in low lighting can turn out, and I didn't think it was quite appropriate to get up in the puppets' faces with repeated flashes just for my little blog. (Can you imagine the emotional scarring I could have caused with such paparazzi tactics?)

So here you are. One bad photo of my favorite Storytime puppet: Cedric the dragon.

I know, it doesn't do him justice.

But how could any photo tell you about his dry humor and wit that makes me nearly obsessed with him.

Mary Mary is our favorite human, and she always makes a rainbow. That is why (if you haven't noticed) Finley is obsessed with rainbows.

And did I mention that they juggle?

No, no, not the puppets, but the humans do... and little Joe is captivated by that. (I've been inspired to learn to juggle. It's such a good skill to have.)

So if you are ever in town on a Tuesday, or need an excuse to ditch work for a while, join us on an excursion to the wonderful Nashville Public Library. You'll be glad you did.

Suddenly

This afternoon I went to put Finley's 'rainbow' jacket on. The one with the stripes and flowers. Horror. The sleeves only reached her wrists. I think it was yesterday that the sleeves went past her fingertips and I had to roll them up quite a bit. Or maybe the day before. Come to think of it, she's had the jacket for over a year now, a Christmas present from last year. But I didn't really think she would ever come close to growing out of it... What will I do tomorrow when it doesn't fit any more?

Lessons

Did you ever notice that when God brings people into our lives, we start to think that it is for their benefit and not necessarily ours? Like marriage. I was doing Chris a favor for letting him marry someone so wonderful as me. And then in the past four years of our marriage, God has shown me how incredibly selfish I am. (Can you believe it?) Yes, God let me get married so that I could grow as a person.
And then I thought we were suppose to have children so that we could love them and teach them how to live.
So tonight I asked Finley to do something simple: Pray for our food. Previously, she had been all too excited to get to pray, but tonight she refused. Okay, I said, Pray with me. I won't, she said. Then I tried to explain to her that Jesus gives us our food, and we need to thank him for it. I won't, she said. I could see that stubbornness building up in her, and eventually she chose to go to bed without her supper.
She went to bed, and I felt horrible, wondering if I had done the right thing. I asked God about it, and he didn't really answer that question... Instead he showed me that she was just following my example. Ouch.
So I learned tonight why it is that God allowed me to have children. I have children so that I have a second chance to learn the lessons I should have learned as a child.

Weekend Project

Hangers are too inconvenient for a mom of two wee ones, and drawers are impossible to keep organized with jackets in them, so I finally outfitted the kids' room with hooks.

I still need to cover the screw holes, but these days, perfection is not my priority.

potty update

Finley is batting 1000 this week in the poop department. Celebrations are in order. Never mind a few wet panties... I have not had to scrub poop out of one pair of undies this week!
I think Finley had gotten tired of pottying in her 'little potty' (and I was tired of cleaning it out). Ever since we bought the 'big potty seat,' decorated with the alphabet, Elmo, and Big Bird, Finley has been much more enthusiastic about putting her waste where it belongs.

'What about Joe's pooping habits?' you ask. Well, this little guy only likes to dole out one little terd at a time, which means half a dozen (or more?) poopy diapers on his pooping days... Maybe I need some baby exlax to help him get it all out at once...

I skipped church this morning.

Instead, I listened to the radio and happened to upon a radio program I haven't listened to before, and in doing so, found a new hero of the faith: Calvin DeWitt.
Here is the link to the program I heard.
http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/discoveringwherewelive/index.shtml

I had heard a few months ago that Ted Haggard of the National Association of Evangelicals was wanting to add global warming to the NAE's list of concerns. I thought it was about time the environment was a part of the 'religious right's' agenda. However, several big name evangelicals decided it shouldn't be. Here is an excerpt I found in an article from the Washington Post:

Beisner, who helped draft the letter to Haggard from evangelical leaders, said they had feared that the NAE was going "to assume as true certain things that we think are still debatable, such as that global warming is not only real but also almost certainly going to be catastrophically harmful; second, that it is being driven to a significant extent by human activity; and third, that some regime, some international treaty for mandatory reductions in CO2emissions, could make a significant enough drop in global emissions to justify the costs to the human economy."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/01/AR2006020102132.html

Which, to me sounds like the religious right cares more about money than they do about God's creation. That makes me ill.

I had come to believe that there were very few Christians and certainly no politically motivated evangelicals out there that cared about our mandate to be stewards of creation. Thankfully, I was wrong. There are a few groups out there, one of which is called the Evangelical Environmental Network.
Here is a link to their website.
http://www.creationcare.org/

Yes, these are the folks that initiated the 'What Would Jesus Drive' campaign (which I admit irritated me), but I encourage you to take a moment and read the delarations page and maybe some of the scripture references. At least it might swing some of the anti-environmentally minded (Dad?) back toward a moderate position.

when it is 60 degrees at 8 am in january

little artist?

is it just me, or is this fin creation aesthetically pleasing?

just when you think you have things all figured out...

i thought i had it down pat. with finley, when i was tired of feeding her in the middle of the night, i just let her cry it out, and 10 minutes later, she went back to sleep. and i never had to feed her in the middle of the night again. then here comes joe. he was right next to our bed in the pack-n-play, and would wake up, roll over, look right at me, and start crying like nobody's business. so we moved him out of sight, which didn't really work. so we moved him to the living room. the first night i woke up at 3am and all was quiet. 'wow,' i thought. 'that was easy.' and i was wide awake until he woke up at 4. feeling confidant and having guests over, we moved him into the room with finley, threw all of his pacifiers into his crib so he would be sure to find them, and thought we were on our way to restful nights at last. not so much. he is smart. and determined. and once he figured out that if he screamed loud and long enough, he might get some attention.... a new plan of action is called for. i hope finley can handle sleeping elsewhere for a while. at least finley didn't poop in her underwear today!

Reanna is 11

Yesterday was Reanna's birthday.
We had Chris' folks and Reanna's mom over for cake and ice cream.
Here the birthday girl is opening some presents.



















Finley enjoys 'hiding' in the fireplace.

















Joe and his Papa.

A good time was had by all...

coming out of denial

i originally was only going to blog if others blogged with me.
so i started one. so far only christi has joined me, but we'll see.
the thing is, i was in denial. denial that i really wanted to blog.
i wanted to tell the world about my kids' poops and the funny or horrifying things they did this week.
and the other things that happen across my mind when i don't have to think about my kids for the few moments when they nap.
so here it is...
Mom, you'd better put this in your favorites, because the e-mails might slow down due to this...