Snapshot of time

I was told some news this week that I was expecting but is still rocking my foundation a bit (maybe a lot a bit).  It's not my news to share so I'm not going to write about it in this space, other than to say I am allowing myself to drink more wine than usual tonight and have been blasting select Broadway soundtracks all night because the emotion in that kind of music is cathartic for me.  But I still feel the need to document this moment.  So rather than focusing on myself, let's look at the never ending joys of my life.

Little B is currently closer to 8 than 7 1/2 - how the heck did that happen?  He recently started participating in the gifted program at his school.  We are proud of him beyond measure, but also recognize that pride isn't a helpful emotion to dwell on, so we've tried to tell him that we're excited for these extra learning experiences he is going to have (which we absolutely are).  For his first research project, he chose to research "How does the Internet work" and "What goes on inside a computer?"  Good grief this child is going to be dancing digital circles around me before I can blink.

He is also spending a lot of time writing in 2nd grade so far.  His spelling is a serious work in progress, but I have been able to see progress and love reading what he brings home.  His self-proclaimed favorite subjects are science and technology.  This is no surprise, but thank goodness he is in good company in our extended family because that is certainly not my expertise!

I try to be careful not to force my job on my kids but Little B has taken a beautiful interest in doing church with me.  He came to early service with me last weekend, and toward the end of the service he whispered, "Mom, do you know what I'm going to have for lunch today?  Communion!"  He also made me sit down with him this morning to install Spotify on his Kindle so that he can listen to the playlist created to support the contemporary service at our church whenever he desires.  I'm not sure what about it speaks to him, but I treasure his interest and the place he is finding for himself in our church.

 He's keeping at his piano lessons faithfully.  I wish I knew what was going on in his head when he listens to and/or plays music, what parts of it are syncing with his brain and how it will someday come back out of him.  Tonight I had the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack on, which he has heard but never really listened to before.  After a couple minutes of intentionally listening he said, "This was released in October right?  It sounds kind of spooky."  I have no idea what month Phantom of the Opera was released but he's completely accurate in that adjective to describe the opening song.

We are using a gratitude calendar all month to help us think each day about things we are thankful for.  In response to tonight's question, a possession I am thankful for, he wrote, "All books".

Little P continues to be all heart in all things and at all times.  He is almost always the first one off the bus each afternoon, and when I go to meet them, he will hustle run across the road to give me a hug with a big smile and arms wide open.  He almost immediately reports how much lunch he ate that day, mainly because that will dictate what kind of afternoon snack he gets.  Another constant characteristic of my second-born: hungry.

Despite the quickly dropping temperatures, this crazy boy insists on sleeping in his underwear each night.  No pajamas for him, which I cannot fathom.  Since school started, he is slightly more willing to play on his own for a little bit, sometimes.  But playing with other people is still his favorite place to be.  He is adjusting to my job and our church community in his own way but did choose to participate in the children's choir that I help lead this fall.  I enjoy having a piece of church that just he and I share, although I think he's really there because it gives him extra time with his church friends.  He has also recently decided that he wants to play basketball this winter.  Guess I need to figure out how to make that happen!

In all seriousness though, anyone know any good resources for how to parent kids who have a strong interest in play weapons?  Little P scotch taped two water squirters together tonight to create this.  I know I can't fight his interest but we also intentionally haven't allowed nerf weapons in our house.  What is the middle ground? 

Although they are both very strongly their own individual people, my boys are also a beautiful pair.  They share a strong, abiding interest in watching, quoting, and acting out both Wild Kratts and Star Wars.  They are fond of setting up the breakfast in bed tray in front of the fire so they can have an extra warm breakfast in the morning.  And they share an affinity for whining about not wanting to go first when it is time for their nightly bath/shower. 

My answer to every gratitude question of the day?  A memory I am thankful for, a song I am thankful for, a gift I am thankful for, a simple pleasure I am thankful for...all my answers go back to them.

Stories

Random thoughts to share tonight:

The first week of school went like this:

Monday - boys melted off the very hot school bus looking completely shell shocked
Tuesday - tiredness
Wednesday - started feeling hard to get out of bed but over all, a little bit better
Thursday - so tired that Little P's default mood became angry

Needless to say, we were all relieved when Friday rolled around and we could sleep in (except, of course, none of us actually slept in).  Four days at home has given Little P time to recover, to the point where I am now equally relieved that he's going back to school tomorrow.  My boys watched The Last Jedi yesterday and today, so Little P's "pew pew" noises and explosive star fighter inspired running around the house have reached an epic level.  As a meme that I saw on Facebook said, "Teachers - tag!  You're it!"  Love all us summer-exhausted moms.

Recipes:

Once upon a time, lets say about 18 years ago, I was driving through the California desert with my family and we came upon an old diner whose specialty was date milk shakes.  As I recall, they even had a movie that told the story of dates and their place in California's agricultural history.  (As I write and ponder this memory further, there may have even been a billboard advertising the movie titled, 'The Sex Life of Dates' - not kidding.)  My teenage self was incredulous at the movie and appalled at the idea of a date milkshake, but my sweet-toothed grandfather it and declared it good.  End of memory.  Fast forward to last week when I stumbled upon a blog post for date milk shakes that I flagged a couple years back and all the sudden my taste buds just had to try it.  And oh my goodness friends, my grandfather was right.  He may have actually understated it - date milkshakes are amazing.  Now I just need to get my hands on some chocolate syrup so that I can try the "monkey flip" version!

https://smittenkitchen.com/2016/04/palm-springs-date-shake-monkey-flip/

Also, appealing to completely different taste buds, I discovered this tofu scramble a few months ago and made a fresh batch this morning.  For us egg-free people who can't have omelets or scrambled eggs, this has turned into a pretty acceptable substitute.  Plus I love starting off the day by stuffing myself with veggies! 

https://minimalistbaker.com/southwest-tofu-scramble/

Current soundtracks of my life:

The boys screaming, "Get out of my church!"  Initially I thought this was my children's odd variation on "Get out me garden!" and I was going to let it go.  But when it kept cropping up in their play I asked in a scolding tone of voice what it was about (because surely the Christian Educator's children should not be running around yelling at people to get out of church).  "But Mom, it's what Friar Tuck says to the sheriff!" aka a quote from Robin Hood.  Alright Disney, I'll let you win this one...

The Greatest Show soundtrack - I joined this party late but I'm loving it.  Whose voice is your favorite on this album?  I keep listening and just can't decide...

Musing:

I've been enjoying the Parenting Forward podcast since I discovered it a few months ago, but this episode was extra intriguing to me.  I have been aware of the amazing childrens books that Sandy Eisenberg Sasso has put out in the past few years and I loved hearing about the philosophy and thought process she shared regarding the power of stories and how she came to be a writer of children's books.  Listening to this finally put some solidity to an aspiration that has been quietly sitting in the back of my mind for a couple years now but I'm going to come right out and say it.  I'd love to be a children's book author someday.  Especially books like what Rabbi Sandy writes that help children come to know God and discover how beautiful God can be.  It's a little thrilling to put that in writing, a first step perhaps?  Like many ideas I have had for my life, we'll wait and see what God does with it.

   

Dive

I was a bit afraid to open the blog tonight and see when I last posted.  It's been over four months - yikes.  I didn't mean to neglect sharing, lots of reasons have kept me silent in this space.  It feels like the most compelling is how non-stop busy our life has been the last few months.  But now we're at a turning point, what feels to me like a huge turning point.  And I am feeling the need to reflect, at least in the short term, on what got us here.

I graduated.  Five years of steady work and I earned my Masters in Christian Education.  This event was supposed to be a whole blog post all by itself, gushing on what a gift my education was and how excited I am to move forward in my calling from here.  But I never got to it because - 

The first broken bone happened -

(A major savings goal was reached and much Lego rejoicing and building ensued -)
 

And my then my baby "graduated".  From preschool.  I know, it's not really a thing.  Except it was for us, as it also marked my last year working at the preschool that has been our home for the last three years.  The community that helped us build our home here.  I am so proud of my little Turtle/Ladybug/Froglet/rising Panda and so grateful for our season there.

And as if he wasn't growing up enough - then he turned 5 -

And this one got his cast off and totally rocked the end of 1st grade -

All in time for - wait for it - DisneyWorld!

We have many, many more exciting pictures than this, but they're all on the other computer, so this is all I have for tonight.  (Doesn't do a wonderful trip with wonderful people justice.)

Coming home from Disney was a whirlwind for two weeks while I prepared for Vacation Bible School!  I would insert another picture here except I was too busy and forgot to take any.  So written highlights include me helping to lead worship for the first time, Hubby T volunteering for the first time, and the boys eating it all up. 

I spent the last week kind of recovering and now we're here - the Sunday night before the start of my new job.  It's the kind of job that I hoped for once my degree was done.  It will allow me to work while the boys are at school and be home when they get home.  It's at a church that we've slowly been stepping into and we're all excited to grow with.  I expect that this job will challenge me and thrill me and everything in between.  The future is looking bright...

But in anticipation of this turning point, I've been quietly (and sometimes not so quietly) coming to terms with the fact that the stay-at-home-with-my-babies phase of life is over.  It's an identity that I fiercely took on shortly after Little B was born and it's been a wonderful 7 years.  These years were filled with so much growing for all of us and I'm so grateful that I was home to experience it all with my boys.  The family that Hubby T and I have built over these years is what gives me confidence to step from what was and into whatever comes next.  In the words of a college song* that was once close to my heart and rose to the surface of my mind a couple days ago -

"I'm diving in, I'm going deep, in over my head I want to be,
Caught in the rush, lost in the flow, in over my head I want to go.
The river's deep, the river's wide, the river's water is alive,
So sink or swim, I'm diving in."

 

* College credit for this song goes to the fun and talented gentlemen of One Accord.  Original credit goes to Steven Curtis Chapman.
 

Something for the first time

Have you heard that new-ish Darius Rucker song?  "When was the last time you did something for the first time?"  Tonight my answer would be - today, because today all four of us attended the local March for Our Lives event.  I'd never been to a political march before.  We gathered at our county courthouse.  I don't know how many people were there but the mayor announced that they'd had to close the streets when they hadn't planned to, so kudos to all of us for showing up and exceeding expectations.

The hardest part of attending this event for me was preparing to go.  I knew it was an event I wanted to go to but didn't relish the idea of going down to DC and braving the crowds.  When I found out about the local event I resolved to make it happen, because 30 minutes away from home is feasible.  But with our regular grandparent-babysitters out of town, Hubby T and I had to decide how we felt about bringing the boys with us.  As a licensed psychologist said on a podcast I listened to yesterday, our instinct as parents is to shield.  Although we've opened the door to talk about school shootings with Little B we haven't gone there with him yet, and certainly not with Little P.  So at dinner last night we had this conversation:

- What are guns?
- Our Constitution gives us the right to own guns.
- But some people don't use their guns responsibly and people have gotten hurt, sometimes even people in schools, which are one of the safest places to be.
- So we're going to go to a march tomorrow to send a message to our government that we want them to do something about it.

That launched us into a conversation about what's a march?  When I mentioned some people have signs, Little B asked if he could make a sign.  I hadn't planned on that but I was so excited that he recognized that idea as a way he could participate.  Then Little P came up with this wording, and they were ready.

The march itself ended up being more of a rally (i.e. no actual marching, unless they did that after we left, 1 hour and 40 minutes of speeches later, the boys were pretty done).  I know they didn't get much out of what was said but that's okay.  I took them knowing that I might have to answer some pretty hard questions about things they heard, so far nothing's emerged. 

For now it's enough to know that we were part of something pretty big today.  It's enough to know that we all lived into our rights as American citizens to speak our mind and call out rulers when they let us down.  It's enough to know that we taught the boys by example of something you can do as a citizen of God's Kingdom, when something isn't right and you want to live out your responsibility as a child of God to help make it right.  But it's certainly not enough to stop here.  I have some legislators to call this week, how about you?

When was the last time you did something for the first time?

Mary and Martha Midrash

I'm taking a course called "Women in the Biblical World" this semester and it is maybe the best and most inspiring class I have taken in the last five years.  I love the characters that are being lifted up from the Biblical texts, misunderstandings that are being debunked and the process of wrestling through the challenges of how women are presented in the Bible.  This week we looked at the story of Mary and Martha.  For those of you not as familiar with the text, here it is, five short verses from Luke 10:

"38 Now as they went on their way, he [Jesus] entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

In my church tradition after a Scripture is read the pastor often says, "The Word of the Lord," and the congregation responds, "Thanks be to God."  But when I read this passage now I hear the voice of my professor saying, "The Word of the Lord - Thanks be to God?"  She gives us permission to ask, what is there in this passage that we should be thankful for?  And what a relief because this passage is so frustrating!  Martha is a person that many contemporary American women, including me, can relate to.  There is always, always work to be done, we are always busy, and it can be so frustrating when others don't step in to help.  And Jesus' response to Martha in this story seems to scold her for doing her work and asking for help!  What the heck Jesus?! 

The commentary we read this week offered several different view points of how to interpret this passage beyond what we see at the surface.  There is no one easy answer for interpreting a difficult text, but here are a couple points that I found helpful:
- There are two different ways of engaging with God: through action (Martha) and through listening (Mary) and perhaps we should view them as complementing each other instead of contrasting.  Both elements are necessary and important parts of a life of discipleship, and this is not a gender-specific point.  It's a lesson for all God's children.
- Perhaps Jesus' response to Mary isn't to scold her for her work (which the original language and broader context in the Bible shows us is a good thing) but rather for her busy-ness.  Anxiety can be a detriment to the life of discipleship.
- The tension we see between Mary and Martha might actually reflect the tension in the early Christian church when this Gospel was originally written.  By having Jesus admonish Martha, the Gospel writer was confining women in a way that would have assured the Roman Empire under whose rule the early church lived, sending the message to their worldly leaders that this new religious movement was not going to "rock the boat" of acceptable gender roles in their society.

Our assignment in response to the text this week was engage in a midrash exercise and write a new ending to the story of Mary and Martha.  Midrash is an ancient Jewish tradition. The rabbis, "believed that the Word spoke to every generation anew. They allowed the biblical stories into their lives, and they let their lives enter the stories. They created midrash, interpretations of scripture, an imaginative body of literature, which enriched the biblical narrative and kept it fresh and vital. . . . God delights in the human imagination” (Sasso, God’s Echo: Exploring Scripture with Midrash, 2007, pp. 5, 14). I own a couple books with midrash stories and love how they bring Biblical stories to light in new ways. And I thoroughly enjoyed my own first stab at writing midrash, it hopefully/probably won't be my last! So here it is - how I imagine the story continued and ultimately ended on a better (from my perspective) note...

It’s night.  It’s dark. Martha lays in bed, her body physically exhausted after an intense day, yet she cannot rest because her mind is still reeling.  How dare her sister leave her alone with all that work, and why didn’t Jesus understand Martha’s frustration?! Martha rolls over, hurt and anger and disappointment circling around inside her.  As she exhales another deep sigh, she is startled by the soft sound of laughter. Is Mary still awake? Is she still sitting at Jesus’ feet?! Martha throws back her covers, viciously wraps a blanket around her shoulders, and stomps out, ready to finally let them have it.

“Martha,” exclaims Jesus in a soft, heartfelt voice as she storms in. “I know you must be tired but I am so glad you are still awake. I have been waiting to talk with you all day. Please, come and join us,”. Martha pauses, her indignation slightly tempered by Jesus’ welcome, but she still feels compelled to speak a piece of her mind.  “Jesus, I-” but Martha is quickly interrupted by Mary. “I think I could use a cup of tea before bed. How about I go make some for all of us and give you two some time to talk,”. With a look at Martha, she rises and steps away before Martha can object. She and Jesus watch Mary go, and then Martha turns to Jesus with all of the frustration and exhaustion of the day in her eyes.  “Jesus, today didn’t go at all as I had planned. Mary and I had a plan this morning, of who would do what work when so that we could both welcome you and all your friends into our home but still both be able to be with you.  But as soon as she saw you, Mary dropped the plan completely to be with you and I was left with so much work that I never had a chance to join her.  And when I asked you for help, you scolded me! That really hurt,” her voice choked.

Jesus sat in silence for a moment, looking down as he clasped and unclasped his hands.  “I’m sorry Martha. I’m sorry I hurt you,” he said softly into his lap. Then he looked up and continued, his voice stronger. “But there was no easy way for me to help you out of that situation.  If I told you to leave your work and come sit with us, you wouldn’t have listened. You would have insisted on the necessity of continuing your work, and there was great value in your service, everyone here was so grateful for the hospitality you provided them.  But I couldn’t send Mary away either to help you, for whenever one of God’s children hears the Word of God and is drawn to it, I want them to honor that tugging in their soul. That’s why I said that Mary had chosen the better thing. Time spent with me and with my Father will always be the very best thing,”.  He sat up and said, “I know that you felt that tugging at your soul too. So let’s talk now. I’m not tired yet, are you,”? “No Lord, I’m not,” said Martha as she felt her body and heart relax. Mary quietly slipped back into the room, handed our mugs of tea, and settled back at Jesus’ feet, softly squeezing her sister’s hand, both of them listening to words that would never be taken away from them.

Children's Message - Humility

Our church looked at Luke 18: 9-14 yesterday morning (which paired nicely with the other reading from Philippians 2 but I didn't focus on that in the children's message).  Here's what I shared -

I wanted to tell you a story this morning.  And it’s a special story that Jesus told to his disciples and the people who were walking with him to Jerusalem. 

Jesus said, Once there were two men who came to the temple to pray (the temple was kind of like our church).  One was a Pharisee and one was a tax collector.  Now the Pharisees were people who knew a whole lot about obeying all of God’s rules.  So the Pharisee stood up all by himself and said, this was his prayer, “God, I thank you that I am not like other people: thieves, rogues, adulterers, or even like this tax collector.”

Alright, let’s pause our story.  Did you catch that?  This is one of the strangest prayers I have ever heard.  “God, I thank you that I am not like other people.”  What do you think God’s response to that prayer was?  (Allow time for thinking and responses)

- We kind of shrug our shoulders, we don’t know
- The Pharisee doesn’t ask God for anything and the Pharisee doesn’t say anything nice about God
- The prayer is all about himself, and maybe some bad thoughts about other people too
I don’t think that would be very pleasing to God

So getting back to our story.  After the Pharisee prayed, the second man, the tax collector, took his turn to pray.  And he wasn’t in the middle of everyone like the Pharisee, he was standing far away.  If he was in this sanctuary, he’s probably be in the very back corner all by himself.  And he hung his head down and beat his hand against his heart and said, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’

That prayer might sound a little more familiar, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner’.  The tax collector was asking God to forgive him for all the things he had done wrong.  What do you think God’s response to that prayer was?  (allow for answers...I think that God probably forgave him, and sent some extra love his way…)

At the end of the story, Jesus told his followers that the lesson in this story is that the attitude we bring to prayer is important.  We don’t need to be around a lot of other people, we don’t need to talk about how great we are (God already knows how wonderful each of you are!)  When we come to God in prayer, God wants us to remember that we need God’s forgiveness and God’s love, and prayer is a special time for us to remember that.  So I was hoping that we could follow the tax collector’s example: can you place your hands on your heart and bow your heads and pray with me?

God, be merciful to me, a sinner.  Thank you for always hearing our prayers.  Thank you for always forgiving us.  Thank you for being our resting place.  Amen.


Reflection: It's funny, this passage is most commonly interpreted as being about humility but I never used that word.  Maybe that was a missed opportunity to help them learn about a big word that has a difficult meaning.  For better or worse, I was really stuck on the question I asked about how they thought God responded to each prayer.  I hardly got any answers from the kids, so it may have been over their head a little bit.  On the positive though, in hindsight, I liked that we all prayed the words of the tax collector and that we recognized how the words he used are ones we know and use too. 

Terror

I am taking a course called Women in the Biblical World this semester.  It has been so enlightening and exciting to dismantle misconceptions and learn more about some familiar characters like Eve and Ruth and Naomi, and a lot about unfamiliar ones.  But his past week has been more of a challenge, and not just because it contained horrors within our own contemporary world (more on that in a minute).  Our professor called this week "Texts of Terror" as we looked at four Biblical women whose stories are, well, terrifying.   Hagar was a slave of Sarah, wife of Abraham.  She was given to Abraham to conceive a child (presumably against her will), harshly abused by Sarah, banished to the desert with her son, and left to die until God intervened.  Tamar was a daughter of King David who was raped by her brother.  The "unnamed concubine" was voluntarily given to a "perverse" crowd to be gang raped all night, left to die, and then dismembered by her husband.  The daughter of Jephthah was the victim of a foolhardy deal that Jephthah made with God that resulted in her death.  In all of these stories, the women's voices are silent.  They have no say or control over what happens to them, they are treated as objects rather than people, they are physically and/or sexually abused, and God has little to nothing to say about it all.  To find stories like this in the Bible is unsettling and truly terrifying.

My classmates and I have been wrestling with our responses all week.  Where is God in the midst of horrifying tragedies?  Whether thousands of years ago or three days ago, God's silence is absolutely maddening.  But if you can set that aside and look at horrific tragedies from another perspective, what about all the other people involved in stories of terror that have the ability to change them?  All the men in these Biblical stories could have made different choices to honor these women, but they lived in a very different, patriarchal society that drove their understanding of the world and the decisions they made within it.  They were victims of their social consciousness that existed in a broken world, and it is still broken today.

And that brings me to this week, to three days ago, when yet another school shooting occurred.  All of those students were victims to the social consciousness of the perpetrator but also to the social consciousness of all of us.  We collectively bear responsibility for an American society that utilizes violence for entertainment, that is incapable of having any kind of conversation about guns, that is incapable of effectively addressing the mental health issues that affect so many people, that has sown so much discord among itself.  As my friend said in her reflection paper this week, "We are responsible for the killing of 17 school children in Florida when we uphold laws that defend powers that pervert a constitutional right. When these laws and rights become more important than the lives of children, we are not very different from the oppressors in each one of these stories."  Many get frustrated that the conversation immediately goes to gun control when these incidents happen but I believe it's a legitimate response because guns are part of the problem. 

So here is my plea - please, let's talk about gun control.  Let's talk about it because even though you might have other ideas that you think might solve this problem (let's teach kids to treat each other better, let's have tighter school security, let's arm teachers), I think restricting access to semi-automatic weapons and bump stocks has the potential to at least make these incident less bad, and if there's a chance it could help, shouldn't we try it?  And if you continue to hold onto your Second Amendment rights with an iron fist, then I would challenge you to consider if you are placing your right to bear arms above the commandment to love your God and love your neighbor.  Because this society that we have created and perpetuate doesn't love its neighbor.  And yes, teaching everyone to treat each other better would make for a better society, but it's not going to solve this problem of mass shootings by itself.  Please, try to loosen your grip just a little bit, realize that sometimes it is appropriate to sacrifice something that is important to you for the sake of the greater good.  And then let's talk about your ideas too because the solution to mass-shootings in America isn't either-or.  The students and employees in that school were in it together, and we're all in this together too.

"Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone."  Deuteronomy 6: 4  

Seven!

My baby is seven!  How the heck did that happen?!

While I like creating birthday posts so that we can look back on them in future years, I'm also going to share some details of our Moana birthday party for any random Googlers out there who might happen to stumble across this post.  Much of what's on Pinterest related to Moana parties revolves around decorations and food.  I don't care much about either of these because a) the kids couldn't care less about decorations or fancy themed food and that's really who the party is for and b) it gets expensive.  What I cared about was how to keep the kids busy and entertained during our party, which had to be 100% indoors because - January!  So here's what we came up with, most of it was pretty simple but all the kids seemed to enjoy it, especially my birthday boy and his very eager little brother.

Keep the kakamora in the air!  Super easy: decorate some brown (or gold because that's the closest thing you can find) balloons, hand one to each kid and challenge them to keep the ball up in the air and off the ground for as long as they can.  Scary faces are optional;)

Pin the tail on Heihei - Enlist your super talented and artistic sister (or friend) to draw Hei-Hei, cut out some feathers, blind fold the kids and boom.  (Isn't Heihei awesome?  Seriously, I think my sister should open an Etsy shop and sell these kind of party games!)

Coconut bowling - "Consider the coconuts, consider the trees, each part of the coconut is all you need..."  Combine any kid bowling pins and a coconut from the grocery store and you're all set to play.  I recommend asking the kids to start with the coconut on the floor and push it rather than drop it to make it roll.  Luckily no coconuts or family room carpets were damaged by this game.

Find the Heart of Te-Fiti - I bought some modeling clay from Michael's and followed a YouTube video to create our very own heart of te-fiti.  Then the kids took turns hiding it around the house.  The hider would let the other kids know if they were getting "lava" or "ice" (hot or cold) as they searched.  Or, if you're Little P, you would tell the kids "coco" when they got very close ("because hot cocoa is hot Mom!")

Personalized Maui fish hooks - Once again, get your artistic sister (or friend) to trace out the shape of Maui's fish hook, then trace and cut the hooks out from cardboard (Amazon prime boxes that arrive at your house full of gifts are perfect for this project).  We set the kids up at the table with crayons and a couple Moana sticker pages and let them go to town.  Out of respect for the other kids' privacy I won't post it here, but we got a great picture of all the kids holding their hooks up and smiling:)  Plus - party favor!!

Nope, not done yet.  As a special treat this year we bought a pinata.  No Moana connection here, although we did decide to name it "Neigh Neigh" and called it Heihei's cousin!  I had the kids hit the pinata from youngest to oldest order and, perfectly, it started splitting when Little B (the oldest) finally had his turn.

 
Finally I let them all help make some tamatoa slime, a Pinterest idea.  Although slime is supposed to be really popular with kids, none of them were that excited about it and I can't say it did much for me either.  Oh well, never hurts to have something sparkly at a birthday party.

And finally cake!  Once again, credit must go to my incredible sister and her artistic abilities, which my parents gave 100% to her:)

We finished the day off with family, watching the Eagles playoff game and enjoying pizza and more cake.  Little B happily spent the game in front of the fire building Legos from his friends, unwrapping family presents, and then building more Legos and Playmobiles.  He is happy to be 7 and we can't wait to see what the coming year brings for him.  You are rocking life so far Little B and we love you!!

Closing out the day with mommy-son cuddles - just like 7 years ago:)

Children's Message - Resolutions

I have been pondering the idea of using this space to share more of what I do professionally, especially as I draw closer to finishing school and find myself working more, and therefore have more to share.  As a Christian educator, when I set out to write a lesson or a message, I often start with a Google search to see what ideas are already out there.  Sometimes I find good content, or at least enough to give me a starting point, but I think there is still plenty of room for more (hopefully high quality) content to be shared. 

I am given the opportunity to give the children's message during Sunday morning services once every couple months, and I usually try to connect my message with that morning's Scripture passage and/or sermon message.  And yes, I'm the kind of person that writes out every word I want to say, which makes it easy to share in this space!  So onto this week's post -

Children's Message - Based on Ephesians 1: 3-14, connected to New Year's Resolutions

Good morning everyone (welcome children)....

How is 2018 going?  Has it been a good year so far?  There’s a specific word that you might have heard a lot in the last week or so, and that word is “resolution.”  Can anyone tell me what that word means? (Allow time for answers, repeat the kid's responses for congregation to hear.)  It’s a decision to do or not do something.  And often at the start of a New Year many people feel like it’s a good time to start fresh and make some changes to live better lives so they make “New Year’s Resolutions”.  Did any of you make a resolution of something you want to do different this year?  (If needed, offer suggestions, like being nice to your brother or sister or picking up your toys when you’re done playing)  What about the rest of the congregation, raise your hand if you made a resolution for this new year...

Sometimes resolutions work great and we follow through and succeed at making the change we wanted to.  But sometimes we forget about what we wanted to do different, or it gets hard and we decide to just let that idea go.  And that’s just the way it goes for us humans.  But do you know who always follows through?  God!  That’s one of those special ways that God is bigger and greater than us, God can always be trusted to do what God says God will do.  In a couple minutes Pastor Steve is going to read a passage from a book in the Bible called Ephesians and it’s a big complicated passage but it can be summed up in three words, are you listening close?  God loves us!  From the very moment God created us all through history until today, God has always loved us and we have always been God’s people.  And we always will be.  So as we go out from church today and keep living our lives in this new year, I want you to know deep, deep inside your heart that God is following through on the resolution God made: that no matter what’s going on in your life, good or bad, God is loving you and is always with you.  Will you pray with me?

Loving God, thank you for this fresh new year.  As we live and grow and learn, help us to always know and feel that you are loving us, and inspire us to share your love with others.  Amen.

new year, new thoughts

I have seen a couple friends posting on Facebook this week about what their word of the year is, what word they want to define their life in the coming months.  Although I don't usually engage in this exercise, I saw the question enough to ponder what my answer would be and I decided my word would be "persevere".  2017 threw a pretty major punch at me and I'll be living through its after effects throughout the coming year.  I'm prepared to put my head down and push through, but it's definitely going to take some perseverance.

You know who did not persevere to stay up till midnight?  This guy.  Maybe next year dude.

 
I'm also not usually one to make New Year's resolutions but without really meaning to I kind of have.  One resolution that we'll be working through as a family is to read every single book that the boys own and decide what to keep and what to pass on.  I check out 15-20 books from the library every week, so the ones we own have been pretty neglected.  Time to either enjoy them ourselves or pass on the literary wealth!

Little P's bookshelf

Little B's bookshelf

Everything removed from the shelves and stacked together, not sure this picture does it justice!

My seminary class last semester was about living a Christian life and trying out different practices in our everyday lives to help us live more faithfully and know God more fully.  One practice that stuck with me is "presence," as in conscientiously remembering God's constant presence with us.  During that week in class we were challenged to choose a phrase that had spiritual meaning to us and then try to remember to say it every time we stood up or sat down, or walked up the stairs, for example.  I chose to say my phrase every time I picked up my phone.  As you can imagine, that happened many, many times a day and after the first couple days I got better and better at remembering the phrase each time I picked up my phone.  I decided to continue the practice into the new year, but with some adjustments.  For this first week I wrote my phrase on a sticky note and put it on back of my phone.  Then, if I can get into this habit too, I'll set my phone down face down so that I see the note each time I pick it up and be reminded to pray/breathe the phrase.  This practice will take a bit of discipline, we'll see if I can keep it up.

I set a Goodreads goal to read 40 books this year, which I think is manageable, although I'm starting off with a 900 page biography of Robert Kennedy so we'll see how long that takes!  I'm trying to find at least ten minutes each day to play piano, but I'm not confident I'll be able to keep that up once my (final!) semester starts up in another week.  A thoughtful family friend gave me a gratitude jar and pads of paper for Christmas so I'm trying to get in the habit of adding a thought every night, as cultivating an attitude of gratitude is healthy in so many ways.  And finally, I've been pondering how to use this blog space more productively and am thinking about sharing more of what I do professionally at church, so hopefully/maybe stay tuned for more of that content.

Whether I was ready for it or not, a new year is here, and despite the baggage I'm bringing from last year, there is much to look forward to in this year too (graduation, Disney, both boys in school!) so from all of us to you - here's to 2018!!