Ten on Tuesday

How can this baby be going into kindegarten?

1.  On the day we left Tybee, Jason took the kids in his truck so I could stay behind and finish cleaning up.  I left about an hour behind him.  I pulled into the gas station we always go to on our way out of Tybee and realized I didn't have my wallet.  No clue where it was. I had about a quarter of a tank of gas left.  Not enough to get home.  After finding my wallet in his truck,  Jason had some decisions to make.  Was he going to sit where he was and wait for me to catch up with him or come up with Plan B?  He went with Plan B.   Go to the next exit with gas (Metter, everything's better in Metter), find a "trustworthy" gas attendant, and leave some money with instructions to give it to me an hour later. (He tried to pre-pay with a card, but she wouldn't let him do that.) So when I arrived at the gas station an hour later the nice lady handed me $35 with my name on it.  I spent $32 on gas and a couple on gummy bears.  Who would have thought this plan would work?

2.  See the flag above Packy's bed?  My mom made it.  Eat your heart out Pottery Barn.  She found some old fencing at an antique sale and painted it.  Packy is very patriotic and loves the American flag.   This is one of my favorite decorations in my house.  I still have lots of bare walls because I am sticking to my guns about not hanging something just to fill space.  I have to love it.  This, I love.  Thanks to my very talented mom. 

3.  I am currently doing the Love Like Him study with the Do Not Depart girls.  It has been very helpful because loving does not always come easy or natural to me.  These follow up blogs really helped me examine how I love.
                 Love Like Him 1 Corinthians 13:1-3. It's not just how you show love but your motives too.  (Motives!  I say it the way Seinfield says Newman!.  Just when I think I've got it all under control I remember that my motives matter. Motives!)
                Because I love you.- I love how she personalized 1 Corinthians 13. 
4. And then I watched this. (Get the Kleenex ready. For real.)

I was in Sunday School last week with someone who said she was sure that we were at the end of times because everything is awful in the world. Nothing is getting better, only worse.  I totally disagree. I think God shows us every day ways that He is redeeming His people. He uses situations where we see no hope and then brings glory to His name.  How can you watch this and not think that God is still active in this world?
5.  Community.  I used to think of this as just the latest Christian buzz word.  Live in community.  I don't anymore.  I live community.
The Christian life is not a self-project. We are a people of God and cannot live the Christian life by ourselves. We live in community whether we want to or not, whether we admit to it or not. The Bible knows nothing of the solitary Christian. Having been created and saved we are now commanded to live out our creation and salvation in the community that Christ gathers by his Holy Spirit. Deuteronomy and Luke/Acts are major texts that ground us in this world, this community, in which Christ plays."
~Eugene Peterson

I have seen my community change alot over the past few years. I have my family community (immediate and extended), my church community, my gym community, my school community, and my community of believing girlfriends mixed in these groups and all around.  God did not design us to live alone.  He designed us to live together.  Bearing one another's burdens, holding each other up, rejoicing together, and sharing in our "like broken-ness".  This doesn't mean I have someone in my home every single night, but it does mean I am in close connection with people.  I want to know how people are doing; with their marriage, with their kids, with their walk with the Lord.  I pray for people.  I make myself available to people who are broken in the same ways I am, and share how the Lord has used these struggles to draw me so much closer to him.  I laugh with these people and cry with them.  I love their children.  I hurt when they hurt.  It's hard to feel all alone when you are living in community with other believers.  

6.  I went to the movies yesterday (alone) and saw The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel. 

It was a sweet movie and I saw it with every woman over 70 in Macon.  

"Everything will be all right in the end. If it's not all right, then it's not the end." (Sonny)

I wanted an inspiring movie and since I journaled this morning and blogged this afternoon, I think it worked.  It is sort of Eat, Pray, Love meets Slumdog Millionaire.  

7.  Betsy has a hilarious friend named Kelsey that she once lived with in the city.  This friend now lives in LA and has a blog that has made me laugh out loud more than once.  Do yourself a favor and read her blog, Does My Minivan Make Me Look Fat?, when you have some time.  So funny.
8.  My plan for the summer is to have no expectations.  No lofty goals.  No extreme kid makeover projects.  Just have fun.  And sometimes have no fun. Sorry.  We will get our book reports finished before the first day of school and work on our multiplication, but other than that, I am playing it by ear.   I have tried to operate with a daily schedule in past summers.  That can work until I want to throw myself out the window.  Too much pressure.  We have been out of school for 1 and a half weeks.  So far, so good.  We have been to a pool almost every day.  It's my best chance of survival.  It's hot in Macon.  Really hot.  Now that Pac can swim, I can actually read a book part of the time.  It makes my people really tired and they seem to get along better in water.  Win, win.
9.  I am already sick of hearing Mama. Mama, Mama, Mama. Just don't say my name for about 10 minutes.  Just talk to me without saying Mama first.  (Packy said it twice while I typed that sentence.  For real).  It's worse than nails on a chalkboard.  (Jay- 3 more times.)  This Loving Like Him is hard when you hear your name over and over again.  Normally with a request at the end.  Love is patient.  Ugh.
10.  By the time your read this I will  be at Wild Adventures (or probably at home because you have totally given up all hope that I would actually do this on Tuesday).  Jason's mom and dad are taking our family and his brother's family for a summer adventure.  They kids have literally been counting down the days.