Ten on Tuesday

1.  Let's talk about Sunday morning church.  Is it hard for you to worship surrounded by your people (my word for your kids)?  I go in with high hopes. We sit on the second row.  I am way too easily distracted to sit any farther back.  (And yes, I do have a row I share with my childhood friend and her family. And yes, we will be put out if you sit on our row.  But we are nice people and if you are a visitor, we will find somewhere else to sit without giving you a dirty look.  If you are a member, you better back off our row.) When the Introit is played and Call to Worship is read, I am  ready to get my worship on.  All in. And then one of my people needs some gum.  Or a pencil.  Or a potty break (despite my excessive reminders before we walked in the sanctuary). So, I break and accommodate.  Back to worship.  It's time to stand and sing (Come Thou Fount, my favorite) and the littlest person doesn't want to sing because he is drawing.  When I remind him that it's time to stand, he begrudgingly stands and then scrapes his cheek on my wedding ring.  Whimpering ensues.  Pass him down to his dad and let the big boy sit by me.  Back to worship.  Ready for the pastoral prayer.  The big boy wants to know where we are eating.  Ignore.  It's time to send the littlest to children's church and listen to the sermon.  All in.  Did I mention that Emory and her best friend sit in front of me?  Hello distractions.  She plays with all the sticky letters on her 3 ring binder, flips through the Harry Potter book she brought to church(?!?), and for the finale, takes out her wallet and looks through every card and receipt that she has.  I can't tell you how many times I kick the back of her chair during one service.  When she broke out the wallet I gave her some actual words. Listening intently to the sermon and the one next to me leans over and asks how much longer.  Ignore.  (I won't even mention that Jason started passing notes to me at this point.)  Thank goodness for that closing hymn. (I want to print the entire song but this is going to be long enough.)

Father, Long Before Creation

God's compassion is my story, Is my boasting all the day;

Mercy free and never failing, Moves my will, directs my way,

God so loved us, God so loved us, That His only Son He gave.

Chorus:

And the world will song His love, Yes the world will sing his love, 

And we'll all join hands, every woman, every man,

To sing His love, To sing His love.

Emory and her friend were dancing as they sang and I really wanted to throw my hands in the air and shout "Hallelujah!".  It was another good day in the House of the Lord.  

2. Then we went out to eat. It was Jason's idea and I reminded him of that numerous times.  We had 3 adults and 5 kids.  We went to a throw your peanuts on the ground steak place.  It took forever.  Jason's grumpiness is in equal proportion to his hungriness, and he was hungry.  My friend and I took the prime seats at the table that was pushed up to the end of the booth.  We felt like we were having our own private lunch while Jason dealt with the kids.  And our waiter just kept bringing buttery yeast rolls with cinnamon, honey butter.  Two hours later we were stuffed and the kids had been assigned work detail in our backyard.  (His idea.)

3.  I am not embarrassed at all that I have more than one song on my iPod by Chiddy Bang. I just hate saying that name.  

4.  My kids got out of the habit of watching TV while we were in Tybee.  My goal was to keep them out of the habit.  My solution was to unplug the cable wire in the playroom. My people have not attempted to plug it back in.  Maybe it's because the TV in the playroom weighs 500 pounds and they know they better not try to move it.  Whatever the reason, it's nice.  They can play the wii, but not watch hours of dramatic teen shows or insipid cartoons. Such a simple solution.  

5.  I have a friend who is an amazing baker. (One night last week I was really just done.  Kids, bills, and so on.  She texted me a picture of the three different types of cupcakes [raspberry, chocolate, and blue cream cheese icing] she had just made and said come get some. I did.  And that was my supper.  Plus a Diet Coke and some pretzels.  And some girl time.)   She told me about this baking blog that has now become a favorite of mine.  This girls has ridiculous recipes but her blogging is hilarious.  She has a way with words. These are some of my favorites and I really want you to check these out.  I promise you will be eating something delicious and rolling on the floor laughing.

Gooey Cinnamon Muffins

Cookie Crazy Cupcakes

White Chocolate Brownies

6.  My apologies to you if you wear sunglasses inside, but this makes me laugh.

7.  I'm just going to have to say that I was happy to hear that Britney Spears' judge ruled that she must stay under her conservatorship.  I love Britney.  I am so proud of how far she has come, but I do think that it's best for someone else to make all of her decisions for her. All of them.  In other Britney news, I am super excited to see her on the X Factor (which I have never watched before, but will now) and at the same time I am so nervous for her.  I don't know if live television is the best place for her.  I think I might start biting my nails when she comes on. (I'm even more super excited that I will be in NYC and get to watch with Betsy.  She also loves Britney.)  

8.  Where did this baby go?

9.  My car leaks.  That's right.  Somehow a seal was broken and now it leaks on the passenger side, under the dash.  That is in addition to someone keying it.  That someone was Emory, and I know because she wrote her name.  It was a little muddy and she got a rock to write in the mud.  Nice. Wet car equals stinky car so I bought a fabulous air freshener at Bath and Body Works.  Just remember, I am not defined by the car I drive.  I drive a wonky car, but I am not a wonky person.  At least most of the time.  

10.  I don't usually like Christian pop songs.  I just don't.  I do like this song.  And I love the lyrics (from 1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

                           

If I sing but don't have love

I waste my breathe with every song

I bring, an empty voice

A hollow noise

If I speak with a silver tongue

Convince a crowd but don't have love

I leave a bitter taste

With every word I say

(Chorus)

So let my life be the proof

The proof of Your love

Let my love look like You

And what You're made of

How you lived, how You died

Love is sacrifice

So let my life be the proof

The proof of Your love

If I give to a needy soul

But don't have love then who is poor

It seems all the poverty

Is found in me

11.  Amen!

Ten on Tuesday

Do you hear that?  It's quiet at my house.  Ahhhh.  At least until 12:30 when my kindergartener comes home.  I love that our school does a half day for kindergarten.  More time with my Pac and I don't care what you think.  He's my baby.
1.  A new school year totally trumps a new calendar year at my house.  I totally operate on a school calendar, so for me, last Tuesday was New Year's Eve.  I love the feeling of everyone getting back into routines.  Summer is great but when it's time to go back, we I am ready.  Alarm clocks are set, new supplies bought, and visions of how I am going to stay on top of things are dancing in my head.  Just like all good resolutions, mine are sure to be broken quickly.
2.  One of my goals for this year was to continue (Betsy did this with the kids at Tybee) to read The Gospel Story Bible for a morning devotion. I did it one morning, got frustrated that no one was listening, slammed the book down and told my kids "I give up on y'all."  That is so gospel of me isn't it?  The gospel, where Jesus takes all of my sin on himself, and dies a death I deserve so that I can have eternal life.  But I tell my kids I'm giving up on them. Ouch. I did go back and apologize to them.  I did tell them that I would never give up on them.  But I also told them that God never gives up on his children and how thankful I am for that.  Even when we think we want Him to give up on us He won't.  (And for those of you who understand how it feels to actually want God to turn you loose and then have Him redeem the mess that you have made of yourself, are you with me in praising His holy name? Every single day.)
3.  I can sometimes be overwhelmed at the start of the new school year.  This article really inspired me to make good decisions for me and my family.  That doesn't just mean cutting out the junk and the time wasters.  This means really thinking about where I am putting my energy.  If I have a goal to help other addicts, but I'm so busy that I'm not going to 12 step meetings or have any time to spend talking with people, then something has to go.  I think this sometimes is hard when it comes to church.  If I am active in my Sunday School, participating in a small group, attending Bible study on Wednesday night, in addition to Sunday worship and my quiet time in the morning, then I probably don't need to join another study just because they are offering one.  Now that is just what is best for me.  Everyone has to decide where God is calling them to serve and be used.
I'm Done Living a WalMart Life.
4.  Speaking of the junk, I was a 90210 junkie in high school. I loved it had a serious crush on Dylan McKay.  (Both Jay and Emory have scars on their eyebrows and I call them their Dylan McKay scars.)

All that to say, I love these new Old Navy commercials.  They make me smile.  Especially Andrea Zuckerman.  (And Dylan.) (Don't you think Jason looked a little like Jason Priestley when we first started dating?)

5.  So we are still reading Harry Potter.  (YES!)  We finished the first two books and watched the first two movies.  I could have hired a marching band to parade up and down my driveway when Jay, my non-reader, said, "Mom, I liked the movie but the book was better."  (YES!)  The book is always better. And just to put a cherry on top, Jay is reading....because he wants to.  It makes my heart smile when I see him bring his book with him to the table to eat lunch.
6.  So You Think You Can Dance has really bummed me out this year.  They have been only given one night a week (instead of two like previous years) and the new format stinks.  Betsy is in Connecticut with no TV and although Jason was watching with me I had a frustration that I needed to share.  Enter social media.  I have 10 tweets under my handle.  There are 4 retweets, 2 tweets that Packy (?) sent, and 4 that I actually sent.  Three are about SYTYCD.  I needed to connect with other people who were frustrated and Twitter did that for me. I embrace that we live in an instant society and sometimes I like it. (That might not mean anything to you.  Especially you  Dad.)
7.  Packy and his bestest friend are in class together this year and it makes me so happy.  Packy loves kindergarten and has the biggest smile on his face when I pick him up.  He has an amazing teacher who also taught Jay kindergarten (at a different school).  She reminded me that Packy was born when Jay was in her class.  So happy to have our sweet school and sweet friends.

8.  Since I haven't posted in a while, I didn't really get to talk about my re-entry from Tybee.  It's always a little hard.  Hard for me because I have to get used to seeing all of the things at my house that need my attention.  I handled this by taking the kids to the pool as often as I could, with a good book.  It's hard for Jason because he has the house on lockdown in July.  No lights on, doors shut, everything put away.  When we come home it takes him a while to adjust to what actual people living in his house looks like.  And it looks messy.  (One of those new school resolutions is to have the house picked up before Jason gets home.)  It's also hard to back into the gym routine.  It actually hurts because I have basically given up trying to exercise at the beach (except for some spotty running).  I like to milk my "re-entry" and by the end of the second week, Betsy was over it.  She informed me that I had been home 2 weeks and was "entered" and it was time move on.  So, I did.
9.  A lot can happen in one month.  I didn't go to any 12 step meetings so I was really ready when I came home to get back into some good habits.  (I usually do go and I should have gone this year.)  When I got back I found out that a couple of people I knew had relapsed.  People who had years of sobriety.  It was a huge wake up call.  I had gotten to place where I had taken my sobriety for granted because I don't crave using anymore. This is scary for an addict.  If I am relying on myself and have an attitude of "I've got this!" then I am not in recovery.  I might still be sober, but I am not in recovery.  This attitude also leads to pride and looking down on others who are still struggling to get sober.  I have to remind myself that if I start using and drinking again, I could end up just as bad off as the person I am looking down on.  Just because I have a nice clean house and kids dressed in private school uniforms doesn't protect me from complete self-destruction.  Working with people who are trying to get sober can be frustrating and sad, as well as extremely fufilling, but it always reminds me that staying sober is alot easier than getting sober.
10.  Since I posted Jason's 90210 picture, I should tell you that we celebrated our 20th high-school reunion the night after I got back from Tybee.  It was so fun to see so many of the people that we graduated with.  I would say for the most part that people are happier 20 years after high school than they were when they were in it.  I know I am.  I wouldn't go back to high school for anything.  Some of my insecutities crept back in a little, and I realized I am better in a small group than in a big crowd.  Enter the smoking section.  No wonder I like the smoking section. It's a smaller crowd where I can actually hear what people are saying (versus inside the party where the music is pumping).  I tried to get Jason to agree that we should smoke for high school times sake.  He said no.  Always the voice of reason, that Jason.  So, we just hung out with our friends who are still smoking and enjoyed some second hand smoke. (We have been nicotine free for 3 years.) (I still miss smoking.)  (Yes, I know it's gross.)

11.  My editor did not like me ending on a smoking note so I am trying to think of something else to tell you...about her.  She is getting really good at dealing with mice and snakes.  And she has the most precious girls.  Overall, my Tybee pictures this year stink, but I do love this one of some morning sister love.