This morning I was channel surfing while waiting for the Universal Sports channel to finish its infomercial and start playing the Boston Marathon live. I landed on the PBS Kids station, where Word World was playing. It is a great show, with a little jingle every time they put letters together to sound out a word. Today's word was H-A-T, hat.
There was a very cute little story about one of the characters having a H-A-T, a magician's hat, to be exact. Then the wind blew it to the next character, and it changed to a chef's hat; then it blew to the third character, where it became a silly beanie hat with a propeller on top. Behold, the magic of words: any kind of hat is still called a hat!
But that's when it started to get interesting. The first character (Sheep, if you really must know) said, "For me a hat meant a magician's hat. For Pig it meant a chef's hat. And for Duck it meant a silly hat!" That's all fine and dandy until she went on: "That's the magic of words! One word can mean different things to different people. "
Yes, H-A-T is a hat, whether it keeps you warm, keeps the sun out of your eyes, or is just for decoration. But what about when you come to abstract words, like T-R-U-T-H and R-I-G-H-T (or R-I-G-H-T-S, for that matter) and W-R-O-N-G? Do they all mean different things to different people, or is there a standard meaning for them, unchanged by our individual perspectives?
Lizzie is too young to know what any of the phonics or philosophy are about, and I'm not about to boycott PBS, but I'm that much less inclined to use the TV as a babysitter.
This will probably be a hodge-podge style post. My week has been something of that sort, so why would my blog reflect anything but?
I will start by saying that we had a lovely, relaxing Easter with my family after church. Instead of the traditional big dinner, we "cheated" and picked up KFC. It was really liberating.
Here is our little Easter princess in her Sunday finery, with her basket and plastic eggs. She might just be the cutest drooling princess I've ever seen. Sunday morning I had my first week of my rotation to be "in the nursery" even though I've spent probably the last 6 weeks staying in the nursery anyways. (I'm trying to smooth the transition for Lizzie. If she's well enough this week to bring her, I will leave her there.) Unfortunately, Lizzie was sick, so she couldn't stay there. At least I couldn't let her be there with good conscience. But being the noble man that Sam is, he stayed in the foyer at church with Lizzie, while I stayed with other people's children. It was actually easier for me that way!
Yesterday was Lizzie's 10 month birthday, and she celebrated by tearing up a roll of toilet paper. See image 2, below:
Her recent toddler accomplishments are as follows: Waving "bye-bye" at appropriate times! Taking 1-2 steps together, though mostly unintentionally. No real walking yet, but we're pretty close! Sharing food from the high chair Trying to tear the non-slip mat off the bottom of the bathtub Turning off light-switches (turning on is trickier) Finding Daddy's and Mommy's belly buttons (not her own yet) Sleeping through the night most nights (hallelujah!) and producing cups and cups of drool and snot
My weekly accomplishments have included: Figuring out which medicines are safe to take for a head cold, allergies, and general yuckyness while nursing Taking Lizzie to the pediatrician to find out that "she has a cold" Getting dressed before noon every day Going through at least one box of tissues, singlehandedly Making a menu plan, then: Going to the grocery store Making stew in the crock pot Clogging the kitchen sink making previously-mentioned stew Cleaning up under the kitchen sink after Sam fixed the previously-mentioned clog No, it has not been one of my best weeks.
Sam's weekly accomplishment is huge, though. Thanks are due to all-powerful God, and everyone who has prayed for him and his school project this month, because his project has finally been approved to continue! This means that he can finish working on it and if he manages to meet all his other deadlines in the next month, he will graduate this spring! It is a tremendous breakthrough, and we are so grateful.
Today a friend's sister gave birth to a 20 week old boy who did not make it.
Today an acquaintance through an online forum lost her dad.
Today a friend's little boy in the NICU is 2 weeks old; or 29 gestational weeks old. He's a fighter, but he has had a hard 2 weeks, and has many more hard weeks ahead.
Today I see the fine line between death and life, and I am thankful for the One who made life stronger than death.
Today we commemorate the crucifixion of the Son of God.
Today is the day before Passover, commemorating when God "passed over" his people who in obedience and faith brushed their doorposts with blood of a lamb, and did not perish when Death visited Egypt.
Today is two days before Easter, commemorating when Jesus, having submitted Himself to the Father, even unto death--even unto death on a cross--was raised again, alive by the power of the Holy Spirit, so that we can in obedience and faith live and not die.
Today is a day that none of us deserve.
I read Luke 7 today and had never seen the emphasis on deserving before. All emphasis is mine.
When Jesus had finished saying all this in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum. There a centurion's servant, whom his master valued highly, was sick and about to die. The centurion heard of Jesus and sent some elders of the Jews to him, asking him to come and heal his servant. When they came to Jesus, they pleaded earnestly with him, "This man deserves to have you do this, because he loves our nation and has built our synagogue." So Jesus went with them. He was not far from the house when the centurion sent friends to say to him: "Lord, don't trouble yourself, for I do not deserve to have you come under my roof."
I admire the honesty of the centurion's heart. He knew whether God owed him any favors or not, even though the people who were impressed by his generosity and character seemed to think he had earned something.
That story ended well. As did this one a few verses later:
Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, "Don't cry."
Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, "Young man, I say to you, get up!" The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother.
She did not deserve to receive her son back, but the Lord had compassion on her, and showed his power over death.
When John the Baptist inquired about Jesus, because he had heard of all the things happening, he asked "Are you the one we have been expecting to come? Or should we still look for someone else?" Jesus answered in a way that was almost like a riddle, but it surely spoke to John's heart. Then Jesus applauded John, but says something about the kingdom of Heaven and who deserves it:
"I tell you, among those born of women there is no one greater than John; yet the one who is least in the kingdom of God is greater than he."
(All the people, even the tax collectors, when they heard Jesus' words, acknowledged that God's way was right, because they had been baptized by John. But the Pharisees and experts in the law rejected God's purpose for themselves, because they had not been baptized by John.)
I emphasized the words "rejected" and "acknowledged" because they are opposites in this instance. The "righteous" people did not acknowledge their sins, and the "sinners" did. The "righteous" did not need redemption, but the "sinners" were aware of their need, and were willing to humble themselves to be baptized by John, showing their repentance.
There is no commentary necessary for the final example of "deserving" in Luke 7. It is moving no matter how many times it is read.
Now one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, so he went to the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. When a woman who had lived a sinful life in that town learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster jar of perfume, and as she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner."
Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to tell you." "Tell me, teacher," he said.
"Two men owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he canceled the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?"
Simon replied, "I suppose the one who had the bigger debt canceled." "You have judged correctly," Jesus said.
Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little."
Then Jesus said to her, "Your sins are forgiven."
The other guests began to say among themselves, "Who is this who even forgives sins?"
Jesus said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
So we see that the only thing that lets us receive this peace is what we did not deserve: The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.
I'm typing as quickly as I can, because I am hearing Lizzie stirring in her crib; she's been asleep for almost 2 hours, so the time is limited. I love it when she sleeps for a nice, long time. She is so much happier. She really thrives on her schedule. I think I'm probably the same way.
However, yesterday's revelation that considers that "interruptions" are part of the excitement, glory, and joy of life has helped me immensely to keep my attitude in check. Who cares if things don't go as I had planned?
I also realized that when I speak to my baby, I do so in cheerful tones, with only positive things, and do everything possible to keep her feeling secure and happy. Why don't I do that with the other people in my life? Because they can organize abstract thoughts and have conversations using actual words, does that somehow grant them the privilege of hearing my every complaint and frustration? Why do I try so hard to make Lizzie laugh, and don't think much about whether my poor, stressed, tired husband is happy or not? How often have I been a pain in the @$$ when I just need to be kind, supportive, and fun to be around? Going forward I do want to focus on my tone and my words, and the effect they have in my home.
This week has been a rough one as far as school goes for Sam. If anybody reads this, please pray with us that he gets the sign-offs he needs from his professors, so that he can finish this senior project and graduate. It's the 2nd time he's had to submit it, and if he doesn't complete it this time, it would be heartbreaking.
For fun, I signed up for "Swagbucks" and it would be exciting if I actually earned enough of these to win some kind of gift card. They have $10 Starbucks cards for 1300 points. We'll see if it's actually worth the trouble. If so, maybe I'll treat myself out to coffee once in a while, especially since it should be nicer weather and more fun to take the Lizzie Bit out on stroller jaunts.
We found out this week that Lizzie loves to watch ice skating and dancing. She was mesmerized by Dancing With the Stars on Monday night. While watching a little bit of figure skating on TV, she couldn't take her eyes off of them, and I promise she started holding her arms outward like the girl skating on the screen! Since she's so into dancing, this toy has been her absolute favorite this week, thanks to Christina and Wade and Ann!
Well, that dancing Lizzie Bit is grunting in the corner of her crib now, so of course that means I'll be greeted by an all-too-familiar smell when I go in to get her. Fun times! Have a happy weekend. :)
I felt compelled to pick up Elizabeth Elliot's book "Keep a Quiet Heart" this morning. In 1998 I read it along with several girlfriends in my youth group, and the time impacted and shaped my growth in many ways.
The very first page has this quote, which I think I am going to have to print and frame or keep on the bathroom mirror or the refrigerator--or both:
"I think I find most help in trying to look on all the interruptions and hindrances to work that one has planned out for oneself as discipline, trials sent by God to help one against getting selfish over one's work. Then one can feel that perhaps one's true work--one's work for God--consists on doing some trifling haphazard thing that has been thrown into one's day. It is not a waste of time, as one is tempted to think, it is the most important part of the work of the day--the part one can best offer to God. After such a hindrance, do not rush after the planned work; trust that the time to finish it will be given sometime, and keep a quiet heart about it."
--Annie Keary, 1825-1879
Oh, Lord, help me. The part that struck me with conviction the most upon reading this is the phrase "getting selfish over one's work". I realize that the work that I do and that I get so stressed about is more about me and my day than it is about it being a service to my family. If my family interferes with my chores, then what does it say about my priorities? It bears repeating: Oh, Lord, help me.
I have had one of those weeks ... admittedly, for a few weeks. One of those weeks in which nothing gets done. OK, truth be told, I did a lot of playing Farmville, and playing "throw the ball to Mama," and wanting nothing more than to sit on the couch with a cup of coffee and my new Runner's World magazine. (Yeah, forget that running business--I haven't done anything that qualifies as exercise in a full 15 days.)
Now, fortunately I have managed to keep dinner on the table every day except one (plus a time or two when we have gone to get a meal), and all our bills are paid. And our clothes are clean. And mostly put away (except for the baby's, but since it's hard to put them away when she's awake, and when she's asleep I don't want to go in her room to put them away, the clean clothes live in the hamper in the living room for a few days).
But the table ... well, do you want to see what the kitchen table looks like? Yikes. We just push everything over at dinner time to eat off of one half of it.
And the living room: Those are gift bags (top left) from the end of February when we did our family birthday lunch. And Sam's t-shirt(s) on the couch. And the baby laundry on the chair. And the mail on the piano bench... because there isn't any more room on the kitchen table. And cedar chips to go in the dog house outside - then why are they inside still? And the toys...... Sigh. These are small pictures, so you can't see too much in detail.
But the bathrooms have gone too long. Really, there will be no picture necessary.
So, how do you do it? How do you keep things up? Do you budget your time? Do you say "no ____ until I finish ____"? Or maybe you have children who are done with teething and no longer eat leaves when you're not looking? Perhaps you actually have people come to your house regularly, so you have motivation more than once a month, to keep things picked up. Of course, why would I try to pretend I keep a nice clean house for company, when I just put pictures of my disaster area online for the world to see?
Do you have secrets to keeping your sanity? Or do you have weeks like this, too?
The past week, however, has had some milestones: On Saturday Sam, Lizzie and I went with Jessa to the vet's office, and only Sam, Lizzie, and I came back. After 14 years, Jessa had her 3rd strike, and we had to put her to sleep. It was sad, but it was the right time, and I had a peace about it. It has actually been a huge relief to us to not have to take care of her anymore. Though of course I miss seeing her around the house, sleeping like a log, and I keep thinking I can throw the odd table scrap to her, but then she's not there. Lizzie kept looking for her for about a day - Jessa used to always follow me into the room whenever I went to pick Lizzie up from a nap or go for a diaper change. So every time Liz looked down, there was the old yellow dog. She's stopped looking now.
On the brighter side, Lizzie popped 2 teeth in one day, so now she has 5! Two on the bottom, and three on the top. The top ones are slowly coming down more. I wish I could get a picture of them, but that would require her to hold still while I hold the camera, which is not a skill set we have mastered yet. Now that she can bite down into things, she loves to take her Cheerios and put them in her mouth just to hear them crunch between her front teeth. She also spent several days testing the sound her teeth made when she crunched or ground them together. I am glad that's stopped for the most part. Terrible noise.
Lizzie now throws the ball. She's actually pretty good at it!
She also dances to music or a beat. Here is a short video:
Please excuse the misspelling of the word helicopter. I don't know where the spelling brain cell went.
Isn't she fun? I do love having her around! The fun of watching her learn, play and understand is probably a fair trade for the chaos that sometimes surrounds us. Though I do hope that before long we'll have less chaos and just as much fun.
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