Posts from — October 2007

Well, everyone………………………it’s done! Jared let me cut his hair! Thanks for all your votes! For a little while, I was afraid your opinion would make no difference, and that Jared would continue to fight the majority. But, he gave in. There are a couple of things that may have influenced his decision. First of all, as soon as he started saying he was going to do it, our friend, Mandy (she was here visiting) started saying, “Yeah, right, Jared. You’re not going to cut it. Lyra, don’t even get your hopes up.” She knows him so well. Thanks, Mandy! The other influence may have been my comment while we were at the winery (just hours before the cut). I took a picture of him from the side, and instantly burst into laughter, telling him that he looked like the guy from Dumb and Dumber. Not Jim Carrey, but the other guy. I think that may have helped, too. Here are some pictures for your viewing pleasure!

“Dumb and Dumber”

“Ahh, joy!”

Mandy photographed the event, including herself. She likes to look at herself in the mirror. We love you, Mandy!

Somehow, this picture reminds me of Jared’s college years

The “sexy” pose, or is that “I can’t believe I fell for this”?

He even trimmed his beard!

And, Jared’s comment as he’s sweeping up: “It’s a shame for all this hair to go to waste. I mean, couldn’t we give it to Locks of Love or somethin’?”  Sorry honey, I don’t think ANYONE wants this mop!

I’ve been reading this blog for the past month or so. It’s a mom who is grieving over the loss of her newborn baby girl. She writes so eloquently, and you won’t be sorry if you take a few moments to read her latest post. In fact, you won’t be sorry if you spend a few minutes reading her previous posts. She has no idea who I am, or that I am even touched by her words. But, every time I read her words, I am brought to tears. Here’s the link:

http://conorbootheandgirls.blogspot.com/2007/10/thoughts-on-today.html

Okay.  Here’s the deal.  Jared lost, which means he has to cut his hair.  I just counted the votes and we had 12 votes to cut and 7 to not cut.  Oh, and let’s throw my vote in, and we have 13 in favor of cutting.  But, is he going to go along with this?  Here is his argument.

“1.  The voting was changed b/c you (Lyra) said you would end the voting at a certain time after it was begun.”

“2.   You can’t count on technology.  There may have been more votes, were technology more reliable.” okay, i have to go throw up now.

“3.  The socio-economically less fortunate are disenfranchised and unable to participate.” (he’s really laughing and thinking this one is hilarious.  WHATEVER!)

So, to go along with the 1st argument, I will agree to stop the voting at 7:00 AM, tomorrow, the 19th of October.  The other two arguments are just not even arguments, so I’m choosing to ignore them. 

I so wish that you all could have heard his reaction as we counted these votes.  Many of you know that Jared would argue with a fly on the wall.  So, it was quite funny hearing him try to come up with reasons for why this wasn’t fair.

We need your help! Please leave a comment letting us know your opinion. Is it time for Jared to cut his hair? You can leave an anonomyous comment if you don’t want us to know who you are. Please just give your input! I’m begging! Take a look at the pics and let us know.  You guys are all in a very powerful position here.  He is going to go with the majority vote!

The title of this post makes no sense to you right now. But, after I recap my day, it will, I promise. This life we’re living here at seminary can get tough sometimes, and it always seems to hit us at once. A few days ago, I was out riding my bike with Shea. As I was riding, God was speaking to me through an analogy, as He often does. We started out and it was so easy. I was barely having to pedal, the wind was blowing in my face, and we were gaining speed. As I was enjoying this easy ride, I started thinking about the fact that on the way back we would be going uphill. I was already thinking about how hard things would soon become. As we came back and I began pedaling up the hill I had so easily come down before, I came to a point (well, a few points) where I just HAD to stop and breathe. Everything in me wanted to just keep going because I could see the top and I wanted to get there, where I knew it would be so much easier. But, I couldn’t until I stopped and rested for a minute, taking a drink from my water bottle. After a few short rests here and there, I was able to make it to the top. But, to get there, I had to stop and rest, and drink my water. Hmmmm. Does this sound familiar? I cannot make it through the hard times without refreshment from the Lord. And, while I’m struggling to make it through, many times I don’t want to stop and take the time for Him. Most of the time, He just moves in on me and makes me stop and see Him. But, when I do take the time, I’m never disappointed and I am always given a ray of hope. So, with all that said, I’ll move on. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m kind of using this blog entry as I would a journal tonight. I know it may end up being long, but we’ll just see where this goes.

This past week has not been an easy one. Shea started throwing up last Tuesday and he hasn’t really been right since. He’s very whiny and he keeps saying, “It hurts.” No fever, just very whiny and this is not like my child. I think it is really starting to drive me crazy. He’s supposed to be happy and I’m not used to this. We’ve been waiting on our rent money, not knowing where it will come from, all week, and that is never pleasant. In the midst of this, Gage’s crocs were taken from our front door during a “sweep” of campus, and we are supposed to pay $25 to get them out of “toy jail”. Things have just been tough, and Jared is consumed with schoolwork right now, so that means very little free time for me. Well, I snapped today.

Our plans for today were to do some school in the morning, put Shea down for his nap around 12, and then leave for Frontier Club at 1:30. We (the kids and I) were going to take our bikes with us and go bike riding after the meeting on a neat trail I’ve heard about. Well, it all fell apart because Shea refused to go to sleep and at 12:40 I had not had a shower, lunch had not been eaten, and SHEA WAS NOT TAKING HIS NAP! I was getting really angry because my plans were not working out and I just wanted to do something outside and enjoy the weather. On top of it all, Gage was also being very emotional and started crying because he couldn’t get his domino set-up to work right. I asked him to clean up a mess that was on the floor, as Shea was whining at the refrigerator and I was trying to make lunch. I looked over (after telling him to “please hurry” 3 times) and he was lying on the floor with his arm stretched out trying to reach a block, but he was in no hurry, and the fact that he was lying on the floor acting so lazy really made me mad. So, I yelled at him, told him that he didn’t need to worry about picking the mess up because I was just going to do it and sent him to his room. As soon as he left the room, I took my flip-flops off my feet and threw one into the kitchen, where it hit the refrigerator, and the other against the door. I proceeded to get the things done that I had to do, and made the decision that we were going NOWHERE. I knew that I just couldn’t do it. I was past my breaking point. I did go into Gage’s room once I cooled off and apologized for losing my temper. I explained that I was taking responsibility for my sin and that I hoped that he would take responsibility for his own, but that I couldn’t make him. I’ve noticed that I really do throw things and kick things when I’m really, really angry. But, I always do it when no one is looking. Yes, I do have an anger problem, but I guess I just hide it. So, now I’m confessing it to the whole world. I throw things when I’m mad. When I was pregnant with Shea, I walked out on the back porch in absolute anger and kicked the wall in with my new Dansko clogs. I didn’t mean for it to happen, but it was a really old house and the walls were thin. And, in Illinois, the wintertime is really depressing, and I’m pretty sure it was winter. Okay, I’m done confessing now.

Now let me tell you the really great things that happened today.  11:59 tonight is the deadline to pay our rent. My friend, Emily, who works at Covenant, e-mailed me today to inform me that someone had anonymously deposited $150 in our student account to be used toward our rent. After this deposit, we were in need of $502. I knew the numbers were going to be tight, but this is just crazy! I logged into our bank account, and our balance was $506. So, I can go to bed tonight knowing that our rent is paid in full. We have gas in the car and food in the fridge, so all is well. After my little tantrum today, I e-mailed Jared and told him I was losing it and that we needed to talk about when I can have some time on my own. He is so sweet and always wants to do everything he can do to make things easier for me. So, he arranged for us to have a babysitter tomorrow night so that we can go out on a date. And, I went out by myself for about 45 minutes after dinner and came home to a quiet(boys were in bed), clean house, with candles burning and soft music playing. We’re going to make it up this hill. I’ve just got to stop and remember to take a drink of water.

You will not be disappointed if you watch just 3 minutes of this clip.

So, we arrived back home last Thursday from our 10 day trip to NC. It was so nice to be with family. Our friend, Mandy, came out for a visit and the boys and I caught a ride back with her. She dropped us off in the western part of NC at Robin and Mike’s house (Jared’s sister), where we visited for a few days. Then, Robin took us to meet my dear friend, Andrea, in Greensboro, and my parents came and picked us up in Greensboro for the 3 hour trip to the coast, where they live. Ten days is never enough to see everyone I want to see, especially when I only get down there once or twice a year. So, if you’re reading this and finding yourself disappointed that I didn’t see you, I promise we’ll try the next time! We have so many friends in Greenville that we would love to have seen, but time just wouldn’t allow it. Here is a slideshow of our trip. Enjoy!

Here’s the link to the sermon Jared preached back in August at our church in Illinois.

http://www.christchurchpca.org/podcast/8_12_07%20-%20hope.mp3

I went in to get Shea from his nap today (he woke up early, crying).  When I walked in the room, I found him off of his bed, over in the corner, and he smelled like puke.  I could see a little bit on his face and his shirt, but it really wasn’t much.  I went out of the room, got a diaper, came back and changed him, and after all of that, looked over at his bed to see the most disgusting thing I have seen in quite a while.  Oh my gosh, it was sooo disgusting.  A huge pile of puke on his bed, and lying in the middle of all of it………. his stack of library books.  The first thing I thought was, “how many books we’ve checked out have been previously puked on?”  I used to think the library was so great.  Now, I’m just a little grossed out.  It’s kind of like the time I took Gage to play on an indoor playground, and a kid peed right there on the area Gage had just crawled through.  The kid’s mom went to the bathroom and got some paper towels to wipe it up.  It took a while to forget, but, yes, we do still go to indoor playgrounds.