Category — Random

Here’s how a conversation went between Gage and I tonight:

Gage: “Mom, you’re being so mean to me right now. Why are you so irritated?”

Me: “Gage, I’m exhausted, my back hurts, and it’s past your bedtime. I just need you both to be in bed.”

Gage: “Why do you have to talk to me in such a stern voice? Gosh, Mom!”

Me: “Maybe one day you’ll have a kid just like yourself and then you’ll understand. Some days are just hard, Gage.”

There will be much more to come in this little piece of the blogosphere. Hopefully tomorrow. But, as of now, I will just say that today was particularly hard because my son decided to climb up a tree to hunt down a possibly rabid bat. And, he succeeded. We will be taking him to get the beginning of a series of shots tomorrow. Yep, life with Gage is NEVER boring!

Stay tuned for the full story. Pictures included.

Gage:  Full force, 150 miles per hour, act first, think later.

Shea:  Cautious, take it slow, let me think about it first, then I’ll decide.

Jared thinks it was mean for me to stand there taking pictures, with Shea in such agony.  But, as soon as I saw what was happening, I knew I had to capture the moment.   Shea knows I love him!

Yes, our kids use the forbidden word in our house.  When I was growing up, my Mom wouldn’t allow us to say “fart”, but these boys belong to Jared.  Need I say more?

A few days ago, I chose to wear some spandex yoga pants around the house for the day.  I wasn’t going anywhere, and they were really comfortable.  When I’m at home, comfort is of utmost importance.

The first hour I had the pants on, I thought to myself, “This is great motivation to get in shape.  I  need a reminder to start Weight Watchers, and this is doing it for me.”  These were my thoughts for the first hour or two that I wore the pants, every time I passed a mirror.  Motivation is a good thing, so I kept them on.  I even began writing a blog post in my head entitled, “The Beauty of Spandex”.

Later that day, I found myself to be in a really foul mood, and I wasn’t sure why.  Jared wanted to know why, too, so we started talking about it.  It didn’t take me long to realize that it was the freaking pants.  They were making me feel like crap about myself.  I  had gone from feeling motivated to do something about my flab to absolutely despising the fact that I looked horrible in the pants.  The blog post in my head quickly changed to “The Horror of Spandex”.

It’s great to be motivated every now and then, and the spandex did it for a brief period of time.  However, I’m not sure the beauty of being motivated outweighed the horror I felt every time I passed a mirror.

Plans for next week:  Hit the YMCA for some cardio pilates and swimming.  Oh, and Weight Watchers will once again be entering my life!

I may even start blogging over here again.

Lately, I’ve felt frustrated because I live in a bubble here on seminary campus.  All of us are pretty much on the same page, and I guess that gets old for me after a while.  I like to live among a variety of people with varying belief systems, and that just hasn’t been the case for me these past couple of years.

Don’t get me wrong, I cherish fellowship with close friends who hold to the same beliefs and are living crazy lives right along with us.  But, I also find a depth and a richness to life when I am surrounded by a variety of people.

Back in ‘99, after being at YWAM for 6 months, I began itching to get back into the real world.  I suppose after 2 years of living on a seminary campus, it would be normal for me to start feeling the itch again.

Sometimes I feel like I live in a bubble when it comes to the blogosphere, too.  Most of my readers are fellow seminary friends, and most of the blogs I read belong to people in the same phase of life as myself.

This past week, I was really encouraged by discovering someone I have never met, who is in a totally different phase of life than my own, came across my blog post entitled “August 27th” and found a little slice of hope.  I was so excited to see that my blog could be relevant to someone outside of this little bubble I live in. Go check out Liz’s blog.  I’ll be following her little piece of the blogosphere, and you should, too!

Click above and check this out.  I LOVE it!

Gage went to Science Camp this week, so Shea and I enjoyed some one-on-one time.  Jared was able to join us at MOBOT one of the days.  The weather was perfect with overcast skies and a nice breeze.

“Photography can lead us on a pilgrimage to see the world in a different light. It can become a spiritual discipline as we stop to pay attention, to be patient, to center and to focus our eyes on the world in a new way. Photography is a path to stilling the heart and soul in order to sense the presence of God in the beauty of God’s creation.”  I found this here, and this completely describes why I enjoy taking pictures.

Shea is “flying” over the treetops as an owl.  This tree exhibit in the Interpretive Center at MOBOT is AWESOME!  If you’re in STL, you’ve got to check it out!

We wrapped our week up with a morning date to Forest Park.  We left Shea with Emily, took Gage to Science Camp, and headed over to the Forest Perk Cafe to enjoy cheap ($.79) and really good cinnamon buns and coffee on a breezy patio.  It was so relaxing to sit under the umbrella and talk while watching sweaty runners and cyclists stop off for a break. Then, we made our way over to the Art Museum and enjoyed an iPod tour of the featured exhibit, as well as the Gordon Parks exhibit (awesome, by the way!).

To top the day off, Gage and I dropped Shea and Jared off at home and went to Six Flags for the afternoon/evening.  We had a blast and Gage is a full-fledged roller coaster junkie, for sure.  He takes after his Mama, and this Mama was just glad to realize she can still be a kid from time to time.

I’ve been keeping mental notes lately on all of the things that have been bringing me joy or amusement.  So, I thought I’d share some of them with you all.

~Watching my 8 year old LOVE the buffet at Cici’s Pizza.  This kid has nothing but lean muscle on his bones and he is usually so busy he doesn’t care about eating.  All of that changed when we walked into Cici’s Pizza!

~Twenty-Five cent air hockey game in the Cici’s Pizza arcade.  Why didn’t I discover this sooner?  I’m always so cheap, we don’t even venture toward game rooms.  So, Gage (8yo) was thrilled when I played two whole games with him.

~Bowling with my boys (husband included) at a place called Woody’s.  $1.50/game, and that includes shoes!  And, there is an indoor climbing playground, too, for free.  All of you fellow St. Louisan’s, this is the place to go!  The shoes are like new.  That alone is good enough reason for me.  Warning:  It’s owned by a local church, so you may see way too many hokey Christian t-shirts in one place for a lifetime, but, it’s STILL worth it!

~Jelly shoes in the dollar section at Target!  I put them on and told Gage all about how cool they were when I was little.  What in the world were we all thinking and why in the world are they back?!

~Dropping my 8yo off at a science camp in the morning, spending 3 uninterrupted hours with my 3yo, and then hearing all about my 8 year old’s day on the way home.  I love that he tells me all of the details.  I hear that all boys aren’t like that, so I’m thankful.

~Sitting across from my 3 year old in a quaint little coffee shop as he savors every morsel of the cinnamon bun I treated him to.

~Wandering around a pet store with my family.  This is so entertaining for the kids, and it’s totally free.  Oh, and you may be entertained, as I was, when you discover that they are selling pet joggers.  It’s a jogging stoller for a pet!  This can be yours for $129.99!  And, by the way……………..remember the days when they actually had dogs for sale in a pet store?  I’m glad for dogs that they no longer have to suffer, cooped up in cages like that.  But, it really does make going to a pet store much less entertaining.

~And, last but not least, I am looking so forward to a date with my husband Friday morning.  We will be going out for breakfast and to the St. Louis Art Museum ALL BY OURSELVES!  I have NEVER been to the art museum without my kids, so I am thrilled.

What random things have brought you pleasure this week?

I am just like my Mom.  I just caught myself doing a Sandy thing.  I often find myself doing Sandy things.  I brewed an entire pot of coffee at 10:15 PM.  Did I mean to brew a whole pot of coffee at 10:15 PM, you might ask?  No, I was supposed to set the timer for the morning, but instead hit the brew button and didn’t even realize it until the aroma of fresh brewed coffee filled my apartment.  Now, if I was exactly like my Mom, I’d say, “No biggie.  I’ll just turn it off and reheat it in the morning.”  Nope.  That will not work for me.  I’m a coffee snob and have to have fresh coffee.  So, one pot of coffee wasted.  So sad.

That’s what came out of my mouth last night as I tried to pick friends up from the airport.  (and, by the way, I was by myself, kids not present!) I am telling you, I am horrified at the filth that rolled off of my tongue.  You see, I am very familiar with STL airport because we frequently pick up our friend Mandy.  There is a 5 minute pick up area, with parallel slots alloted for those doing a quick pick-up.  I waited my turn, passing by a few cars who were already sitting in their spots.  I pulled into a parking space and began scouring the crowd, looking for Matt and Emily.  Within seconds, I heard banging on my driver’s side window, inches from my head.  As I turned around, there was a witch employee waving her hand, telling me I had to move on.  I rolled my window down and said, “Excuse me?”  She continued to motion with her hand, very dramatically, telling me to move on.  I looked behind me and saw that ALL of the cars I had just passed sitting, waiting their 5 minutes, were STILL sitting there.  What the heck?!  So, I responded, “Why don’t I get my 5 minutes?  These other cars are getting their turn. “  She continued to say, very rudely, I might add, “Ma’am go around.  You have to keep moving.”  My voice raised an octave and I said, again, “I don’t understand!  Why don’t I get the same 5 minutes these people behind me are getting?”  At that point, she lifted her walkie-talkie up to her mouth and said, “I need PD down here to 5 minute pick-up.”  What?!  She’s calling the police on me?!  By that point, I was boiling point mad.  I continued to sit there, looking over my shoulder through the rear windows of my van to see if I could spot Matt and Emily.  Still, no sign of them.  The witch then informed me (as if I didn’t hear her call them) that the Police were on their way.  I’m telling you, the hatred welling up inside of me toward this woman was so intense I could have spit in her face.  I managed to tame my words and spit out, very hatefully, “You people are jerks!”, as I rolled my window up and proceeded on to circle around.

I picked up the cell phone and called Jared, asking him to check on the flight status.  By this time, 30 minutes had passed since they had landed and I figured they were waiting for me somewhere other than 5 minute pick-up.  Now, I say that I asked Jared to check their flight status, but that was only after I informed him of the witch I had just dealt with.  And, my informing was more like yelling and cussing every other word.  I think I can safely say that Jared has never heard such filth come out of my mouth.  Yes, he’s heard filth come out of this mouth, but it is highly unlikely he has ever heard that much filth at once from me.  I think I should have been a hard-core marine or something.

Am I proud of the way I acted?  No way.  I’m actually pretty horrified.  It scares me that I can actually feel hatred like I felt last night toward anyone.  But, it’s also a really great reminder for me.  I am reminded of the fact that I really do need a Savior and that I’d be a wreck without Him.  I am so thankful that I don’t have to curl up in a ball and beat myself up over this.  It’s not about trying to fix it and make myself do better.  Do I repent?  Of course.  But, I can know that this has already been taken care of.  It happened on the cross and it’s not about what I do, it’s about what is already done for me.

Through the absolute filth that came out of my mouth (and heart, I might add) last night, I am reminded that I have a Savior who paid my penalty.  I am looking forward to the day when I can meet Him face to face and somehow express my gratitude.