Moving

So, I’m down to almost my last 24 hours here in Memphis.  I’ve already said most of my good-byes and cried several times.  Clay’s on the road and probably will reach Seattle sometime tonight (a full 24 hours earlier than his projected timeframe!!! He’s a driving machine!)  Tomorrow I’ll be running some errands while my mother-in-law watches Ev, packing and cleaning during naptime,….. then my grandmother is coming over to spend time with Ev while I start dinner.  Then some close friends are coming to spend the evening with me for my last night in Memphis.  And then I fly-out Friday morning.  

I’m a bit nervous about the flight since it’ll be Evelyne’s first time to fly and I don’t know what to do with her for 4.5 hours.  I didn’t buy her a seat, so she’ll have to sit in my lap, but thankfully we have a window bulkhead seat, so she should have a little room to stand-up and play.  Right now I’m just praying for some understanding and patient people who like kids to sit next to me!!!!   I’m going to the Dollar Store tomorrow to buy her some little toys to play with, and we have a few new books.  I just hope she doesn’t get too crazy!

The forecast for Kirkland on Friday is some rain and a high of 65 degrees.  65 DEGREES!!!!!  It’s been in the high 90’s here lately with the heat index way over that!!!   I’ve been MELTING all summer, and all it’s gonna take is one plane ride for me to get to a 30 degree temperature drop!  I can’t WAIT.  

However, the big negative is that our moving company (bad decision, that moving company.  Long story, but it involves a pricing scam and a final total that was twice the amount of what was estimated….Let’s just say that before you attempt a cross-country move, check-out www.movingscams.com and make sure your moving company isn’t blacklisted!) told me that our stuff won’t be delivered until the end of next week.  So, basically we’ll be living in an empty house for about a week.  I think we have almost everything we actually need since Clay is driving our loaded-down car and we’ve been living out of a suitcase for a month anyway.  But my gosh, a WEEK in an empty house?  It could be worse, and it’s really possible that it might be worse if they don’t come through like they say they will (really, nothing will surprise me anymore), so I’m trying to have a positive outlook on things.  

So.  The next time I blog I might be a Washingtonian rather than a Memphian.  Sad.

It’s begun.

Well, Clay’s gone.  He left early this morning to begin the loooong drive from Memphis to Seattle with his dad.  And so begins our actual moving process.  Ev and I are flying-out on Friday to meet him and move into our new house.  We’ve spent the last week meeting with friends and family and saying our good-byes, and now Phase I has occurred.  I was pretty sad to see him go, not only because I’m going to miss him so much these next four days, but also because I’d like to go ahead and get this moving thing over with, and being left behind for another few days feels kinda weird.  It’s always nice to extend extra time with friends and family, but at the same time I feel like we’ve had such good closure lately that I’m kinda dragging things out by still being here.  Hmm, oh well.

So pray for Clay and his dad as they make this trip.  Our car is SO loaded down that there’s only one tiny little square that the driver can see out the back window!  

Stay tuned for some great pictures I’m going to try to post later today that our friend Elizabeth took this weekend!!!  I’m gonna post my favorites, but until then, here is her website where you can look at her favorites and other work.  http://www.elizabethwiggs.blogspot.com   and    www.elizabethwiggsphotography.blogspot.com

I’m so tired and it’s all my fault

I feel like I’m always tired these days.  Of course, I am pregnant, so that does have something to do with it, but I’m in my second trimester now, so it’s not l’m in the early weeks.  I’m tired because I am foolish and undisciplined and ridiculous when it comes to going to bed at a decent time at night!!!!  Lately Evelyne has been waking-up around 7 or so (which is way late compared to the early hours she used to keep), so it’s not too hard to get a pretty good chunk of sleep when I don’t wake-up before 7 on most mornings.  However, I can’t seem to make myself turn-out the lights!

I start moaning to Clay around 9:30 about how tired I am, but inevitably at 11:15 I’m still reading or talking and he’s telling me “Turn the lights out!!!!!”  I love sleep, but for as long as I can remember, I’ve hated going to bed at night.  I think it’s because I’m afraid I’ll miss something.  I remember being about four years old and lying awake at night unable to go to sleep and hearing the tv that my parents were watching from the other room and thinking to myself that there was something incredibly fun and exciting happening outside of my dark bedroom.  Even now, when my eyes are heavy and I’m yawning and miserably exhausted, I still have to read one more page because I don’t want to miss anything.  (like it won’t be there in the morning!)

So, I’ve been getting around 7-7.5 hours of sleep.  Which is actually pretty decent for most people, maybe it’s because I’m pregnant that it’s just totally not enough.  When I wake-up in the morning I feel like crap, and an hour later I’m half-asleep on the couch.  It takes me about four hours to completely wake-up, and I’ve taken a nap during Evelyne’s naptime almost every day for the past three months.  I feel so awful that I tell myself and Clay, “Tonight I’m going to bed EARLY!!!  Early, I say!!!  Don’t try to talk me into staying up!  Nothing could interest me past 10 p.m.!!!”  And then come 11:30 I’m kicking myself and doing it all over again.

What’s the deal, am I the only one in this?  Even right now, it’s 9:45, I’m yawning and tired, but I’m about to have a cup of decaf and I know I’ll probably be awake for at least another hour or two.

I need sleep therapy.

What am I missing about this stay-at-home gig?

OK, here’s the big, bad, taboo truth:  Sometimes being a stay-at-home mom bores me to tears.  Boring with a capital B.  Not all the time, not every day… it comes and goes.  But when it comes, it’s mind-numbing.  I know that’s probably incredibly insulting to other stay-at-home moms and an affront to working moms who would like a chance to slow down….but sorry, it’s just the truth for me right now in this season of motherhood.

This sounds silly, but I spend a lot of time thinking, “What is it that makes other moms so dang busy?”  I mean, obviously, if you have more than one child, things get busier.  And it depends on the child’s age.  Evelyne is 19 months now.  Sometimes she’s really clingy and whiney, but I would say in general she plays really well by herself and can be entertained for long periods of time in her own imagination.  Of course I interact with her and read her books and sing songs and act silly, but she doesn’t really need me sitting on the floor trying to play with her.  She doesn’t seem to care, and I certainly don’t have a desire to spend any length of time playing baby dolls.  (not to mention she’s so young that she doesn’t do anything with them other than carry them around and pretend to give them a bottle)  So what do I do?

Don’t get me wrong, I would say that I’m a pretty attentive mother in that when she needs me, I’m there.  If she wants me to pick her up, I pick her up.  If she wants me to rock her baby, I rock her baby.  If she wants me to read a book, I read a book.  There’s just a lot of the time that she doesn’t really care what I do, as long as I’m in the same room with her.  Soooo, other than cooking meals, keeping her entertained, putting her to sleep, cleaning, etc… What am I supposed to be doing?  (of course there could always be more cleaning thrown in there, but honestly how much more time is that going to take-up, and that doesn’t really solve my problem since I hate cleaning.)

Obviously, I blog and read and do other things online.  I read books.  I watch tv.  I meet-up with friends, although not as much as I would like, and that’s about to drastically change in about a week when I move and don’t even have friends anymore.  I try to take her to the sprinkler park about once a week or so since I refuse to go to the regular park in this heat….well, I just hate getting out in it at all, so walks outside and random little outdoors jaunts are OUT until we move to a cooler climate.  I feel like I’m engaging my brain in worthwhile endeavors, I’m being challenged mentally and spiritually by what I’m reading and my relationships, and I’m growing.  In a lot of ways I feel blessed that I’m afforded so much time to study and read anything I want to, part of that is heaven for me.  And most days I’m great with it.  But then come the times when I have a long afternoon stretched ahead of me, the tv is giving me a headache, Evelyne’s playing quietly by herself, it’s 100 degrees outside, I’m bored with reading anything on the Internet, I don’t have a book to read…. what am I missing here?  Am I supposed to just sit on the couch and watch her play?

As you can tell, I’m not very self-motivated, and I’m definitely NOT a type A person that is always busy with something and gets stressed-out if everything isn’t perfect.  In fact, I’m completely comfortable amidst chaos.  I’m not one of those people that beebops around looking for things to do and keeps busy by wiping every speck of dust off the floor.  No thank you.

So, if you’re a stay-at-home mom and not a cleaning fanatic and you don’t have a ton of kids, what do you do all day?  And yes, I realize that this is a short season in my life that is about to get crazier once this new baby gets here.  And I LOVE being a stay-at-home mom.  I didn’t have any kind of fulfilling career before having Evelyne, so there’s no part of me that desires to go out and find a job, and I’m completely aware of what a blessing it is to be able to stay home.  Please don’t understand me to be unappreciative.  Every job has it perks and its downfalls, and this is one of mine.  So what am I missing?  Is it like this for everyone or is there some mothering activity that I haven’t caught onto yet?

Updated Blogroll

OK, people, just wanted to point-out a small change in the site.  I did a major update to my blogroll, thanks to being called-out by JR for not having him on it.  I deleted some blogs that I no longer read and added several that I have been enjoying lately.  I also added a new section specifically for my friends’ blogs.  Since I started this one, many of my friends have either started new blogs or I just discovered them, and hardly any have been represented on my blogroll.  So sorry.

SO, if you’re lookin’ for some good reading, I guarantee much can be found in my newly updated blogroll.  And please let me know if I’m totally missing-out on someone great because I’m always on the lookout.

Thoughts

There have been several times in the past week that I’ve sat down to blog about a particular topic, but I just don’t feel like my thoughts are fully together.  I have several things that are swirling around in my head, but either they’re not fully formed or I just don’t have the energy to write about it right now.  But I guess the good part of that is that I feel like I am processing through several things right now, mostly things that I’m learning from reading Jesus for President.  (which is quickly becoming one of the best books I’ve ever read, I might add)

Here are a few of the things I’ve been thinking of and questions I’m asking myself:

*What are the ways that we are so shaped by our culture that we ignore the teachings of Jesus and see them as irrelevant and impractical to certain situations?

*What is the Church’s proper reaction to evil in the world?  If we let ourselves be guided by the teachings of Jesus, how might our involvement look radically different than it does now?

*Given that a Christian soldier is asked every day to choose between his allegiance to his country and Jesus’ commands to love his enemy and not live by the sword, what is the proper stance of the Christian toward military involvement?  (Taking into consideration that the early Church refused any military service whatsoever on the grounds that it necessitated a compromise in allegiance to Christ and required violence.)

*What are the areas in my life that I have not followed the words of Christ to the extent that He meant them because I don’t take them seriously enough and/or I’d rather go by my culture’s teachings?

*What are the ways that we unknowingly instill in our children a gospel of moralism based-on performance and right actions rather than a gospel of grace?  As most of the people I know are undoing in their adulthood the paradigm that was given to them in their childhood, how can I avoid altogether teaching Evelyne to rate her spiritual success according to how obedient or good she is?

*Should Christians watch violent movies?  (more thoughts on that later)

*What are the ways that we are perpetuating injustice, poverty, and violence through our purchasing power at our local stores?  What would it look like to withdraw from participation in an economy of injustice?  (wow, I seriously have no idea at that one!)

I’m trying to come at these questions from a place of looking at what it means to follow Christ within our culture and without assimilating its compromising views and teachings.  I’m trying to break away from what I’ve always been told that a typical American Christian believes on these things…because I’m coming to a place where I find those same answers to not be as Christian as they are American.  So I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, but no offense, I’m not so interested in hearing the expected formatted answers that I’ve always heard.  I’m not interested in just war theory or Old Testament examples on war and child-rearing.  I’m interested in what it means to see the words of Jesus as basis for our life in a new kingdom as a new humanity with our identity as the Church first and foremost.  I’m sure I’ll write about these things in more detail later, but for now, any ideas?

Benefits of Fish Oil Supplements

Someone told me a few months back that taking fish oil supplements would be a good idea in order to do everything I can to make it less likely for me to have postpartum depression again with this baby since research shows that they can alleviate depression symptoms.  I started taking them about a month ago, maybe a bit longer.  Since then I have definitely noticed a difference in my mood!  Even in the beginning of my pregnancy I was noticing my hormones starting to go wonky on me again and every so often those same feelings would creep up on me in small amounts.  I noticed the other day that I haven’t really been feeling like that since I started taking these supplements.  I’m sure part of that is due to some leveling of my hormones as I come out of my first trimester, but the changes happened before then, so I’m starting to really think this stuff is working.  I guess we’ll see for sure next January, huh?

In the meantime, I looked-up the other benefits to taking fish oil supplements, and it’s pretty amazing.  I read these outloud to Clay, and he’s going to start taking them with me.  I mean, why not pop a pill and get healthier?

1. Less Pain and Inflammation. Omega 3 fatty acids, particularly EPA, have a very positive effect on your inflammatory response. Through several mechanisms, they regulate your body’s inflammation cycle, which prevents and relieves painful conditions like arthritis, prostatitis, cystitis and anything else ending in “itis.”

2. Cardiovascular Health. Omega 3 fatty acids have also been proven to work wonders for your heart and the miles and miles of arteries and veins that make up your cardiovascular system. They help to lower cholesterol, tryglicerides, LDLs and blood pressure, while at the same time increasing good HDL cholesterol. This adds years to your life expectancy.

3. Protection from Stroke and Heart Attack. When plaque builds up on arterial walls and then breaks loose, it causes what’s known as a thrombosis, which is a fancy way of saying clot. If a clot gets stuck in the brain, it causes a stroke and when it plugs an artery, it causes a heart attack. Research shows omega 3 fatty acids break up clots before they can cause any damage.

4. Better Brain Function and Higher Intelligence. Pregnant and nursing mothers can have a great impact on the intelligence and happiness of their babies by supplementing with fish oil. For adults, omega 3 improves memory, recall, reasoning and focus. You’ll swear you’re getting younger and smarter.

5. Less Depression and Psychosis. Making you smarter is not all omega 3 does for your brain. Psychiatry department researchers at the University of Sheffield, along with many other research studies, found that omega 3 fish oil supplements “alleviate” the symptoms of depression, bipolar and psychosis (Journal of Affective Disorder Vol. 48(2-3);149-55).

6. Lower Incidence of Childhood Disorders. Just to show how fish oil fatty acids leave nobody out, studies show that children (and adults) with ADD and ADHD experience a greatly improved quality of life. And those with dyslexia, dyspraxia and compulsive disorders have gotten a new lease on life thanks to omega 3 oils.

7. Reduction of Breast, Colon and Prostate Cancer. And finally, omega 3 fish oil has been shown to help prevent three of the most common forms of cancer – breast, colon and prostate. Science tells us that omega 3s accomplish this in three ways. They stop the alteration from a normal healthy cell to a cancerous mass, inhibiting unwanted cellular growth and causing apoptosis, or cellular death, of cancer cells.

http://ezinearticles.com/?7-Fish-Oil-Benefits-Proven-by-Research&id=415032

Brooke Fraser- Shadowfeet

I heard this song awhile back, but I just watched the video for the first time.  Now only is it a gorgeous and catchy song, I thought the video was fantastic.  There was something about looking into the faces of people from all walks of life and of all colors and nationalities that really struck a chord with me.  I was moved by these people’s faces and the beauty of the Body of Christ—-watch it!

An Imaginative Little Church with a Mission

I read a little blurb in a magazine the other day about a church in Texas, Episcopal Church of Our Savior, and how they are making a difference in their community.  This church of 30 people (thirty….THIRTY!) has donated 18,000 pounds of freshly grown produce to area food pantries, the equivalent of 72,000 servings of fruits and vegetables, since 2003.  They do this through a program the church started where people in the community rent garden plots on the church’s 4-acre property for $30 a year.  As they garden for their own food, they agree to give 10 percent of their harvest to charity, and everyone works together to tend six plots whose harvest goes directly to charity.

How absolutely amazing is this?  What a completely brilliant idea.  This is a TINY church making a HUGE difference in their community.  First, and most importantly, they are giving food to the poor.  Quite a bit of it, in fact.  Secondly, they’re being very economical and health conscious by growing their own fresh fruits and vegetables themselves instead of buying a lesser quality at the grocery store.  Third, this is a way that the church can serve the community by renting their land and involving them in the project to give.

This is so smart, but so simple.  Farming land and giving-away a portion of it is what the people of God have been doing for thousands of years, it’s even a part of Old Testament law.  I’ve given some thought to growing a vegetable garden of my own because it’s healthy and cheap, but to do it as a community and corporately give-away a portion of your harvest (not to mention the six plots entirely devoted to charity) is something that I could really picture Jesus being pleased with.  After I read this story, I couldn’t get it out of my head.  Because this is a perfect example of a church using their imagination and resources (little though they may be) to show the love of Jesus to the hurting and hungry. They stepped outside of the box on this one.  They didn’t ask for a canned food drive (which probably wouldn’t produce nearly as much food in a church of 30 people), they didn’t organize servers for the local soup kitchen (still a great thing), they used their own effort and sweat to grow something fresh and good from the ground.  They used God’s resources to feed the people who need Him.  And in doing so, thirty people have fed thousands.

Couldn’t we, with all of our churches who are most likely quite a BIT bigger than 30 people, use our imaginations to come-up with ways to meet needs in our community in a such a simple and needed way?  For all of the big budget megachurch “outreach programs” I’ve come across, I wonder which church has a better reputation in the community for love and generosity?  I’m guessing the one whose squash they’re eating.

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/062508dnmetgarden.281dd2d.html

Funny thing, blogging.

Just a few observations from looking at my stats page:

*The Google search terms used to find this blog are overwhelmingly about saving money at the grocery store even though I’ve only written a couple of posts on that.  I guess a lot of people need to cut-down on their grocery bill!

*Someone came across this blog last week by searching Google for “baby pee.”  (I guess they found this: Lots of Pee-Pee)

*My top post by a landslide is How I Save Money At the Grocery Store.  

*Another top post that has generated a ton of views is Romans 7: A Normal Christian Experience?  However, this has only received two comments.  It’s always a front-runner in the Google search terms, people are looking for it, hundreds read it…. two comments.  I don’t know if that’s good or really really bad.  

*Other posts that I like much better are about 950 page views behind, like this one: Assuming the Worst About Our Kids?  I really put a lot more thought and energy into this one than the one about groceries.

*My most commented posts tend to be ones that I write off the top of my head with little thought, such as this one about The Bachelorette: So Busy With Such Important Things

*The posts that are MY favorite, the ones that I put my heart and soul into writing, don’t usually get much traffic or comments.  Like this one: Jesus-Shaped Spirituality   

What’s the deal, people, should I stick to writing about groceries or what?