backyard pool time // qualifying for the Mini Indy 500 at church // guy time // hiking with friends
5.30.2014
5.17.2014
backyard birthday bash
We celebrated Jake's birthday out in our backyard last Saturday with some good friends. But before we get to the party pics, I have to share with you how God was incredibly faithful and good to us. I'd planned to have Jake's party in our backyard from the beginning for a few reasons: 1) our house is too small to fit all our guests and 2) I wanted the party to be really low-key, just barbecuing and spending time with friends (with a smash cake at the end to give the birthday boy the spotlight for a few minutes). A week before the party, I started stalking the weather forecast and praying for blue skies on Saturday, but the forecast was rain all weekend. So for a week straight, every time I thought about the party I prayed hard for good weather. As the weekend got closer, the chance of rain increased and so I prayed harder, specifically that the weather would clear up from 2-6 on Saturday (party was 4-6, plus some time for setting up). It rained on Friday and I kept praying that all the rain would be done by Saturday. But on Saturday morning, it was still really overcast and a bit cool out. And then at noon, it downpoured and I thought we'd have to hold the party next door at church instead. But I kept praying and I'm not kidding, at 2:00 the sun started to appear! By 3:00 it was nice enough to start setting up tables and chairs, and from 4:00 on it was brilliantly sunny, the ground was dry, and the temperature was perfect.
I baked a smash cake for Jake but of course, he was only interested in poking it and throwing pieces of cake. ;) So I grabbed an ice cream cone for him and he couldn't get enough (and bonus, he could hold it himself).
By 5:45, storm clouds were starting to appear so we quickly cleaned up the backyard, said goodbye + thanks to our friends, and five minutes after 6pm it was downpouring outside. Can you even believe it? I couldn't. My prayer was answered exactly and all I can do is say thank you to God. Asking for sunny skies for a birthday party is such a small detail that's really pretty inconsequential, but that's why it blows me away even more that God would answer even the smallest prayers when we ask him and put our hope in Him. Several of our friends remarked about how the weather was perfectly timed and I eagerly told them how God answered my prayers. All in all, Jake's party went just as I'd hoped: good friends, good food and great weather, plus one happy, tired one year old!
I baked a smash cake for Jake but of course, he was only interested in poking it and throwing pieces of cake. ;) So I grabbed an ice cream cone for him and he couldn't get enough (and bonus, he could hold it himself).
By 5:45, storm clouds were starting to appear so we quickly cleaned up the backyard, said goodbye + thanks to our friends, and five minutes after 6pm it was downpouring outside. Can you even believe it? I couldn't. My prayer was answered exactly and all I can do is say thank you to God. Asking for sunny skies for a birthday party is such a small detail that's really pretty inconsequential, but that's why it blows me away even more that God would answer even the smallest prayers when we ask him and put our hope in Him. Several of our friends remarked about how the weather was perfectly timed and I eagerly told them how God answered my prayers. All in all, Jake's party went just as I'd hoped: good friends, good food and great weather, plus one happy, tired one year old!
5.13.2014
one year
Between Mother's Day on Sunday and Jake's birthday today, I've been reflecting a lot on how much has changed in a year. Obviously Jake has grown so much, and so have Deric and I. Both parenthood and marriage are mirrors that show you a too-honest reflection of yourself, and over the past year I've seen quite a few traits that I'd rather have kept hidden. But I'm also proud of myself in a few areas as well. I struggle with giving both Deric and Jake quality time, usually because I feel like I need to get so many things done around the house. But I'm really good at serving my family (mostly) nutritious meals and I enjoy making homemade versions of a lot of our staple foods so that I can filter out unnecessary and unhealthy ingredients. I've struggled with my new role as a homemaker (which was surprising) because while I love it, I get frustrated that I don't get weekends "off": house still has to be cleaned, baby fed, dinner cooked, etc. Deric is a huge help and always willing to give me some time off, but I didn't expect it to even be a bump in the road. Over the past year, my prayer life has expanded and grown deeper as I've seen even the smallest of my concerns answered as I rely on God's promises.
Every night Deric and I pray over Jake before we lay him in his crib. We pray for his health and his safety, we thank God for his development and his personality. We pray for his future, his character, his friends and future wife, and we pray for our ability to parent him well. He brings us so much joy and laughter, especially when he comes scooting across the living room at full speed to knock down a block tower. We love hearing him crawl down the hallway in pursuit of us, palms smacking the floor and booty up in the air. He's discovered books on his own and looks so smart as he thumbs through the (usually upside down) book. He signs "more" and "all done", knows how to "shoot the ball" and "throw the ball" (which will come back to bite us here soon)...and he's getting pretty familiar with the word "no" as well. He played cars with an older boy a few weekends back and now we catch him sliding toys with him as he crawls except that instead of cars, he's usually got the remote or a book or a cup. He prefers to sit almost sideways in his high chair, always with his left leg folded up and his teensy toes resting on the edge of table during meals. We've noticed that he's a bit of a carnivore, preferring meat over other food on his tray. As soon as Jake hears the back door open, he's off in search of "Dada"and is all smiles for the next hour. We just adore his toothy little grin, the way he dances when he hears The Office theme song, and his desire to be with us at all times.
Every night Deric and I pray over Jake before we lay him in his crib. We pray for his health and his safety, we thank God for his development and his personality. We pray for his future, his character, his friends and future wife, and we pray for our ability to parent him well. He brings us so much joy and laughter, especially when he comes scooting across the living room at full speed to knock down a block tower. We love hearing him crawl down the hallway in pursuit of us, palms smacking the floor and booty up in the air. He's discovered books on his own and looks so smart as he thumbs through the (usually upside down) book. He signs "more" and "all done", knows how to "shoot the ball" and "throw the ball" (which will come back to bite us here soon)...and he's getting pretty familiar with the word "no" as well. He played cars with an older boy a few weekends back and now we catch him sliding toys with him as he crawls except that instead of cars, he's usually got the remote or a book or a cup. He prefers to sit almost sideways in his high chair, always with his left leg folded up and his teensy toes resting on the edge of table during meals. We've noticed that he's a bit of a carnivore, preferring meat over other food on his tray. As soon as Jake hears the back door open, he's off in search of "Dada"and is all smiles for the next hour. We just adore his toothy little grin, the way he dances when he hears The Office theme song, and his desire to be with us at all times.
4.25.2014
eleven months
I've caught myself answering the "how old is he?" question with "almost a year"...and that makes me want to cry. When Jake was a newborn, every other parent told us that time would go quick and I believed them, but seriously...this past year eleven months went fast. And the days aren't slowing down by any means either. Jake's a pro at crawling now, which means I'm a pro at cleaning up toys/Tupperware/letter magnets/everything now. He still loves to cuddle and we've taught him to hug (lay his head on our chest) after which he'll put his arms under his belly and snuggle in a little closer. He could be walking on his own by now but he will not budge unless he's got a firm grip on our fingers. Once he's feeling confident, though, its full steam ahead complete with some hyperventilating and a goofy grin. Jake is quite the foodie now, rejecting baby food in favor of bits of lettuce wraps, pad Thai, and barbeque chicken. Probably our favorite thing about this age is Jake's fake cry/pout, which involves sticking out that lower lip and squinted his eyes shut just for a second, then a peek to see if we're watching. I laugh every time and I think Jake's realized we're not falling for it. At first he used to actually let out a cry but now its just the tiniest whine, as though it's not even worth the effort to try. Jake loves to be outside and is perfectly content playing in the dirt for hours while I garden, with a quick check every few minutes to ensure he hasn't eaten yet another leaf. (Seriously, when is the stick-everything-in-your-mouth stage over??)
We love every bit of our teeny, fuzzy-haired, bubbly little guy. He's made our family so much better.
We love every bit of our teeny, fuzzy-haired, bubbly little guy. He's made our family so much better.
4.10.2014
my own version of March Madness
For the past few months, our womens' Bible study has been reading and discussing the book 7, An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess by Jen Hatmaker. An excerpt from Jen's blog summarizes the feeling behind the book:
Enough with the obscene excess while the rest of the world is burning down outside our windows. Enough with the waste as 25,000 people die today of hunger, while I throw away another pound of food we didn’t get around to eating. Enough with the debt, the spending, the amassing, the irresponsibility, the indulgence, the fake discipleship, the rat race, the hamster wheel, the power and positioning and posturing with a hunger still for more, more, more, all the while pretending to follow a Jesus who didn’t even have a place to lay his head.
A brief summary: Jen identified seven areas of her and her family's life in which there was a lot of excess--food, possessions, spending, clothes, waste, media and stress--and for one month per area, she challenged herself to cut down on the excess.
Our leaders challenged us to partially fast from something while reading, so I chose to give up soda for nine weeks--and I did it!--with the exception of one on my birthday. It was tempting on most days to drive to Sonic since no one would know about it, but I knew I had to get my lack of self-control under, well, control, and eliminating soda was one small way to start disciplining myself.
During our discussion one morning on possessions, a friend mentioned theminimalists.com and their "minimalist game". The game lasts for one month, and on day one, you get rid of one item. Day two, two items...and so on, until the month is up. I read their blog post in late February and decided to try their challenge in March. Thirty one days in March comes out to 496 items. A few friends thought I was crazy, but I knew I could do it...we had an entire room and closet overflowing with stuff that was rarely used.
The first half of the month was easy. My OCD self documented each day and attempted to keep like items together so I skipped around on the dates. But even still, the first three weeks of the month weren't even a challenge. I completely destroyed our spare room and eliminated so much stuff that I can now get rid of the shelves on the wall, a bookshelf, and for the first time in the three years we've lived here, I can *easily* access anything I need in the closet (which now only contains luggage, one tub of seasonal decorations, and some craft supplies). It was only the last few days that started to get tricky, but a few raids of our linen closet, our winter clothes, and the bathroom drawers/closet finished up the month nicely.
Now my laundry room is operating as a holding cell until I have a garage sale with all of our junk and use the proceeds toward my ticket to Guatemala this summer for a missions trip. Two weeks from now, our house will be 496+ things lighter!
Before I started the challenge, I wondered how far-reaching the effects would be. Would it be easy to get rid of almost 500 things, or would the last few days start to hurt? Would it be merely cleaning out extra stuff or would it somehow affect my relationship with the Lord (since that is the whole point)? And now that its done, the game wasn't as hard as I expected. Apparently we have way more than 500 items that we don't use lying around our house, which says a lot about our spending (and hoarding) habits.
A fast like this--or a purge, really--should have made me uncomfortable. I should have felt deprived of my stuff and insecure because I put my security in my possessions and the number at the top of our bank account. But I didn't feel any of that, and I kind of felt bad about it. The only guess I have about it is that the challenge wasn't painful because we have so.much.stuff. that 496 items was a drop in the bucket. I amassed 496 things I don't use, outgrew, don't read, and don't need anymore. I didn't have to touch any of the stuff I actually even like or use, and its not like we gave away thousands of dollars...that would make me uncomfortable.
So instead of feeling uncomfortable or deprived or "woe is me", I feel relieved. Sometimes I just stand in our extra room and admire how empty it is. I also feel somewhat disgusted with how much I've accumulated over the years. I'm as vulnerable as the next person when I walk into Target, so I've stopped finding reasons to go to Target. But harder than bypassing Target, I'm working on being content. I am definitely a "grass is greener" pessimist (which is a winning combination) and almost every day I catch myself thinking that if our house was bigger and/or nicer, if I had x, y and z, then I would be happy. And that is, of course, completely untrue. That is a lie used by Satan to distract me and keep me focused only on myself. The discontentment keeps me from sharing my possessions to benefit others, giving money to friends on the mission field, and a whole host of other kingdom work that would last for eternity.
So while all I've done is purge our house of extraneous things, I feel like I've made a baby step in the right direction. In my attempt to detach myself from my stuff, I hope the Lord will show me the next step I should make, and so and so forth, until my life better reflects Jesus' life.
Enough with the obscene excess while the rest of the world is burning down outside our windows. Enough with the waste as 25,000 people die today of hunger, while I throw away another pound of food we didn’t get around to eating. Enough with the debt, the spending, the amassing, the irresponsibility, the indulgence, the fake discipleship, the rat race, the hamster wheel, the power and positioning and posturing with a hunger still for more, more, more, all the while pretending to follow a Jesus who didn’t even have a place to lay his head.
A brief summary: Jen identified seven areas of her and her family's life in which there was a lot of excess--food, possessions, spending, clothes, waste, media and stress--and for one month per area, she challenged herself to cut down on the excess.
Our leaders challenged us to partially fast from something while reading, so I chose to give up soda for nine weeks--and I did it!--with the exception of one on my birthday. It was tempting on most days to drive to Sonic since no one would know about it, but I knew I had to get my lack of self-control under, well, control, and eliminating soda was one small way to start disciplining myself.
During our discussion one morning on possessions, a friend mentioned theminimalists.com and their "minimalist game". The game lasts for one month, and on day one, you get rid of one item. Day two, two items...and so on, until the month is up. I read their blog post in late February and decided to try their challenge in March. Thirty one days in March comes out to 496 items. A few friends thought I was crazy, but I knew I could do it...we had an entire room and closet overflowing with stuff that was rarely used.
The first half of the month was easy. My OCD self documented each day and attempted to keep like items together so I skipped around on the dates. But even still, the first three weeks of the month weren't even a challenge. I completely destroyed our spare room and eliminated so much stuff that I can now get rid of the shelves on the wall, a bookshelf, and for the first time in the three years we've lived here, I can *easily* access anything I need in the closet (which now only contains luggage, one tub of seasonal decorations, and some craft supplies). It was only the last few days that started to get tricky, but a few raids of our linen closet, our winter clothes, and the bathroom drawers/closet finished up the month nicely.
Now my laundry room is operating as a holding cell until I have a garage sale with all of our junk and use the proceeds toward my ticket to Guatemala this summer for a missions trip. Two weeks from now, our house will be 496+ things lighter!
Before I started the challenge, I wondered how far-reaching the effects would be. Would it be easy to get rid of almost 500 things, or would the last few days start to hurt? Would it be merely cleaning out extra stuff or would it somehow affect my relationship with the Lord (since that is the whole point)? And now that its done, the game wasn't as hard as I expected. Apparently we have way more than 500 items that we don't use lying around our house, which says a lot about our spending (and hoarding) habits.
A fast like this--or a purge, really--should have made me uncomfortable. I should have felt deprived of my stuff and insecure because I put my security in my possessions and the number at the top of our bank account. But I didn't feel any of that, and I kind of felt bad about it. The only guess I have about it is that the challenge wasn't painful because we have so.much.stuff. that 496 items was a drop in the bucket. I amassed 496 things I don't use, outgrew, don't read, and don't need anymore. I didn't have to touch any of the stuff I actually even like or use, and its not like we gave away thousands of dollars...that would make me uncomfortable.So instead of feeling uncomfortable or deprived or "woe is me", I feel relieved. Sometimes I just stand in our extra room and admire how empty it is. I also feel somewhat disgusted with how much I've accumulated over the years. I'm as vulnerable as the next person when I walk into Target, so I've stopped finding reasons to go to Target. But harder than bypassing Target, I'm working on being content. I am definitely a "grass is greener" pessimist (which is a winning combination) and almost every day I catch myself thinking that if our house was bigger and/or nicer, if I had x, y and z, then I would be happy. And that is, of course, completely untrue. That is a lie used by Satan to distract me and keep me focused only on myself. The discontentment keeps me from sharing my possessions to benefit others, giving money to friends on the mission field, and a whole host of other kingdom work that would last for eternity.
So while all I've done is purge our house of extraneous things, I feel like I've made a baby step in the right direction. In my attempt to detach myself from my stuff, I hope the Lord will show me the next step I should make, and so and so forth, until my life better reflects Jesus' life.
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