Two Encounters

I've been thinking about two encounters I had with "unbelievers." I'm calling them that because I honestly don't know if they are or aren't, but I'm drawing a conclusion based on my observations.

The first is a man I met at the park yesterday. I'll spare you all the unnecessary details, but in our conversation, he expressed to me and another woman how intensely devoted he is to his two-year-old daughter. He and his wife were married later in life, had this one child even later and now he is dedicated to making everything happen for this child. He left a relaxed, carefree lifestyle in a beachside community to come here and provide first a family-filled, friend-filled environment for this young child. He does not like this area, he has yet to find a job or a good cheeseburger. I might add, this man was hysterical, very intelligent and extremely passionate about being a dad.

My second encounter was today at lunch. Em and I have Tuesday free - I chose to do this this year - and we've been meeting T for lunch. Today we had lunch with an old grad-school friend of his who is single, non-religious, and the adoptive mother of a beautiful little girl from China. She shared with us her first adoption process, and what really stood out to me was her firm belief that her cousin, who fell and died the next day, was in complete control of that adoption. She believes that "their souls crossed," meaning his and her daughters, and she she's many of his attributes in her. She is in the process of another adoption and is not really seeing the same connection she saw with the first.

My first reaction to both of these people is that I'm similar and different from them - sort of the way we are with everyone! So, not such a revelation. Not to compare myself with them, I moved onto: what if these two people translated their passion and belief to one true savior? This man, who was so passionate about his daughter, would be expressing to us his love and devotion for Christ. This woman, and her belief in a spiritual connectedness with her dead cousin, what if she could convey this same connectedness with Christ? What about me? Am I passionate about Christ? Can I communicate a spiritual connectedness with the Savior of the world??

What I found most striking in both of these instances was the unabashedness of the revealer. Each of them was proud of their allegiance to their passion and belief. This man believed that living for and loving his daughter completely, with complete disregard for his comfort (well not complete - he is living in a $750,000 home!) and lifestyle, was quite honorable. This woman thought nothing of this connectedness she felt with a well-loved cousin, whose presence in her life was quite welcome. They were not embarrassed to share, made no attempt to convince me they were right or wrong, honestly just expressed from their hearts, without any regrets, the way they felt.

There are times in my life when I hear things from people and my response, in my heart, is to offer them a peace that passes all understanding, a joy that is overflowing, a savior who knows them better than they know themselves, but I don't think they will accept my offer. Maybe it's because it's an offering and not a revealing, it's a "come try it my way" instead of a "this is what my life is like!" And then there's always that little voice inside my head that tells me, "They already know what you're thinking, and they don't want to hear it." And on those very rare occasions, when someone actually asks what I'm thinking, there I am once again, fumbling around my words so as not to offend anyone.

I think I want to be unabashedly Christlike in my encounters with others. I want to reflect what He has done for me, not be pushy but spark some interest. I want more people to ask what I'm thinking and not be afraid of my answers. I want to shine a little light.

The truth is, I listened to these smart, funny people and thought to myself, "I'm not really all that different from them at all!" I love my kids, I think often about my dad and wonder how much influence (although probably none at all!) he has in our lives. I just see things through a different lens.

My Kind of Winter

One of the warmest Januarys on record here in the DC area. I'm loving it!! I can't stand snow, which is kind of funny considering I grew up in New England. Maryland snow has always been a bit more tolerable for me, but this winter? It's going to rank up there as one of the best! However... the year I moved here, in 1992, I was driving around with the top down in my Cabriolet on New Year's Eve - at midnight! It was around 70 degrees. In March of that year, a huge blizzard that shut down the state for a week. So, while I'm out enjoying these unseasonable temperatures, I'm not expecting an early spring. I'm waiting for the blizzard!

Christmas Addiction

One of my jobs at Christmas is to purchase Christmas and birthday gifts for my daughters from their grandparents. After doing that for myself, giving ideas to my whole family I sometimes am left dumbfounded and blank as to what to get for them. Then there's always the question of how much to spend...

This Christmas I tried something new. I bought them a gift to share because it was expensive and it's something they can (someday) play together. It's the leapfrog Explorer's Globe. It's a great teaching tool! and fun to play. Unfortunately, I think Em is probably too little for it right now. In fact, my brother, T, my mom and virtually every adult in the house became addicted to this thing! You can put on different levels and settings so that you are finding continents, countries, seas, cities. It's hard but amazing to see how quickly you begin to learn where everything is located. It helps that it keeps score - especially for my family. We're a little competitive in spirit!

The one thing it doesn't do is flags. So, here's one for you. Name the country that belongs to this flag:




Good luck!

3,000th visitor!

OK - so my 1,000th visitor was my husband, T. He also managed to be my 2,000th visitor. He's a devoted fan!!! And, drumroll please, my 3,000th visitor???? Well, you guessed it! Although, it might have been me. We're just not sure! What's a blogger to do? You have to wonder if we're the only ones who read our blogs!!

Ah, yes...

"Investigations" is what it's called. For more on our experience with this new math fad, refer to this!

The Barbarian Way

Finally finished this book the other day. Kind of pathetic (of me) considering it's rather short and it took me so long! It's packed with a lot of thought provoking statements that I needed some time to mill around. Here's my favorite quote:

Somehow Christianity has become a nonmystical religion. It's about a reasonable faith. If we believe the right things, then we are orthodox. Frankly whether we ever actually connect to God or experience His undeniable presence has become incidental, if not irrelevant. We have become believers rather than experiencers. To know God in the Scriptures always went beyond information to intimacy. We may find ourselves uncomfortable with this reality, but the faith of the Scriptures is a mystical faith. It leads us beyond the material world into an invisible reality. We become connected to the God of eternity. Who you are at the core is spirit. God is Spirit. To walk with God is to journey in the spiritual realm. -Erwin McManus, The Barbarian Way, p. 61.

I wouldn't necessarily say this quote summarizes the book, because it's only a small step in understanding what E. McManus is really getting at in the book, which I think encourages believers to step out of a mundane, comfortable lifestyle and really take part in the world that God is calling us to. Become a barbarian for God. Well, something like that. Being a lifetime civilized, suburban chick it's a bit of a stretch for me, but I do get it.

This particular quote really struck me because in some ways it really says what I think the "missing generation" is saying, that just believing something doesn't cut it any more. If you aren't going to act on your beliefs then are they really authentic??

There is an aspect of all the intellectual discussions that I can't even make it halfway through on some of these blogs that really make me wonder if the writers ever put into practice what they are trying to articulate. One of the reasons I loved the Born into Brothels movie so much was because it documented the developmental process of a "barbarian." I don't know if she was motivated by God, but she chose a project, became passionate about saving these children from a hopeless life of slavery and worked tirelessly to reach her goal. She recognized that there not many more barbarians out there who would join her, so she offered them a way to support her by selling the children's photographs to raise money to accomplish her dream. I found it interesting that only one man chose to join her in the quest physically. He came, worked side by side with her and even chose one of those children to take to Amsterdam for a week. One man.

I would highly recommend this book, but don't read it if you don't want to be challenged to change the way you respond and act to the world around you and your system of beliefs. I will likely read it again because I'm quite certain I missed a few important points the first time around. Not to mention, I can see that I'm still not quite the barbarian that I should be!

Hahahaha...

This is so funny! I took this quiz online - a friend's wife (I don't really know either one of them!) and I got a 30%. So, of course, because I have so much time on my hands, I made a quiz of my own. You can take it here. Good luck!

So, only three brave souls so far??? Good job, T, Aud and Les!!

Yeah - 2 more. Good job Colleen! And Ben, well, that's pretty awesome for someone who's never met me! Now we're even (because I think I got the same on yours!).

And yet another brave soul! Em Gb - great job. I think if you had been able to come on the Winter Expedition, you might have done better!! Too bad!

Three for Three-D

Em and her friends are all set, glasses, tissues and all for their midday viewing of Barbie and Magic of Pegasus. What more could a girl want? They are trying to watch it despite the fact the all the kids in our court are in our house!! T's a bit harried by this, until I reminded him that it's what we've always wanted, to have the fun house on the block. Now he's down there playing walkie talkie with them all - sort of!

Church

I got up today at the crack of dawn - at least for me, that is! 7:45 isn't my thing, especially on the weekends. I'm not sure what I'm going to do when I have to go get a real job again! I went up to church to help out in the Totzone this morning, as the numbers of little kids have increased substantially since we opened the new building.

I met some nice women, some really adorable toddlers/infants, some super parents and ended up feeling a bit disheartened by the lack of willingness many people have to serve. Everywhere I turned this morning they were looking for someone to help. We had too many toddlers (sent some away), too many infants (one young mom offered to stay and didn't enjoy it!), not enough check in people (I actually hung around when I was done to check in for the second service), and if that wasn't enough! I stopped in to grab a bite to eat - a woman, as her ministry, provides great food to those who work in the TotZone - and she was trying to recruit, likely from the wrong crowd! - someone to do clean up for her so she doesn't have to stay for both services.

While I was walking into church late I ran into a friend who asked if I was still doing games for the kidzone K-1st grade. I told her no, that I wasn't. I did that for two years, every week I put together "games" for 100 students, divided them up into six groups, gathered together various pieces, delivered them to church, where I had to clean up after last week, file everything away and deliver the following weeks games. Along with this came the quarterly planning, leaving pages of copying, picking up the copies in close to two xerox boxes and storing them at my house while I cut, stapled, glued and organized all these "games." Many times, only 2 or 3 were used on Sunday, so it was slightly frustrating doing all that work when they probably only needed about half of it. This friend of mine used to organize the crafts for these same grades - of course, no one ever told me she did that and it might have been helpful to know. She also was frustrated for many of the same reasons so she quit. She told me today that they don't have crafts or games now - nothing.

Now, I have just come from working first with toddler 1's - the crawlers, moved to infants because they were shorthanded, filled in for check in because they needed someone to finding out there is still no one to fill in for a job that I gave up. I am easily guilted into things, so I'm starting to get a little leary... I went on to church. It was a fabulous message about living by the word. I'm going to make t listen to it online. Great points, and I was sort of wondering how it all fit in with these situations if at all.

I leave the service, where I also ran into a woman from my Grief Share group who three years ago lost her husband. She is the mother three teenage girls and son in kindergarten. This, of course, reminded me of how much that group meant to me and what an important ministry that is in the church. I had always thought that I would return to help with that...

I picked up Em, then headed to the KidZone to pick up Kt. As I was nearing her, a woman approached me and stated that she decided to stay and help in Kt's class today as the teacher, a woman who Kt LOVES and has invested a lot of time into Kt's desire to know her Bible, did not show up today and no one was sure she was ever returning. (huh??) She informed me that they needed a teacher, she was going to come next week and that my daughter seemed bored through the entire class because there was nothing planned for the children to do. Now, I'm not sure what to believe because on the way out my daughter proceeded to educate me on Jesus as the vine, we as the branches and how He cuts off the dead branches. I'm thinking she learned something, I don't have a clue who taught her, but someone did!

As I was leaving today, my head was spinning with all the needs that were presented to me. I am reminded that I am limited in what I can do, that I need some guidance as to where I am to serve BUT I don't want to sit around and wait. I want to get my hands a little dirty and let God speak to me about what He wants me to do. If I'm not in his kingdom, how can I hear Him? I'm just not sure. There are so many opportunities, so many needs, it's a little overwhelming.

Could it be that I find the answer to this "where do I serve?" question in His word? In searching for His heart in all of this?? I'll think about it tonight as I head back up to church to serve with the little kids again for the Fusion service!

(Disclaimer: very few of my Sundays look like this!)

Funny

OK - I'm a little addicted to sitemeter! Everyone knows that by now, at least if you read this regularly. Today I checked the number of visitors is a little low, but I've also become addicted to finding the locations of the visitors (more likely some place other than exactly where a visitor comes from!) by copying the longitude/latitude and pasting it into google maps (love that satellite picture, too!). Now, some of you may be thinking that my husband's geekiness is rubbing off one me, and you might be correct. He is, after all, the one who taught me all this!!

So, today I get this visitor from LA - big place, some of my relatives live there in Palos Verde, Newport Beach, so I did my little map trick to see if they may have found me. I had to laugh out loud when I saw that my visitor lived on Sesame Street! I thought that was just a TV show, not a real place. I guess my new fan is either Big Bird, Grover or Ernie and Bert. That's OK - they were all my favorites when I was little. I wonder what their blogs would look like if they had one??!!

Born Into Brothels

After watching the first 30 minutes of this movie without the subtitles, it was well worth the wait! Our one DVD player wouldn't recognize them, so we finally pulled out our other one from upstairs and voila! We had a movie we could understand, well at least the language! What you learn in this movie in almost incomprehensible because it's difficult living in the cushy world I live in knowing that children are living in such abhorrent conditions.

The movie is beautifully executed, a glimpse into the lives of children who are raised in the red light district of Calcutta who have little hope for a future of any kind other than living in servitude either in prostitution or illegal services of some kind. They are smart, bright, witty and extraordinary children. The woman who was inspired to make this film began by documenting life in the brothels, decided to start a photography class for a group of children living in them (most who had never before seen a camera) and ended up using their pictures to try to provide better lives for them. It is an inspiring, eye-opening film about how a vision is birthed in the heart of a woman and how hope is given to a small group of children who later (you MUST watch the "reconnect" part in the special features) come to realize how amazing this gift of hope and life was for them.

There is no way you can watch this film and not have your heart break for children around the world who are living lives of poverty, filth and full of darkness. I would recommend this movie for anyone who needs a wake up call!! If your subtitles don't work, don't put this movie aside. Find a DVD player that can read them because it is well worth the hunt.

It's a Day

How nice to have such a laid back, relaxing day!! This morning, after being woken up by a squirrel running around on our roof, we took the girls to the opening of The Studio in Fulton, a paint-your-own pottery shop that a friend of ours just bought. The girls had fun painting and T and I got to catch up with this family. The girl who bought the place was a member (as a teenager) of one of T's first missions trips, her father was T's youth pastor and the pastor who officiated our wedding and the rest of their family? We love them all! It was super hanging out with them, catching up and it was right around the corner from our house!

When we came home, T took Kt to an ice-skating birthday party - her first time skating - and Em and I went to the park with our neighbors, along with the rest of the world, and enjoyed our unseasonably warm weather - in the 60's! Then we came home, played a game of Princess Monopoly Jr. and just as we were cleaning up, T's parents arrived with dinner - Chinese food, of course!

Right now the girls are cleaning up, T's out picking up a movie for us (I hope it's good) and then it's bed time! I have to get up EARLY tomorrow because I agreed to help with childcare at the early service. Apparently, the children's department was unprepared for the influx of new children. Since we went from 3 to 2 services at our new building, all the parents of little children have decided to come to the early service. They had ordered 100 new little chairs for the new building and after two weeks had to order 75 more!! That's crazy. Of course, no one wants to work in these rooms with crying toddlers so I'm going to give it a try. Pray for me!

I've been reading up a bit in the past couple of days on the whole homosexuality debate between BMclaren and MDriscoll. Hmmm.... what to think? Many people have chimed in about their feelings on this matter, I've given it much thought and I'm kind of embarrassed to be associated with either of their views, honestly. Again, my husband is most likely shaking in his boots that I'm even bothering to mention all this in my tiny voice! I'm not going to post links to either of these opinions, but I will post to this, which I think is probably more in tune with the way I want believe:

What I'm trying to get across [at Mosaic] is, This is what God is saying about who you are, how God has created the cosmos and how life is to be lived out. It'’s very practical. Ironically, we probably talk more about the character of God than most congregations. We connect everything. Whether it's homosexuality, lying, stealing we connect everything to the character of God in that human beings were created to reflect the character of God. We function in the most healthy, powerful and vibrant way when we reflect the character of God. [Erwin McManus - in an interview for Relevant Magazine.]

The rest of this interview can be read here.

I think what is going on in the other conversation is very damaging to the church. There is a lot of name-calling, many accusations, "Christian" bashing, and it's, well, just plain embarrassing. I think Christianity is about building relationships, and it's the relationship each of us build with Christ first that will shape us, our beliefs and our attitudes toward each other. When we are secure in that relationship, when we synch up with the heart of God, there is little room left in our hearts for the questions that I'm reading online. God desires to know you, He pursues you NO MATTER the sin in your life. There is not one human being on this earth that He does not desire to know intimately and for anyone who chooses to accept His heart view, there is little question about these "issues."

My questions to myself are this: what will I do to present to pre-believers the true character of Christ? How can I better be used by Him in the world he has placed me? How do I articulate His heart (not mine) to each person He puts in my path? In what ways would He have me improve my relationships with other believers so that His kingdom come, His will be done (not my will)?

These are only a few of the questions raised in my mind while I've been reading through posts, comments and more posts on this subject. I guess my feeling about homosexuality is that I don't know much about it. I'm a woman, a mother, a wife and a teacher. Those are the things I know. I don't know what it's like to be a man, a homeless person, to live in poverty, to have a handicap, to be rich and powerful, to live outside the U.S., and while I could pretend to be any of these things, it would be humorous at best. If I were called on the spot to make a judgment about any such issue that I am personally unfamiliar with, I would have to defer to God's Word.

In the meantime, in the pursuit of a fuller, richer relationship with God, His Son, the Holy Spirit - I pray for the time of completion, when we can come together as one body, working for the good of the kingdom, together, in unity, undivided and worthy to be called His children.

Well, T's back so we are off to watch Born Into Brothels. I hope it's good!

(In my readings/searchings on this subject, I had MANY questions about the "emergent church" and found this post very helpful in understanding the origin, history and present state of this "movement".)

The Party's Over!

Well, I'd have to say it was a huge success, and more importantly my friend, C, who did her first Pampered Chef party here tonight, was thrilled!! Everyone who came knew that the credit earned would be for her to start her business, and they went nuts!! We had 9 people come and C ended up earning over $100 of free products. She didn't know that - it was a surprise for her after everyone left!! How fun! I'm still thinking about getting myself something, too.

I think I would love to have more parties here but not really to sell stuff - that's a bit uncomfortable for me. Everyone left with something - a little goody bag, food and I'm pretty sure everyone had fun. We also had several kids running around - they also had a blast. It really couldn't have gone much better than this!

I am very excited for C, even though I'm a bit frustrated that they felt they needed to do this. Her husband is an evangelist/missionary with Open Air Campaigners in our area so they live solely based on raised support. That's hard enough when you serve overseas, but I think serving in the US is almost harder. It's more expensive and people aren't as eager to support home missionaries. It was fun to serve C tonight in return for all that she and her husband do, for the many sacrifices they make to spread God's word on college campus and the cities around our area. I just pray that this job opens more doors for them and allows them to be better supported, or, shall I say maintained.

If you don't support a local missionary, find one! There are so many ways you can support them and their families and it isn't just about money (although that's very important!). I think you caring for them and recognizing the work they do speaks volumes.

Olives Have Pits

OK - I don't eat olives, or pickles for that matter. The extent of my liking for pickles starts and ends with sweet gherkins, and I'm not even sure they qualify as real pickles!!

I started making these Southwest Pinwheels for tonight. I couldn't find my normal sliced olives at the grocery store so I bought a can of ripe olives - whole. I poured a few out on my cutting board and gave it a good wham! I was a little surprised that they were so hard to chop, but I proceeded to wham, wham, wham to my hearts content with my Pampered Chef food chopper (one of the few gadgets I actually use quite often!). When I realized I wasn't getting very far, I poured out the pimento filled olives and started away on those. They all ended up like mush. Oh well.... sometimes my blonde really shows!

I mixed up my olive mixture and put together my first pinwheel. Like a good chef, I decided to cut myself a small slice and give it a try. At first, I thought my tooth had fallen out! What is typically a soft cream cheese, olive filled tortilla had a huge hard chunk in it - not what I was expecting. What could it be??? All of a sudden, I vaguely remember seeing somewhere on a can that some olives are "pitted." Hmmm... look over at can, do not see word "pitted," realize all that work down the drain!!

All I can say is, if you are coming tonight, beware!! I did remake those pinwheels, so they are safe. My food chopper? Well, let's just say it's a good thing I'm having this party tonight!

The Sneakers

This morning didn't go quite as planned. I guess after staying up until 2 am to finish some laundry, clean up and watch Project Runway in marathon fashion was a big mistake! I rolled out of bed this morning, threw on some workout clothes, checked email and then gathered a bunch of things I needed for today. I pulled together Kt's homework, the book order for Em's school that I input last night, my little recipe book with all the ingredients I needed to buy - no time to write them in a list, and then went downstairs to have my measly breakfast - dieting is no fun!

After the 10th or so reminder to Kt to get her socks and shoes on she was still aimlessly wandering around the house with a piece of toast in hand. With only minutes to spare, she suddenly realized that she had no idea where her shoes were, which only made me more ornery than I already was. With this party tonight it was glaringly obvious that all I had left to clean was all the girls junk that is scattered throughout the house. Everytime I clean something, it is quickly taken over by more stuff and my pleas for help are often ignored. I explained to Kt that her shoes, which were supposed to be in the mud room, had to be somewhere and it was her job to find them before the bus arrived. She looked twice in the car, up in her bedroom all over the first floor - nothing. They had to be sneakers because today was PE.

By this time, 9am, I'm quite certain the bus has come and gone, which only adds to my increasing anger. While she is standing in the living room, in one spot, just looking (she inherited her "looking for things" genes from all the males in our family) I went out into the garage, opened the car door and there they were. In plain sight, her sneakers. How she could have looked twice and not found them is beyond me!! Bright white with light blue stripes, she's the only one who has a pair like that and the only one who wears that size. No mistaking they were hers!! So, I was, needless to say, livid at this point.

With the bus come and gone, two children who are giving me strange looks (was it the purplish tint in my face??) and my lack of sleep, we were in for a ride!! Looking back on it, it's one of those embarrassing parent moments, but they deserved it! I laid down the law, I set them straight, I let them have it.... I think I skipped the lesson on "finding lost items" in Parenting 101. Whoa was that ride they will never forget. Chances are, in the annals of our family, they will not even remember why I was raving, but they'll talk about it for years to come. I know this because we do it all the time to my mom!

As I got both the girls to school and began to head to Curves it struck me - I'm bent out of shape over a pair of sneakers. Sure, it has a bit to do with irresponsibility, disorganization, and just plain disobedience, but I'm ashamed to admit that a pair of sneakers can make my day miserable. With people in the world starving, wondering where they will find their next meal, out in the cold with no coat or any means to obtain one, people who have to consider which route to take to work to try to avoid "insurgents" and roadside bombs. There are also people who don't have to worry about finding their sneakers in the morning because they don't even have any. It's a strange world I live in, where I have so much, worry so little and still have a bad day.

I walked into Curves with all these things in mind and spotted an old friend that I haven't seen in a while. In fact, oddly enough, I saw her yesterday and now she just joined Curves. She is my friend who had open heart surgery in August due to a misdiagnosed blood infection she received at the hospital where she was having routine surgery. After chatting with her and catching up a bit, I just hung my head in shame. I have got to learn not to make such a big deal about sneakers!

You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;
Jame 1:19

Is there nothing more precious...

than a 5 year old singing praises to her King? On the way home from Bible study today, I was listening to WGTS and the Michael W. Smith song "Open the Eyes of My Heart" came on. Now, I am one to sometimes get annoyed by old, overplayed songs but this is not one of them for me. This song first was introduced to me when my father became ill and it really meant a lot to me. During a time when I didn't feel like I could see clearly, when nothing seemed to be going "our way" and when bitterness might have overtaken my sense of being loved by Jesus, this song brought me out of many dark and dismal days. I would sing it out loud (something I try to spare my friends and family!), hear it in my head, turn it up on the radio and almost cry through it at church. I really wanted to see Christ in all that was happening around me.

Today, as we were coming home, this song began in the car and just as soon as it started I heard my daughter in the backseat singing along. Instead of joining her, I just listened to that sweet sound. It was totally off key, totally off beat, her words trailing the actual song by a few words. It was enough to emphasize what the message of that song really is, what the request is. When we arrived home I didn't want to turn it off, but clearly the request was granted as my daughter, who typically tells me she "rather not talk about it" began a little question and answer session about heaven with me. Funny, that we would thinking the same thing.

Open the eyes of my heart, Lord
Open the eyes of my heart
I want to see You, I want to see You

To see You high and lifted up
Shining in the light of your Glory
Pour out Your Power and Love
As we sing Holy, Holy, Holy

Holy, Holy, Holy
Holy, Holy, Holy
Holy, Holy, Holy
I want to see You

(Paul Baloche)

I cannot wait to really see Christ one day, and I think that's what Em was thinking, too. Although right now she just wants to see Pabu! Thus, all her questions about heaven.

Thank you, Jesus, for hearing our cry, for helping us to see You.

The Pampered Chef

So, this is how it goes... I agree to have this party, I plan it around my one friend, who I know will attend come hell or high water, and as the party date approaches, family crisis!! What can I do? It's completely out of my hands!! Oh well, not plan parties around my friends. But really, in a nutshell, most of the people who I thought would come are not, and more people who I never even thought of are coming. A neighbor of mine sent me an email from her friend who can't come but wants to place an order. It's hysterical!! Here goes:

I would like to invest in your neighbor's party. Here's my order:

Serrated Bread Knife - $8.50

Paring Knife - $14.75

Chef's Knife - $25.75

Carving set - $45.00

Hold-n-slice - $3.50

Meat Lifters - $25.00

Yes, this is spurred by my lack of proper tools at this past Thanksgiving festivities.

I added the bold, because when I read this, I completely laughed out loud!! I wish she could come Friday night, because I'm sure she'd be a lot of fun, which is really why, in some sadistic way, I don't mind having these parties. They always end up being lots of fun!

This past weekend I went to the Christmas Tree Shoppe (which is one of the best things about New England!!!) and got a few party items. I then visited the Yankee Candle Shop, per the advice from my sister-in-law who works there, to take advantage of their 12 for $12 votive sale - once again, for the party. Now, if no one shows up, at least I will be stocked up on votives!!

I really am hoping for some people to show up - that's always nice for the person doing the show! My friend, C, who is doing this show is originally from England and has the accent to boot. That, in itself, makes the show fun!! Or, should I say, brilliant! in that delightful way that Brits exclaim. So, should you happen to be in or around the area and would like to stop in, you are welcome to join us! The more the merrier - and I know, there really is no such thing as a pampered chef. Just humor me a bit here!

Red Light Cameras

OK - this a completely random blog, but every time I drive into my neighborhood I think about this! We have a red light camera at the entrance to our neighborhood and I see people make the mistake of screeching to a stop, just beyond that white line, then, after the light has turned red, backing up so they are no longer over the white line. Now, I'm not sure why they bother except that 1) they think they are blocking the intersection (which they never are), or 2) they think that the camera will click a picture of any car over the white line. The key here, everyone, is that the camera is motion sensored. (at least that's they way the first ones were made!)

When these cameras first came into use in Howard County, they were motion sensored. How do I know? A co-worker of T's did exactly what is described above and received a little ticket in the mail inviting him to traffic court. It was a very clear picture of his license plate and in the picture you could clearly see that his reverse lights were on. He demonstrated to the judge what he was doing, which was backing up so he was not over the white line. The judge thought that was "nice" but proceeded to fine him some exorbitant amount of money anyway. Had he just stopped his car (over that white line) and not moved, he likely would never have gotten that invitation.

I could be wrong about this, but I've watched cars back up and I have seen that camera at night flash a little picture of that car. I've never actually gotten one of those invitations in the mail, and I hope I never do. Hopefully, I'll remember when it's me just to stop!

Day Care Shooting

I've been following this story on the daycare shooting in Germantown. I am horrified that this 8 year old child was able to smuggle a gun out of his house so easily and then apparently use it to "rob" this little girl. While yesterday it sounded like it was totally concealed in his backpack, today's story seems to indicate that the entire incident was intentional.

A couple other points in the story stood out to me, like the one child who seems "unfazed" by this event that he witnessed yesterday. How is it that we have created a generation of desensitized children?? We are horrified, they are "unfazed" by this? Maybe the event was surreal, but no fear of returning?? I just find this all very peculiar, disturbing, and really shocking.

It really is sad that in a seemingly short time, our lives have gone from fearless and carefree (sort of!) to violent and uncertain. I can remember as a child being outside from after school until dark all over our neighborhood. My mom would ring a bell outside the back door to let us know when dinner was ready and we'd all scatter. When I was a bit older, we'd ride our bikes everywhere for miles without any concern for safety other than whether or not a car would hit us. I don't remember my parents getting too crazed over dropping us off at the mall for an afternoon with our friends. We also went over other people's homes, most of the time without our parents having ever met. Times have really changed!

Now, I plan whole days around monitoring my kids playtime. It's only been in the last year that I've let them play out in front of my house without me watching. I'm nervous still when I know people are having their homes worked on, then my children never stand outside alone. I like be at the bus stop, which is right outside our door, and they have never been to the park without an adult. All this in our self-contained neighborhood. Even our heat pump guy laughs that I lock our front door! But times are different. I've gone over this with my mom many times. Few moms stay home, day care is the norm, our kids are growing up in different times, and carefree isn't in the description!

Having an 8 year old myself, I feel like I have a better perception of what this story really says. I vaguely remember 8 years old - it's one of the few times in my life that I have little memory of. I wasn't young enough for everything to be new, not old enough to be experiencing anything life-changing. I guess things are different now. My 8 year old is learning things that I never knew about until I was much older, and she's learning them all from her friends. Is it any wonder that so many people are homeschooling?? I don't wonder anymore.

Germantown is pretty far away, not terribly far, but far enough to feel safe from this kind of incident. Of course, if you read the whole article, you'll find at the end a reference to another similar incident in, you guessed it, Columbia, MD. So if you're thinking it can't happen where you live, think again!

UPDATE: Just this evening, I received an email from my neighbor. She sent me a link to a watchdog site where you can plug in your zip code and check to see how close any registered sex offenders live near you. I have done this before, but it appears we have a new one, and he's 0.1 mile away from my house. Guess I'll be joining my kids outside again - forever!

UPDATE: And, as usual, the story gets even more bizarre...

My Birthday Weekend

My blogging friend wrote that her husband is taking a day off for her birthday weekend, which sounds fun!! My birthday is coming up, also, but I'm not planning anything. For a bit there it was shaping up to be a fun, fun birthday!! Here's how it went:

Mid-December, someone says to me:

I have an idea for your birthday, but it will take some planning. How would you like to go to Miami?

Me:

I'd love to!!!!!! Can we drive out to the Keys? I've always wanted to go there!! Oh, somewhere warm for my birthday will be great!

Someone:

Well, I guess we could. I was thinking we could fly down Feb. 4, Saturday, hang out for a couple days....

Me:

My birthday is February 20th. That's kind of early, kind of soon, plus my mom couldn't babysit, she has report cards, conferences, etc. How about we go while she's on winter break - February 18th??

Someone:

Well, we'll get my parents to babysit, and then we can go to the thing that Alex McManus is doing Tuesday and fly home late Tuesday night. I found these really cheap tickets we could buy.

Me:

So, this isn't really a birthday present for me. It's really a trip for you. OK, buy the tickets.

Someone:

Well, what if we can't find someone to watch the girls? We can't return the tickets.

Me:

Why don't you just buy yourself the tickets? If your parents can babysit, then I'll get myself tickets.

Someone:

Hmmmm.....

Conclusion:

Babysitters: No. Wouldn't do it (my mom said she'd watch them on her break!).

Trip: Not happening.

Birthday: ? Not Miami!

This is kind of the way someone in our family is, and I knew it early on. While I expect this kind of brainstorming stuff I won't let it happen with my children!! The first time he tells them they get a trip to Florida for their birthdays, guess what I'm doing???? I'm buying the first tickets I find!!