And here we go again!

We've started up d-group again!  I'd almost (almost) forgotten how much I truly enjoy discussing the Bible with those girls!  It makes me a little sad that they will be graduating and moving on soon.  I don't know how the Lord will direct d-group after that, as I don't have any juniors, sophomores, or freshman interested in coming regularly; I'll just have to pray and see what the Lord has in store.

In the meantime, we are studying Proverbs.  I wondered what is the one single one greatest thing they might need next year as they enter, most of them, secular colleges?  Obviously, the answer is Jesus!  But the already have Him.  So, what else?  Well, wisdom.  I've sat in some of these classes these girls will be attending and know that many college professors are not friendly towards their faith.  I once had a professor try to convince me that Paul started Christianity and that it wasn't Christ's will at all that the church should start or go in the directions it did.  And she definitely touted that the line that Jesus was no more than a teacher.  Looking at these beautiful, wonderful girls whose faiths are so beautiful and still growing (as is mine!), I wanted to arm them.  And wisdom is always the weapon of choice.  Wisdom will give them the ability to examine any claim made by any person they encounter and see to the truth of it.  I cannot give them wisdom.  I'm still praying for it myself.  But the Scriptures can.  And Proverbs, focusing primarily on wisdom itself, is a great place to start.

So, for the next several weeks, we will be doing an overview of the Proverbs.  The verses that open the book are those that delineate the Book's purpose, but they are also my prayer for our little group as we go forward, that we might

• know wisdom and instruction
• understand words of insight
• receive instruction in wise dealing, in righteousness, justice, and equity
• gain prudence and knowledge and discretion
• might hear and increase in learning
• obtain guidance
• understand a proverb and a saying, and the words of the wise and their riddles

Too tall an order?  No, not where God is involved!  May He reveal His word to us, give us wisdom and discernment that we might live rightly and judge wisely!

Further Developments

My girl has learned to roll to the side!  Right side, left side, doesn't matter.  If there's space or something to see, she flips on over.  I'm sure she would love how to figure that out from her tummy, as she's still not a fan of Tummy Time.  I find her lying on her side in her crib after a nap or under her "play-gym", looking at the butterfly or the rattle hanging there.  Before long she'll be doing 180's, from front to back or back to front.  And then after that... possibly crawling.  Her daddy is convinced she'll be walking by six months.  I'll just be happy to see her sitting up. :)

Eliza Update

Today, my little Eliza is 3 months old! People told me time would fly once you have children, and they weren't wrong. In some ways, it seems like another lifetime before she came along, that it's been so long ago since that happened. And yet, really, I look back and can't believe three months have passed already.

She's growing, our little girl! Soon we'll be putting the small clothes away and graduating to longer outfits. Already she's lost that "new baby" look. She's more aware, looking around, taking things in. She talks more and more. She was cooing enough that I was able to hold the phone up to her and let my sister listen in for almost an entire minute. (Needless to say, Aunt Melissa was thrilled!)

Some of her recent achievements: she's started turning her head when she hears a sound, or especially when she hears Daddy's voice when he comes in the room. She can lift her head to a 90-degree angle when she's on her tummy, though she can't hold it for long. She can hold her head steady for quite some time when she's held upright, and even lean back to look upwards (she loves ceiling fans). She has begun to hold onto things and even reaches out to grab. Sleeping through the night has been going on for weeks now (yay!).

I leave you with a picture of her in her Valentine's outfit provided by Uncle Chris and his girlfriend, Christina. Her 3 month picture!

My Dad, the Valentine

My dad is a hopeless romantic. You might not know this if you only know him casually, but he is. He hates musicals, but he loves Hello, Dolly because it was the movie my parents saw on their second date. He loves World War II movies, but he claims that 30 Seconds over Tokyo is his favorite not just for the action, not just for excellent film making, but for the romance in it. Sleepless in Seattle resonated with Dad for the way Tom Hanks' character, Sam, described falling in love with his wife at first meeting, because that was what it had been for him on meeting my mom. It took numerous viewings before the final scene where Sam and Annie meet before he failed to tear up and feel an overwhelming need to seek out my mom for a hug or a kiss or at least to rub her arm. And those are just the movies.

Every year, every Valentine's Day, Dad sends Mom a bouquet of flowers. Maybe it would seem that they're in a rut: flowers delivered to my mom at her place of work every year. But they're not. Dad doesn't simply call the florist and order up a non-descript bouquet. No, they're not big and fancy and outrageously expensive, either. But Dad does go into the florist's shop himself, usually, and pick out the bouquet or special order it with Mom in mind. He keeps in mind the flowers she likes, the colors she likes, and asks them to put together something special for her. Every year.

Once, when my mom was working as a church secretary, such a bouquet was delivered to her. The youth minister, Natalie, happened to be conferencing with Mom about something and saw the flowers. At that time, I was single, and Natalie remarked to Mom that my dad was the reason why I wasn't married: I'd have to search high and low to find a man as good as my dad.

Well, my man isn't a romantic, and he's never given me anything for Valentine's. (In fact, the only time I receive flowers from him was when he surprised me Easter morning the first year we were married.) But in all the essentials, he is a great deal like my dad. And he's just as good, if not better. And that's really saying something!

USA! USA! USA!!!

(Confession: I'm supposed to be getting ready for my ladies' Bible study so I can feed Elizabeth when she wakes up and go... but instead I'm here with you on my computer. :)


The 21st Olympic Games start tomorrow night in Vancouver, in what is apparently the first Opening Ceremony to take place indoors, and I COULDN'T BE MORE EXCITED!! And yes, I am yelling. Really, the level excitement has hit critical.

I am passionate about the Olympics. I'm crazy about them. It's the one time in my life when I seriously could sit and watch the TV all day, or news coverage all day (as I hate the news). It's a biannual event that I never want to miss: the Olympic Games. Give me Summer, give me Winter, just give me the Games!

Why? I don't really know what it is. It is the internationality of it all? The various nations and cultures converging on one spot to share camaraderie and friendly competition? Maybe. Is it the human drama as you watch all these athletes strive to achieve their dream, a gold medal? Possibly. Is it the pride and patriotism of keeping the Medal Watch count, to see how many medals the U.S. can bring home? Could be. I don't know. Maybe it's all of the above. Maybe I've been influenced by feel-good movies like Cool Runnings or Miracle, both of which I really enjoy (but maybe because they're about the Olympics? I don't really care about hockey...). I don't know. All I know is that starting tomorrow night at 7pm CST, I will take my biannual place before the television and barely move for the next two and a half weeks.

Already, I've begun my research. Who are the notables in my favorite events (which would be figure skating, freestyle skiing (particularly moguls), bobsledding, and snowboarding. Would I even know what the moguls are without the Olympics? Certainly not. What are the new sports, if any? Who's expected to take the gold? I'm actually a little behind as everything starts tomorrow and I should have been up on this at least by the beginning of the week! Last Winter Olympics was my first to really watch snowboarding and I loved every event. This year I expect to enjoy the Ski Cross, a new sport, much like Snowboarding Cross where skiers compete on a course where they have to include jumps and tricks, etc. SO COOL.

My Favorite Valentine's Tradition

I've never been a big fan of Valentine's Days. I wasn't even a big fan of the Valentine's parties at school because I didn't mind lessons so the free time wasn't much to me, though the candy was good. I spent hours the night before such a party going through my box of perforated, character-themed Valentine's cards, organizing and selecting card messages for specific people and simply assigning the rest, addressing the envelopes, sealing them, only to get back a box full of nothing special from my classmates. In high school, I would pass the office on my way to various classes and watch as florists would arrive throughout the day bringing in large and showy bouquets and knew none of them were for me. Occasionally, my mom was nice enough to buy me a small, heart-shaped box of chocolates, but these have been my only Valentine's day gift, even to present. So, for many years, Valentine's Day has been nothing but a holiday propagated by florists, card-makers, and restaurateurs.

In college, however, was likely the best time I ever had on a Valentine's Day, and not because I enjoyed lots of wonderful dates and romantic evenings, but rather the lack there of. In college, all of my friends were single. None of us dated, few of us had romantic interests or crushes. Which, of course, freed us up for a lot of great together-time. My friends Lori Jones and Kala (Yoder) Long began a wonderful Valentine's "tradition" that was less celebrated than joked about.

The year they roomed together, Lori and Kala decided to decorate and celebrate Valentine's Day in a most original fashion. They covered their walls and the door to their dorm room in black construction paper hearts, and the melancholy notes of Simon and Garfunkel's "I Am an Island" emanated from their door. They declared through their [subversive] Valentine's celebration that they didn't need "no stinkin' men". They were perfectly fine without, thank you; after all, "an island never cries." It was the funniest thing thing I'd seen and I admit a little shame-facedly that I totally crashed the party.

Since that time there have been no repeat performances of the Black-Heart Party, but Kala did sing the theme song to Lori once on the phone. However, it has become a famous joke amongst our circle, and a time or two I had considered decorating my own room in similar fashion. These are my fondest memories of Valentine's Day, the Anti-Valentine's movement.

Headline: Long week finally over!

So, I watched "The Shipping News" the other day. So, sue me.

It has indeed been a long week. Eliza was sick for the first time. It was only a cold, but her temperature got quite high and we were at the doctor's office a few times to make sure it wasn't the dreaded RSV. My nephew and a friend's nephew have both been through the RSV battle, so I know how serious it is. Both were hospitalized because of breathing difficulties, and if we could avoid that, I wanted to.

Tough week. I'd taken care of my nephews when they were sick before, but only for a matter of hours; at the end of the work day I got to pass them off to their parents and go home and put my feet up. This time I was up in the middle of the night, checking on her, holding her, trying to calm down her cries, and worrying over her whimpers. It was exhausting, as I'm sure any mother knows. And I got very little done around the house simply because of the time and energy caring for her and worrying over her sucked out of it. Thankfully, though, she's on the mend. Her smiles are back, she's kicking and cooing, and trying to hold on to things. It's good to have my girl back!

So, I have nothing to say about that. I am taking the day off from housework today, though. I have a load of laundry to fold, but I insist that that is all I'm going to do. I'm going to work on a sweater I've been wanting to make Eliza for months now. I might test a recipe I volunteered for (which I'm very excited about), and hopefully have my husband give me some pointers on weight-lifting (toning, I should say). And that will be my day. Mom's making breakfast for dinner tonight (yum!) and I intend to play with my kid and relax!

House frau, indeed

I do feel like a house frau today. To be more precise, I feel like a frumpy housewife. I'm wearing my maternity sweater that is adorable when you're pregnant, but looks more like a knitted mumu if you're not. I'm scrubbing toilets, scrubbing showers, and scrubbing poop out of baby clothing. My baby is sick, fussy, and not inclined to take the naps that would help her get better. I'm exhausted, desperate for a nap, but pressed to get a number of things done. I know many mommies would tell me to go take the nap, but it just doesn't work that way. I have to get the housework done because it's expected of me by other people in the house, and it's "my share" of the household. Next naptime I definitely can't because I have to get dinner on, and I'm not very excited about this dinner, but I'm to tired to work anything else up. And the sad thing is, I'm pretty sure the rest of the family isn't going to be too hot on it. But what can you do? So, yes. I feel very frumpy, very mother of young children with no outlet today. Hopefully tomorrow will be better.