firsts
So here are a few firsts from this past month:
Josiah ate chocolate cake and loved it. He is our sugar king- he will never go back to being sugar free!
No picture for this one, but Josiah peed in a toy box…that had wood toys in it. Yep- that was a first!
Trick-or-Treating, and getting it. Ezra asks for a treat EVERYDAY 
No picture for this one either- I asked my husband if I had done anything lately that showed him how much I loved him. He said “yes”. I said “when?”. He said “a few days ago…”. Yikes! Makes me not want to ask the question for fear of not getting the answer I hope for. But I guess I have a few things to work on this upcoming month
- Showing my husband I love him everyday (in a way he understands)
- Making sure my children don’t pee where they are not supposed to (a praise in this category is that Ezra is now potty trained completely- HOORAY!
- Weening my family off of candy- myself included. Not sure if 1 or 3 is a harder task.
Happy Fall!
Why I celebrate Halloween…
Some will hate me for saying this, but…why not? I am not a fan of ghost and goblins, witches and evil, creepy, devil-ish things. I am certainly not a fan of the fact that it is a 5 billion dollar industry in the US, but I can jive with the idea that it’s a great day to have a party- to be in community- to do something fun, silly, creative, different than the every day grind- and enjoy.
The greatest reason I choose to celebrate Halloween is to provide an alternative activity for the people I care about than watching scary movies, talking about creepy things, and doing bad stuff. What began as a pagan (Samhain) holiday in [current day] Ireland, evolved as Christianity became the majority religion in that region. It was most likely the Church’s attempt to redeem a pagan holiday by recognizing the saints and martyrs of the Christian faith, All Hallows (Nov. 1 ), therefore All Hallows Eve (Oct. 31) was re-born. Even so, you can hardly call what the majority of americans who celebrate halloween, Christian, by much stretch of the imagination. But if it’s gonna be there, regardless of what the church says or does, why not provide opportunities for positive fun, community and festivities?
If you come to Quest tomorrow night (www.seattlequest.org/trunk-or-treat-fall-festival), you’ll find everything from a silly monster lab to the good ol’ rubber duck pond, a costume contest for kids, hot cider and cookies to decorate and you may hear the ghostbusters theme song once or twice. Let’s be honest, the community needs some good options of things to do and places to go. We will be one of many churches offering up a safe alternative to some of the wild and wacky things that take place on Halloween, and I hope you will join us!
Happy First Birthday Josiah
To my dear second child on your first birthday:
It was a year ago today that I hiked a mountain for you- anxiously waiting for you to join us in the world. And the way you came was so amazing- I will never forget the range of emotions I felt that day. Now you are one- a happy boy with a smile for just about anyone, you love to dance. More specifically you love to shake your head, twist your belly, and wave your arms like a silly man. It is the funniest thing. You won’t stop to try out your wobbly little legs, because they just don’t get you to where you want to go faster than your zippy crawl. You take after your mother in that way. We’re always trying to get from point A to B the fastest way possible. You love food, and dessert- just like me- no baby food any more for you!
I love it when you lay your head on my shoulder at bed time, the way you squeal and crawl to the door when your dad or I come home from work, how you bring a book to us and look at us with big eyes, how you climb on just about anything and are so proud of how you got there. I love that you dance anytime you hear music, and you turn your head in response to all 20 of your nicknames. I love that you want to hold our hands when we pray over a meal, and when you sit on the couch and look out the window to greet people or say goodbye.
This year has gone so fast, and I know that I will be writing you again on your second birthday before I know it. I love you so much. Happy First Birthday Josiah!
Love Mommy
family photos anyone?
So the question that my husband and I get asked most often, when people hear that corey is a photographer is, oh so you must have tons of photos of your boys/family right?!!! Ha! Just because I am married to a FANTASTIC photographer, does not guarantee a certain quantity of photos. But anytime he is behind a camera and a family is in front of him, he will take a great photo. living proof: http://bit.ly/2BDTQU- also happens to be family of mine. Cheers. To family photos. And the ones I may [or may not] get of my family this holiday season.
J.O.Y.
What does it mean to have joy? It was another part of the great lesson I taught this past weekend. Happiness is easier to define. It is what people want to feel (or think they want to feel). It usually involves a persons situation, circumstance, material possession, emotional well-being, state of mind, etc. I’m happy when [things go well, I get my way, I get what I want, etc.]…But joy is so much different. I believe joy comes from deep within our soul. Joy is stronger than our circumstances or our bad days. Because let’s admit it- we all have bad days, unhappy days, sad days. Is it possible to have joy even then? Sometimes I think that joy is hibernating in my soul. I know I am capable of experiencing joy, but sometimes I just don’t “feel like it”. There we go back to my feelings again!
I taught a great tool to the kids at church today. It’s so simple, but I do believe that if practiced, it might change how people view their life and veiw their ability to experience joy in life.
- J- put JESUS first
- O- put OTHERS second
- Y- put YOU third
How great is that!
A lesson in serving others
Yesterday I taught Sunday School to first through fifth graders as I do a couple times a month. I enjoy it every week I get the opportunity to teach but this week was a special one. As I was preparing for the lesson- to be honest- I wasn’t sure how I felt about it. I was worried it would seem a little contrived. You see, yesterday’s lesson was about how Serving Others, Serves God. And yes, you guessed it, the story was Jesus washing His disciples feet. And yes, you guessed it again, I got to wash the kids feet at church! I had been worried that the silliness factor, for gradeschool kids, would overshadow the message of what it means to truly serve others. There was a lot of giggling at both services, but it was so interesting to watch kids consider whether they wanted me to wash their feet or not (because of course I didn’t force it on them!). And the beautiful thing about it for me personally that it went from a point in my lesson to an action of my heart. It was easy to wash a child’s feet and tell them I did this because Jesus did the same for us, and it was an act of love.
The surprise element happened though when one of my more “active”, “hard-to-engage” boys asked if they could wash my feet. It shouldn’t have caught me by surprise but it did. What is it about serving others in their vulnerability that can sometimes be so easy, and yet letting others serve you where you are vulnerable be so hard? Hmmm. something to think about this week. I told the kids maybe one week, we could let the them wash the leaders’ feet. I kind of threw it out there to appease them, but really- we should follow through on it. Time to put it on the calendar!
sabbath- what’s that?
I’m gonna get vulnerable here. I wish I could say the state of my kitchen below was a one-time occurrence. I wish I could say it was just while I was adjusting to having two kids- 10 months ago. I wish…
This brings me to the thing I have been wrestling with lately. What does it mean to have a sabbath? More specifically, what does it mean to have a sabbath when you are working part-time, have no hired childcare, and babies and little kids running around the house? Now, when I was single, or married without children, my response would have been entirely different…and too be honest, it was much easier to have a sabbath. And though my life is different from many young mothers, all of whom have different gifts, talents, passions (my does not happen to be having a clean house)- it is a struggle for us all.
A sabbath day for me, being a day I choose not to work (for my paid job) is a day I spend playing with my boys and taking care of our family and home. it’s the “taking care of family and home” that I feel like sucks the life out of my sabbath. I can run around frantic, productive, getting things clean and in order, whether it be bills, doctors appointments, birthday cards or what have you- and I’m exhausted, or I could do nothing all day but play with my children, and still be exhausted. I think back to the days of “doing nothing”, which meant I felt refreshed at the end of the day???!!! So where does sabbath, refreshment, relaxation, rejuvenation come from, if not from a day of rest, a day off work, a day to worship? Somebody please tell me, I wish I knew!
Easy answer: Sabbath is a day to worship God and be thankful, so shut-up, stop complaining, and just have some quiet time with God!
Ha! Not gonna cut it.
Since I don’t have an answer, but I desire to feel sabbathed (yes I’m making up my own verb tense), I will hold tightly to the moments, literally, seconds, minutes, maybe hours of time that I can enjoy, laugh, be worry-free, burden free…and simply DELIGHT in the gifts I’ve been given. My act of worship, my sabbath day, my “thank God” moments may be few and far between these days, but they are real. They just aren’t very fluffy, and pretty and mountain-top/quiet time-esque…better to be real and short, than contrived right?
So dirty kitchen- I EMBRACE YOU. You will be there later. Thanks for being so faithful and committed…dirty kitchen you are always there for me.
Up next in Katey’s “what’s that?” line-up:
- “Exercise- what’s that?”
- “Shower- what’s that?”
- “Romance- what’s that?”
Stay tuned…
a new song
in the midst of family life and kids ministry…it isn’t that often that I’m online with little agenda (unless I’m sucked into facebook). Ran across this song on a new friend’s website. Was moved and blessed. I hope any that choose to watch it are encouraged as well.
i killed my plants
i’m laughing hysterically (on the inside) at my project list blog post. why? becuase in the last 6 weeks that i have not blogged, I have managed to a) fill my room with the things we need to get rid of, b) kill pretty much all the plants on our deck, c)not make popsicles but once this summer, etc….you get the point.
i think when i look back at this blog in 5 years, I am going to see a very consistent pattern, much like every other area of my life where I guiltily apologize for not blogging more faithfully the crazy days of my life. I suppose it’s okay to assume that since I’ve not written I’ve been storing up a lot inside- yes this is quite true…and it is also okay to assume that blogging is not a natural gift, nor a high priority on my daily chore list. true true…
never the less i have gotten the blog bug to restore myself to posting more regularly. so to whoever is listening, i’m back…mostly
