Monday Musings: Mixed Bag On a Tuesday

This Monday Musings comes to you on a Tuesday evening, because that is how things are going around here.  Who is running things around here anyway?  According to my blog stats, everyone gave up on me posting on time yesterday.  Wise choice.  I'd like to say that with all my planning and with keeping Sunday holy, I've peacefully eased into the Advent season and am on top of the game when it comes to planning for Christmas.  Nope.  One year it'll happen.

One year.

So, maybe if I declutter my brain, I'll have more room for peace and planning (and motivation for executing said planning).

~ O Christmas Tree ~

If you're looking for a fun Christmas activity to do with your little ones, and a ginger bread house requires too much dexterity for your little ones, check out the waffle cone christmas trees that my four-year-old niece made.

~ On Parenting ~

I once saw Jim Bob Duggar on the show "19 Kids and Counting" wearing a shirt that said "Parenting is not for the faint of heart".  I thought it was funny, and quite amusing that he was wearing it... because he has 19 children.

That has nothing to do with the following.  I just thought it was amusing.

I laughed when I saw this Huff Post article entitled "Nearly 25 Years of Fathering -- and All I've Got Are These 3 Lousy Tips" pop up on my Facebook news feed.  Not because I don't enjoy parenting articles and books, and soak up parenting advice where I can, but because with all the "25 Tips to Parenting" and "10 Things You Must Know About Parenting" and "50 Things You Have to Know OR YOUR CHILD WILL DIE" articles out there, I just thought it rather amusing that he had 3.  Three!  I chuckled to myself and thought "Leave it to a guy to have only three."  

As a daughter and a mother... that is some of the best tips I've ever read.  Go read it.

~ I'll Stick With Jingle Bells, Thanks ~

If you're not a fan, like me, here are the 5 Best Ways to Survive "Christmas Shoes".

~ Skip The Toys, Give Your Child a Suitcase ~

I came out of the bathroom the other day to find this:

I have since found him in there about 10 more times, and it has provided several hours of entertainment.  

~ Seinfeld and the Devil, But Not in the Same Question ~

Here's an interview with my favorite Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia from October.  It's incredibly entertaining.  Our Supreme Court Justices have a huge roll in how the law of the land goes.

Here's the tag line (and the link):

On the eve of a new Supreme Court session, the firebrand justice discusses gay rights and media echo chambers, Seinfeld and the Devil, and how much he cares about his intellectual legacy (“I don’t”).

~ Because That's The Way To Get Your Point Across  ~

"Topless Argentinian Protestors" could have been the title for this piece of news but you won't find it in American secular news.  Some women (topless, although blurred in the video) wanted to make some men pay for their crimes by spray painting the men's faces and "other places", writing on them, and screaming at them.

The men's crimes?  Standing arm-in-arm, several men deep, and praying, to protect their local cathedral from the vandalism and violence that occurs in the village that hosts the monthly, government supported conference mentioned in the above link.  The police did nothing.

~ Police Apologize ~

In contrast, Iceland police killed a man for the first time.  And what did they do?

Apologize.  Why?

"I think it's respectful," Arnorsdottir says, "because no one wants to take another person's life."

~ Why He Came ~

Why He humbled himself and came in the form of a baby.  A reminder to myself as I get stressed out about presents and decorations.

Happy Advent!!

Monday Musings: When There Isn't Any, Make Room

Happy New Year!!!

Yes, I know the rose candle should be the third one.  Yes, I was too lazy to fix it.

No, I have not lost my calendar (or my mind).  Yesterday was the first Sunday of the season of Advent, marking the beginning of the new liturgical year.  

If you relate this time of year with stress, anxiety, crowded shopping malls, screaming sugar-induced children, insane drivers, and being ready to tear your car radio out if your favorite station plays "Jingle Bell Rock" for the one millionth time since before Thanksgiving, then I totally sympathize with you.  Just remember, you can change the radio station... and you can change the way you spend the time before Christmas.

The Baby Jesus is born on Christmas Day, whether you're prepared or not.  Whether you made the Christmas cookies, or gave everyone the right gift, or decorated your mantel according to the picture you found on Pinterest.  

Babies ask for little; just food, clothing, and love.  They ask for little, but somehow it demands our all.  Our everything.  Ask any parent; there are days when we feel like we have nothing left to give our children.  God has been teaching me that when I have nothing left to give, I need to give more.  When I can't go any farther, I need to go a little more.  And when there just isn't any more room, I need to make more room.

Where is God calling you to make room during this Advent season?

Monday Musings: Thankfulness

"Gratitude is not only the greatest of virtues, but the parent of all the others." ~ Marcus Tullius Cicero

I struggle with gratefulness.  It's not that I'm not thankful, it's that I don't always take the time to really consider the blessings that God heaps upon my head.  I get through thanking God for my husband, my kid, my family, my faith, my house, my husband's job, the car.....and then it's a little er.....um...hmmm.....

I work with teenagers at church.  They drive me crazy.  They make me want to pull my hair out.  But I love them.  And just when I want to smack them upside the head (I don't), they say something really profound.  One of my teens once said,  

"Imagine that all of the things that you did not thank God for today, were gone tomorrow."

.... and suddenly, my "umms, errs, and hmmms" become "I'm thankful for the screws that hold my house together, and I'm thankful for the roads, I'm thankful for our yard, my church, stores, kind people, turkeys, holidays, sushi, jeans, pajama pants, dogs, grass, clouds.....

{Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real} ~ A Matthan Post

We've been pretty busy around here.  Not super busy where I can really complain about being busy, but busy enough where I realized, while looking over recent pictures, that the only thing I've taken the time to photograph is Matthan... 

... I'm sure that you'll forgive me.

{pretty}

We've had some beautiful fall weather that has allowed us to get outside in the afternoon sun and play.  I have to say, I totally understand hibernation and would really support a movement for human hibernation if anyone wants to start it.  But for the sake of my little guy, I force myself out into the sunshine.

Redneck slide

Such a pretty smile

I text a picture to my sister or The Hubs every now and then, but sometimes Matthan blocks me out of the picture.

{happy}

I've heard several times that if you give a kid a present, they will play with the box and wrapping.  But if you make the box the present ...

My little guy is still content with his books.  His little outfit makes me happy.

I should write a book entitled "How to Entertain Your One-Year-Old".  It would go something like this:  1.  Place a paper clip in an old film canister  2.  Your child is now entertained.  All day.

{funny}

Look out ladies, my son does the best duck face around! 

Last week I noticed that the letter magnets were looking a little scarce.  The alphabet was only containing about ten letters.  When I got down on the floor to play with Matthan, I noticed something funny looking under the fridge.  I stuck our yard stick under the fridge, and about 2/3 of an alphabet came shooting out ... along with a lot of nasty dirt.  

{real}

Matthan is growing up so fast.  He is learning new words every day.  He had his first scissor haircut (we trimmed the mullet with clippers before his first birthday). 

Baby Signing Time + cheerios = sitting still...for the moment

I'm blown away by how much he is learning and interacting with us.  I savor getting to watch him accomplish each bit of development.  He is a such a ball of joy for us.  Pictures and videos do not do him justice.  It is all bittersweet though.  I mean, I don't want to carry my child to his first college class, but can't I freeze him at this stage for a few more years?

Monday Musings (vol. 9): G.K., Ramsey, and Sundays...

... i.e. Part 1 of something with an unknown amount of total parts at this time.

"Anything worth doing, is worth doing badly."  ~ G. K. Chesterton

Ages ago, I read a blog post about making Sundays a day of rest.  And then I forgot about it.

Some of you know that we have been on a "keeping Sunday holy kick" around here (for anyone new around here (Welcome!) you can read more about this here, here, here, and here).  Recently, I stumbled on that blog post again (mentioned above), and in it, the author says, that if you make Sundays a day of rest "you will see God's blessings showering on you and your family".  And so, I want to share with you where this journey has taken us... the struggles... and the blessings.

All journeys have a beginning.  And a few months ago, when we decided to start being intentional about Sundays, we were suffering from roommate-itis.  The three of us had many days where we went about our business in a parallel manner, but never really intersecting.  Sure, the usual duties were getting accomplished, but we weren't really connecting.  I would be playing with Matthan, and be too quick to answer a phone call or post a cute picture of Matthan on Facebook.  We would be at dinner, and one of us would be too quick to look something up on our phone and then get distracted by emails.... Matthan especially needs to work on this (insert sarcasm sign here).  There was a lack of intentional time being spent and a lack of meaningful conversations being had.  We were missing each other, sort of passing each other like roommates.  We weren't fully engaged with or fully present to the other two.

 

There are several things that we have discussed changing or improving in our family, but we have had little progress and many failed attempts.  It is in my nature to want to do something perfectly the first time.  And when I fail (because, Hello!, I'm not perfect), I wallow and decide that it can't be obtained so it's not worth doing.  Here's where G. K. and Ramsey come in.

I found this G.K. Chesterton quote: "Anything worth doing, is worth doing badly.", and I felt like I had been set free!!  I needed someone to give me permission to try...and to fail.  And to try again.    This quote has had a profound effect on me (maybe I'll write about that at some point...).  Now I've never read Dave Ramsey's book (books?), but I have been told of his method of having people pay off debt starting with the smallest debts and working their way up to the biggest debts.  I argued with someone that this idea did not make sense to me because it seemed like people would pay more money in the long run because of interest building up on the bigger amounts of money (pretend that my argument sounded really eloquent and I used a lot of large financial words, okay?).  But I was told that it's more about the small accomplishment and the feeling of success with the little debts that help people work towards paying off the bigger debts.  And that is a concept that can be applied to our lives in general (I could write a blog post about just this idea... I might).  

So, while there were several things that we wanted to change in our family, I kept coming across the concept of keeping Sunday holy in the things that I was reading and listening to, and decided to follow this prompting, even if it meant doing it badly.  I took a deep breath, let go of my perfectionist tendencies, and decided to go where I had gone and failed before (changing something in our family), and decided to start small.  I really really wanted to rush it and strive for all the ways that I had in mind to make Sundays holy for our family... but again, I had to start small.  With the big picture of what we wanted in mind, The Hubs and I discussed what one thing we could change that was 1. something that we could change now, in this stage of life, 2. a truly attainable goal,  3. would make an almost instant impact.

And that is how we decided on putting up the cell phones on Sunday.  Have I failed?  Yep.  Have I given up?  Nope!!  One small step for our family, one huge flippin'-ly-ginormous mega step for me and the development of my perseverance!!

Stay tuned for Part 2.

"I have not failed.  I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."  ~Thomas A. Edison