Eleven Things I Shared With Christy

(because I couldn't stop at just ten)

11. The Jill Phillips concert at Asbury. Technically it was Andrew Peterson (Jill Phillips was only the opener), but I had never heard of him, so you used Jill to get us to go. You were right as usual... Jim and I now love Andrew Peterson.

10. Hanging out in hospitals.

9. Seeing the Schuers play at High on Rose. We loved their music but regretted the venue. Remember when that drunk girl fell in your lap? Yeah, that was not so much our scene. We laughed hard that night.

8. Our girls-only weekend last August.

7. That last morning you came over to hang out while Josh played golf. I'm so glad we had that chance to sip Starbucks hot chocolate, eat muffins, and talk about everything from theology to reality tv.

6. Many, many, many meals at Fiesta.

5. Black Friday shopping in 2003.

4. Three moving days with you and Josh. I always ironed the shower curtain.

3. Roadtripping to New City Cafe in Knoxville to see Katy Bowser (who is awesome). I went to the bathroom for two seconds and she came over to our table and talked to you guys while I was gone. Betrayed by my bladder once again. Remember how we almost hit that deer at 2am on the way home?

2. Your wedding day. I was large and pregnant and wonderfully purple, haha. But you were radiant. What a JOY to be a part of your perfect day.

1. April 15th. Maybe eight or nine of them? Not enough. I loved making it a big deal with you, and even (unintentionally) giving each other the same gift once or twice. I loved the two or three phonecalls in early April deciding where we wanted to eat. Our favorites were not the same, but we took our decision seriously and always considered several restaurants before landing at Red Lobster. Your mom made us dessert and we shared the evening and the attention. I'm so sad you aren't here today. I miss you. I would honestly ignore the whole thing if I didn't know how disappointed (not to mention ticked) you would be with me if you knew. But I will not eat at Red Lobster on our birthday again. That was something special, just for you and me. Happy Birthday, Christy. This day is forever different, but I will always be celebrating with you in my heart.

Humbled and Grateful

"...Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied;
For ev'ry sin on Him was laid—
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain;
Then bursting forth in glorious day,
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory,
Sin's curse has lost its grip on me;
For I am His and He is mine—
Bought with the precious blood of Christ."

excerpt from "In Christ Alone"
Words and Music by Keith Getty & Stuart Townend
Copyright © 2001 Kingsway Thankyou Music

Comedian?

A couple of nights ago, we were sitting around the dinner table eating dessert when Brynn said, "I bet God is eating dinner right now too." Jim shot me a look, then asked her what she thought God was having for dinner. She looked up confidently and said, "blue Jello, same as us."

Yesterday Brynn drew a very cool picture of herself and me shopping at Wal-Mart. (I know it's sad, but it's what we do.) Anyway, she was talking about the picture, saying how I was super tall in it and had really curly hair... and then she had me spell out the letters for Wal-Mart so she could write them in the background. It was a keeper. At some point during Brynn's commentary, Katy took a break from her own scribble action in the Pooh coloring book, and leaned across the table on her elbows. She scrutinized Brynn's work, then wanted to know, "Where KAY-ty?! Where ME? Where MEEEEEE?!" Brynn looked at the ceiling and sighed. Then she went back to her picture and said frankly, "You weren't BORN yet."

Tonight on the way to Wal-Mart (I can't help it, we needed diapers!), Katy was having a full-on tantrum. I don't know how to describe this event other than to say, it is truly an impressive display of emotion. Before we left the house, she jumped up in the air twice like a sumo wrestler coming down on an opponent and then threw herself in the floor on her stomach screaming, fists clenched and pounding. I love her like my next breath, but I had to turn away so she wouldn't see me doubling over in laughter. So now we're in the car on the way and the tantrum is just starting to show signs of waning. I say, "Katy, you need to dry it up Baby because there is no crying in Wal-Mart." Brynn smiles at me in the rearview mirror and says, "That's right Katy. There's a sign right on the door that says No Crying." I smiled back at her little joke. Katy continues to wail. Brynn's smile goes conspiratorial and she says, "If you get caught crying in Wal-Mart the police will come and take you to jail!" I laugh at the joke and Brynn is satisfied. Then she looks over at her still-miserable sister and says sweetly, "Oh, Katy. I'm just messing with ya a little bit."

Fun at Mom's Day Out

Things that have been said in our Mom's Day Out class recently. Laura is my teaching partner, for those of you who don't know. (Who doesn't know Laura?) ;)


Mrs. Laura: Please take your hand out of your pants.
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Emma: (despairing) Teach-errrrrrr... my feet are hot....
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Me to a child: Ew! EW! Did... that... come OUT of you?
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Trefor: (gravely) Mrs. Lori, sometimes there are STRANGERS.
Ava: (lighthearted) God LOVES strangers!
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Dad to his child: If you don't behave, I'm going to have to take your (scotch) tape back home.
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Me to a child: Please get your finger out of your nose.
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Me: Hannah, please don't spit on the playgroud. That's rude.
Hannah: But I had snot in my mouth.
Me: Oh. Good call then.
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If you've got a funny kid-line, please share it in the comment section. The little people are pretty entertaining!

in the car, this morning...

Brynn: Mommy, you know my friend Lauren?
Me: Yes.
Brynn: Well, did you know that Lauren had an elephant? In her house?
Me: No, I don't think I did know that.
Brynn: Yeah. And it went stomping all over the whole house in all the rooms, wrecking everything!
Me: Oh no! Mrs. Jennifer must have been very upset.
Brynn: Yeah. Cause it stomped all through the kitchen and broke everything and ruined all their food and they don't have anything left.
Me: What are they going to do?
Brynn: I don't know! Everything is broken and there is no food!
Me: Maybe we could help.
Brynn: We should give them some money.
Me: That's a good idea. Or we could find out something that the elephant broke, and we could get them a new one, like a toaster.
Brynn: (studying my face) Mommy, are you teasing?
Me: It's not really teasing Brynn, more like pretending. Aren't you pretending?
Brynn: No! There really was an elephant! A mean one that broke everything.
Me: I like this pretending, so I know about the elephant.
Brynn: (somewhat satisfied) I think they should get a smaller, nicer one next time.
Me: You tell Lauren that.
Brynn: I will.


In other news, Katy is talking up a storm. Every day she uses new words I didn't know she even knew. Window. Backpack. McDonalds. Sunday night when Jim got home from a church meeting she asked him politely: "Daddy, fun at church?" She talks as much if not more than Brynn did at the same age. And folks, that is saying something. Crazy. And so fun.

Circle Time 1/15/09

Our Bible story today was on the good samaritan. I got some little people out and used them to act out the scene... bad robbers beating up the jewish man, priests and Levites coming by but looking the other way instead of meeting the man's need, and finally the man's own enemy showing compassion and making personal sacrifice to provide care for this victim. I talked about our Bible verse, "Do good to all people," and explained that Jesus wants all his children to do good things to our friends, our brothers and sisters, our parents, our teachers (oh yeah, I went there), and especially people who were different from us, even enemies. The children seemed more engaged than usual, probably because of the visual aids I used to explain everything. So I was feeling pretty good about getting this important message into their hearts. I summed up by saying something like, "If we love Jesus, it is so important that we obey him, and try to do good to all people, whoever they are, and even if it seems hard to try to help them. We don't want to be like those priests who said they loved Jesus but just walked by the hurt man because they didn't want to help. Do you understand?"

Sweet Hannah looked up at me with big eyes and said, "Mrs. Lori.." I hoped I would be able to answer whatever question she might ask about the story. She smiled big and said so slowly, "I have..." She lifted the cuff of her jeans. "...bunny socks!"

Holiday Highlights

(in chronological order)

1. Brynn's preschool Christmas program. We were one of many families juggling small siblings while trying to record video of our young performer (easily the cutest on stage) singing her heart out and ringing bells. We eat this stuff up!

2. Christmas at my brother's house in IL. Jenny made her famous lasagna (my favorite)--not to mention delicious sides and appetizers--and we all sat down together for a meal before letting the kids tear into the presents. Grandma got back into town just in time to join us, and it was a great night being with family. It ended too quickly. I also got to spend a lot of time with mom...dipping pretzels and rolling Oreo balls, so that was an added bonus.

3. Christmas Eve Open House at our place. I wasn't sure what to expect this year, but we had our largest attendance so far, around 27 people. Most of our Mt. Freedom regulars were there, and some new friends came by too... it was just wonderful to be with friends and celebrate the season and the hope we have because of it. We are so blessed by the friends God has given us.

4. Christmas morning. There is just nothing like it. Our girls had a ball, but we probably had even more fun than they did. Katy's favorite was her $5 Pooh stool, just like her sister's Dora one. And Brynn loved her bike (thanks Hewitts!), and is still riding it around the kitchen table several times a day. Watch out, or you will get run over.

5. Christmas with the Wells. We have a tradition of joining up around noon for homemade pizza and lots of holiday laying around on sofas. It's awesome. This year was certainly different, without Christy. I knew it would be hard, but it was much more difficult than I expected. So many times, its like I can imagine the things she would have said, the laughter, how she would have enjoyed giving her gifts and watching the kids open theirs. The silence can just be deafening. Not that the rest of us are silent, but its the space her words would have used up. Nothing else seems to be able to fill them. We went to the cemetery, and I was glad we did. As hard as that afternoon was at times, there is no where else I would have rather been.

6. Christmas with the Barkleys. We rode to PA in style this year, with a beautiful blue (rented) Toyota 4Runner. The sound system was a beautiful thing, and there was space enough that we didn't feel the girls' feet at the back of our necks. We appreciate our car (it's paid for!), but this was just a nice treat. We had a fun gift exchange with Jim's parents, and then Aunt Helen came down (or is it up?) for the big gift exchange we do with the extended family. This is always a fun time, especially for me as my family has never had a tradition like this. Jim's mom made a special Christmas dinner the next day and the Steelers shut-out the Browns... so that was a pretty perfect day all around. :)

7. Home. As great as everything has been, its so good to have the Christmas stuff put away and the house in order (well, for us). Jim had another four days off here at home, and that was really wonderful and relaxing for all of us. He's back to work today and Brynn was back at preschool... so we are slowly getting back into the regular routine, and recovering from all the travel.

Hope you all had a good Christmas as well!