Weekend with Anna (Highlight Reel)

1.  On Friday, Anna was tentatively diagnosed with walking pneumonia.  Thankfully, a subsequent chest xray came back clear, so she didn’t end up having it.  My first clue that my child didn’t actually have pneumonia was this face while she was being examined:

2.  On Sunday night, she played at the dining room table with her princess magnet doll while making up songs about Jesus (“Jesus loves us, goodness sake,” and “Jesus is my favorite child” seemed to be two of them).  Then, she found some beads and some string and proceeded to patiently make a necklace, all by herself:

Her diligence was all the more remarkable because her beads frequently stopped to have conversations with each other, usually about their need to get baptized:

Afterward, she spontaneously and wholeheartedly tried to sweep up the kitchen:

3.  This morning, while we were snuggling on the couch after she first woke up, I told her that she was a gift from God.  She responded:  “Do you know why God gave your kids to y’all?”  “Why, Anna?”  “Because He loves y’all.”  Not satisfied that I understood, she asked me the same question again.  Again, I answered, “Why?”  “Because He loves you.  He just loves you.  He really loves you.”  I admit, I teared up.  It’s always nice to hear that God loves you:).

And I definitely think the gift of this wonderful child is a sign that God must love us…

The Art of Cocooning

I can’t remember when I first heard of the concept of “cocooning.”  It refers to the practice of staying home, so as not to spend money.  It’s pretty self-explanatory.  You don’t eat out.  You cook at home.  You don’t go to movies.  You watch the videos you have at home.  Basically, you don’t go out.  Get it?

These past few days, we have definitely been cocooning, but not because of economics (though saving money has been a nice side effect).  Rather, we have stayed in because of illness.  Anna has been coughing, lethargic, and feverish, and so we spent Monday and Tuesday largely at home, and we all but canceled life on Wednesday, Thursday, and today. 

I have to say, I love cocooning.  November, December, and the beginning of January were incredibly busy months for me, and these past few days have been the type of days I dreamt about while I rushed from one place to another throughout the holiday season.  I have cleaned, organized my closet, hung some pictures, worked on politeness with my kids through an M&M system…but mostly we have played. 

We have played dress up.

We have played princesses:

We have played Kinect games:

We have played with Legos:

We have played Trouble.

And dominoes.

And Bingo.

And Duck, Duck 123.

We have worked puzzles.

We have had LOTS of tea parties with Anna’s “magic tea set.”  The cups turn dark pink when ice water is poured in them, which makes the water look pink.  My kids are amazed.  They even had magic tea with dinner tonight.

And we have read just about every book we own, including all of our scrapbooks.

We have eaten yummy pasta with homemade portobello sauce.  And we have ordered delicious ham and pineapple pizza.  And tonight, we enjoyed some wonderful clam chowder, sent home with Greg by sweet Mrs. Eydie from church.  After dinner, Anna and I baked homemade chocolate chip cookies, while Greg and Luke played the Kinect.  After we ate our cookies, Dad, Luke, and Anna worked a couple of puzzles before Greg had to go help start a youth event at church.

I’m sure there are other circumstances where all this home-dwelling would make me want to pull my hair out.  Right now, though, I am reveling in it.  I think part of the reason is that I just got a new guardian ad litem case.  In starting my investigation, I have been presented with a stark picture of what child neglect looks like, and what it leads to.  I think that pouring my love into my own children has been a kind of therapy for me, an antidote to the sadness and pain that I see in the lives of others.  I have thought a lot lately about the systems we put in place to protect the marginalized in our society, including the guardian ad litem system.  As powerful and as necessary as those systems are, they are not nearly as effective as the results to be gained by individual parents taking care of their own children.  When I think about such things, I come to the conclusion that the greatest good I can do in society is not to participate in its systems (though that does help).  Instead, the greatest good I can do is to raise my own kids and to pour love and attention into them.

I’m thankful for the opportunity I have had these last couple of days to do just that.

LOVE and Gymnastics

This week, Anna had her first gymnastics class. To say that she enjoyed it would be an understatement. She LOVED it!

This was the face she kept making before class whenever anyone (either me, the instructors, or Luke) asked her anything.

Luke was very supportive of his sister:).

I will now include a full play by play of her class for the benefit of Anna’s Gaga, who really wished she could have been there:).

Anna loved her teacher, Miss Gabby. When they all first sat in the circle, she was a little bit away from Miss Gabby. She inched continually closer until she was here:

Then the class was instructed to cover their eyes while Miss Gabby brought out a surprise (some balls). The picture quality isn’t great b/c I was taking them through glass.

Do you see Anna in this picture?:)

After they did some stuff with the balls, Miss Gabby got out a big parachute, and they did various activities with that:

Next, they went to centers. At the first center, Anna learned how to tumble.

At the next center, they monkey-walked along parallel bars, but first, they had to receive some instructions. Apparently, they were supposed to do that with their hands. At least, Anna isn’t the only one doing it!

At another center, they learned to swing on the bars.

And they learned something about jumping at yet another center. I’m just telling what I could deduce through the glass:).

They also had some free play, which Anna used to work on her tumbles:

It was a great class, made all the better by the surprise that our friend, Maddox, was in class, too. Afterward, we celebrated by heading to Chickfila and then to Target so Anna could spend her birthday money, which she graciously shared with Luke. We can’t wait until our next class!

Some Highlights From Today

So, today was not extremely eventful, but it did have several highlights. In fact, I have a list:

1. Anna jumping on Daddy this morning in bed.

2. Luke’s first “report card.” He got all plus signs, which is the highest of the three possible marks. The plus signs were for things like counting and writing, as well as for behavioral things like attentiveness. Here were the teachers’ comments:

He’s still in preschool, of course, so it’s not like this is a real report card, but it does mark the first time Luke has ever been evaluated, so I thought I’d record that.

3. This exchange at dinner:

Luke: Mom, I don’t want whipped cream on my dessert. I don’t like whipped cream.

Anna: [Looking at her half-eaten dessert which has whipped cream.] Mama, I don’t like whipped cream, either. I don’t want whipped cream on my dessert.

Me: That’s fine, Anna, then don’t eat it.

Anna: I don’t like whipped cream. [Pause] I’m going to have to eat it off.

Which she does. Hands free.

4. Listening to our neighbor, Charlotte, crack up while telling the story of Balaam’s donkey tonight, which she learned at church.

5. Having an accountability partner in my four year old son. Ever since the new year, where I resolved to do toning exercises on my exercise ball, Luke has been my faithful workout partner. He got a big ball that you bounce on from Charlotte for Christmas, and it has become his exercise ball. Tonight after we ate some cereal, Luke said, “OH, Mama! Do you know what we forgot to do? We forgot to work out our muscles! We need to exercise!” I was definitely planning on skipping that tonight b/c it was so late, but Luke said, “Mom, exercise is important.” So we exercised.

This picture refuses to turn sideways. I don’t know what its problem is.

Getting ready to do push-ups.

See? Nothing spectacular, but these are the little highlights that make up a typical day around here…

2011 Reading List

I always have a list of books that I want to read, and so I decided to write them all down somewhere so that I wouldn't forget them. Plus, I have found that blogging about things helps keep me accountable, and most of these books are books that I feel like should read, in addition to simply wanting to read them. So, hopefully I will get through all of them this year. In fact, I started this list shortly before the new year, and since then, I have already finished a couple of them. So, we're off to a decent start!

When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor...and Yourself--This book was recommended to me by a youth minister with whom I went to college. One of the side effects of reading the Bible last year was that I was really convicted about my responsibility as a Christian to help "the least of these." We just started a Community Outreach Ministry at my church, and I have been talking with several non-profit organizations about ways we can help them. At the same time, though, it is not my style to "go with my gut" when faced with a challenge:). Instead, I have felt the need to do some reading and research on the most effective ways to help other people. Greg got this book for me over Christmas, and I devoured it within 24 hours of receiving it. It was phenomenal. Revolutionary. Paradigm-shifting. If you are at all interested in helping the poor--whether it is your full-time job or whether you have simply had the thought that, "maybe as a Christian, I should help others in some way," then this book is for you. It's both deeply philosophical and incredibly practical. It is also very accessible, and it is a pretty quick read. I gave a copy to an elder at church who is very passionate about the Community Outreach Ministry, and he completely agrees with this assessment, if not more so. Seriously, everyone should read this book.

Compassion, Justice, and the Christian Life: Rethinking Ministry to the Poor--Okay, I can't ramble on about this one, because I haven't read it yet. But I did just order it on half.com.

Same Kind of Different As Me--My mother-in-law lent me this book shortly before we left her house at Christmas. Like When Helping Hurts, I devoured this one. It is riveting. It is the true story of a friendship between a homeless man and an international art dealer. The narrative is told from both of their perspectives, through alternating chapters. It is wrenching. And uplifting. And deeply Christian. I loved it.

Outcasts United--I plan on finishing this book in the next 24-hours for my own sanity. It is just too engrossing, and I can no longer live between my normal life and the world of this book. I need to finish the book and return to my normal life to stay:). It is the true story of this soccer team made up of refugees in a small, Georgia town. What makes it especially cool for me is not just the amazing story, but the fact that our youth group is going to work with this exact group of refugees this summer on our mission trip in Atlanta. This book is obviously great preparation for that experience, but even if I wasn't going on the trip, I think this book is eye-opening on so many levels.

The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer--I know, I know. It sounds horrible. But I can't wait to read this book. It has gotten great reviews. It is about something that affects so many people. And all the reviews swear up and down that it is absolutely fascinating and that it makes science accessible to the common man.

The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of Elements--So here's a little confession: I'm a sucker for books that claim to make science accessible to the common man. I have a secret desire to understand science, and it kills me that I just don't. And so, the idea of a book explaining science in the form of literature is like a little miracle to me. Like The Emperor of All Maladies, The Disappearing Spoon got rave reviews, and a recurring point in the reviews was that the author makes science both interesting and easy to understand. Yes, please!:)

Operation World--This book is arranged into 365 days. Each day covers a country, or a section of a country of the world. It gives geographic and demographic information on each country, as well as info on the mission efforts in that country. Each entry also discusses barriers to evangelism there, as well as successes. And it gives prayer requests for each country. The idea is to pray for the world every day, and by the end, you will have prayed specifically for every country in the world. I like that idea, and I think it will help raise my awareness and help me to think more globally.

Devotional Classics--This book was also intended to be a year long devotional, and as such, it is arranged into 52 readings, each by a different Christian author. Each reading has a brief introduction to the author, a three- to four-page selection from one of the author's most famous texts, a complementary Bible passage, and some discussion questions and reflection exercises. In 2010, I was very much immersed in current theology. This year, I want to broaden my scope a little bit, and to put people like Francis Chan and David Platt alongside older Christian thought. So far, I really love this book. Just this week, I was encouraged by Jonathan Edwards. Encouraged. By Jonathan Edwards. Mr. "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." I hated that sermon when I had to read it in Jr. High, but after reading this week's selection, I can actually see why he was so popular. Anyway...moving on...

The Cost of Discipleship--This classic book was given to me by a friend for my birthday. The first chapter was amazing. It is also by far the most famous. As for the rest, it is super, super, very, extremely challenging, not in form, but in content. Bonhoeffer walks you through the Sermon on the Mount, with a short chapter devoted to each thought in that sermon. If you have ever wondered what Jesus meant by all the crazy things He said in the Sermon, and have ever wondered what it would look like to unpack that radicalism, well, look no further than Bonhoeffer. Reading his take on it is deeply convicting, even as my brain comes up with some objections to his theories. In fact, I think that even he had objections to his theories. At one point, he maintains that violence by Christians is strictly prohibited. My response to Greg was, "Um...wasn't he part of a plot to assassinate Hitler?" Greg's response: "Yeah, but I think he was really conflicted on it." I'm sure he was. Nevertheless.... It is an interesting read, though.

His Excellency: George Washington--This poor book. I am determined to get through it, even though I get easily bogged down in it. It's not that long, and I really like Joseph Ellis, the author. But a history nerd friend of mine once observed that the best biographies are about people who kept journals. Reading this bio makes me see the truth of that statement. Washington not only failed to keep a journal, he also burned most of his correspondence, and was determined to hold his cards close to his chest, so to speak. That makes it hard to really delve into his personality, though Ellis certainly tries. Where I'm at, Washington has won the war and is about to be elected President. Must. finish. this. book.

Abigail Adams: A Life--I was just thinking that I might be ready to move past the Founding Fathers when Greg gave me this book for my birthday. So of course I'm going to read it:).

Madison and Jefferson--And my neighbor got me this one. So of course I'm going to read it, too:).

After the Gospels--I bought this book while studying in London, and I thought it would fit nicely with my interest in older Christian thought. A friend is borrowing it right now, and I don't think I'll get around to it until the fall, but we'll see. It's really short, and I am thinking that it will be a quick read.

The Autobiography of Mark Twain--Sheer curiosity makes me add this book to my list. Mark Twain wrote it before his death with instructions not to publish it for 100 years. Well, guess what? Last fall marked 100 years. Now we all get to read it:). This one might be a beach read.

Well, that's all I have. If you have any life-changing books to recommend, please do so. I'm always looking for a good read!

Things that Make Me Happy

1.  Finishing my 2010 Project Life album. 

As I told a friend at church, working on it reminds me that I have an amazing, wonderful life.  And actually, I have one more layout to do still, so I guess this is something that will make me happy, hopefully very soon.

2.  Taking pictures. 

I am so glad that doing Project 365 in 2009 instilled in me a habit of always having a camera nearby. 

This was taken on Feb. 16, 2009.

And this was taken on January 12, 2011.  When they both climbed on the fire truck at Toys R Us during a trip with Gaga this week, I immediately thought of my Project 365 photo from two years before and was quick to snap a comparison shot.  It’s amazing the difference that a couple of years makes!

3.  Listening to Luke trying to figure out the word, “incarcerated.”

On his new Toy Story video game, the toy telephone tells him that many of his friends have been “incarcerated” by Buzz throughout the room, and that Woody has to save them.  As he is running on his mission, Luke has made many pronouncements that he is going to free the “cooperated Slinky,” or the “incorporated Ham.”  He also once announced to Greg that, “Slinky is incarcerated.  So we have to carcerate him!”  None of these things are correct, and yet his knowledge of big words (apart from their definition, granted) and his apparent, rudimentary understanding of prefixes impresses me nevertheless.

4.  This:

Seriously, I think that my children sleeping on me might be the closest thing to heaven that I experience on earth.  Anna does not normally do this anymore, and Luke certainly doesn’t, so I relished it when she fell asleep in her car seat on Tuesday evening, and then stayed asleep when I got her out.  She has since repeated the act, and has also fallen asleep practically nose to nose with me while I was laying down in bed with her.   She is also in a huge “mommy” phase, and is constantly giving me hugs, kisses, and snuggles.  Like I said, heaven.

5.  Magic tea parties, and mornings that allow them.

For a little while there, my life just got busy.  As in, an emotionally unsustainable level of busy.  A level of busy where I saw the need to start preparing those close to me for my inevitable mental breakdown.  But thank goodness, things have slowed down a bit, and the result is that I have been able to do things this week like see a movie with my children (and Gaga), go on a date with my husband, and have a morning devoted to tea parties and train layouts.  I cannot tell you how happy that makes me.

6.  Emily

When Luke saw this picture on my camera, I said this to him:  “Do you know who that little girl was at the party at church?  Her name was Emily, and she was from China.  And she didn’t have a mommy or a daddy to take care of her.”  Luke looked quite concerned, and I continued:  “She lived in a big house called an orphanage, full of children who had no mommies and daddies.  And so do you know what Mrs. Shelia from church did?  She said to Emily, ‘I’ll be your mommy.’  And Mr. Keith said, ‘I’ll be your daddy!’  And so they went all the way to China to get her, and now they are her mommy and daddy and are going to take care of her always.”  From Luke’s big smile of relief at the end of the story, I think he got it.  I added, “It makes God so happy that they did that.”  And it makes me happy, too.

Anna’s Princess and Pirates Party

Anna Grace turned three on Monday, and I alternate between shock at how old she is and shock that she is not actually seven years old, like she seems to think! :)

I was seriously not on the ball for her party this year. I blame it on the fact that we traveled for Christmas, but I found myself realizing that it was less than two weeks before her party, that I had not invited anyone, and that I was currently in North Carolina! So…I decided to morph her “Princess Tea Party” into a “Princess and Pirate Party” and basically just send an evite to my Life Group. And our neighbors. And a couple people I subsequently happened to pass in the hall at church at the same time that I also happened to be thinking of the party. It was seriously very scattershot.

I made Anna’s cake (borrowing my neighbor’s cake plate), and it was much easier than the Buzz Lightyear cake! Thank goodness!

Princess crown and pirate sword fruit kabobs.

The décor

Our neighbor, baby Katie, is always a crowd favorite. For obvious reasons.

All the princesses came dressed up, but alas, Luke was the only pirate. Here he is, explaining how old Anna is.

The princesses enjoyed playing in Anna’s room….

…and then they posed for a picture before eating lunch!

Brothers. So cute!

Lunch time!

Anna was pleased as punch to have everyone sing to her!

It took her a few tries to blow out the candles…

…but she was quite proud of herself when she did!

After cake and ice cream, it was time for presents. I conned poor Greg into facilitating the present opening while I took pictures. He was quickly mobbed by children. I was quite amused by the whole process!

Anna got a Snow White dress from Gaga.

Everyone was very excited about these little princesses that Anna got. I love these pictures of Anna and Charlotte. They are such good buddies.

When my neighbor, Molly, sat down, she was immediately mobbed by babies. I include this picture for a few reasons: 1) Molly is adorable (and so are the babies). 2) She got a new haircut. Isn’t it cute? and 3) She makes fun of me for taking so many pictures, so it only seems fitting. Say cheese, Molly!

Time to play with the loot!

I love this picture of Abby relaxing with a cup of princess tea!

And lastly, photographic proof that I was there! We had a great time today and loved getting to celebrate our precious daughter’s birthday with such wonderful friends!