Mommy Brain

Here’s what I haven’t accomplished yet today, but should have:

– vacuuming the living room
– sweeping the dining room
– practicing worship songs for tonight’s team practice
– 3 loads of laundry spotted, washed, dried, and folded

Here’s what I have done:

– checked my e-mail and chatted with my sister and read through my blogroll
– filled up 200 water balloons and had a wild water fight with my kids

I think it was a day well spent. And it’s not over — so I’m off to try to check some more things off the first list. I hope you’re all enjoying your summer as much as I am!

Check out this from Randi at I Have to Say. Funny!

Christianity Today has ranked the top 10 Alien Invasion movies. For any other sci-fi fanatics out there — how do you think they did? I have to admit, I’ve only seen a few. I have a hard time with older sci-fi movies — I’m too distracted by the cheesy effects to enjoy the movie. But I love Independence Day. And Signs has to be one of the best — how can you beat Mel Gibson, theological overtones, and really freaky aliens? Also Joaquin Phoenix, who I think is one of the greatest young actors today. (Okay, maybe not that young compared to some, but he’s around my age, so that’s young, right?) I can’t wait to see War of the Worlds — Tom Cruise tabloid hype or not. So how many have you seen? Here’s their list: (You can click the link above to read the whole article with their commentary on each pick.)

10. Mars Attacks!
9. Men in Black
8. The Blob
7. The Day the Earth Stood Still
6. Predator
5. The Thing
4. Invasion of the Body Snatchers
3. The War of the Worlds
2. Independence Day
1. Signs

In essence, there is only one thing God asks of us — that we be men and women of prayer, people who live close to God, people for whom God is everything and for whom God is enough. That is the root of peace. We have that peace when the gracious God is all we seek. When we start seeking something besides Him, we lose it. As Merton said in the last public address before his death, “That is His call to us — simply to be people who are content to live close to Him and to renew the kind of life in which the closeness is felt and experienced.”

Brennan Manning in The Ragamuffin Gospel

Monday: took the oldest two to Vacation Bible School, ran errands, did housework

Tuesday: VBS, the park, tried to watch House, but storms took out our antenna

Wednesday: VBS, grocery shopping, lost phone and DSL service, parents night and chili dog feed at VBS

Thursday: VBS, two hours on the phone with Qwest trying to fix our DSL problem, the park, clean bathroom

Today: last day of VBS, catching up on my blog-reading since I was off-line yesterday, library, baking Noah’s birthday cake, laundry, off to Mom and Dad’s for dinner and a late Father’s Day celebration since Dad was away last weekend

Tomorrow: Noah’s birthday party, which includes cake and ice cream, presents, and a water balloon fight involving 9 children and 500 water balloons (and probably 3 daddies, too)

Sunday: church — some friends of ours who are missionaries to the Ukraine will be visiting with their two newly adopted Ukrainian children — and then I plan to crash and do nothing! (Until Monday comes, and we start all over again.)

I hope to post something more coherent and interesting at some point this weekend, but don’t hold your breath!

Have a great weekend!
Carrie

P.S. My bloodwork all came back normal. They ran labs to rule out cancer and lupus as possible causes of my pleurisy — so I’m thanking God!

We’re online again! And it only took him an hour and it did not require any actions with words like “re-format” or “re-configure” which seem to send him into fits. I’ll post something tomorrow. I was going to say “something wonderful”, but I’m not making any promises.

I’m posting this from my mom’s computer since our DSL is totally and completely messed up. Part of this is my fault and part of it is Qwest. Pray my husband doesn’t kill me! He’ll be working on it tonight to see if he can get it fixed. We lost phone and DSL service due to a storm, and he’s also been dealing with fixing problems at work on their computers and phone system. So the last thing he wanted to do was come home and fix ours. And remember, it’s day four with no chewing tobacco. And I’m still PMS-ing. Please pray he can get it fixed easily and doesn’t revert back to old habits due to stress. I won’t be able to reply to comments or e-mail until this is fixed. If it goes on a long time, I’ll borrow mom’s computer again, but it’s dial-up and slow. Just wanted you all to know so that you don’t think I’m ignoring you.

Have a great weekend!
Carrie

Kevin and I have been listening to the sermons of Mark Driscoll, pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. You can download his sermons in MP3 format free on their web site. I particularly like the fact that he chooses a book of the Bible and goes straight through it. The series we’re currently listening to is on Ecclesiastes. There are some great messages in this series. I feel bad saying it, but I have a hard time listening to our pastor preach. Don’t get me wrong, I love our church. But our current pastor, who has been here for three years now, has a style of preaching that is very bombastic. Almost like a stand-up comedian. I guess I would say too much performance and not enough substance. I can say this because I know he doesn’t read my blog (or probably even know what one is) and no one who does read my blog has any idea what church I go to, so I think I’m okay. (Except of course my mom, but she’s the assistant pastor, and she already knows how I feel!) Anyway, I think this is why we enjoy listening to Pastor Driscoll’s sermons so much. They are very rooted in the Word, full of meat.

The one I listened to yesterday had a section on prayer that was so good I wanted to share it. Now keep in mind, I transcribed this right off the CD, and most people don’t talk in precise grammar. So the grammar is kind of funky, but what he’s saying is so right.

“Your view of God determines your view of prayer. Many religions view God, or “the gods”, as capricious, or mean, or ill-tempered. And to get God or “the gods” to do what you want them to do, you have to sort of bend their arm; you’ve got to wrestle with Him, to get God to do something that you want Him to do. So you pray for a really long time and you pray really seriously, thinking, “God isn’t loving. God won’t necessarily answer my prayer. So I’ve got to find a way to sort of force Him into it.”

Now what the Bible says, what Jesus says, is that we should pray to God as our – what? As our Father. As our Father. And when you understand that God is a Father and that He treats you as loved children, does that not change the way that we pray? Of course it does.

We don’t need to pray looooooong prayers. How many of you grew up in those homes where on Thanksgiving your uncle would pray? And the food was cold and it was ruined by the time he got done with his “thees” and “thous” and “beseeches” and “therefores” and “untos” and…We don’t need long prayers. We don’t need formal prayers. What we need is to bring our requests to the Lord, as a loving Father, and speak respectfully and let Him know how we perceive that we need Him.

I’ve got three kids. I’ll tell you this if you don’t know anything about me: I love being a dad. I am all about being a dad. Last night, my son Zack – it was the middle of the night – he starts screaming, wakes up his brother. He’s freaking out. So I go in and pick him up and he’s in that middle-of-the-night crazy, insane, half-asleep scream fest. And I ask him, I say, “What happened, buddy, what happened?” And I’m holding him, he’s crying, and he can’t say anything ‘cause he’s basically insane at this point. And finally he tells me, he says, “My knee hurts!” I said, “Okay.” So I start rubbing his knee, and that wasn’t doing anything, and I said, “Show me exactly where it hurts.” And he points to his calf. He had a charley-horse in the middle of the night. He’d never had a charley-horse before, so he’s freaking out like it’s Armageddon come into his bedroom. So I pick him up, and he says, “Daddy, fix it!” Ya know, there was no “I beseech you, therefore, unto…” You get my point, right? I’m his dad; he’s my boy. I love my boy – I adore my kids. I love being Dad. All my son has to do is say, “Dad, fix it!” and that’s good enough for me.

“Well, I don’t know if you really mean it – that was pretty short. You had a dangling participle, I don’t’ know.” No! “I’m your dad, you’re my kid, just tell me and I’m on it, because I love you.” So I hold my son and I pray over him and I rub out the charley-horse on his leg, and I kiss him and I tuck him back into bed.

You and I worship that kind of God. We worship that kind of God! He is a Dad who loves His kids. And when we come to Him to pray, we need to speak to God as we would to our dad – respectfully, but it doesn’t need to be formal. It’s not a business transaction. And just because we use lots and lots and lots words doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to get our prayer answered. The answering of prayer is not because you and I can pray long-winded, erudite prayers that manipulate God. It’s us, His kids, asking a Father whether or not He will do something for us or teach us something. And just like every dad, He’ll say “yes” or “no”. It’s not that complicated.”

Good stuff, huh? I’m so glad we have a Father who loves us and cares for us and who always has good for us — even if we can’t see it right now.

My husband is trying to quit chewing tobacco — again — and I am PMS-ing. ‘Nuff said.

Loni at Journaling Through the Valley tagged me to answer the book meme that’s been going around. (Makes it sound like a flu, doesn’t it?)

Q. The most books I’ve ever owned?

This is tough. The last two years, I have sold many of my books on Half.com to raise money for homeschool books and supplies. Before I started selling, I probably had around 700. Of course, some were too good to sell. About 600 or so. So that’s how many we still have. This is a guess, though — I’m not very good at estimating, and there’s no way I’m going to go count them all!

Q. The last book I bought…

Our library had its semi-annual used book sale yesterday, and I picked up these for myself:

Breathing Lessons and Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant by Anne Tyler
Trinity by Leon Uris

and these for Natalie:

The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

Q. The last book I read…

B is For Burglar by Sue Grafton

Q. The five books that meant the most to me…

The Bible — I use the New American Standard for in-depth study, and the New Living Translation or the Message for daily reading.

He Chose the Nails by Max Lucado
I re-read this every year during Lent.

The Mystery of Marriage: Meditations on the Miracle by Mike Mason
Our pastor had us read this during pre-marital counseling and it’s the best book on marriage I’ve ever read — and I’ve read a bunch!

Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli
You mean I’m not the only one who loves Jesus with all my heart and still messes up? A lot and often? You mean I can actually be real with my Christian brothers and sisters and they might actually be real with me? Transforming book.

Trinity by Leon Uris
One of the few novels I love to read over and over again. The first time I had a crush on a fictional character was the first time I read this — Connor Larkin, what a man! On a more serious note, this book helped me understand my heritage. (My maiden name is Shannon, like the river.)

There are many more, but it said five and these were the first five that came to mind. If you like memes and books, feel free to answer on your site and leave me a comment so I can go check it out. I love reading about books almost as much as I love reading books!

I came across a link on Semicolon to a thought-provoking article called Let’s Have More Teen Pregnancy by Frederica Matthewes-Green.

“A pattern of late marriage may actually increase the rate of divorce. During that initial decade of physical adulthood, young people may not be getting married, but they’re still falling in love. They fall in love, and break up, and undergo terrible pain, but find that with time they get over it. They may do this many times. Gradually, they get used to it; they learn that they can give their hearts away, and take them back again; they learn to shield their hearts from access in the first place. They learn to approach a relationship with the goal of getting what they want, and keep their bags packed by the door. By the time they marry they may have had many opportunities to learn how to walk away from a promise. They’ve been training for divorce.”

Please don’t let the title of this article scare you off. She makes some very good points — things I have been thinking about a lot lately. When I was growing up, we were admonished to remain physical virgins until we were married by our parents, pastors, basically all adults. But we were never warned of the emotional damage incurred by falling in love or infatuation over and over again, then breaking up or being broken up with.

I am heartened by the courtship movement. I have been encouraging my children that as they grow up, they should not even consider “dating” someone unless he/she is a person that God would approve of as their spouse. Why should they date for the sake of dating? Why put our children in temptation’s way, and then expect them to emerge unscathed?

I wish I had saved myself for my husband. Not only did I not save myself physically, something I admit with heartbreak, but I did not save myself emotionally. I had fallen in deep love four times before I met Kevin. Each one of those relationships caused emotional scars. I do not believe we were made to give our hearts intimately over and over again. I understand that there are circumstances where this happens: unavoidable divorce and then remarriage, or losing a spouse and remarrying. I do not want to judge anyone in these situations. But I hope and pray that when my children open themselves up to that kind of love and intimacy, it is with a person that they desire for their spouse, and it is a person who loves and serves God with all his heart, mind, soul, and strength.

I’ve also seen the damage done by long engagements and delaying marriage. As she states in her article, our bodies were made to desire sexual reproduction. We become physically ready for this at puberty. (I am NOT saying people should start reproducing at age 10 or 12, so don’t freak out!) It used to be that the teen years were preparation for adulthood, and many people married before 21 or 22 years of age. This is no longer the case. People see no reason to marry — they are having sex, so why rush things, right?

My sister’s best friend comes to mind. She met her beloved at church when they were both 16. They waited to start courting until they were 18. Everyone saw their love for each other and their love for their Lord. They seemed made for each other. Their parents agreed. But the groom’s parents refused to bless the marriage until he had finished college. They kept themselves pure and eventually were married. But those years were long and torturous for them, and much resentment was stored up against the groom’s parents. Why make them wait? Many couples work their way through college and are perfectly happy. Why must they be financially comfortable before it is “acceptable” to marry? It used to be that young couples were expected to be “poor” or at least financially challenged. Their families and church families helped where they could, and the couple grew close to each other as they worked together and spent time together since there was no money to do anything else!

I can see that this is turning into a rant, and I’ve probably ruffled a few feathers. I know that we think 19 or 20 is young to marry. But my parents married at 19, and have remained married and committed for 37 years. Many people in their generation and the ones before them married young, and their marriages have much better track records than the ones in my generation, that’s for sure! All I know is that when our children meet someone who loves God and meets the criteria we have for a godly spouse, we will not demand that they have a year- or two-year long engagement. It is better to marry than to burn, right? Why prolong the period of temptation. My husband and I were only engaged for three months, and we didn’t make it.

Oh, well, enough from me. I encourage you to click the link and read the article. It will make you think.

Here’s a short, condensed version of our week:

Two trips to the library, groceries purchased, (some) housework done, lots of laundry washed and still waiting to be folded.

Went to a luncheon for my ladies’ Bible study group.

Took the kids to the park.

Noah and Jonathan both had sleepovers on Wednesday night with their respective best buddies. Natalie was feeling left out, so I let her stay up till 10:00 watching The Waltons: The Complete First Season on DVD with me.

Found out we can’t get Noah a pet turtle for his birthday. Here’s why. Maybe in a few years. So now we’re back to square one for a birthday present. Any suggestions — he’s turning 7 — would be appreciated. Keep in mind we live in a rural area, and Walmart is pretty much our only choice for kids’ stuff.

Spent some time with my dad before he left to be a counselor for five days at Royal Family Kids’ Camp.

Finished a baby afghan for some friends that work with Kevin whose first baby is due in two weeks and picked out yarn and a pattern for some friends whose second baby is due in September.

Watched House and The Closer (lovingly recorded for me by my dad, since we only get FOX with our antenna).

Finished B is for Burglar by Sue Grafton and made it halfway through Evensong by Gail Godwin.

Scheduled a V/Q scan and blood tests to further investigate what’s causing my pleurisy.

Talked on the phone to my sister Deb for an hour and my sister Andrea for an hour and a half.

If there’s anything else, I’ve forgotten it.

Up for this weekend:

The older three have been invited to ride in the back of our friend’s pick-up during the rodeo parade and toss out candy. Tomorrow afternoon we will be on Main Street, camera at the ready, waiting for them to go by. Hopefully the weather will be different than today or we will be huddled under umbrellas.

Saturday night I’m going to the drive-in (Yes, we’re one of the few places in our country that still has one!) to see Monster-in-Law with my mom.

Sunday will be breakfast in bed and gifts for Daddy. The kids decorated a mug for him and I got him this.

I love the “Blog This!” feature on my Google toolbar. The problem is that I see so many things I want to link to, or comment on, that I end up with all these drafts waiting to be finished. And then I have to have time to get back to them!

So, onto the great article I read on Christianity Today.

It’s Hard to Be Like Jesus by Philip Yancey

“In my visits to churches overseas, one difference from North American Christians stands out sharply: their view of hardship and suffering. We who live in an age of unprecedented comfort seem obsessed with the problem of pain. Skeptics mention it as a major roadblock to faith, and believers struggle to come to terms with it. Prayer meetings in the U.S. often focus on illnesses and requests for healing. Not so elsewhere.

I asked a man who visits unregistered house churches in China whether Christians there pray for a change in harsh government policies. After thinking for a moment, he replied that not once had he heard a Chinese Christian pray for relief.

‘They assume they’ll face opposition,’ he said. ‘They can’t imagine anything else.’ “

This article makes some wonderful points about Christian suffering and the attraction that prosperity doctrine holds for many Americans. Definitely go read it.

Off to clean the bathroom. Have a wonderful weekend!

I saw this meme over on Quiet Life and decided to answer here so I could post the full text of my favorite poem.

Appetizer
What’s one word or phrase that you use a lot? “Know what I mean?” My husband laughs at me when I really go on a rant, because I use this phrase over and over again to make sure he’s tracking with me.

Soup
Name something you always seem to put off until the last minute. folding laundry

Salad
What is your favorite poem? Do you know it by heart? Mary’s Song by Luci Shaw. I do not have it memorized.

Mary’s Song

Blue homespun and the bend of my breast keep warm this small hot star fallen to my arms.
(Rest…You who have had so far to come.)
Now nearness satisfies the body of God sweetly.
Quiet He lies whose vigor hurled a universe.
He sleeps whose eyelids have not closed before.
His breath (so slight it seems no breath at all) once ruffled the dark deeps to sprout a world.
Charmed by dove’s voices, the whisper of straw, He dreams, hearing no music from His other spheres.
Breath, mouth, ears, eyes… He is curtailed who overflowed all skies, all years.
Older than eternity, now He is new.
Now native to earth as I am, nailed to my poor planet, caught that I might be free,
Blind in my womb to know my darkness ended,
Brought to this birth for me to be new-born,
And for Him to see me mended, I must see Him torn.

Main Course
If you could be invisible for one day, how would you spend your time? reading, blogging, whatever I wanted to do with no interruptions

Dessert
Suggest a website you think readers of Quiet Life might enjoy. Atypical Life is one of my favorites.

Oops, I forgot to add this to the previous post (the childhood meme). Just wanted any of you I tagged to know that if you don’t like doing these things, please just ignore it! I like them occasionally, but I know many people don’t — not that there’s anything wrong with that! ~grin~

I’m having a very busy week, but hope to post something worth reading soon. Tomorrow’s Friday already!

I’ve been sitting at the computer for an hour now, reading through all the blogs on my blogroll and IM-ing my hubby at work. I opened a window to write a blog post, and it’s been sitting here for about half an hour. I keep clicking back to it, thinking surely some brilliant idea for a post will be forthcoming. No such luck. Then I clicked over to Shades of Pink, and found I’ve been tagged. Now I have something to write!

First, I am to name five things I miss from childhood.

1. Dump runs with my dad. We used to all pile into the front seat of his big pick-up truck and head to the dump. On the way home we would stop for ice cream or frozen yogurt. I especially liked the times I got to go alone — just Daddy and me. With three sisters, this was one of the few times I had him to myself.

2. Our tire swing. We had a huge maple next to our driveway, with large branches that gave our house wonderful shade in the summer. My dad hung a tire swing from it, and we spent countless hours swinging, twirling. I liked to go out with a book, and disappear into the worlds of Trixie Belden, or Anne with an “e”, or the March sisters, all the while keeping the swing going in lazy circles with my big toe.

3. Fourth of July celebrations. My mom’s family lived in Idaho, but most of my dad’s family lived somewhere in western Washington, where I grew up. The 4th was “our” holiday. (Thanksgiving and Christmas were always at Grandma and Grandaddy’s, and Easter was at my aunt and uncles.) We’d have tons of food and make homemade ice cream with a handcrank machine. Then when it got dark, we’d bundle up — western Washington nights aren’t that warm in the beginning of July — and watch the fireworks. Every family would spend what they had hoarded for this purpose and we would have boxes and boxes of fireworks. Dad would set up his step ladder, and the men of the family would take turns lighting off fountains from the top of it. It would last for hours. Grandma would always ask for a piece of paper to write down the names of her favorites so we could be sure to buy them for next year. And she always lost the list, but she’d do it again the next year.

4. Riding the train to visit my grandparents in Idaho. I loved riding those Amtrak trains. Maybe it was just traveling in general — the anticipation, the newness of it. We’d ride from the station near us, Mt. Vernon I think, and arrive in Spokane where Grammy and Gramper would pick us up and drive us to their home in St. Maries, Idaho. I’d always fall asleep in their car. I don’t know how many times we made this trip, but it’s one of the few memories of early childhood that is still fresh.

5. Camping at Hutchinson Creek. I’m not much for camping now, but I loved it as a kid. I’m not sure at what age I started hating the dirt and grime and discomforts. But when I was little, we’d camp just about every other weekend all summer long. I remember sitting at the picnic table, coloring with my sisters and reading to my Mom. She taught me to read at age 3 1/2 because I wanted to so badly, and I remember reading lessons next to our tent. My sisters and I would splash in that ice-cold creek and then sit around the campfire to warm up. I can still smell the coffee in the old percolator on the campstove, waking me up in the morning.

The rules:

Remove the first person from the following list, bump everyone up one spot and put your name in the number 5 spot. Please link all of the blogs as they are linked now or risk future blog-shunning.

MargiLowry.com
Subliminal Koolaid
Lady Mac
Shades of Pink
Mommy Brain

(I don’t read any of these blogs except Sheri at Shades of Pink, so I can’t vouch for the content. Please don’t leave me any comments scolding me for what you find there!)

Now, select four unsuspecting souls and add them to the list… so

Jo
Jenna
Christina
Carol

…it’s your turn!