They made it!

So my in-laws packed up their car Saturday night. I would say it's a bit full, no? In fact, I believe that packpack/water jug/pillow/bag is in the passenger seat, which is technically where my mother-in-law is supposed to sit. Hmm....

But regardless of their space restrictions, they have made it safely to Lincoln, NE. And now a new era of life begins for us.... 3 kids & no more free babysitters :( Oh, the sadness. No more free housecleaning :( Oh, the dirtiness. No more free cooking :( Oh, the starvation. They did contribute so much to our lives, but we're happy that they have the chance to move on with theirs, too. After all, I'm pretty sure slavery has been outlawed in the good ol' U.S. of A. So congratulations to them for finding a gig that pays! But we will miss them, come back to visit soon!

It's beginning to smell a lot like Christmas!

Well, most people would argue that it smells more like Thanksgiving, but I don't know any songs about that. I opened our pantry today, saw a leftover can of pumpkin from last year (don't worry, it doesn't expire until '09) and got a sudden hankerin' for Pumpkin Pie! I think it was all that talk about Christmas with the Jehovah's Witnesses that did it. So Sofia & I pulled out our ingredients and whipped us up a delighful combination of cinnamon, allspice & cloves (I love the smell of cinnamon & cloves!), topped off with a heathy portion of whipped cream. Yum! I lovelovelovelovelove fall, so it just made my day happy! Come soon, Fall!

My first witnessing experience

I had my first real witnessing experience today, only it was supposed to be me that was the witnessee, not the witnesser. We have this nice Jehovah's Witness lady that comes to our neighborhood with various partners every so often, only I'm usually on my way to the library when they come. But a few weeks ago, she left me with their book, What Does the Bible Really Teach? and I promised her I would add it to my study of Revelation.

I really did read parts of it, and found they have a lot more in common with us that I have previously been lead to believe--state of the dead, hell/purgatory, etc. When she came back Tuesday, we were on our way to the library again, but what the heck, I told her to come back Thursday so we could talk.

Very out of character for me. I don't talk to strangers (thanks for the lessons, mom!), and I don't talk about religion/spiritual things, and I certainly don't talk to strangers about religion/spiritual things!

So they showed up this morning, all three of them--my neighbhorhood Witness, Maggie, her daughter, and another church member (I'm terrible with names). I sent the kids to the park with vovo (grandpa) and we sat down to chat.

One of the things I found interesting about their beliefs was that they don't celebrate holidays, especially "religious" holidays like Christmas or Easter. I kind of agree with them on that for a variety of reasons. So we started out with that--let them see I have an open mind to new ideas, right?

They brought up the subject of Constantine changing "Christmas" to the pagan holiday on Dec. 25th, so we then kind of segued into the question of Sabbath, and how he was also responsible for changing Sabbath from Saturday to Sunday. Now, I'm not trying to convert anyone or anything, I have never had the opportunity to ask a non-Adventist why they don't keep Saturday as Sabbath. Let's say we had a spirited discussion. I think they were surprised at some of my questions & the verses I pointed out. My guess is the people they deal with usually need a more elementary guide to the Bible. Lucky (Thankfully, really) for me, I have had a renewed interest in studying the Bible, not for religious purposes, but for my own questions & spiritual growth, so I had a lot of stuff fresh in my mind.

So we went back & forth for about an hour or so. I don't think I've convinced them (yet), but they haven't convinced me either. I'm sure they'll be back. Actually, Maggie had brought me a book about Revelation, since I had mentioned last time that I was studying it on my own. So it'll be interesting to read their take on that bit of prophecy. Hopefully I won't have a panic attack and hide next time I see them. Again, anyone who knows me knows this whole scenario is not in my list of likely actions. But I will say it was quite interesting. I hope they weren't disappointed they didn't bring me into their fold. I think at the very least, I gave them some good practice.

P.S. Any local ladies interested in a weekly/bi-weekly Bible study group?? Might be nice to study among those who have the same belief system as I do, but anyone's welcome!

I hope they have a clown car!

So my in-laws are moving this weekend to Lincoln, Ne (brr-rrr!). They've packed up their goods, and are getting a storage unit for most of it, and putting the essentials in their car. They have a Kia Rio. This is what's left:

Yes, I said a Kia Rio. My father-in-law has remarkable packing skills, which he put to use for our trip from CA to TX, but I'm not sure even he can pull this one off. Pictured is just what we have left in the garage for them, it's not counting the stuff they have up in the guest room. Yikes.

What Child Labor Laws?

I've decided the kids need to start working for their room & board around here. I go through about 4 gallons of whole milk, 4 quarts of soy milk, and heaven only knows how many pounds of fishy crackers every week to feed these ravenous beasts. Not to mention the 8 or 9 loads of laundry every week. Or the hours spent picking up stray pieces of board puzzles throughout the house. Or the dozens of trash bags filled with dirty diapers. Or the hours of listening to sing-a-long songs with peppy tunes & clever (or not) lyrics. Or how many times I've been forced to see Dora's Animal's Adventures. Or the time spent looking for at least one freakin' chewy (pacifier) out of the dozen that we supposedly have (I think the boys eat them--they have to have gone somewhere!). Lots of reasons why I've decided my kids can't be freeloaders any more.


So I've put them to work cleaning windows. After all, it's their half-chewed gooey Dora snacks streaking down the once-gleaming glass. It's their PB & J handprints covering the once-sparkling front door (I can prove it--fingerprints don't lie). So make 'em work for it. That's my new policy. So if you happen to stop by my house and see Sofia pushing the lawnmower while boys are pulling weeds (and probably eating a few), don't call CPS on me. I'm just trying to make them earn their keep.

Devastation

My mom called me this morning with the news regarding Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman. For those who haven't heard, his five-year-old daughter Maria was killed Wednesday evening. She was struck in their driveway by an SUV driven by her teenage brother. You can read an article about this tragedy here.

This affects me on two levels. The first reaction is to the utter, unimaginable devastation that family is feeling for not only the loss of a child, but the guilt of the sibling. His life will never be the same. And to lose a beautiful daughter. Well, lets say I don't even want to comprehend that pain. My fervent prayers are with them today. May the Lord somehow comfort them. I just can't imagine.

The second level that affects me is the glut of pain we are experiencing in this world. I feel so much pain for the Chapman's loss.... but what about the 50,000+ people in China feeling that same excruciating pain? or the tens of thousands in Myanmar? It's easy to look at the horribly large numbers of dead in other countries, and withdraw emotionally from it. If we let each of those losses bring us so much pain, how could we function?

But I believe God feels each of those individual losses, even more than we feel for a loss within our own family. I cannot imagine God letting this mess go on much longer. He's got to be coming back soon. These tragedies have galvanized me--I have to do what I can to help Him come as soon as possible. Whatever the sacrifice, this pain and suffering has got to stop. Please, Lord, come quickly.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment

I was lucky enough to escape the house for a couple of hours, so I decided to stop by Kohl's and see if they had anything interesting. I wandered around aimlessly for a while. Well, not exactly aimlessly. I was checking out all the clearance items. I love Kohl's clearance. You can find some really good deals, if you know where to look. Any lucky me, since I worked for Kohl's for almost 4 years, I know where they tend to stash the good stuff. Helpful hint: troll the periphery. In almost every department, they will put their clearance items as far back as they can (excluding wallspace--that's prime real estate for retail), generally on an endcap. On my last visit, I found some Christmas wall art they must have found stashed in some dark recess of the backstock, for $2.00 each. During the Christmas season, they retailed for $34.99 (although you can generally get anything for 40-50% off at any given time). So now my new Christmas decorations are nestled in my garage, waiting for my second favorite season to arrive.

I went through pretty much the entire store without finding anything that struck my fancy. As I walked towards the front of the store, I passed by the swimsuit section. I must not have taken my medication, because I stopped to browse. I thought to myself, "Hmm... this is a really cute print. I've pretty much lost all of my pregnancy weight, so maybe it's time for a new swimsuit." In all fairness, I do need a new swimsuit (even though I go swimming maybe once a year). My current swimsuit I bought while I worked at Kohl's, even before I got married. Yes, that long ago. It has outlived its usefulness, but I hate swimsuit shopping, so I continue to use it, driving my husband to distraction.

So I peruse the "Juniors" section of the swimwear, because although I may be mother of three, I refuse to shop in the "old lady" section of swimwear. As much as I would like to wear a full-coverage swimsuit like they had back in the day, I have too much pride for that. So I start pulling off some two-piece suits.

You can tell that it's been a while since I've shopped for swimwear, because I figured I needed the size of swimsuit that I wear in my regular clothes. So I grab a few size 6s in several different styles & cuts and make my way to the fitting room.

I'm naively excited, because I really like the material & colors they are using these days. These swimsuits are super cute! And they I try to put the first one on.

I was fortunate enough to be facing the mirror as I began my attempt, so I got a full visual on my look of surprised horror as I squeezed my apparently-not-as-small-as-I-thought body. After I miraculously pulled it over my head and covered (part of) my torso, I had to check the tags again, thinking maybe I had grabbed a size 0 instead. No such luck. As I'm standing there with bulges and rolls of before-unnoticed fat protruding from this nicely patterned swimsuit top, I get the strange impression that I trying to wear one of Sofia's suits, all the while gasping for breath as this merciless scrap of spandex constricts my ribcage.

I glance at the matching bottoms.

There's no way.