Michelle's impact on the ever-growing To-Do List: Minimal.
Bryan's attainment of his goal to finish putting the new engine in his car: Zilch.
Tonight we both stumbled upon roadblocks...I am increasingly fatigued and unmotivated, and Bryan just got over being sick. After finally getting back out to the garage, the engine that he thought was fixed was not fixed afterall so he is upset and back to square one.
Here is looking forward to a brighter (and more progressive) day tomorrow!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Gratitude and Selflessness
Last night I hosted dinner for three girls who live at a local Christian organization that takes in young girls who are pregnant. This organization provides a home and support for the girls as they go through their pregnancy. This home is free to the girls and helps them get hooked up to schooling, jobs, and other community agencies that can help them as they assimilate back into the real world after their babies are born, plus it provides in-house life-skills classes and Bible studies (of which I recently helped lead). Because I have family that volunteers here as well, I know the work that goes into funding and running this home.
I feel like I got to know the latest group of girls really well while I was in their home, teaching a lifeskills class. However, last night was an eye-opener to me once they came to my house. My heart broke as I listened to them tell stories of how they really disliked the house and felt bound by rules (the same rules that keep them from continuing to make poor choices). I chose to listen rather than say anything, and instead pray that soon they will come to their senses and realize the rewards and blessings of the mass effort going into providing this home for them. While they may be young now, I have a feeling that in a few short months their eyes will be opened and it will no longer be about them and the rules, and what they can or cannot do. And I pray they will come to appreciate what they (once) had.
This experience reminded me of the sweetest thing I saw on my way to school earlier in the week. It was a cold and rainy morning, and there was a little old man standing in his front yard, raising the American flag up his flagpole. His wife was standing in the shelter of the garage watching. It was the most beautiful thing I had seen on my way to work in a long time and it immediately put a smile on my face. Since then, I check every morning and on most mornings it is up (depending on the time). I wonder if this man is a veteran, and what drives his American pride, to put a flagpole in his front yard and raise and lower it each day?
Then I thought, "I wonder what he thinks of the way the world has become what it is today?". So many people are selfish and ungrateful for what we have, and I bet in this man's wise old age he knows a thing or two about the sacrifices that have gone into the country we are now destroying by greed and lots of ugly things. I know if I were him, I would probably feel hopeless (I already do, and I am not even that old or political) and I would feel like all the efforts were in vain. And I admit, I once was a lot more ungrateful than I am now. But then I married into a family that has two boys overseas serving the country right now and I learned right quick.
This week my mother-in-law sent an email, from which is the following excerpt: *This is not written by her, it was just forwarded from her.
"Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base.
I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. 'It will take you some time to reach the base.. It will be about time for a sandwich.
God Bless You.'
Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers.
As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals. It seemed so little...
A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America ' for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'
That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.'"
More than just the girls who were over last night for dinner, or the people who live in my neighborhood, or the members of my family, I wish all Americans held these same basic values and showed a little appreciation and respect for each other.
I feel like I got to know the latest group of girls really well while I was in their home, teaching a lifeskills class. However, last night was an eye-opener to me once they came to my house. My heart broke as I listened to them tell stories of how they really disliked the house and felt bound by rules (the same rules that keep them from continuing to make poor choices). I chose to listen rather than say anything, and instead pray that soon they will come to their senses and realize the rewards and blessings of the mass effort going into providing this home for them. While they may be young now, I have a feeling that in a few short months their eyes will be opened and it will no longer be about them and the rules, and what they can or cannot do. And I pray they will come to appreciate what they (once) had.
This experience reminded me of the sweetest thing I saw on my way to school earlier in the week. It was a cold and rainy morning, and there was a little old man standing in his front yard, raising the American flag up his flagpole. His wife was standing in the shelter of the garage watching. It was the most beautiful thing I had seen on my way to work in a long time and it immediately put a smile on my face. Since then, I check every morning and on most mornings it is up (depending on the time). I wonder if this man is a veteran, and what drives his American pride, to put a flagpole in his front yard and raise and lower it each day?
Then I thought, "I wonder what he thinks of the way the world has become what it is today?". So many people are selfish and ungrateful for what we have, and I bet in this man's wise old age he knows a thing or two about the sacrifices that have gone into the country we are now destroying by greed and lots of ugly things. I know if I were him, I would probably feel hopeless (I already do, and I am not even that old or political) and I would feel like all the efforts were in vain. And I admit, I once was a lot more ungrateful than I am now. But then I married into a family that has two boys overseas serving the country right now and I learned right quick.
This week my mother-in-law sent an email, from which is the following excerpt: *This is not written by her, it was just forwarded from her.
"Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base.
I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. 'It will take you some time to reach the base.. It will be about time for a sandwich.
God Bless You.'
Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers.
As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals. It seemed so little...
A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America ' for an amount of 'up to and including my life.'
That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.'"
More than just the girls who were over last night for dinner, or the people who live in my neighborhood, or the members of my family, I wish all Americans held these same basic values and showed a little appreciation and respect for each other.
Tuesday, February 23, 2010
Two Wolves
One evening an old Cherokee told his grandson about a battle that goes on inside people.
He said, "My son, the battle is between two wolves inside us all.
"One is Evil - It is anger, envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment,
inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
"The other is Good - It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness,
benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith."
The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather: "Which wolf wins?"
The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."
Monday, February 15, 2010
Happy Valentines Day!
We have had a super fun and super busy weekend, but first, Happy Valentine's Day!
(Sorry if I didn't send you a card!)
This is what we have been up to lately:
*I got a new haircolor and style that I love
*Melissa's daughter spent the night and hung out with Bryan
*I met my friend Liz downtown for breakfast at a cute place called Lovejoy Bakers
*I took Lilah to Pump It Up Jr. which I recommend to Nicole when they come next weekend! We had a blast! Everytime Lilah went down the slide at supersonic speeds she would say "I okay!". I even got to go down a couple of the bigger ones with her!
*Lilah and I played and napped while Uncle Bryan worked forever on Saturday. We also bought some coffee drinks at Albertsons to go with the personalized mug I ordered for him (it has our names and picture on it...for great personalized gifts go to personalizationmall.com...I think)
*Bryan and I went to Fairview to visit our friends Saturday night. Bryan fixed their Jeep with Bobby while Annie and I watched the Olympics. We got McFlurries on the way home!
*For Valentines, Bryan and I went to church, went to IHOP for brunch, saw the movie "Valentines Day" (super cute and also highly recommended), went on a walk in the park behind our house, went to Best Buy and bought this kickass laptop that I am breaking in as I type, and we had dinner at Old Spaghetti Factory (where we began dating nearly NINE years ago...we feel old). We finished out the evening with arcade games at Wunderland. All in all, we had a fun and busy day together with no interruptions from the outside world (which is rare).
*Today I kicked down my productive meter to minimal which is not unusual for a day off for me, it seems lately! But today was the first chance I had alone all weekend so I have been taking my time with laundry, emails, budgeting, cleaning, and I had a couple errands to run.
Now it is time to go to dinner with Bryan's parents and buy groceries!
I hope everyone has a great week!
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Making Light
This little girl in my class gives the class interesting updates on her home and family life all too often, and today she wrote this story about what God did for her family, and included a lovely before/after picture of Mom and Dad fighting. While it is sad, she is quite the spunky girl and she told me that her Mom was going to be mad at her for doing this, before she began to do it. But I think it is painfully honest and beautiful and hopefully Dad and Mom will learn a lesson from this little anecdote.
(Since it turned out hard to see, here is my spell-checked version of her message:
"He (God) stopped my mom and dad from divorcing twice. Also we just forgot all about it and went on with our lives. And we trusted God to take care of Mom and Dad and OUR WHOLE FAMILY."
Picture: Mom saying "Get out!" Dad saying "No!"
1 day later: Dad says "We forgave" Mom says " I love you".
(I told Bryan this is why you don't share too much with your kids!)
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Things are getting better...
This past week our computer busted and the budget wasn't looking too good. Well, I have someone looking at the computer now and someone who owed Bryan money paid up.So things are getting better on that front. And I am past all the work and parent bitching that comes with the end of the quarter, and we seem to have all gotten over the flu bug that was being passed around...
However, I still find myself in a slump and when I am at home on the weekends I find myself surrounded by clutter and the organizing project that I should've had done over Christmas break. My weekdays and weeknights have been consumed with work and volunteering though I will soon have some weeknights open again but wonder if I will have the energy to face the stacks of files and the cabinets in the garage that are overflowing? We have been here over a year and already I feel like we have grown out of the house (granted, the construction of the house really lacks in storage).
Then today it dawned on me that soon Spring will be here and with that comes outdoor work. So while it is cold and gray out now, I NEED to get the inside of my house taken care of because soon I will become occupied by endless weeds and trying to figure out how and what to plant outside. Luckily, work ended early last fall and for SOME reason I never had any leaves to rake up, even though we live underneath massive trees. Maybe a forgiving wind carried them away? Even though it is still early February, I can smell and taste spring in the air. We have had a pretty mild winter- I have only had to scrape ice off the car a couple times (on December mornings), but lately it has been relatively warm.
Usually I excell at cleaning and organizing (some who live with me may say I do it too much) so I don't know what my current deal is (maybe it has something to do with work and the other mentioned activities that are depleting my energy?). Now I am beginning to think about what I can't do and should really try to do, like cook (and plan recipes), mend my own clothes, repair my own items, and of course, garden. With this comes the age-old question of how to manage my time and do all this?? Its so hard to keep up! And then there are the hobbies I would like to do more of, like cardmaking, writing, framing/organizing pictures, reading....
Now I will think about this as I engage in another activity I have so called "dropped the ball on" recently: exercise. Its amazing I have not put 30 pounds back on with how lazy I have felt lately. But the sun is finally starting to peak through so maybe now is a good time to go, get some fresh air and re-group.
However, I still find myself in a slump and when I am at home on the weekends I find myself surrounded by clutter and the organizing project that I should've had done over Christmas break. My weekdays and weeknights have been consumed with work and volunteering though I will soon have some weeknights open again but wonder if I will have the energy to face the stacks of files and the cabinets in the garage that are overflowing? We have been here over a year and already I feel like we have grown out of the house (granted, the construction of the house really lacks in storage).
Then today it dawned on me that soon Spring will be here and with that comes outdoor work. So while it is cold and gray out now, I NEED to get the inside of my house taken care of because soon I will become occupied by endless weeds and trying to figure out how and what to plant outside. Luckily, work ended early last fall and for SOME reason I never had any leaves to rake up, even though we live underneath massive trees. Maybe a forgiving wind carried them away? Even though it is still early February, I can smell and taste spring in the air. We have had a pretty mild winter- I have only had to scrape ice off the car a couple times (on December mornings), but lately it has been relatively warm.
Usually I excell at cleaning and organizing (some who live with me may say I do it too much) so I don't know what my current deal is (maybe it has something to do with work and the other mentioned activities that are depleting my energy?). Now I am beginning to think about what I can't do and should really try to do, like cook (and plan recipes), mend my own clothes, repair my own items, and of course, garden. With this comes the age-old question of how to manage my time and do all this?? Its so hard to keep up! And then there are the hobbies I would like to do more of, like cardmaking, writing, framing/organizing pictures, reading....
Now I will think about this as I engage in another activity I have so called "dropped the ball on" recently: exercise. Its amazing I have not put 30 pounds back on with how lazy I have felt lately. But the sun is finally starting to peak through so maybe now is a good time to go, get some fresh air and re-group.
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