for lack of wisdom…

For my regular readers you may or may not be wondering why I haven’t posted yet today, as I usually do on Friday.

I had my 4 wisdom teeth out yesterday, and today has been pretty rough.   So, even though I thought I’d be able to hammer out a post while feeling a bit miserable, I wasn’t able to until now.

So, my apologies.

And here are 4 quick reasons why getting your wisdom teeth out before you’re an “adult” is wise:

1) Your parents pay for it.

2) You have no responsibilities to manage while you’re feeling crumby.

3) By the time you’re an adult, you’ll either have forgotten most of it, or have a good story to tell.

4) And, if you get it done early, you won’t procrastinate about it later, when they’re causing you actual trouble.

I know, pretty lame post.  But what can I say, I am lacking in wisdom of late.  

If I’d have been really wise, I’d have planned my post ahead, as I sometimes do, then wouldn’t have come to this point of writing a short desperate little post about something no one really wants to hear about anyway.

Oh well.

10 ways to improve camping (for a non-camper like me)

We went camping on Memorial Day weekend.  

For pictures and another perspective on the trip check out Andy’s post.

It was just one night, with our small group.  It was a lot of fun; beautiful surroundings and even more importantly, wonderful people.  The kids had an awesome time, and would probably make our permanent home a tent if they could.  

I could forgo the tent part in a heartbeat.

So, having had a day to reflect on our camping experience I have come up with some important things to keep in mind for next time.  You see, I’m new to camping.  

And camping isn’t exactly my first idea of “fun”.  It’s something that I have to work at having fun at.  And I think it’s probably something worth working on, which is why I’ve decided to write this list down for future reference.

1) Always, always, always bring an air mattress.  We slept on the ground.  And using the word “slept” to describe what happened while laying in the tent all night long is a stretch.  More like, laid in uncomfortable pain for many hours with my eyes closed pretending to be asleep.  

I realize that having the air mattress won’t change the ongoing night noises of camping (which also hinder sleep for a very light sleeper like myself) but at least I’ll be awake on a soft surface.  

2) Pay careful attention to the Movement of the Group (or, MOG).  It can happen in a split second and you never know when the MOG will do something unexpected (which will inevitably turn out to be the most fun thing to happen on the whole trip). I have a keen ability to be doing my own thing when the group is on the move, potentially doing something that will be the defining momentous occasion of the trip.  

Multiple times I found myself not doing what everyone else was, and having no idea where everyone was or how to find them.  It wasn’t anyone else’s fault; I just really need to improve my “group-looks-like-it-might-be-ready-for-a-move-and-I-better-pay-attention radar.”

3) Don’t sweat putting up the tent.  If it doesn’t go up perfectly right away, it is not a reflection of poor life skills or a sign that Mr. TommyD and I have a dysfunctional marriage.  Tents are tricky.  Especially if it’s a borrowed tent.  Putting up and taking down the tent is not a race or timed event.  

4) Bring a bib.  For heaven’s sake, bring a bib!  

5)And while your at it bring a broom and dustpan too,

6) Oh, and some coffee.  Don’t forget the coffee.

7) Go ahead and wash your hair in the outdoor faucet by the campsite.  Who cares what people think?  I would have been a much happier camper if I had been a little cleaner on the second day.  

8) Related to #1, just forget about sleep.  I actually already knew this going into it, but somehow still got caught up in the hope for decent sleep when we went to bed fairly early.  (Actually, it was just me and all the kids in the group who went to bed early.. see #9)

#9) Be sure to study up on the What Every Parent Intuitively Knows To Do While Camping Handbook.  Which doesn’t exist.  Because everyone already knows it.  The piece of the protocol I was unaware of was that after everyone gets into their tents as though they are going to sleep (psyche-out!), they just stay there long enough to get their kids to sleep, then come out and have a good time together.  

Mr. TommyD informed me of this after I was situated with PJ’s on and about to drift off to “sleep” with the kids.  At this point I thought, “Oh, they’ll just be up for a tiny bit and go to bed.. if I get up, it will be just in time for everyone to head to bed.”  I kept thinking this every 15 minutes for the next hour or so.  

Next time, I’ll get that right.

#10) I actually don’t have a number 10.  Except to remind myself that, as with everything, it’s about the people.  Enjoy the people, enjoy our family and let the rest go.  I’m not going to win a “best camper” award.  I will probably always be a little bit out of my comfort zone while camping.  

But I do want to be about loving people, loving my family and being a happy and delighted child of God, if not always a “happy camper.”  And I couldn’t have asked for better company this weekend.  I got to witness four other amazing families enjoying each other and God’s creation.  

I got to get to know them a bit better and the more I know them, the more I love them.  I love that they take an interest in my kids and spur us on to be better parents and spouses.  And it was a chance to get to know something (ie camping) that my husband really enjoys, and through that, to get to know him a little better too. 

All in all, I say, “Bring it on.  I’m ready for next time.”

who needs a free press? O-TV has you covered.

Un-be-lieveable.

You’ve got to check out this article, by the bastion of balanced reporting, ABC news (tongue firmly in cheek).  

In April, the White House received a ladies’ basketball team from Connecticut, the winners of the NCAA championship.  After the formal event, the lady b-ball players and the President met up at the basketball court.  But the press wasn’t allowed to come.

I’m thinking, ah, no big deal.  Does the press need one more shot of the Pres. doing a great lay-up?

But then a “news” story was released after all.  By none other than The White House Press.  Very official looking too.   How do you spell propaganda?  I spell it w-h-i-t-e-h-o-u-s-e-p-r-e-s-s-n-e-w-s.  Its a long word, good thing I’m a great speller. 

So what’s the big deal?  I mean it was just a ladies’ basketball team.  It wasn’t anything important.  Who cares if the White House wants to play “press corps” in their spare time?  Frankly, I’d have been fine if it would have received no coverage at all.  So how’s this any different? 

Jake Tapper sums it up nicely in his article,

“It’s perfectly fine, of course, for the White House toput out its own version of events– but is it right to do so by preventing actual reporters from covering something?  (Even something like a pickup basketball game).

Do Obama White House officials think their media coverage isn’t flattering enough?

Is the goal to ultimately replace the pesky photographers who film what they want to and not what they’re told to (not to mention the annoying reporters who ask uncomfortable questions about, say, detainee policy and bank bailouts)?”

Well said Jake.  

I urge you to actually watch the “news” video the White House produced.  It’s a feel good report.  The theme is “Be a giver not a taker.”  Sounds great, right?  After all, it is more blessed to give than to receive.  But (and you may think I’m reading way too far into this) in our current political climate, is it cynical of me to think that this is just another way to shame people who don’t want to pay more taxes?

But whether I’m right on my perception of the subliminal message of the video really doesn’t matter.  The point is that the gov’t cannot be allowed to have exclusive rights to the press.  Whether it’s a basketball game or a meeting with important heads of state.

It’s this small hang-up I have with the first amendment. 

I hope this “White House Press News” gets put to death quickly.  I’m already sickened by the original O-TV (meaning Oprah).  I don’t need another one.  No thanks.

abortion: complex or painstakingly simple?

Our President recently said at his address to the graduating class at Notre Dame,

“Maybe we won’t agree on abortion, but we can still agree that this heart-wrenching decision for any woman is not made casually, it has both moral and spiritual dimensions.  

So let us work together to reduce the number of women seeking abortions, let’s reduce unintended pregnancies.  Let’s make adoption more available.  Let’s provide care and support for women who do carry their children to term.”

So let me get this straight.

We’re agreeing that the decision to abort a baby is not one to be made casually.  Why not?  And is a decision that has moral and spiritual dimensions.  What would those be?  I’d really really like to know what the President thinks the moral and spiritual dimensions of abortion are.  

Is part of the “moral dimension” that a woman is making a decision to kill?  Is it that a doctor is complicit and profiting from this decision to kill?  

And is the “spiritual dimension” that an eternal soul is being put to death?  And that there’s no one standing in the gap for this eternal being, created in the image of God?

If there’s nothing wrong with abortion, then why make it rare?  Why not have one casually?

As President Obama acknowledges the “moral and spiritual dimensions” of abortion and asks us to work at making it rare, pro-lifers can take heart.  In his desire to be all things to all voters, he is conceding important ground in the abortion “conversation.” (I really hate don’t like that term.  When it’s babies dying, having a “conversation” is not exactly high on my priority list, but rather, saving babies.  I digress).

After all, there’s nothing conversational or civil or calm or reasoned when a baby is killed.  It’s violent.  It’s brutal.  It’s painful.  It’s very very ugly. 

The new (or old and re-used) M.O. of abortion advocates or “pr0-choicers” as they prefer to be called, is to throw out words like, “complex” or “complicated” when describing the situation surrounding a woman choosing abortion.  As though trying to navigate a difficult (abusive even) relationship with a boyfriend or figuring out career and college and baby make killing understandable and “complex.”

Yes, real life is always complex.  Situations are always multi-faceted.  Abuse is real.  Relationships are hard.  And killing a baby is still always evil.  

Often when discussing the Civil War, someone will throw out the assertion that the Civil War wasn’t really about slavery, it was about state’s rights.  As though it was just some crazy coincidence that all the states concerned about state’s rights were also the ones who wanted to keep their slaves.

I support state’s rights, but the truth is that the Southern states were using “state’s rights” as a cover for doing something so wicked and immoral that it dwarfed the issue they were covering it up with.  It couldn’t be covered up.  

Neither can abortion be covered up by saying it is complex or pointing to the sad stories of the women getting them.  The evil being perpetrated so dwarfs the difficult circumstance surrounding it to make it null.  And I fear for and pity those who so strongly advocate for the “rights” of these women.  I do not speak with winsome softness towards them.  To do that would be to dishonor those sacrificed on the hard altar of convenience.

The cop-out, “I call myself pro-life, but I’m not comfortable with making abortion illegal,” just doesn’t work for me.  Slavery didn’t end because of people saying, “I’m anti-slavery, but I’m just not comfortable making it illegal.  Let’s just work to make slavery rare.”

One day, history will look at pro-choicers with the same disdainful wonderment that it now gazes at those who fought for slavery.  And to them I say, it’s not too late to change your mind.  And I pray that you will.  For your own sake and the sake of those dying.

a word from a 21-month old on saying thank you

Elianna is 21 months old.  

She’s cute.

With lots of personality.  

Whenever I do something for her, like get her some food or pick her up or find her a toy, she always says, “Thanks Mom.”  Pretty sweet.  Actually it’s more like, “Hanks Mahn.”  Think Jamaican sounding.  But I know what she means.  

She also gives wonderful hugs and sings a killer B-i-b-l-e.  But I digress.

The funniest thing about her “Thanks Mom,” or “Hanks Mahn,” if you will, is that she says it to everyone who does something for her.  Doesn’t matter who.  They get a “Hanks Mahn.”  Even though they obviously are not her mom.  Who knows how long this will last.  But for now, it’s a reminder of greater realities.

Because I think she’s hit upon something beautifully true of the Christian life.  Namely, that whenever someone does something for us, one of our responses should be, “Thanks Lord.”  And sometimes, we should even look that person right in the eye and say, “Thanks Lord.  Thank you Lord for my friend, Lynette, whom you have gifted to serve you in ways that I truly appreciate.”

Isn’t that what Paul did in his many letters?  He was frequently giving thanks to God for people.  The church in Philippi had done so much for him, financially and otherwise.  And he tells them,

“I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel for the first day until now.” 

Not that we cease to tell people direct thank-you’s.  Not at all.  

But wouldn’t it be encouraging to hear someone thank God instead of you at some point.  I think it would give me a greater sense of purpose in the Lord; an encouragement that I am His and am partaking in the glorious work He has for His children.

And sometimes it’s hard to feel like fixing food, or picking up toys, or wiping off the counter for the umteenth time this morning, or even teaching verses and disciplining with love, is a “bigger purpose” sort of thing to be thanked for.  But I’m hoping it is, and that my labor in the Lord for my little ones is not in vain.

does your pastor preach?

This past Sunday, Mother’s Day, our pastor gave a poignant intro to his sermon.

In this intro, he explained what he means by “preaching”.  I found it to be very helpful and foundational.  So many post-moderns aren’t used to being preached to.  To be sure, preaching has a very negative association attached to it.  But God has ordained and commanded preaching for the advancement of the Gospel and the growth and sanctification of His church.

We’re so much more used to lectures or talks or a series or even a testimony.

Here’s what Pastor John had to say:

So what do you think?  Does your pastor preach?  Or would you rather hear a relevant* 15 minute “talk” on how to… improve your finances, sex life, parenting, or productivity?

*Relevant is a subjective term.  I’m using it loosely, as I believe preaching the Word is much more eternally relevant than a how-to talk.

God’s goodness in chronic pain

Recently I was asked to give a short testimony of God’s goodness.  

Specifically I was asked to talk about an incident that happened last fall (before this blog was in existence) when I awoke in the middle of the night unable to turn my neck or pick up my head.  I had crippling pain in my neck and right arm.  I did talk a little bit about this instance, but I went back farther.  

I thought I’d give the cliff notes version here.

Back pain has been part of my life for a long time.  I ended up having back surgery when I was 18 at Mayo Clinic.  And the pain in my neck and arm started a few months after Seth (age 3) was born.  It improved after some PT and lifestyle changes, but returned again after Elianna’s birth.  

I employed similar methods as I did after Seth and improvement ensued.  It was a struggle, but manageable.  Then the extreme situation arose last fall when I literally could not move my head an inch or pick it up.  After about a week I had substantial improvement and eased back to normal life.  

But I still have pain in my neck and arm and have to be pretty careful what I do.  It’s not a severe pain.  It’s (usually) mild, but also fairly frequent.  Just as my low back problems were for years.

So here’s the take-home part of the testimony of God’s goodness I gave last tuesday to a group of moms: 

1)   God is good even during times of intense or chronic pain.  He is still ministering to His child in every detail.  Susannah Spurgeon was an invalid for much of her life and God provided specific and wonderful gifts to minister to her every need.  She says, 

“He who cares for all the works of his hand cares with infinite tenderness for the children of his love, and thinks nothing which concerns them too small or too trivial to notice.”

She was indulged by the Father with many tokens of His love for her, so specific and perfectly fitted for her, that she could not help but know they were gifts straight from His merciful hand.

2)   God’s goodness is manifested in how He draws us to greater reliance on Him through pain or illness.  Often, greater reliance on Him, means greater reliance on the Body of Christ around us.  It is a humbling experience to be forced to receive when we want to be the one giving.

3)   God’s goodness in chronic pain or illness affects those around the person afflicted as well.  If you know someone suffering with chronic pain, you have an opportunity to grow in the fruit of goodness. 

• Be good like the Savior by sympathizing with every weakness.  Are you a sympathetic person?  Can you empathize?  You need not have experienced it yourself to be the best comfort in the world to someone else.  Or are you always measuring how you handled a hardship compared to how someone else is?
• Be good like our Heavenly Father by giving good gifts.  Offer to help.  Offer to talk.  Listen to their story.  Don’t hear their suffering story as complaining, if it isn’t.  It may just be the facts.  And they may benefit from sharing them.

4)   God is good in chronic pain, because pain is a constant reminder of what’s to come.  It’s a constant reminder of the Gospel!  That Jesus has paid the price for our sin.  The very sin that is the root cause all sickness and pain and disease.  And one day he will redeem us from our sin-sickness.  Not only our personal sins, committed against God, that have been the reason Christ was nailed to the tree for us, but the sin in Adam that has caused this world to fall and has broken our bodies in the process. 

One day He will come again and we will have new bodies that will be fit to worship Him forever.  So, God is good in chronic pain, because pain brings us to the Gospel of Jesus Christ and reminds us of all to come.

the pics

Here are some pics of our vacash.  

We had a blast.  And we’re happy to be home.  Very happy to be back with the kiddos!  However, I think we missed them more than they missed us.  Figures.

 

The hotel upgraded our room to one with two, yes two, balconies! This is a pic from one of them!

 

Another one from the balcony.

Our first night on vacash.. out for a walk.

my view while blogging

more of my view.. a waterfall

 

that's me during my time alone..

my view on the beach

 

ice cream time!

 

mmmm it was good!

 

The last photo was quite unusual and funny.  There was a big crowd surrounding this guy who was teaching everyone dance moves to all the classic 80′s hits.  MC Hammer, Ice Ice Baby, Kung Fu Fighting, etc (although I don’t think Kung Fu was the 80′s).

We’re pretty sure he was a Disney employee, but it was a(n?) hilarious thing to come upon.  We gawked for while and then kept on going.  It looked like a fun job.

on vacation and lovin’ every minute of it!

Now, right off the bat some (if not all) of you are thinking, “What is she doing blogging on vacation!  Shouldn’t she be having fun, spending time with her husband?”  And yes, you’re right.  But let me do my explaining and justifying.

Tom and I (sans kids) are in Florida for 3 1/2 days.  He’s attending a conference for his business.  Ergo I have today from 9-5pm to myself.  I also had yesterday afternoon to myself.  

I am completely 100% autonomous.  It’s a strange feeling.  But wonderful.  (I speaking on a surface level here.. I’m not really autonomous, I belong to Jesus and do His bidding always; I’m just not doing what the kids or Tom want, I am choosing everything.)

So, I figure, I love to listen to music and be in the sun and read and blog, so that’s exactly what I’m doing.  I’m sitting by the pool, next to a waterfall.  I’ve got my Mac open and connected to the hotel’s wireless network.  

I’m listening to the Getty’s on our iTouch.  I”ve got one book by C.H. Spurgeon, one book by his wife, Susannah Spurgeon and my Bible in a stack next to me.  And I’ve got browsers open to Drudge and a couple great blogs.  

I couldn’t define a vacation any more perfectly for myself if I tried!  Tonight and tomorrow Tom will be free and we will do some exploring.  And I will love that.

But right now, I’m doing what I love to do while by myself.

And I do miss the kids terribly.  But I’m trusting that they’re having a great time and I’m enjoying this time we have by ourselves.  I will be with them again soon.

What would be your perfect vacation?

*I took pics of all my surroundings while I blog this.  I don’t have the cord to get them on the computer, so they will be forthcoming.