Always, Alli

… what about you?

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Last week our family happily gathered in the vicinity of the television so we could see what the Chinese had come up with for an opening ceremony. We were blown away by the technical and artistic aspects. I waited until the United States entered the Bird’s Nest and then gave in to sleep. The next morning I watched the lighting of the torch from the comfort of my laptop.

All day Saturday the television was turned to our one Olympic station (what you get when you give up super cable two weeks before the Olympics). We cheered on the US and made Fuller see that other sports exist except Football and Basketball. We looked up athlete profiles, noting the Bronze medalist who was a homeschooler. Damon continued his Olympic tradition of finding ALL the Auburn athletes and the events they are in. It was pretty easy since the Auburn website does all the work for him.

Sunday night we were glued to the television, watching pretty much all the primetime Olympic coverage. I went to bed soon after midnight and paid dearly for it the next day.

Then Monday came. We didn’t turn the TV on until 8 p.m. and puttered around while the Olympics flickered on the screen. I eventually succumbed to bed (hey, pregnant women love to sleep). And I missed one of the most amazing swim relays in US Olympic history. Sure, I’ve seen the replays a million times now, but really, I missed it.

Every night I get to bed a little bit earlier, and I always miss something. And eventually I have just stopped caring. Which makes me feel bad, but in the end, I have to say, it is all about me. I need my sleep, I need to keep my life going. Just because there are athletes on the other side of the world giving their best, doesn’t mean I need to stop doing my best by staying up late every night and trying to function the next day.

Anyone else an Olympic Loser?

Technorati Tags: Olympics, loser

I have been helping mom with sorting stuff, keeping my stomach contents in during the evenings, resting, and keeping Fuller occupied with entertainment… thus my lack of blogging.

I just get tired in the evenings and often go to bed with a sour stomach, so I just leave the writing until I feel like I have something important to say.

Helping mom go through papers, music, and crystal has been interesting. She found the receipt from my letter jacket purchase in 1993. It cost $211 total and was from the Balfour company. I remember Mom telling me I would get married in it. I didn’t get married in it, but I did wear it for many, many years. I still have it and might wear it again some day. Or some girl child might inherit it at some point. I thought it was cool to wear my mom’s class ring, someone might think it cool to wear a letter jacket from The Netherlands!

The other day we cleaned out Mom’s music cabinet. We unearthed several recorders which Fuller has found to be a delightful “insument” to play. There is a pile of music that is actually mine, so it will go to Chattanooga with me tomorrow. It was fun to see the sheet music from Christmases past, and remember singing songs of joy and worship in the different churches we were a part of through the years.

Today we do little things, getting ready for some work to be done in my mom’s basement (they have water issues) and pack for our trip tomorrow. Fuller has a friend coming to play for a few hours, which I think should help me not over do it and possibly be more of a help to my mom.

So, there it is. A little update. Anything else you want to know?

For this is what the Sovereign LORD says: I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. 12 As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness.
Ezekiel 34:11-12

God has been coming to me in music lately. Yesterday I was driving around town listening to Claire Holley sing “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” when I was struck by the lines:

O what peace we often forfeit,
O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry
everything to God in prayer.

It was like I was hearing the words for the first time. And it was really a wake up call for how I have been acting in these early weeks of pregnancy.

Any online pregnancy calendar, usually the daily ones, will say things like “Many women feel an increase in anxiety about now.” It is something I can really relate to because my anxiety increases about 200 times what it is normally. I worry about miscarriage, baby loss, defects, finances, chores, Mommy guilt, that one episode of ER I saw that one time (pick any of them that deal with pregnant women and babies), and who knows what else. Sometimes I feel like I am holding my breath until the next time I hear the baby’s heartbeat or see him/her on the ultrasound.

It is difficult to find a smile on my face in the first trimester.

When I heard those words being sung… peace… forfeit… needless pain… it was kind of like a slap in the face. How much needless pain had I been bringing on myself with my heightened anxiety? How come I was forfeiting peace by not offering up my concerns in prayer?

I keep it pretty much bottled up. And yet my anxiety bothers me more than morning sickness. I have a pill I can take for nausea. Why can’t I just sit quietly and pray about my concerns?

After my come to Jesus moment in the car yesterday, I immediately felt a peace. Today was much better, more productive than me sitting on the couch in terror of something going wrong.

Are you forfeiting peace? Take it to the Lord in prayer.

Technorati Tags: pregnancy, anxiety

Did you see the story about the 9 and 7 year old protesting the price of gas? It turns out their cable was the victim of family budget cutbacks due to the needed funds for the gas tank.

And while I admire the girls for their actions and realizing the severity of gas prices, I want to applaud the Vance family for taking more action than just using their car less.

The gas prices of today give me heart palpitations and sometimes, after I fill up the car, I don’t drive for an entire day thinking it will help keep some money in our wallet for a while longer. We take the bus more, drive in a more efficient manner, and try to pile all our errands into one big trip so we can lessen our car use. But what do you do once you have done everything you can?

Unfortunately it means taking a look at your family spending and seeing where you can cut back so you can still pay for the necessary things like shelter, food, and clothing. If that means cutting the cable, then so be it. In my mind, television is a luxury item.

Sure we use it and use it often (it is on right now), we enjoy the luxury of television. But if it comes to paying the cable bill and paying the grocery bill, I think cable is going to go. How many people think of it like that? How many people will ditch the Tivo, Netflix, or even the (gasp!) internet in order to rearrange their financial priorities to fill their gas tanks and pay the bills?

We used to swap luxuries in our house. During football season we had cable and used dial up for our internet. After football season was over, we went back to high speed internet and dropped the cable to extreme basic.

Let me know, do you think the internet is a luxury or a necessity? I am still on the luxury side of the fence. I haven’t utilized it to the potential of earning a paycheck from it and there is enough free wi-fi within walking distance that I could check my email every day if I wanted to. While I enjoy having answers at the tips of my fingers (thank you IMDB and Ask.com) I think my life would not suffer for lack of internet access.

Sure, our family would be sad to have to wait for updates and pictures, but I think (I hope) our families would respect our desire to pay the mortgage versus having access to 24 hour a day HGTV and YouTube.

So tell me: is the internet a luxury or a necessity?

I’ve been having fun taking pictures at VBS this week. Tomorrow though, I don’t have to be there, so I plan on dropping Fuller off and then taking off.

I’m a bit giddy about the time and how to spend it. The floor is open, please tell me what I should do with two hours by myself.

I have a rare quiet morning to myself, I almost don’t know exactly where to go from here. I could sit and fold laundry. I could quietly watch TV and sip my coffee. I could empty the dishwasher and put the chicken in the marinade.

Instead I find myself praying, being still, and contemplating the upcoming morning. Our church has VBS this week and while I was there yesterday taking pictures, today I participate by helping by leading a craft.

I have to admit I was harboring selfish thoughts of dropping my son off all week and leaving for five glorious mornings of “me time.” But volunteers were few, kids were plenty, and I said, “Ok, I’ll do the boat craft one morning.” Except I figured, if I’m going to do one, why not two, so I will be doing it today and Thursday.

The energy of the kids yesterday was fun to be around. It was hot and I was looking through my viewfinder for most of it, so I didn’t really catch the thrill. I was just happy to be near it.

My heart bubbled over with joy though that Fuller remembered the story of Jesus saying, “Follow me!” so I sit here and pray for the kids this morning, for the teachers, and for myself. I pray our hearts will bubble over with joy to hear the story of Jesus and the early days of his ministry, knowing it was His gift that gives me such a wonderful life now and in eternity.

I got behind on posting my book reports for keeping up with my New Year’s Resolution of reading one book a month. But! I am happy to say I have been keeping the resolution, having read one book in March and two books in April.

My book for March was Home to Holly Springs by Jan Karon. My mom sent me this book. I have read most of the Mitford Series, which feature Father Tim and his supporting cast of parish crazies. Home to Holly Springs is about Father Tim and his journey back to his boyhood town and discovering/ remembering the way it really was when he was growing up. He meets old friends and learns some shocking family secrets which make him a stronger and better man.

I enjoyed the book and look forward to more by Jan Karon. I might go back and pick up the Mitford Series again. They are quick reads, so they might do well in for lakeside reading.

In April I managed to read two books. The first is Tao of Fertility, which I already reviewed and was well received. The second book was Certain Girls by Jennifer Weiner.

Jennifer Weiner’s first book was Good in Bed. I read it and fell in love with her writing. I have read all of her other books, including The Guy Not Taken, a book of short stories.

I was excited to learn Certain Girls was the follow up to Good in Bed, picking up the story of Cannie Shapiro thirteen years later. Her daughter, Joy, is struggling with adolescence and is a second voice in the telling of their story.

The plot is a lot of teen angst, with some parallels from the first book. I found the dual voices to move the story along at a good pace. The ending was a real tear jerker, so if you decide to pick it up (and I think you might like it, even if you didn’t read Good in Bed) don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I have a book I am working on for May, so I might be able to get that review up sometime in June. But, I am up for suggestions on what else I should read in the future. My mom, sisters, and I usually read the same book during the summer and are currently looking for something. A Place Called Canterbury by Dudley Clendinen was at the front of the list when I last checked.

Anyone else have any suggestions?

Technorati Tags: book review, Jan Karon, Jennifer Weiner, Dudley Clendinen, summer reading

Your Slogan Should Be

Alli. What’s the Worst that Can Happen?

I found this slogan generator at New York Chica and thought I would try it out. My slogan: “What’s the Worst that Can Happen?”

I’ve been dealing with fear issues lately. At Mom’s Group when we journal and write out our prayer cards, one of my continual confessions is about fear. And yesterday I had a rather panicky afternoon after a phone call with my husband, where old fears were brought to the surface to plague me for a while.

Maybe I need to adopt this slogan to help me move away from areas where I am fearful. Because really, what is the worst that can happen?

Every morning I love checking my google reader and usually check out what the Shutter Sisters are up to. I find inspiration from the photos as well as the words.

Yesterday’s post was especially inspiring since we are leaving tomorrow to travel to The Lake for the weekend. If you check out my flickr, I have 14 sets in my Lake Martin collection (I made it this morning). And of course I will be adding more pictures to the collection in the coming months.

But, I want to make sure I get something different. I have been internally pouting over the fact that I will not have a coveted DSLR camera this summer and trying to keep the romance alive with my Canon Powershot S3. The Shutter Sisters blog post was a boost in the right direction. I need to find a different perspective with my picture taking, especially since I get a lot of the same Lake Martin shots every time we go.

But think of this as a challenge for you to do something different…a different perspective of a great memory that you can look back on and relish. The colors of the area, the locals, your children’s hands and feet constructing, or searching for that most perfect shell. The way the sunlight glowed at sunset in the face of your loved one, or, the first cup of coffee in the morning, wrapped in a blanket, watching the sunrise.

There are changes at The Lake since last summer- the kids are bigger and the water is higher. I’m sure I’ll be able to find the different perspective I’ll have to capture.

Technorati Tags: digital photography, Shutter Sisters, Canon Powershot S3, DSLR