October 9, 2008

Refreshing.

HeroBoy, asking for a piece of the gum King Pen and I were chewing the other day, extolled the wonders of peppermint. "It makes your voice smell so good!" he said.

It certainly does.

Child of Mine , The Daily | By WonderGirl | 10:27 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

Costumology

Well, it's that time of year again. Whoohoo! Halloween! This year, Czarina wants to be a Chinese Fighting Girl (which I love). She's got an authentic outfit from her uncle picked up on his travels to China, and I'm going to maker her a mask. HeroBoy wants to be Darth Vader, despite never seeing a single Star Wars movie. The Duke wants to be Batman, which is cute and easy because we already have half of that costume floating around here somewhere. And Chipmunk is completely at my mercy. Haven't decided on him yet, but I'm feeling creative. I wanna have fun with his, before he insists on being SpiderMan or a Power Ranger.

And of course, there's MY costume. What to be, what to be?

We'll trick-or-treat (cause we do that) Friday night in Monroe with some cousins, and then on Saturday, attend an All-Saint's Day Country Fair. It's going to be a GREAT weekend! Oh how I love October!

So, costumes. What are your kids gonna be-- and will you dress up, too? Do tell!!

The Daily | By WonderGirl | 10:18 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

October 7, 2008

Video Links

SNL had a really hilarious skit this past weekend about the Bail Out Package. It took some heavy shots at the politicians, CEOS, and high-rollers involved in this mess. You cannot find this video anymore-- it's been removed from the NBC site, from YouTube... it's disappeared. Conspiracy anyone? Anyway, some people downloaded it before it was buried, like this guy. Check it out- it's too funny. I'm still shocked that they put it together to begin with. Quite out of the ordinary. Anyway--

In the meantime, here is another skit that really tickled me. I don't know why, but I could not stop laughing over this one. Mark Wahlberg talks to Animals:

Alrightie then. Enough stalling, on with the day!

Link Dump | By WonderGirl | 10:10 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

October 5, 2008

Remember This

Tonight, I try to memorize her voice. I etch the sweetness of her high pitched, little girl cadence into my mind as she reads aloud about a unicorn named Twilight who helps to rescue a kitten named Sparkle. And when it is my turn to read, and the kitten faces the dangers of a barn fire, I can feel her heart overcome with concern. And my own is overcome with who she is right now, right in this instant. She is unicorns and kittens and rainbows... it is funny and precious, and I want to remember it exactly as it is.

I open all my senses, making myself a blank slate for her to write upon. I will my mind to make a perfect memory of her, exactly as she is at this moment. Her still squeaky voice, her shiny curls clean from a bath, her long limbs with all the bumps and bruises of a tomboy, her nimble and elegant fingers fluttering the pages... I call upon everything in me, the billions of neurons hard at work, to make no mistakes in recording my child. Please, help me, I say. This is the most important job you have.

Because, I know, oh how I know. I will want this back.

As much as I look forward to in her life, as proud as I am to see her moving and growing... I will want this back. I know it in my bones, as you know it in yours.

It is this thought that has helped me reach a decision about whether to keep blogging or not. This blog is a lot of things, but it's most important function in my life is as a Keeper. This is where I hide my treasures. This is where I squirrel away the good things in life, building up a stash of all the things I'll want back.

So, I'll keep writing. It may change tone a little. It may be less frequent. But what's here will matter to me in ten years, more than having a little extra time to read or jog or sew. I am not ready to stop writing, not when there is so much inspiration around me.

Child of Mine , My So Called Writing , The Daily | By WonderGirl | 9:41 PM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

October 3, 2008

Calling Your Congressman

isn't really so difficult. I have to admit, I had never done it before. Guess that doesn't reflect well on me, but it's true. From now on though, it will be my new hobby. I will be calling all. the. time. They're gonna be totally sick of me.

Anyway, so I called last week, and I was nervous as all get out. I can't say why- I mean, I'm a grown-up. I've operated a phone before. But, still, it was like calling up Emerald City and asking for the great and powerful wizard. I was suprised somebody actually ANSWERED! I expected an automated message center, or more likely, a busy signal. But no- I spoke with a real, live thirteen-year old intern person, who listened thoughtfully, took my name and number (carefully dotting the "i's" with little hearts, I'm sure), and promised to pass on my sentiments to the Congressman. (Right after they finish watching the end of Highschool Musical 3, of course.)

Well, then.

So, if I can do it, you can, too. Here is the link for phone numbers. It's really easy, takes about two minutes.

If you are against this bail-out bill, then call! Now! This is the way to stop it. It is scheduled for a vote at noonish, so you've still got time to make your thoughts known. This is how it works- we've got to participate in this process by letting our representatives know how we want to be represented, no matter what the issue is or how you stand on it. Now is the time to stir ourselves, not just one day in November every four years, ya know?

.

The Daily | By WonderGirl | 10:47 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)

October 2, 2008

School Room Glances

Now that you've seen my pupils, would you like to see my school room?

Continue reading "School Room Glances"

Child of Mine , Picture This , Teaching at the Table | By WonderGirl | 4:21 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

School Pictures

I'm just now getting around to posting our first day of school photos. I'm pairing them with the ones from last year, so you can see (and weep along with me over) how much they've grown in twelve months!!

Czarina this year:

Compared to last year:

HeroBoy this year:

Compared to last year:

The Duke this year (right before a much needed haircut. Yikes!):

And last year:

And last but not least, Chipmunk this year:

Twelve short months ago:

Child of Mine , Picture This | By WonderGirl | 3:58 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

October 1, 2008

Bail Out, Buy Out

If you, like me, have been trying for the last week to understand the basics of economics in this country... then are you also feeling disheartened? And angry?

I will admit that I do not pay much attention to politics. It is, quite often, a nauseating display of power and self-congratulatory garbage that I simply don't have time for. I vote for the candidate who seems most likely to uphold my values and ideas, and pray that God will work through them despite the rampant corruption and general untrustworthiness. It's not a great system, but it's what we've got.

But this week is different, I've been trying very hard to get a grasp of what's what. I've been in there, weeding through the muck, trying to follow what's happening.

And as a result, I am fuming.

I cheered when the bailout plan was voted down in the House, and I continue to hold that position. I am willing to do hard time now on Main Street-- I'd rather do that than shackle our children with this mess and take a step further into socialism. I hope the new, revised proposal gets voted down, too.

Which brings me to what's got my feathers ruffled. The new bill-- and how they've LOADED it down with earmarks for other programs, trying to buy enough votes from those who wouldn't vote yes the first time. How shady is that? I know they do it all the time, but it's WRONG! It's bribery- it's unethical-- it's a very dirty and low way of moving legislation. The ends do NOT justify the means, no matter how dire they believe (or want US to believe) the need. Let the bill stand alone, and DIE alone, because it's a bad bill!

Here are a few things that they've added on, hoping that a little Turkish Delight will be too much temptation for our Congressmen.

Film and Television Productions (Sec. 502)
- Wooden Arrows designed for use by children (Sec. 503)
- 6 page package of earmarks for litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident, Alaska (Sec. 504)

Tax earmark "extenders" in the bailout bill.
- Virgin Island and Puerto Rican Rum (Section 308)
- American Samoa (Sec. 309)
- Mine Rescue Teams (Sec. 310)
- Mine Safety Equipment (Sec. 311)
- Domestic Production Activities in Puerto Rico (Sec. 312)
- Indian Tribes (Sec. 314, 315)
- Railroads (Sec. 316)
- Auto Racing Tracks (317)
- District of Columbia (Sec. 322)
- Wool Research (Sec. 325)

Racing tracks? Are you kidding me? What the heck is this doing in the biggest, most important financial proposal in the history of our country? It's outrageous! We're already asked to spend $700 BILLION (a number that we cannot even truly fathom in our daily lives) and here they are tacking on MILLIONS more for ridiculous, inappropriate earmarks.

If I ever had any sliver of trust in those running our government... then it has been burned to ash over the events of the last week.

I do not pretend to understand everything there is to know about this. But I trust my instincts enough to say I believe this is a colossal mistake. I don't think that by not doing anything that the problem will go away. But I do believe that we're compounding it by trying to escape the consequences of bad choices. That never works. How do you ever learn anything, change anything, if you never have to account for your behavior? Yeah, it hurts learning things the hard way... but that's how we move to better places.

Okay, I just had to get all that off my chest. Sorry for the rant. Feel free to chime in-- wherever you stand on the issue. I'd like to know where you guys are with this, too.

| By WonderGirl | 1:39 PM | Comments (2) | TrackBack (0)

September 30, 2008

Fini?

Sorry I haven't been blogging lately. It's just... I got nothing! I mean, there are things to blog about, tons of them. But I don't seem to be interested in writing lately. I am busy, but that's nothing new, and it's not really the problem, either. I just sit at the computer, staring at the white screen and the cursor blinking... and I think, "eh."

I get that way sometimes, and I wonder if it means I'm done blogging. But then I always seem to swing back into it. It's just that this time, it's been this way for several months. Longer than it's ever gone before. I am wondering if that means I am truly cycling out of it--- which makes me really sad. I don't want to quit, honestly I don't. But my heart's not in it these days. I know you can see it too-- my posts have been pretty lackluster lately. And infrequent. I remember when I used to write every single day, sometimes twice in a day! Oh, the puppy love of blogging! I'm through the honeymoon... and now I'm left wondering if I'm gonna make it through the long haul. Five years is a long time-- my blog is no spring chicken. Is it time for retirement? What's the life cycle of a blog?

I'll have to give this some thought. Any other long-time bloggers out there know what I'm saying? What did you do when you get to this point?

Well, I'm off. In-laws are coming for a visit, school is waiting, and the house needs to be reassembled!

Don't worry, we'll chat this topic over some more. I'm not closing the doors here yet... just saying, I'm questioning if it's run it's course. Wah.

Okay, that's enough of that. Be back later.

The Daily | By WonderGirl | 9:49 AM | Comments (4) | TrackBack (0)

September 25, 2008

Dora's on Her Own

I'm busy typing away that last post, with Dora the Explorer on the tube beside me.

"Put the pumpkin in the wheelbarrow," she says emphatically from the screen.

"Why don't you do it YOURSELF?" yells HeroBoy in response.

"HeroBoy!" I say, swallowing back a shocked giggle, "That's not very nice!"

"Well, she never says PLEASE!"

He's got a point. Would it kill the girl to say por favor once in a while?

(Look at her, she's so busted.)

Child of Mine | By WonderGirl | 8:44 AM | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)

Financing Disaster

This is scary stuff. I watched the Presidential Address last night with my usual amount of skepticism anytime he speaks-- but this was different. With my skepticism was also horror--- that our government has reached so far. It is unrestrained, on the loose... wreaking havoc in America like a beast feeding on the people. And, even worse, telling us it's good for us. That's the sickest part of it it all!

It's hard not to lose hope.

Read Ron Paul's thoughts over at Lewrockwell.com. I can't help but think about how different R.P.'s response to this crisis would be than the current administration's.

| By WonderGirl | 8:34 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)

September 23, 2008

Hollows

Last night, I lay in bed, completely awash in anxiety and guilt and fear. It stalked me relentlessly, until I finally gave way, until my proud neck finally bent-- and I laid it all out before God in prayer.

Prayer is a bit too tidy a word for the blubbering, incoherent, desperate break-down of the early morning hours. It's amazing how wrenched your soul can be, when on the outside, only a few tears escape. How complete a camouflage these exterior shells can accomplish! But God knows the inner turmoil, He sees the anguish, the need, and He has an answer.

I had a very clear, absolute response from Him last night.

I have mentioned before, that I have guilt issues. I feel guilty over everything, and I'm so utterly sick of it. It's like carrying around a million pounds of chain, shackling and pulling on me, weighing me down, imprisoning me. It is particularly heavy in terms of motherhood-- I am plagued by guilt over my impatience and flaws as a mother. I am so afraid that I am doing it all wrong, that I am ruining them. At the end of the day, I lay in bed, and wonder how much I've messed them up. I think of all I didn't do that I needed to, or what I DID do, that I shouldn't have. I fall asleep, and often the last thought in my mind, is that here's another day I failed.

That's really awful, isn't it? I know it shouldn't be that way. But I can't seem to stop it. Even when I do well, even if we have a good day, I have a hard time not seeing some way in which I've let them down.

Well, I hate it. I'm sick to death of it. And last night, I just couldn't even put it into words, but I just dragged it out in front of God, and begged Him to take it from me. To burn away all the false guilt, the inaccurate perspectives and PRIDE (because isn't perfectionism, in some way, denial and arrogance on our parts?)-- and leave behind only the good and edifying urgings of the Holy Spirit. To take away the thoughts that discourage- leaving me with the ones that uplift and motivate...

And as the guilt came into clearer focus, what was real and what is not... I am left with still, a broken state. With false guilt melting away, then I can see what is truly, honestly in need of change. I see it, and with clarity comes grief. I cried out at my ineptitude, at my inadequacies. I asked Him, aren't You disappointed? Don't You regret entrusting me with these things? You're working with faulty material- how can you make anything GOOD of this?? I am defective.

And it is here, where my one-sided conversation became Divinely two-sided.

But I am sufficient, He responded.

He whispered it over and over-- I am God, and I am sufficient. To every self-deprecating remark, to every utterance of my failures and shortcomings, He said simply, I am sufficient. It doesn't matter what is wrong with you... because everything is right with Me.

I laid there, with my swiss-cheese soul, with the gaping holes and voids, the bottomless pits of my imperfections... and His words rushed in to fill every one of them. His sufficiency made me whole.

He poured out over me, and into me, finding all the hidden vacuums in my life, and said I AM HERE.

Oh.

How small my mortal words.

I slept, finally. I slept as a child, under the watchful eye of Someone Bigger, Someone Stronger, Someone who will never leave me or forsake me.

So today, when I see the deficiencies in my life, when I gaze into the countless hollows of my humanity-- I will see HIM, working, stabilizing, upholding... I will see His strength in my weakness.

And I will know I am not alone.

Spiritual Places | By WonderGirl | 10:14 AM | Comments (6) | TrackBack (0)

September 21, 2008

One Word To Rule Them All

(King Pen says nobody will get my LoTR pun. I disagree. He can't appreciate the broad NERD appeal of this blog the way you and I can. Heh. Anyway, on with the post.)

There is a collection of videos on Godtube about two types of Christians. The series is a parody of the Mac and PC commercials. The "PC" character is the traditional, conservative Christian. The "Mac" character is the new contemporary "Christ-Follower".

It is unflattering, of course, to the traditional Christian. Stuffy, formal, awkward-- dressed in a suit, totally uncool and uptight, basically clueless, and amazingly narrow-minded. Every bad stereotype rolled into one. The contemporary Christ Follower is much more enlightened in his casual wear, his mellow attitude, and bemusement at his counterpart. The role of the "Christ Follower" is to throw off the title "Christian" and all it's unpleasant connotations. As a matter of fact, the series is called "Christian No More", if I am reading that correctly.

I can understand the objective- to present to the world a brand of Christianity minus the hypocrisy and lack of grace and forgiveness and charity. Minus the SIN. To show the world JESUS, without all our own failings and ignorance getting in the way. But it doesn't work like that. It can't-- because we're fallen and imperfect. We can't escape our faults by changing our name from "Christian" to "Christ- Follower". T-shirts and flipflops in church won't elevate us above pride and hypocrisy. Hanging out in a sanctuary filled with couches instead of pews (yes, that's a real church in Dallas, I believe) doesn't make our worship more genuine and acceptable to God. Abandoning archiac "high-church" music and liturgy for the new, contemporary choruses and praise bands doesn't make it BETTER. It makes it different, which is a very diplomatic choice of words for me. We have watered down what could be a veritable FEAST of worship on Sundays in many contemporary services. I will not open that pandora's box on this blog, but I will say that I think much of the current worship lineup in a contemporary church is way off-base. Maybe I'll go into that later, if I'm feeling brave.

Anyway, my point is, it doesn't matter how much we redefine ourselves, it doesn't change the fact that what's wrong with Christianity isn't fixable by a name change. The church is full of sinners. It is, in fact, the very reason we gather-- our need for salvation, for forgiveness, for redemption. It is our sin that drives us to those doors, begging for entrance. Is it any wonder that you find the full spectrum of sin within it's walls?

To make Christianity more appealing to the world by saying you won't find those things with the NEW Christian, the Christ Follower... well, it's just a lie. It's false advertisement. It's nothing new, of course. . It's just that so many people are buying into the new idea of holy, so much so that anything else seems laughable, and that is a great tragedy. "Christ Followers" are separating themselves from something none of us can escape... sin.

We've been in a dozen churches in the last nine months looking for a place to move our membership. We've been to six different denominations. We've experienced the full range of services and theologies and fellowships... and I can tell you this, I've ready for a church home. It won't be perfect, it won't be filled to the brim with enlightened, self-actualized Christ Followers in jeans who all listen to U2 and have 5 o'clock shadows. It will be a body of believers united by their love for God, sharing in their desperate need for Him, seeking ways to glorify Him in their weaknesses. Christians.

And to my thinking, that's not such a bad thing to be a part of. I'll let God handle the PR.

Brotherly Love | By WonderGirl | 9:30 PM | Comments (8) | TrackBack (0)

September 18, 2008

Birth of a Blog Post

3 a.m. I'm sleeping peacefully, dreaming of no less than the gorgeous Destin beach. It's magnificent, y'all. I'm back on vacation again-- how much better can a dream get? When suddenly, I am snatched out of my slumber by the sounds of one of my children being eaten by a tiger. I know this, because of the horrific screeches and howling coming from the Duke's bedroom. So I abandon Dreamland Destin, and race to my poor helpless child's side in a surge of maternal fierceness. Mom to the rescue- back ye beastly fiend who seeks to devour my child!! I fly into his room, guns blazing.

Well, it turns out, he's just gotta potty.

Really? You let loose those ungodly screams because your bladder was a little bit full? I was pretty sure you were being eaten alive. 'Cause, ya know, that was the vibe you were giving off. Are you SURE there wasn't a man-eating, yellow-eyed predator eating you whole? No?

I left Destin for this, you know.

Gar.

So I get back in bed, thinking "oh, the wonderous, amazing, totally insane brain of a three year old. I gotta blog about that."

Then, because I accidentally noticed that it was 3 a.m. on the clock, I immediately get insomnia. I proceeded, for the next HOUR, to compose a lengthy essay on all the ways a three year old is absolutely nuts. I was wide awake- it was that weird hour that totally befuddled my body. Are we up? Am I done?, it asks. My composition was interrupted by arguements with my body, desperate pleas for sleep, and finally, a nagging, relentless sense that now I needed to get up for the bathroom.

I, of course, did not scream about it. 'Cause I'm considerate that way.

Anyway, after an hour or so of tossing and turning, I finally fall asleep again.

Do I dream of Destin again? Oh no. This time, I am a waitress, working double shifts at some rundown bar, and my feet hurt.

-sigh-

He is SO hearing about this when he has kids of his own.

PS... Oh, and that hour long post I composed in my head? Well, this is not it. I, of course, promptly forgot it the second I closed my eyes. Grr.

Child of Mine , The Daily | By WonderGirl | 10:03 AM | Comments (5) | TrackBack (0)