Funky Funky Funk Funk....

Please note, that is an "n" in the word above...and if you don't have kids under the age of 5 or cable TV (Jen), you may not have caught the "Yo Gabba Gabba" reference...if you don't get the reference, consider yourself lucky - it is about the most annoying show ever created...but I digress...

I've been in a kind of funk this week, not sure why...Mark tried to analyze it for me yesterday and everything he came up with didn't seem like "the" reason. I do this every once in awhile - not enough that I think merits medication or intense counseling or anything - just a funk...The main signs are that my house is a little dirtier, I'm a little less patient with my kids & husband, I cry more easily, I'm not eating as well...I was just thinking that its four years ago right around this time of year that we got Lora's diagnosis - maybe I have Spring Depression now because of that...who knows.

But, something that raised my spirits today...Mark dropped Lora and Will off at school this morning and I opened at Mosaic. When he came here to work with me, he had Lora's first school picture. Its funny because I've been a little nervous about getting it. When you have a non-perfect child (not that anyone has a perfect one...) things like pictures are hard. I forget about her issues a lot of times but a picture of her eyes brings it all back. This morning however, I was presented with a picture of a beautiful little girl with two eyes looking straight at the camera! (Granted, the right one is a little bit crossed, but barely noticable). She looks so cute in her bright pink glasses and little bobbed hair! She's such a joy (both of my kids are...I need to write a post about foxes, because Will has been lecturing me about them recently, that and Compassion/Empathy...) and she's doing so well. Mark said that this morning in the car she said to him, "Daddy, someday you're going to hear me on the radio. I don't know what I'll be singing, but someday you'll turn on the radio and there I'll be!" If that doesn't get a person out of a funk, I don't know what will....

Happy Mother's Day to me...

My kids (read Mark) got me the best Mother's Day presents and they insisted that I open them tonight...They got me some great gardening tools for the vegetable garden we're growing....they got me "Lars and the Real Girl" and "Juno" (two of the best movies out right now)....AND the DVD's for the WHOLE SERIES of GILMORE GIRLS!!! I love the Gilmore Girls! I am completely enamored with the Gilmore Girls! I rented the first five seasons on Netflix a couple of years ago and stayed up late every night watching them...there is something about the relationships, quick banter and plethora of pop culture references that just gets me...I've been wanting to own the series since the show ended this last year and so my sweet husband bought them for me...and then, he even watched 4 whole episodes with me...I am now on episode 6 - he's in bed...Did I mention that I love the Gilmore Girls???

Bring Me Your Plastic Bags...

So, in honor of Earth Day yesterday, I made a tote bag...a couple of months ago, at the doctor's office, I saw a lady knitting an interesting project...so, being a knitter, I asked her about it. She was knitting with strips of plastic made from her plastic grocery bags. So, I looked up a pattern on-line. I decided that, for some reason, crocheting with plastic seemed easier than knitting so I picked a crochet pattern and made a bag. The picture I've posted is not the one I made, its another pattern I found today that I like even better and will try to make next, but it gives you an idea...I was amazed by how strong the bag is, it would make a great Farmer's Market bag or grocery bag.

So, this is a plea for you to bring me your bags...I would love to make a reusable bag for you, if you want one....or I was thinking I could try to sell them on Etsy and give all the money to Kiva or something like that....I also think it would be fun to do a class at Mosaic on how to make your own...anyway DON'T throw away any more plastic bags, give them to me!!!

As Will said to me today "Mommy every day should be Earth Day!"

These are My People...

I haven’t blogged in awhile. Maybe I have writer’s block, which is weird since I’m not really a writer… I’ve actually been mulling some things over for the past couple of weeks. It all started when we went to the district meeting for our denomination a couple of weeks ago. I used to really enjoy these kind of meetings – for some weird reason – its kind of like a mini-family reunion where you get to see everyone… from the boy you dated in college, to the friend you went to both Summer youth camp and later college with, to the uncle you never get to see (in my case, its my real uncle – not a fake uncle if we were sticking with the “family reunion” metaphor). And I did see people that fit all three of those descriptions… A couple of years ago, I found myself liking these meeting less and less…I still really like the people I get to see, at least most of them…but as I’ve gotten older and deeper into this thing we call “ministry” I find myself getting more cynical and less Christ-like in these types of situations. I have to watch myself and what I say and how I act because I get frustrated – I mourn the fact that it SEEMS like even in our churches we are still holding up the empire to the detriment of the Kingdom. There is so much focus on numbers – mainly numbers of converts – that someone, like me, from a smallish church can come away feeling discouraged instead of encouraged. There are a few people that I really resonate with – like my friends from Church of the Undignified in Capitol Hill – but most, I have to be honest…I kept thinking to myself, “These are not my people”…I don’t feel like I “fit” there anymore. To be completely open, I came away feeling pretty tired and frustrated… We came home and after a break to recover, we went back to our routine on Monday. On Tuesday morning, I was back in Mosaic making Lattes and chatting with moms, business people, Tammy, the “usuals”…by Wednesday night, I was back in the swing of things. A lot of our regulars came in, S, C, D, K & S and their kids….I was sitting at a table talking with K, a young mother and UW student (she is super-smart, studying some sort of medical research that I will never understand) – but she’s also just a normal person, a mom, a wife – I don’t think she would identify herself as a Follower of Christ…but it hit me as we were talking about the bags I make and looking at etsy online…”THESE are my people”…my people are here, in this little corner of Seattle that I call home…They are a diverse group of funny, caring, crazy, imperfect, broken, annoying, wonderful people that I have been called to love and maybe even have the privilege of sharing with them the Jesus that I know. The One who loves them more than I could ever begin to – that wants them to have a full, wonderful life in His Kingdom both here on earth and after… I love my heritage…both my Wesleyan roots and more specifically the denomination that I was raised in. It was started on the streets, for the down-and-outers. I have a rich history of pastors and theologians and evangelists in my family that I am proud of…but I am also happy to know that my grandparents who are already gone would have “gotten” what we’re doing here in Wallinford…and the parents who raised me “get it”. They introduced me to what it looks like to be “A New Kind of Christian”…long before there was a book of that title… But back to that family reunion metaphor…I think we all have those people in our families that we only see at reunion times…that we talk to sort of awkwardly – we may not understand what they are talking about and they very definitely don’t understand what we’re saying…but, they are family and we love them…we’re just really glad that reunions only come once a year…or so… PS - Speaking of His Kingdom, the earth, A New Kind of Christian, etc…I was privileged to attend Brian McLaren’s “Everything Must Change” conference this weekend with RLG and her kid sister…it was incredible and challenging and scary and exciting…more on that later….

It Is Finished...

So you would think that on this Holy Good Friday, the above title would be in reference to our Lord's death, but no....



Lora is fully potty trained!!! Yeah! I am so excited, she's doing so well and has not had one accident for a week....she even seems almost ready to wear panties for bed too, she's been dry every morning. So, I am really excited to have that task overwith and happy that even though I waited for awhile... she's done.



Not trying to be sacreligious or anything, just excited about the progress!

A First...

So, with the downfall of Elliot Spitzer, the govenor of New York, who recently got caught in the prostitution scandel...there is a first in that state - actually two firsts. His lieutenant governor - so now the new governor of New York is the first black governor that state has ever had, which is a great thing. More interesting to me, however, is that he is also the first Legally Blind governor, I think ever in the US. I can't find that stat for sure, but I think he's the first.

An infection as a young child left him totally blind in his left eye and almost completely blind in his right. Which is basically the amount of sight that Lora seems to have only in the opposite eyes. I just find it inspiring to see someone with his challenges not only become the first blind Lieutenant Governor...but now governor of New York. I read an article about him talking about his ability to make speeches that contain numerous historical facts, statistics and details - without being able to read a tele-promptor. Very cool for someone with a blind child to see the success of other people with vision issues. Sadly, I hadn't heard about him before this recent scandel, but I'm glad that has brought him to my attention. I plan on following his progress as he takes over the governing of New York....

Princess Party

I promised that I would write a more glowing post about Lora and her birthday...here's a from her Princess party (I tried to load more, but Blogger was having problems). It was a lot of fun, she was darling...as always and had a great time with all of her "adult" friends. I asked her over and over if she wanted to invite her friends from school to which she always answered "no"...I consulted her teachers to find out if I needed to push her to invite her friends since social seems to be the only area that she's a little behind developmentally and they all told me to just count my blessings. So I asked her again the other day if she was SURE she didn't want any of her school friends to come to her party and she said "Okay, you can invite some of my friends, but only my invisible friends". So that is the reason there were only adults and older kids at her party, but she loved it....

Last week, Mark preached about Jesus healing the blind man in John 9. There was a readers theatre version of the passage shared and the opening went something like this (as I remember it)..."Jesus was asked by his disciples 'whose fault is it that this man was born blind, was it his sin or the sin of his parents' and Jesus answered 'it is no one's sin that caused this to happen, but through this, God's glory will be shown in this man's life'"...I had trouble the whole morning keeping my composure - in fact, I was supposed to sing a song that was all about the blind man being healed, etc...I say "supposed to sing" because I really hardly made it through the song...I cried all through Mark's sermon. I tried to analyze the reason for my tears and I really don't think, at this point, that it is sadness that hits me every once in awhile. Its emotion that isn't always happiness or joy at her situation - maybe just being overwhelmed. I'm overwhelmed by how well she's doing...at the person that she is already becoming, in spite of the challenges that she's been handed...I'm overwhelmed by the way that God's glory is already being shown in her life, in spite of her issues...She is a joy, no matter how strong-willed she is, she is brilliant, she is funny, she is beautiful and as she told us not long ago - I think she sees exactly what she is supposed to see....