November - Thankfulness

I know I know, lists are lazy writing. However, I've been so busy enjoying the things on this list I haven't taken the time to expound on my daily thankfulness here. Therefore:

Thirty days of Grateful in one shot - GO!

1. Jesus: for leading the way and loving me anyway
2. Dale: hunh, kinda like Jesus, minus the Evelasting Life Giver part plus a few Earthly delights (WHAT? We both enjoy goat cheese!)
3. Seth: for his lumbering, good spirits and the joy of watching him grow up
4. Skyler: for his witty sense of humor and always asking if I've had a good day
5. Paige: for her funny laugh and gentle heart
6. Naomi: for her artistry, love of reading, and cuddliness
7. My parents: for teaching me values and their constant support
8. My sister: for being my best friend
9. My church: for continuing to challenge and inspire and care
10. Our home: for the warm feelings experienced there and protection from the elements
11. My job: for the cash (let's be real) and for the daily opportunity to make a difference
12. My co-workers: for loving people over process and always helping out
13. My friends: for sharing laughs, tears and always making plans for more
14. Annual passes: even if we only go twice I feel like we've won the lottery a little (scratchers count)
15. Nature walks: nothing like a breath of fresh air, an adventure always waiting to happen
16. Story books: for expanding my mind while connecting me to the experience of others
17. Medical science: because it's just fascinating, plus it helps people
18. Adventure movies: I don't go to be bummed out or grossed out, thrill me!
19. Garden fresh produce: I can't believe we're still getting chard after a month of frosts!
20. Spices: it's amazing what one can do with cumin and nutmeg and a little creativity
21. Dessert: specifically ice cream, cheesecake and pie. And cookies. And cobbler...
22. Pandora: expanded our family tastes and keeps evolving
23. 12 hour lip gloss: for keeping the busy mom puckery-beautiful (ha!)
24. Tea: for providing lots of overseas jobs and replacing coffee in a mostly acceptable manner
25. My dog: because caring about an animal is good for the soul
26. Family game night: it's rare, but always interesting
27. Chocolate: nothing chocolate-flavored, but the real stuff can be a game changer in our home
28. Art supplies: I'm not crafty, but brushes and paper and pencils and pastels are full of possibility
29. The Internet: for so, so many reasons
30. Health, wealth, and ability to treasure all of the above

Happy Thanksgiving!

October 30 - When Dale Leaves Town

Right about the time my smart and incredibly devoted husband has to leave town for a few days is when:

- The printer dies, apparently unrevivable. Social studies reports and birthday invites are due.

- A child gets sick with some hideous, unidentifiable virus and the doctor recommends we "take him home and treat the symptoms (forever?!)". Sore throat and vomiting. Gross. Several days stuck at home so far.

- The children's father calls to notify me they have been exposed to lice through a family play mate. Awesome.

- The toilet clogs so thoroughly that it takes literally half an hour of plunging with multiple instruments to find the bottom again.

- It starts hailing, raining and snowing at the same time.

Yep, pretty much the end of the world. ;-)

September - My Sister had a Baby!!!

OK, this is a bit late, but is the first time I've had time and a few still-firing brain cells at the same time. Guess, what?! My darling sister, Lara, and her husband, Josh, had baby #2 and I actually got to be out in California for the whole adventure! Such an exciting blessing!

The timing was miraculous, because even in today's advanced medically technical world, we don't have complete control on baby arrival times. Plus I had to get a flight out there about a week before her actual due date and her doctor noted no marked progress leading up to my arrival. Just like my sister, with her extensive lists and researched plans (she had a notebook filled with "how my household runs" instructions, down to how to dice the veggies for her Bearded Dragon, completed before I got there) to pop out a perfectly timed and healthy baby!

Henry Marx Barrett entered the world on Saturday, September 29th at 2:29pm Pacific Time, to happy parental tears and gentle baby squeaks. Mama and baby were home and working out their family flow the next day!

I miss them all already!

October 8 - Next Steps

I'm thrilled to share an important next step in Skyler's life. Last weekend, he was baptised, in a grand celebration with our local family in attendance and some of our favorite pastors participating.

Truthfully, this move in my middle child's heart surprised me. Last year, when Seth took steps to be baptised, Skyler expressed interest. Then he found out it involved getting wet, in front of a crowd, with people he didn't know, plus had long-term spiritual implications, so he promptly backed out. He was only 8, so that made sense to me. This year when the schedule was annouced at church, I wasn't even thinking about Skyler's spiritual journey. I figured he was still too young to really "get it" and that was fine. Suddenly he announced one morning, "I want to be baptised next month."

"Really?" I questioned, with raised eyebrows, "Why?"

"Because I want to give my life to God."

Hunh. I guess I can't argue with that! I gave him every opportunity to back out, take another year or so to think about it. I made him rearrange his playmate schedule to accomodate taking the pre-wash class for youngsters. We talked in depth about sin and love and choices. He never wavered even a moment. Wow. As our good friend, Tim, pointed out, there's definitely something to be said for the "faith of a child".

While we all wish that baptism flipped some magic switch in us to become holy and blameless (aka, making perfect choices and always being wonderfully kind), alas spirituality doesn't work that way. Growth takes time and sometimes it's messy or we screw up. However, I'm grateful that Skyler has chosen to take steps in growing up in God. And we'll all be cheering him on along the way!

August ending - BUSY

Between three different instrument lessons, football practice schedules for my Rocket and Middle School players, small group weekly meetings, Dale's drum practices for church, back to school nights and teacher conferences, football games and movie nights, I figure we'll be sitting down to family dinner together sometime in November. Maybe Thanksgiving. Yeah, we'll make that the plan. We can share vegan gluten-free turkey substitute and mashed turnips (that's another blogpost) and practice our conversation skills.

Until then, look how much more room I, er, we have for activities! This chocolate fantasy puzzle has been on the table for four days straight so far!

June 21 - Buried in Bills

Medical bills, that is. And no one is even sick or old in this house!

Earlier this year my cancer doc urged me to go forward with the major girly part removal surgery this summer. (Everyone, sing along: ooo-ooo-oophorectomy, almost as fun as a haha-hysterical hysterectomy!) I was on board, well mostly, then I had a minor medical procedure and a PTSD hospital experience and freaked out. I'm pretty convinced my second marriage wouldn't survive a life-changing medical issue at this point.

It's a good thing I figured this out before signing up, because how can anyone ever afford medical care?! Between some basic well-care issues, my annual ovary check and a little physical therapy for Seth's coordination, we hit our deductible by March and I'm still on budget payoff plans for the rest of the year. We blew through our annual flexible spending account before June and still have 6 months of asthma medications to finance.

Somehow, despite significantly higher co-pays and premiums, our insurance seems to cover a smaller and smaller percentage of care. Which leaves us stuck holding the bills. What part of this situation is "better national health care coverage"?

May 26 - Birthday Girl!

Late post for my party girl, who turned 8 on May 26. We've been celebrating for about a month straight, from a shopping spree to a sleepover and spangly sparkle art projects.

Happy Birthday, Naomi!

Favorite color: blue
Favorite food: steak & macaroni & cheese from a box
Favorite subject in school: art
Career aspiration: artist or maybe a hair stylist (Mama's still lobbying for pediatrician)
Most annoying: my brothers!
Special skills: I'm pretty good with fashion & writing (maybe a journalist?)

We are blessed to have our energetic, creative Naomi in our lives! We love you!

May 17 - We Don't Do Bored

I like to know stuff. I am posting this for you all to remind me I don't have time to be bored. Just in case I become listless and forget.

Things I wish I knew a whole lot more about but never seem to have time to learn, in no particular order:


- Differential diagnosis. Yeah, I shoulda been a doctor.

- Playing the piano. Well.

- What herbs to grow for medicine and how to use them. Maybe I can be the local Medicine Woman instead.

- Quoting Psalms appropriately. Although Proverbs is much more my style.

- How to shoot a bow and arrow and hit a moving target.

- The true state of global climate change.

- Local and probably national politics. I'm accepting that the global scene is beyond my reach. Maybe.

- Where stray socks go when they're lost in the laundry.

- Outdoor survival skills. You can call me "FireStarter".

- How to use my phone for more than just text messages and Bakery Story.

I know. I'm weird. What do you wish you could learn?

May 16 - Water, Water Everywhere?

I have attempted to write this post a couple times, trying to sound intelligent and educated. I read articles. I looked up research and photos and charts. I couldn't quite pull it off, but the info is still worth sharing.

Some "fun facts" I learned from a National Geographic, uh, graphic (April 2010) while volunteering in Naomi's 2nd grade classroom last week:

- It takes 1857 gallons of water to produce 1 pound of beef.
- It takes 2900 gallons of water to produce 1 pair of blue jeans. Cotton is a water-intensive crop because of the water needed to dilute fertilizer waste.
- It takes 37 gallons of water to make 1 cup of coffee.
- It takes 9 gallons of water to make 1 cup of tea. Tea and coffee actually require the same amount of water to grow, but coffee produces less end product per acre.

This is based on the amount of virtual water needed, which includes amount drunk + what is used to grow feed + water used to clean the waste. Per expert scientists in the field, our efficiency in water use must double in the next 20 years in order to feed the growing global population. Water is already being calculated as a commodity, and it's export/import can affect trade decisions. We're currently blessed in this country with a positive export/import ratio, but we're pretty consumeristic and probably use more than our fair share.

Virtual Water Trade

So what does this mean for little me, who lives surrounded by marshes and lakes and really likes long, hot showers sometimes? I'm going with a little education and awareness is a good place to start. You can even go here and approximate your own water footprint (although I didn't find it that personally helpful). I guess it gives me one more reason to switch to tea.

May 13 - Mom's Day

This year, I arranged my celebration in advance, on Saturday. Sometimes a girl has to take responsibility for her own happiness, right? I made pancakes and sausage and grits for breakfast, then hauled the kids off to the movie theater for an Avengers adventure. (Awesome! by the way) We jetted out of there, grabbed gourmet Taco Bell, and headed for swimming fun at the Y. Next we zipped downtown to Metro Run & Walk. Mama needs new running shoes. Just enough time left to pick up new workout clothes and a sporty watch at Target before we slid into the 5 o'clock church service. Then home to make pasta and veggies for dinner, and read Hunger Games for a bedtime story.

I got to spend the whole day doing stuff I like with 3 kids I am totally in love with. How awesome is that?

I'd insert a really cool picture of their smiley faces here, except they're currently in a non-photogenic phase. As in, they don't hold still long enough in the same place for a camera to actually capture them. I have a load of fuzzy pictures of the backs of heads if you're interested.

May 11 - Second Chances

I've watched this promo about 10 times, and every time I get chills and teary at the same time. I have been given so many gifts of Second Chances already in my life, and the Twitter hashtag traffic around #SecondChances gives me goose bumps. Of course I had to give my friend, Tim, a bit of ribbing for being so spooky in the video. I'm looking forward to this series. Want to come too?

May 9 - More Strengths

In pondering strength a few days ago, I started thinking about all the other forms of strength besides building up muscle. Last weekend in church, Phil Cooke, a Christian and modern media guru, challenged us to find our strengths and join God's story. It's worth checking out here.

Basically, he noted that we fail primarily as a result of distraction in life, through doubt, temptation, overstimulation, etc.

Staying focused on our unique purpose can save each of us the angst of ultimate failure. He gave us four questions to ponder, and I thought I'd share them.

- What comes easy for you?
- What do you love?
- What drives you nuts?
- What do you want to leave behind?

I'm spending more time this week examining what God has wired me to do and regaining focus. I'd love to hear from others what this might mean to you. Yeah, I'm talking to you Arin and Lara. ;-)

May 7 - Strength - Use It or Lose It

A couple weekends ago, I spent hours and hours studying the science and research behind strength training with the brilliant Dr. Wendy Anemaet. I won't tire you with weeks worth of info, but rest assured that I feel smarter. And the next time your family member or friend whines about an achy back or fatigue, you should also know that your local physical therapist probably has something helpful and intelligent to say about that. (In a specific clinical setting, after professionally evaluating the problem, of course. No one wants to be held responsible for drive-by diagnosis and treatment.)

I thought I would share a few interesting items that are applicable to all of us. Resistance training can take many forms - we've all seen the sexy exercise bands and kettle bells - but the effects can be very helpful in preventing loss of function. Basically, the goals include increasing muscle mass, strength, power and endurance. So what's the big deal if I don't want to get all PUMPED up?

Here's the bottom line: physically inactive adults lose 3-5% of muscle mass per year after age 30. Yeah, uh, and they're not really losing weight till they get past 70 so... Yikes!

While there are definitely some intrinsic factors in muscle loss as we age, like decreased hormones and increased oxidative stress (more free radicals in the system), there are also factors that we can choose to change. Two of the primary ones we addressed were 1) nutritional balance with appropriate protein intake and 2) increased activity level incorporating resistance exercise.

There are about a zillion websites with suggestions and sexy pictures and "buy now entry-level" fees. It's overwhelming at best, and potentially dangerous. I think the first step is just to be aware of the importance of exercise and pay attention to your body. We may not all be triathletes, but any step above sedentary can help. Here's one way to start. Remember, our bodies really are designed to Move It or Lose It.

Technology Evades Us

Oh My Word. Check us out. We're just like the little old couple on YouTube who can't figure out how to Skype! Hahaha. At least we're cute.

April 7 - Happy Easter!

What a beautiful celebration at Granger Community Church this Easter weekend! Dale drummed up a storm at 5 services and over 250 people were baptised. Hallelujah!

He is risen, indeed!

March 20 - Spring Sprang

Oh my word. Wasn't this just last week?!

And now we're here!

The blue birds are already nesting in our back yard. I'd better photograph the daffodils and forsythia before they're gone!

Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun, and we shall soon see the results of their love! -Sitting Bull

Happy Spring!

March 17 - Celebrating Green Day

As far as we know, no Irish blood flows in our family ancestry, so my kids were confused about why St. Patrick's Day exists as a holiday at all. Plus we're not corned beef or cabbage fans. (Well, Dale was bummed about missing out on "bangers 'n mashers", perhaps he's Irish-ish, but he worked all weekend through most of the festivities.)

Without extensively digging into the roots of Christianity in Ireland, we spent today enjoying the early greening of Michigan and looking for Leprechauns.

I don't like to get too hung up on what's real or appropriately Christian. Let's look for God all around this world He's given us, and any reason to celebrate seems like a good idea to me. You never know where the rainbow will lead.

February 27 - Welcome to Teen-age-dom!

Today marks the 13th birthday of my oldest and tallest son. Happy birthday, handsome!


Some stats of interest:
Favorite food: fried pierogies & ice cream
Height: 5'9 Weight: 130 lbs Shoe size:13
Current popular hobby: NCAA XBOX football, however, being currently grounded from screen time, he has resorted to finger football with bracket printouts and everything.
Seventh grade honor roll & successful completion of the ACT college entrance exam.

Happy Birthday, Seth!

February 7 - Stoned

A few weeks ago, I totally got stoned in church. That's right, and no artificial or illegal substances were involved.

Our lead pastor has been intentional about honoring volunteers, an essential part of ministry, for decades, but it had been a while since the last celebration. I knew that was on the agenda and was excited about the arts and fun involved for the January weekend services. In all honesty, it was probably the first time I was entirely enjoying celebrating others without thinking about what I do that might be noteworthy.

That is, until I heard: "This young lady is the heart and voice behind a key communication component of GCC - she has been answering the emails that come into info@gccwired.com for over 10 years..."

Crap! I think that's me?!? I didn't hear much of what else was said, because of the pounding in my ears and the whole reminding myself to breathe thing, but I did hear "and she loves Jesus and we love her." Even as I type this, I feel that love and smiley tears block my vision.

Pardon me while I compose myself. Ahem.

Anyway, my amazing husband wrote a much smarter post about the event, but I just wanted to take a moment to process how life is full of marvelous surprises. Thirty+ people were recognized over six services on two campuses. I am so honored to be doing life with my church, and so blessed to call these people my friends. My wish is that everyone will have the opportunity for this joy.

January 25 - Spiritual Gift Return Policy

Let me preface this post by acknowledging that I have zero theological scholarship credentials. I believe in God, I've been raised in and around religion, I've read the Bible (at least twice, haha). Beyond that, I claim no expertise.

Through decades of exposure and pressing in for spiritual growth, reading books and taking inventories, I have searched for God's purpose in my life. "Yes, Lord, but what do you want me to do?" I hoped somehow it would magically appear as a clear formula and tah-dah, productive spiritual life would begin.That hasn't exactly happened. Maybe you have the direct line to heaven, but I have to pray and think and process and read and discuss and take notes and pray some more, then finally take a baby step.

Anyway, through this process, I think I actually figured out my spiritual Gift. You know, that one thing you couldn't do without God, that may be out of your comfort zone, but definitely puts you in a position to further the Kingdom. Well, I think mine is empathy. And sometimes I'd really like to re-gift it. Particularly when I'm in a crowded church service, personally in a great space, and Can't. Stop. Crying. Because life is so hard, and people are so beautiful, and their journeys are so meaningful, and I feel it all around me moving. This is where my human self turns up her nose and rolls her eyes. This is where I'm certain the earthly me conflicts with who God has gifted me to be. And, boy, is that ever uncomfortable!

Why can't we pick our own gifts? I'd really like to be more charitable and discerning, for example. Or how cool would it be to have the gift of interpretation of tongues? Or spontaneously heal people?

Oh well. Despite my selfish leanings, I haven't figured out how to give this present back. So, if you ever need someone to cry with, to feel your pain, give me a call. I'm learning to lean in and be grateful my heart still works.

January 23 - Snow Day?

Seriously, what kind of "winter" is this rainy mess today? The gray damp penetrates to my bones, making me feel like one of my octogenarian patients instead of a thriving, vivacious Mama who still thinks she's cute in snow pants and a fluffy hat.
I'm glad we got to spend a little time outside this weekend, playing winter. Warren Dunes is my favorite sledding spot. Never mind that you have to bring your own thermos of hot chocolate and trudge uphill dragging your plastic ride. No lines, no fees (annual pass is $10 as part of my vehicle registration renewal), spectacular views, and infinite run possibilities. Whee!

This will always be real sledding to me. How are you celebrating the season?

January 9 - Character vs. Behavior

Although the last couple weeks have been a wonderful holiday celebration, with fun interspersed between lovely, restful periods, they have also been some of the most difficult in my life. Without going into details, suffice it to say it is an acute misery to watch my own character weaknesses played out in my children's choices.

I desperately wish for my kids to rise above their sinful natures, to succeed, to avoid potentially life-derailing pranks. Yet, so many mistakes are part of normal development and growth. Who hasn't "borrowed" money from mom without permission or snagged a pack of gum in the checkout line? Who doesn't tell the "funny work story" to paint himself as the smart one in the group? With competing values of self-interest in-the-now versus integrity, how do we guide kids through the ever-extending minefield in this global-instant-permanent age? How do we promote honesty and thoughtfulness but avoid training cunning and self-preservation from punishment?

These are the topics that our extended family has been wrestling with recently, made ever so much more fun by the complicated cast of players: mom, stepdad, dad, stepmom, grandpa, brothers and sister, stepbrother and stepsister. While the issues are probably a normal part of parenting, and I am blessed with cooperative participants, let me just say it's painfully obvious why divorce is really not God's plan for family.

Anyway, we will move forward, and continue to pray that as we all make mistakes they are more of the "Oops! Sorry!" type and less of the character-flaw-permanent-record variety. Any additional prayers are appreciated!

January 2012 - Ready, Set, Go!

Happy New Year! And Many More...