Posted By Christina M on October 17, 2006

Picture if you will, a six month old who already seems to be exhibiting left-handedness. This morning I ate breakfast at the coffee table, which Gracie can reach. (The kid already has been crawling and standing for a month, so she spends a lot of time reaching for things on the coffee table.)

Now picture said infant reaching for Mommy’s bowl and grabbing the fork with the same hand she’s been using for everything else this month. She picks up the fork by the handle, and much like a toddler carefully brings the business end of the fork to her mouth and sucks mashed potatoes off of it. She puts the fork back into the bowl, rubs it around a little, and brings it back to her mouth.

Six months old and standing at a table eating from a bowl with a fork. I worry about what she’ll be into in a year!

I have a feeling there will be more habanero incidents in the future.

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Posted By Christina M on October 12, 2006

Ask him if he can kiss his belly button.

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Posted By Christina M on October 12, 2006

If you homeschool, you probably do whiteboards, too. Or if you have a big family, with kids who keep different schedules. Or if you’re looking for the perfect housekeeping “method” or chore chart. Today’s idea is simple: make your own whiteboards using picture frames. I did it, and it worked out better than I expected.

first I went to Dollar Tree for inexpensive hangable frames. If they hadn’t had hangable ones (which sometimes they do not) I would have also bought a picture hanging kit, also a dollar. They did this time, and I bought a matching set of five frames in different colors. They had a sort of art-deco look to them, but there were plenty of other choices as well, and the selection there frequently changes. The entire cost of this project (aside from the paper and dry erase pens, which we already had) was five dollars plus tax.

When I got home, I went through resume paper samples I happened to have around the house. I was able to match the papers to the frames for an extra attractive look, but white paper or card stock would have worked just as well. If you want a grid, use graph paper. If you want lines, use lined paper. You get the idea.

In the past I’ve used the ever-popular tileboard (the stuff they make shower walls from), but they eventually stain and scratch. Likewise for coated cardboard which additionally can’t be washed clean without eventual damage. Glass is completely washable, but it wipes clean very easily without washing. You can use wet erase if you want something that won’t smudge. Best of all, the glass writing surface comes already framed attractively and ready to hang. You can make one for each member of the family if you like, or one for housework and one for schoolwork and one for messages.

If you’ve been reading me for any amount of time you’ve noticed that the one thing I like better than a creative idea is a good money saving idea, and this one is both.

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Posted By Christina M on October 7, 2006

I just read a blog post, most of which consisted of a commencement address by Guy Kawasaki, and very much worth reading. In it, he gives the sort of advice that one gets from living a life beyond that of the student, still “preparing” for the world. Although I disagree with #10, I think the whole thing is well worth reading. I’d love it if you would leave comments here on the subject. I think each one of these points is worthy of discussion.

The summary is here, but you’ll really need to read the whole thing to see what he means.

#10: Live off your parents as long as possible.
#9: Pursue joy, not happiness.
#8: Challenge the known and embrace the unknown.
#7: Learn to speak a foreign language, play a musical instrument, and play non-contact sports.
#6: Continue to learn.
#5: Learn to like yourself or change yourself until you can like yourself. #4: Don’t get married too soon.
#3: Play to win and win to play.
#2: Obey the absolutes.
#1: Enjoy your family and friends before they are gone.

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Posted By Christina M on October 5, 2006

Cindee at As For Me offers an insight I think we all need reminded of sometimes. I encourage you to go read it.

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Posted By Christina M on September 17, 2006

It was one of those embarrassing moments on the road, when you know you’re guffawing so hard that the other drivers are looking askew at you. You’re all alone, and you laugh the kind of laugh that, if you had a carbonated beverage, would be dangerous. It was all because I’d seen a bumper sticker in the next lane that read “Jesus Loves You” in large letters; then in smaller letters on the next line, “but I’m His favorite.” A cute young driver drove this cute young car with a rosary hanging from the rearview mirror. The line took me so unexpectedly that several more times I chuckled on my way to my destination.

This was about five years ago, but the memory hasn’t left me. And something someone said recently brought it back to mind. They said it’s mind boggling when you realize that God gives His full attention to each and every one of us, even if we all pray at the same time. Yes, it certainly is. It’s also mind boggling to realize that each and every one of us is His favorite.

I first made the realization of the same thought in somewhat different words, almost a decade ago. I was very, very angry at someone and having a difficult time forgiving. What they had done really was “unforgivable” by the standards of secular society. But I knew that not to forgive would interfere with my own relationship with Jesus. Then a revelation occurred to me: Jesus loves this person more than I love my own children.

How can I hate someone that Jesus loves that much, and still try to be in His good favor? I can’t.
In a sense, that person is His favorite. Because He loves that person more than I would love a favorite child. He loves that person more than I love my husband. He loves that person, and every single person I will ever meet, as His favorite. For a human that sounds like a contradiction, an impossibility; but for God, whose love (like His existence) is infinite, all things are possible.

Today, I ask you to challenge yourself. For the next week, try to remember to think this consciously about each person you come into contact with: that person is God’s favorite. How should I treat that person to please God?

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Posted By Christina M on September 15, 2006

Last night, my Carmelite group had an unusual meeting. Usually we meet on Saturdays, but this month because of a retreat we did not have our regular meeting. We met on a Thursday evening, though, for discussion and formation, without the meeting. All I can say is God knows my needs.

We read and discussed a lesson on obedience, and how much I needed to learn actually surprised me. You see, I’m a pretty obedient sort of person. I try not to break commandments, I obey the speed limit, I vote my conscience and I read to my kids. Not exactly a rebel.

But last night’s lesson talked about the spirit of obedience. It quoted people like St. Therese of Lisieux, discussing how virtuous obedience goes farther than just following the rules: it honors and loves all the people God puts into our lives. The spirit of obedience asks not “What does God require of me?” but instead “What does God wish of me?”

When I was new in my active walk of faith, full of enthusiasm and zeal, it was natural for me to devote most of each day, most of my heart, to my relationship with God. But eventually every Christian comes to the point of realizing that this world I’m seeing through fresh eyes is still the same old stale world. Bills still need paid and dishes still need washed, and as important as prayer is, I have some more mundane duties that need attending to.

It is too easy, at that point, to slip into maintaining faith, but with a “background” approach. We do what is required of us, and we try to make time for prayer and the relationship with God that we still know is vital; but when we look at a miscreant child or an annoying neighbor, we see them through our own flawed eyes and not the eyes of a child of God. We look at our work as a burden, and our state in life as being somehow separate from our calling from God.

That, of course, is where we are wrong. It isn’t enough merely to follow the rules that God has set in stone. We need to look at our state in life as a blessing and a calling, and ask ourselves not jusst what God demands of us, but what He most wishes for and from us, as well. He demands that I feed my baby and love her, but he wishes that I prefer her company to that of a computer game.

I have a way to go… I am grateful for this lesson that pointed me in the right direction.

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Posted By Christina M on August 30, 2006

Ok, I’m not really the new “church lady,” but lately it sometimes feels that way. I volunteered to be the new religious education coordinator at our parish, and now that the initial flurry and panic have passed, the reality is setting in. I have a key.

I’ve never been a key lady before. When I worked at a stationery store where it was my job to close, I had to slide the key into the mail slot before leaving. After three years of marriage, I finally have a key to my husband’s truck, but it’s been so many years since I’ve driven a stick shift that it’s mostly an honorary key.

It’s been an absolutely crazy summer. If you read Joel’s blog, you know just how much it’s been tied up with ferrying and the other things that prevent vacations from being restful. But today’s the first day of school, and I finally have a chance to write you. Tonight, we have our first CCD teachers’ meeting, and the “regular year” is finally beginning to get going.

I seem to spend a lot of time apologizing for not having blogged. Hopefully, now that things are settling down that trend will end. Thanks for your patience, and thanks in advance for the prayers I’m about to ask for. I’ve finally stopped feeling terrified about being RE Coordinator, but I still need help. Please pray for me!

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Posted By Christina M on August 10, 2006

Perhaps more social than health…
Here is the letter I received, complete with translation. Please forgive the poor punctuation and grammar; it is copied as I received it.

Dear Christina
Congratulations on the recent birth of your child, I hope labor and delivery went well for you.

translation: Congratulations on having a baby. Don’t do it again.

I understand that medical coupons have covered you for the pregnancy.

See how magnanimous we are? That obliges you.

I am the Family Planning Nurse at the DSHS-Work First Office. I’m contacting you to make sure that you know that generally you have two months of full medical coverage following childbirth and then ten (10) additional months for Family Planning needs. Medical coupons cover birth control of any kind be it pills, products, shots and etc. Just present the medical coupon to the pharmacist when you make your purchase.

I am the Family Restriction Nurse at the Department of Health-as-it-relates-to-Social Services Get-Off-Your-Hiney-and-Get-a-real-job Office. I’m contacting you to do anything in my power to convince you to contracept. We’ll even pay for it, if that’s what it takes to overcome your moral qualms. There is nothing we won’t pay for, as long as it prevents you from reproducing again.

Please feel free to call me at the office or visit with me in my office. My office days are Monday through Friday, (except for holidays), from 8 am to 5 pm. If there are any changes they are posted on my door, room 6.

Please come in and see me so that I can do a harder sell, because I can say a lot more to pressure you in person than I can in writing, in a documented letter.

Sincerely,
Yada Yada Yada

Margaret Sanger and her merry band of eugenicists would be proud. Po’ folk have no business having chilluns.

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Posted By Christina M on July 28, 2006

We see memes all over the internet that ask us to talk about ourselves. Bloggers pass along questions about favorite toppings for salads. Myspace abounds with questionnaires about sex partners. And let’s face it, it isn’t difficult to get people to talk about themselves.

Today, I’d like to suggest a new one. It’s simple, but I think it’s well worth the time. Let’s spread one to show appreciation for those in our lives who deserve it.

Five things I love about my spouse:
1. He is kinder to other people than to himself.
2. He has strong faith.
3. He always encourages me.
4. We share “inside jokes.” He always makes me laugh.
5. He is strong, inside and out.

Five things I love about other family members:
1. My children are fiercely loyal to the people they love.
2. My mother taught me as much with action as with words that God is love.
3. My father gave me his sense of humor.
4. Pat and Jean took on new grandkids as though they’d always been theirs.
5. My sisters — too wide an array of things I’d like to say to narrow it down to once sentence, other than that I really miss them.

Five things I’m proud of in people I love:
1. Ceidwen and Andy worked doggone hard to graduate from high school and jump into the adult world.
2. Shannon is possibly the best young writer I’ve known.
3. Siena and Calvin, no matter how much they argue, always forgive and move on.
4. Mona and David are frighteningly clever.
5. Joel has a sense of honor and duty that awes me.

Five happy memories I have about people I love:
1. The many, many times my mother stood up for me when I was getting bullied.
2. When I was little, my older sister Marilyn would say she was magic. My younger sister and I would demand that she prove it, and she would say how. “Make us some candy!” we would shout. Of course, she knew ahead of time that we would ask for that, and had planned ahead by buying one candy bar for each of us.
3. When Andy was four, he rushed into the apartment from outside, windswept and excited, and announced delightedly, “It’s a leafy day out there!”
4. Playing board games with Veronica, especially the hangman-type game we used to play. She always came up with the good words, like “victuals” and “cardboard.”
5. Meeting Joel for the first time. A tall, handsome, youthful-looking blond man stepped off the plane, spotted my smile, and veered straight toward me. He put his arms around me and kissed me for all he was worth, in the middle of the terminal, for several minutes. Then he slowly pulled his head away and looked into my yes, and said “I hope to God you’re Christina.”

Five things I want to thank God for:
1. All of the above.
2. That my kids all enjoy good health, minds, and circumstances.
3. Forgiveness.
4. That God knows better than I do what’s good for me.
5. New opportunities.

Tagged: all the wives among ye.

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