An Official Welcome is In Order

I have big news.

It's so exciting, I can hardly contain myself.

MY OLDER SISTER HAS A BLOG!

You may visit her over here.

Now, she's worried her place isn't quite ready for houseguests, but I disagree, so, sis, the cat's out of the bag. Please drop by with a housewarming hello and let her know you're happy she's joined the rest of us bloggie gals. She's a great writer and she always makes me laugh. And I love her. Even though she doesn't ever leave me a comment when I know she's been here. ;)

Well. This is just too much excitement for one day. I have to go rest my voice now. That took a lot of energy.

It's Unusually Quiet Around Here

It feels weird to "blog out loud" right now because I've been forced to be very quiet this weekend. Not by choice, mind you, but as a result of a sore throat and coughing for a week. I have laryngitis.

I am leading worship in less than a week for our church's retreat; thankfully during yesterday's rehearsal I had just enough voice to get through a long day of singing, but after that, I was toast. It's completely gone today.

I think it's interesting what has happened to me as a result of not being able to talk. First of all, I realized that I talk alot. SHOCKER, I know. Secondly, it has forced me to listen more. Because I am a person that does a great deal of talking, I am sure I don't listen nearly enough. Good lesson learned. And then, of course, my children didn't really have to listen to me over the past day or two because they couldn't hear what I was saying at all. That was pretty frustrating.

However, the thing that I am learning the most in my "silence" is that God has spoken a great deal to me in the past day or two about several things I apparently needed to hear.

And that is why I believe God has allowed this "talking fast" at this time. He has His reasons for everything. And I'm actually thankful to not be speaking much. I needed to open my ears and listen.

"Teach me, and I will be quiet; show me where I have been wrong.

Job 6:24

Oh, Ramiele. It Was Your Time.

I just have to say two things:

1. Ramiele HAD to go. And if you're a fan, I'm sorry. She just couldn't keep up with the line-up of pros like Cook (as in David), Archuleta, and Smithson.

2. We must pray for Simon. He's clearly uncomfortable with the mentioning of the name "Jesus." Did you see him squirming last night?

That's all for now.

10 Random Thoughts

1. I heart American Idol. It's an addiction, I must admit. Last night's show was great...so many strong performances (but please, America, say good bye to Ramiele)!

2. I hardly slept last night because Caden was up off and on for no apparent reason. He wasn't just waking up and whimpering, he was downright screaming. It took an hour to calm him at one point. Today he's perfectly fine. I, on the other hand, am sleep-deprived.

3. I'm sick of the economy. I'm tired of gas prices being this high. I go to four different stores to buy things because I shop where it's the cheapest. I'm tired of doing that too.

4. I have a women's retreat in a little over one week that I'm leading worship for and I don't quite feel prepared. I took a little too much of a "break" during our spring (a.k.a. winter) break.

5. I desperately needed that break.

6. My little sis is visiting my family back home because she is on break, however, I am not, so I don't get to see her.

7. I've noticed that the new style for women's clothing these days is a bit maternal in nature. I recently bought a shirt that kinda looks like that, and I think people may be wondering if I'm pregnant.

8. I'm not.

9. Here's my pic for Wordless Wednesday, because it is, after all, Wednesday.

10. I took a meal to a friend last night that recently had a baby. She has a 4 year old, a 3 year old, a 22 month old and 2 week old. And she plans on homeschooling. I think she's brave.

The chicken pot pie I made her family slid around in the back of my van (I brought it in the afternoon so they could bake it when they were ready to eat), and it didn't look like much of a pie when I got it there. I'm thinking she's probably too tired to care.

Pass Me a Bubble, Please.

When my little six year-old got home from school yesterday, I hugged him and asked him how his day was. He said it was good and I started rummaging through his backpack to pull out his folder with the day's work. As I was rifling through the pile, I pulled out a white sheet of paper folded like a card, and on the front of it, it had a nice little sentiment in red crayon from one of the girls in his class. It's not uncommon for Cody to receive "love" notes from this little girl (and for a while I thought it was kinda cute how Cody would roll his eyes and sigh in disgust at the mere mention of a note from this girl). However, this particular note was a bit "racy" even for a kindergartener and so I decided it was time to address it with his teacher.

I am amazed at how early these things start with children. It's troubling, really, to think that even kindergarteners, who should be among some of the most innocent creatures on earth, are having thoughts that they would even dare verbalize! I spoke with my mom this morning, and we both agreed that if I had written a note like that to a little boy when I was a kid, I'd be in pretty big trouble.

I'd like to go on record as saying, though I'm sure this will not come as a shock to any of you, that there are SO MANY days I really despise our culture. This is why Jesus commanded us..."Be in the world, but not of it."

Help me, Lord. Some days I wish we could just live in a bubble.