Would You Rather?

I'm going to play "Would You Rather?" with all of you. Here are some questions I found online. What would you pick?


Would you rather always be 10 minutes late or always be 20 minutes early?
10 minutes late, always. I AM always 10 minutes late, because I never want to get some place early, and I can’t quite seem to get the perfectly on-time thing right.

Would you rather lose all of your money and valuables or all of the pictures you have ever taken?
Dude. I’m the most nostalgic person that has ever existed, I’d rather lose all of my money. But because I’m married and have a baby, I might change my mind for the sake of feeding all of us. But if it were just me, for sure I’d rather lose all the money.

Would you rather be able to see 10 minutes into your own future or 10 minutes into the future of anyone but yourself?
Mine. I think that could maybe be a helpful thing in a variety of situations, and I hate being left out… so the other option means I’m left out of future seeing all the time and that would make me a little melancholy.

Would you rather be famous when you are alive and forgotten when you die or unknown when you are alive but famous after you die?
Probably after I die, because I don’t really want to be famous. Although, I guess if I were just moderately famous, like every now and then somebody’s heard of me, then now would be fun. But if we’re imagining the paparazzi at the grocery store, noooo thanks. Also, what do you think I’d be famous for? Below-average jokes? Karaoke? Preaching? Some kind of accidental new record in Guinness Book of World Records? BLOGGING DURING THE LITURGICAL SEASON OF LENT?

Would you rather go to jail for 4 years for something you didn’t do or get away with something horrible you did but always live in fear of being caught?
I’d rather go to jail. If I did something horrible, it wouldn’t be the fear of getting caught that would get me, it would be the insane amount of guilt. 

Would you rather your shirts be always two sizes too big or one size too small?
The flowy look is in right now, so two sizes too big.

Would you rather live in the wilderness far from civilization or live on the streets of a city as a homeless person?
How cold is the city?

Would you rather the general public think you are a horrible person but your family be very proud of you or your family think you are a horrible person but the general public be very proud of you?
Oh man. That’s tough. I care about what everyone thinks of me. But I like my family best and I want them to like me best, so I guess the general public can think I’m a horrible person.

Would you rather live your entire life in a virtual reality where all your wishes are granted or in the real world?
REAL WORLD. Wait, unless it’s the MTV show.

Would you rather be alone for the rest of your life or always be surrounded by annoying people?
For sure annoying people. Annoying people are so much better than no people.

Art and Languages

I love art. I can't really tell you anything about art, like I don't know all the famous artists or when things were created and I don't have any technical training in anything. The closest I ever got to an art class was an after school program I went to for a couple weeks in elementary school and one of those wine and painting nights (I went to that one as an adult). But I love art. I love to look at all the art. I love to imagine how people felt when they created something, or what they're trying to say. Art about bible stories is extra fun for me, because it's art combo biblical interpretation.   

I love learning languages. I know English okay. And while this blog may have you believe otherwise, I do know some basic grammar. I write like this on purpose, because I like it. I also know some small talk Spanglish and a little Ancient Greek. I took a Hebrew class, but I remember about 3-4 words and 5% of the characters of the alphabet, so it's safe to say that I don't know Hebrew. I really love learning languages though. I took Greek for two years in college and it was one of my fav classes. I took a free Spanish class last year, just for fun. I have a dream one day that I'll be fluent in Spanish. That's a far away dream, but hopefully I have 60-70 years of one days.

These are things I like. You know those days when you feel extra motivated to be a better person and live a more full life? I get one of those every January, the beginning of every spring, and when school starts back up (even though I haven't been in school for several years). For me, my imagination of living a more full life usually involves me being more creative or learning something, especially languages.

So, a cool thing. I learned about this practice called "star words" (not to be confused by star WARS). The idea is near epiphany (12 days after Christmas---hence the song the 12 days of Christmas--- we remember the magi/wisemen/3 kings/etc. followed a star to see the child, Jesus), you take different words like encouragement, direction, leadership, learning, helpfulness, etc. and put them on a pic of a star (you probably don't need to actually do that, but it also just seems right if you're going to call them star words), and then you randomly select a word for the year. It can be a lens for approaching the new year and a different way to be looking for God at work in your life during the year. So, we did that this year at Bethel. (Also, I've got like 100 words in my office if you want me to pick you one.)

Guess what I picked? "Art." And then later I realized that the word "Languages" was stuck to it. So, I took two. And, because of that, I've been trying to do more creative things and trying to learn Spanish again. I bought a Spanish workbook and it comes with a flashcard app. Yo se palabras sobre una casa y comida y ropa y mi familia. Por ejemplo, mis abuelos leen mi blog (?como se dice blog in espanol?) cada noche en su silla a su escritorio.

Right now this blog and making dinner have been my creative things. Turns out, I really like cooking and I'm kind of good at it. I don't always have time to try super creative meals. It's usally like one part of the meal is creative, and then the other part is like putting Costco orange chicken in the oven.

This post is kind of long today, so adios!       

HQ

Every night at around 8:02 and many afternoons at 2:02ish, Jesse and I play a live trivia game on our phones called HQ. Our friend Carly told us to download the app on New Year's Eve and then we all played together, and then Jesse and I played every day since.

It's like a game show. It's live. There's a host wearing fancy clothes. There are anywhere between 750,000- 2,000,000 people who play every night. There's prize money- it ranges from $5,000-$25,000. The way it works is you click on the app at the right time, the game starts, you have 10 seconds to answer each question of the 12 questiosn, and if you get all 12 questions right, you split the prize money. If you miss a question, you're out. EXCEPT if you have extra lives which you can get by having friends sign up. I've invited like 5 people and I have no extra lives (I don't have a life either- ha!), which means none of them signed up. Guys, come on. You could help me win. Because so far on my own, I've never won. I've never gotten past question 8. But one day! Maybe.

It is really a cool thing. I think it's the future of game shows. I imagine us telling Aaron one day, "back in our day, game shows were just on tv and you had to be chosen to be on the show." And he probably won't believe it, because he will always have been able to be a contestant on a game show from his phone. But, what do I know? I thought snapchat was going to die like two years ago.

Daniel Tiger

We watch a lot of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood at our house. Everyday from 8:30- 9:30 am. It's the best. I watch it more than Aaron does. I'm not even really ashamed about that. Here's a list of reasons why I love it so much.

1. It's Mr. Rogers 2.0. I like that Aaron's watching a similar show to one I grew up watching. Daniel even puts on his sweater by the door at the beginning of every show.
2. The show's all about being a good neighbor. Like in a biblical way, like everyone is your neighbor and neighbors take care of each other.
3. There's a good life lesson in every episode, in a catchy one sentence song. Here are a few favorites:
1. See what it is, your might feel better
2. When you get so mad, that you want to roar, take a deep breath, and count to 4.
3. When a friend doesn't want to play with you, you can find something else to do.
4. Sharing with you is fun for me too.
5. When something seems bad, turn it around and find something good.
6. Stop, think, and choose
7. Find out what's different and what's the same
4. The good life lessons in every episode in a catchy one sentence song aren't just for kids. The "stop, think, and choose" one was about making choices/voting. That's all I'll say about that.
5. The characters that are human are racially diverse, and the rest are animals. :-) 
6. Families are diverse; they aren't all the nuclear family (although Daniel's family is)- O seems like he's being raised by his uncle, I can't quite tell if Miss Elaina's parents are together, and I don't think I've ever seen Catarina's dad.
7. Prince Wednesday is a royalty, and still goes to a public preschool. 
8. A tiger, an owl, and a cat all go to a public preschool with humans, and no one eats anyone.
9. All the adults on the show are really emotionally aware and non-reactive.
10. All of the kids respond well to reason and make positive changes after being gently corrected.
11. It makes me think that if Aaron watches this show everyday, he's going to be this perfect kid like Daniel.
12. ..or at least I'll learn some tips to be a better parent.
13. The theme song is really catchy and happy.

FOMO, but also just MO

FOMO= fear of missing out.

This is a common ailment for millennials. And I'm a millennial. And I have this ailment.

I really like where we live, but we left a lot of our people to move here, and I left a lot of my people before that when I moved away from California. Each of the moves that I've had in the last ten years have been because of my calling and/or Jesse's. Part of this gig is that if you believe that God is calling you somewhere, you have to go there. And "there" is not always where all your family and best friends live.

So, *sometimes* I get FOMO.

Who are we kidding, I always have FOMO. I have FOMO right now because Jesse said, "if you finish your blog quick, we can watch This is Us" and now I'm worried I will take too long to write this and then it will be too late and then I'll have to wait a whole day.

FOMO is easy to get because there are always fun things happening, and if you like fun things, it's easy to get nervous you're going to miss some of them. Sometimes there are like 3 different things that I want to go to at the same time, and I have been known to try to go to all of them...but then what actually happens is that I stop by two of them and accidentally miss one of them because I was overly ambitious and not actually capable of going to 3 parties/events at the same time... but it doesn't quite seem to stop from doing this again.  (Side note: I also have terrible time management. In seminary, I knew that I had to leave my house by 7:25 to get to class on time, and for some reason, every night I set my alarm for 7:15. I'm not the most high maintence person in the world, but also, when have I EVER gotten gotten ready for the day in 10 minutes? I was late pretty much every day of my last year of school.)

The thing about moving away is not actually FOMO, it's just MO. I know that my friends have birthdays and baby showers and get togethers, that I just can't get to. When you're far away, it's not just the fear of missing out, it's actually that you are missing out. That sounds sad. It kind of is. But also, life is a beautiful adventure! And for every move we've had, we've had the opportunity to do new things, meet new people, go new places, and find joy in the unfamiliar. That makes me feel brave. And I'd hate to miss out on a beautiful adventure, and new things and new people and new places.

In conclusion, no one have fun without me? Everyone move here? 

This Is Us is ready to go. Bye!

A perfect day by myself.

My sis asked me earlier what the perfect day by myself would be like (she had the day off and was pretty much having the perfect day by herself). So, I lived vicariously through her and imagined what my imaginary day by myself would be like. Side note, I don't even really like being by myself. Year and a half ago me wouldn't have enjoyed having the day by myself, but now life is one million percent different and I'm lucky if I get to do a luxurious thing like cook dinner alone, so a day that I get to do all the things that I want to do without feeling selfish about it would be so nice.

So, here's what my perfect alone day would be like:

I would have had the perfect night sleep- 10:30-6:30 and wouldn't need to sleep in. I'd stay in bed until 7 though and check my email and read the news and randomly scroll while considering getting up.

After I got ready for the day, I'd have a nice breakfast that included turkey bacon and a bagel with fake cream cheese and coffee with a mix of original creamer and peppermint mocha creamer. After reheating it for the 12th time, I'd put the rest of my coffee in a Contigo mug and leave.

I'd want to go to some place pretty to walk. Maybe a state park or a lake or both.

Then I'd want to get a haircut, because I haven't gotten a real haircut since October 2016 and my hair is super long.

Then I'd take myself to lunch. I've always wanted to eat at this bike shop/cafe by my house, so maybe I'd go there.

Then, I'd buy some things from Target that I don't need. Like a candle, some nice pens, nail polish and a shirt. Maybe a book too, like a YA one that doesn't make me think too much.

I'd go find some place pretty to sit, in front of a lake, maybe on a blanket in the grass, and read that book that I bought.

Then, I'd come home. If I wanted to take a nap, I might.

I might dig out some old pictures or old memories because nostalgia makes me happy, and so do people I love.

I'd pour a decent glass of wine and take out a bunch of crafts and make something, while watching a netflix show I'm only 45% interested in.

I assume it's near dinner now, so I'd put on a movie and eat a giant plate of nachos with some sparkly water.

Maybe another half glass of wine and some chocolate.

Then, I'd take a bath, paint my nails, and call it a day.

Myspace

But, remember Myspace?

I looovvveeed myspace in 2004. My friend Dana came to visit me in college and said that everyone was getting a myspace and I should too. I didn't really care about it, but she made me a profile and then I was obsessed with it for 2.75 years.

I spent a lot of time deliberating who would make it in my "top 8" and what song to have playing in the background of my page, and what theme it would be. You had to sort of learn code to do it- or you could go to websites that were dedicated to providing the right code that would give you a certain theme.

I regularly posted about- me surveys (like the one I made a post about a couple weeks ago) and joined one thousand groups. I also stalked all of the people I went to school with since elementary school.

Then facebook happened, and it sort of won out. But, I still have my myspace page. I check it once a year to laugh at myself.

I was about to put a link in to my page, but it says my email/password combo is wrong. I think it finally got deleted. RIP Myspace.

A dream I had last night.

Let me tell you about my dream last night.

I was at an event and so were The Property Brothers. 

I was eating some complementary appetizers and Jonathan and Drew were close by. I could hear Drew talking about his new home in Agoura (I watched an episode of his and his fiance's show about renovating their new home in CA, I don't think it's Agoura, but in my dream it was). My hometown is like a minute from Agoura, so I yelled out, "Oh! I'm from Thousand Oaks!"

I was definitely interrupting, but it seemed to be a cool enough connection at this random event that we were all at (presumably somewhere in the midwest), that they feigned interest and kept talking to me. We started talking about how expensive homes are in Southern CA and how tough it is for most people to buy a home. I agreed and said, with food in my mouth because I didn't want to miss an opportunity to keep this conversation going,"I know, my parents' haven't been able to buy a house since 1992." (Which is definitely a date that dream Kelli made up). 

Then we transitioned to Drew feeling a little homesick being in the LA area, but Jonathan reminded him, that the midwest weather really wasn't for him. I had some empathy and solidarity with Drew and told him "ya, I've basically been homesick for ten years straight." which is a super exaggeration, but also, it's not 100% not true either. Jonathan was a little taken back by my vulnerability and oversharing, that he gave me a tight smile that communicated to me: "I'm a little uncomfortable." I think Drew had more compassion though, because clearly he was also feeling that way.

Then, I saw them looking at each other, and they started to talk quietly to each other about something they could do for our family and my homesickness. They were about to offer building us a second home in California (because of course, what bigger gesture of goodwill and charity could you give, than offering a stranger who already has a house of their own, a second home in one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country because of homesickness? I can't think of anything either.) but before they could offer us this generous gift, Jesse brought Aaron in the room and let him snuggle with me and share my pillow, which was nice, but also I woke up. 

And in those 15 seconds of waking up, there was a little part of me that was mad at Jesse because had he waited just a couple minutes, we would have gotten a brand new house in Southern California.      

What if I didn't do this one thing?

Do you ever think younger you would be really surprised by future you? I do. If I told my 12 year old self that I was going to be a pastor and live in Wisconsin and own a real jacket and develop a slight accent and that a tornado would hit my house and I'd have a son and a husband and a dog and I could call people on a phone that could work outside of my house and I would literally be able to see people in it, I would never have believed you (I maybe wouldn't be *that* surprised that I had a husband, but I didn't want to leave Jesse out. I also don't think I'd be surprised that I'd have a jacket? I WOULD however, be surprised to find out that a zip-up sweatshirt is not actually a jacket.).

I think about all of these little and big decisions that have changed my life, and probably a million ways that I can't even know about. Here are a few that come to mind:

-Before you can be a pastor, they make you take a psychological evaluation. After my evaluation, the psychologist offered some advice/feedback. Since I was planning to go to seminary immediately after college, he suggested I take the year off and get some "life experience." I thought about it for about 12 seconds and decided that I wasn't going to take his advice and go to sem anyway. If I hadn't gone right away, I likely would have an entirely different group of people that I spent my time with, taken a different job- so no Living Waters & no Pastor Kathryn, wouldn't have met Jesse in time (he's quite a catch, I'm sure some other nice girl would have snatched him up), and so many other things because of that decision and subsequent decisions.

-Switching high schools in 9th grade. I didn't really like Westlake High, so I put myself on the waitlist at Thousand Oaks (but actually, my mom called and put me on the list). December of 2000 I started at TO. I met a bunch of different people, got to go to school with a lot of my church people, did a brave thing... and then both of my sisters went there.

-Signing up for the Pizza Luce dinner during orientation week at Luther Sem. Jesse and I both happened to sign up for the same dinner outing and that's how we met. He leaned over and saw me picking off the cheese off my pizza and said, "hey, are you going to eat that?" and then I handed him a wad of cheese. What if we didn't have that as our anecdotal "way we met" story? It would just be the actual one: our friend Heather told me that we should date.

-So many Lutheran events that I've been to and met different people and then because of meeting those different people met other people, and so on and so on. Here's one example: Jesse and I were at the Youth Ministry Extravaganza in Anaheim, and Don Marsh was there and friendly as ever. He flagged us down and said we should sit with him and the other people at his table (I had never met him before). We talked about this team that he was starting for the synod and I should be on it. I was, met a lovely group of colleagues and friends, and then got to lead the team a few years later. What if I didn't sit by him that one time?

There are about a million other examples, but I think you get the idea. Also, if you haven't seen the movie Sliding Doors, go see it. I think about that movie ALL THE TIME.   

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SrLL

Some of my favorite years in my life were in high school with our church's "Senior Luther League"- SrLL. I spent like 70% of my time at church, and another 20% with my BFFs from church, and like 10% for eating, school, homework, sleep, etc.

Here are some favorite memories:

1. Monday night bible study: sitting on the floor of people's living rooms and singing camp songs with all of the ridiculous hand motions that no one asked us to do. 
2. Rafting in Montana and staring at the biggest, beautifulest sky and having deep talks, and gazing at our camp counselor, Mike, who I thought I actually had a chance with.
3. Building houses in Tijuana and painting our clothes as much as the house, and the hospitality and kindness of the future home owners. 
4. Wakeboarding and waterskiing (and NEVER TUBING because I hate it) in Lake Mojave and then getting to eat all night at the buffets in Laughlin.
5. Surprising people in Denny's and Denny's- like restaurants by singing the Johnny Appleseed prayer and other fun ones like that.
6. Making up the game called "No Shame" with my besties. It was like telephone, but gross and inappropriate and funny and sometimes mean. Instead of saying what you thought the person whispered in your ear, you had to say the first thing you thought of, and we were like 16, so..
7. Holden Evening Prayer and Steve & Gwen singing the Magnificat and Psalm 141 forever. And also giggling up in the balcony. 
8. Writing special notes on the open space of the bulletin to Rachel and Stephanie during the 8 am service, because our families weren't sitting together and apparently we missed each other too much.
9. Easter Sunrise service and serving pancakes until noon.
10. MC-ing the Talent Show with Stephanie and wearing a giant money that I found at a Party City for my rap scene in the dance we made up.
11. Sitting with Matt and Shannon at the beach, talking about life and faith, and being overwhelmed at the enormity of God and God's love for us.
12. No Holds Barred.
13. Jr. Chaperoning choir tours.
14. Choir tours! Epecially all day in the bus, making up games, finding innovative ways to get comfortable and take a nap, and fighting over who got to sit in the aisle.
15. Putting on knee pads for broom hockey (played with actual brooms), so I could pretend like I was really helping our team by diving on my knees periodically to get the ball. 
16. Singing "The Light Still Shines" at the 11:00 service on Christmas Eve.
17. PL waking us up every morning on any trip with "Oh, What a Beautiful Morning."
18. Rachel and I getting to "kidnap" our sisters, and surprise them with a giant welcome to SrLL by waking them up a 5 am and drawing all over their faces with crayola markers.
19. The one boom box we were allowed to use on the bus to listen to music. There was a summer that included a lot of Backstreet Boys.
20. Getting to be on the "Servant Corps" for the Western States Youth Gathering in San Jose.
21. P.L. was coming home from a trip and realized he wasn't able to get to bible study, so he called me a few minutes before it started and asked if I would lead it. He gave me the topic and some questions, and then I did it. It was one of those moments where I knew that's the kind of thing I was meant to do. Afterward my friends told me they were taking bets on how long bible study would last (it was supposed to be 2 hours and they were guessing like 15 minutes), and I surprised all of them with an hour and 10ish.

So, so, so many more memories. 

Here's a few pics!

SrLL people, what are YOUR fav memories??