Coffee Tables

I ran out of ideas of things to write about so I said to Jesse, "pick something for me to write about." He started being thoughtful and thinking of clever things, and I said, "just pick whatever comes to your mind, ready go." He picked coffee tables. Well, ok then. Here goes.

We have a coffee table. We have two actually, one for the upstairs and one for the downstairs.

When Aaron's awake, it serves as a buffer between him and our fireplace. He learned how to pull part of the cover off the fireplace, and he likes to try to do that because he knows I don't want him to. Sometimes I also like to turn the fireplace on in the early morning, and I don't want him touching it. When I turn it on, I'll pull the ottoman next to the coffee table, and then I can sit in front of the fireplace and also have a complete barrier. The problem is, is that Autumn thinks that once the fireplace is on, this is the only spot she can sit in our entire house. She will be sound asleep, and once I move that ottoman, she stands in front of me and just stares me down until I get up. I don't, and then I point to all 600 other places she could sit, but she can be pretty relentless. Usually she gets her way when I have to go chase Aaron around the house- I'll come back and she's sitting there, basking in the heat from the fireplace.

Our coffee table has some slots where you can put some things, like newspapers. We keep the Shopper there. And the Sunday paper that I signed up for so I could get a $10 Piggly Wiggly gift card and also to appease the nice and persistent man signing people up for the newspaper at the store. Aaron likes to take all of those papers out and then step on them and slide them around the floor. Sometimes he'll pick one up and shake it and squeal like he just discovered magic.

At night, we move the coffee table back to where it belongs, and we set our evening snacks on it. The usual snacks are black pepper Triscuts and hummus, chips and guacamole, some gouda for Jesse, one of those nature valley almond cracker/cookie things, or possibly a bag of chocolate chips.

Without our coffee table, there's a good chance I will set my class of water on the floor and Jesse will knock it over and exasperatedly say, "can you not put cups of water on the floor?"

This post proves that I can find things to say about most things. Try me.

Church Newsletters

I work a little bit at camp helping with the capital campaign. I do a lot of random research, like one project I had was researching what congregations had WELCA groups (women of the ELCA). So, I looked at a million websites trying to find information. Some congregations had loads of information on their site, and the most current info I could find came from their newsletters.

I've looked at hundreds of church newsletters. And here's the number one takeaway: Lutheran churches come up with some really interesting, as well as Minnesota interesting, newsletter names. Some are funny, some are ridiculous, some super date them, some are great at alliteration, some are coooorrnnnnyy, some aren't fancy and just call it "newsletter" or "news," some are connected somehow to a biblical image, and some are the same as all the other congregations.  Here's a list of Lutheran church newsletters that I found online:

Shepherd's Staff
The Good Word
Celebration
Echo
The Spirit
The Galilean
The Column
News & Views
The Messenger (I'd say about 1/8 of all the church newletters are named "Messenger")
The Advocate
Connect
News in the Pews (this one gets rhyming and being clever at the same time points)
The Light
Parish Visitor
St. Peter's Press
St. John's Journal
News & Notes
Parish News
The Voice
The Good News
The Parables
Monthly News
Spirit of Saint Andrew
New Vision News
Lifeline

Also, some of these are even more fun and/or more ridiculous and/or more clever and/or funny, because they're puns on their church name. Lifeline is one of those, it's from New Life Lutheran. That's thought out.

Alright, churchy/pastory/ministry leadery people, anyone think they have the best or most ridiculous or funniest or coolest newsletter name?


 

Today we went to the zoo.

We got a zoo pass for Christmas from my in-laws (BEST GIFT). It was pretty nice out this morning, and me and Aaron were free, so we went to the zoo.

Half way through the drive (it's like 45 mins away), I realized that I left the stroller at home. I wasn't about to turn around, and I wasn't about to rent one, so I can't really use my arms right now. Last time we went, Aaron wanted to walk a lot, so I hoped he'd want to walk a lot today too. He did, but he didn't want to walk the same direction as me. There was a lot to look at.

So, let me tell you about Aaron's favorite things at the zoo:

1. The recycling container that's shaped like a coke bottle. He said, "woooww" and "a-dis?" whenever he saw one (a-dis means, "what's this?"/can I see that thing?).

2. Very small rocks mixed in with dirt on the grassy part next to the sidewalk, that you aren't really supposed to walk on.

3. All of the grassy part next to the sidewalk, that you aren't really supposed to walk on.

4. The peacocks. He tried to pet one of them.

5. Some of the fish, others he stayed verrryyy close to me when he saw them.

6. Every now and then we'd see the metal lid to that leads to the sewer or a drain in the sidewalk, and we had to stop and see all of those.

7. A heater in one of the buildings.

8. The fake trees and the real trees.

9. The picture of the animal next to the actual animal we were supposed to be seeing.

10. Elk.

11. The booth that sold snacks like popcorn and cotton candy, but it's wasn't open.

12. Other kids. He also didn't like other kids. When they were loud and crowdy, he didn't like that so much. Other times he stared at them and tried to hang out with them. At one point, he just walked over to a mom and grabbed her leg. He didn't think it was me, I was right next to him.

13. Empty cages where the bears were supposed to be.

14. He also liked the camels.

It's Holy Week

It's Holy Week. And that means the following things:

1. My brain is out of creativity. I'm using 70% to think of something meaningful on Sunday, and Thursday, and Friday. And 20% on playing games with Aaron. And 5% on this blog. And I'm keeping 5% in case I need it for something else.

2. I'm pretty tired thinking about how tired I'm going to be.

3. But also I'm happy because it's one of my favorite weeks of the year and it's lovely and holy and one of the best parts of my job.

4. I'm running out of things to write about. The last three years that I've done this, I've made up a random list of post titles and then picked one each day. The only ones that are left are left for a reason. They aren't as funny as I thought they were or they will require a lot of time, creativity and thoughtfulness... and I'm just looking to not do that much today.

5. I'm kind of distracted because there are like 5 different sermons in my head. These aren't 5 sermons that I'm actually going to give, they are just 5 very different options for things I could talk about this weekend, and they are getting all kinds of confused in my head and also I'm not sure which one to pick.

6. This blog is coming to an end for the year and now I'm going to have to find some new things to do with my life.

If you have random topics you would like to see in the next 3 days, send them my way. :-)

Thank you cards

Our internet is tired and doesn’t want to work tonight, so I have to type this on my phone and use some data. And that means this will be pretty short.

Here are a few thoughts about thank you cards:

• I’m terrible at sending them. I still have some thank yous to send for our wedding. I found a stack of cards like two years later that I never sent because they were missing addresses and I couldn’t quite find the motivation to find them.
• I’m terrible at remembering to send them. I only ever think about it when I’m driving or at 3 am and neither are ideal card signing and mailing times.
• If I’ve already thanked you for something, I don’t think I need to send you a card with the same words in it. Likewise, if you thanked me for something, you really don’t need to send me a card.
• I’m sorry to everyone who likes thank you cards and is still waiting for one from me. I promise I’m thankful. If it makes you feel better, there’s a good chance your card is in a stack in the closet and I just haven’t sent it yet. (I’m probably not going to send it if I find it though).

THANK YOU!!

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!