Out of the Mouths of Babes (I do get on my soapbox...you are warned!)

DISCLAIMER: I am not angry or mad. I am passionate about some of this.  My post starts one way and kind of diverges.  I am not throwing stones, just sharing my opinion and I am also not saying I get this right...in fact, I think I get it wrong a lot of the time...even with my wrongness, I still feel passionate about what I think we should do and be.  That's my disclaimer...you are warned:)

So today was a different day.  K and I kept our friends, M & P today.  M & P are 3 year old twins.  We had so much fun.  K was a really big help, he did most of what I asked even though he thought some of it was boring and no fun (toddler story time, listening to the lullabies on our CD, etc.).  So tonight we were praying and I thanked God that K was such a big helper and that I was grateful for how much he helped me while we were helping our friends.  And A stopped me in my prayer and said, "It helps us too." And I asked her what she meant.  She said, "Mommy, we helped our friends but our friends help us.  They are so important to us and that helps us too."  HELLO...my 7 year old gets it.  She gets that relationships trump everything else, busy-ness, things, time, laundry, cleaning house, etc.   Levi's message from way back hit me, the way we live our lives matter.  I was talking to a friend last week who gave up her day off to take another friend for a surgery and helped her out.  I told her how awesome that was and she looked at me and said, "Heather, that's what friends do."  As the twins came this morning and their grandpa thanked me for watching them, I said, "This is what we should all be doing for each other."

When someone needs help or something that we can give, we should give and help.  I get that my perspective comes from a Christ loving, Jesus following stance. Jesus taught to help and serve and give.   If I see a need and I can meet it, why wouldn't I?

 And then I get on my soapbox....why don't we do those things? 

• We don't want to give of our time. 
•  We're too busy.  
• Our own family needs us.
• We do so much with our church. 
• We don't get out of our bubble to make relationships to even know of the needs of others.  

That's all crap to me.  I think we have so many stupid excuses or reasons for not making relationships, it kind of makes me sick.  Stepping on toes I know...
I don't see any reason that people don't know their neighbors (I guess unless their neighbors are TOTAL jerks to them, I could see that).
 I don't see any reason that people don't make connections with the community whether it be through Mommy groups or similar interest clubs or something. 
I just think as Christians (I realize I'm diverging) we're called to do that.  We stay so safe by sticking with our "church" friends that we don't make ourselves vulnerable by taking the risk to get outside of that bubble.  I wonder what opportunities we're missing. I wonder what people God puts in our paths that we ignore or dismiss. 
Just to be clear, I don't mean make these relationships and connections to save their soul or save them from hell.  That is not our job.  If someone NEVER dawns the doors of our church, I'm fine with that.  Our job is to love people the way Jesus does and did when He was on Earth.  He loved the unlovable, the untouchable, the dirty.  We are to do the same.  I want my kids to get that message.  I love that I am seeing the beginning of that with them.

Unfacebook & No Diet Coke

Okay so i know that Lent is a private thing but saying that, I want to share about my Lenten experience.  So, this year, I decided to fast cokes and facebook.  I love Diet Coke...I truly do and I look forward to Sonic's Happy Hour in a bad way.  I also love me some facebook. I realize that it is a HUGE time suck for me.  I stay way up in everybody's business and am addicted to checking into facebook multiple times a day.  When considering what to give up for Lent, facebook came to mind IMMEDIATELY and even when i tried to think of other things, facebook continued to stay at the forefront of my brain.  So, I went with it.  It has been really difficult for me.  The facebook has been harder than the diet coke.  I feel very disconnected from everyone which is pretty hard for me.  I'm a bit of a social-lite and way too nosy for my own good.  At the same time, I've found myself with more time to do other things and it has given me some perspective.  Facebook and other social media have become so vital and I'm not sure how I feel about that.  I check twitter (i did not give that up and do NOT check it nearly as often as I did FB) and there is so much superfluous info on there. Or even posts that give just enough info to make you wonder about the rest of the story, or a jab at someone in a passive aggressive way.  Do I really care that someone checked in on foursquare to 7 Eleven or Taco Bell or that you're mad at your friend? I truly don't.  And then it got me thinking, sometimes (lots of times), we tell too much of our business.  Maybe the rest of the world doesn't think this way, but don't tell me how busy you are because when I read your check-ins I see where your time is being spent and I get a little skeptical.  I'm just not sure I want that to be public knowledge.  It has definitely made me rethink my out there-ness.  Okay so that was a bit of a tangent.  Not facebooking has definitely freed up time to do other things.  I've found myself outside with my kiddos a lot more (without my phone or ipad).  I've found myself have more time to take care of things at home and stay more organized.  I've also found more time to read my Bible, which is a bit of a struggle for me.  So, it's been a good thing.  I'm actually going to try to continue to limit my time on facebook when Lent is over. That's how much Lent is going....anybody else find any insights from there Lenten experience?

April's Story

Okay so I told you that April and I went to a couple of conferences.  April is a hilarious person, I'm not sure she knows how funny she is and she's also a great writer.  I really enjoy reading her blog because stories become so much more fun when she writes about them. Here's a link to her blog where she is telling about one of our many, funny stories.

Why I Blog?

So I admitted a week or so ago that I blog as a journal replacement.  If I'm completely honest, I started blogging because we were new church planters and there was so much stress and loneliness and oddness related to that, that I really needed a voice to share what I was going through.  I also wanted a voice to share my mommyhoodness and my experiences and just me.  I wanted me OWN platform to be me.  One of the bloggers that I immediately started following and have followed for a LONG time was a church planter's wife named Jennifer.  She and her husband planted on the east coast and then planted another church in Vegas.  Hello, talk about my hero.  I loved reading her honesty and I loved the fact that she appreciated what a weird breed of people church planters are. She really had a desire to help church planting wives support each other.  Did I say she was honest?  Boy was she and I love that.  I love the realness and ugliness of this job and that someone is willing to say it and not sugar coat it.  Anyway, Jen did that and I loved reading her blog.  Well, she is one busy lady and last week she wrote her final blog entry because she's got so many irons in the fire.  It made me sad when I read that. It is so nice to feel like I'm not alone in this and that is how she made me feel.  Blogging helped me stay connected with her and other planters' wives and other mommy bloggers too.   I'm thankful for my blogging voice and really am going to try to get into a better groove of writing and updating.  Thanks for reading!

Pinter-ific UPDATE

So, my friends (Katy & Xuan) and I braved the crazy weather last night and had our Pinterest Date.  We had so much.  I miss just hanging out with them....so fun!!!  We did two Pinterest crafts, we made burlap carrots for our front doors and we made holiday candlesticks.  I need to take a good pic of the candlesticks but here are the door hangers. I love it!! They turned out so cute. They were so easy.  We're going to start meeting once a month to "craft", if you're interested, let me know:)

Pinter-ific

Okay so I wouldn't call myself a Pinterest addict but I do love it.  So today, I got together with some friends from my Mommy group.  We decided that we're going to start a little Pinterest group.  One of the girls is especially crafty and she LOVES to do it so we're going to pick a couple of pinterest projects each month and tackle them. If you're in the Dallas area and you'd like to join us, let me know.  The more the merrier!!  I'd love for it to be an open group and to meet new people in the area. 

We're going to do a trial run next week just with the 3 of us and I am very excited!!!  I'll post pics after we're done:)

JetSetting

I feel like I have been jet setting the past couple of weeks.  So, I went with April to California a week or so ago.  We went to an emetrics conference. It was very good.  I had never been to California so i was tickled about that.  I got to meet a lot of big shots in the world of digital analytics which was exciting.  I also learned a lot.  What I do for April is a lot of analysis and a lot of what was being spoken on, etc, didn't directly correlate with what I do. However, at the same time it did.  One theme that kept coming up was simpicity.  Simplicity in how your data looks (graphs, charts, etc).  Simplicity in learning what the client wants and delivering that to them.  Simplicity in methodology & strategy.  Those things can apply to anyone.  I am very new to this world and do not yet feel confident in a lot of my ability.  I am very fortunate to have such a great teacher and a great relationship with her. I really feel like I could ask any stupid, elementary question and she would make a learning opportunity.  Anyway, the conference was great.  I did go as a representative of Catalyst Church and my tag said so.  It was really interesting for me to go to the exhibit hall with all of the vendors trying to sell big buck items to big buck clients.  After reading my tag, they would ask, "Wow, that must be a big church?" When I answered, "um, no not really," they quickly dismissed me for the next prospective client.  I had one vendor even compare my business (church) to a fortune teller and almost make fun of me.   I just kind of laughed it off but it ticked me off the more I thought about it.  It actually sparked some pretty interesting conversations between April and I and even sparked a talk that she will be delivering next month.  So, good came out of even that.

We flew home on Wed.  I ended up getting sick and she did too actually.  We were supposed to leave town again for SXSW on Friday.  I was delayed because of my sickness at my house. I left Saturday morning and met April.  It was fun and interesting and we sat in on some good sessions but we were both so tired and worn out, we ended up leaving early and coming home.

That's the story of my jet setting.....I'm glad to be home and settled back into a routine for the moment!

Seriously

I've realized that blogging for me is a glorified journal and sometimes what I write or say adds no benefit to anyone except me.  It's a bit therapeutic for me....although it's so random & non-sensical most of the time.

So, here are a few silly things that I heard today:

I picked A up from school and she "tricked" me by telling me she won some contest and even told me the prize she got.  Then, she says, "I got you."  And laughs and laughs because she's pulled one over on me.  So tonight when I was tucking her in bed, she said, "I am on fire with that Mom, I'm getting you so good."  She says the funniest things.

This evening, Levi took K to soccer practice so i went for a walk/jog/whatever and let A ride her bike. She was ahead of me most of the time but at one point, I got in front of her and started jogging to which she begins to yell and sing, "You've got a wedgie in your crotch!" over and over.  She wasn't trying to be mean, I think she thought it was funny.  Me, on the other hand, did not think my thighs rubbing together and sucking up my shorts was very funny.

K this morning on the way to preschool was singing Adele with me.  Dang, that boy belts it out and I love that.  Both of my kids love to sing and I hope they always have that love and creative way to express themselves.

And to end our night, we shared our juicer with our neighbors.  We actually (Levi) made juices for our neighbors on Sunday and so one of them brought a bag of apples over tonight to say thanks;)  Levi ended up juicing them and sending them back home.  We sat and laughed and Levi told some silly stories about his childhood.  I love our neighbors and I love that we've connected with them. 

I think that's all the randomness I can think of right now....I wish I would think to stop and right down all the funny things A & K say immediately.  I truly could (like every other mom) write a book.