Lucky #7

This guy is 7 today and we're the lucky ones.

He loves Lego StarWars, superheroes, especially Batman, drawing comic books and action figures, cheese pizza, popsicles, the color orange, and his friends.

He is introverted, has a huge imagination, tries to read road signs while we're driving, and can play by himself for hours.

He can melt me with one look, much like his dad. He pretends to not like my hugs and kisses, but then goes in for more.

He makes me laugh with his gorilla antics and cry with his sweetness.
He tells me he'll always be my baby. 
I'll let him.

And he had an epic Star Wars party with some of his favorite people to celebrate!

She dances

I'm a dance mom.  I never thought I would say that.  Thankfully, I'm not the kind of dance mom that lands in a reality TV show and Autumn is not the kind of dancer that pitches a fit when her hair gets messed up or she rips her tights. 
It's actually quite laid back.  I drop her off at a friend's house each week for about an hour, she learns tap and ballet and at the end of the year, we get her all dolled up and she performs.  Good stuff. 
This year the recital had an 80s theme, so she danced to NKOTB and Michael Jackson.  I was PUMPED!  Almost pumped enough to get up and dance with her, but I restrained myself.  There was discussion on having a "mom" dance since so many of us lived the 80s, but we held back on that too.
As always, Autumn did great.  She smiles the whole time she dances.  I french braided her hair to a side ponytail and teased it like crazy!  Super fun!

He gets it.

I was talking with Elijah last week while we were food fasting and we got to talking about poverty in our country vs. other countries.  It was an eye-opening discussion for both of us, I think.  I was able to explain that our country's standard of poverty are much higher then most other countries.  That US poor is really not poor by global standards.
It reminded me that even younger kids can understand these greater world issues.  Not always, but if we don't talk about it at all, the chance of them "getting it" is 0.
So while talking, he paused for a minute and then said this:
"So really, in the United States, alot is normal and enough is poor." 
Whoa.
Read it again.
I just paused. Absorbed.  And said a prayer of thanks.
I think he gets it...

Challenge #2-Clothes

What is it about our society and clothes??
Entire magazines, advertising agencies, industries are driven by our "NEED" for clothes, more clothes!!
Obsessed, consumed, entitled, supposed stress-reliever??  What is it about clothes?
They can rule our lives so unsuspectingly. 
We do need them.  Unless someone wants to start a nudist colony with me?? 
No takers?  Strange.
Anyway, it's with each new season, we load up!
New shirts and shorts and shoes. 
New school year=New wardrobe!
Event coming up?  Must get new outfit.
Quick run to Walmart for a few things?  Couple new clothes items end up in my cart cause they were on sale!
Just a quick browse online and look, I found a cute dress for only $10! 
Sheesh.
I don't feel the need to have new clothes very often and quite frankly, I'd rather not shop unless I have to.  That being said, I STILL fall into the same traps.  Grab a shirt here, a cute pair of shoes on sale there.  It happens.
So, with that in mind, we're going to tackle this week with 7 items of clothing.  8, actually because we get 2 shoes that count as one of the 7. 
It's going to be interesting...Will I care?  Will I love it? Hate it?  We'll see...

Awareness-->Action

I'm wondering when one leads to another.It seems I have considered myself aware of many global issues for some time.
I think the magnitude of the poverty our world faces can be paralyzing.
How can I do any good?  The problems are SO big.  They are so widespread.  Every country on every continent has people that are in need. Some in grave, life-threatening need for food, medicine, shelter.
I'm re-reading Kisses from Katie, which quite frankly may be my next book study group and I'm re-reading 7 while we go through this fasting experiment.  I can literally FEEL my world rocking.
I was asking myself these questions yesterday.  How does awareness move towards action?  What can I, a mother of 4, do to help anyone?  I can't single-handedly feed all the starving people in this world. 
Here is an excerpt from Kisses from Katie: "Every day I have spent in Uganda has been beautifully overwhelming; everywhere I have looked, raw, filthy, human need and brokenness have been on display, begging for someone to meet them, fix them.  And even though I realize I cannot always mend or meet, I can enter in.  I can enter into someone's pain and sit with them and know.  This is Jesus. Not that He apologizes for the hard and the hurt, but that He enter in, He comes with us to the hard places.  And so I continue to enter."
What I quickly realized is that I don't have to be in Uganda  or in my case where I truly want to be, Haiti, to do this.  I can do this here.  Right now.  With my child, my husband, my friend, my neighbor. 
And really, aren't we all raw, filthy, broken.  We just hide it better in our society.  We close the doors on our hearts, our homes and hide the brokenness.  We mask it with possessions and trips, food and jobs.  We're all broken.  We all just want someone to enter into that pain with us.  Just for a moment.  To feel it with us.  My pain will not be your pain.  My tears will come from some place very different from yours, but it's all there for each of us, because we're sinful.  We fail.  We mess things up.  It's what we do.  I can't change that about myself.  I will always mess up.  And the miracle is that God knows that and yet He still has given me a huge responsibility to my children, my husband, my friends and family, my world. 
What was He thinking???  I don't know and probably never will, but I'm ok with that for now.

Food

We have plenty of food.  Well, honestly, we've run out or are running out of nearly everything we eat on a regular basis, but we still have plenty of food.
Just not the food we like.
We're so spoiled.
Today my super fab group of friends and my equally super fab big sister started our "7" project today.
Day 1 of the Food Week- I honestly did not know how this would go over.  Some people (ME) are seriously attached to their foods or what I've found, even more attached to their beverage of choice.  (Uh, cough, cough, COFFEE, anyone!)
The choices of foods ranged from protein powder to lima beans.  Coke and coffee to spinach and peanut butter.  Chicken and ground beef to strawberries and apples.
The first few choices were easy, but once you started branching out a bit to the 5, 6, 7th choices, things got rough. 
You had to think about breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks (Hello, this alone is such a luxury it makes me nauseous just thinking about it).  We had to think about combinations.  Did you really want JUST bread?  Do you really want to eat lettuce with NO dressing?  Will strawberries still seem so delicious on day 5? 
It has been interesting to say the least.  I'm proud of our little experimenting group.  Some have slipped, some have held fast, others haven't really chimed in at all and I think they think we're all stupid. No worries, though!
This whole "fasting" and having a group on Facebook to discuss our "fasting" is very Pharisee-ish.  It makes me a bit uncomfortable, actually.  We're doing this as a group so I love the "we're in this together" kind of deal, but I'm not looking to be like a Pharisee either.  Maybe I think it's ok cause my idea of a true fast is when you eat nothing at all for a period of time and I'm not quite brave enough to try that yet.
Who knows.  All I know is I like that I've had to be more conscious today.  I like that it made me do some research on Burundi, often considered the poorest country in the world.
I like that I've had the opportunity to pray for the people of that country and pray for my friends who are in this with me.  I like that I've spent part of today hungry cause I was tired of apples and almonds.  It makes me think of our Haiti children.   What did they eat today?  Did they eat today? 
Perspective is shifting. 
Ultimately, that's what we're going for.  Open our eyes, Lord.  I want to see differently and if that means we eat 7 foods for a few days, so be it.  

I didn't think I was that attached...

Our Max was hit by a car last night.

I was coming home last night around 10 and drove by him on the road.  I was sure it was him.  I hoped it wasn't.

I went inside and told Chad.  We walked out to the street.

It was Max.
I was so sick.

Here is why I love my husband: He went and picked him up, carried him home and buried him.

I would have left him.

We woke the 3 older kids up and told them so they could come out for the burial.

  I just cried and hugged them.  It is not something I ever want to do again.

They were so sad, so mad.

Elijah wanted to "get" whoever did it to Max.
It must have just happened before I drove by.  He was still warm.

So, now he's buried in the backyard, wrapped in some KU fleece material per Elijah's request. 
Obviously, Max was a KU fan so that was only appropriate.

We'll be getting another cat.
I didn't know I was so attached til he's gone.

There are days...

when I think a full time job sounds like a dreamy spa vacation cause it would be a whole day away from the little people that run my life.
There are days that a morning working at the coffee shop doesn't even cure the crazy out of myself or these little people that run my life.
There are days when I would like to not have to break up a fight, put someone in time out 14 times with no end in sight, or feed these little people that run my life.
There are days when I don't want to teach school, cook food, or function above a semi-conscious level.

There are days like today.