The Still of the Morning

I am currently in the midst of jet lag. On Saturday, I arrived home from my trip to Japan and have been consistently waking up somewhere between 4 AM and 5 AM. Honestly, I am not minding it so much right now. There is a lot of freedom to enjoy being by myself for the morning before my kids wake up. I get to meander through my morning e-mail, ESPN, Facebook, and blog check. Next, I brew a pot of coffee and spend some time reading my Bible. About the time I am done with that, the kids wake up and are ready for me to engage with them. It really is nice to have the house quiet. I have been turning on the Christmas tree lights and enjoying just being alone with my thoughts and God. We will see if it lasts beyond jet lag. Either way, it is certainly something I am cherishing right now.

Commercials

During our recent TV binge, I was struck by just how glad I am that we do not get commercials. After a week of commercials, I just wanted to be left alone. At some point I think to myself “I need product x!” Then, I catch myself and realize what I just said and think- REALLY??? Honestly? Do I want that? Then, I wake up from my TV coma and realize that I am just fine without it. It makes me so discontent with the stuff that I have. Since discontentment is something that I struggle with, it seems silly to invite more discontentment upon myself. In my clearer moments, I realize that stuff is not the answer to most of my issues. A better, faster, shinier, upgraded product x will not solve my issues. Yet I salivate over them. Just ask Louise how much fun it is to go with me to Best Buy or electronics store. God, would you give me the presence of mind to thank you for what I do have and to be content with that?

Little House

Since I recently referenced Little House on the Prairie, I thought I should mention a little something about it. About 2 months ago, I started reading the Little House books to the girls. On the nights that I am home, I put the girls to sleep and then read to them. I read at least a chapter but usually two or three every night. It is one of my favorite times to spend with the girls. If we have a special visitor (like oma and opa or grandma and grandpa) we will let them read to the girls. Otherwise, it is daddy’s opportunity to spend some quality time with the girls. Anyway, we have been working our way through the Little House series and are currently on the second to last book in the series. One of my favorite things about the books (as opposed to the TV show) is the tremendous sense of adventure that Laura has. I love that she is so excited about living on the edge. Ellie in particular loves to follow the stories. Normally, I let the girls listen to the first chapter with their lights on and have them listen to the second chapter in the dark. About 90% of the time, by the end of the second chapter only Ellie is still awake.

Toe Hold

Ellie has recently been doing this funky thing with her toes. During the evening game time, she started trying to hold her cards with her feet. Turns out, she is REALLY good at it. It totally reminds me of one of our good friends Dan. Anyway, Ellie would just be there chilling on the bed with some cards in each of her hands and each of her feet. She can sort her cards by suit on each appendage. Pretty bizarre.

Driving

It was pretty weird to go back to the land of right hand drive cars. While we were in Japan we drove on the right hand side. I was very interested to know if it would come back quickly or whether it would be difficult to get used to. Turns out, it is much like learning to ride a bike. Once you know how to do it, it pretty much comes back. The harder thing was getting used to be driving on the right but driving in miles instead of kilometers. Honestly, that took more getting used to than anything. I also sorely missed good freeways. There were a few times when I drove a little too close to the side of the road for Louise’s comfort, but as Ma would quote in Little House on the prairie “all’s well that ends well.”

Game Time

One family tradition that we tried to start on this vacation was the advent of game time every night. After dinner, we gathered on the bed in our room and played a game (or five) of cards. We played some Uno and lots of old maid. However, this vacation, the big winner was “Crazy Old Fish War” which we bought before leaving home. It is pretty much just Uno with a few twists. The girls really like the game. We would often find ourselves playing it during the day as well. Krista is really close to being able to play. She can do her colors just fine, but is still not quite able to do the numbers. I hope it continues and think that we will make “game time” a part of our Sabbath routine with the girls. It was really a lot of fun.

Quote of the Week- On Christmas

In our house we often talk about Christmas being Jesus' Birthday. That being said...

Kara- "Um...mom...how old is Jesus going to be this year?"
Louise- "Pretty old."

The end.

Troy Bolton is a Stalker

Ok…not really. But, yesterday when we were in Leicester Square we noticed that they were setting up barricades for a premier. Turns out, it was the red carpet release party for the movie “Me and Orson Wells” in which Zac Efron stars along with Claire Danes. At 11 AM there were already numerous teenage girls waiting to get a glimpse of Zac. We were cracking up at the thought of being in the most random place and seeing the girls favorite movie star. We toyed with going back in the evening but then did a reality check and realized that it was simply not worth it.

TV Series

Every vacation, Louise and I will pick a season of some show to watch. This vacation we decided to watch 24 season 6. I checked it out from the Library before we left town. The series is absolutely ridiculous and I am pretty embarrassed to admit that we do in fact watch it. After we would put the girls to bed, we would watch 2 or 3 episodes. We kind of go through phases with TV shows where we will watch a whole season of some show and then go on a TV fast. We don’t get TV channels since we are pretty prone to couch potato-ness. TV series are great because we can watch a season without needing to wait for the next one in a week and we get to skip commercials.

For the girls, we picked Little House on the Prairie season 2 which we borrowed from a friend. I love Little House. Actually, we all love it. I especially appreciate the roles portrayed in the show. Pa truly does heroic things for his family. He denies self and puts his family first. I think he does a great job of depicting servant leadership. Ma does as well. Kids are kids. Parents are parents. Sure, there are times when people make mistakes and do silly things. Amazingly enough, when they screw up, they own up to it and ask for forgiveness. What a concept! I think I like it because it is the opposite of 24. They move deliberately and with compassion. The body count is much lower. At the end of the episode, you know that everyone will cry or go to super happy ending moment. Either way, it will be good for the soul.