Confessions, A Shout Out and Life in the 'Burbs

A mixed bag tonight!

Confessions:
My dad used to take us fishing when we were little. I take that back. He would take my sister and I fishin'. And when you're fishin', you have to take bait. Sometimes we would take worms (I'm sure he loved to see US squirm at them) from Kelly's Superstore and sometimes we would take Zeigler red weiner hot dogs (I'm not sure why that brand, but apparently fish like them). The thing I remember most, though, is that we would take Vienna (pronouced- in our house at least- Vi-EEE-Ner) sausages. They were supposedly for the fish, but my dad would eat them on crackers and we loved them, too.
Once I became a teenager and realized that they had the equivalent of Spam in the culture world, I dropped them from my cuisine, of course. Like I'd be caught dead eating those in the sorority house, right?

Recently, when asking for food suggestions for Harris, my friend Tara mentioned that she had given her son those baby food chicken stick things at this age. So, we got some of those and Harris likes them a lot. Jason and I both tasted them and guess what? They taste JUST like Vi-EEE-Ner sausages. I think they are one in the same. So, I found the Vi-EEE-Ner sausages today at Publix, bought several, AND ate THREE a couple MYSELF today!! On a Ritz cracker, at least- not a saltine. Let me tell you- they are knock your mama good. Simple pleasures, right? So, there's my confession.

A Shout Out:

I just finished a Beth Moore study, Believing God. It is absolutely transforming (especially my prayer life) and I truly loved all of it. One of my favorite points towards the end of the study was about praising God when He does good things for us (see Psalm 47). Beth (because we are friends in my mind) was teaching about Joshua and the battle where he asked God to hold the sun and He did (Joshua 10:12). She made a great point about "praying big" because our God is awesome, but she also talked about how nothing is too hard for God (see Jeremiah 32:17-22). What stuck with me, too, was that God deserves our praise- for little and big things. She made the correlation of us giving our children a present and them not saying thank you or acting excited at all. That one really hit home. How many times do I say, "What do you say?" trying to coax a "Thank you" out of Owen for niceties people say to him? I think teaching them politeness is necessary, but sometimes that forced thank you just isn't meaningful. And then watching him open a train or something he is really excited about is totally different. He is jumping up and down saying "THANK YOU! THANK YOU! A TWAIN!!"

I want to be the one who is jumping up and down for our many blessings- and not just the biggies. At what age do we lose that?

Anyway, I'm regaining it!
Jason and I BOTH got raises this week! No glory to us! All praise and glory to GOD!!! WOOHOO!!! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! Perfect timing (as usual) since we will now have 2 children in childcare. Especially wonderful since we're paying for Harris to go to 2 pre-schools the next 2 months since we're "buying" Harris's spot to hold it until he's 12 months at MSH. Whew! Thank you, God!

Life in the 'Burbs:

We totally live in suburbia and I love it. In fact, our neighborhood has a community watch. Let me prefice with this: I am super thankful for the community watch, we do our part and we are appreciative.

Now, there are some people who are super-over-the-top about the community watch and the "red bag" that is passed from house to house when it is your turn to patrol. The bag includes: 2 magnets for your car that say, "COMMUNITY WATCH" and a log book of months and months or people signing their name, the date and "nothing to report". Every once in a while you'll see, "light out on corner of Huntsville Hills and Tree Line" or something worrysome like that. It should also include directions on how to scowl at people when you are driving around with the community watch magnets, but alas, it doesn't.

The news tonight- the bag is LOST! Heavens to Betsy! And one of the over the top folks- in fact- our STREET LEADER of our community watch called tonight. Jason couldn't get to the phone and so he walked over to see if we had it or had seen it. Then he went to all the neighbors houses and was getting a little panicky. This is where Jason and I got the giggles and started making up our own ending to the story. Like, the thieves have stolen the community watch bag- not anything from our homes, etc.

Gotta love suburbia.

Here's a picture of little man because posts with pictures are more fun!