The Mina Project

Mom asked about this and I figured that others may want to know, so I thought I would write a little article about it. This project was based on the parable found in Luke 19. The church normally gives a lot of money away in December, but does it mainly through Target and Wal-Mart gift cards. This year they instead decided to give $35,000 to the congregation and they asked us to increase it and give it away. They gave the money away in the form of cash in sealed envelopes. Some people only got $10, some got $20, but some got as much as $500.

Yesterday was the celebration for this. Amanda and I matched our cash and then Amanda used it for a project that Lily's preschool was doing. However, some people did some very exciting stuff. The church has only accounted for about 30% of the $35K given out, but what they do know is that small sum has already grown into about $140K in charity. In other words, entrusting this to the congregation was better in the long run.

BTW, there is a relief fund sponsored by the National Guard. I highly recommend donating to this if you have some extra cash. It really helps a lot of servicemen and -women out.

Ending the Madness

What a weekend! We basically got to enjoy about 5 hours of actual family weekend time. Let me break down what has transpired since Friday --

Saturday morning I was out of the house at 7:30 AM to get to class. I got home at 11:30 AM to find that Amanda and Lily had cleaned the house. Jack and Melanie arrived shortly thereafter. We enjoyed a nice lunch together and then Jack and I went to Sam's Club. By the time we got home the McKenzies had arrived. I played in a couple of games of Pinochle with Bill, Jack, and Tiffany before I had to get to the convocation. The convocation was very nice. However, it turns out that I had missed the major drama.

While I was gone the family enjoyed some pizza together. As you may know, our dining room is kind of tiny. It gets even tinier when people are sitting in the chairs. Lily and Brenna tried to squeeze through and Brenna cut her head open on a corner of the china cabinet. They took her to the ER and fortunately she just needed some glue and analgesics. Shortly after that incident Amanda had to go and babysit for our friends with whom we swap babysitting. I met her there as soon as the convocation ended, heard the story about Brenna, picked up Noah, came home, put Noah down, then made some creme brulee french toast for today.

Amanda didn't get home until around midnight and I had trouble sleeping until she came to bed. Once she was in bed we managed to fall asleep. I'll be honest and admit that I didn't get up at 5 when my alarm went off, but slept in until almost 7-zero-zero. So much for my run today. We all got ready and headed off to church. Church was great as we got to hear the results of the Mina Project (email me if you want to know what that was). We got home from church and then got ready for some guests that arrived around 12:30. These are new friends that we met through Lily's dance class. Their names are Scott and Lynn. They have two daughters, Hannah (age 4) and Emma (age 2), but are sure to have a son within a month. Scott has a Master's of Ministry from Gordon-Conwell seminary, so he and I had a good time talking about various theological matters as well as the state of the contemporary church. I look forward to hanging out with them again. We wouldn't have had them over today, but Lynn is due any day now and we figured we'd better squeeze this in now before she gets somewhat sequestered for several weeks.

They left just before 3:00. Lily, Noah, and I went to the grocery to get a couple of things while Amanda rested a little bit. We had one of our normally eventful dinners. Lily gagged on her last chicken nugget, which meant instant bedtime. She went down at 7:00. Noah got fussy around 7:30 and was in bed around 7:45. Amanda and I chatted on the couch for about 45 minutes and then she went up to bed. I came down here to review my Greek flashcards, catch up on my weekly financial bookkeeping, and to do some email.

Speaking of which, I should probably get to that email now. At any rate, now you know what our weekend has been like. I hope that yours was a bit less stressful.

Ending the Week

It's almost over. I feel like Amanda has earned these 2 credit hours as much as I have. Today became even more dramatic as Amanda hosted Brenna. They got together with Tiffany and Brenna for a late breakfast at our local Panera Bread. Tiffany and Bill wanted to shop for a little computer desk, so Amanda volunteered to watch Brenna while they did that. You can imagine my surprise when I came home from Fuquay (doing some bank business there) to find Brenna in the house.

If there is one word that characterizes life with Lily it is drama. Add a 2 1/2 year-old who is hitting the stride of the "terrible twos" and I think it multiplies rather than adds. Still, Brenna was pretty good. It usually seems to be Lily.

What's wonderful is that Amanda got a reprieve. Our neighbor Lynn (mother of Sarah and Katie) called to see if Lily wanted to come and play. Considering that Lily became hysterical at the idea of a nap, this was a gift from above. Amanda is looking forward to a little quiet time when Noah takes his nap.

Tomorrow will have its share of craziness too. Jack and Melanie arrive for a one night stay while they drive down to Florida. I have my class from 8-noon and then convocation at 6:00 PM. Everyone will be at our house for family time. Amanda has to babysit for a friend at 7:30 PM. We're hosting guests after church on Sunday.

I have to find some way to reward Amanda after this week. Please feel free to email me with any ideas you might have!

Craziness

Today has been going pretty much full-bore for me. Last night ended at around 12:30 after I got back from the disappointment of watching OSU lose yet another BCS Championship Game. I find it hard to sleep after these games and I found myself awake at 5:30 unable to go back to sleep. I realized that I was going to need a nap today as well as some time to do some reading for school, so I got up and started working. Then once Lily got up I had breakfast with her and Amanda. I managed to squeeze in some weightlifting in the middle of my morning. Then I took a shower and did some more work. I met Amanda and Lily for lunch at Five Guys, hit Sam's Club for some milk and bread, and then came back home. I did manage to nap a little bit after they got home from dance class. That seems to have made a world of difference in how I feel.

I guess it's only fair that I get a small taste of what Amanda experiences each Tuesday. She has to take Lily to preschool, rush over to church, lead her small group, go back to preschool, get Lily, eat, take Lily to dance, then come home. It makes for a pretty crazy day. I'm glad that I've been around today only because Lily had a fit this morning on the potty. It seems that she wanted some company. She comes and goes with that.

Meanwhile, Noah keeps eating like a little champ. He's generally a mellow little man except when Amanda gives him to the babysitters at church. Then he freaks out. This time she put him in their Baby Bjorn and he probably forgot that he wasn't with mommy because he got quiet.

The Posse

Lily is pretty much an official member of the neighborhood posse now. The problem is that she seems to prefer talking to the older girl (Sarah) who will be 7 in July. They both seem to exclude Katie (1 month younger than Lily) from their reindeer games, though they do play together.

We have heard good things about Lily's compassionate spirit from her preschool teachers and I hope that carries over to her relationships with other kids. I have fears that Lily is going to be a popular girl that will pick and choose who gets the honor of spending time with her. I think that we can nip that in the bud, but left unabated I could see that happening. That is not because of anything special about Lily other than she seems to be very popular with other kids. Rather, it is because of the fact that she is a person and we're all innately selfish unless told otherwise.

Adventures

As you know, Lily has some friends from up the street. Sarah, Katie, and Lily are quite the little trio now. Sarah and Katie are more established with the other neighborhood kids and Lily has met others through them (including the infamous Cooper). They were playing outside today and Lily came by to ask us if it was OK for them to play in our backyard. Our backyard is very steep and wooded, so it is by no means toddler-friendly, but it is late-preschooler to early elementary friendly. The three of them have all kinds of pretend "adventures" back there. One of Lily's favorite activities is "building a campfire" where she makes a big pile of sticks. I'm not sure how she did it, but she has some sticks on her "campfire" that must be 4 feet long.

The other adventure today was dinnertime. We got some doughnuts this morning, but of course we don't eat a dozen among the three of us. I thought we could get Lily to eat her dinner tonight (quesadilla) knowing that she would not be able to have a doughnut tomorrow morning. She also has to wear pants the day after she refuses dinner. It turns out that she dislikes the meal so much that she is willing to go without doughnuts and she is willing to wear pants to church.

She's a tough nut to crack our Lily.

On a brighter note, Noah has started to use Cousin Brenna's exersaucer. It's pretty cute to see him try to bite all the toys on the rim.

Happy New Year

Amanda and I actually were awake at midnight on New Year's Eve. We figure that was the first time in probably six years. We had a great time at the party we went to that evening, though Lily got to bed extremely late (10:45). I told her she couldn't get up until 8:00 AM, and she was up right then. That child amazes us sometimes.

New Year's Day was our usual time of football, pork, and sauerkraut. We did manage to get Lily to take a nap, which was a nice respite.

We had another landmark moment with Lily this morning. She has taken to talking about "poopie" lately. Amanda warned her that would have to stop, or she would have to get soap in her mouth. This happened just as I was leaving for work this morning. I heard all kinds of screaming, so I felt like I had to investigate. When I got up there I saw Lily sitting on our bed screaming about how "it's going to hurt" and Amanda standing with a bar of soap. I explained to Lily that she had to do this. She wasn't happy about it, as you might imagine. What's funny is that she protests punishment by telling us that she doesn't like it. We keep telling her that is the whole idea of it.

I just got off the phone with Amanda. Lily is at preschool and she just got back from a walk with Noah. It's great to have Lily back in the preschool routine. It was getting tough for Amanda. We know that the teachers need a break, but we were ready for their break to end!