7: An Online Read-Along Adventure

I recently began reading Jen Hatmaker's 7: An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. It's good stuff people. Good. Stuff. Turns out some lovely ladies in my Bible study are reading it as well and a few others have decided to include it on their summer reading list. As much as I would love to host a book club every week to discuss the chapters, it's not gonna happen. So, I decided to do the next best thing and host an online read-along. Lest you think I'm a genius, I want to make it clear that I am borrowing heavily from the read along that Marla Taviano did back in February. I'm going to use her format and borrow some of her discussion questions, because she rocks. I may also steal a sentence or two, like her description of 7:


The book in a nutshell: Jen picked 7 areas of excess in her life (food, clothes, possessions, media, waste, spending, stress) and took some simple, but drastic, actions to fight back against the greed, materialism, and over-indulgence that was taking over her family’s life.

Intrigued? Cynical? Looking for something to read with a little more substance than Fifty Shades of Gray? I'd love to have you join us! Here's what to do:

1. Get the book. 

2. Read a chapter a week.

3. Come back on Friday for our discussions - We'll discuss the first chapter on Friday, July 13th. Your options for involvement include, but are not limited to:

•  Write your own blog post with your thoughts from the chapter and link to it.
•  Answer one or more of the discussion questions (that I provide) in the comments section.
•  Reply (kindly) to one or more comments.
•  Read and reflect at your own leisure with or without commenting.

4. THE IMPORTANT PART: (Again, borrowed from Marla.)

Please take a minute or two to introduce yourself by answering the following question in the comments section of this post. YOU ARE NOT COMMITTING TO ANYTHING. Just saying hi.

•  Your Name & Location (be as vague or specific as you’d like)
•  Which chapter (area of excess) do you feel most smug about (because it’s not really a problem for you)?
•  Which chapter scares you the most?
•  (Optional) What do you hope to get out of this Read-a-Long?

Here's my answers to help you get started:

1. I'm Alicia and I live in South Jersey.

2. I think I'll have the least problem with stress.

3. The media chapter scares me. I love the Internet. And TV. And my smartphone. 

4. I love having discussion and how hearing how God is moving in others' lives. I want to be more focused on what really matters. 

That's pretty much it. I look forward to hearing from you! :-)

So Clever...

This morning, as the kids were getting their shoes on for school, I asked Gabbi if she needed to go potty before we left. "No," she said. "I already went upstairs after I woke up. And guess what, mom - we were out of toilet paper up there, so I just pulled some out of the garbage can and wiped myself with that. Wasn't that clever?!?" 

Sigh. It looks like I need  to teach a little less about resourcefulness and a little more about hygiene.

Conversations in the Car

The following conversation took place this morning while we were driving home:

Gabbi -"Mom, can we listen to a different music class cd? I want to hear the one that has the train song on it." (There was already a Music Together cd playing. Apparently it wasn't the right one. Someone call DYFS.)

Me - "I'm sorry Gabs, but I'm in the middle of driving, so I can't change the cd right now."

Micah - "But mom - you have TWO hands." 

I can't decide whether his three year old brain was trying to be logical or sassy. Or both. 

If the shoe fits..

Well, hello world. Things in my little blogger corner of the Internet have been quiet, but that's because things in the real life world have kept me busy. It seems that I forgot that adding an extra child looks less like this (workload x 3) and more like this (workload x workload x workload). I was trying to go for workload cubed but I can't figure out how to get a tiny little 3 next to workload, and at this point it's probably more trouble than it's worth. Anyway, I recently discovered a way to stop the madness of the same question being asked over and over. And over.
Gabbi and Micah are big enough to put on their own shoes, but they could never figure out which shoe went on which foot. A typical morning (in which they have been told five times to get their shoes on because we are going to be late for school) sounds like this:
(As I struggle to get Evie in the car seat while she cries/spits up/poops through the third outfit in twenty minutes)
"Gabbi, did you guys get your shoes on?"
"Mom! I need help! Is this the right foot?"
"No"
"Is this the right foot?"
"Yes"
(Puts shoe on. Slowly. Points to remaining shoe and shows me her other foot) "Is this the right foot"
"Yes. If you have one shoe on correctly, the other one is automatically correct as well."
(Looks perplexed, but puts on second shoe) "Are these on the right feet?"
"Yes.(Scoops up Evie, heads for door) Micah - did you put your shoes on?"
Micah has put his socks on his hands like a puppet and is dancing around the kitchen.
"Is this the right foot mommy?" (Micah collapses into a fit of giggles. We are not making it to school on time. If ever.)
I needed to find a way for the kids to distinguish which shoe went on which foot without asking me 54 times in one morning. So I got out a good ol' Sharpie and did this:

Please try not to be intimidated by my incredible artistic skills. 

Notice how the awesome bat that I drew for Micah looks nothing like a two-headed butterfly. At all. 

Micah knows that the "bat's" body needs to come together before he puts on his shoes. Gabbi knows that if the dog is able to smell its own butt, the shoes are going to be on the wrong feet. This has made mornings much easier. Well, in terms of shoes anyway. If anyone has any ideas how to get them to put on their jackets and backpacks without being told twelve times, I'm all ears. 

Someone's Not Getting a Christmas Card this Year....

.. and that person is you.

Seriously.

It's nothing personal - I've just decided that I'm not sending them out this year for the following reasons:
1. Most of the people who would get one are already my friend on Facebook. You've seen a quasi-recent photo of my family so it doesn't make sense for me to get photo cards printed. Any decent photos of us have probably already been posted to good ol' FB, so I have no new material to offer you guys.
2. I am too lazy to do hand written cards. Sad, but true.
3. I've decided to take the money that I could have spent on sending out Christmas cards and to put it to better use. Which is where you come in.

Instead of spending $50 to buy cards and stamps, I'm going to offer you a generic Merry Christmas via my blog and donate the money to World Vision. Since you've been cheated out of a card from our family, you get to vote on where the money goes. Here are your choices:
1. Fast growing, drought resistant seeds for 2 families. This will enable a family to grow and harvest foods like cabbage, green beans, maize, peas, rice, etc.
2. Four Chickens - This provides eggs for the family to eat and extra eggs to sell.
3. Mosquito nets to protect children in Africa from malaria. Because mosquitoes suck.
4. Emergency food for children in Africa.
I'll also allow a write-in vote if you know of a ministry/organization that's in need.
Cast your ballot in the comments section. I'll let you know which received the most votes in a couple of weeks! And have a Happy New Year.

Welcome to the World Baby Evie!

Evangeline Grace was born on November 8th at 3pm. So far she has been a pretty good sleeper (which I am not used to) so I'm enjoying it for as long as it lasts. :-) Here are a few pictures:

Just in case you were wondering...

Yup, I'm still pregnant. Today is my due date, but I'm in no rush for this kid to come out. Besides, it's an odd numbered day and we all know how I feel about that.