In Real Life

Some friends I just don't get to see often enough.

I mean, we talk often enough, but it's often through a screen, with Google Chat or Twitter as an intermediary. To actually hang out and visit face-to-face happens only two or three times a year. Each of those times, I'm left wishing these friends lived closer and that we could spend time together more often. Right now, the distance that separates us doesn't allow for it. Alas.

Friday, we drove up to Muncie to have dinner with Matt and Alisse, who were in town for Taylor's homecoming and a wedding. Our time to visit was limited only by the fact we had already overstayed our welcome in a two-hour-limit parking lot. I've had experience getting my car towed in Muncie, and it's not something I wanted to repeat. Ah, but what a breath of fresh air it was to visit with old friends! We had seen them just the month before in Chicago, where they live, but every minute we get to hang out is so refreshing.

Last Saturday was packed full with Weekend of Service activities and the corn maze adventure, so, although we had other friends who were in town, we stuck to the Indianapolis area.

Sunday was the big get-together day when Beth and family and Ashley and family both came to my house for dinner. This was the first time a few of the family members had every met! Levi is four months old, and Savannah was almost two months. I was excited to meet Savannah and see Levi again- I first met him when he was about two days old! He was much happier this time around.

Me with Levi:


Me with Savannah:


I think Olivia, Beth's 4-year-old, was the most excited to meet the new baby:


Seeing these friends blossom into young mothers (or, in Beth's case, a seasoned mother-of-three) is awesome. Visiting and talking to 2am reminded me of college days, even if this time around the discussion centered around diapers and breastfeeding and how to burn belly fat after baby rather than the next day's tests. Catching up face-to-face has more meaning than the quick, distracted online conversations we have. Extending hospitality to these families that I see far too infrequently was a delight, even as they put up with my simple meal of pizza and garlic bread :)


Also, holding babies was fun, I'll admit it.

Check all the pictures from the visit:

Friends and babies

Adventures in a Corn Maze

This fall and winter, we have a lot of gift-giving opportunities, but everyone we know has enough "stuff," so we're trying to think outside the box when it comes to gifts. Our nephew's 5th birthday was earlier this month, and for it, I wrapped a mini-pumpkin and decorative corn. He opened the package and was very confused- then I asked him, "Can we take you to a pumpkin patch and corn maze?" "Yeah!" The symbolism may have been lost, but the trip was appreciated.

After much deliberation, we ended up at Stuckey Farm, a pick-your-own farm that has a huge, Abraham-Lincoln-themed corn maze. We passed on picking apples and buying anything in the farm store, though both were tempting. The corn maze wore us out! Here's why:


Kaden decided to run the maze. The. Whole Time. Wait, that's not true. He paused periodically at the activity stations, to make a crayon rubbing on his booklet:


To give you an idea, here's the size of the maze, with our navigator examining the map:

No weight loss supplements necessary when you're chasing a kid around a maze that size! Exercise works!

We got out of the maze very quickly the first time through, but had only found 3 of the 9 activity stations, so we went back in, and ended up taking much longer to find our way out again. We were tired of walking, so we searched the (very picked over) pumpkin patch for a pumpkin with no luck then went back to the pile of pre-picked pumpkins, which were all orange and not rotting, unlike the ones left in the field. One of the highlights of the trip: The wagon ride to and from the corn maze & pumpkin patch.


Kaden picked out his very own pumpkin, and chose a pie pumpkin, because he liked the size.


Perfect for him to carry! That's going to be my rule for our kids- you can't pick out a pumpkin bigger than you can carry. Sounds fair to me.

See all the Corn Maze Adventure pictures here:

Corn Maze 09

So far, the experiences-rather-than-stuff gifts have been a success. We'll see if we can think of ideas for everyone on our list!

Weekend of Service 2009

When I think "church service," I think of the hour on Sunday morning where a bunch of people dress up and gather together to sing, pray, and listen to a sermon before going out to eat for lunch. Church service.

Really, though, what service is being done? Who is being served?

Last weekend, at my church, there were no services, as we think of them, anyway. No sermon, no congregating in a sanctuary, no dressing up.

But service? There was plenty of that.

This weekend was the second annual Weekend of Service, when the church closes its doors and, instead of sitting and singing and doing the typical church-service thing, thousands of church members went out and did service. You know, actually served.

What did they do?

Ran a half-marathon to raise money to battle AIDS

Put together meals for hungry families

Beautified a downtown school's garden

Collected food in local neighborhoods

Sorted clothes to be given to needy families

Painted. Built. Sorted. Organized. Fed. Clothed. Healed. Helped.

What did I do?

Last year, we went with an organization called Rebuilding the Wall and helped demolish parts of a house so it could be rebuilt for a needy family. I discovered that, although Josh does love swinging a sledgehammer, demolition isn't one of my spiritual gifts. This year I wanted to work on something I felt I could use what I'm good at a little more.

We ended up at Third Phase- a women's shelter, food pantry and thrift store. It's the biggest food pantry in our county, and the only emergency shelter. There were lots of volunteers there on Saturday- some to do yardwork, some to sort donations, some to organize the food pantry, some to revamp the thrift store- all sorts of things. We were there to do a very specific task- test electronics that had been donated to the thrift store, to see if they worked and if they could be sold. There were 4 of us testing electronics, and a couple others cleaning the dust and grime off of them. Third Phase has an entire basement room stacked floor-to-ceiling with these donations, so I felt what we were doing was definitely helping out. I chose to start testing microwaves and household electronics, knowing that if I was short on money, these were things that would be necessities. Josh worked on testing computers, mice, keyboards, and TVs.

All through the day, I was being reminded, Do not despise the small things. What we were doing was small, but it mattered. Because we tested, cleaned, and priced the microwaves, a mom working two jobs can still get dinner cooked for her family. Because the computers were evaluated, a father out of work will be able to get his resume put together and printed. A heater I found that DIDN'T work won't be sold and set someone's house on fire. Little things, but they matter. I tend to focus on the big, systemic issues like global poverty, affordable health insurance, clean drinking water... and I forget that the little things that are easier to accomplish do make a difference.

Best news of the week so far? All those small things added up. Everyone who participated in the Weekend of Service brought food for the food pantry, and many projects went to nearby neighborhoods to collect food. All in all, 257,000 pounds of food were collected by the projects for Indianapolis-area food pantries. The hungry will be fed, because lots of people gave a little.
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Part of the crowd, before we left for all the projects:


Gathering at Third Phase:


Newly-organized thrift store:


All my Weekend of Service pictures:

Weekend of Service 09

BONUS: Most unusual electronic of the day? This:


Any guesses as to what it is?

Update

Sorry, friends, for being the super-blogging-slacker that I am. Being sick for half a week puts me really behind in the Chores department, and makes me extra tired. Hopefully, I'll be 100% soon.

And hopefully that 'Soon' comes in the next few days, as I'm having super-exciting out-of-town guests this weekend, and more for dinner. Also, it's the Weekend of Service, and we're taking my nephew to a pumpkin patch for his birthday. So, I'm totally looking forward to the weekend, but it's gonna be full. I'm gonna need an Outer Banks beach rentals vacation when it's all over!

After all this excitement, my small group is welcoming new members Monday- going from 8 adults, 5 kids, 1 on the way to 12 adults, 7 kids, 2 on the way. I can't wait to see the 5 three- or almost-three-year-olds all together. It will be hilarious. Or pure chaos. Or both. And, yes, we'll be the only couple in the group who doesn't have a child born in the last half of 2006. I just have a dog born during that time period. But he's not invited on Monday. He would certainly add to the chaos, though!

Speaking of the small group... we just finished reading Justice in the Burbs by Will and Lisa Samson. The book really hit home, and both energized and encouraged us to do more of what we're doing as well as challenged us to do some things differently. Josh & I are still processing it. Definitely worth a read, especially if you're wondering where or how (or why) to get involved in justice issues. Now we have to figure out what our next step is...

Fortune Cookie FAIL

For those of you who don't follow my Twitter postings... I've had the flu this week. Monday I came home from work with a low fever, I stayed home Tuesday with a low fever, Wednesday I felt awful, and today I'm doing better after a really long night of sleep. I think I went to bed at 7 last night, and got up after Josh let this morning, just before 8.

Anyway, needless to say, I didn't feel like cooking last night, and I sent Josh out to pick up Chinese. Rice sounded good. And egg drop soup. And chicken and mushrooms. At the end of the meal, I opened the fortune cookie set by my plate, and I laughed out loud.

Josh suggested taking this photo:

That was one of my lower temperatures of the day, by the way. "Good health will be yours for a long time" because now you have immunity to one strain of the flu? That must be what the Fortune Cookie Fates were thinking, right?

5 years old!

My nephew Kaden, in October 2004, with Josh:



Six month ago, at 4 and a half, May 2009:





Last weekend, I sat in the FREEZING COLD park to watch this kid play soccer, while my almost-7-year-old nephew sat on my lap to keep me warm. Today, Kaden turns 5 years old. When he was born, he was such a wiggle-worm, it was hard to hold onto him. He hasn't stopped moving since! Happy Birthday Kaden!

Shiny Coat Tangle

My favorite pet supply store, Pet Supplies Plus, is having a dog photo contest. I uploaded a picture of Casey I had on hand, but probably should have taken a more up-to-date one...

Anyway, if you'd do my puppy a favor and head over there and look for Casey's picture and vote to let the world know he's a FIVE-STAR dog!

To add, I say that PSP is my favorite pet store for a variety of reasons:

• They don't sell dogs or cats. This is huge, as the overpopulation problem should convict ALL pet stores to never sell dogs or cats. Also, pet store puppies come from puppy mills, most often with inhumane conditions. Not at all what I want to support- Even if I'm not buying a puppy, I won't shop at a store that sells them. Period.
• They sell good food. Grocery stores and big chains sell the national brand name dog foods that are usually junk. Casey came to us eating some of that food- and horribly overweight and itchy because he was allergic to the sub-par ingredients. PSP has a great selection of good foods and pet supplies, and I get excited about that.
• They host community events. There's this photo contest, sure, but I have also participated in the low-cost well-pet clinics that come to my store every month or two, and the $5 nail clipping every Wednesday. They encourage good, healthy pet ownership and make it affordable. This is in addition, of course, to the weekly adoption events that happen at the store. We looked seriously at some of the rescue dogs at the store on the weekends before finding Casey.

Now, Go Vote!


If you haven't noticed, I've been in a blogging funk as of late. I have a list of things I need to blog about, but haven't been in a writing mood- as the days get shorter and colder, all I want to do is bake and hibernate. Muffins, pizza crust, and a good amount of sleep are what came of the weather this weekend. I will hopefully be back soon!

Meet Jaden

Within the last year, a friend & coworker's oldest son was diagnosed with juvenile diabetes, and immediately their family's world was turned upside down.



Jaden's walking in the JDRF Walk To Cure Diabetes in just over a week. If you'd like to learn more, join them, or sponsor them, check out Team J's page. They've already done an awesome job fundraising, but every little bit will help, until there's a cure!