Thursday, September 16, 2010

Grouping

Grouping: a planned arrangement of things. Or in the case of this post, a planned arrangement of random thoughts without smooth transitions between topics.

Today I had the chance to spend my entire day at home. I love days like this but they're few and far between. I had high hopes of tackling my bedroom closet but got distracted by a couple of other things, one of which was technical support with the cable company and the other was this...
A COMPLETELY EMPTY INBOX!!! It feels just as awesome as it looks!

John usually takes leftovers for lunch each day but we ate dinner at church last night (more on that in a minute) and didn't have anything for him to take so he asked me before he left for work if I wanted to meet him somewhere for lunch. I was so excited about not having anywhere to go/be today that I opted out. It wasn't one of my better decisions. 

If you follow me on Twitter, then you know that I referred to yesterday as my day-o-crazy. Oh my gosh. it was BUSY. I did manage to find time to time for a hike with some friends near the Air Force Academy and on our way back to the trailhead we saw a coyote cross the trail not too far in front of us. I thought it was cool until my friend wondered aloud if it could be rabid. She grabbed a big stick to keep us safe. Grin. I love seeing wildlife. The little gaggle of girls that I drive home from school a few afternoons each week is always on the lookout for prairie dogs, and I see a black-footed fox quite often on my morning walks. I love coming in and telling Sarah that I saw the fox (again) because she always always replies "F-O-X" like the little boy in You've Got Mail. Speaking of that movie, I pulled it out today in hopes of watching it but I was having technical television difficulties. If not tomorrow, then I'll watch it on Saturday!

Jumping back to church...

Our Wednesday night program kicked off this week. It's one of my favorite things about our church. There are two (short) adult studies offered with a dinner break sandwiched between them. It's super great to have a night off from cooking and to get to sit and visit with friends and eat food that someone prepared! (I'll take a turn and do the cooking in a few weeks. But not by myself. There are usually several of us that volunteer in to cook/serve together.) The kids all have activities during that time too, so it's just a good fit for our family.

During the early study, we talked about the story of the Good Samaritan and shared examples of what that looks like in our everyday walk. Who ARE our neighbors? John isn't able to arrive in time to join me for that early study so I was telling him about it when I got home. He reminded me that he wrote a book along those lines last summer.

DUH! I'd completely forgotten. And here's the cool thing: It releases next week!

We got an advance reading copy in the mail last a couple of weeks ago and I'm ashamed to tell you that I have not read it. He was writing it last summer when I was back and forth between Arkansas and I just never made time to sit down with the manuscript. Talk about feeling like a LOSER wife. Ugh.

I was motivated by our discussion at church so I started reading it before bed last night and it's really good. I know I'm biased because I'm married to the man, but seriously y'all, it's GOOD!
I love everything John writes. Especially this poem he wrote about Abbey. He read it to her tonight and she was grinning from ear to ear. I couldn't resist taking their picture because it was so stinkin' sweet.
Notice which hand John's wedding ring is on. Remember why?

Speaking of Abbey and church makes me think of something funny she said the other night. She's been asking to look at our family photo albums the past few evenings. She was looking at some pictures from Easter 2001 (the year before she was born) and everyone was dressed to the nines because that's just what you do in the South. She studied the page for a few minutes and said: "Man. We used to take church so seriously". That cracked me up. We wear jeans and shorts and hoodies and flip flops to church these days and she was so amazed by John's suit, Will's blazer, and Sarah's fancy dress and hair bow. She has NO recollection of that kind of church attire and that's what she meant by taking it so seriously. It still makes me laugh.

I have LOVED reading your answers to my survey! Thank you guys for jumping in and making that fun. I'll share some of the answers with you over the weekend. You guys inspire me!

Peace out, peeps!

11 comments:

Katrina @ Pics, Pages & Purls said...

if we remember why your husband, John wears his wedding band on the right hand do we get an autographed copy of his book? it's worth a shot...he wears it on his right hand because he has a little "webbing" (if that is what it is called) on his left hand. you even say it's weird to hold hands with his left hand...I can't wait to hear the results of the survey!

Carpool Queen said...

Just completely cleared my Gmail account and whittled the Hotmail account down to 4. That's a good feeling.

And Abbey's smile can light up the room, can't it? She's going to confidently grow because she knows her daddy loves her. Though my dad didn't say it as poetically as John, I knew he was proud of me and believed in me and that gave me the encouragement I needed to go forth and conquer.

Well done.

Elizabeth said...

I love these posts of yours that just show tidbits of your day to day life. The question on the survey about whether or not we know you was a hard one. I don't, but I kind of do, you know?

The church/clothes thing makes me laugh. My entire big kids' lives we went to church on Sat. night and wore jeans, t-shirts, whatever. Then we moved here, and at the SBC church we're attending, everyone dresses up. We don't put that much work into it, but much more than we used to. I've even ironed a few times! My kids still hate dressing up for church, and I wish I didn't care so much. I did wear jeans the other day, but that's b/c they're the only things that fit me right now.

Today is pajama day around here! Yea!

Lauren said...

You’ve got Mail is one of my favorite movies EVER!!! :)

Trish said...

I would like a copy of Mr. Webfingered's book! Is it best to buy it through Amazon? We have been discussing the good Samaritan parable with our boys lately.

Kecia said...

I like Katrina's idea!
And I'm jealous of your Wed. pm church activities. Although I do love my choir rehearsal time.
And you need to tell me how cool and beautiful it is there, because we're having 100+ degree weather again and our leaves are skipping color to turn brown for lack of rain.

lisa@littlesliceoflife said...

I am ridiculously giddy about John's new book! Do you remember when y'all left here I said he'd be the next John Eldredge? Who feels like a prophet right now?!

lisa@littlesliceoflife said...

I am ridiculously giddy about John's new book! Do you remember when y'all left here I said he'd be the next John Eldredge? Who feels like a prophet right now?!

Unknown said...

This afternoon I am trying to empty my Reader box...after two weeks of complete neglect. I've missed you! Hope you have a great week!

Dionna said...

Wow - I can't remember the last time my inbox was empty! It looks so refreshing! HA HA :)

Jamie H said...

All of your children are gorgeous & obvious blessings, but when I see a picture of Abbey I have to add "precious" to the list. She's still in that delicious stage of being a little girl, not a tween or a teen, that every expression still shows on her face. Love it.