2.03.2014

miscellany: vol. 15

The Blizzard!
Our little southern town got three inches of snow last week, shutting everything down for four days! Bryan and I grew up in the south, but we had yet to see such complete over-reaction. We were happy to have the extra family time though, and  even managed to take a trip to the Chattanooga aquarium. Zu loved the snow, and we all did a bit of sledding in the back yard—that is when having a hilly yard comes in handy!


In the notebook:
I have half a poem written; I’ve been going through some exercises in Wingbeats with my advanced poetry class, and there’s one that is an absolute hit! My students had such luck with it that I gave it a shot myself—it’s a fourteen line, fairly restriction-heavy exercise, but the restrictions tended to get my students thinking rather than stall them out. email me if you’d like me to send you the exercise too. 

also, i know what i'm going to write my next book about (in the next five...or ten years, who knows). so that is exciting too.

On the bookshelf:
I just finished Absolute Simplicity by Jan Johnson, about simplicity and abstaining/fasting from certain things—media, food, etc—as a spiritual discipline. The book was extremely challenging to me, in a good way, but I wish it emphasized the gospel more—I came away feeling like I needed to start living by all these self-improving rules, when really I can’t do it at all, only jesus can. 

now I’m reading Comforts from Romans by Elyse Fitzgerald. This book is a series of 31 devotions taking you through some chapters in Romans. One thing I love about this author is how much joy and excitement she finds in the gospel—how she makes Christians who have grown up with it and become so accustomed to it that they don’t pay attention to it anymore stop and look, really look, at what God has done. Because He Loves Us, the first book I read by Fitzgerald, goes into more detail on this (read it!). 


The little one:
We did a small potty training attempt —just for one day—and decided to hold off til May, when I’m done teaching on campus for the summer. She didn’t do terrible, but didn’t seem quite ready yet; I think we’ll have an easier time if we wait and don’t push it.  

Also this week has been emotional for zu. She has been, literally, saying “look at me look at me look at me” constantly every day—she is starving for attention. June started crawling and the new development does not sit well with zu. I think zu and I need to get away for some one on one time sometime this week—maybe a cupcake date is in order!

The littlest:
june is Really crawling! She wants to eat puzzle pieces, books, and dvds. Sometimes she’ll be heading toward one of those things and I’ll say “oh junie, what are you doing?” and she’ll look back and me and cackle. 

Along with crawling, comes a veracious appetite. She’s showing a real interest in table food, so I’m going to try out some mild things (mashed potatoes, mashed up peas, etc) this week.
I took her to her first library storytime—I take zu each week—and she was such a good baby. She only squealed once, and it was in happiness when the puppets came back out. Taking the girls to storytime is quickly becoming one of the highlights of my week.




 what i'm dwelling on this week:
"...So lay down your hopes. Lay down your future. Lay down your petty annoyances. Lay down your desire to be recognized. Lay down your fussiness at your children. Lay down your perfectly clean house. Lay down your grievances about the life you are living. Lay down the imaginary life you could have had by yourself. Let it go.

Death to yourself is not the end of the story. We, of all people, ought to know what follows death. The Christian life is resurrection life, life that cannot be contained by death, the kind of life that is only possible when you have been to the cross and back."

6 comments:

  1. Wow, FOUR days for 3 inches of snow?! That's so cute. :) We still haven't gotten a decent snowfall, and I am quite bummed about it.

    I think you're smart to wait on the potty-training. We kind of half-heartedly started with Charlotte over the summer but didn't push it because she only seemed mildly interested. Then, all of a sudden the week of Christmas, she was all about it and pooped on the potty and started asking to go potty and made it all day in panties. It's been a breeze since then. When Zu is ready, she'll probably do most of it on her own. Good luck!

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    1. oh wow! i hope that we have that much luck when we start training zu! zu was only mildly interested too--she pretty much just wanted the candy reward lol! i think that she's just a bit too young to get it. i don't know how people potty train kids younger than two!

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  2. i love this! and oh my june is looking so much like a little lady now! so cute! we've had SO MUCH snow this winter- but nothing shuts down. so i'm pretty sure i'm close to suffering from seasonal affective disorder. the sky is ALWAYS GRAY! blah. but i'm glad that zu got to play in the snow- such fun memories! :)

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    1. zu and i sing our "mr. sun" song in the mornings to encourage more sunlight (mr. sun, sun, mr. golden sun, please come shine on me....) maybe you should give it a try ;)

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  3. I so needed to read this: "Death to yourself is not the end of the story. We, of all people, ought to know what follows death. The Christian life is resurrection life, life that cannot be contained by death, the kind of life that is only possible when you have been to the cross and back." Thank you for posting. Love you.

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    1. me too, i need it everyday! love you too!

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