A sweet date with my birthday girl

For her fourth birthday, we splurged for a date with yours truly to the movies, including popcorn and candy.

(Side note: This might not be a big deal in your family, but we don't go to the movies. It's not because of the cost - though that's certainly part of it - but mostly because we just don't feel like it's that fantastic of an experience. Lee and I were dating or engaged for six years, and I think we saw less than five movies in the theater during that time, and we've only seen two or three more since. During my freshman year of high school, my drama teacher assigned a paper two days before finals, asking us to review a movie that we had seen in the theaters that semester; rather than 'fess up my freshman uncoolness of not having been to the movies that year and ask to review a less current film, my mom and I went that night. {Thanks, Mom!} The whole idea of sitting in a dark, quiet place with sticky, greasy floors with other people who may or may not understand proper theater etiquette just isn't all that enticing to us. And then you ask us to pay how much for an experience that isn't all that thrilling in the first place?!? Eh, we'll pass.)

I may not care for trips to the movies, but I have a little princess. She loves Disney. She loves movies. She loves dates with Mommy or Daddy, special times when she gets us one on one. She loves doing big kid things.

Which is why I knew she would LOVE seeing Tangled on the big screen.

As it turns out, the only Friday night showings now (and maybe ever?) of Tangled are in 3D. So we rocked the glasses.

And, as much as I don't love the movie theater experience, I did L-O-V-E Tangled. Ohmygoodness. Solid music? Check. Witty dialogue that doesn't insult the intellect with potty humor? Check. Sacrificial love? Check. Clear good and bad? Check. Cute little chameleon side kick? Check. (The first Disney hero I thought was an animated hottie? Check. umm, did I really just type that?)

Precious little birthday girl wearing a Tangled dress-up dress and 3D glasses
who climbed into my lap halfway through the movie because she doesn't weigh enough yet to keep the seat down on her own,
who wore four different hairbows in her hair because she couldn't choose just one, 
who danced in the aisles until the credits were over,
who screamed and yelled "oh, no!" when the main guy and a horse fell off a cliff,
who occasionally hugged me and said "I love you" at random points in the movie,
who told me that we could cuddle with each other to stay warm as we walked back to the car because that's what penguins do,
who insisted that we bring some of our candy and popcorn back to Daddy and Robbie and maybe even Napoleon,
and who was in awe of the whole movie theater experience?

Check!

in which I bathe in bleach and turn my bodily fluids orange

In other words, in which I (hopefully) say goodbye to MRSA foh-ever. (I would say faux-ever, but Norma is busy saving the fauxes.)

I saw an infectious disease specialist today because, you know, eight bouts of MRSA in two years (plus a tryst with c. diff for good measure) isn't good for anyone. We have a plan, which (thankfully!) doesn't involve changing my arthritis meds.  That's wonderfully marvelous very good fantastic supercalifragilisticexpialidocious news because those drugs finally seem to be working well (hallelujah and amen)!

Here's the dealio; for the next week I will

• take two different antibiotics, including one that will probably turn my tears, sweat, spit, and other bodily fluids bright orange (note to self: avoid wearing white while taking that stuff)
• use antibiotic ointment in my nose twice a day, not because I have an infection there but because that's a place that MRSA likes to hang out
• use a special antibacterial soap called Hibaclens every day for the week
• pour a cup of bleach in a bath and soak in it for 15 minutes twice during that week (second note to self: if I ignore my first note to self, just wear those clothes in the tub)
• wash all our linens a couple times in hot water, particularly sheets and towels

After that week, I'll use the soap a couple times a week and do the bleach baths every couple of weeks. And, of course, do the other typical good hygiene stuff that we do so that we can engage with others in polite society because it's good for us.

If you've made it this far, I need some recommendations, por favor. What's your favorite moisturizer or lotion? I know the Hibalcens dries me out badly, and I can't imagine that the bleach is going to help with that. So I'm willing to accept any donations of suggestions for lotion.

And I'd love it if you would pray that this will eradicate the scourge of MRSA in our house.
'cause that would really rock.

both little and big boys

I discovered something on Christmas morning this year.

You see, I thought I had bought presents for our son.

Turns out that most of them were for my husband too! They played happily together, and Lee continued playing even if he got left alone for a bit.

For example, they had to take turns with the cannon on their new pirate ship.

(You can see the ball loaded in the blue cannon above. In the picture below, it's the black blur in the middle bottom of the picture.)

The two of them played with this (and other new toys) most of the day.

I love both of my cute boys!

Made to Crave: Satisfying Your Deepest Desire with God, Not Food

Food issues aren't uncommon for any group of women, including those in the church. (Maybe especially for those in the church?) Lysa tackles those by making God the primary focus and food a secondary one in Made to Crave. This isn't a book about not craving things we shouldn't; it's about craving the One in whom our desires should rest.

She does it with humor, such as

I am not bouncy perky about giving up two of the greatest delights of my taste buds - Cheez-Its and box-mix brownies. In fact, I've even asked God if it would be such a terribly difficult thing to swap the molecular structure of Cheez-Its for carrot sticks. They're both already orange. And, really, how hard could that be for someone who's turned water into wine?

I love that. But I'm not a huge fan of Cheez-Its so if I prayed that, I might change it to Fruit Loops or Skittles (which would add another element of difficulty because they aren't all orange, but I'm sure God could handle it).

Her writing shines best when she respectfully takes Bible verses most of us know and applies them (properly, I might add) to struggles with food. For example, she quotes Matthew 19:21, the verse in which Jesus tells the young rich man to sell all he has and give it to the poor. She rightly points out that this wasn't meant to be a blanket command for everyone but rather Christ's way of saying, in Lysa's paraphrase, "I want you to give up the one thing you crave more than me. Then come, follow me." And if food is the thing we crave more than God, or if we're more inclined to strive for a number of the scale or a size hanging in the closet than we are for a relationship with Him...well, then something is not as it should be.

The best part of the book, in my opinion, is the section in the back in which she's listed Bible verses by chapter. Now that I've read the book, I'll most likely return to those lists to meditate on God's word (instead of falling into the trap of elevating Lysa's words to the place where the word of God should shine most).

My only criticism (and it's a small one) is that she mentions in the beginning that her food change needs to be cutting out sugars and starches for a time and then eating them in moderation after that. She then states that her book isn't meant to encourage everyone to make the same change as she did and that the aim is for each of us to make whatever change is needed to crave God more than anything else. However, throughout the rest of the book, she keeps coming back to her own changes in a way that almost seems to say, I said that this might not be the change for everyone, but I think it probably is the right change for you. I don't think she meant to imply that, but it stood out to me as an odd juxtaposition of messages. (I must admit, though, that - for me - the food things I'm apt to crave more than God are sugars and starches, so maybe my hyperattention to any mention of those was God highlighting that for me.) Oh, and I didn't care for some of the cheesy reflection questions at the end of each chapter, so I just skipped those.

I had a sweet friend ask me this past Sunday if I had read this yet. She now has my copy, because I'm always willing to lend out books (so feel free to ask if I write a review on something you'd like to read!). That said, I think this is a book worth owning if the subject is one that strikes a chord for you.

I know I'll read it again, especially the verses in the back, and I'll probably choose one of those as one of my February memory verses (maybe Psalm 73:26 or 2 Corinthians 7:1 or Deuteronomy 8:3 or Ecclesiastes 3:11 or Psalm 106:14 or 2 Corinthians 4:16 or 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 or...well, maybe I have memory verse ideas for the next few months, hmm?)

And, for a little more info, here's the trailer for book:  
(and, as a side note, I'd like to confess that I'm completely comfortable with the idea of video trailers for books...)



This post is part of a Litfuse blog tour. To find more links of reviews from bloggers like me, go here! And while I was provided with a review copy of the book, I was only asked to provide my honest opinions of it and not required to give a positive review.

Christmas morning

As usual, we were at home Christmas morning. That's a tradition we started our first Christmas as parents to help us reduce the chaos and busy-ness around the holidays. We're protective of not letting the remembrance of Christ's birth become all about traveling and packing and unpacking, because - for our family - all that would be a distraction.

We like to keep Christmas Day calmer than all the hustle and bustle. Other folks can manage that while heading elsewhere; we know ourselves well enough to know that we don't do that well.

And we like Christmas to be comfy. As in coordinating jammies. Because nothing says, "Happy birthday, Jesus," like matching polar bear fleece.

Lee's mom even got into the action because I ordered two pairs for me in different sizes when I bought these on clearance a year ago. The ones that didn't fit me worked perfectly for her!

And nothing says Christmas quite like the assembly of toys, right?

This year, the little guy even understood the concept of unwrapping presents.

There were a couple of princess dresses under the tree, which had to be enjoyed right away!

And books, of course. Lots and lots of books.

See the garland? I wanted something classy. She won out with something colorful and tinsel-y.

Good cuddling on the couch!

She tried hard, but she's not quite ready to blow up her own balloons!

And being at home makes it easy to just fall asleep on the dog's bed when you're worn out. (By the way, the dog never uses his bed. Every other creature under four feet tall - cat or child - does.)

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, 

stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? 

 It came without ribbons. It came without tags. 

It came without packages, boxes or bags. 

And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. 

Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. 

What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store? 

What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more?

~Dr. Seuss