Building Your Team (a Lesson From Pop Culture)

I found myself taking lights and garland off the tree the other night. Mr. Magoo, now two years old, was still up after a late evening nap. He had been watching me go back and forth around the tree as I unwound and untangled string after string of lights, and when I was on the far side of the tree he would say, "I can't see you, Mom." And fake surprise on my return to his side of the tree. 

We all need...

He finally laid down with his covers at about midnight. I worked on. The newborn - Marble - had fallen asleep as well and laid nearby on a Boppy pillow on the floor. I have always enjoyed the "mid" shift, from before I was in the Navy so many years ago. Comes from being part of a big family, I guess. It is a somewhat magical, thought-producing time of night when everything is quiet, there is no one asking questions or looking for attention and your mind can wander.

29 Gifts - Day 22 - A Gift of Faith

There is a new Orthodox chaplain at the base near us. He kind of travels around from parish to parish for Sunday Divine Liturgy but he'd like to start holding mid-week services on base as well. His first effort at this has been to start holding Akathist services three days a week. Well, I took all of the kids on Thursday (day 21, for you who are counting). The Catholic church/chaplain gave him the use of a small side-chapel so we were able to be in a smaller, more close-in setting for the prayers. That is a good thing with restless younger kids around!

Actually this is a window from the back of our last church in Maryland, but it fits in until I can get a better picture of the little chapel.

Be an Encouragement to One Another

Today we were able to give Bruiser hearty celebration after listening to him read a book entirely on his own. In fact, he read it quickly enough that even Buttercup was sufficiently engaged! Such moments are a true "win" in any home and should be wildly - and widely (hence the blog post!) - acknowledged as special.

Encouragement in Getting Healthy

No pictures on this post for now, I just don't have a good one yet. This post is a little out of my normal realm but I hope readers will forgive me. I am feeling really pressed lately to start working on posts that are encouraging and helpful in this area of life. I hope to make this only the beginning.

Like so many others in our society right now, there is someone that I love that is clinically labeled "morbidly obese." I have watched her for many years as she struggled to get healthy and get fit... again, and again, and again. I saw her during the "Phen-Fen" years, where she dropped more weight than I remember her ever losing; I watched all that come back after the medication was no longer available. In truth, I'll take the "larger her" than the scary medicine. I've known this person all my life and love her deeply and want to see her succeed in her quest to be healthier and to regain  herself in the process.

Let's be clear, this person is, in so many ways, amazing - and she is wonderful, but this is an area of struggle for her. She is at the end of raising six children. Of those six, all of them talk to her pretty frequently, and only one lives farther than two hours away from her. She has worked two jobs at a time to make ends meet for years and years. She is wonderful with babies and newborns - they adore her (and sleep for her, God bless them!) I'd say that makes for a lot of positives in life!

Up to now, I have watched people in society make nasty, jeering comments; laughing when they thought she was not aware that they were looking; whispering to one another over what food, or how much, was on her plate... Though she puts on a pretty good face of self-confidence, I know from other events that have taken place in her life that she struggles with that. Her weight is one symptom of that. The number of negative, snarky, unsupportive people she surrounds herself with is another: She doesn't feel worthy of being loved or of being fit and healthy. And she is absolutely worthy of both.