Athena in a Minivan

Please pray

Please pray for one of my dearest friends. Things just aren't good right now and I am in tears. At this time I really can't share more than this but the Holy Spirit knows who and what and when and where and Christ intervenes on our behalf.

Praise our Lord who is always in control even when we are falling apart.

Aunt E. (pronounced like Auntie)

We have a special treasure in our house. Her name is Aunt E. (which is pronounced like Auntie) Aunt E is my younger (and my only) sister and my best girl friend. We have been best friends all our lives. I was only 2 when E was born and do not remember life without her. We shared a room until I was 13 and thought I was too big to share a room with my little sister. (Like Lucy tells Susan, "We use to have fun until you became boring.")There have been times when I thought I didn't need my little sister or when she was just too pesky but she has always made me realize that I was wrong and no one has been a better friend to me that she has.

We have our occasional tiff. We disagree on many things. I am Rick Springfield to her REM. I am Bestseller List to her Obscure Irish Playwright. I am Coffee to her Tea. I am Dark Brown Hair to her Fair Hair. I am Tanned Skin to her Sunburned skin. I am Minivan to her Volvo.

We are alike where it matters. We share a lifetime of memories. We share trips to New Mexico in the back of a station wagon. We share our love for an awsome big brother. We share late night whispers under the covers. We share adventures in the Jungle. We share swims in the Guadalupe and sunsets over tribal hill. We share parents who got it right. We share tears over dateless nights. We share professors who wore the same pants day after day after day. We shared tears of sadness under those same covers over the death of our mother, our mentor, our other best friend. We share a deep wholehearted love for three little boys. We share a deep love for our Lord. Our hearts are connected. Our lives are intertwined.

Tonight as Aunt E got ready to head home from our Christmas visit, (she only lives 53 miles away) Butch wouldn't let her go. He cried, clung to her and made her stay until he went to sleep. I could hear her singing, "Mares eat oats, and does eat oats and little lambs eat ivy." to him as he drifted off to sleep with his head in her lap and her fingers running through his hair. Guess what Butch, sometimes I cry when she leaves too.

Stop, Breathe, Relax

I am getting that panicy feeling that not everything is done and Christmas is only 5 days away and I have not got our house clean or food started or all the gifts bought or all the cards mailed or the laundry done (well that is always a problem around here.)

I need to just stop, take a deep breath, and relax. Christmas is going to be on Sunday whether the house is ready or not. My kids will not know that everything was not perfect. My family will enjoy the food no matter what I get made. My church family will celebrate Christ's birth at 10am on Sunday morning.

Christ is coming,

Christ is COMING,

CHRIST IS COMING.

CHRIST IS COMING INDEED!!!!

Guest Blogger - Athena's Sister

My sister wrote this as a comment to a post I wrote about car decals and I think it is too important to leave in the comments section so with little introduction..here is a post from my sister. (who by the way is my very best girlfriend)

Sister is getting on her soapbox.

I am so sick of companies that prey on parents for profit. This goes along with the sticker thing. They don't just hand those out. Someone came up with the idea and then took advantage of the parents' fears to convince them all that STICKERS SAVE LIVES. If you don't buy a sticker of Caitlin's cheerleading megaphone, she will probably get knocked up. If you're not proudly displaying Justin's tiny white football, baseball, AND soccerball, you might as well start saving up for his bail money.

I see this "marketing of experience" at my school all the time. They start small with the elite baseball/select soccer sticker, so that by the time the kids are seniors they've got the parents and the kids primed to buy.

I have to give up one class period every year for an hour-long advertisement for graduation. The Josten's representitive tries to convince the kids that they have to have a tee shirt with their class year...like they're going to forget what year they graduated. The one that kills me is when they tell them that the average student orders 100 graduation announcements. (Avoid that embarrassing trip to the grocery store after your favorite checker finds out your kid walked the stage without her knowing.) And don't get me started on the senior portrait. (Spend less than $2000, and Ashley may just have to drop out of school all together.)

My (our) mother did such a great job of avoiding that trap. When I moved back home (at the age of 33) a few years back, I noticed Mother had my 5x7 senior portrait on her bedside table. I was looking at it when she told me, "Every time I look at that picture I feel bad."

Slightly taken aback, I asked why.

She explained, "With Athena and Brother both in private colleges, we were so strapped your senior year that you had to have your senior portrait made in a dress I had sewn for Athena a few years earlier and we could only afford that one picture."

HERE'S MY POINT: I had no idea. I loved the tulip sleeves of that dress and it was flattering. It never occurred to me that we should have had twenty-four poses of me with my soccerball and tennis racket, holding my faux diploma, lounging on the porch of a non-existent house,...

So my advise is spend time with your kids, take them on special trips to the museum, let them braid your pixie-short hair while you visit. Because those are the memories that will loom long after they've wrecked that mini-van.

Trying to get a Christmas Picture

In a bold attempt to render a picture worthy of sending to relatives and friends far and wide, I came up with this one. What is a mom to do?

Car Decals

You know these car decals. They are on almost every SUV and Minivan all over our community. They tell us that little Kaitlain (or Caitlin, or Katelyn) takes dance, Tyler is into ice hockey, and Luke plays on the elite baseball team. I know this because the name is usually displayed underneath the sport or activity. Tells me that Mommy runs all over the metroplex taking children to games, practice and rehearsals. (Most of these vehicles also sport a small black bumper sticker with a white letter that is near the end of the alphabet but this post isn't about those stickers.) I have never seen these decals on a beat up Chevrolet or an old pickup, just SUVs and minivans.

[I just noticed the car in the pic does come from the great state of Texas but I didn't take the pic, I "borrowed it". Today I tried to take my own pic of a green van speeding down the hwy with three names each with three activity stickers and one name with four, I am not kidding, She almost careened into a red pickup truck trying to exit the freeway. I don't know how she could see out the window. Anyway, she was probably on her way to one or more of the activites listed on the back .]

I currently do not have any of these decals on my car. My children are involved in activites and I could add one (or two) to reflect our karate class. I am not writing this to suggest that anyone stop placing these on their cars or to criticize anyone who has a window full of them. I am just suggesting an alternative.

I was thinking what if I placed decals on my van that reflected my children's character traits or the meaning of their names. I could have one for Butch that showed a knight and says "Desire to Protect" or for Sundance a philosopher that says, "To Defend Men" and for Toddler a crown that says,"Giver of Provisions".

[I may make me one with this graphic, Athena and WASHER OF LAUNDRY.]

Standing on my Soapbox

Reports are showing that the nations self-proclaimed megachurches will be closing for Christmas. You can read news articles about it here, here and here.

This quote came from one article and I am not usually one to take a select quote and run with it. It stands out as one big reason we left our Megachuch and have found a home in a small, traditional Bible-based church, who will have a service on Christmas Day at 10:00 if you want to attend. Cally Parkinson from Willow Creek, a mega church in the Chicago area gives their reason for being closed on Christmas.

"It's more than being family friendly. It's being lifestyle-friendly for people who are just very, very busy," said Willow Creek spokeswoman Cally Parkinson.

There are just not enough words to say what this makes me think. While awaiting Jesus birth, his parents found out they had to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be registered.Quite an inconvenience if you ask me but necessary to fulfill the prophecies. Our Lord was born in a stable because there was no room in the inn. A group of shephards came to give him praise. Now have you ever smelled anyone who works in the fields keeping watch over flocks by night? Not exactly a state visit.

At 8 days old, his parents took Jesus to the temple. I didn't even leave the house until my children were a few weeks old. They had to return to Nazareth with a newborn. He was born during a time of political strife where the king tried to have him killed and his parents fled to Egypt.

Now I just don't call this very family friendly by today's terms. Our Lord came to earth to save us. What a better day than Christmas day when we celebrate his birth and on Sunday when we come together to worship to bring the word of salvation to a fallen world.

Now I will get off my soapbox as it is starting to get crushed under the weight and I need the contents to wash laundry.

Seven Seven

I was tagged by - Tim's Mom at Bona Vita Rusticana Est
Things to do before I die:

1. See Butch, Sundance and Toddler accept Christ as their Savior
2. Take the three above and Honey on a whirlwind European tour
3. See Butch, Sundance and Toddler graduate from College
4. Love More
5. Laugh Often
6. Dance at my sons' weddings   

7. Live, Live, Live

Things I cannot do:

1.Keep my mouth shut

2. keep my house clean
3. ignore a child

4. pass up a bargain
5. say "no" enough
6. get my library books returned on time
7. finish a project

Things that attract me to my spouse:

1. kind

2. honest
3. devoted Christian
4. Loving
5. Strong sense of traditional values
6. He was my friend first
7. quiet

Seven things I say most often:

1. Witt Boys!!!

2. Sure, I can do that.

3. Toddler, get down.
4. Are you hungry again?

5. If you want to play rough GO OUTSIDE!
6.School time.

7. Gosh, you are a cute boy.
Seven books (or series) I love:

1. Chronicles of Narnia
2. Anne of Green Gables
3. Mitford Series

4. My Bible (ESV)
5. Discipline with Dignity
6. The Charlotte Mason Series
7. Anything by E.M. Forrester

Seven movies I watch over and over again (or would watch over and over if I had the time):

1. Room with a View
2. An American in Paris

3. Cassablanca

4. Notting Hill
5. Toy Story I and II
6. Howard's End
7. Any Cary Grant movie
Seven People I want to join in, too:

Whoever wants to join in. I always try to inclued everyone!!!

Fodder

fod·der    (fdr)
n.

1. Feed for livestock, especially coarsely chopped hay or straw.
2. Raw material, as for artistic creation.
3. A consumable, often inferior item or resource that is in demand and usually abundant supply: romantic novels intended as fodder for the pulp fiction market.
4. Small toys laying around the house that no one wants until someone else plays with it.
5. Computer components that when thrown away become something that was saved for a necessary project.
6. Mail order magazines that entice one to buy for the holidays.
7. Video tapes that no one watches anymore but are "irreplaceable" if disposed of.
8. Cookbooks that have that one receipe that can't be lived without.
9. 17 cup koozies rescued from the work trash from a company that does not exist anymore
10. Christmas lights that do not work but can be used for "extra bulbs"
11. Bricks left over from the fireplace that we "just might need someday"
12. Wood in various sizes and shapes that are for another necessary project
13. "Gimmie Caps" from various computer companies, football teams, colleges, and one time events.
14. Cassette tapes from '80 stay in college
15. Sewing and craft supplies from when there was time to make things