KC and Bethany posted seven fill-in-the-blank questions and invited their readers to ask them anything they liked, deep or silly, personal or surreal. I thought that sounded like fun so…
Ask me some questions! Just copy and paste the following list into the comment box, fill in the blanks, and I’ll answer as honestly as I can.
1. What do you think of _____________?
2. When did you last ____________?
3. __________ or ___________ and why?
4. What did you ______________?
5. What’s your favorite ______________?
6. How would you ______________?
7. Who would you most like to ________?
P.S. This is a good time for all of you lurkers who like to read but never comment to actually COMMENT and say HELLO. :)
In preparation for the bundles of people who have been visiting, the abundance of new members, and the huge amount of kids that are signing up for Fellowship Kids and the nursery, Southside Fellowship is switching to three services instead of two. Here’s a fun video that Joe put together that echos of an old Tootsie Roll Pop commercial.
We are still trying to figure out which service will be the one we attend. Since we live about 30 minutes away, going to the 8:30am service will be a bit more difficult for us as we rush to get all three of us out the door (dressed and fed, no less) and going to the 11:30am service means pushing lunch much later and for a toddler who is hungry in the back seat, well, snacks only go so far.
10:30am is pretty ideal for us. But, the whole reason of moving to three services is because the 10:30am service is as full as a tick (Daniel hates when I say that) and when folks get back from vacation and school starts again, that service will pretty much explode with people. So, if there is any way possible for us to go the first or third service, it would make room for folks who really have no choice but the second service. And, I think it’s pretty standard that people who are visiting will go to the 10:30am service.
Another piece of the puzzle is that Charlie and Bryan recently preached a powerful and inspirational series on service that encouraged Daniel and I to sign up to help out with different ministries. For that to happen, we also have to pick which service to go to and then which service we will serve in.
But we actually haven’t started “serving” if you will, because we are going through the steps to actually become members (there are a lot of steps, interestingly) and one of the last steps is to go through a Discovering Southside Fellowship class. It’s held at 10:30am on Sunday and so last week and today (and we still have a few more weeks) we attended the 9:00am service so we could go straight to the class afterwards. It’s been a great example of what to expect in our morning rushing, commuting to Greenville, and trying not to lose our salvation before we get there. Small joke. ;) Except, it will be an hour earlier. And for those of you who deal with this type of stress on a daily basis as you and your spouse rush to jobs and drop your children at school, daycare, or a babysitter - you are probably rolling your eyes. But since Daniel works next door and only has to fight with the cats to get out of his way and I am at home full-time, you can imagine how much FUN it is to rush about on Sunday morning and figure out what on EARTH we are doing. After all, wasn’t the last time we drove this freaking car LAST SUNDAY? ;)
It’s all good, though. We absolutely LOVE Southside Fellowship and are very grateful that Drew has been enjoying the nursery there. It’s completely acceptable to have children in the service (which we are in favor of, actually) but for us, at this point in our walk, it’s been better for us to be able to completely focus on the service. Also, Drew loves the interaction with the other children and he gets to take rides on the little red chariot in the hallways and the volunteers are just the sweetest people ever.
This morning, we arrived to find a much smaller set on stage and got to enjoy singing old hymns while accompanied by Charlie Parker (a trumpet player and flautist in the house band at High Cotton in downtown Greenville) and Brad Bailey from Life Fellowship in Charlotte, N.C. Charlie then continued teaching about the relentless grace in the story of Jacob and we ended the service with communion.
We attended our Discovery class and had a great time in discussion, learning, and meeting other people. Hi, Rick! We sit near him during the class and he reads my blog sometimes. :) And then we headed home for the day.
I’ve spent the afternoon and evening cleaning and playing with Drew while Daniel has coded away. We had a brief banana bread snack with Mom and Dad tonight and then slipped back home in the midst of an amazing rainstorm. I hope and pray it rains all night. We desperately need it.
That’s my Sunday. :) I hope you had a great one.
P.S. Here are six other things I wanted to mention:
1. I want to see WALL-E SO BADLY. If you’ve seen it, please tell me how wonderful it is without giving it away.
2. If you are a parent of a toddler, here’s a small list from Babble that helps keep little tiny people out of too much trouble. Although I’ve always HATED the idea of children on leashes, if we ever have twins I will seriously consider it.
3. Not everyone is interested in reading the ups and downs of my attempt to lose weight, so if you aren’t a reader of Squishy No More, then I am just spreading the good news that I’ve lost six pounds. I’m practically a little bean pole now. ;)
4. I re-did my RSS feed with Feedburner. I’m not really sure what I’m doing so I hope I didn’t mess anyone’s subscription to Fairly Ordinary up.
5. I finally gave in and started using Socialthing! because Twitter has just been driving me crazy. I can use Socialthing! to update my Facebook status and Twitter at the same time. Very nice. Plus, it’s beautiful to use. If you need an invite, let me know.
6. If you are local to Greenville (or at least driving distance), Southside Fellowship is hosting a Strengthening Your Marriage Workshop on July 12 from 1:30-5pm. It’s completely free and deals with Developing Oneness, Resolving Conflict, Building Intimacy, and Relating to Family and Friends.
Jenny’s Light is a not-for-profit organization created by the families of Jennifer Gibbs Bankston and her son Graham in response to a heart-wrenching and tragic story dealing with postpartum depression.
When Jenny found out in March that she was pregnant she seemed very happy, and all their friends and family were so excited too! Unfortunately, Jenny had a difficult pregnancy and was sick for most of the first seven months, and also developed Bell’s palsy that lasted a couple of months. As her due date approached, we made plans to come and stay for the first three weeks after Graham’s birth. On Nov. 1st, 2007, Graham Gibbs Bankston was born at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Birmingham. Everybody was so proud and excited.
Jenny was a real champ during delivery, but she struggled a bit with nursing and was reluctant to take Graham from the house for the first few weeks. She was also adjusting to not working, not getting much sleep, and having to care for her newborn. Other than that, things seemed normal and Graham got easier to care for as the weeks went by.
Then, out of the blue, on Dec. 19th, 2007, Jenny purchased a gun at a sporting goods store in Birmingham and at about 7:00 pm, she went to the backyard and took Graham’s life and then her own.
We are so devastated and shocked by this tragedy that it was a real struggle to write this story. We hope that somehow it might inspire new mothers to seek help and treatment before something like this happens to them. We also want to thank our son Randy, Brian (Becky’s husband) and Chip for their help and support as we try to return some normalcy to our lives.
We are left with many great memories and the chance to help other families avoid having to go through what we are. With your help, Jenny’s Light can make a difference.
This article in The Birmingham News mentioned that Jenny was having trouble with breastfeeding, had a lack of sleep, had quit her career, and was attempting to adjust to being a stay-at-home mother. As I read her story, I couldn’t help but weep as I remembered my own journey of PPD after Drew’s birth. I struggled with those verysame issues in my own journey of depression and truly, there but for the grace of God go I.
The mission of Jenny’s Light is to improve detection and treatment of all perinatal mood disorders such as postpartum depression by funding continuing education, research and supportive efforts. We strive to shed light on these illnesses to help mothers, children, and families around the world. By expanding access to care and support for new mothers through our community of volunteers, physicians, educators and legislators, we will save lives.
The first large fundraiser for Jenny’s Light was held recently and over $50,000 was raised. I highly encourage you all to read the story, learn about PPD, and contribute if you can.
My first thought was to choose this charity for Blogathon 2008. However, Blogathon 2008 (where you blog for 24 hours for your chosen charity) has been cancelled. Thankfully, Day of Blogs has been organized as a charity blogging event as an alterna-thon to Blogathon (try to say that three times fast).
On July 26, I will be jumping on the blogging for charity bandwagon. I’ll be posting at least once an hour every 30 minutes for 24 hours (oh my word!) and I’ll have a donate button on my site where you can donate funds that will go straight to Jenny’s Light, my chosen charity. Please ponder between now and July 26 if you could donate just a small bit (I’ll be saving our change too!) towards this charity. And look forward to my day of a gazillion blog posts.
May the God of all love, wisdom, peace, and comfort heal the hearts hurt by the tragedies of postpartum depression.
Here’s a tribute video to Jenny and her son Graham.
While my lovely Grandma Betty has been visiting us from Florida, we have snuck over to my parents home and spent time talking, laughing, and watching Drew enjoy the precious rocking horse she and my Papa Toot (cute name, huh?) bought for him. But tonight we chose to go downtown Greenville and walk the streets, eat dinner, and enjoy spending time with family. Sweet Betty seemed to enjoy it all and she put up with our walking very fast and rushing here and there.
My Dad and Daniel talked through the history of buildings we kept passing and Mom and Betty kept a check on all the cute shops we passed (most were closed because it was a Monday night). It was such a great time spending time with Mom and Dad.
While eating at Bellacino’s, I attempted to keep Drew entertained with juice, snacks, toys, and books (I’d already fed him before we left). He really thought this ice cream toy was hilarious.
It was fascinating to see Drew’s absolute LOVE of being outside. I felt almost rebuked as I suddenly realized that my son is a nature baby and I haven’t really been giving him a chance to enjoy it all lately. The overwhelming heat has been the reason I haven’t been taking a daily walk with him (and um, I can tell because walking downtown tonight was more difficult than it should have been) but I need to creatively work around the heat and make sure he gets a bit of time outside each day.
I shared this thought with Mom and she encouraged me to start planning some creative/outdoor outlets for Drew (and me! and Daniel!). Hey, most of it can be free, right?
After dinner we walked down to Reedy River and on the way down the embankment, I stopped to take pictures of the beautiful flowers and greenery. I’d love to see the garden plans for the area. It is gorgeous and designed so well.
If you have been downtown Greenville, and walked on the Liberty Bridge, you have more than likely felt the slight swaying of the bridge. Betty kept squealing that the bridge should NOT be swaying and it took a please, please to get her to pose with Mom.
Drew LOVED being on the bridge and looking at the waterfall. He kept playing with the tiny ropes as though they were guitar strings (he spent quite a lot of time playing with Daniel’s guitar this afternoon).
The waterfall was loud, splashy, and captivating as you can see in this video.
There were a lot of animals in the park, too. I’ve been teaching Drew to say dog and when we saw lots of dogs, he tried his best to say DAH each time. These cutie pies were frisking all over the place and their walkers assured us that THEY were the ones actually being walked. I feel like that whenever I am holding Drew’s hand and he’s running as fast as he can. ;)
The leaves fascinated Drew. He kept checking all about for big leaves and when he’d find them he would bat them back and forth and shriek for joy.
While Drew played in the grass, a couple nearby (who had a PRECIOUS little boy) kept watching us and smiling. The father walked over finally and asked how old our son was and we started sharing thoughts on children walking early. Their son is 9 months old and as we told them that Drew started walking at TEN months old, they both shared a laugh and said they wondered if they were ready for that. Drew started leaning towards the little boy and whining so they got their son out and introduced him to Drew. It was hilarious to watch and Drew just LOVED it. He started quickly towards the little boy and I thought he might just love him to death so we tried to intervene but then he just wanted to play with his new friend’s stroller. :) When we finally parted ways, Drew SOBBED as his new little friend left. Daniel had to take him down to the water and calm him down.
Another leaf helped too.
And when Grammy found THIS leaf, well, you can imagine. Drew was squealing with delight.
We then met a LOVELY family with a bundle of children. We were so enthralled with their large family (they had two others at home!) that we stopped to talk and take pictures. The children were precious and gathered around to see the pictures we took. I told the mother I’d email her the picture as soon as we got home. It was just another reminder of how wonderful it is to bump into folks in your community and really connect.
As we walked along, I discovered beautiful artwork along the sidewalks. It was so inspirational to see such art. It made me want to rush right home and paint, draw, or cut things out of paper. Instead, I’m curled up in the green chair, resting my feet. But hey, maybe I’ll cut things out of paper tomorrow.
On our way back to the car, we passed Bellacino’s again and we went in to get a drink to quench our thirst. While inside, I noticed the beautiful molding and asked the guy behind the counter about it. He told me it was original and took me around to show me how this cozy cafe used to be a pharmacy in the 1930’s. The original pharmacy drawers are still in the restaurant. We pulled them out and laughed at how times change.
So, it was a WONDERFUL evening and after my poor, sweet, darling husband’s day of constant stress, I was very grateful that we had the chance to get out of the house and relax with those we love most.
If you view Fairly Ordinary through a reader, you should take a second to view the site and let me know what you think of the new banner.
I also re-did my sidebar and pulled over some old archives from jenniferbergey.com (I’m canceling the hosting because that is one of those small things I can cut out of our budget and I’ll keep the domain in case I ever want to use it again). I’ve been meaning to do that for a long time but I finally made the time this evening. It’s weird to go back and read things I wrote in 2003.
This has been a wonderful week in which the house has been sparkly clean, I have made time to read books, I have spent some lovely time with my mom who is officially out of school for the summer (she teaches second grade), Grandma Betty is here visiting, Drew has been talking and mimicking non-stop (that can be good and bad, yes?), I discovered Veet (which makes the hair on my legs WASH RIGHT OFF - oh my goodness, my husband is going to be amazed at the constant smoothness), I rediscovered my love of using Comet to clean, we decided this week to plan a trip to Baltimore in August, we had an amazing night at FPU this week in which I brought Mexican Chip Casserole and Fresh Strawberry Pie, and I finally decided to stop battling the bottle with Drew and I am changing course on the subject (and I’ll write about it soon) so that means less battles with the tiny person who can shriek your ears off when he’s fussy. So, a great week!
I’ve also been keeping a random list of articles I wanted to share when I got the time to sit and blog and here they are:
- An attic renovation for a little girl’s room. When we were in the midst of multi-generational living with my parents, my dad came up with the idea of renovating the attic for Drew’s room and play area when he got to be a few years older. Dad, Daniel and I crawled up in the attic to take a good look around and daydream about what we could do with the area. Although we aren’t sharing a home with my parents any longer, the fact remains that we might indeed be there at some point again in the future (perhaps a long time down the road, who knows) and these pictures of this particular attic renovation made me start daydreaming again.
- I listen to The Dave Ramsey Show pretty often and he occasionally mentions E-Mealz. The site is ran by two sisters and each week you receive a brand new meal plan (for dinners) and a complete aisle-by-aisle grocery list for your particular store. It’s a great idea!
- How to answer 23 of the most common interview questions. Although I’m a stay-at-home mom now, this is good stuff to know. When I worked in HR, I would have been extremely impressed had most of the folks I met actually knew this information.
- After listening to Mark Minnick (one of my former professors at BJU) and Mark Dever discuss the case for the Fundamentalist doctrine of separation, I found Mark Dever’s comments. His last statement is “I want my separation from the world to be more pronounced than my separation from other Christians.” That sums up exactly what I feel right now in my journey of faith and to be honest, the even mention of “biblical separation” turns my stomach. I have not heard it used compassionately AT ALL. And I was also encouraged that Mark Minnick and Mark Dever both seemed to be comfortable with each other although they do have differences. I hope that I can have that with folks I love but who think biblical separation is more important than I do.
- Mercy Me did a great cover of Rick Astley’s Never Gonna Give You Up.
- Over 150 ideas for family summer fun. It’s really helpful to see a list like this. I’ve already made note of several things to add to our schedule.
**
I hope you all have a great weekend! Do you have any plans? I think we are staying around here so I need to come up with some indoor crazy ideas so we won’t get bored.
Oh, please. Like we could ever get bored with watching Frasier. ;)
I have not taken as many pictures and videos of Drew this past month. And I really need to get better about that because it seems as though he has turned a corner developmentally. He is experiencing with so much more, talking all the time, and I would hate to miss out chronicling it.
However, the few pictures and videos I did take tell a fun story. For example, when I fold laundry, Drew likes to ride in the basket and then I have to re-fold the clothes. Every single time. And while I push him around I try to teach him to say what each piece of clothing is. So far, he can manage “sock” which ends up being “sah.”
And if he’s not riding atop laundry, he is dashing about with his blankie. We call him Linus because he drags it everywhere. In the morning, he likes to walk all over the house and inspect everything just in case something changed over night (like, maybe we switched the kitchen and living room) and he runs about with his blankie dragging behind him. While inspecting. Here he is being silly and pulling his blankie over his head. You’ll notice that his shorts are falling down here, too. They are too big on him and as he ran around, they ended up around his ankles and he started crying. I couldn’t help but laugh.
Also, I can also say “Drew, go to your room.” And he throws up his hands and dashes off as fast as he can to his room, laughing the whole way. As if it’s SUCH AN ADVENTURE and OH I WONDER WHAT WILL AWAIT ME THERE?!
Bath-time is still one of his all time favorite things to do and if I leave the bathroom door open, I find him throwing his leg over the side, trying to get in. Doesn’t he look really mischievous in this picture?
We also read books each day. After he watches Word World. He shouts out B and BUH when he watches this show and it’s absolutely precious.
But like I said, before we dance about with Word World, we read books. And eat crackers.
Can you tell he loves his shoes? And see how fluffy his hair was getting in the back?
The poor little thing got choked a bit and I’m sure if you are Drew’s Grammy or Grand-mommy then you probably winced. :( But it didn’t stop him from getting silly again. We do have quite a bit of silliness in our home. I’m not sure what your home is like but it’s common for us to make faces, use funny accents, dance oddly, chase each other about, and hey - that’s just me and Daniel. ;) But Drew fits in nicely here because he is Master of the Silly.
And Master of the Crackers.
I love this sweet boy so much. He teaches me so much about myself everyday. And I absolutely love laughing with him. He doesn’t know about all of the stress, sin, and burdens of the world. All he knows is love and laughter and the occasional OW of stubbing his toe on the baby gate. And so when he smiles at you, and just laughs so hard that his belly shakes, you know it’s real. He is so happy.
He’s even happy when falling asleep for his nap. He giggles and rolls about until he is snoring.
Here he is reading again. Can you tell we like books at our house? Also, you can see in this picture that I cut his hair and he no longer has a fluff wad on the back of his head.
