Excellent

Have I mentioned that we're starting a church?

It's great.

The community that's developing is great.

And the logo is really great, wouldn't you say?

You can even check out our (temporary but still great) website here.

That Answer Was a Bit Too Honest

Last night, I held Jonathan's hand as we walked to his bedroom to begin the good-night ritual. His hand was stickier than I would have liked.

"Jonathan," I said. "Your hand is sticky! When is the last time you washed your hands really well?" (After dinner? Before dinner?)

"Ummm," Jonathan considered. "I think it was...Saturday!"

Right.

Next time, I'm not going to ask.

Tagged Twice and Tardy

Both Gina and Lorraine tagged me ages ago, and I'm just now getting around to posting in response. Here goes:

1. You have to post these rules before you give the facts.

2. You must list one fact that is somehow relevant to your life for each letter of your middle name. If you don’t have a middle name, use the middle name you would have liked to have had.

3. At the end of your blog post, you need to choose one person for each letter of your middle name to tag. Don’t forget to leave a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog for the rules.

My middle name is Marie, same as my grandmother's first name and Chloe's middle name.

M- I am married. To wonderful Steve, going on ten years. The fact that I'm not yet 32 and have been married for almost ten years begets some comments in this city. Steve and I are an oddity (those of you who know us well--please stop nodding your heads in agreement so vigorously. I'm only referring to the length of our marriage here). Example: Steve and I lead a marriage group that consists of 8 couples. Of those couples, we are the youngest, have been married the longest, and are the only ones with children.

A- I am an administrator at a great little prep school here in the city. This means that I run around like a chicken with my head cut off all day long (not my official job description).

R- I am redeemed. My belief that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, died for me and consequently conquered death for my redemption is absolutely integral to my understanding of who I am and my purpose in life.

I- I am an initiator. I like to set things in motion (like churches). Follow through, while satisfying in a way that is similar to how I feel after a particularly arduous bathroom cleaning or lawn-mowing, is a bit more difficult for me. It requires more focused self-discipline. But perhaps this is true of most everyone?

E- I am an extrovert. This comes in quite handy in both church-building and blogging.

Ok...now who to tag? I think Michelle and Michelle, Tina, Susan, and Marissa. Have fun, ladies!

Did I just buy a gallon of milk or the whole cow?

I know that I've been out of touch with things lately because I've been so busy at work.
I've not been paying attention to my grocery budget; I've just been picking up things as we need them.

But yesterday I happened to look up as the gallon of milk I was buying was scanned into the cash register.

$4.99.

What?
Is that normal?
How long has it been that way?
The last time I noticed, it was 3-something/gallon.
How long have I been gone, anyway?

Trying on the Words for Size

I walked around the corner of the kids' room today to see Jonathan scuttle into his closet.
He had a pencil in his hand and guilt in his countenance.
I turned in the direction from which he had come and discovered the beginnings of a stick figure scribbled on the back of the door.

"Jonathan!" I said in my You're in Trouble Now tone.
"I'm sorry Mama! I'm so sorry!" came the voice from the closet.
"Jonathan, come out here," I said. "You knew that what you were doing was wrong, didn't you?"
"YesbutIsaidIwassorry!"
"Jonathan, if you knew what you were doing was wrong, why did you choose to do it?" I suppose I was probing his understanding of original sin, maybe just a bit. His answers told me more than I would have guessed.

"Because...um uh...I was nervous?"
"No, I don't think you were nervous."
"Because I was, um, disappointed?"
"No, not disappointed."
"Because I was just a teeny bit confused!"
"How were you confused?'

Pause. Two. Three. Four.

"Because I was confused! I thought wrong was right and right was wrong! So I was doing right!" He smiled such a confident smile then, sure that his four year old mind had just out-logicked his own mama. Surely there was no way I could find fault with him after that!

How could I not laugh?
Seriously. That boy.
He still sat in the naughty chair, tho.

(Back) To School

Jonathan's First Day of PreSchool
Chloe's First Day of First Grade

Exciting stuff.

Last night as we were polishing off another chapter of Harry Potter, Chloe told me she had butterflies in her stomach about the first day of school.
"Excited butterflies or nervous butterflies?" asked I.
"Umm..." she thought for a moment, "Like, one is nervous and five are excited."
All six butterflies accounted for.

At our First Day of School Celebratory Dinner at McDonald's (that's right, folks, gourmet livin' for us here in the city), I asked Jonathan who he played with at school today.
"Sam," he answered.
"And what did you play?"
"Um, we played Run Around."
Certainly, a worthwhile endeavor with subtle and complicated rules, the likes of which adults cannot comprehend.

Also, I managed to get all 140 students on the bus or on their merry way with no one left behind or dropped off at the wrong stop or other mishap. Phew. These last two weeks may have aged me two years.

All in all, a good first day.

For Future Reference

Benihana: Japenese Steakhouse where the meals are cooked at the table
Benny Hinn: Televangelist with a propensity for expensive white suits

(Some people in this household have a tendency to confuse the two. Not that either one comes up in conversation more than once a year, mind you.)

Jonathan Tenderheart

Steve's parents visited last weekend,
bringing us some furniture that had been in storage.
We passed the World Trade Center site a few times while they were here, coming or going from this thing or that. At one point, Steve's mother stopped to take a few photos, and Jonathan and I stopped for a difficult life lesson.

"But why are they doing so much construction here?" Jonathan asked.

I picked him up so he could better see, and I scrambled for an answer appropriate for a 4 year old. "Once, before we lived here, right here were the two tallest buildings in New York. Lots and lots of people worked here. And then, honey, a few years ago, some people who don't understand God's love did a terrible thing. They took airplanes and flew them in the buildings. The buildings started on fire and fell down, and many, many people died." I stopped there. Was that too much for him? Would he understand the gravity of the situation?

Jonathan looked at me and held my eyes for a moment, testing me to see if my words were the truth. Then he tucked his head into my neck and cried. I looked silently out at the site and allowed him to share in the grief of so many.

His tears were brief as his optimistic and hopeful spirit buoyed. Jonathan picked up his head and looked at me, inspired.

"But they're building a new one, right? And it will be strong, STRONG! "

"Yep. They'll build it so it is very safe. And we'll pray that God protects the city, too."

"They will build it out of BRICKS. Then it will be so strong."

I walked on with him then, praying that God would protect the city and my son's tender heart.