What's in a Name?

Naming one's children is no easy task.  As parents, we know that whatever name we give our wee little babe will be with them for life.  Should we name our little pumpkin something timeless or trendy?  Biblical or New Age?  Should we go with a family name?  Something that can (or can't) be nicknamed? Something I found on a map or heard in People magazine?

It's serious business.  Naming a person will help define who they are for oh, their entire life.  No pressure, eh?

When we chose our kids's names, we had allll sorts of discussions.  My husband threw out some whackadoodle biblical names (Maher-shalal-hash-baz??) that I quickly vetoed (you're welcome, children).  They may have had great meanings, but I didn't think my precious little one needed to be saddled with some of them.  Other times, however, I was the one who came up with a doozy that my husband nixed (i.e. Theophilus - hey it's a family name, and it can be shortened to adorable Theo!). Eventually, we chose a boy and girl name each pregnancy since we didn't find out gender until I gave birth.  We ultimately chose first names that were rich in meaning, and family middle names.

This summer, I blogged about how we came to name our third child (you can read about it here).  It was a big deal, naming him, mostly because we had to name him nine weeks early and weren't prepared! When my husband suggested the name we chose, I remember rolling it around in my mouth. . .checking it out and seeing how it felt.  And it felt right.  And now, 13.5 years later, his name still feels right in my mouth, as do all my kids' names.

Recently I heard a quote, attributed to "Billy, age 4", but I am not sure of its true origin.  This quote said so much to me about how we see our loved ones.  I remembered immediately sitting in the hospital room, "feeling" the name in my mouth, and deeming it perfect for our beloved baby.  This is the quote:

When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different.

  You know that your name is safe in their mouth.

Indeed.  Regardless of why we chose their names, I hope that all my children (and husband, and friends and family) know that their names are safe in my mouth.  That their names are treasured windows into who they are as people.  That their names are precious, respected, valuable and unique, because they are precious, respected, valuable and unique.  Each of my children is unrepeatable, created by God in His image, special and like no one else.  

So what's in a name?  Everything.

I have called you by name,

you are mine.

Isaiah 43:1b

Confirmed in Christ!

He is risen!  He is risen indeed!

And indeed we had a glorious Easter weekend at our house.  Our fourth child was confirmed and had his first communion, and it was every bit of wonderful.  We had 23 family members in town to celebrate with us and our son. We ate well, we laughed, we had an egg hunt and an Egg Roll competition, my son received some lovely faith-strengthening gifts, and most of all, we all worshiped together -- at the Easter Vigil where my son was confirmed, and at Easter morning worship as well.  

If we had to choose one word to describe our son, it would be passion.  He is passionate about everything he does and loves.  And I love that about him!  It sometimes makes emotions flare, but he is always authentic.  Each confirmand's parent wrote an essay about their child and they were all published in a keepsake book for those attending the Easter Vigil.  Here is an excerpt of what my husband wrote about our son:

Passion.  If there is one word that describes you (and there could be many others) this one tops the list. You feel things so deeply.  The things that capture your attention fascinate me.  You ponder things that most people would never give a thought. Your never-still mind is always filling you with curiosity.  Whether it is the sports you love, or reading Harry Potter, or your interest in all kinds of animals and wildlife, some of them rather exotic (how did you ever get so enamored with hedgehogs?) - whatever interested you - you are all in.  I love that about you, my son.  God gave you that sense of wonder.  All of your interests are to help you look for the One who created such a fascinating, curious, interesting world for you to discover.

And so, my son, my prayer is that your passion directs you to Him - that you may be "all in" following Jesus.  Because if one truly, passionately, curiously wonders about eJsesus and searches for Him, you will never be bored.

The verse my son chose as his confirmation verse is 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18:  Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

This was my grandma's verse.  She lived by it, she wrote it down as a reminder, and it truly summed up who she was.  My son looked at many, many verses trying to decide which one he wanted, and decided that this was the one.  I love that he chose her verse, and that he wants to focus on prayer and giving thanks to God in all circumstances.

Our boy's confirmation, like his siblings' before him, was an amazing experience.  The entire extended family surrounded him as my husband confirmed him and prayed over him.  My son was beyond excited and full of emotion (as many of us were - my youngest daughter was weepy with happiness for her big brother).  And when we returned to our seats, he was full of joy and so thrilled to take his first communion a few minutes later.  

As he grows up, I pray my son keeps that exuberance for Christ.  I pray he embraces his passions and that they will point him to Christ.  And that all he does falls under the umbrella of prayer and giving thanks.  

Raindrops On Roses and Clean, Crisp Sheets

Many of you might know that I attended the Theology of the Body Institute's first course last week.  It was equal parts moving, soul-searching, informative, heart-rending and faith-strengthening.  It was an experience I won't ever forget.  I look forward to the days and weeks to come as I unpackage all my materials and notes.

One of the things our instructor said early on in the week was about a song from my all-time favorite musical.  Yep - you guessed it - Jesus Christ Superstar!  Haha - just kidding.  If you know me at all, you know it is The Sound of Music.  His children had recently performed in the musical, and many themes from it were fresh in his mind.  And at the top of his list was the song "My Favorite Things".  He began singing a few bars and asked us to join in if we knew the words (ummm. . .I know the words).  Maria sings the song to remind herself and the children to think of their favorite things when they are afraid (or when the dog bites or the bee stings).

Our instructor took this song a step further, and reminded us that God knows all our favorite things.  He knows our favorite things sometimes before we know them.  And even better, God sings the song of our favorite things to us all the time.  Our lives are filled with the music of God singing to us those things which move us and shape us and bring us joy.  That admiration of the majestic mountains?  God singing to us.  Overcome with the vast beauty of the ocean?  God singing to us.  A bunny hopping across the neighbor's yard while on a walk?  God singing to us - what?  Does he only sing that verse to me?  Surely I'm not alone in that one.

The thought of God knowing me. . .little me, in an enormous universe. . .and caring to put in front of me all of my favorite things truly brought tears to my eyes.  Here I am, living my (small) life, and the God of the universe is loving me enough to give me joy.  He knows my heart and chooses to love me anyway.  His love and forgiveness are vast.

So - here are a few of my favorite things.  What joy I derive in them!  And what joy to know that God knows even more of my favorite things, and has plans to reveal them to me in the future.

My children's faces
Bunnies hopping across the yard in spring
Clean, crisp sheets
Sweet romance movies (think Anne of Green Gables)
Peanut butter in all manner of preparation
Worshiping with my church family
My home
Laughing with my children
Potato Chips
My sweet students
Taking a walk with my husband
Singing beautiful choral music
80s music
Musicals
A good book
Coke Zero
The ocean and Lake Michigan
Shadow's euphoria at my arrival home
Big family celebrations

Oh dear reader. . .the list could go on and on -- and I don't even know everything that goes on this list!  But God does.  He knows my heart and loves me so much that He sings this song to me every day.

What is God singing to you, my friends?

Shadow Tales

As I posted earlier, we have been doing some work on our house.  About three or four days before the floor was to be refinished, we realized we really needed to ship Shadow out for the duration.  We contacted a friend of ours from church whose daughter has a pet-sitting business, and had watched Shadow once before a couple years ago.  She was willing and excited to have him, and her mother and father are very generous people and agreed to let Shadow move in temporarily.

The pet-sitter and family have moved since she watched him last, so this was a new house to Shadow.  When we brought him in, he darted around, sniffing everything and checking out all the corners.  I can only imagine he was searching for anything that might be a candidate for chewing and ruining later.  I always feel little anxious when we take him somewhere, lest he give in to his naughty desires.  After a few moments, they brought out their cat, which concerned me even more (would Shadow attack the cat? would he growl and be fierce?).  The pet-sitting mom seemed quite chill as the two chased each other around the house. "They're just playing", she said.  I continued to hope that Shadow would behave himself.

I began giving the family some info about Shadow puppy, including, but not limited to, things like: don't leave any small items on the floor, or he will chew them up; and also, don't leave food near the edge of the counter, or he will help himself to a snack.  Whilst I was doing this, Shadow was exploring the house, moving quickly around us.  Suddenly one of my kids yelled, "Shadow pooped! Shadow pooped!" I immediately whipped my head around, and discovered that he had indeed pooped on the carpet.  I was mortified and shocked, as he has only very rarely done that, and it hasn't happened for years.  I was also amazed as his speed! He was moving at a rapid rate -- he had no time to make the traditional doggie pooping tripod.  "It was a drive-by pooping!", I said, horrified.  The pet-sitting mamma handled it beautifully and assured me that it was okay.  When I left a few minutes later, I begged her to let me know if he was naughty and we would come to get him stat.

I checked in regularly, and apparently he was at his worst when making his first impression (classy, Shads), and has behaved well enough the rest of his visit.  I am greatly relieved, and very thankful for a family who was willing to help us out.

It was a lot easier having Shadow out of the house (though we bought a hedgehog while he was gone - are we lunatics?), but I gotta say I missed having him around. He's home now and settling back in, though his meet and greet with the hedgehog was rather comical (more on that later).

Floor Plans

Ten years ago, we visited our parents for about 10 days in the summer.  While we were gone, our ice maker line sprung a tiny leak in the line going into the fridge.  That tiny leak caused major damage to our floors throughout almost the entire first floor.  It was unreal what damage a tiny hole, left unattended for 10 days, could do!  Our insurance was amazing, and we were able to refinish all the hardwoods that were damaged.

Ever since that incident, we have faithfully turned off our water when we leave for a trip.  Over Thanksgiving, we were gone about 48 hours.  We were ready to head out to go and my husband remembered he needed to run down to the basement to turn the water off.  "Do you really need to mess with it?  We're barely going to be gone!", I said.  He was adamant that it was necessary, and took care of it.  When we returned home from our quick trip, we noticed something was wrong with the hardwoods in the kitchen.  Even though the water was off, the water dispenser on the refrigerator had dripped (it had never dripped before. . . it must have waited to do it until we left). And yes, again, the hardwoods were damaged.  The area affected was much smaller this time, thankfully,  but they were very cupped and warped.  We called the insurance company and they were able to give us the green light to have the floors refinished.

Fast forward to today.  For the past week plus, this has been the scene in our living room, the one carpeted room on the first floor:

This room is housing four sofas, three chairs, a buffet (in two pieces), a piano, an ottoman, four end tables, a dining room table, a computer and table, and various other odds and ends that were displaced when one has to empty an entire first floor.  Our garage has the recliner and stove, and the refrigerator is in the laundry room (thankfully we have another fridge in the garage that we are using). All the chairs from the island and dining room are in various bedrooms and basement.  We have shipped Shadow off to a willing pet-sitting gal from our congregation, and it has generally been a grand ol' time over here!  Close quarters, no kitchen and regular life carrying on has made for some interesting days (and several of the kids, during this time of upheaval have asked to have friends over.  Whaaat??) We were lucky enough to spend one night at a hotel and the younger kids got to enjoy the great pool.

The floors are done now, though we can't move furniture and appliances in yet for a couple more days.  We are going to get some painting done while all the furniture is out, and my dream of gray is going to come true (super excited about that!!)  We are really happy with the floors - we didn't want them dark, and this color compliments our cabinets really well:

Only a few more days until we can move things back in and life will go back to normal.  Normal = loud, crazy and busy!  But at least we will no longer have to make lunches in the garage and do laundry while leaning around a refrigerator! 

Grateful

For the last several years, our insurance company has been pushing good habits by rewarding us (with cash, Amazon gift cards, Fitbits) for working out and eating healthy etc.  The other day, I received an email that said I could receive 250 points by taking a health review on the website, so of course I did.  The questions included details about how many hours I work in a week (ummm - I'm a mom in addition to my teaching job -- is there a box for all of the hours??), how many hours of sleep I get (not enough), how many servings of fruits and vegetables I eat each day (also not enough) and the like.  I've taken similar surveys before without much thought to them, but this time, a couple of the questions caused me to reflect.

Quite a few of the questions involved my emotional state.  How many times have you felt depressed in the last month?  How happy have you been feeling? Has your daily life been full of things you find interesting?  On a scale of 1 to 10, how satisfied are you with your job?  Your life overall?  Where do you see that number in 5 years?

The responses all came quickly to me. . .rarely depressed, usually happy, interesting things daily (I have kids and teach preschool!), and 9s or higher on the scales of 1 to 10.  My psychological well-being result came back as high.  

My life is far from perfect, and things bother me all the time. My kids drive me crazy (today is a snow day. . .!!), my to-do list feels endless, my job is not always easy,  I'm often weary and we've had our share of heartache.  But overall? I am incredibly happy with my life, and there is very little I would change about it. Even in the hardships we've faced, we've seen God's hand at work; forming and shaping our faith.

 I've taken these surveys before and answered in the same ways, but didn't really think much about my responses.  But this time as I whizzed through, eager to get my 250 points tallied, I slowed to reflect on how grateful I am for this life I have been gifted with.  A job I love, an amazing church family, and wonderful parents, siblings, husband and children!

Where would I see myself in five years, it asked?  We will be launching our third child off to college, leaving us with only two at home!  My eldest will have graduated and be embarking on her own adventures, which will hopefully involve marriage and giving me grandchildren!  I don't want to rush ahead to that time (indeed I want time to slow down so I can more fully savor it all!), but I pray my life in the future will continue to amaze me.  

For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord.  Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.

Jeremiah 29:11

Bits and Pieces #22

• We got home last night from a whirlwind Lutheran Schools basketball tournament for my seventh grade son.  It was the 5th year we've attended, and look forward to 7 more years at this tournament - good thing we enjoy it!  My husband and I both attended this weekend tournament when we were kids.  Lots of great memories spanning a whole lotta years.  This year's tourney ended on a fabulous note -- my son, with 2 seconds left on the clock in overtime, was able to sink two free throws, securing the win at 34-31.  I was a proud mamma, and I was jumping and screaming like a maniac.  I love that kid!
• A week ago, we bought an 1/8 of a cow from a friend of ours who is a beef guy (I don't know what his real title is - cattle farmer perhaps?).  Well, whatever his title is, it perhaps should be awesome beef provider!  Our freezer is stocked, and our tummies are happy. Win!

• The picture below of Shadow babies just screams "Happy Valentine's Day!" to me.  His cute little face peeking out of the red makes me almost forget how naughty he can be.  

• This little guy is coming to live at our house in the next few weeks.  Yes, what I swore to never let happen is indeed happening:  we are getting a caged animal.  My 11-year-old son has been obsessed with hedgehogs since preschool, and my husband suggested we let him get one.  He got to choose which one of the litter he wanted, and he chose this one.  I suggested his name be Bandit, and it looks like that might stick.   I'll keep you posted on how this endeavor goes. . .to be continued.