Miniature...

I bought a basket of cherry tomatoes yesterday, and when I got home I discovered the smallest cherry tomato I've ever seen. Isn't it cute? A perfect little miniature tomato. I just wanted to share! :-)


Next to a regular tomato and a regular-sized cherry tomato for comparison:

Summer Fun!

For those of you not on Facebook, I just published an album of some pictures from our summer. You can view it by clicking here, even if you're not a Facebook member!

It feels like this summer has gone by so quickly...of course, being in Sacramento we'll still get "summery" weather well into October, most likely! But soon, we'll be able to break out the sweaters and start lighting fires in our fireplace again. That will be nice!

I hope you all had a wonderful summer as well! Enjoy the soon-coming change of seasons as we head into the fall!

How do 7 months go by so quickly?

Back on January 7th I said, "So maybe one of my goals this year should be blogging more often!"

Um...yeah. In hindsight, the word "maybe" in that sentence obviously carried the most weight!

I follow a few other blogs that are just, well, amazing. And these bloggers post often, if not daily, with deep spiritual insights or great recipes and nutritional information, or beautiful photos. And I get a bit intimidated and feel like it would be too much work to even attempt to create an interesting blog, and then I just end up not blogging anything at all! But then I have to ask myself...why do I think my blog needs to compare with the blogs of others? I'm me, and they're them, and we have different lives and different voices. My blog can be whatever I want it to be! That's kind of fun, when you think about it. Such possibility! Such potential! And I guess that means I have the right to take a 7-month hiatus from blogging if I feel like it. So I won't apologize for the break...but I will say that I feel a renewed spark of interest in blogging, and have some ideas for this little corner of the Internet that I call my own. And if you want to check back from time to time, hopefully you will not be disappointed! :-)

Happy New Year!

So maybe one of my goals this year should be blogging more often! :-)

I'm excited about this new year, hoping it will be better in many ways than 2008 was. Not that this last year was bad, but it was just so...busy, what with planning and preparing to move, all the decisions about the house, actually moving, having a lot of out-of-town guests, hosting events, getting settled and buying furniture and decorating and, and, and... In the midst of all the activity, a lot of important things kind of got lost in the shuffle, like being more intentional in my relationships -- my relationship with God, my relationships with family and friends. I want to be more intentional this year...to not just let life swirl around me!

I want to learn to like exercising, because I am WAY too sedentary. I won a free six-month membership to the health club my church owns, and as a part of membership you get three free sessions with a personal trainer. So I met Andrea this week and she is going to help me figure out a good workout routine tailored to my fitness level and goals. I'm glad, because I don't seem to have the motivation to design an exercise program on my own!

Most of all, I really want to have a deeper hunger and thirst for God's Word and for communion with Him...I want my prayer life to become more vibrant! I have so much "head knowledge" about the Bible and prayer floating around in my mind...I need to grab a hold of it and pin it down in my heart, so it becomes part of the fabric of my daily life. I want to live out what I know. I want to start running purposefully in the race again, instead of just skipping along staring at the flowers on the side of the track.

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God."

~ Hebrews 12:1-2 (ESV)

There are so many other goals that I could name for this year, but that's the most important...throwing off the sins and weights and distractions that slow me down and instead choosing to run this race of the Christian life with endurance, living by the Spirit and daily coming to Christ to let Him fill and lead me. May 2009 be a year of great spiritual growth for all of us!

Some pictures of the season!

Last Saturday we hosted Andrew's company Christmas party (20 people) at our home. We had to move our sectional out of the living room and into the bedroom to make room for the tables, but it all turned out beautifully, thanks to Andrew's sisters helping with the decorating and set-up! Here are a few pictures, from different sides of the room:

The table in the entryway:

Here's a photo of Andrew and me at the party (he hadn't gotten his food yet...he's not on a diet or anything)!

Our sister-in-law's father set up a little photo studio in our guest bedroom and took pictures of all the couples at the party. Here's one he took of us!

We have had a 6-foot artificial Christmas tree for the last few years, but since our ceiling is taller in the living room now, we got a 9-foot pre-lit tree this year, and put the shorter tree in the back TV room. So we have our pretty, elegant tree with white lights and blue, silver, and white ornaments in the front room and our cute, cozy tree with colored lights and red, gold, and bronze ornaments in the back!

Praying your Christmas season is joy-filled and blessed!

A trip to see the family!

I enjoyed a great visit with my family Thanksgiving week...here are a few pictures from our time there!

Anna with Aaron and Ben:

Mom and Dad enjoying an after-Thanksgiving-feast nap:

Ben and Aaron playing in the tent I brought them ($9.99 at Ikea!):

Sisters:

Here's an adorable video of Ben and Aaron playing in a hall cupboard. They are so cute!

And finally, a video interview I did with Ben...now that he's 3 1/2, he has a bit more to say (if you're reading this via e-mail, you'll need to go to my blog to see the videos)!

I look forward to seeing them all again in February when I go up to help out when Baby Grace is born!

What were they thinking? (Part 2)

As promised, here are some more things I discovered about youth group in the 1970s!

2) Being "PC" was obviously not something anyone was concerned about yet:

COMBINED GIRL WEIGHT GUESS: Choose three boys and send them out of the room. Ask the girls (three) for their weights. Add them, and tell audience total. Then bring the guys back into the room, and ask them to guess the total weight of the three girls. Each one guesses, and the one who is closest to the total wins prize; losers get a penalty.

I have a feeling this game would never fly in today's weight-obsessed culture with eating disorders abounding! Besides, isn't there some kind of unspoken rule that you never ask a lady how much she weighs?

THE SIT DOWN GAME: 1. Ask the entire audience to stand. 2. Instruct them to sit down when the "if" characteristic applies to them and remain seated. 3. Encourage them to be as honest as possible. 4. If you have trouble because most are not sitting down, then give some general characteristics, such as: a. Sit down if you are under 15 (over 18, etc.). b. Sit down if you have on white socks. c. Sit down if you are in love.

OK, first of all I have to say that I did play this game in youth group. But we were given things like, "Sit down if you are wearing jeans; if you have brown hair; if you've never had a cavity" -- things like that. They do have some normal suggestions like that in here, but get a load of some of the things they also suggest for this game!

SIT DOWN IF:

You kiss with your eyes open
You went to the drive-in this weekend but didn't see the movie
You dated a loser this past weekend
You haven't taken a bath in a week
You kiss sloppy
You have a pimple on your nose
You are ugly
Your nose is crooked
You read this month's issue of Playboy
You believe in necking on the first date
You believe in necking before the first date
You still suck your thumb
You wear "baby doll" pajamas
You have dandruff
The person in front of you has dandruff
You walk funny
You weigh over 200 pounds
You are going steady, but wish you weren't
You have ever "two-timed" your girlfriend or boyfriend
You are cross-eyed
Your mother dresses you
You have never been kissed
The person in front of you smells
You are on a diet
You aren't on a diet but should be
You aren't on a diet, but the person next to you should be
You are really good looking

Can you seriously even BELIEVE some of these? My word, times have changed! If a youth pastor played a game where he said stuff like this today, he could probably be sued for something-or-other!

3) Youth pastors in the '70s must not have been too concerned about liability issues:

EXCEDRIN WAMP: Have each boy (4 to 6 -- or as many as 100 to 300) put a paper bag loosely over his head down to his ears. Each boy has a rolled newspaper. The object is to knock the other guy's hat off without losing one's own. No one is allowed to hold his hat on.



Yes, let's set a bunch of teenaged boys loose with paper bags over their heads and rolled-up newspapers, giving them permission to whack each other aggressively over and over. Imagine the fun -- especially if there are several hundred of them!

STABBING DUEL: Have two boys tie left wrists together. Each takes a banana in his right hand. The object is to one-handedly peel the banana and stab the other boy in the face. The first to do so is the winner.

Unfortunately, there was no picture accompanying this description. Maybe a picture of a boy with a banana sticking out of one eye wouldn't have made it past the editors of the book. By the way, do you notice how they left the girls out of these particular games?

PASS IT ON: The entire group forms a circle. Everyone is given an object which can be large, small or any shape (such as a bowling ball, a trash can, a shoe, etc.). On a signal, everyone passes his object to the person on the right, keeping the objects moving at all times. When a person drops any object, he must leave the game, but his object remains in. As the game progresses, more people leave the game, making it harder and harder to avoid dropping an object since there are more objects than people very soon. The winner is the last person(s) to "drop" out.

Yes, because passing a bowling ball or other heavy object around quickly in a circle will surely NOT end with said bowling ball or other heavy object being dropped on someone's toes.

4) I can't think of a sentence to describe this next game...let's just say it's somewhat lacking in spiritual discernment.

PLATE HYPNOTISM: Explain to audience that you have had some experience (in college) with hypnotism. Ask for volunteers, "Who will try hard to be hypnotized?" Give them a plate full of magic hypnotic power which they hold in front of them with one hand and you do the same. Then the volunteer does everything you do while looking you straight in the eyes. You rub finger in top of plate and rub between eyes over and over. Then rub edges and finally the bottom of the plate and rub between eyes. You have charred the bottom of the volunteer's plate with a match, so he rubs black soot on his eyes, unaware of what is going on. Work out a good solid routine for this and it is guaranteed to be a winner.


Guaranteed to be a winner! Unless the kids in your youth group go home and tell their parents that the youth pastor tried to hypnotize them.

5) And this game is just wrong on so many levels...

FUNNEL TRICK: Place a funnel in a boy's pants (in front). Have him tip his head back, then place a nickel on his forehead. The object is for him to drop the nickel into the funnel three times in succession. The third time, pour a cup of water into the funnel while his head is tipped back.



Mother: "Johnny, what did you do at youth group tonight?"

Johnny: "They stuck a funnel down the front of my pants and soaked me with cold water!"

(Even though in this picture it looks like the youth group kid is soaking the youth pastor -- which is slightly more disturbing.)
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Well, that ends our "blast from the past" look at one segment of 1970s youth group culture. Hope you enjoyed it! :-)