Year 4, May 10th-12th, 2019: A Slower Weekend?

Phew, this weekend looks like a somewhat blank slate....well, that was until my feet hit the floor.  Eek! I thought I was doing great until I got home from dropping Benaiah off at work and doing a quick Meijer run.  But I hadn't checked my email and it was almost lunch time.  Eek!  Benaiah could have taken the van today, but we told him no because we don't want it sitting in the Staples parking lot a couple of stores down where most of the CFA employees park.  It's very busy in that intersection.  The truck will be fine because it's old and a stickshift, but we can't afford to lose the van.  So I dropped him off and Jared picked him up.  I needed to work on the blog and redoing our Quicken file because I royally messed it up yesterday.  Yes, I'm having to make a whole new file and start from scratch.  Thank goodness that Quicken can sync with our bank accounts (when I remember the passwords that is) and I can just download transactions.  Our money is fine, but my tracking system is not, which makes me nervous.  It's 5pm and I finished the blog, and I'm working on Quicken, cooking dinner, and I still haven't processed all my email....so much for a slow start to the weekend!

We didn't go to park day because it was chilly and the park was 40 minutes away in Fishers.  Instead, Grandma took the younger boys for haircuts.  At first Abishai didn't want to go, but I promised he could have his Cadbury Creme egg I bought him this morning if he got it done.  When he walked in from the haircuts, he proudly said, "I was brave and I didn't make a fuss, Mommy."  Awwwww.  He's so cute!

All smiles from the moment he wakes up to the moment he goes to sleep (with a few tears in between) (see the last picture for today).  He's loving his new umbrella and water bottle.  This was pre haircut for the day.

No rain and no sun but he wanted to keep the elements off of himself anyway while he waited for Grandma.

Abishai is the only one who volunteers to help, so I let him! "I want to smash them!"

"Now I taste them!"  It's mashed potatoes, by the way, not cookie dough.

(For the video above) Not as good as the last two nights, but Abishai still knows how to pray like a mini adult!  And he recognized and thanked Jesus for having all of us at the dinner table (for once).  He recognized that we were all there!  Awwww.....

Abishai wanted to cut his own meat (it's pork but he always calls it "chicken.) so Daddy let him.

Time for that first solo trip!  Now, where is he off to?  He said Taco Bell to see Ethan, Panda Express for food, Meijer/Target for speakers.  Let's see what he actually did!

Awaiting the first departure!

"Miah, red means stop, green means go and yellow means uh oh!" - Abishai reminding Benaiah about how to drive.

Gotta fix the tunes first.

And there he goes!  And I was actually really nervous!  I haven't been nervous when he's driven and I'm on my phone in the car, but now, eek!

There he goes!

Meanwhile, #teensandtoddlers I bought Abishai a big boy water bottle today and he has drunk about 10x the amount of water he normally drinks and he's had 10x the number of accidents to prove it.  I don't think he's been getting enough to drink anyway, so we'll see how this goes.  He's very proud of it!

Hm,....this isn't speakers!  Boy! He also stopped at his grandparents on his way home since it hadn't been debriefed by Grandpa Johnson yet on his week/prom/girlfriend/driving, etc.  He returned in one piece and said it felt good but wanted to spend on his computer #typicalteen

I'm trying to sit down at my computer all the way in the sunroom and I can still hear this guy giggling at the other end of the house through the bedroom door!  He's so red in the face and sweaty because the party must go on!  He really didn't want to go to bed.

Saturday was a mixed bag of slower paced, but no real direction on how the day would go.  Jared worked on restacking the wood pile and adding the huge logs that have been sitting on the side for about 6 months or so.  He's really sore and frustrated with his physical limitations, as he rounds the bend to his 40th birthday this coming Saturday.  I understand completely because I feel the same way.  Justin went to do "yard work" which was really just mowing at Grandpa's house.  Keturah finished up her clothes sorting and boy has she gotten bigger and more picky! I spent a lot of money on her last year and the clothes no longer fit.  So, I'm going to do a little Konamri (sp?) treatment and just let her have what she does have and not buy any extras.  I think she says she has something like 14 pairs of shorts?  Maybe 5 pairs of jeans?  Yup, that's enough!  Abishai was in and out and all over the place.  He woke up in the middle of the night because he wet the bed for the first time in 6 months.  He had too much water to drink from his new water bottle.  Poor guy!  Then he said he had to sleep in our bed because "I love you, Mommy" and gave me big crocodile tears.  So, he snuggled in and fell asleep in 30 seconds for the next 4 hrs.  Poor Jared didn't sleep well though.

Benaiah slept until 1pm and then worked from 3-11:30pm as usual.  Jared took him because we really wanted to him to pay for a vehicle in full before he drove it alone, and well, he choose to spend his money on many other things.  So, it's up to the men to figure out when and where and deal with the inconvenience.  I'm staying out of that one.  I spent my day wasting time, but also restarting our accounts in a new Quicken file, and doing a quick somewhat deep clean of a couple of areas in the big bathroom, including unclogging the shower drain.  Ew! I could have done so much more with my time today but didn't.  Oh well.

Then Jared and I, Keturah and Abishai, went to the Rooted Celebration at church tonight.  I was a bit taken aback at how big the scale of this Celebration was and how much production it involved.  I guess I figured it would be like last fall's pilot group, and it was much more than that.  The East Hall was wall to wall of tables and we barely had enough time to eat.  They took group photos in front of this grassy looking backdrop.  They put special paper up on the glass of the sanctuary to completely darken the room to better project all the lighting.  The music was very loud and some of the people in our group couldn't even stay in the room.  The food was similar to last fall and was tasty, and I snagged a "Heather Bruce" cheesecake and just at the cheese part of course.  I was determined to get one since I didn't get on at Gary's open house (yes, that's a bit selfish but I was looking forward to it!) and saved the oreo bon bon for Justin.  Dan spoke of course, and then they did this interesting element of "commissioning" us, having us say, "I do" to some statements about being ministers of the gospel and "we are the church." It was interesting, and I'm undecided on if I enjoyed that element or not.  It's so out of my comfort zone, and the whole thing doesn't quite sit well with my introvertism.  I won't go into here, but I'm sure I will discuss it with Gary and Leah tomorrow, and with Jared of course, and maybe journal it, too.  Maybe this whole thing was ill timed in some ways because of this past month being so emotionally draining and I haven't had the strength to mentally put in the work I needed to.  I also don't like being forced to make a decision or share something on the spot.  I wish I had known about all the "experiences" part of this before starting.  I thought it was just a simple Bible study, but it's not.  Basically, it's a Christianity 101 class that is a launching point for small groups.  And I don't think it considers the introvert as much as the extrovert which is very, very typical for all church activities.  I read a book a few years back about Introverts in the Church that explained this phenomenon.  I'm thinking I should reread it.

Overall, Rooted is probably a great program.  But I wish I had known more about it before joining.  When I suggest that others go through, I'll be sure to tell them upfront about what is expected.  Of course you can always drop out and if you miss more than 2 of the 10 meetings, you are forced to drop out. (I didn't like that either).  And I know that this won't be the last time that something totally new and radical comes up with Dan as the lead servant, and I know I'll be on of the "older folks" who are used to church being a certain way and will question any major changes.  But I'm faithful, so I'll try and see how it all works and save my real judgments for later on.  You can't be too negative about a new thing while it's working out it's bugs.  And this program DID change lives.  There were 11 baptisms!  And lots of people finding genuine community.  I've definitely met some very nice people.  I just don't know yet if this really is the start of something new or not.  It wasn't as transformative for me as it was for many, many others. So, I celebrated with and for those who were genuinely transformed.  And I know that there are other ways God can transform me and other ways I can serve and find community.  Oo, I'd rather community be organic than forced.  That's what this felt like, forced, over the top, trying too hard, too processed and programmed and professional.  Sigh. I'm just an old school gal that needs an old school women's morning Bible study while the children play in another room at someone's house.  And guess what?  It doesn't have to be a Bible study, but it could be a homeschool book study, or parenting book study.  If I want to have my "need" filled, surely there are others that need it, too, and I can be part of the solution and make it happen.

So, the Rooted experience is great for a lot of people.  It got us out of the house at least.  God will use it to change our church.  I will support it, but with some truth as to how much commitment it is and a word of caution to anxious/introverted people.  Maybe they wanted an element of surprise, but for people like me, we need to have information before hand to make a decision.

Ok, that was a lot more than I was going to originally type and I have more I need to process.  It was an ok day.  Slow, not as productive as I would have liked, but that's ok.  There's always another day.  I have my to do lists for Monday ready.  Summer isn't all about work, right?  And this was my week of rest and regrouping.  So, we're getting there.

I played Legos with Abishai for an hour because Daddy was working, Justin was mowing, and Keturah didn't want to.  What a nice resting spot! 

The bottom of the tent got smooshed into the ballpit balls toybox, so it's almost like a liner.  Abishai was playing in the box as well as the rest of the tent with the balls.

Rock a bye baby, on the tree top.  He was using the log as a see saw.

I bet he wishes we owned a chainsaw.  He does have a regular ax though.

Some of the big log sprouted despite not having any roots!  Crazy!

Yes, ew, and this is just two girls living in the house.  Slimey from soap, too.

Resting before Rooted.

New shirt, new way to wear pants.

Some people shared an element on stage about how they felt at the beginning of Rooted and how they felt afterward.  The theme was "disconnected/connected."

Coveringthe glass did let some of the rotating lights on stage bounce off better.  We also had some new band members and singers on stage.  Lots of hazing machines.  I didn't take a lot of photos because Jared E. was doing that and again, this is a Bible study, not a rock concert.  I'm sure things will be back to normal in 12 hrs.

Sunday, Mother's Day, an interesting day.  I woke up a bit moody, Jared was in a mood, no one reminding the kids to say Happy Mother's Day, and we didn't use the photo op at church.  We did have yummy steaks on Gary's new grill, a good family chat where I was able to bring up things that have bothered me, and then I took Justin to see the new, short run Tolkien film.  We only had a week to go see it, and today made sense since I didn't want to do any work.  There was no Crave or small groups in the evening because of the holiday.  Benaiah drove himself back to church to the 4:30 to do tech, and then ran errands.  It's a little scary to think of him on the road, but I texted him and said that I trust him, and how else is he going to learn? He teases about making stupid mistakes, but when it comes down to it, I know he won't.  As I type this up on Tuesday, he drove the van to school and to work because I was going to be home all day.  I totally didn't think to ask him to text me when he got to school, but Grandma asked about it.  So, maybe it would be good to ask him to text us occasionally like when he leaves work at 11pm?  Anyway, I'm sure he's fine.

So, it was a productive, yet boring sort of day, with not much fanfare, and no thankfulness from the kids or husband for being a mom.  I was frustrated and mad.  But not every holiday goes well.  I didn't think much about my mom either.  Leah gave me a card, and Jared said, "Happy Day" to her.  That's it. Hmph.  Sigh.

Socks was going crazy and didn't understand why...until I saw the bunny.  Awww....

Battery powered lights!

He blew out the lights as he pushed the remote for the lights.

Then he carefully stacked them and unstacked them. 

New grill for the grill master.

Keturah's Sunday School leaders won't be at service next week and we won't be there the week after that, so they brought in goodies today.  Keturah added her goodies to the blue moon ice cream that Ron had brought from Michigan.

Poor Abishai got corn stuck between his teeth so Grandpa got a toothpick to help him.  It's a Johnson thing I guess to use toothpicks.  I use those floss picks.  But we sent this picture to Dr. Doug, our dentist and medical missionary, in case he needs a dental assistant.

A much calmer atmosphere at lunch today.  Gary preached elsewhere, but was home before we were.  He actually had brain space and time to play with the kids.  He said on Monday it was nice to go to work and not have 4 hrs of meetings to attend.  He's still guest preaching so he'll write various sermons or reuse old ones.  But what a nice change to at least have Grandpa around during the week a bit.

Playing bowling in the hallway.  They got a new rug and put sticky rug tape down so now the rug doesn't move out of the way for bowling.  Bummers!

Watched Tolkien, which is mostly based on Tolkien's childhood through university, including the war.  Our resident "Inklings" expert Brenton Dickieson summed it up best in his article below.  He'll be sharing more of a blow by blow critique next week.  He's the one who told us about it and that it was only in select theaters for a limited time, so we needed to get this done right away. He had to travel 3 hrs to another province (PEI to New Brunswick) to see it because it wasn't playing at the theaters on PEI.  We liked it, and boy, after watching Avengers: Endgame, it seemed so short!

 https://apilgriminnarnia.com/2019/05/13/defiant-biopic-tolkien/
 

No one else in the theater!  Actually, two older couples came in right after we did.  That's it!  Granted it was 6:45 on Mother's Day Sunday evening, but still.  Kind of nice!

Empty!

Tis the Season!

The End