Baby Shopping

No we didn't go shopping for a baby...



Yesterday we took time to drive to the nearest Babies R Us and shop for several baby items that we wanted/needed to purchase before Ryon 2.0 (as some of our friends have dubbed our son) makes his appearance. You'd be amazed at how long you can spend looking at baby stuff. I'm sure the salespeople were also amazed...at how long we spent looking at baby stuff. We'll just suffice it to say that if you ever plan on going shopping for a stroller, give yourself a few hours. At least we were able to try out the strollers (fold, unfold, recline, roll, push, beat up...) in the store. It's really silly when stores have displays of strollers or cribs or other baby equipment that you have to just stand and stare at. "Ok, let's try and imagine how big this stroller is when it's folded up. Now let's try and imagine how easy it is to fold up. How heavy do you think it is?" You get the picture.



So anyway, we decided on purchasing the Chicco Keyfit 30 Infant Car Seat and the Chicco Trevi Stroller. Obviously we haven't used either of these yet, but I'm excited because it feels like we've taken one more step closer to holding our son in our arms. Please excuse the sappy moment.

The Ultimate Gift

The Ultimate Gift...one of the latest movies in the Fox Faith line...left me asking the question, "Faith in what?" Yourself? Mankind's ability to be and do good? Hard work?

The basic premise of the story is a billionaire's creative method of distributing his inheritance to his self-centered, money-grubbing relatives. The billionaire gives each of his children a portion of his estate, but not nearly what they were hoping for. To his wayward, stereotypically rebellious grandson, he leaves "the ultimate gift." The grandson doesn't know what this gift is, but he has to follow his instructions to the satisfaction of his grandfather's lawyer or he doesn't get the gift.

Aside from being a poorly written screenplay and a poorly directed movie (shallow characters including the little girl with leukemia, the wayward grandson, the love interest--who has absolutely no life, the former obviously gold-digger girlfriend; awful dialogue from the said shallow characters; a choppy plot line...), the purpose of the movie was completely unmet. The purpose of a cheesy-clean movie (maybe this should be a new genre) should be to instill truth into its viewers, but viewers of this movie have more lies to combat than viewers of the more controversial Harry Potter or Golden Compass movies.

Lie #1: People find satisfaction and happiness in being good people.

Lie#2: Saying and believing cheesy, ear-tickling phrases about God is comforting and enough to answer the hard questions about real life.

Lie #3: You can be a good person at heart while there is no evidence of that in your life. (There is no evidence of the billionaire's own generosity or selflessness.)

Lie #4: If you work hard enough, you can become a good person and you'll be rewarded and applauded by others for being a good person.

As you can see, my biggest concern with this movie is the idea that working hard to be a good person is the ultimate goal in life and that achieving that goal will bring satisfaction. I don't disagree that being generous, working hard, sympathizing with others, and looking outside of your own wants/needs are important. I hope these characteristics describe me someday. But I don't think I'll make it to the point where my life is defined by these characteristics by my own effort and hard work. My ability to have hope in the future, care about other people, give selflessly, deny my own rights, and even care about being "good" comes from depending on the grace of God through the true ultimate gift...the gift of his Son, Jesus Christ. As I look to emulate Him, believe in Him, trust in Him, I believe these other "good" things will come as well.

Beautiful People...in an Ugly World

I have many beautiful students in my classes. They're talented, courageous, unique, quirky, funny, sensitive, intelligent, creative, and created by God. On too many days it's too easy to forget all these facts. Many days my students are selfish, mean, spiteful...you get the drift. Today a student reminded me (not in words) that God created each of these individuals for a purpose and that He desires to give them so many good things. This student is beautiful, smart, and funny--besides being an excellent creative writer, but life has been tough on her. As she said today, "Life sucks." For some reason, this girl has worked her way into my typically uncompassionate heart, so my heart aches for her. And I hope that she will find hope in the only person who can give true, lasting hope. I pray that she is able to know Christ--as the only person who can save her from this wretched (as Paul would say, in Greek I suppose) or "sucky" (as she would say) world. I pray she would know that God has created her beautifully and for a purpose--to glorify him. I pray she finds joy in that. Lord, I pray for myself that I'd have the boldness and gentleness to share truth and hope with this student when/if you give me the opportunity.

As I was driving home today, I questioned how this girl had managed to affect my heart when usually it's so calloused. Is it because she's somewhat like me? Is it because even though life's hard, she's respectful in class and does her work? Am I commanded just to love people who are nice to me? Then I thought of all the students I struggle to love of Christ loves them...ouch. Lord, help me love as you love--selflessly and sacrificially. Show me these students through the eyes of your loving Son who gave his life for them--yes, even for that one student who.....

New Endings

Did you know that at the end of Romeo and Juliet Lord Capulet decides to buy weapons of mass destruction and blow up the world? According to one of my English 9 students, he does. I've heard of dramatic license, but weapons of mass destruction? What am I teaching these kids??

On a more positive note, I was pleased to see some of the themes that my students came up with on their own. I posed the questions, "What can teenagers at Prairie learn from Romeo and Juliet?" They came up with themes concerning love vs. infatuation, decision making, resolving conflicts, lying, thinking before acting, and selfishness. Hopefully they continue and their essay papers show the same thoughtfulness. Maybe I'll let you know next week...if I'm not too cross-eyed from reading papers.

Birthday Thank You

As you can see, I'm in the middle of a mad frenzy of make-up blogging.

My birthday is February 17th. This year, I was sick on my birthday. Yippee. While that was a downer, my birthday wasn't...simply because I have an awesome husband. Flowers...presents...and best of all...a letter. I know it sounds sappy, but I loved it best...after my husband that is.

Baby Kid Blanket

So another of my secret time wasters/hobbies is crocheting. I know... it sounds grandmotherish and domestic...don't let the secret out. :-) Since I've made a few baby blankets in the past, I thought I should make one for my own kid, who's on the way. I started with a basic "seed stitch" pattern...although I'm not sure I'd actually call it seed stitch, since it's crochet and not knitting. But then I got bored, and decided to switch it up. I had planned out the color scheme ahead of time, but I added some texture stitches as I went. Because of this, the dimensions of the blanket are different than I had planned. I'm including the pattern and a picture for my sake...so I remember what I did (and so I remember what not to do in the future). The final dimensions of the blanket are 27" by 36".

Materials:

Caron Simply Soft Dk. Country Blue 9711

Crochet hook I.

Pattern directions (Don't expect clarity or professional quality...I made it up.)
Ch 130.
Foundation Row: Sc in 1st ch from hook and in each ch across. 129 sc.
Row 1: Ch. 1, turn. Sc in 1st sc. *Ch 1, skip 1 sc, sc in next sc. Repeat from * across. 65 sc and 64 ch.
Row 2: Ch 1, turn. Sc in 1st sc. Sc in 2nd sc. *Ch 1, skip 1 sc, sc in next sc. Repeat from * across. Sc in last sc.
Repeat rows 1 and 2 until you have a total of 14 of these rows.
Switch to light blue. Repeat rows 1 and 2 twice (4 rows).
Switch to navy. Repeat rows 1 and 2 twice (4 rows).
Switch to off white. Repeat rows 1 and 2 four times (8 rows).
Switch to navy. Repeat rows 1 and 2 twice (4 rows).
Switch to light blue. Repeat rows 1 and 2 twice (4 rows).
Switch to navy. Repeat rows 1 and 2 five times (10 rows).
Sc in each sc and ch1 space across.
6 rows Sc in back loop only across. (ridged rows)
6 rows seed stitch.
1 row all sc.
1 row all dc.
4 rows alternating front post dc and back post dc.
1 row all sc.
6 rows seed stitch.
Repeat rows in reverse.

Border: I worked a simple sc around the edge since I was running out of yarn.

Allrecipes...

In my quest to stay in our budget for groceries this year, I've been more methodical in budgeting meals. I've always planned meals for a week at a time, but I haven't always stuck with the meals because I get tired of making the same things. Allrecipes.com has been a help this year in getting new ideas of things to make. I like that many recipes are reviewed so I can see which one to try and which ones to avoid. I've made everything from manicotti to granola bars from the site.