Month: December 2010 (Page 2 of 3)

On a semi-regular occasion both of my kids end up napping at the same time. Conveniently, it’s frequently circa-12:30pm, the exact same time that The Young & The Restless comes on. I know now how soap operas came into existence. Moms need to check out for an hour, watching a life that is clearly more chaotic than your own. I mean, I know who the father of my children is and my father is not trying to worm me out of part of the company. And faking a tragic death is a pretty rare situation around here. My life looks rosey after a day in Genoa City.
So, here are my Y&R Predicitions for 2011.
Sharon continues to screw up her life by marrying Adam, only to find out that she’s pregnant for ANOTHER Newman baby but (again) does not know who the father is.
Nick takes over as the single father, keeping Sharon from getting custody of Faith. It seems like he and Jack’s old flame Diane are hooking up, but I think that’ll fizzle after the pressure of hooking up for the holidays lets up. He seems to have no shortage of ladies to smooch in the bar booths (what happened to Cricket?!), so I think he’ll just playboy around for a while with some semi-serious relationships but always be torn away by something Sharon seems to bring to his attention.
Phyllis and Jack work out their issues but their children begin a rivalry like no other. They’ll probably turn 16 by May and Jack’s angelic son will pull something from his sleeve to gid rid of Sharon and Summer. Very reminiscent of the days when Victoria tried to break up Victor and Ashley.
Nikki and Deacon totally hook up. Victor is enraged and runs off to whatever exotic island he banished Adam’s wife Skye. The 2 of them drink pina coladas and plot a return to send Adam and Nikki to jail. Victoria and Abby are cut out of the will for their previous rebellion and there’s some clause that hands over the portion of Jabbot they bartered for previously. Jack cashes in on this as another opportunity to redeem his father’s company.
Daisy the Crazy finally has the baby sometime around June after being 9 months pregnant for 16 months. For some reason, Phyllis helps her get out of jail. Though he doesn’t want to be a father, Daniel decides to play a role in the baby’s life. My mom’s friend claims that this Phyllis is actually switched with an imposter of another Crazy, and all this helping Daisy may prove her right. Time will tell.
Cane’s father arriving (and later marrying Jill) complicates things and he can’t keep up with the facade. Some sort of kidnapping/shootout ensues which involves Chance coming out of the witness protection program to save the day. Phyllis writes an article about it.
Chloe and Chance have a second go at it, but only after she divorces Kevin because she’ll marry him by spring. Ring by spring, they say!
The marriage sends Jena off the deep edge and she swipes Chloe’s little girl Delia from daycare and escapes to a hideout where Daisy’s brother plays on her established history of being a headcase. Jena raises Delia as her own until they return sometime in 2014.
Billy and Victoria aren’t able to conceive. It puts a strain on their marriage, but Billy finally proves to be the thoughtful, loving husband that we’ve all known was possible. They begin adoption proceedings with a far-off island and happen to run into Victor and Skye while there. Phyllis writes an article about it.

This is only the first 6 months. I just don’t have the creativity to go any further. Who knows what deaths and births (someone other than Sharon has to get pregnant) and crimes will ensue? It’ll be a good year.

After another visit with our RIHP Kelly (who helps us keep H on target for his speech/language development) I realized that I’ve lapsed a bit on household updates. I know. You’ve had the popcorn ready for this.

H – 2 years 1 mo

• I can’t believe he’s a 2 year old! Have I not updated since his party?! Oh, bad mommy. 
• The kid loooooves to read books. We’ve conquered all our animals with matching sounds, so now we like to talk about what colors our illustrations are. There are a lot of books on animals. I’m searching for a new genre to introduce him. We found a book on peas at the library that has been a big hit. 
• We got several new toys for his birthday, he likes puzzles and cutting wooden vegetables (actually the artisan bread is his favorite).
• He likes opening doors. He’s good at it. We had to put a stop to his bedroom door opening after he kept creeping out at 4am and peering over the husband. Nothing like waking up to that all of a sudden. 
• Once he discovered he could no longer open his door, he stays in bed for naptime much longer as well. 
• Most every day he also requests his “umies” (undies) after his morning poo. It’s a good system. He told me the other day while he was pooing and I tried to rush him into the potty to finish, but that did not seem like a viable option to him. While in the umies, he’ll pee and then exclaim “oh no! potty!” and run to the potty. Then we sit there and do nothing but tell the pee pee bye-bye. It’s quite an adventure. I’ll take the progress of him making a connection between feeling/seeing pee and going to the potty. We’ve got time. 
• It’s been well over a week since we’ve had any meanie big brother incidents. I’m hoping “it was a phase”, though we keep a close eye on the buger. 
• His vocab keeps building and he’s now putting together 2 and 3 word sentences, mostly ordering around others (mommy eat! daddy bye bye! sissy shhhh!). It’s really fun to hear him describe his world. 
• We had a little mishap when he was wrestling with the dog. We may or may not have been pantsless (when wearing undies, my theory is “why wash more pants?”) and he rolled/fell/wrestled off the dog onto the space heater. He now reminds us all that it is HOT when he walks around the thing, giving a 3 foot radius. Fortunately it’s only a small mark on the leg. 
• I’ve always known that this guy is a lovey dovey, but when it comes to night-night he leaves no one unkissed. It’s spectacularly cute for him to come and give his sister a hug and kiss. 
• He’s also started to grasp the idea of praying. Well, clasping our hands and bowing our heads and being quiet for 4.3 seconds. When I say Amen, he typically asks for more. Train them up…

Miss M – 8 months

• She is growing and growing and growing! I think she skipped the size 3-6 months nearly completely. She’s getting heavy and long and strong. 
• Her cackle is something else – whether a tickle on the belly or watching her brother jump, she loves to give a good belly laugh. And I love to hear it.
• She’s crawling! Mostly an army-drag like motion that offers the efficiency that a true knee crawl just can’t provide. She’s getting up on her knees and giving a few good rocks; at times she even has a tendency to go up on all fours and get stuck in the Down Dog. 
• We’re eating real foods – applesauce, bananas, squash, sweet potatoes, pears… we’d have a bit more variety if I weren’t so lazy (or if she conquered that pincher grasp and could self feed). I’m hoping to get it together to do a few green vegetables soon. 
• She’s pooping! I’m not sure what it is with my children and orange food that makes them move, but I’m so thankful for it.
• There’s also a lot more sleeping happening nowadays. She’s getting more consistent on 2 naps (often times for 2 hours) and sleeping through the night. Well, except for last night. But we’ll have those evenings, I suppose. 

Husband has just a few more days of school left; these 2 days off have helped the time move faster, for sure. And I recently got put on a new client at work, so I’m looking for some work-life balance enjoyment. Overall, things are good around here. We can’t complain. Or at least, we shouldn’t.

Have you ever had moments where someone more famous or more powerful than yourself said something only to realize that you had once thought/said the exact.same.thing. but with no one to validate it? Unfortunately the famous/powerful person just said it, so when you mention something to a friend like, “I thought that exact same thing when I…” they give you the sure you did wink & nod. No one believes you. You’re just left knowing that you made the Jerry McGuire “you complete me” is a lie observation before Oprah ever did.
This post is 98% to prove I had an original thought, just in case some famous author writes a book about it later. Just sayin.
So, it’s Christmas. It’s one of my favorite times of year, theologically-speaking. I know, I know, we’re supposed to be Easter People. That’s a good day as well, though it does involve getting up painstakingly early for the celebration. But candlelight and Silent Night? I’m not sure sure the world can hold more beauty.
I’ve also been captivated by the season’s celebration with incarnation. It’s a concept with which I hold a slight obsession. So much of our understanding is a God Out There Somewhere perspective, and Christmas is about the God Right Here Right Now. And, after much perseverating, I have bigger thoughts to accompany. Grab yourself a drink of water, this could be a long ride.
First, this season we celebrate God coming to earth as human. Fully divine. Fully human. Not 50/50, but 100/100. And I liken the power of God’s human nature to a year end evaluation at work. We’ve all had them – evaluations by people who say this or that could go better but who have never sat in the seat to make that happen. People so completely disengaged with the process or the situation, but yet readily offer solutions. There’s nothing more irritating. I think that’s a tad bit why some people don’t like the idea of God. “You don’t understand my life” gets in the way and God doesn’t have much… relevancy. But a God who had a mommy and needed fed and went to school and made friends – and enemies – while enduring pain and sorrow and joy… that God knows a bit what it’s like. That God might know what it’s like to scrounge for patience when a baby won’t stop crying or how to find joy in simplicity because you just don’t have the money for extravagance. That God might not be the top of his game until the second cup of coffee.
So, I really dig the fully human God. The incarnation. Stepping down into our world. At seminary a friend compared it to watching his son play hockey – a great joy. But getting on the ice to shoot around the puck? It’s a new level of relationship.
And now for the heretical part.
The other part of the equation is that Jesus was still fully divine. He maintained his divinity while on earth. While born of a woman, he came from God. Born of the holy spirit. On the whole, we’re pretty quick to latch on to this. In many discussions you’ll hear, “well, Jesus – being God – was perfect, so….” And this is where I’ve been pondering all day. You might want to draw a map.
The source of Jesus’ divinity was the holy spirit. Check. Right before his death and resurrection, he  he made sure to explain: he’ll be coming back. I’d get out all the biblical references, but quite frankly I’m lazy and most people either a) know them, so they don’t care or b) don’t know hoot about them, and thus don’t care. But know that a part of Advent serves to remember Jesus’ coming and to keep with the idea that he’ll be coming again.
Well. A mere 40 days after raising from the dead, with a good celebration of disciples, the Holy Spirit descended upon them and brought power and authority (key words through the Gospels) to their teaching. When you begin to read up on the Holy Spirit, you find it’s kinda a big deal when it comes to living in harmony with The Way of Jesus. I was kindred to Romans 8 this morning (Message version).
So here comes the heresy. What if the second coming has happened? I know I’m not original in this thought, but I can’t seem to push it away. Jesus made all these references to coming again, but most seem in line with the Holy Spirit. Let’s not push aside the fact that this mere holy spirit is the very thing that made Jesus divine. He didn’t have magical powers. He lived by the spirit. He kept in step with God. It was his inherit nature.
But the Bible uses adoption language for us in Galatians. What if, though it’s not our inherit nature, it can be our adopted nature? Jesus had access and awareness of the holy spirit from Day 1. That sets him apart from us. But we have access and awareness of the holy spirit from today, onward. We have full rights at heirs. We are sons and daughters of the living God. I can go on and on with all those phrases printed on greeting cards and cross-stitched into pillows.
Raise your hands if you’re still with me.
What if? What if we play the Jesus as Divine card more often than the Jesus is Human card because we’re afraid. We’re afraid of what that might mean. If the very thing which made Jesus divine is actually living in us, then what excuse do we have for not living like it?
I’m starting to believe the anticipation of the Second Coming is just the Christian excuse for not living like God has already risen. God came once – twice, if you get on board with Pentecost as the second time idea – and we want him to come and clean up yet again before we start digging deep and living as if the Holy Spirit had meaning in our lives.
What if we love the idea of the Divine Jesus because he’s not like us – and therefore we have reason to not be like him? I once read the quote (and just now googled it) “Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us.” – Marianne Williamson.
So we sit, paralyzed by fear that we actually have access to the power to live changed lives, and thus change the lives of others around us.
But it’s Christmas. The season of incarnation – realizing that God invaded our world, our nature, and brought us out bearing his divine Spirit.