Terrible Blogger Disease

Hi.  I decided I must have terrible blogger disease.  I am not good at doing it everyday… I realized that almost everything I decide relevant to blog about is sad, or mean, or depressing.  I definitely don’t want to be that sad, mean, and depressing chick that can’t think of anything nice to say.  Happier times are a-coming!!!!!!  On the bright side, there was hardly any sun today and it will be raining tonight…. ::womp, womp, womp::  Dude, it’s baseball season.  Who cares if the sun is shining?  Not me… plus, my sunglasses are broken and I just put them in the trash can.  Clouds are pretty handy when your sunglasses are broken.  One more thing — I’ve been looking for a new house to live in.  Why do people limit the number of pets you can have to two?  To those people I have this to say, “Don’t be an idiot.  Two dogs will be just as disastrous as four.  Promise.”

Ok… just wanted to give you guys an update on why I haven’t been blogging.  I will continue to blog again when my rainbow isn’t being sucked out of my insides anymore.  🙂  Oh, and that will be soon.  You’re welcome.

Heavy on my mind…

Usually I’m pretty upbeat, even when I’m mad I try to make everything a joke.  It keeps me “sort of sane”.  There are some things that aren’t a joke, though, and something that’s been heavy on my mind definitely isn’t a joke.  It’s children.  Not children that have great parents, but children who have awful parents, or no parents.  I’m one of those people that probably won’t be able to have kids.  Everyone always says, “Oh I’m so sorry…” well I’m not sorry.  God has a plan for me that may or may not include my own children.  I’ve already been blessed with two of the best boys on this earth… and I really know that they are.  But one thing I’m 100% sure of is that there are plenty of children that need parents.  One of the great mysteries of God is that He allows people to have children that don’t take care of them.  Here in the states, most people that have children and don’t want them, or don’t care about them, are just selfish.  Some of them have mental issues or are drug addicts, but it comes down to selfishness most of the time.  But abroad it’s an entirely different story.  I’ve always known that children outside the US have different hardships than even most of the children here.  I know there are some children here who endure more than any person should in 1o lifetimes.  We had a speaker at our church who spoke about the children in India.  He also had a lot to say about the women and men, but it’s the children that hurts my heart the most.  Women in India are regarded more as a pest than  a person.  They are typically only used for entertainment.  The most disgusting part about this (as if that wasn’t enough) is that girls from the age of six are considered “ok” for entertainment.  And I hope you know what I mean by that… I try to keep this mostly PG rated.  I can’t remember the numbers, but they’re staggering, of the little girls who get sold into slavery because their parents would rather have boys.  Some parents don’t even let their daughters live because, to them, women are useless.  Everyone wants a son.  Sometimes the little girls don’t even make it to a day old because their parents are so disappointed in the sex of their child.  Girls are sold for as little as $150 dollars.  Can you imagine?  Families have to feed the rest of their kids and themselves and there are no jobs available.  They are stricken with disease and hunger and pain.  Their situations are too much for me to even imagine.  I write about this tonight because it hurts my heart so much.  Americans (like me) hear about children who are mistreated all the time, but we hardly take into consideration how real this is.  How many more children there are that are sold and unloved than there are children who are loved and well cared for.  Just because we are fortunate enough to have wonderful families and friends doesn’t mean everyone else is.  As a matter of fact, if you have a wonderful family AND friends – true friends – you are beyond blessed.  More blessed than you will probably ever know.  I want everyone to appreciate what they have.  So your family isn’t perfect… so?  Your friends make mistakes… good.  You do too… no one is perfect.  Even though must of us have people in our families who make really stupid, bad decisions… we are still blessed.  Please know that.  Don’t take your circumstance and try to make it worse than anyone else.  Your circumstance will never be the worst.  Someone else is always hurting more than you.  And I really believe that.  Please thank God for the people in your life.  Please tell your family and friends you love them.  Take care of them.  We are more blessed than we will ever know.

 

One More Day!

• Ecclesiastes 8:15
  So I commend the enjoyment of life, because there is nothing better for a person under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany them in their toil all the days of the life God has given them under the sun.
  Ecclesiastes 8:14-16

Being glad includes listening to Razorback baseball….

• 1 Timothy 6:17
  Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
  1 Timothy 6:16-18

God RICHLY provides us with EVERYTHING for our enjoyment!!!  Like baseball!!!!

Yeah, Hog baseball starts tomorrow.  I’ve been counting down since last July, I believe, and tomorrow is the big day.  The Star Spangled Banner (which I should get paid for… more on that some other day), uniformed teams, dug outs, line-ups, dirt, catchers in all their glorious catching gear, curve balls, home runs, hot dogs, wins :)… No better time of the year.  Baseball season may even beat out Christmas season.  Well, now that I’m allegedly an adult, baseball season definitely beats out Christmas season.  I love cold days, Christmas lights, and the fact that Jesus was born, but I try to celebrate the latter everyday.  I try not to celebrate that just during December.  Baseball season is a beautiful thing.  If you don’t like watching baseball, it’s because you don’t know about the game.  You can’t appreciate the history and how much there is to know.  I would be happy to teach you (I’ve failed once, but she was German and never saw a game in her life… and when you’re in high school, lets be honest, college guys in baseball uniforms are much more important than the game – ICH LIEBE DICH WIEBKE!)!  It’s all a planned gamble.  Curve balls, bunts, steals, hit and runs… sure they’re mostly planned, but who knows if they’ll work.  When they do, there’s a tiny celebration in your heart.  A little baseball party inside your soul.  I love soul baseball parties.  Thank you, God, for creating us to think of baseball.  And thank you for creating me to love it.

To baseball season (and Ken Brock… no bigger Razorback baseball fan.  He’s a hot 89 today.  Happy Birthday Papa (via the Rennekers :))!!!

Young Love (ish)

Yesterday I picked up the six and nine year olds and had the best conversation with them to date.  I wish I had a recorder because I know I will never do the conversation justice.  I would like to share a few things I learned, though: We can now call being boyfriend and girlfriend “dating” starting in Kindergarten.  The six-year-old tells me he was first dating Passionate (that’s a name… another thing I learned), then “moved on to” Kaitlin, then “moved on to” Hannah.  Hannah has “apparently broken up with him” because he didn’t want to play with her at recess.  I asked, “Why wouldn’t you want to play with your girlfriend at recess?”  He says, “Because I was trying to play with Carson.  He’s famous.  He has a Kindle Fire.  I was trying to chase after Carson but I never got to him because I knew if I stopped Hannah was going to take me.  And if I had broken up with her she would’ve hit me in the face!”  He assured me he would try to find another girlfriend today.  Then I find out the poor nine-year-old has no cute girls in his class.  There’s a girl who has a crush on him, but he’s not interested. He did tell me he ALMOST saw two kids kissing under the slide.  Him and his friend could see their heads getting closer together and he “looked away for some reason” and his friend said they kissed.  He said he REALLY wished he had seen it so “he had the proof”!  And last but not least, I found out why the six-year-old had to “move on” from Kaitlin.  People were accusing them of kissing and he didn’t like it.  I asked why he was accused of kissing and he said, “Because we bumped heads.”

3D Movies

So, I wanted to post this because it’s important to make fun of myself sometimes and it’s also important for everyone to know that things like this really happen.  Ryan and I took the boys to see “UP” at the theater.  It was my very first 3D movie.  I’m not gonna lie, I was pretty excited.  So we get our glasses and our $47 dollar Cherry Coke and our $647 snacks and head to pick our seats.  The previews start and I am not wearing my glasses yet.  I’m still trying to figure out where I’m going to set the nacho cheese so it doesn’t fall over when I dip my popcorn in it.  The movie starts and I grab my glasses and get really excited.  It was so lame.  It was the stupidest thing I’ve ever seen.  I cannot believe people pay $3 more for this… and not only that, but how do they get kids to sit through this!  Not even close to cool.  There was about a third of the movie left and I decide to go to the bathroom (not missing anything anyway, right?).  I take my glasses off to put them in my purse… sunglasses.  I had been wearing sunglasses through almost the entire 3D movie.  Needless to say, Avatar was WAY better.

Snow… (!) and Bad Drivers

Oh people, it’s going to snow Monday!  I am so excited!  I’m not actually sure why… maybe it’s because it feels like I’ve been swept away to vacation land.  I do love vacations… even when they’re full of exhausting travel and little relaxation time.  I just LOVE being in a different place.  Seeing new things, eating their food, it’s so fun!  The only thing I super don’t like about the snow are all of the people that live in Northwest Arkansas.  No one thinks I’m a good driver in the snow, and I don’t think anyone else is a good driver in the snow.  I’m the one that everyone hates because I refuse to go faster than 30 mph.  You are probably the one I hate because I don’t understand why everyone has to fly passed me like they are on their way to a life-saving emergency room visit!  Do you really need to get where you’re going that quickly!?  There are very few places I absolutely can not WAIT to get and if I’m out driving in the snow it’s more than likely out of necessity and not for fun.  I want a bumper sticker that says, “Yeah, I know you hate how I drive.  I hate how you drive, too.”  That way it’s all out in the open.  No one has to glare at me through the passenger window as they zoom passed me, or even flip me off.  I really love those people.  Yeah dude, please, take one hand off your wheel while you’re already recklessly driving just to make sure I know you don’t appreciate my speed.  I will take it into consideration next time I feel like face planting my car in a ditch.  Probably I’ll even lose sleep over it.  Luckily I’m old enough that I don’t speed up to twice as fast as he’s going just so I can cut him off and make him REALLY mad.  That was always so fun… HEY DUDE!  YOU AREN’T GOING TO GET MAD AT ME WITHOUT ME GETTING MAD AT YOU RIGHT BACK!  TAKE THAT!  SHAZAM!  Silly… Ok, I might still do that sometimes.  Thank God it’s not as often as it used to be.  Some people truly deserve it though!  Three pointers for everyone driving on a regular, dry, happy day: 1) Use your blinker.  Seriously, don’t piss me off.  Just use your blinker.  2) There’s a button on, or close to, your steering wheel and when you hit it your car will keep the same speed.  It’s called cruise control.  Please don’t pass me going 85 mph – jet in front of me – and then take your foot off the gas.  Just use the magical button.  3) Don’t flip me off or stare me down.  Get to your destination without trying to scream at me with your eyes and your middle finger.

k.thanks.bye!

Reminishing.

I didn’t know how to spell that word right so I just made up a new way to say it.  One clever point for Courtney!  I went to lunch with a friend today and we got to talking about our childhoods for a second.  Like, when my grandpa let me drink his PBR when I was six just because he wanted to see my face.  And when I was in second grade I was super pissed because all the dudes didn’t have to wear a shirt when they went outside.  So my mom said, “If you want your shirt off, take it off, I don’t care.”  So I did.  I took it off and sprinted out the door to my shirtless freedom.  I was outside for six seconds maybe and sprinted back inside because I was so incredibly embarassed to be outside without my shirt on.  Which is probably a good thing.  I haven’t tried that lately, but I would imagine I would probably do the same thing.  If I didn’t sprint inside on my own, I’m sure the police would help me find my house… and my shirt.

My childhood was really fun.  My brothers and sisters were mean to me, which made it even better.  All the home videos of my brother saying, “MOM MAKE HER SHUT UP!  HER VOICE IS SO ANNOYING!!”  I love those.  Mostly because my voice truly was annoying… I couldn’t have been a more annoying child and my mom and dad loved it.  Eh, I just wanted to reminish for a bit today.  I’d like to know about everyone else’s favorite childhood memories… so if you feel like sharing, please do.  I think that’s one thing we don’t learn about each other very often.  And I like most of you so… share.  🙂