Big News . . .

So our Aidan, after weeks of constant wigglin', finally lost his first tooth two nights ago. I got the call as I was having dinner with a friend in Bloomington Wednesday night. Man, alive! I don't remember it all being such an ordeal from when I was of tooth-losing-age. (Teeth are weird, you're born with out them, then you grow some, then you lose some, and then you eventually lose them all again. . . mhhhm.) We were daily, hourly, minute-ly, absorbed by the prospect that the tooth could fall out at any time. Josh and I learned patience and constitution as we fought every urge to just reach in and pull the thing out. Watching Aidan pass into this stage of slightly bigger kid-hood has been interesting. I think my kid, who has been a bit squeamish and dramatic at the sight of blood or general pain up to now, really upped his pain tolerance just to see what kind of loot he could get out of the deal. (the loot tally came in at $3 under his pillow the next morning. Hee hee.) And I came out of it all acting like some weirdo, proud Mom. I've had Aidan show everybody his tooth-void, even strangers . . . I don't know why. Oh, by the way, that's him in the photo above . . .

T-E-A-M . . .

Just thinking of how blessed I am by the people I do life with . . . I mean other than my immediate family. The small group Josh and I are a part of at our church is also the worship planning team. Some weeks we're studying the Word, some weeks we're just catching up and praying for each other, and some weeks we're planning out what our Sunday morning services are going to look like according to what kind of teaching topic we're heading toward. And the heartbeat of the group is to help people see God in the music, drama, art, etc. that we plan. It's such a great group. I get to spend time with some of the most talented and creative people I've ever met. And there's this feeling I get from being around these friends that I can do anything for my God . . . things I would never have dreamed of doing. I think we're cultivating how to care for each other, encourage each other, and spur each other on, just in the exact ways we each need. And I think this helps us on our "creative" planning weeks. There is definitely freedom to be creative and dream. It's just a unique kinda group . . . the first I've been a part of. I was feeling unusually blessed today by it all and wanted to write . . . (By the way , the bottles in the photo was something our group put together during a series at church on the book of Jonah. We sent one of these bottles to every family in our church with a message inside. In the photo they are addressed and ready to sent on their way. Someone sang "Message in A Bottle, by Sting that week too. It's become too much fun when we get to sing Sting in church!)

Transition Day . . .

Today feels like a transition day. Our Christmas break seemed unusually long but tomorrow thrusts me back into my normal life. So today has felt odd all day. It sort of feels like I've been leaning back into the rubbery part of a slingshot for the last few months, stretching it and stretching it, and now sometime in the wee hours of tomorrow morning something's gonna give and I'm gonna spring out into something. Probably just more normal life type stuff, but it still feels a little sudden. Over the break we fit in a visit down to Oblong, Christmas Eve with family at our house, a visit to Peoria, several home-improvement projects as we prepare to get our house on the market, and an all-nighter with friends on New Year's Eve. That's a lot to pack in. (I had to go into work for 3 hours last Wednesday, and that's it.) But back to work for me tomorrow, and back to 1st grade for Aidan. I've spent transition day playing games and watching "Lassie" with the boys, resisting the tempatation to clean my house, and sipping hot tea to chase away the sore throat I've had for a few days. Feeling a little apprehensive about some changes coming up for us . . . new babysitter to Liam (We lost the last one to Indianapolis, the current one to Radiology school), new work schedule for me (still only 15 hours though), and as mentioned we are selling our house soon in order to get into a different school district. Maybe all this is the cause of the slingshotty feelings. And I'm turning 33 on Friday. That's something, right? Back to hot tea and transitions . . .