Family Time

Last weekend we took some family portraits. Now, as much as I have been super excited about taking pictures lately, I was not so excited about taking family portraits. I sort of get annoyed with super posey pictures and the idea of taking a ton of them with my family (whom I love very much) wasn't my idea of a good time. But, to be honest, they turned out alright. I don't love them, but there are some good pictures. I picked out some of the better ones and put them online (about 70 out of 300... not too bad). Please have a look and let me know which ones you like best.

Funny Story: After taking the pictures last Sunday evening, we all went home and ate enchiladas and sort of hung out and relaxed. After a few hours of relaxing, I decided it was time to take the makeup off my face (I rarely put make-up on because it is sort of annoying sometimes...). I washed my face but the eye make-up didn't come all the way off (darn water-proof mascara... I buy it so it wont run when I start randomly crying as I often do... but then sucks when I really want to take it off). Janae said to use make-up remover, but we didn't have any (I think Sarah has it...). So she said that I should use lotion to take it off... Ok, I am the biggest clutz in the world so I should have known not to try and use lotion to take off my make-up, but I did it anyway... and well, you can probably guess what happened... Check out the pictures of me crying my eyes out...

Why do we Dream?

Today after Community, Janae and I were invited to go over to Martha's house for lunch. It was so cool to hang out with everyone again (thanks again for inviting us over Martha! The food was excellent and I always LOVE the company), but what really made the morning for me was a conversation I had with Sage. As I was sitting there listening to everyone's conversations, Sage walked in and asked me a very deep question: "Michaela, Why do we dream?" I froze for a second and looked over to Janae to see if she heard the same thing I heard (she did and gave me the "did she really just say that" look). "I don't know why we dream Sage" I responded.

"And sometimes we have dreams that are Nightmares. But they are not real"

"That's right. Nightmares are scary sometimes, huh? But they aren't real are they Sage?"

"No, Daddy says they aren't real."

A couple minutes later: "Michaela, what are Nightmares?"

"Nightmares are scary dreams. But they are just pretend."

"Yeah, and sometimes they have dragons in them. Dragons that breathe fire on you. But it's just pretend"

"That's right Sage. Just pretend."

"Or sometimes they have Dinosaurs. Dinosaurs are big and scary."

"Well, dinosaurs aren't real... well not anymore anyway."

"But sometimes we have good dreams like playing with Robert. I want to have dreams of me and Robert."

"That would be a very good dream Sage."

"I am drawing all of my dreams."

And well, I guess you get the idea. From there it went to talking about Darren's funny dream and then to "What is a nightmare?" again. How cool though that a 3 year old can ponder questions that I wish I knew the answer to. She is a pretty smart little kid (good job Amber and Ryan... and Ryan I think she totally won best dressed today... I thought she looked pretty darn cute in her skirt...)

Community was pretty cool today. We talked about being a non-conformist/rebel. We also sang a song that I haven't sung in awhile (well, I haven't sung any worship songs in awhile because I haven't been to church in awhile). It was nice to sit back and think about the lyrics:

Jesus Lord of Heaven
I do not deserve
The grace that You have given
And the promise of Your Word

Lord I stand in wonder
Of the sacrifice You've made
With mercy beyond measure
My debt you freely paid

Your love is deeper than the oceans
Higher than the heavens
Reaches beyond the stars in the sky

Jesus, Your love has no bounds
Jesus, Your love has no bounds

Isn't it amazing how huge Jesus' love for us is? What's even more amazing is that I have done nothing to deserve any of it!

It's Begining to Look a lot Like...

That's right, Thanksgiving is officially over which (in my house at least) means it's time to set up for Christmas. Yesterday my parents climbed up into the attic and pulled down all of the Christmas boxes including our very fake Christmas tree! After moving around a couple of tables (thanks mom for not moving my couch! I love you!!!), they set up the tree and set out some of the other Christmas decorations. Normally I get really irritated that we set up the day after Thanksgiving, but this year I am attempting to be less of a Scrooge (wish me luck with that one...) so it was sort of fun... I turned on some Christmas music (compliments of Last.fm) and we all decorated to tree together. And of course I had to take some pictures so you should go check them out.

Thanksgiving was nice. We did our traditional morning movie with the family (we saw Enchanted... Yeah Idina Menzel!!!) and then went to my cousin's for dinner. The evening was very nice (not too many people there but it was fun). We ended up playing Apples to Apples the rest of the evening which brought some much needed laughter to the evening. Here are some more pictures to prove it.

World Spins Madly On

Well I have been back from my "mommy weekend" for a full day now and I am BEAT!!! I don't know how you moms do it! I went over on Thursday night and came home this morning. Four nights of 1 am feedings (well, Thursday night it was 1am and 3:30am, Friday night was 1:30am and 5:30am, Saturday was only 3am but he was then up for an hour and a half, and then last night was 3:30am for an hour...) is not super easy. You moms reading this blog really are awesome for doing this for months on end without a break! I hope to get the opportunity to be as good a mom as you all are! Other than the late night feedings, the weekend went really well. I tag-teamed with their grandma throughout the weekend (she took Mason - 16 months old now and doing really well!!- and I took Caden - 4 months old and wearing 9 month clothing... those Icelandics are just giant people I guess...). They seemed to not miss mom too much (Mason seemed to miss her more than Caden...) and were pretty well behaved most of the weekend.

I am glad to be back in the "real world" now. What have I done today? I took a two hour nap this morning after I got home (I crawled into bed in my freezing cold room and was too lazy to plug in the space heater... so I froze!). I cleaned the living room and the kitchen (very productive for me in one day!). I went to lunch with Stephanie (Dude, if you still read this blog thanks for going to lunch with me... Coffee should be fun tomorrow!). And then I went to a spin class with my mom (Nordhoff got a PE grant and bought 40 Spin bikes and holds free -well, it's a suggested $5 donation but not required - spin class for whomever wants to attend on Mondays and Wednesdays at 4 pm). The Spin class really kicked my butt, but I will probably go back so you all should join me in my misery (it's really not THAT bad I guess...). After Spinning, we went shopping (Target, Trader Joes, Joannes...) and now I find myself updating my blog with my feet up (drinking a homemade chai and watching Robin Hood Men in Tights). As for the title of this blog, it's the title of one of my favorite songs right now by the Weepies. I thought it was sort of ironic because I went to a Spin class today and my World is Spinning Madly On after a long but fun weekend!

Orthodoxy vs. Orthopraxis

Well, if your read my previous post you already know that today I got the wonderful opportunity to return to Community. I hadn't been in almost three months (work doesn't allow me to go... but the kids are on vacation so I don't have to work this weekend or next) and I really REALLY missed it. I missed being around everyone, but I also missed the questions and discussions that seem to spark and spur me on to have more questions and conversations later throughout the week.

Today (Ryan has been doing a study on Colossians based off of the book Colossians Remixed) the study brought us to Colossians 1:9 (For this reason [because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all his people], since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you. We continually ask God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all the wisdom and understanding that the Spirit gives.) and we debated whether sole orthodoxy (a true belief) or sole orthopraxis (a true practice/action) is better. It's hard to summarize the whole morning in blog form so I am hoping I will get a chance to continue this conversations this week with those of you who weren't there... (hey Deece, this is a hint... I sort of leave these throughout alot of my blogs entries...). Long story short, I was so happy to be able to go to church today and am glad I get to go again! (PS, Kate if you still read this blog, Thank you SOOOO much for the massage! It was so good to see you and talk to you again and again CONGRATULATIONS!!!)

Tonight is my last night with the boys which means it is back to the real world tomorrow. Have a great week everyone. If you are traveling, have fun, be safe and Happy early Thanksgiving!

Undying Love

Anyone who knows me well enough knows that I LOVE music! I don't have a particular type that I enjoy more than another, I just sort of like whatever seems to speak to me at the time (wow! that sounds sort of Emo...). I love lyrics of songs because they really seem to send out incredible messages from the artist. Today I actually got to go to church (more on that probably later tonight...), and we sang a song that I had never heard before but fell in love with it's lyrics:

Undying Love
by Mark Altrogge

Grace, grace to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ
With an undying Love.

Grace, grace to all who love the Lord Jesus Christ
With an Undying Love.

Give me an undying love for You.
Lord, won't You set my heart aflame,
With passion for Your name.
Give me an undying love for You.
Lord, won't You take me to the cross.
I count it all as loss, please burn away the dross,
So that nothing else remains,
But an undying love for You, an undying love.

What an awesome prayer. Lord please give me an undying love for You each and every day! Take all the waste and extra stuff away so that all that remains is an undying love for You! Amen!

This is Fall?

I have lived here in Southern California my whole life (born in the Ojai Hospital... that's right, I've been here all my life...), yet it never ceases to amaze me that it can be mid-80s in the middle of November... Either God has really blessed us here with amazing weather or global warming is really taking it's toll (maybe a little of both). If you don't know already, I have been driving to Santa Barbara two days a week to pick up McKenna (Samantha's step-daughter... she comes over Tuesdays and Wednesdays and ever other weekend) from school. The last time I drove up there I snapped a few shots of my beautiful drive (dangerous I know but so worth it!!!). It was so clear you could see clear to the ocean from the top of the 150.

Authority

Have you ever noticed how the younger generations have zero respect for authority (man I sound like I am 80 years old... forgive me)? Last night at youth group we talked about authority and it couldn't have come at a better time. Ryan put up pictures of different people who have authority over us: parents (it was a picture of the Simpsons and I thought he meant Simpsons instead of parents... apparently my girls had a huge respect for the Simpsons though... kinda sad), George Bush (the President), a Pastor, a Teacher, and Police Officers. We asked the kids to rank the amount of authority these people had over them ( 0 being the least amount and 5 being the greatest). The majority of my group rated them as follows: the Simpsons (before we knew it was supposed to be parents) got a 5, George Bush got a 5, the pastor got a 3, the teacher got a 1, and the police got a 0... What? A 0 for the police? Hello kids, they protect you and can send you to jail!!!

We talked about why these people have authority over us (God has given them authority over us) and it seemed to go pretty well with some of the kids. Madison came by to hang out with me (I haven't seen her in a couple months) and it was so AMAZING to see how much she has grown and how much work God has been doing in her life. Two years ago, she would have rated these authority figures almost identically to the girls last night, but instead she totally defended all of these figures and tried to encourage these girls to respect people... Now, Madison still has a ways to go with honoring God and believing that He is the creator of all things, but last night I saw a totally different kid than I have seen the last few years. God is so AMAZING and it was so encouraging to see Him working in the lives of these kids (especially Madison!)!

In other news, I am babysitting this weekend (Samantha is going out of town with her husband and I am going to stay with grandma and the boys for the weekend!) Please pray that eveything goes well and that Caden doesn't have a meltdown (he usually has one around bedtime and only mom's smell can console him; I'm gonna ask her to leave one of her shirts out so he can still smell her...). For now I am on vacation from work so I get to go to Community this weekend and next weekend! Yay!

Burnt Out

It's so easy to get burnt out on stuff. Usually I find myself burnt out physically (just from going and going) but I have been getting a lot of rest and have been feeling ok. Tonight I sort of realized that I am feeling really spiritually burnt out. I guess just not going to church in about 2 and a half months (I can't go because of my work schedule...) and week after week helping out at youth group, I am just finding myself running out of patience and love for some of my more "difficult" kids. I got so used to my "routine" of going to school and working during the week, helping at youth group on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and going to Community of Sundays. Not that I ever went to church to be "fed," but I went to church to have discussions with people and explore what it really means to understand, believe, and follow Jesus' teachings. Now my routine is all messed up with going to class four days a week (just in the morning three days and at night the other day), not working on weekdays but on weekends, giving what I can at Youth group, and then not going to church on Sundays.

I hope that makes sense, it probably doesn't. That's the best way I could explain how I am feeling right now. I mean, mentally I am great. Physically I am great, getting good rest during the week despite my long hours on the weekends. Emotionally I am ok, still kinda missing having a good support system of friends around me, but I am kinda getting used to it and just trying to be content and happy with the couple friends that I do have. Spiritually I guess I just don't feel like there is anything there... There's no fire there and that kinda bothers me. I know we don't always feel it (Everybodyduck said it pretty well in Because You Are: "I can't feel you like others around. I don't feel like kneeling or closing my eyes. Is there something wrong with my heart that I can't see or do you feel love still when nobody cries..."). I guess I just have to think a little more about the rest of the song ("So I'll praise you if I never feel you. And I'll love you because I know you're there. And if you should choose I'm sure one day I'll feel it, but feeling good is never the reason I cared").

Praise God!!!

Well, God never ceases to amaze me! Many of you remember my whole luggage fiasco... well, after about three months of waiting, I am finally being reimbursed for my luggage!!! I got the letter today saying that they were going to be sending me a check so hopefully within the next week or so I will have that. Anyway... that's it for now. I just wanted to share how God has blessed me lately... Thanks for all your prayers!