You might be the parent of a toddler if…

…you step in something icky and don’t even flinch.

…you know that crayons are non-toxic, so in case your kid eats one, you don’t worry.  Much.

…you know what a soak bucket is.

…stains on your clothes don’t faze you because Shout gel gets everything out.

…you can interperet gibberish.  Example: “Boppy!  Bzz!”  “There’s a bee on your blanket?”

…you can remember when story time is at 2 libraries on 3 different days, but you can’t find your keys.

…you secretly beleive your child is the most beautiful, best kid on earth…and then she wakes up.

…you feel comfortable using words like “yucky” and “uh-oh” in everyday conversation.

…your excuse for any bad behavior is, “She’s teething.”

…you spend at least 30 minutes a week taking pictures…but you’re never in any of them.

…you pray for friends with toddlers so you can go somewhere together and enjoy the chaos.

…you’ll readily offer your child a concoction of noodles, broccoli, black beans and fish, and feel good about it.

…you still feel guilty about sharing your ice cream…but she says “Mommy” so sweetly when you’re eating it, you just have to!

Got That Right!

I have a 17-month-old daughter, Jocelyn, who is experimenting with lots and lots of new words. Mommy. Daddy. Boppy (blanket). You get the idea. Kitty is “myow myow.” Doggie is “pant pant” with tongue hanging out. It’s very cute.

Yesterday, I killed a spider with my shoe. “Gotcha!” I exclaimed in triumph.

Jocelyn looked at me with a shocked expression. “Owie!”

Scrap Blog

Christy is going to start posting pictures of her scrapbook pages. Here’s a recent one entitled “Pretty Little Fashion Disaster.”

The End of the Wilderness

I saw a painting being drawn at a recent MorningStar conference.  It was a plain desert landscape, where you could just see the horizon.  To the casual observer, it probably didn’t seem like much.  Even the painter thought it was drab.  However, when I saw it, I immediately knew it was the wilderness.  I felt God tell me that the end of the wilderness was just coming into view.

Last night Christy and I had one of those discussions that ends with God having the last word.  (Sometimes I feel like he sets us up like that on purpose… if only we could get past the preliminaries faster.)  We’ve been focusing so much on transitioning to the next stage in our lives and feeling like we’re still in the holding pattern that we’ve been in the last four years.  It occurred to us that there is really only one way out of the wilderness… brokenness.

So instead of praying for the right opportunities, we need to pray that we will submit to Him.  That everything that is supposed to be left in the wilderness is broken off now.  When that happens, we’ll be able to take the next step.

If…

There was a cricket found in our kitchen last night making a loud racket.  Being the benevolent housekeepers that we are, we determined that the offense wasn’t punishable by death but rather by deportation to the outside.

Christy wanted to make sure the uninvited guest didn’t return, so she took him in a cup and emptied him out into the storm drain which was in the middle of the parking lot.  When she returned and informed me of her actions I mused that he could now happily continue his pursuit of a mate if he didn’t first get run over.

To which Christy replied, “Isn’t that true of us all?”

Xanga Archives

Before I shut down my Xanga site, I made sure to save off the archive of my posts. I am slowly bringing these back on-line over here, complete with the original comments.

Some of the posts are missing content such as pictures. I hope to retrieve these in the future, but for now they will be posted as is.

August 2002 is now available. These early forays into blogging make for some interesting reading.

Certified

After passing a few more exams, I have finally earned the right to put this in my e-mail signature:

Altogether now: Ooooooh… Ahhhh…

Average

Christy took Jocelyn to the doctor today for her routine check-up.  She came in at 27 lbs. and 34 inches in height. 

The doctor looked at the charts and said that Jocelyn was pretty average for a 2 year old.  Then Christy reminded her that this was only her 15-month checkup!

Frightening Statistic

Just saw this in the latest StreetTalk X-Factor Report (free registration required to see the report- Don’t worry, they don’t spam!):

Notice when the last time the Debt vs. GDP Spiked… just before the Great Depression.

Bottom line: Debt is Bad.

What’s Available

A few thoughts occured to me recently:

Imagine being completely and totally free from guilt, condemnation and regrets… nothing haunting you from your past.

Now imagine being completely free from all fear, anxiety and worry… nothing holding you from your future.

Finally and in addition to everything else, imagine a life full of direction, purpose, and destiny; a life where you know beyond a shadow of a doubt what you were created for.

It’s available.