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One Thing At A Time

February 20, 2012 in My Life with 2 Comments

This Wednesday is Ash Wednesday.

Yes, already!

Every year for the last decade, I pray and consider carefully during the winter what I might do during Lent. Lent’s tricky for me. I love the church calendar and the seasons and I love setting it apart as a holy (or holier) time of the year, but I’m too aware of the temptation to use Lent as a diet plan or give something up but not really observe the season as a whole.

I don’t want to do that. I want to be intentional during Lent. When I give something up, I want it to serve a greater purpose and make me more mindful. In the past couple of years, I’ve given up coffee, given up sugar, and given up all beverages but water and sent money to the Blood:Water mission. Those were each meaningful in their own way.

This year, I’m giving up something I’m not sure I can live without in the hopes that I’ll learn that I can.

I’m giving up multi-tasking. Multi-tasking is something I think I’m really good at. I have a feeling the opposite is actually true.

Instances of multi-tasking:

  • Eating while I watch TV or read
  • Facebooking while I do…well, a lot of things
  • Talking on the phone and walking
  • Watching a show on Netflix and having about 75 other tabs open
  • Writing while I listen to music
  • Working out while I listen to music
  • Thinking through the day ahead while I shower
  • Drinking coffee while I do…again, a lot of things
  • Checking my phone while I talk to someone
  • Making copies while I create fliers while I listen to music while I check Tweetdeck while I clean up my desk

And what I have discovered as I go about my day watching for instances of multi-tasking in preparation for Lent is that the list is much bigger than that.

What could I accomplish if I only focus on one thing at a time? What if when I eating, I’m just eating? What will happen if I can only have one tab open on my computer? What if when I’m talking to you, I’m just talking to you?

Yes, this Lent will be a season of single-tasking in the hopes that I’ll become more focused and more productive and more attentive in my relationships and tasks.

But in considering all of this, I’ve decided that there will be necessary exceptions, and I’m a big believer in the spirit vs. the letter of the law:

  • I’m obviously not going to stop thinking while I do things. Thinking will not be considered a “task” in this journey.
  • I will avoid multi-tasking with music in most cases, but I have a hard time driving in a silent car. Maybe I’ll keep it off when I have a passenger who might prefer conversation. I will try working out without music and make a decision about that based on how it affects motivation and endurance.
  • Because I say so, drinking coffee or water does not count as a task. I could justify that, but I’m not going to. Deal with it.
  • If my family or my loved ones are participating in an event that requires multi-tasking, I will participate. Relationships always trump anything else during my Lenten journey.

I will be focusing on how I multi-task with my electronic devices, how I mindlessly eat while I do other things and how I have a hard time just letting my mind settle into one thing at a time. I’ll be seeking to glorify Jesus in deeper relationships and richer time studying and preparing for the ministry I’m called to do.

Pray for me. This is going to be tough.

I’m interested to know if you observe Lent and if so, how will you observe it?

Look What’s Cookin’!

February 16, 2012 in BBBS, My Life with 0 Comments

Katie and I got together after school today to cook dinner for both of our families!

On the menu?

Lasagna

Buttered Bread

Green Beans

Cookies

We had a fun time cooking and baking together.

We made two of everything so that we could each take it home to our families.

I called Katie and asked her how dinner tasted. She said the best part was the cheese. We did use a LOT of cheese!

The reader who knows me probably already guessed that the cookies were break ‘n bake and veggies were the kind you just microwave in the bag. But we slaved over the rest of the meal for sure!

On Being The Step-Mom of a Teenager

February 8, 2012 in Family, My Life with 0 Comments

A day that used to seem so far away is here. Jonas turns 13 today.

I’ve only known Jonas for the last 11 years and 5 months, so I haven’t earned his teenager-hood as a parent technically–but many would attest that I’ve earned it emotionally! Jonas is exactly what parents have been promising me in a pre-teen/teen since I entered youth ministry and started dispensing advice to parents of 12 year-old boys. There are days he makes me laugh harder than I have in ages and days when he makes me cry more than I did after that one horrible break-up during my freshman year of college.

I still remember with vivid clarity the days when he said “mok” instead of “milk” and responded to “I’m sleepy!” with “My sleepy too” in the most pitiful, tired tone he could manage. I remember embarrassing tantrums and grocery store aisle melt-downs. I remember long late-evening drives in the car with him in his car-seat refusing to give it up and fall asleep. I remember his toddler and pre-school theories about life and God and family and friends. I remember a lot of stories I’ll avoid telling because he would be so embarrassed if he knew I had.

“Why did you name me Jonas!” He yelled at me one time in a fit of eight year-old rage.

Avoiding laughter, I responded kindly, “Honey, that’s one thing you can’t blame me for!”

Realizing his mistake, he couldn’t help but laugh.

About helping raise a child to this point as a stepmother, I’ll say this: it’s been the greatest joy and the greatest heartbreak I’ve ever experienced. When he’s sweet, he’s the sweetest kid ever. When he’s funny, he’s hilarious. When he’s angry…stay out of his way.

He’s so much like his father sometimes, in manner, in words, in appearance–but I know he doesn’t want to hear that.

Jonas is smart. He’s witty. He’s a good dancer. He’s a fast runner. He’s a good listener.

Right now, he thinks he’s not good at anything and that God didn’t give him any special gifts or talents. But he’s wrong. I’m hopeful that one day he’ll be able to see that for himself.

Sometimes I overhear him having a conversation with an older church member or with one of our parents or with one of his friends and I think: “Did he come up with that idea on his own? Did he think of that story and share it without prompting? Did he think to ask that insightful question all by himself? Did he understand what that person was saying without our help?” Yes, most of the time he did. And I shouldn’t be surprised, but sometimes I still am.

In 18 months, he’ll start high school, but let’s not rush it!

Happy Birthday, kid! I love you. May you know God’s blessings that fill your life and God’s love for you today and always.

Kids Must Be Accompanied By An Adult

February 4, 2012 in Family, Fun, My Life with 1 Comment

A story of accompanying four thirteen year-old boys to the hotel pool at Jonas’ overnight birthday party, told thru tweets:

 

And finally, this afternoon:

Confession: I Watched “Never Say Never”

February 1, 2012 in Family, Friends, Fun, Music, My Life with 0 Comments

I never thought I’d have a reason to watch Justin Bieber’s documentary (Rockumentary? Hairumentary?)…

Katie (My little sister through Big Brothers Big Sisters) and I usually hang out on Tuesday afternoons. We usually plan a week ahead. Last week was her birthday, so we skipped our outing. She asked if this week, I could pick her up from school, take her to our house and watch “Never Say Never” with her. So we did. Katie and I watched the first half of the movie together and then were joined by an almost thirteen year-old guy when he got home from school (name withheld intentionally).

Katie is a true Belieber. She loves everything about Justin Bieber. You should have seen her birthday party last week–Biebertastic to the max! It was fun to watch the movie with her.

Two things I didn’t know:

Justin Bieber plays instruments. Drums, guitar, piano (I think). That always kind of gives a singer a little more credibility for me.

He also is a really good dancer.

One things I guessed correctly about:

There are a lot of scenes with teen and tween girls screaming loudly.

Oy.

Would I recommend the movie?

It depends. If you are 10 years-old (or maybe a bit older or younger…), yes, watch it. If you like Snoop Dogg or Usher or Miley Cyrus, yes watch it. If you are related to or mentor a 10 year-old or Snoop or Usher or Miley, yes watch it with them. If your favorite color is purple, yes watch it. If you’re looking for a way to help your kid sell out Madison Square Garden by the time he/she is 17 years-old, yes watch it.

Otherwise? Well, maybe you don’t have a reason to watch it. But never say never!

 

Mentoring Matters

January 26, 2012 in Children's Ministry, Friends, Fun, My Life, Youth Ministry with 0 Comments

My little sister Katie and I at the Evansville Icemen Game on Friday night

Just for a moment, close your eyes and picture yourself as a ten year-old. Think of all the adults who helped you be a kid every day.

I think of my mother. My father. My Godparents. My Sunday School Teacher Mrs. Graves. My church choir director Mrs. Barber-Pederson. My school music teacher Mrs. Birk.  My fifth grade teacher Mr. Stone. There were others along the way who took time to love me.

I was blessed with a lot of adults who took time to nurture me, encourage me, develop my talents and help me find my way. I realize now how important those relationships were and still are in my life.  I can picture people who came alongside me at all stages in my life and mentored me and helped me be a better version of myself. I’m grateful.

I am a Youth and Children’s Minister, a Big Sister with Big Brothers Big Sisters Henderson, a Girl Scout volunteer,  and a Boy Scout parent because I realize the importance of adults taking time to build relationships with children and teenagers.

Today is National “Thank Your Mentor Day” and January is National Mentoring Month. Mentoring has always made a difference in my life–in official and unofficial capacities.

We can all mentor and nurture and encourage and love the kids in our lives.

If you’re a parent, be the best parent you can be to your children and look for ways to help them develop other meaningful relationships with their teachers, leaders and family members.

If you’re an adult with time to give (and really–we can always find time if it’s important enough), lead a Scout troop, become a Big, volunteer in a children’s or youth ministry at church, coach a little league team, give lessons, raise money to support organizations related to any of the above.

And guess what? If you mentor, you become a better version of yourself too! It’s really a win-win.

 

Birthday Dinner

January 22, 2012 in Family with 0 Comments

Mom celebrated a big birthday this weekend!

Some Confessions

January 19, 2012 in Random with 0 Comments

'I'm so ashamed of this new manicure!' photo (c) 2006, Ajay - license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0/

  • Every night, someone (almost always Jason) sets up our coffee pot to brew at 6 a.m. the next morning. I often pass the coffee pot, locked and loaded and give serious consideration to hitting the “brew” button so that the morning’s coffee will brew right now and I can drink coffee before I go to bed. I resist the urge and try to look forward to tomorrow.
  • Caffeine rarely affects my ability to sleep anymore. Eating chocolate before bed will mess up my sleep more than drinking coffee before bed.
  • When I drive in my car by myself, I’m usually singing loudly to the radio or one of my playlists. Often, the playlist contains music from Glee.
  • When books, blog posts or articles get boring, I put the skills I learned in elementary school to use and start “skimming.” It’s not that I don’t care, it’s just what I now am sure is adult ADD.
  • I often say that my degree is in Biblical Studies (or I say “Religion with a concentration in Biblical Studies”). This is technically not true because at graduation, I still lacked two Greek classes for this degree. My degree is a Bachelor of the Arts in Religion. However, I took those two Greek classes the next year for no official credit and feel that “Biblical Studies” is a better description of my education so I claim it.
  • People often tell me I’m “so organized.” I am mentally organized and good with a three-ringed binder, but I’m not organized in my physical spaces. My office and my side of the bedroom and my shelves and drawers in the bathroom are a mess.
  • I own an iron. I keep it in the craft room at church and use it to iron the kids’ bead projects. If my clothes are wrinkly, I throw them in the dryer or hang them outside of the hot shower and hope for the best.
  • I have “Desperate Housewives” at the top of my Netflix Queue and am currently in the middle of season 2. I swore I’d never watch it, but finally after the urging of several loved ones, gave in and watched the first episode a couple of weeks ago. I was hooked immediately.
Got a confession? Let’s hear it!

Happy Friday, friends!

The Update That’s Probably TMI

January 18, 2012 in My Life with 0 Comments

But I just thought I’d give a quick update about my visit with my doctor and the whole “Becky wants to be a runner” thing since I mentioned I was going.

First of all, my blood work came back with mostly gold stars. I totally blame exercise for bringing all of my “numbers” into perfect range. The only problem? I’m now officially anemic. The doctor sent along a prescription for a really high daily dose of iron, but I’m a little worried about nearly sextupling (ha–is that a word? I mean x6…) my amount of supplemental iron. Today I ate an entire bag of steamed broccoli. The other day, the youth group girls made me order a cheeseburger at Applebees (“Eat your iron!” one of them exclaimed when I wondered if I should order chicken instead.). I suppose it’s all about balance. I stopped eating red meat (a great source of iron) to improve my health, but I suppose I should have focused on other ways to get the mineral.

Second of all, I have to go back to my orthopedic surgeon because my doctor feels rather certain that the tumor on my Achilles tendon has come back. Tumors do that, I know, and it was a benign tumor…but I had surgery and everything so I was kind of hoping that was a done deal.

Whatever it is that’s happening with my Achilles is making running (and some days, walking) kind of painful. “Are you limping?” Is a question I hear frequently…because I am actually limping a bit even though I try to walk normally. I’ve stopped running since Thanksgiving weekend and that’s helped the pain some.

When I told my doctor that, he kind of shrugged and said, “Well, I guess that answers that question.” Elliptical, swimming, biking–all good ideas for now. Running–not so much.

Sigh.

But I feel great and I weigh less than I did at my physical last year. I’m giving serious thought to swimming laps at the Y more often and to eating more broccoli, spinach and steak (hey–that sounds good now that I think about it!). I’m sad that it seems I won’t be a runner, but if I’m honest about it, I was probably never going to make a good runner anyway.

And that’s the TMI update!

If The Internet Disappeared

January 18, 2012 in Fun, My Life, Random with 2 Comments

I’ve read the Hunger Games series, and one of the thing that intrigues me about the post-apocalyptic world described in the story is the lack of mention of the conveniences we’ve come to enjoy so easily (at least in the districts of Panem).

One of the things that is missing is the Internet.

Now, the internet has only been in the general public’s consumption for about two decades (hey, geeks–don’t argue. Most of us came in with AOL’s pay by the hour service, not BitNET). I was first introduced to it on my second day at UE in 1996. That’s where I got my first email address (mb48! UE had no use for our full names, just our initials) and learned how to chat. I even made a super-fly webpage that I could actually now provide a link to so you can marvel at my use of font graphics, html code and cheesy stock photos–we were far from the days of me being able to upload pictures of the actual people involved.

Yes–I could provide a link because currently in another window in my browser I’m looking at it. I think they promised me when I signed up that if I didn’t make any changes to it for a year, it would get deleted. I kind of wish they would delete it since it’s been TWELVE years. I was an interesting college sophomore…I won’t provide a link because I feel like that would be pretty embarrassing and the basic idea of the page is that I love Jesus and html code.

Anyway–what if all of a sudden the internet disappeared?

I would never be able to take long trips again because I would have no idea how to get there or how long it would take. In my adult life, I’ve never had to plan a trip without Rand Mcnally’s software or Mapquest or Google Maps.

Also, how would I find and book hotels? How do you do that without the internet? I mean, I could manage going to a hotel and asking if they have rooms, but how would I book a room for a trip? SERIOUSLY–I’m asking you.

Without the internet, I would never know who was in a movie until the credits roll. Or how long it will be until the credits roll. (Yes, I’m guilty of googling a movie mid-way through just to see how much longer I’ll have to sit through it.)

How would I communicate with all my BFF’s and keep up with their lives? Phone calls and mail, I guess. I’m pretty bad at both though. It’s only because I excel at Facebook and email that I still have friends.

Where would I buy my books? The bookstores keep closing! Wait…

I would miss my blog and writing in an online format. I’ve never been great at pen and paper writing or journaling.

I would also miss Facebook, Twitter, Pandora, Pinterest and Netflix. But not Myspace or Google+ or my college webpage–I kind of want out of those!

What about you? If the internet disappeared, what would you have to learn to do without it?

 

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