Just Telling Our Story

A mommy-mortifying moment

I have been collecting my stories into a project I'm recently obsessed with, and I came across this one in one of my many binders of notes. It made me laugh, so I wanted to share. Ah, the joys of motherhood! Enjoy!

By the way, E was only one year old at this time, and she was too young for Sunday School. Our church doesn't have a nursery (there's usually only one child that young at a time in our tiny church), so she sat upstairs with me and Chad during the services.

***

Date of story: June 4, 2006
Date of photo: May 5, 2006 (So picture these two little munchkins, ages 1 and barely 4, as you read the following story.)

It was bound to happen sometime, so I shouldn’t have been surprised. Nevertheless, when you suddenly realize that your kids are causing a commotion and there’s no turning back, it takes every ounce of will power you’ve got to keep from crawling under a table (or, in my case, a pew).

It was a Sunday morning, the first Sunday of the summer Sunday School season, and the SS teachers were running late. So, G came with me and E to sit in church. I knew this would be a challenge — a single parent (Chad was golfing), trying to keep two little kids quiet for an hour and 15 minutes of church. Yeah, right. At least we were at the back of the church where we could escape easily, as it was a sure bet we would need to.

From the start, G was picking on E. He’d make her laugh, then make her cry, then make her whine. Then he’d whine. He yelled at her during a prayer, then shouted at me, “She hit me!” Things were not going well, and by about 15 minutes into the service, I decided I’d had enough.

I turned around to hand my offering envelope to the nice couple behind me, and I asked them to put it in the offering plate for me. “We’re leaving,” I said. The man pointed to the front of the church, trying to tell me something. I turned back around, only to find that E had escaped and was running down the side aisle, squealing in delight. G was close behind her, knowing she shouldn’t be headed that way, saying quietly, “Mommy...!”

I jumped up, got G out of the way, and reached for E just as she darted in front of the front pew, headed straight toward the guest preacher, the Rev. Jay Pierce, from Food for the Poor. I apologized to him and to the congregation, and he says, mid-sermon, “It’s OK, I understand; I have 10 grandchildren. You weren’t going to catch her anyway.” (Thankfully, we heard a few quiet giggles from the crowd. Still, that’s not enough to keep me from wanting to crawl under something.)

I gathered E in my arms, turned around and headed back to the pew. I picked up the diaper bag and my purse from our pew, took G by the hand and said to them both, “We’re leaving.”

“Oh no, you’re not leaving with those kids. Sit back down,” says Fr. Pierce, from the front of the church. Whoa. Deciding it was useless to try to leave now, I sat back down and prayed the sermon would finish quickly and my kids would be quiet.

No luck.

It didn’t take two minutes for G and E to make more of a ruckus. It was still too early to leave without the congregation noticing, so I did my best to keep them quiet. The next thing I know, Fr. Pierce is walking down the aisle, still delivering his sermon, and headed right toward us. He gets to our pew, steps inside, and reaches for E. “Would you be happier with me?” he asks.

Surprisingly, she got quiet and went with him willingly. He showed her his stole (part of the garments Episcopal priests wear), and she stared at him quietly and contently. He continued with his sermon, and she shared her time looking at him and at me. The congregation smiled in general and probably enjoyed this little distraction. I, on the other hand, could not have been more embarrassed. Fr. Pierce held E for the rest of his sermon, maybe 10 minutes, and she was perfect for him. G sat in the pew asking me why he was holding her, and I was too embarrassed to answer him.

We left during communion, while most people were busy and wouldn’t notice if we slipped out. I decided we would give the people who were there a couple of weeks to forget about us, so it was the first weekend in July before we returned.

Father John (our normal priest), who seemed to be enjoying the tirade at the time, e-mailed me a few weeks later with this response (after I had told him we had been avoiding church as a result of the escapade):

“About E and Fr. Pierce, the guy from Food for the Poor........the congregation thought that piece of business, and how well it worked in with his theme, was sent from heaven, just like little E. The joy your little princess brought to those people couldn’t have come from anyone else or have been so delightful, save from her alone. Long ago, I learned that when children call attention to themselves or speak up in church, it is just their medium of worship. The sound of the voices of children in church is, for me, the engine that keeps the old girl afloat. Don’t ever be embarrassed by that form of worship. It is the only voice the little ones have.”

Thank God for Father John!

***

Have a happy Thanksgiving!

Mom's home...and my newest project

Thanks to everyone for your e-mails and phone calls about Mom. She's home now (came home late Thursday evening), and seems to be doing OK. Even after five days of test after test in the hospital, we never did get any clear answers as to what caused the "event." But we should hear the results of the biopsies and pathology tests on Tuesday. So say a little prayer that it's not cancer and that whatever it actually is is easy to manage, cure or avoid in the future. I'll update you when we hear something.

G and E loved Mom's hospital bed! (But Mom will probably hate that I included this picture! Sorry, Mom!) This was on Thursday, right before she was discharged.

It's events like these that make me realize how important documenting our story is. I could be gone tomorrow, and I want to make sure my kids, especially, know our story -- from how Chad and I met and fell in love to what they were like when they were babies to what it is that we value most as a family. These are the stories that make us who we are as individuals and as a family. I think it's so important to tell our story, no matter how "normal" or "unexciting" it might appear to be on the surface. Everyone's story is worth telling.

Keeping this in mind, I have been really working on journaling our story lately. It's very clear to me that I will never in my lifetime be "caught up" with my scrapbooking, and that's OK with me. But if I were to leave this planet tomorrow, I would really want to know that my story—and the story of how we all fit together as a family—was at least written down somewhere for my kids and grandkids to have later in life.

So, here's one project I have been working on.

I am collecting all of my little journaling notes into one spot, formatting them all consistently, printing them on my printer and binding them with these simple binder rings. I have always jotted down notes about the kids growing, but my notes have always been all over the place: in calendars, my blog, a notebook I keep in my purse, MacJournal on my computer, a binder of ideas I have typed out at some point in time, another old notebook from G's baby days, etc. Now I am typing all of my stuff into MacJournal, then transferring it to this little binder. Theoretically, now I'll know what I have journaled at some point and where to find it! And when I'm ready to sit down and scrapbook, I'll already have the story written and be ready to go! (OK, I know this is all great in theory, and that I'll have to actually DO it to make it worth it. But I think I will, because I love the feel of this little book in my hands. It reconfirms that I do have a story to tell. And that makes me happy.)

The thing that got me started on this little project is an online class I have been taking from Jessica Sprague. It's called Stories in Hand, and it was a free class she offered. Most people are probably done with the class—which officially ended today—but I am still on Day 4! Anyway, in the class, we created this physical system of a Stories in Hand binder that has tons of journaling prompts to help you record your story and a little journaling notebook to carry around and jot down ideas as they come to you.

I love this system! The only part that was missing, though, was a place to record the actual stories. So that's where my Memories book idea was born. I formatted it to be the same size as the binder inserts, so I can combine them into one massive book later if I want. But right now, I love that I have a million prompts in one place to get me started recording my story. I even sat down with it last night and wrote out Chad's and my story of how we met, when we started dating, and what our college years were like at two separate campuses. I have scrapped our wedding and our early years, but at the time, I was more focused on the photos and not the story, so I never had recorded our actual story before. Now, there won't be any wondering by our kids later in life. Our story is written down and ready to read whenever (if ever!) they get curious as they get older. (Plus, it helped me jog my memory a little. It's sad to admit, but I had forgotten some details I thought I never would -- like where we ate for dinner on our first date!)

Anyway, in the process of collecting my stories over the past couple of weeks, I ran across a really funny story about E at church. It made me laugh. I'll share it in a post tomorrow.

Lots of stuff going on...

...so you might not hear from me for a while. My mom is in the hospital, so we're anxious, nervous, hoping she gets better soon and spending lots of time there. Hope to know something soon (maybe today), and then we can put our minds at ease.

Also, Chad's thinking of making a pretty big commitment that has me a little nervous but very proud of him. We'll see where that goes. I can't share a lot about that, because I want the decision to be his (and ours)—without any outside pressure—but that's weighing on me a little, too.

And of course some of you might know about another little Christmas project I'm working on that is also sort of a secret from my blog readers for now, until we can make it all come together.

And of course, there's always work, too.

So lots of little things happening that are keeping blogging off of my priority list. I'll be back soon, though. Don't go away.

And if you don't hear from me before Thanksgiving, enjoy your holiday!

Happy Veterans Day!

To anyone who has served in our armed forces, a great-big "thank you" today!

As much as we love to complain about how "bad" we have it right now (the economy in the toilet, gas prices that were at record highs just a few weeks ago, etc.), let's all take time to remember that we live in the best country in the world—and that is because we have people who risk their lives for our freedom every single day.

If you have friends or family in Iraq or Afghanistan or any other country—even right here in the United States—they are in my prayers today. And if your friends or family have returned home safely from their service, I pray for them too.

To all of our veterans, thank you. And God bless you for your service to our country.

***

PS Let me know who the veterans are in your life right now! (Just click on "Comments" right below this message.)

I am thankful for the service of my brother-in-law Seth; our friend Jeff's brother, Rich; our friend Mark Treece; our friend Kelly's brother, Jeff; Fred Hunt from my BNI group ... and many others, too.

A run through the Outback

So here's what Chad was doing on Saturday morning (while I was freezing my tail off cheering him on and taking photos):

Don't kill your eyes or grab the magnifying glass (Mom!). Here's the journaling (and, as always, you can click on the image to enlarge it):

For me, it’s scrapbooking, but for Chad, his “thing” is running. He says he enjoys the alone time, the way it makes him feel better, the fact that it helps keep his weight under control and having races to look forward to. (I just love that he has something that makes him happy!) He might go months at a time without running, but he always comes back to it eventually. And once he gets started, he usually stays on his running kick for months on end. Right now, he’s training (again) for the Indianapolis 500 Festival Mini-Marathon next May, so he’s running regularly and getting back into the race scene. • Today was his first organized race in quite some time, and it’s one he will likely never forget. The Outback Scramble was held at Eagle Creek Park in Indy. It was not your typical race. The brochure hinted at the fact that the race was a bit on the scary side (“The Horror...The Fright!” it said), but I don’t think Chad had any clue what was ahead of him. These photos just can’t do it justice. I didn’t accompany him on the main trail, which he described as “nasty.” Actually, there wasn’t a trail at all. After a short run down the road to spread themselves out, they were led into the woods and basically let loose. There were pink ribbons marking a choice few of the hundreds of trees along the way, but there were no true trails or paths. In the woods, they went up and down ravines, hills and rocky slopes, sometimes needing ropes to assist in going down—and then back up—the steep slopes. They ran through unharvested fields of winter wheat (with a healthy amount of weeds mixed in), too. By the end, there were some runners with bloody legs (they had rewards for the one with the bloodiest), but thankfully Chad only had a bunch of small prickers/burrs stuck in his running pants and a few small bloody marks on his upper thighs. The fact that it was freezing outside (40 degrees, wind chill in the lower 30s) actually helped him in that regard. Even with three layers of shirts on, he crossed the finish line with frost on his hat (and a small burr in his chin), and my hands were so frozen I could barely take photos at that point. But he did incredibly well, especially considering the conditions. There were 316 runners, and he finished 69th, sixth in his age group. The first runner crossed the line about 34 minutes into it, and Chad finished in 45:18. Not bad! He is running around an eight-minute mile on a flat course, so to do about an 11-minute mile in very rugged terrain is pretty darn good, I think. I’m pretty proud of him! • I asked him a couple of times today if he’d go back and do it again. “Maybe,” was abut the closest to a commitment he would come! • Nov. 8, 2008

And on those little journaling strips that are cock-eyed on the right page, text from the brochure:

{From the brochure...fair warning!}
Warning! To those that have never done the Outback...let this be a warning to you...this is REAL XC (Cross Country) - not that pansy, run-along-grass routine...expect to get downright dirty!
NO REFUNDS if you get lost, tear your new running outfit, lose your shoes, arrive late, get mud all over yourself, become bloody, get prickers stuck all over you, twist your ankle, lose your watch, get chased by bees, fall into a creek...you get the picture!

I think the journaling about says it all for this one. It was nice to have some time with my hubby, supporting him and his hobby. His running is usually something he does alone in the evenings, and the last time he ran the Mini, I wasn't able to be there (had to be with G for his first baseball game). So, despite the cold, it was fun to watch him do his thing...and have some time for just the two of us.

Free (good) fonts!

In my search for a good font today on my favorite font site, MyFonts.com, I discovered that you can search for the word "free" and get more than 400 returns! There are a TON of beautiful fonts out there free for the taking. And unlike some free font sites, MyFonts fonts have always been very high-quality, no-problem kinds of fonts. I use the site for all of my design project font purchases. So go check it out!

I chose a beautiful script font, a few quirky fonts like this one, a few sans serif fonts like this one, and a few serif fonts like this one. You can see my whole list of fonts I chose here. 

I have been using MyFonts for a couple of years and just recently accidentally stumbled upon a couple that were free. One of my favorite recent ones is this one. It will be fun to use the dingbats on a digital scrapbook page!

Check back often, because they change their free fonts fairly often, I think. One I downloaded last week is no longer free...so grab 'em now! Have fun!

Another layout...homecoming

I know I already shared these pictures, but I just finished the layout tonight. Thought I'd share it, too, for those of you who are like me and never get bored when looking at scrapbook layouts! (And if you're not one of those people like me, and you do get bored, forgive me!)

Here's the journaling:

This was G***’s first time being in a parade and his first time to be dressed in his Cub Scouts uniform for an event. [Our friends] joined E*** and me on the sidelines as we waited patiently for G*** and Chad on the trailer. The parade was more than half over (about a half hour?) before they finally arrived, but the wait was worth it. Chad had secretly packed three Ziploc bags full of candy just for the girls. So while they had been patiently collecting candy one piece at a time from the street, here were these giant bags full of candy being tossed at them. They were thrilled. G*** had a ball on the trailer, and he looked so cute in his uniform. (And that red mark on his chin? He stabbed himself with a newly sharpened pencil at school today!)

[Digital elements from the Aidan bundle, Tracy Collins, retrodiva.]

Witnessing history

I am just in awe of the moment I have just witnessed. Senator Barack Obama has been officially projected to be the next president of the United States of America. It helps that I voted for him and was decided on him for the past several months. But whether you voted for him or not, we have just been a part of history. We as a country have voted the first African-American into the presidency. We have made a choice for change in a troubled time in our economic and foreign affairs history. And I am excited to see what comes.

OK, I don't want to get into too much politics here, but this was a history-making moment, and I wanted to record it for my personal memories down the road. Wow. Just in awe. Hearing the crowds cheer, hearing John McCain's concession speech, and now waiting for Barack Obama's victory speech...just a great moment.

Anyway, while I've been listening to the election coverage tonight, I have been organizing photos and doing a little digital scrapbooking. So here's my layout of the day. I seem to be in a digi-scrapping spree lately. Don't know why...just in the mood. Enjoy.

{Click on image to enlarge}

Journaling (not worth straining your eyes on the layout!):

We can’t go anywhere that has a bouncy house without you two begging to be allowed to jump in. On this particular day, it was the AppleFest at Beasley’s Orchard, but there seems to be a bouncy house lurking around the corner quite often: birthday parties, kids’ fests, the recent Walk for Diabetes and safe trick-or-treating we attended...everywhere! If it doesn’t cost (much), we try to make time and let you burn some energy. You love it. So why not? You might as well jump! • October 12, 2008

By the way, I have no idea who that third kid (far right) is. Just focus on the two on the left, OK?

[Digital patterned paper (yellow on "Jump") by Misty Cato, Exuberance kit (same kit used in Pumpkin Pickin' layout, too)]

What does your Tooth Fairy pay?

Does anyone care to share what the going rate for the Tooth Fairy is in your neighborhood? She should be coming to visit our older child in the very near future, and I want to make sure she doesn't cheap out on him! :o)

(Congrats, Bud, on your first loose tooth!)

Pumpkin pickin'

Just a layout share before I hit the hay. Photos from a few weekends ago.

Here's the journaling:

Beasley’s Orchard is one of our favorite fall destinations. We wait for AppleFest in October and then head to the orchard for a hayride, apple cider and, of course, pumpkin pickin’. This year, the pumpkins were absolutely enormous, so it took us quite a while trekking down many aisles before we found pumpkins you both could lift on your own. The three pumpkins in the picture at left are the ones we finally ended up with. You both surprised us by picking small pumpkins, and I got the other one, just so we’d be sure to have something to carve at your nana’s pumpkin-carving party. • This is one of my favorite photo opportunities of fall. I love these pictures. I especially love the shot of you, G***, that shows your personality so clearly and the sweet one of you, E***, crouching by your pumpkin. You’re both at such cute ages! I love you! • 10.12.08

Hope you're all enjoying fall! We are loving the warm weather in Indy. We'll enjoy 70s for one or two more days, and then the storms will come Thursday and the cold will set back in. I heard the high is something like 48 on Saturday. Ugh. So we're enjoying the fresh air and open windows for a couple of days. Hope you're all enjoying yourselves, too.

Don't forget to vote tomorrow if you haven't already! :o)