Posted in Daily Musings, Life Lessons

All Hat and No Cowboy

Posted on by jenschuyler
            2nd man preached last night at our church.  His topic was “Being Authentic” or as we say around these part, “keeping it real.”  This topic haunts and plagues me.  I’ve said it before, but people have accused me in the past of not being “real.”  Which totally sends me into a panic of thoughts like, “this is all there is. If this version of real isn’t pleasing you I’m sorry, but that’s all I’ve got.”  The other argument I’ve had (in my head) about this is that sometimes the “real” me is so ugly that I ought not to say those thoughts out loud.  To which 2nd man argued back in his sermon that the goal is for me to get my thought life in line with that which is on the outward so that outward and inward match up (preferably both to the Bible) ala the real Christian.   The whole sermon made me wonder if he was in my head the other day listening in as I was pondering this very topic while I was out weeding the garden?
            Anyway, while he was preaching he used this phrase that just cracked me up and has just stayed with me ever since.  He asked the question, “Are you all hat and no cowboy?”  Pretty catchy isn’t it?  So that led me to thinking about this 5k race coming up Saturday. (Lets face it I haven’t thought about much else lately…at least I’m focused.)  Which lead me to thinking about how I had to run by myself this past Saturday, and, well, it wasn’t that great of a run.
            2nd man was out of town at a men’s retreat and I wanted to impress him, so I headed down to the local YMCA to run their path. (This path is the one where the little rude worker girl told me the race would take place after questioning that I was going to try to run it, to which I just today found out that it’s the wrong path anyway and the race is held on the streets around the area.  But I digress snort snort arghhh.)  Well, I didn’t do very well.  My leg went numb a couple of times and I had to stop and walk.  Then, with only a quarter of a mile left, I came upon a spider the size of my hand (granted I have little hands).  That sent me into some kind of funky dancing and screaming.  It totally spun me out of energy and I had to walk the final part of the lap.  Thankfully, nobody saw me…I hope.
            I’ll be honest; it kind of crushed my confidence.  I’m now scared to death to run this race. Scared of coming in last, or not coming in at all.  Wondering if I’m all hat and no cowboy.  2nd man took me to lunch today to our favorite sandwich shop downtown.  This is how pent up and nervous I’ve become.  After we ordered our sandwiches we were walking to find a booth and I suddenly had a panicked feeling come over me that I’d forgotten to change from my house socks to shoes!  Here I was walking all confidently and suddenly wanted to hide.  I sheepishly looked down to my feet and to my relief; there were my brown sandals.  Whew! 
            After lunch we went to the Y and picked up a brochure showing us the exact route of the run.  2nd man is going to run the route with me tomorrow so I can get this stinkin thinkin out of my head. 
            As for the rest of the “real” me, well, I’m still working on that.  I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to be completely and unapologetically authentic.  If I can silence the critical spirit inside and work on my love, perhaps I can lovingly speak freely.  Until then, I’ll be guarding my words as I work on my heart. There’s definitely room for more cowgirl under this hat.  
Posted in Homeschooling, Parenting

Home School Tip: Give Blood to Get Free Field Trips

Posted on by jenschuyler

Ok, I shamelessly must admit that I’ve become cheap. After the hilariously horrible financial year we’ve had, I’ve become more creative in my modes frugality. So that is why the 2nd man and I have become blood donors, (oh and because we want to help save lives too, of course). I’ve now learned to tag that last line onto my own sentences about this whole thing.
It really all started while we were doing the fireworks stand this past summer and we saw an advertisement for a blood drive. They were giving away free tickets to baseball games, the zoo, free ice-cream cones and a t-shirt to boot! Well, my head started working and in the middle of the most stressful week of 2nd mans year, I dragged him down to the blood drive and made him do it. “Honey it’s free field trips right here!” I urged him. He just laughed at me and mocked the fact that I left out the part about saving lives too.
So, we did our part, stepped up to the poke and got our freebies. So, last week we decided to use the zoo tickets for a field trip day. (and to let others know we helped save a life of course). We packed into the car with 2nd mans Mom and the kids and all headed to Tulsa for the day. Overall, we had a good time. One of the advantages of home schooling is that we get to go places on weekdays and avoid the crowds. One of the disadvantages was that there were so many zoo exhibits shut down or animals that couldn’t be found. I think we finally spotted an animal after being there about 15 minutes or so. As usual our kids ended up being more excited about a squirrel running across their path than the rare watch-a-macallit in the cage. The real highlight of the day was when we were nearly finished, but still far from the entrance and found an abandoned wagon near the giraffes. The kids rejoiced at the fact that they could ride out of the zoo instead of having to keep up the endless walk. Here are some of the highlight pictures of the day:

The playing bear was very fun and cute.

Everyone loves a giraffe.

The petting zoo was nice.

I think this is some sort of pelvic bone…I chose to avoid explanations and just humor him with a picture…, which leads me to this question, “I gave my blood for this?” Oh right it was to save a life, of course.

Posted in Parenting

Growing Girls

Posted on by jenschuyler
There’s a lot of growing up going on around our house lately.  These two beautiful girls of ours have hit us hard in the pocket book as well as the heart lately.  As you can see daughter #1 got glasses just recently.  I feel kind of sheepish about this one because I didn’t realize the need.  Instead, people at church kept walking by her making comments like, “look at her squinting, does she need glasses?”  or “girl, can’t you see anything?”  After about a month of this, I finally realized I should get her checked out.  Poor girl has worse eyesight than I do. 
            Daughter #2 has an under bite and needs the braces to correct it.  According to the orthodontist it’s either this or we’re looking at jaw surgery in her teen years.  Thankfully she’s only 9 and thinks that braces are cool and kind of pretty.  So, on went the braces.
 I still think they’re beautiful girls.  Can’t believe that they’re growing up so quickly.  I’m trying to deal with it, but it seems like it’s coming so fast right now.  Why is it we’ve been in youth ministry for over 14 years, but all of a sudden I feel a little ill equipped?   Not the time to panic though.  It’s the time to reassess and make sure we’re covering all of our bases and reign in where needed.  God has been good and we’ve proven him time and time again through their early childhood.  I have faith in Him that He’ll see us through these upcoming tween/teen years and again we’ll find him faithful and true.  It’s an exciting time to watch God work.I probably better make this a short post before I break out into a chorus of “Sunrise Sunset.”  I also need to figure out how to make a buck or two to pay for all of this.
Posted in Associate/Youth Pastor's Wife, Teens

2nd Man Preaches in Kansas City!

Posted on by jenschuyler
This past Friday my favorite preacher, the 2nd Man, was the special speaker at a youth rally up near Kansas City, KS.   Whenever he speaks out at other churches he really likes the family to come.  So we all piled into the truck and we drove almost five hours.  Oh the sights we saw! 
It looked like this in some areas.
Then it looked kind of like this. 
Also looked like this a little.
 Ah Kansas!  The beauty of the plains
The mean home school mommy in me made my kids do schoolwork in the car.  Sounds harsh, but I didn’t want to sacrifice a day just being in the car.  The schedule rules!  Ha ha just kidding.  They did do some work, but we’re actually pretty flexible.  There was also plenty of Nintendo DS playing and movie player watching too. 
 When we finally got there, it was worth it.  The youth pastor that asked him to come is quite a bit younger than us and we actually used to know him when he was a camper at the same summer camp that our churches went to.  Their church also used to come to a major 3-day rally called Spiritual Boot camp that 2nd man used to put together in Tulsa.   I bring this up because it was really quite flattering that this youth pastor used the same kind of theme for this particular fellowship rally. 
            The theme was “Hold the Line.”  They had funny skits and games like “Let’s make a Jill”
            There was also the sledgehammer challenge.
            He also did some messy games with youth pastors, balloons and shave cream.
After that – the best part… 2nd man spoke.  
Now, I know I’m biased, I’ll admit it.  But he did a great job! (Praise the Lord of course!)   I had heard parts of this particular message before on Ephesians 6 and the armor of God.  However, his focus was on the part where Paul encourages that after having all to stand after putting on the armor of God, to stand (hold the line if you will).  He preached with a vigor and passion that was contagious and encouraging. 
            One of the things I like about when he’s asked to speak out is that it is an encouragement to him.  Other 2nd man and pastor’s wives would understand this.  Our own kids don’t always appreciate him or the work he puts into the messages.  However, speak the same message elsewhere and two dozen or more people come forward to the alter.  It’s not so much a pride issue as it is an encouragement issue to keep going and striving to make a difference.  This is one of the things I find most attractive about 2nd man is that he desperately wants to make a difference in lives for the Lord.  One of the things I find attractive in the Lord is when he sends 2nd man encouragement to keep going and Hold that Line. 
2nd man came back with a renewed passion and vivaciousness in his speaking during Sunday school with our own teens.  I just love that.  I also love that our kids get the privilege of going and hearing their daddy speak.  It raises their respect for him and hopefully for ministry as well.  We really want our kids to experience the enjoyments that ministry can bring.  We want them to know that although ministry can be tough, it can also come with some fun experiences.  This weekend they especially enjoyed the hotel.  We also got to go walk around an outdoor shopping center that was really cool.  At this particular shopping center was a cool restaurant that was all about dinosaurs.  The kids just loved this place.  Overall, a great weekend was had by all.

Posted in Daily Musings, Healthy Living, Life Lessons Disciplines of the Faith, My Interests

I’m a Runner not a Singer

Posted on by jenschuyler

            The woman in this photo is not me.  Oh I wish I were that cute.  The man isn’t 2nd man either.  I like 2nd man the way he is though…I don’t want this guy.  Anyway, I just had to find a picture for today’s post.  It’s about running –in case you didn’t guess. 
Yes, in my never-ending quest to get healthy and look kinda cute too, we’ve taken up running.  We’re now in week 6 of the 9 week Couch potato to 5K running plan.  (I mentioned it in a previous post last week sometime.)   Anyway, I’m starting to get past the “What am I doing out here?” stage and moving into the excited, “I think I can” stage.  It feels good to be accomplishing something.  Especially since my running partner is a foot taller than I am and running brings on all sorts of heat rashes that they just don’t talk about on those biggest loser shows. 
I’ve been trying, unsuccessfully, for about 10 years now to lose weight.  Everyone in my family is unhealthy and quite frankly, I’m scared to death to end up that way.  However, I’m beginning to wonder what my body’s deal is anyway.  The more I try – the unhealthier I get.  Since starting P90X and incorporating clean eating, I’ve now gained 10 lbs in the past year and my cholesterol has gone up.  So you might understand that I need to set goals that lead to other things than health and weight loss.  We’re on our way to doing this 5K in just four short weeks.  Then I can go around saying things like, “yeah, I’m a runner.”  Or “In my last 5k…”  I’ll let ya know if I make it.
This is not me either.  It’s my beautiful first born, Katie.  She can sing, so can my other daughter too.  I’m not sure where they got it, certainly not me.   However, I almost got my big chance last night.  Our new song leader, Jose approached me to inquire if I was a singer.  (Jose is an exciting new addition to the church staff.  I first heard him sing last winter at a youth retreat.  I could listen to him all day, such a beautiful and soothing voice.  He hails from West Coast Baptist Bible College and Lancaster Baptist church in Lancaster, CA.  I never thought he’d come to the middle of, well, here to be a song leader, But God is good and we got him!  And I just love to say his name, don’t know why, it just has such and exotic and fun feel to it.) Anyway, I hesitated for a few awkward moments trying to figure out how to answer him.    I finally went with the honest answer and told him no.  Our last song leader always said he’d save me a spot to sing on Thursdays of revival weeks.  That would be great except our revivals generally run Sunday through Wednesday.  Instead, I call myself an appreciator.  Society needs artists, singers and creative minds.  Those great minds need an audience, someone to appreciate them.  That’s where I fall in, as an appreciator.  It’s a non-glamorous job, but I try to do my part. 
Posted in Daily Musings

On the Hunt

Posted on by jenschuyler

I can’t talk long today; I’m on the hunt.  Somehow, I’ve managed to lose three, somewhat, important items in one week’s time.  I lost my daughter’s camera (which I borrowed on our last youth retreat), one disc from my husband’s book on CD from the library and a Netflix video still in its envelope.  I decided after a night of restless sleep that the hunt took precedence over school today, so the kids are on their own.  I know that we’re told in Philippians to be anxious for nothing.  But, I wonder what the true meaning of anxious is and how is that supposed to play out.  I mean, none of these items is life or death, however, my brain just would not shut off last night, wondering where they could possibly be.  I was praying so hard about it, I was certain that the Lord wanted me to stop already. 
However, I just love how he spoils me and reassures me that he does care, even about the little frustrations in life.  Upon waking this morning, I went and scoured through my car in my pajamas.  Sure enough, I found my daughters camera.  Still not sure whose fault that one was.  I was pretty certain I had returned it to her after we got back home, but at this point…who cares!  It’s found, it’s safe, catastrophe averted.
The rest of this morning, I’ve been turning our bedroom upside down.  Boy, it got dusty in there over the summer..ack, cough, gag!   It was sure nice to find a check that was given to the 2nd man last summer as a gift – and never cashed.  Yes, that’s right the summer of 2010! arghhhhh!  Oh well, the hunt must continue. No diversions, no quitting.
Stay focused girl.
            Finally, I decided to check out our dvd player for any misplaced discs, since my hunt had also led me to organizing all of our movies and music cds.  (I declare we are the worst family with taking care of discs!  I mean all five of us.  There’s not a one of us that puts a disc back in the right place after using it.)  When, all of a sudden, Land-O-Goshen!!! I found the missing library book disc!! Woo hoo!! Two items down and one to go.
            Now, I’m going to quit this rant and get the rest of my lunch down so I can continue the hunt.  Last disc on the list…. the Netflix movie.  It must be here somewhere. Hmmmm. If I can’t find it we may be purchasing the disc.  On the bright side, we will now have one very clean house and car…and I may get some sleep tonight.
Posted in Healthy Living, Homeschooling, Life Lessons, My Interests

Better Is The End of a Thing…

Posted on by jenschuyler

            Ecclesiastes 7:8 says, “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof: and the patient in spirit is better than the proud in spirit.”  Boy howdy that’s been ringing through my mind for nearly two weeks!   Yes, it’s the beginning of another home schooling year.  I love the beginning.  I mean I really love the beginning.  It marks the return of a routine (in theory anyway).  Its precious achievements and light bulb moments all ready to burst forth like a tulip in the spring.  Yes, it’s that time of year when goals are made.  I love the moment when I get to sit down with a new pencil from Mardel’s bookstore and stick it into the electric pencil sharpener getting it as pointed as possible and smelling the sawdust and lead that is torn away.  Then, I crack open my fresh new lesson plan book, not yet marred by the eraser, and start to jot down the weeks and dates, followed by the subject headers and known holidays, the daily schedules and even lunch menus. Oh the sweet joy of a new year that is just waiting to be filled with pedagogy and field trips.
            Then, reality hits in right in the middle of my perfected schedule that I have vowed to uphold and protect.  Yes, just when I’ve sworn off any answering of phones until after noon, no appointments until after 2:00 and absolutely no thoughts of dinner preparations until at least 4:00.  Errrrt! Arghhhhh! Crash!!!!!  “Oh yeah, I already made those eye doctor appointments and dental appointments months ago.  They are at 9:00 and 10:00am during the first week of school!  Then the second week comes with the missions’ conference at church.  What’s that? Oh right I’m supposed to take people out to lunch during that week.  My kids?  Oh they’ll be fine scrounging for peanut butter and jelly.  I’m sure they’ll stay right on task all by themselves.  What?  Their teacher?  Oh yes, that’s me, but they’ll just have to deal until I can give them attention.  Yes, I’ll admit, it was real fun explaining that to my crying 10 year old this morning when she frustratingly let me know that I’ve never explained to her how I wanted her to set up her arithmetic homework page before laying into her about the sloppiness of her work.  Oh yea, we’re off to a greeeaaaat start.
            This is really nothing new to me.  I’m a melancholy sanguine…that means I smile a lot in public and go home and cry about everything.   It also means I have a tendency to start a lot of things but not finish.  Oh how I despise this flaw in my personality.  I can’t tell you how many diets, schedules and gardens I’ve started and blown.  Then comes the self-deprecation and mean talk.  Did you ever see the 1969 movie “Support Your Local Sheriff” with James Garner?  Some of my favorite lines come from that movie:
Joe Danby: I’m gonna get you for this, Jake! 
Jason McCullough: Well, you are the toughest talkin’ blowhard I ever heard! 
Or how about this one:
Joe Danby: I hear you’re gonna try and arrest me. You know you don’t look near as tough as some of them other sheriffs we’ve had lately. Particularly that old boy that done run off about an hour and a half after he took the job. 
Jason McCullough: Joe, you just make me feel tired all over when you talk like that. 
Joe Danby: Now, what do you mean by that? 
Jason McCullough: It’s bad enough to have to kill a man without having to listen to a whole lot of stupid talk from him first. 
           
I don’t think I’m actually schizophrenic or anything like that.  But I do have a little Joe Danby that whispers in my head and I have to pull out the “Tired all over” quote.   
I was thinking about this just this morning when I went running with the 2nd man.  Yes, surprise, we’ve got a new kick we’re on now.  I decided that since the weight lifting thing wasn’t helping me lose any weight that I needed to add more cardio.  That’s when I happened upon the Couch Potato to 5K running program online.  They insist that you will be able to run a 5K at the end of 9 weeks.  Well, we’re now in week 5, which is pretty impressive to me so far.  However, I’ve reached the stage in the program where I look at the next day’s jogging schedule and about have a panic attack.  Then I get out there and think “what are you doing out here?”  Between the heat rash and trying to keep up with 2nd man (who is exactly 1 foot taller than me), oh yeah and the asthma, I wonder if there really is a way to get this body healthy.  The program looks great on paper, but whoa it’s hard. 
            I must concede though, that doing it with 2nd man pulls some sort of stubborn reserves from me and I have made it through so far.  However, this morning, as he was congratulating me for making it to the final bell on my stopwatch, I explained that what he just witnessed was 8 straight minutes of me arguing with myself.  Truly, I need to put the headphones on and get some diversion. 
            I’ve got us scheduled to run a 5k for our local YMCA on October 1st.  Now, I have yet to reach any weight loss goals in my whole life.  I’m banking on the satisfaction of at least finishing this program and making it to this goal.  I keep saying to myself “Better is the end of a thing…Better is the end of a thing…. Better is the end of a thing.”  Of course it’s about here that I forget the end of the verse…ironic isn’t it? 
            Anyway, I’m hopeful that this will still be our best home school year ever.  It’s just our life that guarantees that the only thing that is consistent is change.  So with a flexible mind, and unwavering desire I’ll press on.  Maybe my kids will learn a lot more about life and flexibility than academics, but at least they’ll be learning.  It’s become one of my greatest desires now just to NOT be a big blowhard, but actually accomplish something…we’ll see.
Posted in Associate/Youth Pastor's Wife, Life Lessons Disciplines of the Faith

Where have I been?

Posted on by jenschuyler

Where have I been?  Hmmmm well, you wouldn’t think that’s such a complicated question to answer, but hmmm.  Ok I’ll start with blaming the 2nd man on this one.  It all started when he preached a nifty little sermon a few weeks ago about murmuring and complaining.  To be exact it was on Philippians 2:14 “Do all things without murmurings and disputings.”  Need I even say more?  You know where I’m going already don’t ya?  My first fleshly response to this marvelous message was “Well fantastic!  I don’t sing, play piano, or any other good preachers wife kind of things.  The one thing I do great in life is murmur and complain and now that’s taken away!”  Just kidding…sort of ahem.    However, summer and the youth pastor’s wife don’t always agree with each other and I had found myself in a wonderful tizzy of disliking people, luggage, yards that needed mowing, flowers that needed watering, our falling apart house and cars, and pretty much anything else that was set in front of me.  To be perfectly honest, I was kind of disliking ministry too.  Now don’t give me that tsk tsk.  I love my Lord and savior.  I love my husband and family, it’s just that everything else was,well…a lot to ask of a worn out melancholy.  So, needless to say, though he didn’t intend on the message being just for me, it was.  I needed a good spiritual Bible slap to knock some sense and love back into this ole girl. 
            With that being said, a small battle of getting my mind and spirit straight ensued and I just couldn’t think of a thing to say on this blog that wouldn’t sound negative.  I’m coming out of the funk now.  School has started and routines are now getting back to our regular abnormal normal (whatever that means). The patience level is rising and the desire to strangle people with stupid questions is waning.  My respect for the Lord Jesus and his earthly ministry is once again full of a renewed awe.  How in the world he puts up with all of us (yes, myself included) is flabbergasting.
            Here’s the negative that’s happened since my last post about our Chicago trip in early July:
·        Another 3 day youth conference (also on the positive list)
·        A bug infested hotel room at the 3 day youth conference
·        My Grandma in Ohio passed away
·        No money to go to Grandma’s funeral
·        Feeling like the worst daughter in the world because of the funeral no go
·        Had to purchase glasses for daughter #1 with no insurance
·        Getting braces on daughter #2 with no insurance
·        It’s been like 105 + degrees for months now
·        No garden production due to the aforementioned heat and drought
·        Our pool finally gave up and collapsed
·        The schedule has been grueling and non stop
·        I’m dealing with some crazy physical pain and extreme fatigue in the midst of all of this
I’d expand and explain, but that would be crossing over more into the murmuring/complaining realm if I haven’t already.
 However, life isn’t all negative and God is good all of the time.  There have been some pretty special positives occur as well in the last month or so.  Here are a few:
·        Another 3 day youth conference filled with wonderful preaching and laughter filled memories with the teens.
·        We were given a non-bug infested room the 2nd night of the conference
·        I’ve talked with my parents more in the last week than in the past two months.
·        My daddy still loves me even though I couldn’t get to Ohio.
·        The church gave 2nd man a very generous raise this year, since last year there were no raises due to the economy.
·        We forgot to cancel our homeowners insurance when we switched insurance companies last year.  Therefore we received a very nice and unexpected check in the mail that will help to cover, glasses, braces and home schooling supplies!! Woot woot!
·        Since there’s such a drought, I haven’t really spent the time caring so much about the garden…even mowed some of it down.
·        The pool finally gave up and collapsed (yes this is a positive from the pool maintenance girl’s point of view)
·        The schedule is now getting more manageable
·        2nd man has started a running program with me to try to break through this pain barrier and get fit.
·        2nd man and I celebrated 14 years of marriage and were able to use hotel points (no cash!) to get away for a day or so.
·        Let’s face it the positives far outweigh the negatives and there are numerous more I could name and I know there are even more I don’t know about this side of Heaven.  Thank you Jesus for taking such good care of us!
Nobody reading this blog probably cares too much about my little lists.  But they are at least started for my benefit to look back on in thankfulness.  I’ve been away, but I’m ready to put on my Christian girl skirt and behave a little better now.  I really do love the people in our church and am grateful for them all.  Yes, really, all of them even the weird ones and the ones with stupid questions because, I’m probably that kind of person to someone else. 
Posted in Associate/Youth Pastor's Wife
Posted on by jenschuyler
2nd man and I have been in Chicago all week with a small group from our youth department.  These were the top 7 winners from our Wednesday night All-Stars program.  For all of their hard work at memorizing scripture, going on outreach, Christian service and Bible reading they won an all expense paid trip to Chicago.  The week was a full one, a fun one and extremely funny as well as an annoying one.  I could give all the details, but hey, who has time to read about that? 
            The funny for the first day was at the Lincoln Park Zoo.  There we ran into some really cute animals.  Ok, so every zoo has really cute animals, but really there were some highlights that are in these pictures.  Apparently the bear here had some sort of jaw surgery so her tongue hangs out like this all the time…cracked me up. 
The meerkats are always good for a laugh.  However, I found this one exceptional looking at us looking at him looking at us.  He didn’t move from this position the whole time.
Another funny was the exposure to all of the random street talent that you find in big cities.  Some are really great and undiscovered.  Others…well they just need a buck.  There was an elderly Asian man playing a violin in the park.  As we walked up we heard him playing “Happy Birthday” to a little girl.  Being impressed with this, 2nd man got out a dollar put it in the mans open case and asked if he could play “You are my Sunshine”  to which he grinned and said, “ya ya”  Then he began to play “Happy Birthday” again…and again…and again.  Yep, a one trick pony took us.
On our second day, we went to the Pacific Garden Mission.   We’ve taken a large group there once before and were so impressed that we really wanted to take this small group to help feed the homeless, clean up wherever we could help and get a tour and testimony as well.   It’s hard to explain the feeling one gets being from a small town and seeing so many homeless people and getting to help out too.   It’s a time to try to bless another and get blessed as well.
           
All of this did happen, but the funny came when we were working in the kitchen.  One of the workers came up and asked if I had ever been told that I look like some actress named Katey Sagal????????  Apparently she’s been on a recent sitcom called “8 simple rules” However, I only knew her from the 80s when she was on “Married with Children” Ugh!!!  Are you kidding me?  I wasn’t sure how to respond to that.  Peg Bundy? Really?  Oh come on! I said.  I wasn’t sure if I should be flattered or offended.  Hopefully she looks better in the newer sitcom.  He went on to say that he wasn’t the only one that thought so…. AWKWARD!
Later that day we wanted to end the evening at the Navy Pier.  We got it in our heads that we had so much time we’d meander through the city to see some other sites like Buckingham Fountain and The Bean etc.  May I give anyone interested in visiting a large city some advice here?  Skyscrapers really skew perspective.  I wore my pedometer watch all day.  15 miles later we reached the pier and I fear we were too exhausted to even truly appreciate it.  We sat on the grass to have a time of devotions and watch the fireworks and I thought I’d never be able to get back up to get to the bus and subway. 
Which brings me to my next funny…rookies on the subway.  Wowy wow wow.  We got a pretty good handle of it before the trip was over, but I am so thankful to live in a small town without public transportation.  I’m pretty sure it was plain inappropriate how close we were shoved into other people’s bodies when we went to the Cubs game with everyone else in town, all on one subway car.  However, our ride out to the airport every night ended up with just us on the car.  One evening one of our girls fell asleep.  2nd man had the rest of us quietly get up and move to the back of the train car.  When she woke up she was more than a little startled.  It was great; I can’t help but laugh just thinking about it.  Thankfully she’s the type that takes jokes well or we wouldn’t have even attempted it.  Well, maybe that last sentence was a lie.
Speaking of the Cubs game also brings me to another funny of the week.  Lets just say, that was one of the weaker attractions of the week.  No, it’s not just because the Cubs totally stink as a ball team.  But rather, we brought a group of kids who call themselves “the nerd herd.”  I kid you not, I didn’t make that up.  I’d never call a teenager that with my mouth or my writing, but these kids have a face book group and everything.  That being said, they aren’t exactly into baseball.  At one point 2nd man and I looked down the row to see two of them playing on their Nintendo DS games.  We just chuckled and by the top of the 8th inning we figured that the after-game crowds and the “Nerd Herd” group was argument enough for leaving early and getting a good nights sleep. 

I’m so happy to be going home now.  I absolutely love visiting large cities and the small group was great overall, but I miss my kids, my bed, my home, and my small town.  No matter how great a group, a week can be a long time.  We have one in the group (there’s always that “one”) that’s about to drive me crazy.  I can’t even fix my hair without her trying to come up with something rude and sarcastic to say.  Arghh I’m a little worn out with the grinning and bearing it.  She really isn’t the only one.  Overall the group is young.  Like 13-14 year old young.  Like 13-14 year old obnoxious and annoying young.  At the beginning of the week they were 13-14 year old fun and vivacious.  You can tell it’s the end of the week.  Ah glorious trips and glorious trips home.
Posted in Parenting

What’s-His-Name’s Birthday

Posted on by jenschuyler
We finally had a birthday party for our son this past week.  We had to put it off a couple of weeks because of the busyness of the fireworks stand.  Yes, he really does have a name, but right now I call him “What’s his name” This is due mainly because his name seems to change by the hour right now, all depending on what video game he is playing or what super hero outfit he’s wearing.  What’s really great is the description that goes along with this imagination of his.  At any point during the day he will enter the room I am in and insist that I listen as he tells me something like, “Momma Momma I’m a green Bowser with a blue head and white spikey thingies and….”  Or it may go something like this, Jarod –“Hey Momma should I be Captain America or Superman?”  Me – “How about Superman.”  Jarod – “Nah, I think I’ll be Captain America.”  This leads me to wonder why he even asks and is this beginning of some weird reverse psychological rebellion. 
            So we decided to have a Captain America party.  Believe me this changed a few times before we settled on one character.  He seemed pretty happy with it though.  
Boys are fun.  I bought these cheap little water launcher things at the Dollar Tree and had his party at our church picnic pavilion.  It’s been in the 100 + range lately so the water was a good idea.  You’d think I’d bought them something really big or something.  That’s what I like about boys…they’re easy to please. Well…at least when they’re five.
    
His real name is Jarod Reece. I like this name.  I picked the Jarod off of a TV show character that I really liked some years ago (I know I know real spiritual huh?)  The spelling is different.  I didn’t think this would be a big deal, but it has caused some confusion since day one.  When we were in Pennsylvania one year and he split his head open the E.R. nurse came out and called him “Jay Rod” she kept calling it and calling it until I realized that she was calling us.  From then on there are some in the family that have kept calling him this. 
He’s been such a great addition to our family since day one.  After several miscarriages, 2nd man and I figured that we’d have no more children.  One day while in his prayer time 2nd man asked God if he would please bless us with a son.  I had finally come to a place in life where I was content with our two daughters since it seemed like we kept having losses.  About two weeks after 2nd man prayed this prayer I came to him and told him I was pregnant. I thought he was going to pass out.  I didn’t know about the prayer at that time.  I actually didn’t know about it until five months later when we went in for a sonogram.  When we saw that he was a boy we both cried.  Don’t get me wrong we adore our two daughters, but the desire to have a boy too was strong in the both of us. 
          



 I was in a panic the day of this birthday party.  I’ve been trying to get my house back in order after two weeks of fireworks stand work and before leaving for Chicago.  His birthday was already put off.  Then, the day just seemed to speed by.  As I was frantically trying to ice his cake 2nd man came home to my announcement that there would be no dinner. Just cake.  This was when I realized I didn’t have enough powdered sugar for the icing.  I did the best I could with what I had.  Not exactly my best masterpiece.  I cried to 2nd man about how we don’t do big parties for every birthday, just big ones.  I don’t want my son to remember his first big party as a time when his mother totally had an epic fail in planning and threw it together.  Thankfully, Mr. Jarod man came out at this time, took one look at his cake and with a big “WOW!” gave me a kiss…’nuff said

I love that boy!