Sleep and Music

Last night I had about 4 hours of sleep. Lexy either has the worst allergies ever or just a cold, but with every sniff and cough I was awake. Of course, I didn't go to sleep until late as well just so I could keep and eye on the monitor. I know how quickly kids can go from snuffily to really seriously ill. So this morning I apologize for the incoherence and randomness.

What does it mean when you download Matisyahu and Eric Clapton at the same time from ITunes, but what you really want to do is jump on half.com and order Electric Youth by Debbie Gibson?

Just wondering.

Coffee Filters

Dear Friends,

First, just so you know, that picture above is entirely made from coffee filters. Cool, huh? Yesterday our church service was run by the youth members. I won't lie when I tell you that I was completely apprehensive about attending the service. I'm not into rock music or praise worship. It's just not my thing. I prefer tradition and liturgical services. I don't know if it's the structure of the services I prefer or the routine (which I guess is the same thing), but it suits my personality. So, when the youth director stood up and told the congregation that they were in for something different this Sunday I must admit that I cringed. I also thought that if I wanted to skip a Sunday that this would have been a good one to skip.

And, okay, I'm not going to lie when I tell you that there were 3 or 4 times in the service that I really wished I had skipped the service. I mean, for me, acting out a Lifehouse song with one of the deacons dressed as Jesus was a bit much... not to mention that the youth of our church (Bless them) are really poor actors. It was a definite cringe worthy moment. But, I give them total credit because I never would have gotten up in front of a congregation and done it, so, more power to them

There was one moment, though, that I would like to share with you. And whether you believe in God, the Trinity, or trees, it was a beautiful thing. The youth director explained at the beginning of the service that every seat in the sanctuary had a coffee filter and a marker. Unfortunately for me there wasn't any coffee to go in the coffee filter. I know, sad, right. I was a little upset about it. But, the reason for the coffee filter was even better than coffee. I know, scary that the coffee addict would say something like that.

For our confession, if the member was comfortable, you were to take the coffee filter, the marker and write down your confession. When you were finished you walked up to the front of the church and put the coffee filter in one of many crystal bowls filled with water. The tables were full of glittering candles and the bowls of water refracted the light beautifully. But the most beautiful part was putting your confession into the water and watching it be washed away. The coffee filters were white while the water was colored. For me, that's what Jesus is and does for me. I bring myself to him, covered with markers of all different colors and degrees of permanence. Some are harder to scrub off than others, but once admitted and turned over, they are washed away (or scrubbed off with a Brillo pad) and I'm left looking like myself again, only with a little more glint and glimmer from the candles that are on my table.

I had chills during this part of the service. Goosebumps. It was hard to think of what to write because I wasn't anticipating so much emotion from this small action. But translated into an entire congregation and to connect it to myself and how I bring myself before God brought me to tears. I think this translates to everyone. Very Message in a Bottle. I may start using this in my daily life. Writing down my prayers, confessions, even hopes and blessings. Dipping them in water and watching them be washed away and brought closer to the One that can help me with them. You should try it and let me know what you think. Turn it all over. Be washed and see how much marker comes off of you.

I hope you all have a blessed week. Love to you all,
C-

p.s. Today is my 7 year anniversary. Josh, I love you more now than I did on that day. Happy Anniversary.

Coffee coffee coffee

Dear Friends,

I have 3 followers! Woo Hoo! That is 3 more than I thought I would have. Thank you to each of you, and to anyone else who has happened to pop in just to see. I hope I haven't bored you yet. I am having a lot more fun writing than I thought I would and I have a lot of things bouncing around inside my little head. Scary, I know.

Right now life seems hectic and I'm wondering how other women handle their tasks? Anyone wanna chime in? I just realized I'm sitting here by myself. Josh is outside attempting to shore up our eroding front porch. Lexy is napping (naps, glorious naps). Even the dog is upstairs sleeping. I am actually 100% alone. This does not happen very often. I have a roast in the crock pot (I even remembered to plug it in AND turn it on this time). I washed and folded 2 loads of laundry (and even put it away), took care of one of those 25 stacks of paper that lounge around my house on a daily basis, and mopped some of the mud off the floor.

Now? Now I am taking a little "me time" to just sit down, breathe, and focus myself. With Daylight Savings Time in affect, today has been an interesting one from the mommy stand-point. I hate wondering how things like this will effect Lexy's schedule. I woke Lexy up at her regular time. Which, to her, was an hour early. Poor baby. I really think that this is the best way to go. It will keep her relatively on schedule, with just that one hour loss of sleep and we all know that little ones will recover faster than the rest of us, right? I figured nap time might come late but we would mke adjustments. I have a friend that refers to herself as the "Nap Nazi". I think I follow along with that, as much as I can. The kid just does better with a schedule.

When I was bringing Lexy downstairs this morning I told her I would need "copious amounts of coffee" to make it through the day. I don't do well on an hour less of sleep. Copious is a good word for a 2 year old. She already knows delicious and ridiculous, and orca... and probably a few others. Her lovely 2 year old response? "Poopious coffee". Poop. In my coffee. How appetizing. "Poopious, poopious poopious". I heard that new word about 50 times this morning.

Do I really have to mention that I drank all 8 cups that I had made? Yes, all 8 cups. And it tasted AMAZING.