Social Media

I have been on Facebook for years now but hadn't tried other social media apps like Twitter, Snapchat or anything else.  I recently started using a video messaging app and it is pretty addictive.  I want to stay in touch but I also don't want to become addicted.

P told me that when we were engaged, instant messenger was an option but that I didn't like using it.  We didn't even write emails that much.  Mostly we wrote letters and talked on the phone each Sunday for an hour.  I think for me that texting is messaging is both addictive and emotionally unsatisfying.  A letter you can carry around with you (and we didn't have mobile devices 20 years ago).  A phone call you can hear their voice.

I don't particularly like facetime either because you're staring at each other's face but not making eye contact.  And there is a pressure to say something worth having someone stare at your face, for me anyway.

So this video messaging app is super addictive because you can just send messages without the real time use of time, and connection.  You have the benefit of hearing what they're saying and seeing their setting.  It's like all the benefits without the negatives, so super addictive.

best best

I wrote a song for my best friend.  She had us over for dinner last night and I played it for her.  She's so awesome.  She inspires me to get things done.  I've never composed lyrics and tune before, let alone performing it.  It's pretty wonderful having someone inspire such creativity.

I'm not a morning person, yet I wake up earlier each day
to walk the miles, and miles and miles.
I smile. She smiles and smiles.

I gave my best friend and old belt;
rainbow elastic with a tarnished clasp,
To help her keep her own pants up
When I'm not there to hold her hand.

She named it... She-Ra.

I've never had much interest in health and nutrition
because bread... is my love language...

I gave my best friend and old belt;
rainbow elastic with a tarnished clasp,
To help her keep her own pants up
When I'm not there to hold her hand.

She named it... She-Ra.

Mother's Day

Mother's Day is so complicated for many women.  I had a nice day.  I'm grateful for a loving husband and children that are often well behaved.  We don't do breakfast in bed or flowers.  We just have a nice day.  P gave a talk on Sunday about how nobody can live up to the ideal and that we shouldn't let that keep us from trying to improve.  I'm grateful for the years of marriage and growth we've had together.

I was telling my friend that P doesn't buy presents for holidays but that he does make my dreams come true.  He's been known to buy a pair of sewing scissors to wish me a Happy Tuesday.  He has taken us on a family bike ride.  We have kayaks and life jackets if only we can find time to go use them.

He took me to go see a movie spontaneously when we found ourselves with time on Saturday night.  On that night the kids put themselves to bed!  Monday we were doing scriptures and prayer, ASL voicing with the videos and the kids insisted they had already done the chapter before.  P and I didn't understand how that could be possible and they reminded us that they'd been home alone two nights prior and had held scriptures and prayer without us.  That made us so happy.  What good kids.

Tonight as the activity for FHE P took us to walmart and the kids got to pick out a can of spray paint to decorate the bike racks P built for their fleet of bikes.  They chose orange and blue and blue and orange.  Then, realizing the duplication the older children switched out for aqua and gold.  G chose the gold.

On the ride home they were fighting.  That's life. 

I've been fasting this week and I get less upset about a lot of things.  It's good and bad.  I really enjoy the feeling of fasting.  I don't know how long this will last but I have enjoyed it.

Being a mother is awesome.  It's hard and most people don't appreciate what I do but P does, and my mom does, and sometimes even the children do; and that is really very nice.

cast of characters

M found her best friend last year via our homeschool group and the young girl turned out to be our neighbor!  I've been friends with her mom Q for all that time but recently she became a best friend.  P is my best friend, and husband, and protector and eternal companion. 

Q is walking 3-4 miles a day and M, lP and I are walking too!  Q does a fast/5 lifestyle and I've started doing that too.  We're both super interested in leadership and strong girls.  It's pretty awesome having a friend like this where we don't need anything from each other but our friendship.

In some ways we have very little in common.  She's super healthy and I'm super into making bread.  But we're both strong in our relationship with Christ and it's really wonderful to share insights and life stories.

family fun

Our neighborhood has a party for easter.  On Easter we go to church.  I'm grateful to let the kids celebrate easter with secular fun not at church.

This year the party was amazing.  Giant slide, train, dunk tank and snow cone truck.  P volunteered to be dunked and wore a suit.  I bring 4 doz boiled eggs.  It's really a nice event.

P had the idea of doing a soda tasting so he bought sprite, coke, fanta, fresca, gingerale, and rootbeer.  It was awesome.  After letting the children taste each kind of soda in these cute shot glasses (...) they did a blind taste test.  They haven't had much soda in their lives so it was fun.

And we brought home 2 tandem orange kayaks!  We got one from New Smyrna and one from Palatka.  They are the same kind.  I'm so excited to go on an outing!

multipliers

I'm going to read "Multipliers" with my friend this summer.  It's interesting how I've been blessed with opportunities to learn leadership in the last year.  I went to Woodbadge, and got all my tickets done.  Some areas of service are ending in my life, but it is opening the opportunity to sharpen my ax.

things fall apart

I belong to a group that has bylaws.  One of the bylaws is that if you don't like something, talk to the person in charge.  If you can't come to an agreement, bring witnesses.  If you still can't agree, talk to management.  If you still can't agree, you can ask everyone!  Someone in the organization skipped right to the tell everyone.  They accused another member and shared a lot of personal stories with incorrect details to make the other member look like a mean person.  Ironically their big complaint was that this person had called them, of all things "Mean Girl."

So many feelings of rage can be avoided if we have the courage to deal with things ourselves.  Don't hide your feelings.  If you think someone is not kind, stop going to their house.  Stop taking their gifts.  Stop pretending to like them.  Talk to them and after hearing their side, let. it. go.

When you bury resentments in the name of civility, these resentments sprout like weeds in your heart.  Weeds grow fast, overshadowing your ability to see positive aspects of your relationship with the person. 

I was also included in the attacks once I told the person they should apologize publicly and work out their feelings privately.  I know I have acted with integrity and don't feel intimidated or shamed by these attacks. 

I tell my daughters that bad things will happen.  Sometimes the actions of others will hurt us and the sooner we speak up about that the sooner we have a chance to make a change.  If we speak up immediately, we might be able to save ourselves from a lot of pain.  If we speak up within a few days, we may be able to keep someone else from getting hurt.  Speak up.

Beware of being offended on behalf of others.  If Sarah tells you that someone did something, you should believe her but don't go making accusations yourself.  Support Sarah in making the report.