Parenting

I think tomato plants must be a lot like parenting.

My tomato plant now has five little tomatoes on it!!

I got so excited (and shouted a little "Yea!!" in excitement. Hopefully if I keep cheering it on, it will keep growing.) and felt a little proud of myself for how it was coming along. Then I remembered that God created tomatoes to grow on their vines - that's what they are supposed to do. God makes them grow, and I don't. But, while God is the only one that can make my tomatoes grow, I could do a lot to kill them. (if I don't water it, or if I hadn't planted it in a sunny spot, etc.)


This seems like parenting because if I'm ever a mom I'll have lots of opportunity to have messed up children (they will have sinful natures, I have a sinful nature) and I'll be tempted to feel proud and take credit when they do something good, but really any good they do will only be because of God's grace.


I think it will be funny to read my thoughts on parenting after having children because I know that right now, I have no clue :) In my pre-baby life though, parenting seems a lot like tomato plants.


Speaking of parenting...I have a mental list of the 472 reasons I don't want to/am not ready to have children. I am particularly afraid of having boys. Reason 472 came last night while David and I were at Chipotle for dinner (we discovered one in York and it has made us so very happy!). We were looking out the window as this boy (maybe 8 years old?) ran out to his mom's SUV and proceeded to climb up on the back tire while holding on to the top of the car and shimmy himself in through the window instead of just opening the door and climbing in. As we watched (with a "wow, that kid is weird" look on my face), I turned to Dave and said, "That is another reason not to have kids!" To which he responded, "Yea, I used to do that when I was a kid." Case in point. That is normal little boy activity and I think it's weird. I just don't know if I could handle it.


After Chipotle we went to Best Buy to walk around (we had a gift card from Christmas we still wanted to use) and as we were going through the aisle of computer games we came upon an old favorite. I decided that since my list of reasons for not wanting kids is so long, I should probably start making a list of reasons to have kids or it might never happen (because I think deep down inside I probably want them, I just have too many fears for it to be a realized desire right now - hence the need for a list to begin the convincing). So today, I'm officially starting my list of reasons to have children.


1. Math Blaster.



David and I both love this game and if we have kids, we'll get to play it too.








2. Kids look cute in pictures.



Hm. Scratch that. Adi looks cute in pictures. I only have to clean her litter box once a week - not 20 million times a day. (All babies do is poop, right?)



Well, one's a start. Gotta love Math Blaster!



jj

My Petunias

A 'Frost Advisory'?!
I've never cared about a frost advisory before in my life.
That is, until last night.

It all started on Saturday. Dave, his friend Matt from school (not to be confused with cousin Matt) and I spent the early part of the afternoon pulling out all of our old bushes and plants. Well, I mostly pulled out weeds and stuff while the boys pulled out the bushes. I shouldn't take credit for the bushes.

The bushes needed to come out. I don't really like bushes, and everything was overgrown (probably because we didn't do anything with it since we moved in...in 2008) and too close together and we just decided we wanted a clean slate. Plus we had to finish what we started. Once everything was out, Matt went home and Matt and Amy came over (can I say how thankful and blessed we are to have friends and family that help us like this?!!) Cousin Matt and Dave took everything we pulled out to the compost pile and Amy and I went to the store.

You have to know, I don't know a thing about gardening. I didn't know I didn't know a thing until cousin Amy helped me work on mine and she kept explaining what to do next and I kept thinking...I didn't know that! or that! or that! or...you get the idea. I was oblivious to my novice-ness. I used to help my mom garden. When I had to. 15 years ago. And I guess I should've been taking notes because whatever I helped her do then, I did NOT remember when working on my garden this past weekend. So we went to the store for an hour and a half until we picked out all 3 types of plants we wanted. Seriously. It shouldn't have taken that long. Amy is knowledgeable, but we must be two of the most indecisive people alive.

We got home, ate dinner, and went out to plant. It was starting to get dark. Half the plants were in. I turned on the porch light. We were wearing our winter coats. This should've given me a clue, but I just didn't know and I was so excited to get it finished and Amy was there and she didn't mind and so we just kept working. I think we finished about 8:30 or 9:00pm on Saturday night.

Sunday. I watered my plants because Amy told me to. Turns out plants live better if you water them every day - especially at the beginning.

Monday. I watered my plants. Two days in a row. I find my consistency to be quite an accomplishment. While at work, I told my co-worker, Carol, about my weekend and how we got everything planted. I told her how the little sign at the store next to my petunias and tomato plant said that the plants were delicate and should be brought inside or covered at night and how I thought that was funny and was just going to pray that they survived on their own. She looked surprised that I planted everything already and proceeded to tell me that she has planters with lettuce in them and she covers them with old bath towels every night. I smiled. (and thought to myself - yeah right. I am never putting towels on my plants.)

Later in the afternoon she brought me a printout from wgal.com showing the frost advisory for Monday night and said I should probably cover the petunias and the tomato. I smiled. (and thought to myself - yeah right. I am never putting towels on my plants.)

So last night I told my mom the story and she said "hmmm. Petunias are really delicate. They will last all summer long, but frost will kill them in a day." My mama is always right. I couldn't risk it.

And so this is what my petunias looked like this morning:































Yes, those are my washcloths. And they protected my petunias all night.

You'll notice my shadow in the first picture - that's because I'm holding the camera right in front of my body trying to hide the fact that I'm taking a picture of this

Everything is so much more embarassing for me because we live on a main street that always has cars driving on it. Not only are there always cars driving, they frequently get stopped at the redlight and have the pleasure of sitting in front of our house for a minute or two. And when that happens...while they are sitting there in front of my house...I come outside to uncover my precious petnuias from their overnight blankets.

The good news is that they survived. Of course. Because they had blankets.

I'm praying there are no more frost advisories until October.

Here's my cherry tomato plant. It's out next to our back porch.
Don't make fun of me - I ran out of mulch.

I have high hopes for this tomato plant, and I tell it so every time I walk past it to go out to the car. I hope it's listening.





















* * * * *

We went to Fuddrucker's with the Harvey's over Easter weekend. Ryan dominated the 1 pounder, and since I discussed his previous defeat, I thought it only fair to promote his success as well. :)

Here he is about half-way through. Still smiling, although it looks like he's starting to get tired. Eating one of these things apparently wears you out.





















The finished plate...






















Victory!!!
























Congratulations, Ryan! :)


jj

Service Feedback Forms: Sing Hymns

Our church has a traditional-singing first service and a blended/contemporary-singing second service. Each month 10 people/couples are chosen from each service and asked to fill out a feedback form for every Sunday of that month. This feedback form asks for their opinion on every aspect of the service and leaves room for them to share areas of concern. For the most part, I am glad we do this. Dave is responsible for planning and leading worship in our second service, and sometimes when people are critical of him, it ruffles my wifely feathers a little bit. (Constructive criticism is good and Dave takes it well, but sometimes people think something is his fault when it’s not. Anyway...)

Let me make a few things clear from the start:
1) We sing hymns in our service. Both hymns that were written a long time ago and are found in hymnals, and new hymns that are in the musical style of a hymn but were written within the last few years. We also sing both older (written 15-20 yrs ago) and current praise choruses. We mix it up. If it’s theologically sound and congregationally friendly (ie: not arranged for a soloist) then we’ll sing it.
2) I think it is good to sing hymns.
3) I am not advocating we stop singing hymns.

Each week the feedback forms are given to our Music Ministry Director (not Dave, he’s the intern) and she compiles them and sends them out to the church staff in an email. The following is a quote from one such email:

General comments:
From an evaluator who was not present for this week’s service, but was appreciative of the opportunity to share some thoughts regarding the service in general:
Music – There is a real need for more hymns in the 2nd service. This would be according to Scripture – Ephesians 5:19 – “Speaking to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord.”


Ok. This does not ruffle my wifely feathers (because although Dave picks the songs a majority of the time, he picks a good variety and you cannot make everyone happy every week) this ruffles my ... um ... theology feathers? I don’t even know what you call this state of “really, are you serious?” that I feel right now. And since I don’t know who said this, and I can’t go and talk to them directly, I decided to blog my thoughts.

I understand that whether to sing hymns or not, or how many are sung in a service is very controversial – especially in conservative churches – especially in places like Lancaster, PA. And I am happy for you to express your preference for hymns, but do not bust out Ephesians 5:19 (or Colossians 3:16) and tell me we NEED to sing them. The hymns in our hymnal (written within the last three hundred years or so) were not around when Paul was writing his letter to the believers in Ephesus. It’s just not possible for Paul to be referring to our hymnal (and only our hymnal) when he said whatever Greek word is translated as “hymn”.

Our hymns are not scripture (yes, some of them do contain scripture, but they aren’t part of the cannon). It isn’t sinful not to sing them. Our hymns are not international – churches in rural Africa are not singing all stanzas and the refrain of Great Is Thy Faithfulness. Do they “have a real need for more hymns” too?

If you want to sing more hymns, tell me it’s your personal preference. Tell me why you like them. Do you like the words? All the harmonies? Using a hymnal? The tradition of singing them? The familiarity? Tell me which ones are your favorites. Let’s sing them. I appreciate a good hymn with some great theology and a nice melody line. But don’t tell me we NEED more hymns because the Bible says so.

I'd like to note Revelation 4:8:
And the four living creatures, each of them with six wings, are full of eyes all around and within, and day and night they never cease to say,
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!”

Did you catch that? A glimpse of heaven and the creatures are repeating one sentence over and over and over. They never cease. One sentence. No four stanzas of theologically profound words in KJV English. We get tired and distracted if we repeat the chorus of Chris Tomlin's "How Great is Our God" too much. I was at an urban church service last month and after the speaker was done and we had been dismissed some folks went up to the front to encourage the speaker and give testimony of what God was doing in their life. And then to praise God for all He had been doing, they began to sing. And they sang the same song – the same few lines – over and over. After 20-30 minutes of this repeat praise we left because it was getting late, we wanted to get home, and there was no sign of them stopping. I wonder if this isn’t a bit more like what heaven will be like. Of course, I don’t know...maybe the angels pass out hymnals at the pearly gates? I’m just sayin’...

I think there is a place for hymns and praise choruses and for making up songs on the spot and really, for anything that praises our God for his incomprehensible awesomeness, anything that helps us to “sing and make melody with our heart to the Lord”. Isn’t that the point of Ephesians 5:19? So today, do that. Worship Him. On your own, or with a friend, or with your spouse. In your heart, or out loud. Don’t wait for church on Sunday. Sing to Him today.

jj