Ok--I thought this was really funny...my students are learning about common nouns. Yesterday, they did a worksheet where they had to cut out different words and classify them as person, place, or thing. Well, I was grading them today and I noticed that one of my African-American boys had taken the word "cracker" and glued it under the "person" column. Nice, right? So do I count that wrong? I'm giving him points for thinking outside the box!
Hearing my baby's heartbeat is the most reassuring sound in the world right now. We had our monthly check-up today and the nurse found the heartbeat right away. It was really strong--at first I thought it was my heartbeat! Usually they have to search and press down really hard, but I guess since he/she is bigger now, it is more easily heard.
They always check my blood pressure first thing and it is always really high because I'm so nervous about hearing, or not hearing, the heartbeat. So when she checked it it was 150/90! Ummmm....little high, ya think? She didn't say anything to me. She just got out the little heartbeat finder thing and we listed to it pump away. At that point, my blood pressure decreased dramatically. The doctor took it after she finished examining me and it was back down to normal. They should know by now just to wait until I know everything is still good.
I have my ultrasound in 2 weeks. I'm so excited! I know people lived for thousands and thousands of years without having the ability to find out what they are having, but they didn't know what they were missing. Now that we have the option, I want to find out at the earliest possible opportunity. If I had to guess, I would say the baby is a boy. That, however, is completely based on an old wives' tale that says if you are carrying higher, then it is a boy, or if you carry lower, it's a girl. But old wives' tales are pretty much crap. So we'll just wait 14 more days and find out for sure. So Asher Owen or Adelaide Hope will finally be referred to with the correct pronoun.
And I don't mean that in the "I've never been to jail for insider trading" way. I mean that in the "My craft projects never turn out the way they should" way.
So I had these striped couched. Actually, Kris had them when we got married. A family that he knew when he lived in Abylon, I mean Abilene, gave them to him. They were comfortable, but really low to the ground and long. They were tan, red, navy, and hunter green striped---picture patio furniture material. But hey, I'm not one to turn my nose up at free stuff, so I figured I could make these couches work.
So with some of our gift cards to Bed, Bath, and Beyond, we purchased red slip covers and they worked out just fine. I spent the better part of my day tucking and re-tucking them in and I got very anxious when someone sat on them after I had finally got them straight, but other than that, it was great.
So then we buy a house and I decide that these couches won't work. The scale was wrong for the room. And, Kris' brother and his wife were getting rid of their old couches. They were older and a little lumpy, but they were a little bigger so I thought the slipcovers would fit them better. I was wrong. They looked worse on these couches than they did on the Abilene patio furniture ones--super sloppy and wrinkled--the very reason I didn't like the way the covers fit the old couches. But we had already given the other ones away to Goodwill.
So I get the bright idea to cut the slipcovers apart, with the help of my friend, Vanessa, who knows how to sew, and sew and staple the covers to the couches piece by piece to acheive that really custom look that stapling always affords.
We went after it! We cut and stapled and sewed and tacked away. Vanessa went to town making covers for the seat cushions and we nipped and tucked for hours. There was actually one point where I thought, "This may turn out to look really good." But the problem with stapling and tying is that it doesn't lend itself to the tailored look that I was going for.
So I ended up pretty much as bad off as I had started out which leads me to confess, "I am not Martha Stewart." Probably only a shock to me. I thought maybe I had a few Martha tendencies. As it turns out, I don't.
The only way to rectify this situation is to purchase a new couch . (It's name is the Sierra for those of you who follow the link.) And that's what we did. It is a micro-fiber, mocha-colored, soft, non-slipcovered couch that will, Lord willing, be delivered to our home on Knob Hill Lake Lane (that's right--4 words) on Saturday. We figured we better make any large purchases now, because as soon as Little Asher or Adelaide Rives makes his or her appearance, the days of Kris and Jamie Rives buying anything non-essential will draw to a close. Pretty sweet trade-off, I think :)
That seems to be a word that gets tossed around a lot among the people that I talk to most often. We are always trying to figure out what it should look like for the Church to truly be in community with one another. How do we break out of the "American" frame of mind that we all suffer from that prides itself on its independence and doesn't think it needs anything from anyone. How do we bear one another burdens, and so, fulfill the law of Christ? These types of questions continue to haunt us because we're not sure what the answers are? Or maybe we're afraid to figure out what the answers are? That could get messy...
So I found this post on another blog. I might be breaking some law here, so in attempt to make sure no one thinks I am trying to pass this off as my own HERE is where you can read the article in its entirety. She defines community by the "via negativa" (be impressed...that's Latin.) In other words, here is one person's take on what community "is not."
"Community is not a group of faceless strangers in the same building on a Sunday morning.
Community is not playing it safe.
Community is not living for “the next big thing.”
Community is not afraid of silence, or tears, or anger, or pain.
Community is not exposing oneself without first establishing trust.
Community is not a one-way street.
Community is not a place where someone does not feel loved.
Community is not a place where complacency or earthly perfection is celebrated.
Community is not impatient while God works.
Community is not a place where the work is ever “done.”
Community is not afraid to say “no” when a “no” is needed.
Community is not ungrateful.
Community is not absent of struggle.
Community is not in the business of letting its members continue struggling without fighting for their freedom.
Community is not an option…it is the model Christ set for us."
I thought this was pretty good. One disclaimer: She ends the full article with a quote from The Message. Other than that, I like what she has to say.
I find myself at a loss when I try to verbalize what I think we are missing as a body and what I want to change within myself. I feel maimed and I'm pretty certain I've done some maiming. I'm trying to operate without the rest of the body that I so desparately need, but don't always want. That has to change.
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