Daughters

Some days having a daughter just takes my breath away. Today is one of those days. We went to a birthday party at a spa for girls. Ann Bennett had her hair done and a mini mani and mini pedi. I'm sure there could be lots of commentary on spa services for young girls, but I'll leave that for others. For us, it is fun. She is such a girly girl and always has been. I've had the nature/nurture argument many times! But, boy is this girl a GIRL, and I love her to pieces - pop star hair, princess necklace, hearts on her fingers and toes, animal lover and all!

This is actually the second time we've been to a place similar to this, and I am always amazed with what they can do to hair! And, AB has that baby fine hair!

This picture is from the last time we went to a place like this. That's her friend Courtney, another younger sister from Bryant's travel baseball team.

This is officially Bryant's cat, Sammy. She was named after Sammy Sosa - a Cubs player whose questionable use of drugs was not known at the time!

Sammy has a love/hate relationship with AB. She knows AB is most likely to do this to her.

But at the end of the day, Sammy loves AB as much as AB loves her -- I think.

Theology Questions of the Week

Here are a couple of the questions I have been asked by my 10 and 7 year olds in the past week.

1. Why did Jesus descend into hell? (As in the Apostles' Creed) I think the question was really if Jesus, who was perfect, went to hell, what chance do I have to escape the same fate. I explained that Jesus was not sent to an eternal hell and conquered Satan even in death, but it got me thinking about the theology of this statement.

2. I don't get how God said "Let there be light," and there just was light. I don't get that. I explained that no one understands the science of this, and this is where faith comes in. I explained that some people who don't believe God created the world think that it all happend in some kind of big bang. We talked about how this didn't make a lot of sense either. Faith is believing even when things aren't easily understood.

3. Ann Bennett is really working on controlling her thoughts. She has been struggling with passing judgements about people she sees at school -- so and so is fat, he's not very smart, her hair is ugly, etc. We have talked about how Jesus asks us to take our thoughts captive and work on thinking about people as He sees them. Every day she gets in the car and says she is still working on it. One day in the past 2 weeks, she was so excited because she had a "good" day - meaning she didn't have any of these thoughts. I've explained it takes a lot of practice and prayer to do this, but I've had a hard time actually telling her this is probably something she'll be working on her whole life! That might not be very motivating.

So, those are a few of the theological conversations we've been having recently in our house. Who knew I needed to have my theology straight for conversations with my elementary school aged children! It's amazing how much we learn from our kids.

Working Out

Carey and I met at a gym. He worked there (and worked out there), and I worked out for a couple hours a day at the time. I didn't know anybody in town except for the people I worked with, and they all had families. Anyway, about a lifetime ago, I worked out a lot - WE worked out a lot. Then, most of my friends at the gym moved or had children. Carey quit working at the gym and started appraising, and we had children. Our time in the gym essentially dwindled down to none. For the past 2 years, our membership has even been frozen.

But, then I found out about this contest where 6 people were going to win 8 weeks of personal training 4-5 times a week. I applied, but I was not selected. But, they gave everyone who applied a temporary membership to the gym, a class just for those of us not chosen on Saturday mornings and a special rate for personal training. So, I'm at least working out for now.

I've been to the Saturday classes the past 2 weeks, and they are really good. But, you can recover in a week! I was kind of thinking, I could do the Biggest Loser (except for the weighing in wearing a bra and bike shorts!). I've done everything she asked. Yes, it hurts, but I've done it. This week personal training started. We went Tuesday and did part of a spin class, followed by a a bazillion plié squats, then ran up and down the 4 sets of steps throughout the gym. Let me just say I could barely walk yesterday. Then, I went back today, and she made me run (to be fair, it was only a couple of short intervals, but still), squat some more, and do those dadgum stairs -- among other things! I'm developing a better understanding for the people on the Biggest Loser. When Jillian is yelling at them to run and let go, I've always thought I'd never be able to do it. Now, I know I'd fall off -- never mind throwing up! At least my trainer is more reasonable than that. I guess I kind of deserve this after taking such bad care of my body for so many years! Baby steps. Baby steps!

Battle of the Books

Last fall I MADE Bryant sign up to participate in the battle of the books. For those of you unfamiliar with this program, students read a list of books. Then they "battle" each other by answering questions such as "In what book did the main character visit a lady named Miss Caroline?" The students have to answer the question and give the author's name. Each school selects a team to represent them at the county level, and the team works together. A student is asked a question, he consults the team, then gives his answer. If right, they are awarded points for the title and author. If wrong, the other team has a chance to answer the question and get their points. You can see this link for more info, including the list of 30 books or so. http://www.battleofthebooks.org/4-62009.html

Anyway, Bryant was selected to represent his school. I think they based this on how many books he read and how he did on the test. Today was the battle, and his team came in 3rd in the county! The team they lost to won the entire competition, so he felt really good about how they did. I'm very proud of him. He did NOT want to do this at the beginning, but once he got started, he really enjoyed some books he never would have read. Some of them were more geared toward girls, but he survived. I even found a few books I'll make sure Ann Bennett reads later on as well. (The list changes annually.) I am very proud of him for sticking with this and doing well in the battle. Way to go B!