My Geeky Family

My family is geeky. I really love this about them. For Christmas this year, one of the gifts we each got was a Spork. I've got to admit, I didn't know what a spork was until we got this thing. It's a combination of a fork and a spoon. David and the kids were thrilled. "It's one less utensil to use and clean." "It's made of titanium so it's lightweight and it won't break." "One more thing to enhance my Geek status." They are proud of their Geek heritage.

Every once in awhile, their favorite catalog comes in the mail. It's called, Think Geek. It is fun looking at and there are things in there that I just don't get which has to be explained to me by either David or one of the girls. We have purchased several things from this catalog and quite possibly the Spork was ordered from it too. My husband got his "42" t-shirt from it. When it arrived he put it on and I was impressed that he knew that the number 42 was retired in baseball in honor of Jackie Robinson. I told him so. He looked at me like I was crazy. I was really proud of him until he informed me that it was not in honor of Jackie. In fact, he didn't even know Jackie's number. He explained to me that 42 is the answer to everything in life and the universe. Then it was my turn to look at him like he's crazy. What? He was shocked that I didn't know that. I told him, "No, Jackie Robinson wore that number. You do know who Jackie Robinson is, don't you?"

"Uh, no."

I still don't think 42 is the answer to everything. He still thinks I'm wrong. I can't believe he didn't even know who Jackie was. He thinks Jackie knew 42 is the answer to everything.

Simple Things

Do you ever take the time to think about the little things in life that you appreciate? Every once in awhile I think how much I appreciate a "simple" thing. Today it was Mo and then Mo made me think about all the other things like him that I appreciate. Mo is my iRoomba vacuum. I named him Mo after the "cleaning" robot in WALL-E. I have him programed to go off on MWF at 10 am. He vacuums my living room. He does it happily. He will do it without me breathing down his motor. And when he finishes his job he will cheerfully announce "all done" whether or not anyone else is there to appreciate the momentous occasion. It is so nice to come home to a living room that has been vacuumed. I often take him into another room in the house to vacuum. Yesterday he was busy. He did the living room, our bedroom/bathroom, and the tea room. Oh, he did the kitchen and nook too. In fact, he did more than I did yesterday.

I also appreciate my washer and dryer. I appreciate my dishwasher. They all do things for me so I don't have to do them. I remember my Mom's dishwasher when I was growing up. It was one of those portables that I had to roll over to the sink and attach a hose to the faucet. It opened on the top and I'd load up the lower shelf, put the second shelf on and load that up then shut the top and start it. It was a pretty nifty thing but I hated doing the dishes. Now that I'm grown up (sort of), I can usually appreciate the fact that those machines save me a lot of back breaking labor not to mention free up some time. Granted that time is usually spent doing other chores I don't care to expand on here.

Yes, I am thankful for those "simple" machines that free up some time so I can clean the toilet.

Thunderstorms and Rain

It's 12:50 a.m. I know, I shouldn't be up but I am. And I'm kind of thankful I stayed up. Okay, I'll admit that the original reason why I'm up so late is because I'm watching the Rockies game which I recorded. While watching the game, I saw quite a bit of lightening and before I knew it, it was raining (hard) and hail was shooting down as if it were trying to pierce the earth all the way to China. One of my favorite things is to watch Thunderstorms. I love it when the thunder gets really loud. I think it's really cool. I'm always amazed at the diversity of God's creation. Sometimes I wonder why He made lightening and Thunder and hail, etc. Who would think to include that in the overall creation picture? Yes, only God.

Anyway, I turn off the lights so I can watch the lightening and see the rain and hail despite it being dark outside. I sit and watch and admire and reminisce ... growing up in Bakersfield, we'd have "storms" every now and then. Not even close in frequency or quality that we do here in the Springs. My Dad also loves those storms. We'd sometimes go outside under the patio cover and admire the display of power. Back when I was growing up, I had to admire it mostly by what I saw. Occasionally it would thunder loud enough for me to feel it and I would look at my Dad with my mouth wide open, "WOW!" He'd smile at me. If I was unfortunate to miss the storm because I was sleeping, I'd wake up and see the wet ground and know I'd missed something special. It was always sort of weird to wake up and see that. In the same way one wakes up to 6 inches of snow that fell after bedtime. It's quiet. You don't hear it. Where did that come from? Well, I don't hear anything when I'm sleeping. (I'm thankful for that though.) However, now with my implants, I'm able to hear even "gentle" storms and I LOVE them! Another blessing...

Fast forward a few years... I remember my kids coming into my room and waking me up, "MOM! MOM! I'm scared!" When I asked them why they'd sign with their cute little hands, "THUNDER!" Their eyes would be wide open to emphasize the loudness of the storm. They live in a different world than I do. I never came into my parents room unless the lightening was so bright it would spook me. We'd let them get in bed with us and snuggle up until either it quieted down or we fell asleep, unable to wait it out. Fast forward a few more years to tonight... as I sit by the window watching the hail and lightening show, I remember them coming into our room scared. They don't do that anymore. I smile and think to myself, I miss that. I'm sure in the morning some (if not all of them) will be talking about that loud storm during the night. "Mom, you missed a good one last night!" Guess I'm going to have to tell them the truth, "Umm, no... actually your crazy Mom was still up watching the Rockies clobber the Diamondbacks when the storm started."

I finally did it

I follow several blogs. I enjoy reading other people's blogs especially if they enjoy writing. I think people who enjoy writing know how to express themselves through words. I especially enjoy it when they take a small piece of life and make it really fascinating (for example "this morning I took the trash out..."). Sort of like looking at a single cell through a powerful microscope; you learn so much more about that cell by just looking at it alone through a microscope. Over the years I have written bits and bits here and there mostly for family and close friends. It is a way of thinking through things, expressing myself, and finally to decide what I should do about something (if something needs to be done). Always someone asks me to either write a book (too intimidating) or recently a few people have encouraged me to blog. So here I am. I admit, even this is somewhat intimidating.

Who am I? I am a mother of three girls, married for almost 18 years (and by the grace of God, still going strong), a sinner and follower of Christ, and I am Deaf. Those four descriptions of me will probably invade my writing quite a bit. My life truly has been an adventure. It hasn't been easy by any stretch of the imagination but I have received too many blessings to count. Through it all, the Lord has been right there whether I was aware of it or not. I don't believe in luck, destiny, tarot cards, or the galaxies influencing my life. I do believe that God is sovereign and that everything that happens to me and in my life is because He specifically planned it for my good and His glory. Some of the things that have happened to me or in my life, I do understand why. A lot of things, I don't really know why but I'm convinced that in the end it will be (if it hasn't already been) for my good and His glory. It's my prayer that through my blogs you will see how awesome God is and will agree with me that He is sovereign. (And that is a period.) It would be an added blessing if you are also entertained by my blogs. My goal is to average 1 blog a week for now except for the next 3 weeks as I will be out of "cyber-town". Hope you enjoy this and let me know what you think if you feel strongly about doing so.