Thoughtless Thursday v.13

Eating dinner tonight, I was waiting for Jon to get his more food (aka. Seconds) and I stated:

Sara: I'll wait until you take your more. (I've been studying German recently - adjectives become verbs.)

Jon: You just nouned an adjective. (pause) I just verbed a noun. 

There was much laughter.  We love our home.

Wednesday

I am becoming increasingly un-creative with the titles for my blogs.

I am beginning to feel the need for a vacation. We haven't had a long break (like week-long) since the honeymoon, and I think my brain needs some shut-down time. You can note this in the increasing brevity of the blogs....

Please pray for my Great Aunt Dot - who is in the hospital with a leaky valve and may not live through surgery..

It's Tuesday! (I think)

I'm beginning to noticed that the days are all running into each other, resulting in them bumbling about in a chaotic fashion, rendering them tremendously hard to keep track of. Today feels like Wednesday, but I'm quite certain it is Tuesday. Alas. It's time for vacation.

I'm looking forward to making these Egg Nests - sounds like fun! Anyone want to sponsor a Kitchen Aid? Anyone? Anyone? [haha, just joking :o) ] I think we'll be able to do just fine with what we have here. Apparently it is a French recipe from a cooking book for kids!

Also, we just added a "book shelf" to our blog through Good Reads. This way you can see what we are reading in our TV-less Tuesdays and Thursdays, and it will be good accountability for us too :o) However, for all you email subscribers, it will force you to go actually visit our blog! Click here to visit our blog... Right now there is only one book up there, hopefully with many more to follow!

Monday v.1

After taking care of our 3-year-old nephew - Jon and I find that our own manners improve! We're not sure if it is because we are more aware of making sure "pleases" and "thankyous" are said, or because he is also the most polite little lad and it wears off on us. Anyway, we are much more aware of our own "thank yous' and "your welcomes" when we return! It's pretty nice. Thanks Heather and Sam!

I'm also slowly coming to terms that I'll never have this place perfectly clean. I was reading an Oprah magazine today about organization - one of the people they interviewed stated that cleaning is like gardening: it always has to be done and is just a habit of life. Not that this place is catastrophically messy, however after 2 weekends away (basically) it begins to build. We're both just learning new cleaning habits, and looking for systems to put into place to facilitate less-mess!

Additionally, I have a "new" sewing machine! Well, it's my grandparents, which they are letting me have (I think...) and now I'm trying to think of a creative way to set up a standing "creative space" in this apartment, that is also out of the way and easy to hide. Hm..... I'll let you know if I come up with anything!

Things we learned this weekend:

1) "Tenders"
Friday night we were putting little Liam to bed. He has a small train track next to his bed, and he was quietly and politely putting in his last requests for the evening. "I want Emily and Thomas" he petitioned, so we dully found Thomas (the Tank Engine) and Emily (another train) and put them on the track. He requested a freight-car, and we brought that as well. He looked at our efforts, and petitioned again "turner..." Not quite understanding, we assumed this was the spinning track, which allows a train to switch tracks at an intersection. We put this on his table. He looked at it somewhat disappointingly, however did not have a chance to re-submit his request as we kissed him good night.

The next morning the chipper young lad hopped out of bed, came and said hello, and then went straight away into his play room. The next thing we know he came out with the back-part of a train engine and the freight-car. "This" he said emphatically, holding out the back-part, "is a turner." Next he held out the freight car, and with the air of a professor stated "This is a freight-car." Jon and I replied with some aghast - as we were getting schooled on train terminology by a 3-year-old:  "Well thank you Liam!"

It turns out the "turner" is really a "tender." And belongs to his favorite train - Emily!

2) Jon changed a poopy diaper for the first time. This has not discouraged him from wanting a family.

3) While late nights are not desirable, they can be fun bonding times with the awake child. Even funner when the child goes to sleep 30 minutes later.

Friday/Saturday Clements!

We have been highly enjoying our time with the family, especially the Clement Kids this weekend! Today was a special guys trip to the mall to see Cars2 and ride the train at the mall. The grown-up guys even enjoyed the movie as well!

I got to spend some quality time with little miss eva-ann - that was truly a treasure. Jon also watched the kids as I took a nap! We then spent the evening with some wonderful family at aunties, including introducing a cousin to the game "Dixit" - which is also always fun.

On the down-side, I completely forgot I try to avoid gluten and totally cheated this past week. and boy can I tell, which is frustrating, however also confirming that I'm on the right path.

Remember when we were nostalgic? Good times! -- PS

Oh yeah, and after church last Sunday, Sara quickly found a shortcut to get to Route 7, on our way to the Beltway, and it's one of those roads that manual transmissions are just begging to be driven on: curves, rolling hills, short straight stretches... I'm so glad we were driving in Amy that day! I was playing with the gear shifter the whole time.

AWESOME!

Thoughtless Thursday v.12

read this on my grammy ona's facebook. Love it!:

" After 52 years of marriage we find not only do we still love each other, but we LIKE each other." - Ona, talking about her husband.


Speaking of which - isn't it awesome when Jon blogs?! I love it.

Remember when we were nostalgic? Good times!

Our church doesn't commonly use a very wide range of traditional hymns (at least not those I know), so I particularly enjoyed this past Sunday when, I think it was for the offertory, Seek ye first was played. That's one of those church songs that I really like because I've been singing it pretty much my whole life. And I still know the French version very well, which I went ahead and sang in my head:

Cherchez d'abord

le Royaume de Dieu

et sa justice

et toutes choses

vous seront données en plus

Allelu- alleluia

Well, then we actually sang the hymn as a congregation, which was very nice. If we had done another verse, I'm pretty sure I would've switched to French. The French versions of such songs are such sweet treats to my ears, as that's what I grew up with for years and years, but I no longer get opportunities to hear them.

To top it off, this Sunday also served as a sending-off of a missionary family who has been at RPC for the past couple years. The Kawachis had previously served in Senegal, and are now going to Quebec to minister to the Canadians, with an emphasis on reaching out to the growing Muslim population. Well, since Satoshi Kawachi is an ordained pastor, he was invited to give the benediction, so he blessed us with:

Que l'Eternel veille sur vous et vous accorde la paix! Que l'Eternel vous bénisse et vous protège! Que l'Eternel vous regarde avec bonté! Et qu'il vous fasse grâce!

(Numbers 6:24-26) It was beautiful! I normally take benedictions and exhortations rather seriously, but when Sara looked up toward my face, she could see a pretty big smile stretched across it.

Tuesday?

For whatever reason, it is a Tuesday that feels like a Wednesday. We both had a flood of productiveness this evening, which in light of tv-less Tuesday, is a good thing. The kitchen and bathroom are brilliantly clean, and the living room, well, isn't as messy. The laundry still isn't put away, however that can always wait for tomorrow. or the day after. or the day after that.

I am indeed in some mourning for television. We both agree not relying on tv to decompress in the evening is a good goal to have, and with our limited time in the evening we now have more opportunity to talk and get things done. However, old habits die hard and I'm hoping in 21-days (the time it takes for habits to form and un-form) I won't miss it at all. In the meantime, I'm trying to keep my complaining to a minimum....

Monday

We had a wonderful weekend - we learned quite a bit from the marriage conference by Family Life: mostly that we are on the right track :o) It was a good time to set aside and talk specifically about our relationship and identify places we both might want to improve. It was reassuring that we had already implemented quite a few of the healthy habits (like talking about feelings, conflict) that they recommended. However, as introverts, it's good for us to set aside some "us" talking time.

We then were able to spend some wonderful time with our family in Annapolis for Father's Day! Particularly it is fun watching the young ones grow. I hope I never forget how diligently Liam was lying out the plates for everyone, making sure everyone had their spots, or how he ran to get everyone snacks when we were congregated in the basement! He is becoming such a young little boy, and so impressive to see how much he is already thinking about others! And of course, Eva is as cute as a button, if not cuter!

Huge kudos Heather and Sam :o) We are looking forward to seeing them more this weekend.

Emails...

Upon our visit home, we realized you all haven't been receiving email updates! First, always visit our blog at http://sledding-backwards.blogspot.com/ - there is an "email subscribe" feature on the side if you like.

Second, always email us if you're missing the blog updates! We'd love to let you know if everything is so busy we can't blog :o) Now off to bed...

Members

In the morning, we will be welcomed as new members of Reston Presbyterian Church, where we've been enjoying great spiritual nourishment for the past 7-8 months.

Friday

Today we started the marriage conference over the weekend! It is exciting! We are enjoying it - it is by Family Life (I think).

Also, recently I went to a Kick-boxing aerobic's class. I think it kicked by butt. Literally - it feels like someone kicked my behind. Oh I should have stretched...

and now to bed to be awake for tomorrow! Praying for all of you working on the Clement Crew Yard Sale!

Thoughtless Thursday v.11

The newest game in our home- flirting brought to you by a bookish nerd and a devout math-major:

Sara: I love you Jon.
Jon: I love you too.

Sara: I love you three!

Jon: Well I love you pi.

Sara: Well I love you all the numbers in pi!

Jon: Well I love you alot.

Sara: I love you two alots....

Another variation:

Jon: I love you pi.

Sara: I love you more than pi!

Jon: I love you cake.

Sara: I love you a bakers dozen. 

Jon: I love you score....

After another one of these rounds today, I (Sara) laughed and said:

Sara: Jon - it's only two iNtuitives who express love by counting  not using actual numbers!

Jon: What do you mean by numbers? (cause there is pi, and dozen, etc...)

Sara: Like normal numbers, like 1, 2, 3....

Jon: Those are natural numbers! (insistently and passionately) They have a name!!!

Sara: (chuckles) you are cute when it comes to math...

Maybe you just had to be there, but boy was it funny. 

Clean Stove Top

Tonight we cleaned the stove top. It's been an ongoing process, however tonight it is glistening white, and I'm in aew at how white it can be. It takes awhile for something to get dirty and, in that process, we get used to the dirty and forget it's former glory. Now that it is clean, I almost feel remorse for letting it get that bad and hope not to do that again.

I have a feeling this isn't too far from life. The slow encroaching of bad habits, bad thoughts, and bad outlooks slowly spoil the light and delight of life, while we become immune to the absence of all the former goodness. I'm curious how many things in my life, when taken away, would remind me of a time, place, or feeling that would again bring me to a place of awe, with the inner vow not to let things slide that far again.

This week begins two new habits in our life: Sara going to the gym, and tv-free Tuesdays and Thursdays. After advice from a doctor, I (Sara) need to loose some weight. It hasn't gotten to a point of desperation - personally I feel pretty confident, beautiful, and healthy - however there is a slow gain. Without a bit of help from exercise classes, with the additional work outs to the ones I have been doing, slowing the gain and hopefully back-pedaling a bit will be feasible. I have a pant-size goal and a goal weight (it's recorded around here somewhere...), and hopefully the summer will help resolve some of the issues. I'm very glad to have found a gym that is both affordable and has fitness classes that fit our schedule!

TV-free is our attempt to get back into reading. Inspired by our friends who have implemented, and successfully stayed with, that habit, I hope to actually read books again, rather than simply organize them (which I do do very well). I'm excited for some new thoughts, new perspectives, and maybe even some new forms of entertainment (the novel was invented for a reason...). We'll see how it goes!

Watching my husband play soccer...

Today I had a bit of free time and went to watch Jon play soccer. He plays about 2 a week for about a hour and always comes home drenched with sweat, covered with dust, sometimes with a bruise or two, and with a huge smile on his face.

And I love watching him play. Jon is a  very kind, calm, thoughtful man to those who know him even slightly well.  However watching him play today reminded me of some of his other qualities that not everyone else gets to see...

• He is a man of absolutely decisive action. On the field he doesn't dally or delay in passing the ball (or whatever else you do out there) - he just makes the right decision with the information he has at hand in the precise time he has to make it. He does the same in life, will use all the information he can gather in the time he has to make a decision, and make that decision right when it needs to be made. It's impressive. 
• He does the absolute best he can and almost everything he does, no matter who sees it or how it is recognized  For instance, he's a stellar soccer player. Absolutely brilliant. However he never seeks to be the center of attention nor the one to make the brilliant goal. He just does his absolute best in whatever needs to be done - whether assisting, passing, defending - he'll do the best he can to meet the needs of the team! Now if it is to make a brilliant goal (like he did today) he will, but because it was the best thing to do!
• There is a positive intense power deep in this man. You can see it when he goes with his all for a ball, or runs, again, down the field. I see it in his passion and dedication to his business, and how - no matter how much I may whine about staying within the budget, doing the chores, doing things I committed to (like this blog), or simply doing what is right, but hard- I know that somehow he will listen to me with the gentlest and kindest expression on his face, make me feel heard and cared for, but with unflappable determination will guide us to doing what is right, no matter how much I may not "feel" like it - and I'm always deeply grateful for it. It impresses me every time. 
• He's confident, no matter what, and not easily deterred or discouraged. The team today wasn't doing that well - but it didn't seem to phase his enthusiasm for the game! He kept confidently playing. 
• And with all this soccer playing, this just helps what was already pretty apparently: he's really really cute. handsome. attractive. striking. buff. stunning. sharp. suave.  Yup - his wife definitely enjoyed watching the "game"! :) Marriage rocks. 

Cleaning Monday

Tonight we decided to get a little bit of work done in the office. Not much was accomplished, however the simple fact that we can sit in the office together is probably a good sign. My (Sara's) desk has become a dumping ground for all mail that needs to be opened, things that need to be gone through, and the other oddities of life. However with weekends as together and errand time, evenings with events, cooking dinner, and relaxing a bit, and other times filled with visiting family and friends- I find I'm not at my desk much at all! This allows chaos to reign in the piles of papers - and many of these papers are indeed important.

I have been used to being at my home desk. With eight years of higher education under my belt - I've spent a lot of time at my desk (or on the floor for those who know my odd studying habits). While we were engaged, I spent many hours at my desk before, during, and after talking to Jon via Skype at 9pm every night. However now I'm readjusting to what a "home office" truly is like, and how to run a home from it. If anyone has any advice on how to organize a home office, I'm all ears!

Sunday Evenings

Sunday evening's are always bitter sweet. The sweet rest of the weekend still linger's around our home, while excessive time apart leers just 9.5 hours away. It's somewhat sad to me.

Today's huge accomplishment: Filed all the wedding pictures we received into albums, where they are nicely organized for the years to come. Hopefully sooner (rather than later) we'll get around to creating an official album, but until then, we have 3 albums you can leaf through if you ever visit our home!

Saturday v.1

My (Sara's) Goal today: Make attainable goals for Saturday.

Past Saturday goals were generally something like: "Clean the entire house, make 4 new friends, work-out for hours, and solve world hunger." Needless to say - hard to complete.

Due to that goal, my goal list looked something like this:
1) Do the laundry (clean, and put away!) [very attainable]
2) Get a foam board to put on the map from our wedding, mount it, and hang it up! [somewhat attainable]
3) Clean the office! [ludicrously un-attainable]

That said, at the end of today:
#1 is completed
#2 is half-way completed (took 2 trips to Michaels, and now the board is drying)
#3 has been started, however is nowhere near completion. My goal is soon to have a desk that doesn't scare me when I come home!

Now in stereo-typical Perceiver style, we completed several other things during the day that were not on the list at all including:
- Sara joining a gym she intended to join last week. Now she has fitness classes to attend while Jon is at soccer.
- Finding frames were on sale at Michaels, and scrounging around for some posters to frame! We found 2 that are definitely worthwhile (one by Klimt, and "The Prodigal" by Rembrandt), and that resulted in another trip to Michaels. Hopefully the bare space above our couch will soon be filled with the art :o)
- Cooking 2 meals for the day- definitely worth noting.
- Mailing 2 letters. We don't have a very reliable solution for out-going mail here, so we have to make a trip to the mail box every time we want to mail something.

So all in all, a very successful day!

Thoughtless Thursday v.10

Quote of the day:

Sara: (tiredly) How about I go blog?
Jonathan (joyfully surrounded by a very dirty kitchen): Absolutely go blog and I'll clean up around here.

I feel like a princess around here!

Our first guests!

So it may seem like we have alot of "First Guests" - however tonight was the first time we invited new friends over! They are our friends Chris and Laura from church, and they are awesome. First they are awesome because they just are. Even though we are all introverts, we had very engaging conversation for over 2 hours! That is impressive. We are very grateful for our new friends and look forward to getting to know them over the next few months.

Second they are awesome because they ate my gluten-free chocolate cake! (Thank you sister Jess!!!) This is absolutely delicious and I highly recommend it to anyone! It was the first time I made it. It's pretty much liquid chocolate combined with liquid blackberry sauce. Additionaly my "Percolcating" Pandora station based upon Joshua Radin music seemed to be a pleasant, and unnoticeable, pleasant musical background. 

And Jon is wonderful. He's been listening to me giddy all week about the prospect of new friends, my first bold go at hosting, and helped me get things in order to welcome our new friends. And then he just finished cleaning the dishes while I blogged about the evening :o)

Hurrah for people! (well, in small doses....)

Money tip

Sara was tired and went to bed early, and I do not know what to blog about, so I'm gonna throw in this plug...

In case you are interested in helping us out a little bit while helping yourself out and also discovering hidden (or already discovered) treasures in your city, we recommend Groupon. We've already enjoyed it and will continue to do so to get discounts on gifts (meaning the gifts can get bigger) and on outings. If you are not already subscribed to it and you are interested in checking it out, we would appreciate it if you signed up through the following link, as we then get a little bit of money back from Groupon for referring you:

http://www.groupon.com/r/uu11184118

Signing up means you will get daily emails with tremendous deals on particular businesses/stores/services (often in the 50-60% off range, sometimes more, rarely less). These emails can quickly be scanned to see if the deals listed are interested or not (if not, the email simply goes to the trash box and voilà). Also, if you have some time, reading the detailed descriptions of the day's deals can be very entertaining, as they work with some great creative writers.

BTW, to make your money go even further, it turns out that Ebates actually works with Groupon to give cash back if you go through them first!

Noteworthy Sunday

This morning is a Sunday worth blogging about. Let me give you a back story:

One of our church's goals this year is to have a testimony each month from a member of the congregation. It could be a conversion testimony, but also "here's how God has been acting in my life" testimony. About 3 Sundays ago, a woman spoke about how God had helped her through jury duty on a very hard trial. Already very scared of public speaking, she spoke in detail about the trial she had served on - perhaps out of nervousness, perhaps out of a need to share every detail. But one thing was for sure: the details about the case were troubling in their detail. Several parents walked out of the service with their kids. It was very clear that the pastoral staff had not spoken with her in advance about what was appropriate to say in a testimony - and what was not. The head paster spoke briefly about it at the end of the service before the benediction, stating the basic premise behind the purpose and intention of testimonies and other words (which I can't remember), and we haven't heard about it since. I had nearly forgotten about it.

This Sunday the associate pastor, who I believe is also responsible for scheduling the testimonies, was speaking about evangelism. Using the illustration about Simon the Magician from Luke, he pointed out how evangelism is both about telling people the Gospel for the first time and coming along side those who are new to the faith and walking with them. And then he did something I don't think any of us were expecting:

He apologized to the whole congregation.
For something 3 weeks ago, which he could have easily swept under the rug.

He apologized for not coming along side the woman who testified, candidly admitting to not giving her the correct guidance and structure she would need for a Sunday morning testimony. He stated how the pastoral staff are putting procedures in place to provide the needed guidance for future testimonies. He also sincerely and genuinely thanked the woman for having the courage to talk about the experience and the strength to testify to God's goodness in a very hard time. And then he went on with the sermon.

Talking about this later, Jon and I were touched by his openness and vulnerability in front of the congregation. It's rare to see in men, rarer still from those in authority. And we don't think it could be better handled than it was. Certain the testimony had some very hard points to listen to and I remember thinking she clearly hadn't been coached before, actively tuning some parts of it out. However to have one of our church leaders very openly and genuinely admit to the mistake and state how they were changing course has fortified our trust in the church leadership, and their commitment to caring for the body, even if it means putting down their own egos, risking embarrassment and judgement, and doing what is right instead of what is convenient.

Saturday anticipating Sunday

Tomorrow morning we are going to church early to meet with the session to discuss becoming members of the church. Now Jon drug me kicking and screaming (metaphorically) to this church - it met all the criteria we were looking for, however wasn't my "ideal" church. It's small and, in terms of music and building, "alright." Well, in my first major act of "encouraging and supporting his wise leadership in our home" [line from my vows], we kept going and getting to know everyone there.

In the past few months we've joined a small group, gotten to know some friends, been to the pastor's house, and I have a mentor who meets with me every month or so. So yes- it was the right decision to keep going :o)

Today was a nice saturday- however as all saturday's go, I'm ending the day with the distinct feeling that I haven't gotten everything done that I aimed to do! My one success for today was visiting the nearby Curves, which I'm thinking of joining. Unfortunately jazzercise doesn't work with our schedule any more, so I'm looking for new work-out options.Other than that - we finished up the final few thank-you cards, rested, cooked lunch and dinner, and generally just enjoyed being around each other. So, good day.

Healthy teeth

2) I've been horrible at flossing. I pretty much never remember to do it. Besides, after I finish brushing my teeth, when I normally would floss them, Sara is usually done getting ready for bed and waiting for me so we can do our evening devotions together. So flossing has not been a habit of mine.

2) When the lights go out, I tend not to fall asleep that quickly. I may feel tired while going through the night-time routines, but once we're done reading the Bible and praying, the lights go out, and the restful silence settles in, it seems like my body keeps going into "alright, what to do now?" mode, and my eyelids stop drooping.

Well, I recently had an idea to take care of both of these seemingly unrelated issues. I finally used my math major and put 2 and 2 together (indeed, the first character of this blog is not a typo, just a setup for a lame joke): I placed a roll of dental floss on the chest that serves as my nightstand next to our bed. Thus, when the day's over, and I'm mentally twiddling my thumbs, I simply reach over, grab the twine and floss all my teeth! It's been working great so far.

Dad is in town!

So Dad S. is in town for a conference, and has opted to stay on our couch rather than in a hotel! Must be a pretty comfortable couch....

Actually I think he just likes to hang out with us :)

Tonight we went to a restaurant called "The Counter" where you can order gourmet hamburgers. It is delicious. They also offer them on a salad, which is also delicious, and much more gluten-free friendly. Quite enjoyable. And thanks dad for taking us out :o)