Big changes are afoot in the greater organization I & our church family are apart of… What’s happening seems to be a realignment.
I say, “Yay.”
This should make life over the next few months a bit interesting.
Tag Archives: Family
a fleeting reflection
Disneyland is one of my favorite places in the world – when I get old, really old, & retire, I want to get a season pass so that I can go to Disneyland whenever I feel like it, which would probably be monthly, for at least a few days at a time. Especially during the Christmas holidays.
I was thinking about why I feel the way I do about Disneyland, & I believe it has to do with what it represents to me. When our family went on vacations when I was but a wee lad, it was to Disneyland. And this was back in the day when you had to pay an entrance fee, then had to buy tickets in order to get onto the rides, A-E, with “E” tickets being the really cool rides, like the Matterhorn & later on, Space Mountain, & the “A” tickets being the waste of time rides, like “Small World.” 
Disneyland meant Mickey Mouse pancakes, at the River Belle, which tasted so much better than any other pancakes because they had ears. It meant “Pirates of the Caribbean” 10 times. It meant ice-cream at day’s end. It meant buying one of those “Lollipop Guild” lollies that you know you’re never, ever going to be able to finish. It meant getting so tired that I couldn’t even keep eyes open, no matter how hard I tried. It meant dragging myself out of the park, 1 hour after closing, trying to make it all the way to the hotel across the street from the park. It meant family, all together – the good, the bad, the happy, the sad, the fighting with siblings, the sheer joy of the shared experience.
My kids currently don’t appreciate Disneyland in the same way (or at the same level of fervor,) that I do, but I’m betting that will change as time goes by… if not for the sake of Disney as the king of all commercial opportunities, but for the time that it means is spent together. It might seem like a waste of time, resources, money, & all kinds of other prudent sounding things, but I think going to Disneyland is worth it. And maybe we’ll go around Christmas again.
It could happen…
Save Ferris
Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
Ferris Buehler
We try to have family meetings on a regular basis; not just in the middle of a crisis, or even in its aftermath, (though sometimes by necessity it happens then…) The purpose of the meeting is to take stock – individually & as a whole – of what’s happening in our lives. What we’re enjoying, & what brings life; what we’re struggling with, & wish would just go away. (NOTE: family members are exempt from the list of things that need to ‘go away.’)
Entering school year 2008/2009, I am struck by the need for this time together – to be able to have every member speak out & be heard, & maybe more importantly, to hear others. I think its because it gives us time & pause to regroup; to reprioritize; to change; to forgive; to give focus to something that has been neglected, forgotten, or avoided; to remind ourselves of who & what we want to be – again, as individuals & as a family. To pull in close, & feel the strength of standing together, for each other.
It’s a girl…!
Before you start offering congratulations on a little 9-month surprise, (no, we’re not having a baby,) I need to ‘splain. Or if there is no time, at least to sum up. Our family is growing.
Coming up on 8 September, Julia Kern, a 19-year old from a town in the SW of Germany, near “Ottesweier”, is coming to live with us for between 6-9 months… depending on her VISA (not the credit card, the application to stay in the US.)
The picture above was taken in May of this year – Julia is wearing the black shirt, & is standing in the front (middle), right next to her big little sister Linda, & her parents (on the left). On the right are two of my favorite people – Johannes & Anja Livelli – & we had just spent the evening eating pizza & drinking the local red .
When we’ve talked to people about Julia’s impending arrival, they inevitably ask:
TheBean & I know her pastor, Roland Lorenz. We’ve been getting together each November at the Foursquare Germany Pastors Conference. Julia has wanted to visit (& live) in the States, & Roland helped us to connect with Julia & her family in August 2007… & we’ve been in touch for the last year planning this… (Roland is in the picture below…)
In our house. In one of the rooms. Not with Pasty or Joey…
We like having people live with us – there are qualifiers for that… :) Part of it is that we love Germany, college students, & relationship-based Christ-following. This is the perfect situation where they all come together.
Then I will have a series of cool blogs to write. :) I think we’ll grow through this, & we’ll make it. She’s low-maintenance, great with kids, & it’s not something we’re freaking out about.
Depends on when you ask them… We talked about this A LOT & made the decision about it as a family.
Just about every time. Just about every question.
So, it’s on – insta-family addition, w/o the pain of diapers. We’ll never be the same. Can’t wait.
No, yes I can. But we are looking forward to it.
Milestone…
This a.m., my daughter, the Weez, the youngest child, the only girl, the character actress, the songster, the Princess Buttercup… is off to Jr High Camp… as a camper. Sigh…
Time flies.
Sometimes…
Sometimes I forget.
And then I Do… worry ensues. Anxiety. Cares. Frustrations. Heaviness. Burdens. Hard to breathe. Fighting hopelessness. Despair. Like real foes – it’s almost tangible when they enter the room.
Sometimes I remember.
And then I Be… fully present where I am. With others. Engaged. Refreshing. Lightening. Glimmers of hope & peace that never totally go away emerge…
stubbornness as a character trait (or flaw)…
Thursday, the Bean went in to the friendly neighborhood Cingular/ATT store in order to get an issue with Pasty’s phone taken care of… at least that’s the main reason. She happened to come out with a brand spanking new celly from Palm. Since we’re on the same plan, I was surprised to hear that she had been able to upgrade her now old phone already, as its usually at least 24 months between ‘free’ upgrades. (Don’t get me started.) BTW: it’s a Palm Centro that has just joined the family.
Seems that the local neighborhood ATT guy helped her get around the little “24 month til you can upgrade for free” by using one of the other lines on the account that WAS NEWLY ELIGIBLE for the upgrade to get her a new phone for just $***, (after the 356 month rebate, of course.) Guess who’s newly eligible line was appropriated? If you guess anyone other than me, you’d be wrong.
So what’s the rub? It’s not like I was looking to get a new phone – though I was enjoying my status of being “out of contract.” I have found ATT to be very willing to negotiate group rate & feature prices, as well as offering free stuff, good phone upgrades etc in order to “woo” you into signing over your life for Yet Another 24 month period of time.
The catch in this process came when i was on my way home to the little woman, & thought I’d bless her with a warning call – one of those, “Hi Honey, I’ll be home in 20 minutes…” calls. My line went directly to ATT Customer Service where I was told that in order to use my phone, & as a part of the upgrade that I had just received, I would need to agree to surrender my long-awaited “out of service” status to be once again, enslaved by the corporate giant that is ATT. And, until I did, my phone privileges were suspended.
I arrived home to find only Cubby (the nickname I’ve given to the 13 year old after a recent bout of In-School Discipline for something that Wasn’t His Fault.) I used Cubby’s phone to call ATT & talk to a live person. 2 different people took 30 minutes to describe the WHY behind my line suspension. Why MY line suspension? Because “i” had recently upgraded my phone. I tried to explain that no, I hadn’t upgraded my phone, but someone in their retail store had pulled a switcheroo. As you can probably imagine, they don’t care.
So now – I have a cell phone that is suspended until I agree to the 24 month contract extension. And, to me, it makes perfect sense that I will not agree to that contract extension. On principle.
If you’ve tried to reach me by cell, it’s not that I am “not taking calls” as the nice lady with the psycho-recording voice stated – its that unbeknownst to me, my right to freedom from a celly contract was violated in the name of getting the Bean an upgraded phone. And my line is suspended until I do agree. Which might be a while…