Loud and No Denying It

My family is loud. I always knew it, but I see how true it is from Liliana's b-day party. Today Chris was editing the video from her party to send to his parents and the tape does not lie.

We invited all of Liliana's cousins who were in town for her b-day dinner and party. 21 people made it that night. Literally when Liliana was opening her gifts you could hear 3 different conversations going on in the background- all loud ones. Chris always jokes with me whenever I am on the phone with one of my siblings because my decibel level increases. Not a yell, just loud volume.

I'd rather have a loud family having a good time then a bunch of quiet people who don't enjoy each other's company. We had a great time together- the kids played and laughed, the adults ate chicken and tried to solve the world's problems. And most of all, Liliana was surrounded by a bunch of people who love having her as an addition to our family and celebrating 2 years of life.

Christmas 2009

Celebrated the most important person in our lives
Had lots of good conversations
Realized what an amazing family I have all over again
I had a pretend tea party with my daughter
Stuffed myself with delicious Italian food
Traveled in an ice storm to get to my sis' house
Made my niece & nephew happy when they opened gifts
At one point laughed so hard I was literally in tears
Smiled seeing Liliana interact with her relatives




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Mall Walker

Usually "mall walker" is synonymous with AARP and gray hair. Well, I may not get senior discounts yet at restaurants, but I confess I have become a mall walker.

It started out as something I would do with Liliana. On a cold or rainy day we would head up to the mall and walk around so we could burn some energy. Well, I confess it has now turned into a social time. I met my friend tonight and I actually suggested meeting at the mall so we could walk around and talk. Yep, we made 2 laps around good Ole' West Towne Mall, like the pros.

I haven't started swinging my arms and doing the official "mall walker stride", but it's probably only a matter of time...

Cheese

Wisconsin folks are very serious about cheese.

On the radio last week we heard about a cheese shop near our house selling 15 year aged cheddar for.... $50/lb. Really? $50 for a chunk of cheese? Supposedly cheese gets acidic and bitter the longer it ages but this fellow claims his cheese has undergone special care and it has a smooth taste. People are buying it up. He has gotten orders from all over the US, Canada, even Asia. Wow. Who knew old cheese would have such a reputation?

I am all for a good chunk of cheese, but.. I have my limits. Last week we visited some friends and he had just received a cheese basket from one of his clients. It was from one of those local Wi shops. We sampled a delicious veggie cheese. Very tasty. Then he busted out this brick cheese. His wife was unaware he opened the package and called from the other room:

"Does Micah's diaper need to be changed?"

"No honey, it's that new cheese I just opened up."

"You are serving that?"

"Yeah, I thought we would try it"

Ok- the diaper smell should have clued us in, but naive as we are, we decided to try it.

Whenever I visit someone's house, I try to be a gracious guest. I have eaten my share of unpleasant foods and out of courtesy tried to stomach it best I could. However, this cheese was so disgusting I had to spit it out of my mouth and go throw it away. There was no trying to hide my feelings on this. It was so pungent and utterly gross.

I guess my taste buds just haven't quite developed to a true Wisconsiner. (or Sconie as some say)
I'll stick with the $3/lb cheddar thank you!

Winter Wonderland

blizzard.
white blanket.





bundling up.
snowman.
cold noses.





fireplace.
hot drinks.







calm.

Holiday Traditions

I confess that once at year I listen to Amy Grant. There you have it. I really like her Christmas Album, so every year when we bust out "Tennessee Christmas" and "Breath of Heaven" as we deck the halls.

We also drink Southern Comfort vanilla egg nog- it is non alchoholic and the most decadent egg nog we have ever tasted. I usually cook some comfort food for dinner, bake and we also purchase Red, Green & White mint M & M's for our candy jar centerpiece.

This also kicks off our "Old Movie" run. Chris and I rent or watch on Turner Classic old holiday favorites and then usually once a week for the rest of winter we watch old black and whites. Audrey Hepburn, Cary Grant- all those great classic movies that are perfect on a snowy wintery night.

It is also the time of year we get our espresso maker out of storage and Chris starts to whip up special lattes to order- peppermint, mocha, egg nog. We usually host a get together with drinks and write our menu options on the chalkboard and Chris plays barista while our friends hang out to talk, play games and be with each other.

I so appreciate seasons. It is fun having things packed away that only come out once a year. It's fun having holiday traditions and things to look forward to. Christmas time is beautiful- the lights, decor, uplifting music.

Uncle Aj's Gift

My brother in law is one of those great single guys without kids that all children like to be around. He worked in years as a juvenile corrections officer, so gives the appearance of a tough guy. (trust me, he has taken down plenty of kids in his line of work and you wouldn't want to mess with him) However, he is one of the most tender hearted guys you would ever want to meet.

Aj loves his nieces and nephews and goes over the top with gifts. One gift is a potty seat that sings. Chris put batteries in last week and it has been the highlight around here. I haven't been this intense potty trainer at all, but Liliana goes through waves where she wants to sit on her potty seat and read books. So, this past week was one of the waves. She didn't know that Daddy put batteries in and what would happen. Sheer joy. Who knew a song could making peeing so fun! Liliana was so excited when it happened that I had to spend the next 45 min sitting on the bathroom floor reading books because she didn't want to get up. She was waiting for more pee so she could hear the song again.



I'm so thankful AJ went over the top with this potty chair. To be honest I would have bought the cheapest one and thought- It's just a toilet seat. But I have to say, it has been worth it to see the excitement on her face. So fun.

Thanksgiving

We had a FUN Thanksgiving. One thing I love is to cook with my husband. Chris is great at creating spices for meats (and he is an excellent barista, but that is a subject for another day). It was fun watching him create some rubs for the turkey and stuff our bird with all sorts of citrus, spices and such. We wanted to make sure we had plenty of food, so we ended up borrowing our neighbor's oven to cook up another turkey breast so that no one would go hungry.

Besides the food, I like Thanksgiving for the relationships. Most people are off that day, so we were able to make phone calls to family and friends we haven't talked to in awhile, which was nice. We ended up having a bunch of people from church cram into our apartment. I like seeing the dishes other people create and trying people's cooking. Thanksgiving is obviously a great holiday for that.

And of course Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful. Liliana took an extra long nap on Thursday and both Chris and I were able to spend a chunk of time journaling and just reflecting on all we have to be thankful for in life. It is a habit I practice regularly because it helps me keep good perspective in life, but it's nice that a holiday is dedicated to giving Thanks as well.

9 years and counting

today marks 9 years of being married to chris. we've had some amazing 9 years of life.

some friends stayed with liliana last night so we could celebrate. chris found a great b-n-b for us to go to and had all these sweet things prepared.

- i got in the car and he had a mix he made on the ipod for our drive with love songs and other songs he knows i like.

- when we got there he had treats in the car that he brought in with us- my favorite chocolate, a special microbrew cherry beer we tried months ago that i liked (i know it sounds gross, but it is actually quite delicious), and other food treats i like

-he also made me a home made anniversary card that was on my bedside when i woke up. that is one of my favorite things about chris is his home made cards. he started that our first year of marriage for b-days, valentines day and anniversaries and they are the best. some are with graphics on the computer, some are cut of of construction paper, some have pictures glued to make a collage. i keep them all and they are such an expression of chris' simple love for me.

so thankful for my life with chris and the years to follow....

Iron Chef Madison

This weekend we hosted Iron Chef Madison. It was great! We had 2 of our neighbors compete against each other and the secret ingredient was PASTA. Chris & I were judges, along with another neighbor Cassie. Each chef made 2 dishes for us to judge and we were so impressed with their creativity. The food was DELICIOUS!

Joe won with his Spinach & Artichoke Ravioli and Chinese Chicken Noodle Soup with Green Tea/5 Spice blend. Amazing!

How To Host A Murder

Last weekend we hosted a murder mystery party. We all dressed up as characters from the 1930's from England. Little did we know that same week "The Office" would feature a murder mystery. Nice to know we keep up with prime time tv!

Treat Treat

Tonight we went trick or treating with our neighbor Lily. The girls were so adorable in their costumes- a ladybug and a skunk. Liliana couldn't quite say "Trick or Treat" so she would say "Treat Treat" when we went to each door. The neighborhood behind our apartments has lots of older people and not too many kids. So Lily and Liliana were a hit. Whenever people opened their doors and saw these 2 cuties on their porch, their faces brightened up. They would get their treats, load back up in their wagon and ride to the next house.

After our time of "Treat Treat" we came back for some soup & salad with our neighbors and Steve and Jenny. The girls played together and had such a fun time.

After the girls went to bed, our other neighbors stopped by. They dressed up as each other and it was hilarious. Scott had on makeup and this hideous wig and then Cassie dressed up in Scott's scrubs with his name badge. Scott was totally cracking us up talking about his make up and batting his eyelashes. We laughed so hard.

It was such a fun Halloween. I love having a good time with friends. :-)

Miles, Milk and Velvet Freeze

One of Liliana's highlights is going to Panera. One of the other managers, Miles, is crazy about her. Whenever she comes in he let's her go behind the counter to the fridge and get a little box of organic milk. She lights up.
In fact, every time we drive by Panera, she says, "Miles". (She used to say "Daddy", but now it is all about Miles)

It reminds me of when I was a kid. When I was little my dad and my Uncle Bob owned a cafeteria together. I remember going there sometimes right after my Uncle Bob made a fresh pan of bread pudding or rice pudding. He would scoop me up a fresh bowl and it was absolutely delicious. I would also hang out up there with my younger cousin Mary. Once in awhile my dad would take us out for a treat to Velvet Freeze Ice Cream shop that shared the same parking lot as our cafeteria. It was the highlight of our month when we got to go get a sugar cone with our favorite ice cream. My mouth is watering just thinking about it.

It's great when your family is in the food business!

A Mess and Fia

My sister, Bess, and niece, Sophia, came for a visit last week- so fun.
Liliana can't pronounce their names, so she instead of Aunt Bess, it sounds like "A Mess" and Sophia is "Fia".

Fia is 9 and Liliana adores her. It was so fun showing Madison to a kid. We visited the Mustard Museum and sampled several different types of mustard. Who knew organic mustard w/ dill would taste so delicious?

But Fia's favorite place was a local cheese shop. She loved sampling the cheeses and bought some chocolate cheese. She ate all of hers up within 24 hours, so wanted to go back to buy 3 more containers plus one for her teacher.

"A Mess" loves flowers, so we also went to the botanical gardens, which was so pretty.
They had a quilt show going on as well. I am not usually a big quilt fan, but these quilts were AMAZING. The colors were vibrant and the designs so unique. Of course being in Wisconsin one of the quilts was of these black and white cows with red trim. These folks are proud of their dairy up here, let me tell you!

We had so much fun with A Mess and Fia. We already have plans for the next time they come to visit!

Harvest Party

We had our first official Harvest Party as Madison Vineyard Church at a local Farm. It was a blast!

In Wisconsin they have corn mazes and you literally get lost going through them. We had a clue sheet to help us and we still got lost. (of course the clues were pretty tough to figure out as well). It was so much fun and I can't wait to see the new design next year and try again.

After the corn maze we hopped on the hay ride that took us out to the pumpkin patch to pick out pumpkins and then took us around some of the most scenic hills ever. The leaves have starting turning colors and one of the trees literally had a purplish tint to it- amazing!

Next we headed over to the Barnyard area where they had all sorts of animals, pig races, fun play equipment for kids, a corn box (like a sand box, only filled with corn), and a little tire maze.

We ended the day with a camp fire roasting hot dogs and making S'Mores.

We had so much fun as a family hanging out with good friends and enjoying the fall weather. I'm excited that our Harvest Party will be an annual tradition each October- what a fun way to celebrate the season!

Omega Wine

Tonight we had one of Chris' friends over for dinner so we served a bottle of Omega wine.

Omega is my Uncle Frank's wine label and so I wanted to blog about it and say how proud I am of my Uncle and cousins who have pursued this dream.

I remember going to California with my dad to visit Uncle Frank when I was in high school. He had just bought some land in Lodi and had young grape vines he planted. Years later he has a flourishing business and now his own wine label and tasting area. We had the Chenin Blanc tonight, which was so good. But I think it was especially good to me because it is my family's wine.

Cheers to Omega Winery and the Natsis family!

Play it Cool with Mom and Dad

Chris and I sat in bed tonight just talking about cute Liliana moments.

Her latest thing is trying to "play it cool" when she gets caught touching a

"No-No"- which are the computer and our cell phones. She has her own little computer key board and pretend cell phone that we set up for her when we are doing office work, yet she still likes to test the limits and play with ours when we aren't looking. So, if you catch her, she will either say

"High Five" and try to distract you with giving you a high five

" 4" - for some reason 4 is her favorite number, so she acts like she is merely just looking at the number 4 on the computer or phone

Or she will raise her hands and pretend like she is worshipping Jesus whenever she touches the volume button on the computer.

It's hard not to laugh at her when she does these things b/c she is so cute. It's also funny to see what new decoys she tries to play off on us. Each week she comes up with a new one, so it will be funny to see what her new trick is for this week.

Couch Potato Monday

Chris and I go through these spurts where we will watch tv series together. Our current one is Smallville. His parents randomly sent us 2 seasons in the mail and at first I wasn't too interested in the teenage life of Superman. But I watched a few episodes, just so I could snuggle with Chris on the couch, and ended up getting hooked. Now, I can't wait to have our Smallville ritual. Chris usually brews up some delicious coffee and we watch it while Liliana is asleep. Today was our day off and we watched 3 episodes. (plus we watched an episode of The Office) It has been quite sometime since I have been that much of a couch potato, but I loved every minute of it.

Social Circles

Part of church planting means getting to know lots and lots of people. It is a unique time in life where we are branching out of our normal social circles and meeting all sorts of different people. Just this week alone we either had a meal or an at length conversation with these folks:

A stay home mom who served in the Air force before marriage and kids

A lawyer

Newlywed couple- she is pursuing Masters in Business (Very sharp lady) and her husband in IT

Graphic artist

Indian guy part of the Brahman caste

Fresh out of college Rn's starting their first week of new careers

Liliana's 2 toddler friends

Korean work at home mom learning how to balance home life and work

And tonight I am attending a spa party to help support a single mom trying to get on her feet

And I have to say, this is a typical week at the Roberts' household. We constantly have people over and are learning about their lives and interests. It has grown me so much as person busting out of my normal social circles and I am so thankful that Liliana is exposed to such a wide range of people each week.

Fish Fry

Last weekend we went to a FUN fish fry. We often host parties, so whenever someone else hosts one and we just get to attend, I love it. I particularly like seeing people's expressions of hospitality.

This fish fry was hosted by 2 bachelors in our church and I have to say I was so impressed. Jared caught all the fish we ate on one of his fishing trips this summer and Adam had great seasonings to cook them up. They made 76 fillets, plus we had tons of yummy sides for non fish lovers. Jared even had a huge jar of homemade pickles he made from the cucumbers he grew in his garden. Seriously, what single guy has his grandma's recipe for homemade pickles? So delicious.

Adam said he used to have a fish fry with his college buddies all the time and I really hope this can become a little tradition for our church. We just need to get some more fishing trips together so we have a good excuse to fry them up. (or I guess we can cheat and go to the market, but it doesn't seem as fun).

Sounds of Fall

The other night I was driving to go work on my teaching for Sunday and decided to stop in a nearby neighborhood and go for a walk. The evening air was crisp, so I parked my car and headed out for a stroll to unwind and spend some time in prayer and reflection. This one particular street had a tree with tiny yellow leaves that had already begun falling from the tree. As I walked on that stretch of sidewalk I could hear the leaves crunching underneath my feet. The sound of that just did something to my soul. I took in the beautiful landscapes and trees, walked near the community garden, saw blooming flowers and veggies and life was good. The fresh air and half hour stroll was just what I needed.

I proceeded to Barnes and Noble, parked my laptop on the table with my decaf and typed away. I accomplished more the next 1.5 hours then I normally would have in 5 hours. It's funny b/c my sermon is on God's ability to multiply, as seen in the miracle of multiplying fish and loaves. Yet in this circumstance he multiplied my time- my need for refreshment and clarity in my Bible studying was definitely marked by God.

The sounds of fall are amazing!

Nana & Apple Pie

When Everybody Loves Raymond used to be on tv I loved watching that show and laughing at the extreme disfunction of that family. Yet at the same time I was very thankful that my mother in law is not like Marie Barone.

This past weekend Chris' mom came from Texas to visit us for a few days- to see where we now live, see our new church and see how much Liliana has grown. We had such a good time showing her around our city, taking her on some country roads to see the pretty landscape, playing with Liliana, eating some of the best Italian food ever and just hanging out.

I especially appreciated our last night together. Chris and Liliana were both in bed and Cathy and I were up talking. Our neighbor, Scott, knocked on our door about 9:30 with a plate of pipping hot apple pie he just made. Scott just graduated from college in May and is your typical frat, jock type of guy. However, he has this hidden baking talent. The past two Thanksgivings he has helped his grandma make apple pies, so has learned how to make flaky crusts. He was proud of his home made pie and wanted to share some with us. So Cathy & I stayed up til midnight eating pie and just sharing a heart to heart talk. Every time she visits we somehow end up having these long talks. Chris' mom and dad pastor a church in Texas, so I think she feels like there are not too many people she can open up to about her life. She must feel the freedom to share with me and know I will listen. And I want to be that for her.

(& I have to say Scott's apple pie was DELICIOUS!)

Great weekend and we can't wait til next time when PaPa can come too!

Celebrate Good Times

This weekend we went to Chicago for my cousin Bill's wedding. It was a time of celebration on so many different levels.

Celebrating Family- We had relatives travel in from Canada, DC, Kentucky, California, St. Louis & Wisconsin to be here. We all stayed at the same hotel and had so much fun sitting around talking while the kids played with their cousins. It inspired us so much that we are now planning annual family reunions where we can all come together in a different location, stay at a hotel and just have fun together.

Celebrating with Food- Greeks know how to eat. I was particularly glad to have delicious dolmathes. They are a pain to make, so I will often try to find them in Greek restaurants to satisfy my craving. Usually they are not made well, but these dolmathes were something to celebrate!

Celebrating with Dance- At one point I was holding hands with my aunt on one side and niece on the other, while the rest of my cousins, aunts, uncle, siblings were also in a line dancing with us. It is so much fun dancing with your family like that, especially seeing all the aunts and Uncle Frank smiling and having a good time. I also must say I was impressed with Bill's groomsman- at one point this guy was doing a back bend while holding on to a napkin in the line. Very impressive.

Celebrating with a Toast- As the groom, Bill took this opportunity on his wedding day to give the most touching speech. He expressed his gratitude for his brothers and mom and not only was he crying, but all the tables with family were tearing up. It was beautiful.

Our family has had more than our share of tears over the years, so it is just bliss when we can come together to laugh and celebrate good times!

Shoo Fly

Two days ago Liliana discovered a fly. I don't know if it was the first fly she ever saw or just the first time she actually noticed a fly. Either way- she had a ball chasing the fly around the room, trying to get it when it landed and giggling when she couldn't catch it. It was the cutest thing to watch. Normally I shoo flies away because they are annoying and here is my daughter taking such delight in this little creature.

So, today another fly appeared. I found myself excited to see it so that Liliana and I could try to play catch the fly and laugh together. Funny how my concepts of flies have changed...

Neighbors Part 2

Ok seriously, I don't know why God keeps bringing these amazing neighbors our way, but he does.

We met another young family 2 buildings over. This afternoon they were going to the park with their 2 kids, so popped by our apartment to see if we wanted to join them. We headed out and played at the park, then they invited us for dinner on the way back. AJ is Italian, so he made his special sauce and we had fresh pasta that they bought at the farmer's market yesterday. The kids had so much fun playing, we ate amazing food, drank merlot, had good conversation. It was such a fun and spontaneous afternoon and evening. So refreshing.

Leaving my family in St. Louis to move to Madison has been a sacrifice, but then when I am surrounded with amazing neighbors I see God meeting me in new ways. I'm thankful for the people in our community and feel like God completely hand picked where we live.

highlights of my week

-hearing my daughter say "i love you" for the first time. absolutely AMAZING!

- going to boston for a summit and sitting in a room with brilliant leaders processing how to be relevant with the message of Jesus. it was so challenging and empowering at the same time

- eating a souvlaki that was so good it reminded me of going to the souvlaki stands in greece with my cousin dimitra

- meeting ed on my flight home. he was so surprised i am a pastor and we had a great conversation about jesus and church, even though he is pretty turned off by religion. at the end he actually asked me to pray to my "Buddy" to help him have faith

- walking around the wisconsin dells with my family and checking out all the tourist attractions. who knew i lived less than an hour away from all that hoopla?

- getting a free $10 gas card with my grocery store purchase today

- reading a Mickey book to Liliana. on one of the pages there was a picture of someone waving. she reached over to the book and gave the picture a high five and said "Five". (it looked like any other high 5 to her)

- coming home to a clean house the other day- fresh sheets on bed, carpets vacuumed, kitchen scrubbed. i love my hubby!

Happy Adoption Day

Although we had Liliana with us in July, August 4th is the official day we signed our adoption papers. So Chris and I decided that we wanted to make a tradition each year to celebrate Adoption Day. We are so thankful for this day and the joy of finally having Liliana as part of our family.

So we took a little day trip to Peck's Farm. It is in a small town outside Madison with absolutely beautiful views. Peck's Farm has goats, deer, ducks, fish and pigs you can feed and Liliana had so much fun. I love seeing the joy on her face when she saw all the animals. She was not afraid at all to reach out her hand to feed them and just giggled when they took the corn from her hand.

They have a little shop with yummy goods, and we found Sprecher's soda. A friend told me about this local WI soda- the flavor she told me about was cran-cherry soda with ginseng. Her sister (aka Alice in Dairyland) is this year's WI representative for promoting local foods and so she was promoting using this soda to make floats. So we picked up some vanilla bean ice cream and gave it a try. YUMMY! I never would have tried it if Wendy hadn't recommended it b/c it kind of sounded like a gross flavor. But it was so good. We don't usually give Liliana sugar, but we gave her a few bites of ice cream. She calls it "cold" instead of ice cream. "More cold, more cold" she kept saying.

I wrote several pages in my journal today about Liliana. I can hardly believe it has just been one year since she has been in our life. I can't even begin to picture life without her... she has helped me appreciate life in a way only a child can. I love her and am so thankful God has finally let me enjoy the beauty of motherhood. What a precious gift to be celebrated.

Happy Adoption Day Liliana Jae!!

Reading Seasons

My friend recently posted her top 15 favorite books on Facebook and it inspired me to think about what books have shaped me over the seasons of my life.

BIG BOOK OF THINGS TO DO
This is my first book I can remember. It was huge and filled with different activities and stories. My brother Nicholas would read it to me all the time before I knew how to read and I loved sharing this book with him.

CHILDHOOD FAVORITES:
Encyclopedia Brown/Nancy Drew
anything by Judy Blume
Shel Silverstein's poems
Kid version biographies- my mom loved it when I brought these home to read together. She even chose the story about Jackie Robinson, the first African American baseball player, as a topic for one of her college papers. She also liked it when I brought home Amelia Bedelia books to read. I guess she thought AB was so silly and it was fun to read together.

TEEN CHOICES:
steady diet of Seventeen and YM magazines
The Night by Elie Wiesel- I used a cutting from this in a prose competition and won 3rd place in city of St. Louis
plays of all sorts
Le Petit Prince- it was all in French; good book and huge accomplishment to read a novel in another language
Bible- high school was the first time I read the entire Bible

20's
4 loves by CS Lewis- this book got me into all of CS Lewis' other great books
Severe Mercy
Max Lucado books
Lonely Planet Guide to W. Europe- this book was a life saver for my backpacking trip
Any book on marriage or relationships I could get my hands on. I wanted to learn all I could, even before I was engaged
7 Habits of Highly Effective people- this book literally changed my life!
National Geographic & Victoria magazines- loved looking at the beautiful landscapes and photos

30's
the internet!
Richard Foster- Celebration of Discipline and Prayer
NT Wright books
Real Simple, Prevention, Martha Stewart Living, Everyday Food and Cutting Edge magazines
Kid's books- "You are My, I Love You"- I actually cried the first time I read this to Liliana

grumpy troll

a few days ago chris and i hopped on the motorcycle and just rode. we had no particular destination, we just wanted to see where the back roads would lead us. oh my goodness... we live in an AMAZING part of the country. the scenery was gorgeous and reminded me of one of my trips to germany. it was so green and hilly and the sky looked streaked with a storm ready to come in hours later.

we circled back around and ended up in a little town called mt horeb. all the shops on main st. were closed and the "grumpy troll" was the first little place we saw that was open and it looked kind of fun.

we ordered a burger and we requested mustard. the waitress asked what kind we wanted and listed off 6 different kinds. i can honestly say that was the first time i have ever been given so many mustard choices in my life. well, come to find out that mt horeb is the mustard capital of the world. who knew? so she brought out 3 different kinds for us to try out. how fun.

they had tv trivia cards at the table, so chris and i quizzed each other and then laughed about old shows we watched as a kid. (mel's diner with that one waitress flo who would always say "Kiss My Grits"- i can't even believe i remembered that show!)

we ate and then got back on the bike before it rained. it was a perfect evening and just what we needed to fill up our "fun tanks".

backpack time

It's funny the things you say you will never do when you have kids and then lo and behold kids come and you do that exact thing.

So, I confess, I bought one of those backpacks for Liliana with the tail that I hold on to. Others refer to it as "the leash".

It was the best $10 that I have ever spent.

L and I can walk down the sidewalk now without me worrying about her going into the street or having to sprint to catch her and grab her from potential danger. We went to the zoo the other day and I brought her backpack with us so that after awhile in the stroller she could get out and walk around. Another mom saw me with the "leash" and had that look on her face...the one where you secretly want to buy the leash but don't know if people will think you are a weirdo; then you get hopeful that someone you know owns one and maybe you can go ahead and get one too.

By the end of our time at the zoo she was
A. relieved to know that her son isn't the only one that dashes off any chance he gets
B. heading straight to Target to buy one.

Meet the Neighbors....

We have these amazing neighbors...
Last night 13 of us met outside and grilled pizzas, had an ice cream bar, played washers & play doh and had so much fun!

2 things have meant so much to me this past week from my neighbors....

1. Last weekend we had some people over for dinner and invited Kasey and her daughter Lily. (Lily was born on the exact same day as Liliana- Dec. 28, 2007. We hang out with them A LOT.)
Kasey made an amazing salad with feta cheese. She knows I am Greek, so she found an ethnic store so she could buy real feta cheese instead of the crumbled stuff you buy at the grocery store. It was so delicious and I couldn't believe she would take the time to go to Gino's Deli to buy the good stuff. She had never even been there before but scoped it out for me. And I have to say, the feta was great!

2. We have a new couple Scott and Cassie who just graduated in May and moved a few weeks ago to start their new jobs in Madison. Liliana loves Scott- he is super fun and great with kids, so he likes to play with her. Anyway, Scott and Cassie are already planning something for when Lily and Liliana turn 2. C was starting to tell us the other night, S told her to wait and that we would find out in 6 months what the surprise is. I haven't even thought about Liliana's 2nd b-day and here our neighbors are already brainstorming. Super sweet!

This is actually the first time in my life I have ever lived in an apartment and it has been a great experience. I met some more neighbors tonight in the next building that seem super nice as well. We even have a great maintenance guy from Albania and we plan to have dinner next week with him and his wife. What a fun little community we have!

Teachings

One of my primary responsibilities with our church plant is overseeing the teachings each week. Chris is great at sermons, but he is even better at going out and meeting new people. Since sermon prep takes lots of time, we decided that I would teach 3 Sundays and he would teach 1 Sunday, in this season of the church life. This frees up his evenings to meet new people and then after he and L go to bed I can work on teachings. ( I am a night owl by nature)

This has been so good for me for a number of reasons.
1. I have to stay current with Jesus. If I am going to have something to say week in and week out, I have to be spending lots of time hanging out with Jesus and reflecting on the Bible. When we led youth group or various small groups, you could always have a "fun night" planned if you just couldn't get around to a teaching for the week. But not the case for Sunday mornings

2. I have to really spend time extracting out the nugget to be learned. I am a pretty straight forward type person when it comes to teachings. I like it when sermons are easy to follow and there is a main point instead of going all over the place. It is challenging to spend time on verses and figure out what in the world is important about what you just read. Sometimes I get stuck and I have to make myself keep digging in until something clicks. It's so fun when it does click and the Holy Spirit shows you something relevant.

3. It challenges me as a person. In high school I was involved with drama and also competed with speech class. However, after that I never did much with it and so I reverted back to my introverted self. I am naturally very shy and don't prefer speaking to large groups of people. Plus I talk super fast when I get nervous. It is a huge down fall of mine. I remember a few times giving announcements at church and people saying that they had a hard time keeping up with me b/c I talked so fast. But I know that the only way I am going to grow is to have lots and lots of practice. Fortunately we have a great group in our church now, who are super encouraging and give me space to make mistakes and grow in this area. I really love the Bible and have a desire to teach others, so I am thankful for this opportunity to develop this skill.

It's amazing all the dynamics that go into teachings- studying, formulating a thesis and points, making sure you are true to the rest of the Bible and not pulling verses out of context and then delivery. We asked a few pastors how long sermon prep takes them.. the avg is usually 10-12 hours per sermon, more if you are just starting out. Hearing that made me feel much better! I also remind myself that God is bigger than my prep or delivery. If someone has an open heart, God can certainly teach them, even if I am going at lightning speeds. :-)

Good Night

The other night when I tucked Liliana in I just held her as tight as I could, hugged her and thanked her. I thanked her for bringing such joy to her Mommy and Daddy. I told her she has no idea how much joy she gives us and I pray that we can bring her joy as well. I love her!!

Disco

Yesterday when Chris came home from work he was in a fun mood. He was playing a bunch of disco and 80's tunes and doing break dancing moves for Liliana. Next thing I knew we were all dancing around the living room to YWCA and Play That Funky Music. I love my fun husband!

The Lou

I never did write about trip to St Louis...

Liliana had so much fun- on Thursday night 3 of her cousins spent the night together at my sister's house. Whenever the cousins spend the night they have a tradition of going to the gas station and Bess lets each of them pick out 2 junk food treats. They LOVE going to the gas station. So, when I put L to bed they made their trip and by the time I came down to the kitchen the counter was full of Funions (is that how you spell those crunchy fake onion rings??), pringles, gummy bears, etc...

Then the next morning we went swimming. My sister Bess has a friend Robin that she has known since kindergarten. It has been a few years since I have seen Robin, but she was so excited to meet L. She is a teacher, so she is wonderful with kids and we all had such a great time at her house. We ate TONS, swam and just wore ourselves out. This was Liliana's first time to really go swimming- we took her in sprinkler type thing last year, but not quite the same. She has a cute new bikini and she loved swimming. She kept up with everyone and as soon as pulled away from Robin's house she was out cold. Kids have it made that the can sleep in the car- I was a little jealous at that moment that I couldn't sleep in the car with her!

We came home, changed, and then Bess, L and I went to Imo's Pizza. We were cracking up- first we spilled ranch dressing all over the ground and had to get someone to clean it up. Then we spilled our iced tea- we were making a scene just laughing. We weren't trying to spill things on purpose. So we decided we better get out of there before we spilled more stuff!

Then Saturday was the baptism. My cousin Bessy had a great reception as usual- there were at least 100 people there. She had lots of food, Greek dancers, crafts for the kids, take home gifts, etc... They had those fake tattoos, so L got her first Elmo tattoo. I heard "Elmo, Elmo" all the way home as she would point and get so excited about her new tattoo.

I remember growing up getting to spend time in the summer with my out of town cousins from Chicago, California, Canada and Greece. Those are some of my best memories and I hope I can pass that on to Liliana too.

Happy Father's Day

This was Chris' first Father's Day. It's crazy to think that last year at this time we had no idea Liliana even existed, much less would be our daughter. Life can be full of surprises.

3 days before FD Liliana and I were in St. Louis visiting family for a baptism. (more on that in another blog entry). I am not the type of wife that can be apart long from their spouse. I know many people travel and have to spend extended periods of time away, but I just am not wired that way. So, on the ride back to Madison I called Chris how many times? I missed him so much.

Since we were gone for 3 days, all Chris wanted to do for Father's Day was to be near us and have a low key time at home. He was in the mood for some sort of Italian flavors and salad. So, I made a yummy chicken and roasted red pepper alfredo pizza with feta and parmesan cheese. We cooked it outside on the grill and I also made a big salad to go with it.

We played a lot with Liliana- she was super wound up... she gets that way when we travel and she gets out of her routine. But it was hilarious and she was totally cracking us up. After her nap, Chris and Liliana went to go rent a romantic movie and get some treats for Mommy and Daddy to have when Liliana went to bed.

We snuggled on the couch with treats and we were in paradise. We have full schedules, so to have an evening to lounge around and chill with a movie was so great. It was a perfect first Father's Day. :-)

Emotions Galore

I thought about how many different emotions I experienced yesterday... These are just the ones that come to my mind right away. No wonder Chris had a hard time keeping up with me sometimes...

SATISFACTION- got a delicious ice cream cone and sat out on the terrace by the lake at UW eating it. the weather was gorgeous and the ice cream tasty.

SADNESS- i read my e-mail for the volunteer opportunities this week with AIDS network. one of the clients said he would buy someone a ticket to go with him to the amusement park and ride roller coasters. i almost cried when i read this.. someone has to pay a stranger to go to great america with him because he is lonely and has no friends to go with him. so sad.

DISAPPOINTMENT- i got a phone call from a venue we have been scoping out for our church services. they are wanting to charge us double of what quoted to us. gotta keep looking some more.

APPRECIATION- sometimes i stop and stare at liliana's blue eyes and just appreciate her beauty. she was on chris shoulders and she was leaning against his head b/c she was tired. her skin color with a white shirt against chris' dark hair just made her complexion glow and her eyes shine. it's good to stop and notice her beauty, not just her cuteness.

CURIOSITY- there is a co-op in town and so we stopped by to check it out. i love exploring new stores and seeing what kinds of goods they have. we spent forever in the loose tea aisle trying to see what blends would be good to try, scoping out the various cheeses, chocolates, on and on.. it was fun.

NOT SURE WHAT I WAS FEELING- chris watched L so i could go to barnes and noble for a little while. when i got there i had no idea what kind of a mood i was in and what i wanted to read. so i kind of wandered around aimlessly and then finally got a few books and sat down, still even then not sure what kind of mood i was in.

FATIGUE- i was worn out in the afternoon, so while L took her nap, i also took a little cat nap. i needed it.

SURPRISE- chris went to return some library books and when he came home he had a big glass of iced tea for me. for some reason i am bad at making iced tea. i love the iced tea from his work, so he always brings some home for me. even though he was off today he stopped by and his boss let him bring some home for me anyway.

BOLDNESS- we have some new neighbors that moved in and they seem like a super cool couple. their daughter, lily, was playing outside for a few minutes with liliana. when we came in i told chris we needed to have them over for dinner to get to know them better. so i marched to their door and invited them to grill with on on tuesday. and they said yes. :-)

CONNECTION- we always say bedtime prayers, but after we did, chris and i had this super great time of sharing what God is doing in our lives. i felt so connected to chris and Jesus after sharing- it was one of those rare, special spiritual connection times.

Bikers and Bars

Last night our friends watched L so Chris and I could go out together and meet people. For those who have never church planted, basically when you first move to a new city, you try to meet as many people as you can. The technical term is called "gathering" or I guess in the corporate world it would be "networking". Chris and I are not really interested in gathering Christians going to another church.. we want to see people meet Jesus so we are hanging out at non-churchy places.

So...
Wed night is bike night in Madison. Not Schwin bikes, but Harley bikes. Chris and I have a motorcycle- not for status, but for a cheap and fun way to get around town. So, we thought we would go check out "bike night". It was actually cool in the fact that literally hundreds of motorcycles are parked all over this location and it draws quite the crowd. However, we are so not the biker types. Everyone was decked out in their leather clothes and boots, bandanas on their heads, showing off their latest Harley gear. Here we are in our jeans and tennis shoes and a Honda Shadow motorcycle that totally needs to be washed!

It ended up being good though.. we ran into one of the bakers at Chris' work and also our realtor, who we like a ton. It was great to see her and talk and we hope to hang out again.

Then we went to this local bar. Chris met a bartender there who is Greek, so I had to go meet her. I love her! We hit it off immediately and by the end of the night exchanged phone numbers so we could meet up to go get some Greek food.
However, the funny part is that I have zero tolerance for alcohol. I really like the taste of good beer, but if I drink an entire beer I get really sleepy. So I am sitting at this bar and I can feel myself getting drowsy after about half a glass. So I switched glasses with Chris and made him finish mine so I wouldn't fall asleep in the bar.

The things we do for Jesus! :-)

"ouch"

Liliana learned the word ouch last week when she got a scratch on her foot. So she is keenly aware of any "ouches" in sight. After her ouch, were reading the Bible and when she saw the picture of the Good Samaritan she pointed to the wounded person saying, "Ouch".

So.... this morning I woke up with a big ol' pimple on my chin. When L saw it she just stared and immediately said "Ouch". All day long she kept coming back to me, pointing to my chin and saying "Ouch".

Yeah, I'm not so sure I like this new vocab word anymore....

AIDS network

Today I went to an orientation meeting to begin volunteering with the AIDS network in Madison. I really hadn't given much thought to AIDS until last year when I went to Rwanda and met so many people that were HIV positive- many women and children. During the genocide, one of the ways they wanted to kill people was for soldiers who were HIV positive to rape women and thus spread their virus. What a cruel and awful tactic!

So, while we are still involved in work in Rwanda, I thought it would be good to get involved locally with AIDS patients.
The office is located on Willy St, which is where many homosexuals live and boasts of endless gay friendly shops- rainbows everywhere. There was a part of me that felt uncomfortable being there- not because I don't like gay people, but because I feel like gay people won't like me since I am a pastor by vocation. I guess "reverse discrimination". At the beginning of the orientation we had to tell why we were interested in volunteering. I explained my trip to Rwanda and the head guy was so impressed and wanted to hear more. So after it was over he asked me what organization I was with there and I said it was Vineyard, which is a church, there was a hint of disappointment in his voice. Oh well.

I think this is going to be a good, eye opening experience for me. I can't even begin to imagine the hurt and judgements that homosexuals have received from church people. You just feel the tension in the air when gay and Christian are used in the same sentence- on both ends. My desire is to be a learner- I believe the gay community has things to teach me and I want to learn. I want my love to grow and hopefully in turn offer love to those whom I will serve.

Tidbits from my week

i just read jenny's blog about tidbits from her week and liked it so i am copying...

colored my hair and soooo happy i did. my sis used to be a beautician back in the day, so she bought me a year supply of good quality hair color as a gift. bring on the chemicals- i would much rather have chemical hair than gray hair. (other than that i am pretty green, but i just can't embrace gray hair until i'm at least 70)

i am turning into an active person and surprising myself. a few days ago L was running a fever, so we didn't take our normal daily walk b/c she slept more than usual. i was just itching to get out and exercise, so after she went to bed, chris stayed home so i could take a quick power walk around the neighborhood. it felt so good. am i getting addicted to physical activity? i don't mind at all if i am.

organic strawberries were on sale, so i am indulging myself in summer fruits. had some bing cherries tonight also. summertime fruit makes me happy.

went to capital brewery with steve and jenny. so fun sitting on the veranda on a perfect evening, eating snacks, listening to music and drinking some brews.

took L to state st for the first time to meet dale and jacq for ice cream. there were pictures of cows at the ice cream shop and she starting saying "Moo" when she saw it. she has been learning her animal sounds, so i thought it was so cute!

talked on the phone with this amazing vocational trainer/life coach from boston this week. he goes to a vineyard church there and is helping me develop some of our newcomer class materials on discovering how God made us. i was so inspired and encouraged talking to him and reading the material he mailed to me. people probably pay big bucks to meet with this guy and he has given me all his resources and time for free. so thankful.

talked on the phone to my 2 sisters and my 2 brothers. i also have 2 cousins that are like sisters to me.. one is in greece so i can't talk to her for a few weeks- bummer. i did get to e-mail my other cousin a few times this week so that was good. i love my family and am so glad we have good relationships with one another.

tried some new indian food this week- tasty stuff.

had people over to our apartment several times this week-love being a hostess!

got to read a ton.

took a nap yesterday.
good week.

Rainy Day

Now that I am sitting down to write, I remember one more thing that happened our first week here...

Liliana and I went out for a stroller ride to explore the neighborhoods around us. There's some lovely homes and landscaping and we were having a peaceful walk. All of a sudden I felt a few rain drops and realized that I had kind of gotten turned around and didn't quite know how to get back home. I picked up the pace and the rain picked up as well. About 100 yards away I noticed someone getting out of their car heading towards a soccer park, so I ran to catch them and ask them where the heck I was. I'm standing out in the rain with L, soaking wet while this nice lady gives me directions and welcomes me to Madison.

We start heading home and soon I hear thunder. I quicken my pace. More thunder. I am freaking out because the streets are all lined with lovely trees- great for getting struck by lightning. At first L was into the adventure, but as the thunder got louder and we got wetter she started to cry. I am a horrible runner and gym was my worse class in school.. I am all of a sudden getting flash backs of running the mile in jr high and coming in close to last place. However, I had my baby girl and needed to get home. I ran so fast up the hill back home that my chest hurt and I could feel my lungs aching. I had to stop several times to catch my breath and try to encourage L that we were almost home. I can only imagine what people driving by in their cars thought.. Who is the crazy lady taking her toddler for a walk in a thunderstorm? I would have thought the same thing.

We rounded the corner home and came inside. We peeled off our wet clothes, got dressed and found the biggest blanket we could to snuggle under. L's fingers were freezing, so we snuggled under a blanket and read books til bed time. Needless to say, directions aren't my strong point. :-)

A Little Note

Today I came home from meeting a new girl at an Indian Restaurant and there was a note attached to my door. I opened it up and it was a hand made thank you note from our upstairs neighbors. It made my day!

Our first week here Liliana had a hard time going to sleep in her new environment. My daughter has LOUD pipes, so she was wailing at the top of her lungs at some points and just couldn’t be calmed down. I have never lived in an apartment before, so I had no idea if our neighbors could hear and if they officially hated us for moving in. So, I decided to bake some chocolate chip cookies that Liliana and I could deliver to the neighbors as a way to meet them and apologize for them having to deal with her adjustment. Last week I met the girls upstairs- they are sisters and have a cat that Liliana loves. When I gave them the cookies at first, they seemed like they didn’t know how to take me and to be honest I kind of felt like June Cleaver minus the pearls. Anyway, they assured me that they couldn’t hear Liliana and welcomed me to Madison.

Then today was their sweet note thanking me for the delicious cookies. I like these girls already!

Madison or Bust

Tomorrow will mark 2 weeks of taking the biggest step of faith in my life. We packed up all of our belongings, filled a U-haul, trailer and back of a truck and moved to Madison, WI to start a new church. We still haven't sold our home back in the St Louis area, yet we both felt in the deepest place of our heart God nudging us that it was time to step out and that He would take care of us each step of the way.

So, here we are.

As we were driving up, we didn't even know if we were going to have a place to stay. We literally called an apartment manager at a gas station to see if they had received and approved our application. We got to Madison, looked at the apartment and then went and signed papers 15 minutes before the office closed.

It still feels a bit surreal that we are actually living here and I sometimes find myself feeling like I am just on a YWAM outreach. Yet as each day unfolds we continue to feel God is in this and our hearts are connecting more and more with our new community.

We actually love our apartment and our area of town. Chris walks to work, it is so close. Less than 2 miles is our favorite microbrewery. We walk to great parks and trails, the library... Madison is a super fun town and we really really like it here.
I can't wait to see how this next phase of our lives unfold!

Animal Lover??

Yesterday Chris and I had a lunch date while my sister watched Liliana. We had a little more time before we had to head back, so Chris wanted to run by Borders because Tuesday is the "new release" day for music, books and movies. He likes to keep up with all that stuff. So, we went in and somehow I ended up in the children's section.

They had several Mother's Day books on display, so I picked a few up and started to read. One in particular was so amazing. It showed all these mother animals with their babies and how each one loved them in a special way- the kangaroo mom held her baby and they hopped along; the rhinoceros mom played in the water with her baby.. on and on. I just loved flipping the pages and seeing all these animals show their babies love in a way unique to them.

So, today I go to work and in the Yochum's garage is their cat sitting in a cushioned box. As I looked closer tiny kittens were nestled next to her, getting their nourishment. I knew their cat was pregnant, but we weren't expecting kittens for a few more weeks. It turns out that last night she gave birth to 6 kittens.

I did not grow up on the farm, so this was my first time to see tiny baby kittens and the sight was so precious. The Mom, Friskey, looked so proud as she sat with her babies next to her and the 6 kittens so frail. Their eyes were not yet opened and they just shook. It was such a display of tender beauty.

What's crazy is that if you know me, you'll know that I am NOT an animal lover. Not at all. Yet, lately I have been asking God to open my eyes more to His beauty in new ways. It just so happens that the animal mom book and Friskey's birth displayed such a tender side of God. Truly beautiful!

Random humourous moments

Liliana loves to put my winter tukes on over her entire face and walk around like a blind person, with her hands out to reach for the wall. She looks like a little mummy. Every time she walks into a wall she just pulls the hat up to peek and see where she is at, and then pulls it back over her face for more fun.

Alyssa told me that in gym class she accidentally bumped into her friend Liam in his privates. So, he began to sing:
"Stop, don't touch me there
This is my no-no square"
She sang and showed me the motions and I was cracking up. So of course I had to tell Chris. He sang it to all his co-workers and so now that is the song they sing at Bread Co. while they work.

Last week we watched the Office and when Chris gets really excited or when he really laughs he sort of does this whooping kind of laugh and gets us from his chair, flailing his arms. You can probably hear him from 2 houses down, that's how loud he is. He is so fun to watch comedy with.. he used to do this every night when Everybody Loves Raymond was on. This past week Dwight Schrute just drew out the Chris Roberts laughter gig. I love it.

Journals Journals More Journals

Last year I started an annual tradition of going on a solitude retreat. We have a few Catholic monasteries near us where people can go to spend a day or a week (or more) in solitude and prayer. So I did my 2nd solitude retreat a few weeks ago overnight at one of these Catholic places.

For this retreat I packed up ALL of my journals. I have written in journals since I was a teenager and they are in a big plastic container in my closet. So I brought them with me and literally spent hours going through each one. What a rich experience! I forgot half of what I have done or experienced and it was so great to have these journals to look on.

Since my retreat I find myself going back to these different seasons of life in my mind and realizing I have actually led an interesting life. I have actually done some adventurous acts. God is actually real and wants to have an engaging thriving relationship with me.

It makes me want more.

My prayers have been bolder the past few weeks, my passions re-stirred, and my desire to see other people's dreams realized has increased. I am so excited to start a church in Madison and see people realize their dreams and go make a difference for the kingdom of God. It's time.

Like Daughter Like Mother

The older my daughter gets, the more outgoing she is and the more outgoing I am becoming.
Last week we flew to Texas to finalize her adoption. Liliana was in heaven at the St. Louis airport East Terminal. She had this wide open space and so Chris and I took turns walking up and down the terminal with her to let her get her energies out before boarding the plane. She made tons of friends along the way. We passed by a sports bar and there was an older man who was in his own world drinking his whiskey. Liliana walked right up to him and smiled. He immediately put down his glass to engage in conversation with her. After that she found a big tough guy that looked like he was meeting up with his gangster buddies. Same thing.. sure enough Mr Gangster himself was flashing his teeth trying to get Liliana to smile more. I love it that she picks the most random people to socialize with. It seriously has made me more aware of people when I go out and I feel like I am on a mission now to encourage strangers.

A few weeks ago the lady at the deli counter was pouring out her heart to me about her family problems and at the end of our time slipped me some extra turkey that I didn't have to pay for. I think she just appreciated someone to take time to listen to her.
We often go for family treats to Culvers. There's a lady that cleans the dining room named Mary. She is an older lady with no kids or husband and you can tell she also is lonely. So now every time we go in we make sure to talk to Mary and give her space to just share what is going on with her life. It's only a few minutes of our time, but I think it really encourages Mary.

Just random people.. I am so thankful that Liliana is teaching me to notice them, to read their name tags at work and call them by name, to ask them questions about their lives and hopefully to speak encouraging words to them. It makes ordinary tasks like running errands so much richer when I am thinking, "How can I encourage the check out clerk at Walmart?"

Food Tour

This past month we've had some fun food experiences. Babysitters have been coming out of the wood work, so we have been taking full advantage.

Our food tour started off with a hole in the wall Vietnamese place near our old neighborhood. There's about 10 tables in the restaurant and it's owned by an older couple. When we went for lunch, the Vietnamese man stopped and talked to us each time he brought something to our table. His wife was in the kitchen cooking and you could tell he was so proud of his wife as he bragged about her food. The food was delicious. The word we kept using was fresh- everything tasted so fresh. We loved eating the food, while hearing this old man tell us about the homemade sauces his wife made and seeing his cute personality and pride in his family business.

Last week we had some of our friends treat us to dinner at a new Mexican restaurant. It more like a Mexican bistro type place verses your typical place with mariache band playing in the background and pinatas hanging from the wall. The presentation of the food was art and the flavors bold. It was yummy- especially the sangrias. One thing that stood out to us was actually in the bathroom. They had old black and white photos of wedding pictures (we're assuming it was the owner's parents) hanging in there. Again, the touch of food and family- we loved it.

This week we went for Greek food. One of the Greek Orthodox churches in town hosts a luncheon every Friday where they cook up some good Greek grub. I've heard about it, but have never gone, so we ventured out there. As soon as I stepped in the door a whiff of incense hit my nostrils and I immediately thought of my childhood. Greeks love to have actual incense in their services as a representation of our prayers. You have to get used to it, otherwise you'd probably get a head ache every week. Anyway, we satisfied my Greek craving and on the way out we noticed the bulletin board: "Lambs for sale for Easter. Call ..." Seriously, where else will you find a bulletin board advertising lambs? I'm sure Gus or Pete or whoever is selling the lambs will sell out this Easter. Every Greek home has one cooking away come Easter morning. I used to love my dad's lamb he made at the holiday.

So, it has been a fun month having our own little "Taste of St. Louis". Lots of variety, good food and creative atmospheres.

Zoo

We took Liliana to the zoo for the first time this week. Fun. I just love to hear her giggle when she gets excited. Sometimes she gets so worked up she almost has to gasp for breath.

Besides the pufkins and wanting to climb in the water with them, I think the second high light of her day was eating snacks next to this animal that was a cross between a zebra and I don't know what. The bottom half was striped black and white and top half was brown. Interesting little creature. Oh yeah, she did try to kiss the glass where the monkeys played until Mommy pulled her away. Gross germs..

All in all it was a fun morning at the zoo.

Part 2

Last week I was struck by the word delight. This week I am too, only in a completely different context…

I was reading what Paul had to say in 2 Cor 12-
“That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecution, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

I had to re-read it.. I DELIGHT in weakness…

This takes on an entirely different context for me. I admit that I don’t delight at all in my weakness. In fact, I don’t like them at all. Yet, it is my very weakness which is the threshold for Christ’s power resting in me. If I didn’t have weakness or hardship in my life, why would I have to lean on Christ and press into hear His voice and see Him work things out? If I sincerely want His power in my life, then there is no other option but to delight in weakness. It is in that place that an exchange happens, where I admit my need for Jesus and He rescues me.

Same with Liliana.. she is just a toddler and is weak. The other day she was playing with her toys and her foot got stuck in her little storage container. She tried as hard as she could to get free, but she was too weak. She cried to me for help and I was able to rescue her. She didn’t try to hide her weakness or difficulty; she knew I could rescue her if she just cried out to me in her struggle.

Same with Chris.. if I didn’t have difficult days or weak moments, when would he have opportunity to hold me and encourage me and be my “knight” to save the day? All he would have would be an independent wife living a separate life, instead of being one and leaning on her beloved.

So, I am re-thinking this word delight and hopefully I can learn to delight in all things.

DELIGHT

The other day Chris told me that he delighted in me. He often affirms me, but there was something different about this particular compliment. It was a word of life that went deep into my core and something I find myself meditating on the next days to follow.

My concept of the word delight has changed since I have a daughter. When I am with her I find myself constantly pausing to declare how cute she is or to watch her and smile at what she does. Just seeing her walk around the house with her big cloth diaper butt sticking out or her hair that sprouts on one side when she wakes up from her nap brings me joy. At night, before Chris and I say our good night prayers, we talk about the cute things Liliana did that day and just delight in her together.

Then there’s her delight.. she finds joy in the simplest pleasures. A few days ago I took a bunch of her different colored socks and put them in a Ziploc bag and she had a ball taking the socks out, putting them back in. She played with it over and over again. I don’t know what the “Toy of the Year” was that they advertise in those parenting magazines, but I don’t think it held a candle to “Socks A La Ziploc”.

Then of course there is Jesus’ delight.. both His delight in me and my delight in Him. Often I’ll be driving or going about my day and just sense Jesus’ smile. What an amazing feeling and gift!

So, I am thankful for the word choice Chris used in expressing his love for me the other day. I still like to hear him say the standard, “I love you”, but “I delight in you” spoke such a fresh breath of life into my entire being. :-)

Prayer Partner

I am so thankful for the gift of prayer. I am realizing more and more in this season that there are all sorts of prayers and that they bring life.

The prayer I am rejoicing in today is the gift of "praying for one another".

I have a prayer partner that I talk with once a week. We share about our week, what God is teaching us, struggles, good times, temptations, etc.. It has become a life line for me.
It seems kind of simple and doesn't last more than an hour, yet there is something dynamic about sharing life with another like minded human being and week in/week out taking time to share and listen to stories from the week and then always ending with a time of praying out loud for one another.
(okay, i just realized that was a huge run on sentence...)

Life is good when we can just pause and reflect on life. I am glad God is teaching me more about this and using my prayer partner as well. :-)

Words

This afternoon I finished a book by Eugene Peterson. He is the guy who wrote "The Message" translation of the Bible and he is profound. Sometimes when I read I have my journal sitting next to me so that I can jot down a quote the gripped me and reflect on it later. Here's what I wrote today:
"We use words for communion and words for communication.
Words for communion tell stories, make love, nurture intimacies, develop trust
Words for communication buy stocks, sell cauliflower, direct traffic and teach algebra
Both are necessary, but the gift of words is for communion: a part of myself enters a part of yourself."

A few weeks ago Chris and I were caught up in words of communication.
Three days a week, we have this small window of time we see each other. He leaves for work at 4:45am and gets home around 2:15. I leave for my part time job at 2:45, so we have a half hour to eat lunch together before I go. On this particular day, we realized when the lunch was over that we just passed on a bunch of information to each other, rather than doing life together. We felt ripped off. There was no communion in our lunch- it felt like a business meeting and we hated it.

So, we decided that from now on, lunch was reserved for what we call"doing life together" or as Peterson puts it "communion". This time is sacred for sharing cute stories about Liliana or a funny thing that happened at work, or a nugget God shared in morning prayer time. Then, as soon as I get in the car, I call Chris on my cell phone and while I drive to work, we communicate. We go over necessary details that have to be exchanged. It's a great set up.

Dance, Dance, Dance

I have this habit of praying the Psalms. Most days I will read 5 Psalms out loud as part of my prayer time. It helps me settle in my thoughts towards God and David has a way with articulating his emotions that is so helpful.

So, the past few days there have been references to dancing in my Psalms reading, so it made me think.. if I had to name my top 5 dances ever, what would they be? So, here goes.. (in no particular order)

1. Greek dancing at my wedding- Greeks are into group dancing. They form this opened ended circle and have various simple steps they do together. At the beginning of the circle, there is a leader that holds a napkin in their left hand with the 2nd person in the circle, then everyone else joins in, holding hands. The leader picks which dance sequence to do and leads the way. When I was a little girl, I would go to the Greek festivals at church and watch the older girls dance and dreamed of one day being able to lead a Greek dance at my wedding. So, my day finally arrived and I loved it! In fact, one of the things I look forward to in heaven is Greek dancing around the throne with other Greeks. I can't wait- it's so fun here and can't imagine how fun it will be there.

2. Teenage dance clubs- I am a child of the 80's- big hair, big costume jewelry, and stirrup pants. When I was 13-14 years old, my friends and I loved to go to the 3 big teen dance clubs each summer- Coca Cabana, CandyBand and R-9. Each week we would dance our little hearts out to Madonna and Prince. Such good times.

3. Dancing at church- I grew up in a very traditional Greek Orthodox church. In high school I started attending the Vineyard, which has to be the most opposite worship experience from my GO up bringing. I remember learning about the Holy Spirit and seeing people raise their hands up in the air when they sang, which was so foreign and kind of weird to me. After observing this for months I came to the point one Sunday, where I really just wanted all that God had for me and let go of my conservative approach to worship. I danced in the back and it was so freeing. It marked a whole new level of connecting with Jesus and even now when I really want to connect at a heart level in worship, I will sometimes just dance in my room.

4. Dancing with Chris- Too personal to go into on a blog, but it is def. my top 5.

5. Dancing with Liliana- When we were in Texas waiting for our paperwork to clear, there's a song I asked Chris to download that combines a few different Psalms..
Oh Taste and See that that Lord is good... You've turned my mourning into dancing, put off my rags and clothed me with gladness.. And I will rise and I will praise.. I will sing and not be silent... Oh Lord, my God, I will give thanks to you forever....

I remember putting that song on repeat, holding Liliana as tight as I could, dancing around the living room with a flood of tears of JOY. I literally felt an exchange take place that day. For almost 3 years my life had been one continuous season of mourning and finally God was replacing it with gladness. I could not thank God enough. I danced and danced until I ran out of breath and could do it no more. It was a beautiful moment in my life that I will never forget.

Trip to the Bank

I went to the bank today to open up a checking account for our new church. It reminded me of being 11 years old and opening up my first savings account as a kid. I probably had about $25, but it was a huge deal for me. Today as I went to open an account for our church, I felt the same proud feeling that I did back then.

For months I have been chipping away at all our legal paperwork involved in becoming a non profit organization. I have just completed the 4th set of paperwork to be mailed off with just one more to go after that. Each time I mail a stack of papers off to the appropriate government agency and receive a notice back with their official stamp, it feels more and more real to me. Wow, we are actually starting a church from scratch. We are nuts, but we are going for it.

I feel like there is wind on our backs- God is behind us, encouraging us and moving us along this pathway. It just feels right. The "corporate" side of church is my least favorite part, but I am finding God in the midst of tax id numbers and bank accounts.
I love that Jesus will show up in any area of life when welcomed.

Black & Whites

A few years back Chris and I started a tradition where we would watch old black and whites &/or classic movies in the winter. It's a fun thing to do each year and of course what better to do on a cold night then snuggle and watch a good flick?

So, tonight we watched an Audrey Hepburn film and when it finished I was bummed. The film ended with each of the main characters making integrity choices, but it meant the movie did not have the usual "Hollywood" happy ending. In fact, all through the film there was romance and enjoying life, yet there was also integrity. As much as I hate to admit it, I am a product of my generation and my system is just not used to seeing a good film like this.

This is precisely why I like older movies and classics. It's good to get out of the MTV world and see class. Years ago I went to see Celtic Woman at the Fox Theater in St. Louis. It was truly amazing. These women had beautiful voices and brought a fresh spin on Celtic music. Each one of them wore these gorgeous, long evening gowns. They were classy women- no belly buttons showing or cleavage hanging out of their tight shirts. They were stunning- just like Audrey Hepburn on film.

Sorry Brittany Spears, I'll take Audrey any day.