You take the good, you take the bad...

Good news: It's SPRING BREAK!
Bad news: I'm still battling this dumb cold!


Good news: At least I don't have to work with this dumb cold!
Bad news: But I also had to call off our trip to Houston.

Good news: Ryan and I got to take in an afternoon movie yesterday. What a treat to see Oz in 3D and XD!
Bad news: The film had its scary moments (for little kids, anyway), but the truly terrifying parts came with that tickle in the back of my throat. Will the coughing stop? Will I have to leave the theater? Did I bring enough cough drops? Strange how the anxiety of worrying about the coughing seems to make the coughing worse. Hmmm.

Good news: We still managed to go to one of my favorite places, IKEA, today. We picked up some bookcases for the game room, and lunch was outstanding because—hello?—LINGONBERRY!
Bad news: The outing exhausted me so much that upon our return, I had no energy left to assemble the stuff we bought. And I'm really excited about assembling the stuff we bought. (No, really!)

Good news: Tonight we finally got to play Trivial Pursuit with Nana. Our near-monthly games have turned into quarterly events, but we love it when we get the chance to sit around her table and get those wedges.
Bad news: The Cough That Would Not Die didn't seem to care about my gameplay and would strike at will.

Can you believe Ryan got this question? Too funny!

Aw, who am I kidding? Even a cold and a cancelled trip can't dull the luster of spring break. In spite of the cough drops and Kleenex, regardless of the mild jealousy that surfaces every time I check Facebook and see my world-traveling friends, this break is AWESOME. After so many years in education, I take these holidays for granted, and I really shouldn't. As teachers, our days are long and we're always bringing work home. When we get these school breaks, we should bask in the downtime. That's been the plan this week, even if this cold has forced me to be "down" for more time than usual.

Viva downtime! Viva spring break!

Many parts, one body.

I'm on day 2 1/2 of this cold, and while I've certainly felt worse, I know I'm not at full strength. It is so very frustrating to know that if it weren't for my sinuses, I'd be out enjoying my Friday night, looking forward to a glorious spring break. Instead, I'm wondering how long it'll be until I again feel like my normal self (well, normal for ME, anyway). I'm looking at my weekend plans and prioritizing where to invest my energy. Next week looms large, too. I really want to visit family in Houston, but will I feel better by then? The other 95 percent of me is fine; why does the ailing 5 percent hold me back?

In considering this tonight, 1 Corinthians 12 came to mind:

12The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. 13For we were all baptized by^c one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.

14Now the body is not made up of one part but of many. 15If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body. .... 18But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. 19If they were all one part, where would the body be? 20As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

21The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” .... 26If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 

(The full chapter is here.)

Of course, my current health makes this passage timely. But really, the idea that we all have spiritual gifts has been on my mind for a while. I'm a longtime proponent of women, as gifted members of the body, being utilized more. In fact, I struggle with that issue so much that I sometimes have to just squash my thoughts about it, afraid that that "cause" is distracting me from our real purpose: bringing others to Christ and glorifying our Father. 

In recent months, as our church has begun an "Extreme Makeover" aimed at attracting more "unchurched" people to Christ, we've been asked to dream, to envision what our fellowship would look like if it's really reaching out to EVERYONE. My dream? A true Galatians 3:28 kind of church. 

(Please excuse the term "unchurched." Here we're using it to mean people who have not been attending church. I'm not crazy about the word, but it beats "sinner" or "lost," since we all would fit that description. And "nonbeliever" doesn't really work since many who believe in God are not members of any church.) 

What kind of people are we planning to attract? I look at my friends who don't attend church and wonder how they could see past our traditions to hear the Gospel. In fact, I've struggled to defend my own membership in a body that holds to this particular cultural tradition while abandoning so many others. I can't imagine many unchurched women my age, in my position, being OK with the way we "do church." 

As a woman who has been immersed in our tradition my whole life, I'm bothered that in our services week after week, every single spoken voice we hear is male. Would that not be noticeable to someone who lives and works in a world where women regularly, you know, SPEAK? We live in a country where women are CEOs, governors, members of Congress, Supreme Court justices, etc. So in what dimension is someone who has studied leadership and who teaches others for a living told she is not worthy of a pulpit? Well, OURS, apparently. 

We are the body of Christ. Why would we hold back not 5 percent, not 25 percent, but a full FIFTY PERCENT of our members? How can we justify squandering the gifts God has given us? 

How can we truly reach the "unchurched" if we're not even using the full potential of the "churched"?

Observations from the couch.

Just because I stayed home from school today doesn't mean I wasn't learning. This illness, whatever it is, kept me from being very productive, but I did manage to conduct an interesting sociological survey of daytime TV. I learned that:

• Dating services seem to be focusing on the home-during-the-day market. Both christianmingle.com and eHarmony must be spending a fortune trying to entice the not-at-work demographic.
• Contestants on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" shouldn't depend on the "ask the audience" lifeline for a difficult question. 
• I've always liked Drew Carey, but I never would've imagined how well he's filling Bob Barker's shoes.
• The previous two bullet points excepting, I miss the days of network TV game shows that filled the gap between morning news and afternoon soaps. Where have you gone, Password? Scrabble? PYRAMID???
• Because really, when you're too sick to read or clean or pay bills or even watch something that requires more than 30 minutes of attention, game shows are just what the doctor ordered.
• For my next sick day, I should muster up the strength to crawl upstairs and haul out the ol' Brady Bunch DVDs.
• Gynecomastia is a thing, and some lawyer really wants to talk to you if some drug has caused it in you. OK, then. I'm certain all those large-breasted men watching Dance Moms will be calling momentarily.

Clinging.

Rough day. I don't know if cold/flu season is finally catching up with me or if my allergies are responsible, but I'm running on fumes tonight. Throw in a little dinner table drama, and I was ready to bury myself under a toasty blanket right after supper. This was one of the rare Wednesday nights that I headed to church more out of obligation than choice. But I knew Sunday's program wasn't going to build itself, and it's awfully nice to run through (and project) the songs for the praise team practice. So off I went.

Before I even made it to the building, I was glad I had ventured out. As I crested one hill and looked west, I saw this:


Katie said it was like a horizontal waterfall.

In the sound booth, Katie helped by getting the mics all battery-ed up while I prepped the Sunday songs. Still feeling yucky, I continued to question my presence in the booth. Then we started to sing.

Recent news stories have forced me to once again face the randomness of life. You can do everything right, but evil can still get you. It feels like the grief and anger are winning. I know today's glass-half-empty outlook has a lot to do with  my current inability to breathe through my nose, but it's unsettling, this vertigo that comes from realizing (again) what a topsy-turvy world we live in.

So how glad am I that I was in that booth tonight, that even though I couldn't sing, I could still hear the words I needed:

"You alone are my strength, my shield."

"And we cry holy, holy, holy is the Lamb."

"Let Your glory fill the earth."

"And though the storms may come, I am holding on, and to the Rock I cling."

"Your name alone has power to raise us. Your light will shine when all else fades."

Thank You, Father, for being our Rock, for comforting us when we're sick, for carrying us through this crazy world, for promising us a better life.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Helpful hint.

Next time you find yourself facing a marathon grading day and you'd like a caffeine boost, instead of thinking what a nice treat the Gingerbread Latte creamer would be, take just a moment to check the expiration date on that creamer.

That second or two will prevent you from wasting an hour or more that you could've spent grading. It will also spare you from severe stomach discomfort, not to mention the mental anguish that comes from realizing you've made a stupid, stupid mistake.

Back to grading...

A blog post in every drop.

This cold I've had for nearly a week now has led me to consume a steady supply of cough drops. On the road this weekend, I was unable to replenish my stock with the usual off-brand drops, so I picked up some Hall's.

Apparently some marketing genius has decided that those afflicted with coughing spells are lacking self-motivation. "A pep talk in every drop" is the trademarked tag that appears on the cough drop wrappers. (This must be the offspring of the "Have a happy period" campaign.)



Among the pep talks: Impress yourself today. Put your game face on. Inspire envy. Elicit some "wows" today. Go get it.

Um, I already went and got it, assuming "it" is a cold! Now if you would kindly take a break from the pep talks, maybe you could help me STOP COUGHING!

Now excuse me while I go seize the day.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Another quick post.

I'm determined to stick with NaBloPoMo, but this weekend has worn me smooth out. It was an emotional one, complete with joyful reunions, chance encounters and tearful moments, but those stories will have to wait. See, Ryan woke up with a stomach bug this morning, and I'm starting to feel a little queasy. Dun, dun, DUN!



So those stories are forthcoming, but tonight is all about a cozy blanket and a warm cat.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sick day.

We just thought Ryan was on the upswing. Both kids stayed home from school today, and by the time I made it home from work, I wasn't feeling too hot myself! Katie has now joined Ryan with a strep diagnosis, and both kids are on antibiotics. As for me? It's the last week of our trimester at BHS, so I can't imagine how I can afford to miss a day! Pretty hard for a sub to review a trimester's worth of material in my absence, much less grade the last of the assignments and finals. But you know how it goes: Just as soon as I say I can't miss, I'll have to!

So this'll have to do for NaBloPoMo post #9. I still have a couple of pix from Sunday to post, but those will have to wait until I have just a little bit more stamina! I've got to get myself to bed.

But first, I will say how thankful I am that Brett works at home. As much as I wish I could've been the one to take the kids to the doctor, I know that we are so very blessed that Brett has that flexibility in his schedule to deal with sick kids or the million other things that come up during the day while I'm at school.

A bad day.

For a couple of weeks, I'd been looking forward to this weekend. A friend and I planned our great escape to Amarillo for a friend's birthday party, and we planned to leave Friday afternoon so we could enjoy a full day there before the big event. We planned to do some tourist-y things, but mostly we just planned to enjoy some time away from our usual responsibilities.

You can see where this is going.

I woke up at 3 a.m. Friday just sick as a dog. And not just any sick: STOMACH sick.

Later that morning I texted my friend to let her know I wasn't feeling so hot, so she said she'd check back at 3 to see if I could make the trip or if we'd have to wait until Saturday morning to try the drive. I was so disappointed, and I just hated having to disappoint her, too! Around 2 I started packing and got in the shower, optimistic that I was feeling a little better, but no. I could barely even make it from the shower back into bed because I was so nauseous and weak.

KitKat knew something wasn't right! She kept me company Friday.

After a quick phone call, it was decided that if we made the trip Friday, I would only end up puking all the way up 287. The trip was postponed. I then settled in, praying for quick relief. I was just drifting back to sleep when...

...nothing. The TV turned off, the room went dark, the fan stopped. Just GREAT.

For the second time this week, our power was out! This time there was no storm, just a tree service working near powerlines a few houses down the street. We tried to ride out this outage, but my messed-up stomach couldn't handle the heat. We packed up and headed to Brett's parents' house, and in the frenzy to get ourselves out of the sauna, I just about passed out.

Brett's mom took good care of us, even though she was recovering from a migraine, and she barely had time to make our bed before I collapsed in it and took yet another nap. When I woke up, I called the house, heard our answering machine pick up, and knew we had electricity again!

This morning I woke up feeling MUCH better, which confirmed that the bug was of the 24-hour variety. And as it turned out, my illness helped us surprise our Amarillo friend all the more! He didn't know we would be at the party, so when he opened his front door, he kept looking at me: "But you're sick!"

I was so glad to say, "That was yesterday!"

Monday, Monday...

So far the bug's only bitten me, and we're praying that the other Dubs can stay healthy!