Bear Award

Parker with his friend, Jackson and CubScout Master, Brother Varga

Parker earned his BEAR award in Cubscouts. It's quite the accomplishment and I'm really proud of him. When they earn their award, their den leaders paint their face in a specific way to represent scout values.

He's a Bear Scout, Hear him Roar!!!

Bobcat
Wolf

Celebrate good times...c'mon!

Earlier this week, I posted this picture on facebook and said this:
"2nd revision. 2 day deadline on Saturday. So, I'm giving myself a little time to cry and I'll eat something really bad for me then I guess I'll get to work. There's a lot more red than black on these pages. I'm just sayin'.... "

It's the 2nd revision from my editor at Segullah. (That's still thrilling to say... My Editor. I'm learning to own it, Jen.) My deadline was in 2 days and I was feeling the crunch on top of children's homework, a family wedding and cousins visiting from California with whom I really wanted to spend time.

So I sat at the computer, said a prayer and started to revise. A little later a friend came to the door bearing a gift. A cold, chocolately ice cream gift. A little later in the day, another friend stopped by with a bag of goodies, some of my favorite goodies, involving chocolate and peanut butter.

They both relayed sentiments similar to the many amazing comments on facebook. Beautiful validation and support.

My heart swelled like a sponge soaking in the outpouring of love and friendship I felt from those reaching out to offer encouragement and support, through their words, well wishes and thoughtful gifts. Who am I to deserve any of this?

As I've reflected on this over the weekend, I've learned two things.

#1. I want to be that kind of friend to others. Because it's a big deal and goes a long way to feel so much love. I want to support and encourage friends as they achieve goals and work toward their dreams. I want to be aware of and involved in what my friends, family, spouse and children are doing so I can offer the same love and strength to them with which I have been so blessed.

The problem is I'm sort of a blockhead and I'm just not that aware. Too often I'm not paying attention, I'm wrapped up in myself or just plain distracted. It happens, doesn't it? We want to do something. We're ready and willing, we just don't know who or how. That leads me to #2.

#2. Say Something. Let your friends and family know what you're working on, dreaming about, struggling with. We want to know! (And you may get yummy treats and amazing words of affirmation.) I'm reminded of the book "Mutant Message Down Under" by Marlo Morgan. She writes about the lessons she learned on a walk-about with an aboriginal tribe. At one point, she is trying to describe birthday parties to the tribe and they are clueless. They don't celebrate birthdays.

"If you don't celebrate getting older," I said, "what do you celebrate?"
"Getting better," was the reply. "We celebrate if we are a better, wiser person this year than last. Only you would know, so it is you who tells the others when it is time to have the party."
And later in the book -
"...it is in recognition of the uniqueness and contribution to life. They believe that the purpose for the passage of time is to allow a person to become better, wiser, to express more and more of one's beingness. So if you are a better person this year than last, and only you know that for certain, then you call for the party. Whe you say you are ready, everyone honors that."

I LOVE this concept. Hence, one of the reasons I posted on facebook in the first place. And I'm so grateful to the friends who are joining me in my journey and my celebration.

And for the rest of us knuckleheads, let's all celebrate with each other more often. Just remember, YOU can be the one to tell us when it is time to have the party!



Date Night

I have the best daughter in the world!

This beautiful young lady put together an amazing date night at home for Ster and I.

Earlier in the week, she left this invitation on our bed. 

 

It says, "Please come ready to eat, mind cleared and ready for a night full of each other." And at the very end she wrote "p.p.s. please put on calendar now!" I love how she's so practical and knows we'll probably forget if it's not on our calendars. :)

 

The day before, Sydney worked like crazy cleaning the house to earn money and then asked me to take her shopping. I had to be in another section of the store while she shopped and paid for everything with her own money.

 

The afternoon of the date, this is what the kitchen looked like.

After meeting in the piano room as instructed, Sterling and I were led into the kitchen and seated at the table with beautiful music playing in the background. We munched on Mike&Ikes after ordering off the menu.

Previously Sydney had fed all the kids and shuffled them off to the basement to watch a movie. Then she served us a delicious lasagne dinner.

When we finished dinner and dessert, she had arranged a romantic little nook for us to sit and relax.

It was perfect.

 

I can't express my gratitude for this young woman. She is one of a kind. So thoughtful and aware of the needs of others. She is a great support and help to me. But more than that, she is also one of my best friends. I learn so much from her and admire who she is becoming.

THANK YOU, SYDNEY!

I'm reading Les Miserables and it's really long

Have you seen the movie "Les Miserable"? The new one with all the raw emotion, requiring women to bring tissues in their purse, next to the Junior Mints they are sneaking into the theater? I've heard it's amazing, thrilling, evocative, fantastic, moving, etc. And I want to see it. I really do. The obstacle is this....I promised myself I'd read the book first. Wa Wa.

I started the abridged version the first week of January and I'm still plugging away. 90% finished as we speak. I was so excited to read this book. The preface blew me away. I love it so much I'll share it with you here:

"So long as there shall exist, by virtue of law and custom, decrees of damnation prounounced by society, artificially creating hells amid the civilization of earth, and adding the element of human fate to divine destiny; so long as the three great problems of the century-the degradation of man through pauperism, the corruption of woman through hunger, the crippling of children through lack of light-are unsolved; so long as social asphyxia is possible in any part of the world; -in other words, and with a still wider significance, so long as ignorance and pverty exist on earth, books of the nature of Les Miserables cannot fail to be of use."

Well said.

However...

the further I read, the more disheartened I became. Oh, the words. The number of words used to describe useless information! Not to talk trash about good old Victor Hugo, but goodness gracious can that man ramble! Granted, he tells a beautiful story of forgiveness, redemption, love and the nobleness distilled in all men and women as creations of God,as well, but it is mingled with ramblings and history lessons and lectures on convents and sewer systems. It quickly became apparent to me that I was going to have to skim. And by skim, I mean skip entire chapters.

This passage from the renowned wikipedia helped me not feel so alone in my discouragement and utter lack of understanding of so much of what I was reading.

"More than a fourth of the novel—by one count 955 of 2,783 pages—is devoted to essays that argue a moral point or display Hugo's encyclopedic knowledge, that do not advance the plot, nor even a subplot. ... The topics Hugo addresses include cloistered religious orders, the construction of the Paris sewers, argot, and the street urchins of Paris. The one about convents he titles "Parenthesis" to alert the reader to its irrelevance to the story line.^[11] He devotes another 19 chapters to the Waterloo,"

I wish I would have understood the subtle clue of the title "Parenthesis" before plowing through that chapter. But I could not stop reading. Stopping was out of the question. You see, I don't know how the story ends.

It's true.

I remember watching an older film version of "Les Mis" in French class...and I fell asleep.
I remember watching the stage version in New York. NEW YORK CITY for heaven sake...and I fell asleep.
I have listened to much of the music and even owned a condensed soundtrack that I listened to regularly, but I have no idea where the songs fit within the story or even which character sings which song.
I thought the entire story revolved around Jean Valjean and Fantine and her pretty little daughter, Cosette. Imagine my surprise when Fantine dies and I'm not even a quarter of the way through the book!

And so, I'm on a mission and I'm nearing the end. I'm 90% of the way finished and I'm loving it. The story that is...not the digressions. How else would I know that Gavroche is Thenardier's son and that he has 2 brothers who were also discarded and their paths cross in a heartbreaking moment and Eponine is his sister. And that's just to name a few of the more relevant backstories and details. I love the depth of reading a novel as opposed to the movie. So don't tell me how it ends. I'll read it for myself. Wish me luck! And then I'll go see the movie. Hopefully while it's still in the theaters.