new years eve

the kids are spending the night with my parents tonight. they have been gone since 2 pm this afternoon. i have at least 24 hours without kids in my own house. usually we are on a distracting short trip when i am kid-less but for 3 hours now i have wandered around thinking of something that normally i wouldn't do if they were here.

after 2 games of bowling, three matches of tennis, 3 innings of baseball and a round of fitness training here i sit realizing that playing Wii doesn't count. i am pretty sure that gift was for them in the first place. i am sore and my back hurts.

i could go shopping but i am saving up for "Dance Factory". i recently discovered my dream game does exist! or well it will- the release date is TBA. but here's the even more exciting news...up to 16 players! AH! now you can all come over and we can be just like "girls just wanna have fun" or "footloose" or some other 80's movie i watched 20 times.
here's the review:

"Dance Factory lets you use your own music CDs, and choreographs dance moves accordingly."

could this really be? now if i could just get a case to solve between my dance rehearsals my life will be full circle.

Sadie's new camera.

Yesterday my parents came over for Christmas. Sadie was the gracious receiver of a new Fisher Price Kids Tough camera.

So I just downloaded what she see's as "camera worthy" shots.
It's quite interesting. Here are a few things thru my daughters eyes.


One of the few shots of a human.

Gateses :) plaster friend from this summer.

Gates and Riley's TV center.

Riley playing DS.

One of the three shots of Dora on TV.

Her bed.

One of 11 shots of this Christmas decoration.

Ah, I made the shoot. (note to self, suck in your gut when being photographed)

Riley's dresser.

The corner in the hall.

The chair back.

Our Christmas card tree. Hello to Avery, the Sains, Whit and Sam and McCalls.

I'm not convinced I have the next Dan Glenn but she has been completely entertained. Thanks Nana and Pops!

Spirituality?

In the Hebrew language there is no word for spiritual. If you would have said to Jesus, "Jesus, how is your spiritual life?" [He would have said,] "What? What do you mean?" Because to label one area as spiritual is to label others areas not spiritual. It's absolutely foreign to the world of the Scriptures. It's absolutely foreign to the worldview of Jesus. The assumption is that you are a fusion of two realms. And a human being occupies a totally unique place in the entire universe. Everything we do, we do as an integrated being—one hundred percent physical, one hundred percent spiritual. The first Christians latched on to this right away: "Whatever you do in word or in deed, do it in the name of Jesus Christ." Every act is a spiritual act (Colossians 3:17). hey blogger friends, i had to post this Zondervan daily thought. i receive this daily email but i don't always read it, even more often hit delete. it is usually not this insightful. this suggests (and i agree) that spirituality doesn't exist. we are spirituality, it isn't a part of our life it IS who we are. i am so guilty of asking, how is your "spiritual" life? or "where are you right now spiritually?" yesterday i gave myself a free day, ever done that? not all day -just the last part. i found myself in Wal-Mart with the kids without a list and very little money. i was frazzled, short on change and patience and no direction in an intersection of carts, there were about five of us all looking for the other one to go first... sadie kept crawling under the cart and gates and riley were like little gnats that giggled about everything. after three PHONE calls, (i miss the cell-less days) i finally decided i had enough and got in line, only to remember i still didn't have one thing for supper. i then ran into my nemesis Jeanne Foust (you know i love you girl) who was to her credit looking at hamburger helper. getting past the realization i should go to bed and start my day over i went to the back and got my hot, fresh?, cheapish little supper of bbq chicken. i paid over $3 for a tub of mac and cheese that would have cost me .74 to make. gates kept saying "that's not going to be enough chicken..." i got back in line knowing he was right but saying "if there's any left you are going to eat it even if it makes you sick..." (by the way, we did need it) finally, 14 hours later i am home unpacking the three bags. hmm. and wishing i hadn't checked my "spirituality" at the door. today i wanted to wake up saturated in that undeniable kind of way but what i met was decisions to be good. decisions to bite my tongue and decisions to put that smile in my step as i got the kids out the door. so what i came up with is that yes, Jesus didn't have a spiritual life. He was spirituality. And spirituality is a decision He always without fail got right. i fail but to all of our credit going in the right direction is what He wants. pray i keep going in that general direction. thanks for all of you that had pity on me and gave me comments. i feel the love.