Bigger or Better: Life outside of Texas

Much has happened in the past month. The most notable is that I produced a human.[okay, some of that was done in the preceding 8 months, but I mean that he is actually physically separate from me]. Quick highlights antecedent to the major event: -I had a virtual baby shower, pulled together with the work, time, and creativity of my family. It ended with the apartment fire alarm going off, because of course it did, that's just how my life goes. -I dressed up as a hippie for our church Halloween Trunk or Treat. It turns out to be the last time I was photographed prior to being in labor. -I got called into our church congregation's Primary [ie children's] presidency. I think that means I help out the Primary teachers, attend meetings, sub in as Primary pianist as needed. The job description in the handbook is kind-of vague. -My pregnancy had been the longest full-migraine-free period of my adult life. On the subject of migraines, a week before I gave birth, I had such a terrib...

 I have hit the 6-month mark in gestation. I'd like to say that means I'm two-thirds of the way done, but actually, * psych! * pregnancy is 10 months, not 9. I don't know why we say pregnancy is 9 months; maybe it averages in all the preemies. So far, I have to say first trimester is the worst. Constant nausea, and too early to tell people why you feel terrible. Mark likes to point out that I never threw up, but nausea is terrible all on its own, so I didn't find that comforting. Second trimester has less nausea, but also less energy. Like, I was running 2-3 miles a day up until 2nd trimester. Now I'm running 1 mile a couple times a week, but as of this week I think even that is going to stop because the 2 times I ran this week left me with such pain in my pelvic area--and that's even with a belly band thing to try to support the extra tummy weight--that changing positions hurt all day. Also, I'm not a fan of the nighttime leg cramps. These are charley-horse...

  On May 10, we began the move into our new apartment.  It is in the same building as our old apartment.  In fact, it is just down the hall on the same floor.  Our lease renewal was coming up on our old apartment and the rent on our old apartment was going up significantly.  If we were going to pay a bunch more for our old apartment, why not get a bigger and refurbished apartment for slightly more than what our new rent was going to be?  The new apartment would still be a one-bedroom, but would have a study and would also have a half-bath by the front door.  The big draw for us is the study, which is too small to be considered a second bedroom but will be big enough to have a crib [because SPOILER! pregnant].  The half-bath is unnecessary (except for if we have guests over who want to use the bathroom without going through our bedroom, but we almost never have guests) and is actually a hindrance as it takes away from kitchen space. Our lease on th...

 May is Mental Health Awareness Month, so when it came time for my turn to come up with an activity for Senior Primary (ages 8-11) in our congregation, I decided to teach them mindfulness activities. I thought it would be one of the hardest activities to do, because teaching someone to still the mind or to tune into their bodies is rather a tough concept. And I wanted to do it in a way that made it seem normal--so no crystals, no burning incense or candles, no divining rods. What I ended up doing is coming up with several different mindfulness activities, and assigning each to a random object I placed in a bag so that the children could select an object to determine what mindfulness thing we practiced.  We did Guided imagery--I had them close their eyes while I told them to imagine walking on a beach, feeling the sand beneath their feet, hearing the crash of waves, coming up to a fire where Jesus had fish and bread for them, and imagining what their conversation would be. Body...

 There are times when I read the news about this or that religious group deciding that what the world needs is not more freedom for faith but more coercion into obedience; and I think that they have misinterpreted the meaning of "force" in the call to be a "Force for Good," and overlooked the strength in faith. You see, there are plenty of times I question how literally to take the Bible or how much to trust in human attempts to direct the focus of our faith, but I keep going in these struggles of credence Because I believe in Jesus. There are times when I read my social feed seeing how this person or that friend seems to have life figured out, goals met, accomplishments catalogued, and I think perhaps on this test drive of experiences I must have been given  a manual engine while everyone else has automatic; and I have to learn how to drive it  as I go at highway speeds while also trying to figure out where I am on the map and how to get where I want to go, which e...

I think a lot of our Norway vacation was a compromise between our physiology, Norwegian weather, and/or our expectations. We signed up to go snowshoeing with a guy from Finland, and soon discovered that his pace of snowshoeing, coupled with his desired trip duration, was beyond our capabilities. I, for one, learned that without the heat provided by my battery-powered gloves [and coupled with the sweating from our high-energy-output pace], I could no longer keep my fingers working. I truly was unable to feel my fingers, which made it really difficult to have any hand dexterity--if you can't tell where your fingers are , then you can't properly direct them to where they need to be . I think I may have freaked out our guide, because after seeing how stiff and red my hand digits were, he not only gave me his gloves, but also the keys to the car so that I could warm back up [which, btw, is painful] while he continued with the rest of the group. Mark accompanied me on the trek back, ...