Materialism and Christmas

Chris absolutely loves anything electronics. He always has. If he ever has any extra money, or gets money for his birthday, he buys something having to do with it. I never really got it before. There has never been anything that I felt compelled to spend my money on. That is, before I had children.

Now, if I have any extra money, I spend it on them. Usually nothing big, an outfit here or there. But it almost always goes to them.

So now, with Christmas upon us, I have been trying very hard not to fall into the trap of materialism. To not spend money on toys and things that really, they absolutely don't need. We don't have the room for it and they really don't need more toys. Granted, most of the toys they currently have were from birthday presents and Christmas presents from family. There are so many things that I see at stores and just think what a great present it would make and how much they would love it. And around Christmas I almost feel into the trap. Almost.

You see, I see family members who buy their children all this stuff for Christmas. It always starts off small, and then the bigger they get, the more expensive presents they have to buy. Their children just expect it. They expect their parents to spend hundreds of dollars on them.

I don't want to fall into that. I don't want to make Christmas into something that causes us to go broke, just to make our children happy. To raise our children to expect all of these materialistic things, and then be disappointed if they don't get the popular, expensive toy of the year. I want our children to love Christmas for the times we spend as a family and the traditions we make. I want them to recognize the need to give to others and not what you yourself get.

So, this year we are buying 1 toy each from Santa and a few things for their stockings. From daddy and I they mostly got different art supplies, as they love coloring and drawing, cutting and gluing. They got paint, watercolors, markers, glue sticks, construction paper, and things like that. And you know what? I know they will love it. They will use it all up. If we had just spent money on toy after toy, they would have loved it for a time, and then it would just get pushed to a corner and forgotten about.

It's an internal struggle not giving in. I love seeing my children happy. To see them getting things they will love. I'm just desperately trying not to raise them to fall into the materialistic trap that we here in the US are currently in. And it is definitely hard to go against the grain when everything around you tells you not to. I'm just trying to keep my eye on the bigger picture though and not on the instant gratification.

How do you stop thinking about something?

There is an area that Chris and I have talked about where we would love to end up, someday. We talked about it on our excursion this summer. We talked about the what-if's. We know the elders, one of which we know particularly well, we have met some of the other members. We didn't forsee it happening though for many many years, as the preacher there is young and from that area. We figured he would stay there for a long time to come.

However, last week we received an email from one of the elders letting us know that their current preacher will be getting married, going back to school for a different degree, and will be leaving around Thanksgiving. To say we were blown away and in shock is putting it mildly. He then went on to say that he put Chris's resume in the pot, and that it is the only one in. He also said that they were going to take their time and get some things in order before starting the interview process.

We have no idea on if they are planning on advertising the position, if they are just going to interview Chris, or when they are even going to "get serious". No idea. I want to read more into his emails, but I'm TRYING to take them at face value. It's been hard though because since he told us this it comes across my thoughts several times throughout the day. I'm trying not to get my hopes up, but I know that hasn't been possible since I read those first words saying the position was open.

We don't know how to proceed now though. Chris has a really really good shot at the job. It's somewhere we have talked about wanting to go for years. Now, no where else even sounds good. Not that there has been much advertised. It's just kind of a hard thing to go through. He said he guesses he will keep applying to other positions and then if anything else gets somewhat serious then he will talk to the elder, if we hadn't heard any news so far. He just doesn't want to get caught without a job by holding out for this one job, and then him not get it in the end.

So here I am, trying to PATIENTLY wait for more word from the congregation. TRYING not to think about it, but failing miserably.

Down in spirits

I don't know what is wrong with me. I've been battling this feeling for the past week. Down in spirits kind of feeling. I'm bone tired for absolutely no reason, which doesn't help. Or is perhaps the culprit. Not really sure.

I'm sleeping just fine at night. Friday night I was actually in bed before 9:00. And I slept until 6:30. And I was still exhausted. I tell you what, if I hadn't just had AF a few weeks ago and if I was nausous, I would actually think I was pregnant. That's how exhausted I am. Yes, I know I'm not pregnant, just in case that's what you are thinking. No, I will not be taking a test. Like I said, I had full blown AF just 2 weeks ago, that lasted the customary 7+ days, and I'm not sick.

It just has me feeling very grumpy, impatient, and just down.

I wish I knew what was wrong with me.

I hate feeling this way.

Job hunting

Can I just say I am sooooo not looking forward to this part, for when Chris is done with school. We want to go north too, which makes it that much harder. I'm also not looking forward to the mind games that I've seen some churches play.

There is 1 place that has shown interest in Chris, but they just aren't sure if they want to wait that long. They have brought up the topic a couple times on it being hard on us being away from family. We have tried telling them that that is not a problem for us. Our families have never been a huge part in our life and regardless if they choose Chris or not, we will be going somewhere not in Missouri when he is finished. We WILL be leaving, if they give him a job or not. I tried telling him that we were looking anywhere north between Washington and Maine.

I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that come June he will have a job. I have no doubts that God will take care of us, we just want to get going and get settled on wherever we are going.

Radio silence

It wasn't on purpose that I have been gone for so long. For the past month things have been moving and record speed and I've hardly had time to poke my head above the water and breathe, let alone come on here and blog. After Thursday I think things will start to slow down a bit. I seriously don't know how people thrive in environments like this, always having to be somewhere or do something. It's definitely not me and I am physically and mentally exhausted.

So what have I wanted to blog about but haven't been able to?

Well, we celebrated our 8 year anniversary on October 26. His mom came down that weekend for a visit and so Chris and I went out to dinner that Friday night, just he and I. It was great. We went to this hole-in-the-wall BBQ place that was hands down the best BBQ I have ever ate. When we first pulled up I was just thinking seriously, THIS is where you want to eat? I felt bad after I got my food!

Then on the 27th we celebrated Faith's 4th birthday. I still can't believe I have a 4 year old. Seriously, when did this happen? She is becoming more of a young girl every day and it honestly scares me. I'm not ready for her to grow up! We had cake with pink sprinkles, presents, and dance around the living room to the Beatles birthday song, as is our tradition. It was a great time. Unfortunately Chris was in the middle of finals and so we weren't able to celebrate much.

His finals were over on the 28th and so that Thursday we took everyone to Chuck-e-Cheeses and we all had a wonderful time playing games and eating pizza.

A couple of weeks ago Samantha started ice skating and Faith started her hockey. They are both absolutely loving it. Samantha skated around last night without the buckets and she was just so proud. And the concerns the hockey director had about Faith that I listed below...completely unfounded. She did wonderful. Like I told him, she may not talk to you but she WILL listen and follow directions. And it was so cute afterwards. There were some boys 7-8 years old waiting in the wings to get on the ice after they were done. Faith was the last one off. Each of the boys wanted her to hit their knuckles as she passed and most commented on how they liked her gloves (they are pink). It was just absolutely adorable that they did that for her and wasn't something you would expect from that age group. Made me even more excited for her to play.

On Thursday I have a devotional I'm doing for the student's wives and then I think things will slow down considerably. I definitely have more to blog about that's for sure!

Discrimination at it's finest

I knew Faith would have to deal with some form of discrimination as she wants to play a sport that is predominately played by males. I just wasn't expecting to hit that attitude so early on.

I'm not fond of the hockey director here at all. To be honest, I don't think he really wants Faith to play, just by the little things he throws into conversations. The other day we were there, I was with all 3 kids, and I had to ask him a question about something. As we were leaving he started talking to Elijah saying he has to get his mama a rule book so I can start reading it to him. HELLO...you KNOW both my daughters want to play, 1 of which is getting ready to play, so why would you not make that comment to all 3, just the 6 month old boy? Plus, he completely discredited the fact that I may just know a thing or two about hockey, and that as we watch games I explain different rules to them.

Because, you know, I am a woman, so I guess that means I don't know anything.

Sigh.

It's frustrating.

It's also the tone he has been using with me regarding Faith playing this October. "Well, are you SURE she is going to listen", "She does know that you won't be on the ice with her, doesn't she", "she DID throw a fit the last time I tried to take her out"

Yup, just 3 of the comments I heard from him just yesterday. It's always like that.

Just because she won't talk to someone doesn't mean she can't take direction. She has been with her learn to skate coach for 8 weeks...Faith has talked to her once. She always listens and does as she is asked, she just won't talk to her. Faith is really uncomfortable with one-on-one conversations with adults, especially when there are no other children around. I explained that to him and how she acts with the Learn to Skate coach.

Regarding the second comment, I seriously just wanted to deck him for that one. Yes, thank you genius. I don't go out with her now, why would it be any different? I go out on the ice with her on Saturday's during the open session skate, but she has been skating since January and I have never gone out on the ice with her during her lessons.

And regarding the fit she threw...that was almost a year ago. She was new to skating and she didn't know him and it was just Faith and the hockey coach. And what she did was not throw a fit, but she was scared and didn't want to go with him. She wouldn't let go of my leg. When there are other children around she is much more comfortable.

Do I know if she will do well? Just pop out on the ice without a moment of hesitation. No, of course not. But I'm not going to let her not try just because she may not do well. I'm not going to let her just hide away at home because she is afraid of new experiences. I think she will be hesitant, she is now even with her Learn to Skate, but I think she will do just fine. Only time will tell.

Getting ready for hockey

It has been a crazy time in our household lately and I just haven't been able to get on and blog, as much as I wanted to. There have been other things I have had to take care of and writing on here was pretty low on the totem pole. I think things are coming back around now though.

Since last Saturday Elijah completely stopped sleeping through the night. We kept hoping it would get better, but Chris and I were only getting a couple of hours of sleep a night. We were worn out! If finally hit me the other day that both the girl went through this as well right at the 6-7 month mark. In don't know if it is just my children, but so far we are 3 for 3. At this time all of them needed their own spaces to sleep, as they were always in my room at first. It's at this age that all of them have realized that the bed they see from their crib has mama in it and if I whine she will come and get me. So every time they all would just stand there in their crib, looking at me sleeping, and whine until I finally woke up.

So, Elijah is now in the closet. Ok, sounds worse than it is really. Chris's office was in the closet so it isn't too bad. We moved him out into our bedroom and moved Elijah's crib in. And guess what happened on the very first night of our new arrangement. He slept! He woke up at 5:30 am and was mad he couldn't find his pacifier. I found one for him and he laid right back down and fell back asleep. Ah the sleep was nice!

There is just no stopping the boy now. He crawls everywhere. He is now pulling up to standing on his own as well. Such a strong little boy! He has his second tooth that I officially called as through on Thursday.

One of the things I have been working on these past few weeks is getting Faith ready to start hockey. When I first wrote down everything we needed, then looked on the web for the costs of everything I just about had a heart attack and was wondering if she would really be able to play. Through lots of research though I was able to find some great deals. For instance, a new helmet would have cost $75.00 and the youth face cage that goes on it would have been another 17. I was able to get one on ebay w/ the cage for $18.50. Needless to say, I'm breathing much better now. It's been a little hard to find her size though because she is so skinny. The next big item are skates. We are going over to the rink today to go through some things the coach has to see if there are any her size. If not, the guy at the proshop said the skates we tried on her will be going on sale this week. Hopefully we will be able to get some from the coach since she will outgrow them so quickly.

I have also had to do research to find everything pink that I could. Needless to say, pink is quite the difficult color to find in the hockey world. We have gotten a few things though: Pink hockey socks, pink tape, pink laces. I got white gloves and I'm going to try dying them pink using some acid dye. Fingers crossed that will work! Once she gets her helmet in she fully plans on sprucing it up girlie style with some butterfly stickers.

It's quite funny to see how she wants to play such a male dominated sport yet still stay her pretty princess self. I love it! I don't think it will be hard at all to point her out on the ice! Once we have all of her gear we will definitely be taking pictures and putting them up here.

Every Saturday I take Faith to the rink for the free skate and go out on the ice with her. It is such a great time we have together. We have been doing this for a few months now and every single time it never fails that someone will ask how old she is. When I tell them she is 3 they are just beside themselves that she skates so good. I'm not exaggerating either. Every. Single. Saturday.

We were going to wait until January to start Samantha, closer to her 3rd birthday. But she is itching so bad to get out there and skate too. So...she will also be starting here in a few weeks when the next sessions start. She is so excited. Once she is able to skate on her own then she will be coming with us on Saturday as well.

So, I guess that is that. Posting a few pictures now that I have finally taken them off of the camera!

Samantha loving on baby bruder


One Sunday after church


Trying to play with sissy


He always wants to climb on top of things and then gets really mad when he can't get down


He followed me into the bathroom.