Sunday Snapshot

We got to church on time because Bruce started throwing up on the carpet at 7:15. I didn't know it was that late when I initially heard the tell-tale sounds of blech-blech-blech. Though dark in the room, years of motherhood and pet ownership have honed my skills to the point where I instinctively got out of bed scooped up the cat and ran to the toilet. No lie--I literally held a cat over the toilet while it threw up. My efforts were only partially rewarded as my cat mouth to toilet rim ratio was slightly off.

You have to be a little wary of any day that starts by you staring blankly into a toilet bowl filled with hairball and bile.

We were all a little off and Jeff is sick.

Jack had his pant leg tucked in his sock.

I heard the parable of the Chinese Bamboo Tree today during Sunday School. I'm kind of surprised that I've never heard this before-- it was used in a different way in the lesson, but I had to look it up when I got home.  This is a way of thinking about it that I really liked.

The Parable of the Chinese Bamboo Tree "In everything you do in your family, keep in mind the miracle of the Chinese bamboo tree. After the seed for this amazing tree is planted, you see nothing, absolutely nothing, for four years except for a tiny shoot coming out of a bulb. During those four years, all the growth is underground in a massive, fibrous root structure that spreads deep and wide in the earth. But then in the the fifth year the Chinese bamboo tree grows up to eighty feet!
Many things in family life are like the Chinese bamboo tree. You work and you invest time and effort, and you do everything you can possibly do to nurture growth, and sometimes you don't see anything for weeks, months, or even years. But if you're patient and keep working and nurturing, that "fifth year" will come, and you will be astonished at the growth and change you see taking place.
 Patience is faith in action. Patience is emotional diligence. It's the willingness to suffer inside so that others can grow. It reveals love. It gives birth to understanding."

I love the idea of a massive, fibrous root structure spreading deep and wide-- sometimes I forget to think about life in that way. I had a rough day on Friday. I've been hating myself for getting so emotional about things that are not really about me...and I had a breakdown. It's always after the fact that I think, "come on--what is your deal--your roots are deep!"

At church it appeared on the program that the Primary kids were going to sing the musical number. I leaned over to Jack and asked if he knew that he was singing with the Primary to which he responded with great exaggeration  "Ugh, I'm not even wearing my singing songs shirt. I can't get up there in this--" He looks down at a polo and sweater vest with a big eye roll. It took all of my self control to muster, "You have a song singing outfit?" Which earned me an, "I don't even want to talk about this"--and I was waved off from further explanation. The good news is that the program was a misunderstanding and the musical number was just Shari playing Primary songs on the piano. ...Aunt Susie would say, "Ryan Seacrest's social nightmare averted."

Post church amounted to UNO and Battleship. Jack always wins but it's because Lachlan plays Battleship by saying, "Miss! But you were really close!" "Hit! Oh, man, Jack you hit one of my ships and another one is really close too!!" OR "Sure wish that you would change the color to green. I would love green or red, but NOT yellow!" Dear Heaven, may she never have the urge to gamble more than a nickel slot. Amen.

Then I made some cake. This is the Pumpkin Pound cake from my Pinterest Food board. It's tasty. Very simple to make. Last fall I canned my own pumpkin, which I use for lots of other things, but this is pretty good on a snowy afternoon.

We got a foot of snow.

This is just what we got after church. Jeff had to shovel twice.

And then I turned into a total lump and watched TV for two hours, maybe three....Jeff says four.
P.S. What is going on with the fonts in this post? ugh.