Staff Christmas Party

I wish I had pictures - but will try to tell the story and post pictures as soon as I find them.

This past weekend we had our annual Staff Christmas Party.  For the sake of this story - I would like to remind you that I work at a church...an amazing church...but a church.  Part of the goal of the party is to bless our staff and take an opportunity to have some fun and relax.

Due to an unusual circumstances, we had some money invested in a large-scale game company that we were going to lose if we didn't use by the end of the year.  We use these large games and rides at Children's Ministry events a few times a year, but certainly we had no use for them (and were going to be out a bit of money) in November or December....

Until the Staff Christmas Party.


This year, we decided to have a lovely, beautifully decorated dinner in the Lobby of our church for the 65 staff people and their guests who were able to attend.  Midway through the evening, after the warm sentiments of our bosses, celebrating what we've seen God do this year, an announcement was made.

As a group, we walked into the Sanctuary.  The chairs had been cleared to house an adult moon bounce, an adult jousting inflatable station, and room for bachi balls and other games.  Yup.  We had a moon bounce in the Sanctuary.

So together, as a staff, we bounced and beat one another with giant foam Q-tips.  We were exhausted by the end (and I certainly felt both my age and the effects childbearing has on your body long-term).  But sincerely, it was the most creative grown-up party of all time.

I was the first one in the moon bounce - only to be followed in by our 60-something founding pastor.  The whole thing was amazing, and certainly something to write home about.  Rob took it easy on me when we jousted, but seriously, we had a blast.


So, next time you're throwing a party for a bunch of grown-up church workers....consider making a creative change!

Thanksgiving

Driving home from Thanksgiving dinner, I got really annoyed at a sign I read outside a church.

"Thanksgiving was never meant to be for one day."


Sometimes (let's face it, lots of times), little things like this really bother me.  I thought about the statement for a long time - mainly to try to figure out why it bothered me so much.  After some contemplation, I came to the conclusion, that while the words on that letterboard sign are correct, the idea is incomplete.  It seems unhelpful to me to nullify the value of a holiday on the holiday itself!!!  And while I strongly believe God's command to be thankful ALWAYS, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus, God also commands us to establish "ebenezers" in our lives...memorials to remind us of what God has done for us.  Knowing we are a forgetful people, God has called us to establish memorials as safeguards against our forgetfulness.  I believe, Thanksgiving is one such memorial.

Yes, in the beginning of America, we did essentially walk into someone else's house, eat their food, move in, and push them out.  But that aside, Thanksgiving can be a special time to come together with friends and family - and to set aside some focused time to give thanks to God for His unmerited grace and gifts to us.  I am so guilty of this human forgetfulness, that I am truly in need of this time of celebration and remembrance.

We did, in our family, have a great celebration of Thanksgiving...and we are thankful.

4 Months

So my baby is 4 months old.

She's a little tank, but is doing great - weighing in at 16 lbs. 12 oz., 26 inches long, and a huge noggin. Yes, she's at 97% for length and weight, (94% head size - which makes me happy that her head growth is slowing down).  Keira is on par developmentally - alert and active with ever growing neck strength.  While we are trying hard to savor each stage of her, we do look forward to seeing her neck one day.


With or without a neck, she's the most adorable thing you've ever seen in your life.  We have had a few strangers mistake her as a boy recently - but I still think she's ridiculously cute.  Seriously, I keep buying bows and headbands for her, but her head is so darn big they're all too small.  You may be thinking, "Might you try the toddler sizes, Kemp?" I would respond, "I have, and, yes, they are also too small."  I think I know what Charlie Brown's mother felt like.  I'm assuming he didn't wear bows, but he does have that black hat.  Same idea.



Here are some Autumn pictures from our forced family photo shoot the other day...just to prove how darn cute our kid is.

In this one, I imagine she's thinking, "Who are these crazy people?  Seriously.  These people are nuts."

So, yeah.  She's pretty awesome.

Finally...An Update.

Well, I've been remiss about giving loads of updates these past months... for several reasons.

1. I feel a lot of pressure to only blog about interesting thoughts or stuff that goes on in our lives.  To be frank, these such thoughts and/or events have been sparse.  Outside of the highlights in our life like our child ALMOST finding her feet, developing in dexterity and small motor skills, there isn't a lot going on.

2. I'd like to be moderate about talking about our kid - for your sake.  Heaven knows it can get old hearing about someone else's kid all the time.

3. Our kid is the best ever, and I don't want to make you feel bad (and yes, I'm well aware that just by typing these words, I'm jinxing myself and we're bound to have sleepless nights, spit-up on the shoulders of every shirt I own, and an inconsolable, fussy child...).  Seriously, she's so awesome - these things are rare in real life.

4. Being a mom is so wonderful (and exhausting) that my efforts are constantly divided (i.e. "Do I play with Keira, make dinner, clean our house, do laundry, or chronicle my thoughts and dreams at the computer for a little while?").  Life seems to take over very often.


But... here's a quick update.  We're doing well.  Keira is awesome, happy, delightful, sleeps well, and is a joy to my spirit.  The cutest kid you'll ever see, somehow, she gets more beautiful every day.  She's HUGE.  I keep telling her that she needs to learn how to walk this week because she's breaking my arms.  While I know the tradeoff is that I'll be chasing after her, my arms could use a break and my thighs could use the workout.  My guess is that she's almost 17 pounds.  She's just in the past few weeks only started to slow down her growth from the last month in utero - gaining almost a half a pound a week.

It's funny how our perspectives change.  We are excited by the strangest things now.  Frequently, the phrase, "Tell Daddy what happened today," to refer literally to things like, "Keira slept for an hour today," or "Keira almost put her pacifier in her own mouth today."  Yeah.  We're boring now.  Maybe we always were, but now.  No doubt.  But, we have a kid to entertain us and a lovely family!

Sharing in History Being Made

Well.  It's been an exciting and tense few days in our household.

My husband is a HUGE Red Sox fan.  The Red Sox happened to be playing in Baltimore ON Rob's birthday and the day after - so weeks ago, I bought tickets to the only game we could get to (when Rob wasn't working and we didn't have plans) on September 28th - the day after Rob's birthday.

Those of you who follow baseball (myself clearly NOT included) know that it's been a rough month for Boston.  September 1st, they were 9.5 games ahead of any other team in line for the Wild Card spot in the playoffs.  By this weekend, they were tied for the spot with Tampa Bay...

For Rob's birthday, the Red Sox beat the Orioles - maintaining the tie with the Rays for the Wild Card spot.  So the game we were going to was THE game!  The Red Sox had to win to either maintain the tie OR beat the Rays...depending on the Rays v. Yankees game going on at the same time.


Despite the 3 hour trip to Baltimore - we got there on time and took our seats - with LOADS of Red Sox fans, front row in the outfield just behind 3rd base.  Front row!

We were ahead all game, stopped for a rain delay for over an hour - and picked back up at 11:00pm.  Meanwhile, the Yanks were crushing the Rays.  But, yes, it all turned around for the Rays (who caught up with 6 runs in one inning and tied it up, putting the game into major extra innings).

But heres the deal.  Yes, the Red Sox lost in the last seconds of the game after having been ahead the whole game.  And yes, the Rays made a RIDICULOUS turn-around and actually won (after having been 7-0 for the first 7 innings against NYY).  But, my husband and I were able to go out together, sit in the front row, and enjoy a beautiful evening together.  We watched history being made (yes, the biggest downfall in the history of baseball), but we were there.

I told Rob as we drove (the LONG drive) home - in a year or two, I won't remember the winner or the loser - or the details of the game, but I will remember having gone out with him.  Having sat among comrades routing for Boston, cheering together and watching the rain - with Rob.  Because I love him.



In the words from Fever Pitch, "You love the Red Sox, but have they ever loved you back?"

I love you back, Robbie.  Next year, will be the start of a fresh season... and we'll go to Boston and it'll be awesome.  Until then, we'll know that we watched history happen and we'll remember that next year can't be worst!

Pinterest

Why the *beep* has no one told me about Pinterest until now?

I may never accomplish anything again in my whole life because I'll be too busy looking at all the cool things I COULD be doing/making/creating/accomplishing.

Hair.

I was so excited when our baby had hair!  And SOO proud that she didn't lose it during her first couple of months.

But now, we have sort of a reverse monk thing going on: