I Am Second

Have you seen the website called I Am Second? It's fantastic and I can spend hours watching the videos they have featured. I love how a simple concept can grow into a beautiful ministry. These people, mostly celebrities, are amazing in their vulnerability as they share a small little snippet of their faith journey and testimony.

So far I think Scott Hamilton's is my favorite. He had me smiling with joy in the midst of tears because he was smiling with joy in the midst of his own tears. He loves and trusts God for his life and it shows.

Check it out. It's well worth your time.

Quote of the Day

Quote of the Day:

"We are of opinion that instead of letting books grow moldy behind an iron grating, far from the vulgar gaze, it is better to let them wear out by being read."
-Jules Verne

I like it.

The Good and The Bad

The Good

I am ecstatic that Sleepy Beth and fam now have a new addition. He is a super cutie and I cannot wait to meet him.

The Bad

I learned today that the husband of the woman who introduced Beau and me is battling cancer. I have known this lovely, gentle man since I was 6 years old. I'm kind of stunned right now.

YouTube of the Day: One Thing Remains

Then shall the trees of the forest sing for joy
   before the LORD, for he comes to judge the earth.
 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good;
   for his steadfast love endures forever!   1 Chronicles 16: 33-34

The Bible in 90 Days and 4 Books at a Time

I don't know what I'm thinking right now. There are not enough hours in the day already and I have now added stuff.

I started reading through the Bible in 90 Days right after Thanksgiving. Today is my Day 70. I should finish on Day 89. I'm less than three weeks from my second reading of the entire Bible, from Genesis to Revelation. This takes at least 1 full hour each morning, which I do as soon as I wake up with a giant mug of coffee to help.

As you know, I listen to audio books when I'm in the car. I started The Winds of War by Herman Wouk a few weeks ago and I'm about 1/3-1/2 way through it. It is very good, a nice blend of history and fiction. I am enjoying it very much. However, it has been paused while I listen to a (or a few) short abridged audio book(s) narrated by Richard Armitage.

Richard Armitage as John Thornton
in North & South

See, after watching North & South last weekend, I learned that RA narrated a few regency romances and I was curious about them. And he has a nice voice, so I thought I would enjoy having him talk to me while I drive to and from work. I was right. He is a very good narrator (in keeping with my theory that actors make the best narrators because they act the books and don't merely read them). So the past few drives have passed by with my listening to Sylvester by Georgette Heyer as narrated by RA. I got the other two he narrated and I plan to listen to them as well.

In the meantime, for my limited evening reading I had started An Assembly Such as This by Pamela Aidan. It's a revisit of Pride & Prejudice, but from Darcy's point of view. I'm about 1/3 in and I'm trying to decide if I like it or if it's crap. I think it is crap and that I like it. Help me.

And then, because of my curiosity about the book version of North & South (Elizabeth Gaskell), I started reading that this weekend. This one surprised me by hooking me in pretty quickly. The characters are so richly written and the reader is put into their heads. So while the actors' portrayals were very good, there was much in their internal struggles that just could not be conveyed on television. Most particularly, I find that Mrs. Thornton is much more sympathetic, John Thornton is more heart-breaking in his vulnerability, and Margaret Hale is more haughty and yet still likable. I read the proposal scene yesterday and it is even more tense because it is from Thornton's perspective and his despair is so touching.

Anyway, all this means is that I'm reading a lot as I can fit it in during the day. I wish I could get paid to read all day long. I excel at it if given the chance.

On Introversion

Robbo posts about a new book about introverts in business. (book link)

If you have read here (or at the old, now vanished, blog), then you know that I am a super-introvert. I think that Beau leans more to the extrovert side of things, although he's a more quiet and solitary sort of extrovert.

I've been thinking about the introvert vs extrovert thing a lot lately as I see these traits begin to fully manifest in our kids. I am nearly 100% certain that Jesse is an extrovert. And I'm at about 80% certain than Molly is an introvert.

If Jesse doesn't get out, see people, do something, then he becomes unhappy and intemperate enough that I think when puberty hits it'll be full on cranky. I know this is typical of his age, but he talks incessantly and he requires company at all times. He completely wears me out pretty quickly, I'll admit. My introverted personality that really goes into overload with too much noise and chaos, starts to move into cranky after about 30 minutes of what a typical 4-5 year old offers. I pray daily that I have supernatural patience and tolerance for it, because it is very hard to not just snap at him to be quiet and give me a few minutes of peace. Even when he's watching his favorite TV shows, he will call out to one of us to relay some piece of information about the show or run in to wherever we are to say it before running back so as not to miss anything. After an outing, Jesse is jazzed. He bounces off the walls with excitement so extreme at times that it takes several minutes to get him to calm down. In the classic extrovert definition, Jesse gets his energy from being out, with people.

Then there's Molly, who will sit quietly playing with whatever for anywhere from 20-40 minutes without saying a peep to anyone (except the toys, of course). She will watch TV without moving, sucking on her fingers and twirling her hair. She will sit at the kitchen table and quietly scribble or color without saying a word. Not that she doesn't talk - she is a little chatterbox, but only when she has something very important to tell you. She is classic introvert, who gets her energy in quiet and solitude. After an outing, she's ready for a nap. I'm so with her.

Parenting such different kids will be interesting. I'm looking forward to and sort of dreading how the hormonal changes of puberty will impact these aspect of their personalities. Will they be magnified? Mellowed? And will our parenting have any impact on them?

I will say this, knowing this about them will help. It will help to know that Jesse is cranky because he needs to go out. Or Molly is tired because she was just at a large gathering of people. What will help both of them is that they seem to be outgoing, gregarious people - in their own ways, they love to engage with other people, but how they do so will be fun to watch.

Books and TV

Books: I have read/listened to several books in the past few months, but have not shared anything about them here. I thought that I would since there are a couple that I think are worth mentioning.

Sarah's Key by Tatiana De Rosnay - this is a French novel that was translated into English (well, I might add). I listened to the audio book, which was narrated very well. While the story was slightly predictable, I found it incredibly compelling. The characters were complete - some likeable, some not, some sympathetic, some not. I found the history both fascinating and horrifying. The Holocaust has been an obsession since I was a child and just when I think I know most of the details, I learn something new. 4 stars.

Wings of Fire by Charles Todd - this book took me two months to finish on my Kindle. It wasn't because it's a terrible book. On the contrary, I thoroughly enjoyed this WWI era mystery. I just don't get much time to read read. This is why I listen read. This is book 2 of the Ian Rutledge series by Todd. I plan to read all of the rest (I think they are up to book 10? They are a mother-son writing team). 4 stars.

The Drop by Michael Connelly - I am a huge fan of Connelly and especially of his recurring homicide detective, Harry Bosch. This is book 17 of the Bosch series. The last couple I found a little disappointing, but this one was old school Harry. And I was especially happy that Len Cariou narrated the audio book - he is Harry for me. If you're squeamish, this may not be for you. It's a classic police procedural that involves very disturbing mature content. 4 stars.

The Rose Garden and The Winter Sea by Susanna Kearsley - I listened to The Winter Sea and "kindled" The Rose Garden. Both are light, romantic, historical fiction reads with elements of time travel. I enjoyed The Winter Sea so much that I immediately got The Rose Garden. If you like quick reads of this genre, you should enjoy both of these books. 5 stars each.

TV: After months of not watching much on TV because I've been too busy doing other things and trying to read more, I have moved back into some TV viewing. Most that I'm watching is either on the DVR or streamed via Netflix or Amazon Instant Prime.

Once Upon a Time - this is one of the two currently airing TV shows that I have kept on top of each week. I like it a lot. Some of the stuff is silly, but I like how they're telling some of the classic fairy tales. My favorite is the Jiminy Cricket episode so far.

Downton Abbey - I'm a latecomer to this great Masterpiece Theater show on PBS. The week season 2 was due to start I decided to finally get around to watching season 1, which I was able to stream via Netflix. Love. It. I love everything about it.

North & South - This BBC production of Elizabeth Gaskell's story is wonderful. I streamed this via Netflix as well over the weekend. If you ask me, I believe Mr. Thornton's proposal surpasses the emotional intensity of Mr. Darcy's. I present, you decide.

I swoon. Seriously. And they both get rejected! All I need is for Hugh Jackman to play one of these roles and I'm done in.

We all know Colin Firth. So meet Richard Armitage. He's playing Thorin Oakenshield in The Hobbit movie currently filming and set for release in December. Can a dwarf be hot?

But I digress.

I have the DVD of the movie adaptation of Sarah's Key, which I hope to watch soon. I also plan to watch some more old Masterpiece Theater things via Netflix.

And there we are, mostly caught up with the trivial in life today.

Five

This is being posted early because it's been on my mind and I don't want to forget it on the day.

Five years ago I was living in a hospital room, hugely pregnant and with great anxiety and expectation. I had been on strict bed rest for about 7 weeks at this point.

I had complete placenta previa and when it was first diagnoses at about 16 weeks into my pregnancy, I was told that bed rest was a certainty as well as a c-section since there was no other way for the baby to get out with the placenta blocking the birth canal. Later, my OBs told me that I lasted much longer before I had any bleeding (which indicated that the placenta was tearing away from my uterus - this is bad). Anyway, on the Wednesday after Thanksgiving I experience my first bit of bleeding. I was at 29 weeks. Naively, I headed to the hospital where I was immediately checked in and told that in no uncertain terms was I to get out of bed. For 2 days I lay in that shared room (only for the first couple of days, then I got a room to myself), miserable, stressed (about baby and my job (I had driven myself to the hospital, blithely telling my bosses that I'd "see [them] tomorrow." Ha! Little did I know.)).

Mercifully, one of the peri-natologists relented and allowed me to get up to use the potty. One week after arriving I was sent home with instructions to stay in bed except to use the potty. I was allowed 1-2 showers per week.

My Beau was awesome. He set up a table next to the bed, brought up my computer to the table and I was able to function pretty well there from bed. I did 100% of our Christmas shopping that year online. I hand addressed all of the Christmas cards and I think I may have hand written notes in most of them, too. I even wrapped many of the gifts in bed.

And then I had more bleeding, two weeks after arriving back at home, so into the hospital I went again and this time I was in for the duration. This time I was more prepared for being in the hospital since I already knew what to expect. After a few days I was again able to get up to use the bathroom and shower.

Interestingly, most of my memories are wonderful and fond. I was visited every day. My husband came every day. My mother came several times a week. Our small group friends came frequently - our small group leader is a surgeon so he would visit me almost every morning when he was there to do his rounds. His wife was wonderful to visit often as well. Folks brought me food from outside. I watched a lot of TV, read some, slept a lot.

Beau and I celebrated our first anniversary (New Year's Eve) in Labor & Delivery - I experience my third bleeding that night and we spent 36 scary and uncomfortable hours in L&D. The nurses there were great though. They were cheerful and encouraging and very much doing everything they could to ensure that my baby did not arrive early. I am grateful for their hard work that night. Things settled down and I was sent back to the high risk pregnancy unit to continue my extended stay.

Two more weeks passed. I was now 36 weeks. My docs wanted to get to at least 34 weeks and we had done it. Now they were hoping I could get to 37 weeks. But alas, 36 was the magic number.

It was a Sunday night. Beau and I had watched the Redskins play in a playoff game that evening. I dozed off to sleep, but awoke at about 1am because I was bleeding. And this time it was scary bleeding.

Thinking back on it, it all reminds me of an ER episode. I pressed the call button, telling the nurse I was bleeding. Seconds later 2 nurses came in, took one look and called for reinforcements. I heard one say they were calling my doctor right away. I knew this was it and asked for the phone so that I could call Beau. I can't remember if I called my mom or if he did. The rest is sort of a blur but about 90 minutes passed.

Next thing I remember is being wheeled into the OR and being prepped for the c-section. Beau came in. People were bustling about. My doctor arrived (she was about 5 months pregnant at that time, too. Bless her.) Things had sort of been quiet, so I asked Beau, "Have they started yet?" There was laughter from several people and the nurse at my head said, "Honey, they started about 10 minutes ago. Your baby is about to be pulled out!" Beau looked green and laughed in disbelief - he's a bit squeamish and as he tells it there was a lot of blood where the doctor was working.

Then she pulled out our baby. "It's a boy!" she confirmed what we already knew. The nurses bundled our preemie to the scale and then there were more chuckles. He was a large preemie at 7lb 5 oz. He was 19" long. And we was born right on the dot of 3am on January 16, 2007.

Happy birthday my precious boy. Thank you for the joy, giggles, kisses, and hugs you gift us with every day. Every moment of every day I am grateful that God chose to gift us with you. I love you.

Happy New Year

I can't believe I didn't post a single thing in December. That's just crazy.

I fear that blogging will not happen as much in 2012 either. There are just too many other things that are more important, although Facebook gets plenty of play.

Anyway, I hope you all had lovely Christmasses or Hannukah or Festivuses.

And happy new year!

Happy Thanksgiving