Football! Football! Football!

Yahoo so kindly reminded me that its almost draft time for the fantasy leagues. So, we've got our Go Deep! fantasy league all set up for the 2008-2009 season. I'm sure most of you have heard about our secret little pastime in the Olson house. Its made a football believer out of me (Sara). We're always looking for friends to join us so if you're interested drop me a note and I'll send you an invite to join. If you join however, you've gotta stay on top and play!

And just a note, I would not advise drafting more than one Bengal player as your stars in a given year. Just a little lesson I learned from last year. Darn Chad Johnson!

Go teams!

The defense rests, your Honor.

My, we have a budding attorney on our hands! I had mentioned to Jon that I wanted us to discuss having the kids stay in church with us for worship and then take them to their classes but I wasn't sure how they were going to feel about it nor what they were going to miss . Well, Ava overheard our conversation and (verbatim, people) said the following:

"Mom and Dad, I have three reasons why I do not want to go to your class. They are:
Number One: No toys
Number Two: No snack
Three: No playtime
Those are my three reasons why I do not want to go to your class."

What can you say to that clearly laid out argument? Jon chuckled and responded with, "Well, that's a clear and concise argument. I cannot disagree with any of your statements." and we just started laughing. I wish you could have heard her confidence. There was no way we were going to win that one!

A trip down memory lane

I came across these today and had to let out a little sigh. They grow so fast. I can't believe these precious little babes are my active little girls today. Amazing.

Ava

Ava at 8 months

Jillian

Meditations

"Now I live to bring you praise..."

We were singing this in church yesterday and this very verse seemed to at the same time convict and bless my spirit. I've been doing a study on Daniel and we were discussing this week the way the King had used the goblets from the temple, holy objects, in an unholy way.

The holy being used for the unholy.

I have thought frequently over this last week how I, filled with His holiness, may not always be participating in holy things. If I proclaim a change in my life, proclaim that I am dedicated to Christ, then how does that look in my day to day life? Am I truly living to bring praise to God?

I'm not. I know I'm not. I can think of a million things and thoughts that are anything but holy and would definitely not be considered praise to God. I'm thankful to Him for His forgiveness however and most thankful for His whispers into my ears and heart when I am not meeting his standard nor his call on my life. Thank you Lord for your reminders no matter how difficult they are to hear sometimes.

Watch Keepers

The verse of the day from my flippy calendar yesterday was Mark 13:32-33, 36-37 NIV:

No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. Be on guard! Be alert! You do not know when the time will come. If he comes suddenly, do not let him find you sleeping. What I say to you, I say to everyone: "Watch!"

Now this perplexed me. Not even the Son knows? Jesus Christ himself? I laid in bed last night thinking about this and even threw it at Jon who mumbled back something like, "Mmm. Wow. Interesting. Snozzzzzzzzz....." [Clearly he isn't taking literally the command to not be found sleeping.]

Has anyone ever caught this before? Have anything to say? I'll do my own set of investigation here but I'd be interested if anyone has anything enlightening to add. I mean we (okay, most believers) operate believing in three distinct persons: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But I find it completely fascinating that they would operate separate from one another rather than as the old "three-in-one" that we all typically ascribe to. Why? What would be the purpose of the Son not knowing the day of God's return? And it also leads me to wonder, is Jesus Christ returning or is it truly only God? I mean, if the Son doesn't know the date, is the Son returning or is it only the Father? Semantics or something more?

Penny Pincher

The girls have been saving their money earned by jobs around the house and (shhh!) mom dumping her spare change as equally as possible into their jars. Ava has been saving specifically for a humongous "Cars" art pad which was exactly $9.99 at Target and Jillian just thought buying anything sounded like fun. So off we trekked to Target today.

Ava made her purchase and I dumped out a coin purse full of change (note to self: Coinstar to exchange coins to bills) and made her purchase. Next it was Jillian's turn. She proudly placed her Hello Kitty art pad onto the scanner and I counted out her change and handed it to the cashier. Suddenly, wailing ensued. Unsure what the problem was I told her that the cashier has to take her money. Jillian continued to scream that she didn't want me to give it to her and I thought that she just wanted to do it herself. After all, the child *is* two.

When we finally made our way to the parking lot, after scowls from the gentleman behind me and daggers from people around me who clearly have no children, I finally was able to get down to Jillian's level. I asked her what the problem was and she told me:

J: "I dont want the worker to take my money!"
M: "Honey, that's what the worker does. You buy something and she takes your money. You can't do it yourself."
J: "But I want to KEEP my mooooonnnnneeeeeyyyyyy!"
M: "You don't want to give it to her at all?"
J: "NO! I want to keep it all!"
M: "But then you can't buy anything?"
J: "I want to keep all of my money. I don't want to buy anything!"

Ah. She inherited her Grandpa B's penny-pinching ways. The poor child didn't want to part with her money for things.

Well, we made it into the car and Ava promptly tells her:
"Jilly, maybe you should just save all your money and give a little bit to God."

And Jillian responded with,
"Yes, Ava. That's what I'm going to do now. I don't want anyone to have my money again."


Grandpa, I hope you're proud!

Cutie Pie

We visited a place named Pennington Farms on our recent trip to Oregon. They make absolutely delicious pie turnovers and savories. YUM! Jillian enjoyed a few bites and we got back into the car. As we were driving I turned around to check on her and saw her chewing away on something in her mouth with a strange look on her face:

"Jillian? What's in your mouth, honey?"
"Ummmm. Pie nuts."
"Pie nuts?"
"Yes, pie nuts are stuck in my teeth from my pie."
"Do you mean berry seeds? From the berry pie?"
"Oh! Yeah! That's what they are. Berry seeds!"

Oh man, we were in stitches! Pie nuts!