thoughts

The stuff I've been thinking about the past few days hasn't really been Blog-worthy, or appropriate (as if the photo below is), so I haven't been saying much. Sorry to my fans. :)
I should post one of the lovely photos taken of Lizzy at her baptism for those who weren't there, though, shouldn't I? And perhaps even the 'full text' of my dad's prayer for her. Yes, that would be lovely.



Her grandparents’ prayer is that Lizzy:

Will grow in wisdom and stature and favor with God and man,

Will be as much a blessing to her parents as her mother was to us,

Will come to know the Lord early in her life that He might do a great work in her,

And that her grandparents will always be a blessing and a help to her and her parents.

In Jesus name - Amen.


It was one of those things -- God's grace was evident in that lots of stuff didn't go right. But, oddly, not for lack of planning, on everyone's part. It SHOULD have gone great. But it's a super reminder to me that certain things -- I daresay, MOST things -- don't HAVE to go right. And I've been lucky enough to never be in a truly life-or-death situation, so all things considered, I guess everything's gone pretty right for me.



In fact, the Mars Hill leadership team seems to always go the extra mile, to make things look and feel special for the weekly services. I really appreciate that. I mean, check out this baptismal basin: (the rose petals were dropped in by the rest of the 'congregation,' as a reminder of their baptisms, and as a sort of symbolic pledge to support the wee ones as they grow.)



This is probably my favorite photo of the day. Another example of God's grace, or some such thing: The kids wolfing down the leftover Communion bread! Wait, someone put the wine aside, right? :)
Lizzy has such a ball with her friends there at church. She was particularly taken with Elizabeth (center of photo) this day. And what a treat to have Nicolas (right), her very first little friend -- they're about a week apart in age -- with us! He's quite the jet-setter, that Nicolas. We were bummed that poor Ethan wasn't feeling well that day. Lizzy isn't too keen on giving Ethan back his tie-dyed shirt, but I've promised her we'll scout out her very own.
(Thanks for all the great photos, Ross!)

Other stuff: there's something afoot over our heads (hm, that doesn't really come out right, does it?) here at work. Something construction-ey. We keep hearing very loud bangings, stuff being dropped, etc. Ever since my boss told me that a worker actually burst out of a wall and into someone's cubicle last year when I was apparently on vacation or something, I have been quite the paranoid cubicle monkey. The bangings seem to be migrating to the center (newsroom side, away from us feature creatures) of the room, so I guess I don't have much to worry about. And, c'mon -- what's a little insulation in the air, among friends? Or co-workers. Heh.

Speaking of scary: I know I'm naive. Part of that is intentional. It really is. I don't do scary movies. Thrillers, sometimes, but NEVER horror movies. I still get wigged out by The Village, which overall was totally unscary and generally disappointing to M. Night Shyamalan fans. I think it was the way Adrien Brody as Scary Red Creature would suddenly appear next to poor blind Ivy -- out of freakin' NOWHERE. Ugh! I was alone in the house last night (except for Lizzy), and kept hearing noises. More noises than the cricket symphony that has taken up residence in my storage room, that is. Every once in awhile, one will take a break from the concert and amble across the floor in the furnished side of the basement. What the? I've never dealt with cricket infestations before. i've always thought of them as friendly little Jiminy types, not pests who covet my living space. If I were to watch Pinocchio right now, I might just cry. I don't need to have "When You Wish Upon A Star" going through my head as I'm hollering for Matt to come squish an intruder.
(side note: No, I'm not one of those females who fears everything, exactly, but when a bug reaches a certain mass and crunchiness, I just can't stand the feeling of squishing them. Spiders, heck yeah. Millipedes, barely. Crickets are just too much for me to deal with.)

Oh yeah, back to my point. I have been SO EXCITED about Brent Spiner having a recurring role in a (critically acclaimed!) TV show again -- c'mon, folks, he was Data from Star Trek: TNG, sheesh!, whaddya mean who is he -- but I didn't so much care for last Friday's premiere of Threshold. First of all, he's just a supporting character. The lead woman seems cool -- I saw her in Spy Kids, though she might like to be known for other roles, I don't know -- and it's also sweet that she is just about exactly the same age as me (according to internet movie database.com, my almost-infallible online movie source). And she looks kinda oldish! Wait a minute, why is that cool. I was feeling all good that maybe I looked younger than someone in Hollywood who's my age, but that's totally backward logic. Oh, well. She's cute, anyway. So she and these dudes check out this ship, near which aliens seem to have appeared or something, and almost the whole crew's dead and stuff. And suddenly there are all these violent, garish flashbacks. And I'm getting all freaked. And Lizzy's in the room. And I'm trying to hustle her out, and wondering if this is going to give me nightmares. But now of course I have to see, what's up? ARE she and two others of her team (not Brent Spiner, praise be -- he's the only one there with half a brain, natch) turning into aliens with triple helixes? (helices? Can't remember how that all went, though I loved genetics classes.) I mean, the writing is pretty poor. I COULD HAVE WRITTEN IT. That's how sucky it is. And, sheesh, people, they work out of a skyscraper in D.C.! So you know it's totally factually bogus. Yet I'll probably keep watching. Hey, it's on Friday night. What else am I going to do, help my child get ready for bed? Yeah, right!
Now that I've babbled on and on about stuff none of you care about, I wish you a pleasant evening. :)