Ash Wednesday - Our Journey Through Lent Begins

Ian wanted ashes on his forehead. Payton did not. Ian didn't want to wash them off. Payton thought the whole ritual was a little disturbing....which it is, mind you. From ashes you came and to ashes you shall return. Yikes! I'm not sure if Ian fully gets it, but I have a feeling Payton does. Maybe that's why they have the different reactions.

 

Anyway, we also started a Lenten devotion at Supper time. Ideally, we would do it at breakfast, but lets face it, we're too busy waking up, eating breakfast and getting off to school, to focus on a Lenten Bible study. I've done devotions with the kids in years past. The ones for Advent are much easier to find. The devotions for kids during Lent are pretty scarce and not really what I was looking for....Repent! Change your Heart! Nails in the Cross!

 

While, yes, these are appropriate themes for Lent. I wanted to add something to our routines. I wanted to build up the kids. I wanted to focus on all the positive lessons and stories, that will help shape their character and attitudes....not brow-beat them. So, I'm making up our own devotions for Lent focusing on Gratitude.

 

If you google Gratitude, there are quite a few articles and devotions written about it. Two sources I really enjoyed were www.thechangeblog.com/gratitude and www.Greatergood.berkeley.edu. Some of the take-aways that I got out of these sources is that people that practice gratitude are happier, healthier, and more connected individuals, especially children and adolescents. I want my children to be happy, healthy, connected individuals, that derive this sense of gratitude, not just from within themselves, but outside of themselves. God gives us many gifts, both large and small, to help us achieve the goodness in our lives. Through the stories and teachings of Jesus, the family and I are taking a journey in Gratitude during Lent.

 

I'm picking out New Testament stories and parables and presenting them in the spirit of thankfulness. Each day we'll read a story, discuss it, and put a sticker on our tree. We are turning all the brown and black leaves into colorful hearts and stars. We'll write a short phrase or word that summarizes what we talked about on the sticker, along with a number...we're counting down to Easter!

 

We'll see how it goes. The kids were very engaged at last night's discussion of Jesus healing the ten lepers :) Here's a picture of our devotional tree:

 

 

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Happy Birthday Scott!

We celebrated Scott's birthday on Thursday. He's 37! Yikes. We ARE NOT OLD! According to Ian, you are NOT old until you hit 80! So we have lots of time to be young :)

The kids were excited to give Scott their present.....James Bond posters, which will adorn our walls for his James Bond party coming up in a couple of weeks.

When I asked the kids what the theme should be for Scott's party, Ian almost immediately yelled out, 'James Bond!' It's perfect, really. Scott's been reading Ian Fleming's novels. We own all the movies.

To celebrate, we went out to Top Golf, which is normally lots of fun, but cold gusty 20 mph winds started up just after sunset. We ate, finished our game and left pretty quickly.

We finished the night at Scott and the kids' favorite frozen yogurt place, The Velvet Spoon.

Catan Jr.

This game is awesome!

This weekend we played it 3 times!

There's something funny about collecting wood and goats to build ships and lairs.

Oh, and watch out for the ghost pirate. He's sneaky.

Sporty Weekend

I'm not a huge sports fan. Heck, I'm not even a big sports fan. I don't follow any teams or players of any sport. I used to play volleyball, basketball, and track, but when it comes down to sitting in front of a screen or in a stadium, I can usually think of other things I'd rather be doing.

 

Yet, somehow, this weekend, I ended up at the FC Dallas soccer stadium and a Texas Legends game.....not to mention Ian's soccer game.

 

How did this happen?, you may ask. Well, my hubby was working. My husband is a sports fan. He recently purchased a set of tickets to watch FC Dallas, so we were invited to a Friends and Family night at the stadium. They had a couple of activities for the kids, we ate hot dogs and pizza and then got to watch the team practice. (Actually, it was pretty cool, but I'm not admitting to be a fan, yet).

 

Then Saturday night, it was our turn to have the season tickets we split with some friends of ours. The kids love the games, but they mostly just like hanging out in the kids' area. This is all good for them, but I spend at least half the game playing searching for them in the crowd making sure they're ok.

It's like Where's Waldo? except it's Where's Payton and Ian?

 

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While Mama's Away.....

Daddy takes the kids to his parents :)

I would do the same thing. Having others to help entertain the kids is great.

While at Oma and Opa's, they celebrated Opa's birthday and retirement.

Kate hosted a surprise retirement party for Opa.

From what I heard, it sounds like everyone had a great time.

The kids really enjoyed playing golf while there.

On a side note, poor Ian was fighting a low grade fever Sunday and Monday. Scott took him to urgent care. A nurse looked at him and said he had an ear infection and bronchitis. He prescribed antibiotics. I took him to our Dr. on Tuesday and she said there was no ear infection, but that he had strep throat. He's better now.

Soul 2 Soul

Tim McGraw and Faith Hill put on an amazing show at the Venetian Theater. The intimate setting allowed us to see them perform up close and personal. They walked around the theater on some occasions and got within 10 feet of us.

Their performances were amazing and watching them on stage singing duets together was truly touching.

On Sunday, we went to a champagne brunch and ate some really yummy food at the First Food and Bar. Then we cruised the strip, taking it all in :)

This posing with characters thing was new to me.....

But fun, none the less......

I had a great weekend with Margaret and Melissa.

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Is this weekend going to be a lesson in patience?

For Christmas, Scott arranged for me and two girlfriends to have a weekend in Las Vegas. He also bought us tickets to a Tim McGraw and Faith Hill concert. (My husband is so sweet to me :)
So today, I arrived at the airport for my 4:50 flight at 2:50. Exactly 2 hours just like I like it. I'm one of those people who likes to be early for things. On the drive to the airport my flight tracker app dinged me to tell me that my flight on United would be leaving 1 hour and 25 minutes late. That meant I had 20 minutes to reach my connecting flight in Denver. Um, that probably wouldn't happen. All the reservations, including hotel were under my name. I'm not sure that my friends could have checked in without me, especially to get our special AmEx deal.

So as soon as the gate attendant opened our gate, I went to talk to her to figure out an alternative.


Well, she was very nice but not too sympathetic. She looked for alternative flights on United and American. United didn't have any, and she said that American wasn't releasing any seats to her, or their flights were completely booked. So, she moved me to the front of the plane, in hopes that I could dash out and off to my next flight. She said that if I didn't make it to the flight that United would 'overnight' me in Denver and fly me to Vegas the next day. Then she booked me on the 8:20am flight to Vegas, 'just in case'. She said, 'things happen for a reason' and 'look at it as an adventure!'
Huh. Don't know if I like that.
So, I sat down and considered my options and decided to try to ask American if there were any seats left on those flights to Denver or Vegas. I had to hop on a tram to get to American's terminal. 10 minutes later, the nice man at the Admiral's club said that United would have to initiate the purchase, and that it looked like there maintain be A seat on the 10pm flight. Hop on the tram back to United....
There was a new ticket agent at my gate, so I approached her :) She found me a seat on a direct flight going out at 8pm, arriving at 9pm, so of course, I took it.
Hop on the tram, back to American terminal.

By this time it was 5. I had been stressing about the situation for two hours, so when I got back to the admirals club, I just sat and closed my eyes for 20 minutes - which helped tremendously.

Then, I was ready for a beer and some food, since I still had almost a 3 hour wait still for my flight.

Well, then my 8 o clock flight was delayed for half an hour. I finally got off the ground at 8:45!

So, is this a lesson in patience?

Is it a lesson in persistence?

Or is it a lesson in purchasing airline tickets?.....only buy direct?

Maybe all three.....Prepare the best you can. Take each moment as it comes realizing that sometimes you have to roll with what life hands you. Getting upset at people usually gets you nowhere, except grumpier. If you don't get the answer you want at first, try approaching the question or situation from another angle.

In the end, I landed in Vegas and met my friends at the car rental place just as they got their car. The timing couldn't have been more perfect!

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