Five Things For Friday

You may recall my recent post gushing over my latest-and-favoritest-blog. This post (Five Things For Friday), is a total and shameless copy cat of her post series by the same name (which she admitted to knocking off someone else's blog, as well). What can I say. I always seem to have plenty of little, chatty things to talk about, none of which really require their own post. So here we go.

One. We got a plant. This was exciting. Like, announcing-a-new-member-of-the-family exciting. We picked Little Plant and it's Little Pot up at IKEA a month or so ago. After making our selection and continuing to browse, I kept shooting nervous, furtive grins at Patrick.

"We have a plant!!" I'd whisper, so as not to draw attention to myself among the other customers browsing shelving options. "Do you think I'll kill it??"

"I sure hope not!" the love of my life would respond pleasantly.

(I do not, by the way, have a naturally green thumb. Or an artificially green thumb, for that matter. Suffice it to say, my plant track record is not very good.)

But lo and behold, Little Plant is still alive:

I feel as though I would like to name Little Plant, but my roomie from my freshman year in college and I came up with this theory that naming inanimate objects is bad luck. Case in point: just weeks after she and I decided to name my car The Revenge of Darth Vader, said car was totaled driving back from the D.C. airport.

So I think Little Plant will remain nameless just a little while longer.

Two. When James was small, I spent a lot of my time nursing him with a book in my hand. I did a lot of reading of old books I knew I loved, and it was refreshing.

With Owen, I've found myself reading different things--mostly online, since my phone is easier to manage than a book in hand while placating two additional children. It takes some effort, but I've been trying to steer myself away from the typical mind-numbers and time-wasters (Hello, Facebook! Nice to see you again, Pinterest!), and toward sites of substance and interest. That was how I discovered Women in the Scriptures, and that website has been a source of many other great reads for me.

One in particular that I soaked up was this online version of Women's Rights In Old Testament Times, by James Baker. Here's a description to give you the general idea:

“Women’s Rights in Old Testament Times performs two tasks for modern students of the Bible: it unlocks the complex web of ancient laws that governed just about every aspect of a woman’s life, and it reveals the powerful and inspiring actions of women in the biblical texts. Where most commentators treat women mostly as the victims of ancient laws, James Baker shows how they turned restrictions into opportunities. This book throws helpful light on many difficult Old Testament passages and at the same time shows that for the biblical authors women played a much more important role than is usually recognized.” —Lawrence Boadt, C.S.P., Professor of Old Testament, Washington Theological Union

I was fascinated reading the stories that I knew from Sunday School as though I were sitting in a classroom for economics and law. I'd never heard these stories from this (or any other) perspective before, and it really struck me. These were real people living in a real world with families to create and provide for, futures to think of and protect, and a culture to color everything they did and believed.

I could go on and on about how reading this changed the way I think about women, the Gospel, and my place in the world. I especially loved how academic (and not sound-byte-y or political or emotional) it was. Sources like that allow me to draw my own lessons and come to my own conclusions. For now, though, I'll simply offer it to anyone else with extra time on their hands and a desire to learn something new and different. Here's the link again. I'd be curious what you guys think.

Three. Mom confession: most of the time my son does not wear pants. He simply does not like to wear them. Last Sunday in nursery, the children's class at church, he decided to remove socks, shoes, and pants all together.

It's my own fault, really. Once he takes them off at home, I make very little (read: no) effort to replace them unless we're going outside. I pick my battles, and trying to stop him from darting around in a cute little cloth-diapered-bum is exactly the type of battle I'm not going to pick.

Four. Speaking of Mommy-related things that make me sound lazy, I had a life changing experience a few months ago. While browsing an online mothering forum, I discovered that up to half of the participating mothers did not individually fold their small child's clean underpants before putting them in the drawer.

...What? People do that? I could do that??

After recovering from my initial mindblown shock, I realized this was a movement I wanted to be part of. Because really, compared to all the other things I have on my to-do list, ...

It has now been several months of sweet, sweet freedom. My daughters undies have not been individually folded since that fateful spring day. And if, years from now, you see my grown son wandering around pants-less and my grown daughter with an underwear drawer that puts Hoarders episodes to shame, you know whom to blame.

Five. Finally, happy Fourth of July! Our celebration this year was a little more patriotic than last year's. We went to the local parade, which was small but fun. Hearing the marching band was my favorite part; there's something about feeling the drumbeats in my bones and seeing all those high school students marching in step with flags waving all around. I sure am grateful to be able to share these memories and this wonderful country with my family.

She wanted to wear her red checkered dress-up-dress and Daddy's cowboy hat. I think she looks perfect.

I hope everyone else is enjoying their holiday weekend!