What we learned this winter

Linking up with Emily P. Freeman to share What We Learned this season....


1.  Thanks to Kaitlyn Bouchillon, I finally know how to spell gray.


A for America; e for Europe.

2.  How incredibly organized our worship services are.  


On the first of December, our family was asked to go up front and read the Advent call to worship at the beginning of the service.  And thus I received the "worship grid" by email, which is a spreadsheet that details each minute of each service, including what is happening, how many minutes it will take, and who is leading it.


I was also sent a copy of our reading, which I was nervous about forgetting to bring, but when we got up there, there was another copy sitting on the music stand for us.  Also there was a list on the floor in front of the pastor of the order of worship.

3.  How intensely self-focused I am.


This should come as no surprise to anyone, but the same experience of the Advent reading taught me this, too.  Honestly, I missed most of the service up to the sermon, because I was so nervous about how it would go, and then how it went, and whether I looked like an idiot.

4.  Something more of the longing of Israel for the Savior to come.


Our Sunday school class for adults with disabilities is so enjoyable.  All year we have been working our way through the Bible, tracing the promise of God, ever since the garden, to someday send a Savior.  Week after week, we reiterate humanity's sinfulness, and reaffirm that God had not forgotten His promise, but the Savior hadn't come yet.  The study has deepened my own appreciation of the intense longing Israel felt.  O come, O come, Immanuel.

5.  Our local elementary school decorates for Christmas.


This shocked me.  I keep forgetting I'm not in New England anymore.  We in the Bible Belt now, honey.

6.  Christmas trees cost $70.


Again, not in New England anymore, I guess.  Where I come from, Christmas tree farms are like trying to sell ice to a penguin.  I am sure if Christmas trees cost $70 where I grew up, we would've had home-cut trees a lot more often than we did.

7.  Planning a vacation really stresses me out.


Jason's much better at it.  We were offered a week away, childcare provided, for our anniversary, and it look a long time to decide what to do with ourselves.  I finally had to walk away and make Jason come up with three itineraries for me to choose from. 


The pressure of not wanting to squander this precious time, combined with the overwhelming range of options, is just too much for me to handle.

8.  My angry outbursts at my kids are very often driven by fear of how they will turn out.


My superpower is seeing--at lightning speed--my children's apocalyptic future, in stark detail, based on the misbehavior incident of the day.


You'd think I'm making a soufflé or something.  One wrong move and--blam! the whole project collapses. 

9.  Mindy Kaling went to Dartmouth in 1997.


Being a New Englander, I knew a couple people from my high school who also enrolled at Dartmouth in 1997.  I've been there.  Have I seen Mindy Kaling before?  Do I totally know someone who totally knows her?

10.  A sticky lollipop stick that someone left in the car is perfect for retrieving the credit card that fell into the tiny crack between the seats when you pulled into the car wash and bumped over the tire-holder-thingy.


What is that thing called anyway?


11.  I'm an abstainer.


More practical life wisdom from Gretchen Rubin.

12.  How to finally lose ten pounds.


Here it is:  promise a friend (not a super close friend; one you like and trust but are also kind of intimidated by) that you will pay her $100 if you don't lose 10 pounds by the target date. 


The good news is that it worked amazingly. 


The bad news is that it took a fraction of the time to gain it all back, predictably. 

13.  Apparently the communion juice cups are not filled one by one.


Rumor has it that the church has some contraption that fills the whole tray of communion cups at once.  I'm consumed with curiosity to know what this thing looks like, but poking around the church kitchen has made me none the wiser.


14.  Not all dates are pitted.


I like medjool dates very much.  But I didn't realize that unless specified, they have rock-hard pits in the middle that are probably solid enough to break your tooth if you're not expecting it. 

15.  How to make appliqués.


They came out very cute.  But here's a pro tip:  put an old towel on the ironing board before you fuse the plasticky backing onto your cutout.  I did carefully avoid fusing the sticky plastic to my iron, but forgot to protect my ironing board, which now has a charming plasticky patch.


16.  Darius Rucker was the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish.


His voice does sound familiar, now I think of it.

17.  What a sugar glider is.


Lizzy:  "Can you find 'sugar glider' in the encyclopedia for me?"

Me:  "What's a sugar glider?"

All of my children:  "It's a little flying squirrel."

Me:  "How do you all know that?"

Ada:  "Your children's knowledge has surpassed yours."

18.  I can schedule blog posts to go live automatically.


I did not schedule this post.... but I did write my last Friday links post several days early and schedule it to go up by itself on Friday!  Magic.




What did you learn this winter?