Jesus Loves the Little Misguided Children, Too

As I sat in the McDonald’s drive-thru waiting for my 2 cheeseburgers and a parfait, I looked forward and saw a small child peeking over the back seat in the car in front of me. He had this real inquisitive look that only a child could give, and then he preceded to give me the bird. It was perfectly formed—knuckles tight and middle finger extended as far as possible with noticeable muscle strain! Not exactly a “Precious Moments” figurine experience! Here I am minding my own business and a five-year-old is insulting me. I ended up just sitting there, understanding that there is no way this kid understands completely what he is doing, hence his huge grin. I avoided making any negative response and refused to reward his behavior, but I found myself overcome with sadness. His parents were sitting in the front seat and didn’t see any of this, and I had the thought of getting out of my car and telling them what he was doing, but I decided this wasn’t a good idea because I had no idea how his parents might respond.

This was just one of those times to sit and be sad. He had no idea what he was doing and besides my hair being a little messy, this couldn’t have been about me. A good Christian might pray for the boy right then and there, but I have not achieved this level of sainthood. Out of all of this came the thought and question: what is a proper response to a situation like this—the proverbial 5-year-old flipper offer? And a companion question: What will I do when I catch my 5-year-old flipping someone off? (I plan on these things happening).

Memphis Tornadoes

No, I’m not talking about a dinky little semi-pro roller hockey team, Memphis tornadoes refers to actual tornadoes. One touched down at a mall 10 miles away from our house, but we just got a lot of wind and rain.

Here is what I think is funny: Memphis city schools let out at 12:30 in the afternoon because of the possibility of severe weather. They weren’t even predicting the storm to come through until after school was out. It didn’t even start raining until 4pm. This is way different than what would happen in Edmond, OK public schools. I had to remind myself, though, that Memphis has a more litigious culture, especially when it has to do with schools and liability, and also, a high number of kids are in after school programs until 5 so their parents can work—and things were pretty crazy at 5. So, it makes more sense to me now, but is so different from where I grew up.

LOST is Found

Tonight might be the most important night ever for the show LOST. All this unnecessary anticpation due to the writer’s strike has kept us on our toes. We watched the last two episodes of last season on ABC last night. They had a pop-up video type thing going on at the bottom of the screen that was helpful for getting back into the story line. We have waited so long for this show, and tonight our waiting will be over.

Why is this the most important night ever for the show? First of all, we’ll know if the fan-base has hung around after all this time. I’ve talked to a few friends who loved the show, but do not plan to get back into it. Second, we’ll find out if they can live up to their cliffhanger ending last season and continue with the momentum. Third, we’ll see if a show that doesn’t revolve around power-women (i.e. Desperate Housewives, Lipstick Jungle, Cashmere Mafia, Big Shots—haha) can still survive on TV. Fourth, they’ll find out if showing the premier trailor 50 times a day works.

If you are teetering on the edge of getting back into it or not getting back into it, you should get back into it. We need you to watch so the show will go on. We have purely selfish motives here.

In other news, Tom Petty is playing at the Super Bowl and is also going back on tour. We will see Tom and the band in August in St. Louis.

Ending the Wednesday Rebellion

Our one year streak of missing Wednesday night church ended last week when we attended a class that presents Gray Chapman’s latest video series, “A Growing Marriage.” Somebody once said to do at least one marriage enrichment type activity a year where you go to a class or a weekend or Marriage Mentoring: Twelve Conversations. We think it a good idea--good enough to end our rebellion against Wednesday night church. However, LOST, when it comes back on, will make it hard to go (especially after the incredible finale last season), but perhaps we can withstand the urge to stay home and give el diablo a foothold on our hearts.

As goofy as marriage videos usually are, this one is quite bearable. Gary Chapman is engaging and honest about marriage. He’s not preaching at you to have a perfect marriage, he just wants you to pursue the possibility of things being better. Anyway, we are excited to do this series and hopefully grow our marriage. Even though a child would probably make our marriage better, we are willing to try a video series! (Please read that in the context of sarcasm.) By the way, there is plenty of room in the class for more couples!

Does Your Dog Eat Fish Flakes?

Our’s does! Our neighbors told us last night that two separate times Cali ate an entire thing (about the size of a coke can) of fish flakes when they weren’t home. Their dog helped, of course, but Cali was the instigator. The second one wasn’t even opened yet, and they did not figure Cali would do it again. Somehow she got the flakes off the top of the aquarium and indulged herself. It is just hard for me to imagine dogs eating fish flakes.