January Hum-Drum

I wish I could say all has been quiet and peaceful here, but no such luck for this past week. Now that Dan leaves for work about 7:15-7:30am-ish, Russell has been throwing tantrums as Dan leaves. He wants Dan to play with him and hates to see him go. Dan used to leave for work about 5:30am so it wasn't an issue. In addition to the tantrums, Russell has also been quite clingy, wanting me to carry him around the house, to the car, and out running errands (mail, Target, etc.). He also cried when I left him at the church nursery on Thursday- a place that he usually loves. Hmm. Since Dan has been home over this long weekend, Russell has been his usual, charming self. On Sunday, when we got to the nursery, Russell ran into the room so quickly we didn't have a chance to 'label' him with his associated pager number. Yeah! I'm hoping tomorrow morning when Dan leaves that he'll be okay.

Next Monday, the 28th, Russell and I will be flying to see my parents. We'll be there until Saturday, the 2nd, and then my Mom is coming back with us to stay for a week! Yeah! I hope the weather picks up because we have a little place and the fun is being outdoors.

The other trip we have planned is to see Dan's parents over the long weekend in February (16th-19th). Since we fly a lot, we wanted a better way to travel with Russell. I have wanted a 'Sit & Stroll' Carseat for a few months but they retail at $250 so that wasn't going to happen. Last week I found one on Craigslist and Dan went to check it out. Yeah! Now we have one more piece of baby-stuff to store;-) I will pat myself on the back and say that I do give bags of stuff to the GoodWill, and other items I want to keep, I lend out to friends with young children. We only have a carport so anything to be stored must be somewhat important.

The last couple of Sundays, the pastor has been speaking on the Parables of Christ. This Sunday, the key verse was, "The last shall be first, and the first shall be last." (Matt. 20:16) What this meant in my childhood was that the first person to race to the front door of the house after arriving home from church would have to stand aside until everyone else had gone in. I suppose it wasn't too different from the parable Christ told about paying the workers of the vineyard the same amount of money for unequal amounts of labor. The laborers were graced to accept the work and pay the landlord had for them until they looked at the other workers and became envious and discontent. Needless to say, it is so easy to compare ourselves with others that are in our lives. Whether lifestage, health, personality, home (biggie for us), wealth, or cooking abilities, we are only unsatisfied when we take our eyes off God and what He has done for us, and instead, compare ourselves to others. Hmm. This will be an ongoing trial, I think.

Well, that is all for now. Happy MLK Day!