Zora idioms we don’t want to forget (her language skills keep getting better and better, so these are slowly going away):
“I want to speaker something in your ear.” (I want to whisper in your ear.)
Use of “what” in place of “that” as in: “I like the monkey toy what has stripes.”
“lellow” for “yellow”
He’s a month old. Can you believe it?
All things considered, our little family is adjusting well (although, this photo might be slightly more idyllic than reality!).
I don’t know that being pregnant made me more forgetful. (I did have a precipitous decline in my vocabulary, though…)
But the combination of little sleep and the general distraction of having a cute baby around (sometimes I just sit and look at him because he’s that wonderful…), well, that combination has my brain pretty well fried.
I should probably not admit this. According to a certain semi-famous (in minister circles) female pastor blogger, who frequently comments on fashion and being a woman in ministry, we need to be careful as women about admissions that we are affected in the head a bit by pregnancy. I won’t name or link her here because I don’t really want to draw her ire.
But, let’s face it: babies are wonderful and exhausting little beings. And, right now, I need some slack because I’m a little tired. And thus forgetful. This is why I thank God and my church for parental leave.
And, honestly, I think of this as part of the whole “it takes a village to raise a child” thing. There are people working harder than usual so that I can sit here with Abram. I view that as a gift to Abram, and to me, and as an expression that the church values children enough to let their brain-addled mamas stay home with them for awhile.
So, on to the funny part of this post. Proof that I am not entirely in my right mind this week?
On Monday, at Abram’s 2 week check up, I realized only as I was being escorted into the exam room, that I had left the diaper bag in the car. And I KNEW he was going to poop in the next 10 minutes (he’s very regular). Since we go to a family practice, it turns out they didn’t have extra baby diapers sitting around. My respect for our doctor has gone way up in that he was completely tolerant of the fact that he had to examine Abram’s boy parts through a nice coating of newborn poopies.
On Wednesday, I left the headlights on during a costco run, and needed a jump by the time I got back to the car. Inspired by people who stand at intersections with “Will work for food” signs, I thought about making a little sign “I have a new baby and I need my battery jumped. Can you help, please?” and standing outside the entrance to see if a departing customer would help. But I wound up going to the customer service desk instead. I was finally helped, but I think the sign would have been faster.
Perhaps most hilariously, I did something else really forgetful yesterday. I know I did. Because right after I did it, I decided to write this blog post. But now I can’t remember what exactly it was…
Usually for me, when NPR and church occur in the same thought, it has to do with frustration around stewardship campaigns at church which are run using similar language to the NPR membership drive (“Think of the benefits you get from our church: and because of our wonderful service to you, you should give!!!”) That just doesn’t work for me. Church is not a service, nor is it a radio station.
But here’s another angle I never thought about. I agree completely with Farhad Manjoo about the letters to NPR from whiners: the ones that berate the newscast for bringing up anything too “frivolous” which usually means anything related to pop culture, interests of people under the age of 40, or anything that is simply not deemed as “serious” as whatever crisis the listener thinks is more important.
And think about how this relates to church life. First off, the tendency sometimes to take everything way too seriously. Jesus did, in fact, have a sense of humor.
Second, the idea that engaging with popular culture is not important. In the words of Abraham Kuyper, “every square inch” belongs to God. That includes things we might be quick to deem frivolous. We need to give everything a good look before we discard it.
Third, the chasm between young and old. NPR, like the church, is facing the challenge of “marketing” to younger people (although, I hate to use the term marketing with the church: maybe we should be talking about relevance!) Notice that there are even some similar tactics…like the idea about NPR creating separate stations in certain markets that go after younger listeners. Sounds like some church planting strategies to me!
And, finally, that question of who complains the loudest and who we respond to. Notice that the harsher letters of criticism come in to NPR first. Then come the words of affirmation. This also sounds familiar. A good reminder that we need to sit calmly when criticism arrives and wait to react, to see what others are saying, and then to evaluate the situation before immediately changing course!
Does this make sense to you? Do you see any other similarities, differences, equivalents?
Does it make you feel any better to know that other organizations face similar challenges to the challenges we face in the church?
Zora is off to California tomorrow with Grandma and Grandpa. I’m in charge of packing, or so I thought.
After dropping her off at preschool, I discovered that she began packing last night.
So what does a 4 year old pack for a weekend trip to see her Great Grandfather in Los Angeles?
I’m proud that she knows how much underwear she’l need!
poopy face
