K and Homecoming

My daughter K made homecoming court. There is something very hilarious about me, the biggest geek and anti-social student at both my high school and at UA, having TWO daughters that made homecoming court. So I am watching this procession with a bit of "take that" glee and appropriately humble gratitude. LOL.

This week was a whirlwind. We had Tacky Tourist Day, Career Day, Roaring 20s day, and finally Dress-up Day. Thankfully K is not overly conscious about the outfits, but she IS very conscious about what her friends think of her. So the stress came from discussions about friends. Plans were made and dressses were bought. And not bought. Thursday night, we start trying on the dresses for Friday (3, count em, 3), and one of them tore miserably. And the zipper didn't work. Then, we realized we had no shoes for her on-the-field dress. So what's a mom to do? I played the dance instruction videos on Comcast and learned the booty pop. Seriously. I mean, I'd had a couple glasses of wine, so it seemed appropriate. Then, I sat down and started putting hooks in the spots were the zipper was supposed to work. Up til midnight. Tried it on the next morning and it was kind of a disaster.

So, after working a half day, I rush to the mall and bought three pairs of shoes from some dude who seemed really helpful, but overly so. Then ran through Belk and found the perfect dress for the pep rally in, like, 10 minutes. What  was the point of doing all that shopping? Stupid!

I got to school. Pep rally was great. Homecoming parade was great. Went home, changed, and went to the game, and her dress and new shoes were gorgeous. Then I went home and passed out while she went to Applebee's.

Both of my girls are all that and a bag of chips.

Full Day of K Diddy Interest

I get a text at noon from K: "I got homecoming court." That's it. Nothing else. She'd told me she'd been nominated but was 100% sure she wouldn't get in. I just looked at my phone and said, "What? She DID?" Then I second guessed myself. Maybe it was just nomination-related. But after calling M and doing a bit of sleuthing, I discovered it was true. I was so excited for her. This, however, is not really her thing. She's a tomboy. She kind of takes pride in that. She's sort of anti-social sometimes. She's high stress.

When she got in the car, she said all of this to me. "Why did I get it? I'm not even sure I want to have it! I have no idea how this happened, it doesn't make sense!" Hilarious.

She had her last volleyball game today. She is very good. Still room to improve but she has pretty good form. We went to Hewitt Trussville, who were a bit obnoxious, and we beat them in three games. That was a very good thing. Then we went to the Cheesecake Factory and ate Reese's Peanut Butter Cheesecake. I think I'm going to need to exercise tomorrow. Still, we got to discuss the questions she had, the questions I had, and who she might ask as an escort for the pep rally. I can already tell she's stressing herself out over this. Again, hilarious.

It's pretty fun to be her mom.

Little smarty pants

"Why is it we understand what sin is but we can't stop ourselves from doing it?" K asked me this last night.

And this is Paul, from Romans 7:

18 For I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh. For I have the desire to do what is right, but not the ability to carry it out. 19 For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I keep on doing. 20 Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21 So I find it to be a law that when I want to do right, evil lies close at hand. 22 For I delight in the law of God, in my inner being, 23 but I see in my members another law waging war against the law of my mind and making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24 Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? 25 Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, I myself serve the law of God with my mind, but with my flesh I serve the law of sin

We are in a battle, one that is won for us, but we cannot see the final victory yet. It can be very discouraging some days, not to mention grievous and frustrating. Somehow K understands this. This is the kid who bought herself a trampoline, hates babysitting kids but volunteered at CHOM, and fights with me over rug vs carpet in her room.

Living unencumbered

This is a thought I had today: the gospel is not about trying to live unencumbered with Jesus and experiencing the joy that comes from this freedom. The belief that Jesus is my savior is key. What after that? Sanctification, as I've been struggling with, is about digging in and recognizing my sin, getting messy with fellow believers, particularly the church, and being unencumbered in your trust that God has the situation(s) under control.

It was a beautiful day, and I didn't have much that I HAD to get done. I had a lot of "I want to get this done" type of chores. That is utterly freeing. I was going to see both of my daughters. Again, the thought of that is just delicious. And finally, the promise of a good football game tonight. Wowza. And I thanked God for this. I was dwelling on the thought of that kind of beautiful day, and it dawned on me that while I'm grateful, this doesn't really point me to what I think is the gospel.

It's about humility.
It's about a dichotomy in understanding self.
It's about recognition that you are the worst of them all.
It's about love, but not yours.
It's about living with the mess and trusting God to make something of it.
It's about redemption.
It's about the fact that we can't do any of this on our own.
It's about Jesus.