Go turn on that light....

Eliana couldn't reach her light switch tonight due to some re-arranging of her room. Her mom told her to stand on her box to reach the switch. She goes into her room. The light turns on. She comes back with a small smushed up box that holds tissues. I realized that she had quite literally "Stood on her box" to turn on the lights - just not the nice, sturdy wooden box that we'd expected.

She's nothing at this age if not literal. :-)

Superpowers

Eliana definitely pays attention to her movies. She was watching "Sky High" earlier today. While out with her mom, she had a serious question to ask. "Mom, what's your superpower?"

Mom's response was "I don't have a superpower. What's your superpower, Eliana?"

"My superpower is - Use Stick." At this point, she started beating the ground with a stick, all the while holding her purse. She started to go after the van as well, but mom used her secret superpower - the look that said it was time to stop. :-)

Worship - who?

Been reading Bob Kauflin's blog, "Worship Matters" quite a bit lately and he posted some notes from India that got me thinking. He mentioned something about how going over there helped him realize what parts of worship were cultural and what parts were desired by God. He said that the different languages and practices really narrowed that down.

That got me thinking about the way we worship here in the USA. Too often, we're caught up in the music styles of worship - contemporary vs traditional seems to be the common battle now. Worship is about more than music and more than style. We've worshiped God in all sorts of different ways throughout the centuries. Prayer, fasting, prophecy (teaching), service, etc. are all acts of worship but are often forgotten when we discuss worship.

We are also so caught up in the style of our music used during worship that I think we neglect to look at the lyrics. What are we singing? Do the lyrics honor God or edify the body? Do the lyrics portray God as He is? Are they so generic that they could be sung by Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, or any other faith?
More importantly - do we ever really think about the lyrics that we're singing or are we on a sort of "auto-pilot" when we sing the words? I've been there - words come in, harmony comes out and nothing has actually passed through my brain on what I'm singing. God's been working on this in me for a while now and seems to have been really encouraging me to take a look at this area of my worship lately.

So what words am I singing? Why do I sing? To whom am I singing? When I sing these words, do I think of what sort of God I'm praising? When we sing "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing" do I reflect on how the church was silenced in song for such a long time that God used Martin Luther to restore the congregation's voice? When we sing "How Great Thou Art", am I thinking of just how great our God is? The words behind "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" are some of the most touching ever written and should drive me to think that if everything in nature were mine, it would still be too small of an offering to give back to God for what He's done for me through Jesus.

Dancing

Eliana decided to start dancing up a storm tonight. We cleaned out the guest room, leaving a large area free on the floor. I was testing the clock radio when some music came on. Eliana starting hopping, twirling, flipping, doing handstands, and generally having a really good time. We watched for a while and caught a couple of minutes on tape. It was pretty amusing.

Knock Knock jokes already?

No idea where this came from, but Eliana decided to start telling knock knock jokes. Her first one was: "Knock Knock" "Who's there?" "Mom, it's me! Eliana!"

I tried to tell her the interrupting cow one - (Interrupting cow who? with a MOOOOO while the person asks the "who" line.) She loved it, even if she was a little startled by it. She then tried to tell it herself. She struggles through the word "interrupting" (go figure) and can't quite get the timing to MOOOO while the person is asking "Interrupting cow who?".

More recently, she started trying to make up ones about Cheese (Cheese on Hamburger) and other common things along those lines. It's cute watching her try to figure out the humor behind the jokes and seeing her so tickled by her versions.

Moving on....

Made the decision after quite a bit of prayer and talking with others to leave Drive Financial and move to a new position at Fellowship Technologies. I will be doing roughly the same thing according to the job description and this gives me the opportunity to use my skills to help further God's kingdom. This was a hard decision as I've had a great time at Drive and have worked with a lot of really great people. I look forward to the new experiences at Fellowship Tech. Now it's just a matter of wrapping up my duties for Drive and learning the systems at Fellowship. I hope to post more on my experiences as time permits. I'm excited, if a little anxious.

Half Price Books

We took Eliana to a 1/2 Price Books store today. She was extremely content just to pick a book, go to one of the stools, and thumb through it. She must have gone through 10-15 books easily. She would even place each one back where she got it from. We ended up buying one of the Berenstain Bears books to read at home. She likes those. I think they're just the right combination of picture and story. She even identified the theme of the book as friends. I don't remember saying anything about it to her so this appears to be something she identified by herself. It's hard to believe that she'll be 3 in a couple of weeks. Where does the time go? :-)

Eliana and the three bears

Poor kid had nightmares last night and couldn't sleep well to start. She climbed into bed with me for a little time to calm down and began to whisper the story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears with a pretty high level of accuracy. She even changed her voice to mimic papa bear, mama bear, and baby bear. It was cute and just a reminder that she's growing more each day. She went on to tell the story of the three pigs shortly after that. She eventually calmed down enough to go to sleep in her own bed.

Thought for the day

Saw this on David Allen's website and thought it was just a good reminder that the problem of overworking or trying to do more than God wants us to has been around for a while. There are times that we need to look at the lesser good that we can accomplish.

The enemy often tries to make us attempt and start many projects so that we will be overwhelmed with too many tasks, and therefore achieve nothing and leave everything unfinished. Sometimes he even suggests the wish to undertake some excellent work that he foresees we will never accomplish. This is to distract us from the prosecution of some less excellent work that we would have easily completed. He does not care how many plans and beginnings we make, provided nothing is finished. - St. Francis de Sales

Future Gymnast

No idea where she gets the energy. Eliana is laying down on her bed perpendicular to the bed. She then puts her hands on the floor and flips over. Not sure if she's laying on her back or her stomach, but it's impressive either way. I also understand that it's a little frustrating right now as she is extremely persistent in this activity.

Of course, she also uses our bed as a trampoline - it's cute (and typical of kids), but not a desirable trait in the long run. She gets pretty ornate with the flips she does on our bed when mommy isn't watching. She's still creative when mommy is watching, but for a much shorter time. :-)