Heretic?

So I was lurking around on the web this morning and found this site I think through Kim's site via another site and it is called "Emerging Women" and there is an excerpt I so identify with I copied down below. So it got me to thinking about some things about myself. I am a Christian, but I am a liberal. I am a girl who loves the city and adores and lives in the country. I will be the neighbor who will borrow a cup of sugar or an egg or 2, use your lawn mower, come over when I smell good food cooking and invite myself for dinner. I will give you tips and my opinions you probably don't want or care for, on your gardening or remodeling projects. But, I will watch your dog and water your flowers and get your mail and clean your litter box when you go out of town. I will watch your kids while you run to the grocery store real quick. I will give you a dozen eggs and a 5 pound bag of organic sugar to replace the 1 cup I borrowed, also you will be invited back to my house to eat some concoction I made from my Fine Cooking subscription. You may not like my politics, but you will love my flourless chocolate cake. I love all the "bad" music" and the more it ROCKS out, the better, and I also love classical, bluegrass, christian and hymns. I am full of contradictions my husband lovingly calls me out on, all the time. I love to argue politics with conservatives, and I don't take it personal. I am voting for Obama and I hope Hillary runs with him. I too, so many times, have probably been on other's prayer lists. I get the, "you can't be a real Christian if you believe that". But all this you may already know about me, but honestly I am a doubter. I always have been, it is in my nature and no matter how hard I pray and ask God to remove that part of my brain, He doesn't. Oh to be the "perfect believer". So on to the point of my blog this morning, wouldn't it be nice to have a group of women, to have thought provoking, intelligent conversations with who you could voice doubts, misgivings, and fears without condemnation? So, because I am not witty, clever, or smart enough to put into words my own thoughts, I stole them from someone else. Here they are. Have a great day.

http://emergingwomen.blogspot.com/
Community: Wherever You Happen to Be
I “emerged” in an unlikely environment. Just a few notches away from the buckle of the Bible Belt, my hometown of Dayton Tennessee made a name for itself back in 1925 when the Scopes Monkey Trial put it on the map as the last great bastion of conservative fundamentalism. Not a whole lot has changed since then, so my “Obama 08” buttons, AIDS awareness crusades, and shelf full of “liberal propaganda” by the likes of Brian McLaren and Tony Jones have been met with some skepticism and concern from friends and family. I’ve even made to a couple of church prayer request lists. When I read about Emerging gatherings in big cities around the country, I find myself getting a little jealous. I long to fellowship with other women who want to break through the stained glass ceiling. I’d love to spend an evening in the company of fellow doubters and questioners and contrarians. I’d like to have an honest conversation without getting labeled a heretic. I’d like it if people got my jokes about postmodernism.Of course it would be easier if I were within driving distance of a more progressive church, but I’ve decided that perhaps it wouldn’t be better. It hasn’t been easy, but I’m beginning to learn that sometimes the best community is the one in which you don’t really fit. Folks around here won’t let me get away with hypocrisy or faulty arguments. They keep me on my toes and pray for me even when I think I don’t need it. They have inadvertently taught me the spiritual disciples of patience and self-control, and I find myself getting better and better at holding my tongue and thinking before I speak. As it turns out, not all opinions have to be expressed, and sometimes unity is more important than winning a debate. While I have not plans to return to my fundamentalist roots, Monkey Town has taught me not to get too comfortable. Community doesn’t mean surrounding yourself with people with whom you agree. It means surrounding yourself with whoever is there.

Cah Cah gets married

The beautiful bride Micah. During the wedding ceremony Sofie kept yelling "Cah Cah", I am sure everyone thought, "why doesn't that lady take her kid to the bathroom already?" So I took Sofie after she came down the aisle without a hitch, and went to the back of where everyone was sitting--trying to get out of ear shot of Sofie screaming for her favorite girl in the world, after me of course. Sofie was mesmerized by Micah's dress, as we all were, she was the most beautiful bride. So, back to the story, So my child is yelling "Cah Cah" and we are in the back, then she starts to yell, of all the times, "poo poo!" I am like, for once, whispering to her "go in your diaper, go in your diaper" then she let go the biggest, loudest, gas bomb EVER. Then she starts to yell "toot toot!" All during the prayer. That's my girl, wonder who she takes after. Her dad, of course.

She got really comfortable and started to really run around and wear herself out. There was a point after the toasts where the mike was open and people could get up and say something to the bride and groom. Sofie runs up there, so they give her the mike, and she yells "cah cah" Everyone laughed cause I am sure they thought "would someone please take this poor child to the bathroom", then the maid of honor told everyone the story of how Sofie can't say "Micah" so she says "Cah Cah" then everyone went "aahhh" (probably out of relief for my poor kid who they thought had to poop). I can't believe what a little show off she is, she loved everyone clapping and cheering. She thought it was all for her.


Micah getting her hair done
Micah's beautiful mom, Lori. Hope I look that good at my daughter's wedding.
Sofie in the wagon with the ring bearer
She didn't keep this crown on very long, it was so cute.
Micah started walking down the aisle coming out of this house. Beautiful.

Sofie gets to dance with the bride

This is my little girl, she is dancing like there is no tomorrow. Notice she is the only one on the dance floor. Funny how kids are just born dancing, plus she has great taste in music. Jack Johnson is the bomb.

Sofie's Special Surprises

My two most favorite men.
Ryan and his dad on father's day
My number one guy, sweetness.
So, this is the little tent that I bought Sofie to play in at Target a couple of weeks ago. She really likes it and goes from the baby pool to the tent back and forth when we are out in the pool. I usually have her in the pool in her birthday suit, and cause I am trying to introduce her into the workings of her GI and urinary systems, I have read that the best way to do this is to let them run around naked as much as possible. So, I figure outside is a pretty safe place to do this. She has been pretty good at telling me she is going pee pee while she is in the midst of doing so. Now the poo poo part is a little more tricky, don't really want that stuff hanging , or shall I say, dropping anywhere. So, when she says, "mommy pee pee" I just kind of let her go and try to make it to the potty chair. But, she often says "mommy poo poo" and so we run to the potty with the baby books in tow, and sit there and sit there and sit there. To no avail there has never been a poo poo in the actual potty. Usually I get the diaper on her and 10 minutes later we have a little surprise. At least it is not on the floor. Right? Well recently she has become more secretive about the number 2 business. The other night my neighbor was over, and we were in the kitchen talking and Stacey says, "I think some thing came out of Sofie's butt". I look and I thought it was a leaf, cause it was really bright green (blueberries the day before I soon found out), sure enough, Sofie hid behind the kitchen table and in her new, stealth-like self, did her bid-nuss. Squatted right there and let it all hang out. I quickly got her cleaned up and the floor cleaned up (thank God for hard wood and clorox clean-up). So, just this past weekend was Father's day, Ryan's parents were here. We were out in the backyard, Sofie in the pool, naked (you would think I would learn my lesson). We all eventually come into the house, Ryan picks up Miss Prissy Pants, takes her to her room to put a diaper on to avoid any more pooey messes. Notices some fecal matter on her bum. Hmmmmmm he says " think Sofie pooped somewhere", and I am like, "I haven't taken my eyes off her, impossible, maybe she had a messy toot" (conversations in our home have seriously deteriorated over the past year). So Ryan put the diaper on we didn't give it another thought. Until......He looks down at his arm like an hour later and sees poop, where he was carrying Sofie. So then the hunt begins, as I am scouring the house to look for the culprit, I am thinking how can this be, I didn't take my eyes off her for a moment? Please let me find it before she does or heaven forbid, the dog does. Then I had an Oprah light bulb moment, an epiphany, the tent. Sure enough while Sofie was travelling back and forth from the pool to the tent, she left a special surprise waiting there without a word. That's my girl, the secret pooper.

VEGAS BABY

Ok so the pictures are a little mixed up, this is Chad, Ryan's buddy from college. Chad went to Illinois Wesleyan and then transferred to a little school known(just kidding) as JULLIARD in NYC. Really super talented guy. He and his wife live in Vegas--this is my friend Pam, not his wife Julia--read on. Both Chad and Julia danced in Celine Dion's show. Chad left her show 2 years ago and joined Blue Man. Yes, Chad is Blue Man. So Chad got us really great free tickets to see the show on Saturday night at 10. Well, we were supposed to meet him afterward and well, we old ladies had to go to bed afterwards. Sorry Chad, we were such old lady pansies. Chad's wife Julia couldn't meet us because she was in Montreal judging a dancing competition. WE all loved Blue Man, fun show.

Ryan has some baby pictures that Jack looks exactly like. I need to get some copies of those from Ry's mom. Sofie and Jack love to ride in the wagon and we go at least 4 times a day.
This is a mixture of PBJ and blueberries. This is the first time she has had PBJ don't ask me why, I just forgot about PBJ because I never eat it. She digs it.
Some friends from the San Fran area came to visit, he-Dave, is a biomedical engineer and he and Ryan are working on some new inventions for bone fixation and instruments for the procedures that Ryan does. Hopefully they will work out. This is Braidon, super cute little guy. His mom Amy is a super cool chick and it is nice to hang with her in the afternoons. We met Amy and David through our neighbor, Michelle. They are cousins and they come to see Michelle a couple of times a year.
Went to Vegas this past weekend and 3 of my best girlfriends came too. Did lots of shopping and eating and hanging by the pool. We are not gamblers but we love to hang together and love to shop. We all showed up Friday and left on Sunday morning. Our husbands watched the kids all weekend, God bless them. Ryan said he was ready to go to work on Monday so he could get a break. I am so glad that we have husbands who actually take care of their kids and it really is easy to leave them with them. Sometimes, Ryan knows or has a better perspective on what to do when I am at a loss. I can honestly say he is a total hands on Daddy.
Here are my girls. Linda, a.k.a. SHANKER--her husband and mine have known each other since high school and of course shanker and I good friends. Middle is Pam, she and her husband Jeff and mine all went to medical school together. Pam is an O.B. and is one awesome and cool woman. Right, is Emily, a.k.a. EM SUCKA, ERMIL, SWEEEEEEET, we were college roommates and ran on the track and cross country team together. Emily broke many of the school running records and is a natural, she can run a 5 k in less than 20 minutes with NO TRAINING. Gotta hate her.