i have trouble remembering...

I'd stopped posting re: snow because it seemed so passe' and frankly we were pretty much over it... but today it's melting and i'm realizing it really will be gone soon... in fact, even today it didn't really quite seem real... kind of like Christmas...

So here are some final pics to help me remember... remember walking to the store
remember when we couldn't drive to Starbucks and had to make mochas at home...
remember how different and hilly and beautiful our neighborhood was...


and remember what it was like to all be home, all the time...
(photos by Abby)

the view from here

well actually it's the view from our front doorstep...
it's ok i never really liked curbs anyway

described a chaotic scramble...

in the headlines this morning, a plane in Denver caught fire during take off to Houston.

Passenger Mike Wilson of Denver described a chaotic scramble to leave the burning plane on updates he posted on Twitter.com from the airport using his cell phone.

this is one reason i love twitter... a real guy's perspective vs. the polished retelling of a story with far less energy.
Warning his original tweet contains expletives and zealous keystrokes but can you blame him... his plane was on fire.

The waiting is the hardest part - Tom Petty

Planning is bringing the future in to the present so you can do something about it. Alan Lakein

Precisely...
precisely why i have been no fun for hours and am tied up in knots right now.
I am waiting for a decision about whether or not we'll have church tomorrow.
This is not a post about what I think we should do...so please don't comment your vote on staying open or closing. That's not it.

I believe that one of the most important skills in a producer is the ability to make a decision. This is something I've gotten better at.
Tonight i am living and leading in the tension of the unknown and trying to lead well.
I am a planner, I've become a decision maker.
I'm not comfortable not being able to plan and not making the decision.
I'm trying hard to look at my instinctive, flesh responses to the waiting and see how I need to grow and change.
Sometimes, no lots of the time, as a leader you gotta walk others through the unknown, frustration, disagreeing with decisions which are made, not made or yet to be made. It's just what leaders do.

For me, the real question tonight is not... will there be church, but will I be a proactive, supportive, encouraging, patient, authentic team leader, subordinate, teammate.

well i never...

have seen or been in this much snow and it's in my backyard, literally.

This morning we made our way to Sunset to pack food & toy boxes for about 500 families in our community. This is a great tradition and one of my favorite "moments" at Sunset. It has a small church feeling to it... and feels like we're being the church.
We've been home for several hours and it's been snowing about an inch an hour. We're currently at 8 inches of snow.

Day 3 Cabin Fever!

Seriously cannot believe i haven't left my house since Sunday except 1 walk in the snow. Lame.

Yesterday Mike drove to Salem and will be staying there until the weather breaks which is Saturday, I think.

Chris and Molly also left the island for the day.

Jay and Tyler did come over (bless them) and we got some work done and I made pizza
then they left.

Abby, like me, has to "DO" something..

One thing she likes to do is walk on the frozen pond.
I know... I know...

and then Abby left
and then (finally) Chris and Molly came home...
I have cabin fever!

snow day 2: snowballs for dummies

So i realize how much i dont like not having the freedom to move around. My car/tires are in no shape for driving and so we will hunker down here. The kids and I did go out for a walk to the store today, it was beautiful! Note the bullseye from a snowball on Chris' back... it wasn't me.

There's no real end in sight to the "arctic blast" tonight... school has already been cancelled for Tuesday and the weekend looks like it's going to be dicey. Mike and Chris took the bus to the tire shop today to buy chains for the company van and he'll try and make his way to work tomorrow, he's planning to stay in Salem rather than commute back and forth, for a few days at least. I'm not crazy about this idea, but apparently once you get out of our neighborhood real life goes on...

I took this video on the way to the store today... if you know my kids, it's pretty spot on and priceless... or maybe that's just their moms opinion...
we're calling it... snowball making for dummies


Gotta admit though, it is beautiful...

snow bound

We've had 4.25 inches of snow at the house today.
It's beautiful!

but even better has been having all 3 kids here

cellphone sabbath

About 5 weeks ago I left for Honduras. When I arrived my fears were confirmed and there was no Verizon wireless cell service there. Then, I left my cell phone in the hotel and came home. In Houston on the way home I facebooked a new friend who went to the hotel and retrieved it for me and it's now in the mail to me... but this created a 5 week cell phone sabbath.
I have to say... I've hardly missed it. I was pretty addicted to it and the ability to connect before and I'll confess that I was pretty bad about texting while driving, sad to say. I try not to when the girls are in the car, because they're at the age they're learning to drive and I know it's a horrible example.
I know not having the phone was annoying to others who needed/wanted to connect with me, but my life has felt just a little less hectic and driven by the tyranny of the urgent or frankly interrupted, i've been more focused.
This week, after carrying around a loan phone for a week, i reluctantly connected it so that I could return to the cell world. A couple of times when I've left campus for meetings etc. i've forgotten it and left it on my desk and been pretty much delighted.
Clearly, it's not the cell phone that's the problem. In fact, it's a great tool. For instance, here's some video from Abby's jazz band concert: Abby soloing (only caught the very end- still learning how to use the new borrowed phone)

Christmas...
In some silly way, this sabbath has helped me realize more about the pace I ran at/run at. This continues to be a learning for me from my trip... s l o w down...
I love connecting but there's definately something to be said for turning the phone off, not checking facebook, having twitter updates sent to the web vs. the phone, not logging in to IM and putting up an out of office reply and then really not checking the mail.
So if it takes me a little longer to reply to you... know that when I'm actually with you, i'll be a little less distracted from now on... at least i hope so.

Line of the Day... and then some

So for the past month or so i've been paying more attention to my real life and realizing how incredibly blessed i am with the people in it. This strangely enough has turned in to something I've been calling... the line of the day. It's paying attention to what people say/think etc and selecting one random ridiculously wonderful alive thing which was shared....
I've hesitated to post these because I dont have permission in most cases... but since my blog has dried up, I'm going for it today.

Yesterdays line of the day... "Mom, why can't we have Limewire... Beyonce' has enough money... and dad agrees with me" - Molly

You see, i grew up when you actually paid $17 bucks for an album/cd because you loved one song, so itunes... it's a dream come true. My kids though live in the world of the internet and can't imagine spending a buck for a song. I love this line because it shows me that Mo's paid attention to my reason, but she's processed it and come up with her own logic on the subject.

So beyond sharing my line of the day... where do you stand on free music? Are there safe sites? What do you use? you can comment anonymously in order to avoid prosecution :-)