weaning

It is finally time to start weaning Micah. He is going to be 10 in the Fall. I thought he would wean himself, but that doesn't seem to be working. So I am having to take matters into my own hands. The first step is limiting him to only mornings and nights. We have been doing this for a couple of weeks now and it is going okay. Sometimes he wants the mole during the day and I have to stop him. What? The mole? Oh, you thought I meant breast feeding. No! He was weaned a long time ago from that. But he loves to hold this mole on my neck. It started back when he was a baby and I was nursing him. I guess the mole was something to look at and eventually something to hold. It gave him comfort. When he got older he would run to me whenever he needed a little bit of comfort and he would just give the mole a squeeze. Weird, I know.

Well I thought he would grow out of it in a year or two, but he hasn't. I have been slow at weaning him because I kind of enjoy the closeness. I love feeling his sweet fingers on my neck. But it probably isn't a good idea to let him continue into adulthood.

So we are in the weaning process. If you see Micah looking longingly at my neck, you now know why. It is hard for him, especially now that he is sick with Tonsillitis. He wants to snuggle more and be close. But I am sticking to my guns and not letting him hold the mole. Soon we will stop the morning mole hold time and then the night time. I just hope we always remain snuggly.

Doughnuts

I read a story with Micah today about Homer who ran a doughnut machine that he couldn't turn off. It made thousands of doughnuts. There was a missing diamond bracelet in one of the doughnuts. So they sold the doughnuts to people who wanted to find the bracelet to win the reward. The whole thing made me hungry for a doughnut.

Luckily Steve called and he was stopping at the grocery store. He wanted to know if I needed anything. I told him I didn't need anything. He then was smart enough to ask if I wanted anything. And I did. I wanted a doughnut. Just one doughnut. I didn't want a lot of doughnuts because I knew I would be tempted.

Steve came home with a box of doughnuts because they didn't sell a single old fashion doughnut, which is what I like. So now I am stuck. I am thankful that he bought the doughnuts for me, but I am bummed that I have all these doughnuts looking at me.

Fruit of my labor

I just got back from the gym. I went with my mom. I can't remember the last time I went to a gym. It must be when Fitness Circle was open. So three years ago.

I have been running for a month or so now. I run on a treadmill or on the street for 10 minutes or so. I run almost daily. I thought it would help me lose weight. But apparently I am wrong. I weighed myself at the gym today and I have gained weight. So what is the purpose to all my running.

I ate a doughnut this morning.

Fantastic?

We watched Fantastic Mr. Fox last night. It was not fantastic. In fact, it was boring. Very slow and not very funny. And today I watched Alvin and the Chipmunks, the Squequel. Not as good as the first one.

Church

We usually go to church on Sunday. While in America we are trying to find a "home" church. It is hard to have a home church when you are only around for a couple of months, every other year. But such is the life that we lead. This morning we went to the church that we hope to consider our home. It is the church that my parents go to. There are maybe 100 people on a good week. But I like small churches. You usually can know everyone and everyone knows you. It may not have all the programs and great sound systems, but it is full of love and care. And that is what we are looking for.

We have visited a lot of friends during our three month tour of America. Several themes have struck me. The first is that I am hearing more and more about people I know who have been divorced twice. The second is that it seems more friends are not going to church who use to. Both make me sad.

I totally understand that church can become just a routine and boring. I get bored at times too. And I understand wanting a day off. I don't think a person "needs" to go to church, but I think that it is very good for them. But I think my biggest reason for going to church is for my child. I want it to be a habit for him. I want church to be normal. And I want him to get to know the people at church and to have them be a part of his life. I want him to learn from other people, to see Christian families, to hear stories or messages. I want him to sing the songs and have them get stuck in his mind.

I think church is a good thing. We, Christians mostly, have a bad habit of picking out all the bad things in a church. Instead we should look for all the good things. Who cares if the worship leader is a bit odd, or the pastor doesn't always have the most exciting messages. Are you hearing the Word of God? Are you meeting others who you can encourage or encourage you? That's about it. And then, get involved. Help out with something or lead something. If you find areas that are lacking in your church, maybe God is calling you to help make a change.

So after all my admonishing to get involved in church, I am ready to leave America to go back to India. I can't really get involved here on a regular basis, but I can in India. So my goal for this next year is to teach a Sunday School class. The last class I taught was for 2 year olds and I think they taught me more than I taught them. Blowing bubbles was the biggest lesson.

New Glasses

I went to the eye doctor today to get new glasses. You see, a few weeks ago I went to the DMV to get my Washington drivers license and I couldn't see some of the letters in the eye test. So I thought I better go see if I had a brain tumor. I don't have a tumor, but I do need to wear glasses while I am driving. Steve doesn't think I look cool when I wear my sunglasses over my seeing glasses, so I decided to get prescription sunglasses. I didn't realize that glasses cost so much. My two pair of glasses cost me just a bit over $300. Jeesh! The frames were $169. and $69. Why? I guess because they can. Well I guess it is all worth being able to see.

Phone Phobia

Hello. My name is Leslie and I have phone phobia. I looked online and found out that I am not the only person with this phobia and there are others who are much worse off than I am. That makes me feel better. Doesn't help me make a phone call, but it does help me realize that I am not alone. This phobia falls under the list of social anxiety disorders. I don't mind answering the phone, but I hate to have to make a phone call.

Today I am suppose to make two phone calls. I should have made them long before today, but my anxiety gets in the way with that. We want to visit a few people and so I need to set up a time to see them. It is already 11:00am and I haven't done it yet. Well, actually, I just made one phone call and it went fine. But I am having trouble getting myself around to making the other one. I read a few websites on phone phobia and they had some suggestions on what to do to help yourself make a phone call. None of it helped. I just finally did it.

I have had this phobia for as long as I can remember. I fear disturbing people. I think that I will be calling at a bad time. So I NEVER call before or after 9 o'clock. I don't call during dinner time if I can help it. And then there is nap time too.

There are a few people that I can call without much difficulty. My parents and my sister.

I love leaving messages on answering machines of people I know well. I would so much more prefer to leave a message than to get a person on the phone. I love to leave long messages that I think are funny. I hate getting cut off by machines that only give you 10 seconds to leave a message. I usually call back and continue my message.

So there you go. One more interesting fact to know about me. And that is also why you will never get a call from me. It's not that I'm not wanting to talk to you, it is just an anxiety trip for me. So call me.

Fireworks

Two nights ago (yes, not the 4th of July) we went to a rodeo and watched the fireworks at the end. The rodeo was fun, but mostly we went so that we could see the fireworks. I wanted Micah to experience the 4th of July fireworks this year since we are in the States.

A couple of years ago we went to the 4th of July celebration at the American Embassy in Delhi. We try to go each year. It usually has hamburgers and hotdogs and some fun activities. The only bummer is that it is in the Delhi heat. So you walk around sweating, just to get a burger. They end the night with fireworks. Well that year there was a fireworks accident. All the fireworks went off at once and they didn't go higher than the trees, so we couldn't really see them. They were set off on the other side of the trees from us. So that was a bummer. I hope no one was hurt.

So this year, someone won free tickets to the rodeo and gave it to us, and it just so happened to have fireworks. So we went for it. I wore my hair in pigtails to try to look country. We had Micah wear a plaid shirt. Too bad we didn't have a cowboy hat. We figured that the traffic would be better than the actual 4th of July. One thing I can't stand anymore is crowds. I get overwhelmed with people. Weird, I know, coming from India.

As we were watching the fireworks I couldn't help but think of Christ's return. Won't it be awesome to see Christ return in the sky one day? I mean, when you see fireworks, it seems like they are falling towards you, but when Christ returns he will really be coming to us. I can't wait. Maybe there will be fireworks too, but I imagine they will be much better.

Feast or Fast

I started reading a new book today about spiritual disciplines. This has been a subject that I keep getting reminded about. So I finally decided to try something. I decided to fast. What should I fast from? Well I was really desiring to have a Dr. Pepper, so I decided to try to fast from that. I had thought of it lots of times before, so today turned out to be the day. It is now 4:30 and I have made it so far so good. Then Steve's mom walked in the door and said, "I bought you something." And she held up a six pack of Dr. Pepper. I know I don't have to drink it today, but it sure is tempting me. I tell myself that I should drink it to be polite. Or that I fasted long enough. I could just make it a half day fast. Blah blah blah. My mind is amazing. It knows all the tricks in the book. So I don't know if I will make it or not, but I am working on controlling my will and my desires. It is hard to focus on prayer when my mind is wandering towards Dr. Pepper.