interesting financial videos

In the midst of all this hullabaloo about the economy, Mike wanted to know more about what was going on and he came across a youtube video that did a lot of big picture explaining. If you go to youtube and search for Peter Schiff there are interesting videos of his (from a 2006 banking conference -- 8 segments long -- or try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6G3Qefbt0n4&feature=user). He is called Mr. Doom but from the sounds of it he has been right on about a lot of stuff (eg. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac going down). Even if the doom doesn't happen, Mike said that it is a good big picture talk anyway. I watched the first segment and it is very interesting and he is rather amusing at times, too. Happy watching!

Can you tell we aren't from the city??

Today when Allison and Rachel and I walked to school we saw an interesting site. I wrote before that Allison loves to watch the cement trucks and the tower crane work on the 12 story building being built (www.1555wabash.com), and today was no exception. Well, today an even bigger crane was onsite -- a mobile, hydraulic one. On the way to school we saw it put 50 tons of weights on the back of itself and I had absolutely no idea what they were doing. But on the way back from school, two hours later, we found out why. They used the mobile crane to dismantle the big yellow tower crane that had been permanentally onsite for the last few months. She thought it was pretty neat to see it come apart and to see the guys climbing, 12 stories up, on the part that swings around (the jib or working arm -- I had to look it up:) and see parts of it be lowered to the ground. We actually sat down for 5 minutes to stare because it took a while to hook up a piece and lower it down. We are dorks, yes, and it is probably glaringly obvious that we are not from the city, but so it goes. She likes to watch them and I think it is kind of cool myself. I'd take pictures to post here for you, but that might be a little much:)

Well, apparently the sickness that I had a few weeks ago was contagious -- Mike and Mariah both got it (Allison and Rachel were spared, thankfully), but then it got passed to some kids at school, both of Mike's parents and at least one parent and another staff member. We are better from that now, but I got a cold yesterday and feel rather droopy today.

an interesting chat with Mariah

Yesterday afternoon Mariah and I had an interesting chat. At 4:30 on Friday morning she had woken up with a bad dream about robbers. She didn't say anything else about it until after school, but then her tummy started hurting and she said that it was because she was thinking about the dream. I don't remember exactly how the conversation went, but it covered many topics. I told her that I had bad dreams about robbers when I was little, that God is with you even when scary or bad things happen (I just recently read The Shack by William P. Young and it is a very good perspective on bad things happening). She then asked about angels and if God would send them if something bad happened and I could only say maybe -- sometimes he does, sometimes he doesn't. I told her this story that I had read about missionaries out in the jungle who were not well-accepted by the tribe in the area and one night they heard people surround their house to come kill them. But, those people dispersed and later the missionaries found out from the tribe that there had been 24 men around the house so they couldn't attack. Even later, they found out that 24 people from their church had been praying for them that night and the tribe eventually accepted the gospel. But, I also told her about the missionary Jim Elliot and others who were killed, but that good came out of that because the wives and kids ministered to the tribe and the tribe later came to know Jesus. I would absolutely love to be able to tell her that no robbers would ever break into our apartment or that nothing bad will ever happen, oh how I want to be able to tell her that, but I don't know that for sure and so I can't reassure her in that way. She knows now that she doesn't have to be afraid of dreams because they can't hurt her. She wouldn't tell me everything that happened in the dream, but she asked "so if they throw rocks in my dream, those can't hurt me?" Then after all of that discussion, we talked about how the only thing we need to fear is God because he decides where your spirit goes when you die (try explaning spirit to a 5 year-old!!) -- (reading various books by Neil T Anderson of Freedom In Christ Ministries has really helped me deal with my own fears and understand why we only need to fear God). And then we talked about that when people who love Jesus die, their spirit goes to be with Jesus and that when Jesus comes again, everybody who loves him will be alive again and live on the earth and the earth will be perfect and that we'll live here forever. That all kind of blew her away, I think. She asked "what does Jesus do with everybody's spirits in heaven!?!?" (that was the really astounding one) and "will Adam and Eve be there when we live again?" and "forever is a long time....like 50 years!.....I can't imagine!!...". We agreed that it will be pretty cool when we are resurrected and live in a perfect world, though. I know that my theology isn't perfect, but I hope that it is close enough. I don't know if that all will stick with her, but it was nice to have a chat like that with her!

We went to an apple orchard/farm today and saw some animals and got lots of tasty produce! It was really weird to be out in the suburbs by all of these HUGE houses, open space, and lots of chain stores! But, it was also nice to see TONS of trees and some wetlands and farm animals, too.

Another book that I've been reading lately is The New Birth Order Book by Kevin Leman. The huge thing that I have learned so far is my tendencies toward perfectionism which I have known about, but haven't quite gotten past. I've learned a lot about not being perfect in my school work (that I can just do my best because I can't even come close to perfection when I have three kids at home!) but I have long been frustrated at keeping the house clean and picked up. I discovered in reading the book that I am a discouraged perfectionist -- that I know I can't do things perfectly on a regular basis so often I just don't even try. Case and point is cleaning the bathroom. Yes, I cleaned the bathroom every week growing up (external motivation from mom:), but never that often since being married. I always thought that the right way was to get the sink wet, scrub with cleaning powder/baking soda, then rinse with a wet sponge and dry. That's how we always did it growing up. Even after a summer of housekeeping at a resort and using the spray and wipe method there, I thought scrubbing was superior (silly me:). (Once when I was about 12 I even told on my older sister when she used the spray and wipe method because you weren't supposed to do it that way:) So, I actually cleaned the bathroom two weeks in a row using an environmentally friendly cleaning spray then wiping clean with a rag and you know what?? It looks just fine! I finally realized that a bathroom sprayed clean once a week is a whole lot better than a perfectly scrubbed bathroom once a month. Duh! you might say, but sometimes I'm a little slow. So now I just need to be less perfectionistic about finding homes for all of the stuff in boxes.....

Well, my entries always turn out like a chapter in a novel.....what can I say??? I like to think and I analyze my life a lot and I don't have grownups to talk to most of the day and I figure that I might as well share my imperfections so that maybe somebody else can learn from them. I'll try to keep a balance between updates of the kids and ponderings on my own life. The beauty of a blog, though, is that you can choose whether or not you want to read it all! :)

I want to go back to kindergarten :)

Mariah went to the top of the Sear's tower today on her learning excursion! I haven't even been up there yet. The skies were absolutely clear today so she probably saw A LOT! We can almost see the Sear's tower from our windows, but there is a building in the way so all we see is the two lightning rods on the top :( Here are a couple of pictures from Mike's mom of Mariah at school:

Mariah and her teacher, Mrs. Doig

At Millenium Park with classmates.

doozy of a week....and month....and year....

I got sick this week. I didn't feel like it was a virus or a bug, but almost like my body was rebelling -- too much stress, too little sleep, too much unusual food, so Tuesday my intestines emptied themselves from both ends and I slept and rested and slept some more. I feel better now and can eat fine, but am still tired. Even though being sick really stinks, it always makes me sit back and think about life and slow down a bit. Even though I resist it sometimes, I really do like to think and get advice, so some of my thinking and advice received is:
Rachel needs to sleep through the night -- 14 months is way too old to be waking up, still, move or no move, loft-living or no loft!
I need to get more sleep and not eat weird-for-me food (aka large quantities of dairy and potato chips) and I need to exercise (especially my abs which are practically nonexistent after 3 kids!)
I need to give myself some grace -- 6 months to feel adjusted to the move. It's the little things of where to buy groceries and where to locate the bath towels since we don't have a hall closet that really are stressful:)
I need to appreciate the work that I do -- even though I usually don't feel like I get much done during any given day, when i'm on the couch for two days straight, I can tell that I really DO do something when I am home because last night the house was more of a disaster than it has been since we moved.
I need to pray -- because there is no way that I can be a wife, mother of three, adjust to a new city, and spend two hours a day writing a thesis on my own strength.
And last but not least, I'm not perfect and no matter how many times I realize these things I will mess them up again. But, I did clean the bathroom this morning (for the first time since we moved - gross) and did some pilates and took a nap....progress.

In other news, Mariah is on her first learning excursion today (experienced by most of us as a field trip) to Millenium Park on the lakefront of Chicago to see a few treasures of the city. Rachel is a full-fledged walker now and Allison, well, it is amazing how much that girl can talk when Mariah is not around to overpower her:)

Mariah's kindergarten class

Here is a picture from Mariah's first day of class. It so beautifully illustrates the diversity that we enjoy at Daystar -- you can't see it, but there is also a lot of social and economic diversity among the families, too.

I am constantly amazed by Rachel -- it seems like she is so small and shouldn't be that smart, but oh my goodness, does she know things and have an opinion.! Yesterday she started insisting on eating food out of a bowl with a spoon. If the same food was on her tray and she had to eat it with her hands, it was just not any good! She loses a lot down her front when it falls off the spoon and sometimes the bowl gets dumped and she puts it all back in and starts over, but she is insistent that she learn to do what the big people do. Her other demand lately is fingers -- anybody's fingers that she can hold onto and walk with. She'll stand up, squeeze her fists and look around to see why nobody is letting her grab their hands:) And while is is walking she must have certain things along -- sometimes it will be her doll, other times she will insist that she wear Mariah's bike helmet while toddling around the house. It's funny.

did we over do it??

We watched a lot of Olympics. A lot. The girls loved it and I enjoyed it, but perhaps it was a bit too much....for the past few weeks when Mariah "reads" books on her own she tells stories starring Misty May and Michael Phelps and Stephanie Rice. It's funny:) One day she and Allison were doing gymnastics on their bed complete with the after-performance hug, using the chalk, and having a water bottle. Their moves were a bit different, of course, but they definitely did not miss a thing in all of the hours that we watched.

Allison is sick today with a fever, cough, and is very tired. That is not very fun to watch. Rachel has a slight fever, but is too obsessed with walking to be sick:) She takes at most 10 steps at a time and always wants somebody's fingers to hold on to so that she can go a lot faster. Mariah continues to love school and says that she missed Rachel more than she misses Allison. Interesting.