Monday Mingle

 

This week I am taking part in the Monday Mingle Vlog series with Jennifer of www.eightymphmom.com

Jennifer hosts the Mingle every Monday and asks people 3 questions to answer on video.  My responses are below!

Truthful Tuesday

I love the question posed this week on Truthful Tuesdays at Confessions from a Working Mom.  How did you tell DH (or your family) you were pregnant?  How did they know this was a great story?  We had been married for 6 months when someone asked us the fateful question, "Have you thought about when you want to have kids?" Not even if, WHEN we wanted to have kids.  WHEN.  My response was the same as it had been since we had gotten married, we wanted to be married at least two years before we talked about kids.  This time, when I gave my response, my husband looked at me and said "Shouldn't you be saying we are going to talk about it in a year and a half, we have been married for 6 months now."  I shushed him right up and went back to my two year stand by answer.
Fast forward a month.  I was 4 hours away helping with the leadership track at a youth event.  I was going to be there for 2 weeks and he was going to come up when he could.  I was EXHAUSTED.  You always stay up way too late at these things, so that wasn't too surprising.  A friend joined me midway through and we were up late one night and she was griping that she was feeling bloated because she was late, and she wanted to just start already.  I did a little mental math and realized that I was late too.  I didn't say anything to anyone because I was sure it was nothing.  The next day at my very first chance I ran to the drug store and bought a pregnancy test.  (a box of two actually) I hoofed it up the million stairs to my room and proceeded to do the test.  I know, I know, you are supposed to do it first thing in the morning, I had two tests on purpose.  I am not exactly patient so I looked at the test after about 30 seconds instead of the required two minutes.  Two pink lines.  What the heck? TWO PINK LINES? is that pregnant or not pregnant, HOLY CRAP, that's pregnant!!!
Remember, my husband is 4 hours away.  He wasn't supposed to come up for 2 more days and I did not see how I was going to last, even though I couldn't bring myself to tell him on the phone.  Then the unexpected happened.  In July a hurricane was threatening the coast.  We usually only get those threats in August and September.  Work was cancelled for him so he was coming up early.  This is the only time in my life I have been glad to live in a hurricane prone area.  He spent the next day battening down the hatches then drove up very late to be with me.  I had 2 very good friends I had confided in and we were discussing how to tell him.  I was terrified.  We had both said we wanted kids, but hadn't really discussed the nitty gritty of it all.  We came up with 2 ways for me to tell him.  First, Coca Cola was doing their Red Hot Summer promotion so we pried the top out of a bottle cap and custom made one that said we had won a baby, and second, my friends drew an elaborate tattoo on my belly that said "Baby" and pointed to my belly button.
My husband, who had worked his rear end off all day, and driven all night, got in around 2am.  He sweetly tried to sneak in quietly.  I sat up and turned on every light, blinking madly trying to be awake and not scare him.  He thought I had lost my mind.  I gave him the Coke and said "Look, we won something!"  He reluctantly took the bottle and looked at the cap.  He looked at me.  I showed him the tattoo.  He passed out.  No, kidding.  It took his brain a few minutes to catch up, and then he was wonderful.  We spent several days shell shocked, but then he said the very best thing.  He said that he was glad it happened that way because it would've been hard to know when the "right time" was.  He was exactly right.
So what's your story?? 

Cancer and God

I just found out that another family I love is dealing with cancer.  
For those of you who don't know me in real life, I have spent most of my adult life being an advisor to young people at church.  I am a  Presbyterian flavored Christian.  I worked as a youth director before I got married to my youth director husband.  I relished the move to volunteer status, or in theological matters, maybe I should say amateur status.  Because I have worked for churches, some people think I have answers, BIG answers to BIG questions.  I don't. 
I struggle with things I don't understand.  I don't get the pain and suffering in our world when I believe in such a benevolent God.  Cancer is at the top of the list of things I don't understand.  Cancer doesn't discriminate.  All races, genders and ages are affected.  The best I can do goes like this.  There are things in our world that are just not of God.  I do not believe that God chooses who gets cancer.  I do not believe that God punishes, or my very favorite, tries to teach someone by giving them cancer.  I do not believe (with all love and respect to Mother Teresa) that certain people or families get cancer because God knows they "can handle it".  Cancer is one of those unknowns in our lives that we are not going to understand.  We aren't going to know why or how. 
I do believe that God's heart breaks right along with ours when we are suffering.  I believe that God is there, sometimes when no one else is.  I believe that God works through amazing and often unexpected people to help and comfort us.  I believe that no matter how mad we get at God, God still loves us with a love that is beyond comprehension.
I wish that I could end here.  There is one more question that I have to address any time I think about God and cancer.  Why do some people get better and some don't?  I wish I knew the answer to this question.  The medical answer is it depends on what kind of cancer, how far it has spread, and frankly, how much time and money have been spent on that particular cancer.  The best faith-based answer I know of right now comes from the mother of a little girl dying of cancer.  You can find it here, but I will warn you, don't click on it unless you are ok with crying.  
So no, I don't have answers.  I know what I believe and I have to close this post with a plea and a promise.  My plea today, if you are given the opportunity to support efforts to cure cancer, please do so however you are able, whether it is with your time or your money.  My promise today and every day is that God is with us in all of this.  I hope you feel God's incredible presence in your life, no matter where or what you are experiencing. 

Ugh, Uggs are Ugly

I know they're ugly.  I had written them off the first time they came around, so their resurgence a couple of years ago didn't bother me too much.  I did like my young friend Bryce's Carolina blue ones, even though I'm a fan of NC State.  But they're ugly.  and clunky.  and they look like they would be hot (my feet are always hot.)  and my size 9 feet don't need to look any bigger.  AND they're expensive. Nope, no Uggs for me, no way, no how.

And then someone bought me a pair.  Holy soft warm insoles Batman!  The seductive lure of these soft, warm, comfy boots during one of our coldest yuckiest winters on record was irresistible. I have restricted them to mostly at home wear.  My feet were not happy with that decision and have snuck the uggs out for morning drop-off at school and a couple of breakfast dates.  I even debated about taking them on my recent trip to Disney World.  Florida, right?  My feet were so grateful for those boots after long days at meetings and ventures to the parks.  (not to mention the unseasonably cool weather that week, too).

So no, Uggs had nothing to do with this post.  No product provided or review requested.  My toes are just so happy I felt compelled to write and tell you how they wore down my resistance.  My suggestion, get a pair.  My better suggestion, find someone to buy you a pair.  Your toes will thank you!

Thanks to Linda Sellers at www.lindasellers.com for sharing her great buttons!

The Disney Experience

In addition to the fabulous speakers that we heard at Disney Social Media Moms Celebration, we had several other fun events. Disney was celebrating volunteer families as a part of their focus on volunteerism in 2010. On Thursday morning we attended a media event where they unveiled the world's largest canned food structure, certified by Guinness Book. There were volunteer families representing all 50 states at the event.

As the volunteer families were walking in, someone caught my eye. Sue, who lives not 5 minutes from my house, and her family were the volunteer family being recognized from North Carolina! Holla! They have always been a civic-minded family so it was exciting to share this celebration with them.  The canned food structure was incredible. The Disney Parks Blog has great photos, and even a time-lapse video showing the structure being built. 

For the rest of the afternoon there were volunteer opportunities in Epcot.  Health kits were assembled for Haiti, trees were planted with Disney's Friends for Change, and the canned food structure was disassembled and the food packed up so it could be distributed to Florida shelters and soup kitchens.  I love that Disney doesn't just talk about volunteering but they are trying to offer families ways to start.  Several Disney Channel stars participated in planting trees with Friends for Change.  I love this initiative because it's directed at kids and tries to show them the big impact small changes can make. 

Thursday night we joined the volunteer families and other media for an amazing dinner and concert.  Our dinner was prepared by Chef Robert Irvine and the Dinner Impossible crew from Food Network.  The food was so creative in dish and in presentation.  The episode is supposed to air sometime in April, I'll be sure to let you know so you can tune in!  After dinner, there was a concert starting with music from All Star Weekend.  Another thing I love about Disney is they give new young artists exposure.  After All Star Weekend, we were treated to Joe Jonas and Demi Lovato singing.  They introduced a new song for Friends for Change, "Make a Wave".  The song will be coming out in March.  My true excitement Thursday night was who I shared a table with.  My husband and I  sat down and were waiting to explore the food tables when another couple joined us.  My husband will tell you that I will talk to a door, so of course I started a conversation.  She turned out to be Deborah Way, a Senior Editor at Family Fun magazine.  Let me say it again.  FAMILY FUN MAGAZINE!!  I cannot even begin to tell you how many times Family Fun has saved me with fun ideas of things to do.  We have used their ideas not only with our family but with various groups at our church.  I was a complete fangirl and gushed all over her.  She and her companion were thankfully very gracious.  The last thing we did that night was sit down and enjoy the nightime spectacular, "Illuminations, Reflections of Earth".   Illuminations has a message about how we are all connected which is especially poignant when you are attending a social media celebration.

After our day of speakers on Friday, the Social Media Moms Celebration had a closing party.  They took us by bus to the back of Hollywood Studios.  We had a dinner set up at the Backlot Express quick service restaurant.  They also had a dance floor with a dj, but I was having too much fun talking to other moms to dance.  After we had all had our fill, we were led over to the Toy Story Midway Mania ride.  We were allowed to ride as many times as we wanted.  This ride has been crazy popular since it's opening, so it was a thrill to ride it with no line.  We only rode it twice because I thought my arm might fall off it was so tired.  It was a fun way to close our celebration.

While some of our events were media related, and not intended to teach us about social media, there was something to learn.  It is no secret that I love all things Disney.  One of the reasons I love going to Walt Disney World is because of the Disney difference.  Disney pays attention to EVERY detail, even the smallest of the small detail, that no one may ever see.  Disney is all about telling the story and living the story.  That's what we are doing in social media with our own stories.  We can learn from Disney about telling our story with attention to detail, and attention to heart.

I am grateful to have attended this conference, and thank everyone who helped put it together.  I have put up just a few pictures on Flickr, you can find them here.  My next post I am going to wrap up what I have learned about social media conferences!