Nothing Compares

I cannot tell you how my mind is reeling this week.  I was humbled and inspired (and a bit awe struck) by the JDRF Gala this past weekend.  I am so thankful there is an organization out there that is wholly dedicated to research and finding a cure for this devastating disease that has besieged my son.  I am grateful for the hundreds of people in attendance at the Gala who were able to donate thousands of dollars in hopes that one day children like mine will never face the depradation that is Type 1 diabetes.  I am overwhelmed with gratitude that organizations like JDRF and American Diabetes Association go above and beyond to help children like Philip lead the most normal lives possible.  An opportunity for summer camp would be impossible without the ADA and groups like it, creating an atmosphere that is safe and outrageously fun for campers with an abnormal life to seem just like everyone else for at least six or seven days.  I know we are walking this road for a reason - I know God will be glorified in all of it.  

Speaking of God being glorified, have any of you been keeping up with the CompassionBloggers trip to India?  All week long I have been unable to keep the tears from streaming down my face as I read the posts from Angie, Melissa, Pete, Anne, Patricia, Keely, Spence, Shaun, and Robin.  Our family currently helps to sponsor an orphaned child in South Africa named Sello.  If you have been to our home, you have seen his picture positioned in different places reminding us to “Pray for Sello Sekgopo.”  After reading about Compassion International and the work they are doing, we know we have to do more.   I’m not writing about this for any other reason than to share what God has placed on our hearts.  I asked the kids if we could give up one trip to Chick-fil-A a month so we could help another little girl or boy in India (or any other number of places Compassion is making a difference) go to school, get a meal (perhaps the only one they will have all day), and be in an environment where they can hear the good news that is the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Everyone concurred – how could we refuse?  Anna E. asked if we could adopt one.  When I think of the number of children out there that need a home, I am overwhelmed.  Wayland has always been open to the idea of adopting.  Me?-not so much.  God is starting to change my heart about that as well.  I’m not quite ready to physically bring another child into our home right now, but I know that financial  support can make a big difference in one of the thousands of hurting children’s lives.  I think I’ll start there.  Wayland and I keep asking God to make us uncomfortable in this “safe” life we lead here in Carmel, Indiana.  I’m praying He’s doing it.  I want to be brave!!!  I want to be eternally focused.  I’m praying that the things of this world – not necessarily bad things – just things, will fade away, and that I can keep my eyes fixed on living a life that will bring glory and honor to His name.  Nothing compares to the greatness of knowing You, my God.  Nothing. 

One of those weekends…

You know those weekends – the ones you look back on and just know could not have been much better.  This weekend was one of those – filled with lots of laughs, new adventures, and most importantly – good food.

The weekend started normal enough - basically hanging out at the house.  Saturday morning Philip and I attempted to sneak out of the house for an 8am baseball practice without waking anyone up – we failed.  Once we got home, I finally got my first real day working on the yard this spring.  (For those of you reading this that live in the south, just ignore the insensitivity of the following sentence)  My only complaint was that it was a little too hot at 81 degrees.  I probably won the ”bad father” award for letting Anna spray weeds with herbicide all morning.  I kept encouraging her to jump on the trampoline or something, but she insisted on shooting the weeds (the herbicide has a spray gun).  She actually commented that this counted as a daddy-daughter date and that we should work on the lawn together more often.  How great is that?  Once done with the yard, it was time to start getting ready for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation Gala that evening (details below).  We missed church Sunday morning so that we could head to northern Indiana to check out the camp Philip will be attending this summer for a week.  The camp operates all summer long, but has a week devoted exclusively to children with diabetes.  We have heard that going to a diabetic camp can be a real milestone for kids.  It will be a week where Philip will be like everyone else – and hopefully make some lifelong friends.  I think Kaleesha felt better after we talked to one of the nurses that will attend the camp – Philip will be surrounded by trained professionals including diabetes education nurses, dietitians, and doctors.  The camp itself is really cool – complete with a couple hundred yards of lake shore on beautiful Lake James.  The water fun will include a blob (look up blob on You Tube if you don’t know what that is), a water trampoline, tubing, and lots of swim time.  The camp also has a tree rope course, nature center, sports facilities and a rec building.  As an added bonus, there will be chapel and devotion services daily.  To top it all off, we stopped at a restaurant in Kokomo on the way home that enticed us with their sign advertising fried green tomatoes – it was well worth the stop.  For the last 45 minutes of the road trip, the kids were in rare form.  Luke is the comedian that keeps all of our sides hurting – at one point I thought Nate and Phil were going to start hyperventilating.  We are worn out tonight, but thoroughly enjoyed our time together. 

JDRF Gala

God is so good.  When we found out about the gala soon after Philip’s diagnosis, we knew we would not be able to attend as guests this year – the event is a $250 a plate affair.  We first heard about it from our good friends - the Wieses.  Their son Luke is the friend of Philip and Nate’s that has Type 1 as well and has been well documented on this blog the past few months.  Their family has been wonderful to us - Luke’s parents, Ted and Wendy, have checked in on us regularly and we know that God brought our families together pre-diagnosis for this very reason.  Luke and his family were the Spotlight Family for the gala last year, which included a video biography and being recognized at the event. 

Since Jay Cutler was going to be the honored guest this year, the boys really wanted to find a way to attend.  After some research, Kaleesha figured out that there was a volunteer opportunity that would allow them to attend not as guests, but as greeters.  The plan was for her to work with the boys and I would stay home and keep the little ones.  God had other plans – the Wieses invited us to attend as their guests at Ted’s parent’s table.  What a blessing – what a Savior.  He knew the desires of Philip’s (and Nate’s) heart and provided a way to get the full experience.  It was a pleasure to spend this time with the Wiese family – they are a very generous and gracious family that are an inspiration to the Thompsons. 

I have been to my share of fancy dinners, but this was my first experience in this setting.  I would guess that there were at least 750-1000 people there - including several of the most “important” people from Indianapolis – including the mayor, Tony George (owner of the Indianapolis Speedway), the Simons (owner of Simon Mall properties) and many other  business and civic leaders.  To say that we felt a little out of place, is probably an understatement.  While not required, most of the men were in their tuxedos – or at the very least, their black suits.  Here I am walking around in my grey suit sticking out like a sore thumb.  I was very relieved when Ted showed up in a non-black suit as well.  (while more familiar with this crowd, the Wieses are totally unimpressed by the pomp and circumstance that matters to some people – just one of the things we love about them)  Thank goodness I was there with my beautiful, classy wife and studly looking sons.  The gala included a silent auction, where we happened to win some theater tickets and seats at the next Symphony on the Prairie event.  One of the highlights of the evening was the live auction.  Many thousands of dollars were raised – it was really neat to see people involved in bidding wars over extravagant vacation packages, jewelry and custom prizes like catered meals with the new coach of the Indianapolis Colts.  The best was when a Monday Night Football party with Peyton Manning came up.  A bidding war ensued between Jay Cutler (QB of the Chicago Bears) and some guy on the other end of the room.  When the other guy raised the bid to $6500, Cutler stood up, stared him down and raised the bid to $10,000 – the other guy was done at that point.  You might have heard the story about Peyton Manning orchestrating a prank on Jay at the Pro Bowl since it was Cutler’s first.  They threw Jay in the pool at the hotel in Hawaii – making sure to save his iPhone, but not his blood sugar meter which was ruined.  I would imagine that Jay will be giving that prize away since he will most likely not be hanging out with another QB during the season on a Monday night.   

At one point, Luke Wiese, Nate and Philip went over to Jay Cutler’s table (we were only 2 tables down) to say hi to Jay.  When his agent asked Nate what happened to his arm, Jay Cutler spoke up and said “baseball – he broke it practicing sliding the other day”.  I guess he remembered that pink cast from Thursday night.  After Jay spoke and this year’s spotlight family – there was an opportunity to contribute a one time gift by holding up your bidding card while certain amounts were on the screen.  Philip got a big kick out of holding our card up and the auctioneer acknowledging him in front of the crowd (see picture below).  The evening finished up with a dance – and of course, Kaleesha had to dance with Philip since it is just not my thing (see pictures below).  We had a truly wonderful time and plan on budgeting for this night in the years to come.  We want to make sure we thank the Wiese family again for their generosity and our loving God that always has a plan.  Enjoy the pictures below.

before the gala

 

Luke, Nate and Phil

 

Philip and Annie (Luke's sister)

 

Philip with bidding card

the Thompsons

Thompsons and Weises

Philips got moves... maybe

Tattle Tale

I’m not sure who did it, but I’m pretty upset.  Last night, I was watching The Office – laughing, feeling sorry for Michael, hoping that Charles was going to come to his senses and see the goodness that is Jim, when out of the blue - Pam starts talking about me.  Someone totally ratted me out to Pam.  I’m mortified.  You know what I’m talking about.  She starts talking about a child driving a car, hitting a ”tree” (I guess they were trying to protect my identity somehow)  and how it’s not the child’s fault – it’s really the thirty year old in the passenger seat who said “I trust you” who is the guilty party.   How could y’all do this to me?  Really, What Was I Thinking? letting you in on my shameful secret – now the whole world knows!  

As a side note, last night the two big boys and their daddy went downtown for the meet and greet with Jay Cutler.  The boys made it on all the local area news channels last night.  Wayland even showed up on one channel’s footage – complete with camcorder in hand, capturing the moment.  I really want to blog about it and post some pics, but I’ve promised the boys I won’t.  They are both supposed to update their blogs this evening with pictures from the event, and all the details they can muster.  Be sure to check them out. http://philip9.wordpress.com/   http://notouch.wordpress.com/  We have a super exciting weekend coming up.  The JDRF Gala (I still don’t know what I’m wearing – Yikes!)  and Camp John Warvel family open house (Philip’s Diabetes Camp).  Come Monday morning, I should have some good stories to report.  Hope your weekend is full of fun, rest and relaxation.

Real Men Wear Pink

So we figured out that in the four years we have lived here, Nate has been X-rayed six times for suspected broken bones.  Wrist three times and ankle three times.  Four of those times have been sprains.  Two have been breaks.  Three years ago Nathanael fractured his fibula during football training camp.  He proceeded to practice on it for two more days before I finally insisted we have it checked.  Sure enough – there was a break.  They did not cast his foot for that injury, though – instead, they put him in a walking “boot.”  Although the smell was atrocious, considering it was summer and he was sweating all the time, he was able to take it off at night, wash his foot, and then sleep in some kind of air cast.  For Saturday’s injury, the ER doc told us they would use a hard cast on Nathanael for six weeks.  That was confirmed today at the orthopedist’s office.  Interestingly enough, the PA was pushing on the side of Nathanael’s arm that was broken (the radius), and he said it only “kind of” hurt.  When he pushed on the ulna, Nate jumped.   When the orthopedic doctor came in, he said the x-rays only showed a break in the radius, and that he must have a ligament sprain on the other side (he said the cast would help that as well).  They told Nate to think about whether or not he wanted a regular “old school” cast (the kind you have to wrap in a plastic bag when you shower), or the waterproof kind – he also said to think about what color he wanted.  It didn’t take him long to answer.  “Waterproof and neon pink” were his exact words.  I love it.  Nathanael is all about being an individual.  He likes to stand out in the crowd.  I don’t think he really has to worry about that, though.   

Somber and Stylin'

No one has signed the cast yet.  There is, however a big box with the word RESERVED over it.  Nathanael (thanks to little bro, Philip) will get the chance to meet Jay Cutler on Thursday night at a special event JDRF is putting on for Type 1’s and their families.  Everyone who knows Nate knows his love for all things “manly” – especially football.  No one would ever question Nathanael’s motives for a pink cast.  One of his buddies pointed out that he was about to meet an NFL quarterback and ask for his autograph on a bright pink cast.  He hadn’t really thought about that.  We told him not to worry, real men wear pink and offer no explanations.

It’s good to know that in the midst of unexpected turns and little stresses of life, we can still find time for silliness and laughter.  Look how Wayland decorated the little ones the other day.

Don Juan De-Luker

Anna d'Artagnan

Like I said before…never a dull moment.  Never. 

We’ve Almost Met Our Deductible

This morning I went for a much needed haircut and color. (Really, it was much more about the hour and a half I had in a chair without interruptions from children who needed more milk or their bottoms wiped)  Anyway, I did have a couple of interruptions from my hubby who was worried I wouldn’t make it home in time for he and Nathanael to get to the first practice of Nate’s baseball season.  Not to worry, I made it home in time to see them walk out of the garage and head for the fields - Nate in his brand new, sparkling white, not a single grass or mud stained baseball pants, and Wayland in full coaching mode.  The plan was to feed everyone lunch, get Philip ready for his first game, go find a red baseball belt (youth size Med/Lg  if anyone has an extra hanging around) and meet Wayland and Nate at Philip’s game at 2:00.  The phone rang around 12:15 and Wayland said, “I think Nathanael just broke his wrist.”  To read the rest of the story check out Nate’s blog (http://notouch.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/i-dont-get-sick-i-just-break-bones/).  I packed a lunch for Wayland and Nate, loaded the car with enough toys to entertain fifteen kids for a week, made sure I had my handy-dandy fold up chairs for Philip’s game, got the kids in the car (they all had their shoes on – thank goodness) and headed out to find that darn red baseball belt.  After driving in circles for a while (I was a distraught mother who wanted to be with her needy child in the ER) I finally made a stop at “Soccer Village” (they looked at me like I was crazy when I asked for a baseball belt), and then Meijer (it’s like a Wal-Mart) – they had black but no red.  I finally decided “forget the red baseball belt, I’m getting to the hospital NOW!”  The four of us barged into the ER and the security door was open so we just headed right back - peeking our heads into open doors looking for the fallen baseball player.  Wasn’t long before a nurse told us the room he was in, but when we got there he had been taken to X-Ray.  They finally wheeled him back in the room in his big hospital bed and he immediately said, “Don’t worry mom, I could have walked – they just made me go like this.”   I gladly relieved Wayland of his care taking duties and sent him with Philip and Anna E. to the baseball field to get ready for Philip’s game.  Luke, Nate and I waited for the results of the X-ray, then we waited for the doctor to put on the splint and sling, and then we high tailed it to the ball park.  It was pure torture for Nathanael to sit there and watch those boys playing baseball and know he was out for at least six weeks.  He just kept saying, “I want to hit.  I want to catch.  I want to pitch.”  Poor baby!!! 

Philip’s game was really different.  He is playing for a different league this year, and I don’t know if it was that, or if I just couldn’t really focus on the game while I was worrying over Nate.  I did get to see him pitch – I think he had five strike outs in two innings (not bad), but the game just seemed to go extremely slow.  I’m just glad Philip wasn’t the only one out there without a red belt.  I think there were two of them.  Thank goodness there was a playground on site that kept Anna E. and Luke busy.  Of course, I just kept looking over there at Anna on the monkey bars and thinking, “that’s a great way to break an arm!”  Maybe next week I’ll be in baseball mode.  Today I’m in “too tired to think mode.”  Oh the joys of parenthood.  Some friends at the ballpark put it this way, “it’s never a dull moment for TEAMThompson, is it?”  No.  It isn’t.  Never a dull moment.

Nine Day Recap…This One’s a Doozy

No, we did not fall off the face of the earth.  We are still here, even if we are recovering from nine days of “grandparental” bliss.  We fit a lot into those days and they seemed to fly by at amazing speed.   We made several trips to the Monon (our community rec center) for swimming, basketball, and a few painful and miserable minutes on the elliptical.  Nate and Philip relished the fact that their Grandad was able to help coach them on some basketball skills, and Anna and Luke enjoyed swimming with Granny (even if Granny did accidentally poke Anna in the mouth and make her scream hysterically for several minutes until she finally had to go to the locker room and look in a mirror to see that she would indeed live). 

We made a day trip to Chicago and saw all the usual touristy spots – the Sears tower, Navy Pier (including lunch at Bubba Gump’s…yummy!), Wrigley Field, Soldier Field, Michigan Avenue, and the Museum of Science and Industry.  The u505 submarine was a big hit with everyone, but my personal favorite was the food court that served Starbucks coffee to my weary soul at the end of the day.  The highlight of the whole day, however, was a stop at some fun-house mirrors on Navy Pier.  Lawrence, who is 6′4″ tall stood in front of one mirror that made his legs look over 6′ tall alone.  I stood in front of one that made me look exactly like Amy Roloff on Little People Big World – seriously, we could have been twins.  One of the mirrors made Nathanael’s head look like it was about 4′ tall and gave him a Jay Leno chin.  Anna looked like she was walking on stilts, but they were really her legs.  Luke just looked like he had been inserted into a trash compactor and pressed down.  I could go on and on.  I think you probably just had to have been there.  All eight of us gathered around these four mirrors laughing our heads off, tears running down our cheeks, freezing to death, and having a blast!  Doesn’t take much to entertain rednecks like us! 

 Allow Wayland to illustrate with pictures:

Navy Pier – Chicago Backdrop

                                                                                                                                                                                          

too cold for Texans

Luke Leno

Philip Roloff

My legs are as long as my dad’s for once

Tina Roloff

Grandad at Wrigley

Grandad with submarine at Museum of Science and Industry

Kaleesha and Grandad at museum

brothers at museum

Grandad with little ones      

Granny with Luker

 

We celebrated our Easter service at church on Saturday afternoon since Grandad had to fly out around noon on Sunday.  We were all sad to see him go (and so very thankful that he took the time and made the sacrifice to come see us), but the pain was eased by the fact that we had Granny for several more days.  We spent Easter afternoon with a great family in our life group, eating a scrumptious lunch, hunting over 500 eggs, watching the Masters (what happened Phil – you were so close?!?) and enjoying some great fellowship.  For the egg hunt, our lifegroup friends invited some neighbors over to join in on the fun.  It was the first time I’ve seen Philip isolate himself.  There were about ten to fifteen kids running all over the yard hunting for eggs, and Philip just stayed on the basketball court shooting hoops.  I encouraged him to join in on the fun – there were some eggs with money, some with prizes, but he refused.  He knew if he got candy eggs, everyone else could dig right in, and he couldn’t.  I spoke to another mom of a Type 1 son and she said she always offers to buy her son’s candy from him after Easter, Halloween, or Christmas.  I’ll have to remember that.  Of course, we know that the eggs, the candy, the food are not the real meaning of Easter – it is all about the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  I’ll have to say, I think it washed over me in a new and real way this year.  I pray that it doesn’t fade as the days pass. 

 

Granny, the big boys, and I started tearing off wallpaper in one of the upstairs bathrooms while Wayland was in Michigan.  He wasn’t overwhelmed with joy and gratitude when he got home.  Oops!  We didn’t get to finish before Granny left as Wayland put a stop to it, but I know she’ll be with us in spirit as we work to make that room less hideous.  You’re a go getter, Granny – thanks for all you do.  Last night, as we said our prayer before dinner, Anna said, “God, help us not be so sad cause Granny has to leave.”  Luke immediately interrupted her and said, “I’m not sad!”  We all couldn’t help but laugh.  At about 10:00 this morning, Luke yawned and said, “I’m still sleepy.  I’m going to go back to sleep with Granny.”  When I reminded him that she was on a plane headed back to Texas, he decided he was sad then. 

One more thing…I know some of you may have received an email about “Philip’s Future” shirts, but if you didn’t – here is the mock-up.  The cost of the shirts are $14.00 and all profits will go to JDRF and the “Walk to Cure Diabetes.”  If you are interested in purchasing one, please leave a comment or email us and we’ll give you the information you need.  Thanks to all our friends and family who have already ordered!  We are sincerely grateful for your support.

Spring Break ‘09…Off to a Slow Start

On Saturday I woke up with the crazy desire to redo everyone’s closets.  I’m not sure what I caught that caused such an unlikely inspiration, but it was contagious.  Wayland ended up helping clean out a hall closet and repainting it to boot.  Sunday I went to Costco and Meijer, spent an obscene amount of money on groceries, and by the time I got home, I felt as if I’d been run over by a truck.  Yesterday I cleaned house and it took all day long.  (Being interrupted by four children who still needed me to be mom and not just the maid didn’t help).  Happy Spring Break 2009!!!  Anyway (I know y’all are just consumed with suspense right now), whatever caused this three-day-run-me-ragged marathon has passed and I have spent most of the morning catching up on my favorite blogs and playing Spider Solitaire.  Granny comes today (we’re heading to the airport in just a bit) and  Grandad will follow in a couple of days…we just can’t wait.  Maybe now we can move into a more appropriate Spring Break mode.  I’m sure we’ll have some great pics to post by this weekend. 

In all the excitement of preparing for our guests, I have been a bit neglectful to reflect on how precious this week is and the meaning it has for us as Christians.  When I was finally able to rest last night, it hit me like a ton of bricks.  It is everything.  He took our place.  He paid our ransom.  He died a horrible death.  He chose love.  He was prepared for burial and placed in a tomb.  And then…He rose!  He’s alive!!!  Without that, He was just a great man.  But He conquered death and sin, and He Is Alive!  Lord, help the wonder of your love and your gift of grace become reality to me.  Help me to live my life without reservation when it comes to serving You.  Open my eyes and help me see.  I believe…help my unbelief. 

One more thing…I posted a link last month to Serious Life magazine.  They have a new issue out for April and I thought I’d post it again.  Enjoy!!!

www.seriouslifemagazine.com

A day in the life of…

I may be the only stay at home mom who spends their day doing really amazing, life-changing things.  I’m not talking about mere acts of working toward world peace, ending world hunger, or solving the current economic crisis.  The things I do go way beyond that. 

I spend fifteen minutes trying to take a great photo of my youngest child’s booger next to a ruler to show everyone how big it is.  

Luke's Big Booger

When Luke woke up from his nap the other day, he walked into the kitchen with his finger attempting to be inside his nostril.  “Momma, you see dis big booga?  You see dis weally big booga in my nose?”  (Words that immediately warm the heart and sting the eyes).  I saw it alright.  I had to wrangle that big boy out of there.  Amazing!!!

Or I make signs to greet my 4th grade son as he gets off the bus.

A Hero's Welcome

The bus driver called the other morning to tell me about an “incident on the bus with Philip.”  I was ready to walk out the door and meet him at the hospital – sure he’d had a seizure or something, when the bus driver’s next words caught me completely off guard.  “Your son is quite the hero.  He killed a mouse on the bus today.”  Excuse me?  I mean, really – it’s going to take a second to take that one all in.  The bus driver proceeded to tell me that Philip had seen a mouse, and had the amazing speed and foresight to immediately step on it and prevent mass chaos from breaking out on the bus.  At this point, I’m just wondering why there was a mouse on the bus in the first place (it was evidently a middle-schooler’s  idea of a good prank from the driver’s first run earlier in the morning).  To the driver, this was no small matter.  He even contacted the assistant principal to make sure Philip received some kind of special recognition for his heroic act.  When Philip got home that afternoon, I met him at the bus holding the sign and then asked him for all the details.  “I just stepped on it. I mean, I really didn’t even see it – I just felt something under my foot, and there it was.  There was blood coming out of it’s mouth.”  I hope they didn’t throw him a hero’s party, or he’d have some fessin’ up to do.  For all we know, the mouse could’ve already been dead and Philip just accidentally discovered it.  We won’t tell that to the bus driver though.  Some things are best left unspoken.

I stay up half the night trying to decide how to dress my children for “Character Day.” 

Queen Elizabeth - it made more sense than Princess Leia which is who she really wanted to be

 

 

Pure Royalty

                 Anna Elizabeth as “Queen Elizabeth” (she had to ask me who she was about 15 times before she left for school that day). 

 

He's going to kill me for posting this

Philip as “Poca-gawea.”  (That would be a cross between Pocahontas and Sacagawea – the two most famous Indian Native American princesses)

Note:  I did not create the costumes – that was Granny’s doing.  I just helped put a name to them!   

 

I talk Nathanael off a ledge when he is issued his track uniform and it shows off his blindingly white legs.

Studly

Nathanael signed up for track simply for conditioning.  He really isn’t that into running – not competitively anyway.  He has, however, found great interest in the field events of shot-put and discus.  He may have forfeited it all had he checked out the uniforms before hand.  He likes to wear his shorts long and loose.  In my opinion, Lawrence (aka Grandad) is the only one in our family who can pull off short shorts.  I think Nate and I will hit the tanning beds over Spring Break.  (As if!!!) 

Speaking of Spring Break…it has officially begun!  I think I’m more excited than the kids.  Seems that most of their friends are traveling to places like Florida or Colorado.  They are stuck with Indiana.  Oh well, once Granny and Grandad get here, we’ll party like it’s 2000!!!

Sometimes You Just Have to Wear Stretchy Pants

I have recently found myself in the “elastic rut.”  What’s that, you say?  It’s a lovely phase where you fear putting on denim (unless it is labeled “lycra” or “stretch”)  and opt for the oh so comfortable yoga or track pants instead.  Being “athletic wear,” elastic is deemed fashionably acceptable, and you need not worry that you are straying from “the rules.”  As a domestic engineer, I have the luxury of wearing fashionable elastic clothing to work every day.  I don’t mind running errands like this, and if the school secretary is counting how many times she’s seen me in those black yoga pants – she needs to get a new job.  There are times in my busy week, where I take off the comfy and shimmy into the restrictive clothing that looks more appropriate for things such as Bible Study, doctor’s appointments, and teacher conferences.  That is except for last week, when Tuesday morning Bible Study rolled around and I tried on about five different pairs of pants, three different shirts, and a  couple of different jackets to hide the muffin top the pants were creating.  I decided then and there that I was wearing the before mentioned black pants (with God-sent elastic waist band) and my “relaxed fit” Nike sports performance athletic wear top.  By this time, I’m running about fifteen minutes late and I stop to look in the mirror for a quick once over before I leave the house.  All I could think was, “Yikes!  Who put an inter-tube around my middle?  Where did that extra butt come from?  Those thighs are definitely saying thunder !!!”  I almost didn’t go.  Then I thought, those women would at least think I was trying, if I showed up in athletic looking apparel.  Seriously, what is wrong with me???  I’m going to get real honest here.  I even coated my gray spot with brown mascara before I left the house.  I had seen this product on the Today Show  a while back that looked like a tube of mascara that you could use to touch up your roots in between colorings.  I thought “that looked like mascara…I have mascara…how different could they be?”  Let me tell you – they are different.  What had been an only slightly noticeable gray streak, was now a dark, shiny, sticky, mess of goop right on top of my head.  I guess I got what was coming to me.  Thank goodness God used Beth Moore’s message to really speak to me, otherwise Tuesday would have been a total loss. 

The whole ordeal did, however, compel me to look for more ways to try and fit some kind of workout into my day again.  On Saturday, TEAMThompson headed down to the local community recreation center to sign up for use of their gym and indoor and outdoor pools/water-park.  Not being a gym person, I literally had butterflies in my stomach and feared I might pass out just trying to turn on the elliptical machine.  Thank goodness Nathanael was with me.  (How is it that he knows so much more than me and he’s not even 12 yet?)  I did twenty minutes on the elliptical in the same exact outfit I wore to Bible Study on Tuesday (plus a fleece pullover on top – not a good thing to wear when you are working out inside a gym) and then went down to the indoor water park to relieve Wayland from kid watching duty so he could go hit the machines as well.  We all had a really good time.  I took the kids back on Sunday to swim (I skipped the gym), and then we all went back on Monday to work-out again.  This time Wayland and I worked out together while the big boys played basketball and the little ones stayed in the “Kid’s Zone.”  Wayland helped me turn on the elliptical again, and even showed me how to use some of the circuit machines.  I hobbled away exhilarated and exhausted.  Last night, Wayland was late coming in from out of town so I loaded up the kids, picked up Nate from track practice at 5:00 and we headed back to the Rec Center.  I dropped the little ones off in the Zone again, sent Nathanael and Philip to the basketball court, and made that long journey up the stairs to the gym by myself.  My palms were sweating.  I was using Wayland’s ipod for the first time and couldn’t figure out how to make it work, I dropped my water bottle, I was staring down that elliptical like it was the devil, and just when I got up the nerve to step on it, my pager went off.  The Zone pages you if your child soils his pants and since Luke had yet to soil, I figured that was what would be waiting for me.  I was right.  I picked Luke up, walked him all the way over to the pool locker rooms where I had stowed our bags (with his diapers) and changed him (without the use of the wipes that I had left in the car!) (sorry TMI) and then took him back to play.  I temporarily thought about just using that whole ordeal as my workout, but figured that wouldn’t be getting the most out of our monthly dues so I headed back upstairs.  I was successful in using the elliptical for twenty minutes without breaking it, I walked the track, and even used the machines to do arm curls, a glute workout, inner and outer thigh exercises, and leg presses.  I was on a roll.  I got a call from Wayland who said he was back in town and told him to come meet us; I would take the kids swimming while he worked out.  He said he’d pick up some Subway so we could all eat dinner together.  Great plan, except for the fact that the pool closes early on Wednesdays and you aren’t allowed to bring in outside food or they’ll kick you out.  Some things you just have to find out the hard way.  (Really the lady was really nice when she saw us eating our forbidden food – she said NEXT time, they’d kick us out!)   

So hopefully, if you see me around town in pants with an elastic waistband,  and think ”at least she’s trying ” - you’ll be right!  And if we sit down for a chat and I attempt to cross my legs and a moan escapes my lips…you’ll know why.  And if there happens to be a goopy mess in my hair, you’ll know I can no longer afford to have it colored since I joined a gym!!!