We got up earrrrrrly this morning to make the trek back to B’ham, mainly because I have A Lot Of Cooking to do between now and tomorrow night. And Alex was fussy, as one would expect a three year old to be when awakened at 6:30 AM and then strapped into a carseat. But about an hour into our trip, I could tell that he was making the move from fussy to Something Is Awry, and an hour later when the crying. wasn’t. stopping., I got a little concerned.

The bottom line is that we went straight from the interstate to the pediatrician’s office, and the little man has an eye infection and an ear infection. Guess it’s the Week-O-Infection around here. :-) And can you imagine the interweb search engines that will direct people my way as a result of that last sentence?

He’s much better now, the toddler. A hefty dose of Tyenol did the trick on that pesky ear pain, and a three hour afternoon nap offered even more restorative powers. So now I’m free to get in the kitchen and, as Sister and I say, HIT IT. Lots to do.

Bless his heart.

Since I’ve been a mama – and especially over the last year and a half – I’ve found myself using the same phrases over and over: “Obedience brings blessing, disobedience brings consequence”…”Don’t step outside the circle of protection your daddy and I have created for you”…”Alex, you’re going to need God’s heart to make good choices – you can’t just rely on your own.”

During this week’s study on self-control, I felt a little reprimanded my OWN self – like God wanted me to absorb those very same lessons that we’ve been teaching Alex for the last 18 or 19 months…those very same lessons that we’ll probably still be teaching in 18 or 19 years…those very same lessons that, in so many ways, I’m still learning myself.

Self-control, according to Beth, “is an issue of mastery, of authority, of boundaries.” She goes on to point out that “without self control, we are like a city with broken down walls” – and that’s an analogy that I love…even though I can be way too literal, it makes perfect sense to me. And we can see so easily that when there are cracks in the walls of our self control, cracks in the protection that God gives us from flesh and the world and the enemy, inevitably our boundaries start to crumble. Beth says, “God demanded walls in every dwelling place He chose to grace,” and our bodies – the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit, the very temple of God – are no different.

It’s all about obedience, really: “self control is the ability to make choices which invite and enhance the authority and filling of the Holy Spirit. Self control is the decision to remain within the boundaries of victory.” When we let those walls crumble, we make ourselves vulnerable to attack and destruction – many times in ways we never could have imagined. Sin doesn’t storm the walls…instead, it creeps in, seeps in, and spreads so subtly and slowly that many times it’s taken us over before we even realized it was there.

So in what areas am I lacking self control? How much time do you have? I can honestly say that I don’t struggle so much with what comes out of my mouth anymore – I understand the importance and value of “a bridled tongue” – but I continue to struggle with what goes in my mouth. The discpline of good health is so hard for me -and I am so consistently inconsistent with it. The discipline of PRIORITIES can get the better of me from time to time…how to keep out the stuff that hinders, how to throw off the junk that holds me back. The discipline of realizing that life is not about what you have, it’s about Who you serve – sometimes it’s hard to keep sight of that in suburbia. But like Solomon teaches us, all the material possessions of this world are “meaningless” – and while D. and I certainly understand that, we’ve got to get that across to Alex, too.

But here’s the “big deal” lesson, at least for me: self control is the component of the fruit of the spirit that enables all the other qualities to show. The discipline of self control brings blessing (OH for Alex to be able to realize that at an early age)…because when we are under control, we can display love, patience, peace, joy, gentleness, kindness – we can enjoy true freedom in our Christian walks. Can anyone else appreciate the irony of that? That when I am controlled, when I am disciplined, then I am FREE? It goes against everything the world tells us (the world says, “don’t put up walls” or “you need to break down your walls” or “don’t be so restrained”) – but God wants us to have walls of protection, walls that are impenetrable to the forces of the world. I want that, too.

Now, aside from the topic of self-control, I have to say something else. I never, ever thought that I would “meet” people through blogging. I never expected to participate in a Bible study, or make a friend, or feel a sense of community, or use my blog to communicate with anyone other than my “forever friends” and family. So can I just tell you? This Bible study? And the people in it? Awesome. I have been overwhelmed by your kindness, and your support, and your prayers, and your posts, and your comments, and your encouragement. It’s been exactly the study I needed at exactly the right time – and I hope y’all will continue to come by and “fellowship,” even though the study is over. Thanks, Lauren, for having this Bible study idea to begin with – and thanks to all of you who have studied and posted and shared. I am grateful. And I have been blessed.

So here I am in the car at a gas station in Mississippi – on the way to Memphis – looking like I could use a touch of powder and maybe even a shot of Botox in the forehead area. And yes, this is the first time I’ve put a picture of me on the blog, but this one tickled me because of the Mini-Me back there in the car seat.

Here’s Alex, who was entertaining his Aunt Janie at the time.

A. and H. ham it up while eating their chicken. Oh, what a clever play on words that was. :-)

And yes, it’s perfectly permissible if you think these three are the cutest cousins you’ve ever seen.

We’re in Memphis right now, here to celebrate my nephew’s 8th birthday. I had high hopes of Alex conking out in the car and sleeping for at least three hours of our four hour drive, but instead he opted for the 20 minute catnap and talked. the. whole. way.

And he talked about the same four topics: his cousins. Memphis. Finding Nemo. And his Aunt Janie. Though I love my child with everything in me, I don’t know when I’ve ever been so happy to reach a destination.

I would also like to point out that it is 9:24 and my brother has still not finished grilling the chicken that he put on the grill at 7:15. He says that it’s because the chicken breasts are the size of turkeys. Personally I think we should squirt a little lighter fluid on those coals and char those yardbirds but good, but I’ve relinquished my chef’s hat for the evening. And my brother is quite the grill chef, so I guess he knows whereof he speaks. Worst case scenario: the chicken will be a delicious lunch tomorrow.

There’s never a dull moment in this neck of the woods – so there should much bloggity goodness to follow (my brother is what we Southerners refer to as “a character” – he keeps things lively, and he keeps me laughing).

Have a good night, everybody!

Thirteen Things I Should Be Embarrassed To Tell You But I’m Not Because I Obviously Have No Pride
1. I do not know how to text message. I mean, I know HOW, but I can’t do it well. I COULD send you a text message, but I wouldn’t finish it until 2009, at which point the news would be somewhat old. So I’m sticking with email.

2. When I’m downstairs in my husband’s office and I survey his vast electronic universe, I have to ask for assistance to even turn on the television. And if the DVD player or TiVo is involved? I just hand him the remote and point to the device I need.

3. If I catch sight of an insect, no matter where I am, I immediately pull my feet up off of the floor and hop from one piece of furniture to another until I find a perch that I feel will remain off said insect’s path. And then I yell for D. to come and kill it. I think this particular strain of paranoia / OCD stems from An Unfortunate Cockroach Incident when we lived in Louisiana – where the cockroaches are the size of small housecats – and one crawled across my leg when we were watching television. I bet, if you think back to 1998 really, really hard, you’ll remember hearing me scream.

4. Surprisingly, I have never intentionally touched an insect. I’m sure you’re shocked after reading #3.

5. I made an F in a course in graduate school. It was the semester that I fell head over heels for D., and Utopian literature didn’t hold much appeal – not that it held much appeal pre-falling head over heels, to tell the truth. I kept thinking I would catch up on my coursework, but the end-of-semester deadline hit, and I received a note from the professor that said (OUCH), “I’m sorry you were unable to submit any papers for grading. Course grade: F.” So I ended up in summer school to make up the hours. And yes, I plan to delete this post before Alex is old enough to read.

6. When I was in sixth or seventh grade, I covered one of my notebooks with pictures of Rick Springfield. AND if that weren’t enough, I changed the words of “I Love Rock-n-Roll” to “I Love Rick Springfield,” and it went a little something like this: “I love Rick Springfield, so take another look at his fine face, baby; I love Rick Springfield, so come on take your time and dance with me.” Okay, so maybe I only changed a few words. But still.

7. I consider this to be one of the greatest inventions of my lifetime. Okay, at least of my blogging lifetime.

8. When I was in seventh grade, I wrote a fan letter to Duran Duran that incorporated many of the titles of their 80’s hits. All together now: GOOOOOOOB.

9. I am a total OCD traveler in that I LOVE TO PACK A SUITCASE. I love to think about everything that I might need, and organize all my toiletries, and get the big huge Ziplocs for shampoo, and oh just thinking about it makes me a little giddy.

10. The inside of my car is a disaster. DISASTER, I say verily unto you. But I’m cleaning it out before we hit the road today. I really am.

11. One time I cooked for an event at church – did a big ole meal for about 100 people – and I used 32 (THIRTY TWO!) sticks of butter. Surprisingly, no one’s heart stopped during or immediately after the festivities. But our friend Kevin did leave the luncheon to have an emergency root canal. I’m not sure if the dental work was butter-related or not.

12. Since that time, I’ve learned that when quadrupling recipes, you don’t necessarily have to quadruple the butter. In fact, doubling it will do just fine. And my church friends’ arteries just thanked me.

13. I just realized that this post is #324 for me – THREE HUNDRED AND TWENTY FOUR – which is even more disturbing in light of the fact I really only write when Alex is napping or in bed for the night. So I think it’s fitting that I close this post with the following declaration: “My name is BooMama. And I’m a blogaholic.”

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

View More Thursday Thirteen Participants

…a headache! Seriously! The kind that sends you to the doctor!

Now what I had today was not a full-blown migraine, to be sure – I never threw up, and I eventually got to the point where I could drive myself to the doctor (and I know full well that when Sister has her migraines, she can’t sit up long enough to find her keys, much less get herself in a moving vehicle and operate it). But because I’ve only had about four headaches in my life, and because today’s was the worst of the lot, I was convinced that I was dying. And oh, after today, do all you migraine sufferers ever have my sympathy. I don’t know how you ever find a space quiet enough to recover.

I had a twinge of behind-the-eye throbbing when I got up this morning, but I’d slept a little later than usual, so I thought maybe I was having some caffeine withdrawal. Then Alex and I headed to the zoo with some friends, and I medicated myself with a large diet Coke, thinking surely to goodness the caffeine would work its magic. But by lunchtime I had a pretty clear understanding that caffeine would not be the cure-all…and I wanted to get home. Fast.

The funny thing (and I say “funny” because, really, you have to laugh to keep from crying) about having a headache with a three year old in the house is that children pretty much do the opposite of everything you need. When I finally found a position on the couch that didn’t make me feel like my left eye was going to detach from my head, Alex took care of me by screaming things like, “ARE YOU OKAY, MAMA? ARE YOU SICK?” while he climbed up my legs so that he could pummel me gently on the shoulder.

After about 30 minutes of that, I knew I was out of my headache league, and I called the doctor to see if he’d phone in a prescription – which he wouldn’t, because since I’ve never been a headache sufferer before, he wanted to see me. Of all the doctors in the land, I have to have the one who’s “sensible” and “responsible” – even though this was a day when I would have preferred one of those doctors who fills up your purse with a veritable cornucopia of narcotic samplers. A pain-killer buffet, if you will.

After another hour on the couch, I had been still long enough so that my head was what mama used to call “easy,” and I now understand that by “easy” she meant that the elves in my temple that had formerly been using sledgehammers to pound the area behind my left eye had switched to regular hammers, and it was really so much better, relatively speaking. So off we went to the doctor’s office.

Long story long – the headache was the result of a particularly nasty sinus infection, and after a shot of some delightful medication called deca-somethingorother, I am pain free. A little woozy, to be sure, but happy beyond measure that those pesky elves behind my eyeball have been sedated.

And you know what’s even better? I have some really cute pictures of A. at the zoo. Wanna see?

Our zoo has a really big area where the water shoots up from the pavement, and oh, the joy that filled Alex’s soul…it was so fun watching him. It was extra fun because the tables and chairs for the parents are in the shade, oh thank you Jesus.

And it makes me happy that carousels are still in vogue with the toddler set – nothing beats those sweet smiles.

So I’m going to take a hot bath with some rosemary mint stuff I found in the pharmacy (I love me some aromatherapy), and hopefully will be a brand new woman tomorrow.

At the very least I’ll be clean and medicated. Everybody needs a goal.