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Encouragement, Life Is Beautiful

A Christmas Picnic

I first met Laurie about 15 years ago when she and her husband were youth pastoring at the church we attended. Laurie led the Moms’ Group and my daughter who’s now almost an adult was two years old then. Laurie is a wife, mom, blogger, speaker, singer, friend, missionary, and a beautiful soul who loves the Lord. And she’s funny. This is a great piece and I’m honored that Laurie is writing for us today!  You can read Laurie’s blog (Living a Laughable Life and Other Things I’ve Learned) at http://laurieyost.blogspot.com/

Families all over the world are steeped in their Christmas traditions.  Year after year we count on things happening the same way and when they don’t it seems to throw off the schedule.  There are just some things that shouldn’t be changed.  I grew up in a family where Christmas day was always spent at either our house or my grandparents’ house opening gifts and eating ham, mashed potatoes, salads, rolls, etc…. Tons of time was spent getting the meal ready and tons of time was spent cleaning up.  For families that enjoy being in the kitchen that much it was fun but for me I wanted to be sitting and watching a football game, or slouched on the couch like my grandfather with my pants unbuttoned just a bit to ease the pain of what we’d just eaten.  My lot in life, because of Christmas tradition, was going to be in the kitchen doing dishes and cramming leftovers into mismatched Tupperware.  Could this really be what Christmas had to be?

I ended up marrying a preacher.  Those of you who spend much time in the church will know that the holiday season is a busy season whether it’s children’s Christmas programs, ladies’ teas, handing out food to the needy, or getting ready for the Christmas Eve service.  By the time we get home from the Christmas Eve service we are exhausted.  We decided early on in our marriage that Christmas day was going to be spent with just our little family at our house so that we didn’t have to cart the children to every relative for just that one day.  We didn’t like the idea of saying, “Here’s a few new toys but just get a glimpse of them quickly because we are leaving in 5 minutes to do the relative runs.”  Nope, we decided that Christmas would be our day to sit together and open gifts slowly as a family and enjoy talking about why we gave a certain gift to a certain person, eating cinnamon rolls, drinking coffee and enjoying the gingerbread/Happy Birthday Jesus cake that Zachary would always make. 

But then it would always come to the dinner; that loooong exhausting dinner.  When you have young children, you’re tired anyway but the thought of cleaning up after a big meal that you’ve taken hours to prepare doesn’t sit well—especially on Christmas day.  So we changed tradition.  My husband said one year when the kids were young, “Who says that we have to have a traditional Christmas meal?  We are tired from all of the ministry of the past weeks and our goal is to truly enjoy this day celebrating Christ’s birth, so let’s get pizza.”  “PIZZA!!!  Are you serious?  On Christmas you want to eat pizza?”  “Yes,” he replied and have fancy root beer and throw a sheet on the living room floor and eat it like a picnic.”  “Oh my, that seems almost sacrilegious.  Can we DO that?”  And then he said the words that were music to my ears.  “Honey, we can make our own Christmas traditions and this can be one of them.  You won’t have to be all day in the kitchen and we all love pizza so why not?” 

It was settled.  Pizza was going to be our new Christmas tradition.  The day before we order from the best pizzeria in town a few half-baked pizzas.  (and yes, we always have to tell them 2 or 3 times that we want them just half-baked).  On Christmas day we stick them in the oven and cook them the rest of the way.  We buy our fancy root beer and spread a sheet over the carpet and have our Christmas meal.  The first year we did it the kids were just small and they loved it.  We were having a picnic for Christmas!!  Now that two of the kids are in college and one just starting high school they know that when we celebrate Christmas day together it will be with our tradition:  the pizza pie.  I think at this point if I dared bake a ham that I would be looked at as a traitor.  So this Christmas, pizza it is.  I’m happy to say that I can’t wait for the clean up. 

December 10, 2014
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Ten Things About the Duggars

When I say “The Duggars” most people know who I’m talking about. The Duggar family has been long-known as “the ones with all the kids.” They do have “19 Kids and Counting”, which is the appropriate title of their reality TV show on TLC. Many people have strong feelings about this larger-than-average family.  They either love them or…they don’t.

I’ll admit when they first came into the public eye (when there were fewer than 19 children), I wasn’t a fan. I couldn’t understand how it was responsible to have that many children. After all, how could parents possibly keep track of each one and give them much-needed undivided attention on a daily basis? I judged them, assuming the older kids all but raised the younger ones. I didn’t dislike them per se, but I didn’t understand their ways so I didn’t make any attempts to investigate and see what they were really about.

Eventually I gave them a chance and started watching their show here and there and no one was more surprised than I to find that this family grew on me. Here are my ten reasons why:

1. I just plain like them.

The Duggars are likable, it’s just that simple. They seem like people who I could be friends with and have some laughs with and learn from.

2.  They have an unshakable faith. 

The Duggars have been raked over the coals time and again for their beliefs and the way they choose to live. But they’re confident in their spirituality and they haven’t let the criticism sway them. They live out their faith.

3.  They’re honest about their mistakes. 

Jim Bob and Michelle have been open about some mistakes they made early on in their life. They’ve copped to some debt and some other circumstances they’d change if they could go back and do so. They are very straight forward that some of their parenting strategies are formed around preventing their children from making similar poor decisions.

4.  They make messes.

There is a big bunch of little ones running around the Duggar house which translates into bigger messes than in most homes. The struggle is real, people. Keeping a house neat and tidy when we have two children is practically an Olympic event some days. Imagine keeping any kind of order with 19 (nineteen!) kids playing, finger painting, making blanket forts.  They don’t pretend that they’ve got it all together at all times. There are messes and they just clean them up and move on to the next one.

5.  They laugh a lot.

Laughter is huge in my life. I’m a firm believer in laughing every chance there is. So when I see this family joking around, especially between Jim Bob and Michelle, it really endears me. The family that laughs together, stays together.

6.  They shop secondhand and are proud of it.

Be still my heart. Celebrities who buy secondhand! I’m a bargain shopper, born and bred, and even if I break the millionaire tax bracket someday, I’ll still be a bargain shopper. Why pay more for something if you don’t have to? The Duggars buy secondhand and even make some of their own clothing and it’s admirable and it’s also smart. They make good use of what God has given them.

7.  They have real talents and interests.

It appears most if not all of the Duggar children have musical ability. They take musical lessons and have vast interests. Many of the boys help with construction and home improvement (as we saw when the family readied an investment home for newlyweds Jill and Derick).

Jill has a love of midwifery and coaching mothers and helping newborns enter the world and the other children have displayed various interests. They are individuals and their uniqueness shows.

8.  They have each other’s backs.

There is real comradery and support amongst the members of the Duggar family. There is genuine love and tenderness and a healthy amount of teasing. But overall, the kids seem very supportive and truly happy for the others’ successes.

9.  They have great hair.

Seriously, this family has been blessed from a follicular standpoint. The girls have long hair and volume for days. It’s beautiful and I’ve noticed them mention more than once how they enjoy doing each other’s hair in different braids and curls.

10. They make it all work.

I’m sure they’re like any other family. They have problems. There are cross words and sibling rivalry that crop up. But they love each other and have developed a system and they make it work. It seems effortless, but I’m sure it’s not. To make sure 19 kids and 2 parents are cared for and have the attention they need is sure to be a challenge but they’re in it together.

They’re a formidable team and their faith is the glue that makes them stick. They’ve really endeared themselves to me over the years and I’ve found myself tearing up at the wedding proposals and cheering for them as Michelle and Jim Bob become grandparents and in-laws to the young people marrying into their family. As they go on mission trips, help others, and keep on keeping on, I’ll keep on tuning in.

 

October 28, 2014
Uncategorized

So You Think You Can Blog?

Welcome to the maiden voyage of my first personal blog! I say “personal blog” because I blog on Blogher.com and have guest posted on other sites as well. However, I have been feeling a tug to begin my own personal blog, one where I can share pictures, thoughts, and articles I write more freely. I’ve always had a deep love for writing, ever since I was old enough to put a pencil to paper…literally at age five I was writing stories on that giant lined penmanship paper we used in school. I wrote stories about anything that affected or perplexed me. The divorce of a friend’s parents (the first I’d ever heard of such a thing) and my tonsillectomy were some big headliners for me in the early years. I never lost my passion for the written word but for awhile, my writing dream got put on a shelf for safekeeping. In the most recent couple of years I took my dream down from the shelf, dusted it off, and began blogging for the public and writing for personal growth and satisfaction.

My professional background includes working as a Medical Language Specialist for nearly two decades. Now, I spend most of my days (and some nights and some middle-of-the-nights) writing, reading, reading about writing, and researching. I also do some housework, grocery shopping, socializing and taking care of my family in there too. I’m a mom to two fabulous children, a tween boy I call Bub and a teenage girl I call My Girl. I’m married to a man who strangers think looks at least ten years younger than he is (no one makes this mistake about me). This is an incredible boost to my self-esteem, as one can imagine. He’s not younger than I am. He’s actually three years my senior, though apparently it’s not obvious by looking at him. We share our lives and our home with our Beabrador Lillie and her boss, Gracie the Pug (adorably pictured below).

I imagine you may have stumbled upon my blog because the name looked or sounded intriguing when you said “Flying Blonde” in your head. I’m a huge fan of plays on words and double entendre. I chose Flying Blonde as a play on the phrase “flying blind” because that’s pretty much how I live life… by the seat of my pants without a master plan (God’s in control of that) and more or less availing myself to what God has in store. And I’m blonde. I hope you will visit again and often. I believe I have some good things to say and share. My mission is to encourage others. I’ve been through some seriously painful stuff in life and maybe I can encourage you through something you’re struggling with. Or we can laugh, because sometimes we simply must laugh so as not to cry. I believe in laughing out loud (usually at myself) and sharing quirky, weird things that happen in life as well as some deep thoughts. I’d love to have some great conversations with you as we all navigate through this ridiculous, beautiful mess we call life. Maybe I’ll even tell you about the time I met Adam Levine…

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October 1, 2014