I cried multiple times last night, and it felt so great! (If you're a man, does this sentence make any sense to you?) I watched Fox's new show, Secret Millionaire, and those tears just kept welling up.
Here's the premise: Fox sends multimillionaires to live in poverty for a week. They are "undercover," not revealing their wealth, and they have the opportunity to get to know people in need. At the end of the week, they give at least $100,000 of their own money, to one or multiple recipients.
Two episodes were shown last night. In the first, a very successful lawyer and his son gave away $25,000 to one person and $50,000 to two others, for a total of $125,000. In the second, a wealthy couple gave $100,000 to each of three different organizations, for a total of $300,000.
Maybe I should be upset that they're playing on my emotions, that things are never what they seem on reality TV, etc. But instead I was really touched. The father/son duo seemed so genuinely affected by the poverty, realizing just how blessed they were. I loved seeing that in both episodes, more than the "minimum" $100,000 was given freely. It seemed that the givers and the recipients were all deeply, positively affected.
Every time a check was handed over, I cried. It was a great evening of television.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
It really should have come with washing instructions
You know that feeling you get when you realize you've done something really dumb, and you can't undo it? Like when you dent your car or flood the bathroom again? I got that feeling yesterday morning when, after searching for my new MP3 player, I found it underneath some jeans and towels.
In the washing machine.
I was pretty upset. As I walked with the kids, sans soggy MP3 player, I was praying about my disappointment. And it hit me that there was something very positive about the situation--The Engineer's reaction to it.
The Engineer is very good at his job, partially because he is very practical. The practical side of his nature nicely balances the artistic, at times flighty, side of mine. But his personality also makes it really tough for him when people around him make totally avoidable, silly mistakes. Many times I've told him, "You don't need to make me feel any worse about {insert avoidable error}; I already feel bad enough!"
Yesterday was different. I called The Engineer as soon as I found the player, telling him what I'd done. "Well," he rationalized, "it's an easy thing to do; it's so small." He showed that he related to me by saying, "You'll just need to get into the habit of checking your pockets; I go in and out of that habit myself." And he reassured me, "It might dry out; remember that phone I dropped into water at a treatment plant? It was fine after it dried out!" He even agreed to buy another if this one doesn't recover.
As I replayed our conversation in my mind, I gained a new appreciation for my husband. He reacted in a way that comforted me, making my feelings more important than a silly electronic device. I called him at work to tell him, in detail, what a great job he'd done.
Yesterday The Engineer was also The Encourager. What a great combination!
In the washing machine.
I was pretty upset. As I walked with the kids, sans soggy MP3 player, I was praying about my disappointment. And it hit me that there was something very positive about the situation--The Engineer's reaction to it.
The Engineer is very good at his job, partially because he is very practical. The practical side of his nature nicely balances the artistic, at times flighty, side of mine. But his personality also makes it really tough for him when people around him make totally avoidable, silly mistakes. Many times I've told him, "You don't need to make me feel any worse about {insert avoidable error}; I already feel bad enough!"
Yesterday was different. I called The Engineer as soon as I found the player, telling him what I'd done. "Well," he rationalized, "it's an easy thing to do; it's so small." He showed that he related to me by saying, "You'll just need to get into the habit of checking your pockets; I go in and out of that habit myself." And he reassured me, "It might dry out; remember that phone I dropped into water at a treatment plant? It was fine after it dried out!" He even agreed to buy another if this one doesn't recover.
As I replayed our conversation in my mind, I gained a new appreciation for my husband. He reacted in a way that comforted me, making my feelings more important than a silly electronic device. I called him at work to tell him, in detail, what a great job he'd done.
Yesterday The Engineer was also The Encourager. What a great combination!
Tuesday, December 2, 2008
Countdown, part 4: Cookies & Cake
Well, I realized as I was walking this morning that we have reached T-minus one month until the big two-year anniversary of The Engineer's brain surgery. I was going to skip my Countdown post since I did one a couple of weeks ago. Then I saw today's Cake Wrecks post about a disturbing cookie cutter and decided I had to get in here and write, not about gratitude or anything else serious, but about cookies. Weird, yummy, kinda creepy cookies.
You see, once The Engineer was released from the hospital, I threw a big Brain & Birthday Bash. We celebrated The Engineer's brain health and Chickie's first birthday. (Her actual birthday had been pretty low-key since it had been 12 days after Daddy's surgery.) The Engineer kept a good sense of humor about his health issues, so I decided brain-shaped cookies were in order. Yes, you can buy brain-shaped cookie cutters online. Heck, you can buy anything online.
They turned out very cute and even tasted good. I'm sure some guests shied away from them because of the pure weirdness factor, but I love sugar, and biting into sweet gray matter doesn't take away my appetite.
Chickie had an adorable cake, made by our friend Leslie. She even made matching cookies, some attached to the cake and some on the side, which our more squeamish guests undoubtedly appreciated. This is one of my all-time favorite Chickie pictures.
That day was wonderful, a day to celebrate all that God has given us. Looking at the pictures makes me smile. I think God probably liked my celebratory brain cookies a lot.
You see, once The Engineer was released from the hospital, I threw a big Brain & Birthday Bash. We celebrated The Engineer's brain health and Chickie's first birthday. (Her actual birthday had been pretty low-key since it had been 12 days after Daddy's surgery.) The Engineer kept a good sense of humor about his health issues, so I decided brain-shaped cookies were in order. Yes, you can buy brain-shaped cookie cutters online. Heck, you can buy anything online.
They turned out very cute and even tasted good. I'm sure some guests shied away from them because of the pure weirdness factor, but I love sugar, and biting into sweet gray matter doesn't take away my appetite.
Chickie had an adorable cake, made by our friend Leslie. She even made matching cookies, some attached to the cake and some on the side, which our more squeamish guests undoubtedly appreciated. This is one of my all-time favorite Chickie pictures.
That day was wonderful, a day to celebrate all that God has given us. Looking at the pictures makes me smile. I think God probably liked my celebratory brain cookies a lot.
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