Unplugged: Blessed!

Last night’s Unplugged was simply delightful!  (I promise I won’t bore you every week with an update, but last night was so nice!)  There was such joy – in the midst of typical chaos!  We like to start at 5:30, when #1 child gets home from tutoring, and Britt and I are both home from work.  But last night, due to Pre-K enrollment for #3 and a Parent teach conference with #2’s teacher, Britt and I wouldn’t be home until after 6pm.  The babysitters (Nana and Grandpa) were in charge…  I had left a note on the dining room table with a chore for each Twister, and a reminder that Unplugged started at 5:30.  #3 got a bit of a pass from his Nana, as they were having a “date” for Nana’s birthday to watch Tangled on DVD and it was not over at 5:30 (closer to 6:15, even), but #1 and #2 (as well as my dad), were in the living room -- electronics silenced --  reading and doing homework when we got home shortly after 6!  The rest of the night was just blessed!  I even forgot about the $50 bill I seem to have lost – until this morning…

•  Emma and Lara were SO EXCITED about playing games

•  You have never lived until you have played Toy Story 3 Yahtzee with a 4 year old!

• Jake still didn’t quite understand, but there was much less whining!

•  Although the weather STILL wasn’t nice enough to be outside (30 MPH winds with gusts to 40, and COLD), we found a way to make it work

• Taco Night!

•  The girls stayed up 30 minutes past their bedtime, because they wanted to go outside and plant seeds (I let them, but I was NOT going out in that wind and cold anymore!)

• Jake stayed up 45 minutes past his bedtime – bringing me book after book after book to read to him (and I just let him!)

•  After the kids were in bed, Britt read another ENTIRE book – Heaven is For Real (Todd Burpo) (I read it last week - AMAZING story!)

• I read 1/3 of Water for Elephants (Sara Gruen) – gearing up to go see the movie with my Movie Crew

• We went to bed sleepy, happy, refreshed, and WEIRD!

…because normal isn’t working

We all know people that are weird in a weird way.  And people that are weird in a good way.  But, what about people who are weird in a GOD way?  Craig Groeschel started a new series at Life Church this weekend called WEiRD.  Matthew 7:13-14 says “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

I am really excited about this series.  Pastor Craig is going to teach about what it means to be WEiRD!  Many people can walk the broad road and live a “normal” life, but only a FEW can be on the narrow road, be weird, go against the crowd, and live for God.  “If you want what normal people have, do what normal people do.”  What is normal?  Stressed, hurried, broke, in debt, broken relationships, troubled marriages, tension, messed up values?  “If you want what few people have, do what few people do.”  BE WEIRD!

Britt and I are sure people think we’re WEIRD because we start each day in a quiet place reading and studying the bible with youversion.com.  And I KNOW people think we are WEIRD because we are doing the unplugged Monday nights with our family (I know this because of the feedback we got on facebook!)  We are weird – we don’t have any credit cards or credit card debt.  If we don’t have cash, we don’t buy it.  And we sacrifice!  But you know what’s even weirder?  We are passionately in love with our Lord and Savior, each other, and our family.  The joy in our lives is deep and rooted in the truth of the Word.

You want to know more?  Ask me.  You want to hear the message?  Go to Lifechurch.tv and watch part 1 of the series, WEiRD!

OH – and Craig Grosechel wrote a book to accompany this series as well, also called WEiRD: Because Normal Isn’t Working – it comes out on this Tuesday (but we got advance copies at church this weekend!) and can be bought at Amazon.com. 

Are you going to be WEiRD?

Weavers: Unplugged

A new tradition was started in the Weaver house last night – Technology Free Monday nights!  We have decided to set aside this night as family time, get unplugged  – with no electronic interruptions.  No twitter, facebook, or blogs.  No TV, DVD or DVR.  No DSi, Wii or iXL.  No cell phones – mine was on in case of emergency.  We chose Monday nights since there are no out of the house activities for any of our kids after 5:30.  (And there is no TV we regularly watch on Monday nights, but I digress…)  We chose to do this from 5:30pm Monday nights until  5:30am Tuesday mornings (when my alarm goes off).  The biggest question the kids had was if we could use the microwave.  I said yes, since it could be used to prepare dinner…

I think last night went pretty well!  I had dinner going when Britt and Emma got home at 5:30.  We were done with dinner by 6:30.  Played board games and made puzzles, and had the kids in bed by 8:00.  Jake didn’t quite understand the how or the why, but he made it through without any movies!  Of course, the first thing he wanted to do this morning was turn on the TV – and he asked me when I dropped him off at day care if he could watch a movie when he got home today!  Sweet thing!

After the kids were in bed, Britt decided to read a book, and I read some of my book before leaving for a meeting at my sorority house (I am an alumna adviser for our chapter) which kept me out until 11pm.  When I got home, Britt was still reading – finished the entire book before we went to bed!

So night 1 of Unplugged was a SUCCESS!  And I say Pffffffffft! to all the nay-sayers and HATERS out there!  “Won’t last 20 minutes” – how about 12 hours?  “Over/Under -45 minutes” MY FOOT!  We did it, and it was GOOD!  Next week we hope the weather is better so we can get outside; being inside while a pre-schooler who wasn’t 100% on board or sure why we were doing this got a bit trying!  But, I think it’s a great time with family and a great change of pace.