Life Immitating Art

Have you ever read a "Choose Your Own Adventure" book? I used to love them when I was younger. Basically, you'd begin reading and after a few pages you'd be faced with a decision - go to page 14 to ask the shopkeeper for help or go to page 43 if you want to keep wandering through the market. I loved skipping between stories and finding new adventures and going back to the beginning if I didn't like the outcome of my first adventure. I didn't realize that my life is a choose your own adventure story all it's own.

A week ago Scott and I had made the decision that he would be moving to Washington on his own and the kids and I would stay here for another year. We were confident that this was the mature and financially responsible thing to do. I wrote about it and sent it out in the Christmas letter. We had accepted it.

But then we turned a page and found out that we could go to some other page if we wanted to try a different adventure. We've spent the last few days looking at other possibilities, some that we've thought of before and some that are new ideas. I feel like I'm wired and exhausted at the same time. I don't know what the best decision is...I'm not even sure what trumps what in the decision making process. There's finances, being together as a family, schools, who knows whatever else.

So, even though the decision had been made...it's back up in the air. What I'd like is for God to clearly point out His plan for us. I have prayed on this and don't know if my desire to be with my husband is clouding my judgment or not. I don't want to miss His guidance or misunderstand it. I was thinking maybe He could put up a bill board with neon arrows pointing at it. Or I could look out the window and see an angel fulfilling duties as a messenger of God, bringing me a personal note saying "stay" or "go." I mean, I'm not asking for a burning bush or anything...just clarity.

So, if you're the praying kind...say a little prayer for us. If you're not, keep us in your thoughts. None of it can hurt and we can certainly use all the help we can. A year ago we started with Plan A for this whole relocating thing. I think we've gone through the alphabet and are back at the beginning, with subheadings and bullets.

By this time next year we should know what's going on. I'll keep you posted!

Cookies for Santa

The kids and I had a little conversation about leaving things for Santa. We saw something on TV where a little boy said he'd left a sandwich for Santa last year...and he must have liked it because he ate it up.

Jace: "Maybe we can leave Santa a pizza. I bet he'd like that even more than a sandwich."

Gracie: "Or we could just leave him a bag of chocolate chips."

Mama: "Hmmm...a whole bag?"

Gracie: "Yeah. Then he could just have Mrs. Claus make him cookies."

Always thinking...

"Them"

I come from small town, rural USA. (Honestly, most of you reading this know exactly where I come from!) Pike, New York is in a county that, at one time, boasted more cows than people. I'm not sure if that still holds up...but you get the idea. I lived in the country.

Most, if not all, of my neighbors were white...probably still would be if I lived there now. In high school we joked about having token families as our exposure to diversity. Scott grew up a mile down the road...same Caucasian experience as me. Yet, somehow, we're not racist or prejudiced. Well, Scott is a bit prejudiced against stupid people, but that's across every nationality, religion, and sexual preference.

What's my point?

Here, in the South, the wars still on! The ratio of black to white here is a heck of a lot closer to 50/50 than back North. I guess having neighbors of a different skin color, and being pleasant to their faces, doesn't actually mean anything about how you feel and act behind their backs.

And there aren't just issues between African Americans and those with Eastern European ancestry. A few days ago I was part of a conversation that started something like this:

"Look at them...all stuffed in that truck. How many of 'em do you think are in there?"

I was taken aback. I saw no reason to refer to the people in the other vehicle with such disdain. After getting over my shock I was offended, for the people in the truck and because this woman, who was riding in my car, assumed I would play right along with her nastiness. I didn't.

I wasn't rude to her, but was confident in my status as no better than the people getting gas next to us. I'm pretty sure that she didn't learn anything from my stance. She kept laughing and making comments. I was even direct and asked her not to talk negatively about the passengers in the truck. She laughed and got in one last comment. Arg.

Obviously I'm still a bit riled by this. Every culture has stereotypes about it and sometimes talking about them can be funny and light hearted. Other times, when comments are mean spirited and said with a smirk...it's prejudice. There's no need for it. There's no reason for it. Don't we all know enough to know that no whole grouping of people is worthy of outright badmouthing just for being who they are?

Not all bald men are scary, even though I know there is a community of white men with skin heads that hate on a grand scale. Apply this to everyone...and stop your freakin' judging and obnoxious rudeness simply based on skin color, ethnicity, religion...any of it. Seriously, people!

OK, even though my letting off steam tends to be a quiet little tea kettle whistle, I do feel a little better. Maybe, somehow saying my piece will ripple out into the greater world and make a difference.

Twinkle, Twinkle

A few days ago Jace told me that a girl in his reading group, Meredith, was working on a story about the two of them. Instantly I was intrigued. Meredith was in Jace's kindergarten class and he was quite smitten with her then. He talks about her daily. Until now I didn't know if his admiration was returned or not. He went on to tell me more.

"It's going to be a chapter book. She hasn't finished it yet, but she told me the chapters. Chapter one is called Love Birds. Chapter two is Broken Up...Maybe. Chapter three is Together Again."

The smile on his face was so big! I told him I'd like to hear more about the story as she got a chance to work on it. He couldn't wait to read her story either...anticipation was in the air. So yesterday, in the van on the way to get our Christmas tree, Jace announced that Meredith had written a little more...would we like to hear it? I hadn't had a chance to tell Scott about this love story in progress so Jace recounted what he'd earlier told me. Scott took his eyes off the road long enough to roll them at me and cautiously said, "Go ahead...tell us what she wrote."

"Well, Meredith and I had dinner and then we went up a mountain where I named a star after her."

"Aren't you the little romantic?" I commented.

"Meredith came up with that. She's getting used to it."

"Used to what?" Scott questioned.

"Used to me loving her. I loved her in kindergarten too, but now she'd used to it. She even let me help her with her book. I gave her the choice of going up the mountain in a 4-wheeler or an F-150. She chose the F-150 so that's how we got up the mountain where I named a star after her."

I think both Scott and I were speechless, or afraid that we'd laugh if we said too much, because we both just said, "Oh..."

Then, last night, at Scott's work Christmas party, he and I were dancing. The room was dimly lit by chandeliers of eight or nine light bulbs each. As we held each other close and sang the words of a country love song, turning around the dance floor, Scott giggled. Summoning all the intoxicated romantic energy he could find he said, "Hey...there's a light out on that one. And that's the one I was going to name after you." More giggling.

I fear that Meredith might be disappointed if Jace turns out like his dad, but only when it comes to silly, romantic notions. Jace couldn't have anyone better to look up to to learn how to be a caring, strong, nurturing, loyal, committed, amazing, and entertaining husband. There's no doubt Scott loves me, or that Jaces adores Meredith. With a few deep breaths and a sense of humor we should all enjoy the amorous adventures yet to come!

Lessons Learned: The Gebel Way

I will tell anyone who wants to listen that I am not a teacher. What I mean is that I don't sit down with workbooks and lessons and try to get a point across. However, I do take frequent opportunities to ask questions and get their little minds thinking or answer questions they have for me. I have no problem using the radio, passing trucks, or even the television as a tool to challenge them or instill some pertinent information in them.

Depending on our surroundings for intellectual stimulation can make things interesting...like the time I had to explain that Toby Keith can sing "slap your Grandma" in a song and that's OK but that in any other context it's not nice to say that or act on it. See? Interesting.

So, one thing that we do pretty much weekly as a family is watch America's Funniest Home Videos. Something I say several times during this show is some variation of, "Why do boys do such stupid things?" I wasn't intentionally trying to teach the kids anything about foolishness, but they learned anyway...at least Gracie did.

Friday morning it was a cool 44 degrees when we left for school. Gracie, Tyler and I had sweatshirts on and I asked Jace if he was going to wear his and he said, "No, I won't be cold. I'm a boy."

To which Gracie commented, "And boys do stupid things, like not wear jackets when it's cold outside."

That same morning we saw a boy getting on a bus with only shorts and a t-shirt on (at least my son had pants and long sleeves!) and Jace said, "See! He's not wearing a jacket."

And Gracie added, "Because boys do stupid things, like wear shorts and t-shirts without jackets when it's cold outside!"

Jace just laughs at her. Scott and I laugh at all of them, constantly picking up on things we don't know they're even noticing. Little sponges.

So, we'll continue to be entertained by them...and I'll hope and pray that none of our kids end up on America's Funniest Home Videos as a lesson for someone else!

Dat-da-dah! Disney!

It hasn't even been a week since getting back from our family vacation to Disney World, yet it feels so long ago. Incredible is the word I've been using to describe our trip. We had so much fun, but were relaxed most of the week. Can you ask for more in a vacation?

Disney World, as a place, wonderful. The sights were worth seeing and the people were simply lovely. Every employee smiled and many handed out stickers! How can you not be happy there? I had lots of questions and concerns and a few unforeseen obstacles. I never felt like a nuisance when posing my questions and concerns and got prompt and helpful answers.

Our kids were simply lovely too. They all got

tired, but even then were on their best behavior.

Jace even got sick to his tummy once and still acted like a big boy about it! We took naps and went to bed at normal times and still saw everything we wanted, although not everything that there was to see!

We had several character greetings, at meals and at some of the many meet and greet spots around the parks. We saw Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Pluto, Donald, Daisy, Chip, Dale, Lilo, Stitch, Winnie the Pooh, Eeyore, Piglet, Tigger, Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Belle, Ariel, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella and her Fairy Godmother, The White Rabbit, Alice, Snow White and her Stepmother and Stepsisters, and I'm sure some others I'm forgetting to list! It was all quite exciting.

As a family, we enjoyed five days at the parks! For our first time, that was a great amount of time. Now that I've been there, I could do it in less, but having so much time made naps and switching parks to get in everything we wanted to do much easier than trying to jam everything into a shorter amount of time.

We did one late night (our last night there) and saw a parade in lights and the fireworks at Magic Kingdom. For those who are curious, the fireworks aren't really "over" Cinderella's castle like I'd always heard. They're off to the right of her castle. It's, of course, the busiest right in front of the castle, but there are plenty of viewing spots all over the park. For the parade, there's also no reason to cram into the circle in front of the castle. We watched from near the end of the parade route and really enjoyed all the lights music!

In case you're not convinced, let me say one more time, we had a GREAT time. All five of us laughed and smiled all week long and even came home feeling refreshed. Here's the bottom line too...the whole trip (including tickets for five days, lodging for six nights, meals, snacks, and souveniers) cost $2200. Not bad, huh?

Hopefully we'll do this again...if not Disney, then some other great family vacation...but hopefully Disney! But for now, it was wonderful to have that time for just us. I think everyone should look into it...and the commercials are right. It might be more affordable than you think. Why not look into it? You know you want to...

Better Things To Do?

I know you're all sitting on the edge of your seats to hear about the rest of our Disney World Vacation. I'm quite excited to go on and on about it, too. I'm waiting, though, until I have the pictures on the computer and can add a few to my comments about our incredible vacation. Hopefully in the next day or two...

In the meantime, I heard something on the radio that baffled me just a bit, and thought I'd share. Apparently someone is trying to get a bill through Congress that will regulate the volume of commercials so they don't come blasting in when you're watching your favorite shows. I appreciate the sentiment, but really? I mean, seriously? There isn't something more important they could be regulating, debating on, discussing?

I just thought I'd put that out there for you to think about today. Have a good one!