Harriet-isms, Church Membershipism, and thoughts on Introversion

My house looks like a bomb went off.  The bomb happened to closely resemble two little girls - one with wispy blond hair and a major attitude, and the other with auburn curls and a knack for rampaging.  While said bomb was being dropped, I watched powerlessly...being attached to another small person (or rather he being attached to me).  That is the current state of affairs in the Rodgers home, which is why I'm typing a blog post and ignoring the mess until the morning.  Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya, tomorrow!  You're only a daaaaaayyy aaaaawwwwwaaayyyyy!

Harriet is just about a month out from being two.  Two crazy years old! I can't believe it.  I can't believe it mostly because she continues to act like she's 35, or something.  True to her position as eldest girl, Harriet does a lot of Edmund monitoring.  Her frequently used phrase is "No teeth," meaning that Edmund can't participate in, consume, or like the same things that Harriet does because...well...he has no teeth.  That said, Harriet condescends to include him in whatever she is doing.  For example, she noticed that the bulgur I was cooking was very hot, and after confirming this fact with me she ran into the bedroom where E was sleeping, got right in his face and declared, "It's very hot, Edmund.  Got to blow."

One of Harriet's current delights is summer reading program at the library.  Once a week she attends the preschool age group and participates with appropriate gusto.  Harriet has also been sleeping in her very own bed for over a week now.  A-maz-ing.  We do have some rough nights, but out of the past ten days she has only ended up in our bed twice.  She is such a big girl!

In other news, we decided to become members of the church we have been attending regularly for the past year and a half.  We debated it for some time, but concluded that even though the church is an hour away, we really do enjoy worshiping with that bunch of folks and we want to express our commitment to that body of believers.  (And we discovered that our position on infant baptism does not effect our ability to become members.)  There are so many things we appreciate: the music, the integration of Scripture into every part of the service, the focus on building up the body instead of piling on more programs, the welcoming of young families.    Of course, once we made the decision and met with the pastors I had this huge sinking feeling...due primarily to recent experiences of major hurt from churches, spiritual abuse from former pastors, and bizarre behavior from those claiming to have a relationship with Christ.  My knee-jerk reaction to that is to pull back and distance myself...just slide out the back door as quickly as possible so that no relationships are developed and no one gets hurt.  But I don't think that's the right thing to do - I can't throw the baby out with the bath water.  And so here we are.  It's a good thing.

I just finished a really interesting book called Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking.  Fascinating, fascinating read.  So many times I said, "Yes!  This is me!  This is why I do [insert typical Amelia behavior]."  I appreciated the author's choice to define introversion and extroversion based on toleration of social and sensory stimulation - which completely debunks the idea that all introverts are shy bookish people who don't like people.  Although the author wrote from a secular viewpoint and relied heavily on recent psychological research, her points were insightful, helpful, and well-written.  I feel as though I can integrate what I learned from that book with what I believe about God's sanctifying work in my life to see that my personality can be used to glorify Him.  I think I'm going to jot down some of the really useful/interesting things I learned and bore you with them.

I made a gigantic chocolate chip cookie tonight in a mini cast iron skillet.  Yep.  Pretty sure all of my hard work at Jazzercise is now completely undone.