Musings

As Ray Stephens once sang, It's Me Again Margaret! Here I am on an off-Tuesday avoiding anything resembling productivity! In fact, on this 17th of January, I have officially taken down exactly half of my Christmas decorations. Luckily my sweet husband took our outside decor down weeks ago so our neighbors don't think mean thoughts about us! My main thought this morning has been, "oh goodness...when Bible Study starts back up in February, I'm going to have to clean my house more often than, hmm, never!" I am not a domestic goddess. In fact, I'm not domestic. I would show you pictures, but my more-domestic-than-me husband would be embarrassed that there are approximately 4 loads of clean, unfolded laundry in the hallway, two loads of clean dishes on the counter, three unpacked rubbermaid containers of Christmas decor in the living room floor, two undecorated trees still standing in their homes since before Thanksgiving, and a layer of dust so thick that if we had children, it would certainly be full of smiley faces and funny words. So what in heavens name am I doing here? Avoiding the aforementioned mess! I have until 5 to get it under control :)

As I put my Christmas decorations away I started to think about how each Christmas from here on out is going to entail change. A sweet couple in our church, the Barnes, gave us The Book Of Christmas Eves as a wedding/Christmas gift last year. I have written meticulous details (ok, bulleted lists) over our past two Christmas Eves and read them today. The changes in one year! Addition of pets, children, and in-laws, the loss of spouses, tradition, jobs...all in one year. I can't wait until we have several years worth of Christmas Eves to read about and smile/cry through. This is such a cool tradition to do at any stage of life. How blessed we have been to begin at the "beginning".

Moose told me the problem with my boring blog posts (nothing but the honest truth around here) is that I "muse" too much and am too serious. So, I will leave you with a slightly-embellished fun story of our weekend.

We took off with approximately 40 kids and 10 other adults to the Great Wolf Lodge! The kids at our church go on such AWESOME and we are so blessed that my mom is our Children's director--meaning we get to chaperon fun trips! We arrive at the lodge and immediately notice a few things. 1-a giant stuffed moose in the middle of the lobby (we love it already). 2-there are people (adult and children alike) wandering around wearing wolf ears and holding magic wands. 3-said people are wearing their PJs and no shoes. What an interesting hotel! Upon further investigation, there is a bedtime story told by this moose and his friends every night, the strange wandering people are in fact doing a magical quest (still weird), and it is socially acceptable to go without shoes at all times at this place. In fact, we joined in this luxury. Our bracelets were our room keys, water park passes, and fashion statements in one! Mom and I got whiplash on several rides that first graders thoroughly enjoyed (maybe we're getting old), and Moose (my husband, not the giant story-telling lobby decoration) was the favorite water-slide companion. Apparently, his weight along with the ability to lean "way far back" allow for optimal water-slide activity. I disagree...but maybe that's because my favorite water adventures include long hot baths and the occasional lazy river! Nonetheless, it was a great time had by all. I only consumed 7-10 dunkin donuts beverages in my bathing suit or pjs with no shoes, we water-parked for two days straight, and of course, experienced a great Chick-fil-A dinner on the way home. What could be better?

ok....on to tackle this house...............

Courage

The adults at our church are participating in a Bible Study based on the movie Courageous.


I feel like I've been bombarded with inspiration regarding courage lately! Here are just a few of the things that have stuck with me.


Joshua 1:9--Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go


Meg Cabot--“Courage is not the absence of fear but the judgment that something else is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all. For now you are traveling the road between who you think you are and who you can be.”


John Wooden--Success is never final. Failure is never fatal. It's courage that counts.

We Bought A Zoo--‎"Sometimes all you need is 20 seconds of insane courage...literally 20  
seconds of just embarrassing bravery...and I promise, something great will come of it."

I pray we can be men and women of courage this year. May this year be a year of no excuses...and strength in the Lord.

Well, I guess I am pulling a Brett Farve and coming out of retirement. I am going to give this whole blogging thing another go and hope to just give you the alternate side of our lives. Listed below is a two part thesis describing my intentions with you, the reader, and my goals of blogging.

1: Just like a met-the-father-unexpectedly-first-date-night-gone-bad my intentions with you the reader are simple, to keep to entertained. I do not live a overwhelmingly crazy life, rather I like to keep things simple and light-hearted. Most blogs I post will be my warped view on everyday happenings. For example, everyday I drive to work I encounter one certain individual on the way. We will refer to him as "Mr. Hippie driving 45 in the left lane". Of course, this is not his real name as he is simply a tree hugging Subaru driving long haired hippie hogging the passing lane. Although I generally believe that the less said about Mr. Hippie driving 45 in left lane, the better, as to not encourage him, I do feel obligated to say a few things about Mr. Hippie driving 45 in left lane's unrestrained activities. Some background is in order: The impact of Mr. Hippie driving 45 in left lane's contemptuous driving habits is that it has made me lose faith in the Department of Motor Vehicles ability to license adequate drivers. You truly have to experience the pure agony of the entrapment of 45mph in a 65mph before you can fully appreciate the devastation Mr. Hippie driving 45 in left lane wreaks on my morning temperament. My personal thoughts on the matter is if you are incapable of traveling at an acceptable speed, you should have the common decency to move to the right hand lane. It's bad enough that you have to eye-badger us with your Zen Buddhist New Age mystical Bob Marley-worshiping pot legalizing and PETA themed ubiquitous bumper stickers, but to travel slow enough that one is forced to read every word of it is just contemptuous.
2: My goals for blogging are also simple. I hope to post once a week just like my wife. Hopefully enough happens to me in a week to garner enough material for a blog post.

Please move over hippie,

Moose

I am resolved...

Every time I hear the word resolutions, I definitely think of the old hymn.."I am resolved no longer to linger charmed by the world's delights. Things that are higher, things that are nobler--these have allured my sight! I will hasten to Him, hasten so glad and free. Jesus, greatest highest, I will come to Thee." That's as far as I can go without looking up the lyrics, but you get the picture! Basically, this hymn reminds us that we are to walk with an eternal perspective and keep the things of earth in the right frame of mind. And really, shouldn't that be each of our goal for the New Year? 

I am SO not a Resolution-Setter. In fact, I'm not even a Goal-Setter. In college, I was involved in Campus Crusade for Christ and we had to do a "goals workshop" every semester-->bleh! I dropped that habit asap! Now that I have been away from Clemson for two years now, I am involved in a company that desperately loves goals...possibly even more than Cru. A wise person from CFA told me that if I were to get a restaurant of my own, I need to set and accomplish some goals. Blasphemy. Then he said that I need to journal daily about accomplishments and failures in my personal and professional life. Double Blasphemy. However, since this man sort of holds my future in his hands, I will at least attempt the above.

I don't like the term resolutions, so I have created goals. I am also a little bit a lot obsessive and wordy, so to help myself, I made categories and a few main goals in each category (spiritual, relational, financial, physical, personal, professional--by the way). 

I'm posting them on here to keep myself honest. Some of them, I delved into more deeply in my newly purchased journal, but they will be stated for all the world to see in a more concise and less personal manner.

Here goes:

Spiritual-

1. Memorize two Bible Verses each month

2. Plan and consistently accomplish spending quiet time with the Lord

3. Complete at least one Bible Study on Prayer

Relational-

1. Build relationship with Moose

2. Concentrate on building two Christian friendships

3. Interact with and intentionally seek out one non-Christian friend 

Financial-

1. Tithe 10% of my annual income

2. Pay all my bills early (this is legit a difficult thing for me)

3. Save 5% of my annual income

Physical-

1. Take Meds daily (again...legitimately difficult. I think I have a problem with doing things on time)

2. Run 500 miles in 2012

2. Run two 5Ks and one 10K

Personal-

1. Read one work-related and one leisure-related book each week

2. Clean my house thoroughly once weekly

3. Blog at least one time each week

Professional-

1. Attend Grand Opening Certification course and at least one Grand Opening

2. Apply officially for IM

3. Adhere to and build all of Chick-fil-A Haywood Mall's 2012 goals (which I can't post here, sorry).

So, there you have it. Lots of attainable goals. I'm not all about BHAG (Big Hairy Audacious Goals). I don't like to feel disappointed! However, I feel like these are going to push and stretch me in every aspect of life. I may try and convince Moose to post his New Years Resolutions......

But until then, what are some of your resolutions/goals?

Tradition

I (Megan) come from a long line of nostalgic people. In fact, one could even say we are over-tradition-laden. We might even be obsessed! From birthdays to Christmas, vacations to dinnertime routine, we like it the way it has always been. Well, do you know what happens when you get married and start to blend families? Traditions get rocked. Moose and I have officially been married a year + and have been "together" since 2007. During these past few years, I think I have done a pretty good job (HA) letting go of some tradition and allowing to share a little bit....ok, so I have tried. But MAN, it's been hard!

Here are some examples of change and tradition in this little Saville family. 

1. Birthday Week-Moose had no clue that we celebrate birthdays to the MAX! Bless his heart, he wasn't quite ready for my making him sing every time someone ate a piece of cake ;) 

2. Roberts family vacation to Maine. We go every other year. That's just the way it has always been. We have been able to adjust and are hopefully going to be able to do a Saville family vacation on the "maine-off" years.

3. Thanksgiving. Man, this one, has totally been crushed on both sides. We tried the every other year for each family Thanksgiving and still doing my Black Friday Shopping (love!).....BUT, now that I'm Director of Operations at a Chick-fil-A(woohoo)...In A MALL!!! There is no leaving on Thanksgiving weekend. In fact, there's no sleeping...and rarely, time for eating. However, the new tradition of lots of work and adrenaline has worked out alright for the past two years!

and finally...

4. Christmas (OMG)--this is the big one! My family, for as long as I can remember, has had "Christmas Adam" with my Grammy, Christmas Eve at church, Christmas morning with Santa and Papa, and Christmas afternoon with my dad's family. Not much room for sharing, right? These past two Christmases, we have moved Grammy Christmas to the 22nd, Christmas Adam/Eve are now Saville Time, and the Roberts/Santa still share Christmas Day. It makes for lots of traveling, but everyone (including Tradition-Loving Megan) is happy. I couldn't help but think this year, as my SIL is pregnant and my brother is getting married, how these traditions will probably continue to morph and grow...and you know, I'm okay with that...really, I am!

I'm starting to realize that the traditions aren't the big thing. Traditions are the avenues for the big things--Christ, Family, Food.... :)

The Lord is teaching our little family how to adapt and grow and appreciate each day, whether they go the way we want, had planned, or are totally different. We are going to create tradition (because traditions aren't bad things...being grumpy because things change is bad, however) within our family. We are going to continue some traditions. But most of all, we are going to choose to celebrate and appreciate the things that traditions are made for!

New Beginnings

Other than the imported posts from Moose's previous blog, this is a clean slate for the SC Saville family! We agreed at "Saville Christmas", along with Whitney and Angela to blog at least once weekly. Moose and I determined that the best (and only) way this could be accomplished is to share a blog. So here we go...and stay tuned!

Moving

Megan and I are going to be back to blogging...but we are going to share so that we both have to post less often. Visit us at mooseandmegan.blogspot.com.