Nerds, Dorks, & The Hobbit Cafe!

We are attempting to Nerdify our child.
Nerds are so hot right now, but I've always been fond of them.
John is a Nerd.
I love him.
Leelah has the makings of what appears to be a fine Nerd one day.

Me- well, I'm a Dork. There is a difference...

Let me break it down for you in Gillian's Definitions/Qualifiers: (Y'all know you love my lists!)

NERDS: 

• Intelligent, can amass a large repetoire of facts of miscellaneous trivia, obscure topics ranging from machinery to animal heart sizes to movie/toy/book specifications. 

• Very loyal to what they love- can you say "Firefly?" 
• Has hobbies that require painstaking patience and time. They will never give up and "never surrender!"
• Can quote entire scenes from either ST2: Wrath of Khan or Empire Strikes Back or both. 
• Reads encyclopedias for fun. 
• Has read a book in the Dune series and understood it. 
• Has an unhealthy affinity for Legos.
• Owns a quippy tshirt such as:

DORKS: 

• Semi-smart, but not brilliant. 
• Likeable, but will spazz out in a moment's notice. 
• More into food than NERDS. 
• Usually attempts to be humorous. Gets laughs 45% of the time. 
• More into movies and music. 
• Almost made it into NHS.... Quietly hated above group for 5 yrs after attempt to get into NHS fail. 
• Will clean up on Entertainment Trivia and every now and again surprise you with a brilliance blackout of ingeniousness.
• Has had some liquid come out of some orifice on their face whilst laughing.

Leelah's Nerdifying is starting to take shape as she has been presented with the entire LOTR series and fared very well in watching it! I must say there was a slight preoccupation with Legolas and she asked questions every 8 seconds...
"Who has the ring now?" 
"Why did that happen?"
"Ummm.... Where are they going again?"
"Is Gollum real?"
"Who plays Legolas again?"

Now that we've finished up the LOTR viewings we are taking her to dine at a fun little place in Houston that's got great burgers (all we've tried so far) - The Hobbit Cafe:

source: www.myhobbitcafe.com 


The Nichols recommends this Hobbit-hole in the wall for a great little Saturday lunch!
You are guaranteed a bearded server and it's a fun jaunt into one of my favorite areas of Houston!
2243 Richmond Ave  Houston, TX 77098 is the address.
Been around since the '70's.
Check it out whether you are a: Nerd, Dork or Foodie*!
It's family-friendly, however they are big into beer and ales just like Hobbit-folk. So don't be surprised when they hand you a novel-menu of their selections of said liquids.


*To be a Foodie:
- Must own Saffron.
That's it.

"But they're girls!"

Today we will be talking about my Quasi-Feminist-Wholly-Christian viewpoint on little girls serving.

This past Saturday was our little girls service organization's, Lovely Girls Club, monthly service project. Because you know, we are trying to let that light shine for the love of Benji:




And I'll be flat out honest when it comes to the whole women's lib movement- I am thankful I have a voice, get to vote, can wear pants- which I do by golly stretchy ones!, don't have to wear a corset, am equal, blah blah blah but you see it's not my main cause I champion every day, okay?
 As one of my BFFles and I say, "I'm just tryin' to do me."

But lately, I'm aghast and fleshy about how there are some Christian peeps out there that are hatin' on girls serving.


I'm going to reiterate this for you: For the love of Benji y'all, people don't come easy to the request for a project that little girls can serve at.

In fact, some service organizations straight up scoff at us!!!!!!
S
U
S
STRAIGHT UP SCOFF.

WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA???????

Yes. You mean to tell me that you are going to say no when a pack of adorably precious little girls want to help some folks out? Really.

And you wonder why there are so many complaints about the lack of humanity, lack of industriousness, and lack of character in our youth!?!?!?!!

HEY DAD WHO DOES MARIJUANA ON THAT COMMERCIAL THEY LEARNED IT FROM WATCHING YOU SAY NO TO KIDS SERVING, ALRIGHT/?????!!!!!


Wait, let me digress and assess and back up.

I'm prideful. Okay. I'm a work in progress and completely imperfect. I have absolutely no right to judge anyone or thing. I'm thankful for service organizations and the service they provide.

But look.
 I just want my kid to be able to serve her community and go out and be the "hands and feet of Christ" to others, you know shine a light and your SERVICE organization is not going to let that happen, why? Here are the list of excuses we've heard for why places will not let us help out:
(Some I have omitted because they are in fact valid- some meaning 1).

"There are too many of you. And we don't have enough room."
My retort: That's lame. Have you ever heard of outside?

"We don't do anything on Saturdays."
My retort: Well, we are coming on Saturday can you please find something?

"They are too young."
Retort: Sometimes, I get it. We don't want 5 and 6 yr old little girls going into prison ministry, but sometimes this is completely wrong. YOU ARE NEVER TO YOUNG TO SERVE DANG IT.

And my personal favorite I heard this weekend when we told them we'd like to do actual manual labor so our girls could learn a thing or two about hard work AND service:
Get ready for it.
Are you ready for it?
I really don't think you can handle this bomb of jelly that I'm about to drop on your computer monitor viewing screen.
Here goes:
the guy says, "But they're girls!"

I wear 2 glasses in the sun.
One pair for seeing.
And one pair that fits over for shading.
I know unequivocally that that man saw me shoot a laser eye beam with such intensity that he might have felt a sting from me emotionally slapping him. How do I know? He immediately apologized. Phew.
I really didn't want to beat someone down at a service project.

Thank you Lord that our "girls" were out of earshot and were working on a project they thought was meant to sustain us: bag decorating which is a WONDERFUL thing do not get me wrong and needed for an AMAZING organization that provides lunches, but Mister we came here to work!

Yes, can you see my pride? I told y'all I'm gross.

But do you see how some people just don't get what we are trying to do here?

And with all that to say, there are some incredible organizations that totally could rightly have pulled the above reasons out but did not and we are so thankful for them allowing us to come and help out.

I'm going to wrap this up like a burrito by saying this:
God wants us to serve and He wants us our little ones to serve and to learn that life is not all that peachy for the rest of the world which is why they need our light.

If you see a chance to let a little one learn this concept and you are tempted to say no because it will put you out- please, fight against that and open your mind a little.

Monday Morning Confessions

The other day I journeyed with some comrades to a wonderful ministry leaders' spa event.

'Twas lovely.

I love the concept of this and definitely felt refreshed. If you are a woman (What? Woman? That sounds weird. I'm sorry I'm so sixth grade still.) in the Katy/Houston area and God has called you to ministry, you might wanna check this out: Inspire Women

But let me tell you why I'm truly a disaster.

There was a part of the session of lovely reflection where the smart, learned leader lady asked us to think, reflect, and ponder (REDUNDANT PLEONASMS!) in a soothing voice of love:

"Think. To a time when you were at your happiest. The happiest moment (breathy voice) of your life is..... *music, clouds, dandelion floating, calm, beauty*...."

Then she continued, "If you are like me (Spoiler: I'm not like this sweet lady- you will see why.) you envisioned your wedding day...."

Oh.

Yeah.

Wait.

Can I redo this?

Craptastic.

I.

Pictured.

This.
and
= GREATEST SNACK OF ALL TIME

 Yes. While all the better-than-me people, leaders, "women" of the world in the room pictured their sweethearts, holding their first born, curing cancer, winning prom queen, saving that kid from that bus-- Gillian pictured that time in Oregon when she stopped at a gas station and got to savor:
Beef Jerky + Popcorn + Pepsi.

But wait! Can I defend myself for a second?

Oregon is like crazy beautiful. So I was eating those things- yes all at once mind you and just call me Sodium-face!- and taking in God's country. Okay?

Lay off!!!!!

Then I was so distracted that I couldn't come back to the Psalms and their healing ways. No. I was done.

I went to Happy Snack Land/Perfect Moment in Time and stayed there.

I then wanted to tell my comrades immediately- and couldn't- that I thought about snacks instead of holy things so we could laugh at an inappropriate time. But I couldn't.

So I told my husrchaband later that night.

And he understood me and forgave my insolence.

Which is why I love him so. :)