Wednesday Hodgepodge

I’m joining up with the Wednesday Hodgepodge to answer some questions posed by Marsha!

1.  It’s been said January is ‘the month of opportunity, inspiration, and change.” Which of the three do you need most right now? Elaborate. 

Oh, boy. This is quite the question to start us off! I feel like I have plenty of inspiration, and I’m not really craving change right now (other than the weather- that can change!), so I guess I will go with opportunity! I would love opportunities to be more involved in our church, to spend more time with my husband, and opportunities to keep seeing my kids grow in wisdom and stature. Is that really too much to ask for? haha.

2. Do you consider opportunity as something that comes to you or something you create for yourself? 

Oh. I wasn’t expecting to have to think so deeply this morning!

I think it’s honestly a little bit of both. If I am just sitting around doing nothing, opportunity isn’t just going to fall in my lap. I have to be actively looking for it and striving for it. At the same time, much of opportunity is out of my own control.

Theo has strong opinions on this- that anyone can do anything if they really want to. I always sarcastically respond “well, I could never join the Navy Seals, even if I want to”. So there’s that. We have this conversation every couple of months in our house.

One last thought on this- I think that sometimes we try to “create opportunity” by pursuing big goals, when in reality sometimes opportunity comes to us when we are just being faithful in the small, quiet things. Having a trustworthy and honorable character and hard work ethic probably opens more doors for opportunities than hitting every single goal that you have ever set for yourself.

3. The British Museum opened on this date (January 15th) back in 1759. Do you like visiting museums? Do you have a favorite? 

I honestly don’t know what the British Museum is, so I had to google it. I’m surprised I’ve never been there as my family growing up was big on visiting museums and we traipsed all over London at least once in my life. I distinctly remember visiting the Churchill War Rooms Museum when we were there. I remember thinking it was fascinating and then wondering how long it could actually take my Dad and brother to read every.single.plaque in the entire place. Spoiler alert: it was a LONG time.

I think the most recent museum I’ve visited is the Ark Encounter in 2022. That was pretty cool! We aren’t in a season of museums at all.

I do have my sights set on a family trip to Washington D.C. soon and I’m sure we will visit a lot of museums. I would love to visit The Museum of the Bible.

4. It’s National Oatmeal Month (yes, apparently it gets a whole month as opposed to a single day). Do you like oatmeal? How often do you eat a bowl of oatmeal? How do you like yours? What about an oatmeal cookie? Is that a sweet treat you enjoy? 

I don’t eat oatmeal- it’s a texture thing for me. My kids have oatmeal once or twice a week. I also do make and eat granola, and I put oatmeal in muffins and chocolate chip cookies.

5.What’s something useful you learned in high school? 

Wow! High School was 15 years ago. I learned a lot. I can’t remember most of the academics I learned, and many of my high school friendships have faded away with time. But I some things I’ve still held on to from high school:

• bible memory verses
• my cross cultural experiences
• that building character starts young
• friendships come and go, but value them while they are present. They can be foundational, even if they don’t last forever
• Never underestimate the impact that you may have on someone who is growing up. I may not remember what I learned, but I sure do remember who taught me!

My parents were missionaries in West Africa, so I spent all my growing up years until I graduated from high school there. It’s as much home to me as my passport country, even though I haven’t even stepped foot on the soil in 14 years. These weren’t just mission trips, this was my life. In the top middle picture, that is my friend Sophie with her baby. We grew up together. Learned to walk together, talk together, played together every day for years. She got married at 16 and I was a “bridesmaid” for her wedding. This is her first son, Hamidou, born when we were 17.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

It’s less than 0 degrees here today and it’s Wednesday…and on Wednesday we go for a hike every afternoon. We are seriously considering skipping it this afternoon. But can we skip it? How will I feel when we reach the end of this year and can say that we went for a hike every Wednesday except that one time that we were too wimpy from the cold? We have a 25 week streak going right now and I can’t bear to break that streak! So…jury is still out. Will we go for a hike this afternoon or not?