Park Street Church's Bicentennial

Hello all! Today is our church's 200th birthday. Pretty cool, huh? Below is a little note I was sent from the church on Facebook. It tells you a little about this history of the church, and it's kind of neat:

PARK STREET CHURCH CELEBRATES ITS BICENTENNIAL
Boston Landmark Plays Special Role in City’s History

Friday, February 27, 2009 marks the 200th birthday of “Brimstone Corner,” which stands on the corner of the Boston Common with its well-recognized, 217-foot white steeple—once the first landmark travelers glimpsed when arriving in Boston. Today Park Street Church is the third stop on the Freedom Trail and an active Congregational Church.

On February 27, 1809, 26 locals signed a charter to found the church. The original building was completed in eight months, from April to December. Since that time, Park Street Church has maintained a strong tradition of evangelical teaching and social reform with far-reaching effects both in Boston and around the world.

This is the site of many notable events and “firsts.” William Lloyd Garrison delivered his first antislavery speech from the pulpit. “My Country ‘Tis of Thee” was performed by children on the church steps for the first time in 1831. Many groups formed here, including The Handel and Hayden Society of Boston (1815), the American Temperance Society, the Animal Rescue League, and the Boston chapter of the NAACP.

In celebration of its bicentennial year and in anticipation of an exciting future, Park Street Church will be hosting a series of special events. Guest speakers—famous Christians sharing their faith journeys—will speak at the church on a monthly basis. Exhibits will display items from the church’s archives. Symposiums are being arranged to encourage intellectual discussion in the arena of faith; topics include “Faith and Science,” “Problems of Suffering,” and others. Reunions will be held, as well as activities for children and families.

In addition, a book by Dr. Garth Rosell about the history and identity of the church was recently published. The church is also looking forward to the release of a half-hour film highlighting themes of its legacy that shape its present life.

Thomas Menino has issued a proclamation from the Mayor’s office designating February 27, 2009 as “The Park Street Church Bicentennial Day,” and the governor has issued a citation honoring the anniversary. The church encourages Bostonians to join in celebrating this landmark date for a Boston landmark.

Hot and Cold

So this month I made myself really stick to our grocery budget. Usually, I give myself a ballpark figure and just go from there, and I usually end up spending more than I intended. There's no financial emergency on our end or anything, but I did decide that I was going to pay more attention to this one aspect of our budget and try to be more financially responsible.

One of the things I did to make this work was use cash. I withdrew a certain amount for every week and only used that for the week. This helped a whole lot, because once you're out of cash, you're out of cash, so I tended to pay more attention to what I had to work with. This meant I pretty much cooked every meal.

Up until this week. This week, I am just uninspired by this little game of "what can I cook that will be yummy and only use up $xxx?" This week, I don't feel like doing dishes or cleaning up after Noah or eating anything I would cook. This week, I just want to eat out.

So we have caved and eaten a few fast food meals and one restaurant meal. It has busted our budget by a little, but not to the extent that I used to bust it every month. ;) So overall, I consider this month a moderate success.

Does anybody else budget and cook and make a meal plan and all that? Any tips? Or do you just love to eat out and freely do what you want to do when it comes to your food budget (if you have one)? What have your experiences been?

A Look Back

Okay, "A Walk to Remember" has sent my mind back like 5 or 10 years to all that teenage/early 20's romance. So I started thinking about Nathan and me and our story, and I made him dig up an old video for me to watch.

When Nathan and I got married, his brother, Andrew, made us this video slide show for our rehearsal dinner. It is full of pictures of us growing up, along with our engagement pics. I love these pictures (except for maybe the ones of me in fourth grade, with my mop of hair and ugly green glasses). Some highlights are:
- The intro, from "Princess Bride." That was Andrew's touch and was a surprise to all of us.
- How much Noah looks like Ken.
- My ugly 4th grade photos.
- How good looking Nathan got as he got into his teens. He says the girls weren't really after him in high school. This leads me to believe that all girls at Waco High were idiots. Of course, I haven't verified his "no-girls-were-after-me" claim, now that I think of it. I'll have to double-check with his brothers. Although I doubt they'll tell me the truth.
- A picture of us on our very first date (I'm wearing a red dress).
- The pic with the guy dressed as a goal post--that was the Dean of Students at Rice, and the guy dressed as the official was the President. The other two guys with us are Mark and Brandon, Nathan's college roommates, who I miss dearly at the sight of that photo.

I'm posting the video here because I want it on the blog for my own sake, but if you're interested in watching it, I must warn you that it's like eleven minutes long.

Lauren & Nathan - Growing Up + Engagement pics from Lauren Benesh on Vimeo.

Brushing His Teeth!

Funny Noah Stuff

The Boy is learning a lot these days and does something funny and unexpected at least once a day.

For example, he knows that socks and shoes go on your feet, that gloves go on your hands, and that headbands and rubber bands go in your hair. A couple of weeks ago, he started bringing me my shoes at random times and trying to put them on my feet. Cute! Then, he found Nathan's glove and walked around for a bit wearing that huge thing on his little hand. And the funniest is when he finds one of my hair things and puts it on his head. Ha! The cool thing is that although I do say, "Okay, we're putting your socks on your feet," and stuff like that, we haven't made it a point to teach him where you put a glove or your shoes or anything--he pretty much made the connections himself.

As far as the funny things he does every day, a good example is something that happened yesterday. I was lying on the couch most of the day, trying to deal with the nausea that came with the stomach bug that Noah passed to me. At one point, Noah was playing with his back to the couch, so I couldn't really see what he was doing. But then, a few minutes later, after he got up, I looked up, and he wasn't wearing pants! He had totally taken them off as he was sitting there next to me, and I didn't even know it! There he was, standing there in his Curious George onesie, showing off those cute, pudgy, bare legs, like there was nothing amiss. It made me laugh. This is his new thing--he realized recently that he can take his pants off (the ones with an elastic waistband, anyway), and he thinks it's really fun to work them off every so often. The other day, he was sitting on the floor playing with one leg in and one leg out of his pajamas.

I should really start writing down the funny stuff he does, because there really is something new every day that makes me laugh. :)

Sick Noah :(

Noah has never been sick. Well, not really sick, anyway. He's had colds, but nothing else--no ear infections, no real fever, nothing we've had to take him to the doctor for.

Last night, though, I kept hearing him wake up and cry or moan in his sleep. So I went in there and rocked him at one point, but he just wriggled so much that I put him back in his crib.

Finally, at 5am, I went back in to check on him again. I reached down into his crib and felt something wet. At first, I thought it was just a pool of sweat, because the kid sweats a lot when he's sleeping. But then I realized it was really big for a pool of sweat.

Reaction #2 was that maybe his sippy cup tipped over and leaked. So I picked him up, and I realized that he was covered with whatever this wet stuff was, himself.

Reaction #3: Oh no, this is poop. So I went to turn the light on. Wrong again.

It was vomit.

Vomit all over his sheet, his pajamas, his blankets, and now his mama. Thankfully, his two stuffed animals were at the other end of the crib, because I don't know that I would have ever felt like I got them clean enough if they had been covered, too.

Poor baby. He did go back to sleep, but he kind of moaned on and off for the rest of the night, although he did sleep much better once all the yuckiness was cleaned off him.

This morning, he is a different kid. He is acting like he was never sick at all, except that all he wanted for breakfast was applesauce. Other than that, he is running around, just like normal. I guess he just ate something that didn't sit right with him. Anyway, I'm glad he's feeling better! Now we both just need a good nap.

What Happens When Nathan is Out of Town

1. I update my Facebook status way too often. Here are my status updates from today:

• Lauren is going to go find me a Wal-Mart in New England today. Wish me luck! ;).
• Lauren just bought a bunch of stuff she didn't know she needed.
• Lauren just cleaned a ketchup thumbprint from the top of Noah's head.
• Lauren cried while watching "A Walk to Remember." And I can't believe I just posted that on my status.

2. I watch sappy movies. And I don't even intend to do it. I guess I just stop on the channel when I run across them, which I wouldn't normally do if Nathan is around, and I get sucked in. It's always been this way, now that I think about it--just about every time he goes out of town, I watch a girly (most often tear-jerker) movie. The three sappy movies that come to mind are "A Walk to Remember," which I just saw for the first time tonight; "An Affair to Remember;" and "Return to Me" (that's a really good one).

Downsizing

Ever since Noah was born, I have carried a purse-slash-diaper bag. A huge one. The first one I used was made by my sis-in-law, Meredith, and it is awesome and super cute. But once the fall arrived, I decided it wasn't yellow-bag weather, so I switched to, literally, a piece of luggage that was a gift from my friend, Sarah. It's got a purse-like shape, though, so it has worked fine.

The other day, though, I was carrying Noah out to the car, and I realized that my bag was as heavy or heavier than he was. That's when I knew it was time to downsize.

I mean, it's not like I need to carry a bunch of bottles or my sling or bebe au lait or much of the multitude of gear I used to haul along with me everywhere I went when he was itty bitty. So I pulled out my favorite purse from when I was a trendy career girl. I cannot tell you how much lighter it is, and it's not a tiny purse. It's like I'm carrying nothing at all, which is wonderful. I still might need to use something a little bigger, because it still doesn't fit everything I need for Noah, but I am glad we're moving in the right direction!

This is the bag I've been carrying vs. the purse I pulled out of my closet. This picture doesn't seem to do the big bag justice (I think because it's empty), but it is pretty ginormous.

Valentine's Day Molten Chocolate Cakes

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'll have you know that I am making molten chocolate cakes for Valentine's Day. Nathan asked me the other day what dessert I would pick if I only had one meal left, and I said, without hesitation, "Molten chocolate cakes." "Not your quadruple chocolate cake?" he asked. "No."

No question there. Molten chocolate cakes are the best.

In case you have no chocolate plans for today, I thought I'd bless you with the recipe, from The Joy of Cooking. When you cut into your individual cake and see the molten deliciousness, I hope you'll think of me. ;)

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Molten Chocolate Cakes

Have all ingredients at room temperature, about 70 degrees. Preheat oven to 400. Butter and sugar 8 muffin cups [I used 6 small ramekins]. Heat, in the top of a double boiler or in a microwave on medium, stirring often, until melted and smooth:

6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter

Remove from the heat and sift in:

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

Stir until smooth. Beat in a medium bowl on medium speed until soft peaks form:

4 large egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Gradually add, beating on high speed until the peaks are stiff but not dry:

2 tablespoons sugar

Use a rubber spatula to fold one quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the remaining whites. Fill the muffin cups about three-quarters full.
Bake until the cakes are cracked on the top but still gooey in the center, 7-8 minutes. Let sit for 2 to 3 minutes; the cakes will shrink slightly from the sides of the pan. Place a rack over the cakes and invert to unmold [or serve in the ramekins, or invert onto individual plates]. Serve hot, accompanied with whipped cream.

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I am actually refrigerating my batter, because we're going to our friends' house for dinner tonight, so we'll bake the cakes there. If you refrigerate your batter, just add about a minute to the baking time. I'll be serving mine with berries. Mmmm......

I'd have to say my favorite thing about these (other than the chocolate, and the gooeyness, and . . . okay, I have a lot of favorite things about them) is the sugary crispiness on the outside, produced by the buttered and sugared ramekins.

When I was buying chocolate at the grocery store, it struck me that I could use some kind of fun, fancy, flavored chocolate next time, like orange or chili. I might experiment with this recipe. Or maybe I'll find a way to incorporate Nutella. That would be darn good, too.

Enjoy!

Migrating Toothpaste

Now that Noah is pretty good at walking, he loves to use his new skill all day long. His favorite activity right now is just wandering around the house, opening and closing doors and cabinets; spreading his toys all over the house; pulling things out of one drawer, walking around with it for a while, then putting it in a new drawer, etc.

I've had to clean out all the bookshelves and cabinets that are at his level, including one odd closet in the kitchen. The door to this closet has been painted over so many times that it doesn't latch anymore, so I took anything potentially dangerous and moved it, and I put things on the Noah-level shelves that he could play with or wouldn't be able to destroy if he happened to take an interest in them. One of the things I left on that shelf was several unopened tubes of toothpaste.

For the last several days, I've been finding Crest all over the house:



Just thought that was funny!

Thoughts on Hope

I was thinking about hope this morning.

What I have been noticing lately is that what goes in is what comes out. In other words, when we are surrounded by and are ingesting a bunch of negativity--whether it comes from other people or from ourselves--what comes out is hopelessness. When we are exposing ourselves to positive input, we feel more hope.

That sounds like it is totally coming out of a self-help book, but I think there is truth in it.

I know people who have unsupportive (or worse, abusive) spouses or parents, and we all know what that results in: a tearing down of self-worth, a sense that you can't do anything right, that the future doesn't hold anything good for you. What is coming out (lack of hope) is the result of what is going in.

On the flip side, when you've got people encouraging you, telling you you're doing a good job (at whatever it is you're attempting), telling you they love you, then you start to dream. When you think of the future, you start to think about all the things you can achieve, all the people you'll meet, all the things you'll get to do. You feel like you are capable of more and are not in the prison of "but I can't do that because...", since you have people around you who believe you can. Again, what is coming out is the result of what your mind is being fed.

Sometimes I think all some people need is a big dose of encouragement.

Oftentimes, we don't have control over what we are surrounded by (a destructive/hurtful parent, personal tragedy, etc.), and therefore it's not up to us whether or not we are getting some negative input. But even in those situations, there is always a source of hope: Jesus.

Seeking Jesus is not just a one-time or a once-a-week or only-when-there-is-an-urgent-need type of thing. Or at least, that type of relationship doesn't result in as much joy or an abundant life. Spending time in the Bible and with God every day can't help but give us hope. There, in the hollow of his hand, we can find truth and love and hope and all kinds of other positive things that change our lives by changing our perspective on our lives.

What goes in is what comes out.

I say all this not just because I have been witness to some situations where people are thirsty for hope, but also as a reminder to myself that I need Jesus every day. Personally, I am not so great at carving out some daily time to spend with God (but getting better!), but it is so essential for my spiritual, mental, and emotional health.

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Some verses came to mind this morning as I was thinking about hope:

Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the Lord.
Psalm 31:24

Why are you downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
Psalm 42:5

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things."
Philippians 4:8

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
Romans 12:2a

And finally:
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13

To the Gym

I'm about to head to the gym, dangit.
The hardest part is getting there.

Dangit.

;)

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Update: The treadmill and I did okay together (even though I forgot my iPod!), and I'm glad I went. :)

Minutiae

Sorry I haven't been posting this past week. It seems like I just haven't had much to post about, unless it's a bunch of minutiae. And one piece of minutiae, unless you can give it a funny turn, isn't much of a read. But perhaps several pieces of minutiae, with or without a funny turn, can be a good post:

• Last week, we worked in the nursery at church. It was my first Sunday to do so. Somehow, we and one other lady were the only nursery workers who showed up for all the babies and small toddlers, so I was the only one with the babies, and Nathan worked with the toddlers. It was Lauren vs. five babies. I have to say, that is intimidating on your very first day! One mother, in particular, came in and gave like 14 instructions about her son. I could tell she was kind of stressed about it, because it was his first day in the nursery (which I can totally understand). Anyway, what I found was that it's just hard to keep up with every kid and what they need and who they belong to. A couple of weeks ago, one of the ladies in the nursery at my mom's group accidentally gave another kid Noah's lunch, which I was going to feed him right after we left the church that morning. So it kind of threw my plans off, and I was really pretty annoyed. Plus, what if that other kid were allergic to something in Noah's lunch? Well, I have to tell you, I got over that pretty quick once I worked in the nursery, myself. It's just a lot to keep up with.
• This morning, as I was making my tea, I looked up and saw this. He just took up his spoon and started feeding himself! Cool! You should see the mess he is right now, though.
• Noah babbles a lot these days. The other day, I was in the fabric store, and he was going at it. I said, "Hey Boy, you are loud." A lady near me said she loves hearing the little kids babble away. It's just funny how loud he can get.
  
• You know, of all household tasks, I dislike doing the dishes the most. They just never end. It is a perpetual job. Just when you think you got your house nice and clean, 20 minutes later there are dishes to do. When I get a dishwasher one day soon, I will not take it for granted.
• Nathan did all the dishes yesterday. He also watched Noah while I went to a women's retreat thing at church in the morning and while I took a nap in the afternoon. Thank you so much, Babe!!! That was as good as any Valentine's gift.
• We have no plans to go to Houston this spring, but if we did, I'd make it a point to go to the Rodeo and a Rice baseball game.
• On Friday, when I dropped Nathan off, I hurriedly threw a bunch of trash in a trash can outside his office that had been accumulating in a little cubby in our car. Later that day, I realized that I had accidentally thrown away my access card to the Harvard gym, which I had literally JUST gotten like three days before. Dang. But I figured it was worth a look in the trash can when I picked him up like eight hours later--I mean, it was possible that no one threw anything on top of it, however unlikely. So as Nathan was getting into the car that evening, I hopped out of it, saying "I'll be right back!" And perplexed Nathan watched me run up to the trash can and stick my hand in there and dig around. Don't freak out--I wasn't digging through gross trash. I was just picking up my grocery list from the week before, which, amazingly, was on top, as was all the stuff I threw in there. So I actually got my access card back.
• I've been making fresh bread in our bread machine pretty regularly, and Noah likes us to lift him up so he can peer through the little window and watch the dough spin around. Today, to my great surprise, when the machine beeped to let us know it was done, Noah walked into the kitchen and pointed to it! (Well, as much of a "point" as he does, which involves all his fingers.)
• For the past few months, I've been working on getting our grocery bill down. Last week, we saved a bunch of money on groceries, and I think it's mainly because I actually planned our meals, instead of buying a bunch of random stuff at the grocery store then figuring out what to make with it throughout the week. I also put a certain amount of cash in my wallet and only used that on groceries that week, and I found it really helpful to tangibly know exactly how much money I had left to spend. We also ate pretty cheap stuff, even though the main reason for that was because I felt like eating all those things: turkey noodle soup, cream cheese chicken, split pea soup, Chinese dumpling soup, a fritatta, etc.
• We would really like a Papa John's pizza tonight, but there isn't one near enough to our house to deliver to us, and we don't want to drive and pick one up. Despite what they'd like you to believe, most Bostonians are prejudiced when it comes to certain things: fast food (including delivery pizza, apparently), reasonably priced real estate, and Wal-Mart.
  

He's Walking!

Something Different

So I changed my blog template. One of these days I'm going to have a designer do a whole new look for me, but for now, I just felt like getting rid of the green. Hope you like it for the next little while!