This is an obligatory post. I don't really have a set idea as I start to type but I'd like to have something up more recent than Monday's post. That's your warning, the below will be random and poorly planned!

I often ask David, What's on your mind? Right now, tell me what you're thinking this very second, to which he replies nothing or the wall. Whatever sport, I'm not falling for it. Who thinks about the wall? Unless of course you're thinking of painting it or wondering if it's load-bearing for a particular home improvement project and we both know that's not happening. Maybe the Pink Floyd song? Nah, I just don't buy the thinking about the wall bit. But I digress, I said all that to say I'll share what I'm thinking about right now, or at least what I was thinking about before I started thinking about this blog post:

I love Elevation Church. And not just because I was given an ornament today, although I do love to get stuff. I just came from a meeting (or two) so my love for our church and her people is fresh. I love my Elevation cohorts, sure I have some favorites (like that Jessi for example) but I really do love the people I've come to know through Elevation. Aside from Chunks and Amy, I haven't known anyone longer than 2 years and yet I care so much about these people, as if they've been in my life forever. I shouldn't admit this to David, but once the meeting was over tonight, I just lingered...I love to laugh at silly sleuth drawings (no offense Gina!) or joke about giving toddlers slap-bracelets (no offense Brandi!) but I also love digging down deep, tackling the logistical nightmares of serving kids in a high school choir room or pottying 2-year-olds in Ovens Auditorium. In the best moments, I feel something that's been dormant for a long time coming awake. A beast that used to love a challenge but somewhere along the way fell asleep from the fatigue of taking care of two little ones just 12 months apart. For a long time I lived in survival mode. But Mommy gets a good night's sleep now, and Mommy likes a challenge. I'm beginning to feel myself desire the tough stuff again, and it'd been a long time since such things didn't feel overwhelming.

I still haven't found my Micheal Buble CD. I wish I had his Christmas album too. I find myself singing Let it Snow more than any other Christmas carol and I really like his version. Oh, the weather outside is frightful...I was singing in the car yesterday and Luke told me if I wanted to hear Christmas music I needed to turn on the radio. He's not a fan of my vocal stylings.

Lunch with Amy. It's a little surreal to sit across the table with someone I've known since childhood, now surrounded by our own children. When did we become grown-ups? I love her kids. They're so different from mine, so different from each other. I don't always enjoy other people's children. I enjoy hers. I love that my kids know her kids, that they're not just strangers that only see each other a couple times a year. Wow, when did we become grown-ups?

David's stomach hurts, he's gone to bed already. His stomach hurts quite often. Always has...he had some testing done when he was a teenager, no diagnosis. I like to think that medical science has advanced in 20 years and he could get some answers now, but he disagrees. Oh, well. Maybe that's why he just thinks about the wall so much, helps keep his mind off his stomach.

I guess my obligatory post turned out a little longer than I anticipated. I've got a lot on my mind. My thought process feels like some couch potato is sitting in my gray matter channel surfing...Elevation, click, Micheal Buble, click, Amy, click, Oh, the weather outside is frightful, click, gotta blog, click...