The Saturday 7

It's been a crazy few days, and tomorrow is going to be more chaos! I'll try to crank this out before Saturday is over . . .

1. So this happened:

I am seriously flabbergasted. I do not understand who is voting for this buffoon. I cannot fathom someday referring to him as President Trump. What is going on in this country?!?!

And then this started appearing all over facebook:

So does that mean I'm not supposed to vote at all? Oy. Politics.

2. On a much less controversial note . . . we had a couple fun events with Lucy's school this week. On Thursday, we went to the zoo. I know one way to get to the zoo and there was major construction, so I had to try a different route. I'm always so proud of myself when I successfully navigate downtown by myself. Haha. (I did get a little lost on the way home, but I figured it out!) I left Levi with Niki because I was worried it'd be too cold for him, but it ended being the perfect weather for the zoo. I was glad I didn't bring him, though. It was enough work pushing Lena in the stroller. I can't imagine trying to push the double stroller or wearing Levi while pushing Lena. (#wimp) I didn't take many pictures, but this one turned out cute:

And Levi did great with Niki. He slept most of the time, then took a bottle no problem. Woohoo! (TMI sidenote: he had just eaten when I picked him up, so I pumped when we got home. I pumped 5 oz on one side and 2 on the other. Lopsided, much?)

3. Then yesterday was Mothers' Tea in Lucy's classroom. The kids have been preparing for weeks and were so adorable. You never know how Lucy's going to do in front of a crowd, but she was hamming it up yesterday. She smiled and sang the songs and did the motions and said her little line loudly and clearly. I was amazed! The whole thing was precious and adorable, but made me realize that I'm a terrible mother. Lol. Alll the other moms were practically sobbing during the little poetry reading, special music, etc., but I didn't shed a tear! I love it, but it doesn't make me cry! Haha. #heartofstone

Lucy was very adamant that this was a special occasion, and I had to wear make-up and a necklace.

4. Mini Levi update: he made it to 10 pounds this week (at least according to my scale - his 2 month appt. is Monday), and has started doing some great stretches at night! One night, I fed him at 6:15, he went to sleep around 8, woke up at 1 to eat, then slept again 'til 6! Last night, I fed him at 11, he woke up at 5, then went back to sleep 'til 9! Woohoo!! Most often, though, I feed him around 8:30 and he wakes up again around 4. I take him into the living room and watch the Office while nursing him, then climb back into bed at 4:30 . . . just as Justin's alarm is going off. Mad props to my husband for waking up for the day at a time that I consider the middle of the night!!

5. I posted in my Day in the Life that I found an article that got me thinking. It was about the apostasy of "listening prayer." Here's a basic definition:

Listening prayer, also known as spiritual formation practice, contemplative prayer, centering prayer, etc., seeks to entice others and lure evangelicals into ancient Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox contemplative practices in order to draw closer to God, experience His presence, and hear His voice apart from Scripture.

It goes on to say this:

Nowhere in scripture are we told to listen for God through internal impressions or voices. Nowhere in scripture are we taught how to listen for God. Nowhere in scripture is there any example or evidence that God spoke internally or inaudibly to any of the disciples or anyone else for that matter. Every time God spoke in the Bible, it was in an audible voice. Nowhere in scripture are we told to silence our minds and enter solitude in order to listen for God to speak to us. Prayer is never seen in the Bible as being a two-way conversation. God has not left us to fish around in the world of spirits and subjective experiences to know Him and speak to Him. The Bible promises us that He hears us. It doesn’t give us a set of techniques to hear inner voices and call these techniques prayer.

Now, I'm not so sure I'd go so far as to call it "apostasy," but I have always struggled with the idea that if you're quiet enough you'll be able to hear God's voice. It was interesting to read that it's not necessarily a Biblical idea. What do you think?

6. Today we had a birthday party for Lucy with a few of her friends. Originally, she said she wanted to go to a hotel for her birthday. I told her she could either do the hotel or a party - not both. As her birthday got closer, though, she changed her mind. I took her to Party City on Tuesday and told her to pick out whatever theme she wanted. I was very surprised by her choice:

70s Rockstar?

We just had an extremely low-key, non Pinterest-worthy shin-dig with our closest friends. A few decorations, dollar store favors, hot dogs, chips, pop,store-bought mini cupcakes, and playing outside.