by jphilo | Apr 15, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
A week ago Sunday, my flight home from Ronald Reagan National Airport to Des Moines was cancelled. According to the airline (see photo for a hint as to which one), they could not put together a flight crew. The airline rebooked my flight for the next day, and in the 17 hours until it departed, I had oodles of time to come up with these 10 similarities between flight delays and raising kids with special needs.
10. Unexpected expenses pop up all the time and everywhere.
9. Sleep deprivation is an integral part of each circumstance.
8. In both cases, it’s wise to pray first, speak second, and then pray some more.
7. Parents and passengers learn very quickly that are not in control.
6. Flexibility is essential, not optional.
5. Both parents and passengers learn to bite their tongues.
4. Once the dust settles and their tongues have healed, parents and passengers need to advocate for better treatment. (My letter of complaint went out in Saturday’s mail. I’ll keep you posted on how that goes.)
3. Both situations are rife with rudeness and unexpected grace.
2. They are both cauldrons in which deep and lasting friendships form.
1. Two crucial elements can transform these potential negatives into positives: a sense of humor and a spirit of forgiveness.
What would you add to the list? Leave a comment.
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by jphilo | Apr 8, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
The past weekend’s trip to DC was longer than the one to Orange County the weekend before last. Which means only 1 thing: more time to come up with the top 10 differences between Iowa and DC. Here goes!
10. DC metro traffic is crazy. Iowa…not so much.
9. Reagan International Airport gets bonus points for free Wi-Fi. Des Moines International does not.
8. A statue of President Reagan graces the entrance to the airport bearing his name. If Iowans felt comfortable with something as showy as artwork in front of the airport, which they don’t, they would choose a corn-related subject.
7. DC boasts a Starbucks about every 2 blocks while Iowa franchises are placed at 200 mile intervals.
6. As a general rule, men in Iowa don’t wear lavender suit coats with blue jeans. The same rule does not apply to men in the DC metro.
5. In a similar thread, Iowans wonder who in the world would wear the clothes pictured in fashion magazines while Washingtonians wonder where to purchase them.
4. 100% of Iowans know where Washington, DC is located. 100% of DC metro folks think they know where Iowa is…and then reveal their ignorance by asking if fresh potatoes taste better than their store bought counterparts.
3. In DC, the natives complain about the smell of fresh mulch in the spring. Iowans save those complaints for when farmers spread pig manure on the fields.
2. While staying in DC metro hotels, one hears people speaking in many languages and English spoken with a variety of delightful accents. Iowa hotels are considered cosmopolitan when visitors speak Minnesotan.. Yah, sure, you betcha!
1. DC daffodils and tulips come up a couple weeks earlier than Iowa ones, and their cheerful yellow faces are a feast for the eyes in both spring-hungry locations.
What would you add to this list? Leave a comment
by jphilo | Apr 1, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
I was in California for a conference about mental health and the church over the weekend. The conference was excellent, and the trip was quick. But I observed enough differences between tiny Iowa and big California to make a new top ten list to augment one created way back in 2009.
10. When it’s above 60 degrees in March, Iowans smile, go all giddy, and wear shorts. Californians look bored and put on jackets.
9. California towns teem with cars, SUVs, buses, and taxis. Iowa towns teem with fox, possums, coons, deer, and enough vehicles to give the critters a run for their money.
8. March temperatures in California are in the 60s and 70s. March temperatures in Iowa can be in the 60s and 70s. They can also be below zero, below freezing, and beyond human endurance.
7. Iowa has a restaurant chain called Pizza Ranch. California has a restaurant chain called Souplantation.
6. California children’s ministry programs have themes like The Reef, complete with aquariums stocked with real fish. My little Iowa church’s children’s ministry program doesn’t have a theme, though the nursery is decorated like a barnyard. Complete with Fisher Price farm animals.
5. At a California conference, when visiting speaker from Omaha makes a joke about Germans and Lutherans not being big support group joiners, the Californians don’t laugh. But, the lone Iowan in the crowd snorts through her nose.
4. California churches have gas fireplaces all over the courtyard outside their worship center. Iowans don’t have outdoor church courtyards. To compensate German, Scandinavian, and Lutheran church goers lean snow shovels against the outside wall of the church’s front entrance in winter.
3. In California tables and chairs are artistically arranged in outdoor courtyards all year long. In Iowa tables and chairs huddle under tents in back yards in vain attempts to dodge rain and bugs for two hours in May during high school graduation parties.
2. In California, fancy end tables and leather sofas grace church courtyards and beckon worshipers to sit and visit after services. In Iowa, sofas in outdoor venues mean only one thing: trailer trash.
1. In California, friends eat lunch at outdoor restaurants beside the ocean. In Iowa, friends eat lunch in the basement of an old livery stable. In both places, friends make the heart glad.
What would you add to the list? Leave a comment.
by jphilo | Mar 25, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
10. Snow this late doesn’t stick around long.
9. The white stuff spruces up the dinginess of March.
8. Snow this late doesn’t stick around long.
7. Springtime snow = an extra week or two of soup weather.
6. Snow this late doesn’t stick around long.
5. Spring clothes last an extra year or two.
4. Snow this late doesn’t stick around long.
3. Snow in October riles kids up. Snow in March is an antidote to spring fever.
2. Snow this late doesn’t stick around long enough for this reason to be repeated again.
1. Snow on a late March Monday makes a late March Thursday trip to sunny southern California worth every penny!
by jphilo | Mar 18, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
10. To honor an author who slaved through revisions and edits to make the book the best it could be.
9. To give starving authors a reason to live.
8. Your tax dollars support public libraries. By reading you get more bang for your library books bucks.
7. Reading books about far away places is a cost efficient way to travel.
6. Presently, it is the only method of time travel available to the human race.
5. A book allows you to see the world from a point of view different from your own.
4. When you read, you are not only learning information, you’re improving your spelling and vocabulary.
3. Our brains are wired to learn from stories.
2. Kids who see adults (especially their parents) reading are more likely to become readers because their parents are modeling the importance of reading.
1. When you read, you make friends who never die, because they come to life whenever you open the book again.
Why do you read books? Leave a comment.
Photo Credit: nirots at www.freedigitalphotos.net
by jphilo | Mar 11, 2014 | Top Ten Tuesday
Australian fiction made this long, cold winter bearable. Here are the top ten reasons why:
10. My wild side got a thrill every time the word “bloody” passed my lips.
9. Australian fiction (along with books from Great Britain) is a vocabulary builder: bonnet, Bob’s-your-uncle, vegetable marrow and all that.
8. It expands my correct spelling options: theater or theatre, center or centre, color or colour, honor or honour and so on.
7. When listening to audiobooks, the emPHAsis on the wrong syLAble makes a person giggle: conTROversy instead of CONtroversy, weekEND instead of WEEKend, and the like.
6. Australia’s historcial fiction has a Wlid West flavor. Think Man from Snowy River.
5. When reading Australian fiction in winter, it’s nice to know it’s summer in Australia.
4. There’s something so cozy about children who call their mommies “mummy” and their moms “mum.”
3. If you read enough Australian fiction, your interior life becomes a grand convergence of Lost, Saving Mr. Banks and Crocodile Dundee.
2. The history of how Australian settlers treated the aboriginal people is so similar to how the United States treated Native Americans reveals the universality of humanity’s dark side. Yes, those tragic sagas remind me, we need a Savior.
1. You will find book treasures like Winter Journey and The Light Between Oceans. Memorable, thoughtful, and thought-provoking books.
What good Australian fiction have you read lately? Leave a comment.
Photo Credit: www.metropole.com.au
