What I Learned :: August 2015

And just like that, August comes to a close.  It’s been a full month for us, with lots of travel, friends, family, and getting organized for the beginning of our school year.

And, once again, I’ve gathered up a few random things I learned this month to link up with Emily.

1. How to paddle board.  Ever since we lived in San Diego and I watched people doing this in the Pacific Ocean, I’ve had a secret desire to attempt this sport.  I had my chance in Puerto Rico two weeks ago.  And, did you know, you can paddle board while pregnant?  Yep!  At 24.5 weeks pregnant I maintained my balance and paddle boarded out to an island that was .25  miles away.  We then had the privilege of paddle boarding in the dark around a bay that was full of bioluminescent organisms.  This was an incredible experience that I’m so glad we had!

2. Pulpo is the Spanish word for octopus.  Why do I know this?  When we arrived in Puerto Rico, our flight had been delayed, so we were heading on a 2.5 hour drive to our hotel much later than we had anticipated.  We were hungry.  And being the non-traditional-resort-vacationers that we are, we decided to stop and eat at a food truck on the side of the road.  I guess because Puerto Rico is a US territory, I assumed English would be everywhere alongside the Spanish.  Wrong.  So, we ordered Mofongo–which had been recommended to us as one of the most traditional dishes–and we ordered the combination platter.  After we ordered, we sat down and started googling what it was we were about to eat.  Shrimp, lobster, and octopus.  We didn’t finish our plate, and found out later a better way to enjoy this traditional dish.

3. Being on a book launch team is entirely too much fun!  I’ve had the privilege of receiving advanced copies of two books this summer:  Simply Tuesday, by Emily P. Freeman, and Girl Meets Change, by Kristen Strong.  I’ve shared quite a bit about Simply Tuesday, and over the next two weeks I’ll be sharing more about Girl Meets Change.  Both books are excellent and are definitely on my recommended reading list (I’ll be making a list of these to add to my blog soon) and ones that I know I’ll read again.  One of the things that I’ve loved about these two authors is that even though they’re both promoting a book, they are both championing the other!  There’s no competition involved, and I have loved being privy to this interaction first-hand.  I can only imagine as an author that there would be a temptation to compete with others, especially when sales and reviews often determine the rank of your book.  But these two ladies have encouraged one another, promoted the other’s book, and rejoiced in each other’s success.

4. New words are added to the Oxford Dictionary every year.  Recently, “butt dial” and “hangry” were added.  I find this both humorous and a little sad.

5. The upgrade to Microsoft 10 will include ads on solitaire.  So, if you play solitaire on your computer, you’ll have to pay a small fee in order to avoid seeing these ads.  For just $9.99 a year you can keep up your solitaire addition ad-free.

6. Before the development of CPR, doctors were required to open up the chests of patients who were in cardiac arrest to massage their hearts directly.   James Jude worked with two electrical engineers, to create what is now called CPR (source: World magazine).

7. My youngest two children are crazy drivers.  They enjoyed getting behind the wheel of the electric jeep at my in-laws’ house this summer.  Though, I can’t really say they were behind the wheel.  Neither one would actually put their hands on the steering wheel.  They just switched from frontward to reverse, pushing the pedal down as hard as they could.  It was quite entertaining — and a bit nerve-wracking — to watch.

8. When your children somehow get into your iPhone, you’ll discover a bunch of random pictures in your photo feed.  This is one that somebody snapped looking out of our front door.  I think it was Mallory’s artistic flair.  I love seeing the world through the eyes of my children.

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I’d love to hear what you learned in August!  Just share in the comments.

Also, the winners of the Simply Tuesday giveaway:

Sara and Holly!  Congratulations, ladies!  You should see an email in your inbox today.  Thanks to all who entered!

Because sometimes come Monday morning we forget what we learned on Sunday, here’s a little excerpt from our prayer of confession at church yesterday morning:

“We save, spend, and lust as if this life and its things are the cure for our hungry, restless, lonely hearts.  We’re constantly disappointed, bored, and frustrated that this life doesn’t fix, satisfy, or assure us.  Forgive us for confusing this life for the truer, deeper hope of heaven and the ultimate rest and renewal awaiting us through Christ.  Cast our eyes by faith to our lasting and eternal citizenship and cause us to wait for it with hope-saturated joy and patience.  For Christ’s sake we pray.”