Molly Piper

Somehow I ended up watching a video on Facebook last night. I don’t usually click on videos these days, because I don’t have time. But this 12 minutes was so worth it. Worth every second. And maybe it’s because I just read The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (by the way, it’s really good), but I don’t think that’s it.

This is a video of Alice Sommer, the oldest Holocaust survivor alive. She’ll turn 107 next month.

I was moved and heart-broken by so many things she said. I don’t think everything she said is spot-on (the whole “music is God” thing), but I want to run it through the sieve of Truth and hold onto the lessons that are worth learning, namely, that I have a choice to love. I have a choice to be joyful in difficult circumstances. I want to take what’s true and beautiful here and let the Holy Spirit point me to Jesus.

And while I’m not comparing her Nazi prison camp experience to my experience of losing a child, I still see lessons and similarities. There’s no use in comparing what she went through and what I’ve gone through. They’re different. But there is pain. Pain is universal, no?

There’s potential for all kinds of hatred and anger in both of our situations (and probably in yours). But can I forgive? Can I move toward healing? Yes. Oh my, yes. I’ve experienced measures of healing I didn’t think possible. And you can hear it in her laugh. Healing exists.

The other thing that I can totally relate to is the power of music. I grew up in a very musical family, and music was a part of my life for as long as I can remember. I love to listen to music, I love to play or sing music, I love to enjoy music.

When Felicity died, when I was going through some of my darkest days, I developed a soundtrack. A song would hit me as I drove down the road, or sat on my bed, and it would inspire my shriveling faith, or encourage me toward (what I felt was non-existent) hope, or meet me right in the midst of my anger and challenge me toward love. I have a playlist now. It’s the “Grief Mix.” I still love that mix. I remember pulling up to the graveside on one occasion, blasting Sandra McCracken’s “Guardian” over and over on repeat and just sobbing until I had nothing left. There was promise there for my soul.

When you go out, when you come home;
like a hedge, like a shield, I’ll be your guardian…

It was as though God used the music to break through the hardest parts of me, and dig into the deepest depths. And it’s funny, because it was like those songs were for me only. It’s like my own little secret language with the Lord. Because no one will hear those songs and know exactly how it makes me feel, or know exactly what I was experiencing the first time I heard it, or know why it has a place on the “Grief Mix.” It’s just mine. I own it for my soul. And that’s kinda like Alice. She owned those Chopin etudes in the camp and they transformed her.

I don’t think music is God. But I do think that there was so much power in it for my healing. God used music to change me.

So I hope you feel inspired by Alice today. And, more importantly, I hope you want to heal.

This kid is so cute it kills me.

Just when I wonder, “Could he be any cuter?” he puts on a “dino suit” and voila!

I’m sure some of you have read “Officer Buckle & Gloria” to your kids. If not, you have to get that book! It’s about a police officer & his police dog, and they go around sharing safety tips with schools. All the while, the dog’s acting them out behind Officer Buckle’s back, unbeknownst to him, and it’s a really funny story. He has oodles of safety tips.

So in the spirit of Officer Buckle, I decided I’m going to post my Twin Survival Tips. Who knows, it might become a pretty good resource when the list is done!

Without any further ado, I present:

Twin Survival Tip #1

So you’re being a good mom and giving your baby tummy time in the crib. (I’m personally petrified of my kids having  flat heads.) Your twin spits up on the sheets. What do you do?

You say to yourself, “Cribs are big. Babies are small. Just shift them to the other end of the crib and move on.”

You’ll wash the crib sheet eventually. Problem solved.

I came across a post this week that explains how to make your own dishwasher detergent. It’s a pretty simple mixture.

I might try this for a couple reasons:

1. I hate buying dishwasher detergent.
2. I don’t get out much anymore, so this might last longer.

I have my hesitations for a couple reasons:

1. I don’t want to put money and time into making it if it’s not going to work well.
2. I’ve never used powdered dishwasher detergent (always liquid).

So, what do you think? I figure Friday’s a good day to post something like this, since you might be out on errands this weekend and decide to pick up the materials, and it’ll be fresh in your mind. So, I ask you:

• Have any of you ever tried this? or something similar?
• Have you had good results with this kind of concoction?
• Do you plan to give it a try?

I’m thinking about doing it. If I do, I’ll try to remember to let you know how I like it! The one trick she talks about that I definitely intend to try is using white vinegar for a rinse agent instead of the chemical one.

Happy weekend, all! It’s supposed to be a fantastically gorgeous weekend here in Minneapolis. I hope it’s lovely where you are as well.

The twins are 9 weeks old now! Here’s what they look like today:

Christmas 2007 was a dark one. I had buried my daughter 3 months before, almost to the day. We took off on a wild 6-week road trip all over the East Coast to get away, to escape.

But there was a little beam of light in the Advent season of 2007. That was the year I received an Advent basket.

What’s an Advent basket?

An Advent basket is a gift-a-day walk through the Advent season (December 1-25).

How do you do one?

1. Collect little knick-knack gifts for each day of Advent (so, 25 gifts altogether).

Now’s the time to start gathering fun little things for your basket! Start watching the dollar bins at Target, Michaels, etc. The items don’t have to be Christmas-related. When I did an Advent basket for a friend last year (pictured above), I tried to do a variety: Christmas-related stuff, snacks, bath & body stuff, a bottle of wine, a CD. The little pocket Advent chart was from Target, and I stuck a little sheet in each pocket with one of the names of God inside and a verse.

2. Wrap them up, and label them 1-25.

3. Include instructions for the person to open a gift a day, starting with Day 1. (On December 1st, open gift #1, on December 2nd, gift #2, etc.).

4. Reveal your identity somehow in gift #25 (on Christmas day).

5. Arrange for someone secret to deliver the Advent basket to the person before December 1. This was a really fun part for me! When I did mine, I found someone a few steps removed to do the delivery so it really threw my friend off! She had no idea it was from me.

6. Pray for that person especially during Advent!

Who should I give one to?

Only you can decide who your Advent basket is going to be for. The one I gave last year was for my friend Christy, who lost her mother unexpectedly a few months before. She was in the beginning stages of her grief journey, just like I was in 2007. And I remember so well how much joy that little basket brought me during Christmas of 2007. It was like each day I had a little something to wake up for. And the excitement and guess-work of wondering who it was from made it all the more exciting.

So, I won’t tell you who to give a basket to, but I’d encourage you to think of someone who’s had a particularly hard year, or someone who’s not looking forward to Christmas for any number of reasons. This is your chance to share the joy of Christmas with them this year and lift their eyes to see Jesus.

When I got my basket in 2007, it was from a family I know and love. When I opened their final gift on Christmas day, I just wept. I was so touched and humbled by their love.

Go ahead, try it!

I’m not one of those people who particularly likes to shop for Christmas stuff in October, but it’s a good idea to start looking for fun things now! And even if you don’t start the actual shopping now, you can be doing some brainstorming and praying about who you’d like to give an Advent basket to.

I’d love to know if any of you:

• have received an Advent basket in the past.
• have ever given an Advent basket to a friend.
• have never heard of this idea.