Shannon Yee

Here are some things you may or may not find funny. I find that I am starting to be able to laugh at myself – a little bit, but only because if I don’t I’ll be the only one not laughing and feel very left out.

While talking to Brian as he sat at the computer, I noticed that I couldn’t see quite right. Then, I heard something hit the ground and realized that the lens fell out of my glasses. Since, I couldn’t really see without the lens I couldn’t find it and stood there with my glasses on, but only one lens – what a nerd!

Nature was calling and as I obeyed the call, I found a small potty seat stuck to my behind. I had sat down rather firmly on Eila’s potty seat and came up with it still there, for just a second…

At Target, I was seen loudly calling to no one “Can you come out of the clothes by yourself or do you need me to help you?” This was shortly after I was seen taking clothes off of Eila while chasing her and trying to put her shoes back on her.

Everytime I see a smudge on the wall in our living room, I think it’s a bug. I jump slightly (sometimes more) and my heart races – I swear Brian does this too, but maybe that’s just me trying not to be alone in this.

I want to be a woman that people see and say: She is enjoying life.

Basically, I want to be so content and at peace with the circumstances in my life that no matter what, it shows. Not in a fake happy, everything is fine sort of way, but in a calm, confident, and trusting in a Being beyond myself sort of way. Does that make any sense?!

I love being Brian’s wife. I also love being Eila’s and Josiah’s mom. I also love being God’s daughter. I hope that I’m never caught complaining about these things, maybe sharing the trials and lessons learned to help and encourage others, but not as a comparison or badge or anything else.

How do I show that my joy of joys is fulfilling the mission and ministry that God has given me? I think I first have to accept the challenge and truly enjoy it. If I’m not 100% satisfied and content with God, then I won’t be able to show that. It seems so painfully simple and yet even as I write, I’m stumped as to how to actually live in this way.

I confess I really enjoy watching beauty pagents. The Miss Universe pagent was on TV last week and one of the final questions was: If you could have any power, what superpower would you want and why? Miss Korea answered that she would want a wallet that never dried up, which seemed like a good enough if not totally materialistic answer. You really can help lots of people and do a lot with money, so it is a good power, but it is not what I would want.

I first thought that I’d like to have the power to heal. It would be great to be able to help all the people suffering from diseases and illnesses, especially those that don’t have any real treatment or cure right now. And, then I realized that the ability to heal is already mine through prayer and while I would like to have the ability to heal whomever whenever, that power belongs to God and is better with Him (as he sees and knows all, and I do not.)

So, my next superpower of choice was to read minds. I imagined that this particular power could come in very handy with my children and my husband as well as with random people I meet. If I could read minds, I might be inclined to extend more grace and be a lot nicer as I realize that everyone is struggling and hurting. But again, I figured that there are definite drawbacks as I probably don’t really want to know what these people are thinking most of the time and Brian assures me that he isn’t thinking about anything at all. If that’s true, it would be a really boring superpower – not that super.

I guess my answer for now would have to be: Love. I would like to truly, unconditionally and deeply love. This, too, can be mine as I walk in the Spirit of God… I am a superhero!

As a side note, Brian and I have often had the debate over which superpower would be better: flying or being invisible. I think with my fear of heights that invisibility wins hands-down. Though, if I could fly, I probably wouldn’t be afraid of falling & hence being up high, so maybe it would be cool to fly. What do you think?

I’ve been taking some strolls down memory lane recently. Eila dripped a bit of jelly out of her sandwich (she now eats pb&j, yippee!) and it reminded me of lunch everyday at SHS when Steve would drop jelly from his sandwich. I finally got to reconnect with my better half (the square root of Shan squared). Brian and I took Eila to see the dinosaurs this weekend and had lunch near the Bell Tower, parking on East Ann. Grant came over and wanted to listen to Five Iron Frenzy. We went to Chicago, home to many a great trip in the past and a fun time seeing my sister. Brian and I went on a date, just like when we were young… It was all very cool beans.

So, Eila loves the zoo (animals, as she calls it) and so do I (Josiah could go either way at this point.). It is fun to see all of the animals up close and read a little about them each visit. It’s also fun to be outside and get a little exercise. We decided to take a quick trip to see the fabulous animals yesterday afternoon, knowing that a storm may be coming at anytime.

As we pulled into the parking lot, many people were heading out of the zoo and as we walked through the gate, we felt the first few drops. So, I quickly headed to an indoor exhibit, especially seeing the dark clouds and feeling how the wind was picking up. While, we visited with the penguins, the hail and violent wind and rain poured down outside. After a considerable amount of time watching the penguins, jumping like them, dancing, looking up, singing songs, and reading all about them and talking to all the other (very wet) patrons of this exhibit, we decided that the rain & hail were taking as big a break as we’d get and rushed over to the bird house. Inside the bird house, we found and counted all sorts of birds, sang, splashed in puddles (where the rain was coming in), and exhausted ourselves as much as possible; we even tried to sneak into the butterfly area, but had no such luck. When our bladders could handle no more of the waterfall and rain sounds, we covered up as much as possible and ran to the toilets. The rain was letting up a bit, so we trekked out to Amphibiaville and had the place to ourselves and the frogs, salamanders and crickets. As soon as we were ready to leave, the rain was letting up and the sun was even peaking out. By this time, though, it was already 5pm – closing time.

The zoo is fun, even in the rain and possibly more educational that way. It only takes a short time to enjoy the zoo; we could’ve left after the penguin house, but I didn’t want to run through the rain to the car…

There has been a great deal of discussion today about Joe’s birthday. First, Eila sang “Happy Birthday, Josiah Robert” and told him that it’s his birthday and we should have cake and ice cream. Then, Brian and I were talking about how kids grow up so fast… Joe is already 8 months. From this followed the disagreement about when his actual birthday is – September 6th or September 7th. Guess who won?

It wasn’t me. I apparently have the same problem with my children’s birthdays that my mother has. She has never gotten my birthday right (always saying it’s one day later than it actually is… no hard feelings, but lots of teasing!) and now I am following in her footsteps. I am hoping that by admitting my ignorance publicly, I’ll be able to remember that Josiah’s birthday is the 7th and not be confused again. We’ll see!

I made my return to racing last night with a 5k in Novi. It was a perfect night to run/race and I had no excuse not to go, so I went. It was fun to be at a race, even though I was on my own. The running community is pretty friendly and I saw a couple people I knew from other places. I must admit that running these 3.1 miles was much harder than I anticipated. It has been a few weeks since I’ve run and the course is really flat, so I figured it would be easy and feel great. That wasn’t exactly right. I felt beat up and more than a little sick. It was not easy, but I did finish in under 29 minutes, so it definitely could’ve been worse. After I ate and rested a bit, I am ready for another race. Maybe, this time I’ll try to run a little more beforehand.

It seems like people are often asking me for advice and I gladly oblige because I enjoy telling people my opinion as though it is fact. I am a first born and love to be the boss. Telling people what to do come very naturally for me. Unfortunately, I can appear to know what I’m talking about without actually be informed at all.

The most common reason I am asked for advice is dealing with raising kids. My friends who have children younger than my little toddler or those who are expecting a second child soon. Questions range from feeding, diapering, playing, etc. I do feel that I am fairly well-informed in all of these areas, but I am no expert (despite the way I may sound if you ask me to talk about any of these topics.) I recently gave faulty advice to my sister and am hoping that she didn’t take it.

Folks will also ask me for wisdom on exercising, esp. running. I enjoy running, but really don’t know much other than what I’ve learned works for me. Again, I pass off what works for me as expert experience and knowledge that others can and should take as pearls of great worth. I do read an occasional running magazine, so some information may be accurate, but there is no guarantee.

Basically, I just want to put out a warning to “Ask at your own risk” I am happy to indoctrinate anyone who asks with my philosophies and practical methods of childrearing, running, eating, and anything else, but the asker assumes all liability associated with following any of my suggestions, recommendations, or demands.

On this mostly typical day in Michigan, what I have seen includes:

Sunshine. Rain.

Firefox freeze up twice. Part of dinner burn once.

Thirty-five Arabic women trying to read the question: What did May get for her birthday? Three of them succeeding.

Thirty-five Arabic women trying to answer the question: What did May get for her birthday? Eighteen of them succeeding.

Eila sucking on her toes. Josiah sucking on Eila’s shoes.

Josiah licking a gate. Eila licking Josiah.

Josiah asleep in a shopping cart, falling over. Eila asleep on Josiah in the stroller.

Eila eating yogurt that she previously ate and spit back into her bowl. Josiah spitting out all of his rice cereal and not eating anything.

Eila sucking on a sprinkler that has been in the garden since last spring. Josiah sucking on my chin.

Josiah sleeping peacefully in his crib. Eila saying “stuck!” & laying next to Josiah who was screaming in his crib.

A knife falling on my finger and leaving only a papercut.

Fifteen emails. One instant message. Over twenty websites.