Abounding in Grace: Smart Phones and April Snapshots

Monday, April 23, 2012

Smart Phones and April Snapshots

During my career climbing years, I liked having the latest technology. I introduced most of my friends to the first PDAs and continued to upgrade with each passing year. When I quit working to homeschool our kids, I felt like I no longer deserved or needed the latest technology, so I have been using my husband's hand-me-down PDAs and archaic cell phones ever since. I never found time to use more than 3% of the features offered by my old phone and my husband's old iTouch offered anyway. My cell phone only cost $100 per YEAR when some smart phone users pay that much every single month.

Yet, friends kept telling me that a smart phone would change my life, and once I had one, I would never go back. When rates dropped considerably, I finally agreed to purchase a smart phone. The phone has been very useful at times when I can actually get a signal, but it also tempts me to check email or send texts during my kids' piano lessons, in carpool line, or other boring times when I should be paying attention. The camera/video recorder that comes with it, despite it's miserable quality, has been great for capturing ordinary moments in time that may help me better remember what life was like during those whirlwind years of parenting young children. I will share a view glimpses from April 2012, mostly through the lens of my cell phone, below.

The weather has been wonderfully pleasant this April, so we have enjoyed taking family walks around the golf course after dinner. One evening the kids begged us to wait until after dark to take our walk. They wanted to use their new flashlights. I told them it wasn't safe to walk after dark, so they suggested that we take their father's naval sword with us for protection. After giving a brief sword maneuver demonstration, my husband refused to tote it around the neighborhood, so the kids took their light sabers and plastic swords instead. They dueled one another the entire way.

Our son took a sports class this month. He already knew the basics of the various sports they introduced, but he enjoyed the time with the other kids. Since he was the tallest in the class (and likely the oldest considering that he is short for his age), he was naturally the fastest and most coordinated in the class. This class helped boost his confidence so much that by the end of the course, he would run quick laps around the gym to warm-up before class while the parents applauded. That boy regularly makes me giggle.