Identity, it's complicated

How do identify myself?  Tonight I am a disgruntled Coug fan.  My team got beat by our arch rivals the Huskies.  The first half was dismal.  The second half was exciting, but we didn't manage to take the game.  I am a Coug, not a Husky.  Does it matter?  No, but I get excited about it anyway.  I even have a tattoo of the Coug logo on my ankle.  Lame, maybe, but when I was 20 it was awesome.

I was looking at tattoos on Pintrest the other day.  My kids asked me why I wanted a cross tattooed on my back.  I told them that if I ever die and am in a cadaver lab, I want them to know I'm a Christian, and a Coug.  I know this is important, I have been in cadaver labs.  They interpret strange things when you are all laid out like that.

What do I identify myself with?  What are things that I want to align myself with?  What are the things that God might have to strip away for me to see that I have let them get ahead of the cross?  There are so many things that are there that I don't even think about.  My daughter Martha is culturally different than I am.  She sees things from a different perspective.  She is not a red neck.  She watches shows on t.v. that we think are weird, then it occurred to me, they are shows she can identify with.  That is her comfort zone, not mine.

I don't like to label myself.  If you say you are in one group people automaticlly make all kinds of assumptions about you.  I find that annoying.  As if all women have the same opinion on everything, or all Christians, or all Cougs, or all moms, or all Americans, or all babies born in the 60's.  I don't even share the opinions of all the Schumakers in this house.

We are really trying to identify who the Schumakers are.  We have been a lot of things over the years.  We are a large family.  We are Christians.  We are adoptive.  We are special needs.  We are small town, Palouse dwellers.  We are into education.  We are into sports.  We are smart alecs.  We are  not dog people.  We are interested in world issues, not just local issues.  We like to eat, a lot.  We used to be a young family, but we are reaching middle age.  We are growing up in many ways, and it is bringing changes.  While I am excited about the changes, I know they will be hard.

I'm still trying to figure out who God made me to be.  I'm trying to figure out who God made each of my children to be.  How do we fit together?  What is doing with our story?  I need more time to think.  Thank God for winter.  Shorter days that keep us home at a reasonable hour.  Time to read and write and ponder what great things God is doing in the midst of changes.

I am thankful for:

short days

school breaks

basketball games with my kids, even when our team loses to the Huskies

Friends to spend time with

Twelfth night of Christmas parties

Pizza

Clean houses, well, kind of