I saw my first Beth Moore video this past Sunday. When it first came on, I groaned inwardly and looked at my watch. She, her singers, and her stage look straight out of a televangelist set-up. And she’s very perky and says things like, “I am ECSTATIC that you are on this journey through the Psalms with me…. thanks so much for coming along, Dear One.”

But by the end, my eyes were undeniably moist and judging from the sniffles around me, I wasn’t the only one. Her message was convicting (in a “Dear One” sort of way). One of her more memorable lines was: “Every time you’re tempted to hoard, give something away.”

Which means I’ll be left with about three possessions by the end of the year.

But I’ve kept that piece of advice in mind during this impromptu Home 4.0. I’ve divested a couple dozen books, a dozen colored glass bottles, several picture frames, and a couple of trivets that I have never once used. Along with an old travel computer case that never really worked, one of the boys’ riding toys they no longer use, and one of our two college yearbooks. Oh, and a pair of Jonathan’s boxers that split up the back when I was carting stuff from one end of the room to the other. That counts, right?

I now have two boxes full of infant/toddler twin boy clothes that I refuse to part with until I find someone expecting twin boys. The outfits are cute on their own, too, but most are “similar yet different” just like fraternal twins. So, people, start having sex twice in one night (someone actually asked if that’s how a friend of mine became pregnant with twins, which technically speaking is possible, but…) or doing something very unnatural (my boys are the human equivalent of aspartame, you know), but do it fast…. I need the closet space!

A man watched the boys and I get off the elevator. “Twins?” he asked me. I smiled and nodded. He just stood there dumbfounded.

“Twins! Wow! That’s incredible,” he said, shaking his head.

‘Incredible’ that I carried two babies at once or ‘incredible’ that I survived the last two years?

A common question to parents of twins is: "Do they have their own language?"  People asked me that when the boys were not even 18 months old yet.  Dudes, they don't speak any language yet, much less their own.

And actually, twin inventing their own language is relatively rare.  That is, creating their own words.  But Benjamin and Jonah have started putting together English words to create their own insults.

Somewhere they picked up the phrase "go away."  They are not supposed to say "go away" to people.  They can say it to their toys, mosquitoes, and the rain, but not other people.

Even so, when they are angry and frustrated with each other, it's their insult of choice: "Go way, Jonah!" along with a flinging arm motion.

And this makes sense - they can understand that it's a negative phrase because they're not supposed to say it.  but it's what they sometimes add at the end for extra effect that's so strange:  "Go way, Benjamin!  You're silly Samantha!"

What the heck?

We do have a friend named Samantha, but it's not like we sit around talking about how silly she is...