Those Darn Kids

I find myself scrambling for a writing utensil & a scrap of paper on a
regular basis in order to document my little boy-isms. Here are a few
from today:

While heading to the credit union after picking up Simon from
preschool I was playing my new favorite CD: The Civil Wars debut album
called Barton Hollow. Simon says, "I like this music. It makes my
legs dance." Anson says, "Yeah, I like it too. My body is singing."

As an afternoon snack the boys are eating bowls of Alpha-Bits cereal.
Simon pours a small pile of dry cereal on the table & starts making
words and talking about the letters. He finds the letter "P" and
says, "Hey mom, did you know that "P" (pee) is the nickname of
tinkle?"

A short time later, still during snack time, both boys are being very
silly. They're telling each other jokes and cracking themselves &
each other up. Simon tells his favorite joke, as always.
Simon: Knock, knock.
Anson: Who's there?
Simon: Hotdog.
Anson: Hotdog who?
Simon: Hotdog make me laugh!

There are many subsequent variations of this joke. The first four
lines are always the same, but the punchline meanders into all sorts
of unpredictable hotdog territory. Some of the punchlines I heard
today:
- hotdog lights up and glows and makes me laugh
- hotdog hotdog silly billy hotdog
- ...
Honestly I can't even remember, but if it's got the word "hotdog" in
it, it's considered a successful punchline and a hilarious joke.

I made an observational comment after a little while of silliness,
something to the effect of "I'm noticing that you two are being
awfully silly. That's okay sometimes, but I see that you're not using
your best manners or eating your food, and that's my concern." Simon,
attentive churchgoer that he is, asks innocently, "That's your
concern, but what's your joy?" I smile as I realize why he's asking,
and then with silliness he asks, "Is your joy that we're your kids?"
And busts out a pure, beautiful five-year-old giggle. I laughed out
loud. "Yes, Simon. It IS my joy that you're my kids."

Today I'm delighting in my children. How's YOUR Monday?

The Closest I've Come To God

"And suddenly I am simply nothing but a human being, walking on a dirt
track and carrying a bag of beets, looking up at the sky and enjoying
the smell of the fall air...I allow myself to entertain the concept
that God does exist. I think that if God is like a colossal computer
who knows everything that has happened in the world, then with his
giant Google of a mind he might do a search to see how many times this
has occurred in the history of the planet: "woman walking in autumn
with a bag of beets." I feel connected to every human who has sniffed
the fragrant air and walked the steady earth."

--Excerpt from "The Closest I've Come To God" by Lois Judson,
published in The Sun magazine, August 2009

Praying for Remission

My dear friend Gavin, who was diagnosed with leukemia just before New
Year's, has come to a critical point. For several weeks he's been
struggling in so many ways, but recently was put on a ventilator to
help his body rest and heal. As a result, so many secondary issues
have minimized; internal bleeding has stopped, his fever has cooled,
his white blood cell counts have steadily risen. This all is amazing,
encouraging, hopeful news.

Hope is scary, however. This morning, March 2, 2011, the oncologist
evidently deemed Gavin strong enough to undergo the bone marrow
biopsy. The results should be known in just a day or two and will
tell us conclusively whether or not Gavin's leukemia is in remission.
If it is, we celebrate. Hard. And begin the journey of heading back
toward a life with Gavin & his dear wife Adrianne NOT living in the
hospital. If, however, the results say that the leukemia is NOT in
remission, the professionals tell us that all other treatment options
have been exhausted. Prayer isn't a treatment option; prayer is never
exhausted.

Join me in praying ceaselessly for remission so that life may begin
again, post-leukemia.

Praying for Healing

If anyone reading this believes in the power of prayer, pray. If you are able to send healing thoughts & energies, send them. Our dear friend Gavin was diagnosed with leukemia just before New Year's and has hit a rough spot that's not evening out. He's got internal bleeding but due to low blood count & various other complications they are unable to operate. His body is young, but it's been fighting hard for 7 weeks and it is tired. Please pray for healing, for peace, for strength. For Gavin, especially, but also for his faithful wife Adrianne, his sister Allison, his parents Steve & Sue and the rest of the extended family & community who love this amazing person.

Thinking, Feeling, Action

Sometimes I feel so full of love & hope I think I could explode. Little moments, like a facebook "chat" with a far-away friend, or a spontaneous hug between brothers declaring their love for each other, almost bring me to tears. Sometimes the world is so full, so bright, so lovely. It almost hurts.

And I remember my beloved friends in the hospital - he with leukemia, she tending as a constant & loving wife & "nurse;" I remember the doctor I met tonight, a Palestinian refugee who lost his wife to disease and three of six daughters just a few months later to Israeli aggression, and yet refuses to be consumed by anger & hate; I remember the young woman I saw shivering with a "Cold & hungry; God bless" sign standing by the mall exit tonight. My joy is tempered; my hope is challenged.

I thank the Divine that I am sensitive & feel so much. I wish, too often, that I was able to be numb to it.

How do we transform this world? Dr. Abuelaish, this evening, spoke uncompromisingly about the need for action. What actions help to restore God's shalom to this world? I'm spending time with this. How can I restore justice to my corner of the world? It's not God's shalom, God's peace, without justice for all of God's world.

New Adventures

We're in the calm before the storm.

Soon, but not yet, Simon will start up preschool again for the year. On that same day, I will start rehearsing for a new year with the Grand Rapids Women's Chorus while somehow supposedly attending the church council meeting I'm supposed to be at. Even sooner than all that, Adam will begin student teaching at a local elementary school for an approximately 12-week stint, forcing him to relinquish full-time employment for about 3 months. A few short weeks after this all I will be heading back to the center of the state for the first class of my second year in the STEM (lay ministry) program through my beloved United Church of Christ. That same month I'll be attending a training on how to be a delegate to the UCC Synod, which I will be in the summer of 2011 and the summer of 2013.

So we're buckling down, batting down the hatches, putting a freeze on saying "yes" to things or spending money on things that are less than vital. And we're excited.

It's a new phase of life - we're forced into creativity, pushed to rely on each other, reminded that we have faith to sustain us through it. Since we moved to Silver City, New Mexico the summer of 2003 with no jobs, no friends (there), and a year commitment to a house we'd never laid eyes on, I don't remember being in a situation where we've really been challenged to turn toward one another and draw on our own reserves of resilience and creative determination.

Another element of the new phase is the simultaneously undramatic and yet paradigm-shifting decision we recently committed to: we're happy with our family as it is and have no intention of adding any more people to it. With the exception of possible exchange student hosting or foster parenting or family/friend caretaking or long-term guests, our home will house four people happily with a sense of completeness. This decision frees up so many options for the future, starting now. The first being a very literal "freeing up" in terms of space...all those boxes of clothes and cloth diapers, bulky baby items and toys are now being sorted for donating or selling. Not only can we use the extra income for our new journey of creative poverty, but it will be nice to create space in the closets and storage areas.

We're letting go of our "comfortable" normalcy for Adam to pursue the last leg of his educational journey. It's been many years in coming, but he has completed his last academic semester of his degree and, assuming a successful student teaching and portfolio-building semester this fall, he will be graduating in December.

Expect a party.

Although we're entering it with hope and determination, we'd love your prayers and encouragement as we muddle our way through the precarious Labor Day through Thanksgiving time frame. We're not too proud to accept meals or meal invitations, free childcare, non-tax-deductible cash donations or six-packs of quality microbrews at any time during those 12 weeks, however.

And if you want to buy any baby stuff, let me know. :)

Curb Appeal

It's been a long, slow journey, but we finally have a little curb
appeal! The first picture is from the day we closed on the purchase
of the home - the second picture is from this evening.

We had our former neighbor pull out the horrible bushes with his truck
in the fall, before the ground froze. About a month ago I hauled out
the shovel & started digging out the bush-sized weeds that had taken
their place. Over the past two weeks I, with a little help from my
two boys and at least 7 neighborhood kids, fished out the big rocks
and other little weeds that sprung up. A few days ago we got the new
bushes in, and today we got down the weed barrier - organic Preen (non
toxic) and a landscape cloth, held down by an edge - and got the mulch
spread.

Thanks to our new neighbor who helped us hold down the cloth & found
rocks to anchor it while we were in process AND for watching the kids
play w/ her daughter while we finished. (By the way - we LOVE our new
neighbors!)

The yellow bucket was an old metal one left in our garage by the
previous owners. I washed it up and painted it with some leftover
indoor/outdoor paint I'd gotten from freecycle, filled it with rocks
we found while digging up the front, topped it with container mix and
planted the seedlings the boys started at an earth day event at the
library. We tossed some extra flower seeds in there too. Such fun to
have growing things and a front yard I can be proud of! Now we just
have to collect some of our bulbs from the backyard to transplant,
some perennials from my parents' house they need to thin out, and stay
on top of mowing the grass....

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