Are Woman Human?

I've just finished a series of essays written by Dorothy L. Sayers. It was a fantastic look at the role of women in society. The book ended with this (which I loved):

"They (women) had never known a man like this Man-there never has been such another. A prophet and teacher who never nagged at them, never flattered or coaxed or patronized; who never made arch jokes about them, never treated them either as "The women, God help us!" or "The ladies, God bless them!"; who rebuked without querulousness and praised without condescension; who took their questions and arguments seriously; who never mapped out their sphere for them, never urged them to be feminine or jeered at them for being female; who had no axe to grind and no uneasy male dignity to defend; who took them as he found them and was completely unselfconscious. There is no act, no sermon, no parable in the whole Gospel that borrows its pungency from female perversity; nobody could possibly guess from the words and deeds of Jesus that there was anything "funny" about woman's nature.
But we might easily deduce it from His contemporaries, and from His prophets before Him, and from His Church to this day. Women are not human; nobody shall persuade that they are human; let them say what they like, we will not believe it, though One rose from the dead."

A Little TV Reality

A few weeks ago I was channel surfing and came across a great show, The Monastery. Since then I've made a point of watching or taping it. The show takes place at a monastery in northern New Mexico which has opened its doors to five men "searching for God." I can't get enough of this show. It is well done and there's so much that can be learned from these Benedictine monks. I could not resist including a few quotes from the show.

The most recent episode deals with confession and obedience:

Confession brings people closer to God and other people
The rule of St. Benedict

"All of us have deceptions the question is how do I keep working against that so that I become more and more transparent and that is what confession is about, transparent before God and transparent before sisters and brothers."

"A value in confession is that I'm admitting before God that even my intentions weren't always good."

"Confession is a recognition that my personal sinfulness destroys my relationships."

"Sin offends God not because you can hurt [damage] God. God can't be hurt [damaged]. God is God, but you can hurt His creation and I'm part of His creation-we can offend Him by not honoring the mystery of that humanity within us and that destroys me as a human being."

"Obedience is learning how to surrender ones life - to not be in control."

[Community is at the heart of monastic life. Everything belongs to the community even clothing-new monks must relinquish all outward signs of pride by giving up all possessions to become one with the brothers.]

Obedience must be given gladly for God loves a cheerful giver
The rule of St. Benedict

The brothers should each try to be the first to show respect to the other, supporting with the greatest patience one another's weaknesses
The rule of St. Benedict

Nothing beats a New Mexico sky.

A Mountain Hike

Our first family hike. The kids did so much better than we expected. The mountains of New Mexico are beautiful.

A Day With A Few Friends

This is one of our first experiences back in Texas. The Longhorn were being moved through the streets (something that is done twice a day). Don't let this picture fool you. The cattle look slow and tired, but the white one in the middle almost turned our day into "running with the bulls" or in our case running away from the bulls. It was quite the show: cowboys with whips on really large horses and a few spectators looking on, the spectators strapped into strollers and two moms a little bit oblivious to what was happening until a mounted cowboy moved in front of us and yelled "move away from the street!!!!!!!" We quickly moved, but the steer continued on its crazy way. Thankfully the steer moved onto the other side of the street and soon behind a building with cowboys in hot pursuit. What a fun day in a great state.

My Girls!!!!

I love you guys and will miss you so much. I could not have made it without you!

Call Can Be Completed

"Your call can't be completed as dialed. Please check the number and try again."

Over the last three weeks or so when anyone trys to call my cell or Barry's cell this is what they might hear. Every now and then someone gets through, but only after a dozen times or so. What a pain in the butt for anyone trying to reach us.

I think my spiritual life has been a little bit like this over the last couple of weeks or so. You know, God calling and getting a message something like that. Fortunately, for my sake He’s pretty persistent. I’ve been so overly involved in our move and all of the inconsequential things that I have no control over, I’ve had tunnel vision. My vision has certainly not been on God. Isn’t it interesting how from one week, day, or even second we are listening and looking for God and then without blinking an eye we forget who He is or even that He’s there. A few weeks ago I blogged about how good God was and since then seem to have lost sight of that.

I'm truly thankful that I have a God who doesn’t stop calling and will continue to pursue until I stop to listen. Today my God finally got through. His word came in a tender way, through the prayers and words of others. I’m reminded that I have a God in control who loves and cares for me beyond anything I could ever imagine.

A scripture from a friend: Lamentations 3:22-24 (The Message)

God’s loyal love couldn’t have run out,
His merciful love couldn’t have dried up.
They’re created new every morning.
How great your faithfulness!
I’m sticking with God (I say it over and over).
He’s all I’ve got left.

My Heroes

Barry and I were asked to give our life story in our Sunday School class this morning and in the process of preparing, the subject of heroes came up. There were a lot of guys in Barry's life that he could quickly identify from his past that affected his life, but for me I felt like it wasn't so easy. I felt like I had somewhat of a deficit in this area. I continued to think about this question, Who are my heroes? What women or woman has impacted my life? I became envious of those relationships in my husbands life until I thought about something. What about the women currently in my life. As I thought about the women around me, I was amazed. I don't think as women we support and encourage each other enough. So here's a list of women that are currently impacting my life. I hope I don't forget anyone.

My Mom: Faithful & Loyal- A lifelong example of what these two things mean-till the end!
My Mother-in-law: She truly is my Naomi
Amy: You are amazing. You never give up. You are an example for us all. You inspire me with your life. What a dynamo.
Donna: Precious friend, committed mother, faithful to her family (she works hard for the money!) What perseverance looks like
Lea: Precious friend-You Rock as a mom-God created you for motherhood
My moms group:(Karen, Lisa, Steph, Crystel, Sherri, Jen) How could I have made it without you. You accept me the way I am. Fantastic mothers who pursue the best for their children. These women have lives that will continue to impact my life. Brave, faithful, committed, thoughtful women the list could go on forever.
Gail: A Mentor and friend - Can I be like you when I grow up?
Julie: Great Mom - Can I say Martha Stewart? You are awesome at what you do. I hope to "creatively borrow" (steal) your ideas. Awesome friend

There are so many women in my life that add to who I am every single day. I hope as a woman I can continue to build up the women around me and encourage them to be who God has created them to be. Does anyone else out there have women who are currently impacting their lives?

God Is Good!!!!

We are in the process of buying our first house after ten years of marriage, two kids, and school (college,seminary, & PhD). It feels awesome to say that in a few weeks we have some place to call our own. It is truly amazing how it has all worked out, just finding the house was an answer to prayer. As I take a step back to see how God has worked, it is unbelievable. From the list of silly extras that I thought "wouldn't it be nice if"- nice grass, porch, swing set, a place to plant a garden. These were all those things that I thought surely for what we could spend, it was a pipe dream. Well, watch out, if God knows, he can make it happen. I keep telling Barry, this God of ours, "He's a crazy guy." The house has everything we were looking for!

Every time I turn around God is showing Himself in a big way. I spoke with the listing agent about the house and before I could get my question out she says, "we've been praying for you." My mouth drops open. You've got to be kidding me, a real estate agent praying for our family. She then begins to tell us about the family we were buying the house from and the blessing this was to them. I was just happy to have a sweet little house, but to hear this just gave me goose bumps all over. God does work in mysterious ways. Since that conversation God has continued to show himself.

Here in Wheaton every Sunday people put out on their curbs anything/s they have no need for (not the trash- real stuff) and people like us just happen upon it. With buying our new house there are lots of extras. We needed a washing machine and there was one on someone's curb. Barry spoke with the owner who had prayed the night before that someone who needed it would come by and pick it up, and we did. We needed something for a television (one of my "wouldn't it be nice God if we had"). I didn't need much, just something small to hide a television (out of sight out of mind for Will), well we found exactly that on someone's curb.

There are probably other things that I'm missing, but I guess those are the highlights of God in action. In spite of God's apparent desire to be involved in my life, I still find myself fearful that God is not listening. Hopefully, with events like these I can be reminded of His goodness. We have a God who love's us so deeply and is involved in every "little" detail. This reminds me of a little song Will loves to sing:

My God is so Big

so strong and so mighty

there's nothing my God can not do.

For you

The mountains are His. The valleys are His.

The stars are His handiwork too.

My God is so Big

so strong and so mighty there's nothing my God can not do.

For you

Call Me Immature

What is my life coming to when all I can think about this week is watching mtv's "Making the Band?" I've always enjoyed my fair share of reality TV (at the dismay of my husband). I don't know, maybe it's Puff Daddy, PDiddy, Sean Combs, etc. (whatever he's going by these days) or maybe I just can't get enough of fluff TV. Maybe I secretly hope that PDiddy, Puffy, Sean Combs, will decide to scour the country for stay-at-home moms with a little extra weight around the middle and a few extra spider veins down the legs(how about a few extra hundred) or two or three kids in tow. Sounds like something that might sell to me. Well I guess that's probably not going to happen which leaves me watching these skinny minnie girls with not an ounce of fat and with a little bit of talent, sounds like fun to me.

By the way, can't wait for another one of my favorites, Rock Star.

My sweet little boys

(Can you believe that's Lake Michigan)

What do I do with all this sand?

A Visit To Lake Michigan

What Will does best-helping his little brother. What Pierson loves most-following after his big brother.

What Will I Miss About The Midwest?

We'll be leaving Illinois in a month or so to head back to Texas. When we first arrived 3 years ago I thought nothing could compare to the "Great State of Texas", but I was wrong. The Midwest has certainly won me over with its special charm and uniqueness. So what will I miss about the Midwest?- A LOT

1. Chicago-there is nothing like it.
2. The Great Lakes-They are truly amazing, just like looking out into the ocean.
3. Spring, Summer, & Fall (not winter that's for another post) love to see the trees change.
4. Every house has a basement (I love my basement!!!!). Why don't houses have basements in Texas?
5. Wheaton College-if my kids want to attend an out of state school the only place they can go will be Wheaton. A remarkable institution-can't say enough.
6. Door County, Wisconsin. A place everyone should make a point of visiting.
7. Chicago-I guess I already included that (worth mentioning again)
8. Everyone is so easy going. I love that I can roll out of bed in the morning and head straight to the grocery store and no one thinks twice about my pajamas.
9. Apple picking. A huge event every year and one that I will certainly miss.
   
10. Our Friends: God has placed wonderful people in our lives that have meant the world to our family.

A Little Overwhelmed

Yesterday I began reading Wendell Berry's, "Sex,Economy,Freedom,&Community". Okay, I became a little overwhelmed. The overwhelmed feeling did not come from the amount of content or its structure(okay so maybe the amount of content is a little overwhelming), but rather the feeling of responsibility(Ignorance truly is bliss). The more I read(chp1 Conservation and Local Economy) the heavier the weight became. What could a stay at home mom do with this kind of information? Needless to stay, I put the book down in mid chapter, hopefully to be picked back up today.

The quote that made me want to read more:

The great obstacle is simply this: the conviction that we cannot change because we are dependent on what is wrong. But that is the addict's excuse and we know that it will not do.... We can ally ourselves with those things that are worthy: light,air,water,earth; plants and animals; human families and communities; the traditions of decent life, good work, and responsible thought; the religious traditions; the essential stories and songs.

-Wendell Berry

First Haircut

BEFORE

AFTER

It's News To Me

Food, our family's new frontier.

Growing up food was something that was strictly functional, a means to an end. Being the youngest of 7 and now the mother of two, I understand why it played such a role in my home while growing up. However, increasingly I've desired more (and I don't mean calories). What am I experiencing when it comes to food? It seems to me that we've become a society of busy bees and have allowed important aspects of our culture to slowly fade away. When it comes to our food we want it quick, easy, and no mess (I understand that; I'm a mom of two boys). But when we choose those things what is ultimately the outcome, an unhealthy, disconnected, and (probably) wasteful family? As I write this I definitely would not exclude myself from those possible outcomes.

If you were to ask, "Who is the cook in your family?" my answer is always, "Barry of course." I would not call myself a cook. Maybe a food warmer or food burner in training, but not a cook (at least not the Martha Stewart type). But I've got to say there is something to a great meal, the look, smell, and taste. Did I just say that? Isn't food supposed to be only functional. Ok, I digress. Over the last several months I've recognized that there was real joy in cooking. The idea that I could create something strictly to please someone else and see it as a service to that person was a complete turn around in my thinking. I love the idea of service through food (now I need to remember that when my 4 yr old whines and complains about what is on his plate).

Where I buy my food, does that matter? One of my very favorite places to shop is Trader Joes. (If your from Texas and your reading this you won't have any idea what I'm talking about.) Trader Joes is a small grocery store (when I say small, I mean small-maybe 8 aisles) that sells primarily organic foods. I love this store because of its small town feel (the kind of place "where everyone knows your name"). I guess they knew there were people like myself out there-in search of that "locally owned" small town experience. Well, unfortunately Trader Joes is not locally owned; it originates somewhere on the east coast. However that leads me to my next point, locally owned or produced. I love the idea (you see that I use that a lot, I'm working on these ideals) of knowing the farmer. I still think there is something noble about being a farmer. I can't imagine how many spiritual lessons one learns when farming. As Americans we have a disconnect when it comes to our food. It either magically appears on our tables or in the enormous chain grocery stores. After my husband's urging I started reading, Crunchy Cons by Rod Dreher. It seems like a good book with well thought out ideas. The chapter that caught my attention was on food. In this chapter he highlights a farmer by the name of Robert Hutchins, an organic livestock farmer who lives with his wife and 12 kids (oh my goodness!) near Greenville, Tx. I immediately was struck by this farmers story, a CEO turned organic farmer. He left the business world to pursue what he felt was his "calling". According to Hutchins, "..we look at it(organic farming) as honoring God's creation and restoring it to its fullest." He also added as evangelical Christians,"we try to align our lives with what we understand from Scripture would be a God-honoring lifestyle." This was extremely exciting to me, someone who was serving others for the sake of serving and honoring God. I love this idea and hope that our family can connect on this level. (By the way, we'll probably be making that Trader Joe run in next couple of days, but I guess you've got to start somewhere, a move from the big chain to the small chain) For those from the DFW area, the Hutchins farm is Texas Supernatural Meats and can be found at the Dallas Farmers Market.

I love to sit down an eat dinner with my family. To some people this may seem like pure misery and chaos(and many nights that's what it is for us) but we try to persist. A few months ago I attended a women's retreat and the speaker for the weekend was Mimi Wilson. Mimi served with her husband as missionaries for nine years in Ecuador. She did a fantastic job of reminding us or even teaching us the importance of the "table" in the home. For her dinner was a time to reconnect, have a healthy meal, and tune out the rest of the world. Not only was it a time to reconnect with family but also friends. I love the idea of friends and family gathering around a table, eating good food, and having good conversation (Barry if your reading this, my birthday is right around the corner, so a big table would be great.). Sitting around the table is something new for our generation, but it's something that certainly should not be lost. One of my husband's fondest memories was the time he shared with his grandparents on their farm. His grandparents and there close friends would spend time around a table telling old family stories that he now loves to quote. Our son Will loves to hear "old" stories and can't seem to get enough and he also likes to try and start a little of his own conversation during dinner. Our hope is to continue our time around the table. Staying connected to our family and friends in the present and our family from the past is something very important to us.

When I think of food I'm beginning to see it so differently now. It is something that can be used to serve and honor God.

The Three R's

The other day I heard Will singing. At first I thought I was hearing something incorrectly. I thought he said, "We've got to learn to Reduce, reuse, recycle". (very confused, we recycle, but we're not all that great at it, but we're trying) I asked what he was saying and of course the response was one of confusion on his part. He thought everyone knew this song. Well he proceeded to explain that the song was a Jack Johnson song from Curious George. I was not familiar with this tune(however, we love Upside down, could listen to it again and again) and asked him if he understood what reduce,reuse, and recycle meant and in the quick witted Will fashion he began with an example for reduce and then moved onto the other two. I guess I had a little lesson that day. It did make me think about our lifestyle. How often do I think in terms of reducing and reusing things. Recycling has been on our radar, but what can we do as a family to reduce and reuse? Maybe Will has some ideas.

Three it's a magic number

Yes it is, it's a magic number

Because two times three is six

And three times six is eighteen

And the eighteenth letter in the alphabet is R

We've got three R's we're going to talk about today

We've got to learn to

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

If you're going to the market to buy some juice

You've got to bring your own bags and you learn to reduce your waste

And if your brother or your sister's got some cool clothes

You could try them on before you buy some more of those

Reuse, we've got to learn to reuse

And if the first two R's don't work out

And if you've got to make some trash

Don't throw it out

Recycle, we've got to learn to recycle,

We've got to learn to

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Because three it's a magic number

Yes it is, it's a magic number

3, 3, 3

3, 6, 9, 12, 15, 18, 21, 24, 27, 30, 33, 36

33, 30, 27, 24, 21, 18, 15, 12, 9, 6,

and 3, it's a magic number

Who Needs The ABC Song

Who needs the ABC song when you can listen to Bob Dylan's Subterranean Homesick Blues. We love to introduce all kinds of music to our kids, but who knew that Pierson's new favorite song would be this one (his Dad would have). As soon as the song begins to play, Pierson does a little chicken dance and can't stop laughing and clapping his hands. I know his Dad has always thought Dylan was great, but this was a little hard to believe. I guess going from the poetry of Eugene Field(Wynken, Blynken, and Nod) to the poetry of Bob Dylan isn't so bad (Hey whatever works to make the kid happy). Not only do I have to get my fill of Dylan from Barry, but now the other two boys in the house love him as well. By the way, Will thinks he is Bob Dylan. His new favorite song, Mr. Tambourine Man, imagine that on repeat. I guess I should join the band wagon, I always have been a follower or maybe I don't really have a choice.

"I'm Loosing My Mind"

"I'm loosing my mind, I'm loosing my mind, I'm loosing my mind." I heard my soon to be 4 year old screaming this from the top of his lungs. I wasn't sure if I should be alarmed or die laughing. I immediately asked him, "what are you saying?" (All the while thinking how could he be reading my mind.) He ignored me and continued this silly rant. I asked again and he replied in a very matter of fact way, "Mommy, I'm loosing my mind." I wanted to know where he heard this and before the words completely exited my mouth, I heard, "Rabbit, of course."

We're big Winnie the Pooh fans and whatever Pooh and his friends do, we do. Together at the top of our lungs we screamed, "I'm Loosing My Mind." If Will only knew how many times I've felt like that. Fortunately, I've got the excuse now to loose my mind with a little laughter and silliness.

A Thorn

The other day I was watching a chapel service from Wheaton College and the speaker was Steve Saint, son of Nate Saint. He recited the following poem by an unknown author.

"I stood, a mendicant of God, before His royal throne and begged Him for one priceless gift, which I could call my own. I took the gift from out His hand, but as I would depart, I cried, ‘But Lord, this is a thorn and it has pierced my heart. This is a strange, a hurtful gift, which Thou hast given me.’ He said, ‘My child, I give good gifts and gave My best to thee.’

I took it home, and though at first the cruel thorn hurt sore, as long years passed I learned at last to love it more and more. I learned He never gives a thorn without this added grace: He takes the thorn to pin aside the veil that hides His face."

In our trials and struggles, God is with us and loves us so very deeply. I don't completely understand my God, but I do know that He is here.