I am feeling uninspired… I need healthy and somewhat kid-friendly dinner ideas. What should I make?
Posted in feasting
I love that my alma mater is the center of this story in the new york times about male-female ratios on the college campus.
Posted in culture, in the news
Some days I am just overwhelmed with how lucky I am to parent my kids. They are such neat individuals.
Lexi has a *slight* obsession with Kit Kittredge. She’s been running around saying “Brilliant!” I love listening to her prattle on about Strawberry Shortcake, imagine, tell stories, and even recite catechism questions. She has so much personality, and I can’t wait to see what she will do with it.
Kate is doing so well in school, and has wisdom beyond her years and a sneaky sense of humor. She’s a great big sister and has a natural inclination to help others. I love hearing her talk about what she’s learning and what she wants to learn next.
Posted in family life
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is the first in a trilogy of crime novels written by Stieg Larsson. Originally published in Swedish, it was an international best seller long before I ever heard of it. I am not typically a fan of modern crime novels, but some rave ratings on goodreads persuaded me to give this one a try.
From the first chapters, I was hooked, even though the novel starts slowly and develops over time. I suppose what pulled me in is how well written and translated it is and the dynamic and interesting characters. The mystery itself intrigued me, a classic “locked-room format in an island setting” as the protagonist, journalist Mikael Blomkvist, describes.
The titular character is a hacker turned private investigator who gives the novel a certain edge. She’s likely a woman with Asperger’s Syndrome, but in spite of her difficulties connecting with people, she is extremely sympathetic to readers, and forms an instant bond with Blomkvist that is genuine and believable.
The original title was Men Who Hated Women, and there is a fair amount of misogyny and some descriptions of violence, particularly against women. I didn’t find them gratuitous or excessive, but be forewarned. Eagerly anticipating the next two installments, I am also sad that Larsson died so young without being able to give readers even more to look forward to. (8/10)
After two months of daily blogging, I took a few days respite. As I ran errands today, I was thinking about what I ought to blog about. Walking through Wal-Mart gave me several things to consider blogging about such as how annoying it was that the organic fruit snacks are up high and the “bad” ones shaped like princesses are at child’s eye view.
An hour and cart full of groceries later, the girls hit their breaking point and melted down over who was going to get the orange juice out of the case and put it in the cart. (At least they fight about helping, right?) My nearest fellow customer glared at them, and then at me. I tried unsuccessfully to mediate and then, a man walked toward me.
He was an older gentleman, and he reminded me of my great uncle Joe and his posse of Italian old men. Dressed in one of those old man tracksuits, with glasses and shaggy hair, he approached me with a smile. He clasped both his hands around mine, and I felt something pass between us. When I opened my hand I found two small lollipops. I thanked him profusely, then handed the candy to the children, who in their preoccupation with juice had missed the exchange completely. “Where’s this candy from?” they asked. “That nice gentleman there.” They bounded over to say thank you, and he returned once again. I watched as he reached his hand into his unzipped pocket and pulled out a big handful of butterscotch candies, giving them to me. We shared a smile, and he walked away.
It’s funny, two minutes earlier I had been thinking about 1 John 4, where it says that love is from God, and everyone that loves is born of God, and knows God, and more than that, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us. When I least expected it, I found love in the dairy aisle at Super Wal-Mart. I hope to be that gracious, to reach out to the harried and discouraged, and to remind them that they are not alone. At minimum, I hope to be a little old lady with a big purse full of lollipops.
This series will be a rambling collection of my thoughts. My intention isn’t to guilt or goad, but to encourage, if something doesn’t resonate with you, feel free to disregard it.
Parenting an infant is a baptism by fire. One day you have this tiny being with a stomach the size of his itty bitty fist, to feed and change and comfort all day and all night. One of the things that gave me clarity as we embarked on those early days with a baby was to think theologically about parenting, and come up with some ideas of family life that we could start to try to live out.
You are your child’s first view of God was one of the ideas I gleaned from Andrew Murray’s Raising Your Children for Christ. The one sentence I wanted to live out was “gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love.” (I still think of this daily.) I also meditated a lot on how the girls were not just my daughters, but my sisters in Christ through baptism, the least of these in God’s kingdom in many ways. Having a view of their identity in our family, and to God, helped me to filter different ideas of child rearing and care that I came across. Continue reading
Posted in parental ponderings
I quoted this book recently, and would be remiss if I didn’t give it a mini-review now that I’ve finished it. If you enjoy theology, this is a must read. The topic of holiness is addressed systematically in a way that applies to all of life. It’s thought-provoking, but readable, not dry in the least. As it was originally delivered a a lecture series, it’s more easily understood than many other theological works of its calibre. I was engaged by every page. The short chapters and many sub-chapters make it easy to pick up and put down if you don’t have hours to devote to reading daily. (9.5/10)
I am realizing more and more both how far I am from the baby stage and how much I want to remember some of the things I discovered along the way. Is that something y’all are interested in reading about? I hope we have more children someday and I plan to record these thoughts SOMEwhere sometime soon…
Posted in family life
I’ve been feeling like a zombie for a few days now. Just SO tired. (I often feel tired, but this is crazy-tired.) Caffeine doesn’t cut it. Neither does sleeping more. Ideas?
Posted in general
Lexi and I spend a good amount of time alone together in the car. One of our favorite activities lately is to put the ipod on shuffle and let her rate the songs. Here are some of her current favorites (in a “playlist” order.) I find her tastes interesting, somewhat unpredictable, and occasionally annoying (how can she reject Wilco and Ingrid Michaelson, for example?)
LEXI’S LIST . 2010.01
I Got You (I Feel Good) – James Brown
Video Killed The Radio Star – The Buggles
What I Like About You – The Romantics
I’d Rather Dance With You – Kings of Convenience
Run With All You’ve Got – Jon Black
You Make My Dreams – Hall & Oates
Proud Mary – Creedence Clearwater Revival
When I’m Sixty-Four – The Beatles
Chicago – Sufjan Stevens
The Littlest Birds – The Be Good Tanyas
Wrapped Up in Books – Belle & Sebastian
Three Little Birds – Bob Marley
Peace Like a River – Elizabeth Mitchell
Lovely, Love My Family – The Roots
My Girl – The Temptations
Shoo Fly – Elizabeth Mitchell
Beautiful Girl – Andrew Peterson And Randall Goodgame
Great Big World – Pierce Pettis
This Little Light Of Mine – Elizabeth Mitchell
Bedtime Lullaby – Mark Kozelek
Posted in culture, parental ponderings
From Fear to Freedom is an account of one woman’s realization over many years of how she was living in a way that contradicted what she thought she believed about God and the world. I had a hard time connecting to this book in some ways, but I think it may be a good thing. The message that was so life changing for Rose Marie, her paradigm shift from an orphan to a daughter mentality, is one that I have been taught well for many years, due in part to her family’s influence.
I’d recommend this book to someone coming out of a more legalistic tradition, or that struggles to believe that they are loved by God. (6/10)
Over the last few years, I’ve read and learned a bit more about mercy ministry and what has been shown to work and not work, what is and isn’t helpful. I really appreciated this article by the relief director of World Vision debunking some common myths in light of the recent crisis in Haiti.
Posted in theology