MeeMaw and Pop

My mom sent me this picture of my MeeMaw and Pop that she found recently. Aren't they glamorous? It is so fun to see them this way--so young and charming. Maybe I look a little like her, too? I miss them both so much and I wish I could sit down today and ask them to tell me their stories. MeeMaw was quite eccentric in her older days. She collected owls, she liked the color brown best of all, and she could not stop doing yard work. Pop liked to laugh. My best memory is his giggle when I blew bubbles in my milk; it was a laugh full of glee. I wish I could sit down with this young couple and hear their stories and dreams!

guess who?

D. will be thirty (3-0) tomorrow! Kind of exciting, isn't it? 

I am so grateful for this man every single day. I love him! 

his promises are true

This song has been so powerful for me recently. It is such a beautiful meditation on marriage, but it it also reminds us that

"we bear the light of the son of man /
So there’s nothing left to fear /
So I’ll walk with you in the shadow lands / 
Till the shadows disappear /
Cause he promised not to leave us /
And his promises are true"





I promise this three minutes is worth your time.

on holiness

D. and I are both graduates of Asbury College, now called Asbury University, in Wilmore, Kentucky. (everyone who reads this blog knows that, I think.)

In Hughes Auditorium, on Asbury's campus, the words "Holiness Unto the Lord" are inscribed above the pipe organ. I tried to paste a picture here, but I live seven hours away, and I was afraid I was stealing someone else's copyright.

As a college freshman, I really had no idea what this phrase meant. "Holiness Unto the Lord." Hmmm... that sounds great. Inspirational. Intimidating. Yes.

I had the chance, as all Asbury students do, to take a class on Christian Theology. Mine was with Dr. Miller. He's the best, in my opinion. Our textbook for this class was entitled Grace, Faith & Holiness: A Wesleyan Systematic Theology.  What I remember from that class is that a lot of other people fell asleep while I mostly stayed awake because (a) I loved Dr. Miller's lectures (b) I am a dork, and (c) I drank a diet coke every day right before the class. The other thing I remember is that we talked about the concept of holiness, and that I began to understand why the words "Holiness Unto the Lord" were inscribed in such a prominent place in Hughes. My friends whose parents and grandparents went to Asbury probably already knew or had at least some kind of understanding, but this was new to me.

John Wesley, theologian, founder of Methodism, and most importantly, follower of Jesus, talked a lot about holiness. He said that all followers of Christ are called to live holy lives. Here is a quotation from one of his sermons:

And being taught of Him who was meek as well as lowly in heart, we shall then be enabled to "walk with all meekness;" being taught of Him who teacheth as never man taught, to be meek as well as lowly in heart. This implies not only a power over anger, but over all violent and turbulent passions. It implies the having all our passions in due proportion; none of them either too strong or too weak; but all duly balanced with each other; all subordinate to reason; and reason directed by the Spirit of God. (1872) 


I remember struggling with this idea as a college student. I am called to be holy, but this feels impossible. Unreachable. I cannot do this, so maybe I should just not go to chapel during Holiness Conference and take a nap. But I remember that one day during Dr. Miller's class on Christian theology we talked about how being holy doesn't meant that one doesn't sin. It means that a person responds with grief when he or she sins and asks for forgiveness. It means that this person is ready and willing to reconcile with the one he or she sinned against. Okay. Maybe I can do that. 


These days, this teaching means a lot to me. When I look back at that quotation and see that Wesley mentions a "power over anger" and "having all our passions in due proportion," I am convicted. A certain three-year-old has the ability to make me very, very angry. Sometimes I do not speak to him in love. Sometimes I yell. Sometimes I lose my temper. A certain toddler is getting to the age where he begins to test his mother and push her buttons. He refuses to lie still for a diaper changing resulting in poop. Everywhere. This frustrates me. Exhaustion only serves to multiply these feelings. 


Tonight, at bedtime, I apologized to both of my children for the times today when I responded in anger. Ezra can't talk much, but he hugged me close. Isaiah said, "Thanks, mom. I love you." Then he gave me a kiss on the cheek. 


I am so grateful for this teaching about the importance of reconciliation that stuck with me from those long lectures on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. I pray that I can live a holy life, even if that means that I am willing to apologize when I wrong the ones I love. 

on being a TV Nazi

It's true. I am a TV Nazi.
I always told myself I wouldn't be... mainly because I did not want to be like my own mom and dad.

In my house growing up, we always had only one TV. (shocking!) There were no TV's in kids' bedrooms, there was no cable, and my parents carefully selected the shows and movies we watched. They were always suitable for the entire family.

Yes, I grew up on PBS. I found This Old House and Wild America to be very entertaining as a child. This was pretty much all we were allowed to watch. Well, we did watch Little House on the Prairie sometimes too. I am learning that it is pretty much inevitable that I will be a lot like my parents, and the truth is that they really are amazing people, so I don't mind being like them.

As D. and I have talked and thought about the habits we have in our home on a day-to-day basis, we have thought about some of the following things:

We want to teach our kids to live into God's story. This story is living, alive, and active. Watching TV can be a passive activity. It doesn't engage our minds and our creativity in the same way that having conversations, reading books, playing outside, making crafts together, and really just living together do.

a boy engaging in active play

Having the TV on can be a way to avoid relationships rather than to practice living into healthy and intimate relationships. When the TV is on, there is always background noise, there is always something else or someone else entering into our lives at home. Whatever is on TV has a way of dominating the conversation and dictating what goes on in the room.

Relationships are more valuable than tasks. Sometimes when I have a lot of tasks or chores to get done around the house, it would be so much easier to turn on the TV so the boys would not try to "help" me sweep the floor or clean the kitchen. Or so that they would not argue as they play together, causing me to have to intervene. But the work of parenting is about much more than keeping a house clean or keeping kids fed--it is about cultivating healthy and intimate relationships with our children. This work is valuable whether we have something tangible to show for it at the end of the day or not.

laying by the open window and feeling the cool breeze first thing in the morning

There are other habits and practices that can invade our lives and have the same impact as watching TV--the internet and the mobile phone, for example. We don't have it all figured out, and we make a lot of mistakes, but we are doing our best to be intentional as we practice living into God's story.

a conversation

A few nights ago, Isaiah and I were reading together from The Jesus Storybook Bible. (Yes, I've written about it before, and yes, I will write about it again.)

On this night we read the story of the Prodigal Son together. This was our first time to read this story together as we are mainly focused on the stories of David and Goliath, Jonah and the Whale and Jesus dying on the cross. (He wants to read about Jesus dying on the cross all the time. This is a bit puzzling to me.)

The story of the Prodigal Son is very important to me. One reason for this is because Henri Nouwen's book, The Return of the Prodigal, had such a significant impact on me.

So after reading the story, I look over at Isaiah and I say something like this: "Isaiah, I want you to know that no matter what, I will always love you. You can always know that I will be waiting for you to come home to me and that I will run when I see you coming."

Isaiah looks at me very seriously, and says something like this: "Ba ma da ka da ka!" (Gibberish.) He then cracks up laughing.

So I try again, with the same result the second time.

Hmmm.... I'm sure it's all sinking in. At least I hope so.

Our Weekend in Pictures

Quote of the Day:
"Look at this ice cream. It makes vanilla water for you to eat." --Isaiah

Tractor, tractor

tractor
Originally uploaded by correna79

We traveled to Virginia this weekend to visit D.'s family. We had a wonderful time! (Including a movie date for D. and I.) There were lots of tractors, dogs, farms, and farm animals involved. Check my flickr for photos (link to the right) and I'll share more soon.

right now we are loving

What we are enjoying right now:
Slugs and Bugs and Lullabies by Andrew Peterson
Isaiah's favorite song is "Tractor Tractor" and Ezra can even ask for it by name.
My favorite song is "You Can Always Come Home"
"I love you today / and I'll love you tomorrow / I love you as deep as the sea / I'll love you in joy / and I'll love you in sorrow / You can always come home to me"

I have been singing this song to Isaiah and Ezra at night before bedtime. I want so much for them to know that they are deeply loved. I want them to know that no matter what, I will always love them and have a place for them in my heart and in my home. 

Isaiah is pretty much crazy about any book written by Richard Scarry. Unfortunately, these books are very, very long, so D. and I are maybe not quite as crazy about them. They are about a city called "Busytown" and I have been thinking about why Isaiah loves them so much. These books take a minute to pause and allow children to think about all of the seemingly mundane activities that take place around us. The guy who drives the backhoe is the hero of this book. So we own this book, but we have been going to the library and checking out all the Richard Scarry books they have in rotation. 

Harry the Dirty Dog. But when Isaiah says it, it's pronounced "Dawg." This book was first published in 1956, and I love the illustrations and the language. But it is funny. It is funny both to me and to Isaiah, and that is why it's awesome. 

Skippyjon Jones.  This is a whole series of books, and I think the author is a genius. These are so funny and imaginative. Our library has a bunch of these that also have a CD in the back, and Isaiah loves to play the CD and turn the pages and look at the pictures. Ezra tries to follow along too. Skippyjon is a Siamese Cat who thinks he is a Chihuahua, and he just happens to speak with a Spanish accent. This is why the CD's are so great, because Uncle Miles is not here all the time to read with his amazing voices. 

These are mainly about Isaiah, but right now Ezra still loves dogs, balls, and he has added trains to his passions. When we hear the train from our backyard he gets very excited and shouts "train! choo choo!" He also loves to read, and he brings us book after book. 

If you're getting this via google reader, click through and look at the header I made last night! I'm excited about it, so act impressed.