The Moon and Me

I love the moon. The moon and I go way back actually. I can remember even as a kid the moon would follow me around. Pretty cool. When I got older, I remember quiet nights standing in my backyard staring at the moon with the wind rustling in the pines. One time I stood on the rim of Bryce Canyon and watched the moon rise, a perfect giant red sphere, echoed by the glowing orange rock. Of course there's been moonlight on the ocean or on the river down at the dock; moonlight peeking through the cracks in the mud hut in Cameroon to bid me goodnight as I drifted off to sleep; the moon watching over me as I slept in a sleeping bag in the back of a pick-up truck in Kodachrome Basin. The moon has been a friend, a guide, an inspiration at times.

But sometimes I think the moon is out to get me. See, I love to sleep in darkness. I manage to tolerate a nightlight in the hall since Anna and Will came along, for those middle-of-the-night wakings. But I like to block out any other unnecessary light. But sometimes, by some wrinkle in the natural order of things, somehow the moon manages to get to me, shine in my eyes, and wake me up. (For some reason I like to wake up Jon to share the joy with him, which he inexplicably does not appreciate!) Maybe this is the moon's reminder to me that I've been neglecting my friend. Or maybe the moon is a bit of a prankster, a little bit cheeky, which seems at least plausible.

Anna Ballerina

Ok, so Anna is loving ballet class, although she complains that they often do "that boy dancing" (creative type stuff like dancing like a grasshopper, etc) instead of "princess dancing" a la "Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses." She has threatened to teach Ms. Paula (who used to dance with the London Ballet) and class how to do princess dancing, but has not yet done so. :) Tomorrow Anna will attend the first rehearsal for the "'Twas the Night Before Christmas" performance, which she surprisingly wants to do considering she doesn't normally like to draw attention to herself (although I remember enjoying being in "The King and I" in community theater when I was in maybe 4th grade even though I was "shy"). Anna and the other 3-year-olds will be mice and then girls at a party; she's excited about dancing with the bigger girls.

Yesterday I was on the computer and Anna came in and told me she started up her own ballet school in the kitchen and wanted to know if I'd like to come. Who can resist that?? She proceeded to demonstrate various twirls and such for me to imitate, and then she provided feedback on my performance. It was very cute... and nice to see that entrepreneurial spirit at such a young age!

Mysteries

The sermon today was about mysteries. How there are some things that we just can't figure out; specifically things about God and His nature. And yet God has chosen to reveal mysteries to us through Jesus and His Word -even though our minds may not fully grasp them - but we may know because of His amazing grace and mercy and love toward us. God stoops down to us when we cannot possibly lift ourselves up. His love reaches out to and yearns for each of our tattered hearts. But how would we know, left to our own devices, our own cleverness? So He put on flesh and dwelt among us in the form of Jesus, and He inspired some people to write His words in the Bible, and He speaks even through those of us who believe and love and follow Him, however imperfectly. How amazing is the unquenchable love and desire of the holy, Most High God for us, such failing and self-absorbed creatures!

Father God, Maker of all that is good and beautiful, thank you for the strength and steadfastness of your love for us mere humans. May your love fill us and flow through us, reaching out to all who might receive it. "Flood the nations with grace and mercy; Send forth Your Word, Lord, and let there be light!"

The Weight of the World

Did you know that 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa have recently had flooding rains, leaving 1 million people in need of help? I had no idea until I received an email from World Vision. And now the flood waters will provide ideal conditions for the spread of disease - like malaria and such. Did you know we used to have malaria here in the US? But we were able to use DDT to eliminate it (and we still have birds somehow!), though the world won't allow Africa the same benefit (even though studies have shown the proper use of DDT is not so environmentally terrible after all).

Are people really compassionate if their ideas look friendly and caring but really have harmful results? Or are they ignorant or even manipulative? Some want to increase the welfare state in the name of "helping the poor", but maybe that just makes people more complacent and dependent, robbing them of the drive to change or get a job or whatever. "Give a man a fish" vs "Teach him how to fish." Maybe we need to teach fishing more often, enabling people to take care of themselves, restoring their sense of dignity and pride.

And what about all these "undocumented immigrants?" Some people think they should have full rights like American citizens?! Drivers licenses, in-state tuition, safe havens... what in the world?? Just because they managed to sneak across the border and their own country is poor? What about all the people sitting on waiting lists to get into this country the legal way? If you want open borders, then tell everyone to come on in! But don't discriminate based on who has easier access. Maybe Americans could give up their citizenship and sneak back in and then we'd all have free healthcare.

Free healthcare? Government healthcare? Socialism? Just like Great Britain and Canada where you have ridiculously long waits and people turn to self-treating or private doctors anyway? Wow, that sounds great. How about some sort of transparency and accountability in healthcare? (My own doctor's office could not tell me how much a physical costs when I called them - "it depends.") Doesn't anyone have good ideas and the courage to stand up for them? Would they get any publicity or media attention if they did? Could they get elected?

Sigh! Sometimes it's happier to not pay attention to what's going on in the world. Ignorance is bliss, right?

Pondering Churches

There's a church in our area that puts up signs advertising themselves as a come-as-you-are church especially for people with tattoos, I guess (like the guy in the ad's picture). It causes me to start pondering questions which may not really need to be answered, but just float around in my head anyway. Like do tattooed people really need a separate church? Is this a form of segregation? Isn't the church a body made up of all different kinds of parts?

I must confess I haven't been to this particular church in question, but I've been to different kinds of churches... contemporary, liturgical, charismatic, etc. I realize this particular church is trying to emphasize that God is approachable and loving, both of which are true. But God is very multi-faceted, and I wonder if, in our attempt to know Him and share His love with others, we too easily lose sight of much of His complexity that makes Him so mysterious and beautiful to begin with. Yes, God is approachable, but He is also holy and to be feared/honored/respected. Does that aspect get left out when we try to make God so "cool"? He is like the proverbial elephant described by the blind men, each of whom get to touch a different part of it, and they all describe the elephant in completely different ways, though it is one creature. (Just to be clear, this is not a valid example for arguing that all religions are equally true, it's all the same god, blah, blah, blah...)

Also, I love contemporary worship music, but I wonder at what point in church does it cross the line to become too much like entertainment (a concert or performance)? Perhaps that just depends on how individuals receive it personally... whether it brings them really into worship or creates distance for them and I guess they should go elsewhere. Of course, no church is perfect because we are not perfect, but sometimes I just wonder about things.

Ramblings on Bugs

The butterflies are migrating south, right past my house, it seems. One after another, yellow butterflies and orange and black butterflies flutter by, with some of them stopping to drink from our flowers. When Will sees one, he points and yells "Bah!" (which is about the same thing he says for "boat" and "ball"). Anna chases after them. I remember when I was a kid chasing butterflies with my net. When I caught one, my mom and I would put it in a jar with a little cottonball dipped in rubbing alcohol, I think, that would "put it to sleep" so we could mount the pretty thing and display it. I am appalled by the very thought of it now, but at the time it did not occur to me that we were actually killing the poor little butterflies.
:(

And whatever happened to all the lightning bugs? Do you guys up north still have lightning bugs? We had so many in New Jersey every summer night, all over the neighborhood. And I remember some lightning bugs when we moved south, but they seem to have disappeared now, which is sad. Or maybe I just don't live in a good lightning bug neighborhood. We have plenty of other bugs, though! Enough rambling for now - away with me!

Oktoberfest

So we went to Oktoberfest on Saturday with my parents. It was nice. We tried to see the weiner dog race, but it was impossible to see due to the shortness of said dogs combined with the density of the crowd that got there before we did. But we did see lots of weiner dogs walking around (as well as other dogs), and Anna and Will got to pet some of them. There was a lot of beautiful art there, and Anna made some crafts at the kids' area. Will was determined to ride a boat, trying repeatedly to run down the boat ramps. Maybe next time we're down on River Street, we'll ride the ferry across the river (which we've done before), but it didn't seem practical with my parents along.

Of course, there was food, too. We ate some German funnel cake (?). There wasn't really much German food at all except for those sausages (bratwurst and such), which I don't like one bit (it's a texture thing)! Anyway, we drove out toward the beach and ate at Barbara Jean's Restaurant, which is Southern style cooking, kinda like Paula Deen's place but without the hype and the lines.

Other than that, I've been trying to organize my house better, but it's a slow process. I have trouble figuring out what I need to buy to maximize my space - cabinets, shelves, etc - and how to make it all work together. I saw a show on HGTV the other night that inspired me. It was called "Fun Shui" (spelling?), a play on Feng Shui. While I don't buy into some of their ideas about energy escaping out the back door or whatever, it did make sense that your environment can help you be more focused and peaceful, etc when it's in good order. Jon always gets nervous when I start tackling projects in the house, but so far I think he likes the results. Anyway, blah, blah, blah...

Reflections on Glitter

In my continuing quest to find new and fun ways to keep my little people busy, the thought came to me... glitter! I have fond childhood memories of squeezing glue and sprinkling glitter to make lovely pictures, so I thought it was time for Anna (not Will - he would surely eat it and throw it!) to share in the joys of glitter (especially since she loves all things sparkly). We've tried those glitter glue tubes that seem like such a good idea, but Anna's little fingers aren't strong enough to get the glue out, so I would end up squeezing glue wherever she wants it, which is ok I guess, but it's not really her doing something fun at that point. So last Wednesday I was at the craft store while Anna was in ballet class, and I succeeded in finding real glitter (which has proved quite difficult to locate with all the glitter glue out there now).

Anna was delighted a few days later when I pulled out the glitter for her to make pictures and decorate a wooden pumpkin picture. She immediately set to work on her creations... squeezing excessive amounts of glue and sprinkling even more glitter, having a blast all the while. Glitter was a definite hit... especially considering it kept her happily occupied for a good half hour or more. There is one downside to all this glitter, though. Glitter is really tiny, and it scatters easily so that, even after "cleaning up", there is still residual glitter lurking about. I'm not sure it's possible to truly clean up all the glitter. Plus, glitter is like those little seeds on those tall weeds that grow in the grass... the ones that stick to your shoes and socks as you walk through... it catches a ride on clothes, feet, dogs, etc in order to relocate to another part of the house where it hopes to go unnoticed and unsuspected indefinitely. I am certain that, if you were to come visit me in a month, you would run a good chance of having some glitter attach itself to you from seemingly out of nowhere, and it would be from our craft projects last week. Glitter is here to stay.