weikalpedia

a friendly letter

2009-05-22T05:49:00.000-07:00

So one of the writing tasks in first grade is learning to write a friendly letter. I just have to share a few excerpts from letters that made their way to our home this week...

Dear Adam,
I am your friend. Is Curtis also your friend? I hope not.

(We had a little discussion about this one!)

OK, I'll have to edit this post later when I find the other funny one...but here is a nice little piece of writing by Titus....

One day Billy met Silly. Silly said, "Can we be friends?" Billy said, "We are already friends!" Silly said, "Great!" So they talked and talked and talked.

The end.

another first

2009-05-18T17:46:00.000-07:00

Titus scored his very first goal ever in his soccer game tonight. Way to go Titus! He made a run too - took the ball at about 1/3 into his backfield, crossed mid-field, kept kicking it past the defenders, winning the ball, and making his way to the goal box...and then he did it!

It wasn't the perfect picture of ball control by any means, but he was aggressive and persistent.

mother's day

2009-05-11T19:23:00.000-07:00

This year for Mother's Day, I received a morning glory planted in a green plastic cup decorated with foam cutouts. And a letter. They were left as a surprise for me by the computer on Sunday morning. Here's what the letter said:

Dear Mom,
I made this plant just for you. I love you and this is a morning glory. When it bloms you shlud see it in the morning and that is why it is called a morning glory. This is how I planted my flower. First I planted the seed. Sukinly I wated and wated. Last I put soil and sand in the cup. I love you and happy Mother's day.

Love, Titus

PS I (heart) you

That was a heart, not the word heart in parentheses by the way :-)

Super cute. He even underlined the words he doesn't know how to spell. Then last night he told me that he wished every day was Mother's Day so that he could tell me how much he loves me.

I love being a mom!

shel silverstein...titus' poetry muse

2009-03-24T20:25:00.000-07:00

Today, apparently after having his teacher read Shel Silverstein poems, Titus was inspired to write one of his own. Check it out...He even included a title, his name and age, and had the lines, punctuation, and line breaks as written below.

Cluk. Cluk. by Titus W. age 6

An egg lay
in a nest of
hay. Cluk. Cluk.
He took his
shell away.

Some dreams fulfilled

2009-03-01T07:37:00.000-08:00

A few highlights so far from San Francisco:

- Chatting biz with education reporters from, among other places, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Sun-Times.

- Gossiping about The Wire with the Education Writers Association's education editor, Linda Perlstein. It turns out that Linda, who lives in Baltimore, is a good friend of the creators of The Wire (a show to which Nancy & I recently became addicted). At bar mitzvah, Linda danced and kissed the actor who plays McNulty. She says he's very "flirty." Sigh.

- While walking to The SF Chronicle, getting asked by an obviously drug-addled woman to purchase a cell phone for $3. I demurred.

- Meeting some very old school reporters in the Chronicle's newsroom. These are guys with 30 or 40 years under their belts. They remember when drinking and smoking were just allowed in the newsroom, but required.

- Seeing some hand-edited pages of Herb Caen columns. I nearly cried.

Well, that's enough for now. I'm off by BART and CalTrains to see the fam in the west bay. Peace.

ray is such a stud writer

2009-02-26T18:03:00.000-08:00

So it is awards season again. As many of you know, Ray has won awards at both Des Moines Area Community College and the University of Iowa for his writing. He has also won awards from both the Iowa Newspaper Assoc. and the Missouri Press for stories he has written on the job. But today he found out that he just won his first national level award! Way to go hubby!

In fact, Ray won two national awards doled out by the Suburban Newspapers of America. He is the education reporter for two papers originating from the same Northland office, one covering Clay Co. and the other covering Platte Co. He can correct me if I'm wrong, but the details are as follows:

Sun-Gazette won 3rd place for education coverage
Sun-Tribune won 2nd place for education coverage

Pretty good, huh?

happy little update

2009-02-25T06:47:00.000-08:00

this morning ray had an interview with the northtown high school principal. i had interviewed with him last summer for a school counselor position that i didn't get. at the time, he said he really wanted to find a place for me on their staff and told me to get in touch with him in the spring.

with my recent resignation from the kcmo school district, ray and i kind of figured i had ruined my chances for a job with nkc schools for a few years. however, in their conversation this morning, ray was able to fill dan in on my situation. dan said that he still really wants me on board. he added that he felt like we really personally connected and then gave me some nice compliments (that i'm talented and intelligent...).

so, i'm hopeful that maybe i'll be back in the schools next fall. keep your fingers crossed, pray for me, rub that lucky rabbit's foot, make an offering to the job gods...i'll take all good fortune for a job at northtown!

one week down

2009-02-14T10:33:00.000-08:00

So I entered back into the work force this week. It was a big adjustment getting dressed everyday! I really slipped into full unemployment mode there for a while. I really have a generous boss - when I was interviewed and we discussed my hours, I requested that I be able to either take Titus to school or be able to pick him up. Furthermore, I told him that on Tues & Thurs, I need to be able to pick him up due to Ray's work. He created a schedule just for me. I now work M, W, F 10 am to 6 pm and Tu, Th 10 am to 3 pm. I get to take Titus to school everyday. I love it.

I also love what I'm doing. I have this deep desire to help people. It is so rewarding to meet with my students and help them along their path of self-development. In just one week, I'm pretty enamored with D. who comes every day to work on her GED, L. who is a very bright, quiet woman who wants to go to massage school but can't until she passes her GED. Both are motivated by wanting to be able to be better providers for the little ones in their lives - a granddaughter and a son. They are lovely women. I'm blessed to be their teacher and guide on this part of their journey.

Of course, it is nice to have students say in just a few hours with them that they feel encouraged and respected by how I talk to them and how I'm explaining the rationale of their educational paths. I love it. I am able to combine my counseling skills and educational skills in a way that people are hungry to experience. It gives them hope to see how they can get to their goal and make their lives what they know they need to be. When I was preparing to see my first client during my counseling internship, my supervisor said "give them hope". I've never forgotten that. And over the years, I've become more adept at assessing the strengths people have, hearing their fears and desires, and speaking words that bring comfort. It is so powerful to understand their motivation, hear their goal, and lay out a plan for how they can get there. And then, enter their journey with grace and love and kindness. Can you tell I love my job?

Then there are my ELL students - a physician from Argentina, a mom and her adult children from Honduras, a man from Mexico and his friend...they are working so hard. And it is so fun to spend time with them learning English. I have a lot to learn in my effort to be an effective teacher for them, but it will come. And I have a great co-teacher, Patricio...a journalist, musician, and political junkie. What a cool group of KIND people I get to spend time with!

The nice thing is that I'm not feeling any new job honeymoon-high. I'm too beat up from my last gig to think that all will be peachy. But, I'm certainly appreciating the good things about Whatsoever.

And one last thought...yesterday my boss came in and said I'm getting a raise. It's been a good week.

coolest valentine ever

2009-02-13T20:05:00.000-08:00

whatsoever community center

2009-01-26T10:49:00.001-08:00

So today I met with one of the directors at the Whatsoever Community Center. (The center is in an old school on 12th St, not far from I-435. They have been around nearly 100 years...yes, a century of community based social services.) I had responded to a Craig's List posting for an early childhood teacher working with infants to 18 month olds. I thought it might be a nice way to be around babies. The director had emailed to set up an appointment and suggested that they might have another position for me to consider.

Anyway, the other job is a hybrid of GED teacher (more like case manager/tutor), job skills/computer skills trainer, and ESL teacher. I am so excited about the possibility! I have wanted to work in ESL for a long time, but have never had the right opportunity. Plus the educational and counseling elements are a great fit. I really think I would love working with this team and could put my all of my assets to good use!

I'll be meeting with the executive director and youth services director some time this week. Keep us in your thoughts. It isn't easy being unemployed!

Our new Prez in his new ride

2009-01-22T13:54:00.001-08:00

Streaming inauguration

2009-01-19T13:48:00.000-08:00

Hulu is offering steaming, live online coverage of the inauguration on Tuesday. Check it here or on Hulu's Web site:

the big part-ay

2009-01-13T14:26:00.000-08:00

Monday night we were the guests of our friend, State Representative Trent Skaggs, at the Missouri Governor's Inaugural Ball in Jefferson City. It was a blast. The building is magnificent and was packed out with people dressed to the nines. Offices line the perimeter of the first two floors and tables full of food and drinks lined the halls. Here's a little pictorial sampler of our night.

the beatles

2009-01-09T13:56:00.000-08:00

ray has successfully passed on his love of the beatles to titus, who now goes to sleep every night being serenaded by the fab four. last night, when putting him to bed, titus said to me. "mom, every time i see cate or ella i start singing this song." want to guess what it was? "I Want to Hold Your Hand". he's got it bad.

bffsmias

2009-01-06T16:04:00.001-08:00

The daily ritual goes something like this. "How was your day?" "Great. I stayed on red." "Good job buddy. What was the best part of your day?" "Recess/music/that we had pizza for lunch." But not today.

"How was your day?" "Uh, I'm so mad at Kylie. She told everything I said to everybody." "She told everybody?" "Well, no. Just Cate." "What did she tell Cate?" "That she's not my bffsm." "Your bff...s..m?" "Yeah, Cate was my bffsm but now Ella is and Kylie kept trying to hear everything she wasn't supposed to hear and then she told Cate and then Cate got mad at me because I said she isn't my bffsm." "What's a bffsm?" "Best friend forever sister marry." "Sister marry?" "Yeah, s, you love like a sister; m, you want to marry them. So ever since Ella invited me to the ball she is my bffsm and Kylie told Cate and she wasn't supposed to."

Then there were feeble attempts to try to get Titus to see that he's only six and that lovers' triangles are confusing entanglements that are best avoided by appreciating the outstanding qualities of individuals and that labels such as BFF, BF, BFFSM, BFFS...although purposeful, really can end up hurting people's feelings. Even though none of that hurts yours.

And then came a few more minutes of clarity. "So, mom, how many people can you marry?" "Only one at a time, but you can love as many people as you want. I thought Cate was the nicest person you've ever met." "She is. That's why she's my bffs...but I think I'll make her a bffsm too."

"And what about Grace Middleton?" "Just a minute. (At this point, Titus ducked down in the back seat for about 30 seconds and then returned to his perch on the console by my driver's seat.) She's my bffias. Bffias? Yeah, my best friend forever in another state."

I guess my advice about labels will need more time to soak in.

inauguration

2009-01-03T16:24:00.000-08:00

so this will be the only year in history that we have two official inaugural letters at our place - one saying we have tickets to the presidential inauguration and one saying we are invited to the missouri governor's ball and inauguration festivities in jeff city.

kind of cool. but here's the best part. we'll get to party with our friends trent & amanda and their kiddos - ella, cora, and levi. ella and titus have been classmates for the past two years. we try very hard not to marry off our 6 year olds. the little master needed some fancy duds. it's nice that at age 6 you can get fancy duds for $20.

recently ella asked titus if he thought that going to the ball with her was kind of like a date. he said yes. she said, well it's not. all i can say is get used to it son...there is life time of confusion ahead!

edamame brittle

2008-12-27T10:04:00.001-08:00

I am not a candy maker. But I just had to try this recipe - especially since I'm going to a party tonight that includes a mountain of confectionery goodness.

If you're not aware of edamame, then let me educate you. Edamame is a type of soy bean that is the only vegetable that provides complete protein - yep all of the amino acids are there. Anyway, we usually buy them frozen from Sam's Club. You nuke the little pack of blanched beans in their pods and then toss them with some sea salt. Delicious.

But here's the cool thing. You can use them as a substitute for peanuts and make a super tasty brittle. In contrast to peanuts, which are high in fat, edamame a low fat, high in fiber and protein of course. So although you still use a boat load of sugar, the nutritional value is very high.

Here's Alton Brown's recipe from Good Eats - The little bit of cayenne adds a great kick - the perfect balance of nutty, sweet, salty, and savory...

Ingredients

* 7 ounces dry roasted edamame
* 1 tablespoon soy sauce
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 pound 6 ounces sugar
* 12 ounces water

Directions

Place the edamame, soy sauce, cayenne pepper and salt into a small mixing bowl and stir to combine.

Line a half sheet pan with a silicone baking mat.

Place a 3-quart saucier inside a large cast iron skillet. Add the sugar and water to the saucier, and cook over high heat, stirring occasionally with a wooden spoon, until it comes to a boil. Stop stirring, cover, and cook for 3 minutes. Uncover, reduce heat to medium, and cook until the sugar is a light amber color, approximately 25 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the edamame mixture. Working quickly, pour the mixture onto the prepared half sheet pan and spread thin with an oiled spatula. You will have to work quickly when pouring out and spreading the mixture in the pan. Cool completely, approximately 30 minutes, and then break into pieces. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

dogality

2008-12-24T15:00:00.000-08:00

"Mom, you still haven't told to me what dogality is." "What are you talking about Titus?" "Well, you explained what personality is for a person, but you haven't explained what dogality is for a dog!" "Right you are my son. Right you are." "But mom, what would dogality be?" "Well, it would be all of the things a dog is like. Loyal, playful..." "Not bad, friendly." "You got it son."

Willie Nelson on the Colbert Christmas Special

2008-12-19T20:24:00.000-08:00

My apologies to our sensitive readers...this was just too funny!

Too much time on his hands?

2008-12-05T13:47:00.000-08:00

This is a really very funny video of a dude doing a real life version of Mario Kart. Don't try this at home, kids!

penultimate!

2008-11-28T14:01:00.000-08:00

gotta love the homophones

2008-11-23T06:07:00.000-08:00

pencil obama

2008-11-17T14:43:00.000-08:00

A few days after the election, my students and I spent some time drawing our new president. I had such a good time drawing! I actually was the last one still working on my picture, and deciding I should probably get back to teaching rather than simply participating, I hurried through the lower part of the face...which is obvious! Anyway, here's a slide show of my drawing with a little extra emphasis on the parts I love.

remember melinda?

2008-11-17T05:02:00.000-08:00

Last night while sitting at Starbucks, I heard "My Funny Valentine". I had flashbacks to my friend Ruben singing to Kesia at their wedding and Ray singing "Nancy With the Laughing Face" to me at our wedding, but the best flashback (sorry fellas) was remembering Melinda Doolittle's absolutely dope performance of MFV on American Idol a couple of years ago...it is worth listening to again. And again.

kansas city's holiday songbirds

2008-11-12T18:32:00.000-08:00

So one of my dear friends, Emily, is music personified. Its just what she does. And one of the cool things she organizes is a holiday season all-girl band called "The Sugar Plums". Tuesday night I was confessing to Emily my jealousy of my friend Mindy who is singing in the band. I received an immediate invitation to join. That was easy.

We'll be doing a lot of rehearsing over the next couple of weeks and even more performing in the month of December. It should be a lot of fun. Nice to be doing something out in the community and extraordinarily nice to be singing again!

Oh, and I should add that all of our proceeds will be going to a very cool non-profit org called Wuqu' Kawoq, which supports indigenous Mayan groups in Guatemala through medical and language work.

Check us out on facebook or myspace...

one for the ages

2008-11-05T17:31:00.001-08:00

Last night was a great culmination to months of hoping and hours of CNN watching. Like so many other Americans, this election meant more than any other I've ever been a part of. We had a great time watching the results unfold with some of our friends and got a picture of the boys on this historic night.

Today one of my students was making a power point presentation about the election. He gathered ten or fifteen pictures of Barack - one in a gray superman costume, several from the campaign trail, and then, much to my initial displeasure, several photo-shopped images of Barack's head attached to ripped abs sporting gangster tats, and throwing up gang signs.

During our conversation about the choices of his content, the student said he liked the images. Far from being disrespectful, they actually showed admiration. The images were appealing because they brought an admired man into this boy's world - the street.

Of course, part of me thought "No, he's supposed to inspire you to reach higher and envision a life outside of the violence and destruction of gangs and guns. You're supposed to want to be like him." And then I thought about the incarnation. There is great comfort in knowing that someone you admire, someone who is worlds away from you, will enter your world. That's a beautiful story.

Big is beautiful

2008-10-17T06:26:00.000-07:00

So I went to see Broken Social Scene last night at the Beaumont Club in KC's cool and slightly seedy Westport neighborhood. I'm getting closer to something like old, as I'm feeling in almost every part of my body the hazy afterglow of a great show.

I appreciate a great power trio and opening act Land of Talk was a very tasty musical morsel. I liked them so much I bought their new CD, "Some Are Lakes." Definitely worth a listen. Lead singer reminds me a lot of early, teen-aged Natalie Merchant-era 10,000 Maniacs, when they were still punk. The title track is particularly fun.

How do I describe Broken Social Scene? Hmm...

Most things I've read about the band feel compelled to mention that they're great (which they are) and that they're from Canada, as if that's some remarkable point. I don't see why. Our neighbors to the north produced Rush, after all, still one of the greatest prog rock outfits ever. And if Iceland can give birth to Bjork, Canada certainly has the right to rock greatness.

BSS is big music.

Every once in a while the goddess of music transits her hand across the aural constellations and lines things up in the same place at the same time and something transcendent happens. In 1999, that happened in Montreal, and BSS was born, a motley crew of musical polymaths who strayed from one instrument to the other during a non-stop set that lasted two hours and was still going strong when I left the club slightly before midnight.

BSS is wonderful. They're a stone soup of influences: the Clash, P/Funk, Green Day. They love to interweave staccato guitar lines with quiet, tension-filled moments that build and build until you realize the barbarians are definitely at the gates and actually you've been overrun and you might as well slap on face paint and start dancing like everybody else. Tribal.

Co-founder Kevin Drew (below left) is the group's frontman, in as much as he sang slightly more than anyone else. If Warren Beatty's character from "McCabe & Mrs. Miller," (below right) instead of being shot to death, was transported to 2008 and made a alt rocker, that's Drew. Fellow BSS founder and bassist Brendan Canning had some fun, including some old school stage diving. It's not fair, I know, but Canning sounds uncannily like Rush bassist and lead singer Geddy Lee. Is it a Canadian thing? Either way, Canning and Drew have built an impressive stable of fine musicians, which is always a good thing.

I know that BSS is sometimes called (or accused of being) a jam band. I'll deny that 'till the day I die. Every song they played was composed. It had a pointed beginning, middle and end, with appropriate--though not predictable--rising and falling motions throughout. There was purpose to their noise making. They may share some traits with jam bands, in as much as they're very democratic while on stage. But they're not a jam band, and I don't want to hear another word about it.

One shoutout: Though everyone else had some time in the green room during the show, drummer Justin Peroff (left) sat on his throne and kept the band's musical "stuff" together. That's the hardest working man in show business these days.

Two revelations: (1) BSS has the best brass section I've heard since I last saw B.B. King, and they were used perfectly to spice things up. (2) Guitarist (and sometimes bass player) Andrew Whiteman (right) was easily the most charismatic person on stage and his playing was brilliant. Wielding his guitar like a red cape, he posed and strutted like a torero at a Spanish bull fight. Whiteman also helms the band Apostle of Hustle, and I want to hear more.

getting my bona fides

2008-10-15T12:54:00.000-07:00

It's official. I'm now a hard-core veteran teacher of inner city juvenile delinquents. Thirty minutes into my work day, the students came down stairs. And one little fellow just wasn't going to cooperate. Who knew that a second request for him to get his binder would rouse the sleeping monster within. He let out a growl and slugged me in the right hip. Good thing there is a lot of extra padding. After my adrenaline subsided, I did feel a bit of a sting for a while.

The poor kid. He really needs to be in a psychiatric hospital setting. But until then, he better be in lock-up. Assaulting a teacher is not a good addition to a wrap-sheet.

a perfect fall saturday

2008-10-14T04:14:00.000-07:00

Up at 6:30. Work on refinishing the front door.
8:30 go to KMart to buy a new pair of soccer shin guards.
10:00 head to soccer game.
11:15 picnic with soccer team.
12:30 drive to Bonner Springs for the Renaissance Festival.
6:30 eat dinner at Bo Lings in City Market.
8:00 watch the Hawks destroy the Hoosiers.

A perfect day!

Well, duh...

2008-10-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

So the other day we're in the car on the way to church, talking about Cascone's Restaurant, an old school KC institution on North Oak Parkway.

Titus asks, "What restaurant?"

"It's the one we pass when we're taking you school," we reply. "The one with the sign shaped like a diamond."

"No," Titus says, "it's a rhombus."

Getting real

2008-10-06T07:28:00.000-07:00

An interesting take on the VP debate by a couple of academics.

"Biden vs. Palin - Movement Analysis Defines Who Won the Debate"

By:Karen Kohn Bradley
Associate Professor
Certified Movement Analyst
University of Maryland

and

Karen Studd
Associate Professor
Certified Movement Analyst
George Mason University

Sarah Palin lost the room immediately after Joe Biden got real.

Until that moment, the debate had been a farrago of swirling facts, shuffling notes, and competing spins, with the occasional Palin wink and smile at the people in TV land. On a movement level, both the Vice-Presidential candidates showed a sense of urgency, and the increasing speed of their deliveries overcame whatever meaning the sound bites had. About halfway through, all of us, Gwen Ifill included, were headed into a trance, as if we were watching a merry-go-round spin faster and faster, punctuated only by those strange smiles.

What about those smiles? Not exactly heartfelt or even remotely resembling pleasure, the candidates took turns smiling during the other’s answers. Each time, it appeared that a choice had been made: to smile rather than “go negative”.

Palin was narrow in posture and gesture and directed herself to the camera, reaching forward, advancing and committing to a course of action. Biden was a little more open, gathering information and presenting a broader range of options. Both were very good at letting people see these stylistic differences, making the choice much clearer.

But then, Palin made the wrong choice. Once again she spewed her talking points, completely failing to notice that Biden had just produced an extraordinary answer — an answer not about policy, but about himself. Biden made a direct and powerful connection with the American people, the very "Joe Six Pac—soccer mom" voters Palin had been rhetorically and repetitively attempting to own. Palin was incapable of responding to this authentic moment, which was rich with nonverbal information about Joe Biden as a father, a parent, and a public servant. Instead Palin just stood there, looking straight at the camera, with not a moment of concern or compassion in response to what Biden had revealed.

Why this moment was the critical moment: movement reveals a great deal about how people make decisions, how they tackle problems, and how they relate to others. Too many "body language" experts focus on a particular gesture or body part. In our movement analysis, we look at the movement "event" as a part of the individual's style. The movement event we saw Thursday night was authentic honest emotion. Joe Biden choked up. And then he pressed on.

No pitches for sympathy, no lingering in that emotion. He felt it, squelched it, and took it to a universal level, relating his own terrible experience to that of many Americans. At that moment, millions of viewers understood the role of a leader: to take one's own struggles and challenges and to relate wisdom gained to the situations at hand.

A stunning moment indeed and Sarah Palin missed it.

Karen Kohn Bradley and Karen Studd are Laban Certified Movement Analysts, who study the nonverbal and movement behaviors of political leaders.

2008-10-04T12:58:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite bands, Broken Social Scene, and one of their best songs, "7/4 Shoreline." I'm going to see them at the Beaumont Club on Oct. 16 in KC. Still looking for someone to join me, since it's not really Nancy's thing.

connecting with my students

2008-09-26T21:55:00.000-07:00

Hands down, my students' favorite TV show is "Family Guy". And, as I admitted to them, I have not seen even one episode, though I do know it is an animated show. Well, in my night owl mode tonight, I decided now is the time to check it out. If all of the show is this funny, I may have to start watching it.

and out it came...chapter 1

2008-09-20T13:24:00.001-07:00

Yesterday Titus' principal was offering to help pull out those wiggly teeth. "I have a special tool in my office that can pull those right out. Come on, Titus." "He's just kidding Mom", Titus informed me. I guess they didn't need any help.

Shortly after lunch, Titus realized that he now has only one wiggly tooth. Oops. So the search began. We had stripped the beds for the weekly laundry and a first look around the house yielded nothing. But just as I started to vacuum under T's bed, I spotted the missing tooth. There it was, hiding out under the bed. Boy was Titus glad. "Extra money for the weekend!"

Here's the obligatory gap toothed grin pictures!

Titus' First Soccer Game

2008-09-16T18:01:00.001-07:00

Tonight the Pythons played to an exciting 2-2 tie in their first game of the season. Titus played goalie for the first half of the game and was 1-1 on saves. He also struck a few wonderful poses for the adoring soccer mom. He had a lot of fun, which is the important thing, right? And all in all, it was pretty well played - kids went the right direction (most of the time), remembered not to pick up the ball (almost all of the time), and did their best (all of the time).

It was a perfect evening - California weather, as we like to say.

Reporter Ray Brings It Home Again

2008-09-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Ray attended the Missouri Press Foundation's award banquet in Columbia. Continuing in his award-winning tradition, he brought home an honorable mention award for best story in education. The piece was one about a local middle school adding vegan lunch alternatives to the menu in response to the request of several students. Here's what they said about his article.

"For some, this would've been 'in other business' in a school board story. Good eye to see potential here."

In addition, the paper he writes for was selected as the number one paper in its class (papers with the largest circulation) of weeklies.

It is exciting for him to working for such an outstanding paper and a group of talented colleagues.

The current award is based on articles he wrote from his date of hire, August 1, 2007, through the end of the 2007 calendar year. I expect he'll get more awards next year when they have 12 months of stories to select from. Can you tell I'm proud of my hubby?

PS. Speaking of being proud. Titus recently was evaluated for the gifted education program in NKC schools, called Sage. The report indicates his IQ is in the top 0.4% of the population. Pretty cool, huh?

What I Love About Sarah Palin

2008-09-13T07:32:00.000-07:00

Believe it or not, I am a Sarah Palin fan. Especially after watching her interview with Charlie Gibson.

SP definitely is a woman of great courage and vision. She conveys the strength that one could easily follow. I like her for that. I like her for standing up to public scrutiny and believing in her self. I want to be like that. I am in some ways. And in the ways I'm not, I am challenged to forge on. (I'm also curious about her inner dialogue. Does she ever doubt her self? Does she ever think she can't make it in the face of criticism, criticism that says "you're not good enough"?) Sarah Palin inspires me because she is a woman who has and continues to stand in sectors historically occupied by men.

For all of that I say, "Go Sarah! Uh-huh! Go Sarah!"

But that is where it ends for me. I love Sarah Palin the figure, but would never want her to represent or govern the United States of America on a international level. She knows about Russia because she can see it from Alaska. Well, what does she know? She already backed herself into a corner committing our country to war against Russia should they invade Georgia. Which they did. Crap. Another tough talking saber-rattling leader.

She thinks we can march right into Pakistan without their consent or cooperation if we have reason to do so. Yikes. Now we're warring with Pakistan too. Think of it. What if Russia, her next door neighbor, brought their military right into Alaska in pursuit of someone they were hunting ineffectively for 7 years with all of their military force destroying homes, infrastructure, civilian lives - rounding up "evil doers" and holing them in Russian prisons - all with no regard to our wishes. We are all spooked because Russia is doing military exercises with Venezuela. How does she think the rest of the world sees us?

And then there are the bureaucracies and efficiencies. What? I could talk in such generalities about what our government should do.

So my objections are not to her. I really do kind of like her. I admire a lot about her. The problem is she is ignorant when it comes to national domestic issues and international issues.

My husband always likes to use the phrase "The Peter Principle" - when one rises to their level of incompetency. They work their way up to increasingly larger stages - say, PTA pres, small town mayor, governor of the least populated state in America - and because of their success they get an opportunity to do something for which they are imminently unqualified. SP fits the description, wouldn't you say?

mccain highlights

2008-09-10T17:40:00.000-07:00

gotta love the kcmo school district

2008-08-16T10:08:00.000-07:00

I just read in the KC Star that the KCMOsd board is going to ax the reading curriculum they have had for the past two years. Duh. It takes a longer investment to get good data on the results. That is just one problem. How about this? They are axing it for this school year, which starts on the 25th.

I just spent the past three days being trained to do reading instruction with Success for All, our district reading curriculum - well, until last night, that is.

A response to the article posted on the Star website by a district parent/teacher said that part of the problem is that the board makes decisions without consulting the teachers & administrators. What a mess. There was also an accusation of board members getting kick-backs from publishing companies for using their materials. What a mess.

I'll just have to remember that in the midst of all this mess that I am diving into are some kids who really need someone to believe in them and teach them. I'm just wondering what in the heck I'm supposed to use to get that job done!

ozark mountain get-away

2008-08-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

When I was a kid we'd meet my Oklahoma cousins in the Ozarks for a week of skiing and family fun. I couldn't help but reminisce this week as we swam in the same lake, drove the same winding roads, and took in the same scenes of beautiful southern Missouri.

Though Branson is now over-run with live shows, we took in only one - Dolly Parton's Dixie Stampede. I'm a huge Dolly Parton fan, which may surprise some of you. She is one of the most talented song-writers and business minds in American history. If you can see past her cartoon boobies, and look at her career, you'll find an amazing woman. OK, so the show was a bit hokey, but it was very well produced, fun, and entertaining - yes, there were pig races, ostrich races, and horseshoes played with toilet seats - but, like I said, the gestalt was impressive and enjoyable.

Beyond that, our time consisted of mini-golf and a day on the lake. Titus and Ray played a total of four courses. (I sat one out and went shopping.) But the hands down favorite was the Pirates Cove course. We decided early on that we needed a moratorium on complaining about the heat - we dripped sweat every time we went out and unfortunately the resort pool became an over-sized hot tub. The only way to cool down was to take a cold shower and hang out in the AC - a remedy we also practiced regularly.

Enjoy some pix...

free at last

2008-07-31T13:06:00.000-07:00

I got the call today. The good news call, that is. I will be the lead teacher at Jackson House, an alternative residential center with the KCMO school district. Although the facility is not conventional, the position is classified as a standard teaching position which means a regular school day, vacations, in-service workshops, benefits, etc.

My commute will be about 15 minutes. If you're familiar with KC at all, I'll be working just a few blocks from the Crown Center. I have much to learn about the facility. All that I know is that it is a boys only facility for kids involved with the courts system. We have a max of 15 kids at a time, and they use an educational software program called Plato. I will be part of a team, with specific responsibilities for the academic portion of the day. Kids will be there from 2 or 3 days to 2 or 3 weeks.

Beyond that, I have no clue! What an adventure, huh? I feel equipped for what lies ahead and know that at least prep and grading will be minimal. As the director said, what these boys need is someone to love them and care for them. I'm up for that.

Perhaps the best part is that my 11 month stint as an emergency dispatch operator at ADT is DONE!

about the job

2008-07-22T11:44:00.000-07:00

Well, I just opened the flush letter from NKCSD. If you read our blog, talk to me, or see my facebook page, you know I've been waiting for a LONG time to hear the verdict on my three interviews. You also know that I've been pretty confident that I'd get the job.

Yesterday we got a little insider info that suggests I won't be getting an offer. I'm very bummed. But I'm also able to keep things in perspective. It still is my dream job, and maybe one day I'll get to work there. But for now, it looks like I'll be doing something else which will probably not allow me to walk to work.

I had an interview this morning with the KCMO School District for a teaching position with their alternative schools. There were three options, two of which are teaching, the other working as a discipline coordinator in support of teaching staff at a K-8 building (not something I'm interested in for a variety of reasons). They plan to let me know next week. Both would be challenging and rewarding work. I'm kind of leaning in preference toward being the lead teacher at a facility called Jackson House, a transitional housing facility for boys. I would coordinate their academic work. The boys are there anywhere from a few days to a few weeks. The other option is a more traditional alternative school for grades 9-12 where I would teach language arts.

I'll keep you all posted. Seems like I'll be offered a position, but who knows.

the end is near

2008-07-10T13:14:00.000-07:00

Hey sports fans...I just got home from my final interview for the counselor position at Northtown. It went very well, I'd say. I interviewed with the principal and the two co-chairs of the counseling department. The word is that a decision will be made and the central office notified tomorrow. Who knows how long it will take the central office to notify me of the status...

So...thanks for all of your encouraging words, your prayers, and your expressed interest. I hope to have news real soon...and let it be good news, right?

horrible news

2008-07-07T07:24:00.000-07:00

Our dear friend Jeremy was killed in a motorcycle accident last night. Jeremy was one of the liveliest guys I've ever known - bright, warm, caring. Please be praying for Jeremy's fiance, Tina, and their little boy, Quentin, who turned one this spring, as well as Jeremy's family. They are all so dear to me and Ray.

SWISHER - An Iowa City man was killed and five other people were injured — including three young children — when a motorcycle collided with a car Sunday.

Jeremy R. Brenneman, 23, was pronounced dead after the motorcycle he was driving collided head-on with the car on Highway 965 at Cou Falls Road south of Swisher around 6:30 p.m., according to the Iowa State Patrol. Deputies reported that Brenneman was southbound on Highway 965 when he collided with the car turning west on Cou Falls Road. He was thrown from the bike.

The driver of the car was Mohammed A. Alterbal, 33, of Cedar Rapids. He was injured, along with Lisa Alterbal, 33, Aliyah Alterbal, 3, Hazma Alterbal, 1, and Bethany Campbell, 9, all of Cedar Rapids.

They were all transported to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, where information about their conditions was not immediately available.

An investigation into the incident continues.

anticipation

2008-07-07T01:42:00.000-07:00

I realized yesterday that I am now completely exhausted by this interview process. It has been over two months since I interviewed with the district, and a month since I found out that the school was still looking for someone to hire. I'm still thinking I have a great shot at being offered the job, but I have almost no emotion left.

So...today is Monday. My interview is at 1:30 this Thursday with the counselors. I expect it will go well, and I will feel like I had every chance at putting my best foot out there to be evaluated.

The other night, Titus prayed - "help me not to be too excited if my mom gets the job, and help me not to be too sad if she doesn't get the job". As you can see, our whole family is feeling the impact!

And last night I told Titus that if I get the job, there is not going to be any celebration that is too much - there will be dancing, and shouting, and jumping...and then he rolled his eyes at me!

this is kind of cool

2008-07-01T11:18:00.000-07:00

Our friend JR is a designer for a publishing company. He recently asked to shoot Titus and Ray for a book cover...here's a look at our boy.

happy birthday dear titus

2008-06-28T04:35:00.001-07:00

A good time was had by all.

birthday cake

2008-06-26T18:58:00.000-07:00

I decided to make an Indiana Jones hat-shaped cake for Titus. I didn't think to take pix until I was part way through putting on my crumb coat, but at least you can get an idea of how the cake is put together. It is going to be a neapolitan cake - strawberry and vanilla cakes with chocolate frosting. I also braided a whip out of black licorice and will place them on a map for the centerpiece...should be pretty cool. I'll add some more pix tomorrow as I comes together.

job update

2008-06-25T18:36:00.000-07:00

So I had my interview Monday morning. It was the best interview I've ever had. I REALLY like the principal - easy manner, similar philosophy about working with kids, open - I would feel very comfortable working with him. And, the possibility is still there, although I have one more interview. Next Tuesday I'll be interviewing with the counseling department co-chairs. I've already met one of them; she is one of the people who recommended me to the principal.

The principal said they want to make a decision in June, but obviously time is running out. Things are pushed back a bit due to one of the counselors being out of town. The bottom line is that things are looking good, and I've made it to the next round...the waiting is the hardest part...

I'll keep you posted. Check back next week.

another hoop

2008-06-18T16:45:00.000-07:00

Today I got a call from the North Kansas City High School principal offering me an interview for a school counselor position. Yippee, yahoo! This is my dream job, and I'm pretty confident I'm going to be offered the job. Counting my little unhatched chickens, you say? Well, the fact is that I met a co-chair of the counseling department last week. She gave me the inside skinny. They had offered the job to someone else, but that person declined. She was lamenting their predicament - no other interviewees had any high school experience and none had knowledge of the SASI program used to schedule classes.

I was a bit perplexed at why they would not have interviewed me, since I have both experience at the high school level and have not only used SASI, but also was primarily responsible for its implementation at IMS (the school in Iowa where I used to work). She encouraged me to contact the principal, who replied with a hopeful, but curious statement.

"Complete the on-line district application, and I'll have the central office get in touch when they have your records." Odd. I did that last winter. I suspected that my double last name had once again been the complicating factor, an assumption proven true today when the district confirmed they were looking for me under "Weikal".

At any rate, I'm very thankful for all of the people who were a part of getting me this far in the process. Northtown is a great school. I did a lot of subbing there this past year and love the climate which has been cultivated. It was by far my favorite of the three schools in which I subbed. For that reason alone, it would have been my pick. But, it gets even better. My "commute" (should I get the job) will be 1/6th of a mile! No joke. The school is around the corner from our house.

If you want to check out the school's website, click on the picture. Also, note that the rounded portico is the entry to the student services office where the counselors are located...I'll keep you all posted!

some thoughts on politics and faith

2008-06-13T10:33:00.000-07:00

Last fall I picked up Jim Wallis' book entitled, "The Soul of Politics" at our local used book shop. This week, I started reading it again and am blown away by Wallis' timely assessment of the religious and political landscape of America (the book was published in 1994); the seeds he saw happening then have now flowered. I guess I should expect it. He, more than any other individual (in my opinion) over the past thirty years, has thoughtfully wrestled with questions of faithful Christlike living and American politics/culture.

Anyway, I am reading this book at just the right time. Funny how we pick up just what we need on the journey. I can tend to get a bit burned out and discouraged by the political partisanship, the faith communities unproductive alliances, and the media's inability to understand the role of faith in public life.

Just look at how the media and general population has no idea what to do with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, Father Pfleger, and Rev. Hagee. I'm not saying I agree with their positions or their choice of words, the attitudes they reveal, etc. I mean to say that in the entire public conversation, I have heard little that articulates the prophetic nature of faith communities. Roland Martin, a CNN commentator, tried to get at this point, referring to the radical nature of Dr. King's message and life as well as the long tradition in African-American churches of speaking against injustice regardless of the perpetrator. (Yes, that means even the USA can be an oppressor at times.)

I am comfortable with this voice, probably due in large part to my years spent among the Mennonites. I didn't always understand the positions presented - nuclear proliferation in the 1980's, pacifism in general, conscientious objector status, an opinion that GW Bush would put us in a war, immigration issues, the call for forgiveness of foreign debt, etc. But more and more, I get it. Point by point, I confess my blindness. I learn, as my Mennonite friends have taught me well, that I am first a citizen of heaven, with allegiance to the way of Christ over ANY man-made political power structure, be it nationalistic, ethnic, or economic to name a few. I get it now today more than yesterday; I repent humbly and try to move ahead with greater integrity in living the Kingdom life. It is a Kingdom here and now as much as we will make it so - following in the way of Jesus, infused by the Spirit.

Well, this has turned into a far too lengthy post. If you care to read some excerpts from Wallis' book, read on. I hope it whets your appetite for more of his writing!

When religion becomes conformed to the culture, it can no longer provide a reliable path to spirituality, and our public life loses its moral compass. The two dominant forms of religion in our time have failed to provide the spiritual guidance that might inform a politics of moral conscience. Both conservative and liberal religion have become culturally captive forces that merely cheer on the ideological camps with which each has identified. And religion as a political cheerleader is invariably false religion.

Conservative religion has become preoccupied with words and dogma. Correct religious language and doctrine have replaced an emphasis upon faithful living and action. A certain lifestyle is associated with conservative religion, but it reveals more about the cultural and political biases of its adherents than about the meaning of authentic faith. Personal piety has become an end in itself instead of the energy for social justice. Religious language has little or no connection to moral action in society. In a bargain for power, some conservative religious leaders have aligned themselves with reactionary political elements, creating a particularly bizarre and frightening combination of religion and politics. In the most materialistic culture in history, conservative religion has produced a gospel of prosperity. In a society whose inequitable distribution of resources has become obscene, conservative religion has become a defender of the wealthy. Within the greatest military superpower in the world, conservative religion has become a primary advocate for extending American hegemony and a consistent defender of the nation's every war. In an already divided and polarized society, the religious right has drawn even firmer boundaries. It has been a white religion, has fueled the backlash against women's rights, and has used blatant caricatures and attacks on homosexuals as highly successful fund-raising techniques.

The confusion and rejection of Christian faith caused by this unholy alliance of religious appeals and right-wing politics are now pervasive. Liberal religion has made its own pacts with political power and has aligned itself with the liberal power centers of the society. Often its "political correctness" reflects the values of liberal elites more than the authentic voice of the powerless, in whose name liberal religion often claims to speak. Reforming our language for the sake of, for example, racial and gender justice is important. But ideological conformity undermines prophetic integrity.

..... Prophetic spirituality is the alternative to the current manifestations of conservative and liberal religion. Much older than either of the contemporary religious options, the prophetic biblical tradition is rooted in the Hebrew sages, Jesus, and the early Christian community. Prophetic spirituality has found expression in virtually every renewal and reform movement in history that has sought to return to radical religious roots. ... a prophetic spiritual movement for social change has been steadily growing and is making a difference in the institutions of both religion and society. ... It relates biblical faith to social transformation; personal conversion to the cry of the poor; theological reflection to the care for the environment; core religious values to new economic priorities; the call of community to racial and gender justice; morality to foreign policy; spirituality to politics; and, at its best, it transcends the categories of liberal and conservative that have captivated both religion and politics.

** The art is a painting by Jay Lonewolf Morales entitled "Humility Holds on Flesh Falls".

they say it's your birthday

2008-06-09T22:49:00.000-07:00

I'm blogging at the end of a very long day. I've been up for almost 22 hours now. Tonight we hosted a surprise birthday party for Ray. It was a pure delight. He had no idea and was thoroughly pleased with a houseful of friends and rich desserts. I realize this is the perfect arrangement, me throwing surprise parties for Ray. He loves surprises. I love anticipating things, planning, scheming, plotting, cooking, and creating a wonderful evening of great food & friends enjoying it all. I'm having a bliss hangover.

And if you weren't with us this evening, you should know we had perfect weather in which to enjoy our quintessentially American front porch, freshly scrubbed and adorned with cafe lights, purple potted flowers and candles, we ate tiramisu, chocolate cheesecake, key lime pie, baked brie with apples, and strawberries, we had fresh roasted coffee and three kinds of dessert wine (thank you Kathleen for your contribution), lots of laughter and good jokes (many told by the Titus himself). It was an evening when our house held the sounds and tastes and smells of the life we love. We are very blessed with wonderful friends and very glad to have Ray as a friend, father, and loving partner.

no such thing as a free lunch

2008-06-01T16:55:00.001-07:00

Ray scored some free Royals tickets through work for today's baseball game against the Cleveland Indians. Pretty nice perk, huh? We sat directly behind home plate in the shade in the lower section. NICE seats.

The only problem is that along with the free tickets were two Royals caps for Titus and his friend, Raj at $9.95 a piece - two BBQ sandwiches at $7.25 a pop, two hot dogs totaling $7.50, peanuts & cotton candy at $5.50 each, a frosty malt for $4.25, two flavor-ice popsicles $7, two sodas about $10, $5 for a program, and parking for $9...I don't think I left anything out. I suppose the free special edition river otter wearing a KC Royals cap and holding a KC Zoo fish compliments of Build a Bear Workshop has some monetary value...but the bottom line is...BEWARE taking two kindergarten boys to an MLB game even if you score some FREE TICKETS!

P.S. In spite of the significant financial investment in an afternoon at the ball park, it was a very fun day - the Royals even obliged us with a six run winning effort! Something totally unanticipated!

P.P.S. In about the 8th inning an ad popped up on the jumbo screen scoreboard. "Don't forget! Every Sunday is Family Day at Kaufman Stadium! 4 Tickets, 4 Hotdogs, 4 Sodas, 4 Bags of Peanuts, and a Souvenir Program all for $44!" ... Did I mention we had free tickets today?

one down, twelve to go

2008-05-30T01:38:00.001-07:00

Titus finished up his first year of school. Yep, kindergarten is in the books. He won some awards at the end of year assembly for teamwork in PE, completing the reading challenge every month, and getting published in the district K-12 anthology called Lodestar. Following in his father's footsteps already!

Here's his writing sample selected for excellence among all the kindergarten students in the 20 North Kansas City School District elementary schools.

The Right Kind of Fries

McDonald's makes the kind of french fries I really like. They're salty and skinny. I pick um up, dip um in some ketchup and then chew um. Then I just wipe my mouth with the napkin and I'm done.

2008-05-29T09:54:00.000-07:00

Ok, my turn:

1. One movie that made you laugh?
Jackass, The Movie

2. One movie that made you cry?
Shindler's List

3. One movie you loved when you were a child?
Star Wars

4. One movie you’ve seen more than once?
Dr. Zhivago

5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it?
The Chronicles of Riddick

6. One movie you hated?
Muholland Drive

7. One movie that scared you?
Alien

8. One movie that bored you?
Pirates of the Carribean II

9. One movie that made you happy?
Finding Nemo

10. One movie that made you miserable?
Mulholland Drive

11. One movie you weren’t brave enough to see?
28 Days

12. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with?
Lara from Dr. Zhivago

13. The last movie you saw?
The Return of the King

14. The next movie you hope to see?
Prince Caspian

15. Your favorite movie?
Lawrence of Arabia

my movie favorites

2008-05-18T17:52:00.000-07:00

So this is appearing on the blogs of some friends of mine. I'd be interested to hear your responses too!

1. One movie that made you laugh
Nacho Libre

2. One movie that made you cry
Crash

3. One movie you loved when you were a child
The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again

4. One movie you’ve seen more than once
The Bourne Supremacy

5. One movie you loved, but were embarrassed to admit it
Pulp Fiction

6. One movie you hated
Train Spotting...does that count? I couldn't even make it past the first 20 minutes.

7. One movie that scared you
A Thief in the Night

8. One movie that bored you
Lost in Translation

9. One movie that made you happy
Ratatouille

10. One movie that made you miserable
There Must Be Blood

11. One movie you weren’t brave enough to see
Blair Witch Project or any horror flick - but I don't equate it with bravery...

12. One movie character you’ve fallen in love with
Mel Gibson as William Wallace

13. The last movie you saw
Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer

14. The next movie you hope to see
Midnight Express - it is the movie we currently have from our Blockbuster queue

15. Your favorite movie
I can't choose just one! Are you kidding? If it is witty, smart, a good 'who dunnit' element, beautiful, clever .... then I'll probably like it a lot ... here are some ... Run Lola Run, Crash, The Bourne trilogy, Finding Nemo, Little Miss Sunshine, Stranger Than Fiction ... just off the top of my head

a few updates

2008-05-12T12:19:00.000-07:00

For those of you who follow our lives via Weikalpedia, you'll be glad to know that Titus did indeed stop eating his boogers! (What a relief to finally find an incentive for him!) We opted for the Star Wars Legos, specifically Luke Skywalker and his star fighter over the dino Legos. Titus is quite pleased. I am very proud of his self-discipline and very gratified by the additional lesson he learned regarding lying. Hopefully that one will stick around for a long, long time.

I have had some unpaid time off work lately at ADT, which has been very helpful. I guess they are overstaffed on the day shift right now. At any rate, it has allowed me to finish up my three on-line classes with UMKC which I needed for my educator's license renewal. If you aren't aware, I have decided to find a job with the schools and continue seminary studies on the side. I love working with youth as a counselor and teacher and the benefits of a professional salary, weekends and holidays off, and breaks that correspond to Titus' schedule kind of make it a no-brainer.

I had a first interview with North Kansas City Schools last Friday. The first step was a screening interview with one of the Associate Superintendents. Next would be an interview with a building principal. The exciting thing is that the school I am most interested in has an opening for a counselor for next year. It is the most diverse school of the district's four high schools and is located less than two blocks from our house. I'm carrying a lot anxiety and haven't been able to find peace with the process yet. Keep praying for me.

Also last Friday, we all got to have a special pancake breakfast at Titus' school because we attended all of the previous three "Breakfast with Boooks" events. It was a fun morning of visiting with Titus' t-ball coach, watching out for flying pancakes (The guy who cooked them is a world record holding pancake flipper and he would flip them without warning half way across the gym onto random plates.), and a few good books shared with my boy.

my first dinosaur legos

2008-05-05T18:00:00.000-07:00

I get some dinosaur Legos this Thursday. To get my Legos, I shall not eat my boogers.

It has been very, very hard, to tell the truth. Sometimes I think I should tell a lie when I really did eat my boogers. But my mom said from now on whenever I tell a lie she would not believe me and she would ask me if I'm telling a lie. I am going to start telling the truth because I started telling a lie when we at a restaurant named O'Dowds. Then I snuck under the table and I ate my boogers and then I told a lie. Mom said to me "Are you telling the truth?" And I keep saying, "Yes". And then my mom once said, "I believe you." I felt kind of bad.

Today I told a lie and then I told the truth. My dad came and my mom told him about lying and then she told him about telling the truth. She told me that she could feel the badness in her heart when I was lying. And I said I felt it too. And then she told me that she could feel the goodness in her heart when I told the truth. And then I said I could feel it too, in my heart. I was feeling better when I was not lying and not feeling so good when I was lying.

what a weekend

2008-05-05T16:15:00.001-07:00

We finally had a beautiful spring weekend and lucky me, I was on my new work schedule so I actually got to enjoy it with family and friends. We had a last minute bbq Saturday night, lunch with some friends after church Sunday, and an afternoon meander through the Brookside Art Fair. All in perfectly delightful "California weather".

Some of our best friends here include Laura and Nathanael Lyons. (She has the long hair and glasses, he has the long hair.) Laura wants to be theology/philosophy professor one day and Nathanael is looking into nursing. (I think he might have studied international policy or something politically minded in his undergrad days...he's also a CUBS FAN! Yippee!) These guys are great fun and super with Titus.

The other couple pictured is Mindy and Josh Hancock. In addition to being our pastors, they are our friends...maybe that should be stated the other way around. We love spending time with these guys and feel so blessed by their vision for and leadership of our church.

friday evening

2008-05-03T01:41:00.000-07:00

Last night was a beautiful spring evening in NKC. We all went for a walk to Macken Park and snapped a few pix of our lovely boy.

the great american past-time

2008-04-30T12:27:00.000-07:00

Titus starts t-ball tomorrow. This is his first year to play. He's very excited. And I am too. His team, if you can't put 2 and 2 together, is the Dodgers. He didn't get to do soccer because by the time I sent in the registration it was full. So, we'll look forward to lots of games at the Macken Park ball diamonds for the next two months. Watch for some pictures. (And I'll admit, it does bother me that he has to play for an NL team that is not the Cubs! Hey, but at least it isn't the Cardinals, right?)

That was really cool.

2008-04-24T19:24:00.001-07:00

I had my first official Chris Farley moment at the Education Writer's Association convention in Chicago tonight. The keynote speaker was Steve James, the guy who made "Hoop Dreams," one of my all-time favorite films. After his talk, James was surrounded by a throng of admirers. I, of course, was one of them.

Pretty freakin' cool, if you ask me.

Love this town

2008-04-24T16:12:00.001-07:00

Dearest loved ones,
I made it safely to the place they call "The Windy City," and boy, was that true, as I purt near got bucked out of my plane seat. I took the "orange train" to Roosevelt Station. People are very nice here and they sure are pious. They talk about Jesus Christ all the time. They also talk about their mothers a lot, though not necessarily in a kindly way. Anyhow, switched to the "red train" (didn't see any communists, though) and got off two exits too late. Had to turn around at Grand, I think, right next to the Really-Blowin'-Snot-That's-Expensive Mile.

Here's me and my new beauty spot at the train station exit (why is my nose taking a left turn?).
Everyone seems to be in a hurry here, so I authoritatively set out down the street and walked two blocks in the wrong direction. A nice man at a bus station let me know that "the lake is that way." Phew, thank you, sir! Got back on track and again tried to act like the locals, which mostly seems to involve stepping in front of turning taxis. Arrived safely at the hotel and got some latte in the smallest Starbucks I've ever seen, about the size of Titus' closet. Finished my last story for the week while sipping my drink in the hotel lobby. Was eventually allowed to check in. Here's me with my room's view of other buildings.

This afternoon, I walked with a couple of other reporter types to the Tribune building for a session about how to use technology to make reporters work a lot more than they already are. Once again, we set off with authority up Michigan Ave. After two blocks, the woman we were with started saying, "I thought the Tribune building was that way" while pointing in the direction opposite our own. Our little band's alpha male (not me) kept saying, "No, no. Trust me. It's this way." That was until he stopped and said, "Isn't the river north of us?" (negative)
Reorientated, we found the inconspicuous Tribune Building and made it to the session.
Tomorrow, I hope to get lost on the way to Lou Malnatti's.
Peace and love,
Ray

From Sojouners ...

2008-04-24T15:52:00.000-07:00

Imagine by Jim Wallis

In The Great Awakening, I wrote,

Imagine something called Justice Revivals, in the powerful tradition of revivals past but focusing on the great moral issues of our time.

Imagine linking the tradition of Billy Graham with the tradition of Martin Luther King Jr.

Imagine a new generation of young people catching fire and offering their gifts, talents, and lives in a new spiritual movement for social justice.

Imagine disillusioned believers coming back to faith after many years of alienation, while other seekers discover the power of faith for the first time.

Imagine politics being unable to co-opt such a spiritual revival but being held accountable to its moral imperatives.

Imagine social movements rising out of spiritual revival and actually changing the wind of both our culture and our politics.

Last week in Columbus, Ohio, that vision came to life. The first night, as I stood on the stage looking out over a church filled with 3,500 people inspired by Matt Redman's opening worship music, I felt a sense of amazing grace. Over the next three evenings, more than 10,000 people attended. There would have been more if they could have gotten into the Vineyard Church -- this largest church in Columbus seats 3,500 people, but it turned out to be too small for the crowd. Pastor Rich Nathan of Vineyard and Bishop Timothy Clarke of the First Church of God, the co-chairs of the revival, led the services. My three sermons focused on the call to conversion, the call to community, and the call to justice.

Hundreds of people came forward to commit their lives to Christ for the first time, and thousands came down the aisle to commit themselves to the social justice that is core to the kingdom of God, to the "least of these" whom Jesus calls us to care for. The Columbus Dispatch headlined a story, "The Justice Revival: Faithful aim to aid poor, as Jesus did," and wrote:

The revival ... is a call to walk the walk and dig into issues about which Jesus preached, such as helping the poor.

Our call to the churches was to make the city of Columbus their "parish" – that the churches of the city together take responsibility for what happens in their city. The whole spectrum of the churches, from the most conservative to the most liberal, supported the revival. On Thursday evening, 50 pastors from those churches joined on the stage for an altar call to make Columbus the parish of the churches in the city.

Friday evening, an inspiring challenge by Dr. Gene Harris, superintendent of Columbus Public Schools, asked for mentors who would develop relationships with the city's children led to hundreds of responses. On Saturday following the revival, the Dispatch wrote that the "Revival's faithful take good will onto streets":

About 2,000 people -- many of them teenagers, college students, and young adults -- took to the streets of Columbus yesterday for community-service projects that put their Christian faith into action.

Governor Ted Strickland of Ohio came to our "City Leaders Lunch," as did Mayor Michael Coleman of Columbus, city council members, many nonprofit organizations, and many more pastors. They spoke together about communication and collaboration, and the partnerships among them that could change the city.

Billboards announcing the Justice Revival were all over town and simply said, "Love God? End Poverty." By the end of the week, the stories of how people wanted to follow Jesus into relationship with the poor of Columbus were changing the image of Christianity in the city. And that change will continue, as one local pastor said in the press:

Bethany Christian Church's co-pastor, Elaine Fennell, reminded the volunteers that their mission didn't end yesterday. "We cannot sleep, not until poverty is no more and no child is hungry and they all have shelter and clothing," Fennell said. "You are the beginning of a revived movement. We are going back up the mountain, and we cannot rest."

It was an extraordinary week, even more than I had hoped. As we discern how to move forward, many other cities now want Justice Revivals in their communities. Just imagine!

why i'm still awake at 0400

2008-04-21T01:57:00.000-07:00

Titus is asleep in my bed.
I don't want to lug his 50# body to his bed.
My sleep machine is in my room.
Facebook keeps suggesting more people I might know and want to be friends with.
I drank a nasty cup of coffee at 11:30.
Titus is asleep in my bed.
I don't want to lug his 50# body to his bed.
I can't collapse on the couch.
My sleep machine is in my room.
Titus is asleep in my bed.

*Ray admiringly calls my cpap machine get up my "alien egg layer" - I thought the picture was appropriate - love you honey!

Cyberpunk angst

2008-04-19T10:54:00.000-07:00

This song says it all:

Dumpster Diving on Quality Hill

2008-04-14T19:41:00.000-07:00

There are a few things that my husband endures when it comes to my personality and the sometimes questionable antics it tends to produce. Dumpster diving with no shame is one of those questionable antics. Well, tonight he indulged me. Maybe it was because it is birthday week. Maybe it was because spring has finally arrived to the KC metro area. All I know is that his willingness to go along with things tonight scored us a very nice chaise lounge.

Here's how it went down. After a slightly above average meal at Manny's, I suggested we take the long way home with a little tour through Quality Hill. (If you're not familiar with KC, Quality Hill is a downtown neighborhood with great views such as the one above. It is a mix of a few old mansions and newly built row houses.)

We zigzagged our way through the neighborhood, fantasizing about an alternate lifestyle that would involve higher paying jobs and money for private school, but mostly just enjoying the lovely neighborhood. And then it happened. "Whoa! Honey, turn around. There was a great chair in that dumpster back there." It really just sort of spontaneously slipped out. I knew that Ray would not humor me without further cajoling. " Just drive me back there and let me check it out. You can duck or go park the car a block away and pretend you don't know me. But please, can I at least look at it?" "You don't know how hard this is for me", he said as made a u-turn in the next intersection.

Now I don't mean this in the literal sense, but two angels suddenly appeared in the form of hip young ladies who obviously lived in the area. "Oh, you're taking that great chair!" "Yeah! And for the record, my husband in no way approves of what I'm doing here. But reduce, reuse, recycle, right?" "Absolutely! (OK, maybe they didn't say absolutely - but they did OBVIOUSLY approve of what I was doing!) Did you find the cushion for it? I saw a cushion with the same fabric in a dumpster in the upper lot. Just go down here to the corner and take a left then another left." "Thanks!"

Not to be thwarted by the daunting task of getting an overstuffed chaise lounger into a VW Passat, we lifted the cumbersome chaise into the trunk and secured it with jumper cables. At this point my gratitude for Ray's agreement to go along with my whole escapade was making it almost tolerable for him. Plus the affirmation of two young successful looking women eased his embarrassment. And to top it all off, our McGyver-ing the chair into the trunk had just enough tinge of mechanical genius to make him the slightest bit proud.

Our trip up a pretty steep incline on the way to the pot of gold ...er, uh... I mean the upper lot dumpster that supposedly held the cushion to said chaise lounger, convinced us that the chair would indeed make it across the river to our house. But all of that satisfaction was eclipsed by adolescent exuberance when I spotted the cushion. The angels were right! There it was! My little end-zone celebration was a moment of complete glee. And to my surprise, even Ray was grinning, although later he said it was not so much about the chair, but about my obvious delight in the whole thing.

What a lovely story, huh? Well, chapter two wouldn't be so great. The honeymoon was quickly over when we lumbered up the steps to the back door and realized that this chair was a BEAST! But after one hour of flipping and pushing, two doors being removed from their hinges, door jambs being popped off for the first time in 80 years, and a few words on the "Titus don't ever repeat what Mommy just said list" ... we finally got that thing upstairs to the playroom. We each took a turn lounging in the chair and declared it a worthy dive indeed.

* Here's the denoument of the story line. I guess I have just signed up for my first upholstery project. The chair actually could use some new foam on the arms. It is very solid, just needs some padding. When I suggested getting it reupholstered, my sweat-soaked hubby declared "NO! This thing is NEVER leaving this room."

High anxiety

2008-04-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

As close as I'll ever come to that trail:

Free movie score music from Moby

2008-04-12T08:49:00.000-07:00

Yet another reason why Moby is one of the coolest humans of the planet:

"no handlebars" by the flobots

2008-04-10T17:40:00.000-07:00

an awesome song by a hip hop outfit from Denver:

freaked OUT!

2008-04-02T21:53:00.000-07:00

So we had a great spring afternoon here in KC. After picking up Titus at school, we did homework and then headed to the garage to stain our bamboo blinds. Deciding it was really a grown-up's job, Titus opted to ride his bike around the drive way. I need to back up I guess.

Titus had already run down the street, four houses away, to see if his buddy Evan could play. He immediately came home saying that Evan was at someone else's house. That is when we headed out to stain the blinds and ride the bike.

After about 15 minutes or so. Titus heard Evan's voice. "Mom, can I go see if Evan is home now?" As always, I followed up my affirmative answer with "come right back".

Being engaged in my staining project, I didn't keep track of the minutes. It must have been 10 minutes later - maybe 15 - could have been 20 - and I realized - no Titus. I made the trek up the street, paint brush in hand, a bit irritated with my boy who was, no doubt, playing at Evan's. But his mom said, "nope, Titus isn't here. He came by about an hour ago and I told him Evan wasn't home." After a brief discussion about suspicious dog deaths in our neighborhood, I said I needed to go find him. "I expect he came back home and went inside. See you later."

I called for Titus in the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, his bedroom - upstairs, downstairs. No response. Outside under the front porch. No answer. Still figuring that he was playing somewhere with Evan, I was miffed. And just a tad bit concerned. Down the alley, his name being called out with increasing volume - no answer. Back inside. "Answer me, Titus. Where are you?"

Now I'm equally mad and scared, but still in control. Another trip up the street. Another round through the house. Another look under the porch and down the alley both ways. Nothing. Evan and some other kids peered out on the next block over. "Have you seen Titus?" Up the street again, another kid - "have you seen Titus?" Back down to our house. "Titus!" Across the street again, "Is Titus hiding? I need to know if he's with you?"

I can no longer say I don't know what it feels like to lose a child. At least I now know the initial feeling a parent has when their kid has disappeared. One more time through the house, this time through sobs, my voice losing control a bit. Elizabeth, who is living with us, came out of her room. "Titus is missing." Quickly she came out, looking across the street, headed around the corner. I'm sobbing now. It has been 25 - 30 minutes since he left to see if Evan could play.

I was walking toward the back of the house when the switch flipped. This is it. This is our son. We are the crying parents on TV - amber alert - how could I let this happen - Ray's going to be so mad at me - oh God, where is he? Titus!

I grabbed my phone and called 911. The woman on the other end told me I needed to calm down so that she could understand me. "I can't find my son. My son is gone. He's five." Still sobbing, still calling out his name, answering her questions. "Where did you last see him?" Now Evan's mom is on her porch holding her baby. Evan and the other kids across the street are calling for Titus.

All of the emotions were there. He was really gone. And then Elizabeth yells from the alley, I could see her between the houses - I found him! "We found him." I told the 911 lady. He's OK. We found him.

I sat and held my baby. Right there in my neighbor's drive way. Small boy. My boy. He was lost and now found. He was OK. Still alive. Still mine. Still safe.

*I needed to write this. I'm obviously glad this had a happy ending. But believe me. Even though we had a happy ending, I spent a solid 5 minutes thinking my only child was gone - taken - abducted. My emotions were 100% of the "my baby is gone variety". It was intense. I feel like I was run over by a truck physically. Emotionally, I quickly recovered. But the pure adrenaline driven emotion of losing a child is like nothing I've ever experienced in my life. I wish I could put it into words. Such a solitary experience. I'm so sorry for all of those parents who have not had the happy ending.

burning down the house

2008-03-21T21:37:00.000-07:00

Great '80s tune. Bad Friday evening activity. Frustrated this evening by the March wind, I pulled our little charcoal grill around to the side of the house and made a windbreak by stacking two very large and heavy cardboard boxes. Titus and I went inside while the coals got hot.

About ten minutes later Ray came home from work. Very tired from a long day of cranking out stories, he was confused by the fact that he saw a cardboard box on top of the grill. Perhaps Alton Brown and the Food Network are to blame for his curious yet nonchalant reaction. Instead of doing anything about the burning box (which was also touching our house), he came inside and asked if it was supposed be like that. Later he said, "honestly, I thought it was some sort of homemade smoker you had devised after watching Alton Brown".

Well, I ran out to look at it, pulled the box off, ran back in to get a rug, and told Ray to to get some water. I did my best Smokey Bear routine, stomping out the flying bits of flaming cardboard and smothering larger chunks of the box with my rug. We burned about a two foot section of our yard, and ended up with a surprisingly small pile of ash in the drive.

We're glad it all was OK in the end. But MAN WERE WE BOTH DUMB! Ray and I honestly couldn't figure out who was dumber - me for setting cardboard boxes by an unattended burning grill adjacent to the house - or Ray for inspecting a fire and doing nothing about it before asking his wife. We concluded that alone we're both dangerous! Good thing we've got each other!

2008-03-19T20:38:00.000-07:00

yes

a vision of our home

2008-03-18T23:23:00.000-07:00

I spent way too much time the other night creating a rendering of our house after the exterior paint job - which is slated for a week from some Thursday. Anyway, here's a peek.

2008-03-18T14:05:00.000-07:00

Barack gave an excellent speech today in Philedelphia. With eloquence and honesty, he addressed the entire issue of race. Peter Canellos, a staff writer for the Boston Globe, made an interesting blog post about the speech:

Analysis: Obama goes beyond generalities on race
Email Link Comments (0) Posted by James F. Smith March 18, 2008 03:08 PM
By Peter S. Canellos, Globe Staff
PHILADELPHIA -- After a year of speaking of racial reconciliation in mostly hopeful, uplifting terms, Barack Obama today offered a fuller, deeper, and more personal testament to the nation's tormented racial history and how to begin to overcome it.
The speech had greater weight and specificity than his usual stump speech, and made fewer promises as it wrestled with the legacy of his former pastor and his inflammatory rhetoric. It suggested that an Obama administration would be a time of grappling with difficult and sometimes unpleasant issues rather than conjuring great visions.
For some voters, the speech might serve to remove the glow of optimism surrounding Obama's candidacy; but for many others, it could make him a more realistic president.
Like Mitt Romney's address on his Mormon faith last year, Obama's speech was delivered in a presidential setting -- in the very shadow of Independence Hall -- and invoked common values and historic truths; it showcased Obama more as a national teacher, a role that particularly flatters him, rather than simply an eloquent speaker.
As such, it added gravitas to a candidacy that some have found superficial; and it also served to quell the controversy-of-the-moment over Obama's long association with Rev. Jeremiah Wright, the pastor whose statements Obama condemned in no uncertain terms while offering a reasonable explanation for why he's sticking by his church and its former minister.
"I can no more disown him than I can disown the black community," said Obama. "I can no more disown him than I can disown my white grandmother."
Starting with a reference to slavery as the country's original sin, Obama aimed for a Lincolnesque tone. Lincoln is frequently cited as a model of presidential leadership and invoked as a figure of reconciliation. But few have tried to capture Lincoln's almost mournful tone of parsing painful issues, piece by piece, in reference to timeless principles -- speeches that were meant to be printed and passed around rather than delivered on the stump and posted on YouTube.
"For the African-American community, that path [to a more perfect union] means embracing the burdens of our past without becoming victims of our past," Obama said. "It means continuing to insist on a full measure of justice in every aspect of American life. But it also means binding our particular grievances – for better health care, and better schools, and better jobs - to the larger aspirations of all Americans. . .
``In the white community, the path to a more perfect union means acknowledging that what ails the African-American community does not just exist in the minds of black people; that the legacy of discrimination - and current incidents of discrimination, while less overt than in the past - are real and must be addressed.''
Obama provided a coda that tied this ongoing struggle to his politics of hope -- suggesting that the benefit of all this hard work will take the form of unified action on priorities such as health care and housing that challenge all Americans.
But this speech will be remembered as the moment that Obama got a little more down and dirty, and grounded his candidacy in serious mechanics of governance. He tried to take apart the engine and get some grease on his hands rather than just pat the hood.
This wasn't the gauzy vision of diversity draped in tapestry metaphors and colored in rainbow hues: It was a nation confronting its sins and overcoming its deeply held fears and prejudices.
"We have a choice in this country . . .," Obama said. "We can tackle race only as spectacle – as we did in the OJ trial – or in the wake of tragedy . . . We can play Reverend Wright’s sermons on every channel, every day and talk about them from now until the election, and make the only question in this campaign whether or not the American people think that I somehow believe or sympathize with his most offensive words. We can pounce on some gaffe by a Hillary supporter as evidence that she’s playing the race card . . .Or, at this moment, in this election, we can come together and say, “Not this time."
For perhaps the first time in the 2008 campaign, Obama presented a big problem as something to be confronted by average people -- the aggrieved white worker, the black person fuming about injustice -- who are part of his own political constituency. There was no corporation or lobbyist or rival politician in the picture.
The question -- for Obama, as well as his legions of hopeful supporters -- is whether those average Americans will give him the answer he wants.

eat, pray, love

2008-03-17T21:19:00.000-07:00

I just started reading a book that has been on my radar for several months. My friend Jenn from church loaned it to me yesterday. It is just what I need right now.

One of the parts that really struck me was a scenario where she was petitioning God. She ended up crafting a petition that she signed. Her friend, who was driving them to Kansas, signed it too - verbally that is. Then the friend started adding the names of others who would sign it. Together they ended up with a list that ranged from her parents to Bill & Hillary Clinton, Mother Teresa, and various other celebrities through out history.

Lately I've been my own worst critic. I find myself rehearsing not so nice opinions about my character, intelligence, interpersonal patterns, anything really has been game of late.

So when the author was petitioning God to intervene in a painful situation on her behalf, I found my self saying "no one would sign my petition". No one would petition God on my behalf. No one would think that I deserve not to suffer. I'm not even sure I could sign it. Doesn't that suck! I'm really in a bad spot. It was all very enlightening.

I'm wondering why. I know I have a lot of things to be working out right now. I'm wondering if my hormones & bio-chemicals are out of whack with the metformin I'm taking to lower my androgens. I'm feeling the need to pray more.

I know that is a place to start.

For years prayer and scripture have been a duty. I have kind of sworn off them for a while, saying I'm not going to do them unless they mean something other than good Christian shoulds. I have a lot of history with shoulds. And I want to be free of it. God wants me free of it. Well, now it feels like scripture and prayer might be a nutritional diet for my soul once again.

I'm sure it has been before. It just has been a season for me lately. And I didn't want to deal with it by "pressing in" or "getting right with God" - I really hate that term. I think I've learned in a new way what it means to receive the love of God without striving, without deserving, without earning it. All of those Christian habits had become proofs of my spiritual maturity rather than spiritual sustenance. And therefore, they were dirty rags.

I'm not sure this is a terribly cohesive post. And it is quite raw. But who cares. The bottom line is I think I may actually get somewhere now - there are lots of layers to be ripped off. But in my core, I find I am alive. I guess this is all a good process during lent. Death to life. Amen. Let it be so.

What is your hermeneutic disposition?

2008-03-12T20:19:00.000-07:00

I found this little quiz tonight. I'd be interested to have you friends take it and post your result and thoughts.

hermeneutics quiz

It categorizes you as conservative, moderate of progressive in your position on scripture interpretation. (very much a nutshell definition).

proud of the men

2008-03-10T18:42:00.000-07:00

Today Ray was awarded with a $25 gift card and "bragging rights" for an article he wrote about staph infections in local schools. The award is given out quarterly by his group of papers (that is, the six papers edited in his office) for about six different categories. His track record for earning recognition for his excellence continues. Yeah hubby!

Meanwhile, Titus is reading with impressive fluidity. He sounds out words like festival on his own and has a great reading voice with natural inflection. We're proud of him, of course.* Pretty good for 5 and 1/2 years old.

*Titus' reading milestone is especially sweet to Ray who had to overcome dyslexia as a kid and didn't read until he was 8 or 9.

for anyone who cares to read...

2008-02-28T09:56:00.000-08:00

Below is a link to a great post about the senatorial record of Clinton & Obama. It is extensive and seems more fair than any other summary I've looked at. In the end, the writer supports Obama - but it is not based on his lofty yet supposedly empty rhetoric. It is based on the fact that he has authored more substantial bills with broader support that actually passed.

If you've been looking for a substantive comparison of their experience, check this out.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/20/201332/807/36/458633

Jesus and the magic wand of bipartisanship

2008-02-24T23:50:00.000-08:00

Tonight I caught part of the text rolling across the screen as images of Hillary Clinton played on the TV at my job. Here's what I caught.

"You can't just wave a magic wand and expect things to change. It doesn't happen like that. You can't just wish that things will get done and say some nice words and voila - ..." OK, so that isn't exactly what she said. I've heard her argument before. She is putting Obama and his minions in their place. It is Hillary's mantra "No You Can't".

Really, that's what it amounts to - She spouts reality, right? Be realistic. The status quo is here to stay. Nothing will change. You're just being naive to think that the American political scene can be any different. She squashes the movement of hope that believes Obama can change the political modus operandi in Washington.

Fools, you who believe. She seems to say - there is no hope for change. What is needed is not something new, just something louder, better, smarter, stronger. She says, forget about revolution. It can't be done. Just sign up for me - because I can do more of the same and get different results. That is one definition of insanity.

She reminds me of a parent grounding a misbehaving child for 2 weeks, then 2 months, then 2 years - pile it on - be strong, louder, you'll get what you know is best by playing the same game - only you'll do it MORE - work harder. For some reason what never worked before will work this time.

Don't get me wrong now, I'm going to say something which can easily be misunderstood. Obama rolls with Messianic words of a revolution. He sounds like Jesus, who entered onto the stage in a stalemate of religious-political factions. He realized the solution was not more of the same of any existing vein, but a new set of rules, a new way of understanding the situation, no new wine in old wine skins - this was a fundamentally different way of looking at things. This was revolution. Out with the status quo - in with hope, vision, and renewed spirits that say Yes, let it be so!

A teacher/mentor once told me that the key to working with difficult students is to take your sail out of their wind. In counseling theories, we talk about the need to step outside of systems, to do something different in order to disrupt the balance.

Our country does not need more of the same. It won't fix the problems we have created. We need something much more radical. We need a person who doesn't expect to come in and win the game, but who expects to come in and illuminate the futility of the game and offer an alternate activity.

This is redemption.

Sometimes Titus and I get locked into a power struggle. The more I push him, the more determined he is to maintain his strength - he cannot give in. And I want the power. I'm the mom after all. So I push harder. Talk louder. Make my nostrils flare. Flex my muscle and remind him who is boss. And he feels threatened and small and powerless. And, thank GOD, he does not back down. He gets louder too.

And then, in a moment of sanity, I make a joke. And he smiles. And I smile. And we laugh. And I tell him once again, why I need him to get into the shopping cart right now - or whatever the immediate need is at the time.

The point is that I had to take my sail out of his wind. I wanted power so badly. I wanted to be big and in control. I wanted him to know his place as child, small, dependent, powerless. Yet those aren't the assets I want him to develop. I want him to be confident, independent, strong, capable, cooperative, assertive, respectful.

So often the wrong means lead only to the wrong ends. We have the right end in mind - safe, healthy kids, a strong national educational system, religion that blesses and heals people. But we become embroiled in power struggles - we fight to maintain our turf and gain headway into new territory - the land of our enemy. Fighting and dominating are the means to get to the end. But the end result carries with it effects of our means to that end we seek. The unintended ends we now face.

Jesus, teach me peace. Teach me strength through weakness -

All Style and No Substance?

2008-02-22T21:09:00.000-08:00

Here's a great post from my friend Monte's blog -

It’s certainly a popular comment - but is it true? We went to Factcheck.org, an independent political accountability group. Their evaluation includes a quote from last night’s debate:

Clinton: “I was somewhat amused the other night when on one of the TV shows, one of Senator Obama’s supporters was asked to name one accomplishment of Senator Obama, and he couldn’t.”

And Factcheck analyzes:

Clinton is referring to Texas state Sen. Kirk Watson, who completely whiffed when Hardball’s Chris Matthews threw him a softball question. But Clinton is wrong to suggest that Watson’s inability to answer means that Obama lacks substantive accomplishments.

In fact, Obama sponsored more than 800 bills during his eight years as an Illinois state senator. And his U.S. Senate career, while brief, has been action-packed.

As for Obama’s list of his accomplishments, he’s right on every count. A Washington Post editorial credited Obama for helping to create “the strongest ethics legislation to emerge from Congress yet,” and the Coburn-Obama Act created a new Web site, USAspending.gov, which allows anyone to see where federal contracting and grant money is being spent. Moreover, it was an Obama-sponsored amendment that ended Walter Reed’s practice of requiring outpatient military personnel to pay for their own meals.

And as a state senator in Illinois, Obama championed a bill requiring the police to videotape prisoner interrogations. Although initially controversial, the measure passed the Senate unanimously; even Republicans conceded that the turnaround was largely Obama’s doing.

Finally, while Obama didn’t mention this one, we think it’s worth noting that the Lugar-Obama non-proliferation initiative provided funds for destroying nuclear weapons and for intercepting weapons of mass destruction.

In short, Clinton is wrong to suggest that Obama lacks a substantive legislative record.

Well now, voter friend: Do you think eight hundred bills in the Illinois legislature is “all talk?” Do you think making the Army pay for veterans’ meals during treatment is “all style?”

May I invite you to bookmark this clip? If you should enjoy responding to those ubiquitous allegations, it could come in handy. And I suppose there are a thousand such posts, and people everywhere who are doing the same thing.

We get to be a part, you and I, in these glorious internet days, of creating a groundswell of truth where once facts were too hard to come by. What a privilege! What a time to be alive!

Go green when using "disposables"

2008-02-17T00:12:00.000-08:00

Below is an article I found tonight on the web - note that it is dated from two years ago. I am bothered by all of the waste of styrofoam, plastic & paper disposable tableware. Here's a great alternative. Products made of corn resin - completely biodegradable.

Worth the read. If you've seen these products in the real world, post a comment. There doesn't seem to be any reason not to buy these "greener" items.

Ecologically correct diners buy biodegradable plates

Updated 8/3/2006 8:33 AM ET

By Bruce Horovitz, USA TODAY

Planning a picnic this weekend? Here's what some "green" consumers are tucking into their baskets: biodegradable plates, cups and utensils.

It's one thing to eat organic. It's another to do it with plates, cups and cutlery made of biodegradable material such as cornstarch, potatoes and limestone.

As organic food goes mainstream — Wal-Mart (WMT) has plans to become the world's largest seller — consumers are seeking eco-friendly eating implements.

"It's the trickle-down theory of environmental eating," says Paul Rauber, senior editor at Sierra magazine. "Maybe people sense a disconnect between eating organic sandwiches off Styrofoam plates."

Now there's dinnerware that disappears in a compost pile as organic matter, water and carbon dioxide within 180 days. If disposed of in a plastic trash bag, it takes up far less landfill space than foam or cardboard.

Spurring demand are eco-concerns, as well as prices that can match or undercut plastic ware. Mainstream stores from Sam's Club to Walgreens (WAG) sell it.

The NatureWorks unit of Cargill — which produces a resin from corn sugar to make such products — posted triple-digit sales growth for the past two years, spokeswoman Ann Tucker says.

This is changing the $30 billion global market for paper and plastic disposables. Sales of eco-friendly plates, cups and cutlery could top $500 million in 2006 and $1 billion by 2008, says Frederic Scheer, founder of the Biodegradable Products Institute. A few years ago, the market barely existed, he says.

Among the eco-friendly goods:

•Plates. Eco-dinnerware from EarthShell (ERTH), including plates and bowls, hit shelves at some Sam's Club and Wegman's this spring.

At $1.50 for a pack of 25 plates, they cost the same as high-quality disposable plates, says CEO Vincent Truant says. "People prefer a product from a Midwest cornfield than a Middle Eastern oil field," he says.

•Cups. Three years ago Fabri-Kal launched a line of 100% compostable cups made from corn resin. Sales of the line have grown about 70% annually, says John Kittredge, marketing chief.

•Cutlery. Retailers from Whole Foods to Walgreens sell Nat-Ur cutlery made from corn. The brand is from Cereplast (CERP), a large producer of biodegradable resins. A pack of 24 pieces sells for $1.50 — similar to plastic ware, says Scheer, CEO of Cereplast.

"Composting isn't fringe any more," says brand consultant Steven Addis. "It's one of the quickest cultural flips I've ever seen."

But Sierra's Rauber warns that biodegradables won't make you the "greenest" picnicker. Most eco-friendly: bring reusable plates and wash 'em at home.

I want a President, not a micro-manager

2008-02-11T11:00:00.000-08:00

Excuse for a minute while I make a martial reference.

I've been reading a history of the Allied campaign against the Germans in Italy during World War II. It's really a history of how the "good guys" won despite making some incredible mistakes that cost many thousands of lives. Time and again, some of the best American and British military thinkers brewed up beautifully conceived plans that almost always aborted shortly after being launched. The reason usually revolved around leaders to focused not taking into account the fact that plans have to be flexible. There are too many variables--the enemy, the weather, old fashioned accidents, disease--to depend solely on The Plan, no matter how well written and practiced.

So that's why I disagree with the folks who believe Clinton's plan-centric, micro-management approach makes her a better choice for President. They accuse Obama of being all flowery rhetoric with no substance. They embrace the Clinton blueprint, nicely laid out and inhabited with happy Democrats.

Clinton's got plans--can't disagree there. She's got lots of plans and policies and position statements, for every possible issue. And she love's to talk about them, ad nauseum.

But, really, I'm surprised any student of history goes for this kind of thing. One of the themes of this year's election is that many--or most--of us are sick of the unilateral demagoguery that's come to define American politics. We all yell at each other and demand that we get our way and that if you disagree you're obviously an idiot who kicks his dog and eats soup with a fork.

It seems to me that taking Clinton's approach is just a path to the same old thing, the same thing that's been the calling card of the Bush administration and the Clintons before that.

I was talking to somebody the other day who said they felt like Obama is the one candidate that can heal the social rift--the polarization of left and right--that has ripped our nation since the Vietnam War. That's not going to happen with plans and policies and position statements. Sure, I expect he will have goals, a place where he wants to take our country. But why should we expect one person among 300 million to know exactly the right path to that path. Isn't that why we have a our system of representative government? Isn't that why we expect our elected leaders, at every level of government, to engage in the "advise and consent" process?

Clinton's got her plans and she's ready to storm the White House and nation and the world, disposing of anyone that gets in her way.

But I think there's another way, one that acknowledges that the world is complex and unexpected and that everyone deserves to be part of the journey. That's why I'm going to vote for Barack Obama.

hope, redemption, and Super Tuesday

2008-02-06T00:51:00.000-08:00

Maybe you're tired of my blogging about B.O. Sorry. Tonight I made a connection that has been coagulating in my mind for some time. So often when I hear B.O. talk, I find myself thinking of Jesus and the kingdom and justice and ...

Well tonight, I put my finger on it. B.O. makes us believe redemption is possible. That's hope I guess. We're not too far gone to have better days ahead. We're not so helpless to say nothing can change anyway so why even try.

I'm really tired right now - maybe I can rewrite this later. It just made me think about why I so often cry when I hear him speak. I hope I can convey the Truth of Jesus the way he does - to say redemption is here, the kingdom of God is near, right at hand - it is ours to grasp, Yes We Can - Amen, let it be so.

I'm not eloquent tonight in the least, but maybe you understand me in some gestalt sort of way...

good night.

2007 word of the year & my grandma

2008-02-05T08:40:00.000-08:00

Do you know that locavore was the Oxford 2007 word of the year? It means those who prefer to eat locally grown/produced food. My grandmother was one. She bought her eggs from the Amish farmer just east of Kalona, bought her beef from a local locker - the meat coming from the farm of one of their 'natural feed' customers. (I don't recall that she ever had pork or chicken around.) She bought her bread at the local bakery, her peaches, blueberries, and apples from regional orchards. All those fruits were canned at home, along with the bounty of her vegetable garden. She was a locavore. I'm trying to become one little by little.

Recently I stumbled upon a great source of locally grown natural foods in the Kansas City area. Good Natured Family Farms sells their products at Hen House Markets & Price Chopper stores. It all started when a family had too many tomatoes and was looking for a commercial outlet. That was 10 years ago. Now they have expanded into a co-op of family farms primarily in Kansas & Missouri, offering a wide range of natural meats & dairy products. You can find out more by clicking on their logo. Oh, and a cool thing about their milk (which tastes SOOO much better than other milk) is that the jug it comes in is made of corn resin and is biodegradable. Cool, huh?

By the way - my beef eating locavore grandmother lived to age 94 and my grandfather to age 92. Here's to better quality food!

street art

2008-02-04T00:07:00.000-08:00

Barack Obama supporter & artist Shepard Fairey designed a poster distributed in California. I love it. I want one. There's one for sale on e-bay - current price $92.50 with 6+ days of bidding left. Hmm...where else can I get one?

Any California relatives or friends out there, can you get your hands on one for me?

A little bit more about the piece. The run was 3000, funded by a limited run of 300 similar posters with the word progress below (the limited edition progress poster used a screen-print technique, the large run hope poster used an offset printing technique, if you care)

Pretty cool, I say.

Yes we can

2008-02-02T10:09:00.000-08:00

Watch this now. It's a Black Eyed Peas mash-up of a Barack speech.

i need to process

2008-01-31T21:36:00.000-08:00

Ray is in bed and I just finished watching the recording of the Democratic debate in CA. Despite being a huge Barack fan, I feel like Clinton "won". I'd like to see a stat that they put up in football - time of possession. It sure seemed like Hillary talked A LOT more than Obama.

I have mixed reactions to that. First, she did seem to skirt the questions in her answers. There are huge, complex issues involved, so it would be hard to be brief. But, it felt beyond that in Clinton's case. Felt like she was intentionally obfuscating the matter at hand much of the time - losing sight of the question in order to say what she wanted to say. Typical campaigning I guess.

Second, in her long answers that seemed to not get to the point of the question, she did come across as one who has a depth & breadth of knowledge and experience. This is the experienced candidate, ready from day one Hillary. And in that regard, she seemed the better candidate of the two. (let me just add that the English teacher in me cringed every time they used the superlative rather than the comparative adjective - I am the best candidate for the Dems, with only two persons, better is correct!)

OK, so back to my processing. The point where Obama got me to raise my head and shoulders off the pillow and point at the screen, was when he said his opposition to the war from the beginning was indicative of a distinctly different mindset. I found myself wishing he would hammer that distinctly different mindset issue home more often. It is the mindset that is reflected in his soaring "victory" speeches. It is the mindset that I see revealed in his book "The Audacity of Hope".

I think he could have elevated himself as the better of the two by drawing attention to his fundamentally different mindset. I wish he would have said more about his mindset tonight when he had a national audience prior to Super Tuesday. It is his distinctly different mindset that appeals to me most, it is what reflects his message of substantive change -

Time for bed.

once in a life time

2008-01-29T19:17:00.000-08:00

Tonight Titus and I went downtown for the Obama Townhall gathering at the Municipal Auditorium (home to more NCAA tournament basketball games than any other venue in the USA). We stood in line for a LONG time and barely made the cut off to get into the building. Much to our pleasant surprise, as we filed into the mezzanine, our friends Laura & Nathanael were suddenly at our side!

Since we were about 5 rows deep, our view of the rostrum was totally blocked. So, operating under the "ask for forgiveness not permission" motto, Titus and I headed down to the level below. There we were met by a Missouri law enforcement officer who stopped us from going into the auditorium. This area was for press only. But, he took pity on us and offered to find a place for us. After checking with a Secret Service agent, he gave us the nod and mouthed "go on in".

Being so familiar with Barack's campaign, I didn't find the speech particularly inspiring or invigorating - mostly it was a repeat of what we've heard from him for months now. But it was still cool to be there and feel the energy of thousands of Kansas Citians determined to bring about change from the bottom up.

It had taken some coaxing to get Titus to even agree to go with me. But after some explanation and some videos on YouTube, Titus understood that this was a pretty cool opportunity.

Now, nothing against my dear husband, but if he had been along, the night would have been completely different. (Ray had a meeting and couldn't go, much to his dismay.) I'm a bit of a selfish rebel at times. I get what I'm after. And I was after a handshake and autograph from Senator Obama, the next president of the United States.

I had overheard a mother with a volunteer badge telling her 10 year old sons that after the speech they were to go over by a certain pillar and then they would line up and meet Barack. After asking one person if there was a line somewhere to meet Obama and getting an "I don't know", I decided to follow the mom.

I've always wanted to try the "if you act like you belong where you are, no one will know the difference" routine. So, we lined up and filed into a back room where about 40 volunteers gathered for a picture with Barack. I did 'fess up. Adding that I've been offering to volunteer via email but have not had any contact back even after a personal plea to call me soon. People were kind and poo-pooed my self asserted label of interloper.

Anyway, the end of the story is that some nice lady took my Audacity to Hope book and got it signed by "The Man", Titus and I both shook "The Man's" hand, we're in a group picture with him that will be emailed to us later, and Titus had his hair tousled by the next POTUS.

Truly a night to remember.

This looks like it could be good

2008-01-28T11:14:00.000-08:00

Very rarely do I laugh at movie previews, but this one made me wet my pants:

The world is watching

2008-01-28T07:50:00.000-08:00

There was an interesting NY Times piece recently looking at international attention on the presidential race. Here's the link:

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/26/world/26abroad.html?th&emc=th

The conclussion is obvious, to me: electing Obama sends a message of hope and renewal to the world. I know that we're picking the next American president and that his focus, necessarily, has to be what is best for the United States. But the fact remains that he will also be a world leader, the first among equals. If we've learned anything in the last 20 years, it's that the fate of our nation and the world are intextricably intertwined. We can no longer go our own course, oblivious to how our actions impact our international family members.

Just some thoughts. Please read the article and tell me what you think.

my stuff: my identity?

2008-01-23T08:11:00.000-08:00

When we moved we had a few things break. Our bed frame sat in the hall for months until we found a welder and had him do an $8 repair. Now that our mattress is off the floor, we feel like we sleep in a real bed again.

Then there was the issue of the broken glass. We had two casualties - our brass rubbing from St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London and our Norwegian sardine label display from the canning museum in Stavanger. Both our kind of art - not pricey, by any means ($7 to make the rubbing, $5 for three posters of labels courtesy of Amoco Oil) but unique and reflecting a part of our lives.

Anyway, yesterday I finally got the glass taken care of - measured, ordered, picked up, replaced in the frames - and got the pix up on the walls. I was so happy. I've missed our art/wall decor. I also hung our Beatles albums and our Gothenburg Sweden Opera poster. Our house is becoming OUR home more and more each day.

That got me thinking about a friend of mine who took down his art prints because he recognized that he put them out to impress people - he was looking for strokes of his significance based on his possessions. I've been there.

When we lived in my grandparents' basement for a while, we used her dishes. My things were packed away - plates, silverware and glasses that more often than not garnered compliments from guests. Instead when friends came over we ate off of white Correll ware with green flowers, mismatched plastic cups and mismatched silverware. I didn't get compliments anymore.

When I felt so happy yesterday, felt like I was once again living in my own space with my own memories surrounding me, I had a tinge of pride-check. Am I looking for approval? Am I trying to impress guests to our home with my "cool" stuff? I suppose we never really escape the abyss (Garden State reference) of our own ego.

I'm sure this is a case of over analyzing my own umbilicus. Oh well. I'm off to read in our great living room surrounded by Norroene Helter, Kvinnemotiv, og forskelige ting og tang.

Ha det bra mine venner!

P. S. I understand that my stuff communicates who I am to a degree, and I want to be known by people. So yes, when they come and feel the heft of my spoons and become intrigued with my sardine label display, I hope they see more of who I am and LIKE me! But all of that is held in check at least a bit. Just because I like my stuff doesn't mean anyone else will. There is always the probability that no matter how much I love my stuff and think it is just so utterly cool, other people don't necessarily think so. In that case, I'll be having the negative effect! Yikes!

what lies ahead

2008-01-17T19:34:00.000-08:00

Tonight Ray was working it. At the close of a NKC School District function, he had a few minutes with the superintendent. Upon hearing that I was a school counselor and would be looking for a full-time job with the district next year, the superintendent said "let me know when she applies and I'll make sure to take care of it". We're not betting the farm on anything, but it is nice to have the connections.

Meanwhile, I will start substitute teaching in the next week or two. I'm still working 20 hr/wk at ADT Sat & Sun 2 pm to midnight. Much bettuh, indeed.

J-e-l-l-o

2008-01-16T14:29:00.000-08:00

In case you don't know, I've been sick for over a week now. I'm feeling mostly better - still achy and still eating the bland, light diet of someone who has gastroenteritis.

The other day I drug myself out for some Jello, knowing that I just couldn't ask Ray to do yet another favor (though he has been a champ, as usual).

In my deluded mind our local QuikTrip would certainly carry those little snack packs of the wiggly treat. It was only a two block trip - and yes, I did take the car.

Good thing I did because they had no such soothing food for my upset system. So off I went to Price Chopper against my better judgment.

Price Chopper had Jello. With or without fruit, sugar-free or sugar-y. Pre-made or make your own. And more flavors than I knew existed. What I was after was peach. I don't know why, but peach Jello was about the only thing that sounded half-way appetizing. I struck out intent on getting it pre-made in nice little portions, so after digging through lots of orange, strawberry, and black cherry and coming up empty handed it was off to the aisle with the "made from scratch" option.

Now this is really why I'm writing. Ray said I had to. Whoever sets up the Jello section needs some basic lessons. When you have limited variations in box design and color, it would make sense to separate the same colors. I'm just saying that peach and apricot look a LOT a like. And both look a lot like orange. When you have 50 different flavors, why not organize them in a way that maximizes CONTRAST. Put cherry next to orange then lime then strawberry followed by peach and berry blue - continue with black cherry, apricot, watermelon, and pineapple. But for crying out loud, don't put the apricot and peach right beside each other!

Here's what happened. I finally spied the peach Jello and grabbed a box. Thinking that I might be on Jello exclusively for a few days, I grabbed a second box only to discover that I did not have peach, but apricot. "Whoa, that was close." I said to myself and put the apricot box back carefully exchanging it for its look-a-like neighbor Peach!

The whole trip exhausted me and left me nauseated from all of the sights and smells one experiences in a grocery store. I went straight to bed. The next day I awoke, determined to care for myself a bit by making my own peach Jello. Thinking it wiser to just double up the batch I reached in the bag and took out my second box of peach Jello - except it was Apricot.

I guess it was a good thing I switched my second box!

PS Peach & apricot mixed together isn't half bad.
PPS I know you're sharp and may be saying that the differences between peach & apricot are obvious and very distinct and that the problem is not with product placement but with this consumer. Well, next time I'm sick I'll call you! :-)

a must read

2008-01-07T06:23:00.000-08:00

For Christmas I received a book called "Everything Must Change - Jesus, Global Crises, and a Revolution of Hope". Quite the ambitious and wide-sweeping title. But in its pages I've found what I've been hungry for.

My faith has been shifting from believing IN Jesus, to believing in the good news message, the gospel, of Jesus. I'm learning more about the historical context in which Jesus taught and it sheds a whole new light on the New Testament. Jesus has moved from this other-worldly teacher speaking in riddles and esoteric poetic language, to one who confronts injustice, violence, oppression, and systemic "evil" through a radical call to live differently. As followers of his way, we are to recreate the world in accordance to the values of the one true God.

I'm planning to re-read this book immediately and blog/journal my responses as I go along. It is that rich. Much of what I am reading reminds me of the message and values of my Mennonite brothers and sisters. I appreciate so much more their emphases of community, redemptive discipline, non-violence, ecological stewardship, and advocacy for the world's poor and oppressed.

Maybe you're turned off by such a list. Maybe you're perfectly content in your belief that Jesus is our savior. I challenge you to ask what that means. Could it mean more than a way to heaven when you die? Most of us who have believed in Jesus as the savior of the world also recognize his truth is to change the way we live. So is that way more than avoidance of "sin"? Could it be that Jesus called his followers to remake the world? Could he really have come to preach good news to the poor?

I think it is hard not to affirm that something is terribly wrong with our world. Is it possible that the way of Christ, the way of this Jew who lived in the throes of religious-political tensions of the Roman Empire 2000 years ago has something to say to our religious-political situation today? I know that if you'll read this book, you'll see a new side of the message of Jesus. Whether you believe in him as your personal savior or if you think he was just a wise/transcendent man, you'll find his message to be what we need now.

McLaren addresses the three spheres of equity, prosperity, and security and shows how our misguided value of amassing wealth and the resulting fears have created a huge mess. Blessed are the poor, indeed.

Have I stoked your curiosity? This book is a must read. And it has discussion questions with each chapter - how handy ;-). If you're interested, there will be a weekend seminar in Kansas City in April - might be cool to attend as a group...It is being sponsored locally in part by Nazarene Theological Seminary. Aaahhh. There is hope.

Barack Rocks!

2008-01-04T02:03:00.000-08:00

"Hope is the bedrock of this nation, the belief that our destiny will not be written for us but by us, by all those men and women who are not content to settle for the world as it is but who have the courage to remake the world as it should be,"

Thanks to all my friends and family who were part of Barack's monumental victory last night in Iowa!

If you didn't pay attention to the political scene yesterday, check it out here. Ray says it was on for the ages.

so far so good

2008-01-03T12:16:00.000-08:00

As many of you know, we have been trying to add to our family for about two years. Let me clarify - a baby, that is...

Today I received good news from my doctor's office indicating that I "passed" the first round of testing. My blood work indicates good FSH levels (needed 10 or below had 3.1) and good Estradiol levels (needed 50 or below had 37.1). They are going to check two androgen hormones, one of which is testosterone.

But, it sounds like the next step will be a hysterosalpingogram, a dye test checking for irregularities in my fallopian tubes and other interior plumbing.

Keep us in your thoughts and prayers. I feel a huge relief making it past the first hurdle. According to our OB specialist, Dr. Gregory Starks, I'm at the 70/30 age where 70% of women cannot conceive. Add to it his remark that Clomid (the fertility drug I took last spring and summer) should, in his opinion, never be given to women over 40 because it can trigger menopause and you'll understand why this has been an emotional week for me & Ray. (I should add that I currently experience most of the menopausal symptoms - some of them seemingly quite random and recent...oh, and last spring I was not ovulating even with the Clomid.)

We'll keep you posted.

a very sweet holiday

2008-01-01T19:02:00.000-08:00

Even though we spent Christmas in KC away from family, it was a rather special week. I had to work on Christmas day, so we had an early Christmas Eve with Legos, Operation, and Mr. Bean. After raking in double time & a half on Tuesday, we snuggled on the sofa and savored the Bourne movies. Much couch potato-ing those two days.

However, on Sunday night before Christmas, we had a visit from our friends Kurt & Cheri from NYC. It was great to see them. Monday they built a gingerbread house with Titus and hung out before going on to Oklahoma to see Kurt's parents. The best thing was that they stopped again on their way back to NYC. When they came on Thursday, they announced that they would stay an extra night...YIPPEE! So we had a great little tour of KC, riching in Mission Hills, a stroll on the Plaza, and BBQ at our favorite local place. It was so refreshing to have dear old friends with us. We look forward to visiting them on spring break in March for 1) Kurt's birthday 2) St. Patrick's Day - which is also Kurt's birthday and 3) Cheri's completion of design school.

Sandwiched in between was a dinner with Ray's old friends Pete & Trudi Matthews and their 4 kids. We had a great meal and even better conversation. Definitely a night where the presence of Christ was felt around the table. Peter is now an Anglican priest in Lexington.

I know that's just kind of a newsy post. I hope to get some pix from Cheri soon to add so that you can see proof of my existence. It has been many moons since I have been caught on camera...

Mom, when were you born?

2007-12-27T07:54:00.001-08:00

Titus just asked me, "Mom, when were you born?"

"April 16, 1966."

"Wow, that's a long time ago! Was that before the dinosaurs?"

Remember when high school students seemed old?

Has anybody seen my record?

2007-12-20T20:31:00.001-08:00

Last week when Titus was exhibiting one of my less flattering characteristics - melting down over a little spill - I found myself singing a song from my childhood treasure. The Sesame Street 2 album had a great song "Everyone Makes Mistakes" - and I still remember it.

The moment of reverie got me thinking about that thing. Where did it go? I know I had it when I was in college. I used to whip it out and play now and then. If anyone ever sees my copy or a vintage copy in great shape, please get it for me.

And, it has to have the inside book included...oh, how I want to hear it!