A Rainbow Song for YOU!

Mulling it over

"For since the foundation of the world God's invisible qualities--His eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse." (Rom. 1:20)

I wish you could have heard the message that our friend Tim spoke this morning. I love sermons that have weeks and weeks worth of mulling over packed into them.

The mulling has begun.

"There is lovely."

I am still getting over finishing the Welsh story "How Green Was My Valley." I cried on the bus to NYC two weekends ago reading this:

Ivor raised his finger, and from the top of the hill down to bottom men and women hummed softly to have the proper key, with sopranos going up to find the octave, and altos climbing, and tenors making silver and contraltos and baritones resting in comfort and basso down on the octave below, and the sound they all made was a lifetime of loveliness, so solid, so warm, so deep, and yet so delicate. It will be no surprise to me if the flowers of the gardens of heaven are made from such sound. And O, to smell a smell as good to the nose as that sound sounds to the ear.

But even heaven could not be so beautiful, or we would all be drunk with beauty day and night, and no work done anywhere, and nobody to blame.

Drunk with beauty. There is lovely.

Above is the delightful little Hamilton Women's Ensemble I've been a part of this year. Our Christmas concert, accompanied by strings and flute, was almost as enjoyable as the 1 1/2 hours each Monday we gather to rehearse. :) I don't know why, but I just love singing, and I'm so glad it's something the Lord created us to do.

"Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to the King, sing praises!" (Ps. 47:6)

"Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God." (Col.3:16)

The Snowy Day

There is nothing like getting up in the dim morning light to see a snow covered world with more falling magically in front of the streetlight. No school!

To think I almost said "No" to going out this morning! It seemed like so much work bundling up. What was I thinking? The city hum was dulled by the heavy coating, and we made the most awesome snowman. It was just like the cartoons, when characters just start rolling a snowball around and it grows exponentially. It was JUST LIKE THAT! The hardest part was hoisting giant snowball #2 onto giant snowball #1.

We love Ezra Jack Keats' The Snowy Day. and a most delightful video (originally a book) called "The Snowman" by Raymond Briggs. It's a 26 minute wordless story of an English boy who builds a snowman that comes to life that night and takes him on a magical adventure. The music is hauntingly beautiful and we watched the video until the tape broke. Sigh. If anyone ever sees it at a thrift store, I'll pay for it! My mom found our first one at a yard sale, I think. (Kudos to Mom for her amazing finds!)

The girls loved filling their hats with snow, then re-discovered the playhouse and slide, which have stood quietly at the back corner of our yard without visitors for the past few months.

Our snowman has likely not fared well in light of the rain later in the day and now more snow falling. He'd better not come alive tonight and come into the house, because there are enough messes around here to clean up after being house-bound. (Said just like a mother, wasn't it? Where's my sense of adventure and magic?? Ok. Snowman, come alive tonight. You'd be an interesting blog post, at least!)

Open for Comments

For a long time my Aunt Betty has mentioned that our blog wouldn't let her comment. I had no idea why. Recently I helped a neighbor set up a blog and got "behind the scenes" into the settings and stuff and realized I'd never enabled something or the other.

All that to say, Aunt Betty, that I think you will now be able, should you so desire, to comment! (Figured I'd put your picture up, too. There's my Aunt Betty--my mom's sister--and Uncle Steve. They are a very cute couple. :)

Favorite Verses

Grace and peace be yours in abundance through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord. His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness. Through these He has given us His very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption that is in the world caused by evil desires.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to your goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. for if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of your Lord Jesus Christ.

(II Peter 1:2-7)


...we have not stopped praying for you and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of His will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding. And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to His glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light. For He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son He loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

(Colossians 1:9-13, and if you ever feel compelled to pray for me, feel free to pray this passage verbatim!)

Finally Over It

We're finally feeling like ourselves again after what seemed like nonstop illnesses since the end of September. It's a nice feeling, because I kinda like how goofy and weird we are when we're healthy.

Static hair, tea parties, Amelia's spontaneous singing, and Evelyn's silliness--very, very good stuff.

(The video of Evelyn was taken at the end of the first week of January, lest you think she missed ANOTHER week of school!)

Strange Dreams

Last night I dreamed my mom and I were trying to disappear--go off the grid, if you will. We were trying to "get away from it all." We were in Arizona, and Mom was driving a blue plaid Jeep. (Not sure how easily we could disappear in a vehicle like THAT, but you know dreams!)

Now...how to interpret...

Junior Lutheran King Weekend

(That's what Evelyn called Dr. King--still chuckling over it.) Thanks to my parents, Shelley, and church friends Paul & Carol, Alan and I were able to visit Josh & Laura for the weekend. It was SO NICE. Taking the bus=no stress. Alan listened to music & I lost myself in "How Green Was My Valley"--and w/a couple backpacks we hit the NYC pavement. We walked The High Line, loved seeing the building Josh and Laura are rehabbing, loved visiting with them for hours, and I was in heaven finishing my book sitting in a coffee shop called "Fluffy's" as Alan was in Carnegie Hall with fellow pianist Aaron Parks listening to Keith Jarrett play his only North American solo concert in the foreseeable future. And someone mistook me for Tina Fey. :)

Making the Crossing

For weeks now I've been pondering the crossing of the Red Sea. At first, I read Exodus 12 and was struck with Moses telling the scared-to-death Israelites to "Stand firm...the Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." (vs.13-14) I'm a fighter. I love movies where the hero, usually an underdog, fights his way to victory over a mean-spirited bully. I think deep down I would have wanted God to defeat the Egyptians by having some unlikely Jewish women smash their heads with water jugs.

But even in the very-military-sounding verses in Ephesians 6, where the Christian is dressing for battle, it is so that he may "stand firm," using only prayer and the Word of God as offensive weapons. So much for my teeth-clenching, water-jug-wielding victory.

But in Exodus 12:15, just after Moses tells them to stand there, God says, "Tell the Israelites to move on." Sometimes we "stand firm" while "moving on."

And here's where I found something I'd never noticed before. They moved on--crossed that sea--AT NIGHT. "All that night the Lord drove the sea back...and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground with a wall of water on their right and left...during the last watch of the night, the Lord threw the army of the Egyptians into confusion...and at daybreak the sea went back to its place."

I just keep thinking about this. My only guess is that, if the Israelites had been able to actually SEE by the light of day those walls of water instead of only guessing at the heights of the watery shadows, perhaps they'd never have crossed. They were already whining and complaining that slavery had been better than being chased by the Egyptians. They were grumbling and scared out of their minds. If the water had risen into its giant canyon in broad daylight, they may have said, "No way!" and dug their heels in. And been slaughtered. So the Lord shadowed His power with the dark of night--like blindfolding a horse to lead it out of a fire to safety--so that they would actually MOVE ON.

I'm not sure how this applies specifically to me right now. But I know I don't want to grumble or complain (especially about things I've ASKED the Lord to give me!) I want to heed the voice of godly leadership if it says, "Stand firm!" and I want to obey the voice of God if He says, "Move on," even if He tells me to do it in the middle of the night. Because who knows what monstrous seas He's parting to make my escape to safety possible.

It's Who You Know

I'm enjoying the pictures the girls have taken on the hand-me-down kids' camera some friends from church gave them.

This one made me smile. We love Sung Ko. I've praised him here before, but let's just say it only scratches the surface of the good friend he is to us, our Hamiltopia crowd, and beyond.

And a funny story--last month when Esther & her friend Dennis came over, Evelyn was doing these goofy kicks at Dennis in the kitchen. He said to her, "Wow! Do you know Kung Fu?" Evelyn looked at him blankly, but Amelia, sitting on a stool at the counter, came to her rescue, "No. But we know Sung Ko."

Stayin' Entertained

During our sick weeks, we've enjoyed some in-house fun. Alan gets the prize for creating living room fort out of blankets and random pieces of furniture. The girls sat in there for hours with flashlights & stuffed animals, drawing and cutting paper at a breakfast-in-bed tray. It was adorable.

Amelia built stuff with dominoes, and wrote her name.

In my cleaning frenzy, I rearranged their bedroom, took the door off their closet and made a reading nook. I only wish I could fit in there w/them!

Evelyn's been SO into reading. Her school challenged parents and kids before Christmas to read at least 10 books together over the holidays. The girls and I logged over 50 (and we didn't count the ones we read multiple times!) Evelyn is reading a lot of words herself, and reads some of her familiar books independently. It is SO fun to watch the book world open up to them!

But lest you think we're purists, rest assured they've watched their share of public TV and videos. Alan and I propped them in their bed this afternoon w/the computer to watch "Up" on Netflix so we could enjoy the Ravens/Chiefs playoff game. :)

My Favorite Gift

Time with loved ones is my favorite thing. It is filling and satisfying in the deepest places, and continues giving in the memories it creates and the investment it makes in that most precious of possessions--a relationship.

Amy and Jen came for Christmas. I wish I'd been a fly on the wall when, during the Zeigenfuse Christmas, the stretch limo pulled up to take all 14 of them to the airport to pick up Amy, who was flying in from Portland. Then I wish I'd been a fly on the wall at BWI when Jen waltzed across the baggage claim to surprise everyone (except Amy, the only family member in the know) by coming from New Zealand. (I think somewhere in those many hours & time zones between NZ and the USA, Jen had nearly two full days of Christmas!)

Two days later they came to spend an afternoon at our house, sitting around the table, eating oranges, telling life's inevitable stories, and trying to balance the desire Alan and I had to spend time with them (talking) and the desire Evelyn had to spend time with them (playing games, barbies, etc.--anything but talking!) What a GIFT from two friends who have a lot of relationships to nurture when they come here from far away. We felt so rich and honored! (Of course, Evelyn was NOT in the mood for having her picture taken, hence the upside-down-kid with kicking, blurred feet. Amelia was napping pretty much the whole time, as it was the start of our long and still-continued battle with germs.)

Thank you, friends, for the gifts of yourselves! As years past prove, you're very good at it. :)

Christmas Eve

We lunched causally at Joan & Steve's & awaited the arrival of Josh & Laura from NYC. Uncle Steve just had total hip replacement surgery, and we enjoyed strolling the street on his daily walk. Afterward, he was the only one who wasn't up for a riverside walk in the woods near their home (that lovely window is on the front of their home, BTW. Uncle Steve made the window box arrangement.)

Finally, the girls ended up in a pile with Josh & Laura. They'd have stayed there if we'd let them. However, we needed to head to the lovely Christmas Eve service at Mom and Dad's church. I wish I had pictures of that.

Christmas Eve was quite nice. :)

Lovin' the 'Hood, Part 4

Tuesdays are "Taco Night" at the Clementine. The Tuesday before Christmas we all went there with Shelley. If you arrive at 5pm (easy to do when you can walk!) you can have the place to yourselves and score a table right next to the kid area. Did you hear that? They have a KID AREA. (However, it occurs to me looking at this picture of Amelia with her hands all over those plastic dinosaurs, that perhaps the kid area was one of the culprits of the massive germ warfare we've had since Christmas....)

Check out Clementine for yourself!

And take note--the light fixtures hanging in the windows are two metal colanders clipped together around a hanging bulb. Cool, eh?

Favorite Christmas Craft of 2010

I'm in love with these carolers. They take little time to make and use mostly recycled stuff. With cardboard tubes & odd kid-sized socks, you just add paint, construction paper, a permanent marker, bits of yarn, glue, some pieces of music and voila--a choir. I saw three of them singing in a row in Diana's house and it was love at first sight. I made them with my students at school, with Evelyn's class Christmas party, with my Sunday School kids, and then at home as a family.

New Year's Day Hike

We are the House of Pain and Germs at the moment. Amelia started downhill on Christmas day, and from then until now we've had nothing but fevers, coughing, and extremely interrupted nights' sleep. We've been kinda holed up, actually.

So when we emerged New Year's Day morning to walk the woods at nearby Double Rock Park, Alan and I both felt like we'd been transported to a heavenly place.

It was relatively warm after weeks of COLD, and we had a blast ripping slabs of ice off the stream. It was refreshing, totally refreshing.

Now we're back to germ-fest. Evelyn has an ear infection. Alan and I have sore throats. Neither girl will go to school tomorrow. But at least we had that hike in the woods.

The Gifts of Christmas

The week of Christmas, Evelyn confessed, "Mommy, I don't think I love God."

"What makes you think that?"

"Because I love toys more."

"We all struggle with loving things more than loving God," I said,my own list emerging easily in my head. Praying a silent, Nehemiah-style prayer, I said, "As we grow, we have to practice loving God, and as we get to know Him, we love Him more."

Thus began my thoughts on Intro to Idolatry. Good thing my student is six. Not that I'm unfamiliar with idolatry.

In the midst of these thoughts came Christmas, when we choose to give material things to our kids and one another. And it is SO delightful to see them open those presents and express their glee.

On Christmas Eve we attended Mom and Dad's church service, where the music was, as always, lovely, and the message clear. The girls loved sitting with Anna, lighting the candles one to the next as we tried to act like it was no big deal for our 4, 6, and 7 year olds to be holding lit flames. As Courtney said so well, "They did GREAT!"

Christmas morning had us exploring stockings, eating Daddy's traditional waffles, and opening some gifts. Amelia was thrilled with her Nutcracker, which she'd asked for and which Evelyn and I had gone to three stores on the 23rd in search of. (I'm teaching my kids so many good habits, aren't I?)

We all then met at Mom and Dad's for lunch and the rest of the day. Of course, the kids couldn't wait to open presents.

It feels good to give gifts. Evelyn had asked for "a beautiful dress, like a wedding dress, with a rose on it," and my mom came through 100%, complete w/thrift store veil and bouquet. She was dumbstruck upon opening it, then did a chair dance caught in one of the photos here. All the kids requested Twinkle Toes tennis shoes, and even the grownups made lists & drew names, which nicely simplified the gift buying (and I admit--it was SO FUN to open the books I'd asked for, along with a nice clothing gift certificate.) It is warming to watch those you love open things you've chosen for them.

We all watched "Up" together (which is one of the most endearing children's movies I've ever seen. Have yet to watch it w/out shedding a tear), and ate a dinner of homemade calzones thanks to Jon and Courtney. Then we just sat around enjoying one another, playing w/the kids' toys, and being together. So nice.

But back to gifts. Thinking about the kids' reactions to their gifts made me wonder: Ho do I respond to the Lord's gifts to me? Do I dance with glee thinking of my everlasting life, of the presence of the Comforter in my heart, or of the thrill of actually knowing my Creator? Am I wide-mouthed in amazement opening each day with it's new mercies? Do I revel in the wonder of having God's words at my fingertips? Do I realize that one of His deepest desires, through these gifts, is for me to be closer to Him? To know Him more?

Christmas 2010 was sweet, precious, cozy, and comfortable, full of good gifts, well-appreciated and generously given. And we have the blessing of a family who would all recognize the deep, rich, unseen but most meaningful gifts of all that are ours because of the magnificent story of redemption that starts in Genesis and runs in a fascinating red thread all the way to Revelation.

Happy New Year!

We've managed to stay up until midnight--barely! Shelley just left after a fun few hours of Rook, and the girls have been asleep since 7:30 pm. We all went to Baltimore's iconic 34th street (the "crazy Christmas street" as it's known in our house) right at dusk, which was perfect. It was a delightfully easy, quiet celebration. Just right for just now.

I have a lot of catching up to do--can't wait to share pictures and thoughts and memories of our Christmas here in Baltimore.

For now, though, we'll head to bed, ready to start 2011 with a bit of shut-eye.