Call It What You Want...

A Brass Choir accompanied our church choir this Easter morning (the 8:45 service was the place to be for this musical joy), and I enjoyed each song the trumpet, tuba, French horn and trombone added to our music. Of course.
On the way home, we discussed which instrument the boys would like to play when they get older. In working to steer Mark away from, "I don't want to play any instrument" or "I want to play the traffic cone" we wandered into the territory of large, low brass.
Baritone
Tuba
Euphonium
and, at last...
SOUSAPHONE.


"I like the sousaphone best," Mark said.
"Why?" I asked.
"Because it's named..."
My mind jumped ahead in dread as I would have to explain the difference between SOUSA and SEUSS-A.
"... after a famous composer, John Philip Sousa," he said proudly.

And with that, I kneel in honor at the feet of Mrs. Saddler, Mark's music teacher.

"We're going to have to work on a little packing," I told the boys. "I'll go check the weather report and then we'll start packing."
Adam ran upstairs while Mark followed behind me and read over my shoulder.
A few minutes later, Adam came running downstairs, lugging his little suitcase.
"Look at this, mom!" he said.
"What do you have?" I asked.
"My suitcase! I packed!"

I thought I'd better go see what the little dude had packed, just in case he'd overlooked something he might need.





Inventory packed:
2 pairs underwear
4 pairs socks -- three black and one red
1 pair shorts
1 pair long pants (sweats)
3 short-sleeve shirts
2 long-sleeve shirts
1 pair short pants/sleeves pajamas
1 pair long pants/sleeves pajamas
1 random short-sleeve pajama shirt
1 random long-sleeve pajama shirt
1 random pair of long pajama pants
1 random pair of short pajama pants

Not bad, but a little tweaking needs to be done before we're entirely ready to go. But it was a commendable effort.

Last year, my friend and boss Adam Bouse moved away from Indiana to join the staff at YouVersion, an online Bible-reading program operated through LifeChurch.tv, a megachurch out of Oklahoma City that has its presence, well, all over. That's about the extent of my knowledge of the organization he left us at the Prairie to serve. (Funny, also, because he was my second supervisor in a row that had left to go into ministry. Giggle.)


(Sarah and I reading together the last two verses of Revelation, finishing our program together.)

YouVersion offers many, many Bible reading plans online that have been put together throughout the years by many different organizations. There are short-term reading plans. There are Lenten reading plans, Advent reading plans, and, yes, year-long reading plans. Want to commit to reading the Bible in a year? You can read it straight through, cover-to-cover. You can read it following the "One Year Bible" plan, that has you read a little from the Old Testament, a little from the New Testament, a little from Psalms and a little from Proverbs. You can read in a plan that begins at the beginning of Old and New testaments and jumps back and forth between. Or you can read the "chronological" plan, which has you read the Bible in the order that scholars feel the events took place. This is the plan I chose, and my friend Sarah joined with me.

So, obviously, you start in Genesis. Somewhere during Genesis, you find Job. Job, my friends, is a LONG book. Of course, as my moms' Bible study group studied the book of Job, yes, this was already most evident. It is a long book. The next interesting place is when you get to read Kings and Chronicles together. Makes sense, since the events are mirrored. I think it makes a lot more sense, because you don't have to scratch your head and ask yourself, hmm, didn't I already read this? Yes, you did, and when you read them back-to-back, you follow the stories better.

The Psalms are sprinkled throughout the Old Testament, as some of them are Davidic, and some are written after the Exile, and so on. This is a neat way to do it. Read about David and Bathsheba and Nathan's confrontation, then read Psalm 51: Have mercy on me, oh God. Yeah. I knew the story already, but it has great impact reading those pieces together. Ditto with others of David's psalms. Ditto with something like Psalm 37, after the exile.

The Gospels are tightly interwoven, with many stories playing out two, three, or four times. The book of Acts is interspersed with the letters written during Paul's travels. It was particularly interesting to read of Paul's travels to a particular region, to read of what happened there (thank you, Luke, for the details), and then to read Paul's letter back to that church later. Once someone commented to me that if you had to consider the context Paul's writings were written in, you weren't really reading in faith. I think that when you read with context what Paul wrote, it gives much greater understanding to the text, the time, and the message. (Because seriously, was Paul a misogynist, or were there some women in some of the churches who really caused some trouble? I think it's the latter.)
A year-long commitment can be hard. A lot of life gets in the way. YouVersion's plans are on the internet, but if you're away from your computer or internet access for a few days, it's easy to get behind. And while getting behind on a year-long plan is less fatal than getting behind on a "read the Bible through during Lent" plan, it still adds a little extra challenge. There were a few days where I had a LOT of reading to do in order to catch up, and yes, I may have let it go for a few days during vacations and busy times also. However, the name of the game is accountability, and that's where Sarah came in. Did I mention that Sarah was reading too? And she was reading the same plan as I was. So when she got behind, she kicked in to make sure that she didn't get behind me, and when I got behind, I had to step it up as well. That's how accountability works.

Today is the last day of the year. At noon (just a couple hours from now), Sarah and I are meeting at the local coffee shop to read Revelation 22 together to wrap up our Biblical journey. I have a favorite Bible that I have marked up and had friends mark up with me since I got it 20 years ago, and I'm taking it with me for Sarah to sign on the last page of the New Testament.
 

What reading plan do I start tomorrow?
Check YouVersion.com to see what's available and make your suggestions below.

Last year was the first year for a Thankful Tree.
Basically, we drew a tree trunk and branches on paper and then, throughout November, decorated it with leaves on which we wrote what we're thankful for. Mostly the boys are the writers, but there are a few leaves written by parents and grandparents that slip in. This year, both boys were able to write their own thankful leaves, which was a wonderful improvement on any previous Thankful activities!

There were quite a few "trains", "trucks" and other vehicles, and Adam frequently added "Yayyyyyy!" to his leaves. I found the entire thing adorable, and every time they asked to make Thankful Leaves, I encouraged them to do so.
A few translations are in order, I'm sure.
* At the center top, below the empty space, there is a leaf that says "Kramol!" Directly to its right, is a leaf that says "Cramol!" First, they are both pronounced "CAR-mul". The one on the left is the town, and the one on the right is the dip (caramel, of course), says Adam, the author of both. (I love his spelling.)
* Mark's leaves are all very legible, and, yes, at the bottom, there are two that say "trains". There might be more. Please, Mark, a little variety, if you please...
* Third from the bottom, on the trunk, is "Dr. Mason", the children's pediatrician. That's a ghost between the "Dr." and the "Mason". He is saying "Boo!" I'm not sure why. (Ask Adam.)
* At the bottom right is MY thankful leaf, from heroic Adam finding my wedding ring after it being lost for more than a year! I should have included more color or made it a bigger leaf, but that was a pretty big one for me!!!

I love the Thankful Tree. Someday the tree might be prettier -- maybe I'll cut it out of construction paper and mount it on a poster board or something -- but for now, we had a very thankful month.

See you next Thanksgiving with another Thankful Tree.

Now. I am really not that much of a football fan... But Tim really likes it and it's a nice diversion. And I have found that the best way to not become totally exasperated with all the football action is to join a Fantasy Football League and "play" along.

Mom, the way it works is thus: everyone in the league has a team. On draft day, each person takes turn picking players in the National Football League (NFL) for their team. They do not belong to the same NFL teams, in fact, having variety in your team is good because if you focus on choosing teammates from a team that does poorly during the season, your fantasy team will also do poorly.

You choose players in many different positions on the offensive team. Your defense is one NFL team's defense. You choose players based on past performance, expected performance, and many other factors. In my case, it's all about appearance. I don't want thugs or people with bad reputations on my team. Tim does massive research using various on-line sites, magazines, etc., to determine who he will choose. I look at thumbnails -- that's right. The pictures that show what my team members look like. Since I was working yesterday, I had to rely on Tim to draft my team. So, without further ado, I present...

CAKE AND ICE CREAM (the name has no meaning. it's just a name)

A few of these fellows seem to have squeaked through on some sort of ability or team loyalty, and it was some hard work to find a completely un-appalling picture of the lad with the knit cap nearest the bottom, but my draft picker seems to think it's a good team.

Your comments are welcome but only if they are encouraging toward my team's chances of success!

I have always wanted to be a painter. I want to dab, glob, and swoop paint onto a canvas and come away with something that looks vaguely like a painting of "something". Recently a new company came to Indy that offers just that opportunity -- perhaps minus the globs. Wine and Canvas holds events at their studio in the Keystone area, local restaurants, or in your location (for a private event), providing canvas, paint, apron, brushes, and instruction to create a masterpiece.



    


I have done this twice, once at a restaurant, where I painted Calla Lilies, and once in their studio, where Red Tree was the final product. When a few of us from church painted the Red Tree, we asked why not hold an event at the church? We could certainly get the 15 people needed for an event, and it would be the perfect location!

It was a great time. And for those who ask, how in the world do you do this? Do you have to be an artist?, I present... step by step, my Wine and Canvas night.

Step One: Sky

The instructor helped us blend the right color using basic white, blue and brown, encouraging us to keep it from becoming too uniform.

Step Two: Grass

The grass is blended green, yellow, white, and brown, applied with a large brush (like the sky) in short brush strokes. Some artists used longer strokes and made their grass look "flowing", which also was a neat effect.

Step Three: The Tree Line


Step Four: Flowers

Red flowers (blended with orange, yellow, a little white and brown) work their way across the field, larger up close and smaller as they get further away.

Step Five, Six and Seven: House, Boy and Lady with Parasol

These were harder than the other parts as they actually took a little precision, but they were still, in truth, just blobs and shapes.

Step Eight: Clouds
Because we were short on time, the clouds didn't get the time and attention they deserved, but we'd been having a great time and it was almost 10 pm anyway. You can look at my picture and see my clouds.

FINAL PRODUCT:



All the artists show off their versions of the painting. Notice how much cool variation shows up in the same painting!

The Glorious Day for which we have been waiting for weeks and months finally arrived, and Mark is no longer one hand's worth of years.

Here are the boys this morning before school. One of them was willing to participate in the photo in the spirit Mommy intended.

Yesterday we had a few friends over for a little birthday fun.
First was some outside play:


(Asking only three friends was to improve the chances of no one getting hurt. We still pushed the limits a little...)

Then it was inside for the fabulous LEGO cake, made by the mother Martha Stewart strives to emulate:



Then, after some pictures, a photo of the friends together:


(These boys have been in Sunday School together for years. Aidan (l) and Mark were also in preschool together; Samuel (2nd from r)'s mom and I were joyously pregnant until September together; Logan (r) and Mark have been practically inseparable since he appeared in Sunday School a couple years ago. They are a pretty tight group of boys and all get along great, if not a little rowdy!)

Today, for the actual birthday, I got to pay a visit to Mrs. Spear's Kindergarten class for a little birthday snack. The class sang Happy Birthday to Mark, and got to help serve the snack. He also got a couple little prizes -- a pencil and a Hinkle Creek Elementary School flashlight -- and was, in general, feted in grand kindergarten style.


Here is Mark with 23 of his "best friends" -- two children were absent, and, as Mrs. Spear says, "Miss a day, miss a lot", had to miss the fun. The long blonde hair in the red shirt at the very bottom of the picture belongs to a little girl who lives nearby and who gave me a big hug when I came into the room. :)

There were presents, there is going to be another helping of cake here in a few minutes, birthday calls, and a wonderful visit from Grandma AJ for the week, and Mark became six in style.

Pretty awesome.

This summer, the boys' preschool Sunday School classes have had an Old Testament theme -- which is cool, because I really enjoy the obscure stories of that part of the Bible. Everyone knows about the prodigal son and Saul's conversion and subsequent name change to Paul and so on...

But what about Ehud and Eglon? Jael and Sisera?

I am please to announce that, while steering mostly clear of those stories of blood and gore, the boys have learned about "the hand that belongs to no BODY!" (Daniel and the handwriting on the wall), "the king who was a little boy and who found the Book of God", and, this week, Nehemiah and the broken walls.

In church Sunday, we stayed for Robert's baptism in the 11 a.m. service and the boys heard Mr. Joe talk about whether putting a Bible under your pillow at night when you sleep helps you learn more about God. (The consensus? They're not sure.)

The other morning when I was helping Mark make his bed, I found his Little Boy's Bible Story Book under his pillow.
"Did you put this here to learn more about the Bible like Mr. Joe did?" I asked.
No, he told me. "I kept looking for the story of the broken walls and Nehemiah, and I couldn't find it anywhere. I just kept looking!"

Well. As you might imagine, the Little Boy's Bible Story Book does not have the story of Nehemiah and the broken walls in it. Or anything else about Nehemiah. Not even Zerubbabel. Possibly not even Deborah, and she's not even all that obscure.

It makes me think back to two things from childhood:
 * A Bible story book we had with the most gory pictures. Mom cut out John the Baptist's head on a platter, but there were still soldiers with swords killing babies, Solomon holding up a baby by the ankle with a sword ready to divide it between two fighting mothers, and a Hebrew slave painting the doorposts (that inspired many "protective" activities for our own house). Too bad that one has drifted from our family collection...
* A song has come to mind, but I'm short of the ending, and, possibly, the point:
              Shamgar had an ox-goad
              David had a sling
              Dorcas had a needle
              Rahab had a string...
(The ending, anyone? The point, clearly, is that God can use what we have, and we should use what we have for God.)