My Favorite Corner of the House

It's not really a corner, it's a wall. These last two weeks have been tough. It was one of those times when you feel unable to get on top of anything, life gets you down, emotional tensions run high in all directions, you are kept busy with sick kiddos all day, all week, it seems impossible to keep your house clutter free and feeling peaceful. I was feeling pretty low and stressed to the max in all directions.

And my friend Michelle made me this banner:

"love lives here"

Our reminder, even in the tough times, of what it is that keeps us going, of the good that we do have, of so much to be thankful for.

I was inspired to create my own artwork that symbolized our family to grace our wall: And then I cleared that wall of everything else, so these reminders stand out to us of who we are and what we have.

Even if I have been unable to keep the floors or counters or desktops cleared of 'stuff' in the craziness that is our lives, there is a simple space in my home that reminds me of the peace and grace and love that lives here. My favorite corner of the house.

Finally! A Leaf Pile!

I know you might think that winter has already hit Colorado if you have checked out our recent postings, but our weather is such that we still get sunny days in the 70's interspersed in between the snow storms. Yesterday was a beautiful one of those. I loved it, even got to hang the laundry on the line and enjoy some quietness sitting on the stoop in the warm sun:) The girls' favorite thing was that we were finally able to rake up a leaf pile for them to play in!

There is so much regularity in the seasons, so much that we expect and count on that adds comfort to our days and expected change to our lives. But this fall has been full of the unexpected for me. I saw things that I don't remember ever seeing or noticing before. Maybe I have just been watching with new eyes as I watch fall unfold before three little girls. But part of it has been how unexpected early snow storms and freezes effect the season. The maples and other trees that I usually think of as the most brilliant in the fall were not what impressed me the most this year. They were only starting to change when the first snow hit and they dropped all their leaves in a hurry beneath a string of storms, both snow and rain. (Never something we could build a leaf pile in.) The oaks, on the other hand, had more color and brilliance than I ever remember. The early, freezing temperatures brought on their color change in a way that surpassed anything in my memory. Their hardiness enabled them to not only withstand but be perfected by the cold. Amazing. Every time we step foot outside we keep stopping numerous times to pick up another oak leaf, and then another and another, or to stare at the oak tree in all its glory, literally glowing in the fading evening light.

And finally, we had a day that was not so windy that all the leaves had blown away, not so wet or snowy that you couldn't rake them, and lots of oak leaves and leaves from the last hardy maple and Kentucky coffee bean tree all over the ground just calling to us to rake them into a pile for all the kids to play in. Lots of laughter, jumping, leaves flying through the air, kids exploding from underneath the pile of leaves, rolling in the leaves, and even a little bit of contemplative sitting in the glorious pile before the energy levels had geared up. And then the beauty of these days was that the sun left, the chill returned to the air, and we all went inside with plenty of time to make dinner, eat and go to bed early.

A Puddle Stomping Day

It's a gray, overcast, rain coming down, put on your puddle stomping boots and run outside to play sort of a day!

Anna and Josie had fun and got soaking wet, as you can imagine. Ruthie had more fun playing with the umbrella handle and touching wet leaves.

We even followed the rain puddles and the trail of fall leaves all the way down to the creek, which was pretty high, the water swirling rapidly downstream. Not the lazy clarity of warm late summer water. At the creek autumn has definitely arrived, the water is chilly and dark and splashed with the color of brilliant fall leaves. The girls had fun throwing sticks in the water, watching them float upstream caught in an eddy for a moment, then getting caught by the current, spun around and whisked away.

They were chilled to the bone by the time I talked them into coming back inside so of course we had to make some hot foamy milk.

Josie took a turn frothing:

And then Anna:
And the results, with a dash of cinnamon, were delicious and warmed us all up right down to our toes!
Even little Ruthie tried a lick:

And liked it!
What could be better?
I hope your day is filled with fall, both the outside fun and the inside times of cozy comfort. Throw a stick in a creek and watch it float upstream, and then continue to watch as it gets caught, swirls around and around and floats away out of sight downstream. Somehow in that space of watching and stillness there is room to hear things that we forget to listen for in the chaos of our everyday lives.

Out of the mouth of babes...

Today Josie had the Bible open and was 'reading' it. She told me "It says 'God will put a bandaid on my bloody owie.'"
How true. In more ways than one. Thank you, Josie, for the reminder.

Worship through Art

Our friend Isobel created this piece of art in response to our Resurrection Sunday worship service. We wanted to post it on our blog because it is such a beautiful expression of the worship that happens on Sunday morning, even better than an actual photograph. We love it because it is so alive and worship on Resurrection Sunday is so much about life, true life. We also love it because the art itself is an act of worship. Thank you, Isobel, for sharing your expression of worship with us.
Several times we have referred to Anna and Josie and their friends dancing in the aisles during our Sunday morning worship services. You can see them in this picture in the foreground, the little girls on the left. Isobel's and Rich's daughter, Lily, is the girl on the far right with the white dress. The fourth girl in the middle is their friend Ella.

Reflections on Resurrection Sunday

“How was your weekend?” That is a pretty typical question to hear on a Monday morning, and I (Mitch) have been reflecting quite a bit today on how I would respond to that question if asked tomorrow morning. Right now I would say my response would be, “Surprisingly emotional.”
Today was Resurrection Sunday, so as followers of Christ we were celebrating the most significant event for our faith. It is impossible to capture all of the significance of the death and resurrection of Christ, so I won’t attempt it here. I’ll just share a bit of my experience.

I do not tend to be a very outwardly emotional person, at least not in public, but every-now-and-then a moment catches me by surprise. This has happened a few times at worship services, and today was one of them. The moments catch me by surprise because they are not usually in the settings I would expect. One could see how a Good Friday service could be very emotional as you meditate on the deep grief accompanying the death of Christ and reflect on your own brokenness and inner darkness, but those do not tend to be the ones that get me. Resurrection Sunday is a time to celebrate and rejoice, and that’s what it was for us today. There is always a special energy among the church on this day, and I particularly felt that this morning. Churches tend to do something a little special (as they should) for this day, and Crestview was no exception. I do not, however, tend to be someone who is particularly impressed by fancy or trendy worship sets (I am not particularly put off by them either). The service at Crestview usually begins with three or four worship songs. As you would imagine the ones today were very celebrative speaking directly about the resurrection. These were upbeat, hand clapping energetic songs (perfect for two little girls that love to dance in the aisles every Sunday, especially when they have new dresses to twirl around), and I found that from the very beginning of the first one my eyes were pretty much filled with tears. (Okay, they never actually did spill out, but it took about all I had to keep my cheeks dry.) A number of times I couldn’t really sing because my voice was too choked up. I didn’t see this coming at all. So what was it that got to me during these high-energy, celebrative songs?

One of the main thoughts that was going through my head was that the only way our life makes any sense is in the context of the resurrection of Christ. There is a lot that is really good and beautiful about our life, but we are also in a season of life that has been quite hard. If Jesus had not overcome death, if we did not have this assurance that in the end the love, the righteousness and the justice of God wins out, then it would not be worth it to put ourselves through the tough times we are in (not that all suffering is avoidable, but much of ours is self-inflicted due to choices we have made to pursue certain visions). Many of the songs today were about victory—“Where thy vict’ry, oh grave?” “Fought the fight, the battle won.” Just to pull out a few lines. I get emotional thinking about the fact that that victory was won through meakness, through suffering, through death. The resurrection shows that the way of Christ—the way of suffering, the way of submission and obedience until death, the way of peace—is not just a noble way. It is the way that, in the end, good overcomes, the way that God makes all things right, and He is making all things right. It may not be immediately clear how this directly ties in to making our life make sense, but somehow it does for me, much more now than it did just a few years ago.

Being in school can often bring out some of my worst attributes. That is partly why this has been such a difficult season of life. It has also been a season where at times my faith has taken a beating, more due to letting myself be consumed by other concerns than being due to direct attacks. During the time of worshiping through music it was as if my emotions reminded me that yes, I do have my hope in the resurrection of Christ and in His present and coming kingdom. I do believe that things will be set right for those who are suffering now. I do believe that we do not even have to fear death. I do believe that my Redeemer lives and that He is in the process of redeeming the world for Himself, and He can even redeem this time of my being in school with all of its difficulties. It was sort of an inside out way of being strengthened in my faith that I did not expect, especially as someone who is at least suspicious—at most cynical—about overly emotional expressions of faith. It was also a reminder of how I have experienced the power of His resurrection in my life, as flawed as I am. There are those times when I have been stubborn and hard-hearted that He has softened my heart somehow by his grace when I was totally incapable of setting myself aright, even this very weekend. When I am in those moments where I do not want to yield, I do not know how God will get me turned around and reconcile things, but somehow He always does, and that gives me hope.

Of course it would also contribute to my emotions anytime I would look over and see Anna and Josie spinning in the aisle, sometimes with hands raised. Some of that was just the emotions of being a father and some of it was the beauty of the image of children being joyful and worshiping in their own, unconstrained way.

So that was some of my experience today, Resurrection Sunday. I don’t know that it really makes sense for anybody else. It was my experience, one that I would not have had five years ago. I can't quite capture it or put words on it all. Thanks, Greig, and the rest of the crew involved in setting up an environment for worship this morning. I was blessed by it.

Oh yeah, I promise that the pictures of three beautiful girls in cute dresses and their beautiful mother will be up soon.

Christos aneste!
Alethos aneste!

Christ is risen!
He is risen indeed!

Surrounded by Love, Support in the Hard Times

What do you do when you have a sick kid, an intense week filled with caring for kiddos with no built in mom time or down time? Call a friend! I have a friend who is incredibly gifted at creating space for people to worship God. She called me last week and asked if she could come over and tell the story of the Good Shepherd and Psalm 23, using props, and help create a space for me to worship and pray amidst the chaos of our week. It was a wonderful time. The girls got into the story because of how appropriately she told it, connecting it to them and using the props to keep their interest and draw them towards God. With them engaged, I was able to find some space inside my head to turn towards God again, instead of constantly engaging in their care. I was even able to sit in one place long enough to finish an entire cup of tea! Mitch wonders why I ever bother to try and make tea because he finds my cup still sitting on the counter in the evening, a marker of my failed attempt to find some quiet time in my day. So you can see why it meant a lot to me to actually be able to finish an entire cup of tea.
We created a 'feast' on our coffee table as part of our story telling and I was able to use elements of it to pray and sink into the presence of God. A much needed soaking. Here is a picture of the table and my almost empty cup of tea. Thank you, Michelle, for listening to the Spirit and investing in my life, for creating a space for me to pray.

And what do you do when you, the Mom, are sick and your kiddos are healthy, full of life and unquenchable kid energy? Call a friend! Yesterday I was feeling quite under the weather and had a fever. I just needed to sleep and didn't think I could make it until nap time, especially given the unlikely probability of all three girls sleeping at the same time. (Mitch, I'll leave figuring out the exact probability to you). But my friend Gina was wonderful and took the two older girls for 2 hours in the morning while Ruthie and I slept. They came home just in time for their naps, Ruthie stayed asleep, and I got to keep sleeping. Then Gina took the girls to a Family Housing activity in the afternoon for another hour. Blessings on your head Gina, that had to be quite an interesting time trying to guide 3 kiddos in a painting activity. Hats off to you. Our girls loved it and I needed it. Thank you.

I feel so lucky to have this kind of community around me, people who are willing to be family to me when Mitch and I need it. People who can step in when Mitch and I are failing to make ends meet and can hold us up. People who can turn us back to God, who can be a window for us to see Him more clearly. People who in the past couple of months have taken over some of the logistics of life for us so that we have been freed up to focus on the needs of our girls and spending time with them. For all our talk about independence in the USA, I'm not sure that is my value. I'm pretty dependent on those around me. I need them. Hopefully, maybe not until another season of life comes along, but someday hopefully I can be that kind of friend to those around me. Hopefully we can teach our girls by our words and our example of giving and receiving what it means to be true community to those around us.

A Family Garden

Anybody who knows me (Mitch) very well would not be suprised that my first posting on this blog (with the exception of my description of my career as a children's silly song writer) would be about gardening.

I love gardening. It is very much a spiritual act for me. It combines worship, art, a little science, some good physical exercise and a lot of fascination. I think what I love about it most is the opportunity to work together with nature. I love learning about how nature operates--its common patterns and structures--and then figuring how to work within that using nature's patterns as a model. For me gardening is not an attempt to overcome nature in order to grow what I want. Rather it is tending to the living soil and enhancing it in a way that produces healthy results. Of course, if you are wanting to have a productive vegetable garden, it takes a fair amount of 'enhancing.' A lovely crop of tomatoes does not just appear in some spot you pick in the soil. Still, there is a way to go about it that treats nature as a teacher more than as an adversary. Maybe I love this aspect of gardening so much because I feel like it takes me back to part of the original mandate given to mankind by our Creator--to be stewards of the earth (some people might have translation issues with that, but that is a different matter). This is where the spiritual aspect and the worship come in. Aside from reasons to worship over the shear wonder of beautiful, nutritious food forming out of a tiny seed in a mass of minerals and decaying plant matter, there is also the sense in which gardening gives us a bit of a glimpse of the good earth as God designed it and a foretaste of what is to come. Wendell Berry, who writes far more eloquently than myself on these matters, wrote, "To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of Creation. When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament. When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration." I hope for our family's gardening to be a small act of the former.

There are many other things I love about gardening: the look, smell and feel of healthy, living soil in your hands, the cycle of the seasons that defines our gardening activities, the great satisfaction of serving healthy food to our family that we harvested hours or minutes before and tended with our own sweat, the beauty of a diverse mini-ecosystem of plants, insects, animals and microorganisms, the opportunity to always learn more, the mystery of it all. I could go on and on. Today I got to enjoy one of my other favorite parts of gardening--working in the garden as a family. We have two garden areas. One is a small onion patch and herb garden with salad greens mixed in just outside our front door. The other is our main garden, about 200 sq. ft. in the family housing community garden. With spring break just starting, today was the first chance to really work in the main garden. When it was nap time for Katie and the girls, I headed out to work, and later Katie brought Anna, Josie and Ruthie out. Katie and I have always hoped that gardening would be a delightful actvitiy for our whole family, that our children would develop a wonder and fascination in it as well. Today we got to see that happen.

-Ready to work in the garden

-Planting arugula seeds that we grew from last year's crop.

-After helping me plant shallots and carrots and investigating numerous creatures they found in the soil, Anna and Josie moved to playing in the water. The water to the spigot is not turned out yet, so Katie hauled water over in buckets in our wagon. Anna and Josie found this pot to be an acceptable wading pool and got soaked, loving every minute.

-Planting beets with Ruthie.

Tonight as the girls were going to sleep, I was lying next to Anna and asked her if she had a good day. She sat up with an excited smile and said, "I liked working in the garden. That's my favorite thing." We went on to discuss all the parts she enjoyed. She had nearly been asleep, and it took a while to get her to lay down and settle down again, but it was well worth it.