What's Up Wednesday: 5/29

The What's up Wednesday meme/bloghop is hosted by Jaime Morrow and her sister Erin Funk. Check out their blogs, find the link to all the others who are participating in the weekly hop, or join in!

What I'm reading

 

My wife is reading Quitter, by Jon Acuff, to me. Besides the fact that I love to be read to, this book is inspiring. It's all about chasing your dreams, doing what you're called to do. The more we read, the more I'm convinced that I need to write.

I also just started The End of Christendom, by Malcolm Muggeridge. It's actually a series of lectures that were given in 1978 at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. The main theme is remembering Pascal and his contribution to the Christian worldview. It's challenging.

What I'm writing

 

"Dystopolis" is still in process. I'm in the final edit stage.

Two pages in on my second book. The slowness is maddening, but I'm trying to enjoy/tell myself it's okay/remember that it's better that things come slowly...like sipping coffee on a cold morning.

Those short story ideas sill need work.

Also, check out this post for the Get Healthy bloghop!

What else I've been up to

 

Trying to keep up with Thing One and Thing Two...

 

 What inspires me right now

 

From Blaise Pascal (Pensee 188):

"Reason's last step is the recognition that there are an infinite number of things which are beyond it. It is merely feeble if it does not go as far as to realize that."

What's Up Wednesday: 5/22

It's time again for the What's up Wednesday meme/bloghop. Each Wednesday bloggers post about their respective week/day using the headings that follow. Join in the fun with this link to Jaime Morrow's blog - thanks again to Jaime and Erin for putting it all on, it's no small task!

What I'm reading

 

Madeleine L'Engle's Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art of course...

My journey through the Psalms continues, more on this below.

I've also found an interesting site called Narrative Magazine. It came to me first as an app for my iPad, which I like better than the actual site because of how clean and quiet it is. There's some great material there, and it's free!

What I'm writing

 

"Dystopolis" is nearing an end, finally, and my goal is to have it available for sale within this month - I'm sure I'll let you know when people begin flocking!

This morning I revamped my second book. I've decided to begin at page one and rewrite the story with a different approach. Last week I mentioned that I didn't feel like I knew my characters, and I think starting from another point in the story will help. The pages I've written are not lost, I'll use much of what I've done, but not much of it - the way it stands now - will make the final cut.

Short story ideas have been flowing. Although I haven't set any words to paper, I've been jotting notes like crazy. Stay on the look out for more after "Dystopolis"!

What else I've been up to

 

Now that we're somewhat healthy, we're trying to get our vehicle healthy. The transmission died last Friday, and so the remainder of our free time has been conversation about where to fix our troubled van. It's good tomorrow is the last day of school, we need a break!

What inspires me right now

 

Last week I said I'm full because of my family and spring, I'm still full. I look around me and I see brokenness everywhere, then I come home and I couldn't ask for more. This morning I read Psalm 50; the last verse says, "The one who offers thanksgiving as his sacrifice glorifies me; to one who orders his way rightly I will show the salvation of God!"

And surely the right way is paved with a thankful heart. I'm full.

What's Up Wednesday

Thanks again to Jaime Morrow, host of the What's up Wednesday meme. Each Wednesday the participating bloggers post about their respective week/day using the headings that follow. Chase the link above to join in the fun!

What I'm reading

 

Madeleine L'Engle's Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art continues to speak to me. I'll probably be mentioning it for many Wednesdays to come...

I'm also picking my way through W.B. Yeats's collected works. The Irish hit a chord within me that others don't (C.S. Lewis is the other culprit). When I read "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," I ache like he does to be transported to a "bee-loud glade." It's a similar feeling to that of Frost's poem, "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening." The depth of yearning is there. Last Wednesday I wrote about L'Engle and her positive view on suffering, and these two poets knew suffering. Maybe that's why their poetry has weight.

What I'm writing

 

"Dystopolis," my short story project (most is still posted on my blog - start here), is proving to be more of a challenge to finish and get on Amazon. The more I think about it, the more I want to tinker with the story and add to it. Is this folly? Then there's the part of me that just wants to make it available for purchase so I can wash my hands and move on...

The first draft of my second book is slow in coming, but I'm not fretting. I usually draft by hand and then type the second copy. So instead of pulling my hair out about plot development, I'm simply beginning the typing process early. I'm convinced I don't know my characters enough anyway.

What else I've been up to

 

Trying to get our house well before summer. We're a coughing mess.

What inspires me right now

 

My wife, my children, and spring.

Last night my lovely bride began to sing a hymn as she prepared dinner. My eldest son was drawing at the dining room table, and almost immediately he joined her. I can't describe how full my heart feels when I hear both my wife and my five year old son joyously praising God while going about their day.

I'm full.

All around us creation is waking up. I'm amazed at the glory of it all.

And you? Are you full today? Are you taking in the warm air?

Y is for Yes

is for Yes.

Yesterday I was fighting fatigue, and I found myself telling my boys no, or not yet, or maybe (just putting them off until I said no later). It's still bugging me.

In I is for Imagination I described a time when I came home and was immersed in play; it's not always like that. There are times, like yesterday, that I say no to something my boys want to do and I don't know why. I might have plans of my own, but even if I don't, it slips out. When I reflect on the fact that I've told them no to a game of baseball, or a trip to the park, I regret it.

Don't get me wrong, my boys need to get used to hearing, and heeding, a no from their parents - but there are different kinds, aren't there? Saying no to slapping a face is not the same as a no to a book because there's a game on TV, or because I'm tired.

S is for Student

is for Student.

I teach the 7th grade - I'll just let that settle in for a moment.

Plenty of my students refuse to carry out their basic function: to learn. However, there are others who have the hunger, the curiosity, and the work ethic it takes to be a good student.

What I go for is to make lifelong students - those funky kind of people who never stop investigating, never stop asking questions. These are the truly beautiful students, these are the readers and the conversationalists. And with the technology we have these days, it's difficult to make a child a reader.

Q is for Questions

is for Questions.

(The first thing that went through my mind was, how do I start this post? Great question.)

My children have taught me, or retaught me, that questions are innate; the past two years have been filled with the question why.

About everything.

"It's time for dinner, please come to the table."
"Why?"
"Because it's time to eat."
"Why?"
"Because we're hungry."
"Why?"
"Because our bodies need calories to live."
"Why?"
"Because that's the way God made us."

The last phrase is used at the end of many "why" sessions. However, I do believe it's important to answer as fully as possible any question my children ask. Why? Because they really do want to know the answer, and they're learning language every time they hear their mom and I talk.

N is for Names

is for Names.

Well, what's in a name? Would a rose by any other name smell as sweet? Perhaps.

Yet there's a phenomenon when something is named, especially in people - they tend to become what they're called, they grow into that name. It could be the name they received at birth, it could be the name their friends give them at school or in play, or worse, it could be the name a bully has crafted for them.

There are exceptions to be sure, but we will become what we're called if we believe those who are naming us. It helps, too, to know what your name means before you believe it.

K is for Kite

is for Kite.

I have some wonderful memories involving windy days and handmade kites - you know, the ones with knotted rags for a tail. It was the best when we could make it to the beach and fly them over the water.

What a thrill it is for a child to finally see their kite off the ground, especially if they've had to do lots of running to get it done. I remember wanting to fly my kites on days without wind; I would run and run, trying to find the least bit of a gust - and it would lift off the ground for a moment, only to fall when I stopped sprinting.

Those days made the windy ones even better. A kite that flies almost immediately, as though it has a mind of its own and it wants just as badly to be soaring over your head, is thrilling to watch.

I is for Imagination

is for Imagination.

As I stepped into our living room the other day, I didn't realize I was actually walking into Never Never Land; I was then attacked by Jake and Cubbie because, as I was informed, I was not only in Never Never Land, I was also Captain Hook.

But only for about 3 minutes.

Soon we were transported from Never Never Land to a baseball field where the pitcher is now called a catcher, the batter runs whether he hits the ball or not, and no matter how many pitches the catcher throws it's always strike two.

B is for Boys

is for boys.

My plan was to write about books today, but those two rascals I hear sleeping in the other room just wouldn't let it be. They love reading enough to at least make a connection between boys and books, and reading is one of the few activities that will get them to sit still. Books are valuable, boys are more so.

And even if you don't have children, you know some boy who makes you smile - or grind your teeth. The dirt, the wrestling, the sprinting, the yelling, the questions ("Why dad?")! The phrase, "Boys will be boys" may anger me, but I know why it exists. If our boys don't get outside every day - I can't explain how thankful I am for spring - they're different creatures. B may be for boys, but boys are for the outdoors.

Quality or Quantity?

Last weekend was one for the record books. With the exception of June and July, I can't remember a recent weekend that was better for our family. We didn't do anything special, in fact there were times when we didn't do anything but sit on the floor and laugh at the silly antics of our boys.

Hmm...

The height of our rest together came Sunday night when we played hide-and-seek before bath time. It's the best when our two year old counts with his eyes open and runs to your hiding place with as much joy as if he didn't know where to look; or even better, he is so excited about his new ability to count to ten that he counts along while he's hiding nearby.

We haven't laughed like that as a family for months. It was quality time.

I'm wondering though, do our boys care whether we're laughing and having a grand time, or would they simply prefer the presence and attention of their parents?

Ordinary, Common, or Familiar?

Monday I mentioned that I'm reading Walking on Water, by Madeleine L'Engle. She is challenging me to think about my faith, and the reality of things, in a new way; she's presenting me, again, with childlike faith. It's been great to read this reflection on art and creativity right after reading Wind in the Door, which has in it some of the same ideas - however, in this nonfiction book she makes clear that ideas she presented in her fictional work are to her "probable impossibles."

Like time travel for instance, she presents it as a skill mankind has lost.

This line of thinking about what's real pushed me to think on the concept of ordinary things. We all have an idea of what is holy, what is acceptable to God, and what is common, those things we use for our own good each day. And what is it that makes us sort out the holy from the common? What is it about the lofty ceilings of a church that are so much more acceptable to God than a loft in a barn?

Well, nothing.

Refuse to be Random

I've not totally figured out why so many people are attached to the idea that being random is somehow beneficial. In high school several teachers had posters that read, "Practice random acts of kindness." At the time I thought that was cool, it made me think about doing things for others. Now I see the folly in it.

First of all the idea doesn't quite work. If you set out to do something random, it is no longer random. The thing you thought was random is now something you've set your mind to. And I guess that's the point: our random acts should instead be intentional.

Then there's the trickle of randomness into relationships - especially romance. If a couple is no longer spontaneous, their love must be dead. And the danger to most marriages is that people go into them thinking the romance will remain random, spontaneous, and "alive."

My marriage is alive, yet I don't think I've been spontaneous in loving my wife in years. And the truth is I can't afford to be.

Hide Yourself

There's no doubt in my mind that I'm unable to love; the simple and most important commandment is given to those who can't carry it out. At least not the way we are on our own.

Lately it's been hard to love anyone, my students, my boys, my wife; there was a haze settled all around me that I couldn't see through. The worst of it was that I couldn't even diagnose the problem. Usually you can at least attribute your lacking to something. This time it took me awhile.

Over the weekend my older son woke up from his nap and wanted to sit with me. "Will you rock me while I watch the letter movie?" He's all about learning his letters. So we rocked and watched a whole movie. What surprised me was that he sat through the entire show; he was still, and didn't ask questions. Only when the T.V. was off did he slide down and play.

It took awhile - again - to make any sort of connection, but it came.

Weekend in Pictures

When words are few:

 

 

 

Say It

Remember: you are dust

The last few days have been difficult as a dad; our older boy has been testing the boundaries, and yes, they're still there. I really don't enjoy bringing my son back to his senses, especially when for months he's avoided outright disobedience.

However, there's a freshness to it too. After he's cried and said he's sorry, and we've hugged it out and I've said I forgive him, we know something we weren't sure about a few minutes before. That is, I'm the dad and he's the son. And even though he's acted out for two straight days, part of me can't blame him. First of all he's four, and that's just his M.O. as the representative for his age group. Second, he reminds me of, well, me.

Thankful Thursday

Ann Voskamp's blog often highlights thankfulness. Her book, One Thousand Gifts, is all about seeing God's blessings, and she encourages people to join her in slowing down and giving thanks. I thought I'd join her.

That little curl is the source of so many smiles, as is the swirl below it.

A Blur

This Christmas, don't let everything fly by. Better yet, let's make that a goal for all of 2012.

Embracing the Mundane

It's hard to find time to write or read; so many times I've wanted to escape into a quiet room with a large old leather chair, plop down, and read. Sure, it's in those times (rare in the years of children) I've had the most inspiration for writing. But things change, and finding time to think about stories, or mull over new ideas for poems, has changed as well.

I now find my evenings filled with domestic chores (after a splash of afternoons where I am James the train helping Thomas and Percy with their loads, or Blizzard fighting Iron Man - or Iron Men, as it were); folding laundry, scrubbing dishes, picking up toys, and gathering trash, all these things require my (and our) attention.

Thanksgiving In 12 Pictures

Illness kept our family home for the holiday. The result was a lot of down-time, with the exception of two great walks with the boys while Mommy rested. Below are a few pictures I took on our explorations.

It's amazing what boys will pick up and treat as treasure.