Top Ten Lists of 2006

here's a link to npr's collection of top ten lists. it's a beautiful thing.

new years benediction

Benediction - by Stanley Kunitz

God banish from your house
The fly, the roach, the mouse

That riots in the walls
Until the plaster falls;

Admonish from your door
The hypocrite and liar;

No shy, soft, tigrish fear
Permit upon your stair,

Nor agents of your doubt.
God drive them whistling out.

Let nothing touched with evil,
Let nothing that can shrivel

Heart's tenderest frond, intrude
Upon your still, deep blood.

Against the drip of night
God keep all windows tight,

Protect your mirrors from
Surprise, delirium,

Admit no trailing wind
Into your shuttered mind

To plume the lake of sleep
With dreams. If you must weep

God give you tears, but leave
You secrecy to grieve,

And islands for your pride,
And love to nest in your side.

my kids

BREAKFAST WITH KATE (change of plan)

Alicia's house
Tuesday, Jan 2nd
6:30am - whenever
Bring something yummy if you wish.

Gift from Kyle

The most interesting gift I received this year has to be this book. (Link in title goes to NPR write up) I'm totally hooked on reading it. It is a snapshot into what a week's worth of food looks like for different families around the world. Plus, stats on how many McDonald's are in their home countries, what percentage of people are obese, etc.

Confessions of an Amateur Believer

On January 2nd, Patty Kirk's new collection of devotional essays will be released. She was my favorite professor, boss, and friend from my days at JBU, and I'm proud to say I had a small hand in this collection of essays. But I think I would love it even if I didn't love Kirk and hadn't been involved. She's a great writer. And a great woman. One of my favorite people of all time, and very influential in my life. So check it out. You can pre-order your copy. Amazon has two left. Click on the title, if you like. And she has a website and blog: http://www.amateurbeliever.com/

wasting paradise

i don't really ski. i wish i did. we're in the rockies with my in-laws this week, and i'm whiling away the day with an altitude headache and a trade paperback copy of _the heart is a lonely hunter_. tomorrow two feet of snow (or "fresh pow") is forecasted. the skiing will be supreme for those who can stay upright and make turns without collapsing. for me: perhaps snowshoes.

Flatulence Allegedly Sparks Jail Fight

Just trying to do a little catching up on the news ... (click on title for link to news story).

vote now! ALL OF YOU

members & readers: blogger is now offering the new version of service, complete with a "private" setting, that supposedly allows a "members only read" option. i have heard comments about making WHOCARES a private affair -and- arguments against this idea. leave your vote here. majority rules.

WHO CARES: private or public?

sing buri

this is one of my favorite special snacks. mmm.

Kate's Coming

She will be here on Saturday the 30th... can we all have a cup of coffee together somewhere? Our house is always available as well.

PEACE ON EARTH ...

... And a very Merry Christmas to you all. Safe travels to those of you on the road or in the air and I wish you all great joy on Christmas Day.

sayid

i was getting something out of the pantry & said "cereal" out loud & to myself, but in a sayid accent...and i realized...i miss sayid.

apropos the holy mother

Here is G.M. Hopkins' "The Blessed Virgin compared to the Air we Breathe." Ah, so wonderful.


WILD air, world-mothering air,
Nestling me everywhere,
That each eyelash or hair
Girdles; goes home betwixt
The fleeciest, frailest-flixed
Snowflake; that ’s fairly mixed
With, riddles, and is rife
In every least thing’s life;
This needful, never spent,
And nursing element;
My more than meat and drink,
My meal at every wink;
This air, which, by life’s law,
My lung must draw and draw
Now but to breathe its praise,
Minds me in many ways
Of her who not only
Gave God’s infinity
Dwindled to infancy
Welcome in womb and breast,
Birth, milk, and all the rest
But mothers each new grace
That does now reach our race—
Mary Immaculate,
Merely a woman, yet
Whose presence, power is
Great as no goddess’s
Was deemèd, dreamèd; who
This one work has to do—
Let all God’s glory through,
God’s glory which would go
Through her and from her flow
Off, and no way but so.

I say that we are wound
With mercy round and round
As if with air: the same
Is Mary, more by name.
She, wild web, wondrous robe,
Mantles the guilty globe,
Since God has let dispense
Her prayers his providence:
Nay, more than almoner,
The sweet alms’ self is her
And men are meant to share
Her life as life does air.

If I have understood,
She holds high motherhood
Towards all our ghostly good
And plays in grace her part
About man’s beating heart,
Laying, like air’s fine flood,
The deathdance in his blood;
Yet no part but what will
Be Christ our Saviour still.
Of her flesh he took flesh:
He does take fresh and fresh,
Though much the mystery how,
Not flesh but spirit now
And makes, O marvellous!
New Nazareths in us,
Where she shall yet conceive
Him, morning, noon, and eve;
New Bethlems, and he born
There, evening, noon, and morn—
Bethlem or Nazareth,
Men here may draw like breath
More Christ and baffle death;
Who, born so, comes to be
New self and nobler me
In each one and each one
More makes, when all is done,
Both God’s and Mary’s Son.

Again, look overhead
How air is azurèd;
O how! nay do but stand
Where you can lift your hand
Skywards: rich, rich it laps
Round the four fingergaps.
Yet such a sapphire-shot,
Charged, steepèd sky will not
Stain light. Yea, mark you this:
It does no prejudice.
The glass-blue days are those
When every colour glows,
Each shape and shadow shows.
Blue be it: this blue heaven
The seven or seven times seven
Hued sunbeam will transmit
Perfect, not alter it.
Or if there does some soft,
On things aloof, aloft,
Bloom breathe, that one breath more
Earth is the fairer for.
Whereas did air not make
This bath of blue and slake
His fire, the sun would shake,
A blear and blinding ball
With blackness bound, and all
The thick stars round him roll
Flashing like flecks of coal,
Quartz-fret, or sparks of salt,
In grimy vasty vault.

So God was god of old:
A mother came to mould
Those limbs like ours which are
What must make our daystar
Much dearer to mankind;
Whose glory bare would blind
Or less would win man’s mind.
Through her we may see him
Made sweeter, not made dim,
And her hand leaves his light
Sifted to suit our sight.

Be thou then, O thou dear
Mother, my atmosphere;
My happier world, wherein
To wend and meet no sin;
Above me, round me lie
Fronting my froward eye
With sweet and scarless sky;
Stir in my ears, speak there
Of God’s love, O live air,
Of patience, penance, prayer:
World-mothering air, air wild,
Wound with thee, in thee isled,
Fold home, fast fold thy child.

virgin

so, last night we made a point to get to the evening service at our church because the sermon topic was, "how should we think about mary?"

since the pulpit time devoted to mary in protestant churches is little, this was not an opportunity to be wasted. besides, she matters a lot to huge numbers of christians globally.

and caron played her in "for unto y'all."

pastor w. gave a great message, about the development of mary's role from the early church to the present. it was interesting because (and i can't figure this out) as the early church councils were forming their positions on the divinity of christ, the continuing virginity of mary (even after jesus' birth) was a big issue. if mary stayed a virgin, somehow christ had more credibility. a strange idea.

anyway,"perpetual virginity" is the term catholics use. later one of my friends there joked that marrying a virgin is a good thing, but marrying a perpetual virgin is a tragedy.

the part that surprised me most was when pastor w. pointed out that even luther and calvin believed in the perpetual virginity of mary, and embraced the idea that she received a unique kind of grace from god, more than most evangelical protestants currently teach. our very own pastor affirmed these surprising positions.

nobody was encouraged to break out the rosaries, of course, but it was interesting to hear about her role in early church teaching and to consider her a person "highly favored," rather than the teaching i grew up with, that she was totally ordinary, selected at random, and no more special to us than any other person of her time.
all this from a reformed minister. wonders really DO never cease.

it's all about...meee

i can't sleep & since renae clipped the closepin on my shirttail, it's my turn for six things you may not know about me. why not follow suit in the comments section?

1. my nickname in elementary school was sniff because no one could think of any better way to make fun of my last name, smith. (not because i was doing lines)

2. i won the chess competition in sixth grade, the same year sniff peaked in popularity.

3. my sister & i used to call sweet 98 & KGOR and request made-up song titles. the most popular was our dog's name, spritzer, followed by doo doo. giggle giggle. spritzer was a yorkshire terrier and lived to be 18 years old. doo doo is still running its course.

4. i was the virgin mary in our college production of the country-western themed christmas musical, "for unto ya'll". i had to wear a dress that showed way too much cleavage & sang a solo that was made for celine dion (soprano!) & line danced to celebrate the birth of the savior. yee-haw. dance to the beat of the holiday hoe-down!!

5. rollerskating is my love language.

6. i am a bad sport when i play video games with jason because i am far too competitive. i don't like to play games with him because my competitive side comes out and i am reminded that i should really do something about my poor sportsmanship. so then i quit playing those games with him for awhile. and then am called back to the controller and...eventually end up throwing it down.

jingle toot

here's a special easley christmas moment.
you have to wait 'til the very end of the video.

thank you, ebaters! & other

first: thanks to all of you who signed up for ebates, used me as your referral, & bought something. wow! the response was huge. i'm gonna buy myself a plasma TV with those credits! $5 at a time & you, too, could become a millionaire.

and: my friend michelle took some photos of our girls, practicing her indoor skills. she does great work & thought i'd share some of the moments she captured. most of the pictures of violet were "flavored" with vi's silly personality: her tongue sticking out or her belly button showing. annabelle was hiding under the covers in her room for the first 10 minutes. you can imagine what she had to work with. also, i think she is using this site for professional feedback/portfolio showcase. have a looksee.

christmas branch

last friday night we decorated our christmas tree and waited for kate to arrive for an overnight visit. we had some chili, kate danced around with annabelle, & we played a few mad rounds of sequence before bed.

it is so nice to sit around the table with old friends.

white elephant exchange

i joined a white elephant exchange over at halfpint house & received a package in the mail last evening from chilihead.

inside: three mix CDs, "the land before time" VHS, "jack & the beanstalk" VHS, a blanket with lots of suns & moons, something embroidered, a photo album full of her high school boyfriends & her [funny], a box of wine glass I.D. tags, & a pair of groucho marx glasses [not pictured: lost while using].

what a great box! i love white elephant exchanges. and thing about the wine glass I.D. tags is hilarious. if you need an I.D. for your glass...hmm. thanks chilihead.

A labor of love

i just want to show you all how well Isaac's train table for christmas turned out. I am really proud of it. Our family all chipped in on the price of tracks and buildings, Nate's dad made the table in an hour or so out of scrap from his workshop, I painted and decopaged all the designs and patterns and Nate drilled and screwed all the track down late last night. I like it!

What do you think?

(I say-- with a little under-the-chin lipo on Pete-- they'd be dead ringers.)

a who cares christmas photo essay

aye! snow!

i'll tell you who cares about the holidays!

those who were there will know what i mean. those who were not, we missed you. and let me tell you, you can only imagine how lovely everything was. thanks nate and alicia for your hospitality. thanks to all the cooks/bakers/buyers who contributed. there's nothing like a who cares christmas. hopefully d. will give some photo highlights soon. it was great.

git down: guaranteed to be your new favorite

the recently mentioned 'leon' made some funny videos for all to enjoy on youtube. if clicking the title link doesn't git you up to your daily giggle quota, you can look at this one too.

"i'm doing this for my grandchildren"

here's an interview with frazey ford.
what in the world. (shaking head in disbelief)

bah humbug

lately i've been getting internally cranky with strangers. didn't that woman in sunday school class know that it might be a little insulting to mention that she could have been my babysitter? surely didn't help me want to be there. or where was the maintenance man during the ice storm? why didn't someone put some salt on the sidewalks and roadways? the neighbors dog keeps peeing on our front door entrance & i'm sick of it. where's the leash?

and, as jason would lovingly mock, "waaah, my ice cream's cold." can't find enough things to complain about...ya old scrooge.

and then last night i had some time away. i squanderd a starbucks gift card & finished up gilead. maybe i was the espresso + tone of rich literature, but i realized my crabby heart & the call of christ to respond conversely. bless and do not curse, right? it seems that lately i have been overlooking the great blessing of extending grace to my neighbors, commonly known, in these circumstances, as "giving them the benefit of the doubt" or "assuming the best." what a little time to listen will do for a cranky mama.

Fun with the Christmas candles.

Wasn't Leon the 4th wise man?

fever

we spent an hour thawing our big car from the inch-thick ice, hoping to drive to a tree farm & cut down a soft little fir tree for decorating. i made a mix CD that satisfies most of my christmas memories sufficiently for a short trip in the car. (i heard jason mutter, is that an amy grant song? while we were getting everything ready to leave home -and -YES folks, it was). the tree farms we visited were either closed or not cutting trees due to all of the ice that had not/will not thaw from the tree branches anytime soon. looks like we may be heading to menard's for their christmas branch special.

How in the world ...

did Omaha avoid this? We've had nothing but blue skies, albeit, very cold weather. I'm thankful for the lack of snow but a little envious of your snow day, Caron. Glad you are having a fun snow day and please, be a little lazy for the rest of us. :-)

snow day, all play

we are snowed in today & it feels so nice to lounge around the house with no guilt. we colored, cleaned the front closet, made some cookies, & watched the muppet's christmas special (by the way, i personally rank the muppets as THE MOST ANNOYING children's entertainers ever).

i was trying to take a nap & got caught up in thinking about our sunday morning visit to harvest when we were back for thanksgiving. i thought about the richness of hymns in worship & how it seems i am rooted & challenged by such theology put to melody. i remembered the time of confession that morning & how precious it was to confess aloud, with our brothers & sisters in christ, that we are not what we appear to be & are in deep need of the grace that pardons & cleanses within. and friendships that were forged in a mysterious, quiet place of hoping for god to change our beat-up threads & replace em with those robes of righteousness, someday.