Fairly Ordinary

After a crazy few days for all of us (some are happy, some are sad, and some will think this post is bad), I think we need some hamster on a piano (eating popcorn).

Tonight you scurried about through the living room tonight, with a toothy grin all over your face. You had no worries at all and your laughter was infectious.

Daddy and I were curled up on the couch, with our respective laptops, while watching Barack Obama’s thirty minute ad (we nicknamed it The Obama Show).

You occasionally stopped to peer around the corner of the living room to see what was going on but your need to scurry outweighed your curiosity.

But what you didn’t realize is that we were watching a big piece of history tonight. We don’t know who is going to be our next President. But your Daddy and I are greatly encouraged that our country may reach a wonderful turning point if Senator Obama is elected.

We don’t think he will be a perfect President (in fact, Daddy and I want to do our part in reaching our community as well), but the hope that rang out tonight was something that has been so exceptionally rare in politics.

Only time will tell if the people of our great country will choose this particular path or not. But tonight, as I watch you roll my hatboxes through the kitchen, I am encouraged that politics does not have to be dirty. Politics does not have to be full of hateful division.

Although we don’t rely on the government to provide the hope for our lives, it’s encouraging to imagine you growing up in a land less divisive.

May God bless our country. No matter the next path we choose.

Drew is tucked in bed for an afternoon nap. The sunlight is streaming into the living room and I can’t get enough of Daniel’s piano playing. I’ve missed him so much.

Do you see that thing in the window? That’s a picture frame that I put there while Daniel was gone because we don’t have curtains or blinds in that window right now and I was totally freaked out that some Peeping Tom would want to peep. Yes, I get paranoid.

I am reading The Audacity of Hope and in between wiping tears (it is an amazing book and I really wish that folks who are fearful of Obama could have the opportunity to read it), I’m also sneaking a few pieces of the Halloween candy that I’m supposedly saving for youngsters in a few nights.

Everywhere I look, I see people who are passionate and angsty about the election. I have those moments myself. I’ve been trying to write for days and gather my thoughts about it all (and I’ll get it out in awhile) but I keep sounding angry. And it’s not worth my anger. I just really hope we can try our best to respect other believers who think differently. How we vote on this election is no litmus test for our spirituality.

So I keep backing up, taking a breath, and spending time remembering the truths that really matter. Remember, on November 5, God will still be in control.

It has been over a month since we moved and in some ways, it’s hard to believe. It just seems like time has flown so quickly. But when I listen to the “He Has Done It All” CD (we were at Southside Fellowship when they recorded it and it was so.absolutely.powerful.and.amazing) that Joe sent me a few days ago, it seems like we were there just yesterday. Thank you, Joe!!

And when I talk to my mom on the phone (she’s been very sickly this week), I get teary because I miss them so much. Whenever Drew sees me on the phone he runs up to me and says, “Pop Pop?”

But if I were to choose a season in which to set up house and make a place feel like home, it would most certainly be Autumn. So I feel blessed. I hung a cutesy welcome sign in our foyer this morning (it’s made of iron and has pumpkins on it), apple candles are burning daily, and the stack of leaves growing on the side porch is wiggly and not at all at the point where I am fussily wishing for Spring. Not at all.

As we start to get into a routine here in Carlisle, and start to make memories here, it begins to feel like home. Our nightly playing-music-loudly is very wiggly and reminds me of my pregnancy when Daniel would bring the guitar to bed and play music while I just laid there and cried. Silly hormones.

Daniel didn’t know I was recording these two bits last night, because I was very secretive. Thus, not the best audio quality. But here’s a glimpse of our music-fun at night.

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We are learning the town pretty quickly and I think I’ve mastered most of the roads around here. I haven’t been to all the shops that I’d like to visit yet (there are lots) but I’m making notes. We hit up a thrift store the other night and I bought two shirts, a stack of books, and eyed a glorious wooden chair that I was just sure that we needed. We left the chair. Fussily.

This weekend, we are heading to Baltimore. Daniel is playing music at a church in the city and we are going to visit with family on Sunday. It will be nice to see the faces of family and I’m sure Drew will be THRILLED to see Hobo. Every time he sees a dog he shouts, “HO BO!”

Remember when I said that I was making a list of things to change? Here it is:

~ Go back to Weight Watchers. I thought that moving away from the south would mean that I wouldn’t have wiggly sweet tea at my beck and call but there is a McDonald’s ONE MINUTE from my house and let’s just say that I think they know my name. Or at least my car.

~ Get out of the house at least once a day. We have at least three parks within four minutes of our house. And we have a great neighborhood to walk in. And a huge yard to play in. Drew and I just haven’t been outside much lately.

~ Make a chart of how I want to spend my days. Including house chores, events to attend, things to do with Drew, and meals to cook.

~ Start waking up earlier. When I was single, I used to wake up at 6am every morning but since getting married, I’m able to sleep way too late. And waking up early is wiggly.

~ Let go of my need for control in relation to marriage, home-life, and parenting. And start to live more peacefully and gracefully with my own husband and child.

Now I need to scoot because my husband is about to come home for lunch and while he’s here I’m going to beg him to take the window unit out of Drew’s bedroom. We have central a/c but his room doesn’t get any so to keep it from getting stuffy we have a window unit in there. But it was icy cold in his room this morning (thank goodness I had him bundled up) and I felt like the most wicked mother in the LAND. I didn’t have it ON during the night but you can put your hand beside the a/c and feel the cold wind blowing in. Eeeek.

I’m looking forward to the debate tonight! I’ll be live twittering it so if you are on twitter, jump on board. And if you AREN’T on twitter, sign up. It’s the bees knees!

P.S. Here are two videos of Drew that I’ve been meaning to post. They were taken right after we moved in.

playing with hatboxes from Jennifer on Vimeo.

car ride from Jennifer on Vimeo.

I’m sure you are aware that we are doomed economically. With the antics of today’s market numbers, there is just no telling what lies ahead. I think this video sums it all up rather well.

You are allowed to imagine the Economic Bailout Plan document when viewing this. ;)

Ha! Doooooooom.

The American economy is often compared to a pie. We want to make a bigger pie, or we want a bigger slice of the pie. (President George W. Bush once memorably asserted that we need to make the pie higher.) But in banking as in baking, there’s such a thing as a perfect temperature.

The government manages the economy to shield it from major fluctuations. An economy that’s too hot, or growing too fast, is a problem - but so is one that’s cooling. To keep the economy humming along as moderate warmth, the government taxes, spends, borrows, prints money, and helps determine interest rates.

- What You Should Know About Politics But Don’t by Jessamyn Conrad

Here’s a list of some economic issues that affect our “pie.” These are taken from Glassbooth. Don’t get too bored reading. If you do, think of real pie quickly and maybe that will help.

(more…)

Seven years ago, this morning, I had just left one of morning classes and was driving to Wal-Mart to pick up a few items before returning to chapel at BJU. I remember getting in the car, turning on the radio, and hearing the stammers, the stutters, and the absolute disbelief of the news anchors as they tried to share that something, something absolutely unbelievable had just occurred.

I remember my hands tightening on the steering wheel as I heard the words “we are under attack.” In seconds, everything I have ever thought of freedom flooded my soul as I realized how much I take for granted.

At that moment, I didn’t know if there were planes flying all over the country, crashing into a sea of humanity with no concern, or if it was just central to the WTC. Later, I discovered, there were other attacks as well.

I stumbled into Wal-Mart, still intent on buying the things I needed. It was as though I still had a disconnect. I managed to the turn the radio off and walk inside the store after hearing of such horror! Like it was just a radio drama.

It didn’t hit me until I walked by the wall of TVs in the electronics department and saw the gaping mouths, the tears streaming, as a collection of folks who didn’t know each other shared hugs, pain, and fear. I wept as a I stood there because I saw people dying before my eyes and I was far away in a lone store watching their agony. I wept because these were fellow countrymen. I wept because I did not understand.

The clock kept ticking, and I found my way back to chapel before it started. I remember just like yesterday watching Dr. Bob III walk across the stage with his long legs (it seemed like he was in the pulpit in two steps) and his momentary silence as the tear-filled eyes of students (who were from all over the world) ached to hear something to encourage their troubled souls.

All I remember of the service is when we prayed. And how I felt God touch my soul as I literally shook in my seat. I had no words and yet I knew Jesus knew my pain. He knew the groanings I could not utter. It felt so unfair to be seated comfortably and pain-free as I knew that chaos and death were parading through the streets of New York City.

9/11 was when my eyes were opened to the pain of death and the hunger for freedom of people all around the world. 9/11 was when I realized how much I had taken my freedom for granted.

I will absolutely never forget 9/11.

And even though a few years have passed, and the horror of it (unthinkably) has seemed to diminish since those stark moments afterward, and how the politics of the people can cause you to wonder if you support America because you are a Christian or because you were born there - the reality is that God’s heart breaks whenever pain dances over the people he created.

Even our enemies.

I will always hold America dear. Because I was born in the land of the free and home of the brave.

But I will hold my soul’s freedom much dearer. Because I was created in the image of the everlasting God of all and His heart hurts when those made in His image cause death and pain to each other.

As Derek Webb sings, there will be a day when all of this too shall be made right.

The earth and the sky and the sea are all holding their breath
Wars and abuses have nature groaning with death
We say we’re just trying to stay alive
But it looks so much more like a way to die
This too shall be made right

I’m aching for that day. And until then, I will remember.

Have you seen this absolutely breathtaking commercial? It’s called “Sea Orchestra.”

I saw this the other evening while watching the Olympics and was in awe. I searched around and discovered that it is in a series of five commercials in the “It’s Time to Fly” campaign by United Airlines.

All five are really beautiful but “Two Worlds” is my next favorite.

This just fostered a desire to see even more. Daniel and I found a whole bunch of them on YouTube.

It appears to me that United Airlines has always had an amazing style in their commercials that really surprises me. They chose George Gershwin’s 1924 “Rhapsody in Blue” to be a theme song and you can hear elements of the song in their commercials since the 70’s. I just don’t expect major corporations to understand the importance of unique, beautiful, and artsy commercials when I still see so much junk that makes me wonder what on EARTH they were thinking.

Here are a few of my other favorites: