Making Decisions

When our children were much younger, Eric and I used to depend on rock-paper-scissors to make many decisions for us.  Who should change the baby's dirty diaper?  Who should get up to comfort the crying child in the night?  Who should feed the baby in the high chair?  Who should respond to the call from the bathroom for "help"?  For these decisions we often immediately put out our fists for the challenge.  Now, I think that this led to an equitable sharing of these duties, but Eric thinks I won more often than he did.  (Winning, of course, means NOT having to do the unpleasant chore....)Obviously this method won't work for any weighty decisions, but for mundane things it's great.  Now I realize there are people who take rock-paper-scissors VERY seriously.  But for us it remains a lighthearted way to make a quick decision about things that don't really matter in the long run.

Words of Wisdom

Just came across this blog post about the busyness of the Christmas season.  Sally at Eternal Echoes has elucidated my thoughts exactly:

No wonder we are weary, we have lost the ability to truly rest, and have forsaken the wonder of waiting, replacing anticipation with headlong rush of activity adding stress to a season that sends bank accounts and relationships spiraling into disaster. How tragic that parents are judged not by the love, care and concern that they have for their children but by the size of the parcel they are able to provide. I speak to mothers who sacrifice bedtime stories and cuddles for part-time jobs simply in order to buy that latest toy for a child whose head has been filled desire for a toy that has been advertised solidly from September onwards. I speak to families stressed out by not being able to buy the approval of relatives and friends. I hear it from my own children as living on student loans they struggle to resist the perils of the season!

Advent is not about chocolate filled calenders it is a season of repentance and fasting just as Lent is, it is also a season of preparation, one that calls us not to look to the babe in the manger but rather to the risen Christ WHO WILL COME AGAIN.

The rest of her post is equally thought-provokoing.  It's nice to see others are pondering these issues and writing about them.


Hat tip to Dave Black for the link.

Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.--George Santayana

Sixty-eight years ago today Japanese navy planes attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.  Most of you who read my blog probably don't need a long description of this event and its consequences for our country.  That's not what I'm writing about today, although it's a fascinating subject. When I was in high school I read everything I could get my hands on about WW II, and wrote a lengthy research paper on the Battle of Midway.  Names like Nimitz, Yamamoto, and the Enterprise, Hornet, Kaga, and Akagi still bring back memories for me of studying that battle in depth.

What's on my mind today, however, is this:  today will pass, for the majority of Americans, with little thought of the historical import of Pearl Harbor.  In February 2008 journalist Steven Knipp wrote for George Mason University's History News Network:

In 2001, the U.S. Department of Education reported that nearly six out of 10 high school seniors knew so little about their own nation’s history that many are basically historically illiterate.

The rest of his article is worth reading, if you can stand to read about just how uninformed American teenagers are these days.  I wonder how much they know about World History?

I don't have the time to get into the "Who is to Blame?" factor, especially since right now I'm supposed to be doing school with my own children, whose schoolwork has devolved into sitting across the table from each other seeing who can roll their tongue or turn it over.  Is it the schools' fault?  Parents?  TV? iPod? Video Games?  Individuals?  I really don't know.  I'm merely lamenting the fact that most people I know don't care about history, don't know about history, and apparently haven't learned anything from history.  As a Christian who believes God's Word is true AND historical, I value history highly.  It makes me sad that most people do not.

Pictorial Essay

The pies the kids and I made the day before Thanksgiving: (guess who made the apple pie?)

Our table set for the Thanksgiving meal:

I treasure the cornucopia that was always on our table when I was a kid:

Our Christmas tree!

Better Than Emeril....

Two weeks ago a member of our church blessed our family in a way we've never before experienced. While I taught my Tuesday afternoon piano lessons, a young man name Micah came and cooked a delicious meal for our family. Micah has gone to cooking school, and his skills are impressive. Here's how it worked:

Earlier in the week Micah sent us an ingredient list for a lemon-and-garlic themed meal. My only labor in the meal (besides grating some cheese....) was to go to the store and purchase the ingredients. At about 4:30 Micah arrived with a huge bag of his own cooking implements: utensils, a stand mixer, roasting pan, etc. He set to work in our kitchen, and soon the smell of roasting garlic permeated the air. My piano students were sniffing appreciatively as their lessons ended.

After a lot of work on Micah's part, and a teeny bit of effort on mine (the aforementioned grating of cheese,) we had delicious, better-than-restaurant-quality food: lemon-garlic-herb-roasted chicken, cheesy-parmesan-roasted garlic potatoes, wonderful lemon-garlic haricots vertes, and a citrus cake with lemon-cream cheese frosting for dessert. Eric and the kids and I were all wowed by the flavors of each dish. Bobby now thinks I should always use roasted garlic, parmesan cheese, and real cream to make mashed potatoes. Everything was seasoned perfectly, and we all ate too much! I should have taken pictures.

What a blessing this was to me and to our whole family. I know that Micah loves to cook, but he did so much work that night that I felt guilty for not helping out more. As a busy home-schooling mom and wife it was an incredible feeling to just sit back and let someone else do all the work. He even did most of the clean up! We are thankful to God that He has added Micah to our Christian family. Not only is he a good cook, but he's fun to hang out with, too. Bonus. Better still, he's planning on cooking for us again. But first I'm going to cook Indian food and have him over to eat with us. I'm already planning: dal makhani, naan, chole.....

Do you ever feel like this?

Once again...

we are at my favorite place on earth, Seneca Lake. One reason why I love it here:

My older daughter took that picture last night as we sat around the fire talking, toasting marshmellows, eating s'mores, and drinking coffee.

Two Trees

During our family Bible study this morning we discussed something that I had never really put into words before. We were talking about how the Bible is not only God's Word (inspired, inerrant, infallible) but also a great work of literature with all types/genres of writing in it(narrative, poetry, philosophical exposition, hymns, law, etc.) as well as all literary devices and great over-arching metaphors throughout. It's the greatest work of literature of all time. One of the symbols we see throughout the Bible is the tree: in the Garden--the tree of the knowledge of good and evil; in Psalm 1--the godly man as a tree planted by the water while the ungodly man is the tree that withers; in Revelation, the tree of life; and finally, the cross as a tree. We also see fruit used as a symbol: in the Garden (although I believe it was a real, edible fruit, it's also symbolic,) and the fruit of the Spirit; the word fruit is used 75 times in the New Testament.

Now the thing I had never really put into words before: In the Garden, Adam and Eve ate fruit off a tree, thus losing the innocence wherein they were created, and falling from that state into a state of sin. On the cross, Christ the Firstfruits of man ("But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep" I Cor. 15:20) was placed up on a tree and sacrificed atoning for our sin and allowing us to one day--in heaven--return to that state of innocence.

I think I need to do a word study on tree and fruit in the Bible to examine this symbolism more. I mean, I've always known that these words are used frequently, and I've heard sermons about them, but the idea of the fruit coming down off the tree and then Christ being put up on the tree is one I had never truly meditated on before...