WR:

Corn Palace

Monday we spent the day field tripping. First, the World's Only (can you believe it?) Corn Palace. Then a Prehistoric (1000 year old) Indian Village. Great museum displays and video explaining the site, trade routes, culture. They had an actual dig site on location. Way cool. Stopped by one of the many farm stands and picked up some gorgeous fall color.




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Indian Village Museum



Academics for the week included, but was not limited to the following. Feche-boy: Chemistry: another chapter down. He is really enjoying Dr. H's sense of humor and ability to make simple difficult things. American Lit: Ben Franklin done and outline for the paper complete. Latin: still moving s.l.o.w. Hung up on genders - we have had lots of fun joking him about that, let me tell ya! Choir: loving Joseph and the Technicolor Dream Coat. Art: lesson on church history symbols and beautiful chalk drawings.

Cub: Science: Last week's dissection of an earthworm was followed up with a Flower Dissection and next week holds the promise of a Grasshopper dissection (Mrs. G ROCKS). Tutoring center is a blast- Drawing the World with Art, From Sea to Shining Sea and Writing Tales. I never thought I'd use anything but IEW, but this was what was offered at Tutoring Center and I am not disappointed. Choir, Art, gym at co-op- a total blast.



Flame of Wisdom Sculpture

Flower:  Workbook pages from ETC 7, Math, Geography. Lives for co-op where she loves the geography unit study, music, art and gym. Mrs. G gave her entire class an A+ for music and she told everyone for a week! She is in the largest class, chock-full of cute and bubbly little girls like her. She is in girlie heaven!  

For everybody- Math, Bible (the book of John),  SOTW 3, Poetry.

Phys Ed included lots of outside time. The weather has been gorgeous! Cub and Flower have spent hours and hours on their bikes. They've declared their riding alter egos to be Jonathan Whiplash and Jane Moped. Seriously.  I can't make this stuff up!

Jane Moped and Jonathan Whiplash!

The kids and I taped and painted 90% of the first floor and Viking Man cleared it of furniture. Friday and Saturday our friendly floor refinishing folks are coming out to buff and put the final coats of polyurethane on the main floor. We are heading south and (finally) going to the zoo along with catching up on the missed dinner with friends from Sem. We are making good on a couple of warranties already and are having an entire window replaced (which means we have to stain it again) along with over 10 feet of counter top. I have to say our vendors have been wonderful to work with! The building inspector was out last week along with a sales rep from the local hardware store. They'd all seen the house when we still had an 18" hole in it where the kitchen used to be. Every one oof them is astounded at the transformation of this old house. Makes me happy = ).

Miss R and a band of buddies from the South are coming for their fall break next week to help us work. We have lots and lots of sanding on the agenda. We are looking forward to the help and the fellowship!!

How was your week? Is the weather beautiful where you are at?  

Blog Fun

I am thrilled to be on the Homeschool Village Panel for the next two months.  Drop by their blog and see what they are up to!
And don't forget to join the HSV tonight at 9PM EST for their first ever Twitter Chat! It promises to be a fun hour of homeschool Q and A with our panel as well as special guests!! Use the hashtag #askhsv.   I’ll be doing my best to keep up!

And a belated THANK-YOU to my sweet bloggerbuddy, Tina over at Life of the Gilbert Gang, who awarded me One Lovely Blog Award! The rules are to post three things that I think are lovely. Hard to limit myself but, always,

1. Babies. Any.
2. A beautiful garden.
3. Well crafted words- like Jane Austen's or C.S. Lewis.' Music to one's soul.

And then share 3-5 blogs that I think are lovely. Tina, bouncing it back to you, Sistah! I also really enjoy Sarah's writing over at Small World. And of course, it goes without saying that I love both Miss R's and KB's blogs! And I have really loved Deannas blog. While you are there, be sure to check out what her dd's blogs as well, they are all lovely women!

WW: Gorgeous Girlies!

Techno Terror

I've delved into yet another branch of technology- that of the tweet. I now twitter (see side-bar). Well, sort of. To be accurate, I've signed up for twitter. I'm not sure how much tweeting I'll be doing cause I still have to figure it all out.

I always have this pit of my stomach terror whenever I stumble into a new area of technology. Probably cause I'm the least likely candidate for techno-geek status. I was tentative 2 years ago when I started this blog and now I love.love.love blogging. And I was hesistant when I opened a Facebook account. I don't love FB, but I seriously like Facebook. We've gotten in touch with old friends and kept in closer contact with others, shared pictures and had just one more venue to keep connected with our own family.
So, now I'm tweeting. I figured it was the next step in overcoming my techno-terror.

Fyi for the rest of you that do and are interested in homeschooling:  Join the Home School Village on Wed. 9pm est for a twitter chat #askhsv Ask our panel your homeschool questions, meet other homeschoolers & special guest Amy Welch Stults co-founder Heart of the Matter Online !

Crafted from Corn

The World's only Corn Palace was a marketing tool to put small town SD on the map. It worked, cause now it hosts 1/2 million visitors a year. Not bad for a city in a state that boasts just over 600,000 residents state-wide!

All of these murals are created from corn and grasses. The detail is amazing.

The outside of the Palace is re-done every.single.year. Inside are pictures showing the last 100 years of corn creativity.

The emphasise on "only" cracks me up =)!

Sukkot: The Festival of Booths

Yesterday was Sukkot, The Festival of Booths. Israel celebrates Sukkot in remembrance of their 40 years of tent dwelling as they wandered in the desert and their victorious entrance to the promised land under Joshua. It was a good commemoration for our family this year. We've been "wandering" since last October when we were burned out of our house. Immediately following the fire we spent 5 days at the retreat center where Viking Man does Biblical Counseling; then a week in Ohio at Neil & Laura's for the funeral (Thanks you 2; what would we do without you?); then a month in a hotel while we looked for a short term lease and Viking Man dealt with pneumonia Round #2; 9 months at our leased house and finally back home for a month where we've been living amidst construction. Home but not homey.  Yet.

We've been wanderers. Waiting for the promise to manifest itself in tangible ways.

Which it is. Slowly.

Our great plains Succa. Don't ya love the deer antlers up top?
(Not regulation, but for Great Plains gentiles it's the thought that counts.)

The Holy of Holies

We have finished the Chronicles of Narnia. They are one of our families "comfort reads" and it has been good to turn to these beloved characters and stories though this season of upheaval and change. The final book in the series, The Last Battle, is one of my very favorite. In it, Narnia is imperiled by Shift, a banana grubbing monkey, and Puzzle, the witless donkey who hides behind self imposed stupidity; both case studies for the scripture that exhorts us to think neither better or worse of ourselves than we are. King Tirian and his faithful unicorn, Jewel, come upon the deception too late even with the help of Pole and Scrub and it is a battle to the bitter and sorrowful end. I find myself getting all choked up as I read. The kids totally understand; they are managing their own sadness at the inevitable destruction of one of our very favorite places, Narnia.  Last night at Bible Study we read Exodus 27; more details about the Tabernacle. On first site not a particularly inspiring chapter and I wondered at the beginning if any of us would be able to pull an application from it [this is a Beit Midrash study (what is the Word of the Lord saying to us today?) following the Navigator's approach (observe, interpret, apply)]. As always, the applications were varied and rich. God's Word is alive and full of details to train and teach us! One of the observations about this whole section of Scripture is the visual and physical way in which the deeper and more treasured places of God are nested within a framework that increasingly demands that we become more focused on righteousness (less defiled) as we approach God's holiness  (the Holy of Holies).
This year has been full of the bittersweet. Giving up what's familiar for what's next. Like entering into a relationship with the One True Living God. We leave behind the comforts of the world to follow the One who created both the world and all comfort. And then our life becomes one of devotion; finding peace and joy in the good we've been given but constantly being called to and drawn in closer and closer still. Like entering the temple. We begin in the outer court and believe, "This is good." But somehow we are drawn closer in and we feel a sense of loss over what we are leaving behind. Until we get to the next court- one even closer and more intimately connected to Him, and we believe, "Ah, now this is good!" And so it goes.
Perhaps that's why I love The Last Battle so much. It captures the bitter sweetness of foregoing the good, the resolve to get through the tough stuff,  the joy eperienced when those who have died with nothing are finally reunited and refreshed in Aslan's country. It captures the bittersweet journey of following through, at times to the bitter end, the path that is laid before us. The path, if we are following Truth, which brings us closer and closer to Him.
Along the way, Lewis paints beautiful pictures. The brotherly love of Jewel and Tirian and their gratitude at the life they've been allowed. The flippancy with which many call on gods of their own making and the terrible consequences that await those who worship anything or anyone who is not Truth (His name is Jesus). The resolve to walk the path set before one, regardless of the pain, misery, hardship or death that path might demand. So many character studies lie within!
And while this book is full of chivalry, honor, courage and the divine it also touches on greed (Shift), belittling our own talents (Puzzle), selfish futility (the Dwarfs), proud arrogance (The Calormanes), and evil (Tash). Lewis invites us into this world called Narnia, where the ultimate battle is really, as it always is, about Truth (His name is Love) or Deceit and when all seems hopeless and Narnia is lost, we are invited farther up and further in.

The pattern laid out in The Last Battle is a familiar one:
Sacrifice. Tirian is called on to sacrifice all he holds most dear, his loyal friends, beloved kingdom, his own life.
Destruction. Friends are cut down, subjects enslaved, even one's hope of all things good destroyed.
Renewal. The shed becomes a point of entry rather than a place of terror, a beginning, not an ending.  Sorrow dances, ashes turn to beauty, death is conquered. And yet so many stop here, outer courts and renewal all they desire. Wading in refreshment rather than plunging in.
Profound Blessing. For those willing to go beyond the entrance, dive into the deep, venture farther into the temple courts, choose a life of rash obedience rather than safety,  not held back by perceptions or self or shame or guilt. Longing for more than all of that. Longing for Him.

This week as we studied the Temple, and as we read Narnia, this song played through my head:

Take me past the outer courts, into the Holy Place,
Past the brazen alter Lord, I long to see your face.
Pass me by the crowds of people, the priest who sings your praise,
I hunger and thirst for your righteousness but it's only found in one place.

Take me into the Holy of Holies.
Take me in by the blood of your Lamb.
Take me into the Holy of Holies,
Take the coal, touch my lips, here I am.
(Kutless: Take Me In by Dave Browning)

And in the end, well into Aslan's country, the Pevensies, Tirian and all of those seeking Truth willingly, longingly, relinquished their lives for the hope of living eternally with Him. In the inner courts. In the Holy of Holies. Righteousness found (His name is Jesus).

We say good-bye again beloved Narnia and hello to sweet and pure Aslan's country, the inner courts, a place of praise and profound blessing. God is inviting us ever closer, into His Holy of Holies. The cost is great, the battle fierce, yet glory awaits. Do you hear the wind words?

Trilogy: House, Food, School

*1*

Construction Central got worse this week as we moved the bins from the barn to the living room to the 2nd floor. We discovered more molded books as well as school supplies, which we added to the mess of the central living room, subbing as bedroom.  My need for visual order has been totally disregarded by this whole house fire thang.

*2*

Finally feeling a bit more on-top of school this week. Found ETC 7 and Flower is cruising through it, though still missing WWE and all of Lori's Shurley English. Could the FindItFast Fairy please come visit me? All the rest of the textbooks are finally ordered, except math. Cub is LOVING history, writing, science and geography at Tutoring Center. We added in CD's today and are enjoyed IEW's poetry CD over lunch. Feche is working diligently at Chem & Latin & Math & Lit. He has a couple of novels that he's still trying to get through, leftovers from summer,  and I catch him standing in the hall at odd moments trying to sneak in a few more paragraphs.

*3*

Rain. I love you. Truly. Just back off a while and let everybody enjoy autumn. It can't be a CRISP fall day when you've sogged everything to puddle point.

*4*

Reading The Last Battle. This is one of my very favorite books. Lewis captures the poignancy and beauty of love and goodness, the horrific futility of worshipping something, or someone, other than the Master of the Universe, and the the despair one feels when something good and just is lost. Cub didn't even want to read it (he's read it before) but finally acquiesced. I said to him the other night, "I feel like crying too, even though it's just a story." He adamantly asserted, "Narnia might just be a story, but the spiritual part of it is true!" Miss. R and I had a discussion about the "truth" of Narnia in August, regarding the salvation of Emith; is his salvation doctrinally justified or not. What do you think?

*5*

The building permit gals stopped by to see where we were at with construction. They took a few minutes to look at the "before" pictures (from right after the fire) and oohed and ahhed over the cupboards and floor and new built-ins. As did Neighbor Stan when he came by to fetch Feche boy to help him bale hay (which left him sore and tired but with a good dose of vitamin D and cash to keep him going for awhile- thanks, Stan!!). We hope to have the first floor 95% finished by the end of next week and then I'll post pictures. I.can't.wait. Visual order, I will sit and stare at you and soak in your simplicity. I might even write a song to you.

*6*

Viking Man hates the blog name I bequeathed to him. But the reason it's Viking Man is based on this prayer of his, "Dear God, thanks for the woman and the food!" (insert a couple of growls and grunts and other manly noises as he tears into dinner). At while he's not a shrinking violet, he's not a huge man either, and one day at church he pointed out a couple of men sitting next to us. They were both at least 6'4", solid as tree trunks. One had waist length blond hair, the other a short spiky do, sleeveless shirts, leather vests. Both sporting hog insignia and huge black steel toed boots. My husband looks at me, points to them and says, "Those are Viking Men." And, true enough, when he walked behind them to go to communion, he was dwarfed by their size. And then yesterday he said I had gotten the conversation we'd had over Jane all wrong and he wants me to change it. I am edited coming and going I tell you.

But, I digress. Back to the name. When asked what blog identity he wanted a chorus of voices ensued.
He says, "if you get to be "Laughing Lioness" I should be "King of the Pride." KB interjects, (with gusto), "The Molinator!!" At the same time Feche jumps in with "Mufasa!" KB jumps back in saying, "Dad, you have a last name!" (you know, from Galaxy Quest: Guy is anxiously worried he's gonna bite the bullet cause he's just an extra without a last name; it's one of our most beloved family jokes and applicable to ohsomany situations). And it just went downhill from there. Mufasa was ruled out cause he dies. Nobody dies 'round here 'lessen' I kill em' so that's out. King of the Pride; a bit long. Mollinator? Um, no. Guy? He eventually gets a regular part and a last name. What do you think?

*7*

Harvested a bowl full of roma tomatoes. Aren't they are beautiful?

Hoity Tioty Delish Fish Dish from my days of waitressing at Saybrook Fish House  in Connecticut (sweet memories of bowlfuls of mussels and fresh scallops, yeah!). Take a firm white fish fillet (like Cod), spread a thin layer of mayo, a thin layer of mustard (stone ground is best but any will do) over top. Add thin slices of purple onions and Roma's. Bake till done. Serve with salad and crisp bread. Ohlala.

America's Declining Birth Rate

America's One Child Policy is a long but interesting article on fertility rates, how fast they are dropping and what desperate governments are trying to do to get them where they need to be. Despite monetary, tax and housing incentives the bottom line is that folks the world over are not pro-creating at a rate that will support their families, culture or government. There is one exception to this: committed people are faith:

"But on this question there are two (Americas) today: a secular population that wants small families (or no family at all) and a religious population that wants
larger families. Religious affiliation is part of the story, but the real difference comes with church attendance. Among people who seldom or never go to church, 66 percent say that zero, one, or two children is the ideal family size, and only 25 percent view three-or-more children as ideal. Among those who go to church monthly, the three-or-more number edges up to 29 percent. But among those who attend church every week, 41 percent say three or more children is ideal, while only 47 percent think that a smaller family is preferable. When you meet couples with more than three children today, chances are they're making a cultural and theological statement.

I agree with this statement. As a mom of more than the national average I have to say that having kids is an act of faith. Faith in God to provide for the big and little things our kids will need (which He has from clothes to college tuition's), to providing us with the strength and patience and perseverance we need. It's faith in something bigger than we can see and trusting that God will nourish and sustain our kids despite the inevitable calamities that will occur in this world. It's faith in the value of legacy. It's faith in joining with God in the creative process by bringing about something completely new with the birth of each child. It's faith that GOOD and TRUTH will overcome evil and darkness and despair.

People with a committed faith system get that.

(And don't you just love the poster above. The moms of many that I know ARE more. Another lie that flies in the face of scripture).

WW:Use Caution When Passing

Taxonomy of a Toy

Kingdom: A Child's Plaything

Phylum: Plastic

Class: Building

Order: Lego

Family: Bionicle

Genus: Warrior

Species: Toa Ignica

(This from Cub's Science for the week)

See Jane Rock

I love Jane Austin. She is witty and clever and has an incredible way with words. And while my husband and Iwere under the weather this week-end we ate lots of soup, drank copious amounts of tea and soothed our bleary brains with Jane.

Sense and Sensibility- Emma is the epitome of English sublimity.

Mansfield Park- a new flick in our repertoire- we like it!

Persuasion- while I didn't originally like the main character in this one, she's grown on me

Pride & Prejudice with Colin Firth goes without saying as one of the best of the best but please don't get me started on the re-make with Kiera Knightly! ugh.

Still on the look-out for Emma and Northanger Abby.

I love her books. In fact, once we've finished The Last Battle, I think we're going to read one of Jane's tomes out-loud. And this year I've discovered Beth Patillo who has a delightful couple of fictionalized of Jane.

We also enjoyed Becoming Jane- very fun. I love Jane, I really do and it's been a decades long engagement so it's no fly-by-night fancy.

But, all that being said, I have to confess that I just don't buy some of Jane's dialog. C'mon. What man have you ever met says to a female of any persuasion,

"My dearest, forgive me, I was wrong."

Seeriously.

Not that I doubt an apology coming from a man, but you just can't convince me that it would be preceded by, "My dearest."

Or, "I've tried so hard to forget you. But I could not wrest you from my heart."

Uh-huh.

I turned to my husband, a man who has spent hundreds, if not thousands of hours counseling couples, mentoring men, offering wisdom and advice to those trying to tape their marriages back together and asked, "have you EVER run in to a man who has "Tried so hard to forget anybody?"

And he says, "No."

I love Jane, I really do, but I just don't think she gets men. My husband thinks perhaps the sentiments and dialog are accurate to the time. And certainly her characters are lovable and true and the best idealistic portrayal of men one could find, but are they accurate portrayals of the courser sex?

what do you think?

Soup's On

We've had an unseasonally rainy summer and we've heard it's going to be a snowy and cold winter. Hopefully this week-end does not herald the beginning of it. It was rainy and cold. Perfect weather for bread and soup. French bread with a twist; baked with fresh Parmesan cheese, diced tomatoes and fresh basil.

Creamy potato soup, brownies for desert and lots and lots of rooibus tea. Chef KB to the rescue as I am still fighting this cough till you drop cold.

Now bring on an extended Indian summer!

Humor & Sci-Fi

I Feel Bad About My Neck and Other Thougths on Being a Woman by Nora Ephron. This from the gal who gave us You've Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle and Julie and Julia. It's what one would expect from Nora, whom I hope doesn't mind that I call her by her first name . But I figure since she's bared intimate thoughts in this book like neck shame, "maintenance" and aging I know her pretty well. And she's funny. She takes the familiar, mundane, and boring and laughs at them. You'll laugh too. She has a very poignant chapter on death, which reveals life's common denominator. Even though I have little in common other than an aging neck, we've both been touched profoundly by the lives of those we've loved and the pain of loss as some of those loved ones have died. A fun and delightful read.

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. O.k., I've admitted my summer brainmush fest with SG Atlantis and this book is definilty an influencer in the series. As far as Sci-Fi goes it was intriguing. Ender's training kinda, vaguely, goes along with my sidebar post about creating genius. I liked Ender. I liked the characters, I liked the conflict, though I hated the name Buggers.


What I found really intriguing (but that's probably just cause I've got a hammer so I see nails everywhere) was the focus and intensity of education, brainwashing if you will, that Ender and his commrades undergo. There is a point in the story where Ender simply accepts the inevitable, that he is the hope of the future, and so he must perform that for which he is called and prepared. Of course I believe that Jesus is the one and only Hope, but I do think there are some lessons here for us as students and as educators.
I found the denouement hard to believe. I mean, I believed it to a point, and then just didn't. I'm not big into SF but it was a fun read and according to TWTM dystopian junkies, a must read. I liked The Hunger Games better.

WR: Crafts, Books, Math & More

*1*

I decided that we needed to do more craft things during school for Flower's sake. She saw a "Fairy Garden" at the gardening center weeks ago and was totally enamored with it. Here's the one she created with KB...


Complete with Fairies and Dragonfly (can you spot it?)

*2*

WOW! Cub and Flower after watching a worm dissection for science. Before watching it Cub says, "You trying to make me loose my lunch?" After watching it Cub says, "There's one of a frog! Can we watch that one too?!"Flower imitating what the poor dead frog looked like.

*3*

Hitting the books. We are taking lots of classes at co-op (Music, Art, gym, personal finance, unit study, Shakespeare, logic) and Tutoring Center (writing, science, chem, oral interp, Amer. History, poetry). At home, math, Latin, history, poetry, memory work.

Latin on-line through CLAA.

*4*

Hours spent at the library, reading books, using the computer, taking classes through the Tutoring Center, checking out videos... Our city has many beautiful sculptures. This one from our friendly, local library.

*5*

Watched Slumdog Millionaire. Wow. Powerful, poignant, heartbreaking. Awesome music.

*6*

Complimentary tickets to the dress-rehearsal performance of The Odd Couple where my very good and talented friend, Michelle, played the part of excessively pretty Cecily. She carried the show!

*7*

Bouyed by the love and prayers and faith of friends who have offered encouraging words and love this week. You know who you are. I am grateful for and love each and every one of you!

WW: 1 More 4 Summer

I love this picture. It captures Flower and Cub doing what they "do." Flower dancing and performing and Cub enacting either pre-history or Sci-fi (make sure you include sound-effects- Flower singing at the top of her lungs and Cub blowing up or growling at the top of his). And dontcha' love the leopard print bikini against the mountains?

Starting Again

Tentative. And vulnerable. I feel like I did after I had surgery on my arms. Carved up and weak. Angry, tearful, hurt. And honestly mad. Though it makes me uneasy to even type that and I've erased it twice.

Objectively it doesn't make sense to me. I know that the stuff that needs to get done will. That we'll somehow muddle our way through the fall, that things will get sorted. That in so many ways it is already better than before. But right now I am struggling. If I allow my feelings to come to the fore, I am raw. Raw like after surgery. Bandaged and bruised to the point that I am beyond black and blue and just simply black.

I don't' trust myself to answer the simple question of, "How are you." I don't feel fine and I don't really want to be a vulnerable, weepy mess in public. I don't even like being one in private.

But compassion is almost worse. That is when I am liable to really loose it and so I've said, more than once, "Don't be nice to me." Rude, I know. But, like I said, I just don't trust my response.

It's been another near tragedy in our lives and the fall-out from that is confusing. I should be joyful and grateful and happy and whatever else. When reality is I'm feeling burned. Burned out. Wary and distant and wondering what everyone else's agenda is.

So, today we started; school that is. And I didn't really want to. But it was a good day, a peaceful day. One that reminded me of purpose in the simple things; getting laundry done, reminding a child how to borrow and carry, correcting a reading mistake, listening and hearing the kids talk and laugh and bicker and have worries and frustrations. Being there. Starting again. Even when it seems like what we're starting with is a fraction of what was.

And then this via email: Fr. Francis Fernandez writes [In Conversation with God, Vol. Four], 'The love of God does not consist in having begun--not even with a lot of effort--but in persevering, in beginning again and again. Thanks be to God, that He is with us every moment, every day, pouring out His grace and love in measure far greater than we can grasp. What more do we need?'

And so today we began again. Trusting in God to heal the bruised and weary places.

Resting in the Familiar

We started. School that is. Farther into the year than normal for us but it's not been a normal year.
I decided earlier that I was going to get back to basics since it seems like everything old is new again on so many different levels of our lives.

We joined a co-op that we'd been part of years ago, before the many that we generated. Friday was the first day and it was wonderful. I was assigned study hall but had no students and chatted with other moms all morning, many of whom I've known for several years now. It was great to catch us with folks, met new ones and marvel at how much all of our kids have grown.

And this morning. We gathered in the dining room and read the Bible outloud. We started with John. The kids have John 1-7 memorized in both Latin and English and recited it together. We marveled at the connectedness of community amongst the disciples- the familial and village relationships of those called. I've often wondered at what mighty Rabbi taught them, or what grandmother or grandfather instilled holy devotion in so many.

Then math and geography and lunch. And reading and preparing for academic classes which start tomorrow.

It felt almost normal. Almost. My bed is still in the living room and there is butcher paper on the floor. Yards of trim are still waiting to be permanently attached. We are still sorting things like how to manage the trash and food storage and books that we'll be using. But the familiar that we knew- sitting together in a sunny room, the notsolittles drawing and everyone discussing and acting out a scene and making connections. Math as still math and illicited expected responses. Putting away novels in favor of Latin or grammar will never come highly recommended by my kids, but the routine of school and it's demands produced peace today.

Sonic Boom: Globalization at Mach Speed

Another book on Globalization, the catchword of the year: Sonic Boom: Globalization at Mach Speed by Gregg Easterbrook. Easterbrook highlights 11 cities to illustrate points about the coming era, each one an example of globalization. Very interesting reading, highlighting some incredible feats of creativity and regeneration. Easterbrook concludes the following:

This is not the first moment of upheaval and will not be the last. "people have always extolled the past and feared the future. in nearly every case, the future has turned out be better place to be."

Your boss will be you. " This will bring a sense of freedom, but also new forms of anxiety. you'll never really be away from work. If things go poorly, you will have no one but yourself to blame."

Home and work will merge. "In the 21rst century, an ever increasing amount of work will return to the home, and to larger, more comfortable homes than those of the past. Commuter time decreases while the sense of "never be off" does as well.

Falling Backward will become a greater risk. "As the global economy becomes more volatile, the future may hold as much fear of falling down the economic ladder as promise of climbing up."

Most things will get better for most people- but unless you live in a poor nation, don't expect that to make you any happier. And this really is the thesis for the entire book - that the world is getting "better" from a standard of living, resource availability, democratic freedom, respect for women, cities are miasmas- places of creativity and invention pov. But the dynamism that is inherent to that will cause an increasing sense of anxiety and unsettledness.

Health Care must become assured - like Zakaria, Easterbrook states that the penalties built in to our current health care system stymy the coming boom. Self employment and pre-existing conditions are penalized by health care privatization.

Every life must include some college- "Universal higher education will be as important to the world's fortunes in the 21rst century as public education was to the West's in the 20th century.

Lastly, Easterbrook claims that your town is now a "market." Building on Florida's work, your place of residence is no longer defined by the limits of it's parameters but considered by region. Within your market, understand that "education will matter more than ever before, international trade and communication will continue to expand. Social insecurity in the form of job turmoil, the economic roller-coaster, financial bedlam, media superficiality, celebrity inanity, political blather, targeted advertsising, scream and shout discourse,e the paving over of nature- it's all gonna get worse. A lot worse, in some cases." And at the same time prosperity will increase, democracy will flourish, information and knowledge will proliferate as never before.

"The terrific aspects and the anxiety producing aspects will be intertwined, and we're just going to have to live with it."

Along with Florida and Zakaria, and oddly enough, Gregory (The Last Christian), this book foretells the world that is coming at mach speed. It's not all bad news but the complexities that we'll be dealing will challenge us in new ways. For instance, neural implants: as someone whose reading glasses are never farther away than the top of her head, I might be all for that. A simple surgery designed to enhance one's ability to see; Yes! How many physical disabilities could be "fixed" by coming technology. But otoh, where does it in? Transhumanity? And what if an EMP were detonated. What would be the effects of that on a computer chip implanted in the brain?

And what does all of this mean for people of faith? I think it heralds a huge opportunity to let people know about a way of living that proposes anxiety free living, (Phil. 4:6) and community. There is a vast opportunity here, but one that will demand that the church, and the individuals claiming it, be authentic and live with integrity.

Losing the Familiar

Yesterday was rainy and chilly, a perfect day to herald fall. Traditionally, it's the kind of weather that speaks to my inner homemaker and I'll inevitably make an Autumn Bundt Cake. It's a once or twice a year endeavor that heralds seasonal change. But I realized that my recipe box is gone, as is the bundt pan. And last night as I was lying in bed I almost cried about it.

We are home again but it's the familiar that is missing and that's really what I've felt sad and lost about this past month. I'm a hobbit, really, and the familiar is what has come with me through the 12 moves that have taken us to the unfamiliar and starkly challenging during the course of our marriage and adult lives. The bundt pan, the recipe box, the photo albums, the bookshelves arranged by historical time period and topic. The garden that reminded me daily that from tiny acorns mighty oaks emerge but which has laid unproductive and weed-invested all season. The familiar and routine is what's gone missing.

And the things I miss the most are silly in a way. The Bosch mixer and blender that I'd finally splurged on and used daily. Not only was it an awesome kitchen appliance, but it was a limited edition fire engine red. The irony, eh? Everyone that cooks should own such a helper.

And the wheat grinder. True Confessions: I hate white flour. I didn't love grinding our own wheat but I loved the results of fresh ground whole wheat flour in pancakes and waffles and bread and rolls and muffins. In addition we have a farming friend who gives us buckets of lovely hard white winter wheat and this year I have nothing to grind it with.

And the recipe box. Full of recipes from friends and family like Aunt Barbara and Jeanette that not only instructed us in how to make a terrific chocolate zucchini cake and southwest corn casserole but held memories of holidays spent in Texas with cousins and fourth of July cook-outs with the best of friends. Funny how a familiar card, with a friend's handwriting, can evoke times and places past and warm the day.

We are coming soon to the Feast of Succoth, where we leave our houses to make temporary structures (succoth=booths) and we move into these fragile tent-like temporary structures. We are called to come outside, outdoors, to live and put our trust in YHWH who has created the perfection of the natural world around us to delight in, to cleanse us from the world of Babylon and to draw us ever closer to a world where Mashiyach lives and tabernacles (dwells) with his people.

And perhaps therein lies the lesson. That the familiar, while comforting, can also ensnare, allow stagnation and complacency. That the Word and world of the Living God is calling us to a big old outdoor party where we feast and laugh and play for a time of completion. But we can't get there until we leave behind all that we count on, rely on, are familiar with, to adventure anew by His leading. I am placing my trust in Him, my hope in what's next. And I'm trusting that He knows my tears are not a lack of faith, but my own frailty.