I don’t like drawing those much.  But sometimes ya jus’ gotta.  I did that today with my son.  He asked me a question and I felt my stomach flop over in revulsion.  So I drew a line.  I made a boundary and set a new tradition.

He’s not happy with it.  But I suspect he will live.  I hope it will give us fodder for some conversation over time.

At the very least he will learn never to ask a question that you do not want the answer to.

He asked me if he could play a war game on the computer.  I do not like war games at any time.  At best I merely tolerate knowing that he plays them because he’s a boy and he loves them.  Someday he will have to make his own decisions about peace, violence, love and war.  I cannot make those decisions for him.  Neither can I just remove all of those influences from him now, because that will just make them more tantalizing and appealing … it will also make him more bitter and resentful of me.  So he plays them with some regularity.

He asked me this morning, morning number 2 of Advent, if he could play a war game on the computer.  I felt my stomach turn over.  It wanted to heave.  My brain flashed with pictures of guns, cannons, death, mayhem and madness.  I looked at him for a minute and said, No.  No, you may not play war games on the computer during Advent.  This is a time when we consider the coming of peace.  So … no war.

So, he will have a 25-ish day fast from war games.  I guess I’m going to think about how I will consider the coming of peace in my life in tangible ways too.

Sometimes a line in the sand cuts in more than one direction.

I know I should write something.  Anything.  Anything at all.  Quite a bit happened this weekend and most of it was really wonderful.  But my brain seems to have been sucked out my left ear and I am now a member of the walking undead.  Well,  the sitting undead.  I am not even walking, just sitting.  Staring.  With the occasional drool.

I could write about how the family gathered together and there wasn’t ever a cross word.  Well, there were cross words, but we spoke them to our children when they were beating each other about the head and neck, or had forgotten to brush their teeth.  Heinous moments such as those.

I could write about how wonderful it was to sit and talk with my sister-in-law with whom I have had many fights and disagreements over the years.  But now we can come together as friends and sisters.  Grace truly reigned over this weekend.  Without her presence and energy, I’m not certain I could have coped with all of the people who were here.  It was good to know she had my back.

I could write about the joy it was to prepare meals with my “special” niece, who became my sous chef for the weekend.  She has many delays and disorders, but the girl is a warhorse in the kitchen and my second set of hands.

I could write about the giggles and silliness from the children who we rarely saw.  They were off playing hard almost all weekend.  But the remains of the day are scattered all over the house.  I have found bits and pieces of artwork from all of them here and there; artifacts and treasures from a stratification of family history.

I could write about the relationships that were rebuilt and strengthened.  The sinews that were tried.  The new bonds that were bridged.  But first my own synapses must meet.  And that seems to be a problem this morning!  So, for at least a day or so more, I will be processing, tidying, reconnoitering and becoming again.  I’ll be back again soon.  In time for Advent with Brother Maynard and his wonderful new book, (which I still have to download), but soon.  I promise.

Well then. I’m now keepin’ up with the Joneses and keepin’ on with getting ready for Thanksgiving.

Our first guests arrive today. The house is not ready. It will be. Sort of. Things will be fine and we’ll all have fun. It won’t go according to my original plan, but the necessary things will get done and the unnecessary things will drop away. Hopefully, I will remember to put the turkey in the oven on time.

It turns out that I do not have stress-induced eczema. I have a fungus that is causing the itching. Super! In what has become a standing pre-Thanksgiving tradition for LightHusband and I, we had matching doctors appointments yesterday afternoon. He has an upper respiratory infection and a sinus infection. I have fungus. Ewweth. Apparently we all have fungus on our skin, but if it gets underneath through a break in the skin then it becomes a problem. Bleh. Something I did not want to learn.
It makes having 16 for dinner on Thanksgiving and hosting a party for 35 the next day just another hoop to jump through. Keeping up and keeping on.

In other news, the grandparents will stay an extra day. We’re going to a Washington Capitals game on Saturday evening. This came up as a surprise yesterday afternoon. LightGirl has been chosen to skate with 3 of her team mates to help clear the ice between periods of the game that night. So while the rest of the thousands of fans will be there to see the game, at least five of the fans will be watching the cleaning of the ice! It’s very important you know 😀

Last, I’ve finished The Shack, by William P. Young. It was all the rage several months ago. I read several reviews of it all around the blog-o-sphere (including this one). It looked intriguing. So I threw it in my shopping cart in Amazon. Then one day it arrived. Such a miracle.

I know many (most) folks who read it sat down and did so in one sitting. Certainly, that is possible. And I wish I could have done so. But that wasn’t bloodly likely given my schedule lately. So I grabbed odd moments and before bed-time to read it. It’s a very powerful book packed into a small space. There’s a lot there.

I found it made an excellent companion piece to the book I reviewed here recently, It’s A Dance, by Patrick Oden. Having recently read that book gave me texture to bring to The Shack that I would not have had had I read it earlier.

I’m not entirely certain that every last jot and tittle of the theology is correct.  But then, I don’t know that anyone’s is.  Every one of us are making educated guesses.  Some guesses are more educated than others.  But not one of us knows the whole of what God is up to.  At best we see through a glass darkly; we see in part.  This book’s vision of the whole is winsome, captivating and certainly worth considering.  And certainly well worth the read.

So, after my whine yesterday, I find myself with a precious few moments this morning to write a quick post.  It’s only because I’m up early with the family as they run out to hockey practice.  After I get this out in the tubes, I’m off to put the very last (do you hear me?) coat of paint on the trim!!  And painting will be DONE!

In any case, in the midst of all the planning and preparation for Thanksgiving, my sisters-in-law and I have been multi-tasking.  We manage to do that well.  We have also been having several other conversations on the side.  One has been talk of color-coordinated family pictures to assuage my mother-in-law (a whole other story and don’t get me started).  A second has had to do with Christmas gift giving.

For several years now, my husband’s siblings and spouses have joined funds and given animals through Heifer, International.  Mostly we give goats.  For some reason this makes me inordinately happy.  Not the giving part (that makes me smile)… the goat part.

This year we have begun to discuss what changes we’d like to make to how and what we’ll give to nieces and nephews.  We’ve all agreed that our children have too much (how can I say this kindly) “stuff” and we don’t want to pass around any more “stuff” just for the sake of it.  So we’re talking about ways to reduce the “stuff” and increase the ways our children be in relationship with one another, even though they live so far away from each other (Vermont, Virginia and North Carolina).  There have been several ideas floated around … I think my favorite is the secret cousin idea.  We’re going to pick names while everyone is together over Thanksgiving.  Then at some point during the year they send a gift (but not at Christmas).  Now since the idea is to keep it a secret, they have to contact their other cousins (who’s names they didn’t draw) all during the year to muddy the waters until the reveal when they send their secret cousin gift.  There are eight cousins total, so it should be fun.  It will also be a lot of fun to see how the children play this out.

Now … for all those other gifts that need/want to be bought.  I am increasingly grumpy at the idea of just buying things.  I want to be an ethical shopper.  I found this post by Maria and this one by Cindy talking about the same things and listing places to find Christmas gifts that also make a difference in the lives of the people from whom they are purchased.  I thought I’d add my two cents … and place.  I’ve been getting this catalog for a couple of years now.  The products look lovely and are mostly made by women trying to support themselves.  It’s called Heartbeats:  Networking Women, Developing World and Minority Artists.

I’m trying to think outside the box this year.  I want my gifts to be handmade or bought from places like Heartbeats.  I think I’m just finished with commercialism.  A homemade bookmark and nice used book are perfectly good gifts, if I’ve spent time and heart on them.  Maybe I’ll make a batch of fudge for my dad … he likes fudge!  Hey … is that low fat?

I had a car full o’kids today. We were running errands. For a time I was able to listen to their music, but after a while I cried, “Uncle,” and put my music on. I have my own playlist on the car iPod and I switched it over. The volume gets turned down because nobody likes my music except, oh, me! But nobody is listening to it anyway. So they were all chattering away and I was listening to my music as we ran our errands. The last of which was to pass through Chick-fil-a for lunch. I turned the music off to take orders and then give the order to the name-less, face-less screen at the drive through.

I passed out drinks, took the bag of chicken and fries from the kind lady at the window and drove away. Then I turned the music back on. As the song hit their ears, I heard LightBoy say, “This sounds like a song from Bible school.” So I listened in to the conversation that ensued.  The players were the FlamingLambs1, 2 and 3, LightBoy and LightGirl.  The song is entitled “Call Him Good” by Sandra McCracken.  It’s heavy on the chorus which is sung “Call Him good my soul” in harmony.  It’s really beautiful and vaguely Celtic, which is probably why it sings into my soul so deeply.  But the conversation around the song was interesting.  The kids weren’t buying it.

To them it sounded like a garden variety “church” song.  They’ve become cynical.  It was for “Bible” camp.  “We went to one of those one time.”  “Yeah, we go to that when we visit my Grammy,” replied one FlamingLamb.  The highlight seemed to be the candy.  They definitely associated the Bible and the education involved with church and rules … but the weird thing was that God and Jesus never entered the conversation.  Huh?  Now we’ve all been out of church proper for several months, and out of the institutional church for a couple of years, but they’d all done some serious time in Children’s Church and Sunday School before we left.  So this omission surprised me.  Despite all the good teaching and heartfelt teachers, they’d missed the main point.

Which begs the question, just what good is all that children’s ministry anyway?  I think I prefer the simplicity of the formula given by Deuteronomy 6 …

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.   Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.  These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts.  Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.

I’ve been fumbling around lately. There’s a lot going on in my head (which may be dangerous). You’ve seen the results of some of it, but not too much. I feel torn though. I have a lot of different people who read this blog. Some of them (hi Mom) read it because they love me. Others read it because I’ve fooled them into thinking I’ve got something interesting to say every once in a while. But I find that I want to focus my scope here. So, I’ve been doing some building and creating. I’ve made a couple of other homes … this may make me feel slightly schizophrenic, I don’t know. But I made a blog to talk about my family life; hockey, homeschooling, etc. Like I can brag over there that LightGirl was named Player of the Week on her team last week. That blog is called Grandfather Ent and if you’ve developed any sort of interest in my kids and their hockey, you can follow them over there. I also decided that I needed a place to write about my adventures in quilting because not writing about it was making me a little bit nutty. I’m also going to post occasional photos of my WISPs (that is Works In Slow Progress). I called that blog Withywindle Counterpanes. I’ll be writing more about churchy, Jesusy things here from now on and keeping my children and design things for my “other” spaces. I’ll see how that works.

I’ve done some maintenance on my sidebar here too. I’ve split up my blogroll into two pieces. I wanted to call attention to the women bloggers that I follow and give them a special place. So I called that folder “Galadriel” for the leader of Lothlorien in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. She was a leader with power who focused on peace. The men that I follow are still under “Beacon-Hills” which I also think is fitting.

You may have noticed a trend here … I seem to find a lot of my nomenclature from MiddleEarth. Yep. I do. That’s because those stories have always spoken into my life and continue to do so. For instance, Calacirya is the name of a ravine. It’s mentioned only once in the books … but it’s known as the Ravine of Light, hence the reason I refer to my husband and children as LightHusband and LightChildren. I used to have a pseudonym which was Celtic and meant Lady of Light. I like the light theme and will be using it more often in the future. I’m not certain how that will play out, but it will.

I’ve also added a couple of icons to my sidebar.  One is for the new book written by Patrick Oden, It’s A Dance.  This icon leads to the website he’s created to go with the book.  Patrick’s got a unique vision for church that I’d like to encourage … so here’s my tiny, little helping hand.  Click on that link and explore his site.  Better yet, read the book! then go to the website.  I know Thanksgiving is nigh, but I now have a hunger for something better and not yet after reading it.  I’m fairly certain it’s not pie!!  The second icon will lead you to the Daily Office of the Northumbria Community.  I’ve been praying that off and on for several years now out of my book (Celtic Book of Daily Prayer), which can get awkward and cumbersome; flipping back and forth between bible and pages, etc.  I just discovered that the Northumbria Community has their Office on-line and it is sooooo convenient.  I even built myself a “gadget” for my Google Homepage … it will be available to the general public in about ten days if you’re interested.   This makes it fabulously easy to pray with the saints worldwide.  So you can get to it through the icon on my sidebar and wander around the island at Northumbria for a while.  Then stay and pray with me if you will.  I’d love it.

There you have it … I’m seeking some zen or other of blogging.  I’ll let you know if I find it.  We’ll see if this works out … or not.

Hmmm … not certain what I think about that.

This just in … my e-mail box from LightHusband:

Talking Jesus Doll Stirs Debate … yes … that’s what it is … a talking Jesus action figure. He quotes Bible verses and tells the story of the loaves and fishes. There’s a lot of concern spouted about how children will become desensitized to these … perhaps even mix and match his robes for Bratz clothing.

My concern is not so much for that, Jesus can wear any clothes the kids want and well, He’ll still just be a plastic action figure. I have a larger concern. This doll is, you got it … Made In China.

Does anyone else catch the irony? An action figure which is arguably an icon of religious freedom being manufactured in one of the least free nations on earth. By people who would be put to death if they worshipped Him. That’s beyond ironic and moving toward cruel.

I don’t even want to get into the whichever commandment … Thou shalt not make any graven images. We broke that one a long, long time ago.

I have a real problem with a Jesus doll being made by slaves, sold by a company (Wal-Mart) which condones slave like conditions in its stores … Jesus was about justice, mercy and freedom. He explicitly said in Luke 4, “I have come to set the captives free.” There is no captivity like economic slavery (read The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck sometime if you doubt me). There is no hope, no light and no freedom there; the bondage is eternal. So manufacturing and selling a Jesus action figure in that environment … well, it just makes my skin crawl.

How much is the salvation of little Western souls worth? Apparently more than the lives of Chinese men and women.

As noted previously, LightGirl had hockey practice on Halloween evening.  So she and I participated in a long standing tradition.

We drove through a local Chic-fil-a for dinner on our way to practice.  She got a sandwich, fries and a lemonade.  I got a chargrilled wrap and a rootbeer.

Now it so happens that as one drives out of the drive through slot of this Chic-fil-a one is catty corner to the end of a strip mall, the tail of which is a Panera.  Standing on the corner as we drove out yesterday evening were three older teens … maybe even pushing 20.  They were dressed for the evening … in costume.

“Hey, Mom, look.  There’s an angel and a devil and Jesus on the corner by Panera.  And look!  That’s really funny.  Jesus is smoking.”

“Well, how do you know that’s Jesus?”

“I don’t know Mom, but I think the crown of thorns gives it away, don’t you?”

“Yes, yes I do.”

Jesus smoking on a street corner on Halloween.

So, what better place for Him to be?

Today is the day …

Trick or treating for LightBoy in the guise of Fimli, Gimli’s second cousin (that is, a dwarf of MiddleEarth). He is beyond excited. I’m not certain what beyond excited is, but he’s there.

LightGirl, on the other hand, has hockey practice. But things are are looking up for her too. She is, for the first time since late June, playing in the goal for practice. We think her knee can manage that. It’s a short practice. She is also excited. I put together goodie bags for the girls who eschew trick or treating to come to practice. This is a surprise for them. It is also possible that I’ve put too much candy into these bags. I tried to balance it out with some lip gloss and nail polish and CoachWonderWoman is adding some sillystring (and more candy). But after all, Halloween really is all about the candy.

Here’s LightGirl with GoalieGirl … our new goalie. Yes, she is wearing LightGirl’s jersey. She borrowed it for team photos that were taken last night as her red jersey has not yet arrived. They have become really good friends.

Here’s my young woman … playing hard last Sunday morning against a tough team. I’m pretty proud of her and her whole team.

Today we’re off for another hockey, hockey weekend. LightHusband and I are taking the Girl up the coast to LibertyCity to play two games and watch a professional game. We found that the NHL hometeam developmental club (or American Hockey League) team is playing tonight. So we’re going to see that game as a team. What fun. LightBoy is staying here with his friends on his team.

Maybe I’ll get Leopard installed next week … sigh!