Nifty Nativity?

I am a person who collects nativity scenes, especially those where baby Jesus is HELD. Having been a La Leche League Leader and a mother who breastfed four children, I know absolutely that baby Jesus was held by his mother (and his father). Such a treasured infant was cuddled and nursed, not put aside in a straw manger, which was belatedly "invented" by St. Francis.

Whoooo is the son of God? Whoooo?

I thought I would like most nativity scenes until I visited Cavalcade of Bad Nativities, having been directed there by Deb who was sent by RevAnne. There are three pages of them. And even in these kitschy scenes, one at least shows that a baby should be held:

Desert Ammas

Mother Syncletica (4th century).

On Saturday, I am going to San Antonio to hear Mary Earle speak on the Desert Mothers and Fathers (Abbas and Ammas), which I mentioned in Waiting in Silence. To finish my master's degree in theology at Oblate School of Theology, I must finish three scholarly papers. I originally did research, now forgotten, on desert mothers, specifically Syncletica and Theodora. I am hoping to be renewed in this quest at the lecture tomorrow.

Eight Desert Mothers.

Online inside and outside!

Grumpy Holiday Friday Five

WillsMama suggested these somewhat grumpy questions for this RevGalsBlogPals Friday Five:

Please tell us your least favorite/most annoying seasonal....

1. Dessert/cookie/family food:

Chocolate covered cherries. From when I was a little girl my dad and I would give each other chocolate covered cherries. Since my dad died, sweet husband CB has bought a box for me every Christmas. I hate them—they are sickingly sweet.

2. Beverage (seasonal beer, egg nog, etc.):

I don’t like eggnog, especially the commercially made variety. AE loves eggnog, and I’ve never known why.

3. Tradition (church, family, other):

What is a difficult tradition to start and one that irritates some people in my family is me going to church on Christmas morning. Since re-joining the Episcopal Church, I love the Christmas morning service. However, the children were not used to having church on Christmas at all, and this seems contrary to family traditions. To make “peace”, I’ve thought of skipping it, but my heart/soul hungers to be at All Saints for that short time on Christmas morning. This is not a rejection of family at all, but is a deeper need of mine that is at the core of my being.

4. Decoration:

When so many in south Texas (in my neighborhood, anyway) decorate their lawns and every inch of their houses in glittery holiday regalia at Thanksgiving time, I want to resist. I will eventually put out my collection of Nativity scenes, which don’t quite fit into a “decorative” niche.

5. Gift (received or given)

The year I was given potpourri and a book describing how to make it.

BONUS: SONG/CD that makes you want to tell the elves where to stick it.

Christmas songs that go over and over in stores before it is even December.

This is from Sheepworld from Germany. I found this little pad of Sheepworld paper when I visited AE in Germany with BJ and MJ about six years ago. Cute; my mother always said she could tell what kind of card I'd choose because they'd be "cute." Guess that's from teaching little kids.

This also make me think of knitting. MJ wants to learn to knit, but I don't remember enough to teach her. My mother knitted a great deal and even knitted sweaters for all my children, always with unusual buttons. Too bad she's not here to teach MJ. Oh, well.

Sweaters are about all one needs for winter in south Texas. A few days in winter, a coat might be needed, but the rest of the time sweaters are adequate. That inhibits MJ from wearing her letter jacket from high school, as it's usually too warm here.

Feast of Red Beans and Rice

Thanks to Episcopalooza, I looked at this video of Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori preaching to Christ Episcopal Church in Dearborn, Michigan. I almost did not look at it, because it is 10 minutes long! But what she says and how she says it make the time go by very quickly.
Look and see!

Where are you in Dante's Inferno?

The Dante's Inferno Test has sent you to Purgatory!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	High
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Moderate
Level 2 (Lustful)	Low
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	High
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Very Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Low
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very Low
Level 7 (Violent)	Moderate
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Moderate
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very Low

Take the Dante's Divine Comedy Inferno Test

First Three Steps

There was a long period in my life when I attended several Al-Anon meetings each week. When I was deeply depressed, I prayed the first three steps for several years. I had forgotten about the 12 Steps until today when I was journaling. I seem to be feeling overwhelmed with many bad habits right now, such as overeating, not exercising, not drinking enough water, and blogging too much!

So I remembered another time in my life when I was feeling overwhelmed and how the 12 Steps were a foundation that I hung onto while I was journeying through much angst. The way out sometimes seemed impossible, but the PROCESS with God brought me through. It's the journey not the destination!

Today I've decided that I am going to memorize the first three steps again and pray them throughout the day. This is a way to remind myself of my dependence upon God and is something I need to do right now.

1. I admit I am powerless over my addictions (persons, places, and things) and that my life has become unmanageable.

2. I believe that a Power greater than myself can restore me to sanity.

3. I make the decision to turn my will and my life over to the care of God.

How to Manage the Holidays

Advent is a Journey

Go and visit Catherine, who has written a lovely post with unique links: The Mystery of Advent: Journey to the Manger.

And Catherine's poem:

Silent air
crisp in clarity,
I see God's eye
Twinkle.

Advent Journey to Peace: John Dear

"The Annunciation invites us to become contemplatives of nonviolence, mystics of nonviolence, like Mary. The whole point of prayer, contemplation and mysticism, is not so that we can hurt others, or bomb others, or dominate the world, but so that we can commune with the living God of peace and live in peace with everyone on earth, our very sisters and brothers.

"This Advent, we pray, "God, I surrender myself to you once again. Take my life. Use me for your work of disarmament, justice, and the healing of creation. Open my life to your holy disturbances, my career to your holy upheaval, my plans to your disruptive love. You, God of peace, are all the matters. Peace on earth is my greatest hope, my most important work-the meaning of my sojourn. Take me, God of peace. Do with me as you will. Make me too an instrument of your peace. Let me be part of your reign of peace, of your nonviolent coming into the world."

"Once we say yes to the God of peace in our contemplative nonviolence, we too will rush off like Mary, on the second stage of Advent, to serve those in need, to love our neighbors, and to practice active nonviolence."

To read the entire article, go to "The Advent Journey to Peace (part 1)," which is by Fr. John Dear.

Also, this is related to Possible Advent Reflection.

Five Favorite Gifts

Zorra at Red Heeler Ranch tagged me for the present meme that's going around. To further procrastinate today, I'll do it!

Name five of your favorite all time gifts, either given or gotten.

1. Christmas 1955: A cookie jar for my mother. Before my father left to go overseas, he took me shopping for my mother. I chose a cookie jar. After he left, but before Christmas, I was so excited about it that I kept asking my mother to open it. Finally, one evening (maybe Christmas Eve) I unwrapped it for her myself, since she wouldn’t do it. I was so excited to give it to her!

2. Christmas 1957: The beautiful high-heeled doll I’d been wanting, dressed in a white bridal gown. Connected with this, I discovered the box containing her in my parents’ closet weeks before Christmas. So she also symbolized confirmation that my parents were Santa Claus. I never told them I’d found her until I was much, much older.

3. All my married Christmases: Husband CB hides a little present in the Christmas tree, which is always the last present for me to open. It's usually a lovely piece of jewelry. I think the idea comes from those "Santa Mouse" Christmas stories, but maybe that's only synchronicity with them. He and AE also have given me beautiful Nativity scenes. One of the most beautiful is a large raku one from Africa.
   
   

4. My birthday 1992: Picture album of pictures of my mother. My mother had died in July, and the next month we’d moved from RI to NJ. Husband CB and the children organized pictures of my mother, especially with the children, into a picture album. It meant so much to me. (And still does.)
   

5. Fall 1996: Blonde cocker spaniel puppy. AE was 14 ½ and was an angry teenager. She kept her door locked and would not allow us into her room. One day she asked me to come into her room and there was a little blonde cocker spaniel puppy on her bed! AE had bought this beautiful puppy for me out of her own money as a complete surprise. She wanted to name her “Thorin Oakenshield,” and I thought I compromised by giving the puppy the Scottish last name of my mother’s mother, whom AE was named for—“Baillie.” For years, AE continued to call her “Thorin,” but she remains Baillie to this day. I’ll never forget that day AE gave me Baillie.

I tag Katherine, Fran, PS, and Garten.

Waiting in Silence

When my priest/spiritual director left for his new parish in GA, the only spiritual director he recommended was an Episcopal priest named Mary Earle. She graciously spoke with me, but said she could not take any more directees. Oddly, she wrote today's meditation "Waiting in Silence" from the weekly email sent by ExploreFaith.org: Spiritual guidance for anyone seeking a path to God. Since it is copyrighted by Mary Earle, I do not feel like I can print the entire article and hope you will go here to read it. Here is a snippet to whet your interest:

Waiting in silence, creating space for steadfast love to grow within, may be the most essential practice of all.

Thomas Merton, Trappist monk and author, remarked that life is a perpetual Advent. He sensed that in that waiting, trust began to grow. Trust in God, trust in the Holy One who is beyond all that is created and is the source of all things, seen and unseen. Trusting and waiting allow the loving-kindness that is the essence of God's own Life to grow in us, and to bear fruit that we never expected.

This is a lot like Henri Nouwen's quotes about waiting.

What is very nice for me is that I will meet Mary Earle this Saturday when I go to San Antonio to hear about the mysticism of the desert ammas and abbas. She will speak about them for a couple hours. (Since I once thought my scholarly papers would be about Syncletica and Theodora, desert mothers, I am hoping I'll be re-inspired.)

Mary Earle's personal website is here.

A book reading in Seattle

My daughter AE just sent me an email flyer about David Domke speaking at the Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington in Seattle in two weeks. I'd never heard of him before this moment, but the title of his book entices me: The God Strategy: How Religion Became a Political Weapon in America

One review writes this:
"In The God Strategy , scholars David Domke and Kevin Coe offer a timely and dynamic study of the rise of religion in American politics, examining the public messages of political leaders over the past seventy-five years-from the 1932 election of Franklin Roosevelt to the early stages of the 2008 presidential race. They conclude that U.S. politics today is defined by a calculated, deliberate, and partisan use of faith that is unprecedented in modern politics."

I am hoping that she'll go and listen to him speak on Dec. 12 (5:30-7 pm) and will tell me about what he says. THEN, I'll decide if this is another book I must read.

And let me know if you have read it!

Would Jesus Discriminate?

Ellie at Child's Illusion posted "Would Jesus Discriminate" about that same website.

I visited there and found the video and other pages to be worthwhile. Years ago, there was a popular saying, ""What would Jesus Do?" and this seems to resonate with that somewhat trite aphorism in asking, "Would Jesus discriminate?" I don't think so!

Here is a passage from the introduction:

Would you give me three minutes of your time to consider three critical questions?

First, as we look back over history, do you think we Christians have ever been wrong on important theological issues? Of course, we know the answer is “yes!” Classic examples include:

• Supporting slavery
• Opposing the right of women to vote
• Opposing interracial marriage
• 
  

The sad truth is, for hundreds of years the vast majority of Christians were on the wrong side of each of those issues. And people who took the other side were accused of being unbiblical -- and of trying to overthrow God’s natural creation order.

Which brings me to my second question: How is it possible that so many Christians could have been so wrong? Clearly, the Bible didn’t change. The problem was, they allowed deeply ingrained cultural prejudices to distort their interpretation of the Bible on these key issues.

It’s not hard to see how that happened. For all of human history, slavery had been an established institution. It seemed to be part of God’s natural order. For all of human history, women had been denied the right to vote. That just seemed part of God’s creation.

Today, we realize how wrong we were, and pray we will never make that kind of mistake again.

Which leads to my last question: Is it possible that history is repeating itself? Could most Christians be wrong today when they say God condemns homosexual relationships?

Like Ellie, I highly recommend this site. Explore it sometime!

Now watch this 30 second video:

Penguins on Holiday

Penguins On Holiday by Philip Tseng Have you ever heard of Threadless t-shirts? It's a company that prints t-shirts that are designed by people who send in their pictures, some of which are chosen. Jake Nickell and Jacob DeHart started the company, and their story is here.

The Pink Chapel

About four blocks from my house is the Pink Chapel, which is really called the Chapel of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on Ocean Drive, which is connected with the convent for the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters. For many years of living in Corpus Christi, I wondered what that was until one day I stopped and looked inside. I saw a lovely chapel with pink cushions with the walls in shades of pink. Even the kneelers are pink! It was quiet and the sign on the door said the hours it is open are 5:45 am to 5:30 pm. I was amazed to find such a sanctuary open for prayer, as the Protestant churches I was familiar with were all locked except on Sundays.

The Pink Chapel is always a haven of peace with at least one other person praying--one of the sisters in a pink habit. The sister prays and kneels before the Sacrament for one hour until relieved by the next sister.

For periods of time, I have had a practice of praying in the Pink Chapel every day, but I also repeatedly fall away from doing that. Today I went back for the first time in many months. I had forgotten how peaceful it is there, though I know sometimes on weekends entire families come in for a few minutes, with wiggling and chattering children. All are welcome, even an odd Protestant like me.

One of the websites for the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters states their goal as:

LIVE quietly with God.
WORK gladly for God.
VIEW things from God's viewpoint.
TALK things over with God.
GLOW with zeal for the glory of God.
FIND your joy in God.
REST deep in the heart of God.

---Mother Mary Michaele

1950's style chairs

Not having taken any pictures of these ancient harvest gold chairs, this is the closest representation I could find on Google Images. When CB and I got married in 1971, my mother recovered two vinyl covered (in turquoise, black and white) metal chairs that we'd had since I was a little girl with harvest gold nubby fabric. These chairs have traveled around with us from WA to OR to TX to RI to NJ and back to TX. For more than the last decade they've been sitting around on the edge of the laundry room and sunroom, usually piled with stuff. The one that used to be next to me here at the computer desk had a cardboard file box of soccer files under it, which is now in the open. They've been slowly "shedding" yellowish dust as their stuffing decomposes with age.

For years I was "saving" them for the artist mother of a friend of MJ's from preschool, who always said she loved the retro look. Finally, after having Troy here and chewing on the bottom corners of one of the chairs, I decided to get rid of them.

Today it was sunny and cool, and I put the two chairs out by the sidewalk in the front. When I came home a little while ago, one was gone. That surprised me, because that was the one with the chewed off corners. And five minutes ago the doorbell rang. A woman asked if the chair was "trash"--that she wanted one for her children to use instead of her dining room chairs for playing Playstation. So she took it, and I was a little afraid she'd put it back when she saw the yellow dust descending upon her car.

The two harvest gold chairs are gone. I'm glad, but I've been thanking my mother in my heart for recovering them so long ago when we first got married and had little furniture.

Thought for the Day: Spiritual Disciplines

I once asked my grandmother, “Why shouldn’t we go after pleasant things, Granny? It’s only human. And what’s wrong with wanting to stay away from unpleasant things?” She didn’t argue with me. She just told me to eat an amla fruit.

It was easier said than done. The fruit was so sour that I wanted to spit it out, but she stopped me. “Don’t give up. Keep chewing.” Out of love for her, I did, and the sourness left. The fruit began to taste sweeter and sweeter. “Granny, this is delicious,” I said.

“But you didn’t like it at the outset. You wanted to spit it out.” That is how it is with spiritual disciplines.

by Eknath Easwaran (1910-1999)

The Thought for the Day is today's entry from Eknath Easwaran's Words to Live By.
(Copyright 1999 and 2005 by The Blue Mountain Center of Meditation.)

Select the Thought for the Day for any day of the year.


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Prayer begins at the edge of emptiness.

~Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel

This is not a question aimed at any one person or even at one country. I think it is a question asked of ALL humankind. God asks the World why we don't understand the command to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves?

How do I kill with a look? How do I kill with a word? How do I kill in my heart? How do I kill by looking away?

A Cold November Day

I love this picture and have it saved on my computer. You may recognize it, because Barbara posted it on September 12, 2007 at Views From the Road.

It reminds me of November days when the trees are bare, though maybe not in Texas with the live oak trees. I know I'm influenced by Robert Redford saying this to Faye Dunaway about her black and white photographs in the 1975 movie "Three Days of the Condor."

Looking outside here in south Texas, even with the green leaves on the trees, I see a similar gray scene that makes me think of a cold November day, which it is. Oddly for here, it is drizzly with a cold wind and is about 50 degrees F. (Remember when I was complaining about 90 degrees?) I'm glad to have more seasonal weather. It brings back memories of when we lived in Rhode Island and New Jersey, and even way back when we lived in Oregon and Washington. It's soup-making and hot chocolate weather!

This is also the day when son BJ takes puppy Troy and the doghouse he built for him back to Victoria. We'll miss that pesky dog!

Ever feel this way?

Cartoon by Dave Walker. Find more cartoons you can freely re-use on your blog at We Blog Cartoons.

Apprehend God in all things,

for God is in all things.

Every single creature is full of God,

and is a book about God.

Every creature is a word of God.

~Meister Eckhart (1260-1328)

The Asphalt Gospel (and much more)

My daughter AE emailed me about this video entitled "The Asphalt Gospel," which is the story of six progressive Christians called CrossWalk America from Phoenix walking to Washington, DC in 2006 for their cause, The Phoenix Affirmations. These affirmations are what I believe and include welcome inclusion for all people.

This has opened up all these resources I didn't expect, as all I thought I'd do is write a little information about this movie that was made about the walk across America and then post the video. Now I am finding:

Two books:
The Phoenix Affirmations: A New Vision for the Future of Christianity and Asphalt Jesus: Finding a New Christian Faith Along the Highways of America (by Eric Elnes who is a biblical scholar with a Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary. He is also Senior Pastor of Scottsdale Congregational United Church of Christ in Scottsdale, Arizona).

And blogs:
Following Crosswalk America
Seeds for Thought
The Center for Progressive Christianity
The Beatitudes Society that also has resources, such as recommended BOOKS!
Faith in America
Protestants for the Common Good

And on August 26, 2007, Walking with Integrity posted "The Asphalt Gospel" movie trailer and an article about the whole process of CrossWalk America from the Phoenix East Vally Tribune. I wish I'd checked that blog on that date, but I only periodically go to that site. Maybe I'll have to visit more often from now on.

Finally, here is the video that my daughter sent, which prompted all this research on my part. (She found it at Pam's House Blend.) I hope you have time to watch the video and check out some of these sites.

Day after Thanksgiving?

"Waiting for God" by Henri Nouwen

A few days ago I promised PS that I'd quote some from the Advent reflection that Henri Nouwen wrote entitled "Waiting for God" in Watch for the Light: Readings for Advent and Christmas. So as I think of re-heating Thanksgiving left-overs for dinner and have more stuffing cooking, here goes.

"People who wait have received a promise that allows them to wait. They have received something that is at work in them, like a seed that has started to grow. This is very important. We can only really wait if what we are waiting for has already begun for us. So waiting is never a movement from nothing to something. It is always a movement from something to something more." (30)

"But there is none of this passivity in scripture. Those who are waiting are waiting very actively. They know that what they are waiting for is growing from the ground on which they are standing. That's the secret. The secret of waiting is the faith that the seed has been planted, that something has begun. Active waiting means to be present fully to the moment, in the conviction that something is happening where you are and that you want to be present to it. A waiting person is someone who is present to the moment, who believes that this moment is the moment." (31)

"Waiting is open-ended. Open-ended waiting is hard for us because we tend to wait for something concrete, for something that we wish to have. Much of our waiting is filled with wishes: 'I wish that I would have a job. I wish that the weather would be better. I wish that the pain would go.' We are full of wishes, and our waiting easily gets entangled in those wishes. For this reason, a lot of our waiting is not open-ended. Instead, our waiting is a way of controlling the future. We want the future to go in a very specific direction, and if this does not happen we are disappointed and can even slip into despair. That is why we have such a ahrd time waiting: we want to do the things that will make the desired events take place. Here we can see how wishes tend to be connected with fear." (32-33)

"But Zechariah, Elisabeth, and Mary were not filled with wishes. They were filled with hope. Hope is something very different. Hope is trusting that something will be fulfilled, but fulfilled according to the promises and not just according to our wishes. Therefore, hope is always open-ended." (33)

"Simone Weil, a Jewish writer, said, 'Waiting patiently in expectation is the foundation of the spiritual life.'" (37)

This Advent book is the one we are reading together in the Wisdom Class weekly book study. We're reading three daily meditations at a time. It is interesting how some, like Nouwen's, are appreciated by all, but others, like one by J. B. Phillips, are hotly disputed. I think it is a good discipline to read an assortment of writers to get views we may not be comfortable with--to question ourselves and discern what we truly believe. Sometimes I am surprised in these so-called disagreeable encounters! God is certainly the God of the Unexpected.

Veterans' Brain Injuries

There's a group of "agitators" over at Les Enrages.org, including Quaker Dave whom I miss. And Quaker Dave wrote about all the UNREPORTED BRAIN INJURIES TO VETS in today's post that is entitled "Go Ahead: Defend THIS," which is based upon an article in "USA Today" by Gregg Zoroya. That article (and the post) are making me cry and pray, which I should be doing everyday for the wounded veterans and those who have died.

Go read "20,000 Vet's Brain Injuries Not Listed in Pentagon Tally." It also has links to other pertinent articles.

This article ends with:

"More than 150,000 troops may have suffered head injuries in combat, says Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., founder of the Congressional Brain Injury Task Force.

"I am wary that the number of brain-injured troops far exceeds the total number reported injured," he says.

About 1.5 million troops have served in Iraq, where traumatic brain injury can occur despite heavy body armor worn by troops."

Anglican Church, Nigeria, and Homosexuality

Here is a fine article about the Nigerian Anglican Church and homosexuality by Christopher L. Webber: "Causes and Effects." This is from The Episcopal Majority website. I hope you will go and read it.


Christopher L. Webber has written for The Episcopal Majority before. See "A Certain Madness," "The Conscience of a Conservative," and "1984 in the Episcopal Church" (which includes background information about the author). He is the author of Re-Inventing Marriage, as well as a new supplement to the last title, called Same Sex Marriage and the Bible (available from his website).

Post Thanksgiving Day Friday Five

From Singing Owl at RevGalBlogPals:

Ah, the day after Thanksgiving--groan! Fortunately, I love Thanksgiving leftovers.

Thanksgiving is the American holiday when the greatest number of people travel somewhere else to celebrate. I am posting this from my son’s home in Minnesota where we are recovering from the food shopping and the preparations and the meal and the clean up. It is difficult to think of anything requiring much energy today, and I am enjoying my sweet baby granddaughter, so I will keep it simple. For those of you not in the USA, I apologize for the nationalistic tone of this Friday Five!

1. Did you go elsewhere for the day, or did you have visitors at your place instead? How was it?

We stayed at home. With four children, only one was here—18 year old MJ who is a senior in high school. Also invited was a friend of my husband’s, who works at Habitat for Humanity house building. K is a very friendly, large man who is transgender and came dressed as a woman, which is his practice when he is not working. K was talkative, and our quiet family needs someone like that, so the conversation was lively.

This small Thanksgiving meal also opened my heart to my parents’ tiny Thanksgiving celebrations over the years. Both my dad and I were only children, so there was never much family around. All the years (three decades) that CB and I did not come home for Thanksgiving, they were the two of them. I never thought before how lonely that might have been. (Texas and Washington State are too far apart for visits.) Still, I might be lonelier because I am accustomed to larger gatherings, having had four children.

2. Main course: If it was the turkey, the whole turkey, and nothing but the turkey, was it prepared in an unusual way? Or did you throw tradition to the winds and do something different?

We had turkey, the same way as always, with my mother’s stuffing. However, I cooked a 14 lb. turkey instead of a 22 lb. one. The bigger one will be for Christmas when almost all our kids will be with us.

3. Other than the meal, do you have any Thanksgiving customs that you observe every year?

Starting in 1985, when DC was 6, AE was 3, and BJ was a baby, I would take the kids to a movie while the turkey was cooking. This year, there was not an early enough movie, so after we ate (and when football started on tv), MJ and I went to see the movie “Enchanted.” It was cute and silly.

4. The day after Thanksgiving is considered a major Christmas shopping day by most US retailers. Do you go out bargain hunting and shop ‘till you drop, or do you stay indoors with the blinds closed? Or something in between?

It’s a slow day, where I may go to a few locally owned stores for their sales. I don’t like to fight the crowds!

5. Let the HOLIDAY SEASON commence! When will your Christmas decorations go up?

South Texans start decorating even before Thanksgiving, but after that holiday, they go full speed ahead. I always think it’s because it’s usually so warm and un-holiday-like here that people try to create the “Season” by decorating. CB and I still fall back into our original family customs which is to decorate around the middle of the month, though pressure from daughter MJ will probably get us going sooner than that. . . . AND I bought some poinsettias today!

Usually by the second weekend in December, we put up a tree. BUT that weekend we’ll be in San Antonio for soccer play-offs!

Apple Picking Game

Go and pick apples!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Thou who hast given so much to me, give me one more thing - a grateful heart!

-- George Herbert

Today in Corpus Christi, TX

Today has been very hot--about 90 degrees F. It was a good day to hang clothes outside to dry, but an odd day to start cooking for Thanksgiving. The cold front will shock us into November weather sometime before we go to bed, with winds up to 45 mph. The forecasted temperature for tomorrow is 53 degrees F. Quite a difference when we get up on Thanksgiving morning.

22 year old son BJ just called, and he has to work tomorrow. He'll either get home tomorrow night or on Friday morning. That's disappointing, but he's glad that he'll be paid double-time.

Tonight AA and DC are driving to AA's parents' house near Houston. AE and KA are having their dinner alone in Seattle, trying new recipes for stuffing, sweet potatoes, and couscous for Thanksgiving.

Happy Thanksgiving!

If you feel like singing or hearing a beautiful hymn about thanking God, go over to Quotidian Grace's blog. It's joyous!

e.e.cummings

I've always loved the poetry of e.e. cummings and here is one of my favorites:

i thank You God for most this amazing
day:for the leaping greenly spirits of trees
and a blue true dream of sky;and for everything
which is natural which is infinite which is yes

(i who have died am alive again today,
and this is the sun's birthday;this is the birth
day of life and love and wings:and of the gay
great happening illimitably earth)

how should tasting touching hearing seeing
breathing any-lifted from the no
of all nothing-human merely being
doubt unimaginable You?

(now the ears of my ears awake and
now the eyes of my eyes are opened)

~ e.e. cummings ~

(Complete Poems 1904-1962)

Good Articles to Read

Every Wednesday in my email I receive "Faith in Action" from the General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church. The Nov. 19, 2007 issue has particularly good articles. Here are a few:

Word from Winkler Joy versus Happiness By Jim Winkler, General Secretary, General Board of Church & Society Thanksgiving - A Time to Welcome the Stranger in Our Midst By Michelle Brooks, Digital Communications Director, General Board of Church & Society Christians for Comprehensive Immigration Reform release new report detailing an alarming increase in negative and dehumanizing dialogue around immigration.

Un-Expecting the Expected
By Jamie Michaels, Seminar Designer/US-2, General Board of Church and Society

A 4-ft. 8-in. Texan opened the writer's eyes to the larger-than-life possibilities of God's grace.

In "Un-Expecting the Expected," Jamie Michaels ends the article like this:

I encourage you to think about the ways in which your expectations have limited your experience of the Divine. How can you open yourself to hearing and seeing God in a different way this week? How can you work to “get out of the way” of what God is showing you?

I’d like to share the poem with you that Edie shared with me:

Never forget that You are one of God’s rainbow people,
Called to step outside your high church steeple,
To show that you have heard God’s holy call
By loving, serving, and witnessing God’s Grace to all.
Live Forgiven!


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Time for Gratitude

Ellie at Meditation Matters found an article entitled "Don't Like Meditation? Try Gratitude Training". She excerpted some of that to make a case for both the practice of meditation and of gratitude. In the USA, Thanksgiving is tomorrow, so this week (and really, anytime) it is a good practice to ponder what we are grateful for.

So Ellie wrote and copied:

Mind you, I'd like people to do both but you could do a lot worse than practicing gratitude. Here's what a study on the process found:

The results of the study indicated that daily gratitude exercises resulted in higher reported levels of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, optimism and energy. Additionally, the gratitude group experienced less depression and stress, was more likely to help others, exercised more regularly and made more progress toward personal goals. According to the findings, people who feel grateful are also more likely to feel loved.

And if you need help getting started, these questions are suggested:

What am I truly grateful for in my life?


Aim for five answers, and if you have trouble at first, ask yourself alternative probing questions such as:

What relationships do I have that others don’t?
What do I take for granted?
What freedoms, unique abilities, and options do I have that others don’t?
What advantages have I been given in life?
Which allies and supporters have helped me to get to where I am?

This is about truly appreciating what we have without having to lose it first. Try it. (And meditate, too!)

Thanksgiving Plans

We had thought that we'd be having our Thanksgiving "dinner" on Wednesday night, because we had to leave by noon on Thanksgiving to drive to Dallas, which takes about eight hours. This was because MJ's Express soccer team was scheduled to play in a soccer tournament there. This had been planned for months and months, until the coach quit and a few girls were too hurt to go. It finally ended up that only 10-11 girls could go, and that was stretching them thin in such a competitive setting. So the dedicated (and stressed) team mom agreed to cancel the team's participation. When my husband heard, he started shouting, "Yubba-dubba-doo!" MJ and I felt much the same.



With two kids at home with us, there will be four human beings and four pets (three dogs and one cat) here for Thanksgiving. BJ will arrive for his favorite holiday in time to eat. (I am grateful that we don't have to say "Hello. Goodbye!" when he walks in the door on Thursday morning, since we don't have to drive to Dallas.)
is also means that at the end of the weekend, BJ will take Troy back to his home in Victoria. He's going to build a doghouse for Troy while he's home. MJ and I will miss Troy, but CB will not.

Troy at the Beach

MJ has no school this week and today she took puppy Troy to the beach downtown--Magee is a small sandy strand that overlooks Corpus Christi Bay. He wasn't too sure of the waves but liked running after the sea gulls. It was 85 degrees F. today. Tomorrow it is expected to hit 90, before the cold front (YAY) arrives on Wednesday night.

Pictures of Gruene, TX

MJ took pictures during our visit to Gruene (pronounced "green") and has emailed them to me, so I can figure out how to post them here.

Looks like they are more of the Gristmill Restaurant than anything else, but these give you an idea of the attempted "quaint" decor of the town.

Fly Away: Windsuit Flying

Blogging

Copied from Miss Cellania's blog. Since I was an English major in college and am now an inveterate blogger, it seemed somewhat appropriate to use a Shakespeare take-off about this silly topic.

God Speaks

God speaks:

“I am the breeze that nurtures all things green

. . . I am the rain coming from the dew

that causes the grasses to laugh with joy of life.

. . . I am the yearning for good.”

~Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179)

Gratefulness

Digging dogs

Our 4 year old dog Cisco likes to dig under the fence and escape. He has been teaching puppy Troy to dig with him. Cisco wriggled to freedom this way on Friday before MJ and I left on our little trip. This morning, I found him doing that again in the mud by the trashcans, after pushing aside the bricks that were put there to block the digging. CB got cement blocks to put there now.

On Google Images I found a picture of a black lab coming under a fence like ours. I chose it because we had a black lab for 11 years. Licorice was a sweet dog, who was put to sleep when she grew so paralyzed that she couldn't even get up anymore. She was BJ's eighth birthday present right after we'd moved back to TX from NJ. He was the only child not complaining about moving again, and so he got to pick out a puppy for his very own. We met a family in the empty parking lot of Joe Cotton's BBQ in Robstown, where little BJ picked out a puppy in the back of a Suburban--trying to decide between the blonde or black one. He finally chose the black one, who loved to chew (like Troy) and peel wallpaper off the walls. Cisco was given to husband CB last Christmas because of the loss of Licorice.

Home again, home again, Jiggedy-Jog!

It is nice to be home again-- home again, home again, jiggedy-jog. MJ liked AE's professors, one who teaches chemistry and the history prof. who spurred AE to apply for the Fulbright to Korea. We liked being with DC and AA and seeing their lovely new home. The kitchen is beautiful with black granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances and yellow walls. We even had our own bedrooms upstairs, because I got the extra bed in one and MJ slept on a blow-up mattress in the other bedroom. (There's an advantage to being older and "the mom.")

We left this morning so that we could stop at the Outlet Malls in San Marcos. Then MJ and I stopped in Gruene (pronounced "green"), one of those historic, quaint villages with little shops that entice shoppers. We ate lunch at the Gristmill Restaurant, because I have fond memories of meeting DC there for dinner when he first moved to Austin in 2003. (I was in San Antonio taking classes at Oblate, and we met at that in-between spot.)

It was very nice to get home as it was getting dark. It was also pleasant to find gas a little bit cheaper than when we left ($2.89 gal.).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
While I was in Austin, I sneaked a look at a few of my favorite blogs and was captivated by a new game that gives rice to the United Nations World Food Program via a vocabulary game that I posted a link to at the right of my posts. This is a very addictive game! I first found it at my daughter AE's blog.

Go PLAY--it's educational!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And now Wyldth1ng has discovered that this is a valid game through Snopes.

Going away for a few days

Daughter MJ is trying for an early decision admission to Trinity University in San Antonio, TX. Her older sister AE graduated from there. (Her two brothers graduated from Texas A&M University in College Station.) On Friday she and I are going to visit Trinity and talk with two of AE's favorite professors.

With some shopping and visiting friends in between professors and traveling north, we'll end up staying with DC and wife AA in Austin on both Friday and Saturday nights. It will be fun to see their new house.

Husband CB is staying here so that he can work at Habitat for Humanity on Friday and Saturday and also be around for the three dogs (including puppy Troy!) and one cat.

My Children

This is the annual "Christmas picture" of our kids from back in 1991, when we lived in RI. It was taken at Beavertail State Park. At that time, they were these ages:
MJ--2 years
DC--12 years
BJ--6 years
AE--9 years

This was our "Christmas Picture" for sending out that Christmas 1991. We used to regularly send friends and relatives a family picture with our holiday cards, but have had difficulties getting all our children together for one picture in more recent years. Last year we had a picture of us all taken with the bride and groom at DC and AA's wedding.

Now it is 16 years later. In the past 16 years, we've moved to NJ and back to TX. Both my parents died. DC, AE, and BJ graduated from college. DC married and bought a home with his wife AA (Happy Anniversary, D and A!). AE lived three years in Korea teaching English, where she met her partner KA, and they now live together in Seattle where AE is going to grad school. BJ got a new puppy and a new job (Grandpuppy Troy). MJ is a senior in high school.

Fall Foliage

Although I thought that this was fall foliage somewhere in Washington State, it is really in Alabama. My daughter posted it on her blog. The picture is from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. I think it is beautiful and wish I could be somewhere where such fall colors actually appear.

A Question to Ask Ourselves

Patrick Chappatte, Cartoons on World Affairs
Patrick's cartoons appear in the Geneva daily "Le Temps" and in the Sunday edition of the Neue Zurcher Zeitung. He also does a weekly cartoon for the International Herald Tribune. Visit Patrick.

Pet News

This morning our 11 year old blond cocker spaniel Baillie snapped at me when I touched some dark brown spots on her belly. I think that's the first time she ever has tried to bite anyone. So I took her to the vet, and poor Baillie has a staph infection on her nipples. Why, I don't know. So twice a day we have to hold her down to put antibiotic ointment on those sore spots.

Cisco is finally getting tired of grandpuppy Troy biting him all over, including pulling on is ears, necks, and tail. Cisco is playing rougher now and throws Troy down on his back and jaws his throat. Even after that, Troy is back jumping and biting Cisco. Husband CB took off Cisco's blue collar yesterday, because Troy kept pulling it like tug-of-war. (See picture above)

Gracie the cat usually lazes around the house in the daytime in the living room off from everyone else. She occasionally will sit on me if I am reading--that's the only time, especially if I'm lying on the couch reading. Since puppy Troy has arrived, Gracie taunts him at the French doors that open to the sunroom and to the outside deck. (The sunroom is where our two computers are and it's next to the laundry room; these are the rooms where the dogs are allowed to be.) Gracie will paw at the glass to tease the puppy. Last night, CB closed the curtains to the outside, so Troy would stop jumping at the doors to "get" at the cat. In a little while, the cat was under the drapes and (according to CB) sticking her tongue out at the puppy.

When daughter AE visited this weekend, she took this picture, which I'm copying from her blog, so you can see all three dogs. Visit her if you want to read about her and partner KA's whirlwind tour of TX in about 48 hours.

This is how I felt this day with teaching and going to four different classes, including Greek tonight. The news that the Episcopal priest who teaches our small class Greek (plus a second year class) is leaving to go to a different church is an abrupt ending to this long day.

Wake Up!

To consider persons and events and situations
only in the light
of their effect upon myself
is to live on the doorstep of hell.

~Thomas Merton

Democracy’s Root: Diversity

By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN

Last Tuesday, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia met Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican — the first audience ever by the head of the Catholic Church with a Saudi monarch. The Saudi king gave the pope two gifts: a golden sword studded with jewels, and a gold and silver statue depicting a palm tree and a man riding a camel.

The BBC reported that the pope “admired the statue but merely touched the sword.” I think it is a great thing these two men met, and that King Abdullah came bearing gifts. But what would have really caught my attention — and the world’s — would have been if King Abdullah had presented the pope with something truly daring: a visa.

You see, the king of Saudi Arabia, also known as the Keeper of the Two Holy Mosques of Mecca and Medina, can visit the pope in the Vatican. But the pope can’t visit the king of Saudi Arabia in the Vatican of Islam — Mecca. Non-Muslims are not allowed there. Moreover, it is illegal to build a church, a synagogue or a Hindu or Buddhist temple in Saudi Arabia, or to practice any of these religions publicly.

As BBCnews.com noted, “some Christian worship services are held secretly, but the government has been known to crack down on them, or deport Filipino workers if they hold even private services. ... The Saudi authorities cite a tradition of the Prophet Muhammad that only Islam can be practiced in the Arabian Peninsula.”

I raise this point because the issue of diversity — how and under what conditions should “the other” be tolerated — is roiling the Muslim world today, from Lebanon to Iraq to Pakistan. More churches and mosques have been blown up in the past few years than any time I can remember.

A senior French official suggested to me that maybe we in the West, rather than trying to promote democracy in the Middle East — a notion tainted by its association with the very Western powers that once colonized the region — should be focusing on promoting diversity, which has historical roots in the area.

It’s a valid point. The very essence of democracy is peaceful rotations of power, no matter whose party or tribe is in or out. But that ethic does not apply in most of the Arab-Muslim world today, where the political ethos remains “Rule or Die.” Either my group is in power or I’m dead, in prison, in exile or lying very low. But democracy is not about majority rule; it is about minority rights. If there is no culture of not simply tolerating minorities, but actually treating them with equal rights, real democracy can’t take root.

But respect for diversity is something that has to emerge from within a culture. We can hold a free and fair election in Iraq, but we can’t inject a culture of diversity. America and Europe had to go through the most awful civil wars to give birth to their cultures of diversity. The Arab-Muslim world will have to go through the same internal war of ideas.

I just returned from India, which just celebrated 60 years of democracy. Pakistan, right next door, is melting down. Yet, they are basically the same people — they look alike, they eat the same food, they dress alike. But there is one overriding difference: India has a culture of diversity. India is now celebrating 60 years of democracy precisely because it is also celebrating millennia of diversity, including centuries of Muslim rule.

Nayan Chanda, author of a delightful new book on globalization titled “Bound Together: How Traders, Preachers, Adventurers, and Warriors Shaped Globalization,” recounts the role of all these characters in connecting our world. He notes: “The Muslim Emperor Akbar, who ruled India in the 16th century at the pinnacle of the Mughal Empire, had Christians, Hindus, Jain and Zoroastrians in his court. Many of his senior officials were Hindus. On his deathbed, Jesuit priests tried to convert him, but he refused. Here was a man who knew who he was, yet he had respect for all religions. Nehru, a Hindu and India’s first prime minister, was a great admirer of Akbar.”

Akbar wasn’t just tolerant. He was embracing of other faiths and ideas, which is why his empire was probably the most powerful in Indian history. Pakistan, which has as much human talent as India, could use an Akbar. Ditto the Arab world.

I give King Abdullah credit, though. His path-breaking meeting with the pope surely gave many Saudi clerics heartburn. But as historic as it was, it left no trace. I wished the pope had publicly expressed a desire to visit Saudi Arabia, and that the king would now declare: “Someone has to chart a new path for our region. If I can meet the pope in the Vatican, I can host Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Shiite and Buddhist religious leaders for a dialogue in our sacred house. Why not? We are secure in our own faith. Let us all meet as equals.”

Why not?