23 July 2008

She's Got High Hopes: Part Two

So then today, we were toodling down the road to visit a friend and we passed a sprawling RV dealership. I pointed it out to my mid-kid and asked her which giant beast struck her fancy.

After a second or two of deliberation she said, "I just want to get a small one. Something with one bed above the driver's seat and room enough for just me."

Well, that made me sad that we were all somehow black-listed from her future travel plans, so I tried to be pathetic and needy and ventured, "You mean you want to travel all alone?" (In my best patented mother's whine-y wail.)


"Aw, Mom. I'll be fine...
As long as I have a night light."

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20 July 2008

She's Got High Hopes

Our eldest daughter has been saving all summer to buy herself a Nintendo DS.
Three weeks ago she reached her goal.
The entire family joyfully hopped in the car to watch her first major purchase with her own, hard-earned cash. We celebrated, we high-fived, we ooh-ed and aah-ed.
We discovered that Nintendo DS's do not come with any sort of starter games, so we all hung our heads in disappointment at the knowledge that she was back to the drawing board, now earning the dough to buy herself a GAME to play on the silly machine. (Shall we start a letter writing campaign? I mean, c'mon, if you're going to sell a game system, at least give the kid a cheesy starter game to go with it!)

Last week, our eldest daughter reached that goal and proudly plunked down the cash for her game. It's been NintenDogs Central around here ever since.


So at dinner this evening, we were discussing what the kids might want to save up for in the future. Of course, eldest daughter is saving for another Nintendo game.

When we asked our middle daughter what she was hoping to save money to buy, she quipped,
"Who me? I'm saving up for an RV."

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14 July 2008

Letter to a Mother Bird

Barren nest photo by Bev Wauer



Dear Mother Bird,

I'm sorry that I broke your egg. I didn't mean to do it.
Climbing up to see it's safe,
And now, you know, I rue it.
I really think it fascinating- God's great artistry
Masterpieces in small twig bundles
Nestled in a tree.

I know I disobeyed my mom. She's told me this before.
"Holding bird eggs in your hand is not what they are for."
Yes, I know that I was wrong.
And I would have asked permission.
But you were not in bush or tree.
Least ways, not that I could see.
And Mommy wasn't standing there to make sure I held true.
No little sister hanging 'round to make sure that she knew.
Left on my own, I made a choice, and no one had to know.
"It's a rule for those inept, as I'm about to show."


I worried maybe you had gone and flown away for good.
And left that tempting bright blue egg in the tree branch where I stood.
It was pretty, it was dainty, and the breeze began to blow
I fretted that your nest might fall
And, since I am in-the-know

And a self-described authority on what is good for me
I helped myself, and helped you too
Until I bumped my knee
On that smallest little branch there- right in the shady crook
I promise, it was accidental, that my egg-handling hand so shook

I dropped your unborn baby right there at the tree's base
And I cried and cried and whimpered to imagine your sweet face
Disappointed, downcast, crestfallen
Chirping me my shame
How could I be so selfish as to play this dangerous game?

I saw, I took, I held
I carried it around
I was in complete control
I thought-
But then I found
I could not control the gravity
of earth or action wrong
And now, I'm sad that no one
Will ever hear your baby prophet's song.

You long to gather up your chicks
To hold them close and safe
To give them comfort- Presence,
Words of life, and grace.
Your home is now left desolate
Abandoned, as it were.
There's no one home to break the morn
With messages on the dew.

I can't undo what I have wrought
That tears my heart in two
Irreparable, the sin, that I've committed against you.
Resuscitation, Elmer's glue, a bit of tape and twine
It doesn't fix the life that's gone
And the blame is squarely mine.

What can I do to make it right?
To bring life back from the dead?
Mom and I stand here looking down
And I wonder in my head.
If maybe she had warned me, and told me to obey
Because she loves and cares for me, and cares about you too.
And she understands there is no way
To undo history.

Not with human skill, at least.




“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones God’s messengers! How often I have wanted to gather your children together as a hen protects her chicks beneath her wings, but you wouldn’t let me. And now, look, your house is abandoned and desolate."


He will swallow up death forever.
The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears
from all faces;
he will remove the disgrace of his people
from all the earth.
The LORD has spoken.

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06 July 2008

Echocardiogram

Beating heart
Do not handle!
Do not taste!
Do not touch!
Things created, all of them
In and under heaven

Empty notions, captivating
False humility
Puffed up, empty notions
Mere shadows of true things

Fasting, feasting
Drinking, dressing
New moon celebrations
Of human tradition and empty philosophy

Life makes it so hard sometimes
To know what's real
(Cultural arrhythmia.)

Can you feel it?
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Heart Beating Animation

Dominion masters
Slaves to thrones
Wives to principalities
Children of enemies and outsiders

Gentile barbarian
Scythian people-pleasers
Prisoners
Held captive by fleshly minds of division

Shameful passion rules us
Impure indulgence, gluttons for it all
Appearing wise, appearing
Founded on human commands and teachings
Rather than reality.

Life makes it so hard sometimes
To know what's real
(Cultural arrhythmia.)

Can you feel it?
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Image:EKGI.png

Circumcised bodies with uncircumcised hearts
Systems and specifics, idolatry
Destined to perish- Flat lining.
Doomed to fail and pass away in cardiac arrest
Decaying into the dust.

And the dust is everywhere.
It is everywhere.
(Cultural arrhythmia.)


Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
You are there.
You are there.
You're Everywhere.
You Are Everywhere.

Our God is here.
(Our Crash Cart and Pace Maker.)
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.

8-3-07_3gaga.jpg



*Cardiac medication*
Take daily as needed by pressing the play button to the right.

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02 July 2008

Because I Feel Like Something Green Today

Blue and Black Salvia- the hummingbirds love this and so do I.

-Butterfly Garden 2006-
Completely empty of plants, but full of potential

-Butterfly Garden 2008-
Lilac, hollyhock, butterfly bush, bee balm, sedum, lavender, chrysanthemum, phlox
And lots of bees and butterflies

-Vegetable garden 2006-
Cardboard boxes and topsoil
Shrimpy basil and high hopes for a lush future

-Vegetable Garden 2008-
Welcome lush future!
Corn, green beans, summer squash, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, zucchini, peas, watermelon, strawberries, cucumber, grapes, sunflower, cosmos, zinnia, lupines... and shrimpy basil.

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01 July 2008

Summer Sabbath

A tree-lined trail beside the river

Watching a lizard bask in the sun

And a deer scurry off the train tracks as the 3:12 rolls by

Waiting for the slow pokes to catch up

Teaching the baby sister to eat honeysuckle

Which she took to like a natural

Soon everyone is doing it
Intoxicating

Dodging a summer shower

A centipede ambles across the path

Napping and reading- the perfect way to head home from a family bike ride

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