APRIL!!!! (the challenge, the activities, etc. etc.)

Wow! April definitely crept up on me...probably because this morning it was SNOWING....AGAIN! I woke Malea up with an April fools joke that it was snowing and about 2 hours later, it really was snowing. I'm challenging myself to be thankful for the weather. Maybe that should be my hard thing to do this month? Sounds kind of shallow.

Last month's challenge was to practice piano for 20 minutes a day five days a week. I did pretty well with that one. I picked up my Alfred piano book for adults that I finished about six years ago and got about 2/3 through that. I would like to keep it up and finish the second book that I only made a little progress with when I was taking lessons.

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This month I also read The Chosen by Chaim Potok. There was so much to glean from this thought-provoking book. The author was amazing at captivating and drawing the reader into the story, even a female in an all-male story. I appreciated learning about the Jewish culture in New York during and shortly after WWII. What struck me the most though was the involvement the fathers had in the lives of their sons education and personal lives and the fathers dedication to religious instruction in their sons. Those boys knew and memorized an amazing amount of scripture and commentary. I also just loved the interaction - not just teaching and telling the son, but really interacting with opinions and thoughts being valued.

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This next week is special because of two young mens' birthdays!!!

Luke will be 7! He is amazing. Luke has a love for life that he will not let be ignored. Luke loves Legos and creatures of all kinds. He is a great big brother and little brother. He does VERY well with his school work and helps much around the house. Happy birthday, Bubba!






And Zachariah will be TWO! This is my baby. I delivered him at home which was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had. He can tell you he is TWO as he holds up most of his fingers...I shoud get a picture of that one. He loves cars and books and dogs and guys (you know the Playmobil guys). And I'm so thankful that at times he still likes to cuddle. I'm sure this one will be a great big brother to his baby sister coming this summer! Happy Birthday, Mac!


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And now for the moment you all have been waiting for! April's challenge is to read the rest of this Historical Fiction series on American History that I'm borrowing. I think I have six more books to read so that I can return them! I have a great motivation for this since I do NOT like clutter and the stack of books is sitting on the shelf at the top of the stairs and I just want to put them away! Maybe I'll blog about each as I read them. They are very interesting and I just love history anyway.

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I would really like to blog on my thoughts to Tyson's Kingdom Matters sermon series. God has challenged my thinking and brought depth to my life through these messages. I just looked at the church web site...hummmm...I think I will need to gently encourage that sweet pastor to get the rest of the series on there!

Remember: Breathe your life.
Grace and Peace,
Amy

The big guy's birthay!!!

Our JJ is 5 today! He is such a sweet young man. His parents and siblings just adore him. JJ is quite unique in that he is not overly talkative (unless you take him out by himself) and he seems just fine taking it all in and not being noticed. I will post his birthday pictures tomorrow. Today he chose to lunch at the Olive Garden with Mom and Dad. He wore his "fancy" clothes and got several oohs and aahs from the teenage girls there!

Sweet man.

Memorization

Memorization. A tricky thing, really. My 10 year old daughter can work on a memory piece for 15 minutes and she has it - even weeks later. My 34 year old brain is not as amazing for some reason. I think the main thing is that it is so very out of practice. That is sad.

But truthfully, in my adventure to memorize Matthew chapter 5 this month, I have been both disappointed AND quite surprised with myself. Disappointed because I'm only on verse 16 out of FORTY-EIGHT! Quite surprised because I have actually memorized SIXTEEN verses! I have stuck with the goal! I do plan on finishing the chapter even though the month may get away from me. And, I do still have 8 more days to work on it. So, if I memorized four verses per day.....

In my next post, I will go in to some detail of the benefits of memorizing such a long piece of scripture. The biggest benefit being that I am spending large amounts of concentrated time on one section. Great for meditation.

Also, next months challenge WILL be the practicing piano one since my piano is being delivered this Monday! I am so excited. It has been sitting in our old house (now a rental) since last April - waiting to have an obnoxious amount of money invested in it to have it professionally delivered to our house here in Gig Harbor. I'm hoping that it will not need much work (tuning) done to it. The instrument probably does deserve a good tuning though. It will have been through four moves come next week and I do not know when it was tuned before it was given to me.

Until then, take care and keep challenging yourself.

the new year

Okay. The year 2009 is upon us. Whatever happened to "we're gonna party like it's 1999"???? Ten years later:

• we did NOT have to prepare for Y2K
• I have 4 more children and am pregnant with the 5th
• we've moved FOUR times
• Prince (or the artist formerly known as Prince) is a vegan and the man is STILL performing!

So this year I'm feeling ambitious. I'm going to start a challenge for myself. Every month I'm going to choose something hard to do for the month. I read about someone else doing this, like, two years ago and I thought it was a great idea. I'll post about my journey on this blog since I know it will be very interesting to so many people out there.

Here are some ideas I have so far:

• Next month (February) I'm going to memorize chapter five of the book of Matthew.
• Eat only fruits and veggies for lunch - then maybe for breakfast too.
• practice piano for 20 minutes a day/five days a week
• read "X" amount of books - or books on a certain topic - or some kind of reading challenge
• Stay OFF of the internet except for this blog and my email
  
• finish every project I've started and is waiting to be finished (like the stocking, Malea!)
  

Anyone have any other ideas?

have a blessed journey,
Amy

the Dalai Lama

My amazing Lead-Pastor husband sent me this article he received via email after the Dalai Lama visited the northwest with Seeds of Compassion. He wanted to know my thoughts on the article, so my thoughts to Pastor follow. (You asked for it, Honey!)

Here's a link to Pastor Fuiten's article:


Dalai Lama: Seeds of "Compassion" or Seeds of Deception?



Here's my response to Pastor:

A couple thoughts:

1) The way the first half is written makes one think that the Dalai Lama has done nothing to help anyone in his country. I wonder if that is wholly true.
2) The author definitely paints an "us vs. them" picture of which I am always wary (cynical).
3) Assuming the article he sighted at the end is valid, that whole demon possession thing is really scary and should be of great concern.
4) I really didn't like the idea that he thought the Dali should be interrogated by the media - that's how his questioning sounded to me. I don't think the facts should be hidden by any means, but I also think we should treat him with respect - just like I would want the media to treat you with respect. Just think if the media came after you because you had these grand ideas of love and community within the church and the media came at you with an oh ya, show me the proof! What are you REALLY doing to make that happen attitude. I'm obviously reading in to the tone of the author's questioning, but it doesn't seem like a very big leap. I also don't expect that the Pope or Billy Graham or some Christian figure (icon) should get that kind of treatment either. On the other hand, like I said, that doesn't mean that I don't think that these issues should be researched....

5) Mostly me thinking beyond this article: I personally find this type of article unproductive and finger-pointing which I don't believe is necessary or Christian. Especially since Christians (read right-wing conservatives) don't really need any help in the intolerance arena. I suppose it's a fine line between making people aware of the facts as a gentle warning and defaming someone's name. To me, an article with this kind of tone would do two things: a) persuade conservative Christian's that the Dali is at worst the anti-Christ and at best a demon-possessed hypocrite. and b) persuade pre-Christians that here is even more proof (as if they needed it) that Conservative Christians are intolerant, war-loving, unreasonable idiots who can't see someone else's point of view.

What do you think?

intro

Wow. What a creative title for my first blog post. Hopefully the title isn't a foreshadow of things to come.

Mainly, this blog will be dedicated to the discussion of books I'll be reading. Beyond that, it will contain thoughts I'm having, family stuff (since I do have one awesome husband and six amazing children), and maybe an occasional rant.

So sit back with your cup of tea and enjoy the journey with me.