AUTUMN

(Picture of C taken last October at the pumpkin patch. He was about 6 weeks old).

It's autumn! Our weather is still too warm for me to really consider it autumn, but technically it is, and the temperatures will drop, and I will then be able to wear sweaters and my favorite jeans without a jacket. YAY! I wish there was a place that was perpetually autumn; I would live there. Autumn isn't too cold, its leaves add color to the world, and it begins the holidays. Ramadan has begun, Rosh Hashanah was Saturday, Halloween costumes are in the stores, and once Ramadan is over... it will be time for Christmas carols! Autumn whispers in the season of peace, and I love it! What else do I love? Haiku! Actually, all poetry, but Haiku is traditionally seasonal, so it's Haiku for everyone! Here's one by the master, Basho:

Clouds appear
and bring to men a chance to rest
from looking at the moon.

Here's one from me:
Leaves crunch under foot
Geese squak into formation-
a child hesitates.

Go ahead and offer up an autumn Haiku in the comment section. Something funny, something contemplative, something original or borrowed...something that says, "Autumn!" You know the rules: 17 syllables: 5 in the first line, 7 in the second, and 5 in the 3rd. (That first one follows the rules in Japanese-honest)!

Zig Zag!

These two don't stop-ever. And one of their favorite ways to move is by DANCING! This is Judah's favorite song: "Zig Zag Zig" by the Mighty Mighty Boss Tones and The Count. What? It's a logical pairing for a duet. Big kids like us who came up jamming to the Mighty Mighty Boss Tones now have kids who prefer to jam to Sesame Street characters. Anyway, just when I think I'm about to pull my hair out because Judah learned how to say, "No," (and says it often) and Caleb thinks we bought furiniture for his personal jungle gym, they go off and do something cute like this. Click on play to watch some serious groovin'! Oh-they're are a hoot and a half!

The Man Who Sweeps Angkor Wat...

...does so out of religious duty. His possessions are the ones you see in the above photo. He always smiles. I'm not sure if he can hear well; he was difficult to speak with. But his renouned sweetness landed him on the cover of Cambodia's Travel Guide.

Religion and daily life: In my opinion, two things that most Americans make far too complicated.

(No, I don't...but after too many hours in the mosquito filled jungles of northern Cambodia, anything is funny).

I read an atheists' account the other day of how she viewed religion as causing so many of the major conflicts in the world and concluded, "Why would I want to be a part of that?" I can't disagree there. Though, I believe true religion doesn't incite violence. Reading what the pope said this week, though admittingly out of context and through the words of journalists, I think, "Even if one doesn't agree with Islam, and feels a Christian obligation to speak against it, why in the world would a religious leader speak out in a way that offends and creates anger?" To all of the religious sects: What happened to leading by example, kindness, love to all, blessed are the peace makers, etc...

If a Christian wants to go on a mission to help humanity, it's usually prefaced with doctrinal statements, fund raising, speaches, follow-up reports, and organizational support. That's not all bad, mind you, but why has it gotten so... complicated?

"True and undefiled religion is this: to care for widows and orphans in their time of need, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world." James 1:27

That's not so complicated.

And about daily life: Why do I get frustrated when my car has a minor repair issue? I didn't do that before.

Why am I catching myself praying for increased finances?! That, I certainly never did before. Why do I cram-pack a diaper bag full of stuff everytime I go out, think that my sons need another pair of shoes just because the weather is changing;

think I need new shirts because the fashion is changing; and get irritated when the washing machine jumbles through the spin cycle too loudly? What's happened to me?

I remember two years ago, having just come back from SE Asia, and going immediately into meetings with contractors to finish building our house. I remember a meeting in the lighting store, and the saleswoman asked me what lights I wanted in the closets and the garage. I looked up at thousands of lighting fixtures, thought about what she said, and actually said outloud and with too much disgust, "Are you serious? I have to choose a light for my closet?" All I could picture were bamboo huts with inhabitants who've never dreamed of electricty.

I couldn't have cared less about which wood grain the blades of our ceileing fans rotated with or what bulb lit up my closet. Yet, today, I thought, "The trim on that entryway light doesn't match the fixture in the hall. We should replace it." What???? Where are these thoughts coming from????

I've been in America now longer consecutively than I have in more than a decade. I guess the old red, white and blue is wearing off on me. It's discouraing...very discouraging to watch myself get caught up in keeping up. Which is why I posted this picture in which I've never looked worse. Granted, I just rode twenty-something miles on a rickety bike through Shan State in Myanamar and was about to go bathing with water buffolo. But still...ugh. I look rough. I need to be OK about seeing me, in my dusty, make-up free, hair un-done state on the web.

The point of this post: I read a blog today that really inspired me. Miranda is a girl I grew up with in St. Louis. We went to church together. She was a lot younger than me, but pure and sweet and beautiful. She's in Equador now-without the doctrinal statements, the fund raising, the follow-up reports and organizational umbrella. She just left, is volunteering at a hostile, learning the language, planning on earning her own dollars, and looking for ways to help humanity. Pure and simple.

Lord, how I miss pure and simple. Help me to be pure and simple in such a complicated country. A country where we have carpet in our houses, for goodness sake... And bless Miranda's love for people in a foreign land.

I've mixed in some pictures of my time in SE Asia because I miss it, and it made me feel good to look at them today. They remind me to be content, feel blessed, and hold on to the peace that comes with simplicity.


I wouldn't trade my life as a mom for anything, but I certainly wouldn't complain if Tim got a foreign embassy job in Calcutta, or Cape Town, or Vietien, or Quito, Equador. Someplace where people laugh with glee when they get three squares a day instead of getting bent out of shape when the machine that washes your clothes FOR you does so too loudly. Oh....what have I become?! Check out Miranda's blog. It's linked on the right side margin of mine. It restored my faith in children of America being untouched by the world. Though crossing these streets in Phnom Penh wasn't always simple, an uncluttered mind and heart is. And Miranda, your heart is beautiful.

C. walking

.C. took his first steps August 12th, and decided that crawling was just as productive as walking. . . until the past couple of days. Now, he's determined to master the art of moving vertically! And he's getting pretty good at it! Click on play to watch a short video of some of C.'s first consecutive steps, taken while Judah waves an enticing toy elephant. (Note: this footage was taken on our not-so-state-of-the-art digital camera, so the quality isn't great, but you can definately tell that C. is walking across the room).

Some weeks, joyful moments can be hard to come by. Or, I don't recognize them and hold on to them when they happen. It isn't that anything specifically bad happens, though sometimes that's the case; but rather, as Frost put it, "Way leads on to way..." and I get caught up in the walk, forgetting to love the moment. Saturday night though, J and I had a joyful moment-an hour, actually- and I slowed down enough to breath it in.

It was just after dinner time, and "A Prairie Home Companion" was on NPR. If you know Tim and I, you know that just about the only radio we listen to is NPR, and whenever possible, we don't miss, "Car Talk" or, "A Prairie Home Companion." Well, Saturday, the only radio on which we could get reception was the boys', so I pulled it out of their room, and set it in the hallway so that we could hear Garrison Keiller as Guy Noir, Private Eye, throughout the house. Then, wouldn't you know it, but the Powdermilk Biscuit commercial came on. . . . J leapt to his feet and started dancing all over the house! And if you've ever seen J dance...well, it's a full body experience that syncopates heavily on the side of his shorter leg. It looks a little like a circular skip with waving arms and a big smile. After the last, "Has your family tried 'em, Powdermilk?" J said, "More! More!" Tim and I looked at each other as if to say, "Could it be possible? One of our kids will see the glory of "A Prairie Home Companion" like we do? Do you think he'll listen to NPR regularly to balance out the far right's view of the news too? Maybe, at this defining moment, he'll realize that a person can be both athletic and artistic, love Jesus and peace, find the Colbert Report hilarious, and learn to see through propeganda as presented in the worlds' multimedia?" OK-maybe we were expecting too much from that moment, but if the boy wants to dance to the All-Star Shoe Band, let the boy dance.

So, I took him into the hallway, and we snuggled up and listened to the rest of the show. He clapped and danced to a Gospel group singing the classic, "If You Don't Love Your Neighbor, You Don't Love God;" he brushed my hair and listened to a tale from Lake Woebegon; he laughed at the ketchup commercial, and applauded whenever the studio audience did. It was a perfect bonding hour where neither of us chose to do anything else except lie on the floor and listen to the radio, stopping only occassionaly to re-adjust the antenae, or to get in a better snuggling position. Nostalgic, joyful, peaceful, and the perfect end to a week. We'll work on blocking out propeganda-ridden signs from the mind's eye next week...

Make a joyful moment this week and tell me about it!

Happy Birthday, C!

Happy 1st Birthday, C! We love you!