Monthly Archives: October 2012

LET THE WILD RUMPUS START!

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The invitation for the party that never was (last year…)

I had a favorite book as a child. One of the clearest memories I have of kindergarten is my teacher, Ms. Davidson reading “WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE”. I was transfixed, mesmorized, I LOVED it. Two years ago when I bought it for my kids it had the same effect on them. They asked for it near every day for six months. The memorized near all of it.  Last year I planned a Wild Rumpus party for them, but then, my little boy was in the hospital for his birthday and I was too exhausted by the time we got home to think of doing anything like that. I just wanted to rock my babies in a sterile bubble so that they wouldn’t get sick ever again. A year later and I have recovered enough to let them play with other little germs children.

On account of the fact that I combine their birthdays AND I didn’t get to host a party last year, I felt more than entitled to get a little carried away. And so ensued the ROYAL RUMPUS. My daughter is a bit more into princesses than wild things so I ensured there was plenty of royal fun as well as wild boys. It worked out great.

A walk through our party. The entrance sign:

The decorations:

The goody bags:

Gummy contributed most of the amazing decorations, but our favorite parts were the boat for Max in which he sailed off through night and day. THANKS AGAIN MOMMY!:

Our little wild princess…

Party people sailing off

And the Max and Princess cut outs, also compliments of my momma:

We watched a movie (that E acted out…my favorite part):

Showed their TERRIBLE CLAWS…

 

 

We made masks and crowns:

 

 

 

And had such a fun WiLD RUMPUS:

 

 

 

I just hope the kids had as much fun at the party as we had putting it together! Thanks again for all your help everybody!!!

 

Resources we used for our Royal Rumpus:

 

 

 

Most posters/invitations EVERYTHING here to print! I downloaded the font here so that we could add our own details for the invites and goody bag labels.

Activity book/crown for goody bags from Harper Colins

Max paper doll for goody bag. From Toy-a-Day.

Bernard Paper Doll for goody bag. From Toy-a-day.

We showed this version of the story by Sendak. We found it in a discount bin for $3! Amazing I know.

More fun ideas here…if you want to get even more carried away then us!

Country Chronicles: On a Lighter Note

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Snow arrived at the Ranch this week. Yup you heard me. Snow OCTOBER 23. This is the earliest that we have seen here by a full month. O has been thrilled and it has been near impossible to make him come in the house. The first night after dark, we finally convinced him to quit by promising him that we could go as soon as school was over the next day. When I arrived to pick him up he was somehow snow geared up from head to toe and shouted “LETS GO HOMEEEEEEE”. So we did (partly because he looked fairly absurd in snow pants when there was not a speck of snow in his school yard). We stayed on that hill, again for a solid 2.5 hours.

We’ve been creating a fair bit these days too. I’ve been preparing for their birthday party coming up on Sunday. We’ve been playing “Wild Things” watching the Maurice Sendak version non-stop we may even be able to recite near half of it. Of all the possible themes for a party at our house “wild things” seems the most appropriate of all. I’ve a bad habit of getting RIGHT carried away with party planning, and the fact that I can still get away with only one party a year means that I can completely justify it.

Some friends and I chatted recently of what our children will believe about us when they read our journals/blogs someday. I later thought about what YOU think about me. You who read here but who have never met me in person. You might get the wrong idea about me. You need to know a few things:

I’ve a habit of writing from my darker spaces when in actual fact 80% of myself is goofy, not quite serious enough, shockingly unprofessional.

I perpetually laugh much too loud and much too long at completely inappropriate times.

I spend too much money on strange t-shirts I find online.

I read graphic novels. Did you see this last season? It was BRILLIANT.

 

You get the idea. I just don’t want you to think I am all melancholy. So the blog is shifting a little. In some ways it will be more personal…I might tell you about how we actually spend our days, what our life looks like.

My VOICE is sometimes heavy, but my spirit is usually light. I process deep, I wrestle joy into submission with words…and then I live in it, uninhibited and free.

 

Abstraction of the Concrete: Chains that Bind

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I can almost hear them drag some days. Jacob Marley across these wood plank floors. It sounds like a slave dance. A dirge. It sounds like death is coming, or is already here.

Sometimes I feel like I am the weighted links that hold you down, hold you back. Other times I am your accomplice, your co-conspirator…we two breaking out of some sort of prison box others want to lock us in. Sometimes I feel locked to this house like the dog on the porch, sometimes…

Sometimes motherhood expectations weigh heavy around my wrists, bind my hands together keeping me from making the choices I would like too. The chaff is almost visible the way, some days, I want to break clear of them with a big rock, how some really hard days I find myself chewing at my own hand…like a bear in trap I think it is the only way to Free.

Sometimes I roll around in the chains myself. I willingly yoke them around my neck. I spend too much time on Pinterest. I read about what all the other people are doing and somehow feel like that is my call too. I loop those heavy links around and around. I chase career and dreams and hip and each coil weighs more than the last and my head hangs low.

But You? You tell me yoke is easy, burden light. You tell me that I am not a slave, but a daughter adopted, redeemed. You lift my head, my back straightens up, the chains all tumble. And in this moment, my breath comes easy. The sudden rush of air feels like wind in my hair, a love song in my ear, it is nothing like a funeral song.

Linking with Amber and Emily as we shake off these chains…

Prompt: The Table

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Image

We thought it was a fine idea, to buy reclaimed Indonesian hardwood. Brilliant, to buy comfortable, woven banana leaf chairs. Back before the children came. Back when the dining table, polished and perfect, was where we ate when the company came. It is easy to look good when you haven’t really been tested yet.

Now the cracks of the old tree plank are packed up with yogurt. The ridges on the chairs filled up with crumbs. Still we put our feet under this table. We invite people to it. Yesterday I watched a young man scratch at the yogurt with his thumb, I made excuses. I make a lot of excuses. My husband, he made me promise that we would never hide our mess, that we would invite you into it. He says it is the pretenders who let sin fester till it explodes. Not those who lay it on the table. We just hound after Grace like the dogs for the crumbs. 

It is 5 am the cup is poured and I am already at the table. It is not by choice mind you. That girl child rose a second time to remind me that my life is not my own. Rose again to remind me of that day that passed, looking like failure and yogurt in cracks. It was one of those, where I failed near all of you. Felt dreadfully sick of my very own skin, my mess the most abhorrent of all.

I make my way here and start again. Make my way here where truth is resurrected, something is sticking to my feet. It reminds me of grace.

Linking with Amber….seeking my written voice…and Emily...celebrating imperfect prose.

An October Saturday

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L. M. Montgomery – “I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers.”

 

The man is out-of-town and we woke up to the first rain having fallen in ages. The shadows cast slightly differently across the ranch as the sun rose later. The clouds are hanging heavy in the valley and the leaves turned over to yellow. The children are refusing to leave the house and so, I suppose, it is time to admit the seasons are a changing…winter is indeed coming.

I don’t mind so much. Not when it means I can read for three hours, make pumpkin pie french toast, light candles, hush the whole world. Life can be such a frenetic rush, sometimes it is so beautiful to not make a plan, to wonder what I want to do with a day. A fort is built for the kids, they’ve moved in beds, snacks, and most recently asked if they could watch Cinderella in it. I may not see them until dinner.

So for me? This afternoon I am enjoying:

This. I don’t know why this translation is striking me…over the head…over and over today. I’ve kept it open all day today and I return and return. Do yourself a favor. Do the same thing tomorrow. Let it settle in deep.

My lovely friend opened a BEAUTIFUL etsy shop! Way to go Shelley!

THIS Josh Garrels beautiful video…RAD.

Possibly the funniest film to come out of the youth ministry department…ever.

Watched this trailer at least five times so far. Cannot wait…one of my favorite novels of all time. And then? This, and this, AND THIS? Might spend fair coin at the movies this fall, it is a book to movie extravaganza.

 

Finished book two of “Song of Ice and Fire”. Fighting the urge to begin book three.

 

 

And this little bit of Wendell Berry for you… (hosted by Suzannah who is writing out “31 days of Making Peace”. WORTH THE READ!)

Happy weekend friends!

 

 

 

 

Pursuit Justice is Coming…

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There are not that many absolutes I know in life except this:

You are here to do good things.

When you lose the vision of what you are here for, your life becomes small, depleted, maybe even incestuous. You hang out with the same people all the time. You start looking for ways to make your own life easier. You watch out for number one. You get petty. You become the king of first world problems.
Guess what? The satisfaction in your life actually diminishes. If I can promise you nothing else, I can promise you this. You will be bored. You will be boring. I’ve watched it over and over.

The sermon on the mount,where I’ve been camped a lot these last few months, doesn’t tell us to hang out with the cool kids (even though sometimes it is more fun and often is easier). The bible tells us the opposite. Get in there.  Get your hands dirty. Love on the least.

Find out how to bring peace. Find out what justice means. Bring it.

Somehow all the complicating factors in life fall away when we are living for the right things.

Watching porn? Try and watch it again after you learn about human trafficiking…how your sisters ended up in that film…what brought her there? It becomes a different experience.

Feeling like you can’t keep up with the Joneses? Go to Haiti. Find out the Joneses are idiots for hoarding whilst people just a few hours away struggle to survive.

Feeling like you got your crap together? Go to Africa. See how together they have it and how yet, still, the seams are not meeting up.

Your little girl not doing well in school? Guess what? They get to go to school.

Trying to answer all the biggest questions? Stop it. Love your neighbor. Suddenly peace descends and you don’t have time for the trivial things that actually don’t matter. There are answers you will perhaps never make peace with. I don’t know why people suffer like they do, but I for one want to make it better.

Will you join me? Pursuit Justice is coming. We are going to read books that matter. We are going to decide how 5% of the Pursuit Live tithe is spent. We are going to serve our community. We aren’t going to be critics that drive our brothers insane. We are going to be the people of God who seek the good, the best, in every corner of this whole earth. We are going to bless the givers. Give our strength to the weak.

I don’t know what it will look like a year from now. But I hope you will be sitting with me when I find out.

(Our first Pursuit Justice will happen November 5 at 5:30 in the Hope Centre. Join us? I will write it out here too so you can join in the conversation ‘virtually’ as well)

Thanksgiving Blessing

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May you be astounded anew by October sun on your back, the absurdity of being chased by your own shadow.

May you be wonder struck by the design and softness of a feather, astonished that your own breath can set it aloft.

May you stare into the stagnant parts and eventually see the living things there. Sometimes it takes a long time and maybe what you find will be strange, surprising.

That is ok. You only needed signs of life.

May you watch the horizon with the expectation that beauty will breach, leap from the depths and dark and surprise you with joy.

May you have faith like a child. Bound up in His wonders rather than chained to your cynicism. May you place your attention on the good, the best, where ever you can find it.

May you be thankful for this moment.

Linking with Ann and her grace chasers….

I write often about gratitude…here are some of my favorite posts

How to make fear bow in worship

When mammahood wears you down

When the grass looks greener somewhere else

Grateful for my grandpa and awesome legacies

And my dear friend Michelle is writing on Eucharisteo too…ENJOY her fine words.

Country Chronicles: What I Want to Remember of September 2012

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We played hide and seek with the moon tonight. We chased him all the way home and E shouted “surprise” to him whenever we found him. The clouds hid him sometimes and at other moments he covered himself completely with the mountains. Still we chased.

The two point buck ran in front of us for a while. We climbed Sun Valley road and he ran before us, the moon seemed just steps in front of the deer. For a moment we thought he might be able to leap right over it.
Hey diddle, diddle.

And these fantastically ordinary mamma moments are the ones I seek to create. To savour and remember. So…with that…the things I can’t forget, am so grateful for… about September 2012.

717) How our girl shouts “SURPRISE” every time we come around any corner ever.

718) Little girl, pirate swords, dress too short, patent leather boots 😉


718) This week we launched the research study I am co-coordinating. You can read about it here. It is going to be fun.

719) Launched a new church service last week. I really loved it.

720) Worlds. Best. Bird. Nest. The cutest birds ever.

721) Construction projects. The skating rink to be is in the background…the wood fired hot tub, made from a giant dumpster is burning some days. Yes. There is no doubt that Switchback Ranch is fast becoming a hick paradise. And I am in love with it.

722) The most glorious September days…Walks and talks.

723) His quiet dignity…

724) Her exuberance, zest for life…

Jesus. Thanks.

Linking with my friend Emily who launched her book this week! YAY EMILY!

Celebrating with you! 

Kick up the dust. Then wash each others feet.

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“When kids grow up they face a broken world;

we need to prepare them to contend for the kingdom without fear.” (@JenHatmaker)

They poured out of the bus. Near 60 of them. Junior high boys. High on life and testosterone and each other. I would like to tell you they sat in neat rows and recited scripture to me.

They didn’t.
Instead? There were twenty odd boys in my hot tub, belching the worlds largest, cracking jokes. There were still more playing paintball with the tire rubber slingshots we bought from the roadside vendor in Kenya. Others riding mini bikes or roasting meat around the campfire.

We will send them home to you with dust streaked faces, paintball stained shirts, they will smell like fire.

This ministry we do will never be clean. We serve a God who spits in the dirt to form balm for healing. Who scratches the soil with a stick when the others throw rocks. It was almost like he warned us. Kick up the dust. Then wash each others feet. Use your tears if you must. Get it done. 

I wish life were simple. Cleaner. I wish all the kids in our youth group came from homes like yours. That they didn’t walk in with 100 pound back packs of burdens and pain, wounds gaping wide open in their chests. Sometimes we see it from across the room, those wounds so deep they suck you in.

But. So do you. So do I. Sometimes we are the ones saddling them.

Later in the night I hear a yell from the hot tub, “MAN CHALLENGE”. And a young leader says “this is the year we learn what it means to be men of integrity”. They yell again, change, and start a fire. Start singing worship songs. It was beautiful and in that moment they sparkled.

But.

They are still going to treat you badly some days and still they are going to make big mistakes this year. We will learn about the grace of God together. We will learn that the Grace walk is measured by the forward momentum from two steps back and three forward.

So yes. Expect things to get messy this year.

 

I for one wouldn’t have it any other way.

(today as I prayed for Pursuit, I realized I was thinking more about where YOU are at with Jesus than where I am at with Jesus. Forgive me. Jesus…my life is yours….Make it sparkle if you want to… also? Make me ok with the mess…mine and theirs. I trust you to sculpt it into something that matters, I submit to the potters hands).